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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“There’s nothing left to make a meal today as shopping day is tomorrow. We don't even have diluted juice left. Only for loans from my mother most weeks we would be hungry or sitting in the dark. Fiona says: My shopping now costs €300 a week! I used to get by on €200 a week. That’s a huge jump. I cannot believe I’m spending over €1000 a month on food! Brian says: It’s gone beyond a joke. We’re drowning trying just to keep a roof over the kids’ heads and put food on the table. Something has to change big time. Joanne says: Every time I go to the shop prices have gone up. €9 for a bottle of shampoo! Don’t get me started on electricity bills, the cost of sending the kids to school, or the price of fuel! Why are people going out to work at all? Now, that is real pressure.”
“Let me break it to him: prices are not relatively elevated, they are through the roof. The price of a litre of milk is now higher than a litre of petrol. People here pay among the highest energy prices in Europe and 450,000 customers are in arrears on their bills, yet the Government proposes to cancel their lifeline of energy credits. The Taoiseach and his Government have convinced themselves, in their own out-of-touch way, that things are not actually as bad as people make out. Well, they are. We are contacted day in, day out by people who are fleeced, stressed and pushed to the brink. I will share some of their experiences if the Taoiseach cares to listen. Amanda says: We constantly leave bills unpaid or late. The children wait weeks for new clothing and footwear. We both work fulltime. I spent over €220 on shopping last week.”
“As the Dáil prepares to rise now for the summer, the thing on everybody's mind is runaway prices and the sky-high cost of living. Working households really struggle now to make ends meet and they hear from the Taoiseach time and again as he digs in and refuses to include a cost-of-living package in October's budget. Today, a report published by the Irish League of Credit Unions reveals the big pressure on parents with the enormous cost of sending their children to school. This follows reports from the ESRI, Barnardos, the Society of St. Vincent De Paul and the Money Advice and Budgeting Service, MABS, all of which reflect the real, present and growing pressure on families. Yesterday, the Taoiseach described prices as being at a relatively elevated level. Those are his words. That was one for the books.”
“The meetings were raw with tears, suffering and trauma but also filled with resilience, strength, love and determination to achieve a turning point for the treatment endometriosis in Ireland, to say no longer will we be ignored, sidelined or suffer in silence. The women in the Gallery and tens of thousands at home watching on are strong and united and they are not going away. This is about one in ten women - their health, futures and their very lives. That is what is on the line. The Government must now finally hear their call, respect their experiences and suffering and respond now.”
“-----and it is seen by all of us here as exactly what it is. Women who have had access to the correct treatment have told us what it means. They say they feel reborn, that they got their lives back, that they shared the joy of being part of the lives of their children and their families again, that they could work again, that they could breathe easy again. That is what is at stake. That is what real action on endometriosis can give back to so many women and their families. Cuireann inmheatróis isteach ar bhean amháin as gach deichniúr. Tá an Stát ag íoc as mhná a fhágáil ag fulaingt, cráite i gciúnas agus i nganntanas cúraim. Caithfidh sé seo a athrú. Ordinary women from across the country flocked to public meetings, women from all walks of life brought together by one thing - endometriosis.”
“We are standing together to demand that the Government deliver a gold-standard, multidisciplinary centre for the treatment of endometriosis here in Ireland, because no such service currently exists, so that women and girls are diagnosed quickly and early and get the medical interventions they need, including specialist excision surgery when required. It is beyond disappointing - in fact, it is enraging - that the Government, with a shameful amendment, pushes back against the first-hand experiences and real trauma of women. By deleting our motion in its entirety, the Government attempts to delete the women and girls' calls for better. It is a shocking amendment-----”
“It is the incredible love and solidarity of families that has held these women up when they have been so badly failed by the State, as endometriosis gnaws away at their bodies and at their lives. They are held up and supported, too, by such brave advocates as Kathleen King, Cate O'Connor, Vanessa Waldron and others. It is unacceptable that women's healthcare is still at the bottom rung of the ladder. Tonight, we bring this motion and we are here to say enough is enough. Tonight, we break the silence together.”
