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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“We have a situation that is detrimental to the human condition. For the purposes of the Government's performative cruelty, we are now putting people who are awaiting deportation flights into prison. They are in every prison, including Mountjoy and Dóchas. People are being taken out of IPAS centres and brought to prison. All the while, the Government is releasing drug dealers back into communities. That is its choice. That is no distortion. The Government has to own that because that is the choice it is making.”
“It is sometimes difficult not to interrupt when the Taoiseach is purposely distorting what exactly it is that he is trying to say. Politics is about choices. He knows this. We have prisons that are overcrowded to the point where multiple sources, including those in the area of security and civil servants, have confirmed that a number of prisoners, including those suspected to be members of organised crime gangs, have been released. While the Government is doing this, other people detained in our prisons are awaiting deportation flights. Once those flights happen, we have a justice Minister who talks to "Morning Ireland" or whatever newspaper as if he is a general coming home from war. Our prisons are overcrowded.”
“Is it now the Government policy that gang-affiliated offenders should continue to be released from prison early to make room for those facing low-level immigration charges? Does the Taoiseach believe this sends the "tough on crime" message we often hear coming from Government because it clearly does not? It sends a message that this Government is willing to sacrifice public safety for political optics. I do not believe for a second that prison in its current form is working. We know that more than six out of ten people released from prison will reoffend, but this policy is dangerous. How can the Taoiseach possibly justify a policy where being tough on immigration takes precedence over being smart or safe when it comes to crime?”
“-----when it comes to this action. It is imprisoning the vulnerable to send a message, all while more serious offenders operating within the machinery of organised crime are let out the back door early. This is performative cruelty at its most blatant. Organised crime groups are thriving in communities that are already deeply neglected. Releasing those involved in these networks will send a chillingly clear message that these communities will continue to flounder while the mid-level gangs entrenched within them will flourish. It is performance dressed up as policy and it is putting communities at risk. Organised crime groups are deeply embedded in these communities, recruiting younger and younger members.”
“These people were detained in prison purely for administrative reasons at a cost to the State of more than €200,000. They were also put on a flight costing another €350,000 when it was finally arranged. This is the result of the Government's Trumpian posturing-----”
“This crisis is not simply the result of rising prisoner numbers; it is the direct consequence of the political decisions of a Government that is determined to appear tough, even if it means acting recklessly. In correspondence published this week, the director general of the Irish Prison Service issued a stark warning to the Government. Caron McCaffrey said the Government decision to crack down on immigration and imprison asylum seekers will "necessitate the early release of more serious and high-risk offenders". Ms McCaffrey sent her letter in 2024. Since then, the Government has doubled down on this dangerous approach. Recently, 28 people facing deportation were detained for nearly a month in advance of a deportation flight to Nigeria.”
“I turn to another gross institutional failure of the State, namely, the Irish Prison Service, which is in crisis as we speak. That is not a word that I use lightly. Right now, 5,415 people are in our prisons, with more than 400 of them sleeping on floors. Prison officers and inmates are living and working in dangerously overcrowded and volatile conditions. We have been repeatedly warned that there are immediate safety risks. Inmates are being held in degrading conditions. We have heard stories of people being confined for up to 22 hours a day, often beside unpartitioned toilets and denied access to basic rehabilitation services. That is nothing short of institutional abandonment.”
“We urgently need increased capacity, better design for accessibility and a passenger-first approach to service delivery on the Luas red line. Anything less than that means leaving people behind, which is not the standard that should be set for our transport system. The overcrowding on the Luas red line is not just a cause of discomfort; it is becoming an issue of public safety and accessibility failure.”
“They squeezed on to the second only to find the buggy and wheelchair spaces completely full. She had nowhere to hold on to, was forced to stand by the doors and was jostled throughout the journey. I understand that these incidents can occur as a once-off on any form of public transport. However, this is a regular experience for commuters on the Luas red line. It happens every morning. This is the reality for far too many. People are being pushed off the system because it is not safe and accessible and does not work the way it should. I know traffic restrictions come into play around the city centre to encourage a modal shift and I welcome them but we cannot do so while leaving people with no viable alternative. If we want to be serious about public transport, we have to provide access to it for every user.”
