Jennifer Whitmore
Wicklow · Social Democrats · Ireland
“The Minister for justice recently brought in reforms for the criminal justice legal aid system. While we all recognise that there is a need for reform within the system, the reforms that the Minister has brought in are ill-considered, not backed up by data or evidence and have led to absolute chaos in the courts system.”
“Hundreds of jurors were recently told that their services were no longer required. Many vulnerable people in the legal system are falling through gaps.”
“A hosepipe ban will come into force in a number of counties on the east coast from tomorrow. I completely understand that because we are seeing record temperatures and are in the middle of dealing with the climate crisis and climate change.”
“In 2024, 1,000 incidents of antisocial behaviour were recorded on Dublin Bus. That was nearly double the figure recorded just a few years earlier. Unfortunately, this is not just limited to Dublin. We are also seeing instances of this in my constituency, Wicklow, on Go-Ahead services.”
“More than 1,000 people died in Spain due to heat-related causes in June of this year alone. By early July, Spain had 14 major forest fires and 50,000 ha of land had been burned. Across Europe, more than 10,000 excess deaths associated with the recent heatwave were recorded in a single week. These warnings have to be taken seriously.”
“As a family member, you wonder if the person is getting care, whether they are being fed properly and whether they are being looked after. There is no visibility. There is a dementia care home in Shankill that a lot of people from my constituency use, St. Joseph's. It is incredible. I visited it recently.”
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“It is clear that the Minister of State has had no update from the CRU on this. He provided no information or timeline on its examination of price gouging. It is incredible that six months after the IEA highlighted that wholesale electricity price reductions were not being passed on to Irish consumers at the same rate as other consumers across Europe and that five months after the Minister wrote to the CRU asking it to conduct an investigation into price gouging, the CRU cannot even give the Minister of State an update as to what it has done or when it will conclude that investigation. What is the CRU doing? It is meant to be protecting consumers. Irish consumers are facing another energy shock when it comes to electricity prices. They are still trying to get over the incredible electricity prices that resulted from the Ukraine war.”
“We are all aware that hundreds of thousands of households are finding it difficult to pay their energy bills and what we saw last week is a direct result of that. An estimated 315,000 people are in arrears on their electricity bills. Many of them have been in arrears for more than 19 months. These are people who are still not able to catch up with the incredible price shocks we experienced after the Ukraine invasion. One of the roles of the CRU is to protect customers. The Minister has asked the CRU to look at the pass through of wholesale prices. Right now, wholesale prices are 72% cheaper than they were at the peak in August 2022. They are 72% cheaper, but our retail prices are not 72% lower. In fact, they are higher. We have not seen any reduction, and I do not think hedging can be used as an excuse.”
“Thousands of people are living in apartments in this country and they have no access to solar. I ask the Minister to look at our policy. He should take it at face value and actually consider it.”
“The Government needs to roll out an intensive scheme to assist those homes. We also want to see the doubling of grants for households. Many working families are struggling just to keep their head above water even where both partners are working. They are doing everything right and they still cannot get ahead. It is really important that those people can access schemes like the solar panel scheme. For the life of me, I do not understand why the Government cut the grants to those schemes which were so beneficial to people. We also want to see the grants for batteries reinstated because that means that people can actually charge up the batteries when electricity rates are cheaper at night. It just makes sense. We also need to see plug-in solar for apartments.”
“However, the reality is that those 150,000 homes are homes that could afford to install solar panels. They are probably the homes that can afford to withstand the energy shocks as a result of what is happening in Iran and Ukraine much better than many other homes. The Social Democrats want every person in this country to be able afford to access solar panels so that they can benefit from having cheaper electricity and be protected from energy shocks as the global system turns upside down. That is why we have brought in our policy, solar for all. Really importantly with our policy we want to give free solar for people who are on the warmer home scheme. These are people currently at risk of energy poverty. They are people who get disability allowance, carer's allowance and fuel allowance.”
“The Government is trying to assist them even further by bringing in the private wires Bill which would essentially set up an alternative private electricity grid to enable data centres to access more renewable energy while leaving domestic homes at a loss. Let us be clear about that. One million homes in Ireland are suitable for solar panels. A mere ten panels could save the average home €450 a year in electricity costs. It is really simple to put solar panels on a home; it takes a matter of hours. When talking about energy poverty and providing energy resilience, solar panels are really a no-brainer for a government to deploy. I do not understand why the Government has not done more in this space. At the moment approximately 150,000 homes have solar panels installed and that is welcome.”
