David Cullinane
Waterford · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I met many of those patients and people with the illness yesterday. Many of them were here in Leinster House. They told me, as they have in the past, they cannot walk and they cannot swallow and, as the Taoiseach acknowledged, it is also very difficult for their families who have to watch as their condition worsens and the disease progres…”
“In fact, in the programme for Government the Government committed to reviewing that process because it was accepted it does not always work. The technical review group obviously now needs to be convened and needs to meet urgently. Emily cannot afford more delays.”
“Yesterday, as the Taoiseach knows, the HSE drugs group met to consider reimbursement of Skyclarys, the first approved treatment that can slow the progression of Friedreich's ataxia. Patients hoped for a positive decision. This process has been ongoing for years.”
“They were left desperately making phone calls, checking for updates, asking journalists and asking politicians if they had heard anything. They were treated appallingly. Then, when the news did eventually filter though, they were left devastated.”
“Richard Walsh, consultant neurologist and co-director of the National Ataxia Clinic, has described this drug as a ground-breaking development. He has said that he would prescribe it if it were available in Ireland and that it may reduce the rate of disease progression.”
“"We are not going to regain any of the abilities we've lost, but Skyclarys will give us time. Time when you're dealing with our progressive relentless disease is everything. We all deserve time with our loved ones." Those are the words of Emily Felix, a 28-year-old trainee solicitor from Kilkenny who is living with Friedreich's ataxia.”
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“This is an annual Bill that renews the risk equalisation mechanism, which supports the community-based health insurance market. Obviously, I recognise the fact that many people rely on health insurance, so for that reason, we will be supporting the Bill. However, as in previous years, I will be critiquing what I see as a two-tier system and an insurance market system that I fundamentally do not agree with. Many people take out private health insurance because they feel they must.”
“He is responsible for some of the costs with regard to the carbon tax increase on petrol and diesel. It is about time for this Government to get its head out of the clouds, start living in the real world, meet real people and have some sense of understanding of ordinary motorists and families. It had an opportunity to support them last night when Sinn Féin proposed solutions but it did not do so. Instead, it turned its back on people again.”
“I do not know whether the Minister of State has ever travelled the road from Waterford to Limerick. I do not know how any towns and villages one has to go through. It is an absolute nightmare for hauliers, truck drivers and motorists yet in the capital allocation for this year and last year, no funding was made available and these projects were not moved on. That is what really angers people. We have a do-nothing Government that put statements on the clár for us to talk about issues but will not act on any of the issues. It is not building the roads that need to be built. It is not doing anything about the rising costs for hauliers, ordinary families or ordinary motorists. Worse, the Minister of State has the brass neck to come in and say nothing of any substance to anybody in his speech.”
“They also need good and safe roads. Last year and this year, there was an opportunity for the Government to fund two really important road projects for Waterford and the south east. The first is the N25 Waterford to Cork road. It is a major road that connects the two major cities of Waterford and Cork. It needs to be upgraded but the funding has not been made available. It has stalled over the past number of years. Again, no funding for the Waterford to Limerick road has been made available for the past two years and no funding has been made available this year. The pathway for the bypass has been agreed but the funding has not been made available. We have really poor roads connecting two major cities - Cork and Limerick - to Waterford. Hauliers and motorists use those roads.”
“When they go into a supermarket and pay for their groceries, they see that prices have gone up. In almost every part of their lives from petrol and diesel to childcare costs and rents, families are paying more. Every time we bring forward a motion, this Government votes against all of those solutions. I am afraid the Minister of State simply does not get it. I know of the anger of families, particularly when many of the issues we are discussing today could have been addressed in the budget just gone by but the Government failed to do so. Hauliers are angry. As Deputy Daly said, there is a threat of strike action. They see these toll increases as almost the last straw, but they are also faced with all the other costs and cost increases. I come from Waterford in the south east. We talk about what affects hauliers and motorists.”
“Deputy Doherty moved a Bill through this House to ensure that insurance premiums and prices would come down and the savings would be sent on to the customer. What does this Government do? It does not want to implement that same Bill and leaves it there. It is the same with the carbon tax hike on petrol and diesel. The Government cannot blame anybody but itself for that. It put that increase on the cost of petrol and diesel, which again affects ordinary families, hauliers and businesses. The reason people see the Minister of State and the Government as out of touch is that every week, families have to look at all of these rising costs. When their insurance bill comes through the door, they see that it has gone up. When they use a toll, it has gone up.”
