Ivana Bacik
Dublin Bay South · Labour Party · Ireland
“Just today I and other local representatives got an email from the owner of two restaurants in Dublin city centre about this issue. The Minister of State’s brief includes not only the circular economy but also small business.”
“The Bill Deputy Sherlock and the Labour Party are proposing is not one we suggest is a silver bullet or a panacea but it offers one small, constructive mechanism to address the dysfunction in waste services.”
“In Dublin Bay South we have superb Tidy Towns organisations that I am proud to work with from Ringsend and Sandymount across to Portobello in my area to Rathgar, Rathmines, Terenure, Donnybrook and Ballsbridge. We see really important work being done by Tidy Towns organisations.”
“The owner says he no longer has space to accommodate additional recycling bins, cannot leave recyclable waste out for collection and cannot leave flattened cardboard outside for collection. Private waste companies must send a vehicle to collect this directly from premises. This is costly, inefficient and unnecessary.”
“I do not mean just in Dublin, though Deputy Sherlock and I are focusing on Dublin and most of the TDs present are Dublin ones, as clearly this has ramifications across the country and the dissatisfaction and the concerns Deputy Sherlock’s constituents and mine are expressing are ones felt across the board.”
“We want to see a move, as Deputy Sherlock has it in the Bill, from competition in the market to competition for the market and this Bill would represent an important positive step on that journey to quality public services provided by the State and to remunicipalisation. Deputy Sherlock has set out the detailed provisions in the Bill.”
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“I would appreciate a response on my point on Aughinish Alumina. I acknowledge, as does the Labour Party, the strong steps Ireland has taken at international level in support of the rights of the people of Palestine. I welcome the Taoiseach’s confirmation that he has been engaging with Kaja Kallas on the suspension of the trade agreement. That is welcome but there is more that can be done. I am looking at the recent report by Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on Palestine. She has identified Ireland as one of 63 countries which she says are complicit in the collective crime of genocide in Gaza. That is a devastatingly serious charge. Clearly, there is much more we can do, and I have outlined some of the measures the Labour Party is calling on the Government to take.”
“Will the Taoiseach use our influence as a proudly neutral country to stand up for international law and protection of human life in Gaza and Ukraine?”
“Aughinish Alumina is undoubtedly a critical industrial facility for Europe and we are all conscious that hundreds of jobs are tied to the plant in Limerick. A solution must be found to protect those jobs and people's livelihoods, but also ensure a ban on deadly exports to Russia. Aughinish refinery is owned by a Russian company with links to the Kremlin though a sanctioned oligarch founder. The Irish Times has reported that 80% of Irish-made alumina went to Russia in the first three months of this year. The trade Minister is disputing this figure and his own Department is investigating the ownership of Aughinish. At the same time, the Government is lobbying to keep Aughinish off sanctions lists. It is easy to condemn war in Ukraine and Gaza. What is harder is taking meaningful action against Putin and Netanyahu and against bullies.”
“Ireland and the Government rightly condemn Russian aggression against Ukraine, as we all should, yet Irish-made alumina is being exported to Russia for use in weapons which are killing Ukrainian civilians. Indeed, exports from Aughinish Alumina have dramatically increased. They have doubled since the outset of Russia's brutal and illegal war. We have spent years in Ireland debating hypothetical military deployments under the triple lock. I deeply regret that the Cabinet is approving plans to abolish the triple lock today, despite strong national support for retaining it, even expressed in the Government's own public consultation. Despite that move, the Government is failing to take practical economic measures against Israel and Russia, which are states engaged in illegal wars of aggression.”
“Taking on Israel neither starts nor ends with this game. That is why Labour has been calling for full suspension of the EU-Israel trade agreement. That is why our party has called for the full passage of the occupied territories Bill to include a ban on both goods and services. We have been calling for stronger action to prevent US military refuelling in Shannon Airport. This is about whether states that are guilty of grave crimes against humanity can continue to enjoy normal and indeed preferential treatment while atrocities continue. This is not just about Israel, Netanyahu, Ben-Gvir and their acolytes. This is about Vladimir Putin too.”
