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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“President Higgins rightly warned this week against the outrageous abuse of antisemitism accusations to silence criticism of Israel and its genocidal actions in Gaza. Yet, the Government continues to endorse the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, IHRA, definition despite it being internationally discredited for its chilling effect on free speech and legitimate condemnation of Israel's actions in Gaza. Be it in the arts, academia or civic discourse, legitimate criticism and condemnation of Israel's cruel actions in Gaza are shut down on the basis of accusations of antisemitism that are contained in this definition. Will the Taoiseach reconsider the use of the definition in the programme for Government?”
“I understand and appreciate that later this week we will have statements on the Farrelly commission report but given the gravity of the failures Grace has had to endure, perhaps words alone will not be enough in this instance. After nearly a decade and a cost of €13 million, basic questions still have not been answered. If the Government wants to take action and do something constructive, adult safeguarding legislation must be introduced. We do not want other vulnerable people to be failed in the same way Grace has been. The story of Grace should serve as a watershed moment for Ireland. Will the Taoiseach bring forward the legislation?”
“It requires reassurance to know the State will step in with support where necessary. It is also an acknowledgement that for us everything has changed now. There is no going back to the world we knew several months ago. Within this we need to be able to reorient ourselves and build new alliances. We need to see ourselves differently outside of the shadow of the United States. This requires courage in terms of how we legislate, how we see our place in the world and how we are willing to stand up and defend it.”
“Local economic growth will be disrupted and long-term global progress will be hindered. USAID has helped to stabilise conflict zones and has prevented extremism. Cuts to USAID will lead to global instability. USAID has been a primary contact in the US and other regions. Its reduction weakens this engagement with the rest of the world. Halting programmes that address the root of migration, global poverty and violence means all of us will be impacted on a multitude of fronts. The EU needs to take this seriously alongside the tariffs. We need to step up and let it be known that we too will be impacted in a multitude of ways. When we speak about the tariffs we need to express solidarity with the workers who will be impacted by them. In an Irish context this requires more than words.”
“What this chaos merchant is doing in terms of instilling global tariffs and creating global disorder is aligning this with the removal of USAID. USAID has been very important on a multitude of fronts. When the tariffs impact on us, we will also be met with the consequences of the removal of global USAID. The removal these programmes endangers millions of people worldwide, especially those relying on health and humanitarian assistance. Critical health initiatives are involved, such as combating malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and AIDS. All of these are at risk, potentially leading to more deaths and disease outbreaks globally. Reducing funding for emergency aid will worsen the suffering in war-torn regions during natural disasters. It will prevent the education of young girls and women.”
“When we speak about Trump's tariffs what we are actually discussing is an assault on Irish workers and global workers. It is also an assault on our industries and on the communities that have been built up around them. When we speak about Trump we have to remember who we are speaking about. Sometimes he is afforded too much credit and people ask what exactly does he want and how can we negotiate. Actually, what we are dealing with is a person who is lost in vanity. We are dealing with somebody who is monstrous in their intent. What he is looking for is chaos on a global scale. Through that chaos what he is looking for is people to come to him and be meek. This is for his own sense of corruption and his own sense of power. This should always be to the fore of our thoughts.”
“On the topic of child well-being, I wish to discuss an immensely cruel anomaly whereby a parent who has been convicted of unlawfully killing the other parent of a child retains his or her guardianship of that child. Retention of guardianship in this context means that the convicted person must be informed about the child's situation, consulted in major decisions being taken for the child and can influence the child's placement. A Bill was brought to Cabinet in respect of Valerie's law. When will that Bill be brought before the Dáil? Research demonstrates that the best outcomes for children in these terrible situations is to be placed with the victim's family not under the perpetrator's control.”
“The Taoiseach's Department oversees the north-east inner-city task force. Such is the extent of the crisis in schools funding at the moment that I am meeting with representatives of four schools, Rutland National School being one of them, with Jim Gavin who chairs the north-east inner-city task force to try to understand how more than €50 million from the Taoiseach's Department has been spent on the task force, yet schools are struggling to pay electricity bills. This is extraordinary. We need more of a crisis intervention in terms of helping to support schools the length and breadth of the country. It is very clear that something serious is happening.”
