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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“The Irish State was a real leader when it came to the smoking ban - I know the Taoiseach, Deputy Martin, played a big part - but there are equally concerning issues in relation to other nicotine products. While work is being done on vaping, I want to raise with the Taoiseach the issue of nicotine pouches. I am not sure if the Taoiseach is familiar with them, but teenagers use these little pouches, which they put on their gums. They can pass ten times the amount of nicotine versus a single cigarette - they are really strong. Teenagers can use them in school because no one can spot them under their gums. They are marketed in a similar way to vapes, in really cool packaging, with flavours, and there is essentially no age restriction. They are really concerning. We need to get ahead of these nicotine technologies.”
“Wicklow parents pay the highest average weekly cost for childcare outside of Dublin at €235.90. It is an incredible amount for anyone to have to pay. In addition we have only 20 community centres out of 161. That is 12%. That can be compared with other counties like Leitrim and Monaghan, where more than 60% of their early learning providers are community centres. I understand that the Government is bringing in a pilot and that a number of community crèches will be established. I ask that Wicklow be very carefully considered as one of those counties. The need is there, as the Tánaiste will know. It is important that parents in Wicklow get support to access work.”
“It is now here with the arrival of bluetongue in a home-bred Irish animal. Climate change is not only an environmental issue. It is an agricultural issue, a food security issue, a rural economy issue and, indeed, a public health issue. Irish agriculture cannot be climate-proofed with debates and press releases. It must be climate-proofed with investment, foresight and policy reform. Bluetongue will not be the last climate-linked crisis to reach our shores, but it can be the moment when the Government chooses to respond not only with containment but with forward thinking. If proper supports are put in place and plans are made for what is coming, the agriculture sector can be climate-proofed. This outbreak is a warning but it also brings opportunity. I urge the Government to treat it with the full seriousness and urgency it deserves.”
“A national vector-borne disease strategy should be published, costed and evaluated annually. On top of all of that, we need to prioritise climate-resilient farming. If we do not do that, we may as well admit we are giving up. We cannot continue to operate on a system where a single flooding event wipes out winter fodder for an entire region. We need to plan ahead. Our agriculture sector needs to be climate resilient if it wants to stand any chance of thriving and, indeed, surviving in this new Ireland. For years, we spoke about climate change as something that was coming. It is no longer coming; it is here. It is here in the floods in Cork, Wexford and the Shannon Basin. It is here in the wetter autumns and warmer winters. It is here in the fodder shortages, the failed second cuts, the drowning of crops and the destruction of farmyards.”
“Those are exactly the conditions these insects need to thrive. In short, vector-borne diseases that were once improbable in Ireland are now entirely plausible. Bluetongue is here and others may follow. We need to shift towards a strategy of anticipation and prevention. One of the ways we can do that is through increased vector sampling. What happened in Wexford was detected through routine surveillance but the scale of the surveillance required in a climate-altered Ireland will be far greater. We need expanded vector sampling nationwide, not concentrated in traditional high-risk regions. Bluetongue cannot be treated as a once-off anomaly; it must be taken as a signal and warning. Ireland needs a national plan to address diseases transmitted by midges, ticks and mosquitos.”
“Knock-on effects hit the following year’s planting, the nutrient balance of the soil, fodder reserves and overall farm planning. Let us not forget that this is also on the back of storms Darragh and Éowyn, the impacts of which many farmers are still feeling. Bluetongue is a different kind of climate-linked crisis, but it belongs in the same category. Climate change does not manifest only in storms, rainfall and droughts; it also manifests in the migration and survival of disease vectors, midges, ticks and, increasingly, mosquitos. For years, Ireland’s naturally cool climate acted as a barrier to diseases like bluetongue because the virus could not replicate inside midges below certain temperatures, but our winters are getting milder and our summers are stretching longer. Our springs and autumns are becoming warmer and wetter.”
