Gary Gannon
Dublin Central · Social Democrats · Ireland
“I will talk about that in a couple of minutes but before I do I want to come back to some of the things the Minister of State said in his opening speech, particularly the last paragraph.”
“It will create a scenario where vulnerable people will simply not be able to get up their street for potentially three days because there will be a multitude of different providers steaming up these streets, which were never created for such large vehicles.”
“Those things should not be in competition with each other. The remunicipalisation of waste is going to cost money. That is a simple fact, but public services often should operate at a loss.”
“He engaged with the evidence and with stakeholders and came to the same determination, namely, that what we have at present for waste management services, not only in Dublin but nationally, is no longer tolerable. It has led to a system that is clearly not efficient or not suitable for the purpose intended.”
“Does the Tánaiste recognise the scale of the chaos in our criminal justice system at the moment? Thousands of cases have been adjourned. Victims will await justice. Backlogs are building. We now have habeas corpus cases taking place in the High Court. The Minister referenced my flowery language.”
“I want to acknowledge Deputy Sherlock for her work in bringing forward this Bill. We in the Social Democrats will be supporting it. It is a shame that the Minister of State is not willing to engage further than to simply vote it down on the promise that a review will be released in an unspecified time.”
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“Does the Minister accept that families are paying to finance their own exclusion? That is not integration; it is deterrence by delay. The bigger picture is that these Estimates are about rationing services, not about building justice. Youth diversion is capped at 4,600 places when the level of need is so much greater. Domestic violence support is stuck at 170 refuge units in a threadbare way. We are not holding perpetrators to account. Probation, despite being proven to work, is starved of resources while prisons are overflowing. The immigration system is collapsing and falling far short of basic human rights standards. Ours is not a justice system that is built on rights or safety. It is a system designed to ration services, keep demand manageable and push the most vulnerable out of sight. We should be starting our Estimates with rights.”
“Why is the Probation Service still being starved will overcrowded prisons get funding? Probation very clearly works; prison overcrowding does not. The recidivism rates give testimony to that fact. This Government funds failure and starves success. On immigration, migrants are being charged millions in fees for registration, visas and citizenship. Families are paying thousands of euro to just stay in the country legally. How much will the State collect in migrant fees this year and how much of that will be reinvested in housing, early legal aid or integration? These fees are bankrolling bureaucracy and backlogs. Detaining people while they await deportation has become a practice. Despite the fact that this breaches international human rights, it is just accepted as a norm. Why is Ireland detaining people in breach of UN standards?”
“Why is there no budget line for online violence? On prisons and probation, the pattern repeats in our prisons. There is money at the back end of the system but nothing to prevent the harm in the first place. The Dóchas Centre is at 141% of capacity. Limerick Prison is at 128% of capacity. If these were schools or hospitals, inspectors would shut them down. When it comes to prisons, however, overcrowding has very clearly become a policy. The Department has set a target of 3,000 prisoners in programmes at a time when more than 5,000 people are actually in prison. That is simply cooking the books. Why is the Department hiding behind the figure of 3,000 when the true population is almost double that? Meanwhile, the Probation Service has a 90% success rate but it is consistently outspent in the context of prison beds that fail every day.”
“The allocation in respect of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence will increase from €54 million to €61 million, but this is no step change. We are still talking about just 170 refuge units nationwide. How can the Minister stand over that when the Istanbul Convention says Ireland needs at least 500 units? We are also talking about just 307 men completing behaviour change programmes. Does the Minister really believe that 307 men in programmes is an adequate response in a country of 5 million people? Perpetrator accountability is a public safety work. At this scale, the allocation barely scratches the surface. Where is the recognition that violence is moving online? Survivors are stalked, tracked and harassed through their phones, yet not a single euro is earmarked for tackling cyber stalking, spyware or image-based abuse.”
