Marie Sherlock
Dublin Central · Labour Party · Ireland
“That is why I want to see our local authorities moving from being just bystanders that license waste collection companies to actually controlling how the service is delivered.”
“That is why I want to pay tribute to all the people who are here today, including Stoneybatter Pride of Place, Phibsboro Village Tidy Towns and all the people working within their communities to keep them clean.”
“Panda’s parent company, Beauparc, sold for €1.3 billion in 2021 to an Australian investment firm. It is also co-owned by a US private equity firm. They are not in Ireland for the good of their health. They are here because they know they can make serious money. We know Greyhound’s parent company is registered on the Isle of Man.”
“The other important thing to say is that we did not hear any new ideas today, and I say that with the greatest respect to the Minister of State. We did not hear any ideas with regard to the profound challenges we have regarding our plateauing recycling rates and all the other issues that are there. That is disappointing.”
“I pay tribute to a lot of the work that many officials and workers in Dublin City Council do because, in some ways, their hands are tied behind their back. They recognise the issue with regard to landlord responsibility. I am very disappointed to hear the Minister of State's comments about landlord responsibility.”
“Dublin City Council was able to negotiate for the installation of ten-tonne compactors in the commercial areas, yet when it came to the residential areas, I understand the council tried to negotiate with the bin collectors on the roll-out of shared collection systems, but to no avail. That pretty much sums up our dysfunctional system.”
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“As one dentist said to me yesterday, some of her children are now driving themselves to their appointments. That is outrageous. The critical point here is that with all these facts and figures, we have a very clear picture and it is that the public dental services are being allowed to whittle away in favour of the private provision of dental care, leaving those on low incomes and with limited means in a desperate situation. Let us start with the public dental service. We have just 249 dentists covering the entire country, down from 330 in 2009. It is scandalous that this has been allowed to happen. As I said, this has a very real impact, particularly on low-income persons and people dependent on the medical card or with particular dental circumstances who cannot access private services.”
“I extend a sincere welcome to the Young Scientist winners. I sincerely thank Deputy Stanley for his motion. The reality is that public dental services in this country are on the brink of collapse. We know there has been an almost 40% drop in the number of dentists participating in the dental treatment services scheme over just five years. The number of directly employed HSE dentists has fallen by about one third since 2009. When we think back to those awful years post the recession, there has been no investment by the HSE since to increase the number of dentists working directly within the organisation. We know in places like Laois–Offaly that school assessments have had to be suspended. In other parts of the country, sixth-class assessments are now being conducted when the children are in sixth year of secondary school.”
“In the context of that specific example involving the Department of education, we have to ask what it will do to make sure that teenage girls going through this are properly looked after within the education system.”
“They submitted the form signed by the consultant, but when it went to the Department of education, it was refused because there was no formal diagnosis. I find that absolutely appalling, that a civil servant could make a determination as to the health and well-being of a teenage girl who had just done her leaving cert against the very clear advice of the consultant. That is what is happening not only in the Department of education but right across workplaces in this country. Employers are not understanding because we have not spoken often enough about what is happening to women suffering with endometriosis, and that has to change. It has to change, not only through the conversations we are having here but also in the community.”
“Her daughter had missed well over 20 days of school in her leaving cert year. This girl was very bright but had lost key days in her education. The decision was made by the family, with the specific encouragement of the school, to apply for the disability access route to education programme. After going through many hoops with a consultant, there was eventually a letter, a form, signed by the consultant confirming that this child, this teenager, had missed precious schooldays because of her condition. However, there was no definitive diagnosis for the condition because she was undergoing investigations, because they were waiting until she got a little older and because there would need to be a surgical intervention.”
