Louise O'Reilly
Dublin Fingal West · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I welcome this debate this afternoon and am happy to be able to make a small contribution to it. I grew up in a Border town. I ended up in that town because my father was a trade union organiser who represented workers on both sides of the Border for a long number of years and, in fact, went on to be based in the North for a long time.”
“I am fortunate enough to represent a constituency that is very firmly in the Dublin–Belfast economic corridor. Before partition, as we know, Belfast was a thriving industrial powerhouse. Partition put a lid on the potential of that city to grow and flourish.”
“When we talk about Irish unity, we should frame that discussion as one about potential for growth, the potential for all-Ireland working and all-Ireland business. Between Belfast and Dublin, there are five universities, numerous colleges of further education and training, and businesses that are ready to scale up.”
“As the debate on Irish unity advances, and it is advancing despite what some of the people opposite would like to happen, we need to frame that discussion in a positive way. We need to look clearly for those opportunities while acknowledging the challenges. We are not blind to the challenges.”
“If her letter does not have any impact - let us be honest; it has not had any impact - the Minister of State might outline what he will do that might go a bit further than writing a letter. We know that devices are essential. We know that parents want their kids to be able to participate.”
“I thank the Deputies for bringing forward this motion. I was chatting to my dad as I was coming in and told him I would be debating this motion in relation to supports for parents this morning. He reminded me, of course, that it was the Labour Party in government that cut those very supports.”
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“This is a huge event and a huge day in their calendar. It is a day when people get the chance not just to make money, but also to showcase local talent and local produce. Thousands of extra cars on the road means extra pollution, as the Minister of State knows, but it also means that people are less likely to get in. It is a real bottleneck. We have had trouble with traffic there, which is part of the reason the shuttle bus service was such a success. It is fine for people who live along the train line. The Minister of State will know there is a train line that runs right through my constituency. They will be grand because they are getting the train anyway. However, the vast majority of people who attend Flavours of Fingal do not live on the train line.”
“It brings people from Rush, Lusk, Skerries, Balbriggan, Swords and the surrounding areas, and means they can get to and from the festival with ease. I do not expect the Minister of State to be familiar with every aspect of north County Dublin. Donbate is situated on a peninsula, which means one road in and one road out. It is very tight. What we do not want to see is people having a bad experience on their way to the festival. Also, from a sustainability and environmental perspective, I am scratching my head trying to understand why this money was pulled. I would love to know where the money was reallocated to, but more importantly, I really want people to be able to get to Flavours of Fingal easily and to get home easily. I know the vendors and the people who are there to showcase their products want that as well.”
“Ireland's largest summer festival will take place this weekend at Newbridge House and Farm in Donabate. The Flavours of Fingal is in its 14th year. It has been a hugely successful festival. It is one that I really enjoy going to every year. Many of my neighbours and people from my community also really look forward to it. It is a fantastic opportunity for local vendors such as cheese makers and craftspeople to showcase their wares. It is a big event in their calendar and of huge importance to our local economy, as well as just being a good day out for families and people in general. Between 65,000 and 75,000 people attend, which makes it one of the biggest summer festivals. Part of the success of Flavours of Fingal has been the shuttle bus service that operates all around the Fingal area.”
“The Minister of State should reflect on the impact of the Government's policies on the people who are at the business end of them.”
“The Minister of State should know, but I fear he does not, that prepaid meters have some of the highest rates for electricity. A data centre that is sucking the life out of the grid pays cheap electricity rates. However, a lone parent who lives in Balbriggan, Rush, Lusk, Skerries or anywhere else in my constituency and who gets behind with their bills is punished by being put on a higher rate of electricity. When they cannot pay, a buzzer starts to go off and people know their energy is going to run out. They then have to go to the local Intreo office where they are told to fill out a form and wait. People are being cut off, but this is not recorded as their being disconnected. They do not have the energy to heat their homes.”
“I thank Deputies for bringing forward the motion. My constituents pay some of the highest energy costs in Europe. They would love to be able to re-register their households as data centres in order to avail of some of the Government's cheap electricity, but they cannot do so. As a result, they get screwed every single day of the week for the crime of wanting some hot water and a hot or warm home. People with disabilities feel that even more acutely. Some 320,000 household accounts are in arrears with their electricity bills and 180,000 are in arrears with their gas bills. This is the inevitable consequence of the Government withdrawing energy credits, which were a little treat in the run-up to the election and which then disappeared very quickly. Those in arrears are having prepaid meters installed in their homes.”
