Joanne Collins
Agricultural Panel · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I am going to speak to amendments Nos. 2, 4 and 8. Amendment No. 2 makes it absolutely clear that the strategic emergency gas reserve is exactly that: an emergency reserve. It cannot become another source of gas for day-to-day commercial supply or market management.”
“(3) The Minister must mandate that the CRU carries out an assessment on the impact of the expenses incurred on household bills under this Act and all future Acts relating to construction, operation, maintenance and decommissioning of a Strategic Emergency Gas Reserve.”. I will keep this very brief.”
“I move amendment No. 6: In page 10, between lines 31 and 32, to insert the following: " State-led 5 . (1) The Strategic Emergency Gas Reserve constructed, operated and maintained under this Act and all future Acts relating to its construction, operation, maintenance and decommissioning will be a State-led asset.”
“Yes, I am not going to give out. Regardless of what is said to me I am going to be nice today on our last day. I echo what is being said about everybody enjoying their break and the thanks to all the staff in here. It can be very daunting when you first come in but everybody makes you feel like you can do it. It is great to work here.”
“I move amendment No. 7: In page 10, between lines 31 and 32, to insert the following: " Gas demand 5 . (1) The Minister shall ensure that a Strategic Emergency Gas Reserve established under this Act and all future Acts relating to its construction, operation, maintenance and decommissioning does not lead to an increase in gas demand.”
“I move amendment No. 10: In page 10, between lines 31 and 32, to insert the following: “Decommissioning 5. The Minister shall, within 12 months of the commencement of this Act, outline a plan for decommissioning any Strategic Emergency Gas Reserve constructed, operated, maintained or decommissioned under this Act and all future Acts relat…”
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“I thank the Minister of State for outlining all that. He can remove the seven four-bedroom homes from his list because that is the development I am speaking about. Those are seven affordable and social homes that will not be in Newcastle West. What the Minister of State outlined is great and it is great that the Government is trying to make a dent in housing but, like he said, 2031 is the year stated for the Newcastle West treatment plant. It is now 2025, so it will be six years before another development can be hooked up to water. Last week, I heard somebody mention the Apple money and how some of that will be put into Irish Water. Will it be like the national development plan where 50% of that money stays in Dublin and 50% goes to the rest of the country?”
“They are in development and the outlook is that there will be some headroom for the Newcastle West supply, but not until 2028. The upgrade to Irish Water's own treatment plant in Newcastle West is still at planning and development stage. That still needs to go to tender. The agency does not expect to have anything hooked up to that until 2031. We are in the middle of a housing emergency in 2025 and this town has three rental homes as of today. It will not only affect homes. I have also been told this will affect businesses. Any new business that comes into Newcastle West may not have a connection to water. Irish Water will take it on a case-by-case basis, dependent on the size of the development or whether it is a home or business. The only tier 2 town in the county is now in lockdown when it comes to housing.”
“I welcome the Minister of State. County Limerick's main county town is Newcastle West. It is a tier 2 town under the national development plan. Irish Water has advised that there has been no connection to sewerage or water as of a couple of weeks ago, when I received an email, because of construction going ahead on a site with 93 houses. Some of them had been earmarked as social and affordable houses. The site received planning permission at the end of 2023. At the beginning of 2024, 81 of the 93 houses had been commenced. Unfortunately, however, none of these houses have been finished because of the issue with water. I have contacted Irish Water. There are three treatment plants in the vicinity. Kilcolman springs is one and Tobergal springs is another.”
“The Newcastle West treatment plant is still at the design and planning permission stage. We are looking at 2031 before it goes to tender and we can build one more house in the only tier 2 town in County Limerick. This is absolutely crazy in the middle of a housing crisis and housing emergency. I would love to see whether we could get the Minister for housing to come to the House to discuss the infrastructure around houses, the backlog and whether we can do anything. Irish Water exists outside the council but having two entities does not seem to be working. It needs to be linked back to the local councils. How did Limerick City and County Council grant this planning permission? Did it not discuss with Irish Water whether there would be sewerage issues or enough water in the only tier 2 town in County Limerick?”