“I want to be really clear. The Minister talked about the increase we have seen in renewables. I accept we have seen a large increase but the reality is that is not going to households. That renewable energy is going straight into data centres which are paying half what domestic users are expected to pay for their electricity. So, this is not a good news story for Irish households. It means the Government is prioritising large corporations accessing energy at half the price that individuals have to pay and risking energy security at the same time. Let us not paint this picture that Ireland is a renewable heaven for domestic users; it really is not. The benefits of renewable and the benefits of investment are going straight to data centres.”
“The Government is constantly talking about future proofing and climate resilience. The Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, is constantly talking about how climate change is an existential crisis we are facing, yet day in, day out the Government is acting completely contrary to this. It is sidelining climate action and hollowing out our climate law. This will be felt for generations to come. Ireland will fall further behind in its climate obligations and the public will pay the economic and environmental price.”
“They lock in carbon pathways long after Governments move on. How can the Minister propose setting aside climate laws for these projects? We cannot have a climate Act that is optional for big projects. That just will not work. Climate change will not stop because big projects must advance. What comes next? If this Bill becomes law, what is to stop the Government exempting housing projects, agriculture infrastructure or industrial policy from climate law in future? If the Minister creates a precedent for climate law to be disapplied for strategic reasons, the integrity of the whole Act is undermined. To make matters worse, the Bill is being progressed without pre-legislative scrutiny by the infrastructure committee. This is a slap in the face to Members of the Oireachtas and a serious undermining of parliamentary processes.”
“Now, with the stroke of a pen, the Minister is going to disapply it for large-scale projects. What the Minister is doing is saying these climate considerations are no longer an option and he will override them when they no longer fit the Government's agenda. What the Minister is doing with section 7 is gutting the core purpose of the climate Act. While every day public bodies will be expected to cut emissions and meet their climate objectives, as they should and as is intended in the climate Act and was the intention of the then Government and every Deputy who voted for that Act in the previous Dáil, huge infrastructure projects will now be given a free pass. This is not about paperwork or simplifying procedures. Transport infrastructure, energy systems and water and wastewater projects all shape our emissions for decades.”
“Section 15 places an obligation on public bodies to prioritise climate concerns while carrying out their functions, so the Critical Infrastructure Bill will exempt transport infrastructure, energy systems and water and wastewater projects from climate obligations. It will disapply climate law from some of the biggest potential sources of long-term emissions and the most emission-intensive projects that are carried out by the State. The climate Act was introduced because there is an acceptance that Government decisions have consistently failed to deliver emissions reductions without legal obligations. We all remember how difficult it was, the amount of work that went into it in the last Dáil and the amount of consultation involved in bringing together the climate Act.”
“I am extremely concerned by what the Minister and this Government are doing in the area of climate action and now in the area of climate law. They are dismantling years of work and future generations will bear the cost. Section 7 of the Critical Infrastructure Bill provides for a disapplication of section 15 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 in specific cases. Simply put, this means now that large infrastructure projects carried out in transport, energy, water and wastewater will no longer have to comply with section 15 of the climate Act. This is an incredible thing to put into legislation.”
“Part of our solar for all plan is to expand the warmer homes scheme to include free solar panels for those at risk of energy poverty and double the grants for all other households. I ask the Minister to do that. The battery grant needs to be brought back in and plug-in solar needs to be looked at as well as more supports for businesses. They are simple measures but they are sustainable. They will help homes to be more resilient against future energy shocks.”
“Many people are not able to afford it, and it is also very disruptive. We have seen studies that show that when people retrofit they do not necessarily cut their emissions or energy usage. It makes their homes more comfortable but does not really impact on spending on energy. I have asked the Minister previously to look at solar. You can get solar panels up on your home in a few hours. I left for work one morning at 8.30 a.m. and I got a message from my husband at 12 noon to say that we were completely off the grid; we were pulling in enough solar to run the house. It is so quick to do, relatively cheap compared with retrofitting and can be rolled out across every house. One million homes in this country are suitable for solar panels.”
“A crisis happens, people struggle, there is huge outcry, the Government has found money and given money out in untargeted measures such as the previous energy credits. That cost billions of euro. I think €100 million was given in credit to the electricity meters of holiday homes during the previous Dáil term. At that time, it was very much stated that this was an emergency measure and that we needed to get it out quickly, but there was no acknowledgment that we needed to change how we do things and ensure the systems, structures and infrastructure were in place to make us more resilient to these energy shocks, to make households, businesses and the country in general more resilient. That has not been done. A huge amount of money has been set aside for retrofitting. I understand why that is necessary, but it is costly.”
