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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“When she was asked about the one thing she would change in the system, her answer was simple - she said she would change the in camera rule. She said it was having a detrimental impact upon victims of domestic abuse and is no longer fit for purpose. That stopped me in my tracks and I hope it would stop anyone else. When somebody who has lived through what she has lived through, as well as so many other survivors, tells us that the rules that are meant to protect them are actually silencing them, we have to listen and break that silence. Her experience alone is a damning indictment of where we are, but it is also reflected in so many other testimonies and lived experiences.”
“Many feel that they cannot even seek support. When people feel shut out of a system that is making life-altering decisions about their children, trust will inevitably collapse. We also know from research that there is widespread concern about the lack of transparency, inconsistency in decision-making and barriers to accessing support. I wish to acknowledge something that brought this home in a very real way for all of us on the justice committee last week, when Margaret Loftus appeared before the committee and gave one of the most powerful testimonies that many of us have heard. She spoke at length about what she was put through in search of justice. Everybody in the House should watch her testimony. If the Minister has not seen it, he should go back and have a look.”
“I support this motion and Deputy Gibney's proposed amendment. At its core, it is about something very simple and that is whether justice in our family courts is visible, whether it is accountable, and most important of all, whether it is fair to the people who depend upon it the most. Right now, those who have depended upon it and been failed by the system are very clearly telling us that it is not. We have built a system that operates behind closed doors justified in the name of privacy, but what the research and lived testimonies have shown us is that secrecy is not protecting people in the way that it should. That secrecy is isolating and compounding trauma. The 2025 review of the in camera rule makes that very clear. Parents do not understand what they are allowed to say. Many feel silenced.”
“For example, the last time I checked the living city initiative, there had been about 30 applications for it over many years and I would be surprised if it had reached 40 now. We need a vision for the city which, exactly as the Tánaiste said, is resourced and understands the oppression of the people who are being left behind in our city and understanding that people cannot afford to live in their city. We do not need more reports and years; we need action now.”
“The Tánaiste mentioned real progress has been made by the Dublin city task force. If I capture a bit of the timeline, I will show the fallacy of that statement. The Tánaiste first announced the establishment of the city centre task force in May 2023. That was commissioned later that year. Nothing happened in between the delivery of the report by David McRedmond which came 18 months ago. It sat on the Tánaiste’s desk for four months before that. In the 18 months sinc,e the Tánaiste has talked about an SPV that is undefined and unbudgeted and the announcement of a Civil Service representative. Dublin City Council has been asking for €114 million just so it can give body and finance to some of the initiatives the Tánaiste has talked about.”
“What is the plan to remove us from this and improve the capital city for the people who live here and the people who are caught in the oppression created by failed Government policy?”
“The average monthly rent in Dublin city is €2,700 a month. Rents are 80% higher than they were a decade ago? How many affordable purchase homes were delivered across the entirety of Dublin City Council’s boundaries last year? Zero. There was not a single one. Eighteen months ago, the Tánaiste stood at the GPO and talked of a vision for Dublin city. It is hard not to see the culmination of that vision as a city that is too expensive for the vast majority of Dubliners to ever live in and the creation of a system of impoverishment that is inescapable for those caught in the failed policies of the Government. Therefore, I will ask again: is this the vision of Dublin city that the Tánaiste has in mind?”
“They might not have good washing facilities or cooking facilities, nowhere to play or do their homework. If your basic needs aren't being met it's very hard to learn. What is happening on Gardiner Street is a blight on this republic but there is another fact I want the Tánaiste to hold in his head if he visits central Dublin over the next few weeks. Using all available data sources, a north city centre residents alliance has concluded there are 7,000 people living in homeless accommodation in the north inner city. I do not have time to talk about the level of complex needs that are being unmet in this cohort but it is devastating to the lives of those trapped in the broken system and to the communities trying to pick up the pieces of Government failure. But there is an even crueller juxtaposition operating in tandem.”
