Mary Lou McDonald
Dublin Central · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“Now he watches as Paudie, his other son, aged 16, deteriorates with the same disease. He says Paudie does not have weeks to wait. He says, "I can't lose him [too]. He is all I have left." That is what is at stake here. This is urgent. Caithfidh an Rialtas an rud ceart a dhéanamh dóibh siúd a bhfuil Friedreich's ataxia orthu.”
“We know that both scramblers and e-scooters are being used by gangs to distribute drugs, to openly and actively intimidate, and to evade the gardaí and, yet, we heard the Garda Commissioner say that there would be no chance of pursuit training until next year because of the EU Presidency. I found that really shocking.”
“Their hopes were very high that the HSE drugs committee would finally approve Skyclarys, but those hopes were to be dashed. The committee decided against approving the drug. Instead, it referred it to a rare disease review group. In other words, one committee passing the buck to another committee.”
“This cruel condition moves relentlessly, ravaging their bodies and their lives, yet the system stands still, putting up obstacle after obstacle, forcing them to wait and wait as time slips by. This drug was approved by the EU Commission back in 2024. Two years on, it is available in France, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Spain and Czechia.”
“So we are clear, it is not that all of this is frustrating for those living with Friedreich's ataxia; it is actually terrifying for them. I met Emily three or four weeks ago and I was speaking to her again on Tuesday. Even in that short time span, she told me that her swallow and speech had disimproved. We are on the clock here.”
“There is someone the Tánaiste knows very well in the Public Gallery. She is the unstoppable and heroic Cara Darmody. Cara has just completed her third 50-hour protest outside the Dáil, calling for real action for children and young people waiting for an assessment of need.”
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“I give a warm welcome to the yellow bellies. Fáilte isteach, ladies. For all of the Taoiseach's big talk about phasing out the carer's allowance means test over five years, we got the truth of his position in last week's budget. Instead of allocating the €133 million that would be required for this phase-out, only €10 million was allocated for next year. At this rate, it would take 30 years to remove the means test under a Fine Gael-Fianna Fáil Government. He gave his word to carers to abolish the means test. How can he so brazenly go back on his word?”
“They are not agreed to. Under Standing Order 35(3), I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, namely to have statements and questions and answers from the Minister for Health and from the Tánaiste, Deputy Simon Harris, on the ongoing scandal regarding children with scoliosis and spina bifida who require spinal surgery and why they are continuing to be failed and left on waiting lists, and also to have a report from both the Minister and the Tánaiste on the establishment of a statutory public inquiry into Children’s Health Ireland.”
“Wholesale energy prices are down more than 70% since 2022. In countries all across Europe, that reduction is felt by consumers, but not here in Ireland. As the Government that took away energy credits, I want the Taoiseach to set out what it is doing to stop this gouging and to end this rip-off. Please answer that question.”
“Tá a fhios ag gach duine nach bhfuil rud ar bith sa bhuiséad do dhaoine, teaghlaigh ná oibrithe atá ag fulaingt. Is í sin an fhírinne. I have asked a question about price gouging and ending the rip-off by energy companies. As usual, the Taoiseach has come up with nothing. His budget has made a bad situation worse for working people. I know he is not a great listener - God knows, his backbenchers know that all too well - but he might afford to the general public the courtesy of actually hearing what he is being told loudly and clearly: workers and families are struggling and struggling hard. The ESRI has confirmed that the Government has left them worse off after its budget. The specific issue I want to know from the Taoiseach is as regards energy costs, which are being hiked again and again. A rip-off is under way.”
“The Government has done nothing to help pay one single bill or to ease the pressure on households. People have known for a long time that they are being gouged and ripped off on their energy bills. The Government now has further proof of that fact. Will the Taoiseach set out clearly what he will do to end this rip-off?”
“Households are hit with hikes in food prices, in their health insurance premiums, and instead of working to get costs down for households, the Government hiked up fuel prices, student fees and the local property tax. There is no end in sight. The Government knew all of this when it signed off on this budget. It knew that people would be hammered with big electricity bills and soaring prices, and yet it chose to abandon them anyway. Tá comhlachtaí fuinnimh ag feannadh teaghlaigh le hardaithe móra sna billí leictreachais. Thréig buiséad an Rialtais oibrithe an uair seo chun aire a thabhairt dóibh siúd atá ar bharr an dréimire. Winter now approaches and people will leave their lights and heating on for longer. The rip-off bills they receive will be a body blow for families.”
