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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“However, it must also be accepted that we do not have the same legislative authority as the Government at this point. The Government said on 5 July 2024 that the International Court of Justice's advisory opinion declaring Israel's occupation illegal was a game changer but that was almost a year ago. Just before the general election, on 5 November at a meeting of the justice committee, the now Taoiseach and then Tánaiste said that advancing the occupied territories Bill would be a priority for the next Government. At Fianna Fáil's manifesto launch in November, the party said it was an urgent commitment and Fine Gael said the same and yet last week we were told that a memo is going to Cabinet and that it may be the autumn before a Bill is finally ready. That is just excuses and cowardice.”
“We have reached a point where facial recognition is being used as a condition for bread, where desperate families are being asked to surrender their biometric data in exchange for rice or flour, data that they know could be used to track, target and erase them. This is not aid; it is not even close. It is surveillance disguised as compassion. I want to say to every humanitarian agency trying to work on the ground and to every international partner watching on in horror that we see what is happening and we will echo their calls. Palestinians deserve food without fear, safety without strings and a world that does not treat their lives as conditional. It is often said by Members on the Government side of the Chamber that nobody here has a monopoly on compassion and I fully accept that.”
“There is very little left to say about Gaza that has not already been said and there is almost nothing left in Gaza that has not already been destroyed. We are past the point of shock and statements; what remains is rubble, mass graves and the silence of children whose names we will never know. We welcome this motion and support every line in it but we have to be honest. Ireland, though it has gone further than most because the bar has been set very low, still has not done close to enough. In that delay, tens of thousands have died in hospitals, schools and in their beds and now they are dying in hunger. For months almost no aid has been allowed into Palestine and in all of that time, the solution being offered is one where Palestinians are told that if they want to eat, they must first submit their faces.”
“I am reminded of the words of previous apologies in this Chamber and the campaigners who fought for them. I refer, for example, to Christine Buckley, who use the simple phrase: "I believe you before you open your mouth". That should be the basis of our institutions, and never again should the grief of families have to be prolonged in search of truth. I am sorry. We are all sorry, and we are here should you need us again.”
“We owe it to Shane's family to ensure that never again should a family who have so tragically lost a child and a brother have to align their grief with the tenacity to go in search of the truth and fight so hard just to receive the truth of your loss. The very antithesis of justice is the retraumatising of victims and their families. All of us are sorry you have had to fight this hard. I hope today brings some closure. If it does not, I hope the family knows there will be voices across this Chamber ready to carry their call, to answer that call and to demand more if they so wish it. I was taken by the words of the Leas-Cheann Comhairle that all of us need to find our courage when it matters and to listen, to hear better and to respond better.”
“If today's apology is to carry weight, let it be a turning point, not just for Shane's family, who has had to fight so hard, but for the kind of justice we deliver in this State, who we hold accountable, who we should clearly see as a threat, who we help recover and who we keep letting fall through the cracks. Shane deserved better. His family deserved infinitely more, and I hope they find some remote form of solace in today's State apology and in the facts outlined by the Minister. For the rest of us who need to believe that the system is meant to serve, this must be a reckoning point. It must be the start of a system of justice worthy of that name. We owe it to Shane, who committed his short academic life to the law, to ensure we improve the system in order that this cannot happen again.”
“Our recidivism rates prove that and the dangers to the communities do not reduce. This is a system that is broken at both ends. We have a system that does not detain those who are very clearly dangerous and offers no real rehabilitation to those who are sent back into the communities. It is a system where families such as the O'Farrells wait 13 years for truth while trying to piece together how so many warnings were ignored, while others, victims of assault, robbery and intimidation see no follow-up, no Garda presence or resolution. We cannot keep pretending that justice is working when everyone, including victims, families, front-line gardaí and even those inside the system, knows it is not. Justice should protect people. It should correct wrongs and restore trust. Right now, it is failing on all of those fronts.”
“What is worse, after losing their son, the O'Farrell family were forced to become investigators, legal researchers and campaigners simply for the basic truth, for accountability and for the dignity of their son's life to be recognised by the very institutions that failed him. While we rightly offer an apology today, let us all be clear that an apology is not justice, accountability or reform. An apology without a commitment to atone is no apology at all. I welcome the proposed changes to the law outlined by the Minister today, but gaps still remain. When the system does incarcerate people, it does so in overcrowded, under-resourced institutions. People go in with anger in their hearts from addiction and trauma and they come out more isolated, more hardened and more entrenched.”