“When we asked how many women are travelling for such care under the cross-border directive, we could get no answer because women are categorised under general gynaecology, pain management, urology, etc., meaning that the State has no true understanding of the number of women who are forced to travel every year. That has to change. We need a handle on how many women are forced to travel and how we can expect to try to look after them in this country. The final point I will make is that this is not just about the health system; it is about the education system, the workplace and society in general in understanding what endometriosis involves. I want to recall one mother who contacted me. She talked about how this is obviously hugely debilitating, particularly for teenage girls.”
“It is reckoned that approximately 100 to 150 women travel to Romania each year for specialist endometriosis surgery. We know that there are women who go to other countries as well. Of course, it is all down to money as to who can afford to travel because of the transposition of the healthcare directive in this country. Effectively, you get the money back afterwards as opposed to upfront. There is another key issue here, and that is that the State does not even have a proper handle on who is travelling abroad for specialist endometriosis treatment.”
“It is welcome that we now have five specialist hubs, but the reality is that of the 50.2 whole-time equivalent positions, only 24.6 have been filled. Not only that, but for the Munster region alone, only one third of the staff are in place. I know that efforts are made to try to recruit accordingly but even those staff members in place on those multidisciplinary teams are not working full time in those hubs. They are also having to work in gynaecology, urology and the other areas in which they specialise. We need a full-time and dedicated set of teams across this country working on these services. To be frank, we do not have the required specialist level of care even in those hubs. The other key issue I want to raise relates to the treatment abroad scheme.”
“The reality is that for some people endometriosis is being contained by a form of contraception. A woman told me today that she was put on the pill at the age of 13 and told, "Away you go; you will be fine now." A mother told me that her daughter was put on the coil at the age of 16. Doing that contains the symptoms but masks the need for the comprehensive and fundamental treatment that is required. We know that it is not just about helping with the incredible and debilitating pain but is also about the long-term injury and damage to a woman's body with the ongoing effects of endometriosis as they get older. There is a reality here. We must ensure that if women are suspected of having endometriosis, they are directed into the specialist hubs that have been established.”
“To be fair, a lot has been said about endometriosis over recent years and some actions have been taken. However, those actions have been far too patchy and inconsistent to provide a comprehensive and proper service for all those suspected of suffering from endometriosis in this country. I want to raise a number of issues this evening. The first regards the so-called distinction between mild and severe cases of endometriosis, and who determines that. We know that a diagnosis of endometriosis only happens when there is a surgical intervention to diagnose what exactly is going on within a woman's body. I have a real concern with the current model of care and current pathways to care. We know the GP will always be the first point of contact but I am concerned that women suspected of having endometriosis would remain within GP care.”
“When I read an article by the playwright Lisa Tierney-Keogh last weekend, I wondered if I should put any of my thoughts on the record because that gripping and devastating account of her life told it all about how women suffering from endometriosis have been failed in this country. She, and, of course, so many hundreds of others, have been continually gaslit. They have been told they are hypochondriacs. They have been dismissed. That goes on to this day. There is a perspective in this country that the days of dismissing women are in the Ireland of the past. They are not. For so many women in the Gallery today, their daily lived experience in terms of their interaction with the health service is as has been described, and that needs to change.”
“I sincerely thank Sinn Féin for this detailed motion. When you look at the detail and the very specific calls that are in this motion, it behoves us all to look at how women, and particularly teenage girls and young women, are being absolutely failed in this country. As I speak this evening, I think of the conversations I have had over the past four years with women who have had to muster the courage to ask me on their doorsteps to speak up for them. They have told me what they are going through. They have told me that their lives have been upended. Their work, education, friendships, families and involvement in sport have been upended because of a condition that few within the health service take seriously in this country.”
“The fundamental reality is there is a misalignment regarding the ages at which children age out of paediatric mental health services and physical health services. It is 16 for mental health services and 18 for physical health accommodation. We need to put in place safeguards for children who are admitted to an adult psychiatric facility. That is why we propose in amendment No. 63 that the District Court has to play a critical role. We have spent some time talking about this and are disappointed the Minister of State will not support either amendment No. 60 or amendment No. 63, which is an important compromise regarding the misalignment and the unacceptable situation whereby children are treated in an adult centre. We very much support amendment No. 60 and I note amendment No. 63, which we will not have time to get to.”
