Eoghan Kenny
Cork North-Central · Labour Party · Ireland
“The barriers facing families today may be different but the principle has not changed. The Labour Party believes opportunity should be determined by talent, effort and ambition, not by the balance in a parent's bank account. Technology has transformed education for the better and it is now an essential part of modern schooling.”
“Parents across Ireland are sitting at kitchen tables trying to work out how they are going to pay for another school year. For far too many families, the excitement of a child returning to school has been replaced by financial anxiety. Increasingly, parents are being forced into debt simply to educate their children.”
“Having been a teacher in two schools, I recognise that these tablets and these laptops that are provided to schools break and that maintenance for them is coming out of capitation grants that cannot be fulfilled by the schools because they are using capitation grants elsewhere.”
“I raise the issue of the lack of a plan for a new public sector pay deal and the lack of engagement on this matter. SIPTU, Fórsa, Unite and the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, are now to ballot their members for industrial action, up to and including strike action.”
“We need to stop pretending otherwise and introduce enforceable protections for families. As schools become more dependent on technology than ever before, the Government has cut the ICT grant by almost €15 million. That grant stands at just €35 million with no dedicated funding for repairs or maintenance.”
“It is a guidance letter once again, a guidance circular that was produced by the Minister at the time in 2017 that gave absolutely no consequences to the school for having branded school uniforms. In my opening speech I, as well as my colleagues, welcomed the free books scheme.”
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“It is very clear, and I encourage everyone to familiarise themselves with this message. However, epilepsy is just one medical condition. There are many others that affect many students and staff in our schools. In drafting this Bill, I have also closely engaged with the three teaching unions. Naturally, as with all legislation, there will be teething problems. However, I truly believe that, as a Parliament, we can work through the issues that may arise, particularly around workload and liability. For the benefit of our children and school communities, I am sure we can work together to enact this legislation. This is positive legislation. It is about making sure our children and school staff who have medical conditions feel safe going into their school environment each day.”
“It stated: Ensuring our teachers and educators are equipped with the information they need from the outset is the whole purpose of our calls for Seizure Safe Schools. The bill obviously expands to other medical conditions and not just epilepsy, but we are delighted to see legislation being introduced that could make Seizure Safe Schools a reality. I am proud to have close links to Epilepsy Ireland. It, like other organisations, is fantastic in providing and promoting how we as a society can inform ourselves on how to deal with medical emergencies. Other Deputies will be aware that on Monday, we marked International Epilepsy Day. Epilepsy Ireland has a very clear message: "Time. Stay. Safe". Time the seizure, stay with the person and make sure the person is safe.”
“However, I have huge concerns as to how well prepared all school communities in this country are and how equipped and trained staff are to deal with medical emergencies. This brings me to the main focus of the Bill. The Bill will ensure that the Minister for Education will have the power to introduce regulations to promote the participation of sufficient staff in approved training courses in first aid for medical emergencies. This will cover the giving of prescribed medication to children and their own colleagues if they were presented with a medical emergency. I certainly believe all school staff over the lifetime of their careers will be presented with a medical emergency. I have consulted closely with Epilepsy Ireland on the wording of this Bill.”
“In 2021, at 21 years of age, I got my first epileptic seizure. As Deputies can imagine, it was very much a life-changing moment. Over the course of the next four years, I got regular seizures and, with that, an increase in anti-seizure medication each time. Not to get too personal, but I now take daily medication to prevent epileptic seizures, so my early 20s have been life changing. I turn now to why this Bill is professionally significant to me. I am a former secondary school teacher and was very privileged to teach in two wonderful schools, Coachford College and Mayfield Community School. I am proud to say I taught fantastic students and worked with dedicated and caring colleagues in both schools.”
“I move: That leave be granted to introduce Bill entitled an Act to enable the Minister for Education and Youth, by regulations, to make provision for promoting participation by a greater number of school staff in approved courses of training in first aid for medical emergencies, for a greater number of schools to be listed as organisations whose staff are authorised to administer certain prescription-only medicinal products without a prescription, for the purpose of saving life or reducing severe distress in medical emergencies; and to provide for related matters. I am very proud to introduce my first legislation in the House. This Bill is about ensuring we can strengthen our schools to be safe environments for our children and for our school staff. This Bill is both personally and professionally significant to me.”
