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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“It is the great shame of this Government that it did not choose differently, and it is the great failure of our politics that the scourge of child poverty will persist despite what was a unique generational opportunity to end it.”
“The Social Democrats chose to spend the same €615 million on lifting tens of thousands of children out of poverty with a second tier of child benefits targeting the most vulnerable children in our Republic. We even made sure we balanced and paid for it by asking those boardrooms to contribute more, phasing out subsidies for developers, increasing the levy on the banks and increasing the stamp duty on non-residential property. There was a choice yesterday, and in that choice the Government proposed the most regressive, corporatist tax package in a generation. The Government chose to continue the extreme indignity of child poverty for too many families. It left working people out in the cold and it rewarded greed.”
“On the other side of the world, however, in boardrooms in Beijing, London or Manhattan, shareholders in Irish property companies will receive a memo and they will reach to uncork the bottle of champagne. They will read that this Government gave them double what it gave the poorest children in Ireland. It gave them €615 million to build apartments they are already building, the most expensive, most lucrative and smallest apartments in Europe. The shareholder party is now never-ending. Irish Residential Properties REIT plc made €30 million in profits last year, driven by €65 million in net rents. Cairn Homes made €115 million in profits in 2024. This Government gave them more profits when they did not need any and, worse, it indulged them when they were already overgorged. There are alternatives.”
“In the budget the Government presented yesterday, it set aside €300 million to alleviate child poverty. It is, in itself, welcome. I genuinely applaud the Minister for public expenditure when he said that a multi-year programme of supports began yesterday. It is the start of a difference to many. In 2026, however, it will not go far enough. The Parliamentary Budget Office today published a report saying child poverty will actually increase in 2026 under this budget. The Taoiseach lauded himself today, saying the bottom two deciles would do better from this budget, but the Parliamentary Budget Office says their income will actually go down.”
“On the quays however, or in the lavish converted Georgian offices of the squares of Dublin 2, in a boardroom the table is solid and heavy and immovable. The bellies are full, perhaps too full. There are crystal glasses and newly bought bottles of sparkling water imported from some spring hundreds of miles away. The carpets are freshly cleaned and there might be canapés that go uneaten or bottles of wine on ice. Those rooms do not know poverty or hunger or cold. Those rooms are full of people who have never done better. Budgets are about choices - not just choices between numbers or policies or votes, but choices between people and what we believe in. Does this Government believe in alleviating suffering or does it believe in indulging greed?”
“All around the country this evening, at this very moment, there are children sitting hungry at a table in a kitchen or in a cramped hotel room of emergency accommodation. They are hungry or their parents are hungry. That is the choice for too many families. Now, as the hunger rumbles in their bellies, the heating is off and those families are cold. The tables may be bare and rickety, the curtains or bedding may be worn and too old. It is hard to do your homework on an empty stomach, nearly impossible. For 8.5% of the children in this country, nearly one in every ten, this is the reality of their evening tonight. They are in consistent poverty according to the Government's own statistics. According to the ESRI, as many as one in five children is experiencing this kind of Dickensian level of deprivation.”
“Perhaps the Taoiseach and his Government should read Emerson and expand their repertoire of political thought. Perhaps they should consider the critical role care plays in our society and economy and consider the poetry of supporting the most vulnerable in our society. Voting for this motion to abolish the means test for carers would be a good start.”
“It effectively says that at some point, for some people, a carer's labour should be free, and permanently so, which seems an impossible position for any sane-minded person to take. Not only should carers have dignity, they should be valued. They save the State billions, in economic terms, and provide immeasurable love and support for those in our society who desperately need it. What more noble calling is there in our country than to serve those less fortunate than us. There was poetry in our election, if we sought it, and there will be poetry in our politics again, when the electorate seeks it a few years from now, but there will be never poetry in this Government. For, "Conservatism makes no poetry, breathes no prayer, has no invention...", as a great writer once said.”