“I do not think the Minister of State or the Government get it at all. People outside this building wonder whether they live in a bubble and whether they have any understanding of what it is like for ordinary families. The Government initiated these statements on the issues and rising costs affecting the haulage industry when the Government is responsible for those same rising costs. What is ironic and a real slap in the face to everybody faced with rising motoring costs is that we proposed a motion in this House last week and put real solutions on the table, but the Government voted down each and every one of those solutions last night. Toll increases affect everybody from ordinary motorists to SMEs and hauliers. Tolls are going up. What does this Government do? It votes against measures that would reduce those tolls.”
“Even if we are looking at reducing the length of time people are in emergency departments, very often people waiting for the scan or X-ray to come back is what can hold up their journey through an emergency department. I believe there is merit in diagnostic hubs. I have discussed this with the Department and the HSE. I am a great believer in elective hospitals and surgical hubs. However, on this one, if we want to reach those Sláintecare targets, we have to look again. The Minister mentioned some of it, and it is welcome that she has a grasp of it, but we need to look at the whole area of diagnostics. Yes, we need more utilisation of what we have, but we also need other methods and investments to reduce wait times.”
“I took an active interest in the area of diagnostics after my mother passed. She went for a check in an emergency department and was told she would have to wait for possibly 12 to 18 months for a CT scan. We had the money to send her privately. She had that scan done in a matter of weeks, was diagnosed with cancer and, unfortunately, within a year had passed away. I know how important it is for people to get that timely access. I can only imagine how difficult it is for a person who is told they could be waiting months. They are worried about a potential growth and about symptoms. They have been sent by their GP. There is a human consequence to this.”
“I also put to her that we need to look at rolling out diagnostic hubs similar to the surgical hubs that were rolled out. They are a really important part of a patient's healthcare journey. Obviously, you go to a GP and then get sent for a scan. However, if you have been waiting a year or two years, particularly if you are concerned, which of course people generally are if they are sent to get a scan, it adds to the stress and the totality of a person's healthcare journey. We can reduce that if we invest more in diagnostics.”
“The most recent figures are that almost 300,000 people are on a waiting list for a diagnostic scan. Over 77,000 of those have been waiting more than a year and over 46,000 have been waiting more than 18 months. That is far in excess of any Sláintecare targets. I gave examples earlier of CT scanners and other diagnostic equipment that is not being fully utilised, partly because we do not have the staff. I agree with the Minister that we need to do everything possible to fully utilise existing scanners and equipment. Anything that can be done in hospitals, and consultants doing more, is of course part of it but we also have to recruit the additional staff. The Minister knows there is a shortage of radiologists, radiographers, radiation therapists and other specialties.”
“This question relates to diagnostic waiting lists and the number of patients waiting for various forms of diagnostic equipment in hospitals across the State. The numbers are quite high, as I am sure the Minister will see. What are her views and plans for how she will reduce those wait times and the number of people who are waiting for a diagnostic scan?”
“It is not what the health regions will spend the money on; it is how much new money they have been given, in addition, to invest in these services. That is what the Irish Cancer Society is trying to find out. It is what other organisations advocating for cancer patients are trying to find out. I cannot tell them. I have told them I have asked the question so many times and I cannot seem to get any answer. I do not know what other way I can raise it other than in here directly with the Minister.”
“I fully understand that cancer services go beyond the national cancer strategy. Of course that is the case. Across all of our acute hospitals, cancer services are provided that are outside the remit of the national cancer strategy. That strategy is also important in bringing together stakeholders. It is meant to bring consistency in services and it looks at where gaps are and so on. I had this discussion with the Minister at the Oireachtas health committee yesterday. I do not need to know exactly how the money is going be spent because that is a matter for the regions. I do not have a quarrel with that. I supported the health regions and I believe in regional health budgets, but it is important for us to know what additional money has gone into any of those strategies or not.”
“There is a dire need for investment in equipment and diagnostics in our cancer services. I have not heard from the Minister what additional funding, either capital or current, has been made available, specifically for the national cancer strategy.”
“For example, in Sligo hospital, a CT scanner is not fully utilised because one additional whole-time equivalent radiology post is needed, which was approved, and the hospital is still waiting for that appointment to be made. In University Hospital Limerick, one CT scanner is under-utilised; there is a staffing requirement for two whole-time equivalent radiologists needed to run it full time. In Ennis, one CT scanner and one ultrasound machine are under-utilised because four whole-time equivalent radiographers are needed, as well as a radiographer assistant, nurses and so on. At St. Luke's Radiation Oncology Network, and this was very helpfully raised by Deputy Boyd Barrett a number of weeks ago, linear accelerator, LINAC, equipment is out of date and needs to be replaced.”
