John Lahart
Dublin South-West · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“I remember sitting in the back seat of my parents' car as we crossed the Border for the first time, a British soldier talking to my father, seeing his gun and having an awful gut feeling about the idea that a British soldier would be stopping my father's car. I was from Dublin.”
“In the current debate, when we talk about security, defence and how Ireland is going to approach this, I always say Ireland is having a conversation about this for the first time. Nobody needs to pressurise us about this; we will make our decisions about it ourselves in a mature way.”
“However, it would also give a real indication of the challenges that lie ahead of us in order to make that feeling of home for everybody who lives on the island a real possibility. That means there is a huge amount of work to be done.”
“There are real tax implications if they live in the Republic and work in the North, or if they live in the North and work in the Republic. We have not actually established some kind of common area or system that enables people to do that and it is actually hindering economic development and progress. IBEC has said that.”
“It lends itself to a very natural system of federal government where there is a capital in each province determining - not ruling, but representing everybody in those provinces - and maybe a central government made up of representatives of those four provinces.”
“I welcome the opportunity to contribute briefly on this debate. I was listening to some of it. I echo some of the comments made by Deputy Gogarty about the provocative nature of some of the matters that he raised and the wide range of issues we would need to consider. We do not talk about the North in this House enough.”
The complete record
Every one of 287 lines we hold for John Lahart, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 6.
“The school has done its fair share, and I am grateful for some of the measures that were taken instantly today, but faced with existential issues from a financial point of view, the school took dramatic action last week. As one of the TDs for the area, I have been trying to address that, which is why I have brought this to the floor of the Chamber this evening.”
“At the heart of this is the issue that the school's capitation grant in 2023-24 amounted to €41,705 but the bill for heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and general upkeep for the same year was nearly €26,000 more at €66,000. What does a school do when faced with those figures? It has to cut. By God, the school needed to be imaginative and creative in making cuts it did not want to make while still keeping the show on the road. For example, some staff have agreed to clean and hoover their own rooms. These are small gestures. The actions taken by the junior school include tea lady cuts and cuts to cleaning, music classes, dance classes and art therapy. Private assessments are now not available for students because of this funding issue. The staff were issued with a no-spend rule by management, so they cannot spend anything.”
“The school management and principals furnished me with details approximately a month ago - this problem goes back further than that - with a whole list and string of essential works that have been identified by a contractor as needing to be undertaken in the school, from fire alarm works to heating systems, including boilers, and the insulation of the roof or lack thereof, all of which are related to the running costs of the school, which, when not addressed, lead to increased running costs in the school. The school ran a deficit of €65,000 in 2022-23. As the management pointed out to me, capitation funding is intended to contribute to day-to-day running costs of schools and consequently should be used to meet the costs of items such as heating, lighting, cleaning, insurance and the general upkeep of the school.”
“Pupil numbers may have been dropping off, but not in any kind of dramatic way. There are still at least 300 pupils between both schools, the junior national school and the senior national school. As the Minister of State will appreciate, the running costs of a school do not change regardless of how many pupils are in that school. Unfortunately, capitation grants to the school do drop as numbers drop. That, to some degree, is at the heart of what needs to be addressed here.”
“I am grateful to the Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, for taking this topical issue. I want to raise the issue of the Sacred Heart school in Killinarden in my constituency. It is a DEIS school. I am grateful for the fact that the DEIS programme has been essential in addressing the disadvantage in the school. Sacred Heart and the Killinarden area are ninth out of just over 3,000 disadvantaged areas in the country. Therefore, it is an area considered to have high deprivation, but that is not what I want to focus on. There is a marvellous school and a fantastic school community made up of amazing pupils, parents and grandparents, who have been in touch in the past few days, their teachers, cleaners, caretakers, other staff and everybody else involved in the running of the school. It is a typical 1970s or 1980s school.”
“In the course of Deputy Devine's contribution, I incorrectly understood or misinterpreted her as referring to people on this side of the House or in the Chamber. I have known her for a long time. We were colleagues on South Dublin County Council and I understand that nothing she said was not allowable under Standing Orders so I apologise unreservedly for that and I hope she accepts that it was said in the spirit of the debate.”