“Our community centres are full of for-profit childcare providers. There is no space and no interest from this Government in community childcare and the parents, the kids and the early-year educators in my constituency of Dublin Fingal West deserve so much better.”
“That is when they can even get a place, because a lot of the children in my constituency are on waiting lists. Parents heard the Government’s promise of €200 per month yet they pay €800 and sometimes more. According to Fingal County Council the review of childcare that was due to take place in 2022 was abandoned. Now it is starting again, at the request of the Minister, to do another review. The Government does not need a review to tell it what is wrong. The statistics are there. All the while those statistics tell us a tale about the Government’s attitude to parents, children and early years educators in my area. There are 63,000 kids living in Fingal and 15,000 of them live in disadvantage. There are 800 community or not-for-profit places. For every 100 children in Fingal there are 24 childcare places.”
“I thank an Teachta Kerrane not just for this motion but for all the work she has done because while the Government completely lacks a roadmap, an Teachta Kerrane has showed it how it can be done in terms of delivering for parents and children. Access to affordable childcare allowed me to finish college, to work part-time and then to move on to full-time employment. Affordable childcare was a game-changer for my family. The best way to deliver affordable childcare, and the Minister knows this, is by delivering it on a not-for-profit basis yet in my constituency of Dublin Fingal West we see the Government attitude to community childcare laid bare. I represent the youngest constituency in this State. There is a huge need for affordable childcare. Parents are being made to pay huge fees.”
“They bought their homes in 2003 and, within a couple of years, those houses started to crumble. The problem is never going to end unless the Government is prepared to deal with it. Likewise, Fingal was only admitted to the new scheme this year and already people are being told that this scheme is not fit for purpose. I ask the Minister of State to please withdraw the Government’s obnoxious amendment and listen to the people, and their representatives, who are dealing with this issue. I also ask him to acknowledge the role of his party, the Galway tent, its cosy relationship with developers and all that has happened, and to have the decency to say sorry to people and to make proper amends. A 100% redress scheme should mean 100%.”
“Can you imagine the trauma of not feeling safe in your home? It is the one place where you should have a right to feel safe and secure. While the lads who were in the Galway tent will sail away off into the sunset, happy, rich and benefiting from the sale of those homes, the people they left behind will deal with the trauma for generations. Homeowners in Lusk are now being told they will have to pay for another test to get a green certificate, when they were told back in 2013 that they had to wait three years and would then get their green certificate. They are not getting it now. They have to get another test that is, potentially, going to cost them €2,500. This is never-ending. These people have been dealing with this situation now for 20 years.”
“I thank Deputy Charles Ward for bringing forward this motion and for giving us the opportunity to co-sign it, which, as my colleague said, we were more than pleased to do. I have been dealing with the legacy of the Government’s soft touch or, indeed, non-existent regulation since I was elected. The core point here, and this is the thing that is very often lost, most especially on Fianna Fáil Ministers but also on the Government in general, is that my constituents in north County Dublin did absolutely nothing wrong. They bought their homes. They made what is the biggest investment of their lives in good faith. They are not engineers. When the builder told them that the house was up to scratch, they expected that it was going to be up to scratch. For decades, thousands of them have endured their homes crumbling.”
“That is getting important healthcare for children on the drip, on the never-never, on the buy now, pay later. They are getting themselves into debt. The private provider has brochures and leaflets it hands out. The incompetence of this Government has opened up that space for it.”
“The Government needs to treat it like healthcare because that is what it is. I do not know if the waiting lists I deal with in my constituency office day in, day out result from indifference, incompetence or both but the parents who contact me day in, day out are at the end of their rope. Of course, because this is Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, the private sector has moved right into this space. We now see that people can go to a private provider that did not provide dental care for kids previously but does so now. There is a price list on their website. It costs €77 for a filling and €40 for an assessment. That is €120. If parents do not have it, and plenty of them do not, does the Minister of State know what they can do? Buy now and pay later.”
