Brian Stanley
Laois · Independent · Ireland
“We are going through an epidemic of domestic abuse and violence. In 2025, the Garda had over 67,000 calls in relation to domestic abuse. Seven women were murdered last year, and in many of those cases, it was by a family member, a partner or somebody known closely to the victim.”
“Those fundamentals cannot be ignored. Are supporters of partition really saying that we can continue on this small island with 14 different departments in each jurisdiction working back to back, often in competition with each other? Are they saying that having Twenty-six Counties in the EU and Six Counties out of it makes economic sense?”
“Those who still argue for partition ignore the fact that in a reunified 32-county state, the pension liabilities of those workers in the Six Counties who accrued pension entitlements by paying into the British national insurance system and the British exchequer or employment pensions would receive that portion of their pension liability.”
“Unfortunately, I do not get any sense of urgency from the Minister of State that we are going to have laws introduced in September or October, and that is the crucial issue. Yes, we have rules now, and she listed them out in relation to the signs. However, they are being ignored.”
“The cost is €2.6 billion for the diplomatic mission alone. There is also MI6 and the massive military machine and capacity, including the army, the navy and the Royal Air Force. I saw a figure of €60.2 billion for 2025 and 2026. That amount is due to rise sharply to meet its increased military capabilities.”
“The issue I am raising with the Minister of State is the increase in the number of injuries, including those involving young children, relating to e-scooters and e-bikes. Ten have been killed.”
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“We need sensible guidelines which allow for wind farm and solar developments at a proper scale. I welcome the overall thrust and intent of the Bill. A few amendments are being put forward. Some of them are worthy; some might cause problems. This Bill will not solve the housing crisis - no single piece of legislation will - but it is one of the pieces needed. As an Opposition TD, I welcome this.”
“I am not saying it is perfect but surely to God with the resources of the Department we can get straightforward guidelines in place to ensure these developments take place in a proper manner. This is not something I like to say but I have to say it because it is in my mind. Is it a case the guidelines are not being put in place in order to allow developments to take place first and then the guidelines will be put in place afterwards, so the horse will have bolted and it will be too late? Is that what is happening? I hope it is not but that question is being raised and it has crossed my mind many times in the past ten or 15 years, given we are still relying on the 2006 ones. I ask the Minister of State and officials to take that on board and come back with guidelines.”
“At the bottom, it says: "In the interim, there are currently no specific planning guidelines in place in respect of solar energy development." That is shocking. Solar energy has been planned for years and particularly over the past three or four years it is starting to pop up, yet we do not actually have guidelines. Everything has to be proportionate and balanced. There is one thing the Government and the Department have to do - there are Department officials here. The Minister, his senior officials and the Secretary General of the Department have a responsibility to bring forward guidelines on this. I am a single Independent and I was able to introduce a Bill.”
“I got a reply from the Minister of State's Department on solar the other day. There are no guidelines whatsoever for solar, yet there are huge solar farms being planned. I support solar energy and the development of solar farms on a proper scale. The key bit of the answer to the parliamentary question said: [The] Department has begun an initial scoping process to identify the component factors relevant to the preparation of planning guidelines for solar energy development, including...appropriate environmental reporting and public consultation requirements, and [a] possible timeframe... [for the] said guidelines. It goes on and near the end it says, "In the interim," - so there is nothing there at the moment. It says scoping is at an early stage.”
“I do not profess to have all the answers on this but I brought forward a Bill recently to try to put some order on this and to prompt some action on it by the Government. I am not saying the measures in it are the be-all and end-all. I would be open to it being amended, but at the very least we need guidelines in place. We may need a short-term moratorium until we get guidelines in place. I have read the answers I got over the years to parliamentary questions asking where the guidelines were. The answers were copy and paste over a period of nearly a decade. Communities need some say and some protection. Society needs electricity and we are electrifying our energy needs to try to reduce carbon emissions. Wind and solar are good sources but we do not have good guidelines for wind farms.”