“I think of Ashlee Keogh and Aimee Keogh from Tallaght Community School in my constituency. It is their third year and they won a prize this year. I think of how girls participating in STEM subjects were well behind boys a decade ago but they are catching up. That is not by accident but because of Government policy and Government investment in women, in particular young women. I have a lot more to say, particularly on women's health and the advances made there, but I have run out of time. I thank the Chair for his forbearance.”
“One of the issues that came to me as a politician recently, which I raised with the Minister for Social Protection and his predecessor, is the means testing of certain allowances. There are still dinosaurs of men who withhold money from their spouses and control the finances in the house, so the notion that a woman has no pension entitlement of her own and therefore is utterly reliant on her spouse for any form of income or support is something that we need to look at. In public service, I notice that 50% of our ambassadors are women. I am a regular annual visitor to the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, although it is no longer BT. I thank BT for its service to young scientists in Ireland. There have been more girls than boys participating in recent years.”
“He said, "That is great, thank you" and shut the door. I went away wondering how that particular episode continued and ended. I suspect it was physical and violent. It was the impression I was left with. A number of advances have been made. Deputy Ward mentioned Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. I was a member of South Dublin County Council for 16 years. I promoted women, including those who were co-opted in my place, and was successful in recruiting women who had never been members of Fianna Fáil who went on to contest elections for Fianna Fáil and were elected for Fianna Fáil. We made a contribution to South Dublin County Council in that it is now the only local authority in the country which has a majority of women in the council chamber. That is quite an advance and one I am proud of.”
“The notion that women were equal, that my sisters were equal and that my mother was an exceptionally hardworking woman who imparted a capacity for hard work among all of us was a key part of the genetic make-up. The constituents I meet, particularly about special needs education and disability, are very often women, who are in those advocacy and representative roles, fighting the corner, fighting for additional needs and for additional resources for their children and loved ones. It is not lost on me as a public representative that it is predominantly women who fight that fight. There are still dinosaurs around. During the general election, I knocked on a door. A young woman answered the door and we were chatting away. Her partner came out and was clearly very unhappy that she was engaging with anybody at the door.”
“Stynes, the late Jimmy's mother, always stood out in my head as being remarkable in our locality, where there were many sales representatives who had company cars, but she was alone among women. I come from a family where I had three brothers and three sisters. My mother earned more than my father, which was quite unusual at the time. She was a working woman. She was a teacher and she became a principal teacher. My father was a milkman with Premier Dairies and he did a lot of the caring roles, the school runs, the lunches and all of that kind of stuff. I grew up in a house where there were strong women, where equality was just absorbed as a process of osmosis, and the notion that women should be thwarted in any shape or form would have been alien to me.”
“Jimmy Stynes was a great footballer. He was one of the first sportsmen in Ireland to go to Australia and play Australian rules football. He is the late Jimmy Stynes, I regret to say. He was a neighbour of mine. My claim to fame is that I played a bit of football with him when I was a juvenile. Why am I mentioning him? When I was seven, eight or nine, his mum had a company car. She worked for a company and it was unheard of for a woman to have that kind of position when I was young and to have a company car. It was exceptional. I just came from a meeting this morning with Dervla McKay, who is managing director of Go-Ahead. It would not have been countenanced or envisaged 30 or 40 years ago. I say that to explain the progress that has been made by women. It is clearly not enough. Mrs.”
“The Minister has made a strong and robust start in his tenure and he enjoys the support of the House. I also know that the Ministers will shortly incorporate the migration piece into their portfolios. I ask that we continue where the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, has started, namely, with a fair but firm and robust response to the issue of those seeking asylum and international protection. Those who are entitled to do so should be granted all of the support of the State in doing so. We need to consider the number of countries we still regard as safe, because countries like Denmark, Holland and others designate far more countries as safe than we do, meaning that citizens of those countries cannot seek international protection in Ireland. I was lucky today. One of my colleagues did not show up, so we got some additional time.”