“Weather patterns have changed and midges capable of carrying the virus can survive in conditions that were once inhospitable to them. Today, therefore, is not just about responding to the outbreak in Wexford. It is about acknowledging what this outbreak represents, a warning signal about our preparedness for a changing environment. Climate change is reshaping disease risks, farm work and viability and rural resilience. The flooding of recent months devastated farmland across the country. Fields were submerged for weeks, and many still are. Silage stores were destroyed, walkways collapsed and livestock had to be rehoused unexpectedly. Slurry tanks were filled far earlier than intended and crops, particularly cereal and roots, suffered losses that will take years to fully quantify. When that happens, not just the current season is affected.”
“Farmers plan their year and income around sales windows, mart days, shipping periods and production cycles that run with precision. Therefore, when an event like this pauses live exports, everything downstream becomes unstable. This causes daily worries in farm households impacted by the disease. While this is the first case of a bluetongue infection in a home-bred Irish animal, it is likely not the last, unfortunately. We are facing a well-documented climate and ecological change. Scientists have told us for years that Ireland’s risk profile for vector-borne diseases is changing. Bluetongue did not arrive here because a farmer did something wrong or through lax standards or poor biosecurity. Rather, it arrived because the climate systems around us are shifting.”
“Many of our export destinations, those outside the EU in particular, will only accept live animals or certain animal products from countries that hold a disease-free certification. Once that status is interrupted, even temporarily, markets react instantly. Some countries shut their doors automatically the moment a disease notification is issued. Obviously, that has huge consequences for farmers on the ground. Export-dependent farmers suddenly face delays, uncertainty and, in some cases, complete market closures. Orders that were being arranged are put on pause and animals that were due to travel cannot do so. This, in turn, leads to increased housing and feed costs, and all the while, revenue is on hold. I cannot imagine the anxiety this must cause farmers.”
“The outbreak of bluetongue in Wexford is a tragic occurrence. I express my sympathy to the farmers and families impacted by it. Since the first herd tested positive for bluetongue, it has been identified in an additional three herds in Wexford, according to the most recent reports. It must be very worrying for those farmers whose herds have tested positive for this disease. Although bluetongue does not pose any risk to food safety and infected meats can still be consumed, it has a big knock-on effect on imports. The distinction between food safety and trade safety is an important one. Our domestic food supply remains safe but the international marketplace does not operate on the basis of food safety alone.”
“It was dark, it was lashing rain, and that bus driver put her out when he got to Newcastle village and would not bring her back to Kilcoole. She was left on the side of the road by herself. It is not acceptable. The service Go-Ahead is providing is not sufficient. I ask that the Taoiseach look at the contract that was provided to it because it has never once provided a sufficient service in Wicklow.”
“The provision of public transport should play a huge part in climate action. Unfortunately, in my constituency of Wicklow, Go-Ahead provides many of our services. It is just not up to scratch. It is plagued with problems in providing the service. There are ghost buses and buses that will just drive by people and not pick them up, particularly teenagers. We have buses that refuse to go on the predetermined route. They will actually bypass a road they are meant to go down and instead just drive to the nearest village. I will tell the Taoiseach how bad this is. I am really annoyed with this. There is a young lady in my constituency who has intellectual and physical disabilities. She got on her bus from her day service. That bus was meant to go down her road. Again, the bus driver refused to go down and brought her to the next village.”
“The Marine Institute recently released a report on the devastating impacts of the use of tangle nets on many endangered species in our waters. This report looked at what was happening in our national park. Incredibly we see tangle nets are killing angel shark which is on the brink of extinction. A consultation was done by the Department of agriculture on a sustainable crayfish management plan in 2021 but I can find no other information about that. There was no follow up and no report seemed to result from that consultation. It is important that we move away from tangle nets but we need to do it and support fishers as we do so. It is important that we start protecting these endangered species. Can the Taoiseach tell me if he knows where that consultation is or will he look into it for me?”
