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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“I thank the Labour Party for bringing this motion forward. As the Minister knows, families in County Monaghan have been campaigning for access to appropriate and adequate education for their children with special educational needs for years. They are entitled to it and should not have to fight for it. They campaign for new and additional classrooms within existing schools and the establishment of a special school. The announcement of an interim school with 18 places is welcome. It is 18 places more than we had previously. This has offered a better quality of life for 18 children who now do not have to travel to County Cavan every day, with return journeys taking upwards of four hours daily.”
“I commend my colleague and Sinn Féin spokesperson on health, David Cullinane, TD, on bringing forward this motion, which comprehensively sets out what the Government must do. If there is to be a break from all the scandals of the past, there must be transparency. All who are potentially impacted must be provided with certainty because it is not acceptable that today, nearly 18 months after a protected disclosure that was made to Children's Health Ireland, so many remain uncertain. If there is to be a break from all the scandals of the past, there must be accountability at an individual, organisational and political level. If there is to be a break from all the scandals of the past, this needs to happen now, and the Minister can change this when her audit is complete.”
“That worry and concern is compounded by uncertainty because they are in the dark as to whether they are impacted by the scandal they read about in the papers, another scandal in Irish society, a scandal in our health service, a scandal mismanaged by the Government from the get-go. Those potentially impacted are left uncertain. None of this is new. This State has a long and sad history of failing its citizens, especially children. We know the playbook: silence from the Government; another report commissioned, maybe followed by a review of that report; victims or those impacted forced to campaign endlessly for justice; and, perhaps, eventually, years later, an apology and a promise that "lessons have been learnt".”
“I ask the Minister of State and the Government to listen to the families. From a sample of classes, 79% of hip surgeries on children at one hospital and 60% at another were found to be unnecessary. There are cases where not only was a second opinion not considered to be necessary but actually found an incorrect diagnosis. Parents are outraged, but the overwhelming response from those parents I have spoken to has been worry and concern - concern as to the well-being of their children who, on the watch of Children's Health Ireland and potentially successive governments, may have undergone unnecessary surgeries.”
“In the area in which I live in County Monaghan, in villages such as Scotstown, Ballinode and Smithborough, hard water is a genuine issue. As other TDs have done today, I ask that water softeners be installed at source to alleviate the problem. As former TDs have said, this is a real issue that needs redress, and all households should be treated equally.”
“On top of general taxation, ordinary workers and families pay additional taxes on services that should also be public services such as road tolls and rubbish collection. In instances where public infrastructure has been privatised, they have the privilege of paying for companies like Eir, which, in the face of a crisis such as Storm Éowyn, leave people without service for weeks and months on end. Irish families cannot bear the brunt of bailing out the Government's failed stewardship of Irish water services and their infrastructure. Last night the Government made its intentions clear when it opposed Sinn Féin's Bill to remove the key to levy water charges. The very least the Government can do is commit to adequately funding Uisce Éireann so that people can, once and for all, have the water services they are entitled to.”
“Last night Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael voted against permanently banning water charges. If the Government does not have an intention of introducing water charges, why does it feel the need to cling on to the power to do so? Why does it continue to hold the power to do so within its grasp? Irish households pay for water charges through general taxation. The amount of water used is comparable to countries that have metered charges, so the conservation argument does not hold. This Government is seeking to cling to the power for double taxation - double taxation to address the Government's underfunding of Uisce Éireann and its failed stewardship of our water services and infrastructure.”
“We welcome this Bill, which is in line with the legislation previously introduced by Sinn Féin. We also believe after a lifetime of work, alongside the choice to continue work if they wish to do so, people deserve the right to retire on a full pension at 65. It is a wrong yet to be righted. Worse still, it is a wrong the Government has yet to acknowledge. While welcoming this Bill, I ask the Minister to acknowledge the increase in the State pension age was wrong. If the Minister does not acknowledge that, at least acknowledge the ham-fisted way the Government went about doing this without removing the mandatory retirement compounded the harm it did.”