“A mother shared her story of the night when she was again taken to hospital by ambulance because the pain had become so bad. Even though she was in agony, all she could think about was her young son saying, "Mammy, I do not want you to die. You are the best mammy in the world." All she wanted to do was to hug that child and tell him he was the best son in the world for being so brave for her. Women are at the centre of this crisis but endometriosis attacks the whole family. It impacts on children especially. Women told us about the heartache of leaving their children behind as they were forced to travel out of Ireland to seek diagnosis and treatment in London, Athens or Bucharest.”
“Women told of being told to woman-up and sent home with a hot water bottle and a couple of Ponstan tablets. Women and girls are ridiculed, sidelined and shamed just for seeking medical help. I have been in public life for a long time but I have never been at meetings so raw with anguish and anger. Women shared their most intimate stories of trauma hoping to be finally heard. Some were young women whose condition got so bad they lost their wombs. They were left with no option but to have hysterectomies and were robbed of their chance to become mammies. Women stood up and told us that the pain of labour and childbirth without an epidural or any pain relief was a walk in the park when compared to the pain of endometriosis.”
“This pain is so intense that it can leave young women confined to wheelchairs or to bed, missing work, missing school, having to give up work and forcing them to drop out of school. It up-ends lives, ruins lives and puts the lives of women and girls at risk. The story of endometriosis in Ireland is the story of women denied proper care and treatment, suffering in silence, forced to travel abroad for treatment if they can. Even though it is a race against time with this disease, women are left waiting an average of nine years for a diagnosis. Women told us of their experiences of not being believed, being told it is all in their heads, being told that this is just how it is and that the unbearable bleeding and pain is just part of being a woman and of a normal menstrual cycle.”
“Despite everything they have gone through, they are ready to fight for the healthcare that all women and girls of Ireland deserve and to say with one voice "enough is enough". Endometriosis is a crisis in women's healthcare. It affects one in ten women. Endometriosis, therefore, is in our lives, in our families and in our communities. It is our mothers, our sisters, our daughters, our grandmothers, our aunts, our friends and our work colleagues; it is us. A chronic inflammatory and whole-body disease that affects the pelvic region, uterus, fallopian tubes and cervix, it can spread to the bladder, bowels, lungs and even to the brain. It causes persistent, excruciating, debilitating pain.”
“Meetings full of tears, full of pain, distress and trauma, meeting full of hurt, sorrow and anger, full of women's grief for the lives they could and should be living if it was not for the ordeal of the cruel condition endometriosis. That was the overwhelming atmosphere in each of the nine public meetings we held across the country. These meetings were attended by thousands of women and their families who bravely shared their stories of how suffering from endometriosis, and the absence of proper treatment in Ireland, had ravaged their lives. More than 40 of these courageous women and their family members are here in the Public Gallery this evening and they are most welcome.”