“After their great win against the Netherlands last week, I begin by wishing the Ireland women's team every success tonight as they play France. Speaking of international sport, I raise the forthcoming Ireland-Israel football match. Football fans and all of us who are horrified by Israel's genocide in Gaza are concerned that this game will go ahead anywhere. We have been hearing from people who have contacted us in their droves with one message, that they want to stop the game in October. They want the Taoiseach and his Government to take a stand against the normalisation of genocide through sport. They want him to take a stand against Israel's war crimes in Gaza, the West Bank and south Lebanon. They want to stop the game from going ahead anywhere in the world. This is about more than just one football match.”
“There is no legal barrier preventing a formal State apology, a proper compensation and support scheme reflecting care needs of survivors and a clear timeline in order that no one else dies waiting for justice. After last night's "Prime Time" programme, how much longer must thalidomide survivors wait for justice?”
“On "Prime Time" last night, Sharon Clarken spoke with extraordinary dignity about the life-long impact of thalidomide on survivors and their families. More than 64 years since the drug thalidomide was withdrawn, survivors are still waiting for justice from the State. Many are now in their 60s and 70s and are living with complex medical needs. Parents, in particular mothers who took thalidomide, have died waiting for closure. I think of survivors like the late Jacqui Browne, who died just last year. Still, there has been no formal State apology. The Taoiseach is aware of the issues and has expressed strong words of sympathy for survivors, but that is not enough.”
“I reference the children's hospital because the Taoiseach is saying the environment is being weaponised to delay infrastructure provision but there are plenty of delays in the Government's infrastructure projects which have no basis in climate considerations. The figures in the EPA report speak for themselves. The Taoiseach's climate Minister may spin a good spin and he sought to blag on housing figures as housing Minister.”
“That is exactly it. We acknowledge where there has been progress but it is the scale of the progress that is the problem. It is the pace of change that is the problem. There is no sense from the Government of the necessary ambition or urgency to take the further measures required to achieve the emissions reductions we have signed up to. The figures speak for themselves. The Taoiseach may seek to scapegoat climate for delays in infrastructure. The children's hospital has seen chronic delays. This was not due to climate or environmental concerns. There are failings in the Government on delivering infrastructure projects.”
“However, children are breathing polluted air, our roads are choked with traffic, we have some of the highest asthma rates in Europe and in a cost of living crisis, households are spending a fortune on fuel and car costs because they have no other choice. There is endless outrage in this House expressed about bike sheds, particularly from the largest Opposition party, but we know a single car parking space costs up to €70,000 and the OPW spends more than €1 million a year leasing parking spaces for civil servants. Cycling saves money and reduces emissions. The Government is failing on active travel, failing on climate targets and failing to deliver infrastructure at scale.”
“Upgrades to the grid crawl at a snail’s pace. The Government is missing emissions targets and ripping up climate protections. It is a famine of ambition. Let us take transport. The Taoiseach's rhetoric increasingly tries to manufacture an urban-rural divide on climate and transport. Of course, we know some people will always need cars in both rural and urban areas.”
“A false choice has been cynically presented: Ireland must either build infrastructure or decarbonise. That is nonsense. We know we can build homes, transport and energy infrastructure while also cutting emissions. As our Labour Party climate spokesperson, Ciarán Ahern TD, has pointed out, other countries are doing this. The Government is doing neither at the scale required. Ireland’s infrastructure deficit is our single biggest economic challenge. Offshore wind is delayed.”
“It is because the Government has no plan and the numbers are getting worse. This is also why the Government sat on the land use review for months on end. Emissions from that sector are projected to soar by more than 70%. Michael Healy-Rae may have resigned as Minister of State but we now know he is far from the most sizeable thing being emitted from the forestry sector. While emissions rise, the Government is dismantling crucial protections for our environment. Take the Critical Infrastructure Bill. It fundamentally undermines the climate Act, allowing major infrastructure projects to bypass climate considerations entirely. This was a sly move by the Government and, appallingly, it was supported by almost all Opposition parties, except for the Labour Party and the Green Party.”
“Today's Environmental Protection Agency report confirms Ireland is nowhere near on-track to meet our climate targets. In fact, we are projected to achieve barely half of the emissions reductions required by law. In that context, the climate Minister’s interview earlier today with David McCullagh on RTÉ was extraordinary. The Minister urged us to look on the bright side throughout but, however he tries to spin it - he is good at spinning - there is no silver lining. The Green Party’s exit from Government marked the death knell of Fianna Fáil’s ambition on climate. Take this year’s climate action plan. The Minister, Deputy O’Brien, has confirmed it will not arrive until quarter 3. A climate plan for 2026 published with just three months left in the year is laughable. We know why it has not arrived.”
