Daniel Ennis
Dublin Central · Social Democrats · Ireland
“Senior gardaí knew about this in the late 1980s. They knew a boy had been abused but they did not act. A health board received complaints and did not follow through. A political and community network allowed access to children for years after the first warning signs were known. This was not ignorance.”
“I acknowledge the survivors of Bill Kenneally's abuse, who were then boys and are now men, who carried this alone for decades and found the courage and strength to force this State to look honestly at how it failed them. This is not an isolated failure.”
“On Saturday night I witnessed a pack of eight scramblers and motorbikes taking over Dublin city centre. I went to Store Street police station because I saw the lack of Garda presence. This was going on for hours.”
“The referral to the Law Reform Commission on misconduct in public office is a step forward but we need a timeline because survivors have already waited since 2017. I want the State to say plainly what structurally will stop this from happening again, not what apology we will give when it is already too late.”
“I raised this with the Taoiseach two weeks ago, after a kid with additional needs, Jayden Deans, was knocked down at the Five Lamps, a stone's throw from O'Connell Street. When are we going to see emergency and immediate action on this? When are we going to give the gardaí the resources and protections they need to address this?”
“Not only has this business strengthened local businesses but it has strengthened local community networks. It is complementing an already amazing community spirit in Stoneybatter.”
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“The referral to the Law Reform Commission on misconduct in public office is a step forward but we need a timeline because survivors have already waited since 2017. I want the State to say plainly what structurally will stop this from happening again, not what apology we will give when it is already too late. To the survivors I say, you have forced this reckoning against a system built to protect itself and the abusers first, a State that values position and power over people and the protection of the innocence of children. This State owes every child, past and future, a promise that we have finally stopped looking away.”
“Senior gardaí knew about this in the late 1980s. They knew a boy had been abused but they did not act. A health board received complaints and did not follow through. A political and community network allowed access to children for years after the first warning signs were known. This was not ignorance. It was a choice repeated by people who had the power to stop it but just gave a vile creature like Bill Kenneally continued and protected access to innocent children. I see the same instinct at work today, not the same crime but the same reflex to manage a problem quietly rather than confront it. I have raised concerns about Tusla's use of unregulated emergency arrangements for children in State care. The mechanism changes; the instinct to look away does not. An apology means nothing if this is the State's way of closing the file.”
“I acknowledge the survivors of Bill Kenneally's abuse, who were then boys and are now men, who carried this alone for decades and found the courage and strength to force this State to look honestly at how it failed them. This is not an isolated failure. It is our country's oldest and most shameful pattern - the industrial schools, the Magdalen laundries, the mother and baby homes. Through case after case, cover-up after cover-up, decade after decade, elements of this State have known that children were being harmed and abused but have chosen to protect the abuser over the abused because the men doing the harming were trusted, connected or useful to someone more powerful than the poor children themselves. This report shows that pattern again in living memory - not in some distant past that we can console ourselves is behind us.”
“I raised this with the Taoiseach two weeks ago, after a kid with additional needs, Jayden Deans, was knocked down at the Five Lamps, a stone's throw from O'Connell Street. When are we going to see emergency and immediate action on this? When are we going to give the gardaí the resources and protections they need to address this? How many people are going to be seriously injured or killed like poor Grace?”
“On Saturday night I witnessed a pack of eight scramblers and motorbikes taking over Dublin city centre. I went to Store Street police station because I saw the lack of Garda presence. This was going on for hours. The garda on the desk told me they had not got the resources to deal with this on a Saturday night in Dublin city centre, the capital of our country. One of those scramblers narrowly missed crashing into me. I do not know how he did not. He lost control after going up on a wheely. I thought that would be the end of it but they continued for hours after that, moving from street to street from O'Connell Street, Parnell Street, Portland Row, Sean McDermott Street and the North Strand road.”
“I thank the Minister of State. Consistency is key, and that is what is letting us down with our local authority in this instance. Communities do not expect every planning application to succeed, but they do expect consistency in how planning is enforced. We are not asking for weaker planning rules, but for a planning system that is proportionate, consistent and capable of recognising the wider public good when local people invest in their communities and turn once-derelict sites that were not only eyesores, but causing antisocial behaviour and other nefarious activities, into thriving local community hubs. It is hard to take.”
“We cannot lose them because they will fall back into dereliction, and we know what that dereliction brings. We are doing everything in our power to save these spaces. We are asking the same of the Minister of State.”
