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.”
The complete record
Every one of 646 lines we hold for Ken O'Flynn, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 8 of 13.
“In light of this picture of the system, it seems we need the Comptroller and Auditor General to undertake a full forensic audit of these expenditures to restore accountability and public trust in the Irish prison system. Does the Tánaiste agree?”
“A few weeks back, newspapers revealed that the Irish Prison Service paid almost €25,000 of taxpayers' money for a single podcast by The 2 Johnnies. There are also reports of other podcasters receiving payments of almost €100,000. At the same time, we see extraordinary capital spending on ten single modular homes at Shelton Abbey at a cost of €640,000 each. At Loughan House in Cavan, units housing just one prisoner each are being built on publicly owned land at a unit cost of €520,000. Coincidentally, we see that senior IPS executives travelled to Kentucky the very same week the Kentucky Derby was being held. Executives also travelled to Perth, Kraków and other expensive destinations.”
“We talk about fairness. The Government has frozen the tax band, raised the fuel cost and left families carrying the load. The Taoiseach has not answered the question about the toughness for society and the difficulty men and women have rearing children. Does the Taoiseach know what people are most afraid of? They are afraid of the postman's knock. They are afraid of the next bill that is coming through the door. They are afraid even though they are doing everything right and they wonder why they are being punished by this Government. These are the workers and shopkeepers from Ballincollig paying €2 extra on a litre of fuel.”
“People are tired of being told they are better off than they were. The truth is they are not. I do not know when was the last time the Taoiseach walked into Lidl, Aldi, Dunnes or the local supermarket to do his shopping, looked into his basket, paid his bill and asked himself, "In the name of God, what did I buy?" That is the reality of people's lives today. I do not know when the Taoiseach last did that. Perhaps his housekeeper does that for him; I do not know.”
“This Government calls it balanced but the scales in this Government are fixed; they are fixed in favour of bureaucracy and against the backbone of our country. Let me put these questions directly to the Taoiseach. Does he justify giving new incentives to large corporations while the self-employed, tradesmen and small shopkeepers are barely surviving? Will this Government stop treating workers as a funding source for everyone else in this State and instead reward them for their effort of getting up and working? Does the Taoiseach accept that the so-called green taxes have become a double tax on rural communities in Ireland? These are people who have no train to take, no bus to catch and no choice but to drive. Fairness is not just a slogan. Fairness is when people get up early, work hard, play by the rules and do not get punished for it.”
“They just want a little bit of fairness. Yet, this budget rewards the biggest and the best that are connected: multinationals, developers and Departments with new investments. There was €1.6 billion allocated to a contingency fund for IPAS. There was not one cut to the inflated NGO sector. However, the workers who keep Ireland moving are left with the highest cost and shrinking take-home pay with no relief in sight. The Government talks about fiscal discipline but there is nothing disciplined about punishing those who get up and work. The Taoiseach talks about compassion but there is nothing compassionate about ignoring those who pull up the shutters at 6 a.m. to keep the lights on in their business, struggling and worrying about how they will pay their staff on a Friday afternoon.”
“After listening to the Taoiseach and his Government speak about balanced growth and fiscal responsibility, I have to ask whose balance, whose growth and whose responsibility? The ordinary worker and the small business owner feel that this budget has punished their efforts of a good, honest day's work. It is the same for the vintner or pub owner, the shopkeeper in Mallow whose electricity bills have almost doubled, the self-employed electrician in Mayfield who rang me last night and has not had a day's sick pay in 22 years, and the family who drive from Glenville into Cork city every morning and now face an increase of the carbon tax on top of VAT, excise and fuel prices that are already some of the highest the State has seen. These are the people who pay their way. These are the people who do not ask out for handouts.”
“It would cost roughly €19 million to set up and would recover, we believe, an estimated €400 million in a year alone - euro that could be spent on schools, carers and energy supports. A budget is not about the numbers; it is about value. This budget leaves behind those without children, the survivors of atrocities, who are outside this House as we speak, the widows and the widowers, the families struggling at the till and the young man or the young girl going to work and filling the car. It leaves them behind. This is not a fair budget and it does not show leadership of this Government.”
