Linda Nelson Murray
Industrial and Commercial Panel · Fine Gael · Ireland
“Navan hospital always needs to be strengthened, not sidelined. We need investment in that to grow with the population that is growing in Meath, and that Meath people have a hospital that grows with their needs and does not fall behind. I am discussing this with the Minister for Health, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill.”
“The Irish Cancer Society is in the news today. We met its representatives last week and had a very good engagement over in Buswells Hotel where they were giving us some numbers. I wanted to home in on bowel cancer. There are 2,500 people diagnosed with bowel cancer each year in Ireland.”
“We have had amazing debates in here from all sides of the Chamber. Everybody, without a shadow of a doubt, is a pleasure to work with. We can achieve things together whether we are in opposition or in government. I thank everybody. It is really nice to come in to the Chamber and I look forward to it every Tuesday.”
“I thank everybody in that group, particularly the Senators in this Chamber who worked on the group, because it is a day to be acknowledged. Hopefully, we will see it come through quickly. I want to follow on from that by asking the Leader to speak to the Minister, Deputy Calleary, who is working very hard on a baby loss register.”
“Senator Nicole Ryan and I, with other Senators, including Senators Patricia Stephenson, Tom Clonan and Evanne Ní Chuilinn, and many TDs - it was a complete cross-party Oireachtas group - came together and have been working on how to actually do this over the last year. Today is a very positive day for all of us in our group.”
“It was about a year ago that we had a very emotive debate in the House when Senator Nicole Ryan brought suggestions for a Bill on miscarriage leave. I was on this side of the House. It was very hard to actually be debating it when I think everybody in this House wanted to see something like that happen.”
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“Think of it this way. If you were a waitress in a restaurant serving food to somebody who suddenly starts shouting horrible abuse at you, that person would be banned from the restaurant. The Garda would probably be called and that person would never be let back in again. The same needs to be done for social media accounts. There is also a significant interplay between the online and offline worlds. Acts of intimidation and harassment occur offline and are then exaggerated online. Unfortunately, I have also had experience of this. It is just not nice. What has really urged me to speak on all of this is having had my first experience of a presidential election as a politician. I literally could not believe the hate that was spread online. I thought it reached a new level.”
“According to fact checking, one fake account had posted 99,000 times since it was set up in March 2023, meaning it had posted an average of 220 posts every day or once every seven minutes. Politicians like me are targets. I have heard people say that is what we signed up for when we entered public life but that is not what I or any of my colleagues signed up for. We are doing a job to the best of our ability and we are privileged to do so. The last thing I need to be seeing is hateful and disgusting comments. When I chat to people, they commonly say they would not be able to do my job with the stuff I see online but the positives far outweigh the negatives. That is for sure, but I would like to see the hate stop for people like me. While you can block people, you have to read the comments first and we should not be forced to see that.”
“They need to respond faster to people who report. They need to check the facts are correct. One of the biggest things they also need to do is to urge users to read articles and not just go by the headlines. Another crucial part is broadcasting the real data the information is based on because sometimes you will go in and find it is a news article from a few years ago. There needs to be independent audits of these platforms to check their users are being treated with respect. Fake businesses online are another issue that catches out many of us in Ireland. Companies pretend to be Irish but they are not. It is reported that one in four accounts on social media are fake. This worries me, especially in light of personal attacks on people.”
“Her source was somebody in the UK who was taking news from Ireland and putting it in her own words. I got the real information and explained it to her. She was shocked that the video she had seen was not true. A third of all adults in Ireland have mistakenly shared misinformation online and 46% of us admit that misinformation has influenced our opinions or beliefs. Twenty years ago, all of us got our news from the TV or the radio but that figure is now only 46%. Only recently, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, removed an AI-generated deepfake video spreading false information about the presidential election. One of the videos had the appearance of an RTÉ news report on the false claim. There are thousands of cases like this. Social media companies should have robust trust and safety mechanisms in place.”