“One tenth of the homeless population of Ireland are being warehoused in emergency accommodation on Gardiner Street. The Dublin Regional Homeless Executive has contracted 20 properties on this one street, all but one of which are privately operated. That is 1,700 emergency accommodation beds on barely a half kilometre stretch of road. Yes, I also wince at the use of the word “warehoused” but I know personally the lived experiences of families trapped in this reality and to call it anything else would be an insult to their experience. Eoin Murphy is the principal of Gardiner Street Primary School where 20% of the children are living in emergency homeless accommodation. He recently told RTÉ’s “Prime Time”: Students’ basic needs aren't being met a lot of the time because they might be up late at night.”
“I have to ask: does he feel any shame for what Fine Gael’s time in government has done to our capital city? I know that is a difficult charge but I want to illustrate the point so I will talk about just one street in central Dublin. That street is Gardiner Street. I am not sure if the Tánaiste is familiar with Gardiner Street but it is just one street over from the GPO where a mere 18 months ago, he stood and made a pre-election commitment to the people of Dublin. Does he remember that commitment? While launching the long-awaited report of the Dublin city centre task force, he said of our capital city: It deserves a brighter future. It deserves dedicated resources, and it deserves a vision. We now have it. That was the promise. One street over from where he made it Gardiner Street embodies the failure.”
“If we could sit down to see how best we could achieve that aim, it would be to the benefit of kids who simply love football and do not have anywhere to play it at the moment. I understand the Minister of State would be open to that.”
“If I am constantly on to Dublin City Council to build municipal sports infrastructure and if it were to avail of those grants, that money would be taken away from other immediate needs of the city. I understand that an evaluation of the sports capital fund is going on. We need innovation and a somewhat different approach to level the playing field. Communities that I represent in Dublin Central, that Deputy Jen Cummins represents in Dublin South-Central and, I am sure, other communities, particularly in urban environments, do not have the leases and do not own the land. That creates a problem with huge deficits. I raised this matter with the Tánaiste a couple of weeks ago and he understood the issue and said we would arrange a meeting together. Understandably, I am waiting for that meeting as there have been other things going on.”
“When you have pitch bookings that are consistently being called off because they are water damaged or because the pitches you are playing on miles away from where you live are overbooked, it means we lose the capacity to give those kids the same chance to just play a game on an AstroTurf pitch the way they can in so many other communities around the country. We need to really look at how we allocate the sports capital grant and give more weighting to clubs that do not have the capacity to own their own land or have leases, or even moreso, invest in municipal facilities. If Dublin City Council were to avail of the sports capital grant, which it has done, it has to give 30 cent on every euro it receives. I want Dublin City Council to be building houses. I want it to be confronting dereliction.”
“The application cannot be submitted if clubs do not own their own land or have long-term leases. My appeal to the Minister of State is based on grassroots football. It does not matter to me if a kid goes off and plays for Ireland, lifts cups or anything like that. Football is my sport, but sport in general is the means by which we can galvanise a young person, give them the confidence, get them to do teamwork and have the role models like I had in Sheriff YC, and the managers who made sure many years ago when I was a kid that I was home on a Friday night for the match on a Saturday.”
“I have raised in the Chamber on any number of occasions that kids in the north and south inner city of Dublin have literally nowhere to play an 11-a-side football game. I raised this during Leaders' Questions a few weeks ago and highlighted the fact that, per capita , Dublin received only €26.50 per person under the sports capital grant. The national average is €54 per person and counties like Leitrim, which are very deserving, get over €100 per person from the sports capital grant. Dublin city, the place where Troy Parrott learned to play sports and where we have any number of national heroes, does not have an 11-a-side football pitch. I understand that the Pobal deprivation index was designed to weigh applications for capital sports grants but you cannot weigh an application that has not been submitted.”
