Jen Cummins
Dublin South-Central · Social Democrats · Ireland
“However, there is an advantage if their family can buy them one and they can continue their school work at home. It is not good enough to say that schools can make up their minds about that. The Department needs to actually decide and give guidance like it does for other things.”
“Circular 0032/2017 has been in existence for almost ten years and in most parts is not enforced. There is no point in issuing a circular if nothing is going to be done about it. I am delighted the Minister has said there will be a working group to review and hopefully strengthen that.”
“I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion. It is very timely. These are the summer months when parents start to think about how we will we stretch our finances to autumn, get everything that we need to ready and then still maybe take a holiday, organise summer camps, etc. The motion is, as stated, very timely.”
“I see it as an absolute disgrace that such a number of people need that support. I welcome that that funding and support is there for those families but I am still shocked that this affects 233,000 children, which is a lot of children, aged between two and 18. I think it goes up to 22 in some cases. There is a digital divide.”
“When parents were told, they had six weeks to pay but most people do not have such a flexible budget to allow them to pay the €160 or however much it is. When things are being reintroduced time needs to be factored in for that. There was an increase in the cost of school transport for families.”
“I will go through a few of the things that I think still present challenges. The capitation grant for schools was increased last year but has still not reached a level which will mean that schools are fully funded. It has not reached the level where it needs to be. In addition, it does not take into consideration the level of inflation.”
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“My advice to any communities to which the NTA or Bus Connects is coming is to go to every single consultation, make sure they are there, make an effort and have their voices heard. I urge them to ensure they keep a record. Plenty of people who have been to those consultations are told that something did not happen and they feel they were not listened to. They feel they were absolutely ignored. For anyone thinking about going to consultations, I suggest they take a record, write down who was there and the names of the representatives. It is important for them to liaise with their public representatives, TDs and councillors, to ensure they know what they want so that we can advocate for them. I have spent so much time advocating for bus services.”
“This is not the only place in my constituency where this is an issue. The NTA dreams up where people want to go when, in fact, it is not where they want to go. They are cut off from coming into town. They are cut off from their doctors and all the medical things that are there. There is also the fact that there are ghost buses. The buses do not turn up on time and are not reliable. In Chapelizod, the NTA has admitted it did not get it right for the 80 bus. It is going the wrong route. It does not turn up. It is a disaster in terms of ghosting. The ramp that was to be built by the end of the year seems to have disappeared, like half the buses. The NTA is admitting to not getting it right. People are contacting public representatives on a regular basis. This is the challenge when the service moves to other parts of the country.”
“The problem is that the new bus routes the NTA wants to bring in will not bring those people to Thomas Street, Meath Street or Francis Street, or all the surrounding areas where they go shopping and where their religious services, doctors, dentists and opticians are. This is a difficulty. Only approximately 40% of the people in that part of the constituency own cars. Very few people are driving. They are an older population. They are not all on bikes. If you have your weekly shopping, you are not going to be bringing it on your bicycle unless you have a cargo bike. The bus service there is a disaster for those people. They are protesting all the time. A second group of people are from Drimnagh. I had a public meeting there recently. The difficulty there is that the bus service now follows a different route, which nobody wants.”
“The difficulty is that since I was elected, I have held eight public meetings and a number of them were solely about public transport. Our constituency is close to the city. The focus for Bus Connects is getting people from the commuter belts into the city. That seems to have failed is when you live close to the city and the system is not functioning fully. The community of Bluebell-Inchicore has been protesting very well since before I was elected. I pay tribute to former Deputy Joan Collins, her friends and neighbours, and the people she supports for all the work they have done on that bus route.”
“I welcome the roll-out of any public transport across the country. A fully functioning republic needs bus and rail services that are reliable and affordable. To reach our climate targets, we need to be moving a little quicker. However, people are not going to get out of their cars if buses do not arrive. They are not going to get out of their cars if it is dangerous to cycle. They are not going to take the bicycle. They are not going to go on public transport if it does not arrive. That is a huge difficulty in my constituency of Dublin South-Central. The Minister of State and I have spoken a lot about buses in Dublin South-Central. He probably knows quite a lot about the public transport in my constituency.”