“That is the total ambition of Government, namely 4,600 places in a country where tens of thousands of children are growing up in poverty and where youth workers tell us daily that they are at breaking point. In the context of the so-called early intervention for eight- to 11-year-olds, 767 children are targeted for this year. That is 767 across the whole country, which is less than the enrolment of a single primary school in some areas. Why is early intervention capped at 767 places? Can the Minister name a single county where every child who needs diversion actually gets it? What is outlined appears to be a ration book as opposed to a youth justice strategy. If we believed in prevention, we would double capacity and make diversion a right, not a privilege as it presently stands.”
“What strikes me reading through the Estimate is how little ambition the Government is showing when it come to targeting vulnerable young people, tackling domestic violence and living up to our obligations on prisons and immigration. Once again, we are presented with tables that look busy on the page but that fail utterly to meet the needs of the people who depend on a functioning and fair justice system. On youth diversion, Vote 24 sets aside €33.2 million for youth justice interventions this year, up from €30.5 million last year - an increase of €2.6 million. The latter amount represents the cost of a few consultancy contracts in any other Department. We are told it will support 4,600 young people nationwide.”
“In the Irish Examiner this morning, Cormac O'Keeffe gave voice to what many of us working in the area already know. Throughout Dublin city, even youth workers are starting to feel scared as they go about their work, such are the levels of increased violence and intimidation. I find that extraordinary. What is more extraordinary is that the Minister's Government has, over the last two terms, initiated two separate task forces for Dublin city centre in different ways. One amounted to basically a couple of press releases and nothing more. The other completely misunderstood the community it was asked to serve. Has the Minister run out of ideas when it comes to tackling antisocial behaviour and crime in our communities?”
“If we are not retrofitting our public housing stock, we are condemning thousands of families to remain in energy poverty indefinitely. Yes we agree with much of the motion. We need emergency measures and we need stronger oversight of energy companies. We need to ensure that the profits of the few do not come at the expense of so many, including our schools. We do, however, also need to be clear about what must be targeted directly to those in arrears, to those in our school communities, and to those who are on the brink. That is the only way we can alleviate the current crisis and build a fairer, people-first energy future.”
“A transition that leaves behind our most vulnerable is not a just transition. We need a people-first approach where nobody is left behind. Right now too many households are being asked to shoulder costs when large corporations continue to consume vast amounts of electricity at a fraction of the budget. It is quite clearly not fair. It is very obviously not sustainable. The failures are clear also when we are looking at housing. My colleague, Deputy Whitmore, recently pointed out the Dublin City Council figures that just 17% of apartments under the council's remit have been retrofitted. This is shocking. It is not a Dublin-only issue. The same story is playing out in towns and cities right across the country.”
“Their electricity costs are among their biggest annual expenses, like so many other schools. They have now reached the point where they are relying on the so-called advance funding. This is not extra money or new investment; it is just borrowing from their own future budgets. This does not solve anything, or lessen the anxiety that comes with knowing how they are going to keep the lights on come January, rather than simply keeping the heating on come October. It is a sign of the reality that schools across the country are in financially precarious positions and it punishes children in the process. If we are serious about tackling the cost-of-living crisis, and particularly targeted energy costs, then schools such as Rutland Street have to be part of the conversation. There is a wider point here too.”
“Clearly we are a country of haves and have-nots and there are very many people who are cutting their cloth close to the bone. Lots of people can pay their energy bills but many more are really struggling. We believe the measures should be targeted. What resources we have should be spent on those who really need support, such as low-income households, people who are already in arrears, families, and schools who are being pushed quite close to the brink. This is where targeted action is most effective, otherwise we are spreading the money too thinly and it becomes more about the optics than the outcomes. In our constituencies schools are feeling the crisis in a particularly acute way. Rutland Street school is one school I have spoken about in this Chamber on more than one occasion.”
“I too welcome our guests in the Gallery. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward the motion tonight. It is timely. Many households will be looking in on this debate with eagerness because winter is approaching. We broadly agree with most aspects of the motion before us this evening. We live in a country where energy prices are among the highest in Europe. That reality is hitting households hard, with hundreds of thousands of families in arrears and many more just keeping their heads above water. The truth is that energy poverty is now a daily reality for far too many people and it very clearly demands urgent and serious attention. Where we do disagree with the motion is on the proposal to roll out universal energy credits. Not everybody in the country needs them.”