“I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — endometriosis is a serious, chronic inflammatory disease that affects the entire body, and it is characterised by severe pelvic pain, infertility, internal scarring (fibrosis), heavy and painful menstruation, and can cause irreversible damage to multiple organs; — the disease primarily affects organs within the pelvic cavity, including the uterus, fallopian tubes, cervix, bladder, bowel and kidneys, and has also been found in the diaphragm, gallbladder and lungs; — at least one in ten women in Ireland are affected, with recent global research suggesting that nearly one in six may have symptoms indicative of endometriosis; and — it takes an average of nine years for patients to receive a formal diagnosis, resulting in prolonged suffering, permanent organ damage, and increased risk of infertility; further notes that: — a number of gynaecologists are striving to deliver better care, but are hindered by a lack of critical resources, including access to theatre time, specialist surgical tools and specialised training programmes in the identification and excision of endometriosis; — for decades, endometriosis care in Ireland has failed thousands of women; — the management of suspected cases in primary care settings is fundamentally inappropriate and delays essential intervention; and — international best practice confirms that expert-led excision surgery remains the gold standard for long-term disease management and improved quality of life; acknowledges that: — the most recently published Health Service Executive (HSE) guidelines acknowledge that excision is a superior treatment for managing endometriosis; — the disease's complexity and varied presentation require specialised expertise and training to diagnose and evaluate; — excision surgery, involving the complete removal of endometrial lesions with clear margins, offers the most effective means of managing the disease, alongside multidisciplinary care; and — while there is no known cure, expert surgical treatment allows many patients to regain their quality of life and functional health, with the support of multidisciplinary care teams; recognises that: — discussion of excision surgery as a superior treatment option in the most recent HSE treatment guidelines is a step forward; — the HSE's supra-regional endometriosis clinics have less than 25 out of 50 posts filled across both centres; — the ongoing neglect of endometriosis care in Ireland is emblematic of broader systemic failures in women's healthcare; — women living with this disease continue to report being dismissed, ignored and traumatised by a health system, which they state, fails to recognise their suffering; — the current model of care fails to account for the psychological, emotional and social toll of endometriosis, compounding the physical burden of the disease; and — use of the outdated staging process in HSE guidelines is causing difficulties for patients and clinicians alike, and has recently been abandoned by specialists in the field; and calls on the Government to: — establish a state-of-the-art centre of excellence for endometriosis care staffed by multidisciplinary care teams, including specialists in endometriosis imaging, pelvic floor physiotherapy; dietetics, pain management, occupational therapy, endocrinology, fertility management, psychology and surgical specialties, including colorectal, urology and hepatology; — immediately establish specialised imaging protocols to assist gynaecologists in identifying and mapping deep infiltrating endometriosis; — provide upfront financial support for diagnosis and excision treatment in designated specialist centres abroad; — end the current model which places diagnostic responsibility in primary care, and instead implement a fast-track referral system to specialist services, at home or abroad; — consider replacing the outdated endometriosis staging system with, the Enzian score combined with the Oxford University Innovation Endometriosis Health Profile 30 questionnaire; — develop and fund a dedicated training and incentive programme to upskill Irish surgeons in identifying the disease during surgery, and in the specialist excision techniques required to remove it; and — launch a nationwide public health campaign to raise awareness of the diverse symptoms and severe impact of endometriosis, and to challenge the silence and stigma that still surround the disease.”
“In March, the family met with the Minister for justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, who told them he would ask the Commissioner to release the review and ask the Attorney General about a second inquest but since then the family has heard nothing. They are now asking for the Taoiseach's assistance to secure the publication of the serious crime review and the holding of a second inquest.”
“In August 2016, Clodagh Hawe and her three young sons, Liam, Niall and Ryan, were murdered by her husband and their father Alan Hawe. He then killed himself. Clodagh's sister, Jacqueline Connolly, and her mother have been asking for the 2019 serious crime review into those murders be released by the Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris. An initial investigation determined that Alan Hawe was motivated by depression and psychosis, however, in early 2024, Jacqueline and her mother were given a presentation of the serious crime review that revealed a depth of planning to the murders, which now calls that conclusion into question.”
“Under Standing Order 35(3), I propose that time be urgently scheduled for statements today on the Department of justice's refusal of visas for 33 children and their chaperones who are due to travel to Ireland from Palestine to play hurling. The children have practised and trained for a year.”
“He is right to say that the rate of inflation has fallen, and thank God for that. However, he is entirely missing the fact that prices have not followed suit. Anybody who goes into a supermarket or shop or opens a bill can tell the Taoiseach that we are in a place where households are still struggling. On the Government's record, in the past five months the price of home heating oil has risen by €25 per fill. Petrol and diesel prices went up in May and the Government will go for those again in October. Local property tax has risen. Rents have gone up. Students' fees, as we know, are also due to go up. The Government has shown no regard or sensitivity for the realities of struggling households and workers. I am simply asking the Taoiseach to wake up and become aware of the realities of people's lives. They need these supports.”