“It turns out that the Department has a policy requiring clubs receiving over €100,000 to give a month's notice so Ministers can attend openings. This is neither the Minister of State's money nor the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan's money but the people's money. Launches do not necessarily need to be delayed so that Ministers can attend. It led me to have a little step back because while Ministers are very quick to go cut ribbons, they are not so quick to show up when things are a little more difficult. It is more difficult to launch pitches in an urban city centre environment because the clubs do not have the space. They do not have the space from public land. They do not have the long-term leases by which they could avail of the sports capital grant. That is a structural failure that has huge consequences.”
“I am wearing my Shelbourne top tonight because that was my boyhood club where I spent a lot of my Friday nights both as a kid and an adult. A couple of years ago, the fans of Shelbourne were at risk of losing Tolka Park, which the club had grown in, and embarked on a campaign to save the ground. It was an inspiring campaign that was fan-driven and culminated when Shels won the league. It was genuinely heartwarming, so I pay tribute to the fans of Shelbourne FC. A couple of embarrassing statements have emanated from the Minister of State's Department, though admittedly not from him. A few weeks ago, even I had to step back when I read in the newspaper that the launch of Kerry FC's pitch, which had received €380,000 in well-deserved funding, had to be delayed because the Minister could not attend.”
“First, I ask him to reconsider family reunification and, second, to visit Safetynet on Amiens Street and hear the testimony. It might be very eye-opening in terms of some of the issues we discussed in the Chamber and the issues that stem from them.”
“Safetynet on Amiens Street. It is a front-line service that deals with the most marginalised vulnerable groups and provides immediacy in terms of healthcare. The staff down there have stories that would send a shudder down most of our spines about providing healthcare to people who were previously in the asylum process but had then received deportation orders and lost access to all medical treatment, including mental health supports, and cancer supports in some scenarios. That is a grisly policy that has ramifications beyond the people who are losing their healthcare support because it means they are left in a community devoid of mental health supports and the medications that go with them. I will ask two things of the Minister.”
“When the Minister tried to explain the policy he is announcing to me in the Chamber a couple of months back he seemed to be confusing different types of family reunification with the one specific to what we are speaking about now, which is refugee family reunification. Even at this late stage, I ask the Minister to reconsider that. It is something that actually aids not only the person who has received refugee status but also the communities in which he or she has start to rebuild his or her life. I also implore the Minister in respect of Seanad amendment No. 76, pertaining to healthcare. Has the Minister taken a trip to Safetynet on Amiens Street?”
“Family reunification is provided for in international law precisely because it enables a scenario where somebody who has not only come here in search of sanctuary but has actually been given refugee status can be reunited with an immediate family member. The current process involves about 18 months on a waiting list and a year. The Minister is changing what was previously three to two, meaning a person will have to wait the best part of three or three and a half years, if they are given refugee status, to be reunited with a child or an immediate family member. This has never in any way had a great impact on the system. The numbers are fairly minuscule.”
“As we are approaching the end of the debate and are about to reach the guillotine I will speak to several of the amendments at once. The Minister used the term "family unity" in his contribution, which gives me the opportunity to speak about his family reunification changes. Of the measures contained within this Bill, that one is not based on any evidence and seems purposely designed, in the Minister's own words which he has reiterated time and time again, to send some form of message, but I am not sure the recipients of the message he is trying to send are deserving of the cruelty that is contained with it.”
“You are going to have a person in almost indefinite incarceration awaiting deportation to a place we cannot determine because we do not have in place the arrangements with the UK that we should and that the Minister says we potentially will. We are going to have a system where somebody is indefinitely incarcerated in an overwhelmed prison system and the impacts that will have on that person and all of us. This is one of the reasons I am against the Bill in its entirety.”