“Fine Gael's problem with retirement is laid bare in the fact that while it was quite willing to rush to raise the State pension age, which was and remains wrong, it did not feel the need at the time to marry the wrongful proposal with the removal of the mandatory retirement. Fine Gael's solution was effectively, after a lifetime of work, to send those people on to the dole queue. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael now seek plaudits for a programme for Government commitment not to increase the pension further and for implementing this reform years after negative impacts of its pension age increase took effect. There are real negative impacts. People were worse off financially and there was also the social impact of forcing people out of the workplace. Sinn Féin's position is clear.”
“Fine Gael has a problem with retirement, older workers and how it treats those who want to retire in general. On the one hand, it contested the 2020 election on the basis of increasing the State pension age to 67 by 2021 and to 68 by 2028. As recently as three years ago, the former Minister, Heather Humphreys, described the current pension age of 66 as non-sustainable. On the other hand, it has taken until now to introduce this Bill which will abolish the mandatory retirement. It is unfortunate it has taken Government so long to do so. In the intervening years, many older workers were effectively forced out of their jobs and, in some instances, they would have experienced undue financial hardship arising from the dithering and delays to do in part with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.”
“This is a legacy of the Minister's partners in government, and what I would like to hear about the plan to fix this from the Minister in his closing remarks. When will this be done? When will Cavan, Monaghan and Louth have the 45 community gardaí we would need to put us on at least an equal footing with where we were before the Minister's party ushered in the austerity years.”
“I know from my experience as a public representative for the past 12 years that they are often my first port of call when I need to engage with the gardaí on a local matter. Crucially, in terms of youth diversion, it is community gardaí who are tasked with improving interaction, communication and community relations. In the Cavan, Monaghan and Louth region, in 2011 we had 41 community gardaí. By last year, this had decreased by more than one third to only 26. Figures understate this failure, given population growth over the intervening 13 years. In fact, what we see is that we have gone from one per 6,200 people to one in nearly 11,000, a 42% cut per capita . Our remaining community gardaí are expected to maintain the same output. That is a crucial reason we are having this debate today.”
“The genesis of many of the issues we face today lay in the Fine Gael austerity years. Addressing issues like economic inequality and deprivation are the best proven methods to divert young people from crime. The truth of the matter is that we have yet to redress impacts and cuts to community projects and to youth projects from the time of the Fine Gael austerity years. Not only is this the case, in some crucial areas the situation is actually getting worse. Community gardaí are a vital of component. They establish and support community crime prevention measures. They are tasked with identifying and tackling the root causes of community issues. They patrol our local communities and are often accessible to the community.”
“In particular, those in the tourism industry face a potential crisis arising from declining visitors in the successive months. What faith can they have in the support that the Government offers when a global trade crisis comes before us, given that it has utterly failed in a domestic adverse weather event? The Government needs to set this right now. TDs across this House should support Sinn Féin's motion to ensure that all those entitled to supports have access to them and to expand the scheme to farmers and businesses.”
“As these types of adverse weather events become more common, are rural people simply to accept that they will go without power, water and electricity for weeks on end? The Government's administration of emergency assistance was not good. Some received assistance while others did not. There was a clear lack of co-ordination, with individuals assisted on a seemingly ad hoc , case-by-case basis. This is not an acceptable standard in the course of an emergency response. Storm Éowyn also had a very devastating impact on farmers who were excluded from assistance even though many were to the fore in providing assistance and clearing roads in the aftermath. Businesses have also been undeservedly excluded from the supports. These businesses have struggled in the aftermath.”
“I thank Deputy O'Reilly for tabling this motion tonight. The scale of the damage and the hardship caused by Storm Éowyn was unprecedented. I thank all those at the coalface who helped with this. However, there is a sense in many rural areas that poor planning compounded the hardships borne by ordinary families because the extent of damage and hardship is sometimes not known. In my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan many were left without power for more than a week following Storm Darragh which was only a few weeks earlier. In the first instance there is a clear need to examine the basic utility infrastructure in rural areas. EirGrid's cabling infrastructure needs to be undergrounded.”
“Government statements on childcare bear little resemblance to reality. Despite claims that costs have been reduced by upwards of 50%, survey data last year illustrated that parents in some counties are still paying upwards of €1,100 per month. Despite Fine Gael having campaigned on introducing a public model of childcare, in the programme for Government it is silent. Allusions to reducing childcare costs to €200 per month by some unstated and unknown date are without any meaning or worth. For many families, childcare remains akin to a second mortgage at a time when many are struggling to cover household costs, to make ends meet in terms of utility bills and to put food on the table. Will the Minister please outline to the House the timeframe by which the Government will deliver the promises it campaigned on?”
