Ged Nash
Louth · Labour Party · Ireland
“However, it is a rich country that has a problem understanding that it is now sustainably rich. Those of us in opposition will, of course, say that this country needs to do better, and it can.”
“On the one hand, it is legitimate for an Opposition party to critique the economic model day in, day out. I do it myself all of the time, and we all know that Ireland can do better. However, at the same time, is that kind of critique helping to persuade those whom we need to persuade into a new Ireland? I am not so sure that it is.”
“There will be fiscal and financial implications for this State in that transition. There is an obligation on us, insofar as we can, to properly interrogate and consider those implications and to be upfront about them.”
“No, it did not, but let us not exaggerate its impact on the Irish economy. It is good and it had an impact, but was there a causal relationship? I am not so sure. The jury is out on that. However, is the Good Friday Agreement a good thing and good for our economy? Of course, it is. Did the guns fall silent in the North?”
“We are not good at describing what those accommodations will be or what that relationship with the UK will be, whether economically, socially, politically, culturally or otherwise. It is a relationship that will have to be maintained. It will look very different as we approach a new Ireland.”
“That was a very different prospect when the vast majority, if not all, of East German citizens wanted to become part of a united German polity. As we know, that is not the case on this island. We need to be careful about how we approach that.”
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“I thank my colleague Deputy Ahern for providing me with some time to address a matter the Minister of State knows is very close to my heart and the hearts of the people of Drogheda. I have a very straightforward question for him. Where is Drogheda's new permanent driving test centre? He and I have engaged on this on a number of occasions in recent weeks. I appreciated the helpful updates he provided. For the benefit of the House, it is worth recording that in July of last year, the RSA said that the new driving test centre in Drogheda would be open and up and running in August. What then followed were a series of "nearly there" statements from the RSA that are in effect continuing without any public statements, at least, clarifying exactly where we are at the moment. There is a huge amount of frustration in my community.”
“I do not have a huge amount of confidence, based on the record over the past few years, that our approach will see any dramatic improvements. In fact, all we see are disimprovements. The initiative I have referred to is a genuine contribution not only to try to improve the Boyne river but also, perhaps, to introduce a new framework for the management of our rivers and, in addition, something that is missing, namely democratic oversight. I am referring to genuine public engagement on the management of our rivers and the inclusion of community experts and those in our communities who care about our rivers’ development and future. An opportunity has been missed in this regard, which is unfortunate.”
“Task forces see an intrinsic role for people working in agriculture, including farmers, in the management and stewardship of our environment. I acknowledge that organisations such as Boyne Rivers Trust do very important work in partnership with the farming community. I was very excited when the European Innovation Partnership came on board. This entails a very big investment in an important initiative. I hope our water quality can and will improve, but I remain sceptical because of the extension of the nitrates directive. I am disappointed we will not get the opportunity to examine the principles of this Bill, determine what we can learn from them and insert them into Government policy and future legislation in the area of river water quality protection.”
“I am happy to take credit for that. If that brings stakeholders together to improve our environment, it is good and I am happy to give it a fair wind. Let me return to the nitrates directive and the impact of intensive agriculture, especially the intensification of dairy over the past ten years or so. I do not want to single out any group. Farmers are the custodians of our landscape and environment and are working very hard to come up with innovative solutions to try to address the problems. They understand the threats posed to rivers. I was making a general point earlier to the effect that, regardless of where we stand on issues of considerable national importance like this, we should have a proper and respectful debate on them. The decision was taken and that was that. Off we went. People in agriculture have to be involved.”
“We just seem incapable of having responsible discussions in this Chamber. That is a poor reflection on the Government and a poor reflection on us as public representatives. For example, the least the nitrates directive extension merited was an informed debate and we did not have that. We do not seem to have those debates in this Chamber any more. There are issues in this regard. Interestingly, the Minister of State indicated that since the Bill was published and introduced on First Stage in 2023, there have been some innovations. I hope I am not overstating matters or making excessive claims but we can see some of the measures proposed in the Bill mimicked in some ways in the community forum that was established. I do not know whether it is a coincidence, but one of the first community forums established was in the Boyne catchment area.”