“Today's apology is long overdue, but if it is to mean anything, it must force us to confront a deeper truth, that Shane's death was not a one-off failure, but the result of a justice system that is broken at both ends. The man responsible for Shane's death had more than 40 convictions North and South of our Border. He was on bail for multiple offences and had breached suspended sentences. Judges were not giving the correct information. The Garda did not act at the exact moment when it mattered, and court orders were left unenforced. A young man with every reason to believe in the law and who dedicated his short academic life to the law was killed by the State's failure to uphold that law.”
“To Lucia, Jim and the O'Farrell family sitting with us in the Gallery today, I offer my condolences and express my admiration of their dignity in grief, which has been extraordinary. Their courage is incalculable. They should never have had to fight this hard or for this long just to be heard. They should never have had to carry that burden of proof. Their campaign has been an act of love and courage. This House and this State owes them infinitely more than words. Their son, Shane O'Farrell, was 23 years old. He was a son, a brother, a law graduate and a cyclist and had a life full of promise that was ended in seconds. His life was taken by a man who should never have been on that road, who should never have been at liberty and who was protected by a system that repeatedly looked the other way.”
“It legitimises misinformation and fearmongering at a time when leadership should stand for truth and calm. While the Minister may claim these changes align with the EU migration and asylum pact, the pact demands both efficiency and fairness, including the right to individual assessment and meaningful appeal. Ireland is choosing to interpret this pact harshly by cutting safeguards to protect basic human rights when what is necessary is humanity and not a race to the bottom.”
“Oral hearings are essential for many applicants who cannot fully tell their stories through paperwork, particularly for those facing trauma, language barriers or mistrust. Removing this safeguard will mean more unjust outcomes. It will also weaken political accountability. Handing direct deportation powers to the International Protection Office will remove a crucial layer of democratic oversight. Deportations should remain politically accountable decisions rather than being behind closed doors, which, of course, would require resourcing. We are caving in to far-right narratives. We should acknowledge the 42% fall in international protection applications this year. The Government is still acting as if there is an asylum crisis when, in reality, this rush to be tough on migration plays directly to far-right talking points.”
“While they absolutely should not have taken as long as they have in the past, imposing three-month deadlines for asylum decisions prioritises bureaucratic speed over human fairness. International protection claims often involve trauma, persecution and complex histories. Arbitrary deadlines will inevitably lead to rushed, wrongful refusals and the real risk of deporting someone back to the danger from which they fled. That requires resourcing, much of which is contained in what we are discussing now. What is proposed attacks the right to appeal. As we transfer the allocation of budgets, we must acknowledge that the proposal to limit oral hearings strikes at the heart of fair process.”
“While Ireland is not full, these agitators tell people in communities that are running on empty that other people are to blame when it comes to resources. I thank the Minister’s Department for helping with this matter. The transfer of assets from another Department to the Minister’s Department makes absolute sense and is very welcome. In the previous Dáil term, there was almost a pass-the-parcel approach when it came to taking responsibility for this serious issue. That did not reflect well on anyone. Taking it all under one Department certainly makes sense. The Minister referred to expediting decision processes. I wish to touch on that for a moment. It is relevant because the Minister discussed it. Rushing decisions will endanger lives. The time that is required should be taken in respect of these decisions.”
“I thank An Ceann Comhairle and Members for the latitude. Similar to Deputy Carthy, I thank the staff in office of the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, and the staff of IPAS for helping in recent weeks and months to dispel, where they arise, myths that are being spread purposely by far-right agitators. There was a particularly difficult situation in my locality in recent days. I am grateful to the Minister of State, his office and IPAS staff for their work in this regard. This goes right to the heart of what we are dealing with. This is a real and serious issue, which, if we continue to get wrong, will play into the hands of agitators. These agitators are using people who have, in many cases, come here for sanctuary as scapegoats for the systemic failures of the State in order to advance their own causes.”
“Without a shadow of a doubt, we should improve the scheme where necessary. Let us tighten it and provide oversight if there is evidence of abuses but let us not destroy something that works just to tick a budget box. What we need right now is certainty. We need clarity for host families. We need stability for those still fleeing the war and we need compassion to remain the cornerstone of our refugee response. We will not support the cut and we will not support Sinn Féin's amendment. We think we should protect what works and maintain sensible schemes that encourage integration rather than isolation.”
