Aidan Farrelly
Kildare North · Social Democrats · Ireland
“I thank the Minister. If she will indulge me, it is very rare I get the opportunity to speak about my life experience prior to being in here but I have been a youth worker for about 16 years or the guts of three Dáil terms. The day before the general election I submitted my PhD thesis, which was on professional youth work.”
“In the past year, the number of children admitted to Temple Street with brain injuries from accidents on e-scooters has increased by 50%. I think we have agreement across the House that this is an ever-worsening public health crisis at this point. It is clear that the ban on under-16s using e-scooters has been a monumental failure.”
“It is acceptable that data will be shared with the task force in September but I ask that it be shared more widely once the terms of reference have been agreed. It would be really useful for the academic sector and for those who are in the market of training and professionally qualifying youth workers in the field.”
“Crucially, gardaí must be given the resources and the appropriate training to be able to pursue and enforce what is current legislation. The fourth piece, the bike-to-work scheme, has been an incredible success.”
“Actually, youth work is an occupation and profession that is one of the best jobs to have but we need to make sure the landscape is there for budding youth workers to go through appropriate professional qualification programmes and that the job will fulfil them not just from a rewarding job perspective but also from a financial perspectiv…”
“When the Minister says that advisory group is going to meet in September, who makes up the membership of that? The information the Minister's Department has collected is golden with regard to the sector. Will the Minister publish the findings of that survey? It would be really useful information.”
The complete record
Every one of 482 lines we hold for Aidan Farrelly, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 9 of 10.
“The Government put on paper its commitment to progressively reducing the cost of childcare to €200 per month through the national childcare scheme. As the Tánaiste knows, young families are desperately struggling to get a place, and if they do they face crippling costs. Our childcare and early years education sector is in a precarious situation with regard to recruitment and retention. I hope the Government is considering pay parity with their colleagues in education for early years workers. The Tánaiste is on the record as saying that the model of childcare and early childhood education in Ireland need to be in the public space.”
“I would love to learn more about the Government's commitment to that. Is it possible to amend the Children Act 2001 to put some legislative support behind the Garda to empower JLOs to use that as much as possible?”
“It changed our lives as youth workers and it changed young people's lives. I can personally guarantee that if every community had a professional youth project or a youth justice project, we would see the outcomes for a generation of young people change overnight. A study done many years ago put an economic cost on that, whereby for every €1 we invested in young people's lives in different services, it saved the State multiples of that in the long run. I was a youth worker during the recession and I saw first hand the impact of those costs and cuts. We are still as a sector coming back and regaining confidence and trust in the future of the sector. I implore the Government to do whatever it can to maximise professional youth work services and Garda youth diversion services. The last point I will make is about restorative justice.”
“If that were a starting point for addressing the structural inequality and the cyclical poverty that young people face, and asking why as opposed to what, it would be a phenomenal starting point in trying to understand a little better why young people who engage in criminal behaviour do so. There is always a why, there is always a person and there is always someone who, deep down, just wants hope, wants leadership, wants a different story sometimes. That is where we can step in and be those leaders, provide that hope and provide the circumstances in which young people can thrive and achieve their potential in communities. When I was a youth justice worker in Newbridge Youth Project, the CAN project in County Kildare, with Adele, Ciara and Olivia, we genuinely did life-changing work.”
“I was a professional youth worker for many years. I have spoken about this with the Minister of State in the House previously. I will jump at any opportunity to speak about young people's lives and experiences. I just hope that there is nobody in charge of or responsible for youth justice or youth crime scratching their heads as to why we are where we are in society. It is fairly straightforward, actually. Without trying to sound too simplistic, young people's behaviour, circumstances and consequences are caused by the communities, societies and environments that they live in and grow up in. We all acknowledge that.”