“We should have them but the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, knows as well as I do that planning has to be a balance of judgments. You have to weigh up the common good, environmental needs, electricity demands and a number of other factors. That has to be done properly. We have 2006 planning guidelines for wind farms. They were okay at the time, when wind turbines were 30 m or 40 m high - 100 ft or 120 ft - but they are now hitting 600 ft. Planning permission is being sought for turbines of up to nearly 200 m in height. They are springing up left, right and centre. Deputy John McGuinness will know this because he has been at the meetings on the Laois-Kilkenny border that I have been at. Cullahill, Ballinakill, Ballyragget and Durrow will all be affected. There is a rash of wind farms being proposed across that area.”
“The private rental market has expanded and has not been able to cope with what is required because of the population increase. That is a fact we have to face up to. Everything needs to be on the basis of evidence. The evidence does not suggest there are no apartments coming on stream or extra houses coming up for rent. Neither have I seen evidence that it will reduce costs by €50,000 to €100,000. When I saw that in the press at the weekend, I straight away thought it did not stack up. I expected something in this Bill around wind farm developments. I want to say what I have said to every Minister since 2011, including former Minister Phil Hogan. We do not have proper guidelines for wind farms. I am in favour of wind and solar energy. I do not believe in this thing of "No wind farms, no solar energy".”
“In actual fact, in the nine-month period beginning in June 2023, almost 17,000 extra tenancies were registered with the Residential Tenancies Board. As for this business that apartments are not happening, 9,700 of those were apartments. The questions in my head are where this is coming from and whether it will make such a difference. Is it Construction Industry Federation lobbying that is happening here? Are they lobbying us politicians to make these changes on the basis it will up profits, but we may not see extra apartments? I have huge concerns around that. It is important that we do it on the basis of evidence and I have not seen the evidence this is necessary. In fact, it is quite the contrary given the fact the number of rental accommodation units continues to increase.”
“I turn to apartments, and I say this in a straightforward way. Going from a minimum of 37 sq. m to 32 sq. m and taking away some of the natural light is not good. If you step it out, 32 sq. m is six by five. It is a small space. I lived in a two-bedroom house that was 56 sq. m, and that was small. The sitting room was 8 ft 4 in. by 8 ft 6 in. as I recall it. It was a very small house. That is very restrictive. A question was raised at the housing committee earlier about the sums on this and if it will reduce the cost by between €50,000 and €100,000. I have not seen any evidence that it will. On a proportional basis it may be more like a €10,000 reduction. I also question the justification for this. It is supposed to be because there are fewer apartments and houses to rent.”
“Retrospective applications where the development did not substantially commence can also be extended by two years or more than three years if it is applied for within six months of the enactment of the legislation. The Minister of State might look at that again. Is six months restrictive? Should we say it may be within a year of the enactment of the legislation? I say that in a helpful way to try to keep planning applications alive. The Minister of State and I know there is a huge shortage of builders. There is a chronic shortage of tradesmen and tradeswomen. That has to be fixed. Even if you have your planning permission and are ready to go and the builder wants to get on site, they may not have the tradespeople. We need to be careful on that. Overall, I recognise the Bill is necessary and is one step in trying to fix the problem.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. By and large, the Bill is necessary. Some would say there is a magic wand for solving the housing crisis. I certainly believe that a whole lot of magic wands are needed. There are a number of components that are needed, and this is certainly one of them. In general, I welcome the Bill. Some of the proposed amendments might set things back. While some of the amendments may be worthy of consideration, others might cause further problems. The proposal to extend planning permission is worthy, particularly with regard to judicial reviews. Judicial review can hold up a development for a long period of time. It is important that period of time is added onto the life of the planning permission to allow development to take place.”
“While I know there has to be procedures, I want the Taoiseach and the Minister for Health to put some urgency on this and get the HSE to shorten the procedure period to get these private clinicians in place to provide the services. Nine months is too long.”
“Last year, the HSE sought tenders for private clinicians to help reduce the waiting list, but some clinicians have stated they have been waiting eight or nine months to get approved due to bureaucracy and red tape within the HSE.”
