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 do not, despite the fact that we pump in more money. One of the reasons is the layers of bureaucracy and management. The system was created by the then Minister for Health, Micheál Martin, but we cannot go backwards. We have to move forward. The other thing is that private companies are milking money out of the system left, right and centre. There was an agency secretary employed for almost seven years by the HSE. As we know, agency staff cost more. Eventually, the secretary was employed as a direct employee. That is just one example of where direct employment was cheaper. We need action. We do not need another Department. We have the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform and the Office of Government Procurement.”
“We have a mixture of voluntary, private and public in health - a mishmash. Again, I watched what was going on at the HSE over the past five years through the Committee of Public Accounts and tried to make some sense of it. This country puts more than €5,000 per person into the public health system annually. That is fine and we should do that. If we include the cost of what people pay privately, it is heading for €7,000 per head of population. There are countries in Europe with good economies and a high quality of living that have walk-in health systems, which do not have the years of waiting lists we have. It is four years for a hearing test or hearing treatment and four years for an eye test. I could go on and on, for example, it is two and a half to three years for a hip replacement. These countries have good public health systems.”
“The Minister of State credits himself with getting things done. I will hold him to that, which I mean in a positive way. We need to get things done. The Minister of State has a role in respect of the OPW. There is some scandalous waste of money at the OPW but I also acknowledge the good work it does. I can list some of the projects in County Laois that the OPW oversees, including Heywood Gardens and Emo Demesne. I could list many more, including oversight of monuments, etc., and the good work that is done there. Good work is done but there are deficiencies that need to be fixed. I will focus on the HSE. This is a very important issue. As I understand it, all parties in the House signed up to Sláintecare, which is the creation of a national health system for the first time in the more than 100 years of the State's existence.”
“We need new health centres all over the place. We do not even have a primary care centre in Portlaoise, which is a town with a population bigger than Kilkenny city, because of this kind of waste of money and incompetence. We should have good public services and we should spend money on them. The public will back that. The public generally has no problem paying tax. I do not want to speak for all of them, but certainly the people I come across and those who vote for me do not mind paying taxes. However, they want to see that they have health services, school places for their child who has autism, and affordable housing for their children to buy. That is what we need. The debate is welcome but it cannot just be a debate where we get up and say, "That is grand. We had a good discussion here today." There has to be action.”
“Some of the stuff I saw during my time as chairperson of the Committee of Public Accounts was absolutely shocking. There were open-ended, Wild West-type contracts in respect of the national children's hospital, which were wide open to exploitation, and thousands of claims by the contractor for more money, in addition to arbitration, court cases, etc. On metro north and the metro projects in Dublin, and this is one that defies me, how can hundreds of millions of euro be spent on a project when not even a shovel has been stuck in the ground? That money went to the private sector. This is astronomical stuff. Projects are being held up in the Minister of State's constituency of Longford-Westmeath, and in the constituency of Laois, because money is wasted on stuff relating to the national children's hospital.”
“This debate is welcome. However, the motion has a whiff of populism about it. As somebody who comes from a left, republican position, I believe in good public services, but I also believe in spending public money very well. We need to stop waste. Although those of us on the left advocate spending public money and creating good public services, it does not mean that we support wasting public money. That is the difference. Every euro of taxpayers' money has to be spent well. However, bringing in an Elon Musk or Michael O'Leary to run the show and oversee it will bring chaos. We are watching that in one of the largest economies in the world, never mind the chaos it would cause in our small country. The examples of waste are shocking. We can list off a dozen, including the security hut.”
“The organisation needs €60,000 a month to keep going for the next five months or so. That is the same cost as the bicycle shed in this complex. The more than €300,000 spent on it would keep SOSAD going.”
“The programme for Government sets out to improve mental health services. The SOSAD, Save our Sons and Daughters, organisation provides vital services and is running out of cash. It has made representations to try to move forward. It provides counselling, support and mental health services. It only has enough money to keep going for a number of weeks. In 2024, it provided services for 1,114 clients. In County Laois, it supported 229 people, with 2,891 hours of services. This is a vital service. It takes referrals from a number of bodies, including the HSE. It is made up mainly of volunteers and has only 16 full-time staff nationally. It is trying to get a service level agreement in place. The Minister for Health is here today. Perhaps she will address this issue.”