“The Taoiseach's suggestion at the weekend that people do not get the budget, that they need to look at it from a different angle, took some cheek. People do not have to bend over backwards to see what is staring them in the face: no break on their income tax, no increase in the renters' credit, no cut in childcare fees, no increase in child benefit and no cost-of-living package, but the Government could find the money for sweetheart tax breaks for developers, big landlords and the banks, while all its big election promises disappeared like snow off a ditch. The budget was written as though the cost-of-living crisis was a thing of the past, but at the very time it was announced, households heard that they face the biggest price squeeze in 18 months. It is not just electricity.”
“Big energy companies are making bumper profits on the backs of working households, and hundreds of thousands of those already cannot afford to pay their bills. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael see this energy rip-off happening, but they stand back and do nothing. They refuse to take on the energy companies and they vote down our proposals to get energy costs under control. Worse still, in last week's budget, they removed energy credits from hard-pressed households. Their deference to the energy companies is, of course, in keeping with the terrible budget the Government announced last week, a budget that looks after those at the top and leaves ordinary workers worse off. That reality was confirmed by the ESRI on Friday.”
“A warm welcome to the visitors from Claregalway and the people from the United States. The ambassador is also most welcome. Cuirim fáilte rompu go léir. More than a million households will be hit with big hikes in their electricity bills this month. This morning we have further proof of what we have been saying for a long time, that energy companies are brazenly ripping off customers in Ireland. Irish energy bills are three times higher than the wholesale cost. That is price gouging, plain and simple. It is a rip-off, plain and simple. A new report from the International Energy Agency reveals that these companies are refusing to pass on the drop in wholesale price to their customers.”
“So it is with this budget, which abandons workers and families to look after those at the top - a most irresponsible strategy and approach. At a time when the State has an abundance of wealth, the Government chooses to use that wealth to feather the nests of the golden circles and to cheat working people of their fair share. The same Government wastes millions in taxpayers' money on bike sheds, security huts, replacement walls and renting offices that lie empty. However, when it comes to helping workers and families the cupboard is always bare. Its promises are made only to be broken and, with no general election in prospect, as workers and families really struggle at a time when they really need support, this Government walks away. It is a cynical, self-serving and jaded Government.”
“They tried to con ordinary people by telling them at the time that their deal was really about delivering for them, but nothing could be further from the truth. You see, it was all about self-interest and maintaining power. They would stop at nothing to protect their positions, even when it meant taking an Teachta Lowry and making him kingmaker in their Government. This is a man, remember, whose actions as a Minister were found by a tribunal to have been, "profoundly corrupt to a degree that was nothing short of breathtaking". In that grubby deal, the well-being of workers and families, and their entitlement to a good life, was not even on their radar, barely an afterthought. It was all about delivery for the privileged few over the needs of the many.”
“It is not fair, and once again the Government sells carers short. Is buiséad é seo atá scríofa ag Fine Gael. Tá Fianna Fáil ar nós iománaithe ar an gclaí ag breathnú air. I measc pacáistí móra cánach, tréigeann an buiséad seo oibrithe agus teaghlaigh chun aire a thabhairt dóibh siúd atá ar bharr an dréimire. Níl giorrúchán ar bith ann do ghnáthoibrithe, ach tá gearradh mór cánach do thiarnaí talún agus forbróirí. Tá daoine fágtha in áit na leathphingine. Níl gníomh ar bith ann chun an tsáinn a stopadh agus praghsanna ag ardú as smacht. Tá na gealltanais Rialtais scriosta agus caite sa bhosca bruscair ag ceann de na rialtais is measa riamh. Seven months ago, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil entered a grubby deal with Michael Lowry, a politician who has always shown up for those on top, by all means necessary.”
“The budget should have delivered on that promise, but at the rate of investment provided for in this budget, it would take more than a decade to abolish the means test. That is not right.”
“There is no sign of new money for women's health and endometriosis, nothing to reduce the cost of healthcare and no money listed for critical national strategies such as cancer, maternity and cardiac care. The Government has the opportunity and the resources to transform the health service by investing and innovating, but it makes no effort. It has no vision. It is just the same old script again and again. On broken promise number seven, the Government promised to abolish the carers means test. Our carers are the best of us, and they deserve respect and recognition. They deserve action from the Government that relieves the daily pressure they come under as they do their amazing work. The Government's election promise was specific, and it was clear - to scrap the carers means test.”