“I also welcome the visitors in the Gallery. The HSE has stated that the assessments of need for 15,292 children are overdue, meaning they have gone past the legal timeframe of six months. Legally this should be completed within a six-month period. A total of 13,002 have been waiting for more than nine months and 418 of these are in counties Laois and Offaly. This is totally unacceptable. The cohort affected are missing out on essential interventions at a crucial point in their development. Within the past week, the HSE chief, Bernard Gloster, stated that it is going to get worse before it gets better. HSE sources indicate it could hit 25,000 by the end of the year.”
“The Taoiseach and the Government said they cannot do it. The Governor of the Central Bank has said it can be done if we put forward the measures here in this House. Gabriel Makhlouf has said this and contradicted the Government on this point. We should follow through on it. We should continue to work with EU states to try to get the suspension of the EU-Israel association agreement. I welcome the work done on that by the Government, but we must continue with it. Regarding the stopping of the slaughter of civilians queuing for food, this must be brought to the International Court of Justice and added to the case there. We must continue to use all our diplomatic resources to press for a ceasefire and negotiations and to work towards a two-state solution for Palestine and Israel.”
“Nothing is said about the Government of that state supplying Israel with weapons, etc. The State of Israel, with the assistance of the US, targets Iran. I do not like the regime in Iran. Israel targeted it with bombs, supposedly to stop its nuclear programme, despite the fact that until recently, the US Government's position was that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons. A negotiated outcome with Iran should be the priority. What can be done? The hostages must be released, but this must include Palestinian hostages, the thousands of young boys incarcerated in the jails of Israel and being tortured and horribly treated. We in this State must pass the full occupied territories Bill to include services. We must pass measures in the Dáil to end the practice of the Central Bank issuing and approving the prospectuses for Israeli war bonds.”
“The terrorist state of Israel continues its campaign of horror, genocide, starvation and every war crime imaginable. Civilians queuing for food because they are desperate and starving are being slaughtered. Refugees in tents are being bombed. Only one of more than 20 hospitals is now able to operate, and with great difficulty. Water supplies are being cut. Medics and journalists are being murdered. That is not to mention what is going on in the West Bank with settlers and the Israeli militia. The State of Israel continues to act with impunity. Many governments around the world, including EU governments, are assisting and should hang their heads in shame. They are colluding with Israel. The British Government is one such government. Meanwhile, Kneecap becomes the issue for singing and shouting slogans.”
“I am not against commercial development. Commercial developments have their place. I, and I am sure everyone in this Chamber, could bring the Minister of State around our constituencies and show him bad examples of mixed developments. We had apartments piled upon shop units, shop units piled in on top of residential areas and all sorts. We finish up with just vape shops, Costa Coffee shops, takeaway joints, etc., and nothing else. If that is what we are talking here, with mixed development being used as a cover for everything, it is a disgrace. It would be helpful for everyone to be upfront here and for us to be notified of what exactly is happening. Show us the detailed plans for these sites. I would like to see them. What exactly is being proposed here? In the meantime, I will support the motion.”
“It is unfortunate now that Pearse, the other leaders, the young working-class men and women of the Citizen Army and the young volunteers went in and took on the empire. They knew the odds were stacked against them before they went in there, but they knew what they were doing. They were prepared to put their lives on the line, with all of the disruption and heartache that caused for their families and everything else. We are now prepared to allow that to be desecrated. To do so would be a national disgrace. We need to revisit the words of Pearse, Connolly, Mellows and people like them and bring a bit of reality back into this debate. Some things are more important than money. When I heard the term "mixed development" used, I recalled some of the most obnoxious developments I saw during the so-called Celtic tiger period.”
“The existing Bodenstown graveyard is owned by the county council. Beyond its walls, the land is private. Trying to commercialise Wolfe Tone, profit from the graveyard or turn it into any kind of commercial entity must not be allowed. It would be a disgrace if that happened. It is still not too late to call the children's hospital after Kathleen Lynn instead of giving it the crass name of "The Children's Hospital". What is next? Will we have a proposal to put McDonald's and Costa Coffee up on the Rock of Cashel? Are we going to have something like that? Pearse read the Proclamation from the steps of the GPO. I have no doubt he had an input into the wording. He also wrote poetry. In one of his poems, he wrote: "Mór mo náir: Mo chlann féin a dhíol a máthair." Some of us will remember the words of that poem, "Mise Éire".”
