Laura Harmon
Industrial and Commercial Panel · Labour Party · Ireland
“There is not enough room for a wheelchair to go around the side of the building. There is no obvious proper entrance. The reception is upstairs. There is no lift access for anyone with mobility issues, buggies or deliveries. The classrooms are an irregular shape and are not the standard classroom size of 49 sq. m.”
“Her cause of death was recorded as “congenital debilities”. For many of those babies who died at Bessborough, the reason given for their death was congenital debility or marasmus, which was essentially starvation. The reason given for these babies’ deaths was often very vague.”
“I am speaking again about the issue of Bessborough in Cork city and to call once again on the Taoiseach to act on this. There is still time to do the right thing and to have a negotiation process with the developer now or, failing that, to look at compulsory purchase of this site. The burial records have been sealed in relation to this.”
“I thank the Minister of State for her response. Will she call for a meeting in person with the school? Could that be facilitated to give the school an update in person? Does she have an idea as to a commitment on the timeline?”
“Will the Minister of State provide an update on what has been done to progress the request for additional school accommodation for Coláiste Daibhéid in Cork city and a timeline for the project?”
“It reaches high standards academically as well as in sport, STEM and stewardship. It has fantastic students and they deserve better. At present, the school is on the edge of Douglas Street Campus on Sawmill Street. There are two buildings. One is Buckingham House, which dates from the mid-19th century.”
The complete record
Every one of 678 lines we hold for Laura Harmon, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 8 of 14.
“We will be opposing this Bill as we did in the Dáil but we urge the Minister of State to consider the amendments that are being put down. These are sensible amendments that need to happen.”
“We have the highest outward levels of migration since 2015 in this country. Meanwhile, the Government is also blaming immigration for the housing crisis. We have heard from Fine Gael in particular that immigration is contributing to the housing crisis whereas a lot of people who are coming into the country are key workers and are propping up our healthcare system because we are losing our own key workers at the same time. We are losing teachers, healthcare workers and members of the Garda from this country because they cannot aspire to own their own homes. They are going to places like Dubai where they may have a better standard of living, instead of being trapped in renting with no prospect of owning their own homes in Ireland.”
“We have brought amendments to try to make it better in whatever way we can but unfortunately, the Government is not supporting that. Not only has the Government been reliant on the private rental market and private investment but it is fair to say that the Government has been reliant on emigration to an extent. It is almost like we need people to leave the country; it is just not working. As the eldest of five girls, three of my younger sisters have left Ireland because they do not want to be paying extortionate rents. They do not see home ownership in their near future and things like public transport do not even work, so they left the country. I hope they will be able to come back one day and that they may be able to afford to buy their own home. For the minute, there are a lot of people in this case.”
“That is a whole other issue about their economic independence and to be able to live independently. I am meeting people week in, week out, where there are three generations in the one house. This is a wealthy country. We are a wealthy country but that wealth is not going into the pockets of ordinary people. I do not know what the Government will do in the next budget. Will it introduce another small rent credit? That is not going to help with the cost of living and the cost of renting. We believe this legislation is going to make these costs worse. I wish I could say I believed it was going to work. If we thought it would work we would not be opposing it but this is genuinely going to make things more difficult for people who are renting. That is why we called for it to be scrapped.”
“I was extremely sad to hear from a young man at that conference that as he could not afford to heat his home, he had to go out and buy an extra blanket to sleep in. He has to chose between eating and heating. That is the sad state of affairs we are at in this country. There should be social floor under which nobody can fall but the floor is gone. There is no floor. There are people in employment now who are falling into homelessness. I was talking to a plumber in Cork South-Central who was housed one week and was homeless the next. The reality here is that people renting are falling into homelessness. I do not need to tell the Minister of State about Cork and the availability of properties at a council level that are suitable for people who are disabled in order to live independently.”
