Cian O'Callaghan
Dublin Bay North · Social Democrats · Ireland
“Unification presents distinct challenges that need to be carefully planned for and managed. The analysis done by Professor Doyle shows that the cost of pensions would be unlikely to transfer to a united Ireland straight away. Following Brexit, the UK and Ireland signed a bilateral convention on social security in 2019.”
“Ireland spends less than that defending a much larger territory and has decades of underinvestment to catch up on. We need increased investment, particularly in systems and technologies, including sonar and air surveillance radar.”
“I welcome this important discussion on the topic of Irish unity and its fiscal implications. It deserves analysis and fundamentally respect for the people, who will ultimately decide the future of this island. There are real challenges in any transition to unity but there are also very significant opportunities.”
“These are highly skilled jobs with union representation and apprenticeship programmes. They are of fundamental importance to the local economy and community. They should never have been left exposed in this way.”
“The Tánaiste must surely know that these exports are feeding Putin's war machine. Does he not think it is unusual that Ireland is one of the very few European countries where our exports to Russia have increased since Russia invaded Ukraine? That has been driven by the exports of alumina that have more than doubled.”
“We know from the investigation carried out by The Irish Times and the organised crime and corruption reporting project that alumina from Ireland is ending up in Russian owned smelters in Krasnoyarsk. Krasnoyarsk is Russia's only smelter producing high purity aluminium.”
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“I thank my colleague, Deputy Rice, for all the work he has done on this motion. Is minic a thagann Airí isteach anseo agus léann siad ráiteas atá ullmhaithe, gan mórán ionchuir ón Aire féin. Ar chúis éigin, shíl mé go mbeadh an tAire Stáit, an Teachta O’Donnell, difriúil ach bhí mé mícheart. It is welcome that the Government is not opposing the motion. There are some very good ideas and suggestions in this motion that the Minister of State did not even address in his contribution. It is disappointing that he did not address them. I want to read to the Minister of State from the survey that was carried out by Deputy Rice. It sums up a huge number of the problems in terms of the lack of capacity, solutions for which are in our motion and which urgently need to be addressed.”
“This must include protecting the apartments. Is mian liom a rá go bhfuil an méid a tharla uafásach. Is drochscéal é. Tá sé uafásach ar fad. Níor cuireadh tús ach le 10 scéim as 150 - ten schemes out of 150. There is a need, as others have said, to progress these much faster and with urgency. Residents need timelines. Cad atá á dhéanamh ag an Aire Stáit chun é seo a shocrú? Níl aon fhógra. Ní foláir dúinn gníomhú anois. Caithfidh muid gníomhú go práinneach. Níl aon rogha eile ann. Ní foláir don Aire Stáit agus don Rialtas araon éisteacht agus gníomhú. I urge the Minister of State to address these issues.”
“In a written response issued to me today by the senior Minister about the flooding at Marrsfield in Clongriffin, he and the OPW do not even know who the relevant local authority is. They get this basic fact completely wrong. The suggestion from the senior Minister that Fingal County Council should apply for funding to carry out flood protection works for apartments in the jurisdiction of Dublin City Council, where Fingal County Council has no legal authority or responsibility, shows that the OPW and the senior Minister, in issuing this reply, are not in command of even the most basic facts and pieces of information. It is abundantly clear that there needs to be emergency flood relief works to protect these residents and a proper flood relief scheme to address the flood events that have taken place in the area over many decades.”
“In 2020, when asked about the flood risk assessment for the Balgriffin area, the then Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Michael McGrath, stated in a written reply: "It is understood that housing development in the area has likely altered the hydraulic conditions on site and/or resolved the flooding issue identified in FEM FRAMS." He went on to say that this was to be reviewed. Six years later, we are still waiting on the OPW to produce revised flood maps for the area. The serious flooding of the apartments at Marrsfield shows, unfortunately, that the OPW got this completely wrong when it said it appeared the flooding issue had been resolved in the area.”
“However, the apartments were built on a narrow strip of land right next to a river with a history of bursting its banks, right next to lands that flood and right next to homes that had previously flooded in an area where a flood relief scheme is needed but has never been delivered. Excavating and digging down to put in an underground car park at this location could only ever lead to one outcome. The result has been devastating for residents who have their livelihoods destroyed. In 2028, the Minister of State announced that there would be a flood risk management plan for the Liffey and Dublin Bay river basin. This included the assessment of a number of areas, including Balgriffin.”