“Clearly, we cannot appeal to religious orders to ensure, on the basis of their moral duty, that survivors receive justice and redress. I have spoken to the Taoiseach before about the need to have a statutory scheme or some provision in law to enable survivors to access redress from religious orders. On 25 June, the Dáil will debate my Private Member's Bill to provide a clear pathway to justice for survivors. I ask the Taoiseach to engage with me on that also.”
“Just an hour ago, the special advocate for survivors of institutional abuse, Ms Patricia Carey, strongly condemned what she describes as State failures in providing redress to victims of institutional abuse. She has recounted the negative experiences of survivors engaging with the Government's statutory schemes, including retraumatisation and exclusionary terms of reference. Survivors have spoken of a pattern of exclusion. I urge the Taoiseach to engage with Ms Carey at the earliest opportunity to see that survivors are treated right by the State. I also ask the Taoiseach to engage on another matter, namely the treatment of survivors by the religious orders, which even now are evading justice by moving their assets to lay-run trusts.”
“They are squeezing those PIPs until they squeak. This is what we are seeing. They are using legal loopholes to justify making redundancies. There is an issue about workers' rights in tech companies. At a minimum, what we have called for in the Labour Party, is the introduction of stronger workers' rights protections to force big tech to play fair amid these plans to lay off workers and to expose this issue of AI washing.”
“I agree with the Taoiseach that it is not either-or. SMEs are certainly the backbone of our economy but what we have seen is an over-dependence on a handful of small tech companies and that is the concern. Yes, of course, there are many SMEs that are working with them and are in the supply chain but the problem, as the Taoiseach said, is the lack of scaling up of SMEs and the lack of investment in indigenous start-ups. That is a real concern. We need to diversify the economy. It is not just the Labour Party saying this; we have heard it from every expert who has looked at our economy. There is a particular concern about workers' rights in tech companies. Let us look at the issue of performance improvement programmes, PIPs. These spurious programmes are being used by tech companies to justify redundancies.”
“The IT sector here has shed more than 20,000 jobs in the past year alone. How are the tech oligarchs dressing this up? They refer to it as modernisation and flattening teams. That is awful language when they are talking about people's livelihoods and lives. Flattening companies really means throwing staff to the wolves to satisfy shareholders and inflate share prices. Multibillion euro corporations led by Trumpian cheerleaders in Silicon Valley are using AI as cover for years of over-hiring and ruthless cost-cutting. This is AI washing and these companies are showing contempt for the industrial relations mechanisms of the State. We are seeing this with Covalen, which snubbed an invitation to the Workplace Relations Commission even as it looks to sack 700 people.”
“Before I begin, I want to congratulate new the Deputies, Daniel Ennis and Sean Kyne. As a by-election veteran myself, I wish them the very best, although I was elected during Covid so I missed out on the handshakes, hugs and lovely warmth they got. Recent lay-offs in the tech sector are causing huge stress and anxiety for those receiving redundancy notices, those seeing their colleagues being laid off and the communities affected. My constituency, Dublin Bay South, is home to many tech companies and to the workers who keep them running. Entire communities have been built on the promise of secure, well-paid tech jobs, but this news reminds us of the vulnerability of that model and of our national economy. Meta is cutting 350 jobs here. That proportion of the workforce vastly exceeds global averages.”
“I have submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy Moran, to clarify why this drastic closure is necessary. However, I am asking the Taoiseach and his Government colleagues why the decision was only communicated so late in the day with little notice to the 14 staff due to lose their jobs on 15 June. I am also engaging with the Chester Beatty. There is a real concern that this is drastic action only communicated late in the day. There is then the closure of a wonderful cafe that has been in operation there for over two decades and is such a great amenity in the constituency.”
“The Government says its VAT cut will save the hospitality sector and protect small restaurants and cafes from closure. The reality is that the big winners will be the burger chains. McDonald's alone will make €20 million as a result. The irony is that in my constituency, it is apparently a Government decision bringing about the closure or a successful independent cafe, which is the wonderful Silk Road Cafe in the Chester Beatty Library at Dublin Castle. On Monday, I met the cafe proprietor, Ibrahim Phelan. He and his staff are very distressed. They only learned some weeks ago that the Chester Beatty Library and the cafe will have to close from 15 June until the end of the year in the context of Ireland's EU Presidency.”