“Did the Government speak in favour of decoupling at the European Council? If so, does the Minister of State acknowledge it was a mistake not to implement this years ago while families and businesses are suffering? Does he accept the Government wilfully failed to employ every tool at its disposal to alleviate the undue financial burdens that families and businesses are suffering under? If so, will the Government begin to implement the necessary reform today, rather than many months from now?”
“The European Union's plan for affordable energy outlines scope for decoupling over the course of 2025 but, independent of that, it is within the Government's gift to do this now. I ask the Minister of State in his closing remarks to address whether his Government spoke in favour of decoupling at the European Council, and if so, if he acknowledges it was a mistake not to implement this years ago while families and businesses are suffering. Does he accept the Government willingly did not employ every tool at its disposal to alleviate these undue financial burdens families and businesses are now suffering under? Will the Government begin to implement this necessary reform today and for the many months ahead?”
“Energy prices are crippling ordinary people, business owners and even schools right across this State. At a time when people are enduring a cost-of-living crisis and undue financial burdens in a plethora of other areas, our regularly scheduled energy cannot break a person's back. In this context, people expect the Government to do all it can to help alleviate this burden and it is welcome that energy prices were on the agenda for the European Council. One area where the Government utterly failed the Irish people was through its opposition to the decoupling of gas and retail electricity prices, in effect, burdening ordinary household and business electricity bills unnecessarily with volatility of gas prices. Decoupling was raised by several states at the energy council last week.”
“When he opposed Fine Gael's attempts to undermine the triple lock in 2013, the current Taoiseach said that the triple lock had "complete popular legitimacy". The Taoiseach has invoked the triple lock in referendums before. If he believes it has "popular legitimacy", he should have the courage to put this proposal directly before the Irish people via a referendum. Do the Taoiseach and the Minister of State intend to railroad the proposal through without any democratic vote?”
“He described the argument that Ireland was failing in its European responsibility and the references to Security Council vetoes as "an out-of-touch ideological obsession on the part of Fine Gael". The Taoiseach's proposal to cut the triple lock is shrouded in inconsistency and shifting justification. He was in favour of a citizens' assembly on neutrality until he was in favour of a so-called consultative forum instead. Following the publication of the forum's report, the Taoiseach announced his intention to dismantle the triple lock, despite the report having found that there is no public appetite to do so. Despite the Taoiseach stating that this would have no impact on Ireland's neutrality, at the time he credited it for our accomplishments.”
“I thank the Social Democrats for putting forward this motion. Ireland can be proud of our contributions to the multilateral system in terms of the role we have played regarding humanitarianism, disarmament, non-proliferation and peacekeeping. Alongside our diplomatic corps and peacekeepers, who see policy enacted, our independent foreign policy and triple lock neutrality protection, the chief components, have allowed Ireland to make those contributions. This is what the Taoiseach thought in 2013 when he responded to similar efforts to undermine the triple lock. In this House, he described such attempts as "sniping at our neutrality", although today he argues that the matters are unrelated.”
“I again put it to the Minister that 280 is well below the 500 needed under the Istanbul Convention. A number of weeks ago, I sought a Dáil debate on the provision of these services in my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan. The Minister will be familiar with the fact that the people in our community are among those without any refuge spaces at all. It is a deep concern that the current ambition of the Government is that the people of both counties will continue to go without. This arises directly as a result of not only the Government's lack of delivery but also the Minister's lack of ambition. The Minister has set an inadequate target. As a result, the people in Cavan and Monaghan will bear the brunt of inadequate capacity. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan is the responsible Minister. Will he commit to opening a refuge in Cavan and another in Monaghan?”
“I am delighted to hear that the Minister is committed. I hope he will be able to make the necessary changes. The Government delivered seven spaces by the end of 2023. It delivered 12 in 2024. The language I have heard the Minister use referring to 54 units under construction, or due for refurbishment this year, suggests to me a net increase of less than 54. In the best case scenario that would mean he plans to deliver nearly 70 next year. However, it is also the case that this target seems ambitious only in terms of how low the bar has been set. The Istanbul Convention suggests Ireland should have in excess of 500 spaces. Is the Minister confident in meeting the 2026 target? Does he accept that it must be an interim target?”