“They do not have access to accommodation. There has been a huge skew towards the private sector to solve this but the private sector is not going to dig us out of the hole we are in. We have to have a more active role from the State in terms of building, working with local authorities and getting homes built because ultimately it will be a supply issue. We are talking about renters now but the whole thing is connected. I was at a press conference in Buswells Hotel this morning, which I attended with members of the disabled community and students who are calling for an emergency payment for disabled people. We know the last budget has made disabled people in Ireland less well off. Disabled organisations estimate that they are less well off by €1,400.”
“As I said before, there is a huge transfer of wealth happening in this country between renters and those who are renting out their properties. We need to have a sea-change in how we approach housing in this country and how we approach the issue of renting. The word "landlord" is even outdated. They are not lords. It is an imperialistic term. It implies a huge imbalance in power which exists. We absolutely need to review that. It is archaic. We saw a report yesterday from Sherry FitzGerald that there is a deficit of nearly 39,000 when it comes to student accommodation beds in Ireland. I was president of the national students' union 11 years ago. There was a huge issue in terms of the availability of student accommodation then. It has got so many times worse now to the point where many students cannot even afford to rent.”
“Essentially, we will be paying mortgages until we are almost dead and past the age of retirement at this stage. Many banks will accept that. They are lending beyond the average age of retirement because they know people are going to have to be working longer in order to pay off these mortgages, these death pledges we are signing up to. Ultimately, the cost of housing is going to have to come down. We need to accept that. We need to make housing more affordable for people. People are paying money into rent when they could be paying more money into our economy. They are paying it to private landlords and developers when they could be spending it in their communities. They could have it in saving accounts that could be accruing interest but instead they are paying off other people's mortgages.”
“There is this idea that renting is this transient thing that people do but people have been renting in this country now for decades. People who do not want to be renting are trapped in renting. A lot of people aspire to owning their own properties. It is not everybody but a lot of people aspire to being able to own their own home one day. We cannot have a whole generation of pensioners renting in the future. I have said it a million times. This is an absolute poverty ticking time-bomb. I do not know what we are going to do when we have a generation of pensioners who are renting in this country with an ageing population. The average house nowadays costs over eight times the average annual salary. The word "mortgage" itself comes from a term from the Middle Ages that means death pledge.”
“It has already acknowledged that by bringing in a rent credit, which I would argue needs to be increased. Rents are going to go up because of this legislation. The Government seems to be coming up with all different ideas on how to solve the housing crisis but nothing seems to be working. This is another one of those ideas. We had the idea of the housing tsar before; I do not know what that was about. This is causing a huge amount of confusion for renters and for small landlords. I am a renter myself. I live with my landlord currently and we are both confused by this legislation. We are both very confused as to what is going to happen. The general public is very confused. There needs to be a whole review of renting in Ireland.”
“I thank the Minister of State for engaging in this debate. Where do we even start with this Bill? We put down sensible amendments in the Dáil from the Labour Party. We are bringing them to the Seanad now as well. I am sure they will not be supported by the Government. We have called for this legislation to be scrapped. We simply do not believe that it supports renters. We do not believe it will work. It sides with big developers, big landlords and vulture funds over the average small landlord and, certainly, it is not on the side of renters. We know average tenancies end after three and a half years, not six years, so we will know there will be more frequent market resets. The Government has admitted that itself. It brought in a rent credit because it knows renters are struggling.”
“Education is an example of where the European Parliament has really excelled in terms of the Erasmus programmes and collaboration between universities. I have a question on the area of disability. There are 87 million disabled people in the EU. Only half are in employment which is less than the average. Ireland is a laggard in that we are 20% behind the EU average in employment for disabled people. Do the MEPs have a view on that? There have been very mixed views from the European Union on the topic of migration. Ireland has benefited hugely from migration. There are people here bringing their skills and culture, enriching our society and propping up our health service in many instances. That is something to be celebrated and the EU needs to be stronger in promoting that message.”