“Unfortunately, it took significant disruption in order for us to get to this amount of investment and I raise it in the context of expected housing growth in a county like Kildare. It is understandably a favoured place to live. There are wonderful communities that just want some of those basics to be right. The Minister of State will hear more from me, and I appreciate the dialogue. It is good to be getting on with these important issues, so I look forward to engaging with him and his Department further as we go on.”
“I sincerely thank the Minister of State for the detailed reply. It is really helpful and appreciated. He can see himself that when we see a list, it is felt individually but when looked at collectively, it is something of a structural issue. That is point I am trying to raise today. The overall demand, when the population increases to such a degree, means we will see infrastructure start to creak overall. I really appreciate that comprehensive reply and I am struck by recent comments from the chair of Irish Water, who raised concerns about extraordinary complacency and passive indifference in terms of Irish Water infrastructure in recent years. However, this is positive.”
“We are the fifth most densely populated local authority in the State, but the level of funding and resources allocated to Kildare is rarely the fifth largest amount. It is quite the opposite in fact. I understand there are significant projects being planned, which aim to alleviate some of these issues, but we must acknowledge that gives little solace to people who just want to be able to turn their taps on and expect water to come out.”
“We might fix a burst main here or replace a small section of pipe there but until the Government acknowledges the level of attention and funding that is required by but that is not being given to a county that continues to grow exponentially, the shops in Kildare will need to keep supplies of bottled water on the shelves. I am a very proud former member of Kildare County Council. The level of expertise and commitment from staff in the local authority is incredible. They just need the resources to do their work. Similarly, I want to stress I am in no way critical of Uisce Éireann staff. They respond emphatically when called upon to the latest outage, often working day and night to restore what is a basic amenity. What Kildare needs is to be treated for what it is.”
“However, what people in Kildare are experiencing is not reasonable any more. Any meaningful long-term solutions to these problems are not close enough to give any cause for comfort. In 1991, when I was four years old, the population of Kildare was 122,000. Some 34 years later, that population has more than doubled to nearly 250,000. In a very short time we have had a phenomenal increase in our population in Kildare but we have not had the strategic capital investment in our infrastructure. It is about capacity and the ability to cope with increased demand on our systems. Every service in Kildare is vulnerable. Our healthcare, education and transport systems are unable to cope with the increased demand without any additional capacity. Kildare has been forgotten by successive Governments.”
“For many years, residents in Prosperous, Allenwood, Coill Dubh, Robertstown – the list goes on – have had to buy between two to four litres of water in their weekly shop to cover these unplanned water outages. The Minister of State will not need me to tell him about the impact of water outages. People with babies at home or those with severe illness have their lives turned upside down for the duration. Businesses have to close or make some form of alteration to their offering and then there are the nursing homes, universities and schools. Water outages impact every facet of communities. The people of Kildare are very reasonable. An odd outage here or there is understandable; things happen and problems occur. The phenomenal staff of Uisce Éireann do their utmost to rectify problems as quickly as possible.”
“Our water system in Kildare is failing many of us, and too regularly. I was a member of Kildare County Council between 2019 and 2024. Over those five years, a number of issues - housing, roads, climate, public transport, young people services and water - arose on a consistent basis. The anger, frustration and utter dismay felt by Kildare residents about water outages is palpable. N one is immune. Residents in Celbridge, Primrose Hill and Hazelhatch have experienced gruelling outages. They have had enough. Leixlip was the location of significant works to a burst water main in March. Schools have had to close because of bust mains in Maynooth.”
“In the spirit of showing each other documents across the floor like the Minister did a couple of minutes ago, I present a news article from January where Michael Lowry is quoted as saying, "The Group’s contribution to the review of the National Development Plan and our input to the HSE Capital Plan, will be central to our ongoing work within Government." Can the Minister reassure people that we have not allowed the HSE capital plan and national development plan to be auctioned off as part of any programme for Government conversations? We have heard this week that there is no deal. Will the Minister reassure people that we will take an evidence-based and transparent approach to the allocation of incredibly important funds, whether in the HSE or the national development plan?”