“I commend my party colleague and Sinn Féin spokesperson on housing, Deputy Ó Broin, on bringing forward this motion to mandate the Government to ensure that local councils have the maximum funding available to operate this scheme and to reject undue restrictions that will serve only to exclude those who could benefit from this vital support. As the housing crisis worsens year on year due to failed Government policy, I appeal to every Deputy in this Chamber to absolutely reject proposals that would see the deprioritisation of single people and couples without children from accessing this scheme. I urge every Deputy, and the Minister, to endorse this motion.”
“By facilitating local authorities in purchasing homes, not only does the scheme provide security of tenure for renters while increasing rental stock in general, it also prevents people from joining the growing list of those accessing already overstretched emergency accommodation services. The value of this scheme is that it has prevented more than 2,500 people from entering homelessness since April 2023. The Minister will face a significant test in the coming days. Will he adequately fund this scheme for 2025 while reducing undue restrictions, or will he underutilise this crucial renters' protection against homelessness or even allow it to wither away?”
“The number of adults accessing emergency accommodation across the north-east region that comprises Louth, Cavan and Monaghan in a single week in January was 263. That is an increase of nearly one third on the same period last year. The number of children involved was 130, a near 70% increase year on year. What can the Government do? The tenant in situ scheme is one mechanism that provides a vital protection for ordinary renters from having to face into the cruel and unyielding reality of a local rental market that simply does not have the stock to adequately meet demand let alone do so at a reasonable price.”
“As the Minister, Deputy Foley, said before she left the Chamber, every day brings a new possibility. As a mother, daughter, sister, aunt, cousin, niece and friend to many great women, I look forward to these new possibilities.”
“That such legislative gaps exist today points to the severe failure of successive governments to address this issue. A register of domestic abusers is one vital step in protecting women and is crucial for reducing abusers' capacity to abuse. The relevant information exists already within the justice system today and comparable mechanisms exist in other places in the world. There should and can be no cause for delay. I welcome commitments from the Government on these matters but the test is whether the zero-tolerance promises or commitments made in this House today are meaningful. Will we see legislation and policy enacted on this priority or will women in this House rise again in one, two, three or four years time to speak on the very same issues as today?”
“Women are often left in a situation where their only choice is either to be homeless or to return to their abuser. They either have to further up-end young children's lives by travelling further for refuge than they should have to or else return home to their abuser. In Cavan and Monaghan the commitment to open just one refuge portrays an intention to leave the women of one county entirely without one. In the worst case scenarios, when women are murdered, their murderers retain guardianship rights over their surviving children. We have an epidemic of violence against women and children in Ireland. That we have such a shortage of refuge spaces points to the failures of Governments of the past to take domestic abuse seriously, despite their platitudes.”
“Is onóir mhór dom a bheith anseo inniu le labhairt faoi Lá Idirnáisiúnta na mBan. International Women's Day is an opportunity to recall and pay tribute to the women who came before us. The rights we have today are their legacy, won and taken by them, never freely given by others. It is not a cause for celebration, but rather a warning and a reminder. A warning that there are those who would see those rights taken away and a reminder that we owe it to our daughters to deliver those rights yet to be realised. It is a shame that the least of what we need to do in Ireland is to correct the current Government's ambition. The Government target of achieving 280 domestic violence refuge spaces will still leave Ireland woefully short of the 500 places mandated by the Council of Europe convention on domestic violence.”
“Mental and physical health is one of the strands considered in the Government's well-being framework analysis. In counties Cavan, Louth, Laois, Meath and Monaghan, the well-being of people and our communities will be negatively impacted by the recent downgrading of the services of SOSAD Ireland. They have been downgraded because of a lack of sustainable funding. The potential for this had been well telegraphed and communicated to the HSE well in advance of the new year. It is now March. I am asking the Taoiseach to intervene to protect these vital services for our communities.”
“Its identification of the need for 60,000 houses a year is in stark contrast to the Government's own targets. It is double what it delivered last year and majorly in excess of what it will deliver this year. It means that the Government is worsening the housing deficit every year. What is the Government's plan? The Housing Commission has demanded a radical reset. For the people of Cavan and Monaghan, a radical start would be for the Government to finally do what is needed and to take an interest in the people of Ireland and their need for housing.”