“We certainly cannot lose anymore. Where operators are removing themselves from the market, the State has to step in and provide adequate childcare provision. We need innovation. We need to do more than just throw money at a bad system. We need proper planning, co-ordination and implementation.”
“Audits of buildings through our city councils where there might be sites available is something we need if we are to make sure there is proper capital investment and identify locations in which childcare facilities can emerge where there were none previously. We must make childcare core infrastructure as part of every new development. There are 600-unit developments going up around the Docklands and no childcare facilities are being included. That is something we need to address. I represent a constituency that is growing all the time, where women who are eager to get back to work need childcare places provided. This comes up as the number one issue at public meetings and at doors we knock on. We require a hell of a lot more innovation. Where we have childcare providers, we cannot lose them. There are examples of that in Stoneybatter.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his response. I do not doubt for a second that there is a genuine commitment across the Government to address the issue. How could there not be? It is a fundamental issue. However, I do not think it is working. The ECCE rates of €69 per week per child have clearly not been sustainable. I do not doubt the level of money that is being pumped into the childcare sector, but the outcomes are still the same. We have a crisis, and a crisis requires innovation in terms of how we respond. The páistecare model outlined by Deputy Farrelly is one workable solution if we can get around to developing a plan that is co-ordinated and agreed from all political parties because it is something that impacts all of us.”
“In the absence of this being done, we really are struggling. I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's response. I know he is not the Minister of State tasked with special responsibility in this area, but I understand he is here in that capacity and we can have an exchange.”
“In the lead up to the election, I think we all agreed we needed some form of publicly funded model of childcare provision, so why do we not all get around a table and decide how that could best happen? That would be an excellent solution and would demonstrate to the public, exasperated by this issue, that their elected representatives are doing all we can in their service. In the absence of such an approach, what we have is a two-tier system where childcare is expensive even if people are lucky enough to get it. There are solutions to this problem. On Dublin City Council, for example, my colleagues, Cat O'Driscoll and Daniel Ennis, asked for an audit of buildings derelict around the city centre or in the possession of the council to see which of them might be suitable, with the right level of work and investment, for childcare facilities.”
“My colleague, Deputy Farrelly, rightly asked in the Chamber when the Government would consider pay parity for early years professionals with colleagues in education. I do not think we are anywhere close to that happening. The Tánaiste, whom I want to take at his word, said Ireland's childcare model should be brought into the public sphere and linked more closely to education. I agree fully with that view. I am sure we all do. When will that process start? I ask because this principle is nowhere to be seen around the streets of Dublin Central. Deputy Farrelly also suggested a "páistecare" approach, this being similar to the all-party platform we had for the implementation of the Sláintecare model.”
“It is very much on-off as to whether that is going to happen, but even the prospect of removing such an afternoon service sent the community into a spiral. Protests were held outside and the matter has been raised in the Dáil several times. This is the reality of what we are dealing with now, be it in East Wall, Stoneybatter, Cabra or the North Strand. When we are knocking at doors, the most important issue coming up all the time is access to childcare provision. Some crèches are closing because the community providers are not so much walking away as they are closing their doors because circumstances mean they have to. Their workers who deliver incredible care and education - it is an education they are delivering - are underpaid and burned out.”
“What good is a childcare subsidy, however good it may be to the parents lucky enough to get a place, when most parents cannot even find a place to look after their children? Childcare provision is about communities. Parents cannot go back to work if they cannot find anywhere for their children to be minded. Even before I came down to the Chamber, one of the last emails I received was from a constituent in East Wall. She and her partner recently had a child and they are now scrambling to find a place. The fear is even greater because they see a 600-unit apartment block being built above them and know this is going to limit their ability to find a childcare place even more. There was genuine fear in the community in Stoneybatter in recent months because an afternoon childcare service was at risk of closing.”
“I wish to talk to the Minister of State about the absence of childcare provision in Dublin Central. I use the example of Dublin Central because it is the area I am proud to represent, but I could be talking about any community to be found the length and breadth of Ireland. Childcare provision and access to childcare, where it exists, is simply too difficult. The Government made a commitment before the election, promising to progressively reduce childcare costs to €200 monthly under the national childcare scheme. In reality, parents in Dublin Central are still facing the same crippling costs. This is only, though, if they can even get a childcare place at all. In communities across Dublin Central, families are scrambling for places. Some parents are registering their children before they are even born and still cannot secure a spot.”
