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.”
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“In the previous 12 months it had 18 people presenting to the hospital who were diagnosed with a neurological condition just because of inhaling nitrous oxide. These conditions can be life-altering. As was reported on RTÉ news, children are presenting to Crumlin children's hospital with third degree burns from inhaling nitrous oxide. When let out of the canister, compressed nitrous oxide is cold. If people put it straight to their mouths, they get third degree frostbite burns. If they hold it in their hands, they get burns on their hands as well. A recent study by the adolescent addiction service in Cherry Orchard showed an increase of 175% in the number of young people presenting to the HSE's addiction services looking for help with their nitrous oxide use. I have worked in addiction services.”
“When it first came in, it was in small silver canisters of probably about 8 g of nitrous oxide but this has changed because of a lack of regulation over the years into super-sized canisters of 670 g. There are even bigger ones than that. Nitrous oxide causes major problems when it gets into the hands of young people. The Minister does not have to believe me, as there have been a number of reports in the last five years on nitrous oxide. The Mater hospital has said there has been an increase in the number of young people presenting to the accident and emergency department with sensory and balance issues, neurological conditions, mental health conditions and respiratory conditions. I could go on and on. Just before Christmas, Tallaght Hospital produced a report on nitrous oxide.”
“The Bill should be referred to the select committee at this stage because that is what the committee is for, namely, to tease out any issues with legislation. The Minister is literally kicking the can down the road. I ask him to withdraw his amendment. As the Minister is aware, nitrous oxide has legitimate purposes. It is used in the healthcare sector, in the medical sector and in veterinary businesses as well. It is commonly known on the streets as laughing gas, balloons and whippets. When people get their hands on nitrous oxide, especially young people, they inhale it through balloons. It cuts off oxygen to the brain and gives a light-headed giddy effect. That is where the name "laughing gas" came from.”
“I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." Before I get on to the Bill, I want to say I am disappointed but not surprised that the Government is going to delay this Bill by nine months. Nitrous oxide is an epidemic and will only get worse in the next nine months. The Minister's amendment tonight is symptomatic of this do-nothing Government. There is no urgency and no action. It is delaying this life-changing legislation simply because it is a Sinn Féin Bill. This is no way to govern. I am sure the Minister's team of staff will find problems in the Bill and no doubt he will refer to them when he speaks, but they will be the same problems when the Minister lets the Bill pass in nine months.”
“I want to bring up again the privatisation of waste management in Dublin. The Dublin city task force and Dublin City Council recommend that a single waste management company should provide bin collection services, with a further recommendation that, in the long term, it should be taken under the control of Dublin City Council. The privatisation of the bins has failed. The environmental impact of multiple trucks going down the same road at multiple times during the day is having a detrimental impact on our communities. It is a wild west situation. Bin companies are operating like a cartel and bringing up their prices in unison and in a co-ordinated approach, and the consumer is paying the price. Will the Government's task force for Dublin tackle the privatisation of waste management and bring back the bins to public ownership?”
“This response, after several complaints, stated it did break X's abusive behaviour rule and the account is now locked. It is locked but it is not banned despite several complaints. The bigger issue is whose account was locked. It is an anonymous account. There is no accountability for people with anonymous accounts and this needs to be tackled. I have no problem with people having a different opinion and having a go at me over my political opinion. That is fine but at least own it and do not hide behind an anonymous account.”
“People have spoken about Grok on Twitter being used to make sexual images of children and women. The Minister of State has condemned it and everybody in the House would condemn it because it is absolutely deplorable. It needs to be tackled with the full weight of the law. If the law is not strong enough, it is up to us to make it stronger. I have heard horrendous stories of women who have had sexual images made on Grok without their consent. Earlier this year, and it is at the lower end and I will not compare it, an image of me was AI generated. It was at the lower end of the scale but it did involve the removal of some items of clothing. I reported it to X and the first response I got was that it did not go against its community standards. On 8 January I received another response because the account was reported by numerous people on X.”
“The council stated it is committed to maintaining human oversight of these responses but I have concerns. I have had to contact the council numerous times about some of the responses I have received which did not make sense. I have been using the system since 2016 when I was first elected to South Dublin County Council. I know when I am getting a computerised response that does not make any sense. We cannot send them out to constituents. Constituents in Dublin Mid-West cannot meet a council official face to face since the civic offices in Clondalkin were closed to the public. When they make a phone call they get an automated message and they cannot get a human at the end of the phone. While AI has its benefits, we must not lose human contact. Constituents and people need this human contact as they go on.”