“I would be flexible enough regarding civic offices and some similar matters, provided there is a significant museum and cultural dimension to it and An Post retains its place there. As some Deputies said, it could also be used for artistic purposes. Some of those suggestions are well worth thinking about. It is now time to put a stop to all of this. I ask the Minister of State and the officials present to take note of what I have said about Bodenstown. Kildare County Council will say its job is to grant planning permission and not make a judgment on national monuments. However, the Government, which the Minister of State is a member of, has a responsibility to protect sites of national importance. The burial place of Wolfe Tone in Bodenstown is a national monument. I have checked this out.”
“Here we have a commercial development, with apparently some kind of commercial visitor centre, that is going to be landed adjacent to Bodenstown churchyard. To move on to the debate around the naming of the national children's hospital, Kathleen Lynn was a volunteer in the Irish Citizen Army in 1916. Despite all her work and what she dedicated her life to, it seems Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents in Government could not bring themselves to call the hospital after Kathleen Lynn. We make a bags of the children’s hospital and Bodenstown churchyard. The battlefield site on Moore Street is in decay and dereliction, and now we are going to commercialise the GPO further. I am all for using that large space purposefully.”
“It is a national disgrace that there will now be a commercial cemetery adjacent to it. It will not be called Bodenstown cemetery but Wolfe Tone cemetery. If I have the details right, the proposals include one that the closer a person is buried to the actual Bodenstown cemetery and the grave of Wolfe Tone, the dearer the burial plots will be. People can buy plots there but the highest prices will prevail. It will be an absolute disgrace if that happens. Bodenstown is a national monument. As the Minister of State knows, if I were to seek to build a house, cattle shed or something else close to a national monument, for example, a ring fort, or something less important than that, all sorts of conditions would be attached and I would not be allowed to do it.”
“I frame that in the context of the discussion here. When I first heard about this, I thought that this issue is not just about the GPO because the Moore Street sites have been allowed to fall into dereliction. Now the GPO is going to have increased commercialisation. There are plans for Bodenstown churchyard. I have been on to Kildare County Council and the Department of heritage about the plans to build a commercial graveyard beside it. Many Members go to Bodenstown churchyard every year under one guise or another. Different strands of Irish republicanism go there. Nobody and no political party has a monopoly on that. Bodenstown is another important site. The founding father of Irish republicanism is buried there and it is where the whole foundation of republicanism is honoured and remembered and where people recommit themselves to it.”
“They have their place, as do department stores, etc., but there are lots of such buildings around. I would not object to some of the proposals that have been made. Most people in this State are republicans to some degree. Most people aspire to a 32-County Republic. Most people take their cue from the 1916 Proclamation. There are elements of that Proclamation that are not yet implemented - that must be said. Having an enhanced museum at the GPO and using the site for artistic and cultural purposes should be explored. The Government and its agencies are renting and leasing buildings here, there and everywhere around the city. Could some of those, particularly those used by the Office of Public Works or for other similar functions, be partially located in the GPO? The national monument at the rear of Moore Street needs urgent action.”
“Some years ago, when I was only a number of months in the Dáil, Members went on a tour of the battlefield site around Moore Street. I was shocked to see the derelict state of the national monument and the terrace of houses along each side of it. The last meeting place of the Provisional Government was 14-17 Moore Street. It is a disgrace the way these buildings have been let fall into dereliction. Action should be taken on it immediately. It is a shame on all of us that this happened, but it is particularly a shame on the Department of culture and heritage under this and previous Governments. Retail space and commercialisation should not happen. The city centre is full of commercial space. It is full of Costa Coffee outlets, takeaways, McDonald's restaurants and everything else.”