“Last week, a pregnant horse was literally driven into the ground on the N4. The horse was taking part, or was being made take part, in sulky races on Dollymount Strand. She was with foal. She collapsed on the road and was forced up to continue on that road. She collapsed again and this time, she could not get up. Her abusers kicked her and tried to drag her up but she was unable to get up. My Lovely Horse Rescue went out and rescued this horse and brought her to UCD but, unfortunately, she had to be put to sleep. This is pure animal cruelty plain and simple, so can the Taoiseach tell me what the Government is going to do to stop these horrific things from happening to animals in broad daylight?”
“It is not acceptable for a young student like Mischa to have to drop out of college because a simple Local Link has not been delivered nearly a year after it was meant to be.”
“I know a stated aim of the Government is to improve public transport, but I and my constituency in Wicklow have not seen that happen. I will give an example. This morning, on East Coast Radio, a young woman, Mischa Cleary, was talking about how she had to drop out of her college course in Grangegorman, where she was doing politics. She had to drop out this year because she could not get public transport to college and she cannot afford to live there, the same as many other students. Her town was promised a bus, the 199 service. The NTA told me that funding was available for it last May and that it was a priority. It was meant to start in September. It still has not started. I have repeatedly raised this. Indeed, I have raised it with other Ministers too. I ask the Minister of State to look into this.”
“Despite all these repeated calls, it was not included in the national development plan for 2027, and Government signals about it have been vague at best. While recent interactions have indicated that it may be advanced before 2030, no firm commitments, timelines or funding allocations have been given to me. I would appreciate if the Minister of State could look into this. A road as dangerous as the N81 cannot be left in limbo like this any longer. It needs to be brought to the same standard as other national routes in Ireland. As I said, there is not a single solution to road safety. What we are seeing is that many roads are at capacity now. We see increased congestion, which leads to more risk of accidents and poorer driver behaviour. A key element of the solution to this is improving our public transport.”
“However, some of our roads are just so dangerous at the moment that there is a need to put resources into them to make them safer. I will specifically talk about the N81, which runs from Tallaght through west Wicklow and Kildare. It stands out for all the wrong reasons. It is the only road outside Dublin that has never been upgraded and is one of the major national roads still operating as a single-lane route for most of its length. Each morning, the N81 is a long line of red tail lights. A single collision, big or small, can bring the entire route to a standstill for hours. It is one of the most dangerous roads in the country. I and others have been calling for it to be addressed for years.”
“The Road Safety Authority, gardaí and indeed the Minister of State's Government colleagues have acknowledged the worsening trends and the need for a reset of approach, but the pace of change is simply too slow. Enforcement remains inconsistent and vulnerable road users are bearing an increasing share of this danger. Without a major acceleration in the delivery of road safety measures, we will see more people lose their lives on our dangerous roads. It is down to driving behaviour, speeding, congestion, lack of enforcement and deficits in infrastructure. There is no single solution to this, because a series of measures need to be taken on board and implemented. We are just not seeing movement on that quickly enough. I will talk about a road. Ideally, our roads would not be a priority for building. We have climate obligations.”
“It had a target of 122 or fewer deaths. It was not met. Phase 2 runs until 2027 and we are halfway through that phase now. There is no target for that period. That speaks volumes and it seems to me that the Government has, unfortunately, given up on this. The overarching national target remains a 50% reduction by 2030, meaning annual deaths should at this point be down to 72 or fewer, which is still 72 too many. So far this year, we have seen 11 people lost on our roads. Policies mean nothing if implementation fails. What we are witnessing is a steady, consistent rise, year after year, at a time when our national strategy had promised to do the exact opposite.”
“We are facing a road safety crisis in Ireland. It is worsening year on year. After a stint of progress earlier this decade, recent years have seen a deeply worrying trend of increasing deaths. There were 190 in 2025, 175 in 2024, 184 in 2023, and 155 in 2022. They are hundreds upon hundreds of people whose lives were tragically taken from them and families who have been destroyed by this. This is not for lack of policy, because we have the Vision Zero policy running from 2021 to 2030 which seeks to halve road deaths by 2030 and eliminate all road deaths by 2050. We are halfway through that time period now and the Government is not meeting the targets in that policy. We continue to see life after life being lost on our roads. Phase 1 of that policy, which ran from 2021 to 2024, saw investment of €3.8 billion.”
