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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“Will he convey to the Minister the frustration of the teaching community at this last-minute decision-making? Months and months of planning go into getting ready for this. Will he explain why the changes are being brought in? If they are being driven by money, then he needs to tell us. Will he please ask the Department to reply to Gaelscoil Baile Brigín and those other schools waiting on answers? Will he confirm that home-based tuition will be available for the children who are going to be inevitably left out? Will he advise why there is no appeal? Will he clarify the number of SNAs that will be available per class?”
“This is not meant to be disrespectful to the people who are answering the phones, who I know are doing their best. Unfortunately, the school cannot get an answer so now it has to speak to the parents of the children who possibly will not be able to be accommodated. When the parents ask why this is happening the school does not know because nobody will tell it. I sincerely hope these changes, which the Minister of State might try to dress up as some class of reform, are not being driven by the massive overspend in the Department, which I can tell him is not the fault of any of the parents or the teachers. I am looking for a few very simple things. Will the Minister of State get me an explanation as to why Gaelscoil Baile Brigín and other schools were only sanctioned a reduced number of classes?”
“This leaves the school community, the principal, the deputy principal and the staff in an awful position because they have to go back to parents and tell them that for reasons they do not know, they are not able to accommodate their kids. It is a horrible decision for the school community to have to make. Nobody wants to make lists when everyone on the list has a need and should have an entitlement to access the programme. The school now has to cut students from the programme, which is really awful. What did the school do? It certainly did not sit around and do nothing. It made massive efforts to contact the Department by email and phone. It has not had any response. I get it because changes are being made, and I understand the Department is busy and under pressure.”
“This is a problem from the get-go because that will not be enough staff. This is a big increase in the number of students without any allowance for a reduction in group size or for students with complex needs. Additional staff are not being made available for students who have additional needs and who are accommodated for those needs. That does not make any sense because these are kids who have an SNA in their classroom every single day. Their needs do not change. Just because it is the summer, their needs do not change and they certainly do not decrease at any particular time in the calendar. If they are entitled to an SNA, they should have one. At the very least, they should have something that is similar. The school has raised issues. It applied for three groups but was only sanctioned for two.”
“I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this Topical Issue. I will talk specifically about a school but a school that illustrates a broader problem. I will refer to one school but I am referring to a broader issue with the school summer programme. There was a delay, and the Minister of State is aware of this, in releasing the programme. Only in the past few weeks have schools been able to apply. I will speak about Gaelscoil Baile Brigín. It applied for two special classes and three mainstream classes, which is what it had applied for previously. Previously it had four mainstream groups with six students. This year it applied for three groups of 12 because that was what was in the guidelines. The Department has said there must be at least 12 students in each group, with only one SNA and one teacher.”
“His doctor asks about his housing situation every time he goes in to see him because of the level of stress it causes him. He asks, "Where are you going to be?" because he has embarked on a treatment schedule that is going to take months. They have come to me - no other TD has an office in my area - and asked what emergency accommodation is like. The Minister of State knows it is not nice. He would not like to live in it and neither would l, but that is where they are heading. He cannot go there because of his medical condition, yet I cannot answer where they are supposed to go. The Minister of State might answer that for them in his remarks.”
“I will ask a question of the Minister of State, who will have a chance in his remarks to address this. I will give him an example. There is a family living in my constituency - a mam, a dad and a son. They live in Balbriggan and the parents are both working locally. They are in private rental accommodation, have a notice to quit and are due out in September. I am working with them, and they have replied to hundreds of accommodation adverts at this stage, but they have nowhere to live. September will come fast. The Minister of State knows it himself. You think it is going to take ages but it does not; it goes in a flash. This family is faced with the prospect of having to go into emergency accommodation but the dad, in this instance, is gravely ill and undergoing medical treatment for cancer. He is getting chemotherapy at the moment.”
“For as long as I have been here, I have yet to see any legislation, aside from the Covid eviction ban, coming from Government that helps my constituents. In fact, in the ten years since I was elected, governments led by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael - taking turns - have made the housing and homelessness crisis much worse. One very effective measure we have to gauge how effective Government policy is are the lists it publishes every month with the number of homeless people. That in itself is very worrying. I have said before that it is not normal to publish a list of people who are homeless every single month. That certainly did not happen when I was growing up. I know the Government would love for us to normalise that level of homelessness, but we will not.”
