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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“The logistical issues of clinical scheduling, patient flow, service demand and capacity are broader issues related to access to GP care. The reality is that in many parts of the country we have significant waiting lists for access to GPs. That is on the Government because of its failure to ensure there is a fair and even distribution of GPs across the country. In my constituency, in Cabra there is one GP to every 3,000 people and in the north inner city there is one GP to every 3,500. In other areas, it is one GP to 1,500 people. There is a huge inequity of access. It is not just for women who are trying to access termination of pregnancy. Many people are affected by the systemic shortage of GPs across the country.”
“Thankfully, it has now been restored, but the reality is they are the challenges and stumbling blocks women face when they go to their doctors. The three-day waiting period must go. It is simply paternalistic. The reality is that we have seen wait periods being removed in many other European countries. They are almost non-existent in most other European countries and Ireland needs to fall into line with that, because, as was said clearly in the O'Shea report and we know from talking to many doctors, there is no clinical indication for this. On the Minister's comments on the legislation, I welcome the exploration of the issues. The cynic in me might say that we have not spent as much time talking about the issue of accessing GP care for the past 12 months as we did in the few minutes during the Minister of State's contribution.”
“I was struck by an email I received today from a woman in my constituency who thanked God that she had the luxury of being located close to a medical practitioner who could provide the service and thanked God she had the reality of a flexible working arrangement to be able to access that service. Many women in many parts of the country simply cannot. In particular, if there is a language barrier or a cultural issue with regards to accessing a GP, those issues are exacerbated. I should note a pause was put on language interpretation services in our part of Dublin in recent months, which was frightening for many patients because that service is absolutely necessary for patients to be able to access healthcare in the way the Minister of State or I or any of the rest of us here can when we go to our doctors.”
“When women take the decision to approach a doctor to ask for a termination, they have already thought long and hard about it. It is frankly moralistic and paternalistic and a political fix, which was not proposed by the citizens' assembly or the special Oireachtas committee on abortion care. It was simply a political fix that was put in place to try to make the legislation more palatable, as opposed to it being the right thing to do. There are women out there who, for a whole variety of reasons, fall outside the 12-week mark because of the logistics of the three days, because of trying to access their GP locally, because they are in domestic violence situations or because they have to take time away from work.”
“In 2023, just one year, 240 women had to travel to England - and that is just England - to access a termination of pregnancy because they could not access it here because they timed out of the 12 weeks or because of the rules on fatal foetal abnormalities. The three-day wait plays an important part in delaying and blocking women's access to that necessary healthcare. There is absolutely zero clinical indication for the three-day wait period and it has to go. It is frankly demeaning and degrading to send a woman away who comes to request an abortion. I was struck by what Deputy Gibney said about her pregnancy more than 20 years ago. When women turn up to the doctor they know what they want. It is not a question of them having to be sent away to reflect.”
“Even if this Bill does pass this evening, there is now an onus on the Government to expedite the legislation to ensure that we get rid of the three-day wait. Back in 2018, I was extremely proud to be a part of the Dublin Central Together for Yes campaign. In fact, I will look back on it as one of the most unique and special campaigns I have ever been involved in, given the cross-party support at the time, and night after night, the message from the doorsteps to us was that we could not continue to export our problem, an Irish problem. When two-thirds of voters cast their votes in support of repealing the eighth amendment back in 2018, I passionately believe they were not voting for 1,500 women to still have to go abroad to access a termination in the following years.”
“The O'Shea report has been gathering dust in the Department of Health for three years. The Minister came into the Chamber a month ago to express her own personal position with regard to the part of the O'Shea report relating to the three-day wait. We are not going to be a lot further along after this debate in providing those assurances. It is now in the power of the Government to ensure we have speedy passage of this legislation, whether it is the Sinn Féin Bill or a Bill brought forward by the Government. The reality is that there are women out there looking on who have either recently found themselves in this circumstance or may over the coming months. We have had hours of debate in this House but very little progress.”
“I thank Deputy Cullinane and Sinn Féin for bringing forward the Bill. It addresses one part of the O'Shea report. I am disappointed that there is an element of cherry-picking from the O'Shea report. If we are accepting the bona fides of the report, we should be looking at all the issues it addressed. I express the Labour Party's disappointment with Sinn Féin that it is singling out one issue. It is, however, the one issue on which there seems to be greater political consensus compared with some of the other issues identified in the O'Shea report and in that spirit, I very much welcome the Bill. I stand here a little bit frustrated that it has taken another Private Members' Bill to discuss this issue. As the Minister of State knows, the legislation committed to a three-year review. That took way longer than planned.”