“This controversy points to a deeper systemic issue in Ireland, which is the governance structures of our State agencies. We need to interrogate those structures and ask if they are sufficiently aligned with the expectations of their sectors and if accountability measures are fit for purpose. Farmers deserve clarity on this and a governance structure that reflects the values Bord Bia is meant to uphold. While I cannot currently support the specific call in the motion to remove the chairperson, I support the need for serious scrutiny and reform across our agrifood agencies. We need Government agencies that people and workers can trust. Farmers have done their part and it is time the Government did its part.”
“I and others are deeply disappointed by that. However, this motion asks us to support the removal of the chairperson of Bord Bia. While I support and understand the concerns, disappointment and fear farmers have about what the future holds for them, I cannot support that call. That would be an extreme step, especially considering that he has yet to appear before the agriculture committee to discuss this issue face to face and at length. I cannot support a decision like this before hearing those discussions and hearing back from committee members. As was stated previously, there are processes that should be followed. There is a way of doing business. The committee should have an opportunity to interrogate and ask the questions they need answers to. All that is not to say there is nothing to see here.”
“For years, farmers have warned that allowing beef from regions with lower environmental and welfare standards into the EU market would undermine the sustainability credentials of Ireland which Irish farmers have worked so hard to promote. They, as so many of us did, repeatedly called on the Government to take a firmer stance and be vocal and active at an EU level in its opposition to this deal, to form an alliance with like-minded states and lobby others to join. The Government had a responsibility to do all it could to fight this deal not only for our farmers but for the Irish public more broadly. Unfortunately, instead it took a passive approach, offering empty statements rather than action, and now Mercosur is as good as here. The Government seriously let farmers, the environment and the public down.”
“Each criterion represents time, cost and responsibility that is carried by farmers to uphold our reputation. Bearing all this in mind, I understand why farmers are frustrated and feel betrayed by what has transpired with the chairperson of Bord Bia. Believing as they do that those high standards are undermined by the actions of the agency charged with promoting them I imagine is a painful sting. The anger they feel comes from the real lived experiences of farmers who play by the rules and invest in higher standards all the while competing in an increasingly difficult global market. I understand that. I also understand that this controversy does not exist in a vacuum. It sits against the backdrop of the Government's inaction and complacency on trade issues, most notably and most recently Mercosur.”
“I welcome this opportunity to discuss Bord Bia. This issue goes beyond any single person or State agency. This issue goes to the heart of how we protect Ireland's reputation as a world-class producer of safe, high-quality food and how we as policymakers ensure the governance structures behind that reputation are robust and transparent. Bord Bia's job is to bring Ireland's produce to the world. That would not be possible without the work of Irish farmers. The success of our food exports is thanks to them and their expertise commitment, energy and hard work. Our farmers adhere to some of the most stringent animal health and welfare and sustainability standards in the world. That is no small feat. Irish farmers meet rigorous criteria that far exceed what is expected in many other markets.”
“Unfortunately, I am still hearing from constituents in Wicklow town and all along that line who face incredible overcrowding. Will the Taoiseach please look into that? It is unacceptable.”
“Despite public transport and the improving of public transport being a key commitment of this Government, many areas have actually seen a poorer service than was there previously. I am speaking in particular in this instance to the Gorey-Dublin rail line. Previously, there were four carriages on it and it sat 262 commuters. For some inexplicable reason, Iarnród Éireann changed those four carriages in October of last year. It put on a different carriage system, which seats only 185 people. I hear of consistent overcrowding and people fainting on that line, and there are health and safety issues with it. I have raised it with Iarnród Éireann and the NTA. I have been told they would get back to me in a matter of weeks.”