“It is very sloppy and speaks to a Government that is effectively disinterested in the legislative process. It is also disrespectful to those spokespersons who want to engage with the legislation and the amendments. At this stage, there should not be pages and pages of ministerial amendments to this legislation. Best practice would say that work should be done before publication but, again, there was a rush to publish for reasons that are not clear to me. However, the Minister of State will have an opportunity in his concluding remarks to answer that. I ask myself a very simple question when I consider any legislation relating to housing. Will it help my constituents who are homeless, who are in emergency accommodation and who need stable, secure and affordable accommodation?”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill this afternoon. An Teachta Ó Broin has outlined in detail the Sinn Féin position on this legislation. I will say one thing, and this is more of a general point than a specific one, that at this early stage in the legislative process, the tabling of pages and pages of ministerial amendments is a little bit concerning. That is no disrespect to the people who put the work into drafting them, but it indicates a little bit of confusion, chaos and unpreparedness - I do not know what word you would use - on behalf of the Government. The issue of housing is so important and it is very important we get it right. However, this is not the only legislation relating to housing where a Bill has been published and then almost immediately we have got a raft of ministerial amendments.”
“The Government knows the difference between action for the sake of it and real action. It knows what the right thing to do is. The Bill should include services.”
“It is worthwhile reading back over the coverage of the great and the good discussing what we should not do back in the 1980s when there was a weight of public opinion in favour of Ireland leading by example and challenging apartheid South Africa. It took a shop steward from Dunnes Stores and her colleagues, with the eventual backing of her trade union, to really show that leadership. If the Minister looks back at the coverage, she will see the same types of people who are now telling us that we should settle for second best. They are saying we are too small to make a difference. They said that back in the 1980s and they were wrong. They said we would be isolated and that there would be consequences. They said that in the 1980s as well and the Government is saying it now. The Government was wrong in the 1980s and it is wrong now.”
“The Bill the Government has published is a hollowed-out version of what people want and expect. The Minister has not advanced a legal argument because there is not one. She should be honest with people and say that this is purely and simply a cowardly political decision. For eight years we and the Government have talked about and around the occupied territories Bill. The Minister knows that including services gives this legislation teeth but she has chosen to propose a hollowed-out version. She clearly does not want this Bill to have real teeth or any real impact and that is the only conclusion I can draw.”
“This is the Minister of State's turn. He can show leadership. He can withdraw his shameful amendment and he can send a clear message about where we stand. We stand with the people who have overwhelmingly told the Government that they do not want this game to go ahead. Show solidarity with the people experiencing genocide, solidarity with Palestine and stop this fucking game.”
“We have seen it. Nobody disputes it. The Minister of State's leader has used the word. There is a genocide. Children are being starved. They do not play sport on the pitches anymore in Palestine. Those pitches are used as detention centres. There are no players left to play sports because they have all either been murdered or shot in the foot, but the Minister of State will not go. That is okay for him but he expects those young men to go. I do not think that is right and I genuinely think that when he reflects on it, he knows it is not right. He is as aware of our history as I am. In 1983, when Mary Manning refused to handle fruit from apartheid South Africa, she showed leadership. The other ten Dunnes Stores workers who stood with her on the picket line showed leadership. Where she led, the State followed.”
“I heard the Minister of State's comments and I am struggling genuinely to understand. He told us that he will not go to the game. He will take himself out of it but he expects the players to go. It will not be held, mark my words. It should not go ahead but the Minister of State expects those young men to shake hands with other men from Israel who potentially served in the IDF, men with blood on their hands. The Minister of State wants the players to stand there while they play the Israeli national anthem. He will not do it but he wants a group of young fellows in green to go and do it. The Minister of State expects that they will stand for the Israeli national anthem and shake hands with men that have blood on their hands, but he will not go. For the love and honour of Jesus, will he show some leadership please? There is a genocide.”
“Do not come in here and tell people that there is not an emergency or that he thinks they can wait. They cannot wait. We do not get endless hours of speaking time in this Chamber. We use our time really carefully because we only get one chance a week. We are standing up for people with disabilities. The Minister of State is not listening and the Government is not listening. People with disabilities cannot wait. It is cruel that the Government is ignoring them.”