“I want to raise today an issue in County Limerick. County Limerick has one tier 2 town, which is Newcastle West. We all know the situation with housing at present and the lack of it in the country. Planning permission was granted in 2023 for 93 houses to be built in Newcastle West and they were commenced in 2024. Work had commenced on a total of 81 of the 93 houses, but several weeks ago all of the tools were put down, the gates were put up and notices were taken off. The advertisement for affordable homes has been closed. This is because the development has run out of water. We have no water in the only tier 2 town in County Limerick. I received notification from Irish Water to state Kilcolman Springs water treatment plant and Tobergal Spring water treatment plant are in development and it is hoped they will be up and running in 2028.”
“That means proper supports for suckler and sheep farmers, incentives for diversification and developing new income streams, and a dramatic reduction in the red tape and bureaucracy that currently strangles those in those enterprises. It means addressing unfairness in pricing, strengthening the role of the Agri-Food Regulator and making sure the Department of agriculture is there to support, not to undermine, farmers' ability to do their jobs. Ireland's agricultural industry is at a crossroads. The choices we make now will determine whether we retain a vibrant family-friendly farm structure or become a land of large corporations and factory farming. It will determine whether rural Ireland can flourish, pass viable holdings on to the next generation and remain a world leader in high-calibre food production.”
“We must pursue them in a way that plays to our strengths. Ireland produces high-calibre, grass-fed, environmentally friendly food products, and we should leverage that reputation. Instead of competing on price against low-cost producers, we should secure new, premium markets, develop geographical indicators and add value at home. That means putting resources into our food regulators, Bord Bia, developing strong Ireland-branded products, and strengthening the agricultural co-op model, making sure profits stay in Ireland and flow back to primary producers. We also need to look at supports. The supports must be tailored for those sectors under pressure. We need to reform agricultural payments to reflect that.”
“It is a direct threat to family farms here in Ireland, the food standards and the environment. It would undermine the hard-won reputation Ireland has for high-welfare, low-carbon production. It makes no sense for Ireland to pursue climate and environmental goals on the one hand while signing a deal that will destroy rain forests and undermine hard-working European producers on the other. Sinn Féin's position is clear. We reject the Mercosur deal in its current form, and we will continue to fight against it. Importing cheaper, lower standard beef would undercut our producers, devalue their products and disregard all the progress we have made in developing a world-renowned agricultural industry. We need new markets and strong promotion to help Ireland's agricultural products find new homes throughout the world.”
“The average income for a suckler farmer last year was just €9,400, and yet the average dairy income exceeded €150,000. That is a staggering gap and a gap we need to close with policy. This is not a new observation; it is a long-standing challenge, but it is a challenge we must confront if we want rural Ireland to survive and flourish. I want to be clear: Sinn Féin has always fought and will always fight for fairness for small and medium family farms, the people who produce our food, care for our land and keep our communities alive. We must also be frank about the future we want for Ireland's agriculture and agricultural industry in a challenging and changing world. I will touch on the EU-Mercosur trade deal, like my colleagues across the floor. The deal would allow large volumes of South American beef into European markets.”
“I am pleased to contribute to this debate that goes directly to the future of our agricultural industry, family farms and rural communities. The agri sector, the agrifood sector in particular, is Ireland's largest and most important indigenous industry. It directly supports more than 170,000 jobs across 135,000 farms, 2,000 fishing vessels and more than 2,200 food enterprises. It is a sector that underpins not just the economic prosperity but the very fabric of rural Ireland - our small villages and market towns, keeping communities alive, businesses viable and tradition strong. However, we have to be honest: not all sectors are experiencing the benefits equally. Suckler and sheep farmers, many of whom farm on marginal land, are seeing their incomes diminish while dairy and tillage sectors enjoy very strong profits.”
“It is about strong, viable communities and putting people first through their employment prospects, education, healthcare and being able to live, work and raise their families in their own place. Let us leave aside the one big idea policy and start listening to the people who live in these communities. Balanced development should be a policy made by and for all of Ireland, not just a few.”
