Eoin Hayes
Dublin Bay South · Social Democrats · Ireland
“As this is my final time speaking, I thank the Ceann Comhairle and all of the staff in the Oireachtas, including the ushers in particular who take such good care of us and everybody who makes this place work so well, for all that they have done. I hope that they get a good and well-deserved break.”
“It seems only proper that this new united social protection system would do the following from a principled way: establish a shared prosperity and proper social protection supports to underpin a properly functioning economy and society; ensure that no individual is worse off in a united Ireland than they were under partition; and ensure t…”
“In a united Ireland, the Six Counties' economic future should be a prosperous one, and in that it has to be properly supported and transformed.”
“There are challenges in these principles, challenges of politics and reconciliation most of all, but there are practical considerations as well.”
“While the project of integrating these systems will be significant, it is imperative that we take the opportunities to create a better life for all, North and South, where people do not just survive but are given the means to thrive and contribute, and where a system of public services supports that.”
“In that vision, we will have to give people in the Twenty-six Counties and in the six the confidence that a united Ireland will work for all against poverty, unemployment and deprivation, and that we will challenge these scourges that are felt regardless of community or background, for poverty has no religion, unemployment no flag and exc…”
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“His Department's memorandum on the Bill did not describe this dynamic. Either the Minister and his Department did not realise what they were doing or they have hidden something from the Dáil and the public. That is a very serious matter in either instance.”
“Even the 2020 Act authorising the Climate Action Fund does not allow that kind of action with no oversight. It specifically states: ... the Minister may, in each financial year commencing with the financial year in which the National Oil Reserves Agency (Amendment) and Provision of Central Treasury Services Act 2020 is commenced, following consultation with the Agency, the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Minister for Finance, give a direction to the Agency to pay into the Climate Action Fund in that financial year the amount specified in the direction. Even the original transfers to the Climate Action Fund require consultation with someone else. However, by crazy contrast, this Bill requires no consultation with anyone for a tax cut of up to €200 million. The Minister did not tell us this in his opening remarks.”
“This is potentially giving the Minister the unfettered power to stop all that climate action for 20 months in the middle of an energy crisis and when we are supposed to making progress on climate action. People may ask what planet the Minister is on. It seems as if he wants to burn this one. I wish to be clear with my colleagues and the public. This is what is called non-voted expenditure. That means that the levy is created by legislation and ring-fenced for NORA, which is then authorised by the Minister to transfer the funds to the Climate Action Fund. In that process, there is no Dáil vote, no budget set by the Minister for Finance and voted on in October and no Cabinet discussion required. It is completely at the discretion of one person.”
“I move amendment No. 2: In page 3, to delete lines 24 to 31 and in page 4, to delete lines 1 to 3. As we discussed earlier, the substance of this amendment is to remove section 1(b) from the amendment Bill. The Minister should take that under consideration. In contrast to every other energy measure announced by the Government this week, all of which had a time limit of two months, this Bill authorises another 18 months in potential tax cuts which gut the Climate Action Fund. I have serious concerns about that. If I look at the 2024 Climate Action Fund report to see what the Government might defund, it includes the community Climate Action Fund for local authorities, bog rehabilitation, solar panels on schools and improving the energy efficiency of public buildings.”
“This is not about strategic oil reserves, relief for consumers or good governance. It is an open raiding of the climate action fund in the middle of an energy crisis. The Government gave a tax cut to developers and fast food chains in the latest budget but that was not enough. Now the Minister wants to steal the future of climate action while he is at it, with no oversight and no transparency. Everything is being hidden from the Oireachtas and even from the Government's own backbenchers. The Minister's actions will deprive this country of the climate action this crisis has shown it desperately needs.”
“The National Oil Reserves Agency gave €100 million, or more than 80% of the levy, to the climate action fund that was set up by an amendment to the legislation in 2020. It turns out that is virtually the entirety of all funding for the climate action fund. The fund was set up to support a few really important things, as detailed in its 2024 annual report. In that year, it gave €8 million to a community climate action programme for local authorities, €10 million to the school photovoltaic programme to fund solar panels for schools, €17 million to the Bórd na Móna bog rehabilitation scheme, some of which was perhaps spent in County Offaly, and €58 million to the public sector energy efficiency scheme to reduce energy demand, which one might think would reduce prices.”