“However, I am also conscious of the enormous toll caring has on families and individuals who, out of generosity of heart, help those who are more vulnerable than themselves and, in the process, often make themselves vulnerable. Caring is work. It is hard work. It is some of the hardest work any of us does. All caring is work. It is work that is not glorified. It does not bring riches or fame, but it should bring security and it should, like all modern work in a modern republic, bring dignity. That applies to all of it, regardless of who does it or for whom they do it. The means test, among other ways carers are treated, is an affront to the dignity of that work. It effectively says that at some point for some people, a carer's labour should be free and permanently so, which seems an impossible position for any sane-minded person to take.”
“There was great poetry in the election results days later, which meant his party returned fewer seats than projected and relegated him to second fiddle versus his rivals in Fianna Fáil. There is a sad rhyming in his replacement, a man who sat at the Cabinet table that crashed the economy 15 years ago now telling the country there is no money to help alleviate the plight of those who care for others. Rightly, the focus of disabilities is on those who have them. They should be at the centre of the discussion. We must deliver pay parity and good conditions for care workers, in particular section 39 workers, who have been so badly treated.”
“On my first day in the Dáil last year, the Taoiseach quoted the former Governor of New York Mario Cuomo, saying, “You campaign in poetry; you govern in prose.” He then went on to say, “I am not sure that there was much poetry during the recent [general election] campaign”. I saw it differently. Poetry is not always uplifting. Sometimes it recounts sorrow. It is not always magnificent; sometimes it is dark and sad. Poetry is also told in tragedy and defeat. There was poetry in Kanturk that day in November when a care worker, plunged into poverty by this Government and the ones before it, a woman with little power other than her will and her voice, challenged the most powerful man in the country in a supermarket.”
“Will the fact that we have mandated every person in the country to fund their own pensions become an excuse to scrap the State pension all together? Our world before the welfare state was marked by a life that was cruel, brutish and short. Sometimes life is still like that, but the great contribution of the welfare state has been to temper its worst effects, especially for the most vulnerable. We would be the most unwise generation since the industrial revolution if we were to start dismantling it.”
“However, it is not certain this trend will always continue and there have been many examples in history where this has not been the case for investors, be they pensioners or otherwise. Is it prudent for us to believe the next 50 years will be like the last? I doubt it. An opportunity to expand the investment capital of the State has been missed. We need domestic funding for home building. The Social Democrats have proposed such a fund, namely the homes for Ireland savings account, which would have invested in solving the largest problem our country faces - building homes. Why not put the additional savings toward such a worthy societal goal? The greatest risk of auto-enrolment is it becomes an excuse to dismantle the welfare State in favour of major financial gains for pension funds and those who own them.”
“Auto-enrolment effectively State-mandates a permanent shift of the financial risk of old age from the State to the individual. As a constituent in Ranelagh asked me, if investment returns from their pension do not keep up with inflation, what do they do then? There are significant risks in using investments as the only vehicle for pension provision. I remember clearly the angry pensioners throwing eggs at the 2009 annual general meeting of AIB when they realised their hard-earned money had evaporated into the ether of the bank's recklessness and the financial crisis. Over the past 50 years, it has been fundamentally assumed that pension investments will in the long run generate returns beyond the rate of inflation, creating a good nest egg for those in old age.”
“The number of children in consistent poverty has doubled in the past 12 months and 300,000 households are in energy arrears. What is the Government's plan to help those who, through the auto-enrolment scheme, will face issues in paying household bills or fall further into deprivation? It does not appear to have one, certainly not one that will keep up with inflation. Second, another significant gap in the auto-enrolment scheme is the exemption of the self-employed on lower incomes. The gig economy workers, "solarpreneurs", the woman selling flowers on Grafton Street, the man with a van, the hard-working people delivering our meals — they deserve State support too and to exclude them from generous State subsidies in auto-enrolment seems grossly unfair and downright neglectful.”
