Mark Ward
Dublin Mid-West · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“The second largest part of the subvention is the €4.1 billion that relates to public debt. Ireland would have no legal liability to pay any part of this. The cost of defence and international relations is approximately €2.7 billion and almost none of this expenditure relates to activity taking place in the North.”
“It has not allowed us, as a nation, to reach our full potential. I also think it is important that we take the current financial situation in the North seriously. It is always disappointing when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael use the North as a stick to beat Sinn Féin. Even the Labour Party used this tactic this week.”
“It has been a long-standing policy of Sinn Féin to bring waste management back to public control. Privatisation has failed ordinary people. Bin companies act like a cartel in how they raise their prices. When one company increases its price, the rest follow.”
“The total subvention includes central British Government costs allocated to the North that would not be relevant to a united Ireland and here is why. The subvention from the British Exchequer to the North was €16 billion in 2023.”
“I thank Deputy Sherlock for bringing forward this legislation to bring bin collections back to public control. I am disappointed but not surprised that the Government is opposing this legislation. Fine Gael has a long history and policy of privatising public services.”
“We have a situation that allows multiple bin trucks to operate on the same street. On my road there could be three different companies coming down the road, sometimes at the same time. This goes against everything we are trying to achieve to make waste collection more environmentally friendly.”
The complete record
Every one of 625 lines we hold for Mark Ward, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 10 of 13.
“As the Minister of State said, this is the last Bill to be taken prior to the recess so I want to take this opportunity to thank all of the Oireachtas staff for all their work over the year, and let them know I will not be taking my full ten minutes and they might get out a little bit earlier. I am happy to speak on this important Bill. I thank my colleagues, Deputies Quinlivan and Daly, for the work that has gone into it. I am the Sinn Féin spokesperson for community safety and youth justice, and I want to see more approaches taken to reduce crime and recidivism. Restorative justice is one of the ways we are able to achieve this. Restorative justice brings the perpetrator of a crime face to face with the victim of that crime.”
“The Government Bill is a step in the right direction to help seize assets but it is obvious that more needs to be done. I reiterate my point that any money seized by CAB be returned to the areas that it originated from. Extremely disadvantaged areas need this support to stop the next generation of young people becoming involved in a life of crime. Recommendation 15 of the justice committee report states: "The Committee recommends further examination of the use of funds recovered from proceeds of crime and how such funds could be invested ... through the provision of preventative supports within communities". This is an area that the Government must prioritise in any changes to the legislation on CAB.”
“This was a man named by the Criminal Assets Bureau as being linked to the Drogheda gang feud. These reports were deeply worrying. This must be a wake-up call for the Government and shows the need for a full investigation into the granting of contracts and profiteering in the provision of IPAS accommodation. It goes to show the level of money involved in providing IPAS accommodation if people named by CAB are getting involved. I suggest that the money seized by CAB is only the tip of the iceberg. There is so much dirty money still in the hands of criminals. In Ireland, the value of criminal markets is calculated at €1.7 billion per annum, which is slightly higher than 1% of GDP. The Minister mentioned that CAB had seized €220 million since its inception. That is really welcome, but it is only the tip of the iceberg.”
“The children are attracted by the flashy cars and the new runners, having a few quid in their pockets and the status of being a so-called somebody. These criminals are actually nobodies. They suck the lifeblood out of our communities and return very little. They return nothing but devastation. We need to be proactive rather than reactive and target these young people with appropriate diversionary services before they end up in the hands of the drug dealers. The Government also needs to be careful of who it does business with and ensure that Government funds are not ending up in the pockets of organised criminals. Reports over the weekend said that the Government had paid millions of euro for IPAS accommodation to a company owned by a man currently awaiting sentencing for violent disorder.”
“Youth diversion projects should be agile enough to meet them on the streets where the criminality and antisocial behaviour is taking place. Targeted outreach should be used to persuade and help those young people to make better choices and lead them away from a life of crime. The Minister went out and met representatives of Solas himself recently, which is welcome. If this kind of organisation were to be expanded to other areas of Dublin and right across the State, it would be a really welcome initiative. These young people are the ones I was talking about earlier who are being targeted by older, experienced drug dealers to sell and deliver drugs. Children are being groomed by unscrupulous drug dealers. This is child abuse.”