“Artificial intelligence is playing a bigger role in society today. While it has some benefits, I do not always see artificial intelligence as a force for good and I will give an example. South Dublin County Council has a system in place, and I know Deputies Shane Moynihan and Gogarty are well used to using it, whereby elected representatives can contact South Dublin County Council on behalf of constituents and get a written response which we are able to send to our constituents. Before Christmas I noticed some very unusual language in some of the responses I was getting. I contacted South Dublin County Council and asked whether it was using AI to generate the responses. The response I got was that it has 25 staff members with access to AI and they use it to generate content, including responses to elected members.”
“I asked him to amend the Road Traffic Act to include nitrous oxide on the list of intoxicants for roadside testing. His response was he has no plans to do this. Will he reconsider this position?”
“I will return to drug driving. A number of people have contacted me about people driving cars while inhaling nitrous oxide through balloons. This behaviour is idiotic and dangerous. The people doing that need to cop on. Nitrous oxide is commonly known as laughing gas. It cuts oxygen to the brain and is an extremely dangerous substance generally; behind the wheel, it is absolutely lethal. I was on a debate on "Prime Time" with a colleague of the Minister of State recently and we heard of the death of a young man by a hit-and-run driver. The driver was suspected of being under the influence of nitrous oxide. There have been a number of deaths across Europe associated with driving under the influence of nitrous oxide. I wrote to the Minister of State last week and got the answer this week.”
“As drugs and people's behaviour are always changing, does the Minister of State have any plans to amend the Road Traffic Act to include other substances for roadside testing?”
“I join the Minister of State in extending thoughts and deepest sympathies to the 190 families whose loved ones lost their lives on Irish roads last year and the three people who have died so far this year. These are not just statistics and numbers; they are real families who had real lives and it has a big impact on entire communities. There is a crisis level of fatalities and collisions at the moment. I commend the Garda roads policing unit on its work on detection and enforcement but it needs proper resourcing. It is as simple as that. There are issues with driver behaviour and drivers making conscious bad decisions about what they do and how they get behind the wheel. Drug driving is becoming a real problem. The substances and drugs people take before they get behind the wheel are ever changing.”
“I agree with the Minister that last year was an absolutely terrible year for road deaths in our country. The number of road deaths has been steadily increasing. What steps is the Minister of State taking to reduce road deaths and improve road safety?”
“There was a further 4,000 homes in the Adamstown SDZ being built and this train line was part of that. I do not know if the Minister is in breach of the SDZ at this stage in relation to that. In Dublin Mid-West we are not surprised to see these things delayed. The Lucan Luas was delayed in 2000. The date for this was 2015. This was pushed back and we still have no date for the start. On DART+, the service is going to bring passengers to Clondalkin, Lucan and Adamstown. Will the Minister reverse his decision and bring the necessary funding forward?”
“Speaking of things we want in Dublin Mid-West, I would like to touch on DART+ South West. There was some commentary on that this week. That DART service will bring passengers through Clondalkin, Adamstown and Lucan. It was first granted permission in 2024. Construction was expected to take place this year but has been pushed out to 2030 at the earliest. This project would enable 20,000 passengers to travel each way every hour. That will be absolutely fabulous for the people of Dublin Mid-West if it is delivered. We are in dire need of public transport as the Minister mentioned. I mentioned the 9,000 homes that are being built in the Clonburris strategic development zone, SDZ. This is a project the Minister's colleagues on South Dublin County Council did not support at the time.”
“Dublin Bus, for example, has nine depots across Dublin and only two of these have the capacity to charge electric buses. A lack of electricity in the grid is going to seriously delay this much-needed transport. I would like to know how the Minister is going to address these, in particular some of the things he mentioned earlier, especially the extension of the DART and the Luas.”
“There are another couple of issues that I would like to raise. Major transport projects are at risk of being delayed due to the huge demand already placed on the energy grid, and we have seen reports this week in the newspapers. The Government's support for building more data centres will put more pressure on the energy grid. As we stand, 25% of all electricity in Ireland is consumed by data centres and this could increase to a minimum of 31% under the Government's plan. Putting data centres before the national interest is pure folly. Let us get all the other infrastructure in place first. The Minister mentioned the MetroLink expansion, the expansion of the DART, the Luas services and Luas to Finglas. There was also meant to be a Lucan Luas since 2000 and it has not been delivered yet.”