“A €200 million tax cut is a very big deal. It has consequences for the fiscal and financial position of the State. According to its financial statements, the National Oil Reserves Agency collected €120 million in 2024. It did something with that money. Can the Minister tell me what it was? I will yield 30 seconds of my time under Standing Order 61 if the Minister can answer that question.”
“It turns out the run rate for the levy is about €10 million per month. Two months would cost €20 million, which means 18 more months would cost a whopping €180 million. A potential €200 million reduction in the public finances is worrying. With this Bill, the Dáil is being asked, in effect, to pre-approve a tax cut of up to €200 million at the sole discretion of one Minister. It is very strange. Last night, the Dáil sat until 11 p.m. to authorise a package of €250 million. Today, it seems the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, can just change the fiscal position of the strategic oil reserves by €200 million with the flick of a pen and with no oversight by the Dáil, no authorisation from the Cabinet and absolutely no one else involved. Not even the Minister for Finance can bring in a tax cut without the Taoiseach authorising it.”
“This provision says the Minister can suspend the levy after those two months for a while if he wants. Maybe that is reasonable. The question is for how long, how much it costs and what effect it has. The amendment says he can suspend it to December 2027, a potential 18-month additional suspension of the levy. That is strange. We did not do that for the excise taxes or hauliers last night. It is quite an odd thing to do. What is also odd is that the Minister can do it at his sole discretion. That is interesting. Ministers can do things at their sole discretion all the time through statutory instruments but it is strange to create a brand new statutory instrument within 24 hours, so it made me a little more suspicious. The Minister will have to forgive me. I decided to look at the finances.”
“That power is already granted by the 2007 Act. It did not talk about increasing supply to provide relief to hard-pressed families. No, it had something about pausing a levy of 2 cent per litre. Again, that does not seem like a big deal given excise went down by 17 cent per litre last night, which we in the Social Democrats supported. I dug a little deeper. That 2 cent is the total funding for the National Oil Reserves Agency, coming to about €120 million in income for the agency in 2024, according to its financial statements. The Bill proposes in the first instance to effectively get rid of that levy for the next few months, which is reasonable - laudable, even. We are in an energy crisis, after all. But then there is this other measure in the Bill, section 1(b).”
“It is not, but it is a very significant provision that the Government has put into it. Let me take Deputies through how I came across it. The Government has deliberately obfuscated this from the Dáil and it is a very serious matter for Government backbenchers, in particular. On the face of it, the change to the Order of Business to add to the agenda an amendment to the National Oil Reserves Agency Act 2007 does not seem like a big deal. Any reasonable person recognises the fallout of the illegal war initiated by the United States and Israel against Iran and its people would have consequences in Ireland. It is far-reaching. Therefore, maybe we needed to do something with the national oil reserves, but when I read the amendment proposed within the past 24 hours and put on the agenda this morning, it did not refer to releasing oil reserves.”
“What he is proposing is the authorisation of a 20-month raiding of the climate action fund. That is what this Bill does. It would be better called the climate action fund reversal Bill. I will take Deputies through how I came across this. It was deliberately obfuscated from the Dáil.”
“Politics, for better or worse, has made me occasionally suspicious of things. When things happen suddenly or without warning, I wonder what exactly is happening. I am a bit of a nerd, I have to admit. I like maths, numbers and researching things I am interested in. After a few hours of researching this amendment and looking at the Bill, I find what the Government is doing deeply troubling. I want to be really clear here. We in the Social Democrats have supported the Government on reductions in excise and on relief for hauliers. We are even willing to support half of this Bill to relieve two months of the levy. However, it turns out this Bill also authorises something the Minister did not acknowledge in his opening remarks. I am severely disappointed by the lack of transparency from the Minister, his Department and the Government.”