“The Government is so lacking in political will to deliver affordable homes in Cavan and Monaghan that it does not even put up a facade of trying. Communities across Ireland are crying out for teachers, healthcare workers and many other vital workers. Many Irish people in Australia, Canada and beyond, the new diaspora of the Government's creation, would be willing to fill these roles if only they had a home to come home to. The Government's failures betray what must be either a lack of interest or an inability to foster an environment that would allow them to return home. The Housing Commission report eviscerated successive Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Governments' response to the housing crisis. It described Government housing policy as the result of ineffective decision-making and criticised the lack of consistency in housing policy.”
“Students struggle to find accommodation while they are away for college. Disproportionate and unsustainable levels of people's wages are spent on the extortionate rents they are paying to vulture funds. The Government sees vulture funds that are uninterested in seeing the housing crisis as a potential excuse to further impoverish renters. It is truly a case of the treatment being worse than the cure. An entire generation has been locked out of home ownership. I would like to speak of the missed targets for the delivery of affordable homes in Cavan and Monaghan but so lacking is the ambition of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that they did not even bother to set a target for either county. They tell us that the need is not great enough.”
“I wish both Ministers well in their new roles. However, I must say that this Government has yet to show the political will needed to resolve the housing crisis. This has been made more apparent in recent weeks as the Government's pre-election confidence in reaching its housing targets was revealed to be utter fantasy. I hope the Government takes note of the Housing Commission's report because something needs to change radically. I also hope the Government will, as Deputy Ó Broin said, give the Oireachtas committee the opportunity to debate the report, to challenge the Government on it and to make sure it is implemented. The housing crisis impacts upon virtually every community in the constituency of Cavan-Monaghan. People cannot find accommodation in the communities in which they wish to live and work.”
“Last month saw a record of almost 14,000 people on trolleys and more than 28,000 hospital appointments were cancelled. Even though the Government says it has doubled the budget to almost €25.8 million this is not working. Something needs to change. Our growing and ageing population is not unforeseen. References to unprecedented population growth or an ageing population from Fine Gael are simply a distraction from its failure to tackle a crisis in our health service today. Sinn Féin has outlined our planned to future proof care for all of our people. We need to train more GPs. We need to invest in our hospitals. We also need to deliver more care at home. In Monaghan, where I come from, people cannot get a GP and cannot get all of the services we should have in the hospital in Monaghan. They also cannot get care for our elderly.”
“The Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing, TILDA, in Trinity College estimated that in 2021 the number of those over the age of 65 would stand at approximately 250,000 people and it was spot on. Circumstances or models may change but there are two consistencies. These are that we should expect a significantly increased older population in decades to come and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, while failing to deliver these services today, also fail to prepare for tomorrow. I would welcome more forward thinking and planning from the Government on the elderly of 2040, 2050 and beyond. What of our people today? The previous Government provided a new stroke strategy. This is welcome but it failed to provide the funding necessary to implement it.”
“I wish the Minister and the Minister of State well in their new roles. I hope they can change healthcare in this country. I have been listening to and taking part in Dáil debates over the past few weeks and it seems easy for the Government to portray that the increased demand for public services has just come out of the ether. Population modelling seems to be only considered as an excuse as to why services are strained or broken altogether today. Explaining away the failures of today by stating they will be resolved tomorrow will not work. Nowhere is the case made regarding healthcare services. It has been a complete failure but I hope the Minister can improve it. Consistent modelling by the CSO and others over a long period has pointed to a growing and ageing population.”
“People have no choice but to use their cars to get to work or college and to go about their daily lives. I thank my party colleague and Sinn Féin spokesperson on transport, Deputy Pa Daly, for bringing forward this motion and outlining, in the first instance, the need for the Minister to take responsibility and take immediate action to recruit new permanent driver testers rather than continuing to rely upon temporary hires. In principle, it is straightforward - when demand for public services increases, it must be matched by the resources necessary to meet that demand. It is clear that, as of today, the RSA does not have the capacity to address these backlogs and that what is needed is the drafting and urgent implementation of a plan to achieve the statutory minimum waiting time of ten weeks. Sinn Féin has outlined what is required.”