“There are two elements to this: a lack of a new capacity assessment if the period is extended and a wholly inadequate or absent advocacy and complaints mechanism for those advocating on behalf of individuals. In that context, it is very difficult to support an extension from 21 to 42 days. We need to go back to the original 21 days, ensure it is kept at that and that the necessary safeguards are in place. We very much support the amendment.”
“I support amendment No. 30. The rationale for this extension is far from clear. It is obviously a matter of great concern to those who understand the intricacies of involuntary detention or involuntary treatment, the timeframe and the process surrounding all that. Those who have approached us, and I think everybody in the Opposition, believe there are very significant grounds for inappropriate care of the individual without the necessary safeguards being in place. The other important point is there have been calls to ensure we have an appropriate advocacy and complaints mechanism within the Bill to ensure those who are involuntarily detained or are being treated can get the proper representation.”
“These children are being failed on both counts because many children who stay within the Summerhill CDNT in Dublin 1 are being put into inappropriate school places, notwithstanding the brilliant effort of the schools locally. If they have to be moved outside of the CDNT catchment area, they need to up sticks and get their care elsewhere in another CDNT. That is frankly not acceptable. My specific and direct plea to the Minister of State, which I ask him to convey to the Minister, is that we need a special school for Dublin 1 and, indeed, for all 16 of the CDNTs that currently do not have a special school. These children are being put at a further disadvantage to the disadvantage they are already experiencing. Parents are in desperation and have to submit 20 or 30 applications to try to find a school place.”
“I thank the Minister of State. I am conscious that he is relaying the message from the Department. It is not very heartening to see that the Department has completely ignored the specific request with regard to Dublin 1. The reality is that schools in the Dublin 1 area are having to make do in the context of a declining ratio of special needs assistants to children because the number of children needing an SNA is going up and the number of SNAs is staying the same. In addition, children are having to leave their CDNT in the Summerhill are and move to a CDNT area elsewhere in order to go to a special school or special class. The critical point here is that we know education is best when it is closest to home. We know that care is best when there is continuity of care.”
“I refer to the number of children, both those wanting to start preschool who cannot find a special school place and, even more particularly, the other cohort of children we do not speak enough about, namely, those coming out of the primary school system who need to go into a special school and simply cannot find that place. We know that some special schools across Dublin city and county are discriminating based on age against those children. They are telling those children they are simply too old and prioritising those children who are younger. My plea to the Minister of State is that we need to have a special school in the Dublin 1 area. There is a special school in Dublin 7, An Cosán Community Special School, which is fantastic, but the reality is children in Dublin 1 are not being prioritised for the school in Dublin 7.”
“Notwithstanding the brilliant effort of the schools and the teachers and the SNAs in Dublin 1, some of them are not equipped to deal with the level of needs they are currently having to cater for and are responsible for in their schools. The real risk is that when we have children in inappropriate places, they are put on a reduced school day, they may be suspended or, indeed expelled. That is not what we want for these children. My particular interest in Dublin 1 is borne out of the fact I have had so much contact with the mammies - some daddies, but mainly mammies - in the Dublin Central equality in education campaign.”
“For a child with autism and co-occurring with a mild intellectual disability, they may be best suited to an autism class but they end up being put into a mainstream class and having to make do there. Alternatively, somebody with moderate autism co-occurring with moderate intellectual disability may end up in an autism class when, really, a special school is what they need. What then happens is we have an enormous stress for the child in terms of his or her ability to learn. We know of parents sitting outside during the school day because their child is not toilet trained and the parent has to come in and help with the toileting.”
