Ken O'Flynn
Cork North-Central · Independent Ireland · Ireland
“The Government has not addressed school uniform problems or the fact that most parents have to pay €300 for a PE kit. It has not addressed the problem that parents have to give this voluntary contribution, which is really not voluntary when schools are putting out news bulletins listing the names of families who have contributed and those…”
“Every one of us knows from our own constituencies that laptops, iPads and tablets are being used regularly by order of boards of management. I have to acknowledge the Government's good work and call it out, including the free books scheme and the school meals. However, the Government has made a hames of the school meals.”
“Like many of the stories the Minister of State has heard today in the House, it is not strange that we have constituents coming to us regularly saying the biggest fear they have is the postman's knock.”
“We should all be inside here hanging our heads in shame about how we are treating people. Just go outside the gate and the Minister of State will see Cara Darmody outside Leinster House again, highlighting a law that the Government has been breaking for over 20 years. What was the Taoiseach's answer to me yesterday?”
“I am sure the Taoiseach will join me in welcoming Christy Hussey and Conor Burke to the Public Gallery. Since this morning, a 15-year-old child has been sitting in protest outside the gates of Leinster House. Cara Darmody is highlighting the fact that the State breaking its own law.”
“It is reported that half of the women murdered in the Kingdom of Spain this year were killed by foreign nationals. Across the Continent, governments have opened their doors and lost control of their borders. When their own citizens stand up and take notice, these governments lecture them and call them far-right for calling them out.”
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“The State must hold itself to no lower standard. Children who enter the care of the State are not just statistics; they are not just reports; they are not simple entries in an administrative system. They are young people whose lives depend on the decisions we make in this House on the systems that structure the governance. If the structure responsible for the protection of them is not working, it should be the duty of all Members of this House not to defend the structure but to reform that structure. That is why this motion is important to this House. It proposes a carefully responsive process. It proposes that the Government commission an independent review, examining whether the current model remains the best structure for delivering child protection services.”
“Policies, operations, leadership and accountability exist within a single structure. Is that not a good idea, to have one single structure? The responsibility is clear, accountability is direct and a state cannot distance itself from the outcome of the system. There is a principle that should guide us for this entire debate. When the State removes a child from their home, the State does not simply become a service provider; the State becomes the child's parents in every meaningful sense. The State assumes the responsibility for that child - that child's safety, that child's well-being and that child's future. No parents would accept a situation where responsibility for their child was unclear, where a system failed without consequences or where a system failed without accountability between different institutions.”
“When problems arise, as we have seen, responsibility becomes diffused across multiple levels of the system. When the protection of children is involved, we must have absolute clarity about that responsibility. When a child enters the care of the State, the child becomes the responsibility of the Republic itself. The question before this House is not whether Tusla performs important work; we all realise and accept that it does perform important work when it works well. The question is whether the governance structure surrounding that work remains fit for purpose. Other jurisdictions across Europe and further afield have confronted similar questions and adopted different types of models. In many countries, child protection services operate directly within the ministerial department.”
“Hundreds of millions of euro are being distributed through funding arrangements within community organisations and voluntary services providing and delivering on behalf of the State. Many of those organisations do valuable and necessary support work but when the expenditure reaches such a scale, governance must be strong and accountability must be clear. That brings us to the central issue. The current system is built on a structure where responsibility is fragmented. Policy sits with the Department of children and operational delivery sits with the Tusla, a separate statutory agency. A large number of services are delivered through exceptional and external organisations funded through various programmes. This layered structure creates a distance between the authority and the accountability.”
“When members of the Judiciary begin to use language of that nature, what they are saying cannot be called a casual remark. It is and should be a warning that something within the system is not functioning as it should. We have also heard of troubling incidents involving children missing from care and vulnerable young people being placed in emergency accommodation because suitable placements were not available. In fact, emergency arrangements that were intended to be exceptional have instead become the norm and a recurrence within this failing system. That fact alone should cause all of us in this House to pause and reflect. Tusla now operates with a budget that exceeds €1 billion. If I am not mistaken, it is nearly €1.3 billion.”
