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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“To be fair, however, one thing we can be glad about is that the Taoiseach did push back against some of Trump's comments on immigration. I was pleased to hear the Taoiseach defend Europe and European migration policy and, indeed, say that Ireland benefits from our migrant communities and the skills they bring here. It was entirely appropriate for the Taoiseach to bring that message on St. Patrick's Day from a nation of immigrants because for generations the Irish national story was about our people finding refuge abroad. That is why the Labour Party has now asked the Government to launch a positive information campaign about migration in Ireland. We need a campaign based on facts and real stories.”
“-----about Europe, NATO, wind farms, Keir Starmer, immigration and much more. It is deeply disappointing that the Taoiseach did not push back harder against Trump's delusional ramblings, in particular to condemn Trump's illegal war on Iran.”
“I commend the great Oscar wins at the weekend for Jessie Buckley and Richie Baneham and, of course, the win for the Irish rugby team. Yesterday, we watched the White House ceremony while the Taoiseach sat silent, utterly sidelined while US President Trump ranted and raved-----”
“We are fighting to retain Rathmines post office. We are engaging with An Post, the council, the Rathmines Initiative and others but will those in government ensure that we see the retention of post offices and react to stop their closure?”
“This afternoon, the Dáil will debate post office closures. Across the country, we see the hollowing-out of our post office network. Government representatives may lament each closure today but the Government has the power to halt and reverse the closure of in-person services. Take Rathmines, a community in my constituency with a similar population to Drogheda. Having already lost the citizens information centre, now our beloved, iconic 1930s Rathmines post office faces closure, relocation and sale on the private market. This is selling the family silver. The Ministers, Deputies O’Donovan and Chambers, have the power to stop this sale today. We could see our post offices transformed into community hubs for public services like passport and driving licence renewal, keeping people from isolation and bolstering communities.”
“The Government could, of course, if it was a government that took climate action seriously, invest heavily in renewables to support people who wish to and, indeed, need to make the transition away from reliance on home heating oil. The Taoiseach speaks about retrofitting, but we have seen simply not enough done to encourage the sort of retrofitting revolution that my colleague Deputy Ahern has called for. Will the Taoiseach take on tangible practical additional measures to support struggling households?”
“The Taoiseach outlined measures taken. The Labour Party welcomes any measures that will ease pressure for struggling households, but even the Taoiseach acknowledged that families and households are still struggling, and that not enough has been done to help people, who are now desperately fearful as they see the likely prospect of inflation spiralling again and as they see already, as I have said, home heating oil vastly increased in price. Here is what else the Taoiseach could be doing, because the Labour Party has proposed constructive solutions. The Government could use the powers it has under the Consumer Protection Act 2007 to cap the price of home heating oil, as Labour has urged, instead of just saying it will keep matters under review.”
“Unaffordable and unavailable, last month the median price for a home in Dublin broke €500,000 and the Government's new rental rules mean an amnesty on rent hikes and an incentive to evict. There are so many notices to quit in Wexford and around the country. In 2022, when Russia unleashed war on Ukraine, the Taoiseach told people to wait for inflation to reduce and when he cut temporary cost-of-living measures, he told people to wait and see. Households in Ireland need a government that intervenes when costs spiral, not a bystander government or a government that shrugs. No one expects the Taoiseach to end world war, but will he act decisively to support people who are up against the wall and will he intervene to support those who are struggling in a cost-of-living crisis?”
“Petrol and diesel prices are climbing, but instead of taking on Deputy George Lawlor's proposed price caps, the Government hides behind working groups and task forces, letting the market run riot and making luxuries out of everyday essentials. People are scared. Morgan McKinley tells us that pay rises have stalled, with wage increases lagging behind inflation, recruitment slowing and living standards slipping. I am helping a man who has taken a second job to try to support his family. He and his wife send their teenager to school with just bread and butter and a banana for lunch, while cutting back themselves. They are not alone in living that hardship. Let us not even start on housing costs.”
“The Government stood by while motor insurance crept up, while the biggest health insurers hiked their prices by more than 10%, and now, with Trump and Netanyahu’s warmongering, and the retaliation by Iran and Hezbollah, we are seeing costs being driven even further through the roof. Home heating oil, notoriously, has jumped 40% in a matter of days. One woman, who emailed me to raise her concerns, had to revise her email before she hit "Send". She said that they had put up the price again in the time it had taken her to type the message to me. This is price-gouging, pure and simple. Irish energy bills were already inflated, long before this war.”