“The GPO is also where RTÉ started off with Radio Éireann. It is hugely important. What is missing from the Government side is a bit of honesty around what is going to be defined as a commercial area. There is a small number of commercial units on one side of it, but we must be clear on what is being proposed. How many square metres are involved? Where is it to be located in the complex? Will it be a public-private partnership, PPP, as beloved by previous Governments? Will there be private sector involvement? They are the questions I have in this regard and I have not heard any of them being answered or coming up in the discussions. What we do know is that an English developer owns the site around the back of the GPO.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I commend Deputy Ó Snodaigh, who has not just introduced this proposal but over the years has done great work, as has his family, to make sure the cultural and historical heritage of Ireland and this city is maintained and enhanced. In the course of this debate we think about the sacrifices of those who fought in the GPO and the fact that Pearse read the Proclamation, an chéad Uachtarán Phoblacht na hÉireann, from the steps of the GPO on Easter Monday in 1916. All of that shows the historic nature of this building. As somebody from the country - a culchie - even when we were going to school we were always brought to see the GPO any time we came to Dublin. It has a special place in the hearts and minds of Irish people at home and abroad.”
“Planning permission has been granted. That project needs a sense of urgency now to ensure St. Francis School is able to take all those additional pupils in September 2026. The two modular classrooms are needed this September. Anything the officials can do to advance these projects would be welcome and appreciated by the boards of management, staff and parents.”
“Francis School in Portlaoise has been granted two modular classrooms. It has been approved. The work is due to start in a few weeks. I urge the departmental officials who are here to do everything they can to advance that and give it a sense of urgency. More children are coming in this year than going out. Mr. John Moran, the principal, and the staff are doing excellent work but they only have 12 classrooms for the 19 classes. The modular classrooms need to be completed to get them by this year. Four permanent classrooms have been granted planning permission and sanctioned by the Department. Again, that is welcome, but there will be a huge enrolment in September 2026 and St. Francis School needs the extra space to meet that. Four classrooms have been sanctioned. The work is ready to go and will soon need final sign-off.”
“I welcome the publication of the report. However, school places continue to be a major challenge in County Laois. New classes have been granted and I welcome that. New posts have been granted, but accommodation continues to be a problem and there is no timeline for delivery, despite classes being announced. Schools are asking where they can put the classes. Offices, little school libraries, which are generally small rooms, and storage areas, including cupboards, are being used as classrooms. Killeshin National School got two special classes. There are very positive staff there and a positive principal in Ms McGuill, but they are struggling now to try to get those classrooms on site and to get work done for September when the two new classes of children will land in on top of them. I welcome that St.”
“I raise the issue of students. It has been a bad couple of weeks for them. I listened carefully to the Minister's earlier answers. He framed this in the context of a once-off measure, as did the Minister, Deputy Lawless. However, the programme for Government states that the Government will continue to reduce student contribution fees over the lifetime of the Government, to ease the financial burden on students and families, at the start of each academic year - not some academic years. Some of the Government Deputies are jumping up and down about this as well. That is no harm but we need some real discussion about this because the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, is saying students will be deferring degrees as a result of this or even studying abroad. We are back to the €3,000 fees.”
“I recognise that there is a substantial degree of gang violence in the State and that this causes a serious threat to local communities, that it damages them and that it threatens people's safety. I understand that and it does need to be dealt with but other methods can be used. As I have said, a non-jury court should only be used where a court of law has decided it can be used. That decision should not be made by one person, the DPP. Methods such as courtroom screening and video evidence could also be used. Here we are again in a state of absolute paralysis. I would support new legislation in this area. As we improve, reform and modernise the policing service in the North and in the South, this is a necessary step to take. I am extremely disappointed that we are doing this. This is my 15th time to be in the House for these motions.”
“Another provision relates to conduct of an accused person implying or leading to a reasonable inference that he or she is a member of an illegal organisation. That is wide open. Associations on the part of the accused are also mentioned. That could mean anything. It could mean being at the same wedding as somebody else. Section 9 of the 1998 Act creates an offence of withholding information the accused knows might be of assistance. Again, this is all subjective. There are a number of dangers in there. Non-jury trials should only be used in the most exceptional circumstances. The recommendations of the review panel state that such a trial should not be authorised by one person, the DPP, as is currently the case, but rather it should be left to the judgment of a court.”