“The Irish Cancer Society was before the Oireachtas health committee a number of weeks ago. It raised very serious concerns in relation to major delays in diagnostics and treatment, particularly in the areas of colonoscopy, breast and prostate clinics, imaging, surgery and radiation therapy. It raised concerns about severe staffing shortages in radiology, cancer nursing and radiation therapy. I put down a parliamentary question on the number of scanners and the diagnostic equipment that is lying idle, is not being fully utilised or has reached end of life. It is staggering to look at some of the details that have come back.”
“My first question is in relation to the national cancer strategy. The Minister might be aware the Irish Cancer Society has been raising concerns over the past number of weeks and months in relation to access to diagnostics, staffing shortages across cancer centres and cancer services but also insufficient and inconsistent funding for the national cancer strategy. The Minister might outline to the House, if she can, what additional funding has been made available for the national cancer strategy and for cancer services in budget 2026.”
“In the past, the health committee has played a very constructive role in working with officials. We will do so again if required.”
“obviously, contracts have to go out to tender. I accept that, but it is important for us, as spokespersons on health, to again point out the urgent need to invest in this area. There is or was a reluctance on the part of the Department of public expenditure and reform to invest in health, possibly and probably because of what happened with the personnel, payroll and related systems. Fingers were burnt in the past. We have to move away from that. We have to accept that the world has moved on and that everybody is using IT and digital systems now. The healthcare system has to keep pace with that. While the Bill is important, it is only the starting point. It provides a legislative framework. The funding, the urgency and the delivery have to come from the political system.”
“There were a huge number of patient files and records on that trolley. I do not know how any system could operate like that. I have also dealt with many cases where the families request the records of patients who may have passed away in circumstances where there may be concerns about how they were treated. Again, in the context of medical records, I sometimes wonder how things are not missed and how doctors and nurses can keep on top of everything in a paper-based system. I have to reinforce that point. We need to do more. The Oireachtas committee again stands ready to assist in respect of this matter and to do everything we can to support the Minister and the officials. Obviously, it will require funding. There is an amount of funding ring-fenced for this. The Minister cannot or will not say how much is involved because.”
“I support the amendment, but I will pretty quickly make a point about the digital transformation of healthcare. This is something the Joint Committee on Health has spent a lot of time looking at over the past number of years. I will not rehearse all of the arguments, because we know we have a long road to travel. There is a direction of travel now with summary care records. It will take some time to get all the bells and whistles and electronic health records similar to those that exist in many other European countries. It strikes me that it is red tape that frustrates the system. I was in a hospital recently visiting a patient. We hear about patients on trolleys, but a trolley was rolled past me that was loaded with files. The nurse said that this is where we are in 2025.”
“Is there cause for concern about the voluntary hospitals? Notwithstanding what I said about reading in the media about tensions between the Minister and some of the voluntary hospitals, what has the engagement been like? Are there fears within the Department and the Minister that there is a reluctance from either all or some of the voluntary hospitals to comply with the new system that is being put in place?”
“I have a final point on this issue. I do not want to hold up the discussion on the Bill itself. I have read media reports between tensions between the Minister and some of voluntary hospitals. I do not want to get into that because I do not know the accuracy of it and I am not really that interested in it, in any event. The only interest I have is that the voluntary hospitals are fully compliant, play ball and implement in full the new financial management system that has been put in place, and any other system because I hope we will roll out electronic health records or summary care records at some point so we want the voluntary hospitals to be compliant with that as well. The Minister is talking about amendments that may come to the Seanad as well in that area but has there been any pushback?”
“From my perspective, it is important there is not any division between the Government and Opposition and that a very clear, unified message is sent to voluntary hospitals that there cannot be any excuse for not operating these systems in full. I would expect voluntary hospitals to engage with all of those systems in the exact same way as any other HSE publicly-funded hospital.”
“There is a value in those hospitals having boards. They value that themselves. They are very protective of and precious about it. It is important for all of us, whether we are in government or in opposition, to make it very clear that there is a very high expectation from this House and from, I would imagine, the public who signs the cheques for those voluntary hospitals, that they provide all of the data asked for by the HSE. The HSE is the funder on behalf of the taxpayer. There have been incidents when it has not happened and if we want consistency across all hospitals we need every hospital, including voluntary ones, to play ball.”