“As dark and unconscionable as that chapter in our history is, they are right to call for financial security in old age after falling victims to the crimes of a State that was supposed to protect them. I urge the Minister of State to meet with them and to meet their demands. I welcome the Government's taking wider pension provision for our population seriously. Auto-enrolment can be part of securing the financial future of our society, but it is not a panacea and I would like to outline some of the outstanding risks it presents and, in some cases, deepens. First, in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, reducing low-paid workers' take-home pay by between €300 and €1,200 per year may be devastating for many households. I do not need to remind the House of the devastating poverty figures we are already seeing.”
“I endorse everything my colleague Deputy Quaide said. My secondary school history teacher is a wonderful man named Mr. Burke. He ignited in me a passion for history and politics. In his class, I learned about the invention of much of the welfare state in Germany in the late 19th century. It is hard for a society to imagine what things were like in previous eras but one of the welfare state's greatest contributions to life in the past two centuries have been the lifting of the elderly from poverty. Before addressing auto-enrolment, I want to acknowledge that at this very moment there are people outside this building on hunger strike. They were put to work as children in industrial and reformatory schools and have called for some pension recognition for their child labour.”
“This discussion on energy credits and emergency supports is welcome but until we have a Government that is serious about creating structural changes in our climate and economic systems, we will have more motions and debates like this one, and the Irish people will still be left in the cold wind that was never harnessed.”
“The Social Democrats, in the general election, proposed the most significant climate fund of nearly any other party, one that would cover the country in 500,000 solar panels, bringing down energy prices by an estimated 40%. My deputy party leader revealed at the weekend that the €3.3 billion in one-off energy payments over the last number of years could have supplied electricity to 1 million homes if it had been used to build renewable energy projects instead. We would still have had money left over to fund supports for the most vulnerable.”
“Where is the urgency to introduce the major structural changes required to tap renewable energy in one of the countries most rich in it? Not only do we have offshore wind energy farms lying vacant all along our coast, but we also have ones like the foreknown Sceirde Rocks project in Connemara being cancelled earlier this year, with no replacement. As an island nation, we have huge opportunities in tidal energy and minuscule funding to pursue it. A constituent asked me recently why there is not a solar farm on the top of every Government and public building, as the EU promised to fund and complete by the end of this year. Another asked me why we do not have 100%-funded retrofitting schemes like they have in Italy. There is a better way.”
“Two restaurant owners I met with in Rathmines recounted to me the huge impact of rising energy costs on their ability to run their kitchens or afford their ingredients, and an elderly constituent in Ballsbridge, who rightly said that not everyone in Dublin 2, 4 or 6 is posh and well off, is very concerned that the fuel allowance will not keep up with the inflation of the highest energy prices in the EU. The overture from the Government often is - I am sure it will be today - that there is a significant energy security problem in Ireland. I could not agree more but that was a problem 20 years ago, when the Taoiseach was first at Cabinet and the State owned 96% of the capacity in this country, as the motion details. It is still a problem today, where the private market owns 73% of the capacity.”
“As a chemical engineer and a former climate technologist I am gravely concerned by the problem of accelerating energy costs and energy poverty facing our people. In my constituency, the most pervasive reports of energy poverty come from disadvantaged communities in the south inner city, Ringsend and Irishtown. There is also the renter in Sandymount who correctly pointed out to me that he is powerless to improve the energy efficiency of his home, as the SEAI grants do not extend to him, and they cover less than 20% of the cost.”
“At a webinar on child poverty held by the Children's Rights Alliance last week, the deputy Secretary General of the Department of Social Protection rightly said: "If a family does not have access to secure and affordable housing, it is almost impossible to provide the services required to lift them out of poverty." Will the Taoiseach and his sub-committee outline the targeted approach to child poverty, including housing? Will he acknowledge the devastating role his housing policies, that he has voted for over the previous decade, have played in escalating child poverty?”