“We have beef and dairy, which are thriving at the moment. There is a view that it is maybe thriving too much. My concern is that we are overreliant on it and while it is great that it is there, there is a vulnerability there. We need to take a stronger look at the tillage sector. During the Minister's term as Minister for both agriculture and food, he should be cognisant of that and should take that into consideration. We need to protect the suckler cow scheme, which is important, including in County Laois. There has been a commitment to improve the supports and I hope that will continue for both the quality of the herd and some of the reasons mentioned already, such as the sustainability of the family farm.”
“If you have beet this year, you will know that whatever you sow next year in the same ground will prosper in it. Anybody connected with the farming sector knows it. It needs to have a second product coming out of it; sugar alone will not do it. I understand the economics of that but bioethanol and other components can be extracted from it as well. It is important to not give up on it. As for flour, we have gone from being able to sustain ourselves with flour. I discovered, as did a lot of the population, that when the beast from the east came a few years ago, we almost ran out of flour in three days. We cannot have a situation like that in an island economy. While I understand we have a wettish climate, the eastern side of the country is well fit to grow wheat. There needs to be a re-emphasis on that and about the tillage sector overall.”
“It is not big in my neck of the woods - County Laois - but it is really important for sustainability and other good reasons that we try to enlarge the sector. The other area I want to mention briefly is the sugar beet industry. You may say it has gone and the Minister, Deputy Heydon, will be aware of the efforts to restart it, particularly close to where he and I live, on the borders of the three counties of Carlow, Kildare and Laois. It was a huge loss to Laois, Carlow and other counties. It may be gone but we should not give up on it. It is a great sustainable crop that is brilliant for soil nutrition and soil quality. As Teagasc and the farmers will tell you, that is lost. Soil quality is not as good now where you grow grain year after year.”
“We have to protect that. It is important we continue to take a strong position on Mercosur. Organic farming is a niche area but needs to move beyond that. Around 2% of our farming is organic. Compare that with some of our European counterparts. In Austria 36% of sheep are grazed on organic pastures, while 22% of dairy cows in Austria are grazed on organic pastures and 18% in Sweden. It can be done. They are fairly similar countries with fairly similar climates. That needs to be taken into consideration. The scheme has reopened, as I understand. We need to boost that and have a larger share of our produce coming from organic. The Minister does not need me to tell him the horticultural sector is in danger at the moment.”
“Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Aire agus an Aire Stáit. Go n-eirí libh. I hope they do well in the posts. They have a lot of responsibility to take on. It is important the Government take a firm position on the Mercosur deal. There is the weight of the Germans, the German car industry and other more industrialised countries on the other side. It is important the Irish representatives at European meetings take a strong position and combine with those countries that have a strong agricultural base, like France. To be shipping beef from one side of the world to the other when we are talking about reducing carbon emissions is absolute lunacy. Why clear rainforests to rear beef when there is space in this country to rear beef more sustainably on green grass in fields with ditches around them and hedgerows? It is a no-brainer.”
“That is what I got in reply to a parliamentary question. What is the position regarding this? Will the Minister speak with the Minister responsible to try to have it included in the new review of the NDP?”
“I wish to raise the issue of the relief road for Mountmellick, which is long-promised. It has been promised for years. Traffic volumes have increased. More than 8,500 vehicles go through the centre of the town every day. A lot of that traffic is HGVs going from the west of Ireland and the midlands to the port of Rosslare. A feasibility study has been carried out at a cost of more than €100,000 and a preferred route has been selected. This road would shorten journey times, reduce carbon emissions and reduce congestion in the town. The Tánaiste, who is not here, and Deputy Aird promised this during the election campaign. I hoped they would be here, but it was promised that this would be moved forward. According to TII, this road is not included among the projects identified for development during the period of the current NDP.”
