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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“I spoke to one business today that has gone from a profit of €200,000 in 2022 to €15,000 in 2024. This business owner has not taken a salary in the past year to keep the doors open. Their business has changed. The world of online shopping and cheaper Asian imports has had a dramatic effect. Walking down the main street in Navan, when I read this budget and listened to the Minister, I thought of Geoghegans clothing and curtain store, Reign Boutique, Chislers Boutique, Tierney's Newsagents, Connollys Seafood shop, Sorella Boutique, Ribbon Rouge, Tara dry cleaners, Balance Clinic and beauty spa, Jack Kiernan sport shop, Cordners shoe shop, David's Family Butchers, Henry Loughran's pub and Fitzsimons pub. These businesses are retail, pubs and beauty salons. I worry for them and I worry we need to do more for them.”
“Minimum wage, which is good news for employees and news that employers welcome for the people who work hard for the business, will unfortunately put them under pressure. I do not know any employer who does not want their employees to be rewarded for their hard work but it is about being supported to do so. There has been a 44% increase in minimum wage in six years. My colleague in the enterprise committee, Deputy Clendennen, ran a survey on small businesses and the number one impact was wages, the second was the cost of raw materials, the third was the cost of energy, the fourth was tax demands - which in fairness restaurants, cafes and hairdressers have been looked after - and the fifth was insurance premiums. It is important, having listened to these businesses, that we take on board what they have said.”
“The Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, has said supporting small businesses and sustainable jobs remain at the heart of the Government's commitment to a strong economy and that is very much backed up with the VAT reduction, enhanced local enterprise offices, investment in innovation and scaling. I also very much welcome other improvements like improved access to supports by the national enterprise hub. Unfortunately, businesses are working at reduced hours and closing early because of cost. They do not open Mondays and Tuesdays and I will include our own business in that. They are faced with increased rates, there are 17,500 fewer jobs in retail this year versus last year and we have seen an increase of 112% in insolvency between quarter 1 and quarter 2, one in four of those being retailers.”
“Additional priorities include €100 million to prepare large-scale regional service locations for future FDI, an additional €50 million to scale centres and drive innovation, and €70 million to develop our Irish tourism SMEs and attractions. There is no doubt this is an ambitious budget for enterprise and tourism but right now, I would like to move on to small businesses. In our action plan for productivity and competitiveness, which was produced ahead of target, one of the six thematic challenges is creating and scaling more SMEs. We are repeatedly saying in government that SMEs are the backbone of the Irish economy.”
“I offer my congratulations to Meath County Council and the Minister's Department on the centre. In other parts of the budget we saw the proposed establishment of the AI office in Ireland, which will be a landmark step in positioning Ireland as a leader in responsible AI adoption, while also helping our competitiveness and growth. As the Minister mentioned, at €1.3 billion this budget represents €618 million in current funding and €680 million in capital funding under the national development plan. Total capital investment into the enterprise sector in 2026 will be €800 million. The budget targets key priorities identified in the programme for Government and the action plan on market diversification and competitiveness.”
“In Meath we have a fantastic tourism body, namely, Boyne Valley Tourism. The Boyne Valley, birthplace of Ireland's ancient east, is steeped in history and it is a really special destination. The board does fantastic work to promote our area, so investment here is very welcome. Likewise, in our local enterprise offices. The Minister attended the launch of our new Thrive Centre of Business Excellence in County Meath only a couple of weeks ago. The Minister will agree it was a super evening. The Thrive Centre of Business Excellence will serve as a central hub for supporting and attracting foreign direct investment into the county. The new 21,000 sq. ft facility will offer improved supports to businesses, from start-ups and small SMEs to larger companies operating on a global scale.”
“We have a volatile global economy and we do not really know what is around the corner, so using a budget to focus on supporting enterprise, regional development and tourism is a good call. It is vital that we protect the 2.82 million jobs in our economy. Some of the measures include: a hospitality VAT reduction for food catering and hairdressers from 13.5% to 9%; a research and development tax credit increase from 30% to 35%; capital gains tax was revised; an extension of the special assignee relief programme; the extension of the key employee engagement programme; enhancements to the digital games tax credit; and relief on foreign earnings was extended to the end of 2030. I am particularly delighted to see enhanced funding for tourism bodies and local enterprise offices.”