“There are very serious consequences and impacts for those children who are currently attending CDNTs who do not have a special school in their area. We know that most special schools have an enrolment policy which will have a catchment area. Those children outside the catchment area are automatically disadvantaged. The most appalling thing about this is we are pitting kids against one another by virtue of their postcode. There is another horrible reality in Dublin in that many families are living in accommodation that is not suitable and not appropriate to their needs and not necessarily in places where they should be living or that are outside of where they want to be. They are doubly disadvantaged. The other key impact of not having a special school in the CDNT is that children are ending up in inappropriate school places.”
“My question relates specifically to the ask for a new special school in Dublin 1. In response to a recent parliamentary question, which I submitted to the HSE about the number of children's disability network teams, CDNTs, that do not have special schools in their catchment area. We learned that, of the 93 CDNTs across the country, 16 are not in the catchment area of a special school, namely, west Limerick, west Cork, north-west Cork, east-central Cork, north Cork city and Blarney, south Cork city, Thomastown, Clonmel, New Ross, Gorey, mid-Wicklow, south Wicklow, Portarlington, Edenderry, Coolock, Blakestown and the north inner city. It is the north inner city and my own constituency in Dublin 1 in which I have a particular interest.”
“Will the Government put money in place for Dublin City Council and other local authorities this year for those families facing homelessness?”
“Time and again, we have heard from Government that it recognises that dereliction is a problem in Dublin, yet there is not a single penny in Dublin City Council to compulsorily purchase derelict properties in the city. There are 4,500 derelict properties across the city but only a tiny fraction of these are on the derelict sites register. Nearly 5,000 people are facing eviction notices but this Government has turned its back on both the tenant in situ scheme and the acquisition of second-hand properties. I listened to what the Taoiseach said in reply to Deputy Ellis. The reality is that there is no reassurance for the 120 families who are eligible for the tenant in situ scheme but who cannot access it because no is funding available. They are facing homelessness this year and there is no funding within Dublin City Council.”
“It detailed how Ireland is an outlier with a private system of GP care, how its inaccessible primary care system places tremendous strain on hospitals and how this is a political choice. I hope we have the Minister of State's support when we bring this Bill further through the Dáil.”
“The reality is that within the GMS scheme, GPs are paid according to a crude measure of the sex and age of their patient. No account is taken of the complexity of care need of their patient, social deprivation or other factors. It is a reality that in a GP practice in my own constituency, GP Care for All in Summerhill in Dublin 1, the average age of death is just short of 60. In most other parts of the country, the average age of death is well north of 80. That tells us much about the massive inequalities and the quality of health that exists across communities. Last March, The Lancet medical journal devoted a whole editorial to the state of GP care in Ireland.”
“Even more important for us, we believe there needs to be fundamental changes to the GMS scheme. We also need to see tangible supports for GPs for setting up practices, particularly in disadvantaged communities, and helping them with buildings and other supports. I have to be very clear here that while the State has been involved in building primary care centres over the previous number of years, what is not acceptable to me is that in those primary care centres, we have big GP companies like Centric becoming the anchor tenants in those primary care centres. I am aware of that in one part of this country. That was not the original intention of the primary care centres. Our Bill is one part of the fundamental reform we need to see happen to ensure disadvantage is properly recognised in supports for GP care.”
“Austin O'Carroll, when he felt he needed to establish a specific north inner city GP training programme to keep GPs there. Our Bill is about ensuring the distribution of GPs across communities in this country is not left to chance. Our Bill effectively mandates the HSE to step in and take responsibility for ensuring GP services are distributed fairly across all parts of the country. That forward planning entails the HSE having regard to both the distribution of the population and number of GPs but, crucially, it is also about considering the actual levels of health need, based on social determinants in that specific area. What the HSE does with that information is another question. We have very clear views on that. The proposals on directly employing GPs have been around for years and yet we have seen no real progress in that space.”
