Joe Conway
Cultural and Educational Panel · Independent · Ireland
“I move amendment No. 73: In page 41, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following: “Report on the protection of whistleblowers 63. The Minister shall within 12 months of the commencement of this Act lay a report detailing how whistleblowers who expose information related to artificial intelligence technologies can receive enhanced pro…”
“I want to be associated with the congratulatory remarks for Senator Byrne. I want to put on the record of the House the decorous and sincere apology given on behalf of the State by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, and attested to by the other party leaders, to the victims of the Kenneally abuse in Waterford.”
“Yesterday, I had a meeting in Leinster House with a visually impaired artist and a namesake of mine, Emilie Conway from Mayo. She was the recipient of an Arts Council open competition bursary, which she was delighted to get. She thought it would make a big change to her life. It did, but it also had a downside.”
“Chuala mé níos túisce ar maidin an Teachta Moynihan ag labhairt ar an raidió faoi chás na e-scooters agus an méid oibre atá déanta ag An Garda Síochána chun iad a bhaint de na sráideanna agus stop a chur leis an dainséar. It was a point very well made by Deputy Moynihan.”
“When we come back after the recess, we should have a comprehensive debate in this House with the Minister where we can ventilate our concerns about various road safety matters. I do not want to labour the point, but we can see that things are not getting better in relation to road safety.”
“Senator McCarthy talked about what happened at London recently. It is happening at airports all over the world. The resilience factor and regional airports are very important. There has to be a plan B if the big airport goes down. That is self-evident. I am happy to indicate those items that are of concern to me.”
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Every one of 675 lines we hold for Joe Conway, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 13 of 14.
“I will make a few observations on our status as an island nation and do a small comparison between us and New Zealand, which is a country that has roughly the same population and the same demand on connectivity we have. I am somebody who is based in the south east, which is the only region that does not have a regional airport. I will contrast that with New Zealand, which has 28 regional and international airports on its two islands. Many of those double up as civilian and military facilities. We have a great difficulty in County Waterford because we get refused or disregarded when we look for an airport runway extension.”
“That was not anything the council wanted to do, but simply because it was provided for in the rules. I think 43 of us in this Chamber are elected by these self-same people. The vast majority of Senators have a moral duty to those people who elect them to make sure they do not continue to be the only people in this State who are disadvantaged because they get sick. The Leader often tells us that the Order of Business is not the right time to raise this and to table a Commencement matter. I tried to do that but maybe I did not nuance the words as well. I promise, maybe with the Leader's support, I will make a Commencement matter request and I will nuance the wording because I asked about county councillors being disadvantaged because they got sick. That is really the essence of this.”
“In this House we often hear on a quotidian basis about groups which are discriminated against. I want to talk about a very small cohort of people in our country who are discriminated against in matters of employment and remuneration, that is, our 950 sitting county councillors. They must be the only cohort of workers in this country that are not recognised for payment of sick leave benefit. I always eschew the sad stories that people tell about their own cases and using the House for that but, just to point out that in 2018 I had surgery and I was advised by my consultant to take complete rest for three months. I did and, as the House can see, I am a fine, fighting-fit figure of a lad at this stage. It came as a great shock to me in mid-spring 2019 that my representative allowance was cut by Waterford City and County Council.”
“In this House, the limitations of the new AW189 helicopter have been well delineated and it is not a pretty story. Who in Government can countenance giving another €40 million to a company that has a dubious record and is giving an infrastructural service that is far less? In Waterford we have the R117 that has a rescue personnel crew of 14. It has a personnel load of 14. The AW189 cannot do anything like that, nor can it allow people stand up to deliver CPR on the helicopter. The Government cannot give €12 million to extend the runway in Waterford, but it can give €40 million to an inferior service. It is very strange.”