“There are negative impacts on mental health, such as anxiety, depression and poor self-esteem. We see the spread of misinformation and harmful content. There are significant privacy risks arising from data breaches and exposure to predators. Other downsides include cyberbullying and exposure to unrealistic social comparators or inappropriate content. On social media, sensational and derogatory content can spread faster than neutral or positive content. It can be difficulty to pick out verified information from information that has been misconstrued, misrepresented or manipulated. It spreads so fast on social media that it is almost like a virus. I remember having a conversation with a person recently. She was angry about a company that had closed down. In her words, they had made billions but were letting people go.”
“I thank the Minister of State for being here. It is important to say that I am not here to diss social media or to be contradictory in giving out so much about it when I use it myself every day. I use social media both personally and professionally. Professionally, it allows me to show what I am doing in my work and to see the concerns of people living in my constituency. People can reach out to politicians like me on social media, which is great. All of that is A1. For the most part, I enjoy using social media, especially when I see something like "Rory's Stories" or "Conor Sketches" appear on my feed. There is nothing like the two lads to give me a break from the norm. However, as we know, there is a very dark side to social media that I strongly feel we need protection from, along with support, as users and for our youth.”
“We must think about the impact on businesses when works are being done. Great work is being done on the fabulous new roads and the fabulous shrubbery and landscapes but it must be done with a co-ordinated approach that considers the impact on businesses. If it does impact them, consideration must be given to how they can be supported during that time. Right now, businesses are not supported when roadworks are happening outside their door. There is no support for them when new roads are being built. It is about time they were supported. I ask that this issue be raised with the Ministers.”
“It is fantastic and the town is looking really well. However, as I have raised previously, sometimes replacing car park spaces with lovely shrubbery may not be the right answer. Some businesses have closed. I previously mentioned a business on Watergate Street that closed after 39 years. This was the straw that broke the camel's back, with traffic coming in and out of the town. In the past three weeks, a brand-new road has opened. The council has done a great job and it will make a difference in the future. Right now, however, trying to co-ordinate the lights means traffic is at a standstill at weekends the whole way from the Dublin Road, right into Navan and out along the Kells Road. Nobody is coming into the town and into the businesses in the retail park, especially, and the town centre.”
“There is a detrimental impact on small businesses arising from roadworks associated with new roads and implementation of town plans, particularly in retail parks and on main streets. Having raised this issue previously, it really now is time for the Departments of enterprise and local government to work together to find some solution to help businesses through the very difficult time when there are roadworks outside their door, when a new road is being put into a town or other work is being done. I have always said there should be a pause or discount on rates when this happens. Rates are a very valuable source of income for local government and one on which councils depend. However, businesses have reported sales down by 30%, 40% or 50% when works are being done outside their door. In my home town, the Navan 2030 plan is under way.”
“On behalf of the Fine Gael Party, I congratulate the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, on his new role as managing director of the World Bank. He said in his speech that it had been the greatest of honours to be a politician in this country. It certainly has been the greatest of honours for me and many people in my party to have worked alongside Paschal Donohoe. He has been a politician for the past 20 years, during which time he was a Member of Seanad Éireann. He is somebody we absolutely admire. During all my canvassing, he was out with me, and I am sure he did the same for everybody else who asked him. He always gave of his time. I wish him very well in his future endeavours.”
“He just could not get to the rest because he needed more time. It is critical we give students like Fionn more time. He and young people like him need more time. I will end with this quote: "If a child can't learn the way we teach, maybe we should teach the way they learn."”
“I spoke to a very close friend of mine whose son, Fionn, was blessed to get into the Catherine McAuley dyslexia school here in Dublin, travelling every day from Meath for two years. It was very hard to have left school in his last two years but he was brave and strong. At 13 years of age Fionn is now standing in front of primary school classes, letting them know that all will be okay if they have dyslexia. Fionn is in the first percentile with severe dyslexia but with a 98% IQ. It is all about the approach. It is invaluable that we do this for children, for our youth and for people sitting exams. Fionn is a total superhero, there is no doubt about that, but he needs more time to read the questions in exams. His mam pointed out recently that in the autumn exams, he did extremely well in the percentage of the exam that he could get to.”