“One grandfather described how his daughter had fled an abusive relationship barefoot in her pyjamas with a broken jaw. Her abuser received a sentence, but a suspended one, in the criminal courts. His daughter was imprisoned because her traumatised child had refused overnight access visits. That is just one example. The in camera rule is an important facet of family law proceedings but we need to acknowledge reform of family court procedures is needed-----”
“I thank the Taoiseach for his response and his commitment to strengthening supports further. The reality is the institutions of the State, in too many ways, are still not supporting victims of abuse. I will give two examples. First, hours were spent at the justice committee yesterday debating laws on the disclosure of counselling notes in rape trials when we all know that simply should not happen. Deputy Kelly has been working with the Minister and putting amendments on that, and indeed working with the Rape Crisis Ireland on it. Second, perpetrators of domestic violence in far too many cases are using the courts by way of abusing victims further. Last week, I attended the launch of the Right to Transparency campaign at which we heard harrowing testimonies from women and their families who have been through the family court system.”
“This is a practical measure to provide fast financial support for those who desperately need an escape route. It would not be means tested and would provide help when needed, recognising that victims often have only a small window of opportunity to escape. Freedom from violence should not be a luxury and nobody should have to remain in danger because they cannot afford to leave, just as no victim should lose faith in the justice system because their cries for help are dismissed or delayed. Will the Taoiseach commit to establishing a safe fund to help victims of domestic abuse? What will he do to ensure abusers are not accommodated within the ranks of An Garda Síochána and to see that complaints of abuse are taken seriously by Fiosrú?”
“This should stop us in our tracks. Far too many women and children across Ireland are experiencing home as not a place of safety, but a place of danger. We have made progress on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in recent years - legislating for the offence of coercive control, Coco's Law, the O'Malley report, and the establishment of Cuan and protective services units in Garda divisions - but we must do more. I have a constructive policy call for the Taoiseach today. Front-line organisations, such as Women's Aid, tell us that financial insecurity and the housing crisis are trapping women and children in violent homes. Many victims simply cannot afford to leave and their abusers know this. That is why the Labour Party and Labour Women are proposing a €3 million safe fund for victim survivors of domestic abuse.”
“Yet, as reported in last week's Irish Examiner , her former husband remains a member of the Garda. In Paul Moody's case, we read of serious failures by the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, to take effective action when alerted to his conduct. Yesterday, the CEO of Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, Rachel Morrogh, stated that record numbers had contacted its helpline last year. At almost 24,000, it was the highest ever. There were over 7,000 first-time contacts. Garda figures show that more than 1,000 domestic abuse reports are being made a week and official statistics represent only a fraction of the true number. Nearly 40% of victims surveyed by the Garda Síochána Inspectorate said they did not report the abuse they suffered and approximately half who did report abuse said they were dissatisfied with how they were treated.”
“Yesterday, I raised the plight of renters with the Taoiseach in this Chamber. I hate to say I told you so, but today's daft.ie report confirms the recent record surge in rents and a particularly sharp rise in Galway, proving again just how badly the Government is failing renters. Today, I wish to raise a different matter with the Taoiseach, a serious matter, namely, the epidemic of violence against women in our country. Yesterday, former garda Paul Moody was sentenced to prison for a terrible prolonged campaign of coercive control against his partner. He has already served a three-year sentence for coercive control in respect of another woman, Nicola Hanney. It is four months since I raised with the Taoiseach the treatment of former garda Margaret Loftus and praised her courage in telling her story of coercive control.”
“I also support calls by INAR for a thorough investigation of all the circumstances leading to the death of Mr. Sakila. Deputy Marie Sherlock, our local TD in the area, has also issued that call and attended today the vigil in Mr. Sakila's memory on Henry Street. We need to ensure all the circumstances of this incident are thoroughly examined.”
“I express my deepest sympathies to the family and friends of Yves Sakila and express my concern at the incident last Friday evening on Henry Street in Dublin city centre that resulted in his death and the injury of an older man. I also express condolences to the Congolese community here. It has been reported that Mr. Sakila was an IT professional originally from Congo who had been living in Ireland for some 20 years. A video has been circulating of the minutes leading up to Mr. Sakila's death. I viewed this and for anyone who has viewed it, it contains very distressing and disturbing footage. I echo the words of the Irish Network Against Racism, INAR, which said it was very concerned that excessive force may have been used against Mr. Sakila, and indeed that appears to be evident from the video.”
