Cathy Bennett
Cavan-Monaghan · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“It is important that we are having this discussion but that we will have many more discussions that must be had if we want to achieve a united Ireland in a planned and structured way.”
“I welcome this debate on the financial implications of a united Ireland. I acknowledge that the Tánaiste and so many other Members in this House see its merits in the future. I would have hoped that in this House we would at least have moved past the time of framing this without casting a value judgment.”
“As a person from a Border county, the North should never have been treated any differently from Cork, Kerry or Dublin. Irish unity is an opportunity to move beyond very real consequences that were inflicted upon the North, by a dysfunctional British State, and one that is totally disinterested in the needs of our people.”
“Most recently, we had a situation whereby the Government's refusal to adequately fund our schools led to cuts being imposed on every Government Department. If the Government wishes to work towards truly free education and to avoid being the cause of stress and financial hardship in the year ahead, there are a few things it should do.”
“The idea that education in Ireland is free at any level is a myth, whether it is the so-called voluntary contributions or a student contribution fee that costs more even though the Government claims it is reduced. It is utterly galling for hard-pressed families who shell out hundreds or even thousands of euro a year.”
“I welcome that we have recently seen progress on a number of important measures relating to domestic abuse, but what is of crucial importance is that we get the legislation and policy right.”
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“In my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, the Government has sent incredibly mixed messages about whether or when it intends to live up to its commitment to deliver a refuge in both counties or expects it to only happen in one county with the other still being one of the nine counties without a domestic violence refuge. All the while, we hear many policy announcements on various legislative matters, but a year into the Government, I have yet to see one related legislative measure fully pass through these Houses. Where in the name of God is the delivery of the promised plan to deliver childcare capped at €200 per month within the first 100 days of Government.”
“We have only to look around the Chamber, outside it perhaps, to debate this, to get fair representation of the progress being made in striving for a truly equal society. I welcome the Government's commitment to zero tolerance of domestic and gender-based violence. However, the strategy was adopted in 2022 and is due to run until the end of this year. I am not sure I see the progress to zero tolerance. I remain unconvinced the Government will reach its commitment to double the number of refuge spaces available to those fleeing domestic and gender-based violence. I have yet to hear the Government acknowledge that the target is an ambition that would see us with only half the number of spaces mandated under the Istanbul Convention.”
“International Women's Day can and does mean different things to people. For my part, I have always seen value where celebration is productive and furthers the cause, rights or conditions of women or children or our understanding of these. It is also appropriate to reflect on, commemorate and educate people about the women who have gone before us whose contribution to society and our communities has gone unmarked and uncelebrated or whose contributions may have been entirely unknown about or misattributed through ignorance or design. What I cannot abide, however, is pithy backslapping for the sake of it. While significant progress has been made in Ireland in the last century, there is little celebration in the bar being raised from the floor.”
“I urge the Minister and Ministers of State to engage with the Irish Postmasters' Union; change tack and finally recognise the value of our local post offices and fund them appropriately so that they can continue to operate.”
“The IPU warned only late last year that without additional support, up to 40% of remaining post offices will be shut. I commend the union because for years now, it has not only been highlighting the grave threats posed to the viability of our local post offices but has made extensive suggestions as to how their futures can be secured by outlining how they could innovatively offer enhanced and even greater services to their local communities, which that have often seen a lack of inward investment in public services. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are a uniparty of rural closures, and we know that. The very least they could do is support the post offices to offset the worst impacts of the lack of investment in rural Ireland.”
“The Minister and Minister of State have admitted that post offices provide vital services in our communities and support local economies. However, there has been a spate of closures in recent years. Over the past decade, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have operated hand in glove together in government. We have seen the closure of more than 250 post offices, predominantly in the rural communities. This does madden rural communities, in particular, many of whom have seen schools and Garda stations shut, accident and emergency departments close and other services stripped from their local hospitals. The question for the Government, the Minister and Ministers of State is: do they find this objectionable and, if so, what are they going to do about it?”
“The Government should commit to abandoning the debacle-laden review, publishing a comprehensive SNA workforce development plan, developing a genuine partnership with SNAs and their unions, and implementing a fair and transparent SNA redeployment scheme to provide job security for existing SNAs to retain their invaluable experience within the school system. That is what recognition of hurt the Government has caused actually looks like, and it is so familiar to all the SNAs who are protesting this evening for that very reason.”