“Not only has this business strengthened local businesses but it has strengthened local community networks. It is complementing an already amazing community spirit in Stoneybatter. The Stay With Us café is a small local independent café that is not only very important and a community hub for the local community in Phibsborough but because there is also an emergency homeless hostel next door to it, it is a hub for the people living there. Both spaces are at risk of being lost. We are crying out for derelict spaces to be turned into community hubs. We are not asking the Minister of State to intervene. We are asking him to open up a dialogue with Dublin City Council, as we have also done. Again, these spaces are not only very important to local independent businesses but they are vital community hubs.”
“To follow on from Deputy Gary Gannon, the Cowtown Market is a space that is so much more than an outdoor food market. It is a space that was once a derelict site. We have seen serious levels of antisocial behaviour at that end of Prussia Street and the Stoneybatter area. It opened since Covid and has been thriving ever since. It creates local employment and has strengthened relationships with the local pub, the City Arms, and other local businesses like Tesco and the shops across the way. It has really brought life and vitality to that area. Dublin City Council wants to return that to a derelict site. It is a complete contradiction. It contradicts some of the work that Dublin City Council is trying to do around the city centre with regard to meanwhile use and everything else.”
“Childcare has consistently been treated as an afterthought by this Government, with a complete lack of thought to the design and implementation of a well-functioning system. We want to see what was promised to us by this Government. We want to see a roadmap for a provision of €200 per month childcare. Families across this country are struggling and we need to support them.”
“Core funding also continues to cause issues, and we have all spoken about that tonight. A Montessori in my own constituency in Phibsborough that has served the local community for decades is unsure if it will be able to open its doors next year. The sector is also facing serious challenges in recruitment and retention of staff. It is vital our plan for a public model of childcare includes proper pay and working conditions for staff in early childhood education facilities. Urgent action needs to be taken to address this. The challenges of recruitment and retention of staff in the industry is a major problem. We need to see a public model of childcare. Childcare should be seen as essential infrastructure rather than a private burden that is placed on parents to deal with.”
“We are now an outlier in Europe in terms of how poor our access to early childhood education is and how unaffordable it is. I welcome the Government's building block scheme and the announcement that it will purchase eight properties for the provision of public childcare. However, this does not go far enough. As a councillor, I asked for an audit to be done of Dublin City Council-owned properties to establish if any such properties may be suitable for future use as childcare facilities. This is something I believe we should be asking of all our councils and their council-owned property across the country. Property should be examined for its availability for community hubs, including childcare facilities, as having access to these facilities in the core of our community is of vital importance.”
“These are factors that shape women's decisions on returning to work, access to full-time roles and long-term financial security. If our Government is serious about addressing the gender pay gap and improving gender equality as a whole within our society, it needs to start here. We need our Government to recognise that affordable, accessible childcare is fundamentally an equality issue. Our European counterparts recognise that access to childcare is an equality issue. For instance, in Germany, children over the age of one have a legal entitlement to a childcare place. Portugal's national system of early childhood intervention works on a multi-departmental level to ensure an adequate system of social, education and health supports for young children. Ireland's childcare costs are nearly double that of the OECD average.”
“We should not be making parents choose between their careers and their children. This is not a reflection of the early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners who work tirelessly to provide a fantastic service for our children right across the country; it is a reflection of a broken system. We know this crisis disproportionately affects women, with mothers forced to put their careers on pause or give them up altogether. The national strategy for women and girls published last year put a strong emphasis on how unpaid care creates structural barriers that prevent women's participation in the workforce. A core part of these barriers is the lack of affordable, high-quality, early years and school-age care, as well as uneven pay for parental leave.”
“That is absolutely shocking. How is that sustainable? While the cost of childcare is impacting families across the country, lower income families are always the worst affected. Earlier this month, the Government announced a reduction in the weekly fee cap for childcare services under the core funding model. This reduction was less than €15 per week, a drop from €198 to €183.70. This is far from the €200 per child per month price cap that was promised. It is a bit scary. Price hike after price hike continue to affect families across the country. No parent wants to say they will not pay whatever they can for their child. As a parent, you want to give everything you possibly can for your children. No parent wants their child to go without, but we should not be putting them in that situation.”