“The Disability Federation of Ireland has described this budget as, "A devastating setback for disabled people unable to work." It states the Government's investment will reach only a fraction of the 1 million disabled people who need support. It has removed the one-off payments that made a difference last year, so it takes a backward step addressing the additional cost pressures people with disabilities face every day. It has increased the disability allowance by €10. That is insulting. It should have doubled that and increased it by €20 to give disabled people real help with the cost of living, but they have been left behind again. Fine Gael has been in government for nearly 15 years. At its rate of investment, it will take it nearly 14 years to deliver its seven-year bed plan. There is really no plan in the end.”
“I come to broken promise number six. Eight years ago, Simon Harris promised that no child would wait longer than four months for spinal surgery for scoliosis. That promise, as we know, was broken again and again. Harvey Morrison Sherratt was one child left waiting. He died in July. His heartbreaking death should and must be a tipping point for this Government when it comes to the delivery of healthcare. However, in this budget, it knowingly underfunds the health service. It delivers a recipe for deepening catastrophe that sees our hospitals overcrowded, accident and emergency departments under huge pressure every day, a year-round trolley crisis and hundreds of thousands of people on waiting lists, waiting just like Harvey did.”
“Twelve years ago, Fine Gael rolled out the red carpet for the vulture funds with sweetheart tax arrangements, and nothing has changed. Today, its policy remains wedded to the interests of wealthy property funds, developers and big landlords over the housing needs of ordinary people. The Taoiseach today described this strategy as Government policy encouraging private investment to crowd in. What that has achieved is everybody else crowded out, which he has clarified is the Government's approach. This budget again fails the necessary work of bringing home ownership back within the reach of working people, building the affordable and social homes needed, banning rent increases for three years, delivering the investment needed to end the housing emergency and to restore the hope of a generation. It is a big fail on the Government's part.”
“Its refusal and inability to do what needs to be done has locked a generation out of affordable housing to rent or buy, left people stuck in the box rooms of their parents' homes into their 30s and 40s, and sent young people packing to Canada and Australia because they have lost hope of ever owning a home of their own. These are the consequences of the Government’s failure.”
“In the election campaign last year, the Government deliberately misled the public about housing delivery figures and since then its own officials have rung the alarm bell about missing its housing targets every year up to 2030, and yet the Taoiseach actually stood up and spoke today about building on our successes under Housing for All. Mother of God, spare us. He has repeatedly claimed we are turning the corner on housing, but the fact is the Government is going backwards. It does not have the ambition or determination. It actually does not have the ideas necessary to deliver the affordable homes people need. Instead of real action, what we get are half-baked gimmicks, like its infamous housing tsar carry-on.”
“Be clear that students and parents will not be fooled by the Government's spin, because they will feel it in their pockets. Budget 2026 should have abolished student fees for good. The Government should be on a pathway to that. That is what it should have done, but it chose not to. We provided for a cut of €1,500 on the pathway to that. That was the right thing to do. Broken promise number five is that the Government will fix housing once and for all. How many times have we heard that pledge? The Government has caused record rents that keep going up and up. House prices are far beyond the reach of hard-working people. Homelessness is at a level we thought we would never see. More than 5,000 children went to sleep last night in emergency accommodation with nowhere to call home. It is shameful.”
“Every young person and every student that they met on the campaign trail heard how they were going to reduce the cost of going to college. Simon Harris stood here just before the summer and, with great gusto, told students and their families that he had their backs, then he took to TikTok to amplify that promise. That was just another con job because the Government delivered a budget that jacks up student fees by €500 and has the neck to tell them that it is cutting their fees.”
“The first 100 days of Government ran out on 3 May, which is over six months ago. That promised pathway must have run up a cul-de-sac somewhere because it is nowhere to be seen. This broken commitment means parents continuing to fork out a small fortune in childcare fees. That childcare promise was just another one of the Government's trademark soundbites. Is it not embarrassed by the way it has tried to hoodwink parents? It should, of course, have introduced our plan, which would actually deliver €10 a day childcare. It was possible. The Government could have done it but chose not to. Broken promise number four is student fees. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil put up in lights at the election that they would cut student fees.”
“We wanted to give workers a fairer deal and the Government should have scrapped USC on the first €40,000 of income for every worker, putting almost €750 back into workers' pockets. Everyone would have got a boost, especially middle and lower income workers. We are certainly a far cry from 2016 and Fine Gael's pledge to scrap the USC, a Fianna Fáil tax. Nine years is a long time in politics. Today, the Government will not even reduce USC for those on and below the average wage, but that is you all over. This budget is anti-worker. There was self-congratulatory backslapping here yesterday and it is completely detached from the reality of people's lives. Broken promise number three is childcare. Before and during the general election, Simon Harris promised he would make childcare affordable.”