“They do not have the money upfront to change and, therefore, their bills are going to be higher. As previous contributors said, our electricity prices are the highest in Europe. I thank the Taoiseach.”
“The fossil-fuel crisis is a time when we need to have a catalyst to move more towards renewables. I am regularly contacted by households that would really love to move to renewables and deeply retrofit their homes, but, unfortunately, they just cannot afford to do so. Even though they are able to apply for grants and all those things, which are very welcome, there is a shortfall in the grants by comparison with what is needed. For terraced houses moving from E1 to H2, somebody would still need to find €37,000. It is €39,000 for a semi-detached house and €45,000 for a detached house. It is a huge amount of money. What can households do? The cost of living is so expensive, but it can be reduced if we go to renewables. It is like a cycle that people are stuck in.”
“No problem. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre today said in its annual report that it had 24,000 contacts last year. That is up 5% from 2024 and up 29% from 2023. Almost 31% of them were first-time contacts. There was a huge fear among people who were at risk of becoming homeless. They then stay in their accommodation, whether it is live-in landlords or housemates abusing them. A large number of young people also spoke about image-based sexual violence and cyber abuse. We need an urgent debate-----”
“This legislation seeks to ensure that women who receive a devastating diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality no longer have to travel for care. It removes the three-day mandatory waiting period and provides more certainty about abortion in cases where a woman's health or life is at risk. It also clarifies the law when it comes to conscientious objection and removes the criminalisation of medics. As uncomfortable as some people may find this legislation and topic, it is imperative that we allow this legislation to move to Committee Stage to scrutinise it and make amendments and improvements that help women access the care they need.”
“I worked with a 15-year-old girl who got pregnant and needed to have a termination. She had to travel for that termination. I worked with a woman who had a fatal foetal abnormality and had to make the heartbreaking decision to terminate her much-wanted pregnancy. It absolutely broke her heart. Abortion is one of those topics that is so divisive. It is uncomfortable to talk about it, and I think that comes from an era where women's rights were just put to the side. Now, it is 2026 and we need to have a situation where women should be treated with respect, dignity and trust. Irish legislation needs to trust women to know that the decision they are making is the correct decision. We need to protect them, and we also need to protect the medical workers who will give that care to the women.”
“I thank my colleague, Deputy Holly Cairns, for the work she has done on this legislation. When I grew up in Ireland in the eighties and nineties, abortion was absolutely not allowed. It was not spoken about and was portrayed as something only certain types of women did, and there was a massive stigma to it. When I went to college there was no availability of information for people about safe and accessible abortion services here or abroad. Everything was hush-hush. If you got pregnant and there was a crisis pregnancy you were left to figure it out. If you found yourself in that situation and tried to find someone who might help you, it was almost impossible to find that information. Throughout the course of my career, I have worked with women who have been in crisis pregnancies.”
“It is just not being published. It happens in the Department of housing with the homeless figures. This is a way of showing that transparency and quelling that panic that is going on.”
“Parent across the country are desperately trying to secure appropriate school places for their children. There is still huge uncertainty around the level and scale of unmet need. Transparency is really important. The Department of Education and Youth, working with the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, should be able to give us that data. I am suggesting that it publish that on a monthly basis, like the Department of housing publishes the homeless figures. That is to show transparency. We want to work constructively with the Government and the NCSE to quell the amount of panic that is going on. If the NCSE and the Department were able to publish on a monthly basis the number of students who were yet to get an appropriate school place, we would be very clear on what that would be. The data is there.”
“It will be able to bring them back to a way of learning that appreciates them for who they are and builds back their self-esteem and their love of learning, which, ultimately, is a thing that we want to see for every young person. I am way over time so I better stop talking.”
“It is just taking too long for the Department to come up with the answer for that. In the meantime, we have staff who are so absolutely dedicated but kind of flabbergasted as to why it is taking so long and why they have to prove so much that the work they are doing is saving people's lives. It is bringing people back into education when the education system has failed them. The young people did not disengage from the education system. The mainstream education system neglected them and labelled them as "others" and they were let down by that system. The young people were failed. It is not that the young people disengaged or failed. It is that the system failed them. The Cork Life Centre is there, however.”