“That is why the Social Democrats have for a number of months been calling for a targeted energy credit of €400 for families and households that earn less than €70,000 in order to try to give those people a bit of breathing space. We are very clear in all our policies - they need to be targeted because we do not have an endless bucket of money and we do not know how long this crisis will go on for. It could go on for years. We need to protect our resources while protecting those struggling the most. We have a motion we will be bringing forward tomorrow which contains a proposal for an energy credit. I hope the Government will give it serious consideration. The other part of the proposal we will discuss tomorrow relates to solar. The Government tends to lurch from crisis to crisis.”
“They are the ones who just take it all on board themselves but they are under huge pressure. It is those people I am worried about and who I feel are really being left behind. When we look at the facts when it comes to the different pressures, electricity costs are just skyrocketing. Unfortunately, we will see a lot more of that happening. The initial impact of this energy shock is on fuel, on the petrol and diesel pumps and on green diesel but in a number of months, it will move into gas prices and electricity prices. There are 315,000 people who are in arrears at the moment and who are struggling and trying to catch up with the problems we experienced after Ukraine. They are chasing their tails, and 8% of them have been in arrears for longer than 90 days. They are going to be unable to pull themselves out of that hole.”
“I was really surprised when I was talking to people. The reason they supported these protests is that they could understand. They have felt it in their own lives. It was like these protests became an extension of what their lived experiences were and how they were struggling. The reason they were struggling may have been different and may not necessarily have been due to fuel costs but families are struggling and we have been trying to get that message across to the Government for years now. I do not think this issue has just popped up this week or last week. There has been this undercurrent of families who are finding it really difficult. We all know these families. They are in our constituencies. They are the ones who do not protest. They are the ones who do not shout.”
“With the advent of social media, there is the ability to quickly put information out there and get people really wired up. It happens so quickly. One thing really struck me last week when I was driving and came across a blockade in County Wicklow. Two artic lorries blockaded the N11 and I would say there were maybe three of four tractors. There were probably only ten people at the blockade and it was a very stark image of how quickly and easily the country can be shut down. It did not necessarily need a lot of people. We have all had these discussions today and I ask that the Government takes them on board and listens because there is a much bigger issue at stake here than just dealing with the fuel protests. It was so interesting that people who would normally not align with or support protests of this kind were so supportive of them.”
“We needed to show them a level of respect and to be prepared to listen. You do not necessarily have to agree with people. You do not have to like them. A lot of the values that were expressed by people on those protests were not values I would hold. However, as there are so many people who feel left behind in this country, there is a real risk that there is very much a fertile ground there for bad actors to come in and manipulate that and use it for their own political means and agenda. There is a real onus on and need for the Government to provide a leadership. I know things have changed. The structures of how we engage and how we dialogue have changed. There might be a need to look beyond the more traditional structures we have relied on to date.”
“I will not stand here and shout and have a back and forth because there has been far too much shouting this week already. There has been far too much chest beating and too many instances of people not listening, not engaging and of parties becoming so entrenched that we were at real risk last week of the country collapsing. I was so worried about where those protests were going to end up. I want to commend the work of An Garda Síochána. The work gardaí did across the country was incredible. They went in and spoke to the protesters. They had those discussions and the hard conversations and they managed to de-escalate a situation that unfortunately the Government had escalated to a huge degree during the previous days. What we needed was dialogue at that point and not dismissing people.”
“They could understand why those people were doing it, why they had left their homes and why they were living out of their tractors and trailers on O'Connell Street and could empathise with them because they are also living through it. They know how difficult it is. The people I spoke to in County Wicklow were not necessarily talking about fuel costs; they were talking about disability services, education and childcare. they talked about their lived experience and the difficulties they are facing with energy and food costs. Those costs are piling up. The reality is that the strikes and protests last week were not necessarily just about fuel. They were about a Government that has frittered away billions, that has not listened and that is leaving huge numbers of people struggling to keep their heads above water.”
“You did. The Government is trying to get a message across to people that it has done so much for them. The reality is that it has not been listening. That is really clear. Last week was desperately difficult for the country. I do not think anyone would think that what happened was an easy thing to resolve. The people I spoke to in the constituency that I and the Tánaiste represent were deeply conflicted because many of them did not agree with the blockades or with people being blocked from attending appointments. They did not necessarily agree or align themselves with some of the people who were leading the protests. However, they could understand why those people were doing it.”