“Only recently, more than 200 Ukrainian refugees living in Dublin 1 were told out of the blue that they would be uprooted. Some would be sent to County Kildare, others to Bray and, astonishingly, children were to be separated from their parents and sent to Swords, all with 48 hours' notice. That is not how a compassionate or competent government acts. That is chaotic. It is cruel and, at its very essence, retraumatising of a people who have to actively flee from a war. We cannot separate policy decisions like these and propose they be cut from the human consequences that follow. If we reduce this payment, we reduce the capacity of communities to host and if we reduce capacity, more people will end up in emergency accommodation. That means more rushed evictions and more upheavals.”
“The rationale given is that the change will help us to wind down the scheme in advance of the end of the EU's temporary protection directive in March 2026. That is a full nine months away and there is no guarantee that at that point this war we all recognise to be cruel and unjust will have ended. We all stand in the House on every anniversary of Russia's cruel and unjust invasion and express solidarity with the Ukrainian community but none of us were told that solidarity comes with a clock ticking. The war in Ukraine has not ended and the needs have not changed. People are still seeking refuge and communities across Ireland are still stepping up, not only to provide solidarity, although that is there in abundance, but being enhanced by it. We also should not forget what happens when we try to cut costs haphazardly.”
“If even 10% fewer people were to take part in the scheme, this reduction could push an extra 100 people per month into emergency accommodation such as hotels, bed and breakfast accommodation and guesthouses at a potential additional cost of €7 million by the year's end. This measure is not just penny wise and pound foolish; it is self-defeating. There is an aura of cruelty being built into it. The Department of integration has offered no clear business case to justify this cut. It is my understanding that the Department of public expenditure has asked for one and simply has not received it yet. The Department had to model the cost itself and those models showed what many of us already know, namely, that this is a functioning scheme that is no doubt under pressure and cutting supports risks breaking it.”
“We should also remember that these people were never landlords. Some 91% of homes involved in the scheme were never registered with the RTB. These were ordinary families, not investors or speculators, and they did not join this scheme for profit. They were ordinary families who answered the call that came from all sides of this Chamber. Most cited solidarity as their primary motivation but the €800 payment makes it possible for them to keep going, especially now, when the cost of living continues to rise. Cutting this payment is not just bad social policy, it is bad economics. Internal Government documents, now public thanks to media reporting, show that cutting the payment could actually cost the State millions of euro more.”
“This proposed reduction in the accommodation recognition payment from €800 to €600 a month is not just a bureaucratic tweak, it is a deeply short-sighted move that will hurt the very people we have asked to step up, that is, the thousands of families who have opened their homes to Ukrainian refugees fleeing war. When the war began and we stepped up, we talked about the huge solidarity the Irish people demonstrated to the Ukrainian community who came here, to our towns, villages and cities. Now, while the war still is not over, the Government is saying that it will take that down a little bit. We should be honest in recognising that this payment works. We know that. A recent survey of hosts carried out by the Irish Red Cross indicated that 91% of them had a positive experience.”
“We use the language of diplomacy to cover the language of war. We talk about complexity while children starve. We should have led on this. Our history could have enabled us to do so. We had the legitimacy of our own past to stand forward and lead, but we did not. We equivocated. I hope this small step we take will be the first sign of consequence. Let this not be the end of it. Let this be the moment when Ireland says we will not trade in the spoils of colonisation, stay neutral in the face of ethnic cleansing or look away while people are systematically erased. If our history means anything to us, it means we need to learn the lessons of our own history and apply them faster when others are enduring the same.”
“That moment should always raise a question that goes far beyond Ireland. What exactly does it take to say that when a state can announce its intent to annihilate another people, it can effectively do so without sanction? What does it say when a lack of food is used as a weapon, when journalists are targeted, when aid convoys are bombed and the international community keeps trading as if nothing is happening? Why should any nation on earth not feel emboldened to do the same when clearly there is one state on earth that has felt no consequences for its actions? The EU found its backbone when Putin invaded Ukraine. Sanctions came swiftly, trade was cut and assets were frozen. There was no debate about sensitivity. There was no moral clarity. However, when Israel commits atrocities in broad daylight, we hesitate.”