“This simply reshuffled job titles. It kept the centralised structures in place and stranded many people in career culs-de-sac. It was people we should have relocated, supported by providing multiagency hubs, not just office furniture and files. The fundamental problem in all these approaches is the view that there should be one winner. A small number of places thrive, while the rest are left stranded. There are no winners in this scenario. Everyone loses when we undermine the very communities we aim to serve. We need to step back and move away from the cyclical plans made from the top down and restart from the bottom up, from the communities themselves. We need a grassroots appraisal of what each area needs, whether it is a small town, a rural parish or a city neighbourhood. This is not about grand promises or sprawling plans.”
“We have failed to match its growth with proper infrastructure, healthcare, education and employment. The result has been persistent underinvestment all along the western seaboard. The midlands, the south and the west should not become commuter belts for Dublin or holiday playgrounds for the wealthy. Our communities deserve better. Back in the 1960s, the Buchanan report tried to bring forward a policy for balanced growth, a policy that was promptly shelved for almost 40 years. Later, we had gateways and hubs, a policy meant to reflect Ireland's unique regional potential, but it fell victim to political pressure. There were gateways for everyone, which made it meaningless. We had a policy by acronym and not by necessity. Then we tried decentralisation, a policy meant to move Civil Service jobs out of Dublin.”
“Yesterday, I attended a briefing on the M20 motorway road, a road that is meant to connect counties Limerick and Cork. At long last it is on the agenda, but the delivery timeline stretches well into the middle of the next decade. To add insult to injury, it looks like this road could be entirely tolled at every section, a literal price we pay for not following balanced policy from the outset. We are forever held hostage by the one big idea in Ireland's planning and development. At one time, it was the building of new towns, a policy meant to kick-start employment and provide houses without delivering services, amenities or a real future for these communities. Shannon Town was a rare exception. It was founded in the 1960s alongside the successful Shannon Airport. In almost 60 years since, however, we have not kept up.”
“I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on balanced regional development, but the very idea of balanced regional development is at odds with our current national development plan. The plan seeks to put half of Ireland's population in the Dublin region. That means half of us will live, work and commute in a tiny corner of the country, while the rest of the country is left underinvested, neglected and stranded on the margins. How will we provide water services and infrastructure for this massive growth in a small area? The answer we have been presented with is to pump and pipe the water from the River Shannon at a cost and to ignore the reality that key towns across Ireland are already on lockdown due to decades of underinvestment in water and sewerage.”
“I raise an issue that might not be to the fore in everybody's mind, especially those who have had a child and it has been a single birth. This relates to multiple births when it comes to maternity, paternity and parental leave. It is great to see paternity and parental leave added to maternity leave. It is fantastic for parents to have those options after a child is born. Somebody who has had a multiple birth, such as twins or triplets, just gets the same as the parent of a single birth. They have double or triple the cost and double or triple the care is required. Would it be possible to look at extending parental and paternity leave for multiple births?”
“On that note, I find it troubling that while the Government speaks about transparency, it has repeatedly blocked a Bill put forward by my colleague, Deputy Pearse Doherty. The Judicial Council (Amendment) Bill would have brought much-needed openness and accountability to the insurance sector. I find it hypocritical of the Government to talk about transparency in motions while blocking legislation that can deliver transparency. This motion is a chance but only if it is matched by real and urgent action.”
“For many rural families, a car is essential, not a luxury. It is their only way to get to work or school, access medical care and carry out basic and necessary tasks such as shopping, yet rising motor insurance premiums combined with scarce public transport create an impossible choice between paying unaffordable premiums and facing isolation. Young drivers suffer disproportionately and often pay more in insurance than the cost of their vehicle. This forces many young people to leave their communities, draining rural life and rural areas of their future. We need transparency and fairness in how insurers access risk. Are rural drivers being unfairly penalised simply because of their address? It is time we had a full review of the actuarial models and secured a commitment to openness about the setting of premiums.”