“At Bradóg Youth Service, the youth workers have created the most innovative ways of engaging with kids regarding their behaviour, showing them the consequences of drug running and dealing in a way that is not just about sitting them down to give a lecture. We know from Nancy Reagan that does not work. What they actually do is talk to young people and engage with them on their terms. This actually interrupts the cycle of violence. Bradóg is struggling to survive because of extortionate rent and is at constant risk of closing. For half of the half a million euro we spend to keep just one young person in Oberstown, we could probably keep many out of it. Not only that, but there is such a pittance of a maintenance budget that the most at-risk young people are walking to a service down a dingy lane past drug paraphernalia. My time is up.”
“There are genuine projects working on a fraction of half a million euro per year and doing really great work. I want to talk to the Minister of State about a couple of them. Belvedere Youth Club, in my constituency, has a programme called Diamond, a youth justice initiative guided by restorative practice and strengths-based and collaborative approaches for young people in the criminal justice system. The project can deal with about 15 young people. If it were resourced to the extent of half a million euro per year, it could probably turn the number into 30; however, the approach is to keep doing the same old thing.”
“Someone referred to Oberstown being full and the conditions there in which young people are expected to live and, hopefully, be rehabilitated. Staff are supposed to actually go about their day there. It costs half a million euro per year to keep just one young person in Oberstown. Would that money not be better reinvested to address what causes a young person to be in a situation like that? This would be a better use of public money and a better means of realising the outcome we all have in mind here, which is making our streets safer and breaking the perpetual cycle. The evidence is right in front of us. In our communities, mine being no exception, great projects are doing amazing work to counter the tide of antisocial behaviour, the violence that goes with it and the fear among residents who are asked to live where it occurs.”
“The motion is similar to ones that we have spoken about consistently in this Chamber. The cause of antisocial behaviour is the symptom of something much deeper and greater, or what is essentially a perpetual cycle of failure by the State to apply some sort of reason or evidence base and step away to ask what it can actually do to solve the issue. We will not be supporting the motion because it is not grounded in evidence and is ridiculous. It ignores the real results that come when we invest in young people. Instead of supporting the motion, I want to take the time to talk about deeper, systemic failures. If these were addressed, it could end so-called antisocial behaviour or turn the tide on it. Essentially, our prisons are overcrowded.”
“I acknowledge the speakers who brought the motion to the Dáil but I will not be supporting it. I will not say it contains no good ideas but it loses all reason where it refers to the temporary removal of personal items such as PlayStations, Xboxes and smartphones. Are we serious here? Am I right to believe the Government is not opposing a motion that calls for someone to go into somebody's house and take away their PlayStation? Who exactly? A garda? Is the Government messing? Are we not serious people here? I hear progressive parties across the Chamber say they welcome the motion. Let us get a grip on ourselves here. This is a serious issue and it is worthy of debate, but as we debate it let us actually bring some substance and evidence because it currently makes us all look ridiculous.”
“Instead of resourcing housing, healthcare and public services, a narrative was allowed to take hold that it is the migrant who is to blame, not the State. In many ways, that suited a State that was, for too long, indifferent to the fear of those same communities. We need to get on top of what is becoming an increasing problem. People have already been attacked. That will only become increasingly worse.”
“I am referring to a Government that has put political expediency over leadership, used the language of division instead of solidarity and decided that telling migrants to be gone is to be championed rather than tackling its own failures. These failures include the failure to implement the recommendations of the Catherine Day report. So often we talk about the IPAS centres, but where are the State-run reception centres? How often have we come into this Chamber over the past five years and called for these failures to be addressed? The far right did not appear out of nowhere; it was given space to grow because of how others were scapegoated and how vulnerable and neglected communities have been left in the lurch for decades.”