“There must be proper co-ordination with the National Council for Special Education, otherwise the fragmentation and inefficiency in the system will cause such problems. The bottom line is that I am asking the Minister and the Minister of State to grant the two modular classrooms for St. Francis School.”
“As the Minister will be aware, if a child is not accessing school at that crucial point in their development they are missing out on education and therapy, especially if the child has special needs. The parents are at their wits' end. They are suffering extreme stress and worry from being told their child cannot be accommodated. The principal and staff at St. Francis School do not want to turn anyone away. It breaks their heart but they have to do it. They need these extra classrooms. I appeal to the Minister and Minister of State to approve the two modular classrooms. There is money to do so. It is also important we consider children with special needs who are going into post-primary school this September who do not have places. The lack of forward planning of previous Governments has had a huge impact.”
“The management and staff of the school have proposed two modular classrooms be provided. There is space onsite for it. I have been there twice with the principal and members of the board of management to look at this. The shortage of places and suitable accommodation is preventing children with additional needs getting their education. St. Francis School has 12 children leaving this June but it has 45 children already assessed as being in need of attending the school. The maths are easy on this. There are about 33 children who do not have a place and I have letters from them. A letter came in this morning from Kristina about this. She cannot get her child in there.”
“Comhghairdeas to the Minister and Minister of State on their appointments. They have a big job ahead of them and I wish them well in it. The right of every child to access an education system is a fundamental one and the children in Laois and those attending St. Francis School in Portlaoise are no different from those anywhere else in the country. The school has 119 children with complex needs attending it and this school serves all of the county. There are 17 classes in what is a 12-classroom school. It is a newish school but it was too small the day it was built. The school has been promised four new classrooms and these are in planning at the moment, but there are going to take some time. It could take a few years and we need a shorter-term solution.”
“Marguerite and Tim Drennan, who are the parents of this young man, are looking for that. I am begging the Minister of State to do this, as are other people around the country. We need to change that.”
“There was a large protest march in Mountrath last Sunday and another one is planned for Camross this coming Sunday. The DPP is now going to appeal the decision, which is welcome. Hopefully, it will be successful but we need to change the nonsense of concurrent sentences as opposed to consecutive sentences. There cannot be a complete overlap. That is the problem here. This was somebody who was facing firearms charges and had 46 previous convictions. He mowed down a young chap coming home from work standing at a bus stop but will not have to serve an extra hour in prison for it. I am appealing to the Minister of State, who is a new Minister, to take this on board, speak to his colleagues in Government about it and put a proper framework for sentencing in place. It is key.”
“An Garda Síochána is taking some welcome initiatives, including using HGV vehicles for surveillance where gardaí can see into cars and see whether people are on Facebook or checking out somebody who is at the hairdressers or the races instead of driving the car. These issues must be addressed. Education is important as well. Some of this should be done in transition year. Joe Drennan, a young man who came from the town of Camross near Mountrath, was mowed down at a bus stop in Limerick on 13 October 2023. As things stand, the driver of that car will serve no time in prison for it. There has been a major campaign over the past few weeks since the judge handed down the sentence. Thankfully, that has changed. The Director of Public Prosecutions has been lobbied intensely on it.”
“The Government needs to get it across to the Garda Commissioner that this needs to happen so that gardaí are able to carry out random checks on rural roads and we have enough gardaí to do it. In 2024, 174 people lost their lives on Irish roads, with 69% of these fatalities occurring on the roads we are talking about, so there is a particular need for radical change in how we address the situation on rural roads. The use of mobile phones is completely out of control. I have been raising this issue for 14 years. Drink and drug statistics are showing a rise again, unfortunately. Garda presence is also an issue.”