“They are living monuments of our heritage, yet their owners face soaring insurance premiums that often exceed €2,500 or, worse, no cover at all. With up to half of thatched properties uninsured, families live under constant threat. Without insurance they cannot sell their homes and they risk losing everything if disaster strikes and find it very difficult to mortgage their homes. Insurers blame fire risks and structural concerns. While those risks do exist, they are manageable with proper precautions. Instead, the industry has largely withdrawn, leaving families isolated and vulnerable. This is a clear market failure that threatens people's homes and our cultural heritage. We must engage with insurers, push for fairer policies and learn from successful international models. Motor insurance is a lifeline for rural communities.”
“I welcome the Minister of State. While I welcome any debate which highlights the pressing issues of insurance costs and accessibility, we must move beyond words and deliver tangible solutions for our citizens. This motion, like many before it, rightly identifies the challenges but the question remains: does this Government's action match the urgency of the problem? I want to focus on two critical areas where the current system is failing: the existential threat facing homeowners of our unique thatched homes, and the crippling burden of motor insurance in rural Ireland. That burden is made worse by the chronic lack of public transport. The crisis facing owners of thatched homes is an issue I have spoken about previously in the Chamber and it remains dire. These are more than just homes.”
“Perhaps it could put some rules in place whereby drivers sit a test and be assessed every year, if that is what is required.”
“He could also get into a truck with whatever tonnage is allowed in the back of the truck and drive it down the M50 regardless of what age he is as long as he passes his test every so often or keeps up with his driver certificate of professional competence, CPC, hours. We definitely need to have a look at this because we are giving out every week that we do not have enough drivers. We then have drivers who are being forced to retire and sit at home. I do not know about other Senators, but I know many retired people. When they retire, they lose their passion and will to get out of the house every day. It can take an awful toll on them. We need to look at getting these drivers back on the road and see if Bus Éireann can make an exception.”
“I raise the issue of school transport and this crazy rule of Bus Éireann that its drivers have to retire at the age of 70. I had a phone call from the wife of a gentleman over the weekend. He turned 70 last Thursday and, on Friday, his wife had to drive the school bus to take the children to school and collect them. The school itself can contract him to come down a half an hour after the children finish school and take them on their school tour, take them swimming or take them for whatever they are going out for, but he cannot collect them from their homes to take them to the school and collect them from the school to take them home. It does not seem to make any sense.”
“That all sounds amazing. The funding is desperately needed. I get the staffing issue. Would there be a way to alleviate that issue through special needs assistants that are qualifying and need to do a placement? Would it be an option to try to get their placement as a summer camp? Similarly, special education teachers who are qualified and vetted need to do some training or placement. Could we look at giving something like that to this service so they are not just going into a classroom and are not just doing their placement and ticking a box, but are actually bringing another service into the system whereby they are supplying a summer camp for these children? That would mean they would be getting their placement and the children would be getting a benefit from it outside of school.”
“They have an offer of multiple camps on multiple weeks throughout the summer, whereas these children would have had that one week in a private camp which now, due to lack of staffing through Enable Ireland and other service providers, will not be an option. I ask the Minister of State to look at services in the county, not just city based, and outside of July provision and the mainstream services that go hand-in-hand with the school. Is there an initiative we are looking at for these children to have what their peers are getting in order for them to feel like they are getting the same experiences?”
“Some families may not be able to afford to send their children to summer camp but, for these families, regardless how much money they have, they do not have the option for their children to have the same experience as their peers during the summer. Some of these children are of secondary school age and might not suit all summer camps. As we know, just because children with additional needs and disabilities turn 13, that does not mean their disability or need is gone. They still have the same needs and disabilities and they would still like to enjoy the different activities that the mainstream students have on offer.”
“Unfortunately, there are no places because Enable Ireland does not have sufficient staffing numbers to send staff to these private summer camps and, as a result, the safeguards necessary for these children to attend would not be in place. These two families are distraught. Not only would they have had to travel all the way to UL in Limerick city to access these summer camps, as there are no services in the county, they now do not even have that option. These children's option to have the same access as their peers and experience the same summer as their peers is being taken away. It is not an affordability issue anymore.”
