Donna McGettigan
Clare · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“At a time when families should be proudly taking photographs of their children on their first day back at school, many parents are instead lying awake at night, wondering how they are going to pay the bills.”
“This year alone, at least 47 schools have been referred to the financial support services unit. That is a staggering 38% increase. While Government Members will stand up and list the things they have done, some which are very welcome, they will conveniently ignore the things they have done to make life harder.”
“The reality is that a growing digital divide is emerging in our schools, and while the Government celebrates its announcements, parents are being asked to pay more and more simply to ensure their child or children can fully participate in education. So much for free education.”
“I thank the Labour Party for this timely and important motion. Sinn Féin supports this motion because the cost of sending children to school has become an unacceptable financial burden on families across the State.”
“I thank Deputy Ó Snodaigh for this important, timely motion. I want to tell the story of Christina from Clare. Christina is an artist and like so many artists across this island, she spent countless hours creating work. She poured her talent, experience, emotions and imagination into it.”
“As an artist in wool myself, I am lucky that this AI cannot take my creativity and use it. I feel extremely lucky about that every day but across Ireland, artists, photographers, writers, and musicians are seeing their work taken without consent and used to train generative AI systems.”
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Every one of 388 lines we hold for Donna McGettigan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 8 of 8.
“Under the austerity measures introduced after the economic crash, funding to third level institutions was cut. Universities were asked to do more with less money. To make up the funding shortfall, a student contribution was introduced. Austerity is supposedly over and we were promised these cuts would be reversed but this has not happened. What measures does the Minister intend to introduce to close the funding deficit and when will they be enacted?”
“Many students already face financial hardship, forcing some to take on loans or part-time jobs, and this affects their academic performance. If institutions require additional funding to maintain or improve academic quality, this should be the responsibility of the Government, not the students.”
“Free fees worked in secondary schools and has helped Ireland greatly. There are huge issues with the SUSI grant. People who are trying to prove they are separate from their parents in order to get the SUSI grant are not getting it. There is an issue with the way in which SUSI considers people's circumstances. If you were working two years ago, SUSI will look at your income at that time, not at the past year, in which you might have lost your job and did not have an income to pay for the fees. Education is a fundamental right. Charging parents a contribution fee discourages students from accessing higher education, particularly those who may struggle to afford the fee. As already stated, there are issues with the SUSI grant.”
“There is increasing use of modern methods of construction and housing delivery and the programme for Government commits the Minister to promoting these. Graduates add value to our economy and society and must be assisted if they are to achieve their full potential. Putting financial obstacles in their way is short-sighted and counter-productive.”
“The Minister will have to excuse my scepticism. He is bamboozling me with figures on this. The programme for Government commits to continuing to reduce the student contribution fee over the lifetime of the Government. What the Minister is saying here falls far short of the commitment to reduce the fees to zero. There is no timeline for this or detail on the increments. Higher education is a public good and those who avail of it contribute immeasurably to society. As already said, people are put to the pins of their collars trying to pay for this. Some parents have more than one child going to college and cannot afford to send them. They must decide whether to send both or none. This is very unfair on them. Other parts of the economy also require newly skilled graduates.”
“How many of those in these figures are actually finishing? There are 3,376 who failed to finish because they are not getting paid enough. The programme for Government states that the Government would "Ensure a skilled labour force by providing practical support for on-the-job training and apprenticeship schemes and consider additional measures". Has that process begun? At what stage is the process and what additional measures are currently under consideration? The Government also promised additional funding for apprenticeship training institutions. Will the Minister tell us how much funding is being allocated and when it will be available? The programme for Government further commits to target 12,500 new apprenticeships annually by 2030 and to introduce a new five-year apprenticeship action programme for 2026 to 2030. Has that commenced?”
“This leaves apprentices working for extra years, sometimes at pay that is below minimum wage. There is a serious shortage of places for them to complete the classroom portion of the training.”