“What does it say to parents going out to work every day, doing everything they can to keep the show on the road? It says to them, "Tough, you are on your own." Broken promise number two is that the Government told workers that it would cut their taxes. However, as it delivers one of the largest tax cut packages in the history of the State, with €2.5 billion in tax cuts, ordinary workers get absolutely nothing, zero. Who does benefit? Developers are in luck. They have won the lotto because the Government is dishing out €250 million in tax cuts for them. Happy days. It is not like turbocharging tax breaks for developers ever caused any problems in the past, is it, Micheál?”
“What of the renters of Ireland? Only a few months ago, the Government came forward with a Bill that will put renters on the hook for massive rent hikes, and now it shafts them again. There is no increase in the renters' tax credit, as Fianna Fáil promised, but Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil dug deep to increase the tax break for landlords to €1,000. Little wonder that most of those pushed into the nightmare of homelessness come from the private rental sector. Renters are shafted for the Government to feather the nest of property funds, vultures and big, wealthy investors. There is no increase in child benefit. Child benefit remains stuck below where it was in 2008, nearly 20 years ago. How in God's name does the Government stand over that?”
“That was 126 weeks ago and grocery prices have gone through the roof. The supermarkets laugh all the way to the bank while working parents skip meals to ensure that their children have enough to eat. It is shameful. It underscores why people needed a cost-of-living package to get household costs down. The Government says it recognises the pressure that people are under, but its actions say otherwise. It certainly does not get how hard it is to keep a car on the road because despite years of motorists being hit by fuel price increases, the first result of the Government's budget is that petrol and diesel prices are hiked up, with the full and enthusiastic support of the Healy-Raes of the Kingdom of Kerry.”
“It gives free rein to the energy companies to hike up their prices as hundreds of thousands of households already cannot afford their bills, and it cancels the one modest protection they had. That is the Government all over. Let the big boys make their bumper, record profits on the backs of hardworking people. No skin off the Government's nose. Sinn Féin called on the Government not to make this terrible decision. We showed it how it could provide a €450 energy credit to help people through the winter but the Government ignored that. It is the same story when it comes to food prices. In May 2023, Fine Gael Minister of State Neale Richmond puffed out his chest and told the top brass in the big supermarket chains that they had six weeks to get prices down. Do the Taoiseach and Tánaiste remember that?”
“We proposed a substantial cost-of-living package to make life affordable for working families. The Government could have done that but it chose not to. It does not suit Fine Gael's priorities, so it got pushed to the side so it could look after the golden circles, and Micheál went along with that. Let us be straight about it. In a time of massive surpluses, abandoning workers and families like this is the choice the Government has made. Not only is it not providing help, it has actually decided with its eyes wide open to make things worse, even harder. What does that say to people who feel there is no end in sight to the rip-off? From this week, households will again be hit with double-digit hikes in electricity prices and the Government has the nerve to withdraw energy credits.”
“I want to address just some of these broken promises. Broken promise number one is the cost of living. During the election, the Government was clear over and again that tackling soaring prices and the runaway cost of living was its biggest priority. As a man once said about empty promises, is that not what you tend to do during an election? That is certainly true of you lads. The Government has delivered a budget worth billions of euro without a cost-of-living package to help workers and families. That just beggars belief. You close your eyes, stick your fingers in your ears and convince yourselves that households are doing fine. With a surplus of over €10 billion, the Government cannot help workers and families, according to it. Well, it could help.”
“It should have been a budget to address, with real purpose, the big challenges of our generation, to turn the tide of crises, to deliver the affordable and social homes people need, to build a health service where you get the treatment services and care you need, and to build a better, fairer society. Instead, what the Government has served up is a budget written by Fine Gael, as Fianna Fáil watches on, which abandons workers and families to look after those at the top. There is no action to end the rip-off and no break in tax for ordinary workers but big tax breaks for developers. People are left high and dry as prices soar, confirming without a shadow of a doubt that election campaigns are where Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil make promises and budgets are where they break them.”