“Storm Chandra brought absolute chaos to parts of Dublin, Wexford and Wicklow yesterday. Homes and businesses were destroyed and there was commuter hell for thousands of people left sitting on the M1, the M50 and the N11 for four or five hours in traffic. The reality is that these storms are going to come more often and will be more severe. We need to be better prepared. The Minister for housing made an extraordinary accusation on Alan Corcoran's show on South East Radio this morning when he accused Met Éireann of guarding information and, essentially, withholding flood warning information about this storm event. Does the Taoiseach agree with the housing Minister that Met Éireann is guarding this information? If so, what is he going to do about it?”
“Disabled people cannot eat services. They cannot clothe themselves with disability services. They cannot pay their rent or mortgage with disability services. They certainly cannot heat their homes with them. We are talking about a €400 payment. It is very targeted. It is targeted at the people who need it most. We have discussed this with Government backbenchers and they agree. The Minister knows this is the right thing to do. I ask him to give serious consideration to it, particularly as people are not going to be able to manage until he can bring in the cost-of-disability payment.”
“I really do not understand how the Government can talk about supporting disabled people when it is leaving them that far behind in the annual budget. I know it is planned to bring in a cost-of-disability allowance. That is really welcome, but there is a gap. People are struggling now. This motion is very modest. We are talking about €400. However, it will support disabled people over the period from now, when they are struggling with the cost of living, until the time when the Minister is able to bring in that cost-of-disability payment. We really ask that the Minister look at this. I also ask the Minister, when he stands up, not to speak to us, the people in the Gallery and the people watching this debate about the services now being provided for disabled people because that is the constant narrative from the Government.”
“Fight, fight, fight, scrap, argue and fight again. That is how one disabled woman described her relationship with the State in the audiovisual room recently. She is not alone. It is the one thing that always comes back when we talk to disabled people about their real lived experiences. It is a constant struggle for them. They are trying to fight and advocate for themselves to get supports they not only need, but are entitled to. Disabled people really feel like this Government has forgotten them and that they have been ignored. When you look at the budget that went through in October, it is clear why they feel that way. The budget was absolutely huge. We are a wealthy country. Millions upon millions were given in tax breaks to developers, and yet disabled people are €1,400 worse off as a result of that budget.”
“I know the NCSE will sanction places based on what the demand is but that issue is coming to me very strongly. At one stage, the special schools were told they would not be able to take in children with a mild learning difficulty diagnosis and they would have to go mainstream but mainstream schools do not have the capacity. Some of those children will get lost in some of the very big schools. I ask the Minister of State to take that into consideration when developing policy in this regard.”
“How do they apply for a letter of eligibility in the absence for the portal being opened? Ideally, it would be brilliant if the Minister of State opened the portal because that would be the simplest way to deal with this. Otherwise, people are relying on individuals within the system. I ask the Minister of State to open the portal, even if only for a few weeks, to allow the backlog to go through. What do I tell parents in this instance? I will raise another issue with the Minister of State that came back very strongly when I spoke to parents. While it is brilliant that there are special education classes and places for children on the autism spectrum, there is a huge deficit in places for children with mild learning difficulties. That is a very big problem as well. I ask the Minister of State to take that into consideration.”
“I thank the Minister of State. It is not often that I, or any Opposition TD, comes in here and gets the answer they want from a Minister of State. I welcome the fact he has confirmed there will be additional special education classes for Wicklow and that they will be announced shortly. In relation to letters of eligibility, I understand the Department is working hard on this issue but what can I tell parents? As I said, one child has a place and the school is happy to take the child but the family does not have the letter of eligibility. The SENO has actually said they will not issue one because the deadline has been missed. Does the Minister of State have a message I could give to those parents who do not have a letter of eligibility? What are they meant to do? Do they talk to the SENOs?”