“It has presided over that. The Taoiseach is right that investment needs to be made. The mistakes that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have made during the past number of Administrations have to be corrected. The Taoiseach is right about that. However, he is entirely missing where the lives of families and people are at.”
“We have had six months of this do-nothing Government. Now, the Dáil is about to rise. As it rises, the Government will leave people with stress and uncertainty. People will face big rent hikes next year, thanks to the Government. Students and their families face a big hike in college fees, thanks to the Government. Also thanks to the Government, tens of thousands of families will be left without cost-of-living supports and will wonder how on earth they will make it through the winter. Ní féidir leis an Rialtas teaghlaigh atá ag streachailt le harduithe praghais as smacht a thréigeadh. Caithfidh sé pacáiste costas maireachtála a thabhairt chun tosaigh sa bhuiséad. Households are under enormous pressure and are unable to keep up with soaring prices. The Government simply cannot abandon workers and families like this.”
“The ESRI says that it is difficult to explain why electricity prices here are so far above those in other countries. People are taken for a ride, and now the Taoiseach proposes to cancel the very help they desperately need with their energy bills. He should be continuing to provide energy credits as part of a cost-of-living package in the budget. That is the truth.”
“They are being fleeced when they open their electricity or gas bills, get to the checkout with the weekly shop, go to fill the car or go to buy basic toiletries like toothpaste or shampoo. The out-of-control cost of living is making it so hard for working people to keep their heads above water as we speak. For the Taoiseach to tell households that he is not going to help them and to almost boast that he is determined not to help shows that he really does not understand the pressure people are under. People are not looking for lip service or sympathy from Government; they are looking for support and fair play. They are not getting a whole lot of fairness right now. For one thing, households in Ireland are paying 30% more on their electricity bills each year than the EU average. That is nearly €350 more.”
“The Taoiseach has comprehensively ruled out providing a cost-of-living package in October's budget. The media today is full of reports that he is set to double down on the removal of support payments for struggling households. At a time when living costs are through the roof and people have been hit by skyrocketing prices from every direction, the Government proposes to abandon households and provide them with no help. The promises made during the election are disappearing like snow off a ditch. People cannot believe their ears when they hear the Taoiseach talk as if the sky-high living costs they experience every day are a thing of the past. Extortionate prices are not past tense. People are being fleeced today.”
“Katie, as we know, has fought all over the world. She has walked many times into the lion's den. I know lots of people are anticipating the mother and father of all homecomings and a fight, maybe, in Croke Park.”
“I have said it before and I will say it again today that if the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and the entire Government are so confident in that their plan to undermine and demolish Ireland's neutrality and dismantle the triple lock has the support of the Irish public, then they should put that proposition to the people by way of referendum. Give the people their say, and I believe the Taoiseach will get his answer loudly.”
“-----in imperialist wars of aggression, in conflicts that have nothing to do with this country because, make no mistake, that is where the plan of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to demolish our neutrality leads us. That is where von der Leyen's turbo-charged militarisation leads us. So, with everything we have got, we are going to stand up and defend out neutrality and in doing so, we will safeguard the future for our people, a future of hope over fear, a future of diplomacy over conflict, a future of peace over war.”
“The ordinary people of Ireland will not surrender our neutrality just so Micheál Martin or Simon Harris can get a pat on the head from the high and mighty at the European Commission. The mothers and fathers of Ireland did not raise their sons and daughters to be sent off and die-----”
“Indeed, the Tánaiste's plan to align Ireland with the von der Leyen Commission's new EU militarisation instrument, security action for Europe, shows exactly why our neutrality must be defended to the hilt. We are talking about a proposal that would raid the coffers of EU social funds for €150 billion and redirect that money to military purposes.”
“It is not lost on anybody that this intensification of the EU militarisation agenda comes at the exact time that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael move to demolish Ireland's cherished neutrality, the attempt to dismantle the triple lock being the first shameful attempt. That move would allow the Government to deploy Irish troops to EU-led and NATO-led military misadventures and imperialist conflicts without any UN mandate anywhere in the world.”