“I commend my colleague, an Teachta David Cullinane, for bringing forward this motion, for his work on this issue and for the well-crafted solutions he has brought to the floor of the Dáil. I strongly encourage the Minister of State to engage with the solutions and proposals brought here this evening by Sinn Féin because it is very clear that what the Government is doing is not working. There are over 1,500 kids in north Dublin on waiting lists for orthodontic treatment having been assessed as grade 5. Grade 5 means they are already in pain. They have had the assessment and they need the treatment but they cannot get it. It is not hard to see what is needed. The Minister of State did not need ten minutes to tell us what is needed. We know what is needed. We need investment in our kids' dental health.”
“We will be bringing forward amendments, as has been outlined. Those amendments are intended to be constructive but also to ensure the voices of the residents will be heard.”
“If they are forced to relocate and cannot remain where they are, they want a decent settlement so that they can rebuild their lives elsewhere. I am also conscious of those people who are employed in the airport. Again, many of them are constituents of mine. I know how important the airport is as an employer and also as a driver of business. More can be done in terms of regional balance. There is also a real need for an independent review and an assessment of the flight paths. The changes to the flight paths that took place recently were shrouded in mystery. People who never had a plane go over their house before found themselves in flight paths and they found it very hard to get answers or to get to the bottom of it. They will say themselves that they felt like they were gaslit by the Government and the airport.”
“However, when your neighbour is as big and noisy as Dublin Airport is, it is sometimes very difficult to see and feel that it is being a good neighbour. The residents want to be treated fairly, which is not unreasonable. Many of the people who live in the environs of the airport do not want to relocate but, if they have to do so, they want to be able to get a settlement from the voluntary dwelling purchase scheme that will enable them to move on with their lives while maintaining as much as possible what they have in terms of their family, etc. There are people who live near the airport who are there for generations. The airport grew up around them. They were there first. The Minister will know these people well.”
“He also told us that what he is presenting here today will allow for the continued sustainable development of Dublin Airport while balancing the rights of local residents. Will the Minister outline for me what the rights of local residents are exactly and how that balance will be achieved? The Minister will know, having represented this area for a long time - I have represented them for ten years myself - that sometimes the residents who live in the environs of the airport do not feel like they have been listened to or that their concerns have been taken on board. As the Minister will know, all they want is for the airport to be a good neighbour. They feel that they are good neighbours and they want the airport to be a good neighbour.”
“I welcome the opportunity to make a contribution this afternoon. I thank Deputies Daly and O'Hara for their work on this legislation and for their continued work in this area. I also commend the residents' groups, including the St. Margaret’s The Ward group and other groups that represent the people who are living in the environs of Dublin Airport. I wish to address two issues the Minister raised in his remarks and I hope he will be able to come back to them in his concluding remarks. I will try to get back in if I can to hear these, but I will look back on the recording in any event. The Minister referenced the programme for Government including "a clear commitment to work with stakeholders to achieve the objective of lifting the passenger cap". Will he outline, in terms of the residents, how that commitment will be achieved?”
“If we are making comparisons with other EU countries, in any other EU country, they would be able to expect to go on a holiday or to have a few bob on a Friday night. All of that is gone. They are just paying their rent. Their kids are paying the price for the Government's failure to act on child poverty.”
“There was an election and, in the run-in to that election, there were energy supports and all sorts of other things. That is all gone now. When the SILC data catches up, it will reflect the fact that energy supports have been withdrawn and that people in this State are paying some of the highest energy prices in Europe. Moreover, families who are living in poverty are more likely to be on pay-as-you-go meters. I am sure the Minister of State sees this in his constituency office just as I do in mine. Those people are paying even higher rates. It is very expensive to be poor in this State. The SILC data also does not include accommodation costs. That is huge. There are people on ordinary wages who work really hard.”
“I do not want to seem ungrateful for the Minister of State's reply but he has said things like, as a relatively high-income country, some households assessed as experiencing poverty in Ireland might not be considered so in other EU countries. They are not paying rent or buying groceries in any other EU country, are they? They are doing all that there. If they are in relative poverty, they are in relative poverty. There is no point telling them they would be well-off if they were living in Spain. They do not live there; they live here. As I said, I do not want to seem ungrateful for the reply but I personally would have been embarrassed to read that out. The Minister of State referenced the SILC data and the time lag. That is important because these findings are based on incomes in 2024. We all know what happened in 2024.”
