Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I am going to dwell on the idea of the public sector spending codes a bit, for me to be clear in my own mind. There is a 2013 document, a substantialrevision in 2019, and then this updated circular in 2023. I have all the parts. I will quote fromthe national…
I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on this Bill. I am not a member of the Committee on Enterprise, Trade and Employment, so I would not be as close as some other Members to the gestation process the Bill went through. I think it has been shown that the pre-legislative scrutiny process…
“Not unexpected but really welcome news breaking this morning that the government has completed the acquisition of the Waterford Crystal site for the expansion of the SETU campus in Waterford. A lot of long and tricky political work was needed to get to this point, and I’m delighted to see it over the line. The…
Full Transcript: The issue in the Middle East rightly dominated the European Council meeting, just as it is rightly dominating this debate today. Although there is much else happening in the world, it is only right and proper that our attention is focused on the unfolding humanitarian disaster playing out in Gaza. I am looking…
Local radio stations in Waterford have been given reason to celebrate as the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media, Catherine Martin TD, unveiled a €2.4 million financial boost for 32 radio stations nationwide through the Broadcasting Fund Sound and Vision Scheme. The award distribution, which varies from €35,000 to a maximum of…
Full Transcript: Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I am going to stick with housing in the broad sense butchange focus. I want to ask about local authority retrofit of social housing. My understandingof it is that the target the Department set is to retrofit all social homes by 2050. By implication,that means by 2049 there will…
Full Transcript: This is a welcome opportunity to discuss another in a series of excellent reports from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, detailing our water quality. The latest is titled, Urban Waste Water Treatment in 2022. Broadly-speaking, the EPA has been doing an excellent job in assessing the quality of water in our rivers, lakes,…
Full Transcript:The last time I was knocked down, I was dressed as Big Bird. I do not quite mean that literally but I am 6 ft 1 in. and I was dressed from head to toe in bright yellow. I was going through a roundabout when a driver came in, ploughed into the side of…
Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh With the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs Use completing its deliberations recently, it prompts two questions. First, how we can ensure that the very good work our citizens’ assemblies are producing are not just reports that are idly left on a shelf and that the recommendations are actually implemented in a meaningful…
Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I have lot of questions so I may have to save some for thesecond round. I want to start by picking up where Deputy Jim O’Callaghan left off. He mentioned equality budgeting, performance budgeting and well-being budgeting and I was struckby the fact that there was no specific reference to the…
