Mattie McGrath
Tipperary South · Independent · Ireland
“The loss of the double child benefit payment and other cost-of-living supports has come at a time when families are facing rising bills across every aspect of daily life. Parents are not just paying for education. They are paying more for food, energy, insurance, childcare and gach rud eile.”
“Parents also face substantial bills simply because they are required to buy specific items from a specific supplier. That is not fair and is not a balanced market either. There is no good reason that generic uniforms or PE clothing cannot be used in most cases.”
“Maidir le hUisce Éireann, cad a dhéanfaimid feasta gan uisce? The situation in south Tipperary has reached crisis point. Since January, the Ardfinnan regional water scheme has experienced 58 water supply interruptions, affecting 11,000 customers, while almost 28,000 homes and businesses were placed on a boil water notice in a single week.…”
“Music education is a perfect example. Some schools provide excellent music programmes and opportunities for students to learn instruments and participate in assemblies. Other schools offer very little.”
“I, too, am glad to be able to speak on this motion today. I compliment Páirtí an Lucht Oibre for introducing it. While we often the cost of education in terms of books, uniforms and transport, the reality for many families is that the financial pressures associated with rearing children have never been greater.”
“They say it would be great to have water to be affected by a hosepipe ban. Uisce Éireann is totally out of control. Two weeks ago, the Tánaiste gave me some hope here that the Government might do something. Uisce Éireann is not acting for anybody.”
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“I, too, welcome the students here tonight. I am pleading with the Government. Since last Sunday week there has been nothing but uncertainty. It is not fair. Many students and their families struggle to afford the student contribution charge even with grants and other forms of support. The cost of living makes it nearly impossible. This is in the programme for Government. Why did the Government put it in there if it is going to do the exact opposite? Reducing the student contribution fee back to €2,000 from €3,000 will help and be a start on what is in the programme for Government. As Deputy Paul Lawless said, it is cynical.”
“Let us count the number of housing Ministers we have had here and see all the unfortunate people who are homeless, still on waiting lists and languishing there and no hope, and see where small builders are being denied the right to build the houses and let them off. Above all, once-off dwellings should be allowed to be carried on. The Minister should not be allowing people in offices in Dublin to throw out good planning permissions and kill the dreams of young couples in rural Ireland.”
“He was talking about the courts and that he might lose in the courts. They lost in the courts last week. Thankfully, the good people of Dundrum, the heritage group, took a judicial review and the council had to admit halfway through it. They gave in and put their hands up. They made a mistake in granting a section 5 application to allow a greedy developer to get fatter and more money in his pocket, not on humanitarian grounds. Therefore, the council has the powers and it can us them when it wants to, but changing the name of An Bord Pleanála without tackling the malaise, the rot and the deep rot in the Custom House is wasteful. It might be a pipe dream. It is not going to happen.”
“We have a section 160 injunction, a power that local authorities have. With the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's indulgence, we have a situation in Giantsgrave, Clonmel where 200 ordinary decent people met in a hall last Friday night week worried that a halting site was being created under their noses right beside them. Six Clonmel borough district members and the mayor, and two Oireachtas Members, Deputy Murphy and I, met with the senior planner, Mr. Dave Carroll, who was the fire officer and who did not do his job when he was fire officer. He did not visit Dundrum House Hotel. We asked him for 12 months to visit it. He never went near the place. Now he is the planner and he refused point blank for the council to initiate a section 160 injunction to stop this in its tracks. He has that power. He would not use it.”
“It is not going to get out the rot. Its inspectors go down to see one-off houses or some other small developments and give a favourable report where the council has granted planning, and the board, or whoever is on the board - unaccountable, unelected people - just throw it in the bin. That is shameful. No one should get that power. We had visionaries like T.K. Whitaker, Seán Lemass and others in the past and they brought us a long way. We built houses in the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 2000s but then things went wrong, with the big developers, which was crazy, and with the Custom House down there and Ministers unable to tackle it. Ministers were afraid of it and were pushed off and fobbed off by it. I am depending on the Minister to do this. There are many other issues. Where councils have the powers, they do not use them.”