“Meanwhile, this Government fought tooth and nail with school principals, with parents, with teachers and with the Opposition over €26 million, the ask from school principals who asked for additional capitation money to keep the heat on in classrooms and to keep the lights on. This was not extravagance; it was just simply to keep the schools open and educate children. I am sure the Government would find the €26 million if it was something to do with gender equality, trans and all this sort of stuff it is trying to slip into eight-year-olds' minds. We spent €4 billion on a system that argues about €26 million to keep the lights on in our schools. Independent Ireland is calling for a Garda-led, national, anti-fraud task force to root out the waste and the profiteering of the IPAS business sector.”
“The €10 increase in welfare is gone before it has arrived. Three years of rising prices in this country have already wiped the value of that €10. When we look at our older people, our widows and widowers, I believe it is wrong to be taxing them with local property tax. These are homes they have paid for throughout the years. There is no mention of that in this budget. They are not landlords and they are not speculators. No fair society would tax people over the age of 65, who are on a fixed income, on the roof over their heads. Quite simply, they have paid enough. Where is the accountability in this? Where is the money really going and where was it really spent last year? Some €4 billion was spent on accommodation and food for asylum seekers under IPAS. Much of that was to private operators under opaque contracts.”
“Some of these people are now on day 17 of a hunger strike, just metres outside this House. Many of them are elderly and many are unwell, and they are on hunger strike and ignored by this Government. They have modest demands for a Health Amendment Act, HAA, style medical card, a full contribution pension for recognition of their forced labour, a survivor's trust of €500,000, and a national memorial that was promised to them by previous Governments going back to 2009. That is not charity; it is just simple justice for those people. With regard to the cost of living, the reality on the ground at the supermarkets is that inflation is still above 5%. A family pack of chicken costing €6 in 2021 now costs €10.55 in the local supermarket. A loaf of bread is up by 20%. The cost of milk, cheese and eggs has risen by 15%.”
“This is why Independent Ireland and I will introduce a capital acquisitions tax (equity in family succession) Bill in early 2026. I hope the Government will support this to make the system fairer. Equality before the law should not depend on parenthood. The case of industrial school survivors is a mortal debt ignored. This is another silence in the budget and it is a disgraceful one. There is not one single mention of the 4,500 survivors of Ireland's industrial schools and reformatory schools. These are men and women who were robbed of their childhoods, beaten, abused, and forced into labour in institutions that were run and funded by the State. Many of these people hold criminal records from the age of three months old with their only crime being torn from the arms of their mothers and fathers.”
“A child can inherit up to €400,000 tax free but a niece or a nephew or a close friend can receive €40,000 or €20,000 before having to pay tax of 33%. This is a 10:1 difference or a 20:1 difference, depending on the bracket you are in. These hardworking citizens, who have done nothing but work hard, serve their country, and pay every tax that was asked of them, are being penalised by a system that fails to reflect modern Ireland. There are over 36,000 childless couples and there are 1 million adults without children in this country who cannot pass on their moneys. If this situation was reversed and the threshold was the other way around with a €40,000 threshold for the children, there would be uproar and outrage on the streets.”
“These are small steps by the Government that I have mentioned but they will not change the reality of most households who are struggling in Ireland. This is not a reformatory budget. It is a holding exercise. It is an exercise of holding the goods and holding back. It is a Government that is trying to steady itself but it does not move this Republic forward. Consider, for example, our inheritance tax and the fairness that still is not there. Under the current capital acquisitions tax regime, there are three categories of relationships with different tax thresholds: group A is parents passing on to their children with a €400,000 threshold; group B is siblings, nieces, nephews and grandchildren with a €40,000 threshold; and group C, is "other", which is a friend, a colleague or somebody else the person knows, with a €20,000 threshold.”
“Every budget tells us who matters, what matters, and who does not matter. This one tells us that far too many Irish people do not matter to the Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, and Lowryite Administration. Yes there are some good measures in the budget, until we scratch the surface of it. There is a €10 increase for pensioners and social welfare recipients, a €5 increase in fuel allowance, and a 9% VAT rate move that I would argue does too little too late by July of 2026. Some of my colleagues have mentioned that McDonalds will do well out of this. It is worth noting that McDonald's employs 11,700 people in full-time positions in this country, with an additional 2,760 people with ancillary jobs around the McDonald's group.”
“She cannot get carer's allowance for her father because of her husband's earnings. No other social welfare is related to your partner, your husband or your boyfriend's earnings. No other document is as intrusive as the application form needed to receive carer's allowance. Women - mothers, daughters and sisters - are the majority of carers. I wonder whether there is discrimination in this regard. That should be tested.”