“A lot of this requires funding and courage, not just statements, but genuine action that backs it up with evidence-based solutions, understanding the research that is decades-old and just going in there with vigour to say it does not have to be this way. We can have better outcomes for our young people.”
“Real investment looks like the expansion of youth diversion programmes, not just in name or in scope, but in staffing and funding, and the recognition that every young person should have access to tailored support. It is about treating sport and youth services as essential infrastructure, building proper facilities, ensuring disability access and giving clubs the resources to meet existing need. We know the consequences of inaction. We see them all the time. We see them in the rising stats. The consequences of inaction will continue to be courts that are full and prisons that are overcrowded. If we ignore trauma, we pay for it later. It is a simple fact. Hurt people will hurt people. It costs us more in terms of societal impact to clean up the damage than it would cost in terms of investment to prevent it. We need trained mediators.”
“If somebody carries a knife or uses a knife, he or she should feel the full force of the law, but that will not address knife crime. It will not address the means by which a person chooses, out of fear or abandonment or whatever forces that person to pick up a knife in a manner that very few of us can imagine, to take the next step. Nobody who is engaged in that behaviour is going to think about how it used to be a five-year sentence but is now seven years. That is not the mindset of a person engaged in that behaviour. Until we realise that proper prevention measures and intervention require resources, we will continue to have these conversations. We can increase the sentence to ten years or 15 years; it will not make a difference.”
“There were about 200 people there - all sports clubs, football clubs, rugby clubs, darts clubs, swimming clubs. They were dealing with about 2,000 to 3,000 young people and all they were asking for was support in order that they could do that work. I do not doubt for a second that there are funding grants, but it is very clear there is one group of people who have access and there are others who do not. That is what this is about: who has access to be able to take the time to fill out those forms and who does not. That situation is not in equilibrium. When it comes to what investment and prevention look like, there are models that work. We have talked with the Minister about rising knife crime a number of times. The Minister's response to increases in knife crime has been simply to increase sentencing.”
“If we are going to talk about diverting young people from crime, let us talk about what the State has to do in terms of going in with full resourcing and full vigour and with the belief that this works and makes a difference. Somehow, it still does not happen. I find it difficult to explain this to my constituents and those sports clubs when they come looking for funding to buy boxing bags. We are talking about places that deal with young people and their families who are at genuine risk of poverty, yet they do not have access to basics such as gloves and the parents are asked to spend €10 or €20 a week. The State should be doing that. In the absence of that, I was at City Hall a couple of weeks ago when a sports club network was founded for groups and sports clubs in the inner city.”
“There have been multiple instances in Dublin Central - for example, in Fairview Park - where kids have gone to play football every week but cars have driven onto and over the pitches and then the kids cannot play football there for the next couple of months. Sports clubs like Sheriff YC, East Wall Bessborough, Montpelier and Belvedere do absolutely amazing work in fostering environments in which young people can feel safe, develop their identities, grow their confidence and have that sense that they can be anything because they have found a place there. Every single month, many such clubs struggle to keep the lights on. I find that incredible.”
“The eyes of the country were brought onto Dublin Central during the general election because a particular individual with a high profile ran. When he was talked about, he was often referred to in the context of the boxing club that he helped found. Did that not ring alarm bells for anybody? When the State removes itself, particular individuals have to step in and provide basic amenities. That is what happens in the absence of a state. If there is no access to boxing clubs, sports pitches or sports clubs, other actors will fill that space for us. Then we ask, "How did that happen?" It happens in the absence of a state.”
“Many Teachtaí Dála who represent different constituencies often find that the GAA club or the sports facility is the centre of their constituency. It is the place where you go to connect and make friends. Imagine, an area like Dublin 1, the north inner city, does not have access to an 11-a-side football pitch. I know it is the same in Deputy Cummins's constituency, in Dublin 8, where they won a long campaign just to get a football pitch. Imagine that basic amenity just not being provided. Resourcing went into the inner city a couple of years ago following the well-documented feud. There has been the north inner city task force in the six or seven years that have passed since. It is often lauded in here. Other TDs ask for something similar in their own areas. Imagine over €15 million being spent and still not having a football pitch.”