“They have highlighted delays in assessing risk to children, identified failures in case management and pointed to shortcomings in safety and safety planning. Certain inspections found there was non-compliance by some services with protection standards for children. These are not minor administrative oversights. They are issues that strike directly at the heart of the efficiency of the State in protecting the most vulnerable children. The courts have also voiced their concerns. Judges have criticised situations wherein children in State care have not been allocated a social worker despite the court ordering and requiring it. In some cases, hundreds of children were reported to have been without an assigned social worker at any given time. One judge recently described that situation as both shocking and extraordinary.”
“However, those who are on the front line of those particular professional services deserve something else. They deserve, above all, a system that functions properly. They deserve leadership that is clear, governance that is coherent and accountability that is real. When the system begins to struggle, it is those exact front-line staff who are left carrying the heavy burden. That is neither fair to, nor safe for, the children they are trying to protect. Over the past number of years, we have heard repeated warnings about the conditions of the child protection system. Those warnings have come from regulators, the courts and by way of independent reports and inspections. HIQA inspections have repeatedly identified serious deficiencies in some areas of child protection services.”
“Has the structure we created, and its associated level of accountability and effectiveness in protecting children, truly worked? In addressing that question directly, it is important to acknowledge the extraordinary work of the carers and others who carry out the day-to-day work within the system. Social workers, family support services, foster carers, residential care staff and many others across the country perform one of the most difficult roles in the public service. They work with children who have experienced neglect, trauma and, in some cases, instability. They work with families in crisis and make complex decisions every day in circumstances that require judgment, compassion and professionalism. Their commitment deserves recognition from this House.”
“Child protection services are, of course, necessary. The question is whether the system through which we deliver those services is as functional and effective as it must be. Tusla was established in 2014 with the well-being of children as its objective. The State sought to create a specialised agency dedicated entirely to child protection and supporting the family. It was intended to bring together the services that had previously been framed and fragmented across different parts of the public system. That was the hope and the dedication of the agency at the time. It would provide focused professional expertise and improved outcomes for vulnerable children. That ambition was right. However, more than a decade after its establishment and considering the experiences we have had in this country, we must ask ourselves a very simple question.”
“I thank the people in my office who helped me to prepare this motion, including Mr. Ciarán Kenneally, Ms Eileen Kelly McCarthy and Mr. Max Keating, as well as Mr. Mark Nolan of Independent Ireland. They put in tremendous background work. The protection of children is one of the most fundamental responsibilities of any state. When a state intervenes in the life of a child, removes a child from danger or assumes the responsibility for a child's welfare, that state becomes the child's protector. That responsibility is not theoretical or administrative. It is, quite simply, moral. When a state assumes that responsibility, it must do so through a system that is clear, accountable, credible and capable of acting decisively when the child's safety is at risk. That is why the motion before the House today is so important.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — child protection and welfare represent one of the most fundamental constitutional obligations of the State; — Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, operates as a statutory agency at arm's length from direct departmental control, funded by the Exchequer, but structurally separate from the Department of Children, Disability and Equality; — this governance model has resulted in: — blurred lines of accountability between the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, and Tusla; — delays in political responsiveness; and — ongoing difficulty for elected representatives seeking urgent intervention in serious child welfare matters; — over the past decade, repeated reviews and audits have highlighted: — delays in child protection assessments; — social worker recruitment and retention challenges; — a backlog in referrals; and — inconsistent case management standards; — Tusla's Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024, confirms that: — 451 organisations were funded under Section 56 arrangements; — 121 additional organisations were funded through the Education Support Service; and — a total of approximately 572 external organisations received funding in 2024; — the scale and fragmentation of these funding arrangements raises legitimate questions regarding: — administrative overheads; — governance duplication; — financial transparency; and — strategic coherence; and — in a number of comparable jurisdictions, child protection functions are directly embedded within Ministerial Departments, ensuring clearer democratic accountability; acknowledges that: — frontline social workers, and child protection professionals, perform critical and demanding work under significant pressure; — any reform must protect service continuity and safeguard vulnerable children; and — structural reform must be carefully phased, and evidence based; and calls on the Government to: — commission an independent governance review, examining the feasibility of dissolving Tusla as a separate legal entity, and transferring its statutory powers directly to the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality; — publish, within 12 months, a White Paper outlining options to: — establish a child protection directorate within the Department of Children, Disability and Equality; — consolidate policy and operational authority; — streamline funding and procurement structures; — enhance direct Ministerial accountability; — develop a phased transition plan, if recommended, over a 12 to 24-month period, to ensure uninterrupted service delivery; and — strengthen financial oversight mechanisms, including unified budgeting and improved reporting transparency to the Oireachtas; and — establish or reinforce an independent statutory inspectorate to ensure robust oversight under any revised governance model.”