“The superintendent in my constituency described how her pension package was far in excess to what was available to the community garda across the table from here. That kind of unfairness breeds dissatisfaction among the rank and file and must be remedied if we are to attract high-calibre people to serve the public not just in the Garda but across the public sector. I hope the Minister takes all these things as matters of the upmost importance to his colleagues in the Government.”
“Community gardaí play a critical role in the development of communities and preventing criminality, particularly among youth as young as six, and it is of upmost importance that they are supported at every turn and resources are allocated to them. I met a detective in our constituency recently who felt as if there was no support for his work in regard to resources or pay and conditions. He also lamented the lack of public understanding about the importance of good policing and the effects it has on those who fulfil a vital role in protecting society. These things also contribute to morale which I am sure the Minister will agree is a huge concern for gardaí. In the Garda, and across the public sector, many new entrants are at extreme disadvantage to their older counterparts when it comes to pensions.”
“As the Minister said, we are lucky to live in a country where our police force, An Garda Síochána, is lauded by the vast majority of society. I want to pay particular tribute to the excellent gardaí in our constituency of Dublin Bay South and here in Leinster House and, in particular, to the incredible work of community gardaí which I see first hand in my work as a constituency TD. They do great work with vulnerable youths. I want to state my very strong support for increased resources in this area. However, the number of community gardaí fell in 2025 by about 12%, as the Labour Party motion states. Alarmingly many constituents report to me they do not know who their community garda is anymore.”
“Will the Taoiseach make a commitment here and now that Ireland will not participate in the lifting of sanctions on Russia, including those sanctions on Russian oil and gas, that we will pursue tougher sanctions on the Russian Federation and that we will do so even in the absence of US support?”
“The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation under Vladimir Putin began four years and one month ago. I remember when Zelenskyy was here in the Chamber late last year. It seemed as if the whole world was upon his shoulders. It is something I will never forget. In the context of the recent geopolitical events and spreading of warfare, it is clear that tougher sanctions will be required to counter Putin's warmongering. Combined with the alarming reticence of the Trump and Orbán Administrations to join the coalition of the willing, there is a substantive question about how the coalition will impose tougher sanctions, steadfastly uphold existing sanctions on oil and gas from Russia in the midst of an energy crisis, and enforce the robust security guarantees sought by Ukraine to end the war.”
“Yet the Government continues to support 22% of electricity demand going to data centres and corporations as well as the reliance of this State on imported fossil fuels from an LNG terminal. The Government must act now and introduce the Social Democrats' energy credit for 800,000 households most in need, implement the emergency payment for disabled people, tackle price gouging and, crucially, chart a new path for cheap, domestic, renewable energy to become the bedrock of our country's energy supply. I urge the Government to act without delay.”
“With the onset of this disastrous and unconscionable war they are expected to sky rocket again this year. Ordinary people are already paying higher rates than data centres. Many of them are reliant on pay-as-you-go meters, paying higher prices again. The Government has not strengthened price transparency whatsoever or held the price gougers accountable. As climate activists have said for decades, strengthening our energy security is the only way to address the source of the price issues. Yet, under this Government there are, as Deputy Whitmore said, zero offshore wind farms operational today. There is a huge, missed opportunity in solar that the Government has not tackled. The opportunities for retrofitting exclude those with the least financial resources.”
“A few months ago, we had another debate on energy costs. I have yet to receive any response to the issues I raised. I highlighted in that debate that those on the lowest incomes, those reliant on pensions or disability allowance would be €250 worse off this year as a result of the Minister's budget and the acceleration of energy prices. Those prices were already the highest electricity prices in Europe and that was before the onset of the energy crisis brought about by Trump's illegal war in Iran. I asked the Government what its advice would be for people on low incomes. I asked if they should go cold or if they should go hungry. It seems to have no answers. Electricity prices in Ireland, again the highest in Europe, have approximately doubled in the past five years.”
“it's more than a counter - it is a civic space relied upon by older residents, local businesses, and the wider community”. It is of the utmost importance that the Government look holistically at the question of community investment and development, particularly in Dublin’s urban villages, and how post offices provided by the State will continue to be a vital part of those communities.”