“On the issue of voluntary hospitals, as the Minister has raised it, I raised this issue with the CEO of the HSE, Bernard Gloster, when he appeared before the health committee last week, as well as with Derek Tierney, the assistant secretary in the Department of Health. I have seen media reports of attempts to make sure the voluntary hospitals play ball in relation to the integrated financial service management system. This is something I raised with staff in the HSE when we were looking at the health regions. Muiris O'Connor and others were in briefings we got when the health regions were at that point - this was before they were established - on what they would do and what they would look like. The issue of voluntary hospitals came up and it came up again in the Oireachtas Committee on Health today. There is value in them, obviously.”
“I will not hold the Minister up on this. I would say we will get through this very quickly. It is a technical amendment and the Minister is right. It is the only section of the Bill that has not been commenced, but obviously it is an important section. As the Minister said, it gives the chief inspector the discretionary powers to commission an investigation, and that is an important part of the Bill we had passed. Will the Minister say, if this Bill is passed, does it have to go to the Seanad or are these the final Stages of it? When will this section of the Act actually be commissioned? What is the timeframe for it? It is an important part of the Bill that has already been passed and it is something I have raised in the past. I am anxious that it would be commenced as soon as possible.”
“I hope we see full co-operation from everybody involved and that all of those children and families get justice. I hope we can learn from this but also crucially invest in the services that need it.”
“Crucially, this inquiry has to have the full backing of families and advocates. It must be developed with them and it must get answers to the questions they have. It is important that we also improve the services. While an inquiry will be established, it is equally important that we invest in services. We have to make sure that every single child has timely access to care. I know from dealing with and talking to many parents that it is not just the surgeries. It is the pre-operative and post-operative care and the totality of that child's care that are really important. I am thankful for the opportunity to raise these issues today. I know we will have an inquiry but we will watch the terms of reference and see exactly what that inquiry will be. I really hope that it is fit for purpose.”
“If it had delivered the resources and funding sooner, many of these tragedies would have been prevented. I pay tribute to Stephen and Gillian, Harvey's parents, as I have done in the past, but also to Amanda, Una, Claire and all of those advocates and mothers and fathers who went above and beyond the call of duty. They became advocates for others, not just their own children. I also pay tribute to the whistleblowers who came forward. We owe them a debt of gratitude as well. What is needed now is not another internal review, another limited report or another chapter in a long pattern of deflection and delay. We need a full, independent, statutory public inquiry that is fit for purpose and can establish the facts, trace decisions and failures and finally deliver real accountability.”
“He was denied early intervention and has now been told his condition is inoperable because he spent his childhood on waiting lists. I think of Mikey from Mayo, who is still waiting for care. In fact, I think his parents have reached out looking for a meeting. These are just three children and there are many more names that we do not know. However, we know these children's names because their parents were forced to campaign, go public and have their cases raised here in this Chamber. It is only because of the courageous work of advocates that we know any of this. If CHI had its way, none of this would have come to light. The tragedy here is that if the Government had listened to parents and advocates sooner, we might not have been here today discussing this issue at all.”
“Harvey's condition was entirely treatable, as far as I am concerned. His parents, Stephen and Gillian, campaigned with extraordinary courage to get the care of their son needed but, after years of delay and avoidable decline, Harvey tragically passed away this year, at the tender age of nine. Harvey was entirely failed every step of the way. CHI failed to give him the care he needed when he needed it. His case is now a defining symbol of systemic failure. When I think of Harvey, I also think of the countless children and young adults who have been failed by CHI. I think of Dollceanna, who died at the age of ten after complications during surgery on her spine at Temple Street. I think of young TJ, who was diagnosed with spina bifida and scoliosis.”
“I know the inquiry will obviously have to answer these questions. What we do know is that it happened without the consent of his parents, and his parents were not even informed. It is breathtaking to think that would happen. It has since come to light that Harvey was allegedly and wrongfully removed from the list because he was listed as a palliative care patient, despite the fact that a consultant at Great Ormond Street Hospital had assessed him and found him as suitable for surgery. This compounds the anger the family justifiably have. While there was still potential to save young Harvey's life, it seems that someone took him off the list, and worse, it seems that someone decided not to communicate this to his parents. It was only late last year when Harvey eventually received his first surgery.”