“The NCSE has created a rigid system in the allocation of SNAs that does not take into account the majority of learning difficulties faced by children in our schools. SNAs have contacted me with very legitimate and genuine concerns for their work. They are concerned about whether they will have a role in their school next year and whether they will have to move for work. They now feel that they are in limbo. We should not treat any worker in such a manner. Will the Taoiseach ask the Department of Education and Youth and the Minister to intervene immediately to alleviate these concerns and provide some clarity to these SNAs?”
“At budget time, I welcomed the additional SNA posts. I was concerned as to whether these were new or existing roles but I did welcome them. All of us in this House have received numerous emails over the past day or so following SNA reviews and information that has filtered down to schools. I have been contacted by numerous teachers, principals, parents and SNAs, particularly from Bweeng National School. Many schools that have been notified that they will have their SNA resources reduced for the coming school year have informed me that this does not reflect the reality on the ground. When they tell me resources are not only needed but need to be increased, I take that very seriously.”
“As Minister for public expenditure and infrastructure, Deputy Chambers should go back to his Department officials and speak to the Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, about the development and construction of the Mallow relief road, the single biggest infrastructure project in my hometown and in my constituency, Cork North-Central.”
“There has been no commitment on the Mallow–Dungarvan greenway either. A spokesperson I spoke to in Cork County Council told me that project is dead in the water because the Government does not care about it. On the matter of the Cork–Limerick motorway, there is no other European country in which the second and third largest cities are not connected by a motorway. That there is no connection between Cork and Limerick is unbelievable. I recognise that work has been done on the Cork commuter rail line, but it is simply not enough. The people of Mallow are sick and tired of waiting for delivery on projects of this Fianna Fáil–Fine Gael Government. I do not blame them. For decades now, promise after promise has been made around election time, but with no delivery.”
“Infrastructure is absolutely vital. We can talk about the building of homes, which is absolutely necessary, but as we build homes, we must build infrastructure. As the Minister knows, I was born and bred in Mallow. For over 30 years now, the people of Mallow have been talking about a relief road to relieve traffic congestion in the town. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, despite promise after promise, have failed to deliver for the people of Mallow. In every single announcement that the 34th Government has made in the Dáil, Mallow has been completely left behind. It is no coincidence that there is no Government TD representing the people of Mallow. The Government, in announcement after announcement, makes no specific mention of the Mallow relief road. We are crying out for funding, as is Cork County Council, yet there is no commitment to it.”
“I do. Under Standing Order 35(3) I wish to amend Wednesday's business to include statements on the politicisation of the announcement of special classes, which is causing distress for families and school leaders. I raised this two weeks ago and it has happened again since that. I ask that time be allocated in this week's schedule to debate the issue.”
“People wake up in the morning and they do not know whether they will have brown water coming out of the tap or the shower. Some people have had to bathe their children in brown water. It is simply not good enough. I want to focus on council staff who are now employed by Irish Water. This is something that has come up on the doorsteps on a number of occasions with employees themselves and with their family members. I do not understand it. They have the local knowledge. In some instances, it has been referred to me that Irish Water has sent out engineers who then ring local staff who have worked with the local authority to try to get the work done. There are a number of issues and I ask the Minister to go away and work on them.”
“The average working family of a mother, father and a couple of kids cannot afford this €3,000 for a water softener but every single year or two they have to buy a new showerhead, a new kettle and a new washing machine. It is simply not good enough. The lack of sustainable good water on the north side of Cork city is an absolute shambles. At the public accounts committee recently I was informed that complaints have gone down. Is it any wonder complaints have gone down? Complaints have gone down because people are sick and tired of ringing and complaining. This is why complaints have gone down. Do not take it as any sort of evidence that good work is being done because it is not. People are sick of ringing and giving out about it.”
“I welcome these statements. I have said it on the floor of the Dáil before that the water in my hometown of Mallow is destroying every single washing machine, kettle and shower head in every single house in Mallow because it is hard water. What I always get back from the Government is that it is not bad for you. That is fine but it is bad for the pocket and that is a fact. I am no expert on this, and I ask the Minister to go away and find out from Irish Water whether it is possible to put in a water softener at source to prevent hard water destroying these utensils in homes. Do not tell people to put a water softener into their houses because it costs about €3,000.”
“I asked at the Committee of Public Accounts whether the acting CEO and head of finance were aware of the report. They both denied ever seeing the report. I have the minutes of the meeting from February 2025 right here with me. Both officials were at this meeting.”