“Speed limit signage will be changed or replaced with new speed limits but I am not that confident they will do the job that is needed. Will the change of the rural speed sign from five stripes to a smaller number work? Even more worryingly, are people even aware of what the signs mean? I have asked several qualified drivers but they do not have a clue, so this is a significant issue. Would it not be better to just put numbers on them such as 50, 60, 70 or 80 km? Would that not make more sense? Who was the genius who came up with the stripes? It is a bad idea that lacks effectiveness. Signs are useless without enforcement. There need to be random Garda checks. They do not have to be there all day because word gets around on Facebook fairly quickly. There needs to be spot checks for 20 minutes or half an hour in different rural locations.”
“New speed limits were introduced on 7 February. We all hope this will be a significant step in the right direction, particularly in introducing improvements in road safety and, most important, reducing road fatalities and serious injuries, most of which can be life-changing. All one has to do is take a look at the number of people being sent to the National Rehabilitation Centre in Dún Laoghaire following significant injuries. As part of the broader initiative, it is hoped that this change will make an impact, particularly on rural roads. Many drivers are travelling at speeds way over the limit on small rural roads. Anybody who canvassed in rural areas last year will have seen the speed at which people travel.”
“The workers will be balloted for strike action if the sale goes ahead. I am asking the Tánaiste to intervene and to speak directly with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, who is the sole shareholder on behalf of the public who own it, to intervene and halt the sale of this strategic State asset.”
“The proposed sale of Bord na Móna's recycling and waste management businesses, including the facility at Kyletalesha, Portlaoise, to a private company must be halted. If it goes ahead, it will mean the transfer of a large recycling and waste recovery business, which will go from public ownership into the hands of a private investor. That will create a whole new situation for the workforce and customers. The workforce is supposed to be receiving guarantees but the Tánaiste and I both know that terms and conditions cannot be maintained a year, two years or three years into the future by a private company. The proposed sale is to KWD Recycling, an unlimited company that does not have to publish annual accounts. SIPTU has called for a halt because the sale would be counter to economic and environmental best practice.”
“That is how we delivered them in the 1930s and the 1970s. I am not arguing we should go back to 1970s- or 1930s-type housing, but what we can do is take the best examples and use them. I ask the Government to do that.”
“This needs to be increased and enforced to have a real effect. Regarding social and affordable housing, we need to speed up all form of delivery, including by the and private sector. That is why I mentioned the zoned land tax. For affordable and social housing we need to mass produce homes. I took this up with the senior staff in the Department of housing and local government during the previous Dáil. The Secretary General will say that standardised interior designs are being used. That is fine but if we are going to mass produce something, we need to bring down costs and speed up delivery. Anyone who has ever produced anything will tell you that what you do is mass produce. Do the people in Donegal really care if the house they are living in is going to look like one in counties Wexford or Laois or anywhere else?”
“The Minister of State and his colleagues in government will find this out as the weeks and months go by. A very small number of them are coming onstream in County Laois and only a handful of cost rentals. However, this is nowhere near enough to meet the demand in towns such as Mountmellick, Portarlington, Abbeyleix, Mountrath, Portlaoise and Graiguecullen. We need to speed up deliver and reduce costs. A lot of good proposals have been made this morning. I want to mention two briefly. The vacant site tax of 7% is not being implemented and it is not effective. It needs to be increased and acted upon. I do not support the zoned land tax on active farmland but a levy of 3% for zoned land tax is a laugh, for God's sake. It is simply not enough to incentivise people to not sit on land.”
“I welcome this very important motion from the Labour Party. What we have had is the Government hoodwinking and misleading the people during the election campaign on a number of issues but spectacularly on housing. People were told that 40,000 homes would be delivered in 2024 when in fact the number was going to be 30,000. The facts were there to prove that. We have to increase supply. It must be doubled to meet demand and prices need to be brought down. The affordable home purchase scheme is in need of major reform. The terms of the scheme need to be more favourable for buyers and the supply needs to be increased. The structure of the scheme also needs to be changed because the approved housing bodies, AHBs, are not showing an interest in it.”
“That is the lowest rate. You would have to be on the side of the road before you would get a medical card at that rate. That needs to be increased. We need to move to Sláintecare and a proper universal healthcare system. That is what we signed up to. I could talk about other things, such as the ambulance service. There is a commitment to improve it, which I welcome, but that needs to be acted on urgently because it is taking up to two hours or more for ambulances to get to some rural areas. In some places, it is three or four hours.”