“In my constituency, the local post office in Rathmines was built by the State in 1934. It has signalled that it is to close. In the first phase, the gorgeous Art Deco retail front will cease operations and be leased to the highest bidder, presumably the local Centra. While parcel collection services will continue, An Post has signalled its long-term intention to sell the entire site. Combined with the loss of the local town hall and the turning of Rathmines village into a thoroughfare of the city, this closure brings a palpable sense of loss emblematic of the broader decay of local communities. As one constituent wrote to me last week, the closure of the Rathmines post office represents a "Gradual erosion of a vital public service in Rathmines and the surrounding area ...”
“As other speakers have said, post offices are essential resources for communities all over Ireland and have been for centuries. They are a place not only to send packages and envelopes but also to gather to have regular interaction, particularly for older people. While many of my generation would welcome the increase in digital services, as I do, it is crucial we recognise that many in our communities rely on in-person interactions. Stand-alone post offices, as opposed to those at the back of the local shop, offer privacy and care in a way that a private operator simply cannot. At the heart of this debate on post office closures is the closure of community facilities and services invested in by the State over hundreds of years and focal points for the inhabitants of those communities.”
“The report found that there are significant disparities and inequality across the housing and built environment dimension, as well as the work and job quality dimension, suggesting a deepening gap between the haves and the have-nots. Importantly, in the environment, climate, and biodiversity dimension, the report suggests that progress is reversing, inequality is widening and sustainability is declining. What steps will the Government take in the forthcoming budget to ensure that these trends are reversed and, in particular, that the environment, climate and biodiversity dimension remains a top priority?”
“The Government's well-being framework is supposed to be a means by which preliminary budgetary decisions can be made. As the Taoiseach might be aware, last month, Social Justice Ireland published an alternative well-being framework entitled Measuring What Matters. It critiques the Government's framework design as not being sufficient to identify and understand disparities, so it took it upon itself to create a more comprehensive picture that reflects the lived experience of different groups. The report states: The social contract must foster societal wellbeing if it is to last. If it fails to do so, it risks a breakdown in the social fabric and a loss of faith in our democratic institutions. I could not agree more.”
“She is wondering how she can present to homeless services with her mother, who, as stated, has significant mobility issues. She is at her wit's end. These are real people with real stories. Theirs are real tragedies brought about by Government policies that seem to try and paper over a gaping wound in Irish society. While the support emergency accommodation is a lifeline for so many, it was always meant to be temporary. The seemingly permanent nature of the Government's approach to emergency accommodation, HAP and evictions only edifies the argument that it is a Government for the rich that operates at the expense of everyone else.”
“Their cramped homeless situation has greatly exacerbated his difficulties. She is terrified of bringing him outside due to his worsening ability to regulate his emotions and behaviours. Their mental health is deteriorating rapidly. She can see no light at the end of the tunnel. The third case I wish to highlight is that of a young woman in Rathmines and her mother, who was recently diagnosed with cancer and who has a number of other serious conditions, including mobility issues, for whom she cares. The young woman in question contacted me in desperation when she was served an eviction notice. Her mother's health condition, as well as some historical financial difficulties and her father's recent passing, have made it impossible for them to find alternative accommodation.”
“The woman who lived there came to the door. Within minutes, she was in tears. Her young son was inside, and she did not want him to hear her. She had recently been divorced. The court had ordered that house be sold as part of the divorce settlement and she was being evicted with her son as a result. She was working in healthcare at the time and still does so. Today, she shares a one-bedroom apartment with her son. She spends 40% of her income on rent and sleeps on the couch. She emailed me recently and stated that she is extremely worried for her and her child's future. She is merely one bad event or an eviction notice away from devastation. I was in contact with another mother recently who is in one-room emergency accommodation with her 14-year-old son, who is autistic and who suffers with severe anxiety.”
“Homelessness is a moral stain on our society, of that there is no doubt. I have watched over the past decade as the number of people becoming homeless and entering emergency accommodation has climbed each year and as increasing numbers of people, particularly younger people, beg in the streets. Even older people are not spared the impact of the failed housing policies of successive Governments. What society can claim to be fair when homelessness within it continues to climb? What Government could possibly hold its head up high as it lifts an eviction ban and security-of-tenure provisions fail to rise to the occasion? Homelessness has gripped far too many people across this country and in my constituency. During the local election campaign two years ago, I knocked on the door of one house in Terenure.”