“There are question marks around whether this is sufficient, whether it is targeted and whether it will deliver the capacity that children urgently need. If anybody wants to understand the cost of these failures, they need look no further than the case of Harvey Morrison Sherratt. Harvey Morrison Sherratt was just one year old when the Tánaiste made his four-months-to-surgery promise. It took another seven years for Harvey to get that surgery. During the delays, Harvey's spinal curve deteriorated from severe to catastrophic. By 2022, his spinal curvature was 65° and by 2024, it had reached 110° and then 130°. Harvey was placed on an urgent waiting list for scoliosis surgery but he was also taken off that urgent waiting list and his parents still do not know why. Why was he taken off? Who took him off?”
“They were the product of a system where governance was weak, where oversight was absent and, as the HIQA report said, where children were not protected from the risk of harm. This scandal goes beyond spinal surgery waiting lists. We also know there have been potentially hundreds of unnecessary hip surgeries carried out on children. We have unpublished reports raising even more serious concerns about how CHI is governed and how children's services are delivered. We are still waiting on the Nayagam review, which may be next year. We were promised interim reports but they never materialised. We still have questions over new funding for children's orthopaedics. The Minister mentioned funding that is available.”
“This is a group of children who simply fell through the cracks. It is not that nobody knew this. The parents knew. They were screaming from the rooftops, but nobody in CHI management or in Government Buildings was listening. Since then, we had the case of unauthorised non-medical-grade springs being implanted in children's backs. The HIQA review of these cases found severe governance failures, which allowed these tragedies to occur in the first place. HIQA found a lack of formal approval processes, inadequate oversight, poor record-keeping or a lack of consent from parents - the Minister mentioned this and poor communication earlier - poor tracking and traceability of devices and hygiene standards, and exceptionally weak clinical governance structures. These were not one-off lapses.”
“They are told to trust an organisation that has repeatedly abused and broken that trust, according to these very same parents. One of the saddest failures in CHI is the abandonment of a group of children who came to be known as the Crumlin orphans. These are a group of children left without the care of any consultant in orthopaedics or urology. When this group of children was identified by what was known as the Dixon report, CHI said nothing. In fact, it never published the report and, worse than this, it never accepted the findings, despite the fact that we all know the findings were conclusive and were correct. CHI could not even say how many children were in this group. When this issue was identified again a few years later in another unpublished report, CHI still did not know how many children were in this group.”
“One child has now been waiting over 48 months for surgery, more than four years on the waiting list. Seven more have been waiting over a year. Children cannot wait months or years for time-sensitive and, at times, life-saving and life-changing spinal surgery. We know that many have not received proper pre-operative or post-operative care. We also know that many children are staying in hospital longer than expected because of high infection rates. This means many children stay in for weeks instead of days, causing distress, pain, time lost in school and time lost with family, and knock-on delays for other children waiting for care. Families tell me they are not being given the real data on infection rates, so they cannot give proper, informed consent.”
“We know that children with spina bifida and scoliosis have waited far too long for essential surgeries. Even today, there are 232 children on waiting lists for spinal surgery, with most of them having waited longer than three months. We do not know how many have waited for longer than four months because CHI does not publish this information. Even when it comes to waiting lists and how they are presented, there is an appalling lack of transparency. What we do know is that behind every number is a child sometimes in pain, losing mobility and getting worse. The waiting list figures are concerning. The number of children without a date for surgery is up to 139, and another 43 are waiting on a date for a further procedure. Only nine actually have a date; the rest are suspended for various reasons.”
“CHI, as we know, was formed to amalgamate, essentially, the children's hospitals in Dublin, with a promise to provide a world-class service for children. Despite the Trojan work of healthcare workers in Crumlin, Temple Street and Cappagh, and I know that many people who work in these hospitals provide a tremendous service, the promise of providing a world-class service for all children never materialised. At the heart of this is exceptionally poor governance, which is made worse by four years of delays to the new children's hospital, a hospital that has made a mockery of the State because of a fundamentally flawed contract. It has to be said that this another calamity with Simon Harris's fingerprints all over it because he was, after all, the Minister who greenlit that project and signed off on the contract.”
“In 2017, the Tánaiste, Simon Harris, made a promise to children with scoliosis and spina bifida that long waiting lists would essentially end and that children would no longer wait in pain, deteriorate or lose the chance of life-changing and, in some cases, life-saving intervention. He promised that no child would be left waiting longer than four months for surgery. Since then, as we know, countless children have suffered in agony, without surgery within four months and, in many cases, tragically, without surgery at all. We have to go back to the very beginning. Children's Health Ireland was legally established by Simon Harris in 2018. Yet, from its first days, it has lurched from crisis to crisis and the children who depend on the services have paid the price.”