“That is the type of intrusive information that people in the Department of Social Protection are looking for. It has been stated well in this House what happens when you become a carer. Many times, when it is dementia-related, not only does the world become very small for the person who has the dementia but also for that carer. Many of those, because of a private pension, an income, a piece of land or a house they have inherited, do not qualify. They cannot get the respite, the carer's allowance and other supports and services around that. That is unfair. It is wrong. Who is caring for the carer? The State certainly is not. They cannot access those extra services that could be made available to them. I have a constituent who drives from Mallow to Blarney Street every day.”
“I am disappointed to see that the senior Minister has left the House. Nobody ever gets rich from social welfare. Nobody ever makes a profit from social welfare. We can put that idea to rest in this House and put it on the record. When it comes to carer's allowance, €20 billion is being saved by the State from people caring. We have application forms as long as my arm in which people are meant to give every detail and 37% of those are turned down. Then there is the appeals process. God knows, surely people have enough on their plate when they are caring for their husbands, mothers and their children without having to go through this entire rigmarole about how many times they feed them, dress them, shower them and take them to the toilet.”
“She said that we are not building enough bicycle lanes and the Government has rowed back on its commitment. There are many things I can criticise the Government for, but it has been very good at building bicycle lanes. There has been a very good commitment from this new Administration when it comes to the building of roads.”
“That is no problem at all. As he is aware, the Minister of State is more than welcome in my home and he is certainly more than welcome in my local pub as well, Albert Lynch's. He has outlined what Mallow needs. I accept that we also need to have a commitment not just to the Mallow distributor road but to the northern ring road around Cork and to the Cork to Limerick road, which will be key infrastructure for delivering to the town of Mallow and Cork North-Central. I was disturbed, upset and perturbed when I heard the leader of the Labour Party last week on Leaders' Questions. She was very much at odds with her backbenchers. She objected to the building of roads and took umbrage with the Government and the Minister who was standing in for the Taoiseach on the day.”
“Until we have the Mallow distributor road built, we need orbital bus routes to get the traffic off the streets because it is so spread out, and because it has been a success story with housing estate after housing estate. Orbital bus routes could be very helpful. That could probably be introduced as part of the Fermoy to Mallow bus service.”
“I thank the Minister of State. I am very grateful for his help in securing the money for the Mallow distributor road. We accept that it is vital that we get it up and running. In the meantime, I am delighted with the Minister of State's reply to the effect that the NTA is exploring looking at putting the orbital route in place. The Minister of State visited my constituency several times. I invite him to Mallow to have a look at the congestion. I know he is very familiar with the area. I would like to bring him to see what downtown Mallow is like. The fact is that you cannot get from Ballyviniter into the town itself, and we do not have enough parking. It is a wonderful, fantastic town. I chose to live there myself for the last 24 years, but it does have its challenges.”
“Will the Minister for Transport commit to the development of an orbital bus service for the town of Mallow to alleviate the traffic congestion in Mallow? As we are aware, the Government made a commitment previously to build a northern distributor road around Mallow but, to date, it has not been delivered. I accept that takes time. Will the Minister commit in the meantime, for the next seven years, to establishing a north-south orbital bus route for Mallow to ease congestion in the town?”
“Across the country, parents are alarmed at the attempt to slip gender ideology into the new primary school curriculum under the label of "well-being". They have spoken in their thousands in forums and yet the Government presses on. At a time when children face many challenges in growing up, it is reckless to add confusion and division into the classroom. Schools are meant to give stability, not be a laboratory for ideology. With regard to the reality of biology, it is a fact, to my mind, that a male is a male and a female is a female. Parents want clarity on this, not ideology. Let me put the question very plainly and simply to the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and her Government: what is a woman?”
“I thank the Minister for his reply and his very warm words but unfortunately warm words do not heat classrooms. It is not just one Deputy raising this concern; it is an entire education community speaking with one voice. The INTO, Educate Together, school managers, Fórsa and the IPPN are all saying the same thing. They all cannot be wrong. Schools are running on a deficit and parents are trying to fill the gap. The Minister referred to the books scheme but is he aware that a number of schools have told people to buy electronic devices such as iPads or equivalent tablets, which is costing parents an additional €600? This is an expense they certainly did not see coming. That is happening throughout the country. The promises of reviews will not cover the deficit of €17,000 per school.”