“When homes were flooded in 1993 and 2002, this was a rural community on the edge of Dublin city and there were very few homes in the area. Since then, thousands of homes have been built in the area. In recognition of the flood risk posed, there are no buildings directly adjacent to the Mayne river at several locations. The decision made by Dublin City Council many years ago to grant planning permission for apartments with an underground car park right next to a river with a history of flooding was grossly irresponsible. The flood map for the area shows that lands close by are prone to flooding. The maps for the land the apartments were built on do not show the same flood risk. I assume this is because the land is slightly higher.”
“I thank the Minister of State for that confirmation. It is very useful because there was no clarity on that. I appreciate that confirmation. These apartments were built right next to the Mayne river. Má chaithfimid súil siar, if we look back, there is a long history of flooding associated with that river. In June 1993, homes in Balgriffin, very close to the apartments that were just flooded, were badly flooded resulting in residents having to leave their home for two months. More than 30 years ago, in 1993, a resident affected by these floods said "The Water Table level in the area is extremely high, the ground having already absorbed as much water as it can." Downstream, at the Baldoyle Estuary, homes were badly flooded on 1 February 2002, when the banks of the Mayne river burst.”
“The emergency response payment must be made available to the residents of these Marrsfield Avenue apartments. Are the residents of these apartments able to apply for this emergency payment?”
“I pay tribute to all of the workers in local authorities and emergency services for everything they have done. On Friday last, the banks of the Mayne river burst causing absolute devastation for residents living in apartments on Marrsfield Avenue, Clongriffin. Residents were left without electricity and the lifts were put out of action, leaving a disabled person who uses a wheelchair effectively cut off from the rest of the community. The flooding of an underground car park left several cars completely destroyed. This has had a devastating impact on livelihoods, including those of a number of people who drive professionally for a living, including taxi drivers. People in these apartments are paying €2,000 a month in rent for one-bed apartments. They simply cannot afford to lose their income or livelihoods.”
“I asked the Taoiseach a couple of weeks ago about the unacceptable delays for An Post pensioners in relation to a pension increase that was already agreed. That was agreed back in September. The Minister was asked to approve it on 23 October. The pensioners are really upset that the increase they badly need in the cost-of-living crisis, to keep food on the table, pay bills and keep their homes heated, has not been signed off on by the Minister. All they are waiting on is for the Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Jack Chambers, to sign off on it. When I raised this matter with the Taoiseach, he undertook that he would talk to the Ministers about it and he agreed it was unacceptable for it not to be resolved quickly. Did the Taoiseach talk to the Ministers and can he tell the An Post pensioners when this is going to be signed off on?”
“They have not had sight of the report, even though it is about their children. They have a right to have sight of it and to as much information as can possibly be made available. The Tánaiste knows that information can be published, even if some of it has to be redacted initially pending further legal advice. When is the Government going to make that information available? When will the terms of reference of the statutory public inquiry actually be agreed? Identifying a mediator is not enough.”
“I thank the Tánaiste for his response. He is absolutely right that children who have suffered pain are at the heart of this matter. They have been badly let down, and that is what this is absolutely about. They and their families deserve as much information as possible. We have had 12 reports , but only six of these have been published to date. Does the Tánaiste acknowledge that this is not acceptable? Does he acknowledge that for the statutory public inquiry to work, as much information as possible needs to be available to it, including when the terms of reference are agreed in order for the families to engage with the process and not be left in the dark? Does he accept that it is two and a half years since the Nayagam report was commissioned and yet all the families know is what they read about in the Sunday newspapers?”
“I cannot understand why the Government continues to make promises to families which are not worth the paper they are written on. Families want honesty and transparency. Can the Tánaiste indicate when will phase 1 of the Nayagam report, or even part of it, be published? Does he accept that the Government will miss its own deadline to draft terms of reference for the statutory public inquiry?”
“It is more than three months since the Government agreed to hold a statutory public inquiry into spinal care for children with scoliosis and spina bifida, but all we have is a headline. A mediator has not been appointed and work to draft the terms of reference has not even started. Families have again been left in the dark. The original commitment was that the terms of reference would be agreed within 16 weeks. With three weeks left, no mediator has been appointed and no meetings have taken place. There is now little hope that the deadline will be met. That is another broken promise. Nine years ago the Tánaiste promised that no child with scoliosis would wait longer than four months for treatment. He is aware of how much hurt this broken promise has caused.”