“Today, as we remember our own history, we cannot ignore those suffering in Gaza. Let us not look away as a country. Let us remember that ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine - we live in each other's shadow. Our humanity is bound in togetherness. In common with other notable historical greats such as Stalin, Hitler and Pol Pot, Mr. Netanyahu will stand on the wrong side of history in the last analysis. To go from that to something as mundane as helicopters and security around our coasts is an inevitable leap from the sublime to the mundane. I draw attention to the fact we have swapped a good search and rescue service with CHC for a putative service with Bristow Ireland Limited. We are paying €40 million more for a much worse service.”
“Today, I show unity with an initiative by Senator Stephenson as regards Gaza. On a day on which we are commemorating the Great Famine - Gorta Mór na hÉireann - a tragedy that shaped our nation and left scars generations later, it reminds us of the deep pain that comes when people are denied their most basic needs. This week, just nine trucks were allowed into Gaza. To meet the basic demands or needs of the population, 500 trucks a day are needed. For nearly 80 days now, food, water and medicine have been severely restricted from entering the region. This has created a state-sponsored humanitarian crisis, with international agencies warning of impending famine. We, the Irish people, know what famine means. We know the devastation it brings, not just in lives lost, but in the trauma carried forward through the succeeding generations.”
“We could not dissipate the chance to co-operate and the time really is now because the behaviour of Putin regarding Ukraine and all the shenanigans he has been engaged in since show how parlous our security is, unless we co-operate with our European neighbours - and, indeed, NATO, if it comes to that. That is where we should be going.”
“I am very encouraged to hear the kindred thinking from the Minister of State. We can talk about co-operation with private and semi-State bodies and all that sort of thing, but the critical thing at this stage is to encourage the Government to initiate a reasoned and comprehensive national discourse on the issues we spoke about - and that means neutrality - and to bring the matter of co-operation on defence to a decision not just of the Government, but of the people. If the majority so accord, we should set about preparing a tangible defence of our land, our way of life and our values in co-operation with our European neighbours, brothers and sisters.”
“Millions of Irishmen and Irishwomen have given their lives over the centuries for this and we should not be the generation to fritter it away. I look forward to what the Minister of State has to say about the plans.”
“Even Finland, which has the lowest defence spending of those countries, spends ten times more per capita than we do. While we have difficulty looking at the aggression now manifest in Europe, in the Baltic and Scandinavia, the dangers we experience here are just as great. Despite all that, we put to sea one serviceable vessel to cover the exclusive economic area off our coast of almost 500,000 sq. km. The quality of life and prosperity we have here cannot be guaranteed or guarded by that sort of investment. I would like to think we will get an explanation from the Minister of State of the Government's proposals to police not only our subsea cables, but all our vital interests. We have freedom and a way of life that it are worthwhile defending.”
“Since 75% of those cables are in or near our waters, we clearly have a duty to co-operate with others to police them and prevent them from being sabotaged and attacked. Such cables are vulnerable to crude physical rupture and disablement, even by weapons as seemingly innocuous as a dragged anchor engendering an outcome that would cause severe disruption and immeasurable damage. This is but one area where we are vulnerable beyond common comprehension. It is replicated on land, in the air, in space and in drone and laser technology. Of course, we see it played out every week in cybersecurity too. We spend 0.25% of GDP on defence. Compared to other small European countries, this is risibly small. Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Lithuania and Poland spend far more on defence.”
“Our own Continent of Europe has expanded empire-like in the eight decades since the Second World War, not in any land-grabbing way but in economic dominance. With the piecemeal breakdown of European integrity over the last 20 years or so, the conclusion is that the modern support and consent we have had in this Europe of ours are falling victim to a sort of sybaritic European negligence of the basic tenets of freedom and cohesion. This brings its own challenges. In this regard, Ireland has challenges thar an ghnáth. It is a fact that the great majority - 75% - of this country's subsea communications go through the seas off our coasts. The cables carry commerce and investment every day to the tune of approximately €10 trillion.”