“Four Members have indicated they would like to come in with a supplementary comment. I ask them to be really mindful of their time and to keep their contributions nice and short. They have a maximum of 30 seconds each.”
“I have one more supplementary question but do not expect the Minister to be able to answer it today. Given the uniqueness of Maynooth, would the Minister consider a working group, involving representatives of the Department, the council, the HSE and others, to sit around the table to get the sustainability of this development right? Maynooth is a decarbonised town and there are lots of different and very important stakeholders at play with regard to the development of Maynooth. It might work really well in terms of getting the long-term planning right if we got those stakeholders together as part of a working group.”
“If we can unlock the potential of student accommodation aggressively, that will have a direct knock-on impact on everything else, including things like infrastructure, GP services, public transport and so on. It is a key piece of the jigsaw. I welcome the commitment from the Government and encourage the Minister to continue to be as ambitious as possible for Maynooth.”
“I am a very proud former student of Maynooth University and I also worked there for a number of years. I was also a councillor representing the Clane-Maynooth municipal district. The Minister will be well aware that there is something quite unique about Maynooth in terms of the student town. The population essentially doubles during term time. The student accommodation issue is not isolated to students benefitting in the primary case but directly impacts everything else, in terms of living, working and growing up in Maynooth. Having spoken to the president, the students union and to students themselves, it is clear that there is a growing concern that Maynooth, with its designation under the Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy, RSES, has a population that is set to continue to grow and evolve.”
“I will start by taking the opportunity to wish both the Minister and Minister of State very well in their new and exciting portfolios. I wish Deputy Lawless well in particular, as he is a constituency colleague. I was delighted to hear the news and really wish him the very best in his role. I wish to ask the Minister about his plans with regard to investment in student accommodation in Maynooth. Are there any plans for investment there and what is the extent of his communications with the university and the Higher Education Authority on the matter?”
“We must address the pay issues faced by Defence Forces personnel which are inhibiting meeting goals around retention; set a minimum level in the Defence Forces of 11,500 with 500 in training; equip our Defence Forces with the systems and technologies required to effectively carry out its roles, including sonar and air surveillance radar; and we can develop the rank, pay and promotion system within the Defence Forces which is archaic and out of date. The Government does not have the mandate. The people want to have their say on the triple lock. Give them their say.”
“I am minded of a conversation I had with our colleague Councillor Pat Balfe in Kildare who is a very proud former Defence Forces member. He spoke to me of the incredible tradition that the Irish Defence Forces has. They are trained to the highest degree. We have the longest unbroken peacekeeping service in the world. It is because of this experience and distinguished service in very challenging environments that our reputation upholds. However, this Government and successive Governments have dropped the ball on defence, the members of the Defence Forces and their families. The Social Democrats believes we must invest in the Defence Forces with the goal of bringing funding to a sustainable level that would allow it to fulfil its duties.”
“I will quote from the programme for Government: We will reform the Triple Lock legislation whilst also ensuring that amendments to the legislation are in keeping with our values and policy of active military neutrality. That is the only mention of it. It is vague. It is meaningless. What we are doing in the Social Democrats is calling on this Government to consult with the very people who put us here on an issue of such incredible importance. Since tabling this motion we have heard important opinions on the issue being raised with us directly. I am sure the Minister of State has too through the media and from the canteens and school gates around the country. People want to have their say on the triple lock. Unilateral decisions made by this Government will not be good enough.”
“The truth is this Government does not have the mandate to change the triple lock. As my colleague said, the Fianna Fáil general election manifesto vaguely mentions it. In a 200-page document, it gets one mention. The Fine Gael general election manifesto does not mention the triple lock at all and I am pretty sure it did not make it to Michael Lowry’s shopping list either. People did not vote for Fianna Fáil on the premise of this change because it never told them about it not to mind the fact that pre-election commitments it did make on housing and on enacting the Occupied Territories Bill have been abandoned as quickly as possible.”