“Families feel like afterthoughts in the whole process. They are being strung along and fed excuses while the system closes ranks on them. Now they are told that the report cannot be published for legal reasons. There is no credible timeline for when those legal issues will be resolved or when a partial version of the report or, even, the recommendations it contains can be published. There have been 12 reports into CHI, just six of which have been published. Using legalities as a shield against transparency cannot continue, particularly when we are speaking about sick children and their healthcare. How can issues at CHI be resolved unless we are clear about everything that has gone on and about the reforms that urgently need to happen?”
“Families and children have been let down appallingly by Children's Health Ireland, CHI. There has been scandal heaped on scandal, and report after report. Behind all of that are sick children and their families who have been failed by the healthcare system and the State. Children and families are still being failed because promises to act have been broken and long-promised reports remain unpublished. The Nayagam report was commissioned in 2023, two and a half years ago. Families still have not seen it. This is a report into the medical treatment of their children. As campaigner and mother Claire Cahill said on "Morning Ireland", this report belongs to the families and their children, yet they remain in the dark. They only realised the Minister had the report after reading about it in a Sunday newspaper.”
“Why is he referring to identifying a site when one was identified seven years ago and an announcement that a new Garda station would be built there was made?”
“The situation is that the money is there and the Department is committed to building the station in 2028. A site was identified and announced by the Government in 2019 when the Minister of State had responsibility for the OPW. He is still talking about identifying a site when he previously identified such a site seven years ago. I do not understand this. How is it the case that, seven years later, we appear to be going backwards? The Minister of State is still talking about identifying a site. A site was announced by the Government before last when he had responsibility for the OPW. Can he explain to the community in Northern Cross, which desperately needs this new Garda station, what is happening? There has been huge development in recent years in Clongriffin and Belmane and a corresponding increase in population.”
“I welcome the indication that the station will be constructed in 2028. What I am struggling with are the references to identifying a site, particularly when a site was announced in 2019 when he had responsibility for the OPW. How is that seven years after this project was announced – and there were senior Ministers from the Government out announcing it at Northern Cross – the Minister of State is still talking about identifying a site? The announcement was made by the Government before last at a time when he was Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW.”
“I did not find the answers earlier on estimated levels of service convincing ar chor ar bith. I have a briefing tomorrow and I look forward to that. When the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, has responsibility for the OPW in 2019, a site was identified for a new Garda station at Northern Cross. It was announced that a new station would be provided. Seven years later, however, there is no sign of that Garda station. In replies to parliamentary questions last year, the Minister of State referred to needing to identify a site when one was identified seven years ago and was in the pipeline for years before that. Does he have an update on this matter? Ba mhaith liom freagra ceart.”
“I am not clear whether the Tánaiste is actually justifying the current situation. Is he justifying it or making excuses for it? Not a single cent of our money should be invested in companies operating in illegally occupied territories in Palestine. The Tánaiste knows this and I know this. The public do not want their money invested there. I am making an easy ask to the Tánaiste. I am not asking him to direct the strategic investment fund. I understand that, because of its independence, he cannot do so. However, he can publicly give his view and call on it to divest fully. There is nothing in law to stop him doing that. The Tánaiste is able to give his opinion on that and call for it. I ask him to make a stand now and call on the fund to divest in full from any companies in breach of international law in the Palestinian territories.”
“The issue here is that there should not be a single cent of Irish public money invested in companies operating illegally in the occupied territories of Palestine. I do not believe there is any public support for our money being used in that way. What is clearly needed is an absolutely full divestment by the ISIF - which invests public money - from companies operating in the occupied territories. I am calling for full divestment. Will the Tánaiste also call for that? Will he call for a full divestment by the ISIF from any companies operating illegally in the occupied territories in breach of international law? Will he join me in calling for that?”
“The Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF, still has investments in companies operating in the illegally occupied Palestinian territories. Over €6 million of our money remained invested in six companies identified on the UN database at the end of 2024. This is an arm of our State actively profiting from companies working on illegally occupied land. Will the Tánaiste ensure that the ISIF fully divests from companies operating in illegally occupied Palestinian territories?”