“As a spokesperson on enterprise here in the Seanad I very much welcome the opportunity to speak to the Minister today and to the budget for enterprise and tourism, which we learnt of last week. I thank the Minister for taking the time to join us here. Ireland's overall international competitive position is strong and currently ranks as the seventh most competitive economy in the world. Ireland has experienced a decade of very significant economic expansion, a strong increase in population, rapid gains in employment and a substantial rise in energy demand. The Minister has been quoted as saying, "Where businesses thrive, jobs follow." This budget of €1.3 billion has invested in Ireland's enterprise base, regional development, innovation, tourism and long-term competitiveness.”
“They will pay out because it is cheaper to pay €7,000, which is the average payout on a defamation claim, than to have to pay costs of €30,000 to fight it. I totally agree with the Minister that more of these should be fought. Insurance companies should put aside an amount to invest in fighting cases to prove to people that they are not going to win. Unfortunately, they do not do that. I also wish to withdraw my amendment but look forward to working with the Minister on making it better.”
“I also appreciate that the Minister is going to look at and take into good consideration what myself and Senator Fitzpatrick have said. We both really do have the interests of small shopkeepers and small businesses at heart. We both work a lot for them in this Chamber. I appreciate that. To go back on what the Minister mentioned about our cases falling, I had a quick look. In 2024, there were 289 cases in Ireland but there was only 209 in the UK where there is ten times the population. Something has worked over there. Something is not working here. I back up what Senator Fitzpatrick has said. I have done a lot of work when it comes from the insurance industry and the insurance companies will not fight cases.”
“I have been sitting here for many hours listening to people talking about this issue. It is very important to me in my role as a representative of businesses. I understand that the Minister is not going to accept any amendments today. I will probably have to withdraw my own amendment but I would urge the Minister to consider the issue further prior to Report Stage.”
“We see individual settlements of €7,500 to €12,000 for minors and legal defence costs of €15,000 to €50,000, even when retailers win. The operational impact is that staff are afraid to check receipts or to stop suspected theft. The projected impact of amendments to the Bill include the elimination of frivolous €7,000-plus settlements, the restoration of staff confidence if we do something in this defamation Bill on loss prevention, a significant reduction in retail crime which is currently costing millions, a stabilisation in insurance premiums, and Ireland being more aligned with European business norms. If we cannot do something here on this Stage, I urge the Minister to consider introducing something on Report Stage that will help small businesses and retailers.”
“Dubious claims can be brought with little or no risks to the claimant while the business, even if it successfully defends itself, is often unable to recover its legal costs. This forces insurers to settle many suspect claims and drives up premiums for small businesses already struggling with the costs of doing business. Some examples given to me by Retail Excellence Ireland include a €12,000 settlement for an eight-year-old claiming defamation after being barred from a shop for suspected theft, a €12,000 settlement for a teenager who produced a receipt from a different shop after being stopped for the suspected theft of a bottle of Coca-Cola, and a €6,000 settlement for a 14-year-old accused of shoplifting sweets.”
“For example, with minor injury claims we now we have the Injuries Resolution Board and medical reports. Awareness has been raised in this area through the work done by the Government in recent years. We have a brand new action plan on all of this, and the Minister has very much helped in that space so that we can get to the stage of having fair and competitive insurance. However, when it comes to defamation I have been reliably informed by people in the Minister's profession that it is easy to fight on behalf of a claimant and that unless you have an absolutely watertight case, an insurer will not fight it. When a shopkeeper signs up to an insurance policy, it is the insurer who decides whether to invest €30,000 in fighting a case, not the shopkeeper.”
“The Minister has been good enough to speak to me about this Bill and to discuss my worries about it. He is a very approachable person. I am very much about small businesses. I hear in my own town of Navan and all around Meath that shopkeepers do not even stop people from taking a drink out of the fridge and walking out of the shop. People can just rock in and get it and there are two reasons for this. One is that gardaí are under a lot of pressure to come for all these cases and two, more importantly, shopkeepers cannot stop them for fear they will be sued for defamation. The Minister rightly said that businesses should fight these cases, and in an ideal world, it would be amazing to fight cases, but I have done my research on this. Defamation is the new minor injury claim, particularly exaggerated or fraudulent, because it is too easy.”