“We will not get there if we are governed by a might-is-right philosophy that does not whisper, but screams in the ear of the powerful to arm up. Militarisation is a zero-sum game in which the only winners are the arms corporations that profit from conflict while so many face poverty and deprivation every day. The real story of descent into militarisation is told by the headstones of young, working-class men and women, sons and daughters of ordinary mams and dads, sent off to die in rich men's wars. History warns us of this time and again and those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them.”
“However, we cannot hope to turn the tide of militarisation by adding to it. We cannot prevent and resolve conflict by sending signals of European readiness to partake in them. When fear and warmongering become the driving force behind policy decisions, then militarisation becomes a dangerous, self-fulfilling prophecy, an unstoppable quicksand that drags the world in only one direction, down. It has never been more important for those of us who believe in a better vision of the future, for military-neutral states, to stand up and be counted; for those who believe in peace, diplomacy, dialogue and the primacy of international law to stand out ground and champion a world in which peace may be hard-won, but in which war is not inevitable.”
“The most recent meeting of the European Council placed a heavy focus on the ramping-up of EU defence readiness. Of course, under the Commission Presidency of Ursula von der Leyen, the term "defence readiness" is simply code for the acceleration of a militarisation agenda, an agenda that pushes Europe into a new arms race, an agenda that will see the European Union spend an unprecedented €800 billion on arms. These are all signs of a European Union going in the wrong direction. Russia's criminal invasion of Ukraine, Israel's brutal genocide against the people of Gaza and its unprovoked attack on Iran, the potential for the expansion of conflict in the region and the destabilising impact on the entire Middle East all speak to a heightened sense of danger, violence and a lurch towards war in today's world.”
“What will students and their families be asked to pay for college in September? Will it be €2,000 or €3,000? The Minister for higher education last night claimed that he believes in giving straight answers to a straight question, and then delivered a ten-minute speech in which he gaslit students and failed to answer that question at all. We have now had ten days of Government Ministers, including the Taoiseach, refusing to give a straight answer to that simple question. It is the question that was on the lips of students as they protested in big numbers at the gates of the Dáil last night. Will their fees be €2,000 or €3,000? Ten days on, will the Taoiseach now answer that question?”
“My challenge to the Taoiseach is that he must quickly ensure that the evacuations of the remaining children - eight of whom are ready to travel with full medical assessments complete, along with a further ten - happen without any further delay.”
“No child is safe in Gaza. The Israeli genocide has mercilessly slaughtered children with abandon and the international community has watched on. The commitment made by this State and Government is a very modest one to take 30 children. They should be evacuated with all due haste. According to the medics who will treat these children, not alone have eight children been identified by the World Health Organization and the HSE as needing urgent care, but the assessments are complete, the doctors are ready and the hospitals are ready. If as the Taoiseach says, there is no bureaucratic wrangling and no blockage, why are they not here? That is my question.”
“It is vital that the Taoiseach, as Head of Government, intervene and expedite their arrival in Ireland with no further delay. I ask him to do this with urgency.”
“Morgan McMonagle, a trauma surgeon who has worked on humanitarian missions in Gaza, puts the reality for these children in very stark terms. He said that by autumn, there is a very good chance that Gaza simply will not exist at the rate things are going. It is unacceptable that the Government puts bureaucratic wrangling over the lives of very sick, injured children. Tá mé ag fiafraí den Taoiseach a ladar a chur sa scéal agus a chinntiú go mbeidh na leanaí seo, atá tinn agus gortaithe, slánaithe ar an bpointe boise ó Gaza go hÉirinn don chúram leighis atá de dhíth orthu. The Government's proposed timeframe of autumn will be too late for some, or perhaps even all, of these children. This is a matter of life and death. They have been waiting since early June.”