“She would love to but the stress of sitting an exam would be just too much. I welcome Senator Curley's motion. I had a look at other countries that do accommodate for exams, like the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. In the UK, students with dyslexia can typically receive up to 25% extra time in exams. This means that if an exam is scheduled for two hours, a student with dyslexia might receive an extra 30 minutes. With one in every ten people in Ireland having dyslexia, there could be three in a classroom of 30 people. According to Dyslexia Ireland, 6% to 8% of the population have dyscalculia, which could be another two to three students in the class. I welcome that we are looking at proposals to give people extra time in exams.”
“However, for simple tasks like writing an email, birthday card or letter or choosing the words to say, the thought process would take a lot longer than for some other people. An email that would take me two minutes would take my husband 30 minutes, such is the thought that goes into every word. To compensate for how hard he found exams in school, he would write very messily, almost making it confusing, so it was like a disguise. Going through school in the seventies and eighties was very difficult and there was no tolerance for people like him to question that he learned differently. Considering the term "dyslexia" has been used for the last 130 years, I wonder how far we have come. I spoke to a fifth year student last week and she said she would love to learn Irish. Her mother fought for her not to have to do Irish.”
“Sally E. Shaywitz of the Yale Centre for Dyslexia and Creativity said: ...science has moved forward at a rapid pace so that we now possess the data to reliably define dyslexia ... For the student, the knowledge that he is dyslexic is empowering, providing the student with self-understanding and self-awareness of what he has and what he needs to do in order to succeed. I spoke to my husband about this today. Although not officially diagnosed with dyslexia, he is in no doubt that he has dyslexia. He would describe it as that he has all the information he needs, but sometimes it is harder to process. You would never know it with my husband. He is articulate and has helped me with many a speech. People really enjoy his company and he is passionate about so many things that I sometimes have no clue about.”
“Many retailers now operate a no-challenge policy towards suspected shoplifters because it is far cheaper to let them steal than to defend a defamation case. This is just me again trying to protect businesses. The Minister has said he will take businesses into consideration when looking at this area. For that reason, I will be happy to withdraw my amendment in due course.”
“I move amendment No. 10a: In page 13, between lines 12 and 13, to insert the following new section: “Amendment of section 31 of Principal Act 17. Section 31 of the Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following new subsection after subsection (8): “(9) The total amount of general damages awarded by a court in a defamation action shall not exceed seventy-five thousand euro.”.”. I put this amendment forward in an attempt to see if there was something we could do to deter people putting in defamation claims. As I mentioned previously, there are more defamation cases in Ireland than in the UK, and that country has ten times the number of people. I was looking at statistics from 2023, when the UK had 250 cases and we had 360, which means there are 19 times more cases here by head of population.”
“One in four people killed on Irish roads are between the ages of 16 and 25 and young drivers aged 18 to 24 have the highest collision rate. Males have much higher statistics: according to the RSA, almost eight in every ten driver fatalities are male, while six in every ten people who are injured are male. We need to educate the youth of our country about the seriousness of seatbelts, speed, drink and drug driving and speed limits. I would welcome the Minister for education, Deputy Foley, to come into this Chamber to tell us about the work she is doing to educate our young people and save their lives. At the end of his presentation, Dr. Jamal expressed, through tears, that this is not just about the driver, but rather the family they leave behind.”
“By the end of this year, the Rotary Club of Navan will have run this programme for 3,000 students. That is the amazing work it does. We cannot overestimate how important it is. Meath County Council supports the Rotary Club in doing this incredible work. I could not help but think yesterday that it is a no-brainer to teach this in all schools. If we are aiming for zero deaths on our roads, we have to start with our youth. I was surprised yesterday to learn that 25% of all the people arriving in accident and emergency departments with severe injuries were not wearing a seatbelt. In 2022, 27% of all fatalities in Ireland were not wearing a seatbelt. Some 17% of people say they do not wear a seatbelt in the back of a car. I cannot understand it.”