“Cash-strapped parents are running raffles and bake sales and are being asked for large voluntary contributions while inflation eats away at their pay packets. To my mind, that is not free education; it is a breach of the Constitution. Will the Minister commit to raise the capitation grant to €299 per child in the forthcoming budget, thereby ensuring that principals can focus on teaching instead of begging families to keep their classrooms open?”
“This is not weekly, but daily. The Minister and his Government have increased the basic capitation grant to €224 per pupil this September but principals say the real costs of running a school are far closer to €300 per pupil. This is why this coalition of educators calling for an immediate increase to at least €299 has come together. It is also looking for supports for ICT, minor works and ancillary services. In schools in Glanmire, Ballyvolane, Mayfield, Knocknaheeny, Ballincollig, Mallow and Blarney in my constituency, and I sure across the Minister's constituency too, we have people raising funds not for extras but for essentials. They are raising funds to keep the lights and the heating on and to cover cleaning costs.”
“So it is Julie's fault, not mine. Free primary education is guaranteed under Article 42.4 of the Constitution. Today, in my constituency of Cork North-Central and across Ireland, it is anything but free. A coalition of every majority education body, school managers, principals, teachers and staff has written to the Minister for education and the Government to say that schools are now in financial crisis. The facts are stark. An analysis of 707 schools shows that heating costs have gone up 83% since 2019. Water and refuse bills are up 51%. Utility costs have nearly doubled in expenditure from 3.3% to 6.1%. Accounting and auditing costs have gone up 58%. School management systems have gone up by a staggering 199%. This seems outrageous. The average primary school now faces a €17,000 deficit on day-to-day running costs.”
“On behalf of Independent Ireland, I wish to be associated with the remarks wishing Julie Lyons and her family the very best. I wish her a long and successful retirement and a happy future. Julie has been keeping the group of Independent Ireland well-rounded over the last number of years.”
“It tells us how well the economy is going. For many people, that may be true. For most of the people I meet in Cork North-Central, it is not true. It is tough for people at the moment. It is tough to select what to cut and what to pay for today. People must ask which bill to ignore until next month. The biggest fear of the Irish people is often the sound of the postman's knock and the bill that will arrive through the door. Many families are telling me in my constituency office that if something goes wrong, if there is one little cost, if the young fellow or the young one has to go to hospital or there are braces to be bought, they do not know how they are going to survive. That is not good enough.”
“On the other hand, they cannot move their prices to reflect the extra cost because they will price themselves out of the market. That is particularly true when you consider the black-market economy when it comes to hairdressing. That must be addressed. The Government is not listening to people. It needs to move to the 9% VAT rate from 1 January to help those types of businesses. There are people in this country, as colleagues have said, who are faced with the choice between eating and heating. Did we ever think we would see a day again when the choice between eating and heating was faced by people in this country? It is going back to the 1930s and 1940s of starving Ireland. It is ridiculous. The Government comes out to say it will put a plan in place and that we are one of the wealthiest countries in Europe.”
“Over the summer, my colleagues and I met with people, including, as Deputy Collins mentioned, hairdressers, cafe owners, takeaway operators, vintners, restaurateurs, proprietors of hardware shops and other mom and pop businesses. These are homegrown businesses, some of which have been in operation for 80 or 90 years. These are generational family businesses. Many people involved in such businesses are telling us they may not last until Christmas or may not get over Christmas. They are hoping for a bumper December, almost a Christmas miracle, to stay in business. We spoke to hairdressers today who cannot cut their energy costs because they must have hot water and electricity to turn the lights on and operate their appliances.”
“The ASBOs brought out in the nineties, championed by Fianna Fáil at the time, have not worked. Gardaí do not have the time to go and check on young men and young women with ASBOs to see if they are in their houses. We have to look at the best practice and standards of Iceland, which introduced a curfew.”
“I am sure if the Minister of State were not so removed from reality, he might know it himself. The reality for many people is that their lives are a living hell and nobody is responsible for it because they are under 18. When did we decide that because someone is under 18 and is a menace to society, they should get away with it? The ASBO idea you brought out-----”
“I am sick to death of hearing, "It's not my Johnny. It's not my Mary." It's about time that the Government got tough on those who commit violent offences and what we're calling antisocial behaviour which is terrorising elderly people in communities, destroying other people's lives, knocking on doors demanding money from people, knocking on doors saying, "We're going to get your young fella at school tomorrow unless you give us this, that and the other," knocking on doors and saying, "Your child owes us money for drugs." They are sending under-18-year-olds to doors to do this. Why are they doing it? They are doing it because they cannot be prosecuted. That is the reality of it. That is the reality of what life is now in certain parts of not just Cork but Dublin and Limerick as well.”