“Last week, the Taoiseach published an op-ed in the Irish Independent declaring that the time to end child poverty is now. That sentiment is very welcome but his analysis was incomplete. Yesterday, my party leader rightly pointed out that consistent child poverty has doubled in the past two years to 8.5% when the Government's target is 3%. Earlier this month, the ESRI published a report that one in every five children - more than 225,000 - are now in poverty when housing costs are taken into account. The Taoiseach said earlier that he is committed to employment and economically sustainable finances but what good is employment if it is the most unequal market income in the developed world? How sustainable is a doubling of child poverty?”
“We need to reject the neoliberal developer-led model this Government has an addiction to. We often hear about how our ageing population is creating a timebomb in our pensions system but the failures in housing policy have become so entrenched that the current Cabinet, like every previous Cabinet, has lit the fuse early for those without a home. We now have several cohorts ageing through the crisis, missing every milestone on the road to housing and long-term financial security, and this Government is failing them completely. It seems no matter who you are or what your story is, there is no escaping this crisis. Nobody is safe from this Government's housing policy, even the elderly and the Minister of State's party's voters. It will fall to parties like mine to clean up this mess.”
“The longer this goes on, with more and more people in these precarious housing situations, the greater the chance that the vicissitudes of life, such as a cancer diagnosis, bereavement or loss of income, will come at the same time as an eviction notice, a rent hike or another hair-brained Government policy that only makes life more difficult, more stressful and devastating for my constituents and their reasonable desires for a dignified life. As all these problems continue to compound, there will be multiple generations for whom it will be too late as they will find themselves either unable to retire or being turfed out onto the street. When will this Government wake up and come to terms with the fact that what is required now are 1930s and 1940s levels of public investment and State-led development on a massive scale?”
“I appreciate the Minister of State's commitment to this area and I do not doubt his sincerity but, like every single occupant of his office before him, he has been sent out with prepared remarks to defend the indefensible. He and this Government unfailingly refuse to reckon with the enormity of the problem in housing. The Government is tinkering around the edges of failed policies while the situation deteriorates even further, leaving in its wake a litany of shattered dreams for individuals and their families who want nothing more than security and a safe place to call home. Can we call building 500 homes in four years, which was the figure the Minister of State just cited, a success?”
“How do I tell my constituents that the Government has sacrificed them on an altar of greed? How do I explain to them that the Government's housing policy will not save them, nor will their pension, nor will the private market on which the Government is so reliant? What hope can the Minister of State give them now in their moment of despair?”
“They suffered a no-fault eviction by their previous landlord and their rent for a two-bedroom apartment doubled overnight. Their savings are now draining away, as they rent at the expense of their future and the future of their child. The story that shocked me the most on the campaign trail was that of a professional woman in her 50s with a well-paid job in an American multinational whose extortionate rents have left her and her family with no prospect of homeownership in Dublin. What began as a singular crisis in housing is now resulting in a cascade of social calamities, a catastrophe that affects everyone in society, and none more than people who are already vulnerable and marginalised and bear the brunt of pre-existing social problems. What do I say to these people?”
“Are we asking people who have worked their whole lives who do not have an asset to their name to squander what little they have saved so that we can create a generation of destitute pensioners on housing assistance payment, HAP, and on housing lists? I heard from another older couple in my constituency dealing with a devastating cancer diagnosis and a progressively worsening prognosis when they were dealt with yet another blow in the form of an eviction notice. Can you imagine what it is like to deal with the enormous challenges of such a diagnosis arriving precisely at the time that you are told you will lose your home? I spoke with another older couple who are dedicated to helping the most vulnerable people in our community in a local hospital and doing this while caring for their son with a developmental language disorder.”
“We know from the number of renters in their 40s and 50s that this will only increase. I recently spoke with a constituent in his 60s living in a studio apartment who was deeply worried about the proposed changes to the rental protections and what they might mean for him as he approaches retirement age. I say "retirement age" and not "retirement" because he is now convinced he will never be able to retire. He will not be able to afford his rent on his pension and is terrified of the hikes to come from this Government's policies. He has been told to deplete his savings, so that he can access social housing. Is this what we are telling people now?”
