Martin Conway
Administrative Panel · Independent · Ireland
“I too would like to welcome Leryn to Seanad Éireann. It is a very special trip back to Ireland for her and I hope she enjoys her time here. I also echo the good wishes and the thanks to Martin and all his team who make life so much easier for us here, and I hope all colleagues across the House have an enjoyable summer.”
“I have come across a number of examples lately that are quite distressing. I have to do further research but if the information that has been brought to my attention is correct, it is very distressing. I also seek a further debate on tourism. We have the Walker Cup coming to Lahinch in September and people are very excited about.”
“Finally, I commend Cara Darmody, someone the Leader knows very well, who is at the gates of Leinster House doing her two-day protest. I think it is her second in the last year. I commend her on what she has achieved through her advocacy and her campaigning and what she will achieve. I know the Leader would agree with me on that.”
“I support Senator Harmon in her call and proposition regarding Bessborough. I did not realise that planning permission had been granted. It is horrendous. With all the land throughout the entire country, surely to God, we can deal with a housing crisis in a more humane and respectful way than granting planning permission on that site.”
“If they did, I have no doubt it would raise awareness. It would develop a respect for the water and save many lives. I also believe every young person should undergo first aid training before they leave school. Again, it is not a difficult thing to provide.”
“I acknowledge the work that has been done to improve things in Limerick and the announcement by the Minister for Health in recent weeks that there is going to be a completely new hospital built, which will be co-located with UHL and will have its own emergency department. That is extremely welcome. I am a realist.”
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“That is happening anyway. There is a second option about building a hospital beside the hospital. There is another option about building a separate hospital completely which would have its own emergency department. There are options and there are recommended options but where is the clear guidance that I was expecting and which the people of the mid-west were certainly expecting? I want to know what are the next steps. Are we going to have another review or committee or expert group to look at the options and to recommend an option? Is that going to take another 18 months to come back with a recommendation? One thing I welcome in the report is that it said immediate action is needed. That is correct. Immediate action is needed because what has been going on in UHL for the last number of years is nothing short of a national scandal.”
“I too want to be associated with the votes of sympathy for Dr. Martin Mansergh, and to Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee on the death of her mother. I stand here regarding the HIQA report. I am doing this against the backdrop of there having been 147 people from the mid-west region on trolleys in University Hospital Limerick, UHL, at one stage over the past couple of days, which is completely and totally unacceptable. Back in 2024, I think it was late April or early May, the Minister announced a short, sharp review of emergency services to be conducted by HIQA. It was anything but short because 18 months later we finally get the report. I am somewhat baffled by the report. I was hoping there would be a clear recommendation to the Minister on what was needed but what we have are options. We have one option about expanding capacity.”
“I thank the Minister of State. He is just delivering the message and we appreciate that, but it has taken a year and a half and we still have not had this HIQA report published. Were it to recommend an additional ED in the mid-west, between site purchase, planning, design, QS work, construction and fit-out it would be 2035 before we see another emergency department. That is not good enough for the people of Clare, Limerick and Tipperary who find themselves in a difficult situation on a trolley in an ED for days, like the 79-year-old my colleague spoke about. We need to get real. We need to get urgent. We need to put a bomb under this whole process because it is simply too long. It is not good enough and people are suffering.”
“That review is ongoing. It is a year and a half since the announcement, which was in May 2024. It is now almost October of 2025 and we do not know what HIQA has recommended about additional capacity for emergency department provision in the mid-west. It is not good enough that it takes HIQA a year and a half to carry out a review when most of us know what the answer is, namely, that we need an additional emergency department in the mid-west region. What I want to know is very simple. When are the Minister and HIQA going to publish the findings of the review into accident and emergency care in the mid-west? It is needed. We are heading into a winter where it is going to be very serious and we need a pathway and a framework for moving forward.”
“The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. It is my first time speaking here since his appointment. I warmly congratulate him. His expertise in his area was well recognised in the previous Oireachtas. I have no doubt he is going to make a significant impact in the coming months and I wish him the best of luck. I stand with Senator Dee Ryan on the issue that has dominated politics and healthcare in my region of Clare and the entire mid-west area for the last number of years. In spite of the tens of millions of euro invested in UHL, capacity being increased and the budgets made available, we still have an average of about 100 people a night waiting on trolleys in UHL. Before the last local elections the Minister made an announcement that HIQA was going to be asked to do a capacity review on the ED provisions in the mid-west region.”
“It is an area that a First World country like ours should and can get right. We have the resources. What we need is the drive and the political will and we need for it to be underpinned in legislation, which is what the Minister of State is doing. I have absolute confidence she will make huge changes in this area for the benefit of all and I wish her well in that. It is not an easy task when dealing with an organisation the size of the HSE. We all know that body moves very slowly but I have no doubt the Minister of State will keep on advocating. In my view, this legislation will enable and equip her to do a better job. I urge her to be open to sensible, prudent and practical suggestions and amendments that might come from this House.”
“Depending on where one lives in the country, whether rural or urban, and even within some areas, the services are not in unison at all and they really need to be. An area I am particularly concerned about is that of people with disabilities and their mental health. Somebody with a physical disability is starting at a disadvantage, to a large extent, and it can have a significant impact on his or her mental health, particularly if he or she is in a situation where he or she cannot access services. When wheelchair users, particularly younger people, cannot get into places their able-bodied peers can, or when people feel they cannot integrate, socialise, engage in society both socially and academically and in every other way, it can have a huge impact on their mental health.”