“They are faced with punitive interest rates that often mean they have effectively paid off the capital on their home and the normal interest rate but they are still stuck in a perpetual mortgage. I am asking the Tánaiste what he is going to do to address this.”
“The person who contacted me recently told me of how the cumulative impact has been devastating. She has lived for over a decade under constant stress and uncertainty with profound effects on her mental health and physical health, her family life and her ability to live with dignity in later life. She is now facing the risk of imminent homelessness. She has tried to go through the regulatory process. She has been on to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman and so on. Having worked in an area related to this one, she has an ability to try to advocate for herself that a lot of people would not have, and she has still found it impossible. The reality for people is that they have experienced multiple breaches of regulations but every time they try to fight that, it is extremely difficult for them.”
“I am asking the Tánaiste what he is actually doing about this. It is fine to have all these procedures in place but they are not being enforced and people are going to hell as they try to have the protections that should be applying to them applied.”
“I am not sure that the Tánaiste understands the extent of the problem. I thank him for the answer he has given. The code of conduct on mortgage arrears is not being enforced. People go through absolute hell when their mortgage is sold on. The Tánaiste asked for an example and I will give him one. I spoke recently to a person who had their mortgage sold through the State-engineered Project Glas, despite the fact that according to Central Bank rules her mortgage was actually sustainable – it was in positive equity. It has since been sold again even though repayments were being made. She has faced serious data breaches, wrongful receivership and long regulatory delays. She has not even been able to find out if the latest vulture fund has lawful title to her home. She is now facing a repossession order and potential homelessness.”
“I want to ask about families who have had their mortgages sold to vulture funds. This has caused an incredible amount of stress and anxiety to people all over the country. These people are supposed to have the same rights as anyone else under the code of conduct on mortgage arrears, but this has not been the real lived experience of many people. What is the Government doing to ensure these mortgage holders’ rights are protected?”
“When will the Government act decisively so the State no longer just waits for parents, carers and advocates for people with intellectual disabilities to die before any arrangements are put in place?”
“I thank the Tánaiste for his response. The disability capacity review in 2021 identified a very urgent need to substantially increase the amount of appropriate housing for adults with intellectual disabilities. What precisely has been done on foot of that review in 2021? The State is literally waiting for the advocates for people with intellectual disabilities to die before anything happens so not only do they lose their parent, carer and person who is looking after them, they also lose the person who has been advocating for them. This is completely and utterly wrong. When will transition planning be put in place? It is welcome that the Minister of State will meet with the group but the Tánaiste cannot stand over, and to be fair, he has not stood over, the current situation.”
“These families have already spent their life battling at every corner for therapies, school places and respite services. Nothing is straightforward and everything must be fought for. Now, the very act of planning for a future when they will not be around is met with a brick wall put up by the State. There is no plan and no system. Their cherished son or daughter will have their life upended. Why are parents in their 70s, 80s and even 90s being left to worry about what happens to their loved ones when they die? Why is there no plan? Why is there no transition to appropriate accommodation for adults with intellectual disabilities?”
“Instead, what takes place is a haphazard series of events that can be incredibly traumatic for the person who is taken into care. Tony described how he feels the State is waiting for him to die. Only then might there be an emergency placement for his daughter. Aoife will be taken from her home and brought to a not-for-profit care home that could be anywhere in the country. Over a period of a few weeks, Aoife will have lost her parent, her primary carer, her home, her friends and any semblance of the life she once knew. This is why Tony has started the campaign Before We Die to fight for appropriate housing for adults with intellectual disabilities. It is shocking that such a group needs to exist in a country with the resources at the Government's disposal.”
“"Who will care for our daughter when we are no longer able to do so? Nobody is able to answer that question." These are the words of Tony Murray, a 71-year-old man from Dublin who is at his wits' end looking for answers. Tony and his wife Susan are full-time carers for their 42-year-old daughter, Aoife, who has an intellectual disability. They are just one of the thousands of families where elderly parents are working as full-time carers well into their 70s, 80s and even 90s. Adults with intellectual disabilities deserve to live with dignity, security and independence but, as Tony said on Newstalk yesterday, there is no plan to even have a plan for housing adults with intellectual disabilities. There is no thought-out system in place in the devastating circumstance of parents passing away.”