“The Minister of State knows that there is, that the Government took €1,400 a year from people with disabilities last year, that the cost of living is rising and that this is impacting people with disabilities disproportionately. All of this he knows, and even if he did not, there is report after report that would tell him. This consultation process is dragging it out, people are being made to wait and they are being told that it is not sustainable to give them an in-cash payment now, but it is not sustainable to ask people to make those horrible choices between heating, eating and charging mobility devices. People with disabilities are used to being fobbed off and ignored but, by Jesus, they were gaslit this evening. The Minister of State should reflect on that.”
“The Minister of State said in his contribution that one payment would not resolve anything but if you have not got any money to pay for a taxi and you need to get to an appointment, a payment makes all the difference. What we have spoken about this evening is the money people with disabilities need to live. One payment makes a difference. A more permanent payment would absolutely make a difference but if he was listening to people with disabilities, the Minister of State would understand they were struggling right now. When you are in an emergency - these are people who face an emergency every single day - one payment makes a difference. That is what people are asking for. They have an emergency now. They do not have enough money to live now. They need an emergency payment now. Nobody has said there is not a cost to disability.”
“The motion is about listening to people. The Minister's tone deaf amendment makes no reference to the fact that the budget left people with disabilities €1,400 worse off. He should acknowledge and face up to this and respond to the urgent pleas of disabled people who are making stark choices, whether the Minister chooses to acknowledge that. They have to use their immersions and electricity and charge their vital mobility devices. Some people need to maintain a constant temperature in the house, but cannot afford to do so. A constituent of mine in Balrothery spoke about the statement from the Taoiseach that an emergency payment is not fiscally sustainable and that people with disabilities must wait for a permanent cost of disability payment in budget 2027.”
“I want to give the Minister a bit of feedback from a person who was at his most recent summit. Gillian Sherratt, who the Minister will know, had a son Harvey who, for his short life, was one of the many children with scoliosis utterly failed by the State. She wrote that at the Minister's summit the journalists got a chance to ask questions of the Ministers but people with disabilities, disabled persons' organisation representatives, carers and advocates did not get the same opportunity. That is not fair. It is not on. Government has deployed all of its delay and deflect tactics and that is why we had to bring forward this motion. This motion calls for immediate intervention because the crisis is now. The motion takes into account the lived reality of people with disabilities and the real need for a cost of living emergency payment.”
“I have seen that. I will get to that in a moment. The Minister should withdraw his shameful amendment, if for no other reason than because it is an insult to people with disabilities. Their voices are ignored and are entirely absent from the amendment. I have said it before and will say it again, people with disabilities are not disabled by their own bodies or their intellectual capacity. Rather, they are disabled by a society that is ablest and a society and Government that talks down to them. They are disabled by infrastructure that is hostile to their mobility. They are disabled by Government policy failing them time and time again. They are disabled because they are not listened to and the lived reality of their lives and needs is not responded to. The amendment references consultation.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that there have been four major reviews and reports on the cost of disability, i.e., the additional costs to which disabilities give rise for individuals and their families, beginning with The Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities in 1996, the Indecon Report entitled "The Cost of Disability in Ireland" in 2021, the Government's failed Green Paper on the Cost of Disability in 2023, and the recent joint research project by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) and the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) "Adjusting Estimates of Poverty for the Cost of Disability" in 2025; further notes that the Government launched yet another consultation on the matter in February of this year; recognises that households in which a member has a disability undergo significant additional costs, compared to households in which no member has a disability, with the ESRI/IHREC estimating a weekly cost of €488 - €555 on average; affirms that no one in the State should be worse off socially, politically, or economically, because of their disability; condemns the choice made by the Government in Budget 2026 to withdraw emergency supports from workers and families, including, in particular, the €1,400 worth of cost-of-living supports withdrawn from disabled people this year; recognises that workers and families, including and especially those with disabilities, cannot wait until next year and Budget 2027 for supports, and that on the basis of their Budget 2026 experience they cannot trust the Government to deliver what is needed; and calls on the Government to: — immediately introduce an Emergency Budget with supports for workers and families, including a €500 lump sum for people with disabilities; and — introduce, no later than Budget 2027, a new permanent cost of disability scheme, involving weekly payments for people with disabilities, whether they are in employment or not in employment, that recognises the additional costs to which their disabilities give rise.”