“Quite frankly, no one here seems to have the balls - the cojones - to understand and accept that. Responsible politicians who show leadership have responsible, mature and informed conversations with the people they represent. Regarding many of the measures and plans put in place now by the agencies to better manage our water ways, we are doing those with one hand tied behind our back in some ways because if we do not improve how we deal with agricultural run-off and so on, then the problems are waterways are going to experience will be insurmountable and we may as well right off some of our rivers. For what? I am the first person in this Chamber to defend somebody's right to make a livelihood. I am the first person to understand the importance of economic sectors to our country, but we need a responsible discussion.”
“I read the data from the EPA and I do not want to single out one sector over another, but there is an elephant in the room. We know that the nitrates directive exemption has been extended again. Ireland was straining to make those arguments. In the context of the Boyne, agriculture was the top significant pressure impacting on the river - this is directly from the EPA - at 66% of the 87% at-risk water bodies within the Boyne catchment area and we are extending the nitrates directive again. I do not want to be gratuitously having a pop at any one sector over another, but it is probably time we had adult, grown-up debates in our national Parliament and stop pretending that we do not have issues that are going to cause us real problems, not just in the future, but are causing us real problems today.”
“We have infringements on the water framework directive the length of our arm. We do not take the water framework directive seriously at all. I would argue that rather than the Bill's measures being counterproductive, their intention was to introduce greater collaboration and co-ordination between systems that in my view are already failing rivers like the River Boyne. We have Uisce Éireann. We have the EPA. We have the local authorities. We have port companies. We have Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI, and a range of different bodies. We have had LAWPRO for a number of years, an organisation that has great potential to raise public awareness of our water bodies and what needs to be done to protect them. However, the system that is in place at the moment just does not work and the evidence of that is there from disimproved water quality.”
“With respect to his officials who crafted the response, to me it appears to be an indefensible defence of a broken system. I believe the systems and frameworks that we have in place for managing our environment, protecting our rivers and bringing them up to the kinds of standard that citizens expect in order to protect our natural habitats, our biodiversity and our drinking water are far from where they should be. I note that the Minister of State referenced baseline comparators with other European states. We are really not comparing like with like. There are lots of European water systems under much more pressure than Irish water systems, but they are in heavily industrialised areas and in states that have only in relatively recent times joined the European Union and been subject to the water framework directive and so on.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his response even though it is not a response that I would agree with. It is disappointing that the Government has decided not to send the Bill for further examination on Committee Stage or delay its next reading, but to actively oppose it. I do not think that sends out the right the signal. It is very disappointing and in some ways upends a practice that has been in place for some time. I believe the arguments that the Bill makes merit and warrant further consideration. The Minister of State knows that I have the height of professional and personal respect and time for him. We have worked together over many years but, if he will excuse the pun, for a debate about water and a river, it has been a very dry debate.”
“The establishment of a task force on a statutory basis with the protection of the river as its focus will be a vital tool in defending the river and protecting this vital amenity for future generations. I will not overstate the importance of this intervention or innovation but it can make a contribution. This is why I am proposing this Bill and I urge everyone in the House to support its passage. I commend the Bill to the House.”
“When measured against the previous five-year report for 2016 to 2021, this report showed the risk the River Boyne network is under. Between 2019 and 2024, 52% of our river water bodies were in unsatisfactory ecological status. This reflects a 2% decline in 79 water bodies since the 2016 to 2021 report. The river supports a population of approximately 200,000 people. It drains an area of almost 2,700 sq km, with Drogheda as its greatest urban centre. I hope in the course of this and my later contribution, we will have shown the river's importance and the threats it faces now and in the future. I am firmly of the belief that the river's ongoing preservation, management and protection needs to be put on a firmer footing. We need to take a keener legislative interest in how we do that.”