“Children who are supposed to be seen in second and third class in primary school are being seen in third and fourth year in secondary school. Some miss out completely and never get to see a dentist during their time in school. The school dental scheme needs to be massively upgraded. On the dental treatment services scheme, DTSS, while there was renegotiation with those providing dental services, I hate to tell the Minister of State that the fact is there is no dentist in County Laois. I do not want to be too local about it, but I am using that example because it is what I know about. There is no dentist in County Laois who will take on a new client under the DTSS scheme for those people who are on medical cards. There is no commitment to increase the threshold for full medical card cover. It is still €269 for a couple.”
“Physical infrastructure is needed, as are GPs. We do not have the GPs. The programme for Government references increasing the number of GP places, but we must recruit some directly employed GPs to staff primary care centres. Private GPs will do the work. I accept that and they do a good job, but we need a cohort of private GPs if we are to move towards a proper universal healthcare system, as envisaged in Sláintecare, which the Minister's party and every other party in this Chamber signed up to. We need to do that. We are in the Third World category as regards dental treatment. The programme for Government mentions extending free dental care to more children but in County Laois, children are not being seen.”
“I will focus on health in the short time I have. I read the programme for Government document with interest. As the area of health is obviously extremely important, I want to focus on that. The programme for Government references a universal healthcare mission but from reading the pages attached to that, it is anything but universal healthcare. It cannot be delivered based on what is on those pages because there is no commitment to it there. It references developing healthcare networks in communities but that cannot be done because we do not have the health centres or primary care centres. Portlaoise town, a town of 40,000 people, does not have a primary care centre or a proper health centre. Smaller towns such as Mountrath, Borris-in-Ossory, Rathdowney and Graiguecullen need new or upgraded health centres.”
“I spoke to the Minister for Transport about this and I have a reply from the Department here. The Minister for Transport said that the Department is committed to carrying out an independent assessment on the feasibility of removing the exclusion of drivers over 70 years of age from the school transport scheme. The assessment is a medical test. It is very simple. I had it recently because I have a HGV and a bus licence. Once they pass it, that is it; they are fit to drive.”
“The programme for Government commits to a review of the school transport scheme. The biggest obstacle within that scheme at the moment is the ban on drivers over 70. We have the ludicrous situation where such drivers cannot drive a minibus bringing ten pupils to school under the school transport scheme but later in the day they can drive a 72-seater bus full of children to the local swimming pool or on a bus tour to Dublin, Cork or Killarney. This is a crazy situation. Many of these drivers depend on this part-time work to supplement their pension income and operators are at their wits' end trying to recruit drivers. They have to let these people go when they reach 70. Once drivers pass the eyesight and medical tests, they should be allowed to continue.”
“We must ban trade in services as well; there can be no backsliding on that. Fianna Fáil gave a commitment to act in 2019 when it introduced a similar Bill. Prior to the recent election, both Micheál Martin and Simon Harris expressed their support for it. Now, apparently, they are changing their mind. The apartheid regime in South Africa was brought to its knees through sanctions. We should do the same with Israel in respect of goods coming from the occupied territories.”
“The Government of Israel must be forced to face the consequences of its terrorist actions. This State must play its part. We have to stand up this time for humanity and for the right reasons. The International Court of Justice ruled that all states should not "[enter] into economic or trade dealings with Israel... [concerning the] Occupied Palestinian Territory or parts thereof which may entrench [Israel's] unlawful presence in the territory". That is very clear. Senator Frances Black introduced the Bill that needs to be passed back in 2018. That is seven years ago. We need to move on with it. Seven years later, we cannot keep fooling around about it. The Bill must be passed now. It will ban all trading of goods and services from the occupied Palestinian territories.”