“I thank Deputy O'Gorman for bringing forward this motion. It is timely and important. While I join my colleagues in welcoming the rise in public transport use, I cannot ignore the serious and growing issue of capacity and overcrowding, particularly on the Luas red line, which serves many of my constituents in Dublin Central. It is not just a matter of inconvenience; it is a matter of safety and, at times, dignity for passengers, particularly those with additional needs such as wheelchair users, parents with buggies or older people. A constituent of mine recently shared her experience. At what she thought would be an off-peak time at 4.15 p.m., she took the Luas into town with her 18-month son. The first tram was so packed that they had to let it pass.”
“We call on the Government to agree to a vigorous enforcement of vacancy and dereliction levies, swift deployment of compulsory purchase orders and meaningful State-led investment to convert derelict properties into secure affordable homes. This motion puts forward emergency actions in the hope that finally some form of action will be taken. That is all we ask; that action is taken. I do not care who solves this crisis, I just want it solved. It requires urgency, investment, innovation and a general desire to improve our towns, cities and villages for the people who live there.”
“Families are struggling, essential workers are being forced out and young people are being saddled with emigration. There is no merit in letting buildings crumble while homes are desperately needed. There has been a complete lack of political will or even indifference from successive governments when it comes to housing. A vacant property tax exists but it has no teeth. I understand when I say there is no political will, others might say that is not true. What else do we call it when the results are clearly in front of our eyes? Dereliction should not be tolerated in any community, especially when so many are suffering. To allow it is a dereliction of duty.”
“Dereliction is far from harmless; it corrodes community life and leaves Dublin and our towns the length and breadth of this country looking unloved, feeling unsafe after dark, and very clearly underutilised. This motion puts forward decisive actions. We are often asked for ideas from this side of the House and this motion contains any number of them, as have previous motions throughout the years. The motion contains: a dereliction tax and stronger levy enforcement to incentivise reuse and redevelopment, a bold use of compulsory purchase orders wielded swiftly to bring empty properties back into the housing market and a commitment to substantial public investment in social and affordable homes, not more excuses or half-measures.”
“In the heart of my constituency of Dublin Central, thousands of properties lie empty or in ruin. It is a staggering waste of existing infrastructure in the midst of a housing emergency, which has already had catastrophic consequences for families, most notably for children growing up in emergency accommodation with all of the impacts on their lives that are documented at this point. Every day I see boarded up shopfronts, crumbling upper floors braced with steel, properties in prime locations that have been left to rot for decades, not due to fire or natural disasters, but because our current system tolerates, even enables, this decay. When public bodies allow buildings to lie derelict for decades, we are witnessing urban abandonment.”
“I thank those who brought forward this motion, which is incredibly timely and important. It is one that resonates across society in Ireland. It is especially timely coming on the same day as the Raise the Roof protest, which is taking place outside the building this evening. People are once again calling on the Government to finally treat the housing crisis with the urgency it demands. I had the pleasure of stepping outside and engaging with the crowd. The energy was contagious. It was incredible to see so many people there with such a common purpose. While there are so many dimensions to this crisis that have been discussed by my party colleagues and others across the Chamber, I want to focus on the widespread dereliction we have allowed to take hold in our towns and cities.”
“Today, my colleague Senator Patricia Stephenson and I have written to OLAF, the EU's anti-fraud body, and to the Attorney General to seek legal clarity on the Government's position for non-inspection of these flights. If the Taoiseach does not have an answer today, he might commit to providing a written response to me on this matter to explain what steps, if any, the Government is taking to ensure that Ireland is meeting all its legal obligations when it comes to the inspections of aeroplanes.”
“Like the Taoiseach, I believe Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza. Given that is the case, what are we doing allowing uninspected flights involving private jets linked to military contractors and carrying dual-use goods to transit through Shannon Airport en route to Israel? These flights are not covert. The are documented and trackable. The Taoiseach might be aware that under EU customs law, Ireland is obliged to carry out risk-based inspections. This includes flights using known arms routes. Right now, Ireland is clearly not complying. The moral failure speaks for itself, but we are potentially in breach of EU VAT enforcement rules, which raises serious questions.”
“This is us finally hearing what they have been saying, that their healing should never become part of someone else's defence. The real tragedy is that this even needs to be said, but it does. If we believe victims, then we should and must protect them, not just in posters or during awareness week but in legislation, in courtrooms and in every decision we make. I support the Bill and urge all Members to do so. We must stand with survivors to protect their right to heal in peace and finally say we will not turn their pain into someone else's legal strategy.”
