McGrath, Mattie

Budget Statement 2021 (Continued)

Seisear.

The budget is a missed opportunity in the main. While there are some nice bits and pieces to keep certain sectors happy for the moment, it is a missed opportunity in this time of severe crisis due...

The announcement of the new Covid restrictions support scheme of up to €5,000 per week for businesses impacted by level 3 or higher Covid-19 restrictions is welcome. It is certainly needed by th...

The decision on the commercial rates waiver is welcome. It will be extended to the end of the year and beyond and is badly needed. Measures like it are lifelines. The decision is also welcomed...

It has been decided to allow those in receipt of the PUP to earn up to €480 per month or €120 per week for casual work, but it is not "casual" work. A self-employed person, such as a plumber or ...

The VAT cut is too little and too late. Dropping from 13.5% to 9% is a wasted exercise. Those businesses are closed in the current lockdown, and there will be more lockdowns if the powers that ...

We need input from a wide variety of people. There are 40 members of NPHET and there is plenty of room there to have a good mixture. Above all, the team needs to be reshuffled. That is not to de...

I welcome the money provided for disability services but my concern is whether that money will percolate down to where it is needed - the centres that have been closed and the people who are usua...

An extra €38 million is being given to mental health services but anybody with a modicum of reason who has assessed this area knows that an investment of up to €100 million is needed. In my own ...

I welcome the provision for the arts but again I wonder whether that money will percolate down to where it is needed. The Arts Council will get a big chunk of it, as it always does, but will any...

A recent report by Grant Thornton found that an investment of €80 million is needed for the An Post network. The former Minister, Deputy Naughten, knows the issues facing the company. We need t...

I welcome the 600 extra recruits to An Garda Síochána. That was a measure many of us sought because there was no recruiting for a long time. We need the new recruits and the extra cars in the G...

Agriculture is our primary industry but it is not being stimulated and there is not enough funding going into it. I do not think we have the right people in charge. I am not saying anything aga...

I believe it was Churchill who said that one should never let a crisis hold one back. We should be borrowing when ECB rates are at 0.5%. We have not touched the banks. Fianna Fáil railed again...

People need to live and the economy needs to get moving. Mechanisms of stimulation are available and they should be availed of for the benefit of the self-employed and of ordinary working men an...

I conclude with a warning that the carbon tax is going to have a draconian effect on rural Ireland. Every man who buys a tank of diesel, every agricultural contractor and every lorry driver will...

Financial Resolution No. 2: Excise - Mineral Oil Tax: Motion (Continued)

The Leas-Cheann Comhairle understands rural life and her constituency. This is a three-card trick by the Greens, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. They tell us this money will be ring-fenced for project...

Obviously it is a Green budget but it is abominable.

They cannot get a bus.

The Government is removing the bus service in Tipperary.

Financial Resolution No. 3 - Value Added Tax: Motion (Continued)

We are closing the stable door after the horse has bolted. I acknowledged the value of the original VAT cut when it was introduced by the then Ministers, Michael Noonan and Deputy Howlin, but when...

Rail Network

Asked the Minister for Transport: for an Irish Rail engineers' report on the upgrades made to the Ballybrophy to Limerick rail line to determine if it is possible to increase speeds on the line to improve the service and entice mor...

Asked the Minister for Transport: if he will work with Irish Rail to review the timetables on rural routes such as the Ballybrophy to Limerick and the Limerick Junction to Waterford lines and make minor changes to suit commuters an...

Asked the Minister for Transport: if he will appoint a regional manager to oversee operations on rural lines in particular the Ballybrophy to Limerick line and to work with local third level institutions and large workplaces (detai...

Mental Health Services

Asked the Minister for Health: the status of the development of a mental health crisis house at a location (details supplied); the date on which this development will go to tender; the cost of this development; if funds have bee...

Asked the Minister for Health: the person or body that made the decision that a psychiatric unit (details supplied) would be redeveloped as a general hospital rather than reopening as a psychiatric facility; the reason for this ...

Asked the Minister for Health: the number of patients with mental health difficulties presenting to South Tipperary General Hospital in each year since the closure of St. Michael’s Hospital in 2012, including to date in 2020; th...

Asked the Minister for Health: the capacity at the department of psychiatry in Kilkenny; the number of beds available; the number of beds occupied by patients from County Tipperary; the number and percentage of patients from Cou...