“It is actually about all the young people getting to feel included and, within that inclusion, building their confidence and sense of place. Sports clubs, youth programmes and community safety groups do this work every single day, often with no recognition or resourcing from the State. It should also be pointed out that when those 37% cuts to community programmes happened during the period of austerity, they devastated the infrastructure by which young people could emerge into an environment that was catered to their needs. In my constituency of Dublin Central, specifically in Dublin 1, which is often talked about but rarely if ever really understood, I think it surprises many people to learn there is no 11-a-side football pitch.”
“Public order units have a very specific function. They can only be called in when certain conditions are met and when things have already broken down. What most of us would much rather see is gardaí on the ground and who would be in our community centres and building relationships. That will not be addressed with public order policing alone. Far from it. Sport was the original diversion programme. Sport has been for many young people a space where they build their confidence, find their mentors - the one or two good adults in their lives - and build identities for themselves outside of crime. It is where a young person would learn discipline, teamwork, emotional regulation and, most importantly, a sense of belonging. Sport should not just be about the medals or the achievements at the end.”
“I make calls for more policing quite regularly in this Chamber. We need community gardaí in our cities, our villages and in our towns. Of course we do. We need gardaí that know a person's name and understand the environment they are asked to police but gardaí on their own will not solve this. Gardaí cannot be expected to be social workers or youth workers. Our court system was not built for that type of prevention. It was built with a Humpty Dumpty approach of when things fall down, then we step in and the cycle repeats and will continue to repeat. Even over the last couple of weeks, there has been a lot of focus placed on Dublin and calls for more gardaí. I then heard to great fanfare that 60 new public order units would be sent into Dublin city. More gardaí are absolutely welcome but the style of garda is what will make a difference.”
“We have criminal and gang networks that are building the kind of structure that fills in where the State has removed itself. There are very obvious examples and I might come to them shortly but this is about neglect. It is neglect that creates the conditions of a poisoned orchard where the fruit of that will emerge in a way that is not good for any of us. We should always be willing to address that first. We need to build structures that are safe and where young people feel seen and supported and where the issues they have, whether through how they came into the world, the conditions of trauma, the poverty or the sense of anger that builds, can be addressed. There are reports going back decades that address this and point this out yet we have not had the action to back it up. Of course, there are going to be calls for more policing.”
“That is far from what brings a young person into crime. Before we talk about what diverts a young person from crime, we must make sure we start by addressing what brings that person to those conditions in the first place. It is always going to be poverty. It is always going to be trauma. It is always going to be generational neglect. It is always going to be a sense that this is not a place that is built for you; be that the education system or the world in which other people have an advantage over them that would just seem normal, like a comfortable home, a safe upbringing and all of those things. They are not the reality. I often think about the quote from Frankenstein when I think about what crime is. It reads that when all good to me became lost, "evil thenceforth became my good.".”
“Statements on diverting young people from crime is an interesting concept and something I would talk about every day if I could. However, statements without follow on action leaves us nowhere. We have had all the evidence and research and we know what brings young people into crime. We have known for decades now. If you imagine the portrait of a young person, I obviously think about Dublin Central and the north inner city, the places I am familiar with and where I grew up. Imagine them all over the country. No young person fills out an application to involve themselves in crime. There is not a website you go to say you would like to pick that profession and you would like to get involved in that sort of behaviour that is disadvantageous both to the person and the community in which they were brought up.”
“I understand what the Taoiseach will say to us regarding what his intention is. I hope he might, or somebody from his Department or members of his Government will-----”
“Today marks World Autism Awareness Day. Aligning themselves with the occasion, there will be up to 200 parents and guardians who will sleep on the pavement outside Dáil Éireann today. It will be the second time they have done so in a number of weeks. They are doing so for a plethora of different reasons related to assessments, diagnoses, therapies, school places and access to SNA provision. However, there is a common thread that aligns with all of those parents and guardians, that is, paying for what their children are being asked to go without. Acting upon that pain, those parents became legal experts. They have had to take on therapeutic practices themselves just to provide the service to their children that the State is failing to give. We have talked about it in a number of different ways.”