“I want to raise with the Taoiseach the unacceptable delay in paying agreed pension increases to retired workers of An Post and CIÉ. A 7% increase for An Post pensioners was agreed back in September. The Minister was asked to approve this increase from 23 October, yet pensioners are still waiting while the Minister stalls and delays. It has been almost 18 years since CIÉ pensioners have received any sort of increase in their pension. An agreement was finally reached last May between the unions and CIÉ. However, the Government is sitting on this and stalling any progress. The stalling is causing huge financial hardship for pensioners already struggling in a cost-of-living crisis. Will the Taoiseach explain what is causing the delays and when these pension increases will finally be paid?”
“That is another record level, and the Tánaiste is presenting this as somehow being progress and success. Will he admit that he has broken his election promises? Will he explain why the Government has ripped up its annual housing targets? Why does it not have annual targets anymore?”
“Just over a year ago, the Tánaiste promised voters 41,000 homes in his party's election manifesto. Just weeks before the election, the Government promised the delivery of 41,000 homes in 2025. The Government failed to meet the target it set for itself by almost 5,000 homes, and the Tánaiste is dressing up this failure as some sort of success. The Government is presiding over a situation where rents are at record levels, where the numbers of adults living in their childhood bedrooms are at record levels and where house prices are at record levels. Almost 17,000 people are now homeless. That is a terrible indictment of the Tánaiste's and Fine Gael's time in office. Two hundred and sixty-seven of those people are pensioners. There are 5,321 children growing up without homes.”
“Under the Tánaiste's watch, a housing crisis has morphed into a housing disaster and from a housing disaster into a social catastrophe. Despite this, the Tánaiste is going to stand up in a minute and tell us about what a great job he is doing. The gall is incredible. Will the Tánaiste admit that he has broken yet another election promise. Why did the Government publish annual housing targets just before the election and then tear them up straight afterwards?”
“This means turning hard-pressed renters into cash cows for investment funds and bleeding them dry to feed the vultures. This is not an academic debate about numbers. It is about people in their 20s, 30s and 40s who are still living in their childhood bedrooms and feeling hopeless and helpless because their lives are passing them by. They are missing out on milestones, relationships, career opportunities and even starting families. It is about the growing number of elderly renters who are at risk of homelessness. It is about the 5,321 children who are growing up without homes, all because successive Governments have doubled down on failure. What is happening is not an accident; it is a choice. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have led us here. Today's housing numbers are yet another monument to their failure.”
“We all know that this is not the only housing target the Government has missed by a country mile. In the run-up to the election, the Tánaiste was categoric that 40,000 new homes would be delivered by the end of 2024. That was another bogus figure, trotted out despite mountains of evidence that it was pie in the sky. Out of ideas and with their housing plan in tatters, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have now reverted to type. They are offering tax breaks for developers and sweetheart deals for investment funds, along with new legislation with the sole purpose of letting already record rents rips. Instead of providing affordable homes for people to buy, the Government is, in the words of the Taoiseach, pivoting "more strongly to" the private sector.”
“The housing completion figures announced earlier show that we are thousands of homes short of the target the Tánaiste set. The number of homes is almost 5,000 short of the 41,000 that he promised to deliver. Of course, the Government is trying to run away from that target now. The housing Minister has decided that annual targets are a distraction. A distraction from what? This is the number of new homes that the Tánaiste said are needed and that he promised to deliver. The 41,000 target is there, in black and white, published by the Government just weeks before the election. If the Tánaiste needs to jog his memory in this regard, he can consult the Fine Gael election manifesto because the 41,000 target was printed in black and white in that as well.”
“It is a welcome move and makes sense but we need more of that thinking to drive on delivery of the infrastructure we so badly need.”
“We are in an era where many pensioners are afraid to turn on their heating, yet in 2024, for example, €450 million of renewable wind energy was wasted because of under-investment in our grid and our grid’s inability to take that energy due to capacity. That is an utter waste and an utter failure by previous governments to take that issue seriously. Caithfidh muid gníomhú go práinneach. Ní foláir don Rialtas éisteacht agus gníomhú. Teastaíonn ón phobal rathúlacht. Tá sé chomh simplí sin. Tá tráth an ghnímh tagtha. I welcome today’s announcement on not using external consultants and getting expertise within the State. That will be cost-efficient and will lead to increases in our capacity to deliver infrastructure.”