“They have made them and have put forward a well-thought-out proposal because they desperately want it to work. We need it to work. The bus service we depend on in north County Dublin is not sufficient for the needs of the population. BusConnects will only deliver if it is done in consultation with the people who will ultimately use the service.”
“The proposals for BusConnects are causing a lot of angst among my constituents because they see that those proposals are not responsive to the needs of the community. In many instances, they represent a backwards step. We are not just giving out about it, however. A well-thought-out proposal has been made to the NTA. The NTA responded and we have sent a response back to it. My understanding is that the Minister was due to meet with this group in April. I am hopeful that meeting will be reinstated because it wants a chance to show the Minister the work it has put in to ensure that whatever changes are made work. We all want BusConnects to work, but it will not work unless the people who are going to use the service are listened to. These people are not making observations for the sake of it.”
“I am glad that the Minister is here for this debate. I want to bring to him a message from my constituents in north County Dublin with regard to the BusConnects north coastal project. As the Minister will know - I understand he has engaged with the local group - the 33 bus is the main bus serving the towns of Rush, Lusk, Skerries and Loughshinny. The bus is frequently overcrowded. We have all heard many times about people left standing on the side of the road while the bus goes past because it is a single-decker when it should be a double-decker, or the double-decker is already full. There is a desperate need for a functioning public transport system for north County Dublin. Not everyone lives near the train station. While it is great for those who do, there are people who do not live near the train and are dependent on the bus.”
“The budget last October left disabled people €1,400 per annum worse off in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. For months, disabled people and their advocates have painstakingly and painfully told their stories. They tell us the choices they make daily. They are forced to choose between heating, eating and charging their vital mobility devices. Their appeals to the Government to deliver a cost-of-disability payment immediately have fallen on deaf ears. The Government says it needs to figure out what a cost-of-disability payment should be. The previous Government did a report five years ago. The Government's own report tells it exactly what is needed. Disabled people cannot wait. They need a permanent payment, and they need that now. Telling them repeatedly to wait is unfair. It is cruel.”
“Will the Government care when 6,000 children are homeless? Will reality penetrate when the number goes to 7,000? We have offered solutions this evening. The only thing that will help the woman who came to my office in the short term is a ban on evictions. I urge the Minister of State to think about the people, including the children, behind the statistics.”
“Last week, I sat in my office with a woman who had a notice to quit in her hand. She was told by her landlord that she must be out in June. She received a letter from the council stating, "We cannot advise whether Fingal County Council will be in a position to accept tenant in situ applications in 2026 as funding is determined by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage". She sobbed her heart out as she asked me to put a very simple question to the Government: How many people have to become homeless before it recognises that there needs to be a change of course? How many people must find themselves sitting in their TD's office clutching a notice to quit and sobbing their heart out before the Government takes meaningful action? There are 17,500 people homeless, 5,500 of whom are children.”
“I thank Deputy Ó Broin for putting forward this motion and for all the work he does in this area. It at least gives people hope to know somebody listens, cares, is paying attention and has a solution. Time and again, we see Government policy making the housing crisis it has created even worse. We warned it that its legislation would result in a surge in evictions. We warned it would contribute to the rising numbers of homelessness. The Government did not listen. It pressed ahead and, as it does, did the bidding of big developers and those people who seem to have its ear. The people in my constituency have my ear. I understand the Minister of State's colleague turns a deaf ear to them. She has no office, does not do clinics and is not available. That is fine. It is her thing.”
“I welcome the fact that consideration will be given to it as part of the budgetary process and I thank the Minister of State for bringing my remarks back to the senior Minister.”
“Increasingly, private care companies are shifting online to a more visual check-in with clients. That is not something that I necessarily support. In fact, I campaigned against it when I was a trade union organiser representing home helps. Much as I do not think it is good for either workers or older people, that is the direction of travel. Increasingly, older people are finding themselves in a situation where access to mobile data is not optional; it is essential for them to live their lives. The existence of the telephone support allowance is to ensure that people remain connected, can participate and are not further isolated, but if it is not updated, it will leave a significant cohort of people out.”