“It saw the wisdom in the case made against the proposal by the Save the Boyne group and others and the appeal was won. When that welcome decision was made, the Save the Boyne group made a statement I wholly endorse, which the Bill seeks to underpin. The group said the Boyne had significant meaning to all the people who share its shores and waterways, from canoes to anglers, photographers and those simply strolling along its banks. In other words, the river belongs to all of us. The group said the river has a shared history and meaning for all those who recognise its enormous value. The latest water quality report from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, measured water quality over a five-year period from 2019 to 2024 and was published in 2025.”
“A major flashpoint in threats to the river came in 2021, when Dawn Meats sought planning permission from Meath County Council to construct a 7.2 km pipeline from its Slane beef abattoir to discharge treated wastewater into the River Boyne. The depth of feeling among locals living along the river became evident when hundreds of objections were submitted in opposition to the plans, a campaign which my colleague in Meath East, Deputy O'Rourke, who is with us this evening and will contribute on the Bill, was active in supporting. Despite those objections, in April 2022 Meath County Council granted permission for the proposal but the decision was immediately appealed to An Bord Pleanála by several parties. An Bord Pleanála saw sense.”
“The elephant in the room is the objective fact that certain agricultural processes are endangering the health of our river too. I am extremely concerned about the decision by the State to seek and secure another exemption to the nitrates directive. I will return to that in my response to the Minister's comments on the Bill later. Some welcome steps are being taken. Teagasc, for example, has developed an action plan for better farming for water in the Boyne catchment area, which it is hoped will make farmers better neighbours of our water courses and better custodians of the environment. I hope that plan will deliver positive results but quite frankly I am sceptical and history shows why I should be.”
“The river has the capacity to deal with a certain amount of human-generated pollutants but it is clear it is reaching its limits in that regard and has indeed exceeded them. The river has been cleaning up our mess for far too long. Under the water framework directive Ireland has agreed to ensure all its waters will be of high or good ecological status by 2027 but that is going to be practically impossible. As things stand Ireland is falling well short of this target. The Boyne catchment is no exception with many water bodies failing to achieve an adequate ecological status in recent years and I am putting that diplomatically. Things are getting worse, not better. The river is under attack from a variety of sources, including domestic wastewater, peat, urban wastewater, urban run-off industry, mines and quarries, to name a few.”
“The catchment supports five strictly protected species and habitats, including otters, Atlantic salmon, river lamprey, alluvial woodlands and alkaline fens. Despite these layers of protections that have been transposed into Irish law, the Boyne has been, quite frankly, under attack, and while local environmental groups have done some wonderful work in protecting the river and raising awareness of the threats to it, this work needs to be taken more seriously by putting more considered statutory frameworks in place for the protection of our ancient river. We need a different and improved approach. We need better collaboration and co-ordination and for all that to be placed on a statutory footing.”
“One of the key reasons the State acquired that estate was the rather unique biodiversity that was evident at those sites. The sites on the estate have been hardly touched by modern agricultural methods. It is quite a perfect site and something to be seen and enjoyed. We look forward to learning more over the next period about the Department’s plans for that site. The course of the river charts not only a line on a map but a course through the history of this island. Apart from its important cultural heritage, it is also internationally recognised for its environmental value. The importance of the river is recognised at a European level by its designation as a special area of conservation under the habitats directive and as an SPA under the birds directive.”
“It passes through the ancient towns and landscapes of Trim, Trim Castle, the Hill of Tara, Navan, the Hill of Slane and the medieval town of Drogheda, which is my hometown. The Boyne is also home to one of the world’s most important prehistoric landscapes, namely, the UNESCO world heritage site megalithic monuments of Brú na Bóinne. The importance of the Boyne Valley and its many sites that have yet to be studied archaeologically is writ large in the commitment made, after many years of campaigning by me and others, for the State to buy Dowth Hall and the demesne around it. That was something I campaigned on for many years and that was a really important commitment by the previous Government. It was a recognition of the importance of that area and the need to protect the environment and have it be enjoyed by future generations.”