“Every council worked hard on development plans and he undermined them all by dezoning the land. The Minister is now trying to rezone some of that land again. He created a job for himself and went off on a fantasy tour, power-hungry, power-greedy and accountable to nobody. He has to be stood down. He is not necessary. Give the power to the county councils, which should have it, and give it to An Bord Pleanála. Here we go again with An Bord Pleanála. There was a lot of corruption in there, as we know. As for changing the name, we have the experience of changing Irish Water to Uisce Éireann, and we did not even get clean water out of it, never mind see any schemes done. Changing the name is a veneer. Tá meas agam i gcónaí ar an nGaeilge. I love the Irish name but to change it to An Coimisiún Pleanála is not going to cut the mustard.”
“We have had seven or eight housing Ministers in the 18 years since I came into the House and they have all failed miserably. There is a situation where they feel they are all-powerful and they know it all, and they will not deal with county councils or anybody else. I ask the Minister to do that because if he does not, he will fail. I am also asking him, as I said to him privately, to send Mr. Cussen, the planning regulator, out to Donald Trump, or to Gaza, or wherever - he might help someone out there. He created a job for himself. By the way, he came from the Custom House, where he spent a lot of his career. He created this position for himself, and the fools in the Government gave it to him and gave him the power to dezone land all over the country. He undermined every council in the country.”
“I welcome this legislation and I welcome the Minister to his position. I saw how steadfast he was against big industry and big business at the time of the gambling Bill. I fought with him on that Bill but he had the resolve to stick with it. I thank him for meeting and engaging with us, and for the briefings. The Minister has a monumental task. I have said it to him privately and I will say it again. The Custom House has to be dismantled. It was levelled in the War of Independence. I do not mean to hurt anybody but it has to be dismantled to get out the rot that is there. There are some good people in there, do not get me wrong, but there is a rot and a malaise there, and it has to be tackled. Otherwise, we are going nowhere.”
“People are flying in here every seven or eight weeks to collect copious amounts of money before flying back out again. In the name of God, are we pure fools? I ask that the Government please respect the Irish people and the sovereignty of this country.”
“I am waiting for the full report the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, promised to Deputy Michael Murphy and me as to how this contract was granted when there were so many issues with what was going on. The Government has plundered and ravaged our country. It has disrespected the people. It is time it respected the people. Members of Government, especially the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, are punch-drunk from being great people who travel all over the world. They should look after our Irish people. They should respect them, the Constitution and the people who fought for it. We had a debate on the GPO two days ago. What is happening here is nothing short of outrageous. I am told we have no social welfare inspectors. We have two in Waterford city and south Tipperary.”
“Is that respect for politicians or for the public? What is happening in Dundrum is shocking. Under the Government's own guidelines, demographics should not be changed by more than 5% and yet it is going to put in 277 IPAS people - God bless them - when there is only 200 people in the village. That is senseless. What the Government is doing is outrageous. It is making millionaires out of cowboys. They are not interested in humanitarian need; they are interested in money. Monaghan has been destroyed by a certain gentleman and we are the same in Dundrum. There are three court cases under way. The people who bought the place are suing as well. They will have to weave their way through.”
“Section 5 exemptions have been applied for in a number of places. Such an application was turned down in respect of Abbey House in Cahir. I am thankful the county council saw that these units could be used for Irish families. There are three High Court cases under way regarding a proposal in Dundrum. The Minister of State knows that, the senior Minister knows it and their officials know it. Despite this, they agreed a contract based on a section 5 exemption granted by Tipperary County Council that has now been shown to have been false and erroneous. The council has conceded in court that it erred in granting that section 5 exemption. We were writing to the chief fire officer for 12 months along with ringing and emailing him. He admitted at a meeting two weeks ago that he never visited the site once.”