“The challenge is that if we are trying to fit education provision centres into something they are not, that is where we will reach difficulties. A primary school does not do the leaving certificate and junior certificate, so how do we do that? These young people will be doing Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, levels 3, 4 and 5. They will be doing the leaving certificate applied. Therefore, it is not a special school. A different category has to be created. What is quite difficult for me to understand, though, is that if the Department has been engaging - I believe it has, I am not questioning that part - why it has taken three years to discuss this when it has been going since the 1970s. That special category to recognise centres like the Cork Life Centre has to be put into the Education Act.”
“I thank the Minister of State. As he said, it really is a wonderful centre. The thing is, however, it is not a special school. When it is designated as a special school, that means a primary school, which it is not. These are young people. In fact, some of them are 16. They can decide their own medical issues. They can apply for a driving licence at 17. It is not a special school. I know the Department wants to designate it as a special school, but it is not one. Therefore, a category has to be made for this type of school. The iScoil is designated as a primary school as well. There is a review of the blended learning centres for iScoil that has not been published yet. I imagine it will say that it is absolutely excellent. I say that as somebody who ran an iScoil in a blended learning centre.”
“The review of out-of-school provision was published in 2022 and a number of recommendations have come from that. I know that there is an implementation forum that is working through those but it was published four years ago now and that should move on. The challenge for the centre of not being recognised as one of the settings I mentioned earlier is that it does not get appropriate funding. It does not get the allocation of teachers or the supports that other learning centres get. On that basis, the centre struggles with funding and with getting teachers. There are teachers and support personnel there who work on a voluntary basis. We are talking about a very vulnerable cohort of young people who have left mainstream education for whatever reason and they are being accepted into the Cork Life Centre to be given a second chance.”
“There is an expectation that they will achieve the best that they can in the time that it takes and that the centre will be with them all the way along that journey. Students can be interested in whatever takes their fancy. I saw a beautiful woodwork room, and art room and rooms where they could read, learn or play. An exercise area was being built. The gardening area was fantastic. When they arrive, they are welcomed with a cup of tea and a biscuit, just like I was, and the warmth in that building is spectacular. There is a slight problem, in that because it is not a recognised centre, it does not quite fit. It does not have a roll number like a primary school, a secondary school or a special school. It is not a community training centre and it is not Youthreach. It does not fit neatly into what we want it to fit into.”
“I was shown around by a young person who had written to me and invited me to the centre. He was a graduate of the Cork Life Centre and he could not have demonstrated better why it was a place that should be valued and held in the highest esteem in our education system. Why the centre works so well is because our education system is built around systems. It is built around a curriculum and bigger things that move in large movements as opposed to the person whom it should focus on and move around, that is, the child or the learner. The Cork Life Centre has figured out exactly how to put the student at the core of the curriculum and everything it does. This means that when a young person arrives to the Cork Life Centre, they are greeted with open arms.”
“I am delighted that the Minister of State is here. We often meet on Thursdays when we are chatting. I am disappointed that the Minister for education is not here because it falls within her remit. I thank the Minister of State for taking the time to come and discuss the issue of the Cork Life Centre. I am sure he is aware of it. It is in his neck of the woods, not quite in his constituency but closer to him than it is to me. I visited there in February when I was in Cork for the Social Democrats' conference. I had spent a long time hoping that I would some day get to visit the Cork Life Centre, because it is a place that many people hold in high esteem. When I went in, it was exactly how I thought it would be. It was a place of care and love and excellence in education.”
“One woman was lying on her side up against the wall – utterly sad and utterly cold and lonely. I thought, “Is this what we have in 2026?” This is a really rich country and people are reliant on soup runs. I pay special tribute to the Muslim Sisters of Éire who go out every single week and support people in this city. They are absolutely amazing and I really want to praise them.”
“There are people working in our education system who are not earning a living wage. Recently the joint committee on education heard from local training initiative, LTI, workers who told us their wages were so incredibly low that they wanted to have what the community training centre, CTC, workers have even though the CTC workers are saying they cannot live on those wages and they want to get what the Youthreach workers are getting. We have a system where parents cannot afford to pay for their free education and the workers who are working in education cannot afford to live. If the Government does not recognise there is a cost-of-living crisis maybe it should take a walk down Grafton Street and turn off it. They could wait and see the people I saw last night as I was on the way home who were waiting for the soup run.”