“That poses a great threat to vulnerable people and communities. Harmful online behaviour, including, as I have stated, catfishing, risks becoming even more widespread in Ireland. Now, more than ever, we need to prioritise online safety and ensure our laws can face evolving digital threats while balancing privacy and free expression rights. Gaps in the law at the moment leave victims vulnerable. Catfishing is a particular example of that. Gaps in the law also impede gardaí in their ability to respond effectively. I know the Minister and Government are committed to strengthening online safety laws and I ask the Minister to prioritise that. I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment at the Department of Justice and my colleague, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, on his appointment as Minister for Justice.”
“Our beautiful city of Dublin needs vital resuscitation, and additional resources for gardaí are a key part of ensuring city life in Dublin is resuscitated and revitalised. I want to highlight the issue of social media in regard to catfishing. One of our colleagues in Fianna Fáil, former Senator Lisa Chambers, introduced a landmark Bill in Seanad Éireann aimed at tackling the harmful practice of catfishing. The proposed legislation would make it a criminal offence to engage in catfishing and would empower gardaí to act and provide crucial recourse for victims. There have been some notable high-profile media examples of catfishing occurring in recent times. There is a danger at the moment because recent content policy announcements from Meta essentially mean there will be less moderation of what is happening online.”
“As the Minister knows, young gardaí are rightly frustrated by the bureaucracy and oversight they face in terms of GSOC and other oversight bodies. These are necessary and did not arise out of a vacuum. They arose because of chronic abuses in the force historically, and that is why they are needed. Regrettably, abuses are still taking place in the force by a small minority. Regrettably, power and seniority within the Garda force is used to thwart whistleblowers. The vast majority of gardaí are exemplary professionals doing a very tough and worthwhile job. There is increasing evidence that, in terms of law and order, menacing antisocial behaviour and petty crime is going unreported because gardaí lack the resources and numbers to deal with such offences. That is probably the biggest challenge the Government faces.”
“I support a robust Garda response to crime. I support dedicated transport police on our public transport to police it and especially in my constituency of Dublin South-West to police public transport modes like the Luas red line. I support facial recognition technology. I support a ban on masks at public protests. I support the confiscation and destruction of scrambler and quad bikes and scooters, including e-scooters, when they are used to engage in antisocial behaviour and reckless endangerment of people and to carry drugs. I echo a previous speaker, Deputy John McGuinness, regarding the Shane O'Farrell case, which I have followed closely as an Opposition and Government TD, and how the institutions of State can still connive to thwart justice.”
“bus then arrived full and the following two buses showed up on the app as being cancelled, with the next bus due at 8.15 a.m. Given there was no way she would make it into work for 9 a.m. by risking waiting for the 8.15 a.m., this woman was forced to take and pay for a taxi. This is quite typical and not exceptional. I would like the Taoiseach to take this on board with the Minister for Transport to see how we can address this apparent systems failure.”
“I am raising the issue of public transport again. This Government and the previous Government committed heretofore unknown and unseen resources into public transport. What I want to raise may initially sound like the failure of a bus route but it points to a larger systems failure which both the Government and the Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, need to look at. This is from a constituent working in the city who has no other option but to travel to work by bus, which happens to be the 15B service in Rathfarnham. She said that today alone was a pure example of the dreadful service the public must face. This constituent arrived at the bus stop at 7.20 a.m. to discover the 7.25 a.m. bus was cancelled. The 7.39 a.m.”
“I refer to properties that are dormant, derelict and that nobody appears to own. Having gone through the proper legal procedures, etc., the State would take over such properties. I agree there should be an increase in the threshold for social housing qualification. I have talked previously about the housing needs of key workers, particularly in the context of State land. If we are taking land from State agencies, then a percentage of the residential development on those sites should be given to key workers with those organisations.”
“If I was starting off in life and buying a house now and if I could have a Vienna model-style apartment that I knew I would have for life, the rental cost of which would reflect the ups and downs of life in terms of illness, unemployment and retirement and taper accordingly, I would go into it willingly. Why would people hang a mortgage of hundreds of thousands of euro around their neck when they could have much more disposable income available to them if they had security of tenure over a long period? We introduced legislation regarding dormant accounts. I know property rights are strong in this State but would it be possible to do something with dormant properties? Could we decide that the State will take properties that are dormant for a particular length of time?”
