Mary Fitzpatrick
Industrial and Commercial Panel · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“It would help inform policy, not just in the drugs space but in all areas of mental health, physical health and our social well-being. I draw the House's attention to the publication this morning of the Government's latest progress report on housing - Delivering Homes, Building Communities.”
“This morning's news coverage is dominated by calls from medical professionals for a ban on e-scooters. This follows calls for bans on social media. The Government has moved to ban vapes. We are actively engaged as a country in banning a lot of things at the moment and there is very good reasoning behind a lot of these proposals.”
“That is just in the first quarter and it is up 33%. More than 46,000 new homes have commenced. There is a lot of activity in terms of supply. Affordability is a huge issue for a lot of people but, in the last year, more than 20,000 first-time home purchasers acquired their own home.”
“I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach for her forbearance and patience with us. I thank Martin and all of the staff of the Seanad Office on behalf of the Fianna Fáil group. It is a tremendous personal honour and privilege for me to serve with all of the Senators.”
“We all understand the value of our local democracy and the incredible role our elected representatives undertake to represent and champion their communities and ensure they are properly served. The Minister came into the House and gave a response which, unfortunately, there was not a hard copy of to share with Senators.”
“Population growth and changing demographics mean that electoral areas must be reviewed and it is really important to ensure that there is fair and adequate representation. Every citizen's voice should carry equal weight, regardless of where he or she lives, so the boundary review is really important.”
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“Those development plans are informed by these guidelines and those guidelines have to reflect the modern environment and the current need. I urge the Minister to work with his Department and the local authorities and stakeholders to ensure we do get guidelines that are fit for purpose at an early moment.”
“I thank the Minister of State. He articulated the complexity of the issues very well. I recognise that complexity, as do councillors around the country. We all appreciate that the balance between housing, economic, social and environmental needs has to be got right. All of these elements need to be accommodated and protected. We need to be careful not to allow perfection to be the enemy of the good in this instance. It is now going on 20 years since the guidelines were published. A sense of urgency from the Minister of State would be very welcome. It is incredibly important that power does lie with our local authority members, with our city and county councillors, in making their development plans to provide for good, strategic planning for their local authority areas.”
“I appreciate that the Minister of State is new to his role but I hope he will be able to give some good news to those councillors this morning.”
“According to it, the Government will continue to support one-off rural housing, support self-builds through the help-to-buy and first home schemes and the vacant property grants, and commit every local authority to facilitating the construction of serviced sites that provide for three to ten housing units in at least three towns and villages in their areas annually. The Government supports group water schemes and private well grants, implementing the special rural water investment scheme and reviewing the planning and transport guidelines to facilitate rural housing. This is all well and good, but councillors around the country say that their constituents continue to be frustrated by what they feel is a lack of supportive rural planning guidelines.”
“I acknowledge that significant progress was made by the previous Government on increasing the housing budget from less than €500 million per year to more than €4 billion and increasing housing supply from less than 20,000 to more than 30,000 per annum. We all know this is not enough and more needs to be done. If we are to increase housing supply, we need to increase it for all communities, urban and rural alike. We need to support indigenous rural communities to continue to live on their land, but we also need to support those who want to return to enrich, contribute to and become part of those communities. I acknowledge that the programme for Government contains a strong commitment on rural housing.”
“Ireland's population has increased significantly and the way we live has changed dramatically, in that we used to live four to six people in a household whereas now it is one to three people, so there is an almost doubling of the need for housing. We have full employment and people are earning a lot more money at a younger age, and they have a reasonable expectation to own their own homes. On top of that we have the changes that came about as a consequence of Covid-19, with remote working, which has created opportunities for people from urban areas to live in rural areas. There was already a pent-up demand in rural areas for housing.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Aire Stáit on his appointment. I am sure he is wondering why a Senator from Dublin Central is asking about rural housing planning guidelines, but he knows my remit and that I was elected by councillors from around the country. He is also familiar with the fact that this is issue that was considered by the previous Oireachtas joint committee on housing. It is of great concern to councillors around the country who are trying to represent their constituents. The sustainable rural housing planning guidelines were introduced in 2005, but the world has changed dramatically since then, not least in terms of housing.”