“Many people in Ireland are now at breaking point from the cost-of-living crisis. This crisis has not just persisted; it has been turbocharged by global instability for sure but also by the Government's policies. Households are struggling on every front, with the price of housing, groceries and energy. Those already in poverty are being pushed even further to the margins and everyone is feeling the squeeze. The costs of everyday essentials have skyrocketed. In five years, butter and milk are 45% more expensive. This is not a statistic. These are the totals that people dread seeing pop up as they check out at the supermarket. People's bills are rising, while salaries stagnate and the Taoiseach is just standing by.”
“Cuirim fáilte rompu go léir. I welcome the students from St. Michael's in Finglas and also students from the City of Dublin Education and Training Board, CDETB, Parnell Square. Ironically, it is lovely to welcome them from Parnell Square on a day when Deputy Marie Sherlock has done so much to secure the future of the Rotunda Hospital in Parnell Square.”
“It seems the law is so complex that he was not able to provide any clarification to the families affected. There are two questions. If the Minister for housing cannot understand his own laws, how on earth is any renter meant to know their rights now? Second, we are all seeing a real-time surge in notices to quit. The Wexford case is a really serious and extreme example-----”
“At the weekend, the Taoiseach's appalling new rules for renters came into effect. To mark that change, we learned of the eviction notices issued to 36 homes in Wexford, all owned by the same large landlord, right in the heart of the housing Minister's own constituency. My colleague Deputy Lawlor has been dealing with the families involved, in excess of 100 people including many children, many of whom will not qualify for the housing assistance payment, HAP, or the council housing list. The Taoiseach's new law is unleashing fear on the people he is meant to represent, and there is nothing but silence from the housing Minister. It seems that the Minister had to wait for his civil servants to come back to work this week to explain his own law to him.”
“There is, I think, a clear indication that the Taoiseach is soft-pedalling a national response in fear of upsetting Washington ahead of St. Patrick's Day. I think that has to be the conclusion-----”
“We can all agree there are no good guys here. The Iranian regime is brutal and we have utterly condemned it. However, the Israeli and US attacks on Iran are also illegal. We should be able to say that very clearly. The socialist Prime Minister of Spain has been very clear in condemning the attacks and refusing to allow Spanish bases to be used by the US. Why can we not have that clarity here? Instead, as I said, the Taoiseach engages in a sort of double-speak, criticizing the UN, yet failing to recognise that in fact there has been an effective use of multilateral institutions in containing, reducing and diminishing Iran's nuclear capabilities. Why can we not work with the multilateral institutions that we have? Why can we not hear the Irish Government condemning clearly the US-Israeli strikes as in breach of international law?”
“We are all waiting to learn what exactly Trump means when he says, "We haven't even started hitting them hard". Those are terrifying words. This is a chaotic White House, which is destabilising what was already a tinderbox in the Middle East, destroying innocent lives, disrupting the global economy and pushing the most vulnerable people into harsh poverty. Here in Ireland, energy bills are skyrocketing already. On "Liveline" yesterday we heard from people frazzled, racing against the real-time price-gouging that we are seeing with home heating oil, forced to plan for yet more wartime inflation, just four years after the Putin's brutal war in Ukraine. We cannot then see the Taoiseach engage in plastic-Paddy pageantry while hiding behind vague language. Will the Taoiseach condemn the US and Israeli action as a breach of international law?”
“Instead, he engages in what I would say is doublespeak. He said he is a multilateralist but criticised the United Nations which, while imperfect, represents the embodiment of a multilateral world order and of multilateralism and the rule of law. Worse again, in a fortnight he will genuflect before the man responsible for this global disorder and will do so in the name of the people of Ireland, all without offering any principled criticism of Trump's warmongering. It is warmongering. Trump's war has consequences. Some 200 children were killed in a strike on an Iranian primary school. A total of 25,000 Irish citizens are stranded and trapped in countries across the Middle East as they experience appalling and illegal bombing by Iran.”