“The money the mother borrowed from the credit union to pay the drug debt of her child flows from the low-level drug dealer right up to the upper echelons of the organised crime gangs. Young people engaged in criminality should face the appropriate justice. In the case of minor offences, though, they should be diverted as much as possible away from the judicial system. I stress that this should be in the case of minor offences. Youth diversion projects and programmes need to meet the hard-to-reach young people, those most at risk of getting involved in crime, including those not involved in school, youth clubs and other community groups. These are the young people who have fallen through the cracks of society.”
“The young people in my area do not see the leaders of organised crime daily, as those individuals are far removed from the daily grind of on-street drug dealing. They do, however, see the local players and their lifestyles and this is what attracts young people into criminality. We need to support the most disadvantaged areas in building resilience to crime. These low-level players are often the drivers of drug debt intimidation. I have met parents in my area who have been forced to pay drug-related debts their children have accumulated. The debts that the children apparently owe these unscrupulous dealers are frequently exaggerated to the parents, who then end up paying exorbitant amounts back to these dealers for fear of reprisals.”
“Drug debt intimidation of families is rife in working class areas. I have been calling for a local mini-CAB to take the local so-called big boys out of circulation. While they may be the big fish in a small pond locally, they are small fry overall. These low-level players may not be asset-rich, but they have lifestyles that are rich. They have the expensive clothes, the foreign holidays and the trips to the sporting events. Their lifestyles simply do not match their means and it is all played out on social media for the world to see. A mini-CAB would target these lifestyle-rich criminals. It would seek to break the attractive lifestyle of criminals that is often used to coerce young people into criminal activity.”
“We believe that funding allocations should be linked to the Pobal index. According to that index, parts of my community are extremely disadvantaged or very disadvantaged. I will give the Minister an example. In 2022, there were 22 successful applications for the community safety fund. Six organisations applied from the parts of my area that were highly disadvantaged and very disadvantaged, but not one of them was successful. This tells me that not all the money allocated to this fund is going to the areas most affected by crime, and this is something I want to see change. Sinn Féin would also like to see the establishment of a mini-CAB that would target low-level criminals. A mini-Criminal Assets Bureau should be established in the areas worst affected by low- to mid-level criminals, particularly those in the drug trade.”
“This would have seen the proceeds of crime reinvested into communities to build resilience through our drug task forces, family resource centres, youth diversion projects, unemployment services, sports clubs and anybody involved in working in a disadvantaged area. In response to this, the Government, in fairness, established the community safety fund, to which local groups can make applications for grants. However, this application process can be arduous and the most impacted communities do not always receive approval for funding. The fund has risen from €2 million in 2022 to €4 million this year. Grants range from €20,000 to €150,000, depending on the project. We welcome the increase in this funding, but we must see the money directed to the communities most in need of it.”
“They walk around in their flash suits looking down on people in tracksuits. The dirty money gets moved from one place to another and comes up clean on the other side, so we need to give CAB and An Garda Síochána the powers to stop this happening. The pre-legislative scrutiny report from the justice committee recommended that an examination take place regarding the current criteria and eligibility for potential projects under the community safety innovation fund. Sinn Féin has long advocated for the reinvestment of the proceeds of crime back into the communities most affected by crimes. In fact, my party colleague Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh first raised this issue over 15 years ago. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú and I introduced the Proceeds of Crime (Investment in Disadvantaged Communities) (Amendment) Bill 2021.”
“There is a direct connection between the visible crimes we see daily and criminals laundering money. The proceeds that come from street muggings, car break-ins, burglaries and other daily occurrences on our streets are filtered through these fronts. Just because these white-collar criminals do not have dirt under their fingernails does not mean their hands are clean. CAB should have the powers to tackle international and cybercrime. Money laundering, cybercrime, counterfeiting and fraud are the tools used by these white-collar criminals. Mixing with the so-called upper echelons of society and displaying the trappings of their ill-gotten gains through fancy homes, cars and golf club memberships give these white-collar criminals an air of respectability, one they do not deserve.”