“It is also important that we have specific MEPs for the regions too because there are so many regions within Ireland. Ireland South is unique in itself. Being from Cork myself, it is great to see our Cork MEP here today. The Labour Party is very proud of our MEP, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, who is in the Socialist and Democrats group in the EU. He has been championing a number of issues in relation to housing, child poverty, technology and AI, as well as climate and the challenges we face in relation to that. I wish that the European Parliament had taken a stronger stance overall in relation to Palestine and had called the genocide out earlier. That will be something that stands out in history. We still have an opportunity to act in relation to that. I know many of the MEPs here have been vocal on it.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh na feisirí Eorpacha go dtí an Seanad inniu. Gan dabht tá tionchar mór ag polaitíocht na hEorpa ar Éirinn. Gabhaim buíochas leo as an obair atá á dhéanamh acu. It was really interesting listening to the contributions. There were a lot of themes. They included neutrality not equalling ambivalence and the importance of sovereignty for member states in the EU. There have been many attempts to undermine that sovereignty, the EU project and the principles on which the EU project was founded of democracy, equality, rule of law, promoting peace and stability. The reasons there are actors out there trying to undermine the EU is because we know the EU project works and has huge potential to be even stronger. That is really important.”
“I meet people in the Cork South-Central constituency in clinics who tell me that they have three generations living in the one house. There are the grandparents, their children who are trying to start a family and then their children. Some of them live in the one bedroom. These are the kinds of current living situations in this country, which is wealthy and the rent crisis and rent rules contribute towards this situation. I do not believe that this legislation will fix the problem and believe it will make things worse.”
“That fact is really worrying. We all need to work together to improve the situation for renters and anyone who wants to buy property in this country. It is really concerning that we are losing key workers in health and education now in Ireland due to the housing crisis. We are losing health workers, teachers and gardaí because wages are not keeping pace with the cost of living and the price of renting in this country. We have too many people who are trapped in renting. There has been a phenomenal transfer of wealth in Ireland, in particular over the last decade, between those who rent and those to whom renters pay rent and this is a generational issue. For the first time in many generations, we will have younger people who will be less well off than their parents.”
“We also know that the six-year tenancy reset will not work because the average duration of a tenancy lasts three and a half years so we will see market resets before that. We also have no clarity when it comes to student accommodation. I have been told that they might be reset in three or four years so we need clarity on how that will affect the rental market. This has caused a lot of confusion for renters and landlords. I believe that this legislation very much favours big landlords, big developers and vulture funds more than the average small landlord in this country. This morning, the Simon Communities in Ireland published a new report which said that for the first time ever since they have collected data, there are currently no properties available to rent, using the standard housing assistance payment, across the 16 areas surveyed.”
“If renting is so good then why do only eight Members of the Oireachtas rent? I am one of them. To be clear, these laws primarily are being made by people who own their own properties. I try to make measured contributions in this House. I am being measured and fair today but we need to see real solutions here. Last night, the Government rejected sensible amendments to this legislation. We will bring forward more on Committee Stage in the Seanad but I am hearing a lot of blame from the Government. They are blaming the Opposition and immigration for the problems in housing but we need to work together to solve this. We, in the Labour Party, have called for a rent freeze while we increase property supply. We know that allowing rents to be reset to market value will ensure that rents will increase for many tenants.”
“Is the Government codding itself? What planet does this Government live on if it thinks it is solving this housing crisis? Context is everything. At present, over 17,000 people are homeless in this country, of whom 5,500 are children. There has been a 100% increase in rents since 2016 and the average rent in Cork is now €2,200. To buy a house in this country, it costs over eight times the annual salary. Earlier a Senator said that people of a certain vintage will remember when the housing supply was better. I suggest that those people of a certain vintage, or a certain "mintage", also need to look to the future and realise that a whole generation has been locked out of security. We cannot have a whole generation of pensioners renting in the future in Ireland. This is a poverty ticking time bomb.”
“No pregnancy is the same and it can be different for women every time they give birth and their experiences in relation to that. I think this sends a really powerful message here today. We are really pleased there is support across the House for this motion. It sends a clear message from Seanad Éireann to Ireland as a whole that this is being taken seriously and that women's maternal health is being taken seriously in our society. We need to do everything we can to continue to support and advocate for this.”