“Will the Minister for Health intervene to ensure priority one is actually treated as being of the first priority? It cannot be the case that priority one means being on a three-year waiting list. The urgency must be applied in practice.”
“I raise the situation of a child in Cork who has been on a priority one waiting list since January 2025 for an augmentative and alternative communication, AAC, assessment and device trial through the HSE. According to the response given to my office, the appointment has been postponed for more than three years, with no clear timeline offered and no interim supports put in place. Without these essential supports, this child is being denied the ability to communicate, learn or participate and may even have to leave mainstream school, where the child has been doing well so far. Without the communication support needed, the situation is impossible. What immediate actions can be taken by the Government to address these delays of up to three years?”
“I have to say I am disappointed to hear the Minister is not prepared to bring new legislation to this House. At this stage, should we not be setting a minimum rather than just a maximum sentence given the type of crime it is? These are the most heinous images of child abuse and surely we should be providing for a minimum sentence at this stage rather than setting the maximum. I would ask the Minister to reassess that. I notice the Minister did not answer my last question about what assessments are being done. I do not know if he has that information in front of him today. I would ask the Minister to reconsider the idea that he would not introduce new legislation to set minimum sentencing rather than maximum sentencing. I know it is slightly different but it is time to reconsider whether we put in a minimum sentence or not.”
“What I am getting at is whether the Minister is prepared to introduce legislation to circumvent this because District Court judges are saying they are stuck because of the precedent with the Loving case. I also appreciate that for a second-time offender, who has received a suspended sentence, that under the 1998 Act, all judges provide very stiff sentence.”
“I thank the Minister for the reply but I am asking whether the Department has carried out a full assessment of this. We can all call a spade a spade. Not a month has gone by where we have not read an article in a newspaper regarding suspended sentences for first-time offenders or those who have been caught for the first time when it comes to child sexual abuse images and online images. Certainly, it upsets a number of people in my constituency and Members in this House as well when we see people with large volumes of vile images being used and circulated, and walking away with a suspended sentences. I appreciate there is a precedent with the Loving case. We all are aware of that in this House.”
“I wish to ask the Minister about the assessment he has made on the impact of suspended or short custodial sentences on victims of child abuse and the circulation of such material online, whether he has evidence that current sentencing levels act as a meaningful deterrent regarding child sexual abuse materials and what legislation policy tools he is prepared to deploy if judicial guidelines prove ineffective.”
“It is finished. It has gone through the courts. Let us be clear what this means; a woman who lives with consequences of rape for the rest of her life saw the punishment of her attacker reduced because he is not from this country. Justice must be blind to nationality. The only people who deserve special consideration are the victims of these attacks. Does the Government believe it is acceptable that the nationality of an offender is taken into account and should result in a reduced sentence considering that particular type of offence and the seriousness of sexual crime? Will the Government now examine the sentencing framework to ensure that such consideration can still give justice to the victims of Ireland? Victims must come first.”