“Yet, here we are, still without a clear roadmap or timeframe for when this will happen. I often talk about how lucky I was and we were to be able to secure a childcare place for my daughter, Ren. It is lucky that I and my partner, Chloe, are able to work and continue our careers. We are lucky to have childcare costs that amount to a second mortgage. This is not the language we should be using or should have to use when it comes to childcare. Being lucky or blessed should not come into it, and it should have no bearing on your access to childcare; it should be a right. The average cost of childcare in this country is €850 per month. However, for many families, it is so much more than that, including my own. In my constituency, one parent got in touch with me to tell me they pay €1,800 per month for one child for childcare.”
“Affordable and accessible childcare is a vital provision that has fundamental impacts on both our society and economy. A well-functioning early childhood education and care system is key to the future of our children as well as our own success. A public model of early childhood education and care is the only way we can achieve a system that is affordable, accessible and which addresses the childcare needs of families across this country. While we work towards that model, we must cap childcare fees at €200 per child per month. This fee cap is something we have heard a lot about this evening, and indeed in the 2024 election, but it is very important we keep reiterating this. It was promised to every parent in the country in the lead-up to this past election, and it was promised to them in the programme for Government.”
“Deputy McAuliffe spoke of Finglas, the north inner city and Cabra. You are not seeing it in Foxrock. This needs to be policed. Will the Taoiseach support our call for a dedicated policing unit to address the scrambler scourge before we see more people-----”
“I want to share the story of the scrambler scourge that is plaguing parts of Dublin city. In particular, I share the story of Jayden, a child with additional needs who was on the way to the shop at the Five Lamps to buy bread and was knocked down by a scrambler. Not only was the incident horrible and there was a serious injury, but it was also a hit and run. However, the scrambler came back as part of a group of scramblers, and they circled the family as they were tending to Jayden on the ground. It is horrible stuff, and it shows the sheer sense of lawlessness and the failure to address the scrambler scourge on the ground. When Grace's Law was passed, it was a step forward, but without that legislation being enforced and policed on the ground, it does not matter to these lads. These lads are running amok terrorising parts of Dublin.”
“That was a promise before the election that I was hoping would be delivered for my family and many others. This problem is not just in Dublin Central, it is right across the country. Families are crippled.”
“I take on board what the Minister is saying. I do not hold out much hope. Time and again, the Government has treated childcare as an afterthought. As a father of two, this is something I live with every day. Childcare costs are crippling families. I knocked on close to 40,000 doors, and it came up quite a lot. We were not seeing it much in representations or emails, but it certainly came up in the one-to-one conversations. The Government has failed so many times in respect of this promise. We are talking about getting costs down. We are a long way from the €200 per month cap. The average cost of childcare is €850 per month. Ireland is an outlier in Europe. We are not moving quick enough with this. I hope to see this happening sharpish. Working with the Minister on the committee, we hope to do that. I do not hold out much hope, however.”
“Not only are we so far from the €200-per-month reduction that was promised again in the programme for Government; we are yet to see a clear roadmap on how this reduction will take place. Again, the same roadmap was promised by the Tánaiste. Goalposts are being moved. In his words again, it was to be within the Government's first 100 days. We are now 500 days into the lifetime of this Government. It is just not good enough or quick enough for families that are struggling.”
“In the lead-up to the last election, the Tánaiste promised to cap childcare fees at €200 per month, and that was to do with the early stage of the Government. His words were exactly these: I actually believe the cost bit we can deliver quite quickly. I believe it can be delivered in the early time of the government. Not the end. Last week, on a podcast, he said that we would not get there by the next budget, that that was never the commitment - again, his words - and that the commitment was over the lifetime of the Government, as the Minister mentioned. Once again the goalposts seem to have moved. Timelines seem to have moved. The targets are moving yet again. What commitment is this Government giving such that we will not see broken promises before an election again?”
“Affordable, accessible childcare provision is vital for the proper functioning of our society and our economy. What plans does the Minister have to publish a detailed timeframe, including milestones and key performance indicators, for the provision of €200-per-month childcare, as set out in the commitments in the programme for Government?”
“Ireland is one of the richest countries in Europe and we are seeing record levels of homelessness and child poverty, all under the Taoiseach's watch. It is absolutely shameful. This is an emergency and it requires an emergency response. We need a targeted energy credit for low- and middle-income households to give them some relief. Will the Taoiseach commit to that?”
“In the run-up to the by-election, I knocked on close to 40,000 doors and the same issue came up time and time again, affecting constituents in every corner of the constituency: the cost of living. A new report from Barnardos today outlines just how much pressure families are under. It is absolutely shocking. Up to 80% of parents believe their children have been negatively impacted by the cost-of-living crisis. They are parents in every corner of the country, in all our communities, who are struggling and whose children are struggling. Thirty per cent of people said they did not have enough food to feed their children at some point over the last year. It is absolutely shocking. It also shows that more than one third of families went into arrears in their energy bills at some point over the last 12 months.”
