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 9 of 13.
“Ms Kate Duggan, Tusla's current CEO, held a direct meeting with this individual. During that meeting, she was informed that Tusla had falsely accused him of being a danger to vulnerable children, an allegation made without foundation against a man whose only crime was to tell the truth. Again, there has been no inquiry and no justice. This is not merely an administrative failing or systemic dysfunction. The State is failing whistleblowers. It is not protecting them but is destroying their lives.”
“Pat Rabbitte, commented publicly on this in the Irish Examiner in 2019: "It is deeply concerning that a whistleblower has been left without any financial income." Two former Ministers for children, Katherine Zappone and Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, were also briefed. The office of the then Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, was so concerned that it offered the whistleblower free counselling after receiving a detailed account of what occurred. The retaliations from Tusla continued and the attacks deepened. The information we have obtained shows there was a formal complaint to the Data Protection Commission that Tusla contacted the whistleblower's private counsellor and demanded access to confidential records. That is an extraordinary breach of personal privacy by a State agency.”
“In 2019, a former Tusla employee made a protected disclosure. He reported serious governance problems. It resulted in relentless retaliation and attack. In 2021, Tusla sent him a formal letter questioning his capability to work with children. This triggered an unauthorised background check in what appears to have been an orchestrated campaign to discredit him professionally, financially, personally and psychologically. Afterwards, at a hearing of the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, Tusla made a commitment to launch a full inquiry. That was four years ago and to date, there have been no findings, no inquiries, no answers, no accountability and no justice. This case is not unknown to the public. The current chairperson of Tusla, Mr.”
“Last week in the House, I raised with the Minister, Deputy Chambers, the urgent need to extend legal aid to whistleblowers who step forward not for personal gain, but to protect the public interest. In that exchange, the Minister expressed his willingness to meet me and the whistleblowers in question. I accepted the offer in writing but have received no reply as yet from the Minister. There is plenty of time for that. We all recall the case of Garda Maurice McCabe, a man falsely accused of the most heinous of crimes by Tusla, a State agency charged with the protection of children. The scandal shook this country to its core. It showed we treat our whistleblowers disdainfully. It showed we are not protecting but persecuting them. Today I raise a case that is equally as difficult as that of Garda Maurice McCabe. It is every bit as alarming.”
“Over ten years ago, the perfect location, to which money was allocated, was rejected by the community, which I think was a mistake. I thank the Minister for making the moneys available for Ballyvolane and I look forward to working with him and the Minister of State on securing them going forward.”
“I commend both the Minister and the Minister of State, who have committed to meeting me regularly. I have met the Minister of State in particular about this. As has been highlighted, the application is not in but I am very grateful for the €30,000 that was secured by me and colleagues for the scoping exercises to find the right site for Ballyvolane. I am acutely aware of the recent visit by the Minister of State, who committed to getting the project over the line and agreed it is overdue. He is dedicated to Cork, in fairness to him. I am working very hard with Leeds football club and other groups such as the men’s shed to secure the ideal location. As my honourable colleague has said, Ballyvolane will be doughnutted in the next couple of years. We accept that, but it is about finding the perfect location.”
“That is not just inflation; that is an erosion of dignity, financial stability and a fundamental social contract that says that if you work hard, you should be able to live in security. Yet this Government has chosen not to deliver a cost-of-living package, with no meaningful reliefs and no comprehensive plan. As regards the response from the Taoiseach yesterday to a question from my colleague to the effect that there is a regulator, I have no faith in this Government, nor do I have faith in the man who was part of a Government that left a financial regulator ruin this country in 2008. That is the faith we have here. While I agree with and am open to free enterprise, there is price gouging going on here and it is unacceptable. I commend this motion and thank the Social Democrats for it.”
“The Irish people are resilient, but resilience should not be mistaken for indifference, nor should the quiet dignity of the Irish people and their endurance be used as an excuse for Government inaction. We are over three years into the cost-of-living crisis and it has touched every home, every dinner table and every shopping list. I speak regularly to parents who are cutting corners and going to bed hungry themselves so their children can eat. I see older people counting coins at tills. I see working families doing everything right yet falling short, living paycheque to paycheque, only a few paycheques away from financial ruin. The price of butter is up 58%. Milk has increased by 25%. Cheese prices have soared by 38%. A basic basket now costs over €3,000 more than it did in 2022.”