“We must learn from the likes of the Netherlands and Denmark on the ways maternal health is championed and leave is funded effectively to support the mother, the child and the mother's role as a worker in our society as well. In many cases issues arising after birth can prevent women's re-entry into the workforce if they wish to re-enter the workforce. That places them at a disadvantage to their male counterparts. This is a women's rights motion. This is a women's healthcare motion and is certainly about equality. The Minister and the Government must intentionally resource the proper sectors to bolster women going through this transition into motherhood. We need to support mothers in every way we can, be they first-time mothers or no matter how many children they have.”
“We must recognise that helping each individual mother to thrive will not just benefit her but will benefit the people close to her and her baby and older children. It will support communities and society more widely. We hear too often stories from women when they go to seek healthcare that they feel they are not being listened to in relation to women's health. They feel they are often gaslighted, not taken seriously or that they have to say multiple times what is wrong with them before they are taken seriously. This needs to change. We need to speak more as a society about women's health issues. Best practice abroad shows us the way parents can be uplifted to perform their role to the best of their abilities.”
“My colleague, Senator Cosgrove, in bringing this motion forward is honouring the tireless work done by Aolish Gormley in Sligo and her vision is clearly reflected in our calls in this motion. It calls for the expansion of services beyond the existing maternity and infant care scheme. The law surrounding the maternity and infant care scheme have remained stagnant since the 1990s. We are calling for the funding of mental health services in a way that is accessible to new mothers and the provision of resources such as community support networks throughout the State. Aolish's campaign proposes innovations like publicly-funded pelvic floor therapy and support for Caesarian sections as standard through the HSE.”
“I want to commend the Minister of State on her work in relation to this area and the renewed emphasis that has been put on this. We need to see that continued. Additional support and check-ups are proposed as part of this motion, both physical and mental. This is a no-brainer in the pursuit of supporting mothers across this State. We know from research from the Royal College of Surgeons in 2024 that 77% of women in Ireland experience feelings of loneliness during pregnancy and early motherhood. We urgently need to see resourcing of community based supports for this. Our motion calls for this in all areas across the country. Loneliness is one of the biggest issues facing new mothers and support centres like this would provide families the opportunity to build these communities.”
“We are really pleased to see this motion is being supported by all of the women and men in the Seanad. I commend Aolish Gormley, founder of the campaign A Year of Care. I have been following that campaign online and I encourage anyone to follow that. She has been pioneering on this. She is a mental health advocate and she founded the local initiative, Ardú which is a maternal mental health project in Sligo. Her Year of Care campaign is a national advocacy effort calling for improved postnatal care for mothers during that first critical year after birth. Postnatal care in Ireland has long been neglected by the State. The first year after giving birth is a critical time in a mother's life. We feel the current provision of care does not reflect this and we absolutely need to change that for women and for children.”
“I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to the House. I commend my colleague, Senator Nessa Cosgrove, on leading on this motion and for all the work she has put into it. I am proud to be part of the cross-party group of Labour, the Social Democrats and the Green Party here in the Seanad. This is sending a powerful message today from Seanad Éireann that we need comprehensive care for mothers for the year following childbirth, not just the first six weeks and the initial period. It is really welcome that the Government is not opposing this motion and will supporting. That is testament that we can work together on both sides of this House. We really think this is a positive step forward. This is the first motion from our cross-party group and we have brought several Bills.”
“We need to move away from this idea that the gold standard is to go to university, a technological university or whatever it might be. It is about people fulfilling their full potential in life and pursuing their skills regardless of whether it is in academia, working in the trades, the arts or whatever it may be. We absolutely have to encourage more people into apprenticeships and promote it as a pathway. We need these skills. Certainly, in terms of construction, this is vital.”