“They show how to be bigger and be a part of something bigger. In 1999, when our Government decided that we could not justly play against Yugoslavia, it was brave. It stood up for what was right. It showed leadership and accountability. It showed the same traits that our athletes show every single time they step out to represent our country. We need our Government to act like our athletes again. We need it to be brave and stand up for what is right. We need it to ensure that none of our athletes have to be faced with a decision to play on the same pitch or court or in the same stadium as the same genocidal regime that is committing atrocities in Gaza. We need the Government to respect and trust the power of sport and show that this is more than just a game.”
“Certainly, the Government at the time had a tough decision to make but days before the game was due to take place, the Government led by Bertie Ahern of Fianna Fáil - in which our current Taoiseach was a Cabinet Minister - refused to grant the Yugoslavian players entry visas because of the atrocities that were taking place in Kosovo. The football pitch has been a place where I have learned some of my core values. This set of values prioritises being brave, standing up for yourself and fighting for what you believe in and fighting for what is right. It is a set of values that all athletes show time and again when they play, especially when they play for our country. When they go out on the pitch or court, they put themselves out there and show bravery, leadership and accountability.”
“By our Government refusing to act on this matter, it is placing a responsibility on the shoulders of athletes. While the athletes who represent this country at international level are some of the bravest people we have - they have committed their lives to their sport - it is not and should not be their responsibility alone to make choices like this. This is a decision for our Government and governing bodies. In June 1999, we were faced with a similar situation that we are faced with now. The Republic of Ireland and Yugoslavia were scheduled to play a European qualifier at Lansdowne Road. UEFA refused to postpone the game and threatened the FAI with sanctions if they did not play. The public and players made themselves clear at that time that they did not want this to go ahead.”
“It is a political decision because, for Israel, this is not about football; it is about keeping its reputation clean by continuing on like nothing is happening. For Israel, it is more than a game. It is certainly more than a game for us, too. It is more than a game because, right now, it represents a regime that, for nearly three years, has systematically committed genocide against the Palestinian people. It represents a regime that has overseen the killing of nearly 75,000 Palestinians, including some 22,000 children. It is absolutely shocking and shameful. It has deliberately destroyed water, energy, healthcare and education infrastructure in Gaza. It has committed ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from Gaza. Sharing that pitch is sharing respect with not just the Israeli team but with that genocidal regime.”
“Many of our athletes and club members have already voiced concerns and frustrations about the possibility of Ireland playing sporting fixtures against Israel. Wheelchair rugby player, Alan Dineen, made his position clear when he stated that he would refuse to play against Israel in any international competition. FAI members were clear when 93% of them passed a resolution last November to ask UEFA to remove Israel from all competitions. The Irish public could not be any clearer in this regard. We should not be playing against a genocidal regime. People have said that politics should not be involved in this decision and that sport and politics simply do not belong together. Choosing to play any fixture against the Israeli state, however, is a political decision.”
“It kept me connected to my community and friends. From grassroots level on our local pitches and play spaces right up to national level, sport has always been a place of unity, friendship, inclusion and, most importantly, respect. I have seen sports pitches be places that unite our communities and bring people together over a shared love and language. Sport saves lives. It has taught me so much. It is more than just a game. Sport only works as a tool when we ensure it is grounded in respect, that is, respect for each other, the game, our teammates and our opponents. We must also have respect for our athletes representing our nation and its jersey. This Government has shown a complete lack of respect for our nation, supporters and athletes when it insists that we should play any sporting fixture against Israel.”
“In this maidan speech, I will start by thanking the people of Dublin Central who voted for me and turned out in good numbers. In everything I do, I am going to work to repay the trust they put in me. I thank my family and friends and everyone who has helped me get to this point. It is a proud honour for both myself and my family. Without my fiancée, Chloe, my son, Wylder, and my daughter, Wren, I simply would not be here. I thank them for all their love and strength. I thank the amazing campaign team, Gary, Cáit and El, as well as everyone who turned out, including volunteers and canvassers. I also thank the youth and sports clubs and schools that were my safety nets in the north inner city. On that point of sport, sport has changed my life. Growing up in the north inner city, sport kept me on the right track.”