“The bid has been received and the seller has received the value he or she put on the house. This is something towards which we should consider moving. I look up daft.ie and myhome.ie regularly to see what is for sale across my constituency and all across Dublin. I will see a house for sale for €495,000 and think it is a fine purchase. Then I go back and check how much it actually sold for. This leads to inflation. We have a love affair with property as an investment as opposed to a home. There is a strong case to be made, particularly on State-owned land, for affordable properties to be passed on as affordable properties in perpetuity. We really need to look at that.”
“Many such parents have come to me over the years and said they will be caring for their adult child for the rest of their lives and would like an independent living space on their home site for that child. This proposal is an avenue for that. One of the big challenges in this country is that, as a nation, we have developed a love affair with property as an investment as opposed to a means of providing a roof over our head in which we can live in comfort and security throughout our lives. I do not know how we can stop that. In Scotland, when houses go up for sale, sellers give considerable time to coming to a valuation they think is credible. If I make a bid for a house for the price at which it is put up for sale, it must be withdrawn from the market.”
“I refer to the affordable housing side, particularly for first-time buyers. The commission report has a lot to say about that. In my area, large numbers of apartments are being constructed but there are none to buy. If developers and councils were obligated, as a condition of development, to offer a percentage of apartments for sale, I am certain from my experience that it would release existing homes from people who want to downsize. People will not downsize to rent but they will downsize to buy. The back garden or rear development issue is something I really encourage. One angle that was missed in that debate is that we have a growing population of adults with special needs who are very dependent on their parents.”
“It is an issue that is very significant and is growing. I suspect it puts people off renting out a property. In previous times, people would invest in a property and set out to be a good landlord. Many did not increase the rent they charged over the years. They are the kind of people we need. However, I have had constituents come to me whose tenants have not paid the rent for a year or 18 months and have trashed the house. There must be penalties for tenants who do that. As I said, homelessness is the biggest issue. I will focus now on chapter 7 of the Housing Commission report and on making a special case for Dublin. The lack of affordability in Dublin, and it is pretty well all of Dublin, is not appreciated fully. I know the Minister appreciates it. I do not refer to the social housing aspect, on which we are making great strides.”
“I wish to echo, without repeating, some of the points made by Deputy Hearne about homelessness. The parliamentary reporters could nearly copy and paste his words into my speech. I am not being trite in saying that. The biggest housing issue that is raised in the emails that come into my inbox every week relate to threatened evictions and homelessness. I congratulate the Minister and his team on their appointment. I welcome the election of Deputy Hearne, whose words I have read and listened to with interest. He has a very valuable and worthwhile contribution to make to this debate, to which he brings particular expertise. It must be put on the record that we need small-scale landlords. Situations where landlords have defaulting tenants who trash their properties are happening with increasing regularity.”
“Does he agree that this unique opportunity to wear the green jersey for Ireland is more vital this year than ever before and that failure to take it would demonstrate an abject failure of leadership and of understanding of the significance of the event and the value it holds for our country, our economic well-being, our strategic national interests and more?”
“Bipartisanship, the political process by which opposing political parties find common ground through compromise, has, as we all know, been dying a slow death in the US to the point where it does not exist anymore except, remarkably, on St. Patrick's Day. Republican and Democrat Senators and Congressmen and Congresswomen vie with each other to participate in the events relating to what is a unique political day and to make themselves available to Irish politicians of every political hue, North and South. Does the Taoiseach agree with my assessment?”
“I know the Taoiseach would agree that the previous Government had a vibrant school building programme at primary and post-primary levels, with multiple projects in my constituency of Dublin South-West as an example. Where does the Taoiseach see the emphasis at primary level over the coming years in terms of the school building programme? Does he agree the needs of those developing areas should be monitored closely? Would he also agree with me that one of the issues that emerged in this general election, which would not have emerged previously, aside from patronage and parental choice, is actually the lack of co-educational schools available in Dublin for parents at both primary and post-primary level?”
