Gareth Scahill
Nominated by the Taoiseach · Fine Gael · Ireland
“Before we finish up I call for a debate on home care services when we come back in September. We all know the value of carers in our society but an awful lot of the HSE support service staff going into houses are private agency staff and when the person they are looking after goes into hospital or into respite the support they are getting…”
“Can we reset the clock? I will start by mentioning the "parents notify" portal on the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, website for special classes and special places, which has a deadline of 1 September.”
“Like previous speakers, the Leas-Chathaoirleach might allow me to thank the staff of the House, including the ushers and all the catering staff and, reluctantly, all of my colleagues in the House. We do not always get on or agree but there is great respect in the House.”
“I welcome the Minister to the House. Like so many of the previous speakers, it would be disingenuous of me not to concede I agree with some of the points in the motion.”
“The whole country has these facilities now, meaning that should we ever experience something like Storm Éowyn in 2025 again, we will have supports to allow people to continue to work remotely, provide for their families and live where they want to.”
“I do not believe one size fits all in Ireland. The Minister's county, my county and Longford are all in one big district and we have not benefited from additional Garda numbers in quite some time.”
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“Like previous speakers, the Leas-Chathaoirleach might allow me to thank the staff of the House, including the ushers and all the catering staff and, reluctantly, all of my colleagues in the House. We do not always get on or agree but there is great respect in the House. I extend a wish for happy holidays to everybody and thank them for the past couple of months. I thank all of the staff. To clarify what Senator Brady said, the work does not stop here and we are not finished for the summer. He may have given that impression but I think he was talking about the fact he had the hay done and the turf home. The real work starts now.”
“Before we finish up I call for a debate on home care services when we come back in September. We all know the value of carers in our society but an awful lot of the HSE support service staff going into houses are private agency staff and when the person they are looking after goes into hospital or into respite the support they are getting immediately stops. This affects their availability because the staff will not be paid should the person come out of care again. Family carers and people getting the carer's allowance have a 13-week extension, whereby they continue to receive the carer's allowance for 13 weeks after somebody goes in. This is something we need to look at, especially in rural areas where we need to retain the expertise of people who are desperately needed to look after people and extend their time in their own homes.”
“Can we reset the clock? I will start by mentioning the "parents notify" portal on the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, website for special classes and special places, which has a deadline of 1 September. The whole principle of the early notification this year is to determine demand, plan ahead and provide the special class places and special classes for 2027-28. To clarify for people, the portal is open 12 months of the year but the deadline is to allow the NCSE to plan and prepare a budget. The additional documentation has an extended deadline of 15 September but the documentation will be taken at a much later stage if necessary. The important thing is that people who need the places get on the portal now and identify the demand that is there.”
“He was not open to the initial site, but he is open to that. That is something I will continue to press for. We are in a very good place. A lot has been done. I look forward to the new rural future strategy because there has been significant engagement. For the next time the Minister visits Roscommon, I draw his attention to the town teams that have been in existence in Roscommon since 2015. Some would say they have replaced the town councils but the delivery that has been achieved through the voluntary effort of these committees is something that we need to continue to support. We need to look at some sort of strategy where their voluntary hours can be seen as a contribution to the matched-funding element. That is something that was there in the past. Volunteers' time is something that we need to put a value on.”
“The dynamic distribution model is not fair on counties such as Roscommon, Longford and Leitrim, to name but a few, but that is something we can work with the National Ambulance Service on. We will work to try and address and deliver on that. I acknowledge within this that the creation of the technological universities was a game-changer but I also recognise the recent announcement in the Minister's home county, in Castlebar, for the college of the future and the delivery of apprenticeships. That is very important because that is relieving the pressure on the urban areas where we already have universities and large student populations. I have been an advocate in this House on one or two occasions, and maybe more, for a similar facility for Roscommon. The Minister, Deputy Lawless, is open to it.”
“Only three weeks ago, I called for a support fund for community groups, not for capital costs but for operational costs because that is where voluntary committees tell me they are struggling. The message in the Commencement matter came back that it is something the Department is looking at. That is delivery within Our Rural Future and it is answering the call that we have for rural Ireland. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the reference to education and healthcare in Sinn Féin's motion. With regard to healthcare, we also suffer in rural Ireland because of the distribution model of some of our ambulance services, especially in counties such as my own where we do not have an accident and emergency department.”