“Its purpose was clear, to stop Ireland trading in goods produced in stolen Palestinian land and to recognise that the settlements built through dispossession are not just illegal but are part of a system of apartheid and oppression. Fianna Fáil brought that Bill to Second Stage in Dáil Éireann in 2018. That was the punishment Fianna Fáil felt Israel deserved at that point. This is what is coming next week, the exact same thing, while we are on the precipice of a genocide. Successive Governments have blocked the occupied territories Bill. They have delayed it and buried it under excuses and we were told it was complicated, that Ireland might get sued and that we needed to wait. Wait for what? Wait for the apartheid, the ethnic cleansing, the ongoing genocide that has been inflicted upon the Palestinian people by the State of Israel?”
“Only now, after 19 months of siege and slaughter, after the images of starving Palestinian children with swollen bellies and hollow eyes, after the mass graves and the bombed-out hospitals, after the annihilation of entire families, only now do we hear the Government saying that next week, it will bring a memo in respect of the occupied territories Bill. Only now, when the scale of destruction has pierced even the most hardened conscience, when the term "plausible genocide" echoes in the halls of the UN, do we hear Europe agreeing to question or even just review its trade deals with the very state responsible. Let us not dress this up as courage. That is not leadership. This is a catch-up with our own conscience. A Bill was written in 2018 with Senator Frances Black.”
“Governments have been making the same assurances on this issue for years and in that time waiting lists have not improved but, rather, got worse. Workers are still waiting for pay parity and that contributes to the crisis in staffing in the sector. Families are tired and advocates are burned out. Today, Cara Darmody sits outside the Dáil doing her homework in preparation for an exam next week. That is a failure of a republic. I have watched parents who have had to come and sleep outside the Department of education or Dáil Éireann, assemble on WhatsApp groups and develop their own support networks. Who are we? We talk about being a successful economy but what is the purpose of it if it is not meeting those basic needs?”
“The Taoiseach should be reminded that this is not a law that we change because it does not suit the narrative of the day. It is a law we must strive to uphold. However, in the first quarter of this year only 7% of assessments were completed in that timeframe. That is an outrageous figure. It tells us plainly that the law is being ignored and that, for thousands of families, the promise of early intervention is nothing more than a broken commitment. Early intervention is to meet a child’s most basic needs. We know how critical those early years are and that timely support can change the entire trajectory of a child’s life but, instead, the families are left waiting. Months turn into years. Promises from Ministers go on and children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, are left to fall behind.”
“No spin can change the reality of countless families in Ireland who are suffering and have suffered due to the lack of the most basic care by the State in education appropriate to their need with the therapeutic supports necessary to make their situation comfortable. It is well past time for the Government to finally act on the assessment of need crisis. What is happening in our health and disability services is not a minor administrative delay. It is a systematic failure and a breach of legal obligations. It is a betrayal of the children and families impacted. Under the Disability Act 2005 every child is legally entitled to have their assessment of need completed within six months of their application. That is not a target; it is the law.”
“I welcome the opportunity for statements on assessments of need. We often talk about demand and need and solutions. The Government today has made reaffirmations. The Tánaiste reiterated his commitment to address this issue after 14 years of Fine Gael in government. We must also give voice to many people who are now teenagers or adults who have been left behind because of the failures of successive Governments and the structures of this State which did not meet their needs. The Opposition is often told we misconstrue arguments and offer no solutions but the evidence of failures and the facts speak for themselves.”
“Parents in the inner city watch their children regress as they are turned away or home early due to a lack of places, training or resources. These are not isolated cases. Nationally, there will be 126 children with additional needs left without school places in September. We can all accept that this is wrong. Can the Minister give a guarantee that no child will be left without a school place in September?”
“I wish to raise an issue of fundamental rights, namely the right to education. This right is being denied to children not only in the north inner city but also nationally. Peer research conducted by a group of parents who came together under the title of FACT reveals that 100% of parents of children with additional needs surveyed said their children need additional support but that only 70% of those children are receiving such support. Many children are in classrooms without special needs assistants, SNAs, and are limited to just two hours of schooling a day. Yesterday, one mother shared that her son has no school place for September despite two years of her trying to get one for him. That is not inclusion; it is a systemic failure.”
“There is space for more retention officers on the force in order that when people are considering leaving, they can outline their concerns, whether emotional or financial, to a particular individual. We need to be innovative in terms of how we seek to keep gardaí on the force.”