“We need to hear that the Taoiseach's sympathy and understanding are as much with Irish people who are homeless as it is with those who come to this country to make their lives here, and that action will be taken accordingly.”
“What exactly did the Taoiseach mean when he said migration has hugely impacted homelessness? When people hear that, they think the Taoiseach is in some way trying to minimise or dismiss the problem that is affecting more than 12,500 people in Dublin and thousands more who are couch-surfing, who are suffering and who do not have homes at this time. The people coming to my clinic are both Irish born and individuals who have made their lives here. Their stories are harrowing. The family of a Dublin Bus driver are being forced to live in emergency accommodation. A customs officer - someone who came here from another country many years ago and who wants to get citizenship - has received a notice to quit. These are real people with real jobs.”
“If the Dutch and other governments the Minister called out do not move, will Ireland still move ahead? I am hearing two things here: I am hearing "the next few weeks" and I am hearing that the Government wants to move in concert. Frankly, that is not clear enough. The reality is that 70,000 people are dead. Over 900 people have died since the October ceasefire. We saw the scenes yesterday. God only knows what is happening to the countless nameless Palestinians who are behind bars at this point in time and who are facing the death penalty. I am still not clear about the intentions of this Government. The reality is that if the Israel-EU trade agreement is suspended, it still does not fully deal with illegal trade. Yes, it puts a prohibitive set of tariffs on it but it still does not fully ban that trade.”
“There is no point continuing to talk and hoping that the rest of the world will catch up. We need to take a lead here and ensure that we send a clear signal that the disgraceful acts we saw yesterday are not tolerated.”
“It was February 2024 when the Irish Government first brought the EU-Israel trade agreement to the European Council. It is now two and a half years later and there has been zero action. What I am hearing today is a strategy of crossing the fingers and toes and hoping other countries keep up with us with regard to the plan to outlaw trade from illegal settlements. What I am hearing today, which is more worrying, is that the Government is now narrowing its intent. It is going after violent settlers. It is not going after all trade from the illegal settlements but violent settlers. I would like to hear the clarification on that point. Ireland has a proud tradition of diplomacy and using our voices and words. The time for voices and words is over. It is a time for economic action and sanction against a government that is acting with impunity.”
“I am asking this question on behalf of Deputy Duncan Smith. The world is rightly outraged at what we saw yesterday but none of us should be surprised. The Government made a solemn commitment at the time of the election and published legislation last year but has done nothing since. It has rebuffed every single legislative effort brought before the Dáil and Seanad. Will the Minister level with the Irish public now? Is she abandoning the Israeli settlements Bill she introduced? If not, she should please set out a timeline for it, because the Irish public and indeed Palestinians and everyone across the world deserve nothing less. We need to have clarity from this Government as to what its position is.”
“When I talk to hospital managers across the country, they are telling me of closed step-down beds and repeated business cases being submitted but going nowhere. Are alarm bells going off at the moment with regards to the health budget and the needs that are there? What plans does the Minister specifically have for step-down beds?”
“Yesterday marked something of a milestone for the health service. For 50 days in the past three months, the number of delayed transfers of care has exceeded 500 patients across acute hospitals. For 50 days, there have been over 500 people waiting and ready to leave acute hospitals but cannot. They need step-down care, specialised beds, home care packages and nursing homes. These people need care that would cost a lot less than being in an acute hospital bed. Of course, all of this is taking place at a time when the HSE has overspent for the first quarter of this year, the Minister for Health is telling us that we need another €300 million in the health service for this year and the medical board at University Hospital Limerick is saying that there is a very real risk to patient safety there right now.”
“We in the Labour Party believe this needs to be looked at. I have been really struck over the past 18 months by the women who approached me telling me their stories and their successful stories of going through the Irish health system. There are good things happening out there but it is absolutely unacceptable for 240 women to be travelling abroad because they cannot get the care here. This needs to change. I commend the Social Democrats on bringing forward this Bill.”