“Why would it not follow the people, as opposed to the property? Who is making these decisions? It genuinely makes no sense whatsoever.”
“Is it because it is too successful? I sincerely am trying to find out why we would decide to change this piece of the policy because it does not make any fathomable sense whatsoever. I refer to any property now being considered. As a county councillor, I was around in the last term when a few people were thrilled to have gone through this scheme successfully. A council, however, cannot take a property without any sort of refurbishment costs being provided. It is nonsensical. The Government and the local authorities will have standards, rightly so. For this scheme to not allow for recoupable costs with any sort of refurbishment works will, in and of itself, restrict a significant proportion of units being considered for this process. A house must be used for two years as a social house for it to be eligible. Where is the sense in that?”
“It is being scrapped. As it stands, it absolutely is being scrapped. If what he said makes the Minister sleep at night, that is fine. He is making this scheme so restrictive now, though, that it guarantees homelessness. It guarantees it. We will see the evidence play out. How is there an evidence-based approach to say "No" regarding the tenant in situ scheme? The Government can still call it something. It can call it whatever it likes. If one speaks to council officials and people receiving it, they will say they are concerned because what is eligible now will not be under this new scheme, creating homelessness for families who are safe and secure. I should be standing here applauding the last Government for the introduction of this policy. It was working. Is what is being done now being done because it is too expensive?”
“I thank our colleagues in Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. I have been listening to the conversation and the debate. Who is making this decision? Who is taking this scheme, a diamond in the rough of a terrible housing policy, and saying let us scrap it because it is nearly too successful?”
“The housing narrative might be influenced by numbers, but these numbers are people. They are people who deserve an opportunity, hope and a State response that prioritises them over the profits of others. Otherwise, there is another number. This number is another Government that fails them.”
“My issue, however, is with the naive approach the Government would take in expecting Part V housing or social leasing to suffice when it comes to increasing the social housing stock in any sort of comprehensive or sustainable way. It has not to date and it will not in the future. Just today, our Taoiseach spoke about nobody in this House having the monopoly on care or empathy when it comes to housing. Do you know what? He is right. What the Government has now is a monopoly on power. What is it going to do with it? In whose interest is it going to make this emergency any better? This Government has the power to make the changes so desperately needed to increase our housing stock in a way commensurate with this recommendation to treat it for what it is, an emergency.”
“I reflect on how this Government has recognised and prioritised this issue with emergency action. It is difficult to identify many highlights, is it not? Since the election, we have heard rumours about abolishing rent pressure zones, about glorified sheds being exempt from planning and about the tenant in situ scheme being squandered and we have seen evidence of housing targets being knowingly missed and abandoned, none of which made it to anyone's election manifestos, by the way. Successive Governments have chosen not to address the housing emergency in Ireland through emergency action but to close their eyes and hope the private market will make this problem go away. We know, though, that the private market will only prioritise making profits. That is fine. It is its purpose and it is your collective ideology.”
“I am thankful to have the opportunity to speak on the report today. The discourse on housing is often influenced by numbers, namely the number of people experiencing homelessness, the number of homes delivered below the Government's target in 2024, the falling number of planning permissions and commencement notices, the number of workers and apprentices needed, the number of recommendations in the commission's report and the number of years people have spent in family hubs. Ultimately, numbers will never do the extremity of this worsening crisis any justice at all. I am only going to speak about one recommendation from the report because it goes to the heart of the issue. It is to recognise and prioritise dealing with Ireland's housing deficit and to address it through emergency action.”
“As regards that root-and-branch review, will the Minister put on the record of the House today that the arts sector will not suffer financially as a result of what has happened in recent months? That is really important. There was concern out there that the very valuable work undertaken by artists throughout this country will suffer because of this. Will the Minister put on record that that will not happen?”
