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 would also like to congratulate the new Ministers, especially the Minister of State, Niamh Smyth, from my constituency. Well done and congratulations to you all. Will the Minister outline the total number and value of goods and services with military applications that have been sanctioned with Israel since the onset of its genocide in Palestine?”
“It is morally unacceptable that a woman can be forced into homelessness for having been abused by her partner, but that is what is happening. Cases have been highlighted in national media where women have been forced to stay in refuges for more than a year, have fallen afoul of already insufficient protections for renters or have little recourse due to fear of the potential consequences of seeking a barring order. Would the Minister be willing to examine this with a view to introducing legislative changes, if necessary, to ensure that the victims of domestic abuse do not see their homes taken away from them and their children at a time they are at their most vulnerable?”
“I thank the Minister of State. It is disappointing the Minister for Justice is not here, as we could have had a more substantive engagement. I reiterate that Cavan and Monaghan are only being considered for one refuge and ask that the Minister considers two refuges, one for each county. Why are we being treated unfairly in those counties? As well as enduring emotional, psychological and physical abuse, all too often the victims of domestic abuse bear the additional burden of their lives being torn asunder, in particular regarding being effectively put out of their family home. This can compound suffering, further upend lives, and penalise victims for having been abused, especially in situations where a victim of domestic abuse is the primary childcare provider.”
“Does the Minister of State acknowledge that we have to be more ambitious with our targets than was the case with the previous Minister for Justice? As an indication of that ambition, will the current Minister commit to opening a refuge in Cavan and Monaghan which will only be a precursor to delivering adequate refuge services in both counties?”
“This is far shy of the more than 500 places recommended by the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence. Our State has a long history of failing women and children. Much work remains to be done in order to ensure that all women and children in our society are unafraid, without anxiety and free to enjoy the safety and security we are all entitled to. A starting point must be that where women and children are not safe in their homes or where they experience or have fear of violence and abuse, refuge is available to them. Responsibility in this regard falls on the Government. I genuinely ask it to make real progress and be ambitious as to what it can achieve for survivors of domestic abuse in Ireland.”
“The fact that these services are badly needed in a community of nearly 150,000 people hardly necessitated the years of analysis, especially in the context whereby half of the existing refuges in the State were already full. I welcome the Government's intention to support the opening of a refuge in the Cavan-Monaghan region. Given the dire need for such crucial services across the State, however, does the Minister of State not agree that it would be prudent that refuge spaces be provided in both counties? A journey between, for example, Dowra in west Cavan and Castleblayney in east Monaghan would take the best part of two hours by car. The journey would take the best part of a day if a person were to use public transport. The Minister for Justice's predecessor set a target of delivering 280 spaces across the State by 2026.”
“There has been a long-standing issue regarding the lack of domestic violence refuges in counties Cavan and Monaghan. In its submission to the justice committee on refuges in August 2021, Safe Ireland, the national policy service support and development hub for 39 specialist domestic violence services, many of which provide refuge, highlighted that there were nine counties without refuge accommodation. Almost three years later, the Sinn Féin leader, Deputy Mary Lou McDonald, highlighted that nine counties still lack refuges. She did so in the context of a report from Women’s Aid which showed the highest levels of domestic violence disclosures to its organisation across its 50-year history. I welcome that Monaghan and Cavan were identified as a priority for the development of services. Let us be real, however.”
“We know that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are incapable of addressing the housing crisis. The Government must realise that the solution is not more of the same, such as crisis talks with developers leading to incentives for vulture funds, but rather the implementation of Sinn Féin's housing plan, bringing home ownership back into the reach of working people and delivering homes that are secure, adequate and affordable.”
“I assure the Minister for housing that among the people living in Cavan and Monaghan, the need is greatly felt. Yesterday, the Taoiseach revealed his bold plan to end rent pressure zones. Despite his attempts to row back on these comments, it is clear vulture funds understood. Their share prices soared to an eight-month high. The fact is the implementation by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael of rent pressure zones was lacklustre. Residential Tenancies Board data show that rents for new and existing renters are significantly higher than the 2% cap where the zones obtain. The response, rather than yet another sop to vultures and developers, should be even greater protections from rent hikes, including a three-year ban on rent increases. This programme for Government will not deliver that.”