“Overall, our infrastructure is in a critical situation. Our capital stock is about 30% behind comparable European countries due to decades of under-investment in infrastructure. At the same time, this Government has never had so many resources at its disposal. We recently had the largest budget ever passed. There is a real onus to close that infrastructure gap as quickly as possible. This is affecting people’s quality of life, their health and well-being and they time they have with their families. In addition, it is having huge implications for our economic development. We cannot take for granted continued economic progress if there is continued lack of under-investment in critical infrastructure. That really does need to be addressed.”
“I will make some general points on infrastructure but I want to say at the outset that the Government decision on pausing DART+ South West, which is not in my constituency and is not an issue for most people in my constituency, is incredibly regressive. The project should be going ahead straight away. It is ready to go in terms of planning. The only delay has been caused by the Government. It is in an area where there has been a huge amount of housing development over the last few years and there is a lot more development to come. DART+ South West is critically needed. I appeal to the Government, as the only entity holding this project up, to go ahead with it. There could not be a more important project to serve that part of south-west Dublin, Kildare and adjoining areas. It is needed.”
“We have not been calling for once-off measures; we have said we need permanent solutions. This emergency winter payment is because the Government did not bring in a permanent solution in the budget. Will the Taoiseach acknowledge the hardship the Government has caused? Will he admit it was wrong to cut the incomes of disabled people by €1,400? Will it now take action to restore the incomes of disabled people? It has the resources to do it.”
“There is no misrepresentation. Disabled people's organisations have been saying this. I quoted exactly what Joan Carthy from the Irish Wheelchair Association said in response to the Taoiseach's comments a couple of weeks ago. She said that disabled people are being forced to choose between heating and food. For the Government to label what disabled people are saying as misleading and dangerous is utterly unacceptable. I do not think the Taoiseach should be defending it. He should withdraw it and apologise for it. The Taoiseach has not even once acknowledged that the budget has cut the incomes of disabled people by €1,400 and he has not once acknowledged the very real hardship that causes for disabled people. Will he acknowledge that and admit the Government got it wrong?”
“Disabled people cannot live on empty platitudes coming from the Government and they cannot pay energy bills with broken promises from the Government. This is a crisis that is affecting people's health and well-being. We are talking about disabled people in one of the world's wealthiest countries, struggling to get through winter, which is shameful. I ask the Taoiseach to explain why the Government has made huge cuts to the incomes of disabled people. Why did it make such a cruel and heartless decision? Does the Taoiseach stand over the Minister's comments from earlier? Why is the Government not supporting the modest proposal for an emergency winter payment of €400?”
“The emergency winter payment campaign exists because people are being forced to choose between heating and food, cancelling essential medical appointments, and sitting in cold homes because energy costs are unaffordable. This is not hypothetical. It is happening now. Why is the Government claiming that what disabled people are saying is dangerous and misleading? Why is it not listening to what disabled people are trying to tell it about the real challenges they face in terms of heating and the cost of living? The emergency measure we are proposing would cost €124 million. That amounts to just 1% of the €12.4 billion surplus from last year. Taoiseach, please do not pretend that the Government cannot afford this measure and please do not pretend that disabled people are asking for something they are not asking for.”
“This would be a modest first step to help disabled people get through winter until a proper cost-of-disability payment is introduced. He then went on to say, "I do not want a misleading and dangerous message to go out that people must choose between food and heating." Could this Government possibly be any more out of touch with reality? This is what Joan Carthy from the Irish Wheelchair Association said in response to the Taoiseach's comments on Leaders' Questions a couple of weeks ago: While the Government speaks of future plans, reviews and budgets yet to come, disabled people are already living with the consequences of inaction.”
“On behalf of the Social Democrats, I express our sympathies to the family of the late Brian O'Shea. He indeed was a gentleman. The Government recognises the significant additional costs disabled people can face in their daily lives. Those are not my words. That is a line that the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Dara Calleary, has trotted out repeatedly since he was appointed last year. He said it again this morning, but they are only words and do not mean anything. They will not heat a single disabled person's home. The Minister said these empty words while announcing that the Government will tonight vote against the Social Democrats motion to introduce an emergency €400 winter payment for disabled people.”