“According to the Courts Service data portal, 292 defamation cases were filed in the Circuit Court and 68 in the High Court, giving a total of 360 cases, in 2023 in Ireland. Comparative case numbers show that there were 250 defamation cases issued in England and Wales in 2023. There were 250 such cases over there and 360 here, but ten times more people live in the UK than here. This does not make sense. The UK implemented reforms to its Defamation Act in 2013 which became effective in January 2014. The most notable impact has been a significant fall in defamation cases. I am proposing an amendment to section 8 but would urge the Minister to look again at the definition of a defamatory statement in the principal Act and to replace it on Report Stage.”
“Like my colleague, Senator Fitzpatrick, I also want to speak on this amendment. Senator Fitzpatrick mentioned RGDATA. We have been inundated with correspondence on this. It seems to me that everyone wants to see something happen with regard to defamation to support businesses and shop owners. Retail Excellence Ireland has been in touch, as has ISME, RGDATA, and the Alliance for Insurance Reform. I have been inundated with emails about this and we have spent a lot of time discussing it because it is so important. On this section, I urge the Minister to look again at the definition of defamation before Report Stage because I really feel that we have missed something there. I am worried that the absence of a harm test means a person who has not been defamed can initiate a defamation action against another person, inflicting legal costs.”
“Some lovely historic buildings are being destroyed. One that comes to mind is the lovely Spicer's Bakery on Kentstown Road in Navan. It keeps being destroyed by graffiti and it is really sad to see it. I would appreciate a debate on this to consider how we can tackle graffiti in our towns and villages and whether there should be tougher penalties against it.”
“I would like to bring up the horrible issue of graffiti. More and more, when I travel through towns in County Meath, graffiti is becoming a major issue, especially in Navan, the town I come from. Graffiti is criminal damage and it is against the law. The people doing it may not think they are causing much harm but this can come with a huge economic cost to the building owners. There are clean-up costs, it is unsightly and there is an increased fear of crime in the area. It encourages other crime, people do not want to see this near their home and it can discourage investment in a town. Places like Venice, California and Copenhagen provide legal spaces for artists to work. Should we consider something like this? Should we have tougher penalties? I think we probably should. How do we stop it?”
“It is a fabulous space that will benefit three communities - Robinstown, Dunderry and a third one I cannot think of. Do we have any idea when the national governing body for the women's sheds will be set up?”
“I thank the Minister. Of all the Ministries, Deputy Calleary has a wonderful Ministry. It is a great Department because the Minister can do so much good with it. When I looked at all the different sources of community centre funding that increased in the budget, I was delighted to see that nearly all of them went up by €1 million, €2 million or €3 million. I welcome that. It is fantastic news. I recognise the money that has come into County Meath. I worked with the Clady Hall project in Dunderry, County Meath, which got great money from the Department. People worked locally to raise funds to create an amazing community space in a building that had been closed - it was more or less derelict - but has now been partly reopened. I hope to welcome the Minister there at some stage when the job is totally finished.”
“It offers comfort and hope to people navigating one of life's toughest challenges. I have mentioned three groups. I am sure there are many more in similar circumstances. I am focusing on these three groups to ascertain the Government's plans to provide homes for groups that go out of their way to support women, to support people, to support families and to support communities in County Meath.”
“To do this, she would have had to travel to Dublin, Westmeath or Louth. We must bear in mind that Meath has a population of 240,000 people, which means there are potentially 1,600 people diagnosed every year, each of whom has various family members. This incredible lady set up the Meath Cancer Support Group with the wonderful support of Trim Family Resource Centre. Ms Mullen has some space but there are now more than 30 people looking to come to the group's meetings and the room can only hold 30 people. This group is a lifeline for individuals and families that have been affected by cancer. How can a group that provides such support continue to progress its work without a base? The group provides help through counselling, peer support, information sessions and practical assistance.”
“These groups offer essential social, emotional and educational supports. All I have said about the Trim women's shed I could say equally about the Navan women's shed, which is in the same predicament. I urge the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht to seek to ensure that women's sheds are equally looked after this year. Another group that I would like to bring to the Minister's attention is the Meath Cancer Support Group. Rachel Mullen from Kildalkey never imagined that she would find herself in a life-changing battle, but that was exactly what happened when she found she had breast cancer. She did not expect to find that there was no support group local to her where she could cry, vent, rage, smile and speak to people going through the same thing.”