“It must establish and maintain appropriate links with persons and organisations concerned with the management of the Boyne or any part of it with the aim of improved co-ordination in the formulation and execution of policies. These are the technical elements of the main provisions of this Bill and what it seeks to achieve. This Bill can be something of a template or framework for the better management of all our precious river systems across the country. We know our water systems are under serious pressure and serious threat. One of the main problems we have with the management of our precious river systems is the severe lack of co-ordination on their management and protection. When a variety of bodies are responsible, nobody is responsible and therein lies the risk. The River Boyne is of enormous historical and cultural importance.”
“Additional tasks the task force would take on include to arrange training, research or testing activities in relation to any of its functions, to promote public interest in, respect for, access to and enjoyment of the Boyne catchment and to co-ordinate the activities of public bodies and other organisations and persons in connection with the protection and enhancement of the environment of the Boyne catchment. In performing its functions the task force must act in a manner that achieves and promotes compliance with the requirements of both the habitats directive and the birds directive. The Bill envisages the task force would consult persons and organisations who are, or are representatives of, users of the Boyne catchment or the occupiers of lands in its neighbourhood.”
“For the purpose of this Bill the Boyne catchment is defined as: the River Boyne from its source at Trinity Well in the townland of Demesne and County of Kildare to an imaginary line drawn from The Haven in the townland of Baltray and County of Louth to Mornington Point in the townland of Mornington and County of Meath ... It also includes all tributary rivers and streams and connected lakes and ponds and includes the two canals, namely, the Lower and Upper Boyne Navigations.”
“It will also set out a vision for the Boyne catchment as a public amenity for current and future generations and ensure the river’s environmental sustainability, conserving its habitats and wildlife and monitoring the impact of climate change on the river. It will seek to identify the areas in and around the Boyne catchment where detailed proposals and plans for renewal, preservation, conservation, restoration and development or redevelopment would be appropriate and include proposals relating to public access and public amenities including public transport and pedestrian access to the Boyne catchment and its environs. Our river belongs to all of us.”
“The task force will be made up members from each of the four councils in Kildare, Louth, Meath and Offaly and appointed members who have an interest or expertise in the protection and sustainable development of the river. The functions of the task force will be to propose and promote policies and priorities for the protection and enhancement of the environment of the Boyne catchment and of its wildlife and natural habitats. It will co-ordinate, promote and support strategic planning and sustainable development around the Boyne catchment and make recommendations to regulate and control pollution in and around the catchment.”
“It was also inspired by the good work of groups like Save The Boyne and the Boyne Rivers Trust and representatives of those are with us as well. Much of the information I will put on the record in this debate and the data I will rely on comes from their valuable work on the ground and the research they have undertaken in recent years. As I have said, the Bill seeks to establish a committee of the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly to serve as a River Boyne task force with the function of proposing and promoting policies and priorities for the protection and enhancement of the environment of the River Boyne and of its natural habitats and wildlife. Should the Bill be enacted, the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly will establish a special committee to be known as the River Boyne task force.”
“That plan was thwarted by moves made by a public campaign and an appeal to An Bord Pleanála. The Bill, to give it its context, was inspired by my colleague and former County Meath councillor, Elaine McGinty, who is with us in the Gallery, along with representatives from local environmental groups who have dedicated themselves to the protection of the river. The Bill also has the support of my colleague, the mayor of Drogheda Councillor Michelle Hall and my colleague, Councillor Pio Smith. The Bill also takes its inspiration from my late friend and Louth Labour Party colleague James Lambe, a young man who passed away a short number of years ago. He was somebody who cared deeply about his community and about the river that all of us in Drogheda and in Louth and Meath cherish. This is part of his legacy.”
“I say that on the basis that this is the kind of initiative that should generate cross-party collaboration and support. We are all interested in the future of our river catchment areas and in improving the management and development of our environment. Rising in County Kildare, the River Boyne flows through the counties of Offaly, Meath and my home county of Louth. It is arguably the most historically significant river in the country as it winds its way through the landscape of Irish history and prehistory back as far as the first settlers in Ireland. The River Boyne is under serious pressure, not least in recent times when there were plans by a meat processing firm to discharge treated waste into a river where water quality is already threatened and biodiversity is at risk.”