“Indeed, I have been publicly condemned by the Iranian ambassador to Ireland because I criticised his depraved whitewash of the murder of teenager Jina Mahsa Amini by so-called morality police in Iran. I brought Irish citizen Bernard Phelan to Leinster House to speak about his illegal and brutal incarceration by Iran in the so-called Satan's Block prison wing. We in Labour have no truck with the Iranian regime. However, two things can be true at once. We can oppose and condemn an authoritarian regime, yet still insist international law is upheld . When we see the erosion of democracy and creeping fascism in different countries across the world, it becomes all the more important for us to uphold the rule of law resolutely and steadfastly and the Taoiseach must acknowledge that. Yet, he cannot bring himself to condemn outright these attacks.”
“We are witnessing a terrifying outbreak of war in Iran and across the Middle East over recent days, with strikes on schools and infrastructure, citizens locked down, flights cancelled and global chaos. At the outset, I will say what the Taoiseach and his Government colleagues have so far failed to say, namely that the attacks carried out by the United States and Israel represent a flagrant breach of international law. Their bombardment of Iran is illegal and should be condemned by the Taoiseach. Of course, the Iranian regime is tyrannical, deeply repressive and has murdered thousands of civilians over recent months. Labour has consistently condemned the Iranian regime and has supported pro-democracy and women's rights campaigners in Iran.”
“We owe an enormous debt of appreciation and gratitude to all those brave survivors and victims who have shown such tremendous courage in coming forward to make disclosures and reveal to us all the true extent of abuse in religious-run and State-run institutions, which occurred for far too long. I hope that all survivors or victims and their families watching and listening today will find some solace in today’s proceedings. I welcome the apology but we still need to do more to ensure true justice for survivors.”
“Successive Governments have repeatedly failed to compel religious orders to pay their fair share of redress, and many continue to evade responsibility. The Labour Bill is now in the lottery for debate during Private Members’ time. It is about ending the evasion and ensuring religious orders face accountability and that religious institutions that ignored abuse or enabled its perpetration are held accountable for the harm they caused. If we pass this legislation, the Oireachtas will have an opportunity to take a meaningful further step towards justice, dignity and truth for survivors. We cannot simply appeal to the moral duty of religious orders to ensure victims receive the justice they deserve. We have seen a slow pace of action, avoidance of responsibility and legal obfuscation for far too long.”
“I have spoken before about how the churches, but particularly the Catholic Church, enabled a culture of secrecy and cover-up to develop for far too long, and how church authorities were very slow, also for far too long, to pay due redress, with the State paying a huge share despite having been promised that religious orders would engage in delivering justice. The Labour Party has introduced a Bill that seeks to address that imbalance. It seeks to facilitate civil proceedings against unincorporated bodies such as religious orders. It provides a mechanism for recovering damages from the associated lay-run trusts set up by many religious orders to hold their assets, so that those assets can no longer be shielded from unpaid redress.”
“We need to identify and address gaps in child protection legislation to ensure our legislation is now robust and fit for purpose and that the State is no longer able to outsource or neglect the care of the most vulnerable in our society. I am thinking of those who are still in congregated settings, those children who come here as unaccompanied minors and who are in State care, and children in State care in many different settings in respect of whom we have a duty and whom we must not fail again. The second call is to ensure the religious orders are made accountable.”
“I still remember people coming up to public representatives in the street and to so many others to talk about the experiences they had suppressed as children that were brought back into their minds by what the report revealed. That was an important step in uncovering State complicity as well as religious orders’ complicity. There was much that was wrong with the redress scheme I described, involving the Residential Institutions Redress Board. We have learned from that and we now know how much we need to ensure enhanced and substantive supports are made available to survivors. I welcome the progress to be made on the pensions point, in particular. There are two forward-facing points that need to be made. The first relates to our duty as legislators.”
“The Catholic Church, in particular, is known to have acted as a sort of shadow welfare State, operating institutions on behalf of the State, with the State abdicating responsibility to vulnerable children. I am glad to hear the Minister for justice is going to make clear that there will be absolutely no criminal records. Far too many of the adults I represented had been sent through criminal courts. They were appallingly criminalised by the State and sent to suffer abuse at the hands of religious orders in institutions. It is utterly shameful that there are people, still living, who had those experiences. It is long past time that the justice element was dealt with. The Taoiseach rightly described the publication of the Ryan report in 2009 as a watershed moment.”