“I highlight a deeply concerning gap in supports for children with disabilities, particularly around the availability of summer services and structured activities during school holidays. I am not speaking about July provision or anything within schools. In recent years, Enable Ireland and other service providers secured places within private summer camps to enable children with special and additional needs to join and have a chance to attend. These are not just social outings; they are crucial developmental and support-based spaces for children and their families. This year, I was contacted by two families in Kilmallock, County Limerick, and inquired on their behalf.”
“In particular, a directly elected mayor of Dublin must be part of the package of reforms that devolve powers from the centre to local government, giving communities more say in how the capital city is run. This would be a big boost for local democracy. The task force needs to focus on real, meaningful ways of decentralising local democracy.”
“The Oireachtas has found that councillors spend an average of 32.5 hours working on council work each week. Sinn Féin wants to see greater accountability in local councils. There needs to be a thorough review of local government with a view to increasing powers and responsibilities of both the elected councillors and those who elect them. We believe local authorities must be reformed. Accountability and transparency must be at the core of what they do. People must be able to access information and we must work to remove the barriers that prevent them from doing so. The election of the directly elected mayor in Limerick represented good progress, and we need to look at rolling it out further in other cities.”
“An all-Ireland approach should be taken as we continue planning for and building towards unity. The results of the task force could be long lasting, so it would be good to see thought put into it. Town councils must be a key focus of the task force. A clear timeline must be produced for their reintroduction. They were an important cornerstone of local democracy that was ripped away by Fine Gael. Citizens, trade unions, local businesses and business associations have been calling for the restoration of town councils. While the town councils of old were not perfect, the solution should have been to reform and rebuild local democracy at town level, not just demolish it. Alongside this, the task force must examine the burden of work undertaken by councillors and the need to consider paying councillors a full-time wage.”
“Unfortunately, recommendations of the committee have already not been acted upon. It is four months since the Government was established and it was recommended that the task force be up and running within three. Therefore, it is behind and the Government must really put more focus on progressing it once and for all. We are concerned that the Government proposal focuses only on rebalancing power between the executive and the elected members. The reality is that autonomy has been stripped away from our local authorities and placed back with central government. That imbalance must also be addressed. We encourage the Government to consider this in drafting the terms of reference for the task force. We also need to ensure membership is fair and balanced so everybody is and feels properly represented.”
“I welcome the Minister of State. I welcome the progress towards the local democracy task force. My party has long called for more power to be given back to our local elected members. Ireland has the most centralised system of local government in Europe, with limited democratic decision-making powers and insufficient funding and resources for local authorities. While the EU average for tax revenue spent at local level is 23%, in Ireland it is just 8%. Our overly centralised system means far too many decisions are being made by unelected officials. Local councillors are often the backbone of their communities and should be able to reflect the reality on the ground in policy and action. There has been talk of creating this task force for many years and the lack of progress is very frustrating.”
“to 5 p.m. We all know it is in the evening time and at night when this kind of stuff kicks off. From what I have heard, it started in a pub and was pushed out into the street. I would love the Minister to come in to discuss Garda numbers in our rural towns and villages. I keep hearing we need to get more gardaí into the cities but our rural towns and villages really need support. Our gardaí need support, including from administrators in Garda stations taking the calls that are coming in. We need extra gardaí and more patrol cars.”
“I wish to raise an incident that happened in Newcastle West in County Limerick last weekend. Vile videos were sent to me of fighting on the streets between two different groups. They were absolutely disgusting to watch. People were being kicked in the face while they were on the ground. One person was knocked out, jumped on and punched about 20 times while he was knocked out. This happened on the street parallel to the Garda station. I do not know if it is a lack of gardaí. The gardaí in Newcastle West are phenomenal. They work so hard but they cover an area of more than 2,700 sq. km. There are two 24-hour Garda stations to cover the entire place. There are eight Garda stations in areas surrounding Newcastle West but the majority of them are open for one hour on a Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m, and there is one that opens from 3 p.m.”