“Nobody is disputing that for a second. Given the fact that we have a broken system of incarceration at this moment, however, the number of people being placed there is also adding exponentially to the suffering that is being experienced by the prison population and by people who are in prison are awaiting deportation. Until we have a solution - potentially the one the Minister outlined, although that would require oversight - this is going to place an extra demand on a system that is already broken. This is another aspect of this rushed accommodation. We also have another scenario that I am very concerned about whereby when somebody comes through the common travel area, we cannot establish to where they should be returned while awaiting deportation.”
“When we speak about places of detention, we are speaking about our prisons. The Minister knows, because we have had this conversation countless times, that our prisons are already overwhelmed. We have a scenario where there are people in our prison system who are awaiting deportation. That, in turn, is leading to a scenario where we are adding a burden to a system that is already broken. I appreciate that the Minister said we may have to look at something in the future. I would very much want to be over the scrutiny of that in terms of what type of building it is. Until that point, however, it would be impossible for me to vote in favour of what is proposed in light of what we already know about our prison system. I will be calling a vote.”
“Do we have data for how many people arrive and claim asylum here, presumably from the common travel area, who do not feature in the Eurodac database? Presumably we at least have that information. This will become quite important when it comes to which data we share with the UK. The Minister said a few minutes ago that he will soon legislate to make the UK a safe third country. I appreciate he can legislate all he wants for that, but the UK has been explicit that it will not take returns of migrants or refugees. That will create a significant lacuna in the law which I worry about the consequence of because, we will get to it shortly, but we are legislating for detention here also and detention of minors, so that will create a real gap in the law that none of this is addressing.”
“As it relates to the amendment relating to sharing data, if a person flies from his or her home country outside the EU straight to the UK and then arrives here through the common travel area, he or she is not going to feature in any Eurodac database. What information would potentially be shared with the UK and under what regulation or law would that be done as it pertains to this legislation?”
“This might be the last time the Minister answers the question here. One of the problems I have with the Bill in its totality is the fact the Minister has accepted and said previously that some 90% or more of people who claim asylum here come through the common travel area. In a scenario where somebody is coming through the common travel area, that person does not tell us where the first nation he or she is fleeing from is. What information would be used to establish where that person may have come from previously if he or she came through the common travel area but has not given any other information beyond that? That is particularly relevant when it comes to detention. How would the Minister establish where that person came from, if he or she came through the common travel area, and how would that work for the purpose of detention?”
“I heard the Minister speaking in the media and he talked about the fact we had three different sessions and everybody had an opportunity to contribute but he knew full well that was not the case. There was not proper scrutiny of legislation. This is not a way of doing business and when this fails, it will be the Minister's failure.”
“In the Seanad, Senator Patricia Stephenson set a very basic and reasonable standard, in that legal counselling should be delivered by a qualified legal professional, individually and in-person and, crucially, that it was not to be a substitute for legal representation. These amendments were the bare minimum but we are still struggling. There are factors such as family reunification. Refugee family reunification is genuinely one of the cruellest aspects of these measures. In all of the time we have had to discuss this Bill in the Dáil, we have never gotten around to discussing an amendment relating to this or the policy itself because there has been so little time.”
“In the Minister's estimation, how many of these amendments does he think we will get to and that are worthy of being scrutinised? The people elected us to assess laws and carry out proper scrutiny but, once again, on this Stage, when the Bill has come back from the Seanad, there are 90 amendments and three hours for debate knowing full well we will never get to discuss them. Even if we talk about legal counselling, which the Minister brought up in the first amendment, it is still incredibly watery and vague and mostly undefined. There is no clarity on standards, on who will deliver it or on accountability. This has been raised time and again.”
“On Second Stage, we tried to make it somewhat better but the Minister brought it into the Dáil rather than give proper select committee scrutiny of it. He knew that the implications of doing so were that we would not get to discuss all the gaps or all the amendments. I had more than 100 amendments and I think we got to two of them. That is grossly insulting to the process and to the importance of the issue. There was a point where we could have had a really engaging and constructive debate on this in the Chamber. Deputy Carthy would probably disagree on a lot in terms of our approach to this area but what we will agree on fundamentally is that this was an incredibly undemocratic way to approach such important legislation. The Minister has tabled 90 amendments in a three-hour debate.”