“More than one in three hate attacks reported to the Garda last year was racially motivated. There were 264 racist incidents in a single year, up 24% since 2021. These are only the incidents that were reported. We know there is under-reporting. Those affected are people who are beaten in our streets and parents who watch their children being assaulted and told to go back to where they came from. Workers are abused on buses, and nurses finishing night shift are terrified of walking home. Experts have said plainly that racism is becoming more aggressive, more obvious and more brazen because people feel emboldened to engage in it. Who has emboldened them? It is a result of the choices made at every level.”
“When the Tánaiste decided last year to punch down and scapegoat migrants for the housing crisis, we warned the Government. Deputy Jim O’Callaghan, as the then Minister for Justice, spoke on national radio about the deportation of children and adults. We said to him even then that the manner in which it was done and the championing of it in the manner of a general coming back from war, as it was described at the time, reverberated beyond the message he was trying to send. It emboldens. It tells those same people who are trying to spread fear that they are winning, which makes them become more emboldened and more vigorous in their efforts. When the Minister watered down the hate speech legislation, stripping it of its core protections, we warned that it would embolden those spreading hatred. We are now living with the consequences.”
“We barely had a far-right movement in this country only a few years ago; however, through the action or inaction of this Government and the one before it, it has been allowed to soar. I appreciate that this is not reflected at the ballot box or anything like that, but it is reflected in the movement we are seeing on the streets and in how it is mobilising and becoming better organised and how its actions have become a little more insidious. We cannot say we did not warn that this was happening. Community groups said it and activists came to our offices. We in opposition brought it to the Chamber and talked about it consistently. It seems different now, does it not? It seems like there is a foothold. The Minister was warned.”
“I stand to speak on the statements on migration. There are many wonderful aspects to it. I would like to talk about the experience and enhancement of communities the length and breadth of the country, but there is also something we just cannot step away from at the moment. Things feel different. It feels like the racism has increased and like the fear in the communities who contact my office has started to become a lot more palpable. We are witnessing attacks on the street and the targeting of people because of the colour of their skin and the sound of their voices. As we talk about migration, we cannot step away from the fact that we are actually talking about people who have come here in search of safety and are living in genuine fear.”
“Let us call this what it is: a nonsense objection to critical infrastructure that genuinely risks costing lives. We cannot separate ourselves from that as leaders in our communities, as a Cabinet and as people who have been asked to act on behalf of the people of Ireland.”
“I cannot understand how any body designed to protect our heritage, which it does a good job at, could not simply look and see how that pales into irrelevance when it comes to the future, which is actually the children in these incubators. I do not want anybody to interfere with a planning process. That is not what we are after here. However, we do want to find a way. Maybe that is through legislating for critical infrastructure, which the Rotunda expansion absolutely is. That could be done fast. The Government will get support across the Chamber as it applies or speaks with the authority of the offices of the Minister for housing, the Minister for Health or the Cabinet. I imagine they will have the full support of the rest of us across the Opposition.”
“Yes, that is completely as I expected. I understand and accept completely that as legislators, we do not, nor should we, have a role over planning but we do have leadership roles. We do have voice. We are elected to represent the people of our constituencies and to have a say about what is common sense, what is basic humanity and what is just nonsensical. I found it unfathomable when I walked into that room and saw the clinicians and the babies in the incubators. I did not get a chance to meet their parents that day but I can only imagine when they walk into that room and see the little cots that are separated less than a metre from each other, which is absolutely no way in accordance with medical best practice.”
“However, there is no history more important than the future of the babies who I witnessed in those incubators. I appreciate the Minister of State may be tied in her response but I also appreciate that working collectively together, we may find a way.”
“However, we stand here in the national Parliament where there is a picture of the Rotunda Hospital on the wall behind me. If this Parliament cannot take a stand and make not only requests but demands and an urgency known to those who stand in the way of such critical infrastructure, we certainly have to find a way. I am sure the Minister of State will agree that what the expansion of the hospital needs cannot be achieved through a delayed, dragged out, planning process that may take a decade. It requires urgency and may require intervention. I am somebody who believes in the architectural heritage of this city. I am somebody who loves the fact that walking through Dublin you can feel its history. I live just around the corner from the Rotunda Hospital, off Mountjoy Street, so I understand the importance of the history of the area.”