“I am aware of a child who has been offered a special school place and the school is willing and able to enrol the child but the special educational needs organiser, SENO, has refused to issue a letter of eligibility because the deadline was missed. We have a place that is waiting for a child who needs it and that deadline is stopping them getting it. I am aware of another child who the letter of eligibility said needed a special class place. Their local mainstream said it could not give the child that place and they needed to go somewhere else. That means travelling the entire length of the county and there are no places. It seems there is a lot of confusion and, unfortunately, parents and children are bearing the brunt of it. I really hope the Minister of State can come in and clarify some matters for me.”
“There are parents of children who did not receive a letter of eligibility because they did not get a chance to apply for one, and their children could not even apply for a special education class. I am not sure what they are actually meant to do. Those parents are incredibly worried and stressed. It seems to me that nobody really knows what is happening. The system has changed for special education classes and it is still in a very transitionary period. I understand that. You change policies; that happens. What we cannot have happen is children falling through those gaps. That is absolutely not fair.”
“There seems to be a complete mismatch between what the demand is and what the provision is, and I just do not understand it. I wanted to raise that with the Minister of State. Parents are very worried, and they deserve answers about this. The other thing I want to raise is the fact that there are still a number of children who do not have the letter of eligibility. I have raised this with the Minister of State previously. The portal to get that letter of eligibility was closed on, I believe, 1 October by the NCSE. I asked at the time what would happen to those parents who did not have the documentation ready or who were not aware of the portal. The Minister of State told me, and this has been the position of the NCSE, that parents and children would not be left behind and would be supported. That has not happened.”
“I welcome the opening of any classes, so I welcome the three secondary school classes, but compared to the amount of demand and what I am hearing from parents, I do not understand how only three classes were sanctioned. I am aware of 16 parents whose children have letters of eligibility and need a special education class. The majority are for primary schools. I collected this information just last week. I could sit down here and come up with four for Bray. I could find an entire class for the Minister of State now, so I do not know how more were not sanctioned. Coupled with that, I am aware of schools that want special education classes sanctioned. They asked the Department or the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, for them but those have not been sanctioned.”
“We have recently had announcements of three special education classes for the Wicklow constituency. Two are for Greystones Community College, which is a brand new building that will hopefully open soon, and one is for Dominican College in Wicklow town. We will have three special education classes in secondary schools open. The one for Dominican College Wicklow was sanctioned and meant to open last year. The Department then pulled that sanction, so this is really a reannouncement of a sanction. Setting that all aside, no primary schools received additional special education classes in the entire constituency of Wicklow. I was really surprised.”
“In 2023, the CSO reported that 52% of women had experienced sexual violence in their lifetime and this figure was increasing year on year. I recently met a fantastic group of women from Wexford who were in visiting the Ceann Comhairle in the Dáil. This group established the Wexford Rape Crisis Centre. I had really good conversations with them but they made it clear to me that there were quite a number of women from Wicklow who were going to Wexford to avail of the services of the rape crisis centre because we did not have one in Wicklow at all. Is the Minister looking to establish a rape crisis centre in Wicklow? How is something like that achieved and how can I go about working with women across the county to ensure that the services they need are available and that they do not have to travel to other counties?”
“There are huge pressures on families. I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward the motion. I ask the Minister of State to look at this from a holistic perspective. Wicklow needs sufficient public transport.”
“What we have not seen, however, is infrastructure keeping pace with that growth. We are probably one of the few counties across Ireland that has a significant number of new houses being bought, but they are not affordable homes. That means that new people are coming into the area who have to keep on travelling in and out of Dublin to make the money to pay the mortgage. With that lack of investment, when it comes to our public transport we have buses that do not show up, and when they do show up they cannot take anybody on because they are too full. We have train services that are so full going from Gorey to Dublin through Wicklow town that people faint on them because they have to stand for hours on end. We are not seeing the investment in public transport that the population growth in Wicklow should be matched with.”