“They and their families are understandably anxious to know when the commitments will be upheld and when the services will be made available. Clearly, the first important part of continuing to right historical wrongs is the apology today. However, we must all collectively ensure that proper justice, full justice and redress are delivered to provide dignity and closure to a group of people who have suffered for so long. Thousands of children were subjected to systemic and sustained abuse in industrial and reform schools going back to the 1940s. I refer to physical, sexual and emotional abuse in schools operated largely by religious orders but funded and supervised by State entities. Neither the church nor the State intervened to prevent mistreatment.”
“The trauma we know was inflicted upon the survivors at such a young age will last a lifetime, and they should not have had to protest for so long in this latest stage of seeking justice. Meetings with survivors who were protesting outside Leinster House last autumn should not have been postponed or delayed, particularly as we know that delays magnify hurt. I am glad the protests culminated in the commitment from the Government to today’s State apology, but the apology must have meaning and an impact. I welcome the package of measures the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have announced, to include financial assistance, prioritised access to social housing, trauma-informed healthcare and education supports. These measures are welcome but survivors tell me they are keen to get a timeline for when the services will be put in place.”
“I had the privilege of representing survivors of abuse before the Residential Institutions Redress Board in a previous life as a barrister. I heard first hand from people about the utterly horrifying experiences they endured - the appalling abuse, the vindictive, systemic, sadistic abuse they experienced in those institutions. For any of us who have heard or spoken with survivors, it stays with us all. I thank them all for shining a light on what went on for far too long and, as I said, about what was known about, covered up and systemic in so many institutions. It has taken great bravery. It has taken the courage of survivors to shine a light, and the campaign has taken far too long.”
“I acknowledge the mighty Ms who are here today, namely Mary Donovan, Miriam Moriarty Owens, Mary Dunlevy Greene and Maurice Patton O’Connell. I welcome them, their families and supporters. Many are in the Gallery and many are watching online. I welcome Carmel McDonnell Byrne and so many more. I think of and acknowledge the late Christine Buckley. Carmel reminded me Sunday next marks 30 years since "Dear Daughter" was aired. It was in that ground-breaking documentary, made by the late Louis Lentin, that Christine described the horrific abuse to which she was subjected in Goldenbridge. I had the privilege of knowing Christine, who died so sadly in 2014. Carmel reminded me that Christine said about her appalling experience of abuse that survivors needed a year's counselling for every day they spent in those hellholes.”
“I am glad to have the opportunity to speak for the Labour Party in today's important and historic debate. I welcome the Taoiseach’s apology, which marks an important step in Ireland’s recognition of our shameful history as a society and of our appalling treatment of women and children over so many decades. It recognises that far too many of our people were incarcerated in reformatories, industrial schools, Magdalen laundries, mother and baby homes and other institutions in what is a very recent and shameful history. We acknowledge that today. Abuse was systemic and known about. It was covered up and brushed under the carpet. It has taken brave and courageous survivors over many years to shine a light into that dark and shameful history.”
“We need to put pressure on the British Government to release all its relevant files too. As the Taoiseach of a country which stands up for the rights of women and children, will the Taoiseach commit to acting proactively on this in the interests of the survivors of Epstein?”
“Every day reveals more about the true horror of Jeffrey Epstein's global ring of paedophilia and blackmail. The fallout continues. Yesterday Peter Mandelson was arrested and last week the former Prince Andrew was arrested. On Friday night, on "The Late Late Show", we heard the incredible testimony of Lisa Phillips, a survivor of Epstein. Lisa spoke out with great courage to expose the extraordinary power wielded by this brutal abuser. I had the honour of meeting Lisa myself in Dublin last week. I heard directly from her about her appalling experiences of Epstein's corrupt and depraved network. Now is the time for Ireland to take a lead in support of brave victims and survivors like Lisa. We know Epstein visited here. We urgently need release of all files related to Epstein's interests and activities in Ireland.”
“Meanwhile, there are nearly 200 schools that were facing a cut in SNA allocation last week and are now waiting to see if they will, in fact, be able to keep their SNAs and what that will mean for education planning overall. As the union Fórsa has said, this is a sticking plaster. This €19 million is a sticking plaster to disguise and mask the lack of coherence and the attempt to deflect blame to others.”