“I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to introduce the River Boyne Task Force Bill to the House. The Bill seeks to establish a committee of the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly to serve as a River Boyne task force with the function of proposing and promoting policies and priorities for the protection and enhancement of the environment of the River Boyne and of its natural habitats and wildlife. While they are not in a position to be here I acknowledge the support of colleagues like Deputies Joanna Byrne and Ó Murchú who unfortunately cannot be here. Other local colleagues have expressed an interest in speaking on the Bill but may not be able to make it this evening for a variety of reasons, but that does not mean they are not committed to the principles of this particular Bill.”
“The Minister will be aware that in 2017, I introduced legislation to provide for an exoneration for men who were convicted of engaging in consensual same-sex sexual activity prior to the decriminalisation of homosexuality in 1993. As he will recall, the first part of that process was the historic State apology issued in both Houses of the Oireachtas in July 2018 for the way in which this State and this society treated their LGBT+ citizens. The second element of that process was the initiation of a process to set aside pre-1993 convictions. There are old men in this country who have criminal records only because of who they are, of who they love and loved, and when. That is plain wrong. Will the Minister update the House, nine years on from the initiation of the original legislation in my name, as to what the status of that proposition is?”
“Irish Rail is saying, in effect, that developers should build it. There are areas with smaller populations where train stations are being built and the demand is clear in the Drogheda area yet it simply is not happening. As the Minister of State knows, Drogheda's station is chock-a-block every morning before 7 a.m. and you will get clamped if you happen to encroach on, for example, yellow box junctions when you have a ticket and need to get onto the train. All these issues need to be addressed and the easiest and quickest way to address this would be to give workers a right to work remotely.”
“I met her on Monday and she asked why, with our antiquated, underfunded transport infrastructure under such well-documented strain, the Government would send civil servants like her and her colleagues who had proven they can successfully worked from home into the chaos of a transport system that was already so dysfunctional. The Minister of State will know that Drogheda is one of the fastest-growing areas of the country. We are building 5,000 homes on the north side of the town, 2,000 of which have already been built. To take the strain off the train station in Drogheda, we need to be building a second station. If we were building a second train station, I would accept this Government was serious about providing the supports and infrastructure to commuters to allow them get to Dublin for work but that project is nobody's child.”
“The right to request remote work as it stands is an empty formula due to the legislation. It is a meaningless melange of words that makes no difference whatsoever to working people. I have a right to request Drogheda United wins the Champion's League but we know that is not going to happen. That is the reality of this kind of situation. The Government is making empty gestures to working people and giving them the impression they have a right that does not exist at all in law. That needs to change. I met a civil servant who has been instructed back to her desk in Dublin who is working productively from home as it stands.”
“I will give some examples from my recent experience on the M1. On 18 December, a very minor tip on the motorway meant thousands of other commuters and I were sitting in traffic outside Drogheda for two and a half hours. The very next day, there was a very serious incident and a woman lost her life. That is the important thing we must remember. That was outside Drogheda on the M1 on 19 December and it caused traffic to be delayed by five and a half hours. The important thing is the emergency services could get to the people who were affected but TII, which is the organisation responsible for providing information on these issues when they arise, was practically silent. There were no updates on social media and belated instructions to drivers on dynamic signage to divert away from the area, and that is simply not good enough.”
“The Labour Party deliberately decided to align transport issues with the Government's chronic track record on providing a right to working people to access remote work. We get an insight today into this Government's thinking on remote work, for two reasons. The first is that the Government's response to our motion is effectively silent on the question of remote work. The second is that Ministers and their Secretaries General are actively working to ensure public and civil servants who worked, in some instances, one day a week at their desk in Dublin are now being instructed - forced - back to those desks on 1 February. They are being forced also onto crowded and congested trains in areas like Drogheda and forced onto roads that were tolled by Fianna Fáil back in the 2000s, adding insult to injury.”