“Many people here on the extreme left and of the left persuasion have been talking about the hug-a-thug idea, suggesting that we have to put in this facility and that facility, and we have to spend more money on this, that and the other. I agree that we have to invest in our young people. However, we have fantastic hurling and football clubs, tennis clubs and other sports clubs. We have fantastic speech, drama and all those type of clubs around my city, but there is still a cohort involved in antisocial behaviour and we cannot get them out of it. Where are their parents? When did it become the State's responsibility to mind their children? When did it become the State's responsibility to say, "We have to take over"? I do agree with the notion that a village has to rear a child, but come off it.”
“Thankfully most of us will not go through violent, vicious attacks in life but most people I know in my constituency and around the country will suffer antisocial behaviour in some way, whether it is the keying of the car, the guy driving his quad bike over someone's roses or through their garden, the guy who has broken the window or the young fellow who has knocked on someone's door and done something naughty or the rest of it or the people who are going out and doing worse. I previously told the Minister of State in this House that an eight-year-old child, well known to the Garda, is being used for drug trafficking in Cork city. He is rewarded with bottles of Coke and a couple of bags of sweets. That is how difficult things have got in parts of the city that I represent and nothing can be done.”
“Would you ask the Minister of State to have a small bit of respect for me and for the people I represent in my city? The Minister of State spoke about drives for Garda recruitment, which is all very welcome, but those gardaí have to be supported by the Government. We continually see gardaí leaving the force and going to work in Eli Lilly, Abtran or one of these businesses because it is safer for them and because they do not feel that they are being supported. It is not their fellow gardaí but they are not getting support from senior management and from the Government. I do not blame senior managers because the Government is not providing enough services to help gardaí do their jobs.”
“I will address the Minister of State's last point first. He and his Department are very good at misrepresenting a number of facts as well. Earlier his senior Minister stood in the Chamber and told Deputy Collins it was Ken O'Flynn's fault for securing 20 gardaí to Cork city. Getting 20 gardaí for Cork city is more than welcome, but the Minister failed to recall how many people have retired and left the force as well. Those figures are not being released by the Minister of State's Department on a regular basis. The Department is great with fanfare and announcements, whether in Limerick, Cork or Dublin, about how many new gardaí there are but it never releases the figures for how many are retiring, how many are replacing and how many others have left the force. I have seen piles of them leave the force.”
“Is the Minister aware that someone entered this country and when questioned at Dublin Airport and asked how they entered the country, which is a simple question of a set of standard questions set out by the his Department, replied, "Hot air balloon”? Is it acceptable for anyone who is respectfully entering a country without a passport or any identification to be so flippant and blasé about entering a nation, while requiring accommodation, food and sustenance from that nation? It is unacceptable for a person to be so flippant to use the phrase, "I entered by hot air balloon. That is how I came into Ireland." That person should have been turned around and put on the plane back. That is the reality of it. Members have spoken about how everything is rosy and marvellous in the garden-----”
“There is a big difference between that and a lot of the people coming into this country and what is being provided to them. The argument the Minister makes about our proud history of emigration and migration is a little bit different from the facts of what is happening today in this country. The Minister and many Members talk about all the good things, and I appreciate there are good things. Some 95 languages are spoken in Cork city in Apple in my constituency. I am married to an immigrant, a Spanish gentleman, who lives in Ireland and has actually become an Irish citizen since. I understand and enjoy multiculturalism. What I do not enjoy, however, is people entering our country without a passport, presenting themselves with no information or us requiring no information about that.”
“No Independent Ireland candidate ever spat in anyone’s face or made racist remarks to anyone. We only hear such stories from the far left. In a manner reminiscent of those who were warned of consequences of unbridling immigration in decades past, let us be frank: a nation that does not control its borders loses control of its future. We have witnessed in this situation the inflow of people not matching the outflow of facts. Today, the Minister spoke about the Irish people who travelled abroad and our proud history in that regard. We do have a proud history in that respect. Irish people travelled abroad with their passport in their hand, however. Irish people travelled abroad to America, Canada and Australia not with the hand out, but looking for the hand up. They worked hard and diligently and never asked for anything.”