“A deeply disturbing case emerged before the courts of a vulnerable woman with an intellectual disability who was sexually assaulted in a swimming pool steam room. The man responsible has been convicted and yet the sentence imposed was reduced after the court considered difficulties for a foreign national serving a sentence in this jurisdiction. Let us be clear what this means; a woman who lives with the consequences of oral rape-----”
“The Tánaiste has now had this before him for 19 months. Has the Government authorised the dismissal and will he confirm it? If not, who in the Government, or who else, has purported to exercise the power that is reserved for the Cabinet? This is not merely an unemployment dispute. It goes to the heart of collective responsibility and Cabinet responsibility under Article 28 of the Constitution and the statutory framework of the Government Civil Service. I put it to the Tánaiste again-----”
“------of alleged wrongdoing. I will get to that. If the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will bear with me, he will understand where I am coming from. The parallel process was initiated without transparency and there has been a prolonged non-compliance with High Court discovery obligations. I am not asking the Tánaiste to determine the truth on the floor of this House, which rectifies the matter for the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, but there are other people there. I am asking the Tánaiste if he will accept that as a former Taoiseach, as Tánaiste and as a senior member of the Government, he has a duty to ensure-----”
“I ask the Tánaiste directly if his Government took a decision to authorise the dismissal of Mr. John Barrett. Was a memorandum brought to the Cabinet? If so, on what date did the Government exercise the statutory authorisation? If not, how was the dismissal lawfully effected in compliance with section 51? Beyond the statutory questions I have put to the Tánaiste, he has also been put on notice on five separate occasions of the fact of serious allegations regarding the process leading to the purported dismissal, including that the dismissal compliance was attributed to a senior garda whose office has now officially denied making it, and that Mr. Barrett was not furnished-----”
“Mr. John Barrett, an established civil servant at assistant secretary general grade and an executive director of An Garda Síochána, was purportedly abruptly dismissed on 18 September 2024. The Government has been formally notified of the legal contention that the dismissal as unlawful on five separate occasions, namely, on 5 July 2024, 18 November 2024, 20 January 2025, 28 July 2025 and, again, earlier this week. The central legal issue is rather straightforward. Section 5(1) of the Civil Service Regulation Act 1956 provides that the dismissal of an established civil servant requires the will and the pleasure of Government. Yet, Mr. Barrett received a letter signed off by an official of a lower grade, purporting to convey a ministerial direction.”
“In our villages and smaller towns around the country why are we not amalgamating the Garda station and the post office? I can guarantee nobody will go in and rob a Garda station. We need to think about it. These are small things that are possible. They could be merged together and secure a community hub that way. It is about keeping it alive and keeping it in the post office.”
“In the future when people retire, nobody will want to take on the business because it does not benefit them. I asked a guy who runs a Centra why he would not take on the post office licence. He said it is too expensive to run the post office. To have to put in this number of safes, to have to have this type of public liability insurance and to take on this number of staff would not be financially viable. We have to make post offices and that life financially viable. In France post offices deliver for pharmacies. They have secure contracts where they are delivering pharmaceuticals drugs and medicines to elderly and infirm people who cannot get out of their homes. That is another option we have not looked at. People are saying they cannot afford to put in the safe system and the whole lot.”
“We all have stories about post offices and memories of post offices. My one is waiting in my mother's car while my grandmother collected her pension. It used to take her about two and a half hours to collect the pension because she got every bit of gossip and it kept her going for the week. She got everyone's information, news and excitement. That is what a post office was about. It was about people meeting, congregating and chatting. It was the heart and soul of the community. While we have 950 post offices, 14 have closed in the past year. Those were 14 that a postmaster did not take on. We have to ask why this is. If it is not a financially viable business and someone cannot make money out of running a post office, why would they take it on?”