“We must cut our cloth according to measure. We want to be the great people who can take everybody in but we cannot. I welcome the apparent change since the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, took up their positions. I hope it will continue because the way things were going on was unbelievable. My county has been ravaged by IPAS centres. It started with a centre in Roscrea and there are now centres in Dundrum and outside Thurles. Attempts have been made to make the Kilcoran Lodge Hotel into one. The Minister of State has fond memories of that hotel. He says he was there as a pageboy at a wedding years ago. He knows how beautiful it is. Hearn's Hotel in the centre of Clonmel has become such a centre and there is another on the border of Carrick-on-Suir. Those are the ones we know of.”
“It is rotten to the core and there is huge corruption in it. There has to be. There is no long-term plan, no public consent and no acknowledgement of the strain this is placing on local communities. It is leading to social fragmentation and resentment. The special concessions and protections must be cut back. We can all help people fleeing war but I do not believe anyone agrees with the level of special treatment that has been given here. On the second motion, I do support stronger application of the safe third country rule. Someone who has passed through multiple safe countries before reaching Ireland should not be permitted to lodge a claim here. We are not a soft target. People think we are but we must change our tune. This is about restoring common sense and respect and ensuring our asylum system is not abused.”
“As for the third motion, which has regard to the transition out of temporary accommodation for Ukrainians, I must say that the special treatment afforded to one nationality over all others is contributing to growing frustration across Irish society. While Irish families struggle to get housing, healthcare and even school places, we are told that resources are unlimited when it comes to accommodating tens of thousands of displaced people. There is a never-ending list of entitlements rolled out for the Ukrainians that Irish people cannot access. We see this in the whole modular homes situation in Clonmel. The OPW, the company and the HSE told me that these units would cost €200,000 each. They are not worth €70,000 or €80,000. They are now costing a staggering €480,000 per unit. It is unbelievable. It is disgraceful.”
“I strongly oppose the first and third motions but I think I can support the second motion. With regard to the first motion, I cannot support any proposal that forces Ireland to accept an EU-wide list of so-called safe countries. This is yet another example of Brussels removing our ability to make independent decisions as to who comes into our country. It is a one-size-fits-all policy that undermines our sovereignty. What is worse, it opens the door to even more migrants appealing decisions with no accountability. We need to update our list of safe countries and stop the abuse of the system. It is a pity the former Minister, Deputy Roderic O'Gorman, is not here because he sent out a tweet in several different languages appealing for people to come to Ireland. He said they would have their own front door in three months. It was lunacy.”
“The supports should be skewed in favour of the smaller farmers and the mixed farmers, and those in food production especially. This has to be recalibrated because the figures are eye-watering.”
“The Minister makes a comparison with my neighbouring county and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's county, Kilkenny. We will be working other matters out on the field of play at the weekend. I hope it will be a good game, and may the best team win. On a serious note, I accept those figures, but inside them, and to get to those averages, there are massive, phenomenal payments for big conglomerates and stronger farms. I am talking about balance, not only in my county, but also through the west and to ordinary farmers. It is vital that we keep these farmers on young family farms because the conglomerates are gobbling up those farms. Every family farm has a family and they support schools, hurling teams and the teams of the future. They are vital.”
“These people are distorting the market in many other ways, especially the big production outlets, which can dictate the price of cattle, be they scarce or not. We need a reconfiguration and recalibration of this scheme.”
“This policy has been a linchpin and a source of very important funding streams and supports for farmers for decades now. However, there comes a time when things need to be tweaked. That is why Deputy Heneghan asked for the geographical breakdown. We in Tipperary and other parts of the country have seen the conglomerates who get phenomenal payments under this scheme. There should be more balance shown towards the west and areas with poorer land conditions. There should be more supports for agritourism and different initiatives, such as environmental schemes, for younger and family farmers. Looking at the publications every year, it is a table of the rich. There are phenomenal figures for factory farms and big conglomerates.”