“In April of last year, the then Fianna Fáil Minister of State at the Department of Transport, and now Minister for public expenditure, described the prior hiring of 30 testers as not enough. He assured us that we would see significant progress between October and the end of the year and that we would get back to a ten-week waiting time early in the following year. It is now early 2025 and the backlog has increased by nearly 10,000 in the past three months, having increased by more than 4,000 since mid-January alone, with no sign of abatement. This is yet another instance of a Fianna Fáil Minister overpromising in advance of an election, only to underdeliver in the clear light of day. The impact of this failure is very real. More than 1,200 drivers in Cavan and Monaghan are stuck paying expensive insurance policies.”
“He must ensure he puts the payment of supports for our farmers on at least an equal footing as the vigour with which the Department sometimes takes their payments away.”
“Farmers have participated in forums, have paid levies and have contributed millions through their own labour to the State's TB eradication programme despite the EU pulling funds due to the lack of results. Why would it not do so when last year saw the number of reactors increase by a staggering 41%, with the overall incidence rate rising by nearly 23%? I welcome what appears to have been a co-ordinated cross-Border response in issuing a housing order in relation to avian influenza earlier this year. However, many farmers in the Border region and County Monaghan specifically will recall the cull of 2020 and the uncertainty and delays associated with the supports that followed. I appeal to the Minister to ensure our biodiversity, disease prevention and eradication protocols and strategies are working and fit to enhance our agrifood sector.”
“This is especially the case regarding biodiversity, disease and disease eradication measures whereby all too often the Government has refused to take responsibility for those failings and has thrown good money after bad in support of failed strategy. The one area where it drags its heels is in supporting farmers impacted by events entirely outside their control. I have yet to hear of any accountability regarding ash dieback or how these diseases will be prevented from wreaking similar havoc on our native tree species. Delays in supporting foresters removing affected trees were beyond excusable. Rural people will have to pay the price as many of those rotten trees came down during Storm Éowyn.”
“Comhghairdeas, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. We all wish to see an environment of co-operation fostered between the Department of agriculture and farmers in order that farmers would feel that they, as the primary producers, were viewed by the Department as its primary stakeholder. All too often, however, the relationship is antagonistic. Part of the reason for this is that the Department is all-too-quick to impose fines on farmers and claw back a few pounds already paid, such as in the case of the BEAM scheme with which the Minister, Deputy Heydon, is familiar. Government can seem to have mixed feelings regarding its own failings.”
“In counties such as Monaghan, rather than tar as a new dawn, as one Minister described it, people instead continue to damage their suspension and blow out tyres following yet another false dawn. Despite all the bluster of Ministers, maintenance and road repair funding in County Monaghan will not increase significantly to improve road repairs. That is because 43% of the additional funding that has been promised this time will be used for speed limit signage. That is an increase of 2,745 per cent for speed signage; not for enforcement or repairs but for signage. The conditions of some of our roads in County Monaghan are woeful, despite the best efforts of our under-resourced council staff. Why have the people of Monaghan been refused funding to repair, improve and maintain our roads to a necessary standard?”
“In 2022, Ireland's dual-use exports to Israel amounted to €10.7 million, yet in the first eight months of the genocide, those exports ballooned to €32.1 million. Now, the Minister of State tells us that over the period of the genocide, seven licences have been approved from Ireland. At a time when Israel's economy is struggling, does the Minister of State not find this in any way suspect? What evaluations were carried out on risk of diversion or undesirable use of these exports and what were the findings? How many licences has the Department of Foreign Affairs expressed reservations on? How many have been refused?”
“At this time, when the House has rightly named Israel's actions in Gaza as genocide, and when the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs speaks of Israeli war crimes, does the Minister of State, with certainty within her powers, believe "as far as possible" is an acceptable standard?”
“I understand the Department's position is that the officials provide a thorough risk-assessment to ensure that, in the Minister of State's own words, as far as possible, items are only used for their stated purpose. The Government has intervened in a case before the International Court of Justice where Israel is on trial for the crime of genocide. The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, the Fine Gael Party leader, has referenced revenge, deliberate starvation and war crimes committed by Israel. Does the Minister of State not believe it would be prudent for her to have responsibility for ensuring Ireland is certain we do not export any component that could be used in committing war crimes against Palestinian civilians?”