“Many thousands of housing estates in this country are unfinished. They have not been handed over to local authorities. Many local authorities state they cannot take them in charge because they do not have moneys available to them. I stood yesterday with Councillor Ger Curley in housing estates in Cobh. The infrastructure needs to be fixed. Lighting needs to be put in place. We are waiting for engineers' reports. That is the case for thousands of housing estates. They are not just from the Celtic tiger days when builders went bust and there was no bond in place. A housing estate in Rathcooney in Cork has not been taken in charge in 47 years. It is a group of houses. The roads are in an appalling condition. Will the Taoiseach commit to instigating a national fund from which local authorities can draw down to take housing estates in charge?”
“People are afraid to use the playground in the area, and property values have significantly declined. Does the Government accept that unauthorised demolition involving asbestos is a serious breach of planning and environmental law? Will the Government now take action to ensure compliance and immediate remediation works in Grenagh?”
“On 12 April 2025, serious concerns were raised by people in Grenagh, County Cork regarding the demolition work on the former piggery site where asbestos was present and became airborne. I can confirm that no planning permission was granted by Cork County Council for the demolition works, no planning was granted in respect of the asbestos materials and no disposal plan was in place for these asbestos materials. Both the HSE and HSA have engaged. Remediation works stopped in September last, which is six months ago. No completion timeline has been provided by the land owners to Cork County Council. It is now almost a year since residents flagged this, and they are still living in uncertainty. Local businesses and sports clubs have been affected. Families have questions about safety.”
“That just shows you the honour and decency in these people, and they should never have been treated like that. The Taoiseach used the word "explore" twice on page 8 of his address. Please do not explore any more. Give them what they are entitled to and give them fairness and honesty. Let them go on and have some sort of quality of life and put this awfulness behind them.”
“When they tell me that something happened to them or that something was said to them by an official in a room, I believe them. One person stood up here and issued their apology, but, at a negotiation, that individual went outside the door and made jokes about and laughed at certain people's conditions and said, "A bit of a hunger strike wouldn't be too bad for one or two of them". I have to salute these people because they shook her hand today. I could not. The comments that were made here today disgusted me, because I know the facts from listening to these people and I know the trustworthiness of these people. When they tell me that story, I have to salute them because they shook her hand today as she went out the door. I could not do it. Well done.”
“These are things that happened in the past. We have to be able to say that this is what happened and that we need to take responsibility for it and correct it. Yet, here we are, 27 years after the first apology in 1999. That should not be the case. These people should have been able to go out the door in 1999 with the apology, accepted it and had all the necessary redresses due to them. I listened to comments being made earlier. I am going to address those comments because some of them made by stomach churn. I say that because I got to know these people very well. These are honourable and trustworthy people. These are people I could tell my darkest secret to. We have known one another for quite some time over the phone, chatting back and forth. These are people I could tell my darkest secret to because they are trustworthy and honourable.”
“People who I had never met rang me from all over the country to tell me that they were victims of this abuse and recount their stories. They told me how they had planned to travel to Australia when they were in their 30s or 40s or how they planned to travel to the United States. They were afraid to even apply to do so, however, because they feared they may have criminal records. Today, in 2026, when the best of years are behind them - that is the truth - they are being told that they do not have criminal records. The firs apology was issued in 1999. However, 27 years later, we are here issuing another apology because we did not do it correctly in the first place. It beggars belief that we are not apologising for things we got wrong in this State. Nobody is blaming the Taoiseach or his Government directly.”
“I want to address Mary Donovan, Mary Dunlevy Greene, Miriam Moriarty Owens and Maurice Patton O'Connell who, over 51 days, became more than just acquaintances. We almost became friends as I passed by every day on my way to my office in Agriculture House and stopped for a cup of coffee. Many times I witnessed ambulances pulling up outside to take one of them away. For 51 days, people who are 70-plus years of age on average had to go out on the street to fight for what was theirs. That these people are survivors. They have proven, over and over again, that they can rise from the ashes because they have gone through it all their lives. They have fought all their lives against sexual abuse - and I am talking about the 4,000 others as well - child slavery, mental abuse and physical abuse.”