“I am proud of the fact that we have brought forward solutions, but when it comes to the cost-of-living crisis, we have a Government that does not want to take responsibility for anything, blames everybody else and does not want to listen to any solutions, but then has the brass neck not even to accept that its own policies that it brought forward in the most recent budget have actually resulted in rising costs for motorists. The motorists in my constituency in Waterford, who have to have a car because the public transport is not there, know full well that is the case.”
“When it comes to the increase in petrol and diesel, however, the only people who can be blamed and should be blamed are in the Government because it increased the carbon tax, and that carbon tax increase has resulted in higher costs for motorists. The Minister of State rubbished the Bill that was brought forward by Deputy Doherty. This was a Bill that was actually passed through this House in good faith by Sinn Féin, working with industry experts, consumers and people who are being ripped off because of crazy insurance costs, and this Government has done next to nothing.”
“Again, we had a scripted speech from a Minister of State that was just a continuous attack against the Opposition and Sinn Féin. Every time we raise issues in relation to the cost of living, the Government’s response is to ask where are the solutions. We brought forward a motion today with solutions, and we had a very scripted speech from the Minister of State that rubbished every one of the solutions we put forward. What is also interesting is that on all the additional hikes and cost increases and the cost-of-living crisis, whether it is for motorists or whether it is on groceries or on rent or mortgages, the Government Members always blame everybody but themselves. If insurance prices go up, it is the insurance companies' fault. If rents go up, it is landlords' fault. If groceries go up, it is the supermarkets' fault.”
“Worse than that, because the company did not provide them with all of the options, they are now locked out of a compensation scheme that many others were included in. It is deeply unfair. My party leader has written to the Minister on behalf of this group of workers. A group of them want to meet him. They have very clear demands that the State accepts failure in this regard. Yes, the company failed, but so too did the State. They want compensation and they want an apology. I believe that is the very least that group of workers deserve.”
“These were a group of workers who were made redundant many years ago. At the time they were made redundant, they were not made aware by the company of all their pension entitlements. They were only given one option. The paperwork that the Government and others say exists was never given to them and has never been found. It was very clear to them, and it is clear to us, that only one option was given to them. Because they were not given options, they are now locked out of the compensation scheme that was put in place following a court case at the European Court of Justice. These are hundreds of workers who gave their lives, who have pensions, who paid into a pension pot but who, because the company was insolvent and the pension scheme was insolvent, were left high and dry.”
“We then had a budget where people were left high and dry. Some people with disabilities are telling us they are down about €1,500 or €1,600 over the course of the year because of measures or failures in this budget. We then have the automatic enrolment pension scheme which, as was said, is good in principle. However, there are a number of problems with the Bill. I support helping workers build pensions, but this particular scheme locks workers in for six months before they can opt out. That is money they simply do not have. As was said, it is being handed over to the private sector rather than the NTMA actually using it to invest in infrastructure here, which is what should be happening. I want to raise the plight of former Waterford Crystal workers, a group of whom I met with my party leader last week.”
“Any measure that we examine and look at has to be seen in the context of what is a very real cost-of-living crisis for workers and for families. It is absolutely staggering that we had a Government that spent so-called billions of euro in the budget just gone, yet left so many people worse off and the vast majority of people certainly are not better off. The €10 increase in the pension was less than what was needed for that to even stand still. There was no increase in child benefit. More money has to be spent by families sending their children to third level education. The property tax has gone up. Groceries are going up. Insurance is going up. Right across the board, people are facing rising costs, yet things like the energy credits and supports that were previously in place were taken away.”
“I want to raise an urgent issue that has arisen in relation to the Irish Coast Guard air search and rescue service. I met with crew representatives from across the State yesterday, including pilots and other crews, who raised serious safety issues and fatigue issues. This is down to 24-hour shifts where a greater portion of their shift is now being classed as "on standby" time. They are not on standby, they are on site, they are in work and in a state of immediate readiness. They also argue that the Irish Aviation Authority is in contravention of the EU working time directive. Will the Minister examine this? The State needs to come clean if it is the case that we are in breach of that directive. We owe it to those crew members to ensure that safety is paramount. There have been far too many accidents in this area.”