“What is fair about a trial where the burden of proof is on the victim to prove what happened to him or her, and that makes such people hand over every page of their inner life just to be believed? What is fair about putting trauma on public display while the accused sit shielded by the presumption of innocence? There is this idea that the system is balanced. It is not. It is clearly tilted against survivors and anyone who does not come into the courtroom with power already in their back pocket. This Bill does not tip the scales too far the other way. It simply tries to make the balance a little less cruel. Let us not pretend this is radical. It is by no means revolutionary. It is catching up to what survivors have asked for over and over again.”
“We tell women to report and to trust the system, and then we betray that trust in the most personal, invasive way possible. We only have to listen to survivors like Hazel Behan and so many others who have spoken about the terror of knowing their words, written in a safe room, could be weaponised against them in court. It is State violence in another form. This Bill simply says "enough". It says we do not care more about the defence strategy than we do about someone's right to seek help and privacy. It says that counselling records are not evidence, they are sacred. I know some will raise concern about the issue of a fair trial but let us be honest.”
“That is why I support Deputy Coppinger's Bill today. Right now we allow defence teams in sexual offence cases to apply for access to survivors' therapy records, where people speak the unspeakable and finally try to process the violence inflicted upon them, where trust and safety are supposed to exist. We have decided that is fair game in a courtroom. We call ourselves a country that supports victims and believes in a trauma-informed system but those are just words in a press release if we cannot do the most basic thing, namely, protect the private thoughts of someone who has been violated. We do not subpoena someone's confession to a priest or demand to see the notes of a TD's therapist, but a rape survivor, apparently her words, feelings and her mind are available for dissection if it helps get someone off the hook.”
“I thank Deputy Coppinger for this important Bill and acknowledge all the people in the Gallery. There is something deeply broken in how we treat survivors of sexual violence in this country. I am not just talking about the underfunded services or the months-long waiting lists, although they are a part of it. I am talking about what happens when somebody does everything we ask of them, when they survive, report and stand in a courtroom and tell their story. Then we tell them their private counselling notes, pages filled with their most intimate thoughts, fears and memories, might be handed over to the very people who are trying to tear their credibility apart. A Cheann Comhairle, the absolute antithesis of justice is the retraumatising of its victims. This is retraumatising by design. It is State-sanctioned cruelty.”
“I have watched it spin cruelty into policy and I refuse to play a part in something that I know will be used, ultimately, to hurt those who have the least. I hope this House and parties across the left will have the courage to say the same.”
“It is about this endeavour to look tough and creating another stick to beat people with, even though only 12 people from Kazakhstan have come here since 2019. The purpose of this motion is to once again say, "Look at us. We are tough". What is actually tough is going into communities, having difficult conversations, hearing the fears and being able to explain that Ireland is not full. There are genuine communities that are running on empty. They have been asked to step up in the absence of the Government, but that is not the tough talk we are having. The tough talk is about the optics. The Social Democrats will not support the motion because we have seen what this Government does when no one is looking.”
“This Government has shown time and again that it is willing to trade in human dignity for political headlines. Just take a look at how we now recategorise our homeless figures, to see an example of that. That is what the deportation of children showed. That is what the broken reception system shows and what this vote shows. We should not be outsourcing decisions about people’s safety to the European Commission without knowing what it plans to do in our name. We should not be engaging with repressive regimes in secret and we should not be treating people as if they are a problem to be managed rather than human beings deserving of rights, fairness and due process, above all else. This is not about migration management. It is not about future-proofing. It is very clearly about optics.”
“I can give the Minister of State the names of individuals, if he likes. I talked to one individual today who was taken into prison accommodation, deported and, at this moment in time, does not know where his children, who are still here, or their mother are. What is happening is designed to be terrifying. That is the purpose of the tweets, the press releases and the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, going on the radio to say we have to get the message out there. Who is the message going to exactly? Let us not pretend that this is harmless, that it is just a procedural step and that we are only opening talks. When you vote to begin a negotiation, you are endorsing its purpose. You are validating its logic and, in this case, the logic is flawed. The rationale is empty. The consequences are real.”