“Under the one roof it has 11 trades and it is very much focused on building and construction - brickwork, plastering, joinery, electrical - and they very much encouraged us to look towards that model. I was just very struck by that particular social enterprise, Deaf Enterprises in Cork, and I thank Steve Flint and Claire O'Mahony for showing me around the vicinity. I know they have been engaging with the Government on it, but I absolutely encourage the Minister and the Minister of State to visit the site because I thought it was absolutely incredible just to see it. It was a hub of learning and of inclusivity, providing employment for people and employment for trainers. That is an area that can certainly be looked at.”
“I will draw attention specifically to one social enterprise in Ballinlough, Cork, that I visited recently. It is called Deaf Enterprises. I visited it with Councillor Peter Horgan and Councillor Ciara O'Connor, who are working with me in the Labour Party. It was one of my favourite places I have ever visited. I saw the work it does. It is the biggest employer of people who are deaf or hard of hearing in Ireland and it does incredible work restoring furniture and reupholstering. In the past five years it has done up over 1,200 bicycles. It is a real hub of learning. It provides employment for people. They pointed out to me that we should look at Vienna, that there is a place in Vienna called Wien Work that provides 800 apprenticeship places over a four-year period.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I welcome the guests in the Gallery and thanks and congratulations to Katelyn Cummins for all the work she does. She is a real ambassador for people in trades and apprenticeships. I myself am the daughter of a carpenter, so this issue is close to my heart as well. It goes without saying that we have to improve the diversity in terms of those taking up apprenticeships, not just in terms of gender but in terms of different abilities and those from different backgrounds. We know in Ireland that we are 20% below the EU average in terms of employment for people with disabilities, for example. There is certainly an opportunity here to get more disabled people involved in apprenticeships. Pay is certainly part of this. Pay and conditions and supports have to be key in this regard.”
“In my first year as a Senator, it has been really good to engage with colleagues on that. I thank the Minister of State for her time.”
“I echo the sentiments from colleagues. I thank the Minister of State and her officials for all their work on this legislation. We look forward to Report Stage and further discussion there. It is clear that this is an issue we care about and one that people care about. I thank the organisations that have contacted me about this, particularly Mental Health Reform which is present here today, and others. It is important we get this right. When you put those 19 and a half hours into that context, it has been a long discussion so far but it absolutely warranted all that discussion. There is still a lot of concerns relating to it, and we will come back to it on Report Stage. Certainly, it has been great to have an input on legislation that is so complex and comprehensive.”
“I take this opportunity to thank the Minister of State for all her work on this and her engagement here. It is a substantial Bill and there are a large number of amendments. Amendment No. 352 on advocacy services was ruled out of order. Could it be read into the record why it was deemed to be out of order?”
“This is something we need to guard against and mechanisms need to be put in place for this. I commend my party colleague Deputy Kelly on the legislation he introduced in the Dáil last week that will ensure Coco's Law is updated and that intimate images created by AI will also become illegal. We need to progress this. I welcome the new strategy on digital and AI that the Minister of State is proposing to publish.”
“AI is contributing to this. That is not to say all AI is bad but we know there are elements of which we need to be aware. On relationships, there is limited research but we know more research needs to be done. From the limited research that is there, 10% of adults have said they have had relationships with AI chatbots. It was 13% of men compared with 7% of women and the figure was highest among 25- to 34-year-olds. A total of 16% have had romantic relationships with chatbots. Again, we have to ask what this means for relationships in the future and human connection. In the area of health and therapy it is really worrying that 18% have used chatbots for health advice and 10% are relying on them for therapy. AI simply cannot replace counselling, therapy and the medical profession.”
“We know in terms of work, the Financial Services Union said from its survey that 88% of workers in that area are worried jobs will be lost because of AI. There is a gendered element to AI. Most creators are men and the owners of the big tech companies are predominantly men. From research, we know children and teenagers are being bombarded with ads for AI girlfriends. Build your own AI slut is the name of one of these apps that are being targeted to young men. Nudification functions, Grok AI and sexual abuse images have to be stamped out and made utterly illegal. There is a real risk that we are turning back the clock on women's rights across the world and in this country if we do not get a handle on this. There is huge pressure on women now and how they should act, look and perform sexually. These pressures are there for men as well.”