“I thank the Minister of State for the reply. I do not mean this disrespectfully but when I have asked a question about the telephone allowance, it is probably not helpful for anyone listening in who might be conscious of the issue of the telephone allowance that the Minister of State listed other payments. We understand that there were modest increases in the budget. They did not keep pace with inflation. He will know, as I do, that inflation was running at 1.8% when the Government wrote its budget and it is now at 3.6%. That has doubled and that has pushed people who are dependent on social welfare even further into poverty. The Minister of Stat referred to "over 164,000 customers" in his reply. It is only 164,000 customers and we are not talking about large numbers.”
“I also ask the Minister of State to give an indication of what the Government's thinking is on this allowance because it is rapidly becoming obsolete. As he will be aware, it is only €2.50 per week.”
“Any future decisions will, of course, have to take account of the availability of financial resources." Shortly after he gave that answer, it turned out that there were slightly more resources available than perhaps had been obvious. The cost of the increase to €7.50 is €67 million. It is a modest amount. It is a small and simple ask. Broadband is expensive. Mobile data plans are expensive and connectivity has never been more important. There was the report on loneliness, particularly in rural Ireland. Often it is a lack of connectivity that people will tell you they are experiencing. I seek an update on whether improvements can be made. I think they can. I outlined improvements that could be made.”
“More and more, we see that communication of all forms is shifting online. I was struggling when I was coming in to think of people I know who still have a landline. They are moving rapidly towards obsolescence. I do not lay the blame for that at the Minister of State's door. People are voting with their feet. They are not getting landlines anymore. It is quite unusual outside of an office environment to even get a landline number. In a reply to a parliamentary question, the Minister for Social Protection stated that he "will continue, as part of the budget planning process, to consider if improvements can be made to ensure that this benefit continues to target vulnerable cohorts.”
“We have just spent a couple of hours in here and nobody would dispute the fact that the cost of everything is going up, but also the fact that it is not modern or fit for purpose. I am, therefore, echoing the calls that have been made by ALONE about the clear necessity to expand the payment. It said this in its pre-budget submissions. It looked for an increase of €7.50, which is a fairly modest and balanced ask, to be fair. This is mostly for vulnerable groups, specifically, but the largest cohort who use it are older people. The Minister of State will know that when people cannot pay their bills, they cannot do a side hustle, as the Americans call it. They are on a fixed income and that is it. Their pension from the State, small as it is, has to stretch to meet all their outgoings.”
“This matter relates to the telephone support allowance. It is one of those things that is an essential part of the income for a lot of people. The organisation ALONE has highlighted not just the value of this allowance but also the fact that it has not been keeping pace anywhere close to inflation. It was not increased in the most recent budget. I understand that the primary objective is to allow the most vulnerable people at risk of isolation, including the elderly and those with disabilities, access to personal alarms or phones for security and, absolutely, that is essential. However, there is more and more of an emphasis now on availability and access to data and mobile phones. It strikes me that the allowance is deficient in two ways. One is that it is not enough; it was not increased.”
“In the few seconds remaining to me, I will speak about people with disabilities, who have seen a €1,400 cut in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. They are faced with making choices between heating, eating and charging mobility devices. These are not my words but the words of the disabled community. The Minister of State should listen to them instead of turning a deaf ear or sniggering, which helps absolutely nobody.”
“-----on behalf of people who are getting crushed by a cost-of-living crisis. When they look to the Government, they see a Government that is out of touch and out of ideas. We have presented what we believe needs to be done. Others have done the same. The Government has chosen to turn a deaf ear to that. The message is being received loud and clear. This Government is telling people who are in dire straits today that they have to wait until next October, January or God knows when to get some help and support. They need that help and support now. That is why people say there is a cost-of-living crisis. The Government may not choose to recognise or acknowledge that. It can stick its fingers in its ears and refuse to hear it, but there is a cost-of-living crisis.”
“I am not asking for any ambition because Jesus knows we are sick asking for that and there is none. The very least the Government could do is simply not make things worse. The previous junior Minister read out the greatest hits of who the Government tries to blame. It is blaming global politics. It has blamed the Opposition plenty of times. It is at that craic again. It has blamed the weather. Will the Government wake up and take a look at what is going on? There is nothing amusing about this.”