“We should move to multi-annual budgeting in order to give those who are planning public service provision more certainty. Will the Minister commit to multi-annual budgeting in the plan tomorrow and to the introduction of a net spending rule? In other words, net of tax changes.”
“They were, rightly, scathing about this Government's approach to budgeting. They said that the Government was budgeting like there was no tomorrow. The Tánaiste acknowledged there are no forecasts or horizons beyond next year. That is no way to budget. Our view in Labour is that key to this plan is that we should be prepared to reflect on the plan. Perhaps the Tánaiste can confirm to the House this afternoon whether the plan will include the commitment to the introduction of a net spending rule, net of tax changes. That would be really important. The Tánaiste will recall that the previous Government introduced collectively a spending rule of 5%. That rule was more honoured in the breach. It was not based on any evidence at all or anchored in any plan.”
“The Minister has laid out the principles of what we can expect to see tomorrow. We knew that already. We understood that. Those of us who are members of the Oireachtas Committee on Budgetary Oversight met with the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, this week. I know the Tánaiste met with them when he was appointed.”
“We in the Opposition all expressed concerns, for example, about the reliability of the information received on existing levels of service before the budget. There were no spending review papers this year. We have a range of different concerns. It is not acceptable to me that on the day of the recess, we are being told that a publication of this importance is being published when the Dáil rises.”
“There is simply no valid reason this plan has been delayed for several months. We were told to expect this plan in the summer. We expected to see it before the budget. We did not see it before the budget. I think at this point, politics and media management is getting in the way of the publication of the plan. It will be published tomorrow. That is an interesting and important point. It should have been published this week so the Dáil would have been able to scrutinise and interrogate the plan and have a full debate on it. It is not an abstract plan. It will affect every person, every business and every citizen of this country over the next four to five years. There is, unfortunately, a pattern here when it comes to fiscal management and the production of data.”
“It is a year since the new Dáil met and almost 11 months since the new Government was formed, yet we still do not have the medium-term economic plan that this Government is obliged to submit to Brussels. The media were briefed earlier this week that the Cabinet would approve the plan on Tuesday. Is that the case? Has the plan been approved and when will it be published?”
“We need evidence that work is ongoing such that potential rogue operators will be rooted out. We know that lives have been lost in that fishery in recent years. I refer to the case this time two years ago. Lives were almost lost off Bettystown at the end of November. Lives and honest livelihoods are being put at risk, and the next Ben Thomas or the next Graceful Morning , the vessel that sank off Bettystown, an occurrence like that, is just around the corner unless the unsafe and, in my view, at times illegal practices that appear to have been tolerated for too long are weeded out. We need to weed those practices out. Doing so is how we properly support the fishers who have been working in those fisheries for many years and who put health and safety and the regulatory environment in which they operate first at all times.”
“In my view, however, the authorities need to act and need to start asking more difficult, more searching questions based on the information that has been disclosed, not just to me but to them as well. There needs to be evidence and action in terms of the agencies and their response to these issues. They cannot claim ignorance of these issues. There is a pattern of behaviour here and it needs to be properly understood and properly examined. This very week two years ago, I was supporting members of the Egyptian community in Drogheda who were dealing with their grief when their fellow countryman was taken by the sea off Dunany Point. We need fisheries that are operated well and that favour experienced, skilled operators, many of whom have been working in that fishery for generations, who always play by the rules.”
“An Garda Síochána, frankly, needs to take a serious interest in what is going on too. We are assured that they are all doing their jobs individually and collectively. I know that all the agencies take a risk-based approach and a multi-agency approach to issues in relation to the regulation of the industry. I have some experience of this. One of the last things I did when I was a Minister of State was bring in the new non-EEA permit scheme for migrant fishers in the context of an international journalistic investigation that was going on at the time and that exposed some of the conditions of non-EEA share fishermen operating in the industry, so I am familiar with what happens. I have represented the Clogherhead fishermen for many years.”