“I do not believe one size fits all in Ireland. The Minister's county, my county and Longford are all in one big district and we have not benefited from additional Garda numbers in quite some time. Due to the geographical spread and the age demographic, we are suffering because of our low crime numbers, which is a blessing in one sense, but we cannot be complacent in that area. I will continue to call for those measures. I will continue to call for a different model but I will continue to acknowledge what is in the programme for Government and what we have committed to delivering. If things can be done better, I will suggest those and see where we can go with them. The Minister's Department administers the town and village scheme and CLÁR funding. It supports the LEADER programme and the community recognition fund.”
“The whole country has these facilities now, meaning that should we ever experience something like Storm Éowyn in 2025 again, we will have supports to allow people to continue to work remotely, provide for their families and live where they want to. Only this morning, I referred to Councillor Micheál Frain from Ballaghaderreen calling for 24-7 staffing of the Garda station in Ballaghaderreen. In the programme for Government there is no commitment to opening or staffing rural Garda stations but there is a commitment to support a visible Garda presence in our communities. There are commitments in the programme for Government to encouraging policing resources that are allocated based on operational need and to tackling rural crime. That is why I have repeatedly called for a different model of policing for rural Ireland.”
“It has made a significant impact across rural Ireland. The amendment to the motion states that between 2016 and 2022, there was an increase in the population of rural Ireland of 5.8%. That would not have happened without that infrastructure empowering those people and giving them the opportunity to move to a part of the country they choose because of the quality of life they could get from that. The Minister has visited many of the connected hubs. The last time he was down in Castlerea, he was in the enterprise hub. I am a member of the Kiltullagh enterprise hub. There is another remote working area in Ballinlough.”
“Deputy Calleary is a rural Minister. Ideally I would have liked one of my party colleagues to be in his role but if there was to be someone else in it, a someone from a neighbouring county such as Deputy Calleary would be the ideal scenario. We have welcomed him to Roscommon on numerous occasions since he was appointed. I hope that continues and I hope we continue to see the investment from his Department in delivery in our areas. There were announcements about the national broadband plan. Certain counties already have 100% delivery. My home county is due to have 100% delivery by November. When that initial idea was proposed, people thought it was pie in the sky, that it was not possible, that it was madness and asked how much were we going to spend on it. It came in on time and under budget.”
“I welcome the Minister to the House. Like so many of the previous speakers, it would be disingenuous of me not to concede I agree with some of the points in the motion. However, having read the countermotion and having benefited significantly from the Our Rural Future policy in the past and looking forward to its future iterations, I note that none of the speakers so far have mentioned that budget 2026 was the largest the Department Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht has ever had. There was €611 million towards the delivery of initiatives across rural Ireland. Rather than calling on the Government, I know there is a programme for Government. There are clear timelines and targets in place across a number of areas incorporating a number of Departments. That is what we are all working towards and want to see delivered.”
“I have called for debates in this House on this topic. There are protections there. There is legislation An Garda Síochána can use to deal with a lot of these situations but it is about the presence and the actual enforcement. It is hard to enforce something if you do not have the presence and the manpower on the ground to do the job. It is not acceptable that we have to keep coming in here every two or three months to call for this debate. I hope we will have a debate on policing in rural Ireland as early in September as possible. In rural Ireland we are dealing with an older population, larger geographical areas and longer response times. These people are more vulnerable. I hope we can look forward to a debate in this House with the Minister for justice as early as possible in the new term.”
“I welcome the Acting Leader to his new role and wish him well with that. I will refer to a report that appeared in our local paper this morning. Local councillor, Micheál Frain, from Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon, is calling for a 24-7 staffed Garda station in Ballaghaderreen due to an increased amount of antisocial behaviour, including reports of people with e-scooters on paths and loud music at night. There is no presence in the community on a regular basis when these situations present themselves. It highlighted for me something we have been calling for in here. I and my three colleagues around me, who are all from rural areas, have repeatedly brought up the lack of a presence of our Garda force in large parts of rural Ireland. The model is not working. I have called for a new rural model to be introduced.”
“Going back to the RSES, we need to show ambition today. If we truly believe in balanced regional development, we must have the courage to plan for it. We need a debate in this House on the strategy to ensure every local authority is encouraged to make an ambitious submission that will shape stronger communities for generations to come. I look forward to having that debate in September if we have the chance.”