“Education is supposed to be free in this country but unfortunately this year we have seen exactly how it is not free. Books are free, which is great, but there is an ever-increasing reliance on tablets which are not free. In fact, not only are they not free, they cost between €700 and €800 each. Exam fees are being reintroduced for the leaving certificate and junior cycle exams. There was no warning about that. There was six weeks for them to be paid in. They have not been paid since before Covid by any family. In a cost-of-living crisis that was a massive surprise for those families. There is also what seems to be a now annual threat around third level fees and the failure to reduce them. We seem to have this conversation every year as young people are studying for their state exams.”
“There is so much we can learn from one another in Europe. At a time when many differences are being highlighted, I want us to hold onto that in our country.”
“The interrailing initiative, DiscoverEU, gives many people the opportunity to do that. I would love to see that scheme expanded to more young people. It allows them to travel in a climate-friendly way. They interrail rather than take short-haul flights. Most European cities and countries have excellent networks of rail. We need to look at expanding the scheme to more young people because the more young people who travel to explore differences, learn new cultures and languages and see something different, not only will it give them pride in themselves but also pride in being a part of Europe. I would love to see more young people going abroad to study. There are such excellent schemes. Studying abroad allows them to be able to learn in a different education system and experience different work ethics and way of working.”
“They understand it in a way that cannot be achieved by just visiting and observing. They become part of the culture. Europe gives us the opportunity to do that. At a time in this world when there is such a focus on what makes us different, Europe has the potential to show us that although we are different, we have shared values. It gives us a way of examining what makes us different and similar. It allows us to reach out and ensure that the negativity that seems to be seeping across the world of difference is challenged. At this time of year, a lot of college students are getting ready to figure out what they are going to do in the summer. I am sure their parents are asking them what they are going to do. They might hope they get a job. Some of them will have the opportunity to travel.”
“Europe Day is a celebration of peace, solidarity and the shared values across our Continent. As someone who is proudly Irish, I am also proud to be European and part of a German family. Given the number of people who live in Ireland from elsewhere, it is important to celebrate our differences and what brings us together. I come from a proud bilingual family. We speak both German and English at home, and I am also learning Irish again. When a person speaks another language, they have a view into another culture, world and way to live. When many young people are learning different languages, not only are they learning how to communicate to buy something in the shop, or whatever else it is, they are seeing how other people live. Speaking another language allows people to understand a culture at a different level.”
“The utter disrespect this Government has for the people in Dublin South-Central is seen today. I do not like calling people out but the TD for that area who is from the Government and the Senator for that area who is from the Government should not knock on doors and promise people the sun, moon and stars and then not deliver on it. It is unfair and inhumane how people are living down there. Not one person would accept it for themselves and it should not be acceptable for anyone who is paying rent in social housing in Ireland.”
“It wasted their valuable time sitting and talking about things only to say, at the last minute and with the stroke of a pen, that the answer is "No"; the computer says "No". The Taoiseach visited Oliver Bond Street six years ago and promised the sun, moon and stars. He promised that regeneration would be done, but there is not a dicky-bird. Nothing has happened in six years. Again, the State was making people spend their valuable time coming up with ideas and working with the council - giving them the runaround - and then saying "No", with the excuse that regeneration would reduce the number of units. If the Minister of State had ever visited the place he would know it is not fit to live in. There is mould and damp. They are tiny flats. They do not reach any standards. It is a computer says "No" situation.”
“The Minister of State is having a bad time today because what is happening with the Oliver Bond Street complex is an absolute disgrace. I have the letter that was sent by the senior Minister, who really should be here to answer the questions. Well done to Sinn Féin for bringing this forward. Dublin South-Central, which I represent, has a number of regeneration projects that have been going on for what seems like decades. It is quite outstanding that the State could build homes designed by Herbert Simms and all these amazing places and then let them rot, let the people inside them also rot, promise the people it will get the regeneration done and then not do that. The State wasted people's time on the Oliver Bond forum for years.”
“There has just been a meeting where people were told, but it was in the media before the residents who live there had been told. It is an absolute disgrace. Is the Taoiseach going to apologise and reverse this decision?”