“Last November, Inland Fisheries Ireland appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts. On Friday, members of the committee received a 137-page document from Inland Fisheries Ireland answering queries raised at the meeting. At the meeting, I raised a very serious matter regarding August of 2021. A staff member of Inland Fisheries Ireland was involved in a car crash while driving an IFI car. He produced insurance documentation for the gardaí that he received from the IFI executive. This documentation was false, which the IFI knew officially on 16 November 2021. He was told for more than a year and An Garda Síochána was not informed until it came asking two years later. The former Minister, Eamon Ryan, commissioned a report into this which was presented to the board of the IFI and the audit and risk committee in February 2025.”
“This drives home the idea that we must all be in our cars. A person cannot even hop on a bus and tap their bank card. The facts speak volumes about how determined the State is to incentivise public transport. Look at the car parks at train stations. Some are operated by Iarnród Éireann but more by APCOA and other contractor companies. If the Government will not reduce the cost of public transport itself, then at least make parking at stations free and leave Iarnród Éireann car parks in Iarnród Éireann operation and incentivise people out of their cars. I would have liked more time on this. It is an important topic and one that I hope many across the House will support.”
“Multinationals in Cork last year began rowing back on flexible work practices in line with decisions made in the US by the Trump Administration. These companies employ many people in Cork and across Ireland and I fully support them but we must ensure Irish workers have their rights to fall back on and that companies cannot pull the rug from under them just because some idiot on the other side of the world has a hissy fit. Public transport must be better incentivised. So many of us, whether urban or rural, use private cars and the State must take action to encourage people onto public transport, but people living in rural Ireland often cannot do that. The rely solely on the car. No matter where you are in the country, ghost buses – buses cancelled without notice – cause people to miss appointments and be late for work or school.”
“With childcare in crisis in terms of both costs and places due to Government failure to address the sector, workers need that flexibility for school runs, after-school activities and to actually spend some time with their children. For people with illnesses, disabilities and accessibility issues, flexible work opens up the job market. It removes the barriers of inaccessible workplaces. It allows someone who may not be within commuting distance of their workplace to seek accommodation that is suitable to their needs. Flexible work has benefited rural Ireland and rural economies. People with flexible work can move back to their towns and villages. This reduces the competition in the housing and rental markets in our big cities. People can spend more time in their localities and more money in their local economies.”
“I thank my colleague, Deputy Wall, for bringing this motion forward. The right to request flexible work is not even a half measure. It merely formalised the ability of a worker to request flexible work. Workers were not prohibited from making this request prior to that. This once again puts the entirety of the power balance in favour of the employer. The employer has no responsibility to accommodate flexible work for their employee. Does the Minister of State think that granting workers the right only to request flexible work is actually helpful to employees? Flexible work is vital for workers. For parents, it is an absolute necessity.”
“It emerged this morning at the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts that there had been a significant overspend on an IT system for SUSI grants, which has now cost almost three times the originally budgeted figure of €2.2 million. The Comptroller and Auditor General drew attention to this at this morning's meeting. The project, titled "My SUSI", began in 2015 and by 2024 it had run to €6.4 million, although it is still only at the pre-project phase. What does the Government know about this? What oversight is the Department providing?”
“As I said, if we do not have the infrastructure, we cannot grow. Housing, as the Minister of State knows, is the generational issue of our time. Housing cannot be built in Carrignavar because of the inability of Uisce Éireann to build infrastructure. Only four out of 243 projects have been completed through the small town and villages programme. It is a failed programme.”
“To be fair to the local authority, it could choose village after village for the programme. I was informed at the Committee of Public Accounts that the small towns and villages programme was predicated on growth. To me, that does not make sense and I will tell the House why. Growth in an area is based on the building of housing in line with infrastructure from Government. As my colleague said, if we do not have the infrastructure, we cannot build the houses. I met a group of residents in Carrignavar a number of months ago. It is a great village. It has a new primary school and it is to be hoped there will be an extension to the secondary school, along with a chosen location for a new special school. It has huge potential to grow, but it cannot. Growth is the underlying issue for Carrignavar.”
“I thank the Deputies for bringing forward this motion. It is an extremely important one. I will focus on the small towns and villages programme. On 6 November last, Uisce Éireann appeared before the Committee of Public Accounts and stated that, in revenue control 3, €98 million was allocated to that programme. This began 243 projects across the country, seven of them in Cork. Does the Minister of State know how many of these have been completed since 2022? Four have been completed. The fact it takes seven to ten years to deliver a wastewater treatment plant is staggering. I am no expert, but it is staggering. The local authorities were asked at that time to fill in a priority list for their own council. Cork County Council has responsibility for a village in my constituency, Carrignavar, which is No. 13 on the list.”