“There is no provision for them in the Act and we need to see a change in that. On the criminalisation of those providing care, we have an utterly bizarre situation in this country where those trying to provide abortion care have the prospect of criminalisation hanging over them while those who obstruct and disrupt can act with impunity. These are not my words, they are the words of Marie O'Shea in her report. With regard to the 28 days, of course as medicine and science develops there is always going to be an ambiguity and a lack of certainty about the length of time for a fatal foetal abnormality but I believe that when people were voting in 2018 they voted to trust women and particularly to trust doctors. We have to listen to the clinicians out there who tell us about the grave difficulties in having that firm cut-off period of 28 days.”
“It is also important to say that we have overstretched GPs out there. From talking to many GPs, I know that they want to be able to support and help those women but finding those appointments within the three-day period is extremely difficult. If the Minister will not accept this Bill, we need her to bring forward her own Bill as soon as possible. With regard to the 12 weeks, again we know from so many women and from doctors how women time out unnecessarily from the 12-week limit. Marie O'Shea was very clear about the barrier put up by the 12-week gestational limits and that there was no provision for the completion of the incomplete termination of pregnancy, where medicines had already been taken. There were women who had undertaken consultation but then fell out of the 12-week period.”
“When women go to their GP to say that they want to terminate their pregnancy they have already thought long and hard about it. They do not need to have a time to reflect. It is downright demeaning and degrading to be told go away for three days. While we acknowledge and respect that the Social Democrats have brought forward a particular mechanism with regard to the three-day wait, we in the Labour Party would be actually in favour of abolishing it altogether. It is much more straightforward. The World Health Organization has said very clearly that mandatory waiting periods can have the effect of delaying care - and I know that is the intent of is being proposed here - which can jeopardise women's ability to access safe and legal abortion services. Luxembourg and the Netherlands have entirely removed mandatory waiting periods.”
“The Minister has been backed into a corner and this Government has been backed into a corner where it has no answer on commitments that it made to the Irish electorate that it would have a review and act on that review. There are accusations out there that those of us in the Opposition are now trying to change the goal posts. In reality, it is actually the Government trying to change the goal posts by failing to respond to Marie O'Shea's very detailed recommendations that were issued over three years ago. That is the undemocratic part of what we are talking about here today. With regard to the three-day period, we know from talking to doctors and to women that it is an unnecessary, impractical and stigmatising barrier to accessing the care that women need.”
“It was detailed, methodical and expert led with extensive consultation with over 7,000 submissions. It detailed professional academic research into the experience of service users. To my mind this report has been undermined and ignored by this arrogant Government. There was a commitment that the Government would have the review. It took way longer than necessary to publish that review and three years on we have had nothing. There is a key question for the Minister today. The Minister has said she is going to fix the three-day wait. Why is the Minister not bringing forward her own legislation into the Dáil? While all very welcome, frankly it is not good enough to be offering meetings. Why is she doing that now?”
“They are having to travel because of very specific difficulties and flaws within the legislation. When we voted eight years ago the legislation was put in place. People voted to take abortion, termination of pregnancy, and reproductive health out of Bunreacht na hÉireann and put it into the hands of the Oireachtas where representatives of the electorate could respond to the challenges or the issues that emerged. That is what we are doing here today. It is very regrettable to hear the Minister come in here and sympathise and acknowledge the issues and yet bring forward no plan or proposal as to what she is going to do. The electorate eight years ago backed a process where we would have a legislative review after three years. Marie O'Shea's report was a year-long process.”
“When two thirds of all voters cast their vote in favour of repealing the eighth amendment eight years ago I passionately believed that they were not voting for a situation that would continue to see over 1,500 women travelling for healthcare in subsequent years. They were not voting for the continued criminalisation of healthcare professionals or for couples with much-wanted pregnancies being forced into impossible circumstances due to the uncertain 28-day rule. In 2023 the latest available data available from the UK Department of Health and Social Care showed that 240 women from Ireland travelled to the UK for termination of pregnancy. I believe the people in this country voted to stop exporting our Irish problem abroad. We voted to ensure that women could get the necessary healthcare here and yet they are still having to travel.”
“My thanks to Deputy Cairns for bringing forward this Bill, which the Labour Party supports wholeheartedly. Compassionate care for women in real difficulty has been an issue for our party for many decades, long before it was mainstream for people to be talking about this. Indeed, many in the Labour Party were ostracised for many years. It is important to say at the outset that progress has been made over recent years in terms of the greater number of maternity units that are now providing access to termination of pregnancy. We know from this legislation that Deputies Cairns and Whitmore and others have brought to this House, that we still have a journey to travel.”