“This Bill has the potential to not only be a disaster but to be a disaster in a way that impacts the lives of people in this State who are very vulnerable. I want to make it clear right from the off that when this fails - and I have no doubt it is going to fail - it will be the Minister's failure and his alone. This is without question some of the most important legislation we will deal with in this Dáil term, but from the very first moment the Minister has behaved in a way that was dismissive of the justice committee and has been extraordinarily vague about some of the most important aspects of the Bill. During pre-legislative scrutiny, I sat aghast while NGOs and legal bodies talked about the omissions from the Bill.”
“The Minister went on to further antagonise and accelerate an already difficult situation by saying the protesters were being manipulated by some idiot in the UK called Tommy Robinson. The C70 form sent by An Garda Síochána to the Defence Forces is an essential part of our security system. To politicise that, as the Minister for justice did on Thursday morning, is absolutely out of bounds. Does the Taoiseach endorse that? Should we see further protests on the streets, what lessons will be learned and how can we ensure it is not Government Ministers who inflame intentions?”
“It would be impossible to talk about the next meeting of the Cabinet committee on justice, home affairs and migration without discussing the absolute disaster that was last week. I am going to preface my comments by answering a question I know the Taoiseach will probably ask, because he asked it of my party leader earlier. Yes, I absolutely condemn the blocking of critical infrastructure and the threats to gardaí. However, does the Taoiseach endorse the tactics employed by his own Minister for justice last week, in particular the press statement that went out on Thursday morning, in advance of "Morning Ireland", stating that the Army would be on the streets and that vehicles would be damaged and nobody should complain?”
“There is capacity here and the Government will have support across the Chamber if we invest in people’s immediate needs and also in the solutions of tomorrow. That should be a solar power for all initiative and that is achievable. It could make a huge difference. We will be opposing the Government’s amendment and it is a damn shame it is not bringing forward the necessary solutions.”
“We are asking for bold intervention, an acknowledgement - by listening to the people we meet on the doors - that they are hurting and intervening with a €400 energy credit accompanied by a belief that never again should we be in this position by removing ourselves from fossil fuel dependency. That starts by recognising we can intervene here and we have a role to play. During the oil shock of the 1970s Denmark invested in renewables and it has inoculated its citizens from the worst effects of this particular crisis. I am sick and tired of hearing about how we are a wealthy country and that we have surpluses. Every single day I knock on doors of citizens who are operating on a deficit. That is a crying shame.”
“Ministers disgraced themselves last week with their reactionary tone. They inflamed tensions. What we need here is people who provide solutions. The solar power for all initiative that is being developed by my colleague, Deputy Whitmore, is one that is cost-effective, evidence-based and enables the Irish State to say “Never again” by investing in our communities. It is a capital investment. It could be paid for through the excesses of the carbon tax and it will also mean that when these shocks come again, which they will, Irish households will be inoculated against the worst extent of the crisis.”
“Most frighteningly of all, that figure has increased by 20% in the last 12 months. Can the Minister of State tell me that in six months’ time that number will not have increased again? There are families who are genuinely terrified about another bill coming through their letterbox, so we are asking for that €400 credit. Also, in Ireland we pay on average €360 more than the EU average for electricity so the €400 we propose just brings us to parity, yet the Government has averted its gaze from it. We understand we need solutions both immediately and in the long term so we also proposed a solar power for all initiative. We need leadership, vision and a commitment that never again will we be in the situation we are in now. It is because of global factors and we appreciate that but at this moment we need vision, leadership and intervention.”