“It is extraordinary to hear the Taoiseach say that the Government never signed off on this. It was Government policy. Government Ministers were out defending it all last week. The Labour education spokesperson, Deputy Eoghan Kenny, was on "Prime Time" last week against the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, on this very point. It is extraordinary to hear the Taoiseach now seeking to deflect blame and responsibility. It was Government policy. It got the NCSE to implement it. There is a question here for special educational needs organisers, SENOs, as well. Where does this leave them? There is a fundamental lack of coherence in Government decision-making that is so visible here. No matter how much the Taoiseach says this money is extra and schools will be reassured, there is a fundamental lack of coherence and vision.”
“I can tell the Taoiseach now, and we know it in the Opposition, that it will not fade. We already have a special education system lurching from crisis to crisis. We already have parents who are exhausted, worn out, having to fight so hard for the supports their children need. They and the schools need certainty and clarity, but we have been coming up against brick walls in trying to get clarity from the Taoiseach. We have specific questions. Where is this €19 million coming from? Is it being pulled from the already stretched special education teacher allocation budget? What happens to the schools that are due an increase in SNA posts next year? Where are the additional SNAs coming from? How will this redeployment scheme work? Will the Taoiseach guarantee that these are new posts, not taken from other classrooms? A pause is not a plan.”
“All were threatened with cuts without warning or consultation and only after a national uproar did the Government reverse course. This is not a good look for Fianna Fáil. The Taoiseach's party used to have a good story to tell on education, with Donogh O'Malley's achievements, for example, which I have always acknowledged. Fianna Fáil used to have a vision on education but now when we think of Fianna Fáil, or indeed Fine Gael, we think of prefabs, paused renovations, poor pay for school secretaries and caretakers and now this. While this €19 million buffer has bought the Government 12 months, schools have no long-term certainty because the Government has not actually fixed anything. It has merely kicked the can down the road. It has kicked the problem into next year, hoping, no doubt, that the anger will fade.”
“In a year, they have had to mobilise for their SNAs, caretakers and school secretaries and the Labour Party has supported school communities every step of the way. These SNA cuts were first raised in this Chamber by my Labour Party colleagues, Deputies Eoghan Kenny and Mark Wall. While we welcome the news late last night that there will be no immediate SNA cuts this September, the Government's latest U-turn raises further questions about how such drastic reductions were signed off on in the first place. It is was the Taoiseach's Government that directed the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to carry out this review. It approved the approach and so, as we know, schools received letters without warning telling them they were losing a classroom lifeline. Some were threatened with a cut to half their SNA staffing.”
“Before we begin, I again express the Labour Party's solidarity with Ukraine as we mark the fourth anniversary today of Russia's full-scale invasion. As Ukraine enters its fifth year under Putin's brutal bombardment, our thoughts today must be with all those bereaved, injured or displaced by this horrific war in Europe. Last night was the latest climbdown in the special education saga. SNAs, principals, teachers and parents who spent a week in fear now know that their children will at least not lose SNA supports this year. That relief is thanks to them and their insistence that the Government must listen to their campaigning and advocacy. Unfortunately, our school communities are having to get good at campaigning.”
“Some 682 civilians were killed last year alone with these sorts of weapons. Swarms of drones are leaving millions of Ukrainians without heat, power or water. A video of a young woman in Kyiv has gone viral. She told people not to worry about the food in her fridge spoiling during power cuts because without heating, her home is so cold that she is effectively living in a fridge. She has the hashtag #theflatisthefridge.”
“Next week sees the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. That means the brutal bombardment of Ukraine is about to enter its fifth year. We have seen appalling casualties and appalling attacks by Russia on the civilian population and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. It is in that context that I raise the alarming revelations on the front of today's edition of The Irish Times , following an investigation by Conor Gallagher, and also covered today in the Ukrainian media today. The story is that components made in Ireland by two Irish companies are ending up in Russian weapons. There is no wrongdoing alleged against the Irish companies. These components are being sold on, it appears. However, these components are appearing in Shahed and Geran drones that are devastating Ukraine this winter.”