“It is clear from listening to the speeches this afternoon that the Government still does not get it. The Taoiseach essentially listed out all the Government's so-called achievements and told people how good it really is.”
“I know the Minister says that is not his intention, that is not the point and this is a sunset clause, but the effect of this sunset clause will mean that we will not have to debate this again. The Minister will not have to report back to the Dáil and that is concerning.”
“It is hypocritical of the Government to say that the carbon tax is fundamental to our climate ambitions and our climate action while at the same time reducing the NORA levy in a way that it could possibly be done over 18 months without bringing it back to the floor of the Dáil or without bringing it to a committee. It is a decision for the Government, through the Cabinet, that the Minister could do that and take up to €200 million out of the Climate Action Fund. I cannot square that circle. They are very similar funds, in my opinion, and it is important to protect both of them. I can understand, as a short-term two-month measure, reducing the NORA levy, but this could potentially extend it.”
“I do not understand the difference between the Climate Action Fund and the NORA levy that funds it and the carbon tax. It is really important that the Government has stood strong with the carbon tax and it is being very clear that it is to be ring-fenced for climate action. Only today, in the Dáil, the Taoiseach was highly critical of Sinn Féin and the fact that Sinn Féin continually asked for the carbon tax to be scrapped or reduced. Indeed, what the Taoiseach said was that it "is essential to guarantee ring-fenced funding for the retrofitting of homes, the warmer homes initiative and the retrofitting of local authority housing, all of which will help working people to permanently reduce their bills into the future." The Taoiseach described Sinn Féin as being "hypocritical" to call for a reduction in carbon tax.”
“This is not necessarily about the Minister. It is any Minister who could be taking that role. That is why we have serious concerns. We do not believe that this aspect of the Bill is necessary. It has not been done with the other emergency measures. We would ask the Minister to remove that aspect of the Bill and agree to our amendment and that in the event that a Government decision is made to continue a reduction in the NORA levy, it has to come back to be debated in and be a decision of the Dáil.”
“If we are about talking about climate action and climate resilience, using nature to build that resilience is very important but, again, there are always problems finding funding for biodiversity measures or nature-based solution measures. To be able to get that done through the legislation with the assistance and support of the previous Minister, Eamon Ryan, was important. It is unfortunate that it looks like one of the very few funds that is available for biodiversity and nature-based solution measures could potentially be significantly reduced without the Minister having to come back and seek approval from the Dáil. It needs to be a democratic decision and there needs to be transparency about it and that is why we think signing this legislation as it currently stands and has been proposed by the Government gives far too much scope.”
“It is because we recognise that setting aside money to ensure that people who are finding it difficult to make the transition to a fossil fuel-free future and need to be supported by the State will have the same opportunities when it comes to climate action as wealthier residents in the country. This fund, which is facilitated through the NORA levy for climate action, is very important and fulfils a very important function. The Climate Action Fund is not just for emission reduction measures. It is not often as an Opposition TD that one can say one influenced legislation but an amendment I put forward in the previous Dáil on the NORA legislation was to ensure that biodiversity projects for nature-based solutions could also be funded through the Climate Action Fund because I thought that was a really important aspect of it.”
“A figure of €200 million is a huge amount of money. I know the Minister may say that he has no intention of pulling this money from the Climate Action Fund but the potential is there using this particular piece of legislation. That in itself is very concerning. One of the reasons I am really worried about this is because climate action always plays second fiddle to every other required or necessary spend the State makes. It always finds it really hard. It is difficult to get money for climate action and so when money has been identified and reserved for a particular purpose, it is really important that it is used for that purpose. To dip into it could essentially be the thin edge of the wedge when it comes to that particular fund. That is the reason the Social Democrats do not believe in reducing or stopping the carbon tax.”
“It was very clear, pretty much immediately after the war in Iran started, that forecourt prices would skyrocket and that has continued. We all suspect that there has been price-gouging and there has to be accountability for it because if there is not accountability, we will not stop them from doing it every time there is an issue like this. It is really important that that happens and that it happens quickly. We also need to ensure that any of the excise cuts and now the NORA cut are passed on to consumers. It needs to go directly into people's pockets and not into the pockets of the retailers. I ask the Minister of State to ensure that happens because it is fundamentally important when it comes to not just these measures but the trust the public have in the implementation of these measures.”