“This is a massive issue. I have discussed it with the Minister. For decades, we were waiting on planning guidelines for wind turbines, and here we are on the new craze of solar panels. We cannot blame farmers when they are being enticed to set aside land for long-term leases. The best of land in the Golden Vale, in Rathgormuck in County Waterford, and in east Cork is being taken up. This scéal is scary. There are farmers with 500 or 800 cows ceasing production. There will be a food shortage if we do not have some balance very soon.”
“I have met them and dealt with them. In this day and age, it is just not good enough to blame IT and blame anything he likes. Farmers entered into these schemes in good faith and where they are compliant and honour the terms of the scheme, they must be paid. They have contractors to pay. They have feed suppliers to pay. They have families to raise and kids to put into education. No other sector would put up with this. The Department issued a statement some months ago - I heard it myself - that there were delays with payments again and the new deadline would not be met due to lack of staff. If the Department officials were told they would not get paid next Thursday, or if that statement was made in any Department, that would not last for long. The farmers need fair play here.”
“I accept the Minister's bona fides. He is a farmer. I am a businessman. No one could operate in this manner, with farmers still waiting for payments from 2023 and hearing every excuse in the world. A man expected to get €5,000 of a corrective payment and he got €300. As I said, a dodgy salesman or a man at a fair who would spit in your hand would do better than that. In this day and age, this is shocking. I accept the Minister's bona fides but I want to know how many farmers are still waiting under each stream of ACRES and how many farmers are suffering through Department errors. This is not acceptable. What concrete steps is the Department taking? The Minister said he has made efforts but what kind of a lethargic or inept mindset got into the Department? I respect the Department officials and have done for decades.”
“They expect to get the money as they have been compliant. Many of the delays are due to errors on the side of the Department. One example relates to a constituent who was due to receive his 2024 payment. He received a partial payment in November 2024, which was totally due to an error by the Department. He was told he would be provided with a corrective payment in 2025. Now in July he has received a payment of just €300 when he was due €5,000. A dodgy car salesman would do better than this. The Minister said recently that due to staffing issues, the payments could not be paid. That would not be acceptable in any Department or for anybody else.”
“The Minister calls ACRES a flagship scheme. I wonder about that. The ongoing and completely unacceptable delays in the issuing of ACRES payments is a matter of deep concern to farmers across the country. It is just not fair. Farmers who entered this scheme did so in good faith, on the understanding that they would be paid in a timely manner. Yet, here we are, halfway into 2025, and thousands of farmers are still waiting. I must be the only person in the country meeting farmers who are unpaid in County Waterford, County Tipperary and other places. Farmers are even waiting for partial payments. Many have received nothing at all. This is not a technical glitch or a minor inconvenience; this is a serious cashflow crisis for farmers who have bills to pay and who have engaged contractors in good faith.”
“I want to ask the Minister about the ongoing delays in issuing ACRES payments. Farmers signed up to these schemes in good faith. There are delays in payment even in cases of full compliance. The issue is an inability to pay. I want answers as to what the Minister is doing about it. What is the reason for the delay? Is it merely that the Department does not have the funding to pay the farmers? This is totally unacceptable. I expect a good response from the Minister.”
“It is funny how people change when they move to that side the House. The system here is too powerful and maybe it does not allow Ministers to have the views they want to have. I am aware the Minister is privy to advice from the Attorney General and everything else. Nonetheless, the removal of a jury at any level is a retrograde step. People have been willing to serve and have served, except for the Special Criminal Court. In the case of civil litigation, juries are necessary and should be kept. I appeal to the Minister to accept the later amendment if he will not accept this one.”
“It was just a number of emails back and forward, and maybe one or two phone conversations, but it was a phenomenal bill. When I queried it, I was told that representation to challenge defamation was frightfully expensive. The legal eagles make the money. We have juries who will give of their time, so we must support them 100%. They sit in a voluntary capacity, but it is the legal eagles who get all the money. The cost should not be so prohibitive for the person who is nakedly and blatantly defamed. People should be able to have recourse. The best form of recourse to justice is having the case tried in front of one's peers in the form of a jury, with a judge presiding. That should be a basic requisite in legislation. I do not know why the Minister has changed his mind since he was the spokesperson in opposition.”