“They deserve better than the Government spinning a review to provide cover for a quieter climbdown in a few weeks or in the mistaken hope it might succeed in getting this over the line at a later point. What they deserve is to have the Government now clearly, categorically and without equivocation address and resolve the hurt the Minister and Minister of State have caused. Sinn Féin's motion last night offered every Member of the House the opportunity to apologise to every school, SNA and family impacted.”
“The Minister may want to try to deflect from her statement today but Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are responsible for the SNA crisis. It is of their own making and is compounded by their chaotic, uncertain handling of the mess. Letters did go out. It would be something if they recognised the distress caused to parents, children and SNAs, held their hands up, recognised their mistake and apologised. They should not try to blame the NCSE. It is not its fault; the Minister is in charge. She should apologise and make clear to the schools facing cuts to their SNA allocation that these will not go ahead. However, the Government chooses to further compound the cruelty with a review of a review, with no date for when this will be completed. Parents, children, SNAs and teachers are expected to pick up the slack.”
“I thank the Minister and welcome it. If you require the State-backed loans, are these available to everybody in rural Ireland and has rural Ireland applied for these grants in large numbers before? Another issue I have is of a household that had received a SEAI grant previously for cavity bead insulation 30 years ago. Are people like this allowed to go again and reapply for the new upgrades?”
“I thank the Minister. He has basically answered the next questions I had for him. I am delighted that the grants will be upfront, and people will not have to provide the money. That is what he said. That is correct. There will also be no loans required. People will not require a loan in order to get the grant. It will be paid upfront, and people can go to get their windows or doors, or whatever retrofitting is required. Is that correct?”
“Will the Minister provide an update on SEAI grants, the length of time applicants will have to apply for these grants and how the scheme will work up terms in relation to upfront payments and reimbursement?”
“Yet, rather than having something to show for it, incidence rates continue to rise. The European Union has pulled funding from the eradication programme, having lost faith in the Government's ability to achieve reduced rates of TB. While the EU can lose faith in the Irish Government, take its money - or, more correctly, our money - and walk away, farmers facing TB breakdown cannot walk away. Those dealing with ash dieback cannot walk away. I ask the Minister to take on board these points and bring a renewed focus to his work on biosecurity more generally.”
“We need the Government to raise the issue at EU level so that animal health certification can be amended to reflect the fact the virus is in both jurisdictions on this island. We need to see the scaling up of testing so that we have an idea of where the virus is ahead of the warmer months. There is an absolute need to ensure adequate availability of vaccines and for the Government to partner with farmers in respect of the financial costs. The Government must put in place a workable framework and allow farmers to do what they need to do. That has not always been the case when it comes to biosecurity. When we look at the TB programme, for which farmers pay levies and contribute labour, the total value of their contribution is in the tens of millions per year, alongside more again in taxpayer funding.”
“Biosecurity incidents have the potential to devastate farm enterprises. Our farmers do their utmost, investing their own time and labour and complying with biosecurity restriction in order to best avoid outbreaks of TB, avian influenza or any other similar threats. Has the Minister examined if bluetongue can spread in deer? It is crucial to the State that he do so because wider outbreaks have the potential to devastate entire sectors. It is equally crucial that the State live up to its obligations and have in place a workable framework for farmers to allow them to succeed. In all instances, we should be tackling biosecurity on an all-island basis. To do otherwise would go against common sense, and that is clearly the case for bluetongue. There are a number of things we need to see from the Government.”
“This legislation shows that when we are united, we can take appropriate action and do so at a pace that is comparable with the threat. There are many issues of domestic and gender-based violence on which we are largely agreed action needs to be taken. Sinn Féin remains committed to working with the Government and Opposition parties on matters such as the establishment of a register of domestic abusers and the provision of refuge spaces in every county. These are just two of the issues that we can work on together. Let us all try to bring an enhanced pace of action to those pressing matters on which we are agreed.”
“The actions taken in recent weeks by some individuals regarding Grok AI were deplorable and a response from this House is absolutely necessary. This Bill will address the lacuna that exists within current legislation to cover the generation of intimate images through the use of AI. Zero tolerance should mean that where new issues or threats arise or are identified, action is taken in a timely manner. This is straightforward legislation and I commend my party colleagues, Deputies Carthy and Devine, for bringing it forward. I also commend the Government for not opposing it. These events also highlight a broader issue in terms of our response. Our approach to the regulation of AI cannot simply be responsive or reactionary. We should not be waiting until harm is done before we see intervention or regulation.”