“We have seen how criminals have tied up the legal system in knots as CAB tries to take back assets, assets that are ill gotten and the proceeds of crime. As the Minister said, it is important that these assets be returned to communities. I welcome that it will be made easier to seize funds associated with criminal activity. We should aim as a State to make it as difficult as possible for organised crime gangs to operate, not only within our communities, but also at the level of business. The practice of criminals investing in legitimate business to wash their dirty money is not a new phenomenon. In fact, it has been going on since time began. We cannot be soft on white-collar crime or dodgy business owners who facilitate it. White-collar criminals should not be allowed to operate under a shroud of acceptability.”
“I join the Minister in commending the work of CAB over the years in seizing assets from organised crime gangs. I also join in his comments concerning An Garda Síochána taking drugs off our streets, which is very much needed. Sinn Féin supports the aims of this Bill, but as the Minister mentioned, there will be a Committee Stage and we may seek to table amendments to further strengthen it then. I will speak to some of these in my contribution. Reducing the time taken between the seizure and disposal of criminal assets is a good thing. It is a no-brainer. A reduction from seven years to two years in the time between an order being made that assets are the proceeds of crime and a final disposal order being available in respect of those assets should probably have been done a long time ago.”
“-----but rests solely and squarely on the shoulders of Government for not providing public health nurses in Dublin Mid-West. I am calling for action now so that no more children fall through the cracks.”
“If children do not get the necessary developmental checks, something missed could have a lifelong impact on them. I have been getting the same answers from the HSE for the last two years, that there are recruitment and retention issues for the HSE getting public health nurses in the area. I want to know what is going to be done about that. Parents in Dublin Mid-West feel the burden of trying to spot any developmental challenges their baby is experiencing. Can you imagine the guilt parents feel if they fail to spot something? I want to be clear that the guilt is not on parents-----”
“It sourced the GP, which is fantastic. It took some time to get him registered with the Irish Medical Council. This was finally resolved and now the centre is waiting for the general medical services, GMS, contract to be sorted out through the HSE. I am happy to announce that once this is approved, the Rowlagh medical centre could have the capacity to take more than 500 new medical card patients, which will be fantastic for my area. There is also a shortage of public health nurses in Dublin Mid-West, in the Rossecourt resource centre in Lucan, the Lucan health centre, the Rathcoole health centre, the primary health centre in Clondalkin, and the Rowlagh health centre. Newborn babies' brains develop more in the first five years of their lives than at any other time.”
“When they finally receive the diagnosis, which could take years, these children are left on waiting lists for occupational therapy, speech and language therapy and psychology. I have said numerous times that the Government is denying children in this State every right and every chance to reach their full potential. We have also spoken about the shortage of GPs in the State and how difficult it is for patients to get an appointment, but there are bureaucratic delays in the HSE that impede this. I will give an example. The Rowlagh medical centre in my area opened last year at the site of the old Rowlagh credit union building. This is something that I have been working on for a long time. The centre provides a range of health services, including GP services, in an area of high disadvantage. It wants to provide a GP medical card service.”
“The health needs of the people of Clondalkin and the families I meet daily have increased dramatically since 2015 and the people of my area feel abandoned by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. When I say the health needs have grown in my area, the Minister does not have to believe me. She just has to look at the latest figures that have come from the HSE about children with disabilities waiting for assessments of need. The number of children awaiting assessments of need is now expected to pass 25,000. That is 25,000 families and children who will be left in limbo. A total of 11,500 of these children are left waiting for first contact with the HSE, with nearly 8,000 of these children waiting for over a year before the HSE will even pick up the phone to contact their parents.”
“The Bill before us is a Bill of optics to create an illusion that the Government is dealing with a health crisis that it created. It is like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic or an old-fashioned three-card trick that moves people from list to list without getting them the necessary treatment at the end of it. I will give the Minister some examples. In 2015, there was an agreement to place a much-needed primary healthcare centre in Rowlagh in my constituency. Planning permission was granted in 2018, followed by fire safety certificates and disability access certificates. It is now 2025 and not a sod of earth has been turned on this much-needed facility. The latest response I got from the Government is that the primary health centre for Rowlagh is currently on hold while the HSE evaluates current service needs.”