“Yet, we have a lower ratio of GPs in deprived communities compared to more comfortable areas. It is important to acknowledge measures have been taken by the Department of Health and the HSE in terms of additional GP training places, recruitment from South Africa and a number of other measures. They are all well and good but they are far from enough. The reality is we have a situation where the right hand does not really know what the left hand is doing because the Government is telling us they have increased GP training places, which is great, but no one is measuring how many of those GP graduates are going into the general medical services, GMS, scheme. At least, that is what the HSE tells us in responses to parliamentary questions. It is a point that has been powerfully made to me by Dr.”
“We have mapped out the GP-to-population ratio for most of the country, relying on 2025 data provided to us by the HSE, and we have found extraordinary variation. There is one GP per 1,390 population in Clontarf in Dublin 3, yet in Cabra in Dublin 7, the ratio is one per 3,060 of population. Similarly, the ratio is one GP per more than 5,000 population in east Meath and one per just more than 1,700 population in south Louth. Lower GP-to-population ratios have a very real impact for patients in terms of the time it takes to get an appointment and getting timely access to care. However, there is a double whammy here. Even more seriously, we know that GPs serving the most disadvantaged communities in Ireland encounter higher health needs among their patients.”
“I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to make provision in relation to the availability of general practitioner medical and surgical services throughout the State, and to provide for related matters. I am very proud to introduce my first Bill in the Dáil on behalf of the Labour Party. There is a reality that access to GP care is not equal across this country. It is a stark reality for the many people in my constituency and people in many parts of the country, for those born here and those who come to make their lives here, that they cannot even get on a GP list. There are then people who are on a GP list but cannot get an appointment for well beyond a week. The fact is that it depends on where you live.”
“This needs to be a watershed moment in how we dramatically and fundamentally overhaul how nursing homes are run in this country. It is within the Minister of State's gift. An awful lot is riding on his efforts. We need, for the dignity and respect of older people in this country, to see a dramatic change in how they are regulated and inspected.”
“We need service level agreements specifying the precise level of care. We need tight restrictions on who owns and controls the operation and building of nursing homes, and we need legislation on minimum levels of staffing care. In some ways, nursing homes are a misnomer. They are not staffed by nurses. The care is provided by healthcare assistants, yet there are people working in nursing homes who do not have QQI level 5 qualifications. I could rock up to a nursing home in the morning, start work there and then get my qualifications accordingly. That has to change. There are recommendations from the Leas Cross report going back to 2006 that have yet to be implemented. I believe this could be a watershed moment with regard to the revelations we have seen relating to Emeis.”
“This is a sector where the business model has profoundly changed over the last number of years and become increasingly financialised and where REITs will own the building and leech sizeable rents from the operating company. Then we wonder why there is no money for incontinence sheets, gloves and the basic resources to provide some degree of dignity to people in their old age. This is not the type of sector we want to have caring for older people in this country. The State absolutely has to step in and drive the growth of nursing home places, but we cannot take our eye off the ball with regard to private operators. We in the Labour Party believe there has to be a fundamental overhaul of the fair deal pricing scheme. The opaque non-transparent negotiation between operators has to end.”
“It is a sector where almost half of the beds, 48%, are now in the hands of just 15 operators, seven of which are Irish, four French and the rest German, Spanish, Dutch and Chinese. They are not here for the good of their health. They are here because they see a serious investment opportunity. They were the figures in 2023 according to CBRE. The situation would be even more concentrated now. This is a sector that saw 26 nursing homes close between 2020 and 2023, the vast majority of them with fewer than 40 beds, while the growth is now in nursing homes with 100 beds or more. Of the 16 nursing homes under construction in 2023, nine had 100 beds or more. Three had 146 beds, 150 beds and 151 beds, respectively. That is not a nursing home; that is a warehouse. All of those have no minimum staffing levels.”