“We know that AI is becoming integrated now in all of the online platforms and social media we consume. The Minister of State and I, along with the rest of the people in this Chamber, are part of the last generation of humans who will remember a time when we did not have AI, we did not have social media and we did not have mobile phones. Yet, I know the best way to influence me and market contact to me is probably through my phone and through online apps. We know there are huge concerns about this in terms of data and privacy. AI is moving faster than legislation and we have to keep up. The world as we know it is being revolutionised by AI in terms of relationships, communication, education, the development of art and politics.”
“I welcome the Minister of State. It is not before time that we are having this discussion in the Seanad. The Minister of State's brief is extremely important and the Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence, of which I am a member, is important as well because there is so much work to do in this area. Two hours and six minutes is my daily average time spent on Instagram. That is the app I use the most and I was quite shocked when I looked into my insights. That is 730 hours per year that I spend on that particular app. I spend much more time online. The line between the real world and online world is becoming increasingly blurred. We spend more and more time online than we do with people. We do not know the long-term effects of what this will have on our health.”
“The National Security Analysis Centre was established in 2019 and taoisigh and Ministers for Defence have been promising a comprehensive national security strategy for the last five years now. Investment in our Defence Forces is essential. We are under-investing at the minute. We need to look after the women and men who are working in our Defence Forces. I express my thanks and appreciation for the work they do. Ultimately, pay and conditions, recruitment and retention, and work-life balance are essential. Dignity, respect and a zero-tolerance policy on sexual violence and bullying in the Defence Forces need to be upheld.”
“The lack of powers of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Defence and National Security is also notable. "National Security" was added to the title of that committee. At times, this seems tokenistic to me, if I may say so. The Government added this title but added very few new powers. The Garda special detective unit and the Department of the Taoiseach have declined invitations in the past to address the committee and provide national security updates. Our party leader, Deputy Ivana Bacik, has long called for briefings for Opposition leaders on national security, as provided in many other countries. Where is our long-term strategy for national security?”
“The navy's numbers have increased in the past year but they are still far short of the strength required to patrol Ireland's waters. Figures from October 2025 indicate that the Naval Service had 784 personnel out of a required strength of 1,094. We are back at 2022 levels in terms of strength. We need to increase naval patrol duty allowance further. The Naval Service tax credit, which was increased in 2021, has not kept pace with inflation. Investment in living quarters for our Defence Forces personnel at barracks and naval bases is crucial. We need to invest more in housing and childcare facilities for members of our Defence Forces based in Collins Barracks and Haulbowline Naval Base in Cork. Ensuring a work-life balance is essential for recruitment and retention of the women and men in our Defence Forces.”
“It is important and timely that we are having this debate here today. It is imperative that we invest in our Defence Forces and particularly in our defence personnel. This a matter of national security. The Labour Party has supported reaching level of ambition 2 for the Defence Forces. We need to know what is happening in our territorial waters. We need to know what is happening in our airspace, particularly in the current geopolitical environment. This includes drones and undersea cables. However, we can invest in all the equipment that we want, but if we are not looking after the personnel in our Defence Forces then we will not have people to operate that equipment. I am going to talk about the navy for a little bit. Cork plays a key role in our security, particularly with our upcoming Presidency of the EU this year.”
“I move amendment No. 50: In page 25, line 19, after “person”, to insert “to a material extent”. These amendments aim to introduce a requirement that involuntary treatment be of benefit to a material extent in order to be justified in line with the text in the 2001 Act. While the Government amendments introduced this threshold for involuntary treatment, it is not required for voluntary detention. That is why we tabled amendment No. 50, which proposes the insertion of the phrase "to a material extent" after the word "person" in line 19 on page 25.”