“The Children's Rights Alliance tells us that between 24 and 25 there has been an increase in the proportion of individuals living in consistent poverty and experiencing food deprivation. There is an awful lot of talk about a social media ban for children under 16 years of age and I am very concerned that this is acting as a distraction from what is really happening. There are kids who will fall through the cracks because the Government's target is based on figures that are not real figures because they do not take accommodation into account.”
“I am interested to know what progress is being made to reach the Government's target, but I am also interested to know if it is interested in what the real picture is. The real picture exists when you take into account accommodation costs. If you do not take accommodation costs into account you are missing the picture and therefore will always miss the target. If you are not measuring it properly you will not be able to resolve it. We know from the MESL report that home energy costs have risen by 24.9% in the last year and doubled since 2020. Home heating oil, included in the rural MESL basket, has risen by 72.4% in the last year. That is 186.8% compared to 2020. These are all really serious factors which are impacting.”
“The Minister of State and I both know that direct cash transfers in the form of additional child benefit, or whatever way the Government wants to dress it up, have been recommended by the ESRI and others as the most effective way to reduce child poverty. Plain and simple, the Government did not commit enough money to the issue of child poverty to make serious progress towards its target. For years the targets have been set and we know they have been missed. The truth about child poverty exists in those homes where parents are earning but they are paying extortionate childcare rates, for really massive rents or their mortgage has increased, or they are forking out for devices, which are going far ahead of free school books. They are paying energy bills that are among the highest in Europe.”
“Households with one older child of 12 and over account for 94% of those cases. I do not need to tell the Minister of State that kids are expensive; we know this. People who are living in poverty or at risk of poverty are doing their best to try to manage but it is getting impossible for them. We know that the Department of Social Protection and the child poverty unit in the Department of the Taoiseach have chosen a figure to measure that does not include accommodation costs. When we compare poverty rates among renters without housing supports, before the impact of housing costs on their disposable income is taken into account, 20.5% are at risk of poverty. After housing costs, this becomes 42.6%. That is more than double. Even more worryingly, the 22% of supported renters in poverty jumps to 58% once housing costs are accounted for.”
“I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this Topical Issue. It relates to the national child poverty target. Social Justice Ireland tells us that there are 211,150 children at risk of poverty. Crucially, this figure does not take account of the household spend on accommodation. Two adults working on a low income or the minimum wage do not earn enough to live decently, and neither can they bring their kids up on that money. The MESL report, which was out this morning, tells us that older children, aged 12 and older, in households headed by single adults have the greatest risk of deep income inadequacy if they are dependent on social welfare. This has been true consistently and we have heard it consistently. Single-adult households make up over half of the deep inadequacy cases.”
“I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for being very fair. I am taking this question on behalf of my colleague, Teachta Rose Conway-Walsh. It is to ask the Minister for Social Protection if he has plans to improve turnaround times on decisions regarding applications for supplementary welfare allowance to cover transport costs for going to hospital appointments for patients who may receive an appointment at short notice and do not necessarily have the time to wait for a decision.”
“I really welcome that the Minister is going to examine this matter. I can tell him that I will work with him and I am sure plenty of others will as well because it cannot just be an issue in my area. I would imagine it is across the board.”
“That is very welcome to hear and I am more than happy to work with the Minister. I can provide him with practical examples of where this has happened. I can also say, as I used to represent nurses and I do not hold a massive candle for doctors, that many GPs do this. The problem usually arises when a person goes in to get a form filled and they find out that maybe there is a new GP or they have moved to a different type of service and they just do not do that form. People are not seeing the same GP when they go back and they are coming to my office. When they go for supplementary welfare allowance, that is not always clear cut either and a lot of the time people are sent back. They are told to go to the doctor because the doctor has to do it but the doctor does not have to do it, as the Minister for Health has confirmed to me.”
“Perhaps the Minister will confirm that people can apply for supplementary welfare allowance because that is not the experience of my constituents. I am hoping that the Minister can confirm that this morning.”