“The Government is now coming along with ideas about apartments. Deputies have mentioned 50,000 apartments in Dublin alone that have not been built because the four pillar banks are not lending to anyone. Developers are depending on shadow banks. If you go to get a loan from the likes of Pepper Finance, by Jesus almighty, they are like the same guys who were in the temple when Christ had to throw them out. That is the type of people Pepper Finance are. People cannot do business with them. They are screwing any developer and any small builder in the country. It is unacceptable.”
“I saw that in my own constituency in Blarney where vast acres of land were dezoned, removing their value overnight. What did Cork City Council come along and do under the direction of the Department? It was told to start zoning the land in the docklands because we had to build 5,000 houses there. Cork City Council agreed and applied for planning. The Taoiseach came out with full fanfare telling everyone he was going to commit over €600 million to the Cork docklands, we were going to develop the docklands and have them full of housing and full of people. What happened? An Bord Pleanála went into the Taoiseach's constituency and knocked 800 units on the head because there was no school provision by the Government. Sorry about that but there will be nothing built in the docklands.”
“We are one of only two countries in the European Union where somebody with no local investment or local interest can object to a planning permission. That has to be addressed and it has to happen yesterday. Day in, day out we are hearing from Members on all sides of the House about the problems with Irish Water. I am in touch with somebody who has been waiting for the past eight weeks for a SoDA report for a site to go ahead with 80 units in Cork city. The pumping station is right next door. He cannot even enter a planning application without the SoDA report from Irish Water. Irish Water does not even have the decency to reply to my emails, his emails or his solicitor's emails. That is what is happening. Those are the delays. Members have referred to dezoning of lands and planning permissions.”
“Like everybody else in this House, I am slightly baffled that we are amending something that has not been enacted as of yet. While I rise to support the Bill and while I believe the Government is taking some steps, it is certainly not taking the steps that need to be taken in this House when it comes to planning. Everybody in this House, left, right and centre, has pointed out the inadequacy of our planning laws. For instance, people talked about community objections, and I accept them, but I do not accept a guy in Kerry objecting to a wall in Donegal. I do not accept somebody in Longford having an interest in a Velux window being installed in Waterford and complaining about it. Our planning laws are not fit for purpose.”
“In the United Kingdom, it is known that one in four sex crimes are committed by foreign nationals, according to Women's Safety Initiative and The Daily Telegraph . Will the Government implement legislation similar to that in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the rest of the European Union for the collation and distribution of the data?”
“I would like to be associated with the words of welcome. I assure the Taoiseach that I will be shouting for Cork and I always shout for Cork in this House. Yesterday's Courts Service reports reveal a 13.6% increase in new sexual offences cases, a figure that all of us in this House should be deeply concerned about. Ireland's population at approximately 5.4 million, almost a decade ahead of the earlier demographic projections, shows that our justice system remains starkly opaque. We do not publish anonymised data on nationality or immigration status of individuals convicted of serious crimes, including sexual or violent crimes. This data is collected and collated but is withheld from public scrutiny.”
“There are toiletries, solid beds and the whole lot. Everything is given to them. Everything is given to them, and rightly so if they are genuine, but if those people are not genuine, they should be turned around quickly, removed and sent back to their port of call. That is the reality of it. I am amazed at the statements that are being made in the House today, this bleeding heart idea which does not really compute with what Irish people are saying and thinking. What Irish people are thinking is that it is about time the Government got fair with everybody.”
“I find it amazing that people say that they have roots in the community when they have only been here five minutes and are here illegally and incorrectly, or they have made false declarations and are sent home because they are not lawfully here. We are following the law and that is what should be done, and correctly. I am amazed when I listen to these statements in the House. How anyone can come along with a statement like that, that they have roots in the community, is beyond me. I went down to Cork Simon recently and I saw people queueing outside at 7 o'clock in the evening, even though they would not get in until 11 o'clock and would be lucky to get a mattress on the floor. That is what is happening to Irish people, yet in IPAS centres three meals a day are provided to people. There is a big turnaround.”