“Safety is also about knowing who will show up, who will believe you and who will fight for you. I refer to what community safety should mean. The legislation, although well intentioned and certainly having some pluses, does not deliver in this regard. I hope the resources allocated will enable it. Again, however, somebody needs to get on top of what happened yesterday. It was a gross failure of the State.”
“Gardaí who in the past knew your name will now just know you through a number. We need systems that protect people, not just manage fallout. Much of what we are talking about in respect of what happened yesterday is about how we protect people, give them the right to protest and not react disproportionately. Real safety means gardaí rooted in communities, not gardaí borrowed from other counties, taking away those counties’ Garda resources. It also means victims being heard and supported, not handed a number and then sent away. It means being transparent with data on what is happening, and where and why, so we can intervene. It means structures that empower communities, not simply sideline them. Safety is not about fewer crimes; it is about fairness, trust and dignity. We failed in this regard yesterday.”
“I believe it has 54 pages of recommendations but there was absolutely no budget allocated for each. Can the Minister imagine what is effectively another well-intentioned talking shop where people raise issues concerning various authorities around the table? An example of such an issue is the Royal Canal walkway, which has become a no-go area in the north side of the city. Every single month, somebody will raise an issue and the Garda will talk about an absence of the resources needed to police the areas in question effectively. There is a framing of progress here but it is still the same old top-down approach, rebranded with a press release and not really designed for any substantial change. Real safety in our communities is about building relationships, not just structures.”
“There is no full access to information and no power to initiate investigations freely. A watchdog that needs permission is not a real oversight body, and it will not be. There is a failure to track bias and injustice. If this had gone to the committee, I am sure we would have been welcoming groups such as the Irish Network Against Racism, which released a report yesterday on the profiling of communities of colour and Brazilians, who feel they are being policed differently from other groups. We need to have a debate on this. Local community safety partnerships could have been powerful but they are toothless. When initiated by the Minister’s predecessor, Deputy McEntee, I brought in the report from the North Inner City Local Community Safety Partnership.”
“The Act could have been a genuine opportunity for reform. It could have broken from the past and built something new and different. Instead, it dresses up a system that is not working in the language of reform. The Act and the resourcing required have done very little to address the absence of morale among the on-the-ground gardaí we are asking to serve us. It does nothing to address the retention crisis through allocating resources. Experienced gardaí are walking away and young gardaí are leaving the system because they cannot afford to live in the cities they are being asked to police. The legislation does nothing to address the fact that there is a significant absence of real, immediate and effective oversight. The new Garda ombudsman, Fiosrú, lacks full independence.”
“I appreciate that the Act is really important but there are real-world examples as to why we are failing in this regard and need to do better. There are many elements to the Act that we welcome but I do not believe the legislation meets the moment we have been asking for. This has been called a bold new era but it involves a reshuffle. There are new boards and acronyms but very little substantial change. It certainly will not see change in the communities I represent. Community safety, when well resourced, entails having effective and expedient accountability for those who, on having reported hate crimes after having walked past gangs, feel they have not been treated appropriately by the apparatus of the State that is in place to protect and serve them. I refer in particular to when the structures of the State let themselves down.”
“And funding. Let me refer to why an oversight mechanism is necessary. Yesterday a group of women were taken away from a protest on genocide, brought to a police station and strip-searched and cavity-searched. What sort of funding can be given to ensure accountability for these women? There is no means by which what happened is justifiable or acceptable. This is related to the content of the report on profiling by the Irish Network Against Racism, commissioned by the Policing Authority and released just two days ago. It is particularly relevant when we talk about the fact that a survivor of genocide who wished to protest against it was taken to a police station and received treatment that none of us could stand over.”
“My phone started to ring from just after 7 a.m., when I started to receive communications about Mothers Against Genocide who were taking part in an organised protest, in the context of which they had engaged with the structures that one is supposed engage with the previous evening. Then I heard that those same parents who had given up their day of celebration to sleep on the pavement outside Dáil Éireann had their symbols of genocide removed. When they protested vociferously, as they rightly should have done and as they have been doing for many months-----”
“Today, we are speaking to a 291-page document that addresses the changing over of Votes under the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024. Part of this involves the components that deal with whole-of-government responsibility, the strengthening of oversight and accountability, enhanced oversight mechanisms, community engagement and the absorption of current structures into the Policing and Community Safety Authority. It would be absolutely remiss of me if I did not use yesterday's events as an example of where legislation like this could work and, in the absence of effective resourcing, what we are being left with. What happened yesterday outside the Dáil was an absolute travesty.”