“There is huge demand for proper and reliable public transport. Homes are being built in my area without adequate parking. The idea is for the residents to use public transport but it is simply not there or it is not reliable. I am one of the commuters in my area who would love to get the bus and public transport in here every day but I cannot rely on it. Will the Minister give me the reasons for the delay in certain critical public transport infrastructure despite having all of the necessary planning permission in place?”
“There is still no test for gardaí to be able to test people for nitrous oxide. The HSE adolescent addiction services are playing a bit of catch-up in how to deal with it because they do not know the long-term effects. We need to start to see legislation in place. I have brought forward legislation that passed First Stage and that would make it a lot harder for nitrous oxide to end up in the hands of young people. The connection with vapes is - I will bring it back around - that the same marketing ploys are being used for nitrous oxide as are used for single-use vapes. They are brightly coloured and flavoured. They are marketed towards young children. I have always asked myself, if someone needs to use this in the dental industry or catering industry, why they would need to have a raspberry- or blueberry-flavoured nitrous oxide.”
“As no legislation has been put in place to tackle nitrous oxide use, commonly known as laughing gas, in our communities, there is a wild west situation in our areas. People who walk down any street will see discarded nitrous oxide canisters. When they first came in, they were small silver bullets and then they increased to big industrial-sized nitrous oxide canisters. These large nitrous oxide canisters have no legitimate use. They are not for the catering trade or medical trade. They have no legitimate use, yet - the Minister of State participated in the same debate as me and saw how - a journalist was able to order these overnight and got them the next day. We need to see something in place to stop this because it is having a long-term impact on the health of young people. It is also having an impact on people driving.”
“There are also long-term environmental impacts of disposable vapes, for example, the plastic. They are powered by batteries that have lithium and copper in them. The circuit boards inside disposable vapes contain a number of heavy metals and rare minerals, including cobalt, lead and mercury. In addition to the unsightly litter, this can have an impact on soil if they are discarded on grass verges, for example, and on water if they get into our waterways. I have a bit of time left so I will mention something else. Vapes came along and there was no regulation in place. No one knew what impact they would have and the Government is trying to play catch-up now. When something that is unregulated comes in, it can lead to wider implications. I spoke to the Minister of State before about nitrous oxide and how it was not regulated.”
“The Sinn Féin representative for Lucan, Derren Ó Brádaigh, informed me earlier that this was a big issue for Lucan Tidy Towns. Lucan Tidy Towns does great work in cleaning up our area, but a lot of that time is taken up tediously peeling off stickers that are in these vapes. I had to ask someone what the stickers were for. They are to protect the batteries in the vapes until they are used. Young people take off the stickers and stick them to a bin or pole and this is causing big problems for how our areas look. They look unkempt and untidy and it takes a long time to remove them. It can be demoralising for such organisations as the Lucan Tidy Towns group in the work they do. They are cleaning up and going about their work only to suddenly come across a bin full of stickers that looks absolutely terrible.”
“It also leads to antisocial behaviour at night because a number of young people congregate around these vape shops. It is leading to residents feeling intimidated. There have been reports of antisocial behaviour, open drug use and open drug dealing in and around vape shops and other shops at night. Residents have reported this to An Garda Síochána. The Garda station is only around the corner, but the Garda's reaction in getting around to resolving this problem needs to be addressed. It does not seem to have the resources in Clondalkin Garda station. We have also seen environmental problems associated with single use vapes. People who walk down any street in any village will see discarded single-use vapes littering our villages.”
“I was trying to give Deputy Cummins a nod there. This is the third vaping Bill we have discussed. Another is on the way. This piecemeal approach is not working. A comprehensive Bill that encapsulates everything the Minister of State is looking to do in one Bill would have gone through the Houses much more quickly. While we are waiting for these Bills to be passed, our communities are suffering. In Clondalkin village, the proximity of vape shops to schools is a major issue. A person only has to walk around Clondalkin village at lunchtime to see hoards of young people in their school uniforms going in and out of vape shops, no doubt getting vapes and then coming out onto the road vaping. The Minister of State will see that is a problem. They are in their uniforms. They are openly vaping. They are vaping with their friends.”