“This budget comes at a time when ordinary households are reeling from a cost-of-living crisis that is out of control. Workers and families are hit by rip-off prices in every direction. It is getting harder and harder to make ends meet and to keep up, and it shows no sign of letting up. It is rent, big electricity and gas bills, runaway food prices, the cost of petrol and diesel, crippling childcare fees and extortionate insurance premiums. The list is as long as your arm. You name it, it is going up. This budget should have been a cost-of-living budget, a budget to end the rip-off and make life affordable.”
“Incredible. Who would have thought, but there you go. I will tell the Taoiseach what workers want. They do not want to listen to his bluster. They want to be able to pay their bills. They want to be able to feed their children. They want to be able to run their homes. Erika wants to have a second child, but that is not on the cards. Erika and her family do not want to be forced out of Ireland, like so many others, to try to have a chance and an opportunity in their lives. The Government promised a lot at the general election. It is clear now that elections are where Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael make their promises, and budgets are where they break them.”
“Whatever about me borrowing the phrase from Fine Gael about those who get up early, which was well spotted, they have clearly forgotten about them as well. The more astonishing thing is that Fianna Fáil hook, line and sinker, all like nodding wee dogs, is going along with the Fine Gael agenda.”
“When do they get their fair share? The Government is not giving it in its budget. Does the Taoiseach even recognise the hurt and anger that working people are feeling today? Why did the Government deliberately choose to deliver a budget that leaves them worse off?”
“Is buiséad é a thréigeann oibrithe agus teaghlaigh atá fágtha níos measa as ná mar a bhí roimhe. Ordinary people are asking when they get rewarded and recognised for their hard work.”
“They are a working couple trying to build a good life and a future. However, the pressure they are under just to get by and pay the rent, keep the car on the road and meet their bills is incredible. Erika said they would love to have a second child, but they currently see no hope of that. They wonder now if they will have to leave Ireland to have any chance. Her story and circumstances are reflected right across the State. When she was told she would be down money as a result of the Government's budget, you could sense her heart break. She was close to tears. You see, how can you take money from her when she already does not have enough to get by? These are the people Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have betrayed and abandoned in their budget. Tá stangadh bainte as oibrithe na tíre nach bhfuil in ann buiséad an Rialtais a chreidiúint.”
“There is the largest tax cuts package in the history of the State, but no break on income tax for ordinary people, no cut to USC, energy credits withdrawn as households face big electricity hikes, no increase in the renters' credit, no action to deliver affordable childcare, no increase in child benefit, petrol and diesel prices hiked up from today and student fees hiked up by €500. Working people are left scratching their heads. After a budget of €9.4 billion, they ask how they can be left worse off today than they were yesterday. I wonder if the Taoiseach had a chance to watch "Prime Time" last night. If he did not, I urge him to watch it back. He would have heard from Erika, a secondary school teacher. Her husband is an SNA. They have a young daughter. They are renters.”
“In the budget, they were looking for help to keep their heads above water, looking for a break, but they are shaking their heads in disbelief this morning because there was absolutely nothing for them in what Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael served up yesterday. The Government was, of course, able to find money to give tax breaks to developers and landlords, but it could not find the money to help those who keep this country going. Its raft of broken election promises means that working people are left behind. There is no help with the cost of living.”
“Workers are worse off today because of the Government’s budget. They are in shock and disbelief. What the Government delivered yesterday abandons and betrays working people to look after those at the top. The Taoiseach says the Government's budget was about protecting the economy, but it has pulled the rug from under the very people who are the engine of that economy. They are the people who get up early in the morning, put in hard shifts every day and who, under incredible pressure from the cost of living, keep the show on the road. I am talking about teachers, SNAs, young electricians and carpenters, retail workers and factory workers.”
“I believe it needs to haul in the top brass of the insurance companies and tell them to stop ripping people off. The Government has leverage and it should use it because families are struggling, as the Minister well knows.”
“We have some very witty Members on the Labour Party benches urging Deputy Healy-Rae to talk to his brother. The big insurance rip-off continues. VHI customers will be hit with an increase today, quickly followed by Laya Healthcare and Irish Life Health in the coming days. The latest health insurance hike will see some families paying an extra €600 on their premiums. People now fork out almost €2,000 every year for health insurance, which is an extraordinary sum. Private healthcare in Ireland, as the Minister knows, is totally reliant on the public system. Health insurance is supported with tax subsidies to the tune of €400 million every year. The Minister's Government has leverage and I believe it is now time to get off the bench. The Government needs to do its job.”
“Will there be a review of every IPAS contract? I fear that what the Comptroller and Auditor General has revealed - as shocking as it is - is only a fraction of what has actually been going on. The Irish taxpayer wants to know whether the Government has played fast and loose with billions and billions of their hard-earned money.”