“Investment in this route would unlock housing, enterprise, tourism and development opportunities right across the centre of our county. We also need to recognise the N60 and the long-term need for a relief road in my home town of Castlerea to improve road safety, which I heard about with Councillor Ruth Conboy last Friday when we visited the Corlann services in Castlerea. The users of that service highlighted the desperate need to have more road crossings at the centre of Castlerea. Development of the N61 and a relief road would also support businesses and make the town a more attractive place to live and invest in. To put this into context, 15 years ago, many people described the M5 as a pipe dream. Today, it has become a reality because people had the vision to include it in the long-term planning and continued to make the case for it.”
“It influences where homes are built, where businesses invest, where infrastructure is delivered and, ultimately, where Government funding is directed over the next decade and beyond. If a project is not reflected in the regional spatial and economic strategy, it becomes significantly harder to include it in future county development plans, and it is much more difficult to secure investment for it. That is why the RSES is so important. In my home county of Roscommon, I want to see an ambitious submission from our local authority that looks beyond today's challenges and plans for tomorrow's opportunities. This means prioritising the continued upgrade of the N61 as the backbone of the county, linking Athlone to Sligo through Roscommon town, Tulsk and Boyle.”
“I too wish to be associated with the welcoming of the deputy head of mission from the French Embassy. I wish him a happy Bastille Day and the best of luck tonight. I am not going to be as blatant and pick a side before the game, but it is hard to go against France on a night like tonight. I also acknowledge a colleague from Roscommon, Dympna Daly-Finn, who is in the Gallery. I welcome her to the House. She is a guest of Deputy Clendennen. I am calling for a debate in the House on the regional spatial and economic strategy, or the RSES as some of us know it. It is important in delivering balanced regional development. The RSES is far more than another planning document; it is the blueprint that guides our county development plans.”
“We are creating and unlocking the potential for housing, but we need to be a lot more proactive in the delivery of the supporting services.”
“I have often raised the issue of being proactive with our fire services. Recently, we had the housing infrastructure investment fund, which in all our counties was set to unlock between 700, 900 and 1,500 houses, yet we will wait for a lot of those houses to be delivered before we start reacting to what other services we need to deliver on the ground. I hope counties in the west of Ireland might be able to utilise the state-of-the-art training facility at Knock Airport to upskill the members of our fire services across the region. I also hope we will be proactive in the delivery of new fire services when it comes to both personnel and new fire stations. That includes restoring old fire stations which closed in the past. I refer to those stations in Acting Leader’s area of Ballinasloe and my area of Castlerea. The opportunity is now.”
“The Minister for Transport, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, was in the House yesterday talking about the Dublin Airport (Passenger Capacity) Bill 2026. The discussion suggested that removing the cap for our national airport would have a detrimental effect on a lot of our regional airports. The Minister made a very good point that it would increase capacity in our areas and the numbers are showing that already, and hopefully will continue to do so. While the Minister was in the Chamber, a press release came out that €2.3 million had been approved and spent through the Government's regional airports programme on the delivery of a state-of-the-art aerodrome for fire service training at Ireland West Airport Knock. It is an important investment in infrastructure in the west and a vote of confidence in that particular facility.”
“That is why I believe the pace of implementation should match the pace at which people's financial lives are changing, so that every person in Ireland has the confidence, knowledge and skills to make informed financial decisions throughout every stage of their lives.”
“It is one example of the innovation that already exists in Ireland and demonstrates that many of the solutions we need are already being developed on the ground. I agree with the Tánaiste's comments at the launch of the action plan that our ambition must be greater still. Our financial lives are changing faster than ever before. Auto-enrolment, as the Minister of State said herself, is transforming how people save for retirement. Banking is increasingly digital. Investment opportunities are becoming more accessible. Fraud is becoming more sophisticated. If those changes continue - and they will - then the need for financial literacy will only become greater.”
“I thank the Minister of State for her detailed answer. I acknowledge the progress that has been made and our position in second place, but as she said herself, we need to avoid complacency. The Central Bank reported last year that €160 million worth of fraudulent payments were made in Ireland in 2024 alone. That is a 24.5% increase on the previous year, while the volume of fraud increases by 40%. That message is replicated by what I hear from gardaí all across the country as well. In my own county of Roscommon, a company called Linked Wellbeing has developed a financial well-being platform that improves financial confidence through education, practical budgeting tools and signposting of trusted public services.”