“It is something it should be doing on a regular basis and not waiting for a Minister to direct it to do so. It has responsibility for ensuring fairness in the energy markets for consumers. It should have the wherewithal to use the legislation that is available to it and to do this when it deems it fit. However, it seems very lax when it comes to these kinds of matters. It waits for there to be a public outcry and for a Minister to direct it. I do not understand how it does not see it as a normal part of its remit. Anyway, we have not seen any response or any report from the CRU and it is really important that that happens. Alongside that, the CCPC also needs to investigate price-gouging by petrol and diesel retailers.”
“I thank the Minister. I also want to talk about price-gouging. The CRU was mentioned earlier. The CSO reported this week that wholesale electricity prices have dropped by 72% since the peak in August 2022. We have not seen a 72% reduction in retail prices here in Ireland and indeed many people are still really suffering from the incredible costs of electricity and gas as a result of the invasion of Ukraine. The Minister has called on the CRU to look into aspects of price-gouging in the energy sector and to consider what level of pass-through is occurring from wholesale to retail. That was a recommendation of the task force last year. I have not heard anything back from the CRU yet. Within its legislation, the CRU has the provisions to be able to do this anyway.”
“I will speak to both Ministers then. I would ask that they look at the amendments we put forward and not use this Bill to extend this provision to 18 months and essentially pull all the funding that is going into the climate action fund for things like solar PV for schools, EV charging units, the community action funds, and the community and climate officers in the different local authorities. Many really important projects are funded by this scheme. Please do not use this as a way to pull the funding for 18 months. This is €200 million that should be going to climate action and to support communities so that they can actually move away from fossil fuels, which apparently is an aim of the Government. Please do not pull that money from them. We will be debating this later on but I would ask-----”
“We would ask the Minister to seriously consider that amendment because this provision does not need to be extended beyond two months, in the same manner that the excise reduction has not been extended for longer than two months. So, we would ask that you actually seriously consider this, Minister. Minister?”
“When talking about extending this to 18 months, it is important that the Minister explain to us the programmes he is planning to cut. Will he cut community climate action projects, retrofitting of public buildings, electricity charging infrastructure, solar PV and district heating projects? Will he cut all those? Will he cut the climate officers in the local authorities? Which local authorities will he pull climate officers from? These projects are all fundamentally dependent on the revenue streams from NORA. There has to be some honesty in this discussion and it is unfortunate it has not been there so far. We are only on Second Stage and we have tabled an amendment to that effect.”
“The climate action fund plays an incredibly important role in supporting communities, small businesses, households and the public service to implement climate action measures. The ESB availed of the climate action fund to put in charging stations all across the country. Schools are using money from the fund to put solar panels on their buildings. A huge range of very important measures are being supported by this fund. Why would the Minister want to take money out of those programmes? Why would he decide this is the best place to find State funding to support people who are facing huge difficulties because of the war in Iran? Why is the Government sticking so closely to carbon tax, stressing how important that is and being very critical of other parties for not supporting it while at the same time doing exactly the same thing?”
“That is why the Social Democrats have always supported carbon tax. However, I find it bizarre that at the same time the Government is being critical of Sinn Féin for not supporting the carbon tax on the basis that the money is ring-fenced and will go to energy and climate action measures, it is, in essence, doing the exact same thing with the NORA fund. It is just called something different. A lot of people do not understand where the money from the NORA levy goes and for what it is used. The Government is using that to its advantage and is really just playing with words here. It is incredibly disappointing that the Bill includes a mechanism for ministerial discretion to extend these provisions for 18 months.”
“However, as my party colleague has stated, we have concerns about this Bill. It is much more far-reaching than what was originally proposed, which was just a two-month cut. The Social Democrats have consistently supported carbon tax because we understand we need to move away from fossil fuels and fossil fuel subsidies and ensure people who are least able to do so can transition away from those fuels. The revenue collected from carbon tax offered the Government an opportunity to ensure a just transition. There was a chance to use that money to ensure lower income families can have warm homes, lower energy costs and an opportunity to avail of solar panels and electric cars. These are the changes we all need to make but lower income families will find it much more challenging to do so.”
“It is unfortunate that the Government has not done so. We in the Social Democrats hope that at some stage in the very near future it will bring forward that energy credit. This crisis did not start four weeks ago. There are many people still trying to recover from the impact of the high energy costs incurred as a result of the Ukraine crisis. The ESRI has advised against the approach of introducing measures that are not targeted. It has shown that the last time this approach was used, 50% of the cost of the measure went to the top 40% of households. The statistics are there to show this is not the best way to deal with these issues. A targeted approach is certainly the preference of the Social Democrats. In the absence of that, we have supported the excise reduction and we will support the 2 cent reduction in the NORA levy.”