“Pre-election claims to the effect that the Government would deliver 40,000 homes last year now hang like an albatross around the neck of its credibility. The housing crisis permeates virtually every corner of Irish society. Schools are unable to hire teachers, gardaí are unable to secure accommodation in the communities in which they serve and students have been abandoned, while renters and aspiring homeowners have been cast utterly adrift. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste speak of these claims as genuine belief and split hairs as to whether ignorance is an excuse for mistruth. Neither of these will serve as a relief to the people in counties such as Cavan and Monaghan who are struggling with a housing crisis not of their own making. The previous Government failed to even set an affordable housing target.”
“I ask the Government to reflect on the impact of its anti-rural policies, its anti-car policies without sufficiently improving public transport, the carbon tax that increases the price of petrol and diesel irrespective of whether a person can afford a new car or whether sufficient charging infrastructure exists, the Government's ban on turf and much more. I ask the Government to reflect on its policies when it is so patently clear that those in government have not lived up to their end of the bargain and their obligations to deliver the necessary infrastructure to mitigate unreliability.”
“I ask the Government to carry out a risk assessment now to prepare for future storms, involving the commissioning of an examination of what existing overground infrastructure can feasibly be put underground in the short, medium and long term, and that would involve EirGrid in particular taking note that newly proposed infrastructure needs to be underground; identifying the scale and scope of emergency generators needed to be at the ready, especially regarding water infrastructure; identifying to what extent battery storage and other resources are capable when required; and considering the extent to which poor planning in terms of trees and forestry compounded the storm's impact.”
“If such severe weather events are to be more common, I ask the Government to do its job and begin today to put in place the measures necessary to ensure that next year, in three years, in five years, and in a decade from now, people from rural counties like Cavan and Monaghan do not decry the Government as simply yet one more that has failed to implement these necessary actions.”
“The terrain may be rougher, the bedrock may be tougher and the population lower than most urban areas, but the scale of the impact does not fully explain the burden my constituents have been forced to bear. To me the answer is clear: a long-standing dearth of investment in critical infrastructure in rural Ireland by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments and a lack of urgency to mitigate the worst impacts of that underinvestment. To my mind, the key question we must now answer is how we redress these deficiencies.”
“Second, the lack of access to clean drinking water and electricity has had real public health implications in terms of disease being exacerbated, negative mental health implications and nutrition, to name but some. Will the Minister speak to the Government public health response to the storm? While the ESB and others continue to work to restore power to those still without electricity and water, it is our responsibility now to look to the medium and the long term. How is it that at its peak, upwards of 768,000 ESB customers were without electricity? How was it that such a considerable number of people were without running water? Why is it that people in rural Ireland, like Cavan and Monaghan, are so often expected to endure substandard service levels for critical infrastructure?”
“We met front-line workers and people in community hubs who were seeking to redress the undue hardship borne by ordinary families and workers. It is them I thank today for responding to what arose from what I can only attribute to poor planning and underinvestment in infrastructure. I wish to raise two general matters which I am not certain have been addressed as yet and I appeal to the Minister to address them in his closing remarks. The first relates to people who, because they were unable to use the Internet or could not access it, were unable to log on to submit their jobseeker's declaration. As a result, they have missed out on the social welfare payments for this week that they were entitled to. Will the Minister outline how these payments are going to be recouped?”
“Storm Éowyn inflicted devastation across this island. While such severe weather events are undeniably becoming more common, there is a feeling among people, especially in rural Ireland, that the devastation was compounded by poor planning. It is hard to dismiss such feelings given the extended period for which many people, including in my own constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, were left without basic utilities such as electricity and water and also because for many, this was not a once-in-a-decade or even a once-in-a year event. Many had experienced similar disruption weeks earlier during Storm Darragh. Last week I had the opportunity, alongside the Sinn Féin leader, Mary Lou McDonald, to meet those at the coalface who were responding to the storm.”
“Is onóir mhór í dom labhairt anseo mar Theachta Dála ar an Chabhán agus Muineachán. I am proud to stand here today for the first time as an elected representative of the people of Cavan and Monaghan. Mine is the same constituency that returned hunger striker Kieran Doherty in 1981 and in 1997 returned my friend and colleague, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, as the first Sinn Féin TD in more than a generation. This same constituency has now returned its strongest Sinn Féin Oireachtas team in living memory which I am honoured to be part of alongside my colleagues Matt Carthy and Pauline Tully. Gabhaim buíochas le mo chlann, le mo chomrádaithe anseo agus le gach duine a thacaigh liom le vóta agus cúnamh. I thank my party colleagues, my family, those who voted for me and all who helped over the course of the campaign.”