“We are speaking of individuals who have entered Ireland, sought asylum, been lawfully heard and lawfully refused. Deputy Murphy said a moment ago that these people have roots in the community. These people, who have been lawfully listened to and legally gone through, do not have roots in the community. They should have not been here in the first place. That is the reality of it. What the Government needs to be doing is exactly what is done in Denmark and France, which is moving people around very quickly and turning it around. It is not that they have roots in the community. They should not have been here at all because they have entered this community incorrectly.”
“I am delighted to see Deputy Paul Murphy and welcome him back from his recent trip to Egypt. I was surprised when I heard Deputy Murphy saying how disappointed he was with Egypt and its Government because he was a number one supporter of the Arab Spring in 2011. I am surprised and shocked to hear that he does not support that regime now, a regime that he took to the streets and vehemently supported previously. What has happened? Oh, I know what it is - they took his phone off him. That is probably what is wrong. There is something tragic in a nation that no longer has the resolve to enforce its own laws. This motion, designed merely to give effect to the European return regulation, is not just a procedural footnote but is a moment of national retreat.”
“However, the reality is that it is only open for about two hours per week. Nobody can get access to the station. I am sick and tired of meeting gardaí on the ground who tell me they do not have people to answer the phones. I am sick and tired of meeting residents' groups in Cork who tell me they cannot understand why they cannot get through to a Garda station. The reality is that there is nobody there. Will the Minister make finance available to the Department of justice to properly fund gardaí in Cork so that people can feel safe in Cork city again?”
“During a recent visit to Cork, the Fine Gael party leader and Tánaiste suggested that a Garda task force for Cork city would be a good idea. He made a number of announcements about it which were greeted with great fanfare but he did not give a specific date for when it would be established. There was neither a funding plan nor a full plan put in place. Meanwhile, Glanmire Garda station in a part of the constituency that I represent, on which over €2 million was spent on refurbishment, has two gardaí working in it and is not open to the public. Nobody can get a document stamped. There is no garda on duty who is available to members of the public. Ballincollig Garda station, which services over 20,000 residents in my constituency of Cork North-Central, is open for 15 hours per week on paper.”
“There is a genuine concern about people's right to talk and their right to stand out. Many people in this country have a view that conflicts with many European countries when it comes to Palestine and Israel. Will all those people be included under a hate speech law?”
“Is the Minister aware that the European Commission has sent a request to the State on this to ask us to tighten the laws? Is the Department of Finance prepared to pay the fines if we do not change the laws? There are proceedings in that regard that have been cited by the European Union. I draw the Minister's attention to the European Court of Human Rights verdict in the Handyside v . the United Kingdom case in 1976, when it was found that freedom of expression includes speech that offends, shocks and disturbs. That was accepted by the court. I also bring the Minister's attention to Article 40.6.1° of Bunreacht na hÉireann, which outlines the right to expression. Will the Minister confirm that there will be no other influence from the European Union to bring in more hate speech legislation?”
“What will the threshold for criminality be if I disagree with somebody's views? Will I be found a criminal if I have a different view from the Minister?”
“Could we have one person speaking in the Dáil, please? If we are to pass this legislation, we must ask ourselves, "What comes next?" Will quoting scripture become a punishable act, something that fines the teaching of exclusionism? Will religious observations be branded as hateful if they conflict with the views of the public? Will the right to express a moral belief, if it is found to be uncomfortable, not be accepted? Ireland already has hate speech laws in place. These deal with genuine hate speech, which is about the incitement of violence. What exactly is the real purpose of this proposed legislation that is to come before us? Is it to protect people from violence or to protect the Government from criticism? Who will define hate for this House? Will it be the courts, civil servants, an online administrative service or an algorithm?”