“It will not address concerns as to the impact the measures will have on the civil legal aid scheme or on Tusla, which is already stretched to breaking point. It will do none of that. These are all measures the Government could have taken but did not. They are things it could do now without legislating for the pact but it is not doing so. This Bill is not the solution to the problems faced by our international protection system. It is the Minister throwing in the towel and saying he is not up to the job. It will, however, do one job. It will give Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael a handy scapegoat for ongoing failures. It will do so at the expense of the Irish taxpayer and Irish sovereignty, and that is utterly shameful.”
“Yet, we hear talk of sovereignty from the Government today when it is choosing, needlessly and basely, to abdicate that sovereignty to Europe in respect of international protection. The only explanation I can see is that the Minister thinks it will hereafter be a politically convenient excuse to blame Europe for the farce of his own making. The adoption of the pact by way of this Bill will not in itself address issues in terms of capacity or quality of accommodation, the standard of which has failed for decades to meet the threshold of human dignity. It will not address the delays in decision-making or the lack of enforcement should a person be deemed not to be entitled to international protection.”
“Instead, it is choosing to tie the hands of future governments and expose Ireland to fines when it inevitably fails to meet the pact requirements. The Minister will say, as he said to Deputy Carthy, that there is nothing he can do. In fact, he has chosen to have no choice. All the while, his party leader, the Taoiseach, has a new-found passion for sovereignty while discussing gutting the neutrality protection provided by the triple lock. There is no talk of sovereignty from Fianna Fáil while ceding sovereignty to Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, investor courts. There is no talk of sovereignty from the benches opposite when the Government uses the European Union as an excuse as to why it refuses to economically sanction Israel for genocide.”
“However, the vast majority of the pact will not solve the issues we face. If a legal requirement solved Government failures, we would not have the scandalous backlog it is overseeing in terms of assessment of needs. If a legal requirement would address the incompetence of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, I would propose there be such a requirement regarding the number of members of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. The fact is the Government wantonly breaks the law and engages in what I call "lawfare" against families, including, in one scandalous instance, compiling dossiers on those simply seeking to vindicate the rights of their children. Aside from the measures Sinn Féin has outlined we would support, the pact offers nothing the Government could not simply choose to do while retaining flexibility.”
“Every state requires a functioning internal protection system. Being fit for purpose requires such systems to fit a number of criteria. It is regrettable that the Minister is not only failing on every front in this regard but his approach in this Bill is, in effect, an abdication of his responsibility. Nothing is more indicative of this than his response to my party colleague Deputy Carthy in the earlier part of this debate two weeks ago. When speaking on the asylum and migration pact, the Minister said: "[I]t would not be legally possible to seek to opt out even if this was the democratic wish of the Houses of the Oireachtas." There are parts of the pact it makes sense for Ireland to opt in to, such as Eurodac and screening, for example, which are perfectly sensible.”
“The Government has utterly failed to tackle the energy rip-off through inaction, with the national energy affordability task force meeting only three times since Government formation and no action on cutting energy costs while this crisis continues unabated. A total of 360,000 households are at risk of being cut off due to stealth disconnections relating to pay-as-you-go meters while 300,000 people are in arrears and older people are afraid to turn on their lights to cook. Companies are hiking unit costs at contract breaks with seemingly no notifications to customers and the CRU is asleep at the wheel lacking direction from the Government. What is the Government going to do? Is it going to make the CRU deal with this crisis? Unit costs are going up and people are not being told about it in advance.”
“There was a ridiculous situation last year where almost half of the increased funding provided to councils was for speed limit signage rather than maintenance and repair. I understand the Minister had hoped to publish the local and regional road funding allocations by the end of last month so I would appreciate if the Minister of State could indicate in his closing remarks when it is intended to publish them. Given the Minister has acknowledged that Cavan and Monaghan have been underfunded, will the Minister of State provide reassurance that he intends to redress this and provide a substantial increase to both local authorities so we can address this matter?”