“If I can get one commitment from the Minister today, it would be for him to have a look at those forms and to put something in place that will help disadvantaged communities and organisations and make it easier for them to apply for the funding. Organised criminals offer absolutely nothing to our communities. All they do is rip the hearts out of them. They cause devastation and hardship in our areas. I accept that this Bill will go some way towards making this a lot easier but I would still like to see this money redirected into the communities affected most.”
“-----in order to allow front-line community organisation to compete with the likes of the FAI? They cannot compete with the manpower and expertise of organisations like the FAI when it comes to applying for funding. I am on a couple of boards in my area, including the Clondalkin addiction support programme and the Clondalkin Equine Club. The Clondalkin Equine Club is one example of a group that keeps young people off the streets. It is an urban horse programme. It has one part-time manager and there is a voluntary board of which I am a member. For that organisation to even apply for CAB funding takes a hell of a lot of manpower.”
“A mother might have to go out to the credit union to get a loan so she can pay off a drug debt run up by one of her children who is caught up in addiction. When the money that mother paid is taken back from the criminal, and it will be taken from that criminal at some stage, we must ensure that it goes back into the areas that need it the most.”
“-----Cape Verde, in the World Cup. This is where I have a problem. The other problem I have with the likes of the FAI getting that funding is that it has a lot more capacity and manpower to be able to fill out the form to enable it to get the funding. I am on the boards of a number of front-line community organisations and we just do not have the capacity to fill out cumbersome forms. I expect that the Minister will not accept this amendment. I will ask him, if possible, to consider how we can help front-line community organisations to apply for this fund more easily. Perhaps we can give them some resources or direction in that regard and make the process less cumbersome. We want the money that is being taken by CAB going back into the areas that need it the most. There is some poetic justice involved.”
“Other players who went through that programme include Abbie Larkin from Ringsend and Pico Lopes, who is going over to represent his country,-----”
“In all my years working and organising in a disadvantaged area, and volunteering as a soccer coach and manager, I have never seen the FAI give us any support whatsoever. In clubs such as Collinstown Football Club, girls and boys are getting changed on the side of the pitch because they have no dressing rooms. There is not one Astroturf pitch in the whole of north Clondalkin. This week, we have heard that the FAI is cutting its measly contribution of €10,000 per player development programme with the education and training board, ETB. That funding is being cut, which will have an impact right across disadvantaged areas. A little known fact is that Roy Keane was one of the first people to go through the ETB in Collinstown school in Dublin, believe it or not, even through he is from Cork.”
“We welcome the community safety fund, as I said. We have advocated for it for a long time. We want to ensure that it goes to the areas that need it the most. For the very first roll-out of the community safety fund, six front-line organisations in my area, which are dedicated to tackling crime, drug use and poverty, applied to the fund but not one of them was successful. I looked at the 42 successful applications in the most recent round of applications to the community safety fund and I must say there are some really worthy organisations included. I will not stand up here and say that the organisations that got funding did not deserve it. However, I will give one example of an organisation that got funding. I noticed that €142,000 from the community safety fund went to the FAI. I have been involved in soccer clubs in my area for years.”
“When I would go for a job as a young person, I would have to give the address of a relative who did not live in the area so I might have a chance of an interview, such was the stigma of living in the area. There is a history of early school leaving, youth crime and organised crime in our area. Addiction is rife throughout. In 2016, when the deprivation index was published - I have the map in my hand and can give it to the Minister - only one estate in north Clondalkin was designated "extremely disadvantaged". Fast forward from 2016 to 2023 and six more housing estates were added to that designation. Things have got worse over the years. In fact, things are regressing. The whole area, bar one estate, is either very or extremely disadvantaged. It is areas such as those that need to be targeted by the community safety fund.”
“There are almost 200,000 people now living in areas that are classed as very or extremely disadvantaged. I would like to see the money recovered by CAB redirected into those communities. As I said, the most recent Pobal deprivation index was published in 2023. The previous one was published in 2016. In those seven years, there were notable changes for the worse in some of the areas that I represent. North Clondalkin, for example, is an area of disadvantage. I do not need the Pobal index to tell me that because it is the area in which I grew up. It is a great place, and it was a great place to grow up, but it was also a tough place to grow up. We have had great community spirit over the years despite the problems we experience on a daily basis. There was a lack of amenities and infrastructure. There was a lack of employment opportunities.”