“I also listened to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation three weeks ago when it told us there were healthcare practitioners - nurses and midwives - who simply could not get to their patients when using their own cars because of the cost of fuel. That is why we made that proposal and it is lamentable in the extreme that the Government has simply averted its gaze from it. It is an insult to the healthcare workers we rely on. We proposed a €400 energy credit for households earning under €70,000. We did that because people are struggling. The Minister of State told us this Government has given the largest package in Europe but he stopped there. He did not say that Ireland has the highest energy prices in Europe or that we have 315,000 households in energy arrears as we speak.”
“It is a shame the Government will not be supporting this Social Democrats' motion that provides solutions both immediately and for the future. I assure the Minister of State we will not be supporting the Government amendment. In three pages of testimony, basically, it is just telling us we will just continue as we are. Continuing on as we are is not acceptable any more. People are hurting too much. It is palpable. Government needs to listen, intervene and act. As part of our motion we talked about an enhanced supplementary mileage scheme for healthcare and essential workers. The Government amendment does not even reference that fact. I sat in this Chamber yesterday while a continuum of Ministers talked about how people were not able to make their appointments during the protests last week.”
“What we need now is a Government of vision - people who will listen to the concerns of those who they meet on the streets and at the doors and respond to them with urgency, clarity and compassion - but we also need people of vision who will stand up and say that we are going to invest so that never again will we be in this situation. That is why we are bringing our motion today.”
“Why did this Government cut solar grants while we lurched from one energy crisis to the next? The lesson was there but was clearly not learned. A credit will help families now, they need it now and we are not walking away from that, but solar investments help families for a lifetime. The State may not always have the fiscal room it has today. The question is whether we use this moment just to spend or whether we use it to invest, and we are choosing to invest. Right now, there is an opportunity and a space for leadership. During the oil crisis shock in the 1970s, Denmark chose to invest in its renewables. That is why it has offset the worst pain for its citizens being experienced today during this crisis.”
“Admittedly, there are high upfront costs but once it is running, the fuel is free and the maintenance is low. That is the logic behind our Solar for All plan. The upfront cost is a barrier and that is precisely where the State must act. Research from UCD estimates that all homes in Ireland have the potential for solar. If realised, it could meet a quarter of all residential electricity demand. A typical installation saves a household over €400 a year. Ireland generates just 1.5% of our total energy from solar. Denmark, similar in size, population and weather, is at 5%. That is not a geographic difference. That is a political choice. We are proposing to double the solar installation grant to €3,600, to include solar panels in the warmer home schemes and to introduce a €1,000 battery storage grant. We are asking a straightforward question.”
“I refer to nurses, carers, people who cannot work from home and people who rely on their cars to do their jobs. Right now, and I wish this was hyperbole, many of them are effectively paying to go to work. We are proposing a supplementary mileage scheme for essential workers and targeted support for those people who need their cars to provide the service that we ask of them. These are necessary responses to an immediate crisis but they are not sufficient on their own. Fossil fuel energy appears cheap up front but when you are buying gas and oil forever, you have no control over the price set in global markets. Every few years, first with Ukraine and now Iran, we are reminded with brutal clarity of just how exposed it leaves us. Renewable energy works the other way.”
“The Government says that it wants to target supports where they are needed most but in the previous budget, it reduced the incomes of the poorest households. It cut the incomes of disabled people by €1,400 a year. The measures announced in March provided nothing for households relying on home heating oil that were not in receipt of the fuel allowance. That is exactly why we are bringing forward the motion today. Our proposals are straightforward. They include a targeted €400 energy credit for households earning up to €70,000. In over 1 million households, people are working, contributing, doing everything right and still being left behind. We recognise that for our most vital workers, people without whom the country would collapse, the pressure is even higher.”
“We had Ministers and backbenchers yesterday pointing to record surpluses and offering platitudes while thousands of households were living in deficit and struggling just to get through the week. They are completely disconnected from the reality of what people are going through and this week showed that in the starkest of terms. Wholesale electricity prices have fallen by more than 70% since their 2022 peak. Retail prices have fallen by approximately 20%. While this is happening, all but one commercial provider increased their prices, most by double-digit figures. That gap is not an accident. It is a choice of a Government that has failed to intervene. It is a choice that has been made at the expense of every family simply trying to get through the week.”