“Yesterday, I was invited by the Rotary Club of Navan to the Just 1 Life event, which is the young person driver awareness programme. Approximately 350 students from St. Patrick's Classical School and Eureka Secondary School, Kells, packed the Solstice theatre in Navan. The event included presentations from An Garda Síochána, the roads policing sergeant, Dr. Ahmed Jamal, an on-call consultant from Navan and Drogheda, as well as a critical care nurse, ambulance call centre people and representatives of fire and rescue. It was clear when we arrived in the auditorium to see a crashed car on stage that nothing was held back. At this event, you could have heard a pin drop during the presentations, such was the shock factor and the will to understand from all the students there.”
“People believe so much of what they read online and for many it is their only source of information. What are either of these Ministers doing to ensure that truthful information is communicated? The Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, himself recognises this but it is very important to listen to the people who are scared and the many who are confused. I would really welcome an opportunity to discuss this and help bring about calm in our towns and villages throughout the country. It is important that social media companies take account of the information spread on platforms, as well as the hate that is spread. I wish all the people from that centre the very best for the coming weeks.”
“The Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, condemned the attack and said there were women and children just going about their daily lives and now their safety must be our utmost concern. These are people; they are human beings. When explaining this to my ten-year-old daughter last Sunday morning while watching the news, in her total innocence she asked whether we were not all here to share the Earth. Whatever our feelings are on people coming into this country, we have to condemn in this House what happened. Following this, I would like to ask the Minister with responsibility for immigration or the Minister with responsibility for communications to discuss social media's impact on the rhetoric of these types of situations. It is reported that one in four people has fake social media accounts.”
“On behalf of the Fine Gael Party, I also offer our sincere condolences on the passing of Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy, who did amazing work as my colleague Senator O'Loughlin has mentioned. On behalf of the party, I congratulate Catherine Connolly on her Presidency. I would like to quote Heather Humphreys, who I thought was amazing in her defeat. She said Catherine Connolly would be President for us all, and that she will. We all look forward to working with her. Last week, an horrendous event happened whereby an IPAS centre in Drogheda was set on fire with people in it, including a three-week-old baby. Firefighters rescued five people, including this baby, from the top floor of the building in the town's George's Street area. As a result of the blaze, 28 residents are now homeless.”
“I had not initially planned to speak in this debate but I am glad the Acting Chairperson called me. I got Senator Stephenson's email and I am here in the Chamber, as is my colleague Senator Ní Chuilinn, because we support her Bill, everything she has said this evening and what she represents. We have all dealt with people who have suffered domestic violence. We can see this is the right thing to do and we are here to support Senator Stephenson.”
“I will read out a little message I got when I donated blood. It says: Linda, thanks for donating. Your donation has just made its way to Tallaght Hospital. The message before that said that the donation had just made its way to Clonmel Hospital, while the previous one said Tallaght Hospital. You get a lovely little message like that. I really believe that it is lovelier to give a present than to receive one. It is amazing to give blood. That is my thing for today. If anyone here or anyone listening can sign up to donate blood, they will be saving a life.”
“The average age of a blood donor in Ireland is 46. We can do better in trying to get younger people to donate blood. You can donate blood from the age of 18. The maximum age is 65. Perhaps we should look at the older age category as well. I was talking to the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and, as of yesterday, it had up to 5.8 days' supply. That is all. It does not have weeks' worth. We really need it. The service likes to have seven days' supply but it only had 5.8. The service is appealing for more people, particularly people from different communities and ethnicities, to donate blood. That is where education really comes in. I will now provide a staggering figure. Only 3% of the population donate blood. That is crazy. We really need to get more people on board with doing it.”
