Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I echo the words of Senator Boyhan regarding Councillor Noel Collins. I spoke in the Chamber less than three weeks ago when he stood down from Cork County Council after 54 years of dedicated, unbroken service. He was a great friend of mine for a long time. The last time I was in his home, he sat back and sang "The Stone Outside Dan Murphy's Door", which was quite amazing given the fact his house was called "St. Jude's". He did not have a mobile phone or a computer, he did not use social media, and his greatest challenge was trying to find a ribbon for his typewriter. I got regular correspondence from him on behalf of the people of Cork, particularly Midleton, and it was always about the poor man or poor lady or the person who was not well. Towards the end, he signed the letters he sent to me as "The Pest" because he considered himself a pest, but a pest for the right reasons because he wanted to look after his people.

I think there is a lesson in that. In the most recent local elections, in 2019, in the world of social media, emails and all the modern technology, he still topped the poll. Politicians, therefore, do not have to completely sell their souls to social media and so on to serve the people. His clinics were at the wall outside the church in Midleton, and I have to say, he was close to God in every sense of the word.I sincerely hope, and know, that he will find his true reward in heaven. Ar dheis Dé. When one talks about Noel Collins and then one thinks of the 40 Catholics in Nigeria who lost their lives in a massacre it is appropriate we should think of them and send our solidarity to their families and the Catholics in Nigeria following what was an atrocious massacre.

On other matters, I welcome that County Clare has been included in the mica redress scheme. The decision by Cabinet today was the correct one. We know of almost 1,000 homes in Country Clare that have been directly impacted by mica. Those people deserve to be in the scheme the same as people in other counties deserve to be in it. I fear this problem is only going to get worse as people identify mica as a problem in their homes. The Cabinet decision is a welcome one. We look forward to the legislation, which I am sure there will be much debate around, because this is going to be a very costly exercise reflective of terribly poor regulatory oversight in the decades passed. We must welcome that there is proper and much more robust regulatory oversight and inspection of properties in today's world. I hope history will not repeat itself and we will have learned from the mistakes of the past.