“The other two questions I have relate to the strategic review of GPs. We have been promised this for a year and a half. It is late. Are we going to see a reference to GP nurses? They provide vaccines and smears. I refer to the new chronic disease management programme. Are we going to see a reference and proper provision for them in the new GP contract? The last thing I want to say is with regard to public health nurses. From what I can see, the number of public health nurses across the country is lower now than it was five years ago. I looked through every region. Every single region has fewer public health nurses than it did five years ago. Why are the HSE and the Department of Health showing such contempt to public health nurses and the delivery of nursing care in our community? That needs to change.”
“We have heard all the reassurances from the Government, but the reality is that it is going to hit front-line workers. The Minister said this week that an extra €300 million is required for the health service. That is going to impact outcomes and services. We raised these issues at the budget last year, and we were told we did not need to worry because the health service was properly resourced. We knew then it was not the case, and now that is bearing fruit. That is serious mismanagement by the Department of Health in its budgeting. The second question that I have for the Minister-----”
“We also have to look at the attitude of the Government and the HSE to commitments they have made to nurses and other health staff in recent years, particularly the WRC agreement in 2024. There were specific commitments with regard to agency, outsourcing and maternity cover, yet the unions had go to the Labour Court last November with regard to the non-implementation of the WRC agreement by the HSE. That is simply not on. It as a misuse of the HSE’s time that it has to go trekking down to the WRC. It committed to that agreement. Why is it not abiding by it? In February of this year, we saw nurses in Naas General Hospital going on strike because of unsafe staffing. This is a very real issue. We need the HSE and the Government to respond. I am alarmed that we now have a recruitment freeze.”
“We have to ask what the Government response to this is. I acknowledge that the number of nurses has gone up significantly in the past five years, by some 9,700, or just short of 10,000. That is significant. However, we know that when we benchmark Ireland against many of the other European countries and OECD norms, we are significantly short. That has to be part of the conversation on the future path for nurses working across our health system, and how we ensure that they and the patients are kept safe. That piece of legislation is vital. There are minimal staffing ratios in childcare and education, yet we do not have that within our hospitals, where nurses and other staff are providing a crucial service.”
“When we look at the reality on the ground, the INMO national conference last week and its annual survey laid bare the extraordinary strain that so many nurses are working under. Some 67% of staff believe their current staffing levels and skill mix do not meet the clinical and patient demands required in their work area. Over half of respondents said that patient safety was almost always put at risk, or certainly very often. Almost half were pressurised to work additional hours or shifts. Shockingly, a quarter of the nurses who responded to that survey said they had to attend a GP due to work-related stress. We know that those in other grades within the health service are similarly suffering enormous stress and strain, as seen, in particular, in the Fórsa survey produced earlier this year.”
“I impress upon the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, that we need to see something specific to the health service and many other sectors to reassure those workers who have come to our country, but also to call out the racism that is out there. I have three questions. They are principally directed to the senior Minister for Health, but I know the Minister of State will take them on board. The first concerns safe staffing ratios. We know that in 2017, the then Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, introduced the general scheme of the patient safety Bill. It went through pre-legislative scrutiny, but it has been gathering dust ever since. We have to ask why that is, and what are the Government's intentions in this regard.”
“Our health service, particularly our nursing workforce, would not be able to survive were it not for people from countries like the Philippines and India coming to this country year after year to join our workforce. We must be very thankful to them. We also need to mind them and look after them. Certainly, the increasingly racist commentary that we hear among politicians, but also the really crude discourse that exists out there online and in our communities, has put the fear of God into many migrant nurses and other workers. It is something the Government needs to act on in a much more comprehensive fashion. We were promised an information campaign on the benefits of migration. We see it in our hospitals, day in, day out, but we have yet to see that campaign.”
“We have seen a lot of commentary in recent weeks about violence and aggression. This is seen not only in the Mater hospital, but in many hospitals across the State. The reality is that many nurses go beyond the call of duty to deliver care across a variety of environments. It is important that when we talk about nurses today, we are not just focusing on the nurses who work in acute hospitals, who are incredibly important to the conversation, but we also recognise nurses in nursing homes, primary care clinics and GP practices, as well as community midwives and public health nurses. Some 15% of the nursing workforce in this country has come from other countries.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak today on International Nurses Day. The theme is: “Our Nurses. Our Future. Empowered Nurses Save Lives”. I have just come from the new national children's hospital. I want to pay particular tribute to the nurses who are leading the charge there, as well as Lucy Nugent, the chief executive of CHI, and Julia Lewis, the head of transformation. It is wonderful to see so many nurses now coming into senior leadership roles across the health service, where for so many years, it was dominated by the other professions. I also pay tribute to the nurses I encountered in the Mater emergency department last night, when I was there with a friend, for the incredible professionalism and work rate that they bring every day to their jobs in what is a very difficult environment.”