“We have to be careful here in terms of having a clear, evidence-based approach for this and ensuring that there is not a double standard at work when detaining individuals with mental health difficulties because this can contribute to great stigma. In terms of lived experiences, many individuals report trauma or loss of autonomy and long-term distrust in services following involuntary treatment. Hearing these voices and learning from them is essential in shaping ethical and effective mental health policy. We cannot have policies that are based on perceived dangerousness. There has to be a very real and proven behavioural risk. We cannot unjustly target vulnerable populations and undermine their rights. We have to be extra careful. It is also important to have the debate on this issue on the record of the House.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. I support the comments of my colleagues Senators Cosgrove and Black in relation to this. To be clear, there was no mistake in the wording of these amendments and they have the support of Mental Health Reform, representatives of which are in the Public Gallery today. The purpose of these amendments is to eliminate the use of a person's potential risk to others as a stand-alone justification for involuntary detention and treatment as this criterion does not align with established human rights standards. Instead, the amendments seek to ensure that involuntary admission is only permitted when there is a serious and immediate risk to the individual's own health or safety.”
“I also raise an issue we have all been talking about in recent weeks, that is, artificial intelligence and Grok AI. I call for a debate in this House and for the Minister of State with responsibility for artificial intelligence, Deputy Smyth, to participate in that debate. It is very worrying that the platform X has declined an invitation to address the Oireachtas media committee on this issue. I believe the Taoiseach should intervene here and the platform should be held to account. These companies have huge power and influence and we need to ensure they are fully compliant with our laws. The issue of child abuse and sexual abuse imagery cannot be tolerated in any form and needs to be absolutely clamped down upon. Members of the public also deserve to have answers from X on this.”
“This morning, I wish to speak about the young scientist awards. It was my first time attending the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition this year and it was incredible to see the level of talent and projects from across the country. I congratulate the overall winner, but I also want to specifically mention several awardees from Cork city: Cian Manning and Jonathan Varughese from Coláiste An Spioraid Naoimh, Conall Conroy and Mícheál O Cróinín MacMathúna from Coláiste An Spioraid Naoimh, Holly Forde and Saoirse O'Connor Buckley from Coláiste Muire Réalt na Mara in Crosshaven, and Hannah Collins and Lily Stapleton, whom I met, from Presentation Secondary School in Ballyphehane. I extend my thanks and congratulations to all those whom I met on the day.”
“It provides that any person who does more than 30 hours of work within any period of four weeks for another person is to be regarded as an employee for the purposes of the Acts, even where there is no contract of employment and instead he or she is described as a trainee or intern, or as a person on work experience. EU figures show that nearly half of internships are unpaid and over two thirds do not attract any social protections. For those reasons, I encourage colleagues from all parties and none to support this very sensible legislation from my colleague, Senator Cosgrove. I say that because it is the right thing to do and because of equality, age discrimination, the benefits to our economy and workforce planning.”
“More than one in four apprentices responding to the Connect Trade Union survey in 2024 reported being paid less than the agreed rates and more than half said that completion of their apprenticeship had been delayed by over a year. As well as compromising workers' rights, it also frustrates our efforts to solve the housing crisis, to progress a just transition and to meet our climate targets, arguably two of the most urgent needs of today's society. Workforce planning is a huge issue, as I mentioned previously. The National Minimum Wage Act also applies to internships, which are a form of employment and are not a recognised legal category. Despite this, unpaid internships remain common. This Bill would make it clear that interns, trainees and those undergoing work experience can nevertheless fall under the remit of the Act.”
“As the Labour spokesperson on higher and further education, that is deeply concerning to me. We in Ireland have huge issues in our workforce and in terms of workforce planning across a number of different sectors. Paying apprentices properly must be key to solving that. We cannot just pay lip service and say we want to encourage more people into apprenticeships if we are not paying them properly. We absolutely need to ensure that this happens. It is also worth noting that because of inflation in the period between 2022 and now, an apprentice's wage had greater spending power in 2022 than it does today. That is another argument for increasing the rates.”