“The pages of history are replete with chronicles of nations and tribes who have, by fair means or foul, aggregated spheres of influence to themselves and bestrode the world like colossi, only to see it all fritter away like quicksilver years later. In this regard, we can look at the empires of the Assyrians, the Romans, the Mongols, the Ottomans and, of course, in terms of influence in our area over the last century, the British Empire. The waning of these behemoths of invasion and subjugation followed the usual and similar patterns of inspiring leadership driving expansionist campaigns, invasion spoils leading to further conquest, enrichment and ensuing corruption at home, followed by domestic division and eventual fragmentation.”
“There is no more tangible way to express support for a force than to pay it properly. As a peace commissioner in Waterford, I have fairly regular interchanges with the Garda. I talk to young members and I realise it does not take very long for the level of dissatisfaction, disaffection or loss of morale to build. Unless we value our police force, An Garda Síochána, which is now 100 years old, and unless we continue to support it in very practical ways, we will have an attrition rate among the young members. You see it happening already, and I do not think it is the way to bring a progressive police force into the next generation. In these Houses, we should all make a special plea for the Garda to be sufficiently remunerated in the light of the awful tasks it is sometimes asked to do.”
“Many people have expressed sympathy with the family and the force of An Garda Síochána with regard to the recent taking of life. Whereas Senator McCarthy mentioned that a large number of gardaí have died in the line of duty, in our own generation - since the turn of the millennium, not quite 25 years ago - 16 gardaí have died in the line of duty. Oftentimes, we can get complacent about the level of a pacific and peaceful society we live in, but those figures bear out that the challenges borne by An Garda Síochána are immense and ever fraught with danger. As a State, we talk up the Garda a lot but, unfortunately, the support is a tad hypocritical because I do not think the service gardaí give to the State is reflected in the level of remuneration paid to them.”
“I am also speaking up for the 100,000 people in Gaeltacht areas who listen to Irish-language broadcasts from BBC Ulster. Every one of us in the House should use our influence in our parties or wherever we can to entreat the BBC and the cultural attaché in the embassy to look at this question again.”
“As somebody who lives in the south east, I know that up until BBC Sounds came along, we had to try to tune into BBC Wales, getting a very ropey and fluctuating signal, or listen to BBC Radio 4 on long wave, but now there is a crystal-clear flawless reception on the radio. It came with great sadness that the app was going to be withdrawn. There was a chink of light last Sunday week, however. I was listening to the "Feedback" radio programme. There seems to be a bit of a reverse ferret within the BBC in that it is going to look at this again and there may be a reprieve. Fundamentally for us in Ireland, I strongly believe that the removal of the BBC Sounds app goes against the spirit of strand 3 of the Good Friday Agreement insofar as it refers to cultural inclusion and diversity.”
“I draw the attention of Members of the House to what has happened regarding the enjoyment of broadcasting in our country over the past couple of months. Not long ago, it was announced by the BBC that it was withdrawing its BBC Sounds app from everybody outside the United Kingdom, which meant people who enjoyed digital radio of great quality through the app were to have it taken away. This is very regrettable for people in the Republic of Ireland and also people all over the world who like the standard of broadcasting and the educational and cultural input of the BBC. Many of us treasure it.”
“I do not see much advertising or education for the public on road safety, good road manners and courtesy, which can save lives. Something I have noticed, and I know the Minister will say it is an operational matter for the Garda, is that when people are pulled in off the highways, they are pulled in by unmarked Garda cars. I know it is an operational matter but we really should put a massive investment into unmarked patrol cars. If they are known to be active, motorists will be much more cautious in their use of the roads and considerate of other people. I wish everyone a lovely recess.”