“Thousands of babies from the most vulnerable populations are born there each year and 40% of all the babies in Dublin are born in the Rotunda Hospital, yet the infrastructure is dangerously outdated. There already have been multiple infection outbreaks in the unit in recent months directly linked to overcrowding and inadequate space. I am aware there are objections raised in the planning process to the expansion. However, I want to say with all urgency that I see no building in this city as more important that the little protected structures that I witnessed in those incubators that day, as well as their survival and dignity. It is the most critical infrastructure. I understand that, strictly speaking, this matter lies with the planning system. I am not immune to that fact or reality.”
“The Rotunda has put forward a proposal that is not about luxury or even about expansion for its own sake but is about basic standards of care. The plan it put forward includes 19 new post-natal beds, a state-of-the-art new neonatal intensive care unit with 46 separate spaces for babies, a new labour ward with appropriate numbers of bathrooms and a midwifery-led unit on the ground floor. That stands in stark contrast with the current facilities I witnessed where 37 babies, some who were critically ill, were sharing one small space. Clinicians were stretched to the limits and infection control standards simply do not match the level of care the babies, their families and the clinicians who work there deserve. The Rotunda is the busiest maternity hospital in northern Europe.”
“I thank the Minister of State for taking this issue tonight. A couple of week ago, I visited the neonatal unit of the Rotunda Hospital, which is just off Parnell Street in my own constituency of Dublin 1. While there, I met the clinicians there who are being asked to work in conditions that are incredibly unsuited to the importance of the work and to the vulnerability of the babies who they care for while there. The impression you could not help but leave with is that although there are amazing clinicians in the Rotunda, who offer the very best of care where possible, the systems, the building and the rooms they are asked to work in and perform their duties, are simply not suitable for purpose in a modern republic in 2025. Indeed, it was not suitable when my own younger brothers were in that neonatal unit in 1994.”
“If we do nothing and all they see is the gangland lads get rich, live fast and rarely get caught, we know where they will be at 18. If they see assets being seized and the money going into youth clubs that give them purpose, if they are met by outreach workers and Garda youth diversion projects and if they are seen not just as risks but as children worth saving, then we change the outcome and interrupt the cycle. We get better, fairer, safer communities not by accident, but by design. I support the Bill. It gives us stronger tools to disrupt organised crime but legislation like this only works if it is matched with investment, vision and a willingness to tackle inequality and exclusion head-on. Let us take the money but then give it back to the communities destroyed by the harm.”
“We all know how certain high-level crime gangs operate now and how hard it is to dismantle that level of operation once they are international, their networks stretch across borders and their assets are moved offshore. There is a level before all that: the flashy operators in their 20s and 30s who control estates, drive financed cars, have two or three apartments in someone else's name and have built mini empires in local communities. We need to hit those assets early. We need a dedicated, fast response mechanism to freeze and investigate assets at that mid level before it becomes a full-blown cartel. If we wait too long, the structures become too strong and we are already playing catch-up. Let us talk once more about the kids on the scramblers. If they are 13 now, they are in sixth class or first year.”
“That means better prison conditions, not just tougher ones. It means access to education and rehabilitation for those in prison. We need a better understanding of what prisons are for and what purpose they should serve. This should mean fully funded probation services, transitional housing, trauma supports and employment schemes. It means a real investment in community-based alternatives to prison, especially for young people. Too many people go into prison with problems and come out with worse ones. That is not justice. That is a revolving door and it is costing us in every sense of the word. We need a mini-CAB approach, targeting mid-level players before they become untouchable.”