“While I agree that measures have been made into the phase 2, will this not push the backlog back into phases 4 and 6? We have a drop out rate of 3,400. Have they been included in the Minister's figures as well? When that number of people drops out, it shows that it is unfit for purpose. The apprenticeship system is essential to problems the Government has yet to address. Consider the issue of housing. Skilled apprentices who are needed here to work on housing and other essential projects for the future are emigrating abroad to do their apprenticeships. Are those figures included? They tell us that they have no choice but to go abroad. Apprenticeships here are supposed to take four years but in reality they can take up to six years. This also leads to the system being unfit for purpose.”
“I thank the Minister for taking my question this morning. The apprenticeship system is unfit for purpose and has been for several years now. What measures does the Minister intend to introduce to address the problems faced by apprentices and the system more generally? These have resulted in the system failing to produce qualified tradespeople at a pace that meets demand. These problems have plagued the system and previous Ministers have failed to address them. What reassurance will the Minister give us that they will be addressed during the Minister's term in office?”
“Women are often told to change their behaviour, avoid walking alone, watch their drinks and dress differently. However, telling women to do all this almost makes it sound like they are the issue and they are doing something wrong. It is as if we have to accept this kind of behaviour as the norm and change how we, as women, go about our business. Women should never ever have to shoulder the burden of this responsibility. We need stronger legal protections, including harsher penalties for offenders. Education must also play a role as we teach consent, respect and boundaries from an early age. We need safer streets and safer campuses. We need better street lighting, better and more visible policing and free self-defence classes. We can do all this but we need to build confidence in our young women that they will feel safe.”
“Recently, we have seen shocking stories and harrowing accounts of young female students being attacked, abused, followed and harassed. This is a serious and urgent issue. Too many young women live in fear on the streets, in schools, on college campuses and even online. They face catcalling, stalking, spiking and, in the worst cases, assault. It is shameful to think that young women in Ireland, who should be excited to be facing a new chapter in their lives, are finding that it all goes horribly wrong when they are stalked or assaulted. Many university students have spoken out about being afraid to go out at night alone due to incidents of suspected drugging. The statistics on this issue continue to rise but many cases are going unreported due to fear, stigma and a lack of faith in our justice system.”
“As a result, I have heard of pupils who are reliant on public transport, which, as we all know, leaves a lot to be desired, plus there is an added cost to parents, and pupils are regularly late for classes and are very lucky that the school is willing to be understanding of this. Níl sé seo cóir. Can the Minister give us any reassurance that he will intervene to speed up the recognition process and thereby ensure pupils can access the Gaelcholáiste using school transport? Tá áiteanna i gContae an Chláir a bhí mar Ghaeltachtaí ní i bhfad ó shin agus ba mhaith linn é sin a fheiscint arís. Faoi láthair, níl polasaí an Rialtais ceart nó cóir, agus, thar aon rud eile, níl sé cothrom. Tá an Rialtas ag cur bac ar athbheochan na Gaeilge.”
“Gaelcholáiste an Chláir is the only available Irish-medium secondary school in Clare for pupils throughout the county. The Department should be doing all it can to promote the development of more schools to ensure that all those who wish to avail of education in Irish can access one within reasonable access of their home. Níl sé seo ceart. This brings me to my other issue. The lack of recognition also impacts on the provision of school transport for pupils. Pupils living outside of Ennis are not provided with school transport to the school since it is not recognised. They can only avail of transport to their local school but that would mean an English-medium school.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Ó Snodaigh for bringing forward this motion agus also buíochas le conversational Irish classes Gaeilge le Chéile i mBaile na Sionnainne so tá cúpla focal agam anois. I raise the issues of school recognition and school transport. Gaelcholáiste an Chláir in Ennis has been struggling to be recognised as a stand-alone school rather than being part of Ennis Community College. The Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board is in ongoing discussions with the Department of Education to gain recognition. I hope we can rely on the Minister of State to assist the school in any way possible to enable its independence. This lack of recognition flies in the face of the right of our children to be educated through Irish.”
“The mid-west diabetes advocacy group was told, through a parliamentary question in 2022, that pumps would be available in the mid-west region from the end of 2023. In June 2024, the group got an answer to a parliamentary question which said this would not happen. No explanation was provided. Will the Taoiseach indicate why the promised treatment was not delivered and advise as to when it will be?”