“I advert to something we have all come to notice, I am sure, in our peregrinations around the country, which is the diminishing standard of driver behaviour on the roads. It is all too frequent that I see hazardous and dangerous behaviour. I cannot help but notice, and this may be an ageist thing, that a lot of the people taking unnecessary chances on the road and putting other motorists in danger are younger drivers. I was reading statistics on the way up this morning on the train. Approximately 80% of the people involved fatalities are young males. This tells its own story. I wonder whether we could get the message through to the Department of Justice that there is a serious case to be made for having a broad and, hopefully, effective education policy for motorists. It was done in the past.”
“As an inclusive nation, we should be very aware of that and try to not make an issue of the fact Muslims are fasting and going through a time of austerity due to their beliefs and practices. It is important to underscore the contribution of the Muslim community to this country. As somebody who has visited schools for the past 20 years, I pay tribute to primary school teachers in Ireland for the great work they do in integrating Muslim children into the education system. If we underscore the practices of Ash Wednesday and the distribution of ashes at Leinster House, we should also try to give uplifting remarks to all other faiths and communities.”
“Is mian liom tagairt a dhéanamh do chúrsaí a tháinig faoi mo bhráid cúpla seachtain ó shin. I am very much a believer in the republican stance of strict separation of church and state, but since we do not really have that luxury, as I would call it, in this country, I will say something on preserving balance or parity of esteem among faiths and religions in this country. A couple of weeks ago, Ramadan ended, which, as most Members will be aware, is a big festival in the Muslim faith. There are now approximately 100,000 Muslims in the country. It is a time of great austerity for them and a time they feel very obviously separates them from the rest of the community.”
“We should take heart both from the Government's reassurance and from the pages of history. I do not believe there will be systematic long-term damage from these tariffs. I am very much hopeful that will be the case. In the short time available to us, perhaps the Tánaiste will give his thoughts on the differential between the tariff rates proposed for the United Kingdom and the EU, respectively, and how that will knock our trade with the UK out of kilter given the better trading measures it has in place with the United States.”
“It is very gratifying for us here in the House to welcome the Tánaiste and hear his very calm, sane and reassuring words this morning. One thing we oftentimes say is we never learn anything from history. The same can be said about tariffs in the fact that the pages of history, if they are not quite littered with examples of the failure of tariffs, then certainly the pages are fairly replete. Approximately 120 years ago, the president of the Board of Trade on our neighbouring island - which was then in the economic equivalent of the dominance of America at the moment - brought in a thing called imperial preference, giving preference to British colony trade. From 1903 until 1906, it generated an awful lot of restiveness in British industry and inflation. The sequel to it was the landslide victory over the Tories in 1906.”
“I was able to facilitate a connection between the chief executive of the county and city council and the Údarás chief executive with regard to two patches of land in the Waterford Gaeltacht. There was great synergy between the two groups and they wanted to build on those two sections of land, but for some reason I get the palpable sense that everything has stalled. However, I do think that a letter from the Minister's capable hand to both the Údarás and the chief executive in Waterford City and County Council might just concentrate minds. I beg the Minister to do that, check into it and see whether he can move that project along because so many people are crying out for housing in the Gaeltachts, and Waterford Gaeltacht is no exception. I thank the Minister for his time.”
“Their children want to build on land beside them. It makes social and economic sense that they be facilitated in any way possible. When the Minister is talking to the directors of services and planning and to chief executives in local authorities, I ask if he can do anything to bring about a more kindly look at the difficulties people have in supporting their parents in their old age by being physically close by in a house which may be on the family's land. To me, it makes absolute sense. The third thing is that out of bizarre good fortune, last year, I was elected mayor of Waterford City and County Council. I know the Minister has an intellectual and academic connection with Waterford, so this will be of interest to him. I also, coincidentally, was a member of the Údarás na Gaeltachta board.”