“The plea, certainly from us, is that if the Government cannot do something effective, something that will actually intervene in the lives of working people, if it cannot lift the burden, it should not, for the love and honour of Jesus, make it worse. I urge the Labour Party to reflect on its own vote to jack up the rent for Dublin City Council tenants in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis while they are dealing with some of the worst conditions people have to live in in this State. The Lord Mayor turned to the left when he got on the plane; unfortunately, he does not turn to the left any other time. There is a lesson in that for the Labour Party and the others that supported the call to jack up rents in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis.”
“She cannot afford that so she has a small but expensive-to-run blow heater and she feels that is more manageable. The end result is that she and her kids can be cold in their home in the evening. The sun might shine during the day, but in the evening she is cold in her home with her children. She needs to turn on the heater to try to air out the house because the mould is so bad. Can the Minister of State imagine for a moment how that woman felt, while she was engaged in a battle with the mould in her Dublin City Council flat, when she read that the Lord Mayor and Deputy Buttimer's colleague, the Government representative for the local electoral area, flew first-class to California, just after he had voted to jack up her rent?”
“The Government needs to cut the USC, put €500 back into workers' pockets, cut excise on fuels, introduce a €500 cost-of-disability emergency payment and a €400 social welfare payment, to include pensioners, and extend the fuel allowance by a further eight weeks. Inflation is now double what it was when the Government wrote its budget last year. Some 320,000 people are in arrears on their electricity bills. One in four cannot pay their gas. I was out canvassing last week with Janice Boylan and she spoke to a young woman in her flat. The young woman has a blow heater that she turns on occasionally because she is in a constant battle with the mould. She does not turn on her gas because she cannot afford it, though that would probably heat her home and help her in the battle with the mould.”
“I thank the Deputies for bringing forward the motion and using their Private Members' time to give us an opportunity to debate this important issue. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, will know well that Sinn Féin has been calling for emergency measures to support workers and families experiencing an unprecedented cost-of-living crisis. Sinn Féin supports the call for an emergency budget. We have been calling for this for some time, and it is welcome to see other parties coming to the table to echo the call and the need for emergency measures. The Minister of State knows that we have set out what we believe needs to be done.”
“He has been invited by Deputy McDonald to go to her constituency and see the conditions. He is their landlord. There are plenty of private landlords sitting on the Government benches but he is their landlord. If this was private renting, the landlord would not get away with it. It is getting away with it because it is the Government and it should be ashamed of itself.”
“She lies in bed every night, five months pregnant, terrified because of what she is breathing in, and worries that it is going to harm her and her baby. Imagine how she feels when the Lord Mayor of Dublin votes to jack up her rent five minutes before he hops on a plane to head off to California. She is trying to wipe the mould off the walls and she is listening to him tell her she has to pay more rent, that she cannot move, she must endure those conditions, and that this is the place she is going to have to bring her baby home to. Imagine listening to that, five minutes before he hopped on a plane and headed off on a first-class flight to California. The people in the flats are house-proud. If the Minister of State visited the flats, he would see that.”
“I want to talk very briefly about a lady who commented on a Dublin Live article on the conditions that she is living in. She is five months pregnant. Her home is overcrowded and no matter what she does, she cannot win the fight with the mould. She cannot buy anything for her baby because she knows that by the time the child is born, the stuff is going to be covered in mould. Imagine that when you are planning to bring a lovely newborn baby back to your place. Imagine that you cannot buy anything, not a Babygro, not a Moses basket, nothing for the child, because you know by the child comes home, by the time you bring your little baby home to your overcrowded, draughty, damp flat, the stuff is going to be covered in mould.”
“The absolute neck of the Minister of State reading out that diatribe. He should have addressed his remarks to the people in the Gallery but he would be ashamed. He could not even look them in the face. My God, this makes me so angry. He is dragging people back to tenements. My mam and dad were born in tenement housing in the city centre in Dublin and they left, they moved to the suburbs so that they could make a better life for themselves and the slums were cleared. That is not good enough for Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. They want to bring the slums back to Dublin city. Shame on the Minister of State, shame on him. Nothing that he read out in his script will give comfort to any person up in that Gallery that he is listening, that he understands, that he gives - I am not even going to say it because I am better than that.”
“Those kids carried that hurt into adulthood but they have carried themselves with dignity. They have carried themselves so well. I pay tribute to the Dignity4Patients group. The Minister needs to resource that group. It is a lifeline and a support for those victims. That group needs to be resourced.”