“We are all very conscious of cost-of-living increases, but in terms of the discounts, senior citizens enjoy free transportation, something which we introduced and long protected, and the 50% reduction for young travellers has been very important for young people. I would like the Government to try to build on that and expand it into the future. I wish the Minister well and thank him for being here today.”
“It commenced a pilot project that ran for 20 weeks at the end of last year on foot of our engagement and work with it. That pilot project was supported by the unions such as SIPTU, which was very important because the pilot project proved that it increased public sentiment and confidence in the safety of using buses and public transportation. We need to build on it. I believe the Minister will build on that. I believe his proposal that he will bring forward in legislation to establish a public transport policing function is going to work because it is what the Garda has said it recommends and what the public transport service providers have said is needed. The Minister will have our support on that. I raise one other issue. The previous Government deserves credit for making public transportation more affordable.”
“The issue of safety is a real concern for the people who work in our public transportation who provide vital public transportation services to allow other workers to get to work and for those of us who are not working to go about, enjoy and engage in recreational activities. It is very important it is safe for those who work on it and travel on it. We know from our engagement with the public transport service providers that, unfortunately, public transportation is not as safe as we all want it to be. We know there are hundreds of complaints every month and that millions have been spent on improving public transport safety. We also know that there are 11 CCTV cameras on every Dublin Bus, which act as a form of active surveillance. I also congratulate Dublin Bus, which engaged with us.”
“As the Senator suggested, we met with all stakeholders, namely, the NBRU, SIPTU, Irish Rail, Dublin Bus and Transdev. We met with the Garda Commissioner, assistant commissioner and Department officials because we wanted a proposal that would gain popular and political support. I am delighted the Senator acknowledged the Taoiseach's support for our proposal, the inclusion of our proposal in the Fianna Fáil manifesto and its manifestation in the programme for Government. I am delighted the Minister is here and is able to confirm to the House that it is his intention to bring forward legislation. I would appreciate it if, when he gets a chance to respond, he would indicate what timeframe his Department will be working to on that issue.”
“It would be disappointing if the record of the House were to reflect the narrative that had been articulated by Senator Boyhan, which seemed to indicate or paint a picture that the Fianna Fáil group is somehow coming new to this support for a public transport police. As the Minister indicated in his opening comments, it is an issue we, as a party, have been very concerned about for quite a while. In fact, as the Minister also indicated, the Dublin parliamentary party group took its concerns, not just the anecdotal stuff we hear, and actually conducted a public sentiment survey. We had more than 1,300 respondents to that survey. The survey confirmed what we knew anecdotally, that 93% of the respondents had witnessed antisocial behaviour and 78% of respondents supported a dedicated transport police. It is something we engaged with.”
“Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Aire. I wish him luck in his new role. I am sure he will have a transformative effect on all matters related to transport. Public transport is essential for our economic, social and environmental progress. It is critically important. The importance this Government places on it is a budget of almost €4 billion, almost half of which is in public transport. That is very important, not just in urban areas but, as has been enunciated by other colleagues, in rural areas too. The social connectivity, employment, tourism and economic opportunities it creates are immense. Therefore, this motion is an important one. I am glad there will be support from across the House.”
“If we have sufficient dedicated gardaí on the ground, they can work and engage with the local authority where there are estate management issues. They can work with youth services, schools and justice youth diversion programmes. I have heard the bell and will stop talking. I wish the Minister well and look forward to his response.”
“That leads to more community engagement and more support for An Garda. I would be interested to hear what resources will be applied to the community safety partnerships. There have been three community safety partnerships running. One of them is in the north inner city, but I would appreciate if, in his response, the Minister would talk about how the community safety partnerships will be rolled out nationally. I know he indicated that he intends to sign the enacting instrument in March. It is important that those community safety partnerships have community representatives and local authority members. The elected councillors on the ground are elected by their local communities, so they should have a strong role. It is important that the local authority officials - the executive functions - buy into those community safety partnerships.”