“It just looks at the forms that are sent in and does not see the person behind that. It sees the person is adequately housed on paper, but we know that is not the truth. Women are trapped in these situations. It was between staying in a refuge or returning to the family home, which is the home she had to flee for her own safety in the first place. As Deputy Carthy said already, the housing situation is trapping people in violent and dangerous situations. Surely a victim-centred approach can be taken when it comes to domestic violence so victims' and survivors' needs can be placed ahead of the abuser's.”
“The last time I spoke in the Dáil about calling out other men I received a tirade of abuse on social media from a certain cohort of men. I tell them to have a good look at themselves and cop themselves on about why they are calling out somebody for calling them out on their behaviour. I will mention a situation in my area that is related to refuges. We do not have enough of them and the Minister has acknowledged that. A woman I assisted in my constituency office last year had to flee her home with her children for her safety. She found the refuge and got all the support a refuge offers, but after a period she needed to leave the refuge. However, the perpetrator was still in the family home refusing to leave and exercising coercive control over his family. The council will not get involved because it just looks at statistics.”
“I am going to read out some statistics from last year. There were over 45,000 reports of domestic abuse to Women's Aid, over 22,000 contacts to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre, over 49,000 domestic abuse incidents recorded by gardaí and over 65,000 domestic abuse calls recorded by gardaí. Behind every single one of these statistics is a person and they are mainly women, like the women who are here in the Gallery and the women who are watching at home. Women who have hopes, dreams and aspiration and have a right to feel safe. There are also women who are subjected to horrific abuse from another person, mainly a man and mainly a man who is known to the woman. The Minister mentioned that it is really incumbent on men to call out other men when it comes to situations like this.”
“We have had this conversation many times about admitting children into adult psychiatric facilities. The Government had four years to get this right and it has failed. It is draconian. The practice is wrong. Every human rights organisation has said it is absolutely wrong. The Government also had four years to get the regulation of CAMHS in place. It is not in this Bill. It is literally not good enough. We will be voting on a Bill that does not regulate CAMHS. There were numerous reports, including the Maskey report and the Mental Health Commission report, which outlined all the problems there were in CAMHS. The number one recommendation in those reports was that CAMHS needed to be regulated and the Government failed to do so. There is not one mention of dual diagnosis in the Bill either.”
“He went on to say that Darren had no intention to die by suicide. The ruling of suicide is hurtful for families who have suffered such loss as they know that the medication was the primary cause of their children’s deaths. I hope this Bill will give the families peace of mind in these situations. I commend the McGill Lynch and Connell families for their tireless and selfless campaign and for trusting me to tell their sons’ stories today.”
“The coroner did say that Jake was not in his right mind but he could not elaborate on the medication. As things stand, the coroner does not have the option to issue the verdict of iatrogenic suicide, and this is why we are introducing this Bill. I welcome Jim and Vera Connell to the Public Gallery. Their son Darren died after taking anti-acne medication. Darren Connell was a county minor with Meath and was the pride and joy of his GAA club, Oldcastle. Jim told me Darren was the fittest minor in Meath. Darren was prescribed medication called doxycycline for the treatment of acne on 27 August 2019. On 11 September, he died by asphyxial hanging. He was 17 years of age. At his inquest, the coroner described the evidence put before him as compelling and made a recommendation to investigate the safety of his medication.”
“Stephanie and John have been campaigning to change the law so a coroner can note iatrogenic suicide as a verdict on the cause of death. Jake McGill Lynch died in 2013 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 14 when he was prescribed an antidepressant weeks before his death. His mam said he was not depressed but had exam anxiety. Jake was prescribed fluoxetine. His mother had no idea it was actually Prozac or of the side effects it could have, including suicidal ideation. Jake was diagnosed with Asperger’s. The evidence indicates Prozac has no benefit for children with Asperger’s. Despite the risk of harm, Jake was still prescribed this drug. The coroner returned an open verdict. The family welcomed the open verdict as the ruling “death by suicide” would not reflect their son’s death, which they believe was drug induced.”