“Gas, electricity and water are all looked after under the utilities. For some strange reason, though, when it comes to plumbing anybody can go into a house, look after the building of it, call themselves a plumber and undertake work on the pipes and central heating system. Often, this is with disastrous consequences, with the spillage of oil and a subsequent need to reclaim ground. Households are being put through awful angst as a result. This might be something that the Minister could possibly examine under his remit. My next point concerns the age-old problem we have of people trying to get planning permission. I know this is not the responsibility of the Minister, but I ask him to be cognisant in the context of the local authorities that so many people in rural Ireland are in an aged cohort.”
“As they say down in the Gaeltacht, sin mo dhóthain den sobal bog, that is enough of the soft soap; now down to the real business. I have four points to put before the Minister. The first concerns the fact that most of the Senators have spoken about the quantity of houses. I just wish to make a small reference to the quality of houses. As the Minister will know, approximately 12,000 registered plumbers are operating in the State. The Minister and I know, however, that probably four times that number of people are working and doing plumbing and central heating jobs who have no qualifications or ratification. A strong argument is to be made to bring all those people operating in that way into the fiscal economy and regulation under the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU.”
“Tá mórfháilte roimh an Aire. It is very gratifying for us in the south east to see somebody from there at the Cabinet table. I hope the Minister will look after the south east to the best of his ability. It is lovely to see a champion of the purple and gold in the Cabinet milieu. I worked a lot in County Wexford in the past 20 years, but I only found out the meaning of the purple and gold during a visit to a primary school in Oulart. I was talking to the principal there and he asked me if I knew the origin of the purple and gold colours. I had to confess to him that I did not. He informed and educated me by telling me the purple and gold colours stand for the beautiful sand and heather in County Wexford, which I think is very appropriate.”
“Wilmshurst and the others from the embassy would know British history better than me but in 1903, Joseph Chamberlain undertook the empire's tariffs experiment, and we all know that did not end well. I hope Mr. Trump is taking note.”
“Just about anybody can have a go at plumbing or putting down a central heating unit in a house, often with fairly disastrous effects. From the climate change and carbon footprint perspectives alone, incorrectly installed plumbing and heating have a deleterious effect. Conscious of that, I ask the ever-facilitating and genial Leader to invite the Minister for housing to the House to discuss this urgent issue. It needs to be settled once and for all. If I may, even though she is sitting close to me, I would not like to have it considered that I am at one with Senator Keogan on tariffs or, indeed, on the ineffectual use of FDI. Even the most successful countries have used FDI to their advantage, notwithstanding probably the most obvious example, the United States itself. Mr.”
“One of the main crises in the economy and in our social life at present is the undoubted problem with putting roofs over the heads of our young people, the so-called housing crisis that pervades this land. We in Leinster House are often accused, left, right and centre, of living in a rarefied atmosphere and being disconnected from the realities of life in the country. In an effort to mitigate that, I decided in the past week to pay a couple of visits to sites where houses are being built to connect with the people who are building and clients who hope to occupy these houses. In two cases, plumbers who were trying to get water and central heating connected asked me when on earth the Government was going to have the plumbing industry somehow regulated and connected with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU.”
“The trade unions and the 50,000 teachers they represent have not been obstructive in the debate and in the provision of special education; they have been quite the contrary. All of these issues will be solved. We learn that. All of the issues that beset the educational system will be solved but it will take a lot of money, a lot of patience, a lot of insight and a lot of thinking outside the box. I could talk for hours on this.”
“The challenge for teachers, the system, the Minister of State and the Government when budgeting is to not lose sight of the ordinary children in the classroom because they have very definite needs as well. When I went into a school in Tallaght in 1973 as a young teacher, the buzzword in education when referring to deficit was "asthma". What people were worried about was inhalers and asthma. In the eighties, the buzzword was "dyslexia". Later, the fashion was dyspraxia and dyscalculia. There was an episode with relationships and sexuality. That took up approximately two years of the educational agenda. Since then, we have become very much taken up with the Asperger syndrome and the autism spectrum. That is really crucifying budgets and placing demands on the system.”