“The majority report of this panel recommended that the court should be abolished in its entirety and yet, two years later, here we are without any legislation having been brought forward by the Department or by the Government and without any credible alternative being put in place. I can see the need for a non-jury court in extreme and exceptional circumstances but let us look at the provisions of the legislation, which have been changed slightly over the years. On the provision regarding failure to answer a material question, in the past, people have been threatened with being sent to the Special Criminal Court in Green Street if they did not answer a question and told there was a van waiting for them outside. That is what people were told on some occasions.”
“Here we go again. We are back here again to renew outdated legislation that has been there since the Second World War and that is long past its best-by date. It is very disappointing to see another year has passed by with no movement on it. While it has always been claimed that the legislation is there for the protection of the State, it has also been used for political policing on occasion, although not always. Reform has been demanded for years and Amnesty International, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties and numerous others have highlighted the shortcomings of this legislation and how it can be misused. The Government put in place an expert panel in 2020 and this reported in 2023.”
“He said that in his view the law is clear and the Central Bank has to approve the prospectus for them. Does the Minister agree with him? Will the Government now back legislation in this House to stop the prospectus for the sale of Israeli war bonds?”
“The slaughter in Gaza continues. According to the UN today, more than 500 starving women, men and children have been mowed down by Israeli terrorists while queueing in desperation for food. There is a moral and political responsibility on us to do everything possible to put pressure on the terrorist Israeli state. Two weeks ago, the Government refused to do that by refusing to back the ending of the Central Bank approving the prospectus for the sale of Israeli war bonds. An Taoiseach said that the Central Bank does not approve the bonds but the Governor of the Central Bank, Gabriel Makhlouf, has contradicted this. He said that the Central Bank could decline to approve them if "national restrictive measures" were put in place. In other words, legislation.”
“Let us extend democracy and let us start fulfilling the promises of the Good Friday Agreement. Some of us supported that reluctantly back in 1997 and what was eventually put forward in 1998. We supported it on the basis that these all-Ireland dimensions would improve and expand. This is one practical step that we can take to do it. Nominally, we are supposed to be all agreed to it here, but I do not want to see it just be nominal. As somebody who passionately supports the reunification of the national territory, we need to be active about this. The Government has Opposition support this evening and we should do it sooner rather than later.”
“They do not have the right to vote for themselves, their families cannot vote for them and the communities they come from are refused that right. We cannot blame the British Government for this one. This is our job. The solution is here in this building, in this room and in Government Buildings. I am disappointed that I do not see it in the programme for Government. I am open to correction. I cannot find this in it. I was hoping it would be in the programme for Government. It is a matter of equality and democracy. We cannot have any more foot-dragging. The electoral register in the North is much improved and is probably more accurate than the one here at the moment. Polling stations could easily be put in a community centre in the larger towns. I think people would come out and vote in numbers.”
“There is more co-operation now through business, sports, culture, health, politics and the North-South Ministerial Council, which is meeting again. Hopefully its role expands and I welcome that that is happening. We saw a setback yesterday with the A5 motorway project. Unfortunately, that has been held up again. Hopefully, it will get started and that can be done. It is important for Tyrone, Derry and indeed Donegal. The Good Friday Agreement confirmed the right of Irish citizenship to everybody on the island of Ireland. We have had candidates from the North. We had Martin McGuinness, an excellent candidate from the Six Counties. We had Mary McAleese as President, who did a good job, and was open and inclusive in her outlook and approach.”
“I welcome this motion, as somebody who passionately believes in the national reunification, not unification, but reunification of the national territory. It is an important step forward and it is long overdue. There has been foot-dragging on this and we need a timeline for progress. National reunification is important. All parties nominally sign up to it. I believe we should do better and we should be proactive about it. The Taoiseach talks a lot about the shared island project. Let us share and extend democracy on the island. We have had Presidents Robinson, McAleese and Higgins. They have done great work and outreach to both communities and indeed all communities in the North, even the very small minority communities. Increasing numbers of citizens in the North are more open to all-Ireland co-operation.”