“That is very welcome but 100% of assets should be going back into communities. Crime does not just destroy lives. It costs a huge amount of money to the Exchequer in Garda time, health costs, lost opportunities, court backlogs and the price communities pay every time a child is pulled into the system. We cannot do the same thing over and over and expect different results. Seizing assets is part of the solution but, on its own, it is not enough. We have seen that. We have to talk honestly about intervening directly with people involved in drug networks, not just the top brass but the foot soldiers, the young people caught up early and who often end up in prison with untreated trauma, addiction and no exit plan. If we are serious about breaking the cycle, we need to wrap those people in the full care of the State.”
“It allows courts to appoint receivers so criminal assets cannot be used while a case drags on. It closes off legal loopholes that allow delay and stalling. It is practical and smart legislation and we support it. Seizing the assets should only be one step. The real power is in what we do next. That money, those homes and those cars must be reinvested in full directly into the communities where the harm was done and where criminality has taken hold because the State failed to show up often enough or strongly enough. We should have a clear and visible pipeline. All money taken from crime goes back into youth services, family supports, addiction services, education and community policing. That is how we rebuild trust and break the cycle. I acknowledge funds have been allocated through the community safety and innovation fund.”
“That is exactly what we are dealing with here, not the glamourised version of crime seen in tabloids or crime dramas but the slow erosion of community by criminal networks that know how to exploit poverty, trauma and the absence of opportunity. That is why the work of the Criminal Assets Bureau is so vital. When CAB seizes a house bought with drug money, that is not just a headline. It is a message and an intervention. It tells people, especially young people, that there is a limit to how long crime can pay, that there are consequences and a State watching and willing to act. The Bill will strengthen CAB's ability to act and that is really welcome. It gives CAB powers to freeze accounts more quickly, whether cash or crypto. It shortens the time it has to wait before an asset can be permanently seized from seven years to two.”
“I welcome the Bill. We support it fully but intend to table some amendments on Committee Stage which we think will strengthen it. In my constituency, particularly in the north-inner city, and in a number of other constituencies in Ireland, there is a heartbreaking sight that many of us have grown accustomed to: young people, children, teenagers, kids on scramblers, kids hanging around corners with nothing to do, kids being used - I mean that word very deliberately - as runners in drug networks, carrying out drop-offs, collecting debts, standing watch, kids who are still in primary school being given roles in organised crime because they are seen as less likely to be stopped or to be held responsible.”
“I ask that his office take an interest, find out some information and re-engage with the parents council and community there because communication has been sorely lacking and people feel let down.”
“I will raise an issue about a local school. In normal circumstances, I would not expect for one second the Taoiseach to have intimate details about a school in my constituency. The school is Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire on Parnell Square. There was a moment during the last Dáil term when the name of that school was on all our lips because of the tragedy that befell the community there. Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire was promised a school building would be delivered and completed. It found out earlier this week that this would no longer be the case. There has been a large degree of radio silence from the Department and, in the absence of communications, there are all sorts of whispers. This school is in the north inner city and the Taoiseach is overseeing the task force on this area.”
“I have a community in the north inner city and surrounds which wants to be able to learn and teach its children through the medium of Irish. That should be a minimum, but what it has had to endure over 23 years is an insult from the State. All the school requires now is truth and while it is in Cathal Brugha Street for it to be flooded with resources so we can be assured these children can have a normal school environment, because they have not had it at all through the last 23 years, affecting generations of children.”
“I was in the room when the principal raised this with Department officials and asked would it be an issue. I stood in rooms for a year while the school was assured consistently it would be in the building it deserved by 2025. We know that is not a normal school at the moment. It has had to deal with issues very few of us could even comprehend and what it deserved from the State was truth along the way. There is no space for us to say there are contractual obligations at the same time the Department has told us it is no longer in a contract. We need full information. When is it expected the tender will go out? If the previous builder is going to take a court case, will that delay the tendering? We have a situation where there is a contract for Cathal Brugha Street until 2027.”