“I will bring up something I brought up last week and on which I had a Commencement matter yesterday. It is about donating blood. A colleague who is sitting here in the Chamber came up to me yesterday to tell me that, because of what I said, they have registered to donate blood. I really appreciate that. Another two people also said that to me. If today means I could get another three people to do so, I am going to use this time to do that. Something I did not mention the last couple of times is that I unfortunately lost my dad last year. I stopped counting the number of blood transfusions he received before he died at 55. Every time you see these transfusions, you think about how people gave up their time to give this blood to keep people going for another day. That is what happens. We can save lives by donating blood.”
“I will give examples of the type of text messages I received after donating blood: Linda, thank you for donating blood in Trim. Donations made have helped patients throughout the country. Another one said: Linda, thank you for donating blood. Your donation has just been issued to Tallaght hospital. Another said: Thank you for donating blood. It has been issued to Clonmel. I always believe that giving a present is much nicer than receiving one. There is nothing better than giving blood and getting a message like those that lets you know you have impacted on someone's life and perhaps saved them.”
“The Minister of State said that the IBTS has not looked for extra funding since 2023. There is still a problem in the sense that we went to a critically low level last week. I raised this last week and I ended up doing an interview on the radio and issuing a press release. Since then three people signed up, including some colleagues. That was just because of me coming out and talking about it. We definitely need to look at the age. Why is the average age 46 if people can donate from the age of 18? Should we look at increasing the age limit above 65? We need to educate people on how one donation can save up to three lives; it is key. We need to have more clinics. Right now, 15 counties do not have clinics for the next 15 days, yet we are critically low on blood. Something is not adding up.”
“Every week hundreds of patients in Ireland rely on it. It is estimated that one in four people will require a blood transfusion at some stage in their lives, with 67% of all blood used to help support cancer patients. Every single day in Ireland, somebody’s life depends on the generosity of a blood donor. The Irish Blood Transfusion Service has said it would welcome the Department of Health’s support in continuing to promote blood donation awareness and in every way that enables it to meet its objectives. What can the Department do to help the Irish Blood Transfusion Service? Have we increased our investment in it? Can we increase our investment in how the message of the urgency of blood donation is communicated?”
“We need to ensure materials are available in every language and that we appeal to religious groups and immigrant support centres. We need to educate people on the importance of blood donation and what they can do for their communities. Blood is used in more than 70 hospitals across Ireland. Every week hundreds of patients in Ireland rely on blood transfusions for surgeries, cancer treatment and emergency care. Blood is also needed for women who have with complications while giving birth. The IBTS needs around 3,000 donations every week just to meet the demand in hospitals across the country. I urge employers to perhaps allow employees time off to donate blood. They would need only two hours per year. The average time it takes to donate blood is only two hours. As I said, blood is used in 70 hospitals across Ireland.”
“When I did some research on this last week and, in fact, this morning, I saw that, although supplies were critical, we had no blood transfusion clinics in ten counties last week nor are there any in those counties for the last two weeks of October. When I had another look today, 15 counties out of 26 have no blood donation clinic for the last 11 days of October, including my own county of Meath. We are at a critical juncture and, in fact, five counties, among them Westmeath, Longford, Leitrim and Laois, have no clinics planned for November either. Are we investing enough or is it a manpower issue preventing us from running more clinics? Similarly, education is key. Why are there not more donors? Why are we in a critical time? How can we reach underrepresented communities?”
“What it really needs is more new donors. Only 3% of the population donate blood, which I could not believe when I actually looked at the statistic. A total of 8% of those donors are O negative. The service needs younger, repeat donors, donors of African heritage and other ethnicities to ensure the national blood supply remains safe and sustainable. With all of this in mind, now is the time to appeal to younger donors, ensure there are clinics in every county, educate people on the importance of donation and perhaps allow employees time off to donate blood. The average donor age in Ireland is age 46 years even though we can give blood from the age of 18. The maximum age is 65, but as we are all living longer lives, should this not be extended?”