“Gardaí alone cannot make the world safer. The Minister said at the outset that we need to be realistic and accept that crime will always be with us. It is not going to disappear no matter how good the Minister or the gardaí recruited are. I am a strong believer in the small-area policing model. The community policing model is one pioneered in the north inner city going back more than ten years. Unfortunately, due to a lack of resources it fell by the wayside. One of the opportunities we have with increased garda recruitment is to re-establish that community small-area policing model that some of the other Senators have mentioned. Where you have dedicated community gardaí who see the role of a community garda as a career role, you see the kind of investment and commitment needed to make our communities safer.”
“Each and every one of the gardaí and all of the staff who work there do a tremendous job. They are engaged, committed and hardworking, and we appreciate their presence. They actively engage with community residents, schools, employers, businesses and all of the tourist attractions we have. No event that takes place in Croke Park, sometimes with 80,000 people attending, could take place without An Garda. The Mater Hospital, Rotunda Hospital and Temple Street are indebted to An Garda. Every one of us who lives in the city is indebted to it. I am glad the new Minister has made a top priority of delivering on the promise in the programme for Government to increase garda recruitment to 5,000. It is important that number is achieved. I would like, in his response, if he could outline to us how the increased recruitment will be achieved.”
“Speaking as a resident of the capital and of Dublin Central, I, like most of the people living there, am quite sick and tired of our part of the city featuring in news headlines because of stabbings, murders, begging, drug dealing and aggressive antisocial behaviour. It is totally unacceptable to us. My constituency has a population of approximately 120,000, but every day the area's population expands to more than 500,000. We do not just have the challenges most communities would have with their indigenous populations, we have many multiples of that because we have so many people coming in and going out of the constituency daily. I commend the gardaí working in Dublin Central - in the Bridewell, Store Street, Fitzgibbon Street and Mountjoy Garda stations, and the new stations opened on O'Connell Street and in the port.”
“I welcome the Minister of State and thank him for discussing community safety with us. It is a request other Senators and I have made. The people who live, work and visit my community just want to feel safe. This is not an unreasonable expectation to have or an unreasonable request to make. I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment and Jim O'Callaghan on his. Trying to improve community safety is something I have been engaged in for a number of decades. I am a founding director of one of the first community policing forums and when a local authority member, I served as chair of the Dublin central joint policing committee.”
“He said many things but I will leave Senators today with one quote attributed to him: "if you accept your limitations you go beyond them". We can focus on the limitations of this Chamber or we can work collectively challengingly and respectfully to go beyond them. It is my commitment to work with all Senators to do that over the next five years.”
“When I am talking about small shops and businesses, I want us all the stop for a moment and think about the small shop on Oxmantown Road and the people on that road and in Stoneybatter in Dublin 7, who last week were visited with horrific and unexpected violence in their community. Yasir and his staff on the street and everybody living in Oxmantown Road were deeply upset by it. I call for an early debate in this House with the new Minister for Justice on making our cities safer. Finally, on a more positive note, last weekend in my constituency of Dublin Central we got to celebrate the 102nd birthday of the great Brendan Behan. I congratulate everybody in the north inner city who got together on Russell Street to celebrate his birthday, his legacy, his literature and his works.”
“Its members are up early in the morning - before most of us - to open their shops and most of them do not close until many of us have finished our day's work and gone to bed. It is a huge privilege for me to have been nominated by this association. I look forward to championing the issues that are of concern to its members such as the impact of Government policy decisions on small businesses, the impact of crime on their staff and customers, the lack of housing, and the need for town and village regeneration. They have a lot of asks. I intend to be their champion in this House.”
“Comhghairdeachas to the Cathaoirleach and to everyone who has been elected. It is a great privilege for all of us to get to serve in this House. I start by thanking everyone who voted for me and who supported me. I particularly thank the Seanad staff, including Martin Groves in the Seanad Office. Without their work none of us would have been elected and they did it with great professionalism, patience and accuracy. I thank them for my count alone. I thank my sister Niamh, Niall Butterly who has worked with me, my husband Seán, my sons Jack and James and my daughter Kate. Without any of those people I would not be standing here today. I also thank RGDATA which nominated me. RGDATA represents the independent indigenous domestic Irish retailers in every town and village.”