“I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Act of 1962, to provide for a verdict of Iatrogenic Suicide and related matters. Today Sinn Féin is introducing “Jake’s amendment” to amend the Coroners Act. This Bill will introduce the term “iatrogenic suicide” into the Act, allowing the coroner to return it as a verdict. Iatrogenic suicide refers to the ending of one’s own life where the primary cause is the effect of medical treatment, including treatment by way of prescribed medication administered by a healthcare professional. The Bill is named after Jake McGill Lynch, a young boy from Clondalkin who took his life shortly after being prescribed antidepressants. I welcome Jake’s parents, Stephanie and John, to the Public Gallery.”
“I welcome that the Minister is agnostic, as he said, about whether to progress his Bill or the Opposition Bill. What does he think would be the speedier process? Has he given that any consideration? Would he support the progression of the Opposition Bill that was introduced this week?”
“I welcome the Minister's comments on the Bill that was introduced this week by Deputy Ó Snodaigh and several other Opposition Deputies, the Disregard of Historic Offences for Consensual Sexual Activity Between Men Bill 2025. The timing was to coincide with Pride last week and this week. We still have people around the world who are subjected to tyranny and abuse just for being gay. In its essence, this Bill aims to eradicate the historic criminal convictions imposed for the offences of consensual sexual activity between men prior to 1993. The Bill was drafted by campaigners and a lot of work was put into it. A lot of campaigning and research went into the Bill. As the Minister acknowledged, the statistics show that between 1983 and 1993 there were 64 convictions for being gay and there is a good chance that these men are still alive.”
“However, this is a chance to do the right thing. I welcome the Minister's comments on bringing provisions forward through a miscellaneous provisions Bill. Would these provisions quash individual convictions or what way would it work?”
“I thank the Minister. It is hard to believe that only 32 years ago it was illegal to be gay in Ireland. In 1993, when the law was changed, I was only 18. I was not aware of this rule when I was 18 but you can bet your life if I had been a young gay man, I would have been. Gay men at the time would have been driven underground. They suffered trauma and abuse. Ireland has come a long way since 1993, mostly for the better. It is hard to believe that being gay was a crime until 1993. It is still hard to believe that there are men who have convictions for being gay prior to 1993. The last record I have is that between 1983 and 1993, there were 64 convictions. Most of these men are probably still alive at this stage. I am aware that the Minister has competing interests. I am on the justice committee so I know how busy we are.”
“While most of the world celebrated Pride last week and this week, in Ireland there are still men who have criminal convictions for just being gay before 1993. Can I have an update on the Disregard of Historic Offences for Consensual Sexual Activity Between Men Bill 2025? When will it be completed and when will these men have their criminal convictions quashed?”
“Under this legislation, not only could they be seen as glorifying terrorism, but so too could the person who put the graffiti on the wall in the first place. In this legislation, public provocation charges can be brought where no actual terrorist offence has been committed, with those charged facing up to ten years imprisonment. These provisions are clearly being used to target freedom of speech, freedom of expression and political activism as opposed to actual terrorism. We cannot stand over that.”
“It is an independent Palestinian non-governmental human rights organisation based in Ramallah. It protects and promotes human rights and the rule of law in occupied Palestinian territory. I met Al-Haq in Ramallah in 2022. I visited its headquarters in Ramallah as it presented a human rights account of the murder of American journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh. Israel has deemed it a terrorist organisation. If I met Al-Haq after this legislation passed, would that make me a terrorist or someone glorifying terrorism? We should not be putting anything into this legislation that will lead to abuse or misuse. Another recent example is the lambasting of the Irish women’s soccer team for singing Celtic Symphony .”
“Kneecap has been a thorn in the side of the British Government because it represents everything the British establishment hates. They are proud Irishmen who speak and promote our native language, Irishmen who never bow to British imperialism. The clause the Minister is putting into this legislation is basically a version of British legislation. In the words of Kneecap, get your Brits out of our legislation. If Mo Chara is convicted of a terrorism offence in Britain, could I be seen in this State to be glorifying terrorists by wearing a Kneecap t-shirt like I am at this moment? We are also on a slippery slope, given other international experiences regarding legislation of this type. Israel, for example, labels nearly every human rights organisation that works on the ground in Palestine as a terrorist organisation. Al-Haq is one such group.”