“Countries such as Jordan must be included. As the Taoiseach knows, Jordan is already facilitating evacuations and has offered to help. Every week, every day and every hour their evacuation out of Gaza is delayed puts these children's lives at increased risk. There is every chance that these children will be killed as they wait, while Government Departments push paper around, tick boxes and argue among themselves. That threat and likelihood is very real, very present and very immediate for these children. We know that children from an earlier group previously identified for medical evacuation from Gaza to Ireland have died while waiting to come here in the horror of Israel's genocide. Doctors in Ireland who are standing by to treat these children and are ready to save their lives are very worried for them. Dr.”
“It is a matter of life and death for these children. They survived a genocide being carried out before the eyes of the world. I have corresponded with both the Tánaiste and the Minister for Health to advocate for their immediate evacuation. The Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, tells me she is bringing a memo to Cabinet to seek Government approval for what she calls a more humanitarian approach to the evacuations and that she fully expects, in her words, to welcome the next group of children in the autumn. That is months away. That is an eternity away. The only humanitarian approach is to get these children out now. It is important the Government memo does not solely identify Egypt as the evacuation route for these children. The Rafah crossing is closed and there is no direct route from Gaza to Cairo.”
“There is an immediate need for the Government to intervene to end the delay in evacuating very sick and injured children from Gaza to Ireland for urgent medical treatment. Last year, as the Taoiseach knows, the Government agreed to evacuate 30 of these children. There were two successful evacuations of 12 children in December and May. However, the vital evacuation of the remaining 18 children has been stopped due to bureaucratic wrangling within Government Departments over visas. At least eight children were identified by the World Health Organization and the HSE for urgent medical evacuation in early June. A month on, they are still waiting. Their medical assessments are complete, the doctors are ready, the hospitals are ready to receive and treat these children, but the Government is stalling. Time is of the essence here.”
“Catherine's tell concerning stories of continual stress. They describe a situation that is hazardous for staff and traumatising for students. They are not exceptional. There are many schools in the same situation. They are doing incredible work. Max is just one of hundreds of young children being let down every single day. When will SNA provision truly match the need in our schools?”
“I raise again the critical shortage of special needs assistants and the devastating consequences of that in our schools. I will offer two examples from my constituency. Max Ryan is a nine-year-old student at St. Vincent's National School, Glasnevin. He has autism, global development delay, sensory issues, speech and language delay and separation anxiety. When Max entered junior infants, there was one other child in his class with additional needs and St. Vincent's had 2.5 SNA positions. Max is now going into fourth class, where there will be seven children with additional needs, and there are still only 2.5 SNA positions for the entire school. St. Catherine's Infant School in Cabra, like St. Vincent's, has engaged in the review by SENO for additional SNA provision but, like St. Vincent's, it has to date received nothing. The staff at St.”
“I knew that would be a bit of a crowd pleaser. More than 15,000 children with autism and disabilities are overdue their assessments of need and that number is expected to increase beyond 25,000 by year's end. In each one of these cases, the Government is breaking the law. The Taoiseach's excuse for this is that capacity has been reached in terms of psychologists and therapists but a 14-year-old campaigner, Cara Darmody, a Tipperary child, has presented the CEO of the HSE, Bernard Gloster, with options to tap psychologists and therapists, locally, nationally and internationally, who could dramatically reduce the waiting list. Cara was in the Dáil today. She is directly contradicting the Taoiseach's assertion that the issue is capacity-----”
“Those very families the Taoiseach describes - working families and families on middle incomes - are now left in a situation where the Taoiseach cannot answer a straightforward question. It is a question they need an answer to now because they have to plan their finances for their young people going to university and college and accessing the places he has described. It is incredible that he cannot answer a straightforward question. Is it €2,000 or €3,000? I invite him again to answer that question directly because it was his Minister who raised this issue. It is the Government which has avoided answering a straightforward question for nine whole days. Those families, the parents and students, deserve a straightforward answer from the Taoiseach today. Will he please give it?”