“Will the Minister, or NAERSA, consider changing that administration fee in the future to make it more progressive, so that people who are on lower incomes are spending a less of a proportion of their income on the administration of the fund and that it is similarly progressive for people on higher incomes?”
“I join the Minister in that. I want to make sure auto-enrolment is as successful as possible. I am confident the investment side, in terms of the investment fees, has been very well handled. In terms of the value for money, the Minister has got a very good rate for people. On administration fees, and I will send this information to the Minister, it strikes me that people who are on the lower incomes - for example, somebody who is on €20,000 for the rest of their life - will spend approximately 3.24% of their contributions on administration fees. By contrast, someone on €80,000 for the duration of the scheme will spend less than 1% on administration fees. There is a question there. If you are on a lower income, a flat rate will be a higher proportion and that may rob people of that financial security into the future.”
“By contrast, someone who is 25 years of age who is making €80,000 a year, and assuming that income stays the same, will spend 0.67% of their contribution on administration fees. There is a wide gap there, from a regressive perspective, on administration fees, depending on your income. If you are younger, you get better returns as you are in there for longer but if you are poorer, they will almost always be a higher proportion of your income.”
“I acknowledge the importance of the administration fee. I welcome the fact that a commission was not charged in terms of the fee. There are options when it comes to a flat fee versus a progressive fee. I made a few back-of-the-envelope calculations in respect of this matter, but do not hold me to them. If someone who is 60 years of age and who earns €20,000 per year is auto-enrolled in the scheme, they would spend about 6.36% of their contributions in administration fees over the course of their involvement in the My Future Fund. That is assuming that they are with it the entire time. I also welcome the suspension of administration fees if people are not contributing. That is worthwhile and something that does not happen in the UK, for example.”
“I would like an update on the administration fees associated with the My Future Fund being paid by the participants. In particular, I would like a sense of any consideration that has been given to these fees not necessarily being flat fees and applying different rates to different cohorts, proportionate to their income.”
“Will the Department be publishing the standards and what schools, or what suppliers, have met the standards over time? This may not be in the short term but as it gets up to evaluating all the different schools and standards.”
“In the next supplementary reply, I ask for some clarity on contracts and the Department's involvement in contracting with the schools. I note that 400 school meals were evaluated and a third of them did not meet the basic nutritional standards. Somebody told me that they did not meet three of the five guidelines. Will the Minister give a sense of how many met all five of the guidelines that were assessed? He mentioned there were 16 guidelines overall. What is the plan to assess those future guidelines? There are 11 more guidelines to go. Is it possible that nobody is meeting all the standards that the Department has set? How will that be evaluated by the dietitian and by the Department?”
“It would be helpful to understand whether there are any plans on how to change that arrangement and get better value for money, better nutritional standards and on the way the Department would like to pursue this.”
“I thank the Minister. Some clarity on those guidelines and standards would be very helpful. The Minister mentioned he instructed suppliers to assess certain nutritional values in the meals. This is one of my supplementary questions. The scheme is funded and being evaluated by the Department but my understanding is the contracts are being organised by the schools with the relevant suppliers. What is the role of the Department in the contracting arrangements, for example, if somebody is not living up to the contractual obligations? Does that come to the school or is it something the Department has a role in? What other instructions is the Department able to give? Reliance on private companies more generally can yield benefits in some ways and disadvantages in others.”
“First, I want to state my unequivocal support for the hot school meals programme. It is a really important programme. I am glad the Minister is doing it and the Department is funding it. The Minister said on RTÉ Radio 1 last week that a third of school meals were not meeting basic nutritional standards, according to the initial assessment carried out by a dietitian appointed by the Minister's Department. Can the Minister confirm whether his Department is worried that once more thorough assessments, including site visits are completed, the figures of compliance may be dramatically below expectations and when those more comprehensive assessment results will be made available?”