“All across the country, all of us who are constituency TDs are hearing from people who are desperately hurt, who are in fear and who are getting notices to quit and have nowhere to go. The figures speak for themselves and the stories behind the figures speak for themselves, no matter how much the Taoiseach tries to spin it and no matter how much he lectures me about "churn" in this House. He said it in March. He is saying it again now.”
“With respect, what I have heard from the Taoiseach just now is Alice in Wonderland logic or Micheál in Wonderland logic. The Taoiseach is telling me the Government has introduced protections for renters and that these have, somehow, generated evictions, so which is it? He made claims about construction figures that he needs to go back and look at again. He used the word “churn”. That is deeply hurtful to those families, like the family I described, like the family I met in Oranmore, and like families we are all meeting all the time. I hear that the Taoiseach is telling members of his own parliamentary party that there is a wonderful response on the doors in the by-election, but he must know this is not the case. That is more Alice in Wonderland thinking.”
“Will the Taoiseach support Labour's Bill and will he intervene to stop the tsunami of evictions and keep children out of homelessness?”
“However, what kind of protections are these for renters who have already endured more than a decade of failure from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, where rents have more than doubled in ten years? This is before the full impact of the Government's market reset and rent hikes to come. The Taoiseach said last weekend that the defining challenge of our time is to give hope to young people that they can find an affordable home, but his policies are leading to thousands of young people being evicted from their homes. He has achieved the highest level of evictions since the Famine, the highest level of child homelessness ever and he has nothing to offer renters. Unlike him, we have put forward constructive proposals. We have published legislation for an emergency three-year eviction ban.”
“I have spoken before about our Labour representatives' experience of meeting renters contemplating suicide because their situation is so utterly desperate. People need hope and they need Government action to resolve the housing crisis. What action has the Government taken? It rushed deeply flawed legislation through, guillotined the debate, ignored multiple amendments from Labour's Deputy Conor Sheehan and other Opposition parties and the Taoiseach literally scoffed at us in the Chamber when we warned this measure was effectively an incentive to evict and an amnesty on rent hikes. The Tánaiste even told me the measure, in his words, actually "protects renters"?”
“It gave private landlords a year's notice that they could jack up rents, but only if they got rid of existing tenants before the end of March. Families and children are suffering as a result. Threshold has supported more than 10,000 households in the first three months of this year alone. That is 3% of all households in the private rented sector in just 12 weeks. Behind every notice to quit is a person or family living in utter fear. Out in Galway and Dublin over recent weeks I have met renters in tears as they wonder where they will go next, like the family I met in Cabra of two parents, both working, and two teenage children. They have spent the past 18 months in cramped conditions in a homeless hub because they simply cannot find anywhere to rent or buy.”
“I welcome Austin Appelbee and his family. Austin, you inspired us all with your immense courage. Well done. In March, reports emerged of mass evictions across the country as a result of the new Fianna Fáil rent law. When I raised this with the Taoiseach at the time he told me that the facts did not bear out any connection. However, the latest figures from the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, confirm exactly what we previously warned him about. The botched so-called rental reforms have indeed triggered what has now become a wave of evictions. In the first three months of this year alone, more than 7,000 eviction notices were issued, which is a 50% increase from last year. These figures should not come as a shock. They are the inevitable consequence of the Government's policies.”
“There is no African voice to testify to the hurt those comments caused or to testify at first hand about the direct experience of racism. My Labour colleagues and I very much hope that will change after the Galway West by-election. We know we have a candidate who exemplifies the new Ireland. I am not going to speak any further-----”
“I thank the Tánaiste for his comment that Bertie Ahern's remarks were not appropriate and were wrong. Will he go further by calling them out and calling on Mr. Ahern to apologise? It is ironic, as the Tánaiste will appreciate as Fine Gael leader, that Bertie Ahern should have the temerity to fuel rhetoric that blames immigrants for systemic problems in Ireland. This is the man whose policies brought about the worst financial crash in the history of the State. Since that crash, migrants have played a pivotal role in rebuilding our economy. Let us acknowledge that. We should look around this Chamber. We are dealing today with an outrageous slur made by a former Taoiseach against people of African heritage and descent. Yet, in this Chamber, there is no one of colour.”