“We are talking about words, ideas and opinions, sometimes unpopular and uncomfortable but still lawful expressions, which are supposedly free in a republic. Is the Minister aware that in Finland, a member of parliament was prosecuted for publicly citing scripture. In Sweden, a pastor was given a one-month prison sentence for publishing his sermon. In Denmark, an MP was convicted for his views on Islam. Interestingly, in the Danish hate speech law, at section 266b, the truth is not a defence in hate speech, regardless of the factual accuracy in a statement that is deemed insulting. In parts of Europe, laws are being used to criminalise satire, prosecute artists and silence dissent. In Scotland, even private conversation spoken within one's own home may fall within the remit of criminal hate speech.”
“On behalf of Independent Ireland, I add my sympathies to those made yesterday to the family of Brother Kevin Crowley. The European Commission has now issued a formal notice to the State demanding that we implement the so-called hate speech laws under the threat of infringement proceedings. Once again, I see indications from the Government of the bending of the knee. It is willing to compromise the constitutional freedoms of the Irish people to appease the European institutions and digital outrage merchants. Let me ask the Minister plainly: will the Government stand over a law that criminalises people for what they think and say rather than what they do? We are not talking about the incitement of violence, threats or harassment.”
“Will the Minister provide some clarification on why this is happening? It is not just happening in one school in Cork; it is happening across the country.”
“As the Minister may be aware, some schools throughout the country have told parents that they have to buy specific tablets up to the value of approximately €600. Some of these parents have been speaking to me. Those who have three children in secondary school have had to go to credit unions so that they can pay €1,800 for these specific tablets. The schools are sending out the information telling parents that the tablets have to be a certain make, model and particular type of brand. For a lot of people, it is not affordable. This is happening despite the introduction of the free book scheme, which was intended to reduce the financial burden. It seems to be in contradiction of what was described last year when the Government was coming up with €9 million for pouches to reduce screen time.”
“So many other scandals are hidden in this country that we are not even able to get to because of the fact that whistleblowers do not have legal support. We have to get this sorted, or else we will be a nation of cover up after cover up, learning nothing from all the cover ups.”
“I thank the Minister for his reply but it is a bit like previous replies in that it does not really say much. How many people will come forward as whistleblowers and sign these non-disclosure agreements, and how many problems will be hidden and put under the carpet yet again, before 2027? If we did not have the likes of Vicky Phelan, who decided not to sign a non-disclosure agreement, we may not have ever known of the scandals and the number of deaths. How many things have been hidden in Tusla, the HSE or banking? If whistleblowers had wanted to come forward from the banking sector prior to the collapse in 2007, when we in the House all now know there were people asleep at the wheel at the head of financial regulation, they could not have done so because they had signed non-disclosure agreements. Banking scandals were hidden.”
“It is a chilling message to those who want to be whistleblowers but are afraid to come forward because of the financial implications and risk. I ask the Minister plainly whether the Government will commit to reviewing the Protected Disclosures Act, with a view to introducing statutory legal aid for those individuals who disclose and are deemed appropriate and protected under the 2014 Act?”
“One of the most glaring problems with the Act of 2014 is the deficiency of the framework through the absence of legal aid for those who make protected disclosures and subsequently find themselves before the Workplace Relations Commission, the Labour Court or the Circuit Court, High Court or Supreme Court. These individuals are often pitted against a large organisation, such as the HSE and others, with ample legal reassurances and well-resourced legal teams. They are left to shoulder the financial and emotional costs along with this. Moreover, too many of those taking these cases have been bullied, blurred and pushed into a non-disclosure agreement that functions as a de facto gagging clause. Not only does this rob the public of the truth, but it ensures the systemic reform that needs to take place does not take place.”
“I raise a matter of grave concern regarding the practical effects of the Protected Disclosures Act 2014. While the Act was conceived with noble intent in the shadow of the experience of the Maurice McCabe case and his testimony, the reality for many whistleblowers across this nation is that the promised protection remains legally at odds with the lived reality of the legislation. Recent findings of the commission of investigation into the Grace case underscore this point. Despite protected disclosures having been made, the system failed with harrowing consequences. The individuals who spoke out were not met with support but with institutional silence and personal hardship.”