“I believe it is a very retrograde step to remove a jury from this situation in the High Court. Juries have proven their worth in the justice system over time. The Minister had a different opinion himself when he was on the Opposition benches. I would be very concerned at what he is doing here. We all know that defamation is very serious. I was a victim myself of it one time and it is a frightfully expensive process to engage with. For a person who is defamed by a media outlet or something like that is frighteningly expensive. My case was short and brought to a cessation statements that were untrue. I wanted nothing for myself only to clear my good name and have a donation given to a charitable cause, namely, local district hospice units. I was shocked by the cost of the case. There was no hearing.”
“The Minister of State saw this when she met people there and engaged, and I thank her for it. We hope to have a dual funding model that will be secure. The board is doing its best and it needs support.”
“I am glad to see the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is here. Cluain Training and Enterprise Centre in Clonmel is a wonderful institution for young and old but mainly for adults. It has pottery-making facilities, a workshop that repairs tools and many areas of art and design. It is a fabulous centre for young people and I congratulate the board, under Seamus Leahy and Gerry Flynn. They are brilliant people. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, was good enough to visit recently. We need to have secure and continuing funding for the centre from the mental health and disability budgets. We need a dual or hybrid model to secure this centre. It has been there for decades. Many of the participants suffer from mental health issues and they get great solace from this great outlet.”
“I remember when my kids were small, buying a sticker for the rear window of my car that said "Be nice to your children. They pick your nursing home". That sticker was there for many people. Unfortunately, there is not much choice nowadays, but speaking for myself, I am heading to that period of life. It is sad we have commodified this to such an extent. As I said, we are talking about people, human beings. Our parents, grandparents, friends and neighbours deserve respect. HIQA is not fit for purpose. It should be disbanded, but above all it should be made to account for why it can close small nursing homes while allowing the conglomerates to do what they like.”
“It forced her to close. Lo and behold one day two inspectors took a tour and had dinner to taste the food and said the food was quite bland. I do not know what they expected. Was it the Gresham Hotel they were going to or some place? The food was excellent, but that nursing home is no longer in business. It was unceremoniously closed down by HIQA, which was an utter disgrace. I raised it in this House at the time. Now HIQA seems not to be able to touch these big sacred cows. We are told it does not have the power. If it has the power to do it with a small nursing home, why should it not have the same power for these? We are talking about human beings; individuals who are not able to be at home, where they would prefer to be, and who need care. We are all facing that.”
“I remember a lovely nursing home in Carrick-on-Suir when I came in here first in 2007. It was a flat building with no steps. The owner-manager did her best but HIQA was down on her like a tonne of bricks even though another nursing home was built in the same town and was never visited. I heard reports again this morning that HIQA is saying it does not have the power to deal with bigger companies and conglomerates. It must have the power to do so. It is the same care and people need to be looked after. What did it do to that woman? It kept criticising this, that and the other and began restricting the number of beds. It eventually closed six beds. When she needed to get a loan from the bank to upgrade the nursing home to what HIQA wanted, the books did not add up because of the closures. HIQA closed the nursing home by stealth.”
“It was a very functional and practical place and should be reopened. The people of south-east Tipperary, east Waterford and south Kilkenny all used it. It had excellent management and staff. As for St. Theresa’s in Clogheen, I cannot say enough about it. It was a district hospital and has been expanded and upgraded. It has two fabulous hospice suites where many people go at the end of life and have dignity. Families are also looked after there. It is under the care of matron Anne Walsh, director and manager, and the excellent staff. I have many friends and relations, including my own mother, who were there. They got the best of care and treatment. That model works rather than the model of allowing big conglomerates to expand and expand at the expense of others. A lot of blame rests with HIQA as well.”