“Where the project scored the highest in an appraisal by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, was on safety, being appraised as highly positive for safety, which is the highest possible score. TII has described these works as suspended due to funding constraints. Therefore, my first request as we debate road safety today, is whether we can do a reappraisal of projects which are currently underfunded and give an additional level of priority on the basis of safety. Second, I welcome that recently during oral questions - and it was actually quite refreshing - the Minister conceded to my party and constituency colleague, Deputy Carthy, that Cavan and Monaghan County Councils have been constrained by resources in terms of road safety and maintenance and repair and that they have not received the funding they need.”
“Irish roads are growing increasingly dangerous with 190 people losing their lives in 2025. There have been some truly horrific accidents on our roads in the north east in recent years. I have no doubt the Ministers of State have the same reaction as the rest of us when they see reports of collisions and loss of life and that they absolutely wish to meet the objective of achieving vision zero, that there would be no deaths on Irish roads. I will highlight a few areas where the Government has got it wrong and ask the Ministers of State to reflect on and give consideration to these matters. The N2 Clontibret to the Border and Ardee to Castleblayney roads schemes are crucial to the north-east region for various reasons.”
“I again ask the Minister to consider this policy Michelle O'Neill brought forward and everything within it that could be adapted.”
“A budget for rural transport does not cut it. I accept that the Minister inherited this poor, lacklustre approach to rural proofing from his predecessor. It comes across as a box-ticking exercise; a sop to those who care about it while the Minister ditches an idea his Government decided not to follow through on. I appeal to the Minister to review the Rural Needs Act 2016 that was introduced to the Assembly by the Sinn Féin deputy leader, Michelle O'Neill, in 2016. As the Minister will see, it is a much bigger body of work, and it went in to many more policies than the Government is including. I ask the Minister to consider this policy, read it and see what other substantive work he could do to underpin rural proofing. If we look at the two guides, it is apparent that one is serious about giving consideration to rural needs.”
“I must say that is an incredibly disappointing response. Let me tell the Minister what I heard. The last Government committed to developing a rural proofing model. The Minister took a look at it and said, "Hey, presto. It turns out we were doing it perfectly all along." The Minister then decided to make this a guide for rural proofing for policymakers. The Minister can do more. Where is rural proofing when it comes to free travel cards for kids effectively excluded in many rural communities? The Government did the same thing with the young adult travel card many years before this. Where was rural proofing when the Government jacked up the carbon tax earlier this year, disproportionately hitting rural dwellers without access to public transport? Will the Minister outline the great successes of his rural proofing model?”
“Murrin has decried farmers' anger over this situation as emotional nonsense. With empathy non-existent, I would say that Mr. Murrin clearly lacks the capacity to chair any board, let alone one that cannot function without our farmers. Sinn Féin's motion offers the Members of this House a choice. Do they hear the anger of our farming families? Can they understand it? Will they acknowledge it and respond to it or do they stand with Mr. Murrin and his uncaring charge of emotional nonsense against our farming families?”
“Our farming families face inordinate pressures, rising input costs and the need to meet ever-rising environmental standards. Too often, they are then left to absorb the related costs within already meagre margins. They are constantly told that they need to do more to receive less in real terms. They are treated as if they should be celebrating so-called record funding that equates, in real terms, to cuts, as if they are fools who cannot account for inflation. That is the crux of the issue before the House. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, alongside the chairperson of Bord Bia, felt that they could take our farming families for fools, that they could tell them there is nothing to be angry about and that they would buy it, and that families would eat this beef. The Government thinks it is acceptable to do so. Mr.”
“I welcome the farmers who have come to see the real Government tonight. They are very welcome to the Dáil Chamber. Here we go again. Hot on the heels of the fake opposition to the Mercosur trade deal, the arrogance of the Government is palpable. The Government will hector and lecture Irish farmers about environmental standards while failing to meaningfully oppose European measures clearly designed to supplant their produce. Not content with that, the leader of the very organisation meant to champion Irish produce has been outed as a buyer of the same inferior products that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have enabled increased importation of. I can see why the Government retains confidence in Bord Bia's chairperson. By importing Brazilian beef, Mr. Murrin was simply aligning himself with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael policy.”