“The women's shed movement has expanded rapidly across Ireland in recent years, as the Minister will be aware, inspired by the well-established men's shed model. Nonetheless, it is fairly safe to say that women's sheds are more shedless than men's sheds. Most women's sheds rent shared spaces, which means they must pack away their equipment after each session. Men's sheds, on the other hand, are often granted permanent spaces. Today, there are 120 women's sheds across Ireland. Sheila K. Martin from Killarney women's shed made a super point when she said that communities function best when they feel connected. People used to use pubs for that but many of them have shut down. Women's sheds can fill that gap by providing a dedicated space where women can share experiences, build friendships and feel part of something bigger.”
“This group has 450 members and would benefit from having somewhere it can call home for a number of reasons, including stability, continuity, ownership, pride, development and skill building. The group could plan activities and workshops for its huge member base without worrying about venue availability. Caroline Smith, who is the group's chair, has said that it wants to get women out and into the community, to provide a safe support space for women and to act as a non-judgmental group where women can gather, support each other and learn new skills. All women above the age of 18 are welcome to join and there is no cut-off age. A lot of women have said that the shed has saved them by bringing them out of isolation.”
“I appreciate that the Minister, Deputy Calleary, has come here this morning. While I was running in the convention, I used a quote about women to sum up myself and my late mam, who loved a strong cup of tea: a woman like me is like a tea bag; you can't tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water. There are many women in County Meath who are strong women and who are fighting for a home for their groups. Those are the Trim women's shed, the Navan women's shed and the Meath cancer support group. Trim women's shed is a welcome space where women can connect, learn new skills and support one another through workshops, creative classes and social events. However, the absence of a consistent venue has become a major challenge to its continued growth and sustainability.”
“Finally, I encourage Deputy Troy, as Minister of State with responsibility for insurance, to ensure that the reduction in the insurance compensation fund levy from 2% to 1% will be passed on, as the Central Bank has recommended. I encourage him to ask insurance companies to pass that on to homeowners and motorists.”
“I acknowledge that the increase in the SUSI grant threshold, which I have been asking for regularly in Seanad, was delivered by the Minister, Deputy Lawless. Bringing that up to €120,000 from €115,000 is very welcome. It is a reduction in fees of €500, which I welcome. Is it better to have the reduction in fees of €500 or to face the fees going back up to €3,000? I welcome the reduction of €500. The additional €65 million enabling a further 12,500 apprenticeship registrations is vital. Not everybody wants to go to college, and many like to learn and earn. Funding for medicine and nursing will deliver 11,000 more places, an increase of 25%.”
“I particularly welcome the reduction in VAT in the hairdressing sector and even more so in a sector very close to my heart, namely, the leisure sector, which includes play centres, bowling alleys and indoor activity centres. These businesses were the very last to reopen after the pandemic. They were not included in the increased cost of doing business grants. They have faced increases in the costs of energy, wages, rates, rent and insurance. These businesses employ many of our students and younger workers. For this sector, I am particularly happy that those centres which supply food to the customers and to all the parties that walk through the door will now be able to avail of this hospitality grant. I also welcome that the VAT rates for gas and electricity will remain at 9% until December 2030.”
“Small businesses, as I have said repeatedly, welcome their employees being looked after with higher wages but need support to provide them. We see today that the VAT rate for hospitality will decrease from 13.5% to 9%. There are some 191,000 jobs in the sector. To my colleague on my left, I say that McDonald's and Supermacs employ many people in Ireland. Supermacs employs 4,000 people. Pat McDonagh has been to the forefront of constantly working for businesses, especially when it comes to insurance reform, thus protecting jobs. I will also mention, in response to claims that we are only helping big chains to do even better, that those chains represent only 0.4% of businesses in the hospitality trade.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber to discuss the budget. This is my first budget since being elected and it is great to be here. I would like to discuss a couple of parts of the budget that I welcome. I do not need to repeat much of what has already been spoken about. Since the onset of the pandemic, we have added more than 440,000 jobs to the economy. That is just since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. We have record levels of women at work, as well as many people coming to Ireland to work. It is expected that a further 63,500 jobs will be created by the end of next year with the economy remaining at full employment over the coming period. I am hoping that the announcements today will protect those jobs as outlined as businesses are under so much pressure, as the Minister of State knows.”
“I would also like to encourage people to get the chicken pox vaccine, which has just become available. Nobody wants to see their children covered with all the little spots and scars, and it can lead to those who are in pregnancy and older people becoming very sick. I thank the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, for making these vaccines available but, as someone who has had pre-cancerous cells myself following a smear, I would ask where we are with the HPV vaccine. Can I get the information on what the take-up is for the HPV vaccine in Meath?”