“Not only does spending hours in that traffic create huge challenges for individuals in the context of their mental health and their ability to spend time with their families and on things they enjoy but it also creates a huge cost to communities. When those people are in their cars, they cannot be out talking in their local shop to shop owners and buying local. They are not going to be out volunteering in their local communities either. Every hour spent on the N11 in a car hollows out the communities from which these people come and where they should be living and enjoying their time. This is not an isolated instance. This happens to constituents of mine all over the county. We all know that Wicklow has seen an incredible growth in population over the last number of years.”
“I thank the Labour Party and Deputy Wall for bringing this motion forward. We are very happy to support it. A constituent of mine once told me that they did not live in Wicklow town, they merely slept there. That has stuck with me because it is reflective of the lived experience of so many people in a commuter county like Wicklow where people buy their homes, want to start families and be a part of the community but spend three or four hours a day trying to simply get in and out to work. Anyone who has travelled on the N11 or the M50 recently will know that we do not have any peak times on those roads anymore. There is just a constant stream of traffic that people get stuck in. Indeed, if there is something like a crash, it just makes it impossible to get to work.”
“That delay is unacceptable. We have been waiting. It is nearly a year and a half since the food regulator first asked for that, so it will be two and a half years before it is actually given those powers. Considering the day-to-day lives, the impact and the pressures on families, that delay is not acceptable. I want the Government to speed this up. My Bill will do that. It is a very simple Bill. It essentially changes the premise that the regulator can ask for this information to ensuring it can compel this information from the big retailers. It is very simple. It is something that has been on the agenda of the regulator for over a year and a half. This should be easy to do. I ask that the Government supports this Bill and moves forward quickly with this because families around the country need the price of their food to come down.”
“It was to do an analysis on the production and cost of eggs but was unable to do that because businesses were not giving them enough information. The regulator sought to fix that problem and asked the Government to provide those powers to it. Nothing came forward from the Government and in March 2025, the regulator repeated the call that it be given the power of compellability. I was pleased to hear from the Minister, Deputy Heydon, late last year that those powers were to be given, but I was surprised and shocked when I realised the statutory regulation he signed would only bring those powers in at the end of 2026. Families are going to have to wait another year before there is sufficient transparency in the pricing of our food, and before the Government has sufficient information to do something about these high grocery prices.”
“Unfortunately, when it was established, the Agri-Food Regulator was not given sufficient powers to do its job properly. Essentially, it was to look at every point along the food chain, identify what the costs and margins were and bring some transparency as to who was making money along the food chain. One issue we are all aware of is that farmers at the farm gate are not making the money but someone is making a lot of money when it comes to food prices at the moment. Unfortunately, when the Government brought the powers to the regulator, it did not give it sufficient teeth. In September 2024, the regulator wrote to the Minister asking for additional powers. It wants to be able to compel businesses to provide this information. Currently, it can only ask for or request that information, which has stymied some of its analysis to date.”
“It is so expensive. Month after month, we have seen grocery prices going up and families struggling to feed their children. Barnardos cost-of-living report last year found some stark stats when it did its analysis. A total of 19% of families cut back or went without food in a six-month period; 40% of parents skipped meals or reduced portion size so that their children had enough to eat; 28% of parents reported sometimes not having enough food to feed their children; and 12% of families rely on food banks. We are very wealthy country but that wealth is not being seen in so many households and families. Those people are finding it very difficult just to keep their head above water. The establishment of the Agri-Food Regulator was a very welcome initiative by the Government.”
“I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for enhanced powers for the Agri-food Regulator to access data from businesses within the agricultural and food supply chain, including prices, margins, and related financial information, in order to promote transparency and protect consumer interests; and to provide for related matters. I welcome the opportunity to introduce this Bill. It will provide for enhanced powers for the Agri-Food Regulator to access data from businesses within the agricultural and food supply chain, including prices, margins and related financial information, in order to promote transparency and protect consumer interests. The reason the Bill is necessary is twofold. The first reason it is necessary is it is so difficult at the moment for families to keep food on their tables.”