“Insulin pumps are not available as a treatment option for adults with type 1 diabetes in the HSE mid-west region, even though they are available for children. Ours is the only region where this is the case. Patients who require pumps have to go on the waiting list in other regions and then travel for treatment. This is an extra burden on the host regions' overstretched services and on patients who have to travel for treatment that should be available locally. The only other option is to go to a private endocrinologist for treatment, but this is expensive. As with any medical condition, a range of treatment options must be available to ensure the best possible care can be provided.”
“Consistent funding is needed to provide much-needed beds, while more specialised teams are brought on board. It is a positive step in the right direction. Across the system, awareness and education has improved. It is simply not enough. We need more investment and more beds now. However, I welcome a Limerick team coming into effect.”
“While there has been a steady increase in the number of treatment hubs, there is still no funding for new inpatient beds. For people with eating disorders, it is usually for an extended period in an inpatient facility, which can be very difficult for the person. This treatment can be expensive and the process to get a bed can be so long that it means the person ends up needing more care. The HSE spent more than €4 million sending seven people with eating disorders abroad for treatment in 2023. We need to stop sending extremely sick people abroad and put the much-needed money spent on the treatment abroad scheme into services here at home. People with eating disorders end up being referred to a general psychiatric unit, meaning they do not get the specialised care they need.”
“Sinn Féin’s mental health spokesperson, Deputy Mark Ward, raised this issue before and we are still here asking why this has not been fulfilled. The HSE's 2025 national service plan states it plans to continue to roll out the national clinical programmes for ADHD for adults and eating disorders. I would like to ask the Minister of State how the Government is meant to achieve this with the severe lack of beds, let alone any sort of specialised treatment care. Will she provide us with an update on the recruitment process for consultant psychiatrists and dieticians please?”
“A thejournal.ie report into this crisis gives some very stark figures in relation to this and noted that in 2022, there were 210 hospital admissions for eating disorders, the vast majority of whom were women. This was the highest level of admissions in a decade. Last year, Sinn Féin spokesperson on mental health, Deputy Mark Ward, noted that the reports from the eating disorder charity Bodywhys state that the number of people presenting for treatment with eating disorders has increased over the past few years. In 2023, 4,809 people accessed support through the charity, which was a significant increase of 19.5% over the previous year. The HSE’s model of care, planned to modernise the country’s eating disorder services between 2018 and 2023, inclusive, did not receive any funding.”
“Between 2022 and 2024, the HSE spent more than €12.7 million to facilitate inpatient care for adult patients with eating disorders via this scheme. Yet, no funding has been provided over the past six years to solve this issue here and provide eating disorder treatment beds. Ireland has just three public beds in the entire country offering specialised treatment for these patients. What happened to the commitment by the Minister of State's Department to open 20 new beds by 2023? Patients impacted by eating disorders outside these catchment areas in Dublin are normally referred to general psychiatric units, where they often do not receive specialised care.”
“In December I was contacted by a distressed mother of a very seriously ill 15-year-old daughter who is an anorexia patient with a history of self-harming. When she brought her daughter to UHL in December she found her daughter in bed covered in blood, having deeply severed her wrists and having left suicide letters. This young girl was discharged after two days under the care of CAMHS Ennis with a referral to the Galway adolescent mental health inpatient unit. However, at the time there was no bed for her. This is simply unacceptable. Due to these shortages, individuals like this young girl who is a constituent of mine cannot access specialised inpatient care for eating disorders. As a result, some patients are forced to find treatment abroad through the HSE treatment abroad scheme, TAS.”
“I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and congratulate him on his position. There are no dedicated public inpatient beds for adults with anorexia or other eating disorders in the mid-west region. Nationally, only three public inpatient beds exist for these patients, all of which are located at St. Vincent’s hospital in Dublin, serving local catchment areas. The HSE introduced a national model of care for eating disorders in 2018. This included the appointments of 16 specialist teams and 23 adult inpatient beds across the country. Only 11 of those specialised teams have since been established. This does not include the mid-west region. In addressing this gap, the HSE has been purchasing inpatient beds from private units. Additionally, the treatment abroad scheme has been utilised since 2020.”
