Senator Pat Casey didn t have long to dust himself off after his General Election disappointment before he threw himself into the reckoning for a Seanad seat.
The Glendalough based hotelier was prompted to run for the Seanad to provide voice for rural Wicklow after all five TDs elected in Wicklow hailed from Bray or Greystones.
He was first elected to Wicklow County Council in 2004 and was Chairman 2012 to 2013. He won a Dáil seat at the first time of asking in 2016, before narrowly losing at last year s General Election. It s hard to believe that its only a year since the General Election, said Senator Casey.
Cork South-Central: 4 seats
Taoiseach Micheál Martin is a youthful 60 but, if he stands down as Fianna Fáil leader during this term, then attention turns to whether he runs again. There’s no shortage of family members to fill his boots but passing the seat won’t be easy. Fianna Fáil Finance Minister Michael McGrath will be strong again. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin have a guaranteed seat, so the second Fianna Fáil seat is the only question. Sinn Féin’s Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire will have a running mate in Carrigaline. Fine Gael’s Simon Coveney will have to manage the vote vastly better to bring in Senator Jerry Buttimer.
Robert Watt, the top civil servant in the Department of Health, has expressed doubts about the HSE s ability to hire nearly 16,000 extra staff that have been promised this year.
Mr Watt has been appointed interim secretary general in the Department of Health, a job that will command a salary of €292,000 when it is filled permanently - an €81,000 salary increase that is now being probed by the Dáil s Public Accounts Committee.
As secretary general of the Department of Public Expenditure, Mr Watt wrote to his then counterpart in Health, Colm O Reardon, on October 27 last regarding the unprecedented €22bn budget for the Department in 2021.
The shocking loss is jeopardising the business said Senator Pat Casey who owns the hotel.
In light of the Level 5 restrictions being re-introduced Senator Casey said there is no evidence to prove that the hospitality sector is a major contributor to the spread of pandemic.
Senator Casey said he is extremely frustrated with what he regards as the unfair way in which the hospitality sector is being treated. I cannot express the words at the moment about the way the hospitality sector has been treated. These are people s livelihoods and families are being affected. This yo-yo effect is driving us insane and crazy. It is all about personal responsibility.