“I asked the Minister two questions. Does the Government take responsibility for the scandalous waste and lack of accountability and proper management I have set out? By way of response, the Minister reached for everyone else bar the Government. He should attribute this waste to those who are in the accommodation. That is simply not an accurate reflection. That is not what the Comptroller and Auditor General found. What the Comptroller and Auditor General has found is utter incompetence and an incredibly cavalier attitude by the Minister's Government. What the failures in due diligence and compliance actually mean, just to decode it, is that the Government has created a golden opportunity for people to turn a fast buck courtesy of the Irish taxpayer. I ask the Minister again to take responsibility for this situation.”
“Faoi stiúir an Rialtais seo, tá airgead poiblí á chur amú go scannalach ar bhrabúsaíocht atá ar bun acu siúd atá ag tabhairt faoi sholáthar sheirbhísí lóistín d’iarratasóirí ar chosaint idirnáisiúnta. Caithfear stop a chur leis. This squandering of public money is happening on the watch of the Government and on the Minister's watch and it is his job to sort it out. It is time to end the extreme profiteering from IPAS accommodation. Does the Government accept responsibility for this scandalous waste? Will the Minister urgently initiate a thorough review of every IPAS contract?”
“Astonishingly, the prepayment system used by IPAS did not include a check to establish capacity or occupancy levels. We are talking about billions of euro of public money and the management around it is utterly incompetent and wide open to abuse. Even before the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, we knew there were serious issues with spending on IPAS. We knew that two directors of a café-turned-IPAS-accommodation paid themselves €4.6 million in 2024 when only three years earlier, that same company made a profit of a mere €2,092. That is some pay hike. This is cowboy stuff and the big fear is that this is just the tip of the iceberg. The Government has allowed a small number of private operators to become multimillionaires overnight at the expense of the taxpayer and this cannot go on.”
“The damning report points to a lack of due diligence and payment control in the awarding of IPAS contracts, on which the Government will spend €1.2 billion this year. Some of it is breathtaking. There is evidence of overcharging by private operators, including companies charging for beds that were not provided and charging VAT when the accommodation is VAT exempt. One operator overcharged the State by €7.4 million for VAT and it still has a Government contract. The report shines a light on other serious issues, including incomplete due diligence records and unverifiable invoice rates. Signed contracts could not be found in more than one third of the cases examined. Proof of ownership of the properties or a copy of leases was provided for only 5% of the properties examined.”
“The Government has a big problem with wasting public money. Yesterday, I raised with the Taoiseach that taxpayers will stump up €100,000 for another bicycle shed and the never-ending catalogue of waste on the watch of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. The Government is pouring millions of euro in people's hard-earned money down the drain. The Comptroller and Auditor General's report published yesterday raised serious concerns regarding the spending of taxpayers' money across the board, including the Office of Public Works, OPW, paying €20 million to rent offices that were left empty. One of the loudest alarm bells was sounded on the spending on the International Protection Accommodation Service, IPAS, which is the responsibility of the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.”
“The sad reality that has to be confronted and named is that the State and Government take advantage of carer's love and their work. It is not fair, it is not right, it is not acceptable and it has to end. The means test has to go. That is where we are at so do it.”
“Indeed, there is an abundance but when it comes to really showing up for carers and their families with the fundamental changes they need and deserve, all of that commitment dries up. The action never ever matches the promise. What carers get instead is a slow motion tinkering around the edges and they are asked to wait and wait, whether it is for the scrapping of the means test, the provision of respite care, adequate services or vital supports. It should not be this way. Carers are the backbone of our society and in many ways, they are the best of us. Every day they do incredible work and they save the State billions of euro. We know this. They do it for family with pure love. It is 24-7 and non-stop. There is no clocking out and carers just keep on going.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an rún seo. I thank Deputy Quaide and the Social Democrats for bringing forward this motion. In reality, there should not be need for this debate today. It is absolutely beyond argument that the carer's means test is unfair and disrespectful. As my colleague set out, it is actually demeaning. It needs to be scrapped. Two days before the general election was called in the previous year, a Sinn Féin motion was passed in the Dáil calling for that means test to be abolished. During the campaign, we all stood shoulder to shoulder with Ireland's carers in pushing for that to happen. The inescapable truth is that carers have been let down and left behind for decades by successive Governments. When it comes to platitudes, barren words and empty promises, there is absolutely no shortage.”