“All are now worried that they will have to find another €1,000 per student at a time when money has never been tighter. They have budgeted and made decisions based on the Government's clear commitment that college fees would not be increased. The Taoiseach owes it to them to be upfront. Tá sé thar am freagra soiléir a thabhairt do mhic léinn agus dá dteaghlach. An bhfuil a gcuid táillí á n-ardú? Cad a bheidh orthu íoc, €2,000 nó €3,000? Students and their families need the Taoiseach to answer this question: how much will they be asked to pay in September? Will it be €2,000 or €3,000? I ask him to please tell them.”
“This was on top of student fees, food, travel, not to mention other expenses. Jane wrote: I’m going into my final year of a general nursing degree. I have to complete 30 plus placement hours a week, leaving me very little time to seek paid employment. The increase in fees [directly] affects my ability to complete my degree. No wonder so many of us flee to Australia. Alison has two children in university with a third on the way. For one daughter, she is paying €12,000 a year just for accommodation. She said: I’m infuriated by the proposal to increase fees by €1000 ... I am sick to the teeth with this frivolous decision. That is just three stories but tens of thousands of students and their families are in exactly the same boat.”
“This morning’s Barnardos report reveals that many working families are forced to borrow money to pay for basics and are cutting back on essentials, while one in four parents skips meals so their children can have enough to eat. It just beggars belief that the Government is refusing to include a cost-of-living package in the budget. A €1,000 hike in college fees is a lot of money for families. We must remember that it is €1,000 per student, so if you have two or three in college, it is a big whack. We have been inundated with messages from stressed-out students and their parents. I want to share just a few with the Taoiseach. Stephen told us: I have two in college. Fees will cost me an extra €2000 this year! Last year, the rent for my daughter in Cork cost me ten grand.”
“While the Taoiseach has been away in Japan, we have had a parade of senior Government Ministers in here refusing to answer that very straightforward question. The Taoiseach and the Tánaiste have dodged answering it too. The Government is ducking and diving, oblivious to the fact students are sitting down with their parents to make decisions about college now, today. They are asking whether they can afford to go to college or to pay the extortionate rents. They are asking whether they will even be able to take up their CAO offers. Those are the questions being asked around kitchen tables. The Taoiseach says he understands the pressure that families are under, but if he did, there is no way that a hike in fees would be on the cards.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh Bridie McNally, who is here with us today. It is her birthday and she is here with a group of very lively women from County Monaghan. Fáilte agus breithlá shona duit, Bridie. She is also Deputy Bennett's mother - I should probably have said that. Can the Taoiseach be straight with students and their parents? Can he tell them when they get their bill for their college fees in September how much they will be asked to pay? Will it be €2,000 or €3,000? That is the very simple question that has been asked since the Minister, Deputy James Lawless, went on radio and stated that without a cost-of-living package, college fees would be hiked up by €1,000. That was nine days ago.”
“The Minister came to the Chamber this afternoon with big folders and is surrounded by his colleagues, including the Minister for higher education, Deputy Lawless, but could not answer a straightforward question. It is not acceptable, smart or clever to come to the Chamber and refuse to answer a very straightforward question that students and their families need clarity on. Will their fees be set at €2,000 or €3,000? The Minister, Deputy Lawless, started this debate. He volunteered the information that fees would increase. I again ask the Minister to have the decency to be clear with students and their families and state the position clearly when he takes to his feet. If he cannot, the Minister, Deputy Lawless, should avail of the opportunity to make it clear whether students and their families will pay €2,000 or €,3000.”
“The Minister said a lot there but did not answer the question. He is the Minister for public expenditure and this is a straightforward question. Will the cost be €2,000 or €3,000? On the basis of what he is saying and according to the logic of his presentation, I assume the cost will be €3,000. The Minister, Deputy Lawless, has announced an increase in student fees to €3,000. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, needs to stand up and confirm that. People are waiting for confirmation. Will it be €3,000? People have to budget for that. They cannot just produce it out of thin air. The kind of logic presented by the Minister strikes me as particularly perverse. In order to bring down the cost of education, the Government is going to hike the cost of student fees. That makes no sense. What does the Government have against students?”