“People whose known business is, for example, home refurbishment and other such work are now for some reason registered as trawler owners. The authorities need to ask more serious questions of some of the newer arrivals to the sector. It is also alleged that on many of these boats, basic health and safety and training and regulatory statutory minimum requirements are not being met, as well as very substantive claims, in my view, of potential overfishing, routine breaches of working time at sea legislation, and other regulations that put the future of the fishery itself at risk. I have met this year with representatives from a range of different organisations, including the WRC, the SFPA and the Revenue Commissioners, and I have shared with them some details and the concerns expressed to me by the Clogherhead fishers.”
“I could go on. None of this is new to me or to the experienced fishers in Clogherhead. In recent months, local fishers, with whom I have met, people who have fished these waters for generations safely, sustainably and with health and safety at the forefront of their minds, have brought a raft of associated concerns to me about how the fishery in our area is being exploited by vessels with majority non-EEA crews. The Minister of State knows that this is against the regulations. They have serious concerns about how these boats are being operated and about the safety and training of the crew boarding and operating these vessels. They showed me evidence of boats registered to people with no connection whatsoever to and no direct experience in the fishing industry, vessels registered at residential addresses that simply do not stack up.”
“Issues involved inadequate safety systems, the failure to wear personal flotation devices, the failure of the life raft to inflate, the delayed activation of the vessel's emergency position indicating radio beacon, the absence of personal locator beacons for crew and prolonged cold water immersion in temperatures of approximately 9°C. The other crew member survived but had hypothermia. A distress signal at the time of sinking was not made. This, obviously, delayed the emergency response. The MCIB report raised concerns about safety management practices, including the lack of documented handover procedures when the vessel changed operators weeks before the incident. Critically, insufficient crew induction and training were a big problem. There was expired safety equipment and the absence of vessel-specific stability awareness.”
“I want to draw the Ministers of State's attention to very serious concerns over a multiplicity of issues brought to my attention by fishers I represent at Clogherhead in County Louth. Last month, as the Ministers of State will be aware, a trawler sank off Bettystown. Two Egyptian fishers in difficulty were rescued by the Coast Guard helicopter and the Clogherhead lifeboat. This is not an isolated case; it is the sixth such incident in recent times. There is a very concerning pattern. Exactly two years ago, an Egyptian fisher lost their life on a capsized vessel, the Ben Thomas , off Dunany Point, in Dundalk Bay. The recent Marine Casualty Investigation Board report into the fatal incident is absolutely damning. It says a number of things.”
“Ireland would not be acting in isolation, therefore, but in line with its stated commitments to animal welfare and EU principles recognising animals as sentient beings. I urge my colleagues to support this Bill. This is one of those occasions when the introduction of a free vote should be considered. Not to support the Bill would be to continue defending a cruel, unnecessary and, in our view, outdated practice that the Irish public has clearly rejected and will continue to reject. Fox hunting is not about farmers. It is not about rural life. It is, in our view, about cruelty and it is a pursuit that should be consigned to the bin of history and put out of its misery.”
“It is a complex community with competing and different interests and, frankly, a lot of those in here who claim to have a monopoly on speaking for those in rural Ireland do rural Ireland a disservice and do not ever reflect the diversity in modern rural Ireland that we have today and the diversity of views. This animal health and welfare Bill reflects growing recognition that hunting wild mammals with dogs is incompatible with modern welfare standards. Comparable jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom, have already enacted bans, as we know, even though the argument could very well be made that this is some part of a tradition in the UK, albeit an aristocratic, landed gentry one, that goes back centuries.”
“Presenting it as representative of rural Ireland obscures issues of exclusion and inequality and actually does the argument on the opposite side a disservice. Rural social cohesion is a legitimate policy goal, one I pursue in my everyday work, but it must be addressed through inclusive public infrastructure and services and opportunities, not through exclusive, harmful traditions. This is not the 1800s; this is supposed to be a modern, sophisticated Republic. I speak for rural Ireland - a new, changing rural Ireland - as much as others do. As I said earlier, modern rural Ireland is not a monolith. The people there are not homogenous.”