“The pedestrian pace of the response from the Government speaks to a wider issue of the gaping holes in how the nursing home sector is regulated and inspected, gaping holes that are no accident. Our parties differ in that we in the Labour Party believe there must be no role for big business in the running of nursing homes in this country, no role for prioritising profit over resident safety and care. Few other sectors have a guaranteed source of income, a regulator that gives a wide berth and the certainty that demand is going to grow enormously in the coming decades. This sector gets €67.5 million from the State in the fair deal nursing home scheme and it is demanding hundreds of millions extra, with very few conditions attached. The reality is that we have little or no oversight because many of those companies are unlimited companies.”
“All of that was effectively ignored, and I do not know what happened with HIQA, but it was not addressed. There were failings. If we are to be honest, if we had a doubt about the care of any of our family in a nursing home, we would not stand around and wait. We would do something immediately. There is a precedent in that the HSE went in to directly operate and manage 13 nursing homes during the pandemic. It was possible then and it should be possible now that the Minister would direct the HSE to go in and directly manage those Emeis nursing homes that have given rise to serious concerns. If we are serious about affording dignity and respect to older people, and providing assurances to them and their families, we need to see decisive action from the Government.”
“With all of the information at his disposal, all of the information about the protected disclosures that have been sitting there for two years and all of the information that HIQA effectively failed in its duties, is he prepared to sit around and wait for the nursing homes to transform themselves? The safety and welfare of residents should not be made to wait. It is worth recalling that protected disclosures were made two years ago about nursing homes that were not covered in the “RTÉ Investigates” programme, where residents were made to sit on commodes unattended for a significant period of time, where kitchen staff were let go and home care assistants diverted into the kitchens away from their tasks looking after residents, and where there was an increase in the number of admissions and no proportional increase in the number of staff.”
“To be frank, how that scheme is structured and the loose controls around it are driving some of the appalling practices that are currently going on in our nursing homes and in the care of the elderly in this country. Critically, we need legislation to ensure safe staffing levels and protections for staff in nursing homes. I will ask the Minister of State a question. He has read HIQA’s final report into the 27 Emeis nursing homes and, by the way, he knows that the report is incomplete because a number of reports still have to be progressed. He knows that HIQA had previously found things were fine when they were not. He has seen the alarming findings for Blainroe, The Residence Carton, Brentwood, Kilminchy and Athlunkard. What is he going to do?”
“I have spoken before about the very difficult decisions that families make to put a loved one into a nursing home. It is an admission that the needs are too great and the capacity in the home or the community is too small. As one woman said to me, for many families, it feels like it is an admission of failure. Our motion, which I am proud to be proposing on behalf of my colleagues in the Labour Party, seeks to do a number of things but, principally, to mandate the Government to respond with a sense of urgency to the frightening issues that we are now seeing in a number of Emeis nursing homes. I will speak shortly of what was published last night. We want fundamental reform of the fair deal pricing scheme.”