“We have to make sure that with the money we have, clean, cheap energy is for the many, not just the few; that the system of grants is overhauled so that when households look at solar grants they do not see the actual cost quadruple; and that we achieve scale and put in place incentives to have a number of properties retrofitted together in order that we get to the point that 500,000 houses are retrofitted by 2030. We need ambition from this Government. We are not seeing that. We have to use the resources we currently have and that may not be there forever to ensure we resolve the cost-of-living crisis.”
“We had the extraordinary situation in March whereby the Government concluded a multibillion euro three-year deal with the pharmaceutical companies in this country for the purchase of drugs for people who are sick and there is not a single mention of vaccines. The prosperity we see in our public finances will not be there forever and I very much worry about when those days are going to change. The last major economic expansion in our country was 21 years ago. We are now 14 years into our current run. It is vital that we make the most of what we have.”
“We hear all these excuses from Government about the war, the energy markets and whatever else. There is some sort of post-colonial feigned helplessness in the way this Government responds. There is always someone else to blame. That has to change and the Government has to control the controllable by using the might of our public finances to permanently reduce the cost of living and cut people's bills by retrofitting homes while also reducing emissions. It must use the might of the public finances to keep people healthy and out of hospital by actually purchasing available vaccines, such as the shingles vaccine and the enhanced flu vaccine, rather than throwing its hands up in the air, saying these vaccines are too expensive.”
“These workers on average incomes of €52,000 are now somehow deemed to be high earners in our income tax system because they are paying the higher rate of tax. We have a tax system that is seriously out of kilter when the marginal rate of 52% kicks in for those on just above average earnings. We need to see changes to that to make sure average workers pay the standard rate of tax. Among so many other working people, many of whom vote for the Minister of State's party and other Government parties, there is a real sense of bitterness and resentment about what the Government is doing with their hard-earned taxes. They are being told to weather this storm until October, to sit it out, yet they see the prospect in July of a VAT cut for the hospitality sector, with no guarantee that it will save jobs or businesses.”
“However, because we have a by-election in Dublin Central at the moment, I am knocking on doors on a daily basis. I have to tell the Minister of State that there is a serious level of bitterness and resentment towards this Government. That bitterness is because people felt bought before the general election when, for three winters, there were energy tax credits worth €2.77 billion and then when household arrears topped €500,000 last winter, there was no support. I am talking to women in flat complexes who are putting in €50 every two days into prepaid meters. They cannot afford to continue. There is bitterness among workers on average incomes - the mechanics, office administrators, bus drivers and social care workers.”
“I thank my colleague Deputy Nash for bringing forward this Private Members' motion on the cost-of-living crisis. I listened carefully to the Minister of State's words. He talked about acknowledging the fear and frustration that were evident around the country in recent weeks and how this Government is responding. The Government is responding all right to those who blockaded our streets. While we had genuine sympathy for many of those people, we, the Labour Party, are standing for the people who could not get to work, who had to spend hours getting to their health appointments and for whom this Government has delivered nothing. That is why we are calling for a mini-budget. Most of us have weekly or monthly clinics and we knock on doors on a regular basis.”
“I pay particular tribute to Belinda Nugent and others working there and looking at this as a systemic issue rather than just going back and forth between maintenance staff in Dublin City Council and individual tenants. The reality is that we have a systemic crisis. There are far too many children growing up in degrading conditions in our flat complexes. At the very least, for the dignity of families in this country we need to see a change in tone and attitude to funding local authorities from this Government.”
“We need to see direction from the Government to make sure it is direct employment within local authorities so the day-to-day maintenance can be dealt with and the real money can go into the issues of cold walls that need the insulation and broken windows. Far too much of the money at the moment is going into day-to-day stuff. None of it, or far too little, is going into proper maintenance and upkeep of flat complexes that are many years old. For many years there have been residents and residents’ groups fighting tooth and nail on this. I know in my constituency ICON has been to the fore in leading the charge to bring people together in recent years.”