“I cannot see it being implemented because the reality is we are not at the races when it comes to GP care in this country. We are way behind everywhere else in Europe. We need to move to the European model.”
“They tell you to go to the south side of the city. Many of the constituents I represent cannot afford a taxi to go to the south side of the city for SouthDoc. That is the reality of life in this country, and certainly the reality in my constituency. Thankfully, somebody called Colin Tobin in Gurranabraher opened NorthDoc, a private practice that is facilitating people throughout the north side. He does not take medical card patients as of yet. I believe there may an application to the Department. I would hope to see that application being rushed through and being accepted so that it will be able to take medical card patients. The reality is that it is a disaster. I welcome the motion from my colleagues. I do not see it being passed or implemented.”
“People who study medicine want to be carers for people; they do not want to be in business. We have forced GPs into that business mindset. Now we have this disaster ahead of us. Our successful Irish people in the medical profession are mainly working in the United Arab Emirates if we look at it closely. We are producing medical students but they are leaving our shores because there is nothing here for them. I want to highlight something in Cork North-Central in my constituency, and that is SouthDoc. SouthDoc has been closed from 2021 to 2026. It opened in January in order for its licence to be renewed, which is an internal renewal. If you want to go to SouthDoc on the north side of the city, you cannot get an appointment there. They do not answer the phone or will tell you the GP is out on call, so there is no point in turning up.”
“I think we all have to admit that we stumble from disaster to disaster in this House. We had the SNA disaster last night. We have the disaster of housing with 17,000 people who are homeless in this country. Now we are talking about the disaster of GP care. There are seven GPs per 10,000 people in this country. There is a falling rate of GPs, with GPs retiring. A total of 70% of GPs cannot take on additional clients. Our population is out of control because we are ten years ahead of where we thought we would be. We have not predicted that. We are now in a situation where most of our medical students, from doctors to nurses, are leaving this country because there is nothing there for them. They cannot afford to buy a house. They do not want to be in business in this country, and rightly so.”
“SNAs sit with children with eating disorders and encourage them to eat their lunch but, under Circular 0030/2014, they cannot open the lunch box. That does not make sense. It is not fit for purpose any more.”
“If we had shown the workforce any respect, Circular 0030/2014 would have already been modernised, we would not have to have this debate at this late hour and we would not have to have all these people in the Public Gallery. It is now 2026. The Minister is not unintelligent, so surely she should know Circular 0030/2014 is not fit for purpose. In fact, it is more of a handler's guide book than something that meets the needs that are there. Anyone who has a scintilla of knowledge, knows an SNA or has witnessed what an SNA does knows that the SNA takes the child with a little bit of dyslexia who is frightened of a book and encourages him or her to read and then takes the next step and encourages him or her to read aloud. The work of SNAs is unbelievable, from the soft touch to the word of encouragement.”
“It involves children waiting for recognition and support and waiting for the State to respond. We cannot describe ourselves as a system that is child-centred with thousands of children on waiting lists at the front door of this Department. Over the past two weeks, I have heard from people all over my constituency and beyond. The one message was that this cannot go on. This has been going on since Circular 0030/2014. Classrooms have changed and needs have become more complex. Diagnoses of autism have increased and population growth has accelerated well beyond the projected figures we had for 2026. We have now reached a certain demographic milestone that we did not expect to reach until the next decade. Instead, these numbers have arrived early in our schools and our education planning has not adjusted to keep pace with that.”