“For example, they result in delays in training and recruitment of essential workers like paramedics and bus drivers, force learner drivers to remain on permits indefinitely and create serious safety risks, with hundreds of unaccompanied learner drivers involved in crashes. The Government tells us it is working on it. The Minister is likely to mention a meeting with the RSA and announce new measures. If he does, let us be clear that these measures should have been introduced months ago when Sinn Féin tabled its motion. They are only being announced now due to public and political pressure.”
“Yes, no-shows are a problem but actually only account for 10% of the backlog. Even if no one ever missed a test again, there would still be tens of thousands of people waiting. The backlog is a result of mismanagement, underfunding and a complete lack of political will from successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments, now aided by their regional Independent partners who have gone strangely silent since taking their place on the Government benches. Some of those very Independents used to rail against these delays; now they sit quietly as things get worse. The courage of their convictions seems to have evaporated. I highlight the lack of sufficient test centres in growing areas. Drogheda, for instance, has no test centre despite being the largest town in the country. Backlogs have real consequences.”
“The Government did not oppose our motion but did absolutely nothing with it. That was lip service, not leadership. Now, the situation has worsened even further. The RSA claims it will recruit 200 testers by November but even that might not be enough. It has not said how it arrived at that number of 200. At this rate, it could be 2026 before we see a real change. Meanwhile, learners must literally pay the price. They fork out €3,000, and sometimes more, just to get on the road. They are locked into extortionate insurance rates because they cannot get a full licence but the Government's line is that there is unprecedented demand" and there are too many no-shows and a Covid hangover. Let us be honest; those are excuses and not explanations. Yes, demand is high but predictable.”
“That is only if they get through the booking system. Wait times are not just a matter of inconvenience. They stop people from getting to work, college, school and medical appointments. I have heard from young apprentices who cannot take up jobs, parents who must juggle chaotic schedules and rural residents who are effectively stranded. The worst part is that we have been here before. The issue has been debated repeatedly in this Chamber and in the Dáil. In February, Sinn Féin tabled a motion providing for a full suite of solutions, including matching demand with resources, cutting waiting times to the statutory maximum of ten weeks, recruiting more permanent, not temporary, testers, expanding and strategically locating test centres and reviewing the RSA's ability to manage this crisis.”
“I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. I will speak about the delay in driving tests, which is an issue that has spiralled completely out of control. At the end of April, the national backlog had grown to a staggering 83,486 applicants, a number mentioned across the floor this evening. It has increased by 10,000 since the start of the year and by 20,000 in the past six months. The average waiting time is now 27.3 weeks or nearly seven months. In some areas, learners must wait anything up to ten months for a test. In County Limerick, the average waiting time has more than doubled in the past year. In 2024, the waiting period was an unacceptable 11 weeks but today it is 23 weeks. Someone who applies for a test in County Limerick this morning will be lucky to get a test date for before October or November of this year.”
“International humanitarian workers are being targeted. This is collective punishment on a horrifying scale, a war crime happening in real time. That is why we must act and not just speak. We must urgently implement the occupied territories Bill. That legislation is clear - Ireland will not trade in goods from illegal settlements built on stolen lands, settlements that entrench apartheid, drive displacement and fuel this ongoing violence. We cannot allow our principles to be parked in the name of diplomacy or convenience. The occupied territories Bill has cross-party support and it reflects the will of the Irish people. History will remember those who stand up and those who stood by. It is time for Ireland to stand up with action and not just words.”
“I second the amendment. Every day that action is delayed more lives are lost in Gaza. More than 50,000 people - mostly women and children - have been killed. This is not a war; this is a slaughter. The deliberate campaign of destruction is playing out before the eyes of the world. We in this House have expressed solidarity many times with the Palestinian people. The Irish public have marched in their thousands demanding real and meaningful action, yet we hear credible allegations that weapons destined for Israel pass through Irish airspace. If this is true, it is unconscionable. We cannot condemn a massacre of civilians while quietly facilitating the flow of arms that enable it. People in Gaza are not only being bombed, but starved. Children are dying from hunger and dehydration. Food and aid are being blocked.”