“Entire shifts of ambulances are operating in Monaghan without an advanced paramedic car. There are delays in handover and staff suffering from burnout. In 2023 and 2024 my party and constituency colleague, Matt Carthy, raised the cases of young boys seriously injured at football matches left waiting upwards of three hours for ambulances. In the latter case, the Taoiseach clapped himself on the back before acknowledging that the wait was too long. People know he does not have a magic wand but neither can he magic it away because he has had a hand in Government for the past decade. There is no magic wand but there are no excuses either. What year will he stop failing the people of Monaghan with regard to ambulance services and reinstate the 24-7 advanced paramedic car?”
“-----because there is no other way to address and respond to the challenges we face as a society. Every Member of this House can staple their colours to the mast through this motion. Are the members of the Government not concerned that both the ESRI and the PBO predict that poverty will continue to rise for people with disabilities?”
“Sinn Féin fully supports the motion before the House today, which mandates the Government to restore the €400 emergency winter payment-----”
“Those were his own words. How fiscally sustainable does the Taoiseach believe it is for a disabled person to see their income decreased by €1,400 per year? TDs from Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the so-called Independent lackeys endorsed a heartless budget last October – one that absolutely hammered people with disabilities. This motion offers them the opportunity to purge their contempt. The then Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, said that cutting these payments would be difficult. Paschal showed no difficulty when generously gifting the World Bank €10 million of taxpayers' money. There was no talk of fiscal sustainability then. Paschal does not give a damn. Now the Minister, Deputy Calleary, has the opportunity.”
“In September of last year, the then Minister for Finance, Paschal Donohoe, conceded that pulling one-off payments would be difficult. His decision at the time was predicated in part upon inflation continuing to remain around 2%. Those were his own words. In reality, CSO figures now show a 12-month inflation rate of 3.2%. It was a callous and cruel budget that was cut-throat with cost-of-living supports. In defence of his compassionless budget, the Taoiseach acknowledged that these supports have been crucial in responding to the cost-of-living crisis. Does he think the cost-of-living crisis is over? Does he believe that he has solved it? Does he think that the added costs of disability evaporated? He must believe he fixed that also. The Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, believed that these supports were not fiscally sustainable.”
“It would be useful for the Minister to outline this. If he is going to events in Monaghan regarding a domestic abuse refuge, it would be good to let the TDs in the locality know about it. We are being kept in the dark and do not know when this domestic abuse refuge centre is coming on board. I was told at a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts that there would be one in Cavan and one in Monaghan.”
“I thank the Minister for the number he just referred to: 232. We have not even increased the number to 282, which we were supposed to do in 2022. It is four years on from the Government’s announcement of zero tolerance of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. Cavan and Monaghan remain without any refuge centres. As a member of Monaghan County Council from 2012, I was shouting about this, but we still do not have a centre. I realise the Minister has said it is not regarded as that important for perpetrators to leave their homes, but perpetrators are not leaving their homes. Therefore, where are affected women supposed to go? There is still no domestic refuge centre in Cavan or Monaghan. I know it is coming on board, but I have been listening to this for the past 12 years. When is it going to happen?”
“In January 2022, the Minister’s predecessor committed to doubling the number of domestic violence refuge spaces in the State by the end of that year. I acknowledge that the doubling of available spaces is significant. However, the number in question is only half the number mandated by the Istanbul Convention on the prevention of violence against women and girls. That said, the Government commitment was to increase the spaces in 2022 from 141 to 282. Will the Minister outline again how many additional spaces have actually been delivered since 2022? Did he say 287 were supposed to have been delivered in 2022? How many will be delivered this year?”
“This is at a time when people struggle to access a crèche and if they can, are left to struggle to pay among the highest childcare costs in Europe. The Tánaiste promised, before the election, an action plan on capping childcare costs at €10 per day within 100 days of Government. Last Friday was 365 days but no plan is yet in sight. It does not seem like much of an action plan to me. Children in Ireland deserve better, especially those for whom the State has an additional responsibility. My appeal to the Minister is also in relation to the price-cap promise and it is to understand and appreciate that Irish families and children require the Government to be more capable of bringing ideas to the table. These need to be not just announcements; they need to come to fruition.”