“Of all the deficits that we have in the special education provision in this country, they have been extraordinarily decreased by the primary school teachers through the work that they do using the universal design for learning, UDL, what we call differentiation, for the different levels in the classroom. When I talk to them, what they say most frequently is that while they spend a lot of time with certain children in the class with special needs, they worry about the other, say, 21 children who have no special needs but they are all individuals with various special needs of their own, although they are not designated as that. That is something that we have to remember in the great balance and the great panoply of things in education. If 5% of the schoolgoing population has obvious and designated special needs, 95% do not.”
“That is not my experience. I probably hold the record in this House as the person with the longest experience of school attendance. It started on 1 July 1957 and only finished last December, before I was elected to the House. That is 67 years of watching the progress of school, and by gum, have I seen some changes in that time. During the last 20 years of that career, I was given the great privilege and opportunity to go into schools when I was working with a teacher training college. Every day of the week I was looking at student teachers and assessing them on their teacher placements. I had a great opportunity to see the work being done by the teachers in the classroom with children with special needs at first-hand.”
“Over the years, developments in that legislation and case law have shaped the landscape, including key documents such as the Disability Act 2005, Education (Admission to Schools) Act 2018, Education (Provision in Respect of Children with Special Needs) Act 2022, United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Irish Sign Language Act 2017. Those significant legislative advances left significant gaps, always in the pursuit of essential support services, particularly in schools that are augmented by the HSE. Schools have become increasingly the de facto providers of well-being and support for children outside of the family. I want to take a small issue with Senator O’Flaherty, who is no longer present, when he said he considered trade unions to be obstructive in the work done in special education needs and provision.”
“Gabhaim buíochas le Sinn Féin as ucht an rún tábhachtach seo a chur os comhair an Tí seo. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Aire Stáit. Tá súil agam go rachaidh sé i ngleic leis an gceist chasta seo as seo amach. I support an inclusive approach to education and recognise the constitutional right of all children to an education, tailored to their individual needs, as articulated in our Education Act 1998, which states it should be "made available to each person resident in the State, including a person with a disability or who has other special educational needs, support services and a level and quality of education appropriate to meeting the needs and abilities of that person". That is a legislative imperative.”
“We want to push on with ensuring we have a full 24-7 service and that people will not be put at risk at the weekend. It was said in Waterford that it was fatal to have a heart attack in the Waterford region between 5 o'clock on Friday evening and 8 o'clock on Monday morning because, by the time a person was brought to a hospital in Cork or Dublin, their chances of survival were small. Now that the cath lab is operating in Waterford, such a situation is obviated because we have close to a proper service in the area. I am delighted to record that for the House and thank all those who have supported this matter.”
“These are three patients who did not have to travel to Cork or Dublin but received timely and appropriate emergency care in Waterford's national cardiac centre. This is one of the things we, as public representatives, have supported for a long time, that the 24-7 service in Waterford would be expanded fully. I can confidently predict that UHW's cardiac cath lab numbers, even on the seven-day rota, will increase and answer the challenges that exist. There will be no let-up in this service delivered, with a fairer allocation of healthcare to regional units. I thank all of the people in both Houses, and the public representatives in all the surrounding counties that are served by University Hospital Waterford, for their steadfast support over the years.”
“I agree with much of what my colleague, Senator Craughwell, has said. On a different subject, the House will be glad to hear that the University Hospital Waterford's cath lab last Sunday provided life-saving intervention to three patients on its first weekend of service.”
“No small maritime holiday town can afford losses of that magnitude. That is what dereliction looks like and what it does to communities, town and small economies.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as a bheith anseo chun déileáil leis an gceist chasta seo. I want to use the maritime coastal town where I live, Tramore, as an illustration of what dereliction looks like. We have two derelict hotels - the Grand Hotel and the Tramore Hotel. The Grand Hotel has been derelict for more than eight years, since 2016, and the Tramore Hotel has been derelict for many more years. There has been a loss of 100 rooms between the two hotels for a period of at least eight years. I have done a back-of-an-envelope calculation of the cost of the loss of bed nights and the loss to the economy of Tramore as a result of those two derelictions. I estimate that there has been a loss, in the form of visitor numbers and the ancillary spin-off to other businesses, of €90 million since 2016.”