“Instead, what the Minister should have done is target the use of public money to support people who are most in need. We have repeatedly asked him to bring in a €400 electricity credit targeted at the people in the lowest 40% of the income distribution. That would assist 800,000 people in this country with their energy bills. We are not calling for a broad-brush energy credit because that would not be targeted. This was consistently our position in the previous Dáil. There is a huge wastage of public money in the non-targeting of such measures. The best, simplest and quickest way to assist every person who is really suffering from the high cost of electricity and gas following the Ukraine crisis, and now the high cost of petrol, diesel and home heating oil as a result of the current war, is to provide a targeted energy support.”
“I will return later in my contribution to the aspects of the debate my party colleague has raised. The 2 cent reduction in the NORA levy is a drop in the ocean for homeowners and householders who are relying on home heating oil, the hundreds of thousands of people who are not going to benefit from the excise cuts, which the Social Democrats supported, and the people who will continue to find it very difficult to put a half-fill or a fill of oil in their tanks. The Social Democrats have repeatedly acknowledged that we are in the middle of a crisis that will require emergency-type solutions in the short term that can offer some level of respite to people. This reduction of 2 cent is the absolute bare minimum and it really will not make much difference to people.”
“The Taoiseach said today that the proposed LNG plant is necessary from an energy security perspective. I have spent many hours going through the documentation for that argument, and I cannot see how this plant is required from an energy security perspective. There are alternative ways of dealing with energy security. This plant will lock us into fossil fuel infrastructure and it will be an incredibly costly exercise, with a cost of €1 billion over ten years. If an alternative and evidence for that alternative are provided to the Taoiseach, will he give it serious consideration? There is another way of dealing with this energy security issue.”
“I too want to raise the report by Conor Gallagher in today's edition of The Irish Times , which was carried out in conjunction with the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project. It is very concerning. It is reported that Russian smelters supplied by the Limerick Aughinish Alumina plant are selling vast amounts of aluminium to a trading company that supplies dozens of Russian arms manufacturers. Is the Taoiseach's Government aware of any links between companies receiving aluminium from Aughinish Alumina and the weapons industry in Russia?”
“We welcome the excise reductions the Government is bringing in but how will it make sure there is pass-through such that people see a reduction in petrol and diesel prices from when the measures are introduced and that there will be absolutely no opportunity to price-gouge people in this instance?”
“When global energy crises hit, there is one certainty in Ireland and that is that energy prices shoot sky high like a rocket and then take years to drop. We saw it happen when Russia invaded Ukraine. In fact, there are still people suffering the consequences of that, with 320,000 remaining in arrears on their electricity bills. We are still facing sky-high electricity prices despite the CSO reporting yesterday that wholesale electricity prices are down by 72% since the peak. People in Ireland have not seen a 72% reduction in electricity prices, as we know well. We are seeing the same happening as a result of the war in Iran, with a near immediate increase in prices at the pump.”
“We are hearing really awful reports from the UK about the viral meningitis outbreak there. Unfortunately, two young people have died and there have been 27 cases in total. There has also been a case in Belfast but I understand the two instances are not connected. In this country, teenagers and young people were not part of the vaccination program that was rolled out in 2016. What is the Government doing to warn parents about symptoms and to monitor the situation in the hope that the outbreak does not spread from the UK to Ireland? Are there plans for a catch-up programme for the young people and teenagers who were not part of the 2016 vaccination programme?”
“I know of two women in Roundwood who had to give up their college places because they could not get from Roundwood to UCD or to Dublin because there was no public transport that would get them there. That service was promised and was meant to be up and running last September. When I last raised it with the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, he said the NTA was waiting for the 2026 service plan. That was in late January. There is still no news about the 199 route. There is a bus waiting, a driver waiting and a whole community waiting for that 199 service to start.”
“At some stage, Go-Ahead has to be able to provide the service it is contracted to provide. If it has issues with drivers, fleet or mechanics, that is on it. It has a job to do and it is being paid to do the job. It is time it started doing that job and providing a proper bus service for Wicklow. I want to speak to the Minister about the 199 route, which is to run between Bray and Glendalough, servicing Laragh, Roundwood and Kilmacanogue. In May 2025, the NTA told me it was prioritising this particular route and that it had funding for it. In early September, I learned a provider had been awarded the contract and that it was to start in September 2025 but this still has not happened.”