“Let us bring together schools, credit unions, employers, community organisations and charities, identify what is working, avoid duplication and accelerate delivery. That is exactly the collaborative approach envisaged in the strategy itself.”
“The strategy recognises that there are already 55 stakeholders delivering around 110 financial literacy initiatives across Ireland. Its purpose is to support, co-ordinate and build on that excellent work rather than duplicate it. My ask today is a practical one. Will the Minister ensure that the financial literacy executive board, the steering group and the annual stakeholder forum will actively identify organisations already delivering successful financial literacy programmes, evaluate what is working, share best practice nationally and support those initiatives to reach more people more quickly? Rather than reinventing the wheel, let us harness the expertise that already exists.”
“No amount of legislation will prevent every fraud and no bank will stop every scam, but every person who understands the warning signs before clicking a link, transferring money or sharing personal information is one less opportunity for fraudsters to succeed. Every person who becomes more financially literate is one less opportunity for unscrupulous individuals to exploit. That is why improving financial literacy is not simply an education policy or a consumer protection policy; it is also one of the most effective fraud-prevention measures available to us. The foundations have now been put in place. We have the strategy and the action plan. We have more than 100 actions. There are governance structures and funding in place. The question now is not whether we have enough ideas; it is whether we can increase the pace of delivery.”
“We need to be ambitious about this. Every young person leaving secondary education should understand budgeting, taxation, savings, borrowing, mortgages, pensions, investing, consumer rights and, increasingly, how to recognise financial scams. While these may not be priorities for young people at this stage of their lives, they are life skills. I have previously raised the issue of online fraud in this House. I believe the strategy can become one of the strongest tools in tackling it. Criminals are becoming more sophisticated every day. Artificial intelligence, cloned voices and highly convincing impersonation scams are now part of everyday life and are affecting everybody.”
“Those are significant achievements and deserve to be recognised. However, one statistic in the strategy stood out to me more than any other: 43% of Irish adults do not meet the OECD minimum standard for financial literacy. Even more concerning, 44% do not meet the minimum standard for digital financial literacy. That means almost half of adults may not have the confidence or knowledge to safely navigate an increasingly digital financial world. While Ireland performs well internationally, those figures clearly show that there is still much work to be done. As Fine Gael spokesperson on education and youth in the Seanad, I particularly welcome the strategy's recognition that financial literacy should begin early and that there are opportunities to strengthen it within the school curriculum, particularly through mathematics.”
“The Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, is very welcome to the Chamber this morning. I welcome Ireland's first national financial literacy strategy and the recent publication of the first annual review and action plan for the period 2026 to 2027. It is a comprehensive piece of work and demonstrates that the Government recognises that financial literacy is no longer simply about understanding money. It is about consumer protection, financial literacy and confidence throughout every stage of people's lives. I also welcome the progress being made, as outlined in the review. More than 170,000 students have participated in financial literacy programmes. Financial literacy is now being embedded in the new primary mathematics curriculum, and the action plan rightly places increased emphasis on fraud awareness, pensions and financial well-being.”
“It means we have to be able to adjust and change the legislation as we are going on. I am fully supportive of what Senator Mullen has produced here and I believe parents across the country will be fully supportive of what he is trying to achieve. It aligns directly with Government policy and what the Minister is planning to do during Ireland's Presidency of the European Council. I compliment the Senator on this.”
“A Bill being produced now needs to be an evolving Bill, one that can meet the demands that will present themselves in six months' time as well as the demands that are currently present. Going back to the clear message, the basis for bringing forward the Bill is that kids deserve the opportunity to be kids first and foremost. As Senator Rabbitte said, we will not be able to do this by just saying "No", introducing the safeguards and trying to ensure these companies comply. Parents will have to be extensively involved in this, but legislation is the only way this will be stopped. The companies we are dealing with on this are so used to avoiding a rule in one jurisdiction by somehow positioning themselves in another jurisdiction to circumvent it all. That is where we have to be more dynamic.”
“We often talk about engaging with kids and meeting kids where they are but, unfortunately, these media companies and these vultures that deal in this particular area are also trying to meet kids where they are and they are adapting every day. As a member of the AI committee, I am very enthused by the opportunity that artificial intelligence is going to bring to us across health and so many sectors like enterprise and research. The opportunities it presents are immense but there is also the dark side to all of this. I refer to the way that algorithms are manipulated and laws and safeguards are circumvented. As Senator Tully said, the age verification app was hacked within minutes of being released, unfortunately.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber. I commend Senator Mullen on this Bill on online age verification. It comes at a very good time. I know the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, has this as a key priority for the Presidency of the European Council. My colleague, Deputy Kiera Keogh, has done an awful lot of work in this particular area, along with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport. All of that work must be complimented. All of the previous speakers have spoken about how this is an issue that affects us all. This is an issue that everyone in this House and the Lower House would like to see resolved. I am coming at this as a parent. Kids deserve the opportunity to be kids first.”