“More importantly, they do not fit neatly into the rhythm of the day and the audience to whom a centre-right Government is trying to appeal. It is when systems become hostile, political narratives turn sour and countries start competing over who can be toughest on migrants that the quiet tragedies happen. People get sent back and disappear. Over the past week and a half, I have heard many stories of people who are in the international protection accommodation services, IPAS, system being put into the prison system. That is outlandish. We are talking about the need to increase capacity in our prison system at the same time that IPAS residents are being put into prison without any information as to how long their stay will be. That is genuinely terrifying. Surely, we must be better than that.”
“In Kazakhstan, there is no legal protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Domestic violence is not a stand-alone criminal offence. Independent journalism is muzzled. The Internet is censored. Critics are arrested under vague anti-extremism laws. Yet the Government wants us to believe that asylum seekers returning to Kazakhstan will be treated fairly, even when the very criteria used to assess asylum claims are being eroded across the EU. The Minister says that if someone has a genuine case, he or she will be granted protection. However, we know better. We know that the definition of "genuine" is being narrowed all across Europe. Even people with legitimate fears are now being rejected because they do not fit neatly into bureaucratic boxes.”
“I say to the parties on the left and the Government parties that it should not be hard for us to say that children who are in the school system should not be deported three weeks before they are supposed to graduate primary school. It should not be hard for us to say that is wrong. Other countries have different systems through which this is done. Some systems are better and fairer. Last week's events were a poor example of who we are as a republic and how we treat children. Let us be clear that the rights of children are recognised in legal texts. Those standards were not met. When we talk about a rules-based system, we must ensure that we mirror those rules when we are enforcing the standards that we, as a State, are not meeting.”
“Basic needs went unmet and supports were sporadic and inconsistent. The report painted a damning picture of a system built on delay, denial and dysfunction. It was updated to recognise the fact that increased pressure has been placed on the system by the conflicts and famines and other events that lead people to seek sanctuary. The updated report was also ignored. Who exactly was it that built that system? It was Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. There are those of us who for the past 20-odd years have been protesting the cruel conditions of direct provision. The same parties now claim they want to streamline international protection. They want us to believe they will honour human rights in negotiations with countries such as Kazakhstan, which, let us be clear, has a documented record of repression.”
“There have been press releases on deportation flights, as though they are something to celebrate. The Minister went on "Morning Ireland" to announce the measure as if he were a general coming back from war. There have been radio interviews with Ministers that link immigration with social problems in thinly veiled dog whistles. It is a strategy of division that shifts blame away from the Government's failures and onto people who came here to seek refuge, as is their legal right. This Government has broken the very system it now claims to be future-proofing. It commissioned the Catherine Day report and ignored its findings. The report was crystal clear that the reception system in Ireland is unfit for purpose. People were left in limbo for years and children grew up in institutional settings.”
“Last week, we all read reports of children being deported in the middle of the school year. They were pulled from the only homes they have known in hotels that are unsuited to that name. They had no proper warning or integration supports. From testimony I have heard from their school principals, friends and allies, the approach simply demonstrated no compassion. It was not just cruel but also seemed calculated. It was timed perfectly with ramped-up media spin about Ireland getting tough. This was not policy but theatre. It was a cost that was borne by children. What basis has a Minister to be sending out tweets announcing the deportation of 55 people? Who is the audience on Twitter for that? Let us just say that the dogs on the street could hear that particular whistle. We have seen this kind of posturing previously.”
“The proposal to enter negotiations with Kazakhstan is not about solving a problem but is about performance and optics. Since 2019, just 12 people from Kazakhstan have applied for international protection in Ireland and only one deportation order has issued in that time, yet we are being asked to green light a formal process to make deportations faster and easier. It is a process with real consequences for real people. It is a process we have not even been allowed to see in full at this point. We are told that this is about future-proofing. If this is the future we are preparing for, one where international protection is gutted, asylum seekers are scapegoated and vulnerable children in our school system are deported for public relations purposes, I do not want any part of it.”
“What we are being asked to vote on here is the Government asking us to trust it. That is what the entire motion comes down to. We are making statements today on the idea of trust. The Minister is asking us to sign off on a behind-closed-doors negotiation without access to the annexes, without public scrutiny and without a clear understanding of the implications. We are effectively being asked by the Government to trust it. I do not. From conversations I have had over the past week or week and a half, I can say that there are people the length and breadth of the country who do not trust the Government when it comes to immigration and international protection, and certainly not when it comes to how the Government is treating vulnerable people in that system. Let me be absolutely clear.”
