Joe O'Reilly
Labour Panel · Fine Gael · Ireland
“As the Minister said, the Commission is coming up with proposals, and this exercise by us, and please God we will finish it before the summer, will make a difference in leading the European effort. We are winning support for suspension of trade.”
“At the outset, I welcome the Minister to the House and thank her for her leadership in this area and commitment in her opening remarks to go on pushing at European level to get a consensus on real action on the trade agreement and individual sanctions.”
“We recognise the State of Palestine. We have been consistent in our public criticism of the genocide in Gaza, we took a strong position at the UN, we were a co-sponsor of the ICJ, and latterly, we have given leadership at EU level.”
“To turn to the issue of today, the illegal settlements, in international law they are clearly illegal and are expanding. They cause access to land resources for Palestinians to be restricted, there is settler violence, and Palestinian families continue to face displacement and growing insecurity.”
“It will enhance our moral authority in Europe and give leadership to other European countries. It is, at its most fundamental level, coupled with our previous action on recognising Palestine, joining the ICJ case and strong public statements, another act of solidarity with the victims of these illegal settlements.”
“If the opposite were merited, we would be saying it equally loudly. The Minister of State made a point that was echoed by my colleagues, Senators Boyhan and Casey, about the importance of the necessary transition from fossil fuels. I would like to hear the Minister of State respond at the end of the debate.”
The complete record
Every one of 314 lines we hold for Joe O'Reilly, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 7 of 7.
“I ask the Leader, as a matter of priority, to invite the Minister of State to come to the House to inform us as to where we are at with regard to waiting lists for assessment of neurodevelopmental differences and their subsequent treatment, where she sees us going in that regard and what stratagems and strategies she has in place to deal with this matter. We need such a debate soon and it is one I would like to contribute to. I appeal to the Leader to do this. As I said on the first day of this Seanad, the mark of a society is how it treats people who have challenges. This is a great opportunity, in this current time of plenty in the country, to deal with this issue. I look forward to this debate. I appeal to the Leader to make this one of his first initiatives.”
“I am delighted today to host, as a personal guest, Ivan Doherty, whom I acknowledge in the Gallery alongside our former colleague Hugh Byrne. Ivan Doherty was a distinguished general secretary of Fine Gael and made a big contribution to democracy in Ireland. He then became an executive with the National Democratic Institute in America where he continued that work. He is currently a senior executive with Apple. Ivan has had a great career of public service and I am delighted to have him with us today. One of the most sensitive and important appointments of the previous Government was the appointment of Deputy Hildegarde Naughton as Minister of State with responsibility for disability.”
“That is part of a democratic debate, but what is not reasonable is to challenge dealing with a gaping societal need that needs to be dealt with.”
“The people out there will judge this Parliament and Government by how we respond to their needs and what mechanisms we put in place that improve their lives. Will there be a tangible difference in their lives at the end of the five years? That is the question today, not some sort of nonsense talk about how many there is of this and that. The question before the House is what needs are we dealing with, how are we dealing with them, who is dealing with them and who is effectively dealing with them. A rational response to that question is to vote in favour of the addition of the super junior Ministers of State on the premise that they are responding and will respond effectively. It would be reasonable for an Opposition to challenge a particular policy position or nomination if it felt a person was unfit.”
“While the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, will deal well with what was identified yesterday, there are also issues with waiting lists for assessment, the need for subsequent treatments and facilities. There is so much to be done. The issue should not be some narrow populist focus on who is what, who is where or this or that number. It is about asking whether we addressing society's needs adequately. To address the complex needs of the modern society we live in, we need the extra Ministries. We need the Ministers of State to have a voice at Cabinet and to be aware of what is happening within Cabinet for transfer to their respective Departments. I am delighted to welcome my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins. As she did previously, she is going about her job in a very effective way.”
“The job of Government at any given time is to respond to the needs of and pressing issues in society. This Bill will assist in dealing with two major contemporary issues. One is the issue of older persons. Older people who are living longer and who have complex needs form an increasingly large cohort of the population. There is clearly a need for a particular type of cluster housing for older persons with facilities around them. There is a need to put home help or, rather, home support on a statutory basis in the home so that the same facilities can be provided to an older person at home as are provided in a nursing home. My colleague, the former Minister of State, Senator Rabbitte, was outstanding in the area of disability in the previous Administration. It is an area whose needs are crying out.”