“I do not know why it took so long to come up with that. We are now looking for another site for a 60-bed unit. We should look at the pressure that would take off nursing homes and people who need nursing care. I salute the nurses, attendants and management of community and small family-run nursing homes and some of the bigger ones as well. I visit them quite often and the standard of care is very good. Where there is wrongdoing and abuse taking place not only the management but the persons perpetrating it should be prosecuted. It is elder abuse of the worst kind. Tipperary used to have Tipperary District Hospital and St. Brigid's in Carrick-on-Suir until two years ago when it was unceremoniously closed. It was taken over during Covid mar dhea before it was closed down. It had 15 beds and three lovely hospice suites.”
“This is a timely and sensitive motion. The programme on RTÉ shocked everybody. Many people knew of the many changes in nursing care and the methods of care in our nursing homes. I salute the many hundreds of small nursing homes and some quite big ones in Tipperary, in particular St. Martha’s and Bramleigh Lodge in Cashel and the many others I could name. They do an excellent job but they are under fierce pressure. There is discrimination against them. The HSE-owned nursing homes have bigger subventions than the small private nursing homes. We have commodified healthcare and nursing care. I have seen that with my own two eyes. We were waiting on a 60-bed HSE nursing unit in Cashel at St. Patrick’s Hospital. Former Deputy, Martin Browne, and I were told at a meeting a year and a half ago that site was not suitable.”
“It has no intention of engaging with stakeholders either. I am, therefore, pleading with the Minister of State to intervene and keep this facility. The people providing the lessons are employed and have contracts. Surely they have some rights as well. Clonmel swimming pool has a five-year waiting list. I thank Rockwell College, which is helping out, but it just cannot function. It is a big town and a big part of Tipperary so this is not acceptable.”
“I too support my colleague and implore the Minister of State in this regard. I have an issue with Tusla. God forgive me, it cannot even account for the approximately 50 children who have gone missing in State care in recent years. There is a meeting here to discuss this tomorrow as well. Why is Tusla involved in this premises at all? It is a wonderful facility. As I said, we have two wonderful schools in Cashel, Scoil Aonghusa and Scoil Chormaic, with great records of providing special needs education but we need another such school in south Tipperary. Nenagh is getting one and that is badly needed. The area we are talking about is on the border with west Waterford. I think Tusla needs to be removed from this institution. It has not engaged, as Deputy Murphy said, and is not listening.”
“More importantly, this is about the children using the swimming pool - including young adults and everyone - and learning to swim. I brought my own kids there when I was young. We are asking the Minister of State to please intervene.”
“A full report, however, is supposed to have been done but it has not been published. It has not been given to anyone. Frankly, I do not actually believe the situation here. It is a contrived issue to try to remove all activities from Ferryhouse and to allow more and more offices for Tusla. It is not acceptable. This is a facility that has looked after deprived children for more than half a century. The Brothers were there first and then the staff, and they did a wonderful job. We need honest answers. Why is Tusla taking over this property? I have other calls to make this property into a special needs education facility for County Tipperary but this is not the topic we are discussing tonight. We are talking about the Dolphin Swimming Club and the jobs and employment.”
“I thank the Ceann Comhairle and her team for allowing both of us to contribute on these Topical Issue matters tonight. I also thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for his latitude. I also appeal to the Minister of State regarding this issue. I have many questions about Tusla and its operations. This facility we are talking about has been renowned for half a century and more. The Dolphin Swimming Club and many others have done tremendous work there. The two issues we are bringing to the floor of the Dáil tonight concern people with certain disabilities and from vulnerable backgrounds. If we are to be any good to ourselves and our constituents, then these are the very people we have to look after. They need that support. I want to see the report Tusla is saying it has. We have been told this is about an electrical problem.”
“There are students who have enrolled for September so that is not true information. I am pleading with the Minister of State. I will say a focal scoir because I am sharing time with Deputy Michael