“It is my first time speaking to the Minister of State and I am delighted. I thank her for coming in to discuss the critical issue of blood donations. Last week the Irish Blood Transfusion Service said it needed an extra 12,000 blood donations as most blood groups have fallen to under three days of stock. Without the selfless act of a person donating blood, the Irish health system will come to a halt. As the Minister of State knows, blood only lasts 35 days and supply is almost always dynamic. It became so critical last week that the Irish Blood Transfusion Service almost went into amber alert. That would mean that elective surgeries would not continue. I spoke to the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and, after last week's appeal, up to yesterday afternoon, it had 5.8 days' supply, but it aims to hold seven days.”
“I want to assure the people of Navan and County Meath that they will be around to see it happening. When the Minister of State is looking at where he will spend his money under the NDP, I would urge him to put what he can for the rail line to come quickly to Navan in County Meath.”
“This project was promised 20 years ago and many people bought their houses in Navan in good faith expecting the train line, but nothing materialised. The Minister of State mentioned in his opening statement that many of the train tracks are there since the 1800s. We had a train line in Navan from the 1850s. Some 175 years later, we learn that we are going to get the train. Consultants have been appointed and we are on our way. I was informed at a meeting with Iarnród Éireann that a route will be identified by the end of this year and decided upon by next year, with public consultation as part of the process. However, it is very tough waiting all the time for this and to hear people in Navan tell me they will not be around to see it happening.”
“According to the most recent census, Meath had a population of 230,000 in 2022. No doubt the figure is more than that now. Only yesterday, I left my house in County Meath at 7 a.m. and it took two hours to get here - a 27 km journey. This morning, I left at 8 a.m. and I got here at 9.55 a.m. I cannot get those four hours back. We have an excellent bus service, the NX. When I say "excellent", it is excellent on weekends or at off-peak hours. Try getting it at peak times and there is a high chance it will drive straight past you. The people of Meath spend more time commuting to work than those of any other county in the whole of Ireland. We are desperate for the rail line in Navan. When the public consultation was released on this two years ago, 4,000 people responded, such was the want from our county.”
“I move amendment No. 9: In page 8, lines 22 and 23, to delete “it shall be a defence to a defamation action for the defendant to” and substitute “no cause of action shall lie where the defendant can”. I will withdrawn this amendment because the Minister has indicated that he will look at something to do with retailers.”
“Should we just change the definition of defamation completely and have something like a harm test to protect those working in shops, so they are able to ask, "Did you pay for that item?" They are just run ragged with all this. It has featured on "Prime Time", the news and various radio programmes. They are coming to us. I really hope we can do something to help address that. As I said, that is coming from me as a layperson but also as a business person. I am standing up for businesses here.”
“I am hoping that we can do something for retailers and for shoppers in shops so that they can ask people for a receipt or ask if the item has been paid for. I totally agree with the Minister's point on insurance companies. They look at the bottom line and decide it is a lot cheaper to give somebody €7,000 than it is to bring somebody to court for €30,000. Unfortunately, they settle and will not fight those cases. I would love to be in a world where they do fight them. One of the amendments I have tabled, in my slight innocence in all this, is to cap the damages. Is that the right thing to do or the wrong thing to do? It worked in insurance. Is it the right thing to do here?”
“If the retailer asks if they have a receipt, the person might say, "Oh my God, I don't but you've said that in public, everyone has heard it and I'm now going to take a case against you." There is a big difference between somebody being a shareholder in a company and somebody taking a defamation case, which is a lot less. I am spokesperson for my party on enterprise. My colleague Senator Mary Fitzpatrick and I hear all the time from businesses and retailers that this is a massive issue. There is a reason that Ireland has had more cases than the UK has had over the past 15 years. Last year, we had nine more cases than there were in the UK because defamation is a new thing that people can do in shops. I have no clue as to which section we are supposed to change to make this better.”
“I do not claim in any way to have the legal mind that Senator McDowell has. I am just trying to get my head around the legislation and understanding it. I am coming at it from a lay-person's point of view and from listening to business owners. Imagine a scenario in Senator McDowell's butcher shop where merchandise is scattered around the shop in lanes, aisles and areas that staff cannot see. Somebody might slip something into their pocket and maybe the staff see it, but then, by the time the person gets to the front of the shop, the item is no longer in their pocket.”