“I listened to the Minister of State's reply intently. I was hoping to get answers to some of the questions. The Cathal Brugha Street site the school is moving into is barely suitable, if even that, for a school community, but it is expected to move in there in September. The contract on that school Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire has been given is to June 2027. The Minister of State has just told me some complications can be expected in a city-centre site. It is really important that we get the outcome of the conciliation process to understand what exactly went wrong. If these unforeseen complications are happening at a city-centre site, what exactly were they? Was it the Luas line? We understand there are going to be underground issues in the city centre but they were not factored in or considered.”
“Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire not just a line on a spreadsheet; it is a symbol of what the city can be, namely multilingual, diverse, proud of its culture and committed to its children. It deserves better than hoarding. At this point, there is absolute silence. We will continue to raise this issue every day if necessary until the parents, children and education community get the answers they deserve because they have been failed incredibly badly by the State.”
“What has the conciliation process uncovered? It is now important that we share those findings. Contract sensitivity does not come into play when the contract has ceased. Will the Department publish a new delivery timeline? Can the Minister of State assure us that will be adhered to? When does the new tender process start? Who is accountable for the doubling of the budget to €22 million and, I presume, counting? This is not criticism for the sake of it. Most public representatives in Dublin Central have held back for obvious reasons, but that will no longer happen. This is about standing up for children and families who have been more patient than any of us could ask for. They have been more resilient than any of us could comprehend.”
“How did we go from a sod-turning ceremony in June 2023 to a stalled project in July 2025? That does not suggest urgency or oversight. This is not just about a school; this is about what happens when a community like ours, a working-class community which is resilient in a way in which very few others could even comprehend and wishes children to learn in the Irish language in an inner-city school, asks for something other communities take for granted, namely a proper school building, a safe and permanent space to learn and a place of pride. Instead, there has been a delay, a doubling of costs, empty timelines and another round of temporary accommodation. I am sure the Minister of State has a response, but I hope it includes the answers to my questions. When will construction restart? Is there a date?”
“We do not know if the building on Cathal Brugha Street will have any special classes. We know children will have to leave four times a day on their lunch break to walk from Cathal Brugha Street to Scoil Chaitríona for yard play in a school based in the Department of Education and Youth. I hope every official who looks out the window will see the failure of the State in respect of those children. The original budget was €1 million and is now estimated at over €22 million. The delays have been blamed on unforeseen complications, namely protected structures, Luas lines and underground utilities, but anyone who knows the site knows those circumstances were not unforeseen. Rather, they were ignored. They were baked into the bones of the city and should have been built into the plan.”
“I watched departmental officials assure everyone, in the clearest of terms, that the new building would be open by the 2025-26 school year. That commitment was made not just to the board of management of Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire, but also to 170 pupils and their families. Right now, the project has been paused. The site is silent. The cranes are still. The community has been left in the dark while a conciliation process plays out behind closed doors. Yesterday we were told it is not known where the children are going to go to school. They will go to a building that was entirely unsuitable on Parnell Square to one that is only slightly more suitable, an interim solution on Cathal Brugha Street. That is not progress for the parents, families, children and the generations that went before them, and those who want to teach. It is an insult.”
“I cannot believe I am about to say this, but right now on Dominick Street, in the heart of Dublin city centre, stands a half-built school that should be opening its doors in September. A Gaelscoil that was promised, planned and funded now lies idle behind hoardings. What is worse is the silence. This is not a new school project. The project is a result of a 23-year struggle by parents, educators and children who fought year after year for a proper building. The community built the school from scratch in 1988 and has since seen generations of children go to school to learn in their native language in conditions that no child should ever have to learn in. Let us call this what it is. It is a failure of delivery, of care and, at this point, of respect. I heard the principal raise concerns for over a year.”
“Every single member of An Garda Síochána, regardless of their rank and role, must receive ongoing compulsory continuing professional development in recognising and responding to domestic and gender-based violence. Survivors deserve to be believed and gardaí deserve the tools to understand what that actually means. It means that we have heard the phrase "never again" too many times in this Chamber. It has to mean something and it has to start now, because for every week that passes without action, more women are put in danger, more children are traumatised and more families are left asking why they were not protected.”