“I wonder whether the Department, the Ministers and the combined wisdom of the Government can get their heads together to incentivise local authorities - they need to really put the squeeze on local authorities - to go after these people because it is a situation that should not be allowed to prevail.”
“We must use our intellectual grey matter as a society, and as local authorities, to come up with answers and understand why this is not working because dereliction is a curse and scourge on local towns and local communities. We cannot realistically allow this to go on because we are patently failing to deal with the scourge of dereliction. There are too many people wriggling out of it by giving easy answers. When we try to raise this issue, we are given all sorts of pat answers - we are told that it is difficult to go to court and that we will never get a washer out of them.”
“Local authorities can take dereliction merchants to court to recover the debt or they can compulsorily purchase the site and the money owed can become a charge on the land. Incidents of dereliction increased by 21% in 2023 compared with 2022. If local authorities are so ineffectual in collecting levies, would the Minister and his Department consider increasing the levy to something like 10%? Finally, and this is more in the realm of local and folk wisdom, I am sure that the Minister and everybody here has heard the old adage that it is not how high you swing the hatchet; it is how deep you bury it. We have the legislation and levies but they are not working.”
“Go raibh míle maith agat. I want to address the business of derelict sites in ten brief itemised points. Over half of local authorities are failing to collect money from the owners of derelict sites. The latest figures suggest that councils are owed more than €20 million in unpaid levies. Seventeen of the 31 local authorities did not collect any money from dereliction merchants. Just €604,000 was collected by the councils in the last year reckonable, despite close to €1 million being owed in these local authorities. This means that €20.5 million is owed by dereliction merchants and the meter is running all the time. Each local authority keeps a derelict sites register, which includes the sites subject to the annual levy of 7%. If unpaid, this levy attracts interest of 1.25% per month.”
“I am familiar with one young lady of 18 in County Waterford who is wheelchair bound and has been waiting more than four years for this promised surgery. Those years, as Senator Clonan said, are stolen from this child, never to be got back. When we are talking about profiles in courage, what we have with scoliosis, and indeed many other conditions in Ireland, are profiles in misery and denial, and the robbing of futures. It is a terrible legacy to leave to the people who we are supposedly looking after. I get great energy from the House tonight. Senators will know the political expression, "We are pushing at an open door". With this legislation, we should be pushing at an open door because it deserves to see the light of day. Those who are suffering from scoliosis and their parents deserve it.”
“Last week, I listened to the secretary of state for health of our neighbouring island, Wes Streeting, tell the House of Commons that in one fell swoop he was abolishing the biggest quango in Europe, NHS England. When I looked up the figures for the HSE, however, I found he was not. He should have been over here abolishing the biggest quango in Europe, our HSE. In my opinion, it is not fit for purpose. Senators Keogan and Duffy spoke about local manifestations of what this Bill addresses. There is a litany of harrowing stories, not only those akin to that described by Senator Dolan. All over the country, in every art and part, i ngach aird den tír, there are families and children waiting for surgery.”
“As an ingenue to this House, I was riveted by Senator Clonan’s relating of his son’s passage through his adolescent years. Senators of an independent mien have the ability and courage to devise legislation that is outside the orthodoxy of the parties, and then we hear people talking about the irrelevancy of the Seanad. The astounding thing I have seen in the House in the past couple of months is that the diversity of talent, insight, objectivity or whatever else makes it possible for a contribution such as that of Senator Clonan. Even though it was deeply personal, it underscores very heavily the point that we as a society are failing many people as a result of our inability to devise, promote and continue a health service that is fit for purpose.”