“I hope we can move on from it, get back to work, get back to doing what we need to do in government and get back to being good politicians who do not give out about each other but who work together to achieve the right result.”
“The other matter I wish to raise is the fact that I am a bit disappointed in the potential no-confidence motion in the Tánaiste, Deputy Harris. I am new to all of this. I am a new Senator, but I have been a very proud to be a member of Fine Gael for the past few years and I am very proud to work with Simon Harris. He is such a hard worker. He is an amazing teacher, in a way, if you look at his politics and how he operates. It is sad when something like this happens. We have record levels of employment and fewer than ever people on hospital waiting lists. We are doing so much for the country in government, and that needs to be recognised. I know Peadar Tóibín; I grew up with him. He is a very good politician and has been a friend of mine for years. I am disappointed in what is happening today.”
“It is like that feeling when you give someone a present at Christmas or for their birthday. There is nothing nicer than giving, and giving blood is the ultimate thing people can do. Maybe we could look at educating people and look at the age limit that applies. The maximum age up to which people can donate blood is 65. Given that we are living longer, should we look at extending that? Should we consider the need to communicate in different languages in light of the diverse population we have? Another thing we might need to look at is speaking to employers to see if they could give employees even two hours of paid leave each year to allow them to give blood. It only takes about two hours to do make a donation, and it is very important.”
“I would like to discuss how we need to broaden the donor base for critical blood supplies. We have all heard this morning how the Irish Blood Transfusion Service is calling for people to donate blood, such is its enormous fear that it might have to go into an amber alert in the next few days. Ireland has never been in an amber alert for donating blood. It would mean that elective surgeries would have to stop, which none of us wants to see. There are a few thing we can do when it comes to donating blood. The average age of someone donating blood in Ireland is 46. It is time to educate people in secondary schools and colleges about the value of donating blood. When I donate blood, I get a text message to tell me my blood has gone somewhere and is going to help save someone. It is just the most amazing feeling.”
“I look forward to what we have promised businesses in our programme for Government, which includes bringing forward measures to support SMEs with changes to PRSI, reduced energy costs for businesses and making sure business policies do not hinder jobs and do not hinder businesses. I very much look forward to working on all these with the Minister.”
“I feel it is very important to be able to park outside a shop. Could we also have another campaign to encourage shopping local, which I know we do very well every year? Maybe we should do one again. Finally, we should ensure small retailers have voices and policy information in order that regulation does not inadvertently disadvantage them. I know the Minister meets many of them on a monthly basis. I thank him for his plan and for protecting jobs and businesses with this budget. Some €1.3 billion is a massive statement and a massive investment. As I said earlier, protecting small business remains at the heart of this Government commitment.”
“Can we look at reducing business rates for businesses and sectors under severe pressure and in particular when there are roadworks happening? I heard of one business last week which lost 70% of turnover because right outside the door the street was being dug up. In my own town of Navan, we have an amazing plan in the Navan 2030 project. There is so much work being done to make our town a better place to come to but businesses that are already on the edge suffer during this phase. Could we offer energy supports for struggling businesses, apart from the upgrade to cleaner energy which is of course very beneficial? Can we examine fair trading practices? Could we offer locational zoning protections for town centre shops versus out-of-town developments? Could we ensure transport access?”
“Perhaps we might have thought about beauty along with hairdressing. Many hairdressers also offer beauty and I believe the numbers employed in both are roughly the same. I worry for Navan town and every town with increased cost of doing business. I would like us to reassure all these businesses - I know the Minister does - that we have their back and that this budget will, in turn, help all these businesses and that we have not finished here. I welcome that we are going to cut the red tape on the length of forms for LEO grants under €3,000. That is brilliant. We need to push more Irish businesses to take up the research and development tax credit. We need to focus on SMEs and how we can support them with grants and business advice. Could we look at supporting small and rural retailers, pubs and beauty salons to level the playing field?”