“Without that economic prosperity, it would simply be impossible to deliver all of the objectives of the programme for Government. If there is one agency that I want to signal a warning, to it is the National Transport Authority, NTA. It has been politically rudderless for the past four or five years. I hope and believe Government will start to impose some kind of shape on it in terms of communication with the public. In my long experience as a public representative, it is one of the poorest bodies in terms of communication with the public. It is definitely the poorest in terms of public consultation. There could not be a worse organisation for taking on board the suggestions of the public or public representatives. I am saying to it today that that has to change. It simply cannot go on, and it will not go on.”
“Choice in education is a significant thing, not just in terms of patronage but whether people want their children to go to a co-educational or single sex school, something which is a particularly pronounced thing in my constituency. The programme for Government addresses security, policing, justice and transport, including transport police. I concur with what Deputy Cleere said about the lands and parks piece for development being significant. The most significant commitment in the programme for Government, and the reason people voted for this Government, is to maintain the prosperity, which can be fragile, that we have built and steered very responsibly over the past five to six years. We have a record for having built up this country economically.”
“They were faced with the option of choosing stability, a responsible Government, maturity and adult voices to lead them forward into the period of turbulence. That is what they voted for. They voted for centrist political options versus the alternative of chaos, incoherence and drama. That is the international stage into which we have been set. Domestically, I again echo the comments on major bullets of the programme for Government in terms of special education and housing, which is the biggest challenge that faces us. I welcome the commitments on disability. DEIS plus is a particular piece of the programme for Government with which I have great affinity and have championed. We in Fianna Fáil are particularly good at the education piece. I could get down to the granular in terms of constituency, but there will be alternatives for that.”
“This Government and programme for Government remain very committed and strong on the whole issue of climate action. The global consensus on territorial conflicts is being undermined by and replaced with tribal partisanship. Bullying seems to be replacing diplomacy. This bullying seeks to pigeonhole nation states and simplify complex international and intra-national disputes into binary choices. The language of conquest and imperialism is on the increase. Threats and blackmail on a global scale via the noisy foghorn of social media channels has replaced the often necessarily tedious process of building agreement and consensus. The sands of geopolitics are shifting dramatically and Ireland must not find itself isolated in that environment. The people made a very wise choice two months ago.”
“As I said, it has made a village of much of the world and connected all of us internationally. As we can see, it is now breaking down in a way that we would not have witnessed previously. Nationalism is emerging again and terms like "protectionism", which we had not heard of for almost a hundred years, are beginning to take hold again in the third decade of this century. Consensus on vital issues of concern to all of us on the planet is beginning to break down. The global consensus on trade, economic and, most significantly, climate is very definitely breaking down. It does not matter how much of the programme for Government we successfully implement - it is the intention that we will implement it - the most important, significant, alarming and urgent challenge that faces all of us remains our climate.”
“The Lord giveth. Rather than repeat what Deputy Cleere said, I want to echo his comments, in particular about the ambition of the programme for Government and its emphasis, in stark contrast to what went on in opposition today, on delivery and the aims of objectives of the programme ahead of us. We come to Government and the Thirty-fourth Dáil at a time of great turbulence internationally. Globalisation, which most of us had never heard of 25 or 30 years ago, has become very much part of our vocabulary and way of life. It has benefited a small, open economy like Ireland significantly. Globalisation has made a village of the world economically and in terms of trade. Ireland has been in a position to be able to capitalise on that over the past 20 years.”
“Does he agree that we need a much more responsive and direct approach with the NTA to ensure a reliable public transport system, which is the cornerstone of any successful public transport?”
“I will raise a local public transport issue. Buses that appear due on the app are being cancelled minutes prior to their scheduled arrival with people at bus stops waiting for them. The next scheduled bus does not then meet the schedule, arrives late and is too full to take on board any other passengers. These are very regular experiences of my constituents in Dublin South-West, especially with the new S4, S6 and S8 routes. These buses are meant to ferry people to college, work and family commitments. My question relates to the NTA. Does the Taoiseach agree that the previous Minister did not take a sufficiently hands-on approach with the NTA to listen to the criticisms of the public and to communicate with them properly?”