“He is smarter than I am. You get the talented people to do what they are good at. I am very proud they are here and I especially welcome them. However, let us all decide that we are here for the common good and let this be the first day of a great working Seanad where we will bring about real change for people and where lives will be better because of it.”
“If we claim Senator Costello, whose extended family in Cootehill I know very well - they are friends of mine and I was talking to her uncle the other day - for Cavan-Monaghan, which we could legitimately do, then we actually have one tenth of the Seanad for Cavan-Monaghan. As we sound personal notes today, and it is an emotional and a special occasion and a huge honour for each of us, just as it is a huge honour, it is also a huge responsibility and we have a duty. In the context of family and welcoming people, I welcome my two wonderful sons, Eoghan and Dáire, to the Visitors Gallery today. They have been an enormous support to me in practical terms throughout this campaign. My son Eoghan was making phone calls to friends of his for me and my son Dáire was writing literature for me and making sure it got into envelopes.”
“It is a crying shame that in this great republic of which we are collectively proud, of which we feel very real ownership, with a real stake and in which we wish to play a very real part in building, with the wealth it has at this stage, there are people on waiting lists for support from CAMHS. An appalling vista could arise if they do not get the help they require. We cannot have a wealthy society like this where that aberration exists. I will not stand for it and I know most Members of the House feel the same. A day like this is very special for us. Of course, I congratulate all the veterans and all the wonderful new people who bring enormous talent, vitality, new beginnings and a new energy to the Seanad. I welcome them.”
“There is a manual for many of these tests with a set of questions and signs. It does not necessarily take someone with a couple of PhDs in psychology to administer those tests. We will have to be imaginative and do something so that there will not be waiting lists for CAMHS, for autism tests or for a range of other tests. That will be my big issue for this term. I tell my good friend, Senator Kyne, that he will hear from me on this virtually every week and I will insist we have debates on this. It behoves us as a country with the level of wealth we have now.”
“I put the Leader and the Cathaoirleach on notice that I have decided that I will major in this term on something I think is important and which I heard my colleague from Cavan, Senator Tully, allude to, which is the waiting list for CAMHS, the structure of CAMHS and the fact there should be no waiting list for any young person in need of professional support. It should be available within a very instant call. Similarly, I want to put an emphasis in this term on the need for our young people to be called for tests for autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia and a range of issues that arise in school and elsewhere. We need to think outside the box in this sphere, to look north and west as we have done in other spheres, and use professionals there and use the private sector. We have to look at people with fewer qualifications doing some of these tests.”
“He will bring an extraordinary skill set and a lot of experience and there is no substitute for that. I congratulate my good friend and colleague, Senator Kyne, who again brings extraordinary experience, from the time he was demoted to the Lower House right through local government, to the Leadership of the House. In the last Seanad I majored from the very outset on the pernicious addiction that gambling is in the country. I advocated for a gambling regulator and anti-gambling legislation to curb the advertising, etc. I received great support in that. We became a trio doing it week in, week out, namely, me, Senator Shane Cassells, who made a great contribution to this Chamber, and Senator Mark Wall, who, despite his demotion to the Lower House, I wish well. He is one of the fine people we had here and we did that.”
“I congratulate the Cathaoirleach on his election to the Chair. I worked alongside him in the past as Leas-Chathaoirleach and we did a lot of good reforming work together. Something I am distinctly proud of that I was involved in and took specific responsibility for as Leas-Chathaoirleach was the integration of our European MEPs into the governing process here. We had a number of seminars here with the MEPs and interaction with the Members of the Seanad, to great effect. It was bringing the Seanad into the European model and vice versa . It was a very real reform of the Seanad. I salute the Cathaoirleach for that and have no doubt he will continue in a similar vein this time. In that regard, I pay tribute to his predecessor, Deputy Buttimer, and congratulate him on his elevation to ministerial office. I wish him well.”
“Is cúis áthais agus onóra dom a bheith atofa. Déanaim comhghairdeas le mo chomhghleacaithe uilig. Cuireann sé dualgas orainn ár ndícheall a dhéanamh gach lá ar son na ndaoine, na gcomhairleoirí agus mhuintir na gcoláistí. I salute the first speaker of the day, the person who took the Chair and who is the new father of the House. In so doing he recognised the former father of the House, Paddy Burke, who had very strong Cavan connections. We are very proud to say the current father of the House, Senator Wilson, is a Cavan man. He is indeed a person of very high calibre and integrity and a person who brings very good values to politics. It is appropriate somebody like him should stand the electoral test of time and be here to show there is a place for integrity and decency in politics.”