“I was deeply concerned last week, listening to the chairperson of ALONE, Seán Moynihan, speaking about the housing crisis and the extent of its effects on older people. So much of the discussion around housing focuses on the typical young couple stuck renting or in their childhood bedroom unable to get on the ladder. Knowing many of those people personally, I expected to hear those stories when I entered politics. What shocked me, however, was meeting people since I entered public life in their 40s, 50s and 60s in terrible and hopeless circumstances paying extortionate rents with no prospect of ownership. The latest census shows an 83% rise in renters over the age of 65. Some 42% of all older people renting face significant stress from renting in the private sector due to concerns about the instability of their housing.”
“I will start by paying tribute to a good friend of mine who passed away suddenly this month a year ago, after I was elected a councillor. There is a memorial service for him this weekend. He was a member of the Social Democrats and we served on the national executive of the party together. He was born in Britain of Nigerian and Ghanaian descent and he was deeply committed to making this island of ours better. His name was Kodzo Selormey and he was a patriot in an era when people who lay claim to that word have no sense of its real meaning. I wanted to honour his memory today at the close of this Dáil term because it is likely I would not be speaking here in the people's Parliament today but for his hard work and friendship and the spirit he shared with all of us in the Social Democrats to make this a country for everyone.”
“I will raise dementia services in my constituency. Last week, I received a report that respite beds for those with Parkinson's disease and dementia in the Royal Hospital Donnybrook would be unavailable from August as funding was withdrawn by the HSE without warning in January. This has created significant distress for the families who rely on this service. The uncertainty regarding HSE funding seems completely at odds with Government policy. I have engaged with both the hospital and the HSE but I want a commitment from the Government that the service at the Royal Hospital Donnybrook will continue to be fully funded. I would also like to hear about the Government's expected progress in this budget as regards "doubling funding for dementia day care at home" and the dementia day care centres promised in the programme for Government.”
“What is the Government's policy on addressing gaps in the flood insurance market, particularly in coastal communities like Sandymount, Merrion, Ringsend and Irishtown? Will the Government consider State-backed flood insurance and reinsurance schemes to protect livelihoods and homes in these areas?”
“At a recent residents' association meeting in my constituency in Sandymount, it was reported to me that only one flood insurance provider is left providing coverage in the community. This week research from the University of Galway was reported in The Irish Times showing that storm surges during Storm Éowyn were the "highest ever recorded" and would have been twice as high had the storm landed a week earlier during a particularly high tide. Earlier this month the EPA's national climate change risk assessment also noted a "significant risk" of coastal flooding in Dublin. I note with surprise that there is no reference to flood insurance in the programme for Government. Does the Government have a policy for engaging with insurance providers on this issue?”
“Only then, will we have the stable public finances and resilient economy and society the citizens of this Republic deserve.”
“Can the Minister of State now give the public assurances the Government is taking this seriously and that it will act expeditiously, even if he does not have the full information? That brings me to a broader point and question on the Irish economy. It is not simply a matter of rainy day funds. As a political system and as a country, we need to recognise that the tariff threats from the Trump Administration are an emergent feature of a shifting global trend in trade relations and the world economy. We need to reinvent industrial policy, making strategic investments that will allow for a less turbulent outlook. We need to invest in indigenous businesses and see a step change in State capacity and economic interventions.”
“On one hand, it projects an image of a prudent steward of the State's coffers, saying that corporate tax receipts will come down, but in the next breath, it dismisses concerns, regarding the change in exposure in IP holdings, saying the substantial operations, as the Minister of State just said, are located here. Which is it? Does the Minister of State actually know? In the Apple case, the Government argued the opposite. GNI* was instituted because GDP does not reflect reality. We are not the only country, but we are perhaps the most significant country to be taking advantage of these kinds of legal structures. Notably, the Government's Central Statistics Office underestimated corporate tangible assets by one third less than this report.”