“There was no response by the EPP, which the Minister’s party is a member of and proudly speaks to being a member of. He went out and advocated after the European elections for her to resume the position she is now in, despite the fact they did not even acknowledge a letter from his own Taoiseach and party leader asking whether Israel was in breach of that very covenant. This is extraordinary. We can do more.”
“I accept – I think we all do as it is regularly referred to across the Chamber – that the Irish State has gone further than most although that is precisely because the bar has been so low. The countermotion emphasises the importance of “the review by the EU of Israel's compliance with its obligations under Article 2 of the EU-Israel Association Agreement”. Brilliant. I was in the Chamber 17 months ago when my party leader, Holly Cairns, first brought that to the Chamber. We know that the Government has gone further than most, but we also know that, at times, it is being done kicking, fighting and scrapping. The Minister’s former party leader, Leo Varadkar, wrote to Ursula von der Leyen asking whether Israel was in breach of the EU trade agreement. And what happened? Nothing.”
“In his countermotion, which is very well worded, he said that "the Genocide Convention requires states to undertake ‘to prevent and punish genocide’”. Am I to believe that the Taoiseach, the leader of our country, has stood there and said the word “genocide” and then we just equivocate, saying, “Actually, you know what, this is a technical issue. We are not obliged. The Central Bank is independent”? No. We have moral authority in this. There has been no diktat given to the Central Bank to challenge and question whether we are sure these bonds and terms of prospectuses are in keeping with our obligations under the prevention of genocide Act. If we are not, why are we not speaking out? The countermotion talks about all the things the Government has done.”
“The Government talks a lot about being on the right side of history, but history is being written right now by the people this country, Europe and the US are failing; by the children starving under blockade; and by the silence of those who knew and did nothing. It is not being written by any journalist because journalists are not allowed into Gaza precisely because they do not want us to see the truth of the horrors being inflicted there. We have said the word, and now we need to act like it means something. The countermotion brought forward by the Minister does not speak to a Government that is willing to live up to every obligation that we have. It is just another form of phraseology as a way of avoiding our responsibility.”
“It spreads through delay, distraction and diplomacy that always stops just short of doing the one thing that might actually matter, and that is to refuse to play a part in it. This is not about any attempt at virtue signalling. Nobody believes that anybody has a monopoly on compassion, but we do believe that we can do more. This is about whether we stand by international law when it is hard; whether we believe genocide is wrong, even when it is being carried out by an ally of our ally; and whether we are willing to accept the political or financial costs to stop being part of the machine.”
“What is happening in this Chamber is, by virtue of the fact we are refusing to meet our obligations under the prevention of genocide, collusion. What the Taoiseach has done is speak the truth only in order to bury it. When did he come to believe that this is genocide? Was it before or after the ICJ’s ruling? Was it before or after arrest warrants were sought by the ICC? Did he have to see the piles of bodies of starving children for himself? Was it when every journalist in Gaza was targeted and every educational institution was obliterated? Was it when we debated whether they would actually bomb a hospital, and then realised that they were bombing every hospital? Genocide does not happen in the shadows. It thrives when others look away.”
“So let us call it what it is: a calculated dereliction of duty cloaked in humanitarian rhetoric. This Government condemns the killing in Gaza while actively enabling the financing of it. It mounts concerns about the enforced famine but will do nothing about the cargo planes flying out of Shannon Airport. It recognises the State of Palestine while killing off every piece of legislation that might make a difference. The occupied territories Bill was delayed, delayed and delayed, and then watered down. The restrictive measures Bill – gone. With this motion today, the motion two weeks ago and any motion that parties across the Chamber have brought forward, we are always told we are being naïve. The Taoiseach said he wanted to "call a spade a spade" when he used the phrase “genocide”, so let us do that. What is happening in Gaza is genocide.”
“This comes down to Palestinian lives being weighed against bond markets and bilateral trade flows – genocide reduced to a line item on a spreadsheet. However, genocide is not a technical issue. To use the word “genocide” in our Parliament is not just a throwaway word; it has meaning. It has to. We are told that the Central Bank is independent, and that it just signs off on paperwork. However, the Central Bank does not operate in a moral vacuum. This is not a technical question. This is a test of whether Ireland honours its legal obligations under the Genocide Convention, obligations we took on not as a favour to anyone but because we believe there must be no lines that states can cross without consequence. We believe that “never again” should mean exactly that.”