“This is a waste of their time and money and the time and money of the State. In addition to the need for extra testers, we need extra test centres with full-time staff. My town of Shannon in County Clare has a population of more than 10,000, yet we do not have a test centre. People are reliant in testers coming in from elsewhere and testers have to meet learner drivers in hotel car parks. This is a shambles. I have been told that there were no tests done in Shannon in January. This is not a new problem. The Minister must have been aware of it for years. I am glad, therefore, to see that he will take steps. I hope this will be addressed as a matter of urgency.”
“Before anyone can sit the driving test, they must have held their learner permit for a minimum of six months and must have successfully completed at least 12 essential driver training lessons. To then have to wait an average of five months is unacceptable. In some cases, tests have been deferred. This is not helping those who depend on having a licence for a new job. Someone who requires a driving licence for work cannot afford to wait 11 months to get one and businesses trying to hire drivers cannot afford it either. The possible economic knock-on effects on the economy cannot be dismissed. In addition, people who have completed their 12 lessons have just acquired a brand-new skill they will need to practise. If they are forced to wait many months, they may start to lose those skills resulting in them being more likely to fail the test.”
“I thank our colleague, Deputy Pa Daly, for bringing forward this motion. While I welcome that the Minister will not oppose it and I accept that many tests have been completed, there is no denying that the waiting list is growing. Is the Minister saying he cannot step in and that this is all down to the RSA? We all know a driving licence is not a luxury; it is essential. Not being able to drive might mean missing out on work opportunities, education, family occasions and more. This is especially true outside of large cities. Public transport in rural Ireland leaves a lot to be desired and many people simply cannot afford to rely on it for work, college, shopping, doctors' appointments or other activities.”
“It is not what I was hearing at any of the doors during the local and general election campaigns last year. Every single person we met who needed the services said they were not getting them. I welcome the commitments. The Minister of State's ministerial predecessors were members of her party and her coalition partner’s party, and their record is nothing short of disgraceful. Therefore, I hope that in her new role, the current Minister of State’s record will be a better one for the affected people.”
“I welcome any news that will help to bring about an increase in the service. The key trends documentation for 2024 mentions that spending on health almost doubled between 2014 and 2023, and this is reflected in the enhanced availability of services throughout the country. Why, then, do we see only half the expected number of dentists participating in the scheme? The number is not reflected in the figures. If we increase the number of dentists in this scheme, it will have to be through contact and talks with the Irish Dental Association, which I do not see mentioned in the Minister of State’s reply. I would like it to happen because the association has been calling this out for a long time. The Minister of State referred to more money having been invested in 2024, but that is not reflected on the ground.”
“In addition, people are only entitled to two fillings per year under the scheme, so if they have a problem with another tooth, it may have to be extracted when it could have been saved. This is causing a moral issue for dentists as they are about saving teeth. There are nice words in the programme for Government, including that there will be new contracts, new recruits and lots of dentists, but no facts or figures. What meaningful, tangible steps will the Minister of State commit to now to address this serious issue and give some sense of reassurance to patients and their families?”
“Some patients, such as children, require anaesthesia to have teeth extracted, but when UHL enacts its surge capacity, the day ward is filled with patients from accident and emergency and day procedures are cancelled. Of course, there is no dental general anaesthetic service in Ennis. It is a near certainty that everyone in the House has constituents who are suffering due to the failure of previous Ministers to fix the dental scheme, which includes the Minister of State's constituents. People are being left in pain or, worse still, they have to watch their loved ones suffering. Dentists often detect eating disorders and certain types of cancers, so these could also be going undiagnosed. Tooth decay can have serious medical consequences if left untreated.”