“The Minister of State referenced a lot about substance and substantive positions and I am quite disappointed with that reply. I am not talking about BEPS agreements or Pillar Two or the OECD agreements. I am talking about intellectual property and the legal architecture that underpins it. As far as I can tell, on the record of this House, this is the first time this report and the risks it highlighted - a potentially catastrophic decline in the State's resources - are being discussed. There is something deeply problematic about that. A few weeks ago Pat Leahy in The Irish Times quoted a Government official saying that there is no sense that the political system understands the danger we are in. If we need any proof of that, look no further. I am quite confused by the Government's position.”
“Will the Minister of State recognise this existential threat to our financial viability and economy? Will he tell the House what the Government is planning to do to mitigate or manage this incredible concentration of risk in the public finances?”
“To put that in further context, given that Revenue has estimated that half of our corporate taxes are attributable to about ten companies, at the stroke of a pen in one foreign boardroom the State's coffers could lose approximately €1 billion. Such a loss of income to the State would be serious. One billion euro is about the size of our entire climate action budget or the annual capital expenditure of the HSE. That is just one boardroom. If all the multinational companies, say at the instigation of a US Administration, were to restructure their IP holdings, the damage could be in the tens of billions of euro. To put that in context, the total reduction in real voted Government expenditure in the middle of the financial crisis from peak to trough over multiple years was €10 billion, and I have not even spoken about tariffs.”
“I do not think anyone who has looked seriously at the tax mirage identified in this investigation can feel anything other than a horrifying sense of déjà vu . It appears that the accusation of Nobel laureate Professor Paul Krugman of "leprechaun economics" with regard to Fine Gael in the 2010s still applies. For the person sitting at home and perhaps watching these proceedings, what does this fundamental distortion mean? What is the actual danger to the Irish economy and society? The same report identified this tax mirage as the main driving force in the rise in corporate tax receipts in the post-crash period. It was a rise from approximately €4 billion in 2013 to €21.4 billion in 2022 or from 4% of the State's budget to approximately one fifth.”
“Earlier this month, the Business Post published the work of a research team in UCD led by Professor Aidan Regan revealing what they called a $1 trillion tax mirage, which they said was a conservative estimate by the way, in the domiciling of intellectual property assets by multinationals in Ireland to seek to exploit preferential tax rates on their global profits. To put this in context, it is altogether likely that the value of this multinational intellectual property exceeds the entire net wealth of Irish households, most recently estimated at approximately €1.23 trillion, including approximately €900 billion in housing assets. The authors of the report called it a paper-based prosperity which was fundamentally distortive to the Irish economy.”
“I was and am so lucky to be surrounded by such great friends and family. In particular I thank my mom and dad, Morina and Eamon, who have been the most loving and dedicated parents I could have asked for, and my partner Triona, who has been the greatest joy and most solid rock I have ever had. Lastly, but most importantly, I owe a profound gratitude to the thousands of constituents in south Dublin city who honoured me with their vote and the great privilege of representing them here. It has been deeply humbling to receive a mandate from my peers in the pursuit of a better country, guided by the principles of social justice and progressive politics. I take up the mantle with deep reverence for the trust they have placed in me and the encouragement they have given me since I have been elected.”
“As this is my first time speaking in the House, I want to start by thanking the Minister of State and the many Members of the House from all parties and none who have been so welcoming to me since the start of the Dáil term. While friendships may be tested through the course of political life, I hope I can earn and keep the respect of my colleagues, as I promise respect for them and for the mandate entrusted to me by the Irish people and by Bunreacht na hÉireann. It would be remiss of me not to thank also the more than 100 ardent campaigners and supporters who helped to get me elected, many of whom are here today. In particular I thank my campaign manager Kieran Clarke, and the two campaigners, constituents and members of my party, Amy and Paul, who have joined my staff.”