“He understands the impact this is having on businesses in our capital city. When will funding be released for the Dublin city task force so we can get the capital city to the state it should be in?”
“To respond to the Minister's last comment, I would encourage him to go down to Rutland National School in his own constituency. It has just received an electricity bill that creates a risk it will have to close its doors. That is not the issue I intended to raise, however. It has been 157 days since the report of the Dublin city task force was launched to great fanfare. We remember all the Ministers and all the press releases and yet, 157 days later, there is none of the funding. This is not a local issue for me. This is about how we respect the main thoroughfare of our capital city. A CSO report published yesterday captured once again the challenges for businesses in the city centre, highlighting a marked increase in crime and theft from 2023 to 2024. The Minister claimed to be a pro-business candidate.”
“Twelve months is not a particularly long period of time for families who have found a home here and are wondering what happens next. For the moment, the Social Democrats advocate that we maintain things as they are.”
“That is a little bit under 12 months away, so let us just keep things as they are. By all means after that, let us provide common-sense solutions and let us build compassion into what we propose next. The war is still raging and the reasons for people seeking sanctuary here are exactly the same. We all hope and pray that a ceasefire will come over the horizon but until that time, why would we rock the boat and remove the accommodation payment from a group of people who have found a sense of place in homes that have benefitted from it? Study, research and analysis and compassion are needed. None of that happens overnight. Let us keep things as they are at the moment, understand what comes next and be clear and give proper information to people who are going to depend on it.”
“If we are to make changes, the changes should be done with evidence and compassion for the betterment of the communities who have come here. There are, of course, decisions to be taken but they certainly do not need to be taken at this moment. The position of the Social Democrats would very much be that we should maintain what we have. We are open to common-sense suggestions and compassion-based adaptations. However, at the moment, if it is just based on anecdotal suggestions, that is not something that leaves anybody in any particular position of strength. The Irish people have shown great solidarity with the Ukrainian refugees who have come here. More to the point, communities have been enhanced by them. Until the temporary directive comes to an end in 12 months, we need to give certainty to the communities as to what is the next step.”
“I do not doubt for a second that there are decisions to be taken over the horizon, and I believe the Government has a job of work to do to be very clear as to what happens once the temporary directive comes to its conclusion, but for the moment, why upset the balance of things? The Irish Red Cross survey demonstrates clearly that this is a payment that works; that the majority of host families have said they benefit from it; and, more importantly, that they benefit from the people who are in their homes. I do not know what the reduction in the payment from €800 to €600 will actually mean for the host family. Does that mean the electricity bill might just be a little bit too much that month? We are at a point in time now where there is a delicate balance that needs to be protected.”
“While different anecdotal positions have been shared, the actual evidence suggests this is a payment that works. This is a payment for the Ukrainian community who have come here and which has enabled them to establish themselves and have a presence. They have been given rooms by people who were never before involved in the RTB, but who have given them a place. That is what the evidence suggests. Initially, there was a degree of unfairness built into the scheme because the payment was the exact same whether it was a single person or a family living in the home. We all know the costs of electricity and bills have been soaring. For those families who have taken in people, they are going to be feeling that. Having this payment for as long as the temporary directive remains in place actually provides a degree of certainty.”
“The survey carried out by the Irish Red Cross demonstrated very well that 91% of the accommodation taken up by Ukrainians availing of the accommodation payment was never in the RTB. That survey demonstrates perfectly that this payment has been a huge value and addition to those who have been able to avail of it. It has been a model which can be replicated. It has fostered a sense of cohesion among the Ukrainian community who have come here. If we took it away, we would at this moment in time be in a more dangerous place than we are. We would have people going into the private rental sector. We know that is not a viable solution, nor is going into the IPAS system. As it stands, and given that the temporary directive has another year left, why would we want to take that away now? We do not have any evidence, studies or research.”