“It is an exciting job but the demands are incredible and the pay, in many instances, does not provide the capacity to afford to live in the cities that gardaí are asked to police. People are leaving. While the figure in this regard is only 1% or 2%, the force is still understaffed. An intensive campaign to recruit gardaí needs to do more than tell people it is an exciting job when they are dreading the bills coming in every week. I know the Minister recognises that. We need more of a plan. We had a recruitment process and many people expressed an interest and filled out applications but that does not seem to have translated into gardaí coming out at the end. I encourage the Minister to try to understand better why people are leaving the force.”
“I appreciate that 1% or 2% does not seem particularly high, but Garda numbers are particularly low. The Commissioner has talked about getting the numbers up to 18,000, but the 1% or 2% leaving is not being matched by people coming in. There is also the potential for 6,400 gardaí to retire in the next three years, which is incredible. Gardaí are leaving the force for a multitude of reasons but we only have anecdotal evidence of that. We have senior gardaí going into the Civil Service and rank-and-file gardaí going into the Prison Service, but we do not know why they are leaving. If we could capture that evidence, it would be very helpful.”
“On 26 February 2024, the Minister wrote about the potential for 6,400 gardaí to leave the force over the next three years. What are the plans to address the retention of gardaí? What is the number of gardaí leaving the force? What will the Minister to do address that?”
“What we have is a conveyor belt of people who for various reasons - usually addiction - go into our prisons, sleep on floors and continue that addiction. They then come out of prison and reoffend because prison is traumatic. We are all asking whether that is the best approach. It clearly is not working.”
“That is an incredible job of answering a question I did not ask. No part of my question, either in written form or in my contribution, referred to the release of people in prison for serious offences. I discount even the notion of that. However, while we are talking about increased populations, why do we not conduct an audit of who exactly is in our prisons? In the majority of cases, they are there because of addiction and for all sorts of issues for which prison is not the most useful means of rehabilitation. We are all looking for the same outcome, namely, places where people who engage in crime can have consequences that suit both their crimes and the communities impacted by their crimes.”
“We know these sentences do little to deter future offending. They push people further into a cycle of crime. Meeting with people who have lived experience along with legal and justice groups makes it clear to me that judges are still handing down custodial sentences in cases where alternatives exist. There appears to be a lack of awareness and support in encouraging the use of non-custodial options.”
“I thank the Minister for his comprehensive response. I welcome the increase to two years for consideration of community service. However, we can waste any time when it comes to addressing the appalling and dangerous conditions in our prison system. Hundreds of people are sleeping on floors. The number of prisoners who have died in custody in Ireland has increased by 55% in the past year, up from 20 in 2023 to 31 last year. In many cases, the conditions in our prisons are nothing short of Dickensian, in that there is overcrowding. This is a serious failing of our criminal justice infrastructure. Of course, consequences in certain cases should result in prison sentences but that should only be a part. Right now, prisons are filled with people serving short sentences for petty, non-violent crimes.”
“I want to align myself with the condolences expressed across the Chamber to Garda Kevin Flatley's family, colleagues and the communities he served so diligently. In light of the worsening crisis of prison overcrowding whereby more than 350 people are reported to be sleeping on floors in prison and prison numbers are at a record high, what steps has the Minister taken to implement meaningful decarceration policies, including non-custodial sentences and investing in community-based sanction and support?”
“There is a lot in this Chamber that can and should divide us, but the fact that next week an extraordinary 14-year-old girl will once again come to Dáil Éireann and stay outside for 50 hours studying for her exams, which are taking the following week, to make a simple call for a legal requirement for assessments of needs should unify us around a collective motion so that Cara can know that when she shows up, so do the rest of us.”
“We want one where schools are places of learning and not places of exclusion, and where children of every background and belief can feel like they belong. We cannot keep deferring this conversation. We cannot continue outsourcing the values of our Republic to institutions that do not represent the entirety of its people. Change is not only overdue but is demanded by the families and teachers in the communities we serve. Let us be clear that parental choice is not about pitting religions against one another. It is about recognising that one belief system should not dominate our public education system, especially not one that excludes, shames and adds silence. This motion is a call for courage, leadership and progress. I support it wholeheartedly and urge the Government to match its words with meaningful, immediate action.”