“It engaged with people involved in mental health services and advocacy the length and breadth of this country. There were people in every couple of weeks, such as representatives of advocacy groups, medical professionals, representatives of the HSE and so on. People working on the front line all made the case that the mental health service at that stage had significant shortcomings. I will not say it was not fit for purpose. In some cases it was not, but to say that would be unfair to some of the people who have dedicated their entire lives to making sure people get the supports they need. The mental health service needs upgrading, significantly, and it needs to be done on a legislative basis. There are so many gaps and disparities in services that it is quite frightening.”
“The Minister of State is very welcome to the House. In the first instance, I acknowledge the significant input she and her staff have had in preparing this extremely important, and groundbreaking in many ways, legislation. I urge her to consider amendments and sensible proposals made from the Seanad because that is what leads to better legislation. The whole concept of the debates and engagement on Committee Stage is to improve legislation. We have been waiting to improve and reform mental health legislation for a significant number of years at this stage. I was delighted to be a member of the mental health sub-committee of the health committee, which was chaired phenomenally well by our colleague Senator Frances Black. Huge work was done by that committee.”
“As convenor of the Moldovan friendship group this term, I will certainly be keeping a close eye on the events on Sunday. We will keep our fingers and toes crossed for the right result. The majority of Moldovans want to join the EU because they see the benefits of that. I again wish Martin and Bridget the very best in their retirement and the new Martin the very best in his new role.”
“With that in mind, I propose that the Leader organise a debate on the new disability strategy with the Minister of State with responsibility for disability early in this new term. The strategy needs to be discussed, analysed and challenged. We have seen too often what is happening to the lives of people with disabilities and their lack of access to critical services and support. It means people with disabilities are not living lives equal to those of their peers. I am calling for that debate. Similarly, I echo Senator Conway's comments on Moldova. Having gone to Moldova as part of the parliamentary friendship group in the previous Oireachtas under the leadership of Seán Ó Fearghaíl, I can attest there was fantastic work being done in Moldova ahead of what they hoped would someday be their accession to the EU.”
“I too wish Martin Groves and Bridget Doody all the very best in their retirement. They have been here many years and for the past number of years they have been an enormous support to all of us here in the Seanad. It was a privilege to work with both of them. In the same breath, I wish the new Martin all the very best in taking up the mantle of Clerk of the Seanad. It is a very prestigious and important job within our democracy. I welcome the Government's launch of the 2025 to 2030 disability strategy in the past couple of weeks. It is good that there is a new strategy and I welcome the commitment within the programme for Government that disability will be to the forefront in all facets of this Government.”
“What are they doing to make sport available to everybody, irrespective of their ability or disability? In previous Governments, significant progress was made in this area but it needs to be firmed up. There is no reason a young person should not be included in PE in their school simply because they have a physical disability. It is not good enough and it should not be accepted. The debate today has been interesting. I agree wholeheartedly with everything Senator Rabbitte said earlier. She made a difference when she was Minister of State and was committed. There are lots of Ministers who do a lot of talking, but Senator Rabbitte made a huge difference. I know that the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, will do the same. I have known him a long time and he is deeply committed to what he does.”
“I was on the board of directors of Active Disability Ireland for a number of years. That organisation, which is based in Kerry and now has a national footprint, has done huge work to promote and encourage governing bodies to ensure they have programmes that include everybody, including football for all and other accessible sporting provision for all people with disabilities. One positive measure the Minister of State's Department could engage in is to ensure that all sports capital grants have a requirement that organisations demonstrate in a real and meaningful way, not as a box-ticking exercise, how they are making their facilities accessible to everybody. They must show what programmes they have in place to ensure inclusivity, whether it is wheelchair hurling or having vision-impaired people involved in the club.”
“Thankfully, that situation has improved significantly. I commend Special Olympics Ireland on its wonderful work. Our paralympians also do fantastic work representing the country. This time last year, Senator Rabbitte, who was then Minister of State, and I attended an event in Farmleigh House to recognise the stunning achievement of the visually impaired paralympians in the Paralympic Games. It was wonderful. There must be access to facilities for people who are not elite athletes and may not fall into the Special Olympics category. I am talking about people like me who need, should and deserve to be more active. Every child with a disability in this country should be able to be active, be involved in sport and have access to their local facilities, whether for swimming, football, soccer, rugby, tennis or whatever is their chosen sport.”
“The Minister of State is most welcome to the House. I know he has an interest in sport, particularly the performance of his county's football team last weekend. It is a very exciting time for the county. Sport is an equaliser, it brings connectivity and it brings people together. It absolutely must be fully accessible. Many families in our nation are very committed to all kinds of sports. The GAA has percolated into every town and village in the country and we also see the prominence of other sports. The development of facilities is very encouraging, with hundreds of millions of euro of Government spending in recent years on upgrading facilities the length and breadth of the country. That is all very welcome. I have less than 20% eyesight. As a young fellow in County Clare, there was no opportunity for me to participate in sport.”