“Sinn Féin stands for a forestry policy that values biodiversity, respects local voices and leaves a legacy of living landscapes, not just timber profits. In County Limerick and beyond, our biodiversity is not just a treasure; it is a responsibility. Let us mark National Biodiversity Week not with slogans but with serious political will.”
“These features are not barriers to productivity; they are building blocks to a sustainable future. We must stop planting on carbon-rich peat soils. Such so-called green projects are, in fact, carbon time bombs. I was very taken aback by the statement by the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, during our discussion on forestry a few weeks ago that not only would he continue to plant on our bogs and peatlands but he actually is promoting an increase in planting on those areas, which we know emit more carbon than they soak. The Government's forestry strategy must go beyond words. It must deliver funding, enforcement and, above all, trust that the forestry system works for people and for nature.”
“Blanketed Sitka spruce plantations, often in inappropriate sites, have done real damage to soil, river and habitats. In Limerick, communities have raised genuine concerns about monoculture plantations planted without proper consultation or regard for local ecosystems. Let me be clear. We need more trees, but we need the right trees in the right places and for the right reasons. We need to move away from industrial forestry and towards a nature first approach. We need to move to native woodlands, mixed-species planting and forests that support wildlife, clean our air and water and strengthen our rural communities. That means supporting farmers in Limerick and right across Ireland to become stewards of biodiversity. They should be rewarded, not penalised, for protecting native trees, hedgerows and wetlands.”
“I welcome the Minister of State. Today, during biodiversity week, I want to speak about the urgent need to protect and restore biodiversity, especially through a better approach to forestry. I also want to reflect on what that means for my county, Limerick. Ireland is in the grip of a biodiversity disaster and crisis. One in five rare species is at risk of extinction. Our native woodlands, once thriving, are now scarce, reduced to just over 1% of our land area. In County Limerick, we are fortunate to have pockets of extraordinary natural beauty, from the Ballyhoura Mountains to the wooded valleys of Shannon and Deel, but even these landscapes are under pressure. For too long, forestry policy in Ireland has worked against biodiversity.”
“They are actually calling it a pulse check because by the time the home carer gets there, a half hour later they are gone again. They are not able to actually do anything. He has to leave his elderly mother in the nursing home, even though she could go home, but she does not have enough care at home because he is working and cannot give up his job to sit at home. I would love the Minister for Health to come in and have a discussion on the lack of home care, the barriers and why the HSE cannot seem to employ enough home helps. Is it the section 39 issue? What is the actual issue around this?”
“They spend the other 22 and a half hours themselves looking after their husband and father. The lack of support they are receiving from home help is what they worry so much about. Like many families across County Limerick, they feel isolated. They are being encouraged to keep their loved ones at home but are being given no real support to do so. They are told that the HSE promotes home care but the reality is cruel. There is a gap in the policy and practice. In that gap falls the carers who are exhausted, isolated and unheard. I have another case just down the road from me. The elderly mother of a good friend of mine, who was an active woman, fell, broke her hip and had to go to hospital. She went in for respite after, to ensure she was ready to go home. She now is ready but she has only been offered one half hour slot a day.”
“I want to raise the issue of the sheer lack of home help supports, which, I am sure, is the case throughout the State, but I am going to concentrate on County Limerick. A case that stood out to me among the many I come across involves a family living in County Limerick. The father, who was once a fiercely independent man, is now living with advanced dementia. He needs 24-hour care. For mobility reasons, he needs two people just to move around his house. His elderly wife, who is a healthcare assistant, and their grown-up son, are doing everything they can to keep him at home. Currently he is in St Camillus' Hospital for a week or two of respite. Their question is: what happens when he comes home? Who is going to be there to help? They are being offered an hour and a half of home help, once a day, from Monday to Friday.”
“In my county, Limerick, and elsewhere across the State, people want a justice system that is fair and firm in equal measure. They understand that rehabilitation, where appropriate, should be supported, but it must happen in a transparent framework. The Bill does not diminish victims' rights or compromise public safety. Instead, it protects the integrity of the process that must be seen to operate above reproach. Sinn Féin supports the Bill because it strengthens fairness, accountability and trust in the parole system. I urge the Government to do the same.”