“One proper meal per day can make a major difference. There should be more home help staff and more flexibility in what they can do. There should be more public health nurses, who are fundamental in keeping people in their homes. Deputy O'Donnell, as Minister of State, will agree that loneliness is killing people. This is not something the Government can sort on its own. Whatever we can do through voluntary organisations and society as a whole, we should do it. We should send out the message that we need people to visit their elderly neighbours. I used to do it as a young person going to school. My mother used to send me to visit old people on my way home from school. If they needed kindling brought in for the fire, for example, I brought it in. It was just a matter of chatting to them for a few minutes.”
“One resident told HIQA that there were so many activities that they had not time to get bored, and that people were very happy and content. We must try to reduce dependency on nursing homes. Some people will have to go to a nursing home at some point, as most of us accept, although we hope it will never happen to us. Where we can at all support people at home, we must do it. Portlaoise meals on wheels is starting up again. We have had no meals on wheels in Portlaoise for four years. Again, if the Minister of State has any influence, he should note the service will need funding. We have secured a kitchen and I have some involvement with the project. We need the service up and running and more supports for meals on wheels.”
“It is clear that improvement plans agreed with HIQA and the HSE were not acted on. That is simply not good enough while we are depending on these nursing homes. I met HIQA representatives on the issue of possible penalties. HIQA can halt admissions, prosecute and deregister, and it has a complaints system. Ultimately, cases can be filed with An Garda Síochána, as has happened in this case. There is a report today on public nursing homes, one being in Mountmellick, County Laois. It is an old nursing home with a new wing being built onto it. If the Minister of State has any influence, he should push this on quicker. We need to get it opened. The nursing home received a glowing report. There were a few minor points here and there – nowhere will ever be perfect – but, overall, I could describe the report only as “glowing”.”
“The company in question breached the admission ban and continued to admit people after February even though it was told by HIQA not to. The time for change is long overdue. I welcome the fact the issues at The Residence have been referred to An Garda Síochána. In this regard, HIQA has questions to answer. Whistleblowers' complaints were not acted on for two years. Not until we saw the RTÉ exposé did we start to become acquainted with these issues. There were 40 notifications of alleged abuse to HIQA in 18 months. What happened with those 40 notifications? What action was taken on them? There seems to have been very little. There was a five-month gap between some of the inspections in The Residence despite many problems piling up. There was no action taken on that.”
“I welcome this opportunity to address the issue of nursing homes. I am aware the Minister of State has taken an interest in it but there are major issues to be addressed. In this regard, I must raise the over-reliance on private nursing homes with him. It has increased. That 80% of nursing homes are now private has skewed things and left us at the mercy of the private sector. Unfortunately, some in the sector will abuse their position. We have seen terrifying examples of this in recent weeks. The incidents of neglect and abuse have been well aired and I am not going to go over them again. I went over them previously in the Chamber. Despite the improvement plans and commitments given to both HIQA and the families, particularly regarding the residents in Portlaoise, they were not followed through on.”
“The best we can hope for, with the figures coming through at the moment, is to stand still. Standing still is not good enough and we have to do better. Life expectancy is becoming longer and we will have a lot more older people, including a lot more over-80s. We need to work better at this and try to have more directly employed GPs to supplement ordinary general practice ones in the State.”
“I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. I acknowledge there are more training places but, as he correctly pointed out, it will take time for them to work through. The one thing we need to do better on is the retention of those who are coming out of courses. I have outlined to the Taoiseach the idea of directly employing GPs, which the Tánaiste said he is in favour of. It was a key part of Sláintecare. We should remember it was agreed in the Oireachtas nearly eight years ago. Primary care and community care are absolutely central to the implementation of Sláintecare and are the cornerstone of a public health system. We must try to do better on that if we are to improve things. There needs to be a big shift of healthcare from hospitals to primary care settings. Our hospital wards are overcrowded and our emergency departments are bulging.”
“Many of those trained GPs would be more likely to remain if they could work in a 35 to 40 hour week job, particularly a lot of women who are coming into it - more women are coming in and that is welcome - because, unfortunately, they tend to have more home and caring responsibilities. As a society, we have more work to do in that area. The number of training places needs to be increased substantially. When young GPs qualify, the HSE needs to actively recruit them and offer them permanent positions.”