“We all know, having worked in different sectors, that extensive reporting mechanisms are in place already. If we draw down public funds, we have to report at every step of that process. We know that, for example, as regards the IT system, there are what we call decision gates at various stages of expenditure, whereby organisations have to report that back. As for my concern about the committee to which the Minister referred, I would love to see the terms of reference for the committee. Are we going to look only at the responsibility of the Arts Council in this example or are we going to forensically examine, if it was identified that there were issues here but that the Department in and of itself was not in a position to support the organisation, where else that is happening? That is a crucial bit.”
“We have seen reports that the Arts Council flagged this issue three years ago, so there were no question marks over the fact that there were concerns about this many years ago, but the Department was not in a position to provide support. When we see a shortfall in reporting mechanisms within the Department, is it not meritable now to look at what is going on in the Department as much as what is going on within the agencies?”
“There is a bit of a smoke and mirrors effort happening here; a bit of a damage limitation stunt. I appreciate what the Minister has inherited here is a little bit of a mess but the reality is that his Department already knows what is being spent. That is fair to say. What we have seen though, with both of the incidents the Minister cited, is an abject failure in terms of oversight in governance. I am really intrigued to see how deep he is willing to go in this regard. Will he get into the weeds of writing to a national governing body, such as the FAI, for example, asking it to write to the Kildare and district underage league, KDUL, asking for reports? What does that mechanism look like? That is a really interesting point.”
“First, I take the opportunity to wish the Minister well and congratulate him on his new role. I ask him to provide further details in respect of his plans to review spending by bodies under his remit or aegis.”
“Last week, the Government published its spring legislation programme. I am interested in the planned reform of the legislation relating to corporate governance in RTÉ and TG4. Governance in RTÉ has been like a terrible soap opera at times. Employment arrangements there are often unacceptable. Our national broadcaster needs to be the subject of ongoing scrutiny. Specifically on what we talked about recently with the disposal of GAAGO, right now we need to see governance in RTÉ and TG4 improved. In the context of the role of the Comptroller and Auditor General, when are we likely to see an amended broadcasting Bill?”
“We must maximise the encouragement of ways in which we can bring in staff. That will be the best way to reduce waiting times and ensure children get timely services.”
“I appreciate the Minister of State's response. That level of detail is very welcome. I offer the full support of the Social Democrats in progressing this in whatever way we can in terms of policy. This is incredibly important. We have spoken quite often in the Chamber in recent weeks about SET and disability services. There is an intersectionality between the two. It is not just about the level of care within the CDNT, as there is an impact on education and housing. It is cross-sectional throughout society. I appreciate the commitments the Minister of State has made here this evening and in the programme for Government. I look forward to continuing the dialogue with the Minister and the Minister of State in regard to that in the coming months and years. I reassure them of our support.”
“Is there anything more we can do to ensure those delays are minimised to really hone in on early intervention where possible?”
“We received a response this week to a parliamentary question on the issue, in which the HSE cites staff vacancy as one of the major issues. That aligns with what the Minister of State says about being able to work with as many children and young people as possible in the State. Are we confident that we are maximising workforce opportunities from the point of view of third level education and in terms of those who are living abroad? From a Kildare perspective, some CDNTs have a 40% vacancy rate and 2,600 children are on waiting lists, 1,900 of whom are waiting more than 12 months for an intervention. That is notwithstanding the phenomenal work that happens once people can engage with the service. That is the story in so many regards.”
“I wish the Minister and the Minister of State well in their roles. Will the Minister of State outline her plans to reform and improve the provision of children's disability network teams as outlined in the programme for Government?”
“My colleague Deputy Whitmore put an interesting proposition forward whereby if a person has been waiting ten weeks for a test, he or she should receive a Leap card with €100 on it to cover the cost of public transport in Ireland while he or she waits for that test. This would be an incentive for people in Kildare who are waiting six months for tests.”
“In tandem with the meritable idea of lowering the waiting lists for driving tests, we should also see maximum investment and attention given to boosting our public transport system. When we do those things in tandem, we will see real success. In County Kildare, we have one test centre. We have one of the youngest and fastest-growing populations in the country. I guarantee that even if we double the staff cohort in Kildare, we will still see a significant increase in the waiting time of six months. I encourage those in the RSA who are charged with making decisions to focus on Kildare. In light of our fast-growing population, our need will continue to grow when it comes to reducing waiting times.”