“Will the Minister be commemorating the members of the good old IRA, like de Valera, Lemass and Collins? Were they not considered terrorists of their time by the British establishment and Government? The language of glorifying terrorism contained in this Bill is open to interpretation. As was previously said, this is the language of the DUP, which has sought to criminalise anyone who attends commemorations of loved ones killed in the conflict in the North. I make no apology whatsoever when I attend – and I will continue to attend – commemorations of our patriot dead. In recent weeks, we have seen Mo Chara from the rap group Kneecap being charged with terrorism offences for waiving a flag while performing on stage. There is no greater oxymoron than British justice.”
“There is a need for robust legislation to tackle terrorism and terrorist activity. I know everybody can agree on this. This is needed, particularly given the current global climate. However, the vagueness in this Bill is more likely to lead to abuse by the Government to stamp out political protest, political activism and free speech. I listened to the Minister’s speech. Intention and the glorification of terrorism are open to interpretation. We cannot have a vague Bill. I will outline why. The Minister is a Dub like myself. Like most Dubs, I was raised on songs and stories of heroes of renown, the passing tales of glories, that once was Dublin town. I could sing that song to the Minister, but that would be an offence. There is a clause in this Bill that could criminalise those of us who wish to commemorate these past heroes of renown.”
“The problem is there is not enough of them and their absence leaves the area open and prey to these organised criminal gangs. We urgently need to see an increase in the numbers of gardaí. To be honest, the Minister did not fill me with great confidence yesterday that we will see those numbers. We might see them in Dublin city but we might not see Garda numbers increase in the surrounding areas of Dublin in the near future. I hope when I come back here next year to have a debate on the same issue that I will be proved wrong and there will be sufficient numbers but, based on the figures given yesterday, I do not see that happening.”
“I want to put on the record that the organised criminals who operate in my area and other areas are absolute nobodies. They offer nothing to my community. They actually suck the lifeblood from our communities and we need to have every resource available to stop them from operating in my community and other communities in Dublin. As there is a lack of gardaí in the area, however, they are unable to tackle this. To be clear, the fault does not lie with gardaí. There are some really good community gardaí in my area. They operate street leagues. I attended an event for the Clondalkin Equine Club at the weekend and the mounted unit and community gardaí were present and it was really good to see them operating and engaging with the community on that basis and building up relationships.”
“It is not good for these communities to be just left waiting for a Garda car and someone to call out. There has to be urgency in addressing these shortfalls. I am also Sinn Féin's spokesperson on youth justice. We need better resourcing of youth diversion programmes and other programmes that can reduce the number of young people involved in offending and criminal activity. Criminal gangs are grooming young people to go into crime. They are grooming them in my area and taking advantage of young people who are trapped in poverty, growing up in an area they feel has been forgotten about and feel they have been left behind. They see organised criminals as somebodies and they are attracted to the lifestyle. They see the new runners and jackets, the flash cars and the opportunity to be a so-called somebody.”
“Dublin city centre has seen an increase in Garda visibility in recent times and I welcome this, as do most Dublin TDs and most TDs in this House. What this does, however, is push gangs and criminal activity further into the suburbs of Dublin and beyond, into the outlying counties, where Garda visibility is not as high as it is in the city centre. I can give testament to that. In my own area of Dublin Mid-West there has been an increase in open drug dealing and antisocial behaviour. I have raised this in the Dáil in the past. Often when constituents call the Garda there is only one garda available. Yesterday, I mentioned to the Minister that at one stage during an incident last year there was only one Garda car available to the people of Clondalkin and Ballyfermot and that is a huge area.”
“He admitted defeat in that he will not reach 1,000 recruits this year. My calculations show me the Minister will be lucky to get 750 recruits this year. The Minister said he has funding for these positions and I did welcome that yesterday. However, funding alone will not train the number of gardaí needed to keep our communities safe. There is also a crisis in the retention of gardaí and I know of some gardaí who have emigrated to Australia to join the police force down there. The GRA has raised concerns about the current community policing model, saying that we have effectively lost control of our community gardaí. Communities deserve to feel safe but the situation does not seem to be improving. As Sinn Féin's spokesperson on Dublin and community safety I want my county to be safe, not just the city centre.”