“In fact, my colleague, Deputy Ó Snodaigh, first raised this matter in the Dáil 15 years ago. I and Deputy Ó Murchú had a Bill in 2021, the contents of which were the same as this amendment. That Bill passed Second Stage. We are looking to see that the money taken by CAB is put into the most disadvantaged communities. It has been long proven that disadvantaged communities are more vulnerable to crime and drug use. There is a direct link between poverty, crime and addiction. One of the ways that we can determine a disadvantaged area or an extremely disadvantaged area is through the Pobal deprivation index. The latest deprivation index was published in 2023 and stated that despite nationwide improvements in deprivation measures, the gaps between Ireland's most disadvantaged areas and the national average have increased.”
“Sinn Féin supports the overall aims of this Bill. Anything that reduces the amount of time it takes for the Criminal Assets Bureau, CAB, to take money and assets from organised criminals is welcome. It is something that should probably have been done long ago. For this amendment, I went back to recommendation 15 of the report of the justice committee on the issue, which stated: "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." It is those preventative supports that I am aiming at. Sinn Féin has long advocated that the money taken by CAB should be reinvested in the communities that are most hit and affected by crime.”
“I move amendment No. 1: In page 13, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following: “(c) the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (5): “(5A) In carrying out the powers conferred by subsection (5), the Minister shall— (a) ensure that a review of the financial supports to disadvantaged communities, identified in the Pobal HP Deprivation Index, that are affected by crime, is conducted in public consultation with individuals and stakeholders, (b) ensure that such a review is undertaken every 24 months at a minimum, or more frequently, at the discretion of the Minister, and a report on the review is laid before each House of the Oireachtas, (c) ensure that the report laid before each House of the Oireachtas identifies any additional financial supports, other than that provided in the annual budget, that may be provided to disadvantaged communities as in paragraph (a) affected by crime in order to alleviate the impact of crime and prevent future criminal behaviour, including the funding of targeted youth educational and development initiatives where appropriate, (d) give due consideration to the recommendations of any review carried out under this subsection and prioritise, where possible, the use of monies realised in the making of disposal orders under this section for the purposes identified in the review, and (e) ensure that a report on the use of monies realised in the making of disposal orders under this Act is laid before each House of the Oireachtas on an annual basis.”,”.”
“It is horrific to think that there are businesses and puppy farms out there that are making huge amounts of profits on the back of overbreeding puppies and dogs. We need to put regulations in place to make sure this does not continue. I know the Minister of State mentioned kicking it down the road.”
“She brings so much joy into our lives and as was mentioned before, the welcome you get from a dog when you walk in the door is second to none. I would love to see my children copy the dog and give the same welcome I get from Padmé when I come in. I would never stand up here and call Padmé a "bitch". My life would not be worth living. In fact, I just about get away with not calling her a baby. I hope I will get a few brownie points for bring her up here today as well. There are so many other dogs out there that do not get the same chance in life that Padmé has had, in being brought into a loving home. Despite some issues at the start of her life, she has a loving, warm home where is part of the family.”
“New owners of puppy-farmed puppies and dogs can have a hard time when they bring their dog home, with illness or unwanted behaviours. It can lead to additional costs for the owner and also additional expenses in regard to veterinary care and the emotional turmoil of seeing a dog and puppy in distress and being unwell. Nobody wants to see this. Nobody wants to see an owner having to give up their dog. My partner has a beautiful whippet called Padmé. I will give her a second name like Deputy Byrne did. We will call her Padmé Murphy. She is a rescue dog - a beautiful dog who had a really difficult start in life. She is boisterous and energetic. She is full of energy and an absolutely beautiful character.”
“For example, as the Deputy said this morning, you could have up to 300 mother dogs on one puppy farm. We have heard reports of how the mother dogs are being kept in cages. We have heard how they are being fed by automatic feeders. They are lying in their own excrement and they are not getting any socialisation whatsoever. Breeding practices within these puppy farms frequently lead to serious health issues for the puppies. These practices can lead to genetic disorders and infectious diseases and the lack of human interaction can result in significant behavioural issues. These inhumane conditions not only cause immense suffering for the dogs but also contribute to the broader issues of overpopulation and the abandonment of unhealthy or unmanageable dogs. More often than not, it is dog rescue organisations that have to pick up the pieces.”