“This year's programme was developed following an evaluation of the first pathfinder programme, which ran successfully during the 2024-25 RSV season. The vaccine actually helped to reduce hospital rates by over 65%. I will give an example. My baby daughter was ten days old when she got the RSV virus. We spent ten days being looked after by the incredible staff in Crumlin hospital. Four out of every 100 babies will be hospitalised with this. She was very sick and it was so hard to get her oxygen levels up. At one stage she went completely blue in my arms. Savannah was lucky she survived it eventually. It is something I would not wish on any family. I urge the Department of Health to really push this out and to advertise it. I encourage parents to get that vaccine for their babies as it could prevent RSV, which can lead to pneumonia.”
“I welcome Mr. Martin Hughes to his new role. Today I would like to speak about the importance of some vaccines that are now available. I will also speak about the HPV vaccine. Tremendous work is being done by the Department of Health under the Minister for Health, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, and the HSE in rolling out the RSV vaccine. The RSV immunisation programme will run throughout winter 2025-26. The immunisation will be offered in maternity hospitals to all babies born between 1 September 2025 and 28 February 2026. It will also be available to babies who are aged less than six months old on 1 September 2025 to offer them protection ahead of the seasonal upsurge in infection with RSV. RSV is the most common cause of hospital admissions due to acute respiratory illnesses in children aged under five years.”
“It is one eight-hour shift or two four-hour shifts that we are allowing students to work without it coming off their SUSI grant. I want to see this and I will be pushing for it to happen in the budget.”
“Okay, so it is going to cost €35 million to do it, but there is a tax gain to the Government, there is a gain for businesses, there is a gain for students, and there is a gain for parents. We should not even have to think about this. The minimum wage is €12.15 for a 19-year-old. If they earn that, or the current full minimum wage of €13.50, and work the summer, Christmas and Easter holidays, they are covered for their holiday earnings. I do not know whether the Minister of State worked during college or not, but students should not be penalised in their SUSI grant for working at weekends throughout college. What I am proposing allows students to work a further 290 hours throughout the year. That spread throughout all the other weeks is only one day per week.”
“I also worked in a chemist, which was another great job, and it helped me keep my social life going too. For parents, it will help relieve some of the stress they have with all of the costs, and for businesses, they are getting staff, particularly in hospitality and leisure, when they are busy at weekends. College is a great opportunity for young people to learn and grow and is, ultimately, a path to building a career and contributing to the economy. It is time for a common-sense approach to calculating the SUSI grant and to provide supports, while also enabling students to ultimately support themselves.”
“The SUSI threshold is a barrier to those students who want to stand on their own two feet as much as they can while still in full-time education. I am calling for the threshold for students working to increase to €12,000 as a starting point and allow it for the entire year, not just holiday earnings. I would, of course, like to see this increased to €14,000 in next year's budget. This will allow students to work a couple of days per week or perhaps a couple of evenings without impacting their SUSI grant. It is an absolute win, win, win, for students, for parents, and for businesses. For students, they are learning a trade and earning money. I worked in Dunnes Stores. In the 1990s you worked very hard when you were in Dunnes Stores. It was a great lesson in life, and it was great for wages.”
“As an owner of a small business, we have staff, particularly those in secondary school moving on to college, worried about working hours as they do not want it to affect them obtaining grants through SUSI. Many businesses have staffing issues and many students need money to support their studies and lifestyle. We must consider extending the holiday earnings deduction to allow for a percentage of part-time work throughout the year. This would benefit students and businesses alike. Like many, when I was in college, I worked during holidays and weekends to support myself living away from home. It is important to promote hard work and to instil in our young people the benefits of getting up and going to work.”
“However, the way the SUSI grant is calculated no longer reflects the true cost of being a student. Rent is higher than ever for students, food costs are increasing, and this is before we consider transport, books, materials, and basic living expenses. While income thresholds that determine the grant a student receives have changed, they have not changed enough. Students are currently unfairly penalised if they are working too much while they study. Students should be encouraged to work part-time as much as they can while in college without risking any cuts to their SUSI grant and, obviously, without it negatively affecting their course, but let them decide that.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming in today to debate my Commencement matter. As a former Member of the Seanad on the cultural and educational panel, I am sure he will be interested in what I am talking about here. As an employer and having spoken to parents, I have noticed the unfair nature in which holiday earnings are calculated for the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grant. At present, if you are a student registered on a full-time course and you are working, SUSI can deduct a portion of your income earned outside of term time. These are classified as holiday earnings and, for the 2025-26 academic year, the maximum deduction is €8,424 and applies to income earned during Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. Do not get me wrong: this is great as it allows people to work some hours at a time they are off college.”