“We have to hear from the Government whether it is willing to stump up those hundreds of millions of euro to fully regenerate those flat complexes in coming years or whether it will merely involve replacement of windows, doors and ventilation, which is important, but does not go far enough in making the lives of people better. It is not all about money. It is about capacity and resources. In local authorities across this country, we have seen a hollowing-out of staffing over many years. Some local authorities have tried to start apprenticeship programmes in their maintenance departments, but we have far too few. If we are to seriously have a planned maintenance programme across all local authorities we need to see leadership from the Government on this.”
“The reality is that the €30 million that is going to be raised by the rent increases is supposed to go into maintenance. We will be doing our damnedest to make sure it does, but it is a drop in the ocean in terms of what is needed. There needs to be a honest conversation about the expectations for all the people I am delighted to see in the Gallery today and what they can expect over the coming years. Let us look at the figures. To try to do decent maintenance across four complexes will cost approximately €70 million. To fully regenerate major complexes will cost hundreds of millions of euro.”
“It is important to say that the corrosive impact of the broken promises is not just for the residents but is right across the communities. We are seeing that manifest with the local election results in 2024 and what may happen in our constituency over the coming weeks. This Government has to wake up to the reality that there is a serious crisis when people are living in those sorts of degrading conditions. Deputy Devine mentioned the rent increases. I tell the Minister of State clearly that I am not happy about the rent increases. It is crap that anybody has to pay a rent increase in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. Dublin City Council executives dropped the ball by not having a rate review for over 30 years, but the Government has also starved Dublin City Council of funding for refurbishment and regeneration.”
“A big concern I have in all of this is that there have been so many broken promises to residents in flat complexes over the years from successive Ministers and public representatives in Dublin Central. We were told Croke Villas was due to start in 2019. It is still to happen. Matt Talbot Court is still standing there. It was supposed to be finished in 2022. Gardiner Street flats and Dunne Street flats were supposed to start in 2021. There is still no progress. I know all too often that Dublin City Council and the Government will point to the pandemic. We saw the Mater getting its act together during the pandemic and building much-needed hospital bed space, but when it comes to flat complexes we have seen no progress.”
“The reality is hundreds of flat complexes are old and in need of regeneration but there are also new complexes like Blackhall Place, which is only 30 years old and won awards at the time. It was poorly built and now residents have to deal with issues with drinking water and drainage. I spoke to a lady last Saturday on Poplar Row whose insulation is soaking. That is a result of Dublin City Council dropping the ball and the Government. We talk about fire safety defects and the enormous bill for private apartment complexes but there is also a massive issue with the Government dropping the ball on building standards in flat complexes in this city and beyond.”
“We have to draw an inference that suggests people's lives and health are badly affected from the people who come to my clinics, in the flats I step into, the babies on inhalers before the age of 18 months, and the children missing school days because of chest and throat infections due to the mould on their walls and around their windows, mildew and fungus growing from their ceilings. Year after year people paint their walls. Who paints their walls every year? The people in the flat complexes in my constituency in Dublin Central do. It is unacceptable and outrageous. They are trying to cover up a problem that will not go away because of construction defects, yet the Government continues to say plenty of money is going into housing. It is not going into flat maintenance or regeneration and it must.”
“Hundreds of thousands of euro have been spent trying to get the plans for the Oliver Bond Street complex to where they are, yet the Department has been blindsided by the desire for volume, which we all share, but cannot see the short-term and long-term costs to families continuing to live in squalor in the flats. It is condemning those people to all the social and health costs that with it. We know from research conducted by the Robert Emmet Community Development Project and Trinity College that children in the Oliver Bond Street flats are 2.4 times more likely to have asthma relative to the general population. There is still not a huge volume of evidence relating to the causation but the correlation is enormous.”
“That is all welcome but the context is that there are 211 flat complexes across the Dublin City Council area and just 12 are either undergoing major regeneration or subject to some sort of plan. There is a hell of a lot to be done. I am in no way hearing from Government that it gets the depth of the problem with the flat complexes in our capital city or has any idea of the impact of its short-sightedness, particularly when we see the stalemate between it and DCC on Oliver Bond Street flats. The news that emerged today regarding those flats is disgraceful. We have listened for many weeks to the Taoiseach talking about how local authorities are well-resourced, lots of money going into the housing budget for local authorities and money having to be carefully spent.”