“We have spent considerable time in recent weeks talking about nursing homes and I want to move that conversation on today. I do not doubt for a moment the personal commitment of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, to reforming the nursing home sector. However, when I read the amendment that was put down to the Labour Party motion, a motion that we designed to improve the nursing home sector, frankly, the amendment is disgraceful. It is completely devoid of any sense of urgency. It is complicit in endorsing a model of care run by big business in Ireland that we believe has to change. Everything about the response to nursing homes in recent weeks since the “RTÉ Investigates” revelations screams of painfully slow caution. The kid gloves have to come off. We owe it to the older people in this country.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — investigative journalism by RTÉ has again exposed distressing and unacceptable practices and conditions in private Irish nursing homes, 20 years on since the Leas Cross scandal; — the failure of the State to provide sufficient public long term residential care places has led to the growing privatisation of nursing home care, while the State picks up the majority of costs through the Fair Deal scheme; — 30 per cent of nursing homes were privately owned 20 years ago, rising to nearly 80 per cent now, with Emeis Ireland one of the largest operators, with 27 nursing homes; — research by the Economic and Social Research Institute, since the Covid-19 pandemic, outlines the consolidation of the sector into larger operator groups, and the decline of independently owned, family run nursing homes; — there are serious shortcomings in the inspection and enforcement regime by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA), with inadequate regulatory oversight, ambiguity in the application of existing powers, and a lack of appropriate powers beyond the power to stop admissions or remove a license; — there are no minimum staffing levels required in nursing homes, or binding guidance provided to operators; — there is no sectoral pay agreement in place, and the 2023 PwC report entitled "Challenges for Nursing Homes in the Provision of Older Persons Care - Private and Voluntary Nursing Home Sector", documents a staff turnover rate in the private nursing home sector of up to 38 per cent for nurses, and 54 per cent for healthcare assistants; and — the Ombudsman's Wasted Lives: Time for a better future for younger people in Nursing Homes report, updated in 2024, documents that over 1,200 people under 65 remain in nursing homes due to a lack of appropriate alternatives; recalls that: — the French parent company of Emeis Ireland, formerly known as Orpea, required a State-led bailout in 2022, after the publication of Gravediggers, a book exposing the mistreatment of care residents, where the company maximised its profits and dividends to shareholders, based on a complex strategy of drastic cost cutting and the maximum use of public funding; and — the Law Reform Commission published a comprehensive report on A Regulatory Framework for Adult Safeguarding in April 2024, and the Programme for Government commits to a new national policy in the health and social sector; recognises that: — the nursing home sector has become dominated by big business, and a for-profit model will not provide the standard of care demanded by families and carers; — with an increased role for home care support for older persons in future years, the profile of nursing home patients will become more complex, more dependent, and in need of greater levels of specialised care in the future; — increased powers and resourcing for HIQA alone will not resolve concerns about a profit-led model of care; — the Covid-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of residents in private nursing homes; and — the Commission on Care for Older People is examining the provision of health and social care services and supports for older people; and calls on the Government to: — take clear steps to ensure the State takes over the 27 nursing homes controlled by Emeis Ireland; — prioritise the quality and safety of care of older persons in overhauling how nursing homes are funded and regulated, and provide HIQA with stronger enforcement powers; — fundamentally reform the Fair Deal funding model for nursing homes – public, private and voluntary, starting with an end to the individualised negotiation process between the National Treatment Purchase Fund and provider, the introduction of service level agreements, ringfencing of funding for labour costs, and the introduction of specific rules relating to the control of the nursing home property and operating company; — legislate to ensure minimum safe staffing levels, and implement the outstanding recommendations in the Covid-19 Nursing Homes Expert Panel report, and the 2022 Report of the Strategic Workforce Advisory Group on Home Carers and Nursing Home Healthcare Assistants; — require nursing home operators, in receipt of public funding, to recognise trade unions and engage in collective bargaining, to ensure competitive rates of pay, terms and conditions; — ensure nursing home operators provide professional development education for staff within working hours, including mandatory safeguarding, infection prevention and control, and dignity at work training; — limit all new nursing homes operations to 84 beds, and set out a schedule for all existing nursing homes to transition to an agreed appropriate size with HIQA; — ensure the revised National Development Plan includes a funded programme to develop new public long term residential care, through community nursing homes, to meet the needs of our aging population; — implement the Law Reform Commission report, by passing the required legislation as a priority in the autumn and establishing an independent national agency; — introduce a new Fair Deal for care by implementing the long delayed statutory Home Support Service for Older People scheme, to support older people to age positively in their own home and community; — adequately resource the home care sector, to deliver more care in the community and introduce a Fair Deal one-stop-shop, to support families and reduce red tape; and — finally implement the recommendations of the 2021 Ombudsman's Wasted Lives: Time for a better future for younger people in Nursing Homes report, and commit to fully funding the under 65s programme office.”
“We need, rightly, to recognise its history and we also need to ensure it can be an artistic hub into the future, remembering the past but also, crucially, representing the best of the present and what might be in the future for Dublin.”