“There is something in the air at present. You can feel it. It feels heavier. I can feel it in conversations every day, on the doors, in the shops, and when I stop and talk to people on the street. It is a level of pressure and of desperation that I have not witnessed since the period of austerity. People are not just worried any more; they are stretched completely to the limit. They are choosing between heating their homes and feeding their families. They are juggling bills, putting things off and hoping nothing else goes wrong because if it does, they have nothing left to give. People feel completely on their own while the Government is trying to tell them everything is fine.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann; notes that: — energy prices in Ireland are already among the highest in Europe and prices are continuing to rise rapidly; — the cost of home heating oil rose by nearly 70 per cent last month alone, the largest month-on-month increase ever recorded; — kerosene is the main heating fuel for 700,000 households across the country; — the prices of petrol and diesel have exponentially increased in recent weeks, putting huge pressure on commuters as well as the transport and agricultural sectors; — households in Ireland pay €360 more a year for electricity than the European Union average; — gas prices in Ireland are now double what they were in 2021; — there are 315,000 households in arrears on their electricity bills, up 20 per cent in just 12 months, and 180,000 households are in arrears on gas bills; and — prices are also soaring across the economy, for groceries, housing, transport and insurance costs; further notes that: — sky-rocketing energy prices have been coupled with huge increases in other household costs, like groceries and rent, and are putting a huge strain on low-and-middle-income families; — according to a 2025 Credit Union Consumer Sentiment survey, 15 per cent of Irish consumers would be unable to cope with a financial emergency costing €1,000; — a Barnardos report last year found 75 per cent of parents had to cut back or go without essential items because of cost-of-living increases; — a Child Poverty Monitor last year found the number of children living in consistent poverty nearly doubled, to more than 100,000; and — Children's Rights Alliance Chief Executive Officer Tanya Ward has described the cumulative impact of continued soaring costs as "a landslide effect" for low-income families, meaning providing basic necessities like nutritious food or a warm home has become increasingly difficult; agrees that: — wholesale electricity prices have fallen by more than 70 per cent since their 2022 peak, but retail prices have only fallen by approximately 20 per cent during the same period; — in fact, as electricity wholesale prices continued to fall last year, all but one commercial provider hiked their prices, most by double digit figures; and — wholesale prices have continued to fall this year, but retail prices have not been cut; further notes that: — the Government consistently says it wants to target supports where they are needed most, but there is a huge gap between what they say and what they do; — according to the Parliamentary Budget Office, the Government's recent budget reduced the incomes of the poorest households by over four per cent and massively increased poverty rates among elderly people from 13 per cent to 19 per cent; — according to the Disability Federation of Ireland, Budget 2026 also cut the incomes of disabled people, among those most at risk of poverty, by up to €1,400 per annum; and — the inadequate support measures the Government announced in March 2026 provided no support for households that rely on home heating oil and do not receive the Fuel Allowance; and calls on the Government to: — provide emergency relief to struggling individuals and families by immediately introducing a €400 energy credit, targeted at families earning up to €70,000; — adopt the Social Democrats "Solar for All" plan which includes a doubling of grants for solar installation to €3,600, and the inclusion of solar panels in the "Warmer Homes Scheme" to help families cut electricity costs by an average of €450 a year; — introduce a supplementary mileage scheme for essential workers like nurses and carers, who depend on their cars to travel for work; and — increase the rebate scheme for the transport sector, to cover unsustainable increases in fuel costs, and introduce a rebate scheme for green diesel that can be availed of by agricultural contractors and others who use that fuel.”
“In the coming two weeks we will talk about the parts of our history where we were valiant but at the same time we will be complicit in a scenario where we pour cement over a place where 923 babies are buried. That is a failure of our own history.”