“Many children have this condition and if children do not see public dentists in schools until they are in sixth class we will be in a lot of trouble in regard to children's teeth in the future. I am delighted we have opened another 20 student places in Dublin but with only 90 people graduating every year and 45 of them returning to various countries, while we are adding 20 places we need to add a lot more to that. We need more investment in our colleges. We need specific training in other aspects of dentistry. I thank the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, for the work she is putting in but I ask for more to be done so more dentists can be qualified in future, particularly for County Meath.”
“Focusing on County Meath, in quarter 4 of 2017, some 7,711 children were seen but in quarter 4 of 2023, 2,378 children were seen. It has not been good and children have not been able to be seen. In the public dental service the lack of dentists has led to a situation where fewer than half of the children who should be seen under the school dental programme have been seen and there are children in parts of the country who are facing a ten-year backlog. The previous time I spoke about this I mentioned my own children. They have a condition that is growing in Ireland called molar incisor hypomineralisation. It means the enamel is not growing on their teeth. Only that I was lucky enough to be able to bring them to a private dentist, it would not have been a good story. They have had a lot of procedures and one operation.”
“I echo Senator Ní Chuilinn’s thoughts and wishes for the support we have received from everyone in the Seanad since we began. We are total newbies. Lots of us are brand new politicians and greatly appreciate the support. I echo what Senator Ní Chuilinn said about the workers in the background because we all use our social media clips and little videos so I support the workers in all of their endeavours. I have spoken on this previously, but I wanted to finish off the year by speaking about it again because it is so important and I will bring it back up in the autumn. The analysis from the Irish Dental Association shows we need an extra 500 dentists across the private and public sectors immediately. We are down 642 dentists who are on a DTSS contract nationally during the past 12 years.”
“If we are encouraging people to go out walking and cycling, the situation can be dangerous for them and for people driving if they are at a particular junction. Should we be looking at revising these dates? I know it is a bit contentious, but with climate change, the rigid dates do not always suit weather patterns. Equally, not all hedges are rich in wildlife. In fact, many roadside hedges are not and perhaps modern farming needs a bit more flexibility. I would really like a discussion on this topic to see if we should be bringing the date back into August from 1 September.”
“This ban applies to local authorities just as it does to private landowners and other entities. While the ban is in place, there are some exemptions, for example, cutting or destroying vegetation for road safety reasons is allowed at any time of the year. However, what I am hearing a lot from people in rural areas is that it is getting more and more difficult to get hedges cut, particularly at this time. If people look at the weeds in their garden, they will see how much they are growing at the moment. There is a serious road safety issue. I know this even myself. I live on a rural lane. When you walk up and down and then stand in for a car going by, you are standing in on brambles. It can be a bit dangerous, and for older people driving as well.”
“How are couples supposed to pay for this? I appreciate we are doing a good job on disabilities, but when it comes to children with complex needs and adjusting their homes for them and their families, we should allow a reduced VAT rate for building works, when it is for the benefit of the person and his or her family. The UK allows ramps to be built, as well as widened passageways and walls and adaptions to bathrooms, etc., to be totally VAT exempt. I call for us to have a look at this, please. The second issue I will raise is that of hedge cutting for the safety of people driving. The Wildlife Act 1976, as amended, prohibits hedge cutting and destruction of vegetation in hedges between 1 March and 31 August to protect nesting birds and other wildlife.”
“I will raise two important issues. The first is housing adaption for disabled people. We all know about the housing adaption grant, and how valuable it is to older people and people with disabilities. More than €3 million is the budget used by my local authority, Meath County Council, which does an excellent job. However, a couple, say, earning only the minimum wage and working full time, are only entitled to €20,000 towards any building works in their home. I have been speaking with Tracy Carroll, who is a strong advocate for all children with disabilities and their parents. If someone has a child with highly complex needs, some of the extensions you need, including downstairs bedrooms, adjusted bathrooms, adjusted kitchens and some outdoor space, can come in at more than €100,000, never mind €20,000.”
“I urge everyone in Meath to come out for both the men and women. They are both equally important. The best of luck to them.”