“Six years ago, the Taoiseach visited Oliver Bond Street in my constituency. I can tell him the anger right now is palpable. The residents have been lied to and let down, and they live in homes that you would not put an animal in. There is damp, there is mould, there are windows rotting out of their frames and there are doors that are not able to close because they are so warped. There is antisocial behaviour that is not acceptable in any other part of the city. These families and the people who live in Oliver Bond House have been let down by the Government. I am very disappointed. It beggars belief that it has even stated in response to Sinn Féin's Private Members' business today that it is going to work with Dublin City Council on Oliver Bond House, but it is not because it has just pulled the funding.”
“The Standing Business Committee of Dáil Éireann has completed its consideration under Standing Order 30 of the request by Deputy John Brady to waive the requirement for scrutiny of the Flood Insurance Bill 2021 by the relevant committee under Standing Order 103 and has agreed thereto.”
“We are feeling the shock in fossil fuel prices because of what is happening outside the country, and this really has to be the catalyst for us moving to renewables. I was shocked to hear that we used to produce more wind energy than we do now. As I said in this Chamber recently, if people go to the west coast, they will nearly be blown over. Therefore, I am at a loss as to why we do not have more wind energy. The programme for Government indicates that the Government wants to deliver at least 5 GW of offshore wind energy by 2030, and there are greater ambitions out to 2050. How far along is the Government in the context of reaching that target? How likely is it to reach it? What is the plan for 2050? If there is anything standing in the way, what is it and how can it be removed?”
“If nurses are involved in those special schools and special classes, that is fantastic. I am sure it must be a great relief for the staff that the medical professional is there. I commend Deputy Kenny. Well done. I hope this goes forward. I should say before I finish that it is not just children who may have emergencies, but also adults. We can all have a medical emergency at any time, if we are healthy or not or if we have a condition or not. I thank Deputy Kenny. Congratulations.”
“With the best will in the world, school principals can write letters home to parents asking them not to send things in, but allergies and reactions happen, and asthma, too. How many inhalers are forgotten? What is needed as an adult in that situation is a calm demeanour, someone who is not going to panic, someone who has appropriate training to make sure that they know what they are doing, and other people around them who are also trained and know what to do so that there is support for one another doing it. We cannot hope that the trained person is the one who is there on the day when there is a medical emergency. The more people who are trained, the better. I know when it comes to special schools and special classes that there is a whole other level of need.”
“He was a big man. I made it my business to become very trained straight after that, as soon as I had the baby, in case that ever happened again. Thankfully, it did not, but I would be able to support whoever that is. The training needed to be constant, over the years in schools and in occupational therapy, so that we were able to do it in schools, at the after-school projects that we worked in, or in holiday time. That was important. Three years later, people might say that they remember all of it, but they do not, so the training that happens needs to be updated and practical, and it needs to be fun as well. The worst-case scenario is that someone dies when you are giving them CPR, but that is life and emergencies like that happen in all settings. It could be a seizure or allergic reaction.”
“Sadly, I have witnessed many medical emergencies in my time in and out of schools and other education facilities. I remember a man who came back to work after years of being off. It was his first day back at work, working as a youth worker at the time, and he sadly had a massive heart attack on his first day back. The staff in that centre had just done first aid training but were terrified of touching him and did not know what to do. I was not trained at that time, so I was on the phone to 999, as it was at the time, and I administered CPR for a very long time. Sadly, he died. He was probably already dead when I was doing the CPR. The fact is that people were nervous. They had just done their training. They had never seen this happen. Huge panic sets in. I was probably 32 weeks pregnant, so it was not that easy to administer.”
“I commend Deputy Kenny on this Bill. It is practical and timely. A plethora of things go on in schools. They are really busy environments where many things happen. Medical emergencies happen at times when people are not expecting it. They happen when the trained individual is not there. They happen when it is busy, there is going to be a trip, or whatever it is in the yard. It is really important that we have as many staff as possible in our school settings who are able to support those children in an appropriate way. I have been an occupational first aider for many years. There is the Good Samaritan protection for anybody who, in good faith, is going to support somebody in a medical emergency. To be that person, you have to be very brave.”