“It is that they signed up to this agreement under a pretence on 15 August 2025 - understandably it would have taken a period of time to get the agreement in place - but their fundamental question now is whether, if it happens in one year, two years or three years, it will be backdated to 15 August 2025, when that agreement was reached?”
“That is not ambiguous language, yet today, pensioners have received nothing because the Government has failed to act in a timely manner. References to process and statutory instruments do not change that reality. Administrative delay by the State cannot become a justification for the financial loss of pensioners. The question remains and deserves a clear answer – when the statutory instrument is eventually introduced, will the pension increases be backdated to 15 August 2025? I think it is the case in a lot of similar situations to that of the man I met yesterday, who I know very well, and of all the pensioners in CIÉ, that it is often the case that the money itself is not the actual issue.”
“I appreciate the reply from the Department. I want to give some context to the significant issue I raised. Yesterday, in my office, I met a former CIÉ worker, a pensioner. This is the fundamental issue he is facing right now, as it is for those he meets for the monthly cup of tea or coffee - the conversation they once had in their staffroom. On the new defined contribution scheme, the Minister acknowledged the positive outcome of the ballot held on 15 August 2025. Following on from this constructive and collaborative agreement, the Department of Transport is engaging with CÍÉ. It brings us back to fundamental fact – the proposals were accepted on 15 August 2025. The agreement states that pensioners will receive increases on acceptance.”
“They are asking for the delivery of what was agreed and for recognition of the contribution they made in achieving that agreement in the first instance. This situation also risks undermining trust in the industrial relations process. If workers engage constructively, refuse to be sidelined and, ultimately, reach agreement only to see implementation drift endlessly, confidence in future engagement is weakened. I am asking the Minister of State to act with the same seriousness and good faith that CIÉ workers and pensioners showed throughout this entire process. That means providing a clear timeframe for the statutory instrument. It means confirming that pensioners will not be disadvantaged by the delay itself and it would mean recognising that agreement secured through Trojan effort must be honoured in full and without further drift.”
“The words "on acceptance" carry meaning. They reflect the understanding reached after difficult negotiations and sustained engagement by workers and pensioners who fought to ensure that their concerns were finally recognised yet today, those pensioners have seen no increase. The delay in introducing the necessary statutory instrument has effectively frozen the benefit of an agreement that was secured with extraordinary effort and good will on the part of workers. This raises a fundamental question of fairness also. When an agreement is accepted and when pensioners have fulfilled their side of the agreement, why should they bear the financial cost of administrative delay? Many of these pensioners are living on modest fixed incomes. They are not asking for special treatment.”
“Instead, they engaged, negotiated and, ultimately, accepted proposals that they believe represented a fair and hard-won outcome. That acceptance, on 15 August 2025, was the culmination of years of effort by people who had already given decades of service to public transport in this State. That is why what has happened since is so deeply disappointing. Months after acceptance, the agreed proposals remain unimplemented. Pensioners who did everything asked of them are left waiting, not because of any failure on their part but because the State has failed to move with the urgency that this agreement deserved. I will focus in on one particularly important aspect of the proposal. The agreement states that pensioners will, on acceptance of the proposal, receive increases on all CIÉ pensions up to a maximum pension of €30,000.”
“I wish to address the ongoing failure to implement the CIÉ pension proposals that were accepted by the CIÉ staff on 15 August 2025. Before addressing the delay itself, it is important to acknowledge how this agreement came about, because it did not happen by accident and it did not happen easily. This deal was secured through Trojan work by CIÉ employees and former workers, that is, pensioners who refused to be brushed aside, who organised, who engaged constructively and who stayed at the table when it mattered. They approached this process in good faith with patience, persistence and a clear commitment to resolution. At every stage, these workers acted responsibly. They did not grandstand. They did not walk away.”
“While it does include commitments on the environment, including to prevent further deforestation after 2030, Friends of the Earth have called this deal "climate-wrecking", stating it would lead to increased deforestation as Mercosur countries would sell far more produce and raw materials sourced from forest areas, including the Amazon.”
“Our local economies have grown around the sector. Traditionally, local supermarkets were established to provide services and produce products for local people who were employed in creameries, co-ops and State agencies. Those of us who live and have grown up in rural Ireland know well the importance of agriculture. While rural economies have grown and diversified, we know the vital role agriculture has in our local economies. I have serious concerns about this deal, as do many people throughout the country. We are talking about cheap importation. The deal does not meet the EU's green and food safety standards.”