“I spoke to a mother who works in cancer care in Rathgar, in my constituency, whose two daughters aged 4 and 7 have been living in Ghana with their grandmother for the past two years while they wait for permission to come here. We are failing the people whose work is building our communities. We need to change our rhetoric and improve their reality. We must improve the family reunification process. Moreover, we need to be careful about our language. Does the Tánaiste condemn Bertie Ahern's comments? Will he call on him to apologise? Will he support my party's Together We Thrive campaign for a fair, fact-based and positive conversation about migration?”
“The Tánaiste knows that nearly one in four nurses and midwives employed by the HSE comes from abroad. I met this morning with representatives of Nursing Homes Ireland, who confirmed that the nursing home sector simply could not function without the migrant workers who make up a huge proportion of its workforce. However, we are failing many of those migrant workers. I met yesterday with members of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO. They told me about the enormous delays in the system for nurses working here who seek to have spouses and children join them from abroad. I heard directly from those affected heartbreaking stories of family separation due to the delays in processing visas for family reunification.”
“Meta has failed to take responsibility for the hate speech it is facilitating. The former Taoiseach, Mr. Ahern, remains a member of the Council of State. He is more than just a private person making ignorant remarks at a doorstep. As he should know, discourse around migration must be rooted in facts, humanity and respect. That is why the Labour Party, just last month, launched the Together We Thrive campaign. Our promotes the urgent need for a fair, fact-based national conversation on migration that highlights the enormously positive contribution made by those with migrant backgrounds to our society and our economy, and this is clear from the figures. We know the health and social care sectors, in particular, rely heavily on migrant workers.”
“In the other by-election in Galway West, a torrent of despicable online racist abuse has been directed at the Labour Party candidate, Councillor Helen Ogbu.”
“The comments of former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern are deeply disturbing. Particularly alarming was the way in which he singled out specific ethnic, religious and national identities. More than being just offensive and irresponsible, his language was dangerous and inflammatory. For a politician who devoted so much of his career to finding a resolution to the Troubles - a conflict based on religious division - it was shameful to hear him refer to a child's religion, Islam, when he said he is worried about the next generation of Muslims. In the context of the Dublin Central by-election, it was profoundly wrong to use language that could direct public anger towards migrants and minorities. We have already heard a candidate in that constituency make an outrageous call for internment of refugees.”
“Earlier this week, adults who were the victims of child sex abuse had to get an order from the High Court to compel the Christian Brothers to disclose the names of alleged abusers and members of the order in order that they could be sued. The Christian Brothers are still using controversial legal strategies to keep redress beyond the reach of those to whom it is owed. Now we are seeing the Christian Brothers selling what could create a world-class public educational campus to the highest bidder. This will be a commercial sale, with no conditions attached.”
“A “For Sale” sign has gone up this week on the Christian Brothers monastery building on Synge Street in Portabello in my constituency. The property has a guide price of €3.75 million. For some time, I have been calling on the Minister for education to ensure that this building will be retained for educational use by the existing four schools on the street. Indeed, I have also called on the Christian Brothers in this regard. The area suffers from an acute shortage of local school places, particularly places where students can receive education trí Gaeilge. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, has said in response that her Department has no intention of acquiring the site. which is regrettable.”
“In a climate crisis, while we of course need value for money in all our projects, investment in cycling is not a frivolous extravagance. In a climate crisis, we need to support people to make the transition to cycling in order to help reduce emissions from fossil fuels and reduce dependence on private cars. I ask the Taoiseach and those on all sides of the House to commit to supporting cycling.”
“This week is national bike week. As conveners of the all-party Oireachtas cycling group, Deputy Ciarán Ahern and I were delighted to host a cross-party cycle around Leinster House today, and thanks to all the colleagues who took part. We need to see the Government step up and provide proper investment for cycling infrastructure. I ask that colleagues commit not to buy into an anti-cycling narrative. There has been a lot of talk recently about the cost of bike sheds, but we need to put that in perspective. The cost of building a single basement car parking space, for example, is between €50,000 and €70,000, and €1.2 million is being spent every year by the OPW on leasing car parking spaces for civil servants.”
“The Taoiseach is out canvassing, as I am, across Galway West and Dublin Central. He is hearing it, too. People are feeling this in their pockets and their families and young people are leaving the country.”