“There are a lot of initials there. The most important thing is that there is equality and equity among staff members to ensure they do not leave because without those skilled workers, the students will suffer, will not be able to progress and will not have the bright future they deserve.”
“I am pleading with whoever is making the decision. I have been told several times that the Department is not their employer. Notwithstanding that, as a member of the board of management of one CTC, I have to say we can only pay the staff on the scales that are provided and those scales are provided by the Department. A bit of guidance and some moving of the scales and terms and conditions for staff members would be fantastic. As the Minister rightly said, there are vulnerable learners and they present as they present, are taken as they are and really thrive. However, that is because of the skill and dedication of the staff members. We have to do everything we can to ensure they have appropriate pay scales and there is a parity of esteem for all staff members, whether it is in Youthreach, the CTCs or the LTIs.”
“Another important point as regards Youthreach and CTCs is that the wages of another cohort of people, namely, staff in the local training initiatives, LTIs, some of whom were in front of the further and higher education committee today, are even worse than those of CTC staff. In fact, I was shocked to learn they want to move to CTC scales. I asked why they do not want to move to Youthreach scales. I obviously do not work in the Department of public expenditure. These are people who are working with a very vulnerable cohort of students. We need to respect and support those staff members to the best of our ability in order that we keep them in place, given all the experience they have.”
“I do not want to jeopardise any negotiations that are going on either, but I am aware of the frustrations people in the sector have. People are leaving CTCs because they can no longer afford to live on the wages they receive. They feel disrespected and not recognised. I am glad, as I think others will be, to hear the Minister express respect and understanding of how important CTCs are. I am a little concerned about the use of the term "consolidation strategy". I hope that does not mean CTCs are going to be replaced with Youthreach. I hope it means both will be strengthened, as the Minister has said.”
“I want to talk about community training centres, CTCs, and the pay negotiations that are under way for them. I have spoken about this before. I am very passionate about CTCs. I have seen the major benefits these centres have for the young people who are in them in terms of their ability to learn, progress and gain self-esteem they may have lost in other education facilities. I would like to know how pay negotiations are going for those staff members.”
“The only real investment that has happened over the lifetime of the Government is investment in private student accommodation, build-to-rent apartments and hotels for tourists. That does not help anyone living there. What I really want to know is if it is possible to have the same sort of thing that happens in the north-east inner city for the south inner city? They mirror one another incredibly, and that is my question.”
“A new report revealed today the depths of disadvantage in Dublin's south-west inner city, where I live. On every metric, the area and its residents are being failed. There is a disproportionate disadvantage when it comes to deprivation and crime, low educational attainment and a chronic lack of sporting facilities, which I have spoken about several times in this Chamber. There are also very stark findings with regard to drug deaths and the crime rate, which is twice the national average. It is really shocking it is laid out in black and white. I see it every day but it is shocking when it is written out in a report. It is also infuriating. There is a lot of money in this country, but how we choose to spend it is really important.”
“Long may that last because it is not supposed to be done and it should not happen. I thank the Minister of State for bringing this Bill forward.”
“Although these products are not supposed to be sold to people under 18, they are being sold. They should not be sold but they are. I recall talking to a beautician who said that she can see young people coming in and their skin is in bits. She said she knows who is and is not vaping because of their skin. I could go on with the examples forever. I am speaking quite emotively because I feel so passionately about this. We would not allow this to happen in any other way to our children and young people. We have banned alcohol, rightly, for those under 18 and whatever way nicotine was allowed is also banned now. We need to clamp down hard. On the last occasion I spoke on this issue, I was delighted to read in the newspaper just before I entered the Chamber that people were prosecuted for it.”
“I am not interested. I am speaking on behalf of mothers around the country who contacted me asking for something to be done so their children are not targeted in this way. Some Deputies will talk about adults but, having worked with children and young people, I will always put them first. This legislation must be about protecting them now and into the future. I ask lobbyists not to contact me. I am not interested in their products that will harm young people and adults. Please do not send me emails. I received emails the last few times I have spoken in this Chamber about vapes and I am not interested. The last time I spoke on this issue, parents contacted me who were very thankful I used my voice to speak about what they too are saying. Young people are using the little money they have to go into shops to be sold those vapes.”