“I thank Deputy Whitmore for bringing this legislation forward. I heard her on the radio this morning. You could hear that she is coming from a really good place on this and the passion she has for it. It really comes across and the Deputy is pushing an open door with this legislation when it comes to me. We need regulation. In any industry, when there is no regulation, it can lead to a wild west situation where anything goes. This is particularly worrying when it comes to animal welfare. The legislation around current dog breeding practices is being abused. For example, as was mentioned, there is no cap on the number of breeding bitches that a breeding establishment can have. I really do not like using the term "bitch", so I will call them "mother dogs".”
“I do not think it is too much to ask the Government to stop fighting children with disabilities and breaking the law and to allow children every chance to reach their full potential.”
“I know the Minister of State has only been in the role for a couple of weeks and I genuinely wish her well. Nobody on this side of the House wants to see her fail because it is an issue that affects everybody. However, she has to admit that the situation is stark. In our area, Dublin Mid-West, there are 1,618 children waiting for assessments of need. How many of those children received an assessment of need under the statutory timeframe laid out under the Disability Act? Not one child in Dublin Mid-West has received an assessment of need on time. This is truly scandalous. Not only is the Government breaking the law; it is not allowing children every chance to reach their developmental milestones.”
“Earlier today, I received information that the State has spent over €7.2 million of taxpayers' money to defend the State against the families of children with disabilities who have not received an assessment of need under the statutory timeframe. In 2022, the High Court ruled that the Government broke the law by providing 90-minute assessments instead of comprehensive assessments of need. Since then, there have been 932 legal cases taken by parents of children who did not receive assessments of need under the 2005 Disability Act. The State has paid solicitors and counsel over €7.2 million to defend it against these families and to defend the indefensible. This is €7.2 million that could have been spent on providing assessments of need or decreasing the time the 18,000 children currently waiting on assessments of need will have to wait.”
“Unless there is a compelling reason to act to the contrary, Ireland should be making its own decisions on issues in the areas of freedom, security and justice. Ireland has the option to opt in to these regulations at a later stage under Article 4 of Protocol No. 21. This would allow us to do so at a time when we have more clarity as to whether they are in Ireland's best interests.”
“For example, the regulation establishing Union support for internal security is informed by the EU's new internal security strategy, ProtectEU. There are serious concerns about ProtectEU with respect to its chat control proposals and the consequences of undermining encryption for personal data. It has been argued that any attempt to weaken encryption weakens everyone's security and that it has the effect of weakening cybersecurity and leaving systems vulnerable to attack. For Sinn Féin, the issue of sovereignty is paramount in considering these types of motions, which regularly come before the Oireachtas. Handing sovereignty over to the EU in constant drips undermines democracy and our ability as a country to act in the best interests of the Irish people.”
“It goes without saying that the management of migration will be simplified when there is one state on the island of Ireland. For this reason and many others, it is time to start making unity a reality. On numerous occasions, I have raised the need for a secure bilateral agreement with Britain to ensure that those international protection applicants who should be processed in Britain can be returned there promptly. It would be helpful if the Minister of State could outline to the Dáil the progress that has been made in this regard. We should not be opting into proposals under Article 3 by way of motions put before the House. In an earlier debate, I made points to the Minister of State about the flexibility we have as a result of Protocol No. 21. It is madness not to avail of this flexibility.”
“By failing to recognise the realities of the challenges we are facing as a result of our membership of the common travel area, failing to recognise that the people of Ireland are best placed to make decisions in relation to migration and failing to prioritise the achievement of a bilateral agreement on returns, the Government has left the State in an unacceptable situation in terms of the management of migration. It is also time for the Government, including the Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, who appears to have a particular reluctance in this regard, to admit that, as with many other challenges faced in Ireland, having two states on the island of Ireland impedes our ability to deal with migration properly. Brexit added another layer of complexity to this situation.”
“As each day passes, it becomes clearer that it was a mistake to sign up to the EU migration and asylum pact and that it is not right for Ireland. It is time the Minister of State and his Government acknowledged that the EU migration and asylum pact is not in Ireland's best interests and that it does not take into account Ireland's unique challenges as a member state that is part of a common travel area with a state outside of the EU. Unfortunately, there was no sense of this being recognised when the Minister met with the EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, to discuss the pact this week.”