“I could not associate myself with any Bill if I thought it referred to or if there was any insinuation of consolidation around one airport. That is not what we are trying to do here. Strengthening our regional airports should not come at the expense of Dublin Airport. That is the long and the short of it. They are not competing factors. Ireland needs a strong national hub to thrive and to assist our regional airports. This Bill is ambitious. The Minister is ambitious for it. We should allow it and our airports to flourish with it.”
“I want to speak on the amendment relating to a report on regional development. Supporting this Bill should not in any way be interpreted as going against balanced regional development or supporting our regional airports. Like a lot of rural representatives in this House, I have regularly spoken about Shannon, Cork, Knock, Donegal and Kerry airports and how important their role is in bringing people, business and industry to our country. They support tourism, indigenous enterprise, inward investment and employment throughout the country. They should continue to get strong Government support in that regard. Rather than creating another section within this Bill, I would look at a refreshed national aviation strategy which would ensure that regional connectivity remains a priority.”
“When people are finished in Rush they might come and see the wonderful offerings we have in Roscommon. I wish the very best of luck to all the voluntary committees that have put extensive work into that.”
“I wish to promote the local festivals in my area over July and August, starting with the Boyle Arts Festival next Thursday, 16 July. I encourage people to check out the website for that. From 25 July to 2 August there is the famous Castlerea Rose Festival, quickly followed by the Castlerea Agricultural Show on the bank holiday Monday. Tickets for that are available on the Castlerea Rose Festival social media page and on the website as well. For anyone who has not had their fill at that stage, there is the Ballaghaderreen Arts Festival, which kicks off on 1 August.”
“We looked at trying to bring a wheelchair to the local train station. When we got close to the train station we had to turn around, go back about 500 m to where there was a dropped kerb, cross the road and then cross the road at two other points before we could actually get to the train station. It is a simple thing. An engineer has one idea as to how something should be done but we really need to look at the lived experience. I would love a conversation in this House whereby some discretionary funding could be allocated to local authorities in order that, rather than all of us going out on Make Way Day to take a photograph and then wait 12 months to do it again, some action could actually be delivered in the 12 months in between to make towns and villages more accessible. A little time has been allocated for this.”
“I wish to discuss accessibility in our towns and villages. On 29 May 2026 we had Make Way Day, which was the day when historically our local authorities go out with a number of organisations led by Disability Ireland to highlight the lack of accessibility around many of our towns and villages. I have raised this issue a number of times before but I do not believe it is being looked after properly. The NTA is predominantly responsible for funding this within the local authorities. We look at such issues as tactile paving, dropped kerbs, many pedestrian crossings, safe walking and wheeling routes. I have raised the issue repeatedly within the local authority. Whenever the NTA gets involved, matters seem to become more complicated that needs to be the case. I was out with a group of people within the past 12 months.”
“If we give the HSE the powers to enforce this and people still say they will be able to get single-use vapes then they need to be reported and the vapes tracked down because we are not fully sure what is in the stuff that is coming here from other jurisdictions as those products do not undergo the same safety measures and precautions according to European standards. We need to do that because there is an onus on us to protect everyone, including young people who vape. If the protections are not there with the levels of nicotine and other substances that are in these single-use vapes then we must come down hard on them and the Bill does that. I do not feel that the amendment is needed but I see exactly where this Bill is going and fully support it.”
“I agree wholeheartedly. As someone who has been out with communities cleaning up our streets and parks, the volume of these single-use vapes that builds up all over the place is amazing. The Bill has an enforcement side. Every day, Senators come in to this Chamber to talk about one thing or another, and the lack of enforcement. The Minister and Ministers of State empower the HSE in this area and are giving them powers to impose significant fines on businesses found in contravention. Rather than including an amendment to revisit and analyse effectiveness we need to come down strong on vapes because they are a blight on communities.”