“Excellent, and I hope that the Minister will confirm to me that people can apply for supplementary welfare allowance in order to pay for the GP. If this is not covered on the medical card and someone does not have the means to pay €80 but absolutely does need to apply for whatever reason, it strikes me that it should be available on the supplementary welfare allowance. I am hoping that the Minister will confirm that to me this morning. If it is not available, then I am hopeful that the Minister will say where people can get the money. People cannot magic up €80. If they have not got €80, they have not got it. Many GPs will fill out a form, but only on a grace and favour arrangement. More and more people are finding that their GPs will not fill out the forms or that they have to pay for a visit outside of the GMS. That is €80.”
“The Minister and I discussed this at committee. I received a response from the Minister for Health advising that the general medical services, GMS, contract does not cover the filling out of forms. As the Minister for Social Protection knows, a lot of people require medical information in order to apply for social welfare and other things. Given that filling out forms is not covered, my question is on the significant barriers, be they administrative, financial or otherwise. Once I started to look into this, I realised that there were a lot of people who found it quite daunting to approach the Department of Social Protection. Specifically, my concern is around the people on the medical card.”
“A lot can be done to streamline the forms but that narrative part of the form is really tough for parents to engage with.”
“Some of this stuff is very easy to understand. If someone has a child who has a condition or a disability and that child is doubly incontinent, there you go and that should be enough without a parent having to go into a narrative about what that means. We know what that means. That means restrictions on where people can go. That means they have to be with their child constantly. All of these things we know. Sometimes, the Department requires a lot of information from people about the impact that having a child with a disability has on the household. That is really hard for parents to do. We conducted a survey. A really high proportion came back to us and advised that they experienced poverty in the period between making the application and actually receiving the DCA, regardless of whether that required an appeal. That is not acceptable.”
“Filling them out is really hard for parents only to have an application rejected while knowing they have an entitlement and to have to go back and appeal. My understanding is that the percentage being overturned on appeal has risen. That is not a good thing.”
“I know that the Minister is very aware that in order to apply for DCA, a parent has to fill out a very long form, be it online or done with a biro. It is a very long form and they must describe their child on their worst day. They must talk about all of the things about their child that are negative for their family. It is soul destroying and exhausting. I can say this because I conducted a survey last year where I talked to people about it. The experience of having an appeal rejected is somewhat traumatising for parents. I have had people in my office and I am trying to encourage them to appeal where there are no changes in the circumstances and they get it on appeal. It is welcome that people can apply online, as this removes some of the burden but, in truth, these forms are onerous.”
“This is a fairly straightforward question and one I have asked before, because it is an issue I like to keep track of. It has to do with the high rate of people who are unsuccessful the first time but successful the second time, often in circumstances where there has been no change. I know that the Minister will say this is not the case, but I can tell him that my constituents do believe that there is a policy. Some of the people who contact my office believe that there is a policy of refuse first and see if people come back. That is not a good thing, I am sure the Minister will agree, but it is certainly the impression that people have.”
“It is important that the review is then placed before the Dáil so that we have a chance to have that debate but also so that the findings of any such review are incorporated into ensuring any scheme is fit for purpose, delivering, modern, effective and capable of taking into account any illnesses that might arise. It is important that there is a periodic, mandated review, which will give us a chance in this House to have a discussion but will also give the Minister for Health of the day the opportunity to engage with the review and update the scheme as appropriate. We believe the scheme is a good scheme but not reviewing it for decades does not make it effective. It is becoming less effective with time.”
“In order to know if this scheme is fit for purpose and is delivering for those who need it, it is important that it is monitored and reviewed and that this is done on a consistent basis. Conditions such as endometriosis and polycystic ovary syndrome, PCOS, should be covered by the scheme. However, women find themselves having to find the money for treatment in some instances and shop around, as it were, and go to multiple appointments to be prescribed drugs. This can have a very severe impact on their pocket. Obviously, there is the drugs payment scheme but, again, that does not always work and sometimes acts as a barrier for these women. In order for any Government scheme to be effective and for us to know it is working and delivering in the way intended, it should be reviewed on a regular basis.”
“I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Health Act 1970 and to provide for related matters. I will share my time. The Bill amends the Health Act 1970 to ensure the effectiveness of the provision without charge of drugs, medicines or medical or surgical appliances to persons suffering from the precise disease or disability of a permanent or long-term nature through a review every three years. The long-term illness, LTI, scheme has been a success since its establishment and has assisted many people across this State. However, it has not been updated for a long time and as a result, we now know about many disabilities, ailments and illness that would not have been known about when the Bill was first introduced. They are long-term and lifelong but in some instances they are not covered by the scheme.”