“This motion presents a pathway forward, which is welcome. We must reinstate the target of 400 multidenominational schools by 2030 and publish a roadmap to get there. We must remove faith formation from the school day, respecting the constitutional right to freedom of religion and freedom from religion, if one so wishes. We must have independent mechanisms for school patronage change and with proper oversight and transparency. We must finally repeal section 37(1) so no teacher is ever again made to hide who they are for fear of losing their job. Crucially, we must have a citizens' assembly on the future of education. This is about more than school buildings and patronage models. It is about what kind of society we want.”
“That is not an evidence-based, modern, inclusive, progressive education and has no place in schools funded by the Irish taxpayer. In 2021, I introduced a Bill to guarantee fact-based inclusive relationships and sex education for every student in every school regardless of its ethos. That Bill came in response to, among other things, the disgraceful Flourish programme developed by the Irish Catholic Bishops' Conference. The programme suggested, among other things, that the church's view of marriage between a man and a woman must not be omitted. That is not objective or inclusive, and simply should not be acceptable. We were told that change would come, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment was working on it and the Government was serious. Here we are in 2025 and we are all asking similar questions again.”
“That target has since quietly disappeared. Let us be honest with ourselves: we are nowhere near where we need to be and the current approach simply is not working. We are a modern, pluralist and diverse Republic, yet our educational system is operating like it is still 1955. Families today, many of whom no longer identify with any religion, are forced to baptise their children just to access the local school. Teachers still face the threat of discrimination under section 37 of the Employment Equality Act simply for being LGBT in their own workplace. Students are being taught relationship and sexuality education through the lens of religious ethos, where puberty is described as a gift from God and same-sex relationships are either ignored or treated as lesser.”
“I unreservedly support the motion and thank Deputy Cummins for bringing it forward. I want to say clearly that the current system is failing to reflect the Ireland of today. In 2021, I stood in this Chamber and said the Government was paying lip service to the idea of a truly inclusive education system, flagging that there was no clear roadmap to providing 400 multidenominational primary schools by 2030. Four years on, the facts show that little has changed except that the gap between political promises and reality has grown even wider. We know the figures. Over 90% of primary schools are still under religious patronage. Just 5% are multidenominational. There are just 170 multidenominational primary schools in the country despite a programme for Government commitment in 2020 to deliver 400 by 2030.”
“When I speak about legislation such as this that deals with the public realm, my mind always goes to the city I love and operate in every day. However, let us imagine we were talking about some broader, bigger concepts. My eyes rolled into the back of my head a couple of weeks ago when I heard Fine Gael councillors and Ministers having a back and forth about whether we should have a tourist tax in this city; of course we should. We should be looking at how we generate revenues for a city not just like Dublin but like Galway and others. These are the conversations that would be substantial in this area. For the moment, however, I support the relevance of this legislation.”
“Finally, I echo and strongly support the points raised previously by my former colleague, Catherine Murphy, when she talked about accessibility in legislation and the broader public space agenda it supports that must work for everyone. We have heard multiple reports of wheelchair users and people with mobility challenges being blocked from footpaths by poorly placed furniture, signs and sandwich boards. That is not acceptable; it should not be acceptable. If we are talking about making our city more inclusive, that must include everybody regardless of mobility. That means proper regulations, proper enforcement and commitment to universal design in that public realm. Let us, therefore, be ambitious and intentional.”
“Both those things go hand in hand. Thriving cities across Europe understand this. When people are put first alongside commerce and community, they can flourish together. Coming back to the legislation, however, we can support our hospitality sector. I will vote for the extension but let us not pretend this is a long-term solution. The fact that we keep continuing to renew what has clearly become essential city infrastructure is frankly a waste of legislative time and energy and resources that should be directed towards other crises and sectors across the country. Let us just make it permanent. Let us give local authorities the clarity they need, businesses the confidence to invest and communities the certainty that this transformation of public spaces is not just fleeting or conditional, but here to stay.”
“It would take just a fraction of imagination and investment to reimagine derelict of vacant sites as vibrant public hubs - places where people can sit, rest, meet and enjoy the city without having to spend money. I think about places in my own area like Talbot Street and O'Connell Street if they only had dedicated public seating and community spaces. Initially, eyes would roll, and people would say they are not safe. I do not agree for a second. I believe public infrastructure adds to the sense of safety within a community. We should not be allowing people to just exist in a city without needing to pay for the privilege and the benefit for local businesses would come from it too. This is not an either-or situation. We can support our hospitality sector and invest in public realm improvements at the same time.”