“Irish farming is the standard bearer for production and quality of produce. Irish farmers have made strenuous efforts to reduce their carbon footprints in line with Government policy and are doing their best to help us meet our legally binding climate targets. They have rightful concerns about their livelihoods and the value of their produce under this proposed deal. I am concerned about the impact that an inadequately regulated market for beef from South America will have on workers' rights and also on the environment in Mercosur countries. We must be cognisant of workers' rights in all trade deals, no matter where in the world they are. What should benefit workers in Europe should benefit workers in South America. The agricultural and farming sector holds a particular importance in rural Ireland.”
“The Labour Party will support the motion from Sinn Féin. I thank Deputy Martin Kenny for bringing it forward. I stood on the floor of the Dáil with my colleague, Deputy Lawlor, when Deputy Kenny brought a motion on the Mercosur trade deal forward on 18 November. It is a shame that we have to speak about it again in the Chamber. It is one of the most important trade agreements that will ever happen in this country. The Mercosur agreement, which has been pushed aggressively by Fine Gael's European People's Party, would throw Irish farmers to the wolves. It would open the door to 99,000 tonnes of South American beef entering the European market, directly undercutting Irish producers which already operate on tight margins and have to meet the highest standards in the world.”
“We have to have a debate in the House on how special classes are allocated and how the announcements of these classes are conducted. I have received many queries from parents and even school principals asking if the schools in their areas have been allocated special classes. I could not answer those questions, but if I was a Government TD, I probably could. Yesterday, backbenchers and Ministers announced classes for their own areas while leaving other communities in limbo. It is shocking to think that this Government would use classes like this as political capital and a political football. How disgraceful towards families.”
“However, the Minister of State has the opportunity now to change that. I know he will because I know he wants to. He will do this because he knows that it will have a great effect on this country and on those who use our rivers.”
“It has lost my support, it has lost the support of anglers and it has lost the support of the general public. IFI, as an organisation, needs to be disbanded and built up from the root again because it is a failed organisation. The Minister of State must not put in senior positions of IFI people who have been involved in controversy. This will be the legacy of IFI and of fisheries in this country. This is an opportunity for the Minister of State to get the confidence of anglers back because the confidence of anglers is not there. He must give IFI that opportunity now to build back up to being an organisation that can be trusted by members of the public. As I have said from the outset, the horizon right now does not look bright for those working in the fisheries sector or anglers or those who use our water.”
“Yet, after the break in the committee meeting, he acknowledged that he was in attendance at the February 2025 board meeting where those findings were presented. While the findings may not have been discussed in detail, he failed to disclose that he knew they had been received. It appeared he believed he could go through the entire committee meeting without acknowledging this. That is simply unacceptable. At the end of that committee meeting, the former and acting deputy CEO and now head of finance revealed that she had carried out a review of the report that IFI had received in February 2025. I call on the Minister of State to be brave with IFI. Let this be his legacy in the Department of fisheries. He must not let IFI continue in this vein.”
“It knowingly allowed a staff member to proceed with paperwork it knew to be invalid. The employee learned that the insurance documentation was invalid only when he received a solicitor's letter from the other party involved in the car crash. This is an appalling way to treat anyone and for anyone to learn that an employer has exposed them to legal and personal risk. The bottom line is clear. IFI knowingly failed to inform the Garda or its own staff member that a vehicle it had was uninsured. This is disgraceful and completely inexcusable. Workers should never have to endure such an ordeal. The hearing added even more troubling revelations. The acting chief executive told the committee before the meeting broke that he knew nothing of the findings of the external investigation commissioned by the former Minister, Eamon Ryan.”
“The issues I raised include the use of uninsured vehicles and the provision of false documentation to a staff member, which was in turn passed on to An Garda Síochána. These are not trivial matters. They point to a culture where rules are treated as optional and staff are placed in impossible positions because of management failures. The facts laid before the committee two weeks ago by IFI were absolutely shocking. A staff member of IFI was involved in a car crash in Donegal in August 2021. Following that accident, IFI provided that employee with insurance documentation which it later found out, on 16 November 2021, to be completely inaccurate. Despite knowing this, it failed to inform either the member of staff or An Garda Síochána that the documentation was false.”