“I welcome all my colleagues back after the recess. I wish them success from now until the end of the term. I was listening to the debate in my office while doing my constituency work. I have listened to the Minister’s speech. I noticed when I was entering the Chamber that my name was taken and used by another colleague, Deputy Coppinger, along with some lines. I do live rent free when she is not playing the victim of someone else. I must remind the Deputy, when she talks about people in Independent Ireland being racist that one of her party’s candidates spat in the face of a Jewish gentleman, which is currently being investigated by An Garda Síochána not so long ago”
“CAO offers and bank alerts have been mistakenly flagged as likely scams. While I want to bring this to the Tánaiste's attention, the company does not believe that it has found the source of it. What happens in autumn is that those that are flagged as scam texts are no longer on the text system, so the likes of the HSE and Bank of Ireland have not been. I have received two of these texts, one for my hotel reservation this week, which came up as a likely scam, and another, which was a scam but was not flagged. I am asking that we communicate with ComReg that it should not roll this out further until all the technology is correct.”
“I hope the Tánaiste will join with me in welcoming Don José González Carballo and his wife, Justa García Toro, on their visit to Leinster House. Don José is a professor of history who is studying in Ireland at the moment. On 3 July, ComReg activated the SMS sender ID protection register, which is a great idea. It is meant to stop the scam texts we are all receiving. More than 360,000 of them have been received to date by people who have reported it. As we know, €100 million has been lost due to scam texts. Having said that, unfortunately, the system does not appear to be working correctly. The algorithm is not working correctly and computer engineers and the engineering team have not rectified it yet. Many people are losing appointments and legitimate communications from bodies such as the HSE.”
“They do not see dentists or are two years waiting to see a dentist. There is not one dentist in my hometown of Mallow who will take a medical card. There is not one dentist in Mallow who will take DTSS patients. That is the reality of it. People are going away from it. The Minister of State knows as well as I do that with the stroke of a pen he could fix this problem. To fix that problem, the same deal given to GPs needs to be given to dentists because this is a serious matter of oral hygiene for the entire country. We are not looking after people at all, whether children, men or women. It is impossible to get a dentist appointment. It is an absolute disgrace.”
“I am sitting here and looking at this continuously. Nobody is showing up for debates. Nobody is interested in what is going on in the country. I met with a family in Cork the other day. They had to pay €1,900 because the dental hospital turned them away as it was a weekend. They were lucky enough to be able to get credit and money from the credit union. It was €1,900, despite having a medical card. I meet parents every day of the week whose children are on six-year waiting lists for orthodontist services. Most of them have gone off those lists because what happens when they hit 16, 17 or 18 years of age, and still have not seen a dentist or orthodontist, is they go into the adult cases. No wonder people are flying to Turkey to get their mouths reset. It is because they have no other opportunity.”
“I have now been seven months in this House. This is another important debate that is going on in this House, but let us have a look at the benches. There is not one member of Fine Gael or Fianna Fáil on the backbenches. Not even the senior Minister bothered to turn up. Instead, we are left with the Minister of State. With all due respect to him, and I appreciate him coming to the House, we do not have the senior Minister here. Instead, we have the Minister of State for housing and older people, when we are talking about a dental issue. We are talking about one of the most important issues in this country, that of oral hygiene and oral health, and not one of those Ministers have turned up. Where is the Minister for Health? She is too busy looking for the Tánaiste's job rather than doing her own job. That is the reality of it.”
“He was there to protect the agency and saw corporate governance and governmental issues with the agency. He made a disclosure and tried to protect the agency, and he was met with a wall of attack and silence.”
“I thank the Tánaiste for his response but, with the greatest of respect, they are only words. We are talking about a man whose life has been left in a legal limbo for over half a decade and who has been defamed, isolated, ignored and ricocheted from one Department to another. Two senior Ministers, officials, and the chair and CEO of Tusla knew about this, and nothing has been done. I am asking the Tánaiste, not just as Tánaiste but as a senior officer of the State: Will he with meet me and will he meet with the whistleblower? Can we launch an investigation? Five years of this man's life have been ruined by no Minister taking responsibility and by nobody putting in place a full investigation. His life has been absolutely destroyed and there is still no action or accountability. This man was only doing his job.”