“Those reasons relate to the independence, autonomy and flexibility associated with being able to move as and when we deem fit, whether for work or for education. Notwithstanding the idea that there will always be a cohort of people who require to drive in order to get to work and other places, we should not ignore the fact that what we need to do - and what the Government needs to really accelerate its action in respect of - is embrace the idea of a public transport network for the State that is efficient and fit for purpose. I am particularly drawn to the idea of successive Governments making a mess of Metrolink. The Dart+ schemes are leaving low-hanging fruit behind. We have buses continuously running at capacity, yet bus routes are being cancelled because they are not financially viable.”
“I thank colleagues in Sinn Féin for tabling this motion. I will keep my contribution short. We are having this debate in the context of a conversation about carbon emissions and climate change. We are in the midst of a necessarily modal shift. Some 60% of greenhouse has emissions relate to passenger cars. When I hear interesting figures to the effect that 250,000 tests were carried out last year, that is welcome from the perspective of Kildare North. However, it indicates that there is more traffic congestion. We need to look at this in the round. That is important. In Ireland, the culture of car dependency is rooted in the idea that our public transport network fails to meet our needs. There is ample research on the reasons we rely on cars.”
“We do not speak on behalf of people with disabilities. It can start with a meaningful listening exercise to understand, hear from and empower people with disabilities to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect. We want to ensure that in every facet of life they can live fulfilled and self-determined lives. I sincerely wish the Minister the best in that.”
“If there is a housing crisis, we can be sure that the housing crisis facing people with disabilities is even worse. If there is an education crisis, again that can be expected to manifest itself in a very challenging way for people with disabilities. We know that for every crisis we have in society, such as transport and employment, it has double the impact on people with disabilities. In electoral politics we have seen recently published research which shows that the challenges facing candidates with disabilities are even worse than for those without disabilities. The Social Democrats put forward policy positions. We have all done so at different points, as has the programme for Government. The new strategy presents the opportunity to fulfil some of those issues but it goes back to my opening point.”
“The last one was the Walkinstown Association for People with an Intellectual Disability, WALK, where I got a chance to share in some of those self-determined lives with people who were phenomenal. Whether it is children, young people or adults, the themes are resilience, fighting spirit and an ability to contest some of the social norms and practices they probably should not have to contest. They find themselves in situations where they or their families have to fight for some of those basic services and requirements. The Minister, Deputy Foley, has inherited a monumental task. We sincerely wish her the best in achieving that because the state of play right now is unacceptable when it comes to the intersectionality of the issues facing people with disabilities.”
“I wish the Minister well in her new brief. It has been a privilege to sit here and listen to input from Deputies from across the Chamber this evening. I do not think that will come as a surprise to any us. We have learned enough in recent years to have a good understanding of the lived experience of people with disabilities in the main. What people with disabilities do not in fact need is Members pretending here that we are about to take action when we are not seeing ample action. People with disabilities have incredible agency and ability to talk, advocate, self-advocate and live self-determined lives, if only the systems of the State could facilitate that. That is why I am glad of the opportunity to contribute. I was a social care worker in some wonderful organisations in counties Kildare and Dublin for many years.”
“The precarity of so many people's living circumstances will continue to worsen. That is a fact because we rely on the private market to meet a public need. That is on the Government. We are here and we are ready. The Taoiseach said yesterday he is open to and wants a debate on housing. Where are we? What are we doing? It is so disingenuous to think this is a debate on housing. We are not talking about policy here. The Minister arrived in for the end of the debate. I believe things can be better. We and others in this Chamber are here to work constructively on solutions, but it has to start with an acknowledgment that where things are right now with housing policy is very concerning and it does not seem to be getting any better.”