“If we take the Garda vetting as an example, this Bill includes related provisions, which I welcome. However, only a fortnight ago, the media was reporting that Tusla had taken over responsibility for Garda vetting applications and issues around registration persist. Some 17 crèches have had registration issues, which, we were told, were mainly due to Garda vetting. In one instance, a crèche operator was told she could keep her crèche open but staffed by others because she had to submit documents already provided. Another woman faced vetting issues, again, not of her own making, who was already in possession of two separate vetting certificates and was told she could not open her crèche. It is another example of childcare policy that is simply not working as it is needed.”
“I welcome that Tusla is to be assigned guiding principles, particularly in relation to the best interests of the child as a paramount consideration as well as the duty to co-operate between relevant bodies and the establishment of the implementation and the interagency committee. They would seem to be sensible proposals. At this point, people rightly expect more from the Government. While we are 30 years on from the primary legislation, we are nearly three years on from the pre-legislative scrutiny report of the Oireachtas committee's consideration of this legislation. It is disappointing that a number of concerns and recommendations of the committee still remain unaddressed. My fear is that it is broadly representative of the lethargic pace at which the Department brings proposals from announcement to implementation.”
“The problem is that Fine Gael outlined the White Paper, The Path to Universal Healthcare, more than ten years ago. It was supposed to be completely implemented by 2019. The Minister announced a policy of the same name, with Sláintecare 2025+ tacked on, only last May. In a lot of ways, the Minister is still waiting to deliver the plan that was announced in 2014 and due for completion in 2019. Only two months ago, after the Minister's announcement, the Irish Cancer Society sounded the alarm that cancer delays are causing unavoidable deaths. Therefore, I ask the Minister today if she accepts that these waiting times are unacceptable. Does she accept that cancer delays are causing unavoidable deaths? Could we do more to improve that service?”
“Free up the beds in Cavan and move on the patients. They need the treatment and they need it urgently. I am asking the Minister today if she will give me a timeframe for patients to be moved on to receive their cancer treatment.”
“As we discussed earlier, the stress and anxiety that a cancer diagnosis can cause a person and their family is almost like no other. The fear and worry it can spread is excruciating. In Ireland, we are fortunate to have highly trained and passionate healthcare workers. We know that once people get into the system, they receive world-class care. Delayed treatment of cancer yields mortality. That simply is not acceptable. What timeline will the Minister commit to so that all cancer patients will receive the treatment they need when they need it? There have been numerous cases in Monaghan and Cavan where patients have been left in Cavan General Hospital for three or four weeks after getting a diagnosis without being transferred to Beaumont Hospital or the Mater Hospital. As we discussed earlier, it is about beds.”
“I ask the Minister to set out the waiting times faced by people in Cavan and Monaghan to access cancer treatment, and to do so on the basis of the number of people waiting and the length of time for which they have been waiting. What was the longest period a person waited for treatment in 2025?”
“I have to agree with the Minister. Children should be our priority here. As we know, early intervention is key. I have heard of cases, again in Monaghan, where a child of seven years of age had to get seven extractions done. There was no screening. That could have eliminated them. They could have put a wee filling in and helped with that process. Will the Minister make it a top priority that children are screened? It develops good habits and good oral hygiene for their lives. Therefore, I would make it a priority. On the dental training, perhaps there should be a recruitment drive to ensure that people are going back to college to study dentistry and that we make it a priority.”
“I raised this question numerous times through parliamentary questions and at the Committee of Public Accounts and the health committee, among others, last week. There was no school screening in Monaghan in 2024-25. That is just not good enough. I get a lot of emails and other contacts in this regard. There is no orthodontist in the north-east region at all. There used to be one in the Monaghan area. People are now being asked to travel to Dundalk, which is not acceptable. I do not even know if that orthodontist is still in operation. Could the Minister focus on the workforce plan and introduce targeted measures in that regard? It is completely acceptable if people are off on maternity leave but it must be projected that it will happen each year. She mentioned that she is recruiting in 15 areas. I hope Monaghan is one of those areas.”
“The Minister has again said that the pharmacy was charging the State. I again ask that she would incorporate that cost. It is not fair on the older person or on the vulnerable person that he or she has to pay for it now. I ask the Minister that the State would pay for it and that she would get over this obstacle with the pharmacies. It is not fair to put the cost on older and vulnerable people which is what is happening now. Loads of people have come to me saying that it is costing them €20 some weeks. I ask her to ensure that this cost is not put on the vulnerable and the older person. She and the pharmacies need to work it out.”