“As one Deputy said, the Minister did not even have the courtesy to say "sorry", put up her hands and say she got it wrong. It would have been better if she had done that. The Minister confirmed that there are 23,000 SNAs working in schools. This is a lot of people who are working for a nine-month period and being paid over 12 months. They are low-paid workers who are sometimes treated well in schools and sometimes treated not as well as they should be. These people are at the front line. They make up a marginal workforce but they are the backbone of inclusion in this State. We find ourselves underpinning the State on the work of these people. One thing the Minister did not mention was the 20,000 children who remain on waiting lists for an assessment of need. This is not an abstract figure.”
“Someone who is looking after a child with special needs or additional needs has enough to worry about without somebody from the Department drawing a line, making that child a statistic or figure and deciding whether he or she is ill enough or weak enough or whether his or her problem is big enough or acceptable. Deputies Boyd Barrett and Michael Collins said it; trust is now gone. The little line of trust that was there, between parents and the Department of Education, is now gone, as is the trust between the principals and the Department. Trust between SNAs and the Department has certainly gone, given the way SNAs have been treated. Rebuilding that trust takes more than a half-winged apology in the House this evening.”
“I welcome that the Minister went into reverse gear at the last minute last night in the wake of threats of large protests. Members of this House and councillors, certainly Independent Ireland councillors, have received emails on this issue from various parents all over the country, including those in my own constituency, from Ballincollig to Whitechurch and from north Cork to east Cork to west Cork. People from Kerry have contacted me. A total of 200 schools are affected. One thinks of the number of parents, principals and SNAs who were affected. Last night's announcement by the Minister's office led to a sigh of relief from a number of people. These parents really do have enough on their plate.”
“They are not the usual protesters we tend to see in Ireland; they are protestors who are very deeply concerned about where they live, particularly the avenues, and their quality of life. Since the Taoiseach has accepted that the consultation was insufficient and he has stated he had concerns regarding the lack of consultation between the residents, local councillors and Cork City Council, will the Tánaiste formally direct the Minister for Transport and the National Transport Authority to engage immediately with the residents and Cork City Council to address the genuine access and environmental concerns about the works that are planned?”
“To follow on from the remarks of my colleague, the Taoiseach has publicly stated further consultation should have taken place on the active travel plan for Knockfree and Knockpogue avenues in Farranree, Cork city. Elderly residents, families, community groups, local businesses and sports clubs have raised serious concerns about the removal of parking and the impact on access to five schools, the parochial hall, Sam Allen Sports Complex and the local church. The main corridor is seriously affected, with 23 mature trees that are approximately 70 years old being removed. Residents, including the elderly and infirm, have taken to the streets to protest in the area every morning.”
“We have to be sensible about how working in a big workplace, or even a small workplace, can benefit people and not just through being mentored in the workplace.”
“I have read the Deputy's Bill, thanks, unlike other Deputies. There are also questions about the broadband infrastructure. I do very much have sympathy for the Bill but I have questions around it. It needs a little bit more tightening-up and a little bit more work. I would be quite happy to assist Deputy Lawlor in that way. The other side that I see goes back to isolation and loneliness. Many people who start off working in this country, in particular people who have come to this country, do not have an entire network behind them and do not have groups of friends. Tremendous things have happened in small companies and big companies where people have got involved in local societies and GAA clubs. At Boston Scientific in my constituency, we see the number of external clubs it is involved with and the fundraising and charity work it does.”
“There are also health and safety issues and questions about the general data protection regulation, GDPR, and the entire system around this, the legal rights people have, the protection of data, the protection that people have in the home and health and safety in the home.”
“I think that Deputy has been watching too many Bond movies because most of the billionaires I know, or know of or have read about, and I do not know too many billionaires personally, all work hard. They are working on their businesses and they are going from project to project. I do not think they are going around on superyachts as our friend in the socialist party believes. I have concerns about the Bill because I question bits and pieces of it. There is the question of mentorship. When people start off in a business and they are working from home, they are isolated. They are very much isolated in their homes.”