“The occupied territories Bill must be passed as a matter of urgency. We need to stop the fooling around about it. The terrorist State of Israel has carried out a campaign of genocide against the Palestinian people. There are almost 50,000 dead in Gaza alone, an estimated 10,000 buried beneath the rubble, hundreds of thousands of people injured and lives ruined. Most of Gaza lies in ruins, including schools, hospitals, homes, other buildings and infrastructure. Having reluctantly agreed to a ceasefire, the Israeli Government of Netanyahu expressed its intentions to restart the campaign of slaughter and destruction at the first opportunity it gets. In reality, of course, it never stopped. The terrorist state continues its war on the people of the West Bank, as we have seen in recent days.”
“Those staff have been depleted in county councils over the years, with work being farmed out to private contractors. Senior council staff tell me the Department will sanction clerical officers and all kinds of indoor staff and pen pushers but it will not sanction outdoor staff. I want the Minister of State to take that on board. This is the real problem. There is only a handful of outdoor staff in most of the municipal districts. Building standards must be improved. We need to look at the roofs we are putting on houses. Some roofs blew off like pieces of paper. We will need more robust roofs and housing structures in the future. Compensation needs to be paid where homes are damaged.”
“When the storm has died down, we should be able to reopen these critically important facilities. The ESB responded very well but it does not have the outdoor staff it had 30 or 40 years ago. The outdoor staff have been depleted and the ESB is dependent on contractors. Earlier today in the Chamber, I heard the Tánaiste listing all the countries from which we have brought in people to help us out. We used to have a bigger outdoor staff, which might have better catered to this emergency. With privatisation, we are relying on contractors, who will come if it suits them and will not come if it does not suit them. Councils have done great work. Laois County Council did great with 50 outdoor staff. There used to be multiples of that number of outdoor staff.”
“The effects of the storm in County Laois were severe, with hundreds of roads blocked and trees down. I acknowledge the work of the ESB staff, the outdoor staff of Laois County Council, the volunteers in Laois Civil Defence and all the others who played a role in dealing with the emergency situation. Lessons must be learned. The grid needs to be upgraded but some parties in this House are talking out of both sides of their mouth in this regard. On the one hand, they talk about upgrading the grid, yet they oppose the upgrading of main lines and action on lines that need to be replaced. They cannot have it both ways. We need backup generators in key facilities, including health centres, schools and other places, in order that we can continue to operate.”
“Instead, we are a muddling along with the inefficient two-tier system we have. There is no sign of the system that has been in place in most European countries for the past 60, 70 or 80 years. Hundreds of thousands of people will continue to languish on hospital waiting lists and waiting for appointments. Schoolchildren who should have a dental check-up in third or fourth class in primary school are instead having one in fourth, fifth or sixth year in secondary school. This is happening in County Laois. It is an absolute scandal. The dental treatment services scheme will continue to be non-existent in many counties, including Laois, because private dentists will not operate the scheme. The Taoiseach must get it into his head that public dentists have to be hired within the HSE system. That is the only way the service can be provided.”
“Where is the massively expanded affordable housing scheme for those middle-income families that desperately need it? Where is the commitment to drive on with cost-rental schemes to provide homes for those low-paid workers who are just above the income limit for social housing? It is very important that this is addressed. Last year, the then Minister for housing, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, promised that up to 40,000 - the figure was at least in the high 30,000s - new homes would be finished. What happened? We had 30,000 new homes finished, which was 3,000 fewer than in 2022. In health there is no evidence of a commitment or determination to get a national health system in place, as envisaged under Sláintecare, which was put in place back in 2016 or 2017. There are no timelines to put that system in place.”
“I congratulate the Taoiseach on his appointment. We now have a new Government but we have a new Government of two old conservative parties and one regional group. The two Civil War parties are united now like never before. The problem is that nothing separates them, except one letter; they are FF and FG. The Government's first action was to create more jobs for the boys - the girls seem to have been forgotten - and to suspend the Dáil yet again until 5 February. We now have a programme for Government which, on the big issues facing workers and families, fails. For example, on housing where is the rent freeze that hundreds of thousands of people across the State need so badly? There are not even effective rent controls. We are going to have a rent register instead.”