“As a Dublin Central TD, I know there is already a long list of commitments by the Government that have yet to be fulfilled on the northside of the city and in the north inner city, in particular in areas such as the Parnell quarter and the fruit and vegetable market. Do we really believe Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will allocate the necessary millions to convert the building and bring the office spaces up to date any time soon? Do we really believe they will put in place the necessary historical projects that should go in to the GPO any time soon? I do not believe that will happen. This is why our immediate call is to put the building to use now and then put in place a plan of between five and ten years for the appropriate development of the GPO.”
“As an immediate starting point, we should utilise the office space in the GPO for artists' studios. There is a glaring and pressing need for such studios in the city. We have the office space available. Artists will say they do not need a fancy set-up. They just need natural light and a basic room. Many of the offices in the GPO would fulfil those needs. It would be scandalous to think that two years after the majority of the staff moved out of the GPO, the offices would remain vacant for longer. They should be put to use. The other key issue is that when we have a discussion about what the GPO should become, we need to set in context that funding for this project is not likely any time soon.”
“When we think of the Proclamation and its promise, the signatories to it, including James Connolly, would have very little patience for this in the face of a glaring need prompted by housing distress in Dublin and the devastating, unfulfilled promise of the Proclamation. Instead of having the GPO as a relic to the past, it would be best remembered as a living, breathing institution. At 25,000 sq. m, it is almost two thirds bigger than the pitch in Croke Park. Beyond our beloved post office, which in some ways is the beating heart for many of our lives, those of us who have lived in Dublin a long time and those new to Dublin as well, there are two internal courtyards and five floors of office space. We need to make sure this space is utilised.”
“This has not happened. Last week, the Taoiseach said it would be a historical project with first-class retail and office space. Now we are told that the clear intentions were set out in 2021, the detailed proposal will come in time and it will be a post office and offices. This is an appalling lack of commitment to the GPO as a landmark and one of the most important historical buildings in our country's history. It also shows an appalling lack of imagination about what the building could become. We do not need any more shiny, new offices in Dublin. We know there is an office vacancy rate of 18%. We do not want and we do not need any more big-brand retail outlets, particularly in a place like the GPO. The Labour Party firmly believes that we should not confine the GPO to being a shrine to the past.”
“In Ulysses , James Joyce referred to O'Connell Street from the GPO to Parnell Street as "the dead side of the street." Some 102 years on, not much has changed. Indeed, things have got worse if we think of the wasteland of the Carlton Cinema site and Moore Street, where the top floors of many buildings are held up by bricks. I thank Sinn Féin and an Teachta Ó Snodaigh for this important motion. While I agree with the vast majority of it, there is an issue regarding the need for ideas as to what we now do with the massive complex that makes up the GPO. I have read the Government amendment and aside from the ridiculous clap on the back it is trying to give itself, I am even more confused as to its intentions. Last November, in the task force, we were told we would have a detailed plan for the GPO in the first quarter of this year.”
“I submitted a freedom of information, FOI, request for some of the briefing notes that the Minister got in his time in the Department of Transport and elsewhere. Those notes described Ireland as a prime unmanned aircraft system, UAS, testing environment. They state that Ireland has the edge of an uncluttered airspace. I could go on. When will the Government finally publish the policy framework for unmanned commercial drones in this country?”
“When will the Government publish the long-awaited policy framework on the use of commercial drones in this country? It was due in 2023. It is now 2025 and we still have nothing. All the while, Government Ministers, when abroad on trade missions, have been promoting Ireland as a destination for unmanned aircraft or drones. Of course, drones can have a positive impact, particularly in the area of health, but there is a reality that communities are crying out for some sort of protection. All the while the Government has been stalling on introducing that policy, while inviting companies into the likes of Blanchardstown and Glasnevin, the communities the Minister and I represent, and treating them like guinea pigs.”