“The Minister knows as well as I do how you are put through the wringer when you have to apply for a passport for your child, which is only right. All of us in the House have experience of trying to get passports for people who are rushing to get them.”
“Does the Minister believe it is acceptable that Irish passports and citizenship can be granted by his Government without proper documentation? That is the question here. That is what it is really about. All the Minister has done in his answer is to confirm that people can enter this country without identification, claim asylum and sign a sworn affidavit saying who they are without proving who they are and without us being able to check. We are not even counting these people. I put four questions to both the Minister's Department and the Department of foreign affairs and the responses confirm all of this. We have to keep proper State records. This is about national security. It is about identifying who is coming into our country before we grant them citizenship or an Irish passport.”
“Of course, the vast majority of these applications are legitimate. Should we take it that all of those applications were subject to scrutiny and full verification? This is not about compassion; it is about consistency, national security and waking up to the fact that naivety or laxity can be weaponised against us. Does the Minister accept that there is a gap and serious weaknesses in the standards of the passport and naturalisation process? Will he confirm that every single applicant for asylum or protection is being fingerprinted and identified as they come into this country?”
“One arm of the State is now applying rigorous verification standards while another is accepting unverified personal claims in the form of sworn statements when it has no way to confirm the truth. Even more worrying is that the replies I received to parliamentary questions I put to both the Department of foreign affairs and the Department of justice confirm that we do not track or count the many people who are granted citizenship or passports in this way. The State is simply not counting them. I will put this number in perspective for the Minister. Some 775,000 passports were issued in the period from January 2024 to August 2024. It is anticipated that the number will be 1 million by the end of this year. Some 56,000 of those applications came from the county of Cork, where my own constituency is located.”
“People who enter Ireland with no identification at all - no passport, birth certificate or official documents - are being allowed to apply for asylum and, later, in some cases, Irish citizenship. In certain circumstances, where they cannot provide identification, they are allowed to submit a sworn affidavit instead, that is, a legal document that simply declares who they are. Once that affidavit is accepted and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade grants asylum, an application for a naturalisation certificate is accepted without question and without issue, following which a passport may be issued with no further checks and balances or questions. This raises a serious issue.”
“I highlight a serious contradiction at the heart of the immigration and passport system, which raises serious concerns for national security, consistency and public trust. I will start with the Irish passport system. Every Irish citizen goes through a rigorous process to get a passport. Parents applying for their child's first passport must submit the long-form birth certificate, photographic identification and proof of address, all of which must be signed off on by An Garda Síochána. It takes weeks, sometimes months, for the processing of that standard, which is strict, as it should be, to be completed. Let us look now at what is happening under another arm of the State.”
“The question before us is simple: what do we want to be remembered for - a generation that accelerated a solution or prolonged the suffering of Irish people? I commend the motion to the House.”
“Let us be bold in this House. We cannot solve this problem with the same procurement rules, excluding the very builders who built the first homes in Ireland. Logical providers and mid-sized contractors must be allowed back in the arena to compete. Likewise, apprenticeship programmes must be fast-tracked not by lowering standards but by modernising delivery and matching the needs of this decade, not previous decades. This motion is unapologetic and ambitious but not arrogant, as the Minister of State admitted. It is a recognition of half-measures that have failed in the scale of a housing crisis that demands a new contract between the Government and the people of Ireland. I remind the House of an old truth: a society grows great when old men plant trees in the shade they will never sit in.”
“I also call for the restoration of logical planning laws and the standardisation of housing templates, which could be preapproved, saving months of duplication. We are all sick of the objections of those with no local connection and the serial objectors. They weaponise bureaucracy and must no longer derail the common good of delivering housing for this country. As a legislator in a constituency that is 50:50 rural and urban, I know housing is not just about supply; it is about access, opportunity and fairness. When my constituents see a vacant council house lie empty for six to 12 months, they do not see the complexity of the issue; they see Government failure. We propose a quick turnaround standard for voids that fast-tracks funding so that councils can meet the mark and public scrutiny for those that do not.”