“The Taoiseach said yesterday in this Chamber to my colleague, Deputy Gibney, that she was using the word “complicity” cheaply. Let us go into that a bit. The bonds are advertised openly and shamelessly as a way to support Israel’s war effort. They are not ambiguous instruments. The prospectus spells it out. The advertisement says the quiet part very loudly: “Stand with Israel”; “Israel is at war”. These bonds bankroll the bombs, starvation and extermination, and Ireland is signing off on them through our Central Bank. The Taoiseach’s position, now backed by the Tánaiste and presumably by the Minister, is that genocide is happening but Ireland must do nothing that might affect our GDP or affect our relationship with the US.”
“I was sitting in this chair a couple of weeks ago when the Taoiseach said the word. I had to do a double-take to see if I heard correctly. The Taoiseach said, “Let us call a spade a spade”, what is happening in Gaza is “genocide”. That was an important moment. After 19 months of evasion and legal gymnastics, the Taoiseach finally said it. He stood in the Chamber and admitted what the world has seen in real time since October 2023: that the Government of Israel, under Benjamin Netanyahu, is committing genocide in Gaza. What did he do with that truth? He used it as a soundbite while voting down a Bill that would have stopped Ireland facilitating that very genocide through the sale of Israeli war bonds. That is not just moral cowardice; it is complicity with eyes wide open.”
“We are asking for the solution that was offered, namely, the establishment of a temporary drone- or UAS-restricted geographical zone over the areas that are most impacted at the moment in the absence of regulation. That seems like a solution until we bring in some common-sense regulation to this issue, which I imagine will become increasingly prevalent across the Chamber.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his response. I appreciate that the regulations speak to how drones may be flown safely, but they do not in the slightest capture how drones may be experienced safely. That is particularly pronounced in a village like Drumcondra, Ireland’s first autism-friendly village. Significant sensory issues will not be captured in the regulations for how drones may be flown safely. It is a bit of a dystopian future when even one operator at the moment causes a hum of annoyance. What happens when a second or third one starts? I do not think any of us wants to see that. I accept there will be parts of the country, such as in more remote areas, where this could probably be beneficial but this is not required in Drumcondra, Glasnevin, Dublin's inner city or Castleknock.”
“In the meantime, I ask the Minister to direct the IAA to establish a temporary restriction zone for drones over the area. That should be something we can clearly agree is necessary. Residents in Drumcondra and Glasnevin, and in other communities, have engaged in good faith with the IAA and the drone operator. Now it is time for the Government to respond with the same seriousness to ensure technology does not outpace regulation and that communities have a voice in how it is introduced. This is something that we can solve. I do not see it as being insurmountable.”
“Operating them without any environmental assessment is short-sighted. The Irish Aviation Authority recently met with residents to confirm its remit is limited to licensing and mechanical safety. It acknowledges major regulatory gaps, including noise, health, planning and wildlife, and said a temporary restricted zone for drones is possible with a direction from the Minister. This community is not opposed to innovation, but it asks for basic safeguards. Interim protections are needed while national and EU regulations catch up with the pace of the commercial roll-out. I wrote to the Minister this week to request a meeting with the Griffith Avenue and District Residents' Association, simply to discuss solutions, hear the concerns and to come back with something reasonable.”
“I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, for coming to respond to this matter today. We are at a tipping point in the roll-out of commercial drone delivery in Ireland, but regulation has clearly not kept pace. In areas like Drumcondra and Glasnevin in my constituency, residents are raising serious concerns about noise, planning, the environmental impact and safety. Drumcondra was recently named Ireland's first autism-friendly village, a designation that carries responsibility to protect the sensory and environmental stability the community relies upon. Unregulated drone activity threatens that stability. This area is also home to protected bats and nesting birds within an urban wildlife corridor. Drones, especially those using LiDAR, pose a threat to these species.”
“We all understand that this is difficult but we can simplify it by saying that there is a genocide happening. Members of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael recognised last week that there is a genocide happening. Our obligation under the genocide convention is not just simply to call it out but to prevent it, to do all in our powers and take all of the actions that we can take in response to the calls that have been made throughout this Chamber. We absolutely can be better. If we are recognising genocide, we must prevent it.”