“Sinn Féin included these recommendations in our submission to the independent review of the Act. I reiterate what my colleague, Deputy Carthy said, that Sinn Féin was the only party in the Dáil to make submissions to this review. Last month I contacted the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, to draft a Bill based on the report on this review. If the Government is unwilling to move forward on this, Sinn Féin will do so. Based on the Minister's earlier comments, we will be here again next year and probably the year after that. The battle against organised crime starts in our communities. We have to resource our communities. Yesterday, at the committee on justice the Minister admitted to me that he could not guarantee he would reach his target of 5,000 new Garda recruits by the end of the term of this Government.”
“The report recommended that the Special Criminal Court be abolished and that a human rights-centred non-jury court replace it. This must only be used if the threshold is reached. We need to have 21st century legislation in order to deal with criminal gangs and firm legislation to protect communities and people. This must include jurors, witnesses and everyone involved in the system, including gardaí. We want to see that put in place. It is often said we need a Special Criminal Court to protect jurors from intimidation by criminal gangs but little has been done by the Government over the years to protect jurors in general. There have been recommendations from the Law Reform Commission since 2013 to set up a single offence of jury tampering and to end the daily roll call of jurors in open court.”
“I speak in support of both amendments tabled by Deputy Carthy and Sinn Féin. It is clear the Government has been dragging its feet on the Offences Against the State Act. In 2020, Sinn Féin called for a review of this Act. A review was put in place later that year and we called for an end to the Act. Every year there is an extension of this emergency legislation and, based on the Minister's earlier comments, it looks like we will be back here again next year and probably the year after that if urgency is not applied to this. That needs to stop and legislation based on the review needs to be passed immediately. It has been two years since the report of the review group was published yet we are still waiting for the Government to act on the findings of that report.”
“Residents implore Irish Rail to put on additional trains, particularly around peak times. We all know how difficult it is to get drivers for public transport. There is a cohort of experienced bus drivers who have to retire at the age of 70. As our population ages, surely we must look at giving these drivers the option of continuing to drive after reaching the age of 70. I have written to the Minister of State and the previous Minister to ask if there are any plans to allow people contracted by Bus Éireann to continue to drive beyond that age. The answers I have received so far have been disappointing. Under the programme for Government, there is a commitment to carrying out an independent assessment of this matter. My understanding is the assessment has been completed. What was the outcome of the assessment?”
“We need reliable public transport but that is not always the case for residents of Dublin Mid-West. By the time a bus or train arrives at a stop, it is often at capacity and simply passes by. Worst of all are the so-called ghost buses, buses that are on the schedule but simply disappear and do not arrive, leaving commuters stranded on the way to work, college or other important appointments. There is a huge amount of development ongoing in Adamstown, Kishoge and Seven Mills. However, there are not enough trains available for the number of people commuting. Residents of Adamstown have reported a substantial increase in the number of people commuting in the mornings and evenings. It is difficult to get onto these trains, which are already full coming from Kildare.”
“We need to ensure our Defence Forces are protected and invested in. In a time of ever-increasing global instability and of irresponsible and dangerous rhetoric by those in positions of great power, such as Ursula von der Leyen, it is more important now than ever that Ireland stands for peace and neutrality and has an effective security strategy in the face of the dangerous militarisation agenda driven by power, greed and war. Almost seven years after a Government commission called for Ireland's first national security strategy, will the Taoiseach give a firm timeline and a direct answer on its delivery?”
“In response to a parliamentary question to my colleague Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire last month, the Taoiseach said that the development of Ireland's first national security strategy is still ongoing, almost seven years after a Government commission called for it. The report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland recommended the immediate establishment of a strategic threat analysis centre, headed by a full-time national security adviser. This was a much-needed and welcome development but it is extremely disappointing that it has not developed to any great extent beyond this announcement. It is long past time that the Government got serious in the area of security and defence. We have a recruitment and retention crisis in our Defence Forces. Key personnel are leaving the Defence Forces and we need to put a halt to this.”