“This cannot be allowed to drift on while serious governance issues remain unresolved, complaints go unanswered and staff concerns continue to be raised internally and externally. I am sure the Minister, because he is the Minister, would have seen the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts two weeks ago. As a member of that committee, it was deeply concerning for me to see basic governance and basic record-keeping were all found wanting. This was not a minor oversight. It was a serious, corporate governance failure. Following an answer to a parliamentary question from me last week, it emerged that seven separate investigations took place within IFI between 2021 and 2025. That is a significant number for an organisation of its size and should immediately raise alarm bells for the Minister and the Department.”
“This not just a Kanturk problem or a Cork problem. Issues of pollution must be rigorously investigated and stamped out right across this country. If we are serious about protecting our environment, rivers, fish and wildlife, then enforcement powers must be increased. Never once in this country was an EPA licence taken away. They must be withdrawn if constant pollution happens. We have had no sanctions or definitive answer for this and, to be frank, it makes a mockery of the idea that we have oversight. The bottom line is that we still do not know what killed upwards of 40,000 fish. This brings me on to Inland Fisheries Ireland. The programme for Government includes a clear commitment to carry out a full review of Inland Fisheries Ireland. This commitment must now be honoured in full and without further delay.”
“With all these State bodies and local authorities involved, not one had the optimum capacity or resources to identify the chemical. Therefore, the cause of responsibility for the kill has not been found. It is worth noting that although the source of the pollution is still unknown due to the lack of ability to identify the irritant, the North Cork Co-Operative Creamery in Kanturk came under scrutiny after the EPA published the results of a site inspection conducted on the night of the fish kill. The findings revealed that over 362,000 litres of wastewater were discharged into the river within a ten-hour window, with ammonia levels 52 times above the legal limits. Since then, the creamery has been made to suspend production, due to this and a consistent history of failure to achieve compliance with licensed-discharge conditions.”
“The Labour Party will work constructively with Government to advocate for a fair and equitable fisheries policy that prioritises the livelilhoods of Irish fishermen and fisherwomen and the sustainability of the Marine Institute. I want to take this opportunity to again raise the issue of the Blackwater fish kill. This was an ecological disaster on a scale we had never seen before in my home town. Anglers across the Munster region and I have little faith that this issue is being taken seriously by the State bodies involved. The River Blackwater was the scene of the greatest fish kill ever seen in this country. In excess of 40,000 fish were killed by a chemical irritant. This led to investigations by Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI, the EPA, Cork County Council and the Marine Institute.”
“Costs of produce will increase, as will the cost of transportation and procuring stock. These costs will cause serious difficulties for small businesses and invariably, these increases will be passed on to consumers, and those working in the industry will see figures rise, while their wages continue to remain stagnant. News coming from the European Union about this deal and the proposed Mercosur does not provide much hope for communities that rely so much on the fisheries and agricultural sectors. When the ordinary worker in these industries and the consumer looks at these proposals, they can rightly wonder whether they are considered in any of the high-up decision-making processes.”
“I want to speak first on the grave concerns in the fishing industry with the announcement of the new deal from the EU on fishing opportunities for 2026. The loss of 57,000 tonnes of quota will without doubt have a hugely detrimental impact on the over 2,300 jobs in the industry. The Seafood Ireland Alliance has said that it expects somewhere between a €100 million and €200 million loss in value for 2026. Those are staggering figures and will have caused great concern and distress for those working in the sector in recent days. The knock-on effects of this deal will be far-reaching for coastal towns and communities across Ireland. Much like agricultural industries in Ireland, the fisheries sector provides a platform for other sectors beyond its own. Local businesses, suppliers and restaurants will feel the effects of these changes.”
“Those of an older generation are affected. I ask the Minister of State not to let down these secretaries and caretakers. I plead with him. Let this be his involvement in this Department. Let securing respect, dignity and entitlements for all secretaries and caretakers across the country be his legacy in the Department.”
“I appreciate the Minister of State's response and I am sure that my grandmother would appreciate the kind comments. What we do not want is what happened at the beginning of this academic year, when secretaries and caretakers were outside schools and the Dáil Chamber, protesting for fairness, dignity and respect. That is what this is about. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael backbenchers were standing outside schools, getting into pictures and showing off that they were in support of secretaries and caretakers. I do not doubt their individual bona fides on the issue but I doubt the commitment of the Government, the Department of Education and Youth and the Department of public expenditure to providing that respect, dignity and equality to those secretaries and caretakers across the country. It is predominantly women who are affected.”
“What engagement is the Department having with the secretaries and caretakers, and with Fórsa? The Minister of State referred to a possible resolution that the Department will come up with. What is the resolution that the Department is putting forward?”