“My activism on abortion rights did not start with repeal, and I am not naive enough to believe that it will end with one debate or one law, because I know this is a fight that we must continue. I was a small child when I first marched with my mam for abortion access. Then, we were marching for information. I marched with my friends to get the State to legislate for X. I marched and campaigned with my daughter and, although he was tiny, with my grandson for repeal. At every stage, we count our wins, we accept our losses and we keep going. This legislation is evidence of that. We will keep going. Let us get the three-day wait gone. Let us mark our progress. Let us keep campaigning for women's rights, because I am long enough around and long enough campaigning to know that one piece of legislation without consensus makes a point.”
“In all of our hours and hours of discussion over many months, we never recommended a three-day wait. It was inserted by Fine Gael, and I hope that I will see many Fine Gaelers in here tomorrow voting in the right way this time to get it gone. I would like, as I generally do when I discuss abortion healthcare, to recall those many people who campaigned for access over so many decades. These include people like my parents, who campaigned against the insertion of the eighth amendment, and Ailbhe Smyth, who, as we know, was a tireless campaigner for women's rights. I also recall those women who were the victims of regressive laws and denied access to care. These were women like Sheila Hodgers, who was a very good friend of my mother's, Ann Lovett and Savita Halappanavar, and there are many more whom I do not have time to list this evening.”
“I thank my colleague, an Teachta Cullinane, for bringing forward this legislation. I look back on the speeches given on the day the post-repeal legislation was introduced here in the Dáil. The three-day wait was opposed by Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and People Before Profit, PBP. I have to say that we were right to oppose it. I am glad to say that other parties that did not take the opportunity that night have come to the same conclusion. The three-day wait is nothing more than a political construct. It was not recommended by the citizens' assembly, and anyone who watched the proceedings, as I did, knows the assembly was very comprehensive in its deliberations. It was not recommended by the eighth amendment committee, of which I was a member.”
“Applications for the very much-needed special school that is due to open in Balbriggan closed on 29 May. It is very likely to be oversubscribed. As the Taoiseach can imagine, there is quite a number of anxious parents wanting confirmation that this school is going to open. I am concerned at the fact that I have now been contacted by SNAs who cannot find any information about the recruitment process, which leads me to believe it may not open in September as has been promised. I am not expecting the Taoiseach to have the answer here this afternoon - it would be unfair of me to expect that - but I ask him to engage with the Minister for education to get confirmation that the much-needed special school for Balbriggan will open in September.”
“For the supplementary questions to the Minister of State, each Member has 24 seconds. I remind them that I have no latitude to give additional time. Members all know that. I remind them that if they exceed their time, they will be taking time from one of their constituency colleagues. It is 24 seconds each.”
“I have given a list of detailed questions. It was not my intention to blindside the Minister of State with them, but I hope that he will bring these to the attention of the Minister and get some answers not just for the school but also for the parents and the students. It is very hard to have to tell the students that they may not be accepted for the programme when they previously benefited from it. I do not want the school community, teachers, principal and deputy principals to be put into that position, and I am sure the Minister of State does not either.”
“Why are there going to be kids who are attending Gaelscoil Baile Brigín who will be told, although I hope not because I hope when the Department looks at it that it will change it, that they may not have a place? They may not, though, have a place, when the Minister of State himself acknowledged that this is a programme that works. It is a decent programme that the kids and the school community benefit from. It should not be this hard for the teachers and the school community to be able to access something where there is no disagreement. The Department says it is a good idea. The teachers say it is a good idea. The parents say it is a good idea. The kids clearly benefit from it. When all of these things come together, then I am left asking: why I am standing here asking for this to work when it has worked previously?”
“That would be very welcome. The Minister of State said, and we agree on this, that the programme has a positive impact on the many children and young people who have taken part, and that parents, staff and the children themselves report improvements in confidence, attitude and readiness to return to school in September. There is nothing wrong with that. It is fantastic and a sign of something that is working. It is very natural and normal that I would come in the House and say, on behalf of my constituents, that if we all agree something is a good idea, that it should be happening and that there is a benefit for the children and the school community, then I have to circle back to my original question on why it is being cut.”