“We propose a housing delivery acceleration task force reporting directly to the Taoiseach because too often, accountability in this country and in this Government is lost in the fog of overlapping jurisdiction - he said it, he is in charge of that and I do not know who took responsibility for it. That is the usual we hear in the Chamber as we wring our hands. Homes cannot be built if the pipes, wires and roads cannot be co-ordinated. A shovel cannot break ground if water and power cannot follow. Synchronised, timebound public scorecards are needed, as my good colleague mentioned. The public has a right to know the delays, where they are and who by. That is the minimum we can give them.”
“We see scaffolding of hope being replaced by scaffolding that will never rise. Families pay record rents while new homes remain trapped in the webs of objections, deadlock and endless consultation. Zoned lands lie idle while housing lists grow. Children grow up in temporary accommodation, which has become permanent through official and Government neglect. This motion does something successive Governments have been too timid to attempt - it demands structural change, not rhetorical sympathy. It names the problem for what it is. This is a national housing emergency. The sooner the Government recognises that, the better. The motion puts forward a framework grounded not in ideology but in pragmatism. We call for emergency legislation not to abandon the standards but to match the urgency and efficiency required.”
“There is a moment in the life of all nations when the status quo become not just unacceptable but indefensible. This is one of the moments. Housing is not merely about economic issues; it is a question of justice, dignity and of intergenerational trust. Yet, this Government has allowed a generation of Irish people to be pushed further and further from the possibility of homeownership. This is not because we do not have the land or labour is unavailable but because of our systems - planning, utilities, procedures and procurement. They have become relics of a past Ireland. They do not meet the challenges a modern Ireland demands. In an urban Ireland, particularly in the city of Cork, which I represent, and the urban areas of Mallow, this failure takes on a sharper sting.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his response. I do not doubt the sincerity of his reply, but in the amendment put forward by the Department, 28 parts are exactly the same, cut and pasted verbatim from a previous amendment to a recent Private Member's motion. Five to six are unique in relation to the application because of the structure of the motion, ten are unique to the local authority element and ten are reworded from previous debates. I have no doubt about the Minister of State's personal sincerity but the amendment is a disgrace. It is rehashed and reused. It is obvious when no other member of the Front Bench or back bench from any of the groups is sitting here for this debate. Not even one of the Lowry group, who claim to be independent, are here.”
“That is the reality of life today in Ireland and it is very disingenuous to see the Government is not opening up voting, at least in the presidential election. This should be extended to general, local and European elections. Surely Irish citizens should have the right to have a say about their own country and not be disenfranchised.”
“I can guarantee that the majority of the 80,000 who are living in Australia are anxious to come home but have no jobs or no houses to come home to. Perhaps they would register their disappointment with this Government at elections. Perhaps those who are living in the UK who had to leave this shore to get jobs and employment because there were no opportunities for them here and they cannot get make a living here would register their disappointment with this Government and its politics. The reality is that the Government does not want Irish citizens around the world voting. It knows what it has done to those people it has cast out of this country and not allowed to come back. It has not created an environment for those who are anxious to live in their country to come back to.”
“However, our Polish citizens who are interested in their country, intend to go back to their country and hold Polish passports vote in Cork City Hall when elections are called. There are various polling stations built for them. We are talking about doing it for the people of Northern Ireland like it is a big shock. These are people who are only up the road from us. As my colleague said, there are Thirty-two Counties in Ireland, not Twenty-six Counties. We are disenfranchising that. Let us call a spade a spade. Why are we disenfranchising the people of the North? Why are we disenfranchising the Irish who live in the United States? Why are we disenfranchising those who live in the UAE or in Australia? It is happening because this Government is fearful.”
“In Canada, there are an estimated 30,000 to 50,000 Irish-born holders of Irish passports. There are 18,000 people, many of them retired, in Spain and Portugal who are holders of Irish passports. These people disenfranchised not just in presidential elections but also in general elections and local elections. There is a wider question that has to be answered here in the House. How is it when we see elections being called around Europe and in further places that we see citizens of other countries - European and non-European countries - have voting rights? They can go to their embassies or post their vote to the embassy like the Spanish do. We have a large community of Polish people living in Ireland, in the Republic, and they have made their homes here.”