“The background to the homecoming was the Arigna Community Park, which was opened last year. I remember it being waste ground and it was good to see all the young kids out there using the space. Funding for that facility was provided by the former Minister, Heather Humphreys, as was funding for many amenities around the country. I want to double down on what all of these community groups are saying about how it is not capital that is the problem, but operating costs. These groups need money to provide insurance and lighting. I would like to have the Minister for rural and community development in the House in the near future to have a discussion and see how he foresees these community groups being supported with their running costs.”
“Last Friday morning, I was in Scramoge outside Strokestown at the opening of a new car park at the church. Scramoge Tidy Towns fundraised and applied for the car park and got support from the community support fund of the local Sliabh Bawn wind farm. Quite often, we miss out on those community support funds and the value of them. What the funding was able to deliver in Scramoge is testament to such funds and I acknowledge former councillor Joe Murphy and all this team there. After that, I went up to Arigna for the homecoming for Fergal Guihen. He was the "Rossie to Aussie" who cycled 30,000 km last year to raise money for Mayo Roscommon Hospice Foundation and North West STOP, a suicide awareness organisation. He raised €210,000 for those charities. He cycled across 28 different countries on three different continents.”
“The whole purpose of this motion is about fairness and ensuring the investment going into the delivery of infrastructure around the country does not leave people in more rural areas behind. It is about ensuring that the energy companies see an impact on their bottom line by making sure the integrity of the system in rural Ireland is there to support them. As the Minister of State said, the measures currently in place are investing in the resilience of the grid in preparation for future weather events and seeking to minimise the cost of electricity for customers. We all agree on that end goal and we hope we can get there soon.”
“That would have been the place for Senator Andrews to make any point he had to make, where it could have had an impact on a committee report. There were very interesting contributions by the witnesses from both organisations. They were some of the more positive contributions we have heard in relation to the environment. IBEC has been able to identify that certain investments by businesses in Ireland have gone to other countries because we were not in a position to give them the grid capacity and planning assurances they need at an early stage. The investments the Government had made and the commitments it has given between now and 2030 will ensure longevity, success and that such investment stays in Ireland and will protect Irish jobs and businesses as we move forward.”
“I am talking about the 60-year-old, 65-year-old and 70-year-old ladies living on their own in rural areas whom I and, I am sure, many of my colleagues have visited, especially during these power outages, and how they were having to spend additional money. Even though they were not being charged for electricity during these outages, they were still having to spend additional money in order to bring in food, additional heating sources and additional ways of cooking. This would be a small little token along the way to try to make that system fair for them. I also acknowledge fully the large energy user connection policy. Representatives of IBEC and Enterprise Ireland were before the artificial intelligence committee this morning to discuss the environment.”
“The standing charge in rural areas, though not urban areas, would have had a significant impact, almost equalling what they were getting with the household benefit package. This is about fairness, as I have said from the start. That is something we are trying to encourage. We recognise the €18.9 billion. I also recognise the €3.5 billion portion of this investment being allocated to EirGrid and ESB Networks under price review 6, which is the largest ever individual investment in our electricity system. However, we all know that an awful lot of that investment has to go to capacity building in terms of housing and into the infrastructure, and some will be going to industry and business.”
“As public representatives, we are constantly engaging with people in our communities on reporting outages, trying to address them as quickly as possible and making it as easy as possible for the ESB to address them by encouraging people to report them. I welcome all of Senator Collins' remarks. I recognise her support for the motion. As my colleague says, it is potentially reluctant support but positive support all the same. If Senator Andrews was here for the full debate he would have got a better understanding rather than coming in with a prepared script from whoever gave it to him. Sinn Féin welcomed the household benefits package, a package that is equal to about €35. I was talking about 768,000 homes that were without power after Storm Éowyn, and another 39,000 that were still without power after ten days.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his response. He has given us something to think about. He has given us direction as to how we might be able to proceed from here. I welcome that. I acknowledge all of the Senators who made a contribution today. Senators P.J. Murphy called for an adult conversation on the future of our energy generation in the country and welcomed the €18.9 billion investment in the infrastructure. I recognise and can relate to Senator O'Loughlin's stories about being in north-west Kildare and the regular outages. While I spoke in my statement about Storm Éowyn and how my own household was without power for 13 nights, I can still relate to the fact that we regularly have outages.”
“Let us show customers that when the network fails through no fault of their own, the system stands with them rather than bills them as though nothing had happened. It is a modest proposal, but it is one I hope the Minister of State will listen to.”