“We need clarity. That is what we are looking for. Of course reviews have to be carried out but they must be done in a respectful manner and in a phased, incremental manner, so that principals do not get a shock letter saying they are going to have a halving of their SNA allocation next year without any prior warning.”
“Of course reviews have to be carried out but it is about how a review is carried out and how it impacts on individual schools. It is no comfort to the principals who have received letters telling them about a cut, and it is a cut effectively, in their individual schools. It is no comfort to them to hear the Taoiseach speak about the macro and about the overarching numbers. What we have not seen with the way in which the review was carried out is any appreciation of the destabilising effect the removal of SNAs from mainstream classes has on those classes and those school communities. What we do not have after yesterday's announcement is any clarity on what this means in practice. What does it mean for the redeployment of SNAs? What does it mean for schools that got letters saying they were going to get an increase in SNA allocations?”
“Will he apologise to schools, parents and school communities for the shock news of SNA cuts that so many schools received last week?”
“Of course it is the children who bear the brunt waiting years for an assessment or diagnosis and years spent without appropriate supports. The current practice of the Taoiseach's Government had allowed children who have not yet received a diagnosis to avail of the help of an SNA. That practice, as we know, was plugging the gap of the scandalous waiting lists for assessments of need, a list that the Government has failed to clear. Now a national increase in SNA numbers offers little reassurance if individual schools are losing posts and children are losing support. When you remove an SNA from a mainstream classroom a child suffers. It is as simple as that. I have two questions for the Taoiseach. Will he clarify what yesterday's announcement of a pause actually means for schools?”
“As my colleague, Deputy Eoghan Kenny, said, any change in the allocation process must be phased in and new supports must be put in place before existing lifelines are taken away. Instead, it seems the Department of education's way is to strip supports before new ones exist while children are still waiting years for assessments. Of course, SNAs have to be allocated correctly but many schools are struggling with large class sizes and limited resources to support children with complex needs. Every week I hear from principals who are fearful they cannot provide for those pupils needs. Every week I hear from teachers and SNAs - we all do - who are struggling to cope in the classroom. Every week we hear from exhausted parents desperately fighting for a school place or for supports for their child.”
“She is right to say this because the Taoiseach's Government is failing school communities. I have seen the NCSE letter that was sent to many school principals last week, abruptly informing them of the impact of the Government review. In one letter dated 10 February that I have seen the principal was told that "a surplus of three SNA posts has been identified in your school." Without any prior warning, this principal will find themselves with a near 50% reduction in SNA supports for this coming school year. Many more principals received similar letters. It is no wonder there was an outcry at what amounted to a cut in SNA allocations for so many schools. Yesterday the Government sensibly paused its review in a last minute U-turn but a pause is not a plan. We need clarity on what happens next.”
“The public outcry this week from parents, SNAs, principals and teachers has demonstrated the level of fear and distress created by the Taoiseach's Government with their crude approach to SNA allocations. We have all been reminded this week about the vital work that SNAs do in our schools. To the children who need them they are indispensable. One mother wrote to me yesterday and said, "My daughter feels safe with her SNA by her side. I honestly do not know where we would be without that help. No teacher, no matter how dedicated can meet every complex need alone." Another email, which the Taoiseach also received, asked him bluntly, "[H]ave you any idea what it is like to be a teacher or an SNA in a classroom in 2026? Along with sustained under funding of schools these people are bearing the brunt of the Irish Government's failures".”
“What we in the Labour Party are trying to do is to redress the balance, to ensure workers have a reasonable right to work from home and to work flexibly and to ensure we build sustainable and accessible workplaces for all.”
“As a party of job creation and of jobs, we want to ensure sustainable workplaces and to enable employers to retain skilled and high-value staff - women, men, disabled persons and people from all walks of life who should be facilitated. Finally, with the Government's approach to this Bill, with the sort of obstructionism we have seen on this Bill, it appears Fine Gael in particular, but the Government all together, has abandoned any pretence at a workers' rights agenda. The former Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, engaged in rhetoric about workers' rights but we have seen from this Government the stalling of the Labour Party's pregnancy loss leave Bill, a U-turn on sick pay and a VAT cut that took money from the pockets of taxpayers and put it in the coffers of big builders and burger barons. This Government is not taking workers' rights seriously.”