Marie O'Halloran

6 days ago | irishtimes.com | Marie O'Halloran

The controversial Dáil slot for “Other Members” to raise issues with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste resulted in red faces on the Government side when the speaker failed to show on Thursday. The issue which convulsed the Dáil for months over speaking rights and delayed the election of Taoiseach Micheál Martin caught the Coalition out when a Fianna Fáil backbencher did not attend for their allotted slot to question Tánaiste Simon Harris.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Marie O'Halloran

The Government has been accused of “turning a blind eye” to claims of weapons being flown through Irish airspace. People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy held up a folder of documents in the Dáil which he said proved “thousands of tonnes of weaponry have gone through Irish airspace on the way to be used in a genocide in Gaza”. The Dublin South-West TD walked across the floor of the Dáil to hand the documents to Tánaiste Simon Harris, saying they were waybills from the airlines.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Marie O'Halloran

Minister of State for Transport Seán Canney has ruled out an “amnesty” for experienced learner drivers to allow them to drive unaccompanied until they are called for a test. But he said “all options” are under consideration to address the backlog in waiting lists. “The service is not right and it needs to be rectified.”Independent Kerry TD Danny Healy-Rae made the call as he pointed to the increasing waiting times for learners in his Kerry constituency, now averaging 23.5 weeks.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Marie O'Halloran

A call has been made for legislation to be introduced to prohibit the sharing of videos of people “in their final moments”. Independent Ireland TD Ken O’Flynn highlighted the incident in Cork last week in which 34-year-old man Luke Hyde was filmed by onlookers as he got into difficulty and drowned in the river Lee.

1 week ago | irishtimes.com | Marie O'Halloran

Senior healthcare professionals including consultants created private companies and diverted patients from public waiting lists to those companies, with €14.2 million paid in one year alone from University Hospital Limerick (UHL), the Dáil has heard. Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said it was a “major conflict of interest for anybody in a public role to do this in relation to their own business”.