“At this time, we also saw a reduction in the number of dentists signed up to the dental scheme, resulting in only 16 dentists enrolled in Clare. We were in fear of a total collapse of the scheme. The decline of the scheme is replicated throughout the State. The number of participating dentists has declined by 50% in the past decade. In June 2024, I submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister after several constituents contacted me to say their dentists were not offering the scheme anymore. I was shocked to find out that 12 dentists had signed up but only eight had submitted claims for reimbursement, which meant realistically we only had eight dentists. The constant crisis in UHL has also had a huge impact on dental patients.”
“I wish to discuss the ongoing decline in the dental scheme for medical card holders in County Clare. I have raised this issue time and again. The Irish Dental Association has also raised it and has made repeated calls for the scheme to be overhauled. The association states the scheme does not work either for dentists or patients and that a lot of lip service has been paid to it but nothing is happening. In November 2021, as a county councillor in Clare, I tabled a motion calling for the then Minister for Health to engage with dentists in Clare to prevent a total collapse of the scheme and to ensure funding was available to boost public dentistry in the county in the coming years. At the time of this motion, there had been a 46% reduction in investment in the dental scheme between 2017 and 2021, according to the Irish Dental Association.”
“That means Róisín will be left with a gap in services as she faces into her final year and leaving certificate with no service to help her through. This fragmented type of service is causing anxiety all over. In the words of Dawn in west Clare: It is only when you are in the system of having a child with disability is that you quickly learn that you are their voice and that everything is a fight. It shouldn't be that way for these children. The Government needs to stop being reactive in this case and start being proactive to help these families and to end this constant battle to find suitable places in school for their children. I hope that in 2025 we see suitable places within a reasonable distance from children’s homes.”
“Catherine in west Clare said that the lack of services and resources is so worrying. There is all this talk of human rights and advocacy but they cannot even get the basic rights like education for all and safety. This parent is also in a fight to get a place for her son in a secondary school. Catherine’s son has Down's syndrome and complex needs and this is simply not fair. Róisín, who has been diagnosed with autism and does not have a place in her school in the autism unit, has been made to feel, and has been told, that she is not autistic enough. Róisín has an allocated short amount of time with a teacher. Róisín will become an official adult in November meaning that the children's disability network team will discharge her.”
“I have been contacted by several parents who are left in a void, having to fight for places in schools for their children with complex needs. Dawn Bennett, one such parent, relocated her family from Limerick to Kilrush in County Clare to find a suitable place in a primary school for her son, Jamie, who has complex needs. Ms Bennett faces the same fight to try to find a place for Jamie in a secondary school. The nearest school that would have a place to suit Jamie is in Ennis, almost 43 km away. Fiona Gaffney in Shannon had the same issue with her daughter and could only find a place in Limerick, just over 25 km away. Her daughter with complex needs not only had to navigate a new school with new people and teachers but also had to leave her friends. This has caused a lot of stress and anxiety for Fiona, her daughter and family.”
“As the Minister may be aware, the British and Irish Modern Music Institute is forcing lecturers into yellow-pack contracts. Potentially, 53 staff could be laid off. Workers are not permitted to be represented by their trade union representatives at the 30-day consultation. Given the strong links to Technological University Dublin, we have a moral and legal duty to ensure its partner institution upholds fair employment standards. The Minister has a role in this. He needs to engage and intervene so that the abuse of workers’ rights is stopped and ensure that students can continue to learn and that staff can be on fair and decent contracts.”
“This is not only distressing for the families left behind; it is also distressing to my constituents in Clare, some of whom have told me they would rather stay at home than risk going into a war-zone type situation. What immediate steps will the Government take, given that this crisis has continued since the 24-hour accident and emergency department at Ennis was closed in 2009?”
“I am honoured to be here as the first TD from Shannon, County Clare. It would not have been possible if it were not for the people of Clare, my family, party activists and those who have gone before me. The number of patients on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick continues to consistently be the highest in the State. Last year, more than 6,000 patients left UHL's emergency department before completing treatment. The number of patients on trolleys for January of this year is 2,234. That is an increase of 161 on this time last year. The situation has deteriorated. In Clare, we have had a number of high-profile deaths caused by the crisis in UHL.”