“They were derisory and it was deeply upsetting for many people with disabilities to hear that is what the Minister for Social Protection thinks of their lived experience.”
“The House should be aware that a protest will take place this Saturday against the failure to deliver the emergency winter payment. The disability organisations, despite meeting with the Minister and his officials several times, have called for that protest, which I will attend. There is a conversation happening about a permanent cost-of-disability payment and I really welcome that as a direction of travel. However, there was no repeat in budget 2026 of the €400 payment in budget 2025. The Minister is saying that from budget 2027 on, there will be a payment. The lived experience of disabled people is that they had a one-off non-payment in budget 2026. I ask the Minister for the third time: will he withdraw his hurtful and disgraceful remarks about the lived experiences of people with disabilities?”
“I ask for a second time if the Minister will withdraw the hurtful and disgraceful remarks he made about the lived experience of people with disabilities in the recent past.”
“I thank the Minister. I genuinely welcome his engagement with the disabilities organisations. The question I have is how that engagement has been going. We put forward the emergency winter payment motion, which has been supported by those disabilities organisations. Has that come up at those meetings? Has it come up in the consultations so far? It is important to note the rebuttal given by the Minister, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste. They pointed to the supplementary welfare schemes as something that people could avail of if they were in dire straits and choosing between heat and food. Notably, only 3,000 people availed of that payment last year. The emergency winter payment, as proposed, would affect 300,000 people. What is the Government doing for the other 297,000 people this year? They are suffering under the cost of disability.”
“Last week, the Minister announced that a public consultation is to take place on the cost of disability. Will he confirm that this is with a view to introducing a permanent cost-of-disability support payment in budget 2027? As part of that consultation discussion with disabled persons' organisations, will the Minister withdraw his comments on their lived experiences in saying that their accounts of their experiences were misleading and dangerous?”
“I do not think the Government is doing that here but I do think it is following a path that leads to that. The use of detention in this way is deeply concerning and deeply problematic for that reason.”
“There were people who came here in the thirties, in the forties and in the fifties to escape the persecution of the forces of Europe. They came here to escape the Nazis. There were Jews fleeing the abomination of the Holocaust that Hitler created. There were people who were not Jewish who were fleeing the Nazis, fleeing Mussolini and fleeing Franco, and we gave them refuge and we gave them shelter. One of them, my constituency colleague's grandfather, started Waterford Crystal. It is a really important part of who we are and it is a really important lesson of the 20th century. I really fear that there are many states across Europe and across the world that are stridently repeating this mistake, going towards an ethnonationalism and a use of the full force of the state to enforce it.”
“One of the reasons I am standing here today and why I am in politics is that I was in New York in 2016 when Trump was first elected. You could feel the sorrow on the streets of New York among New Yorkers. You could sense it. I could sense it in the offices as I went to work. I was speaking during the general election to a young man about why I went into politics and challenging what the Government is trying to do here: the rightward shift on things like immigration policy, the erosion of human rights and the erosion of the concepts of justice. I will say to the Minister of State what the young man said to me. He agreed with me and we had a very long conversation. He said the lessons of the 20th century are being forgotten.”
“While racism and systemic racism in particular must be condemned in all its forms, I fear that with the shift in immigration policy to the right, and it is a shift of immigration policy to the right, and in particular with this erasure of natural justice, natural rights and human rights, there is actually something more dangerous, more disastrous and, frankly, more terrifying. I am a big believer in democracy. I am a fervent believer in it. I am a fervent believer in the wisdom of the electorate. There are, however, times when the public get things wrong. We saw that in the UK with Brexit - buyer's remorse. We see it across the water, in the United States, with an Administration that is deeply unpopular, despite doing the things it promised to do.”
“Even on a human level, a compassionate level and an empathetic level as to what people are experiencing, are we to say to those who are fleeing war and persecution that they will not be given rights to natural justice, human rights or any form of empathy when they come here? That seems completely out of character with the Irish State. I want to be very clear here: I do not believe that evaluating and reforming the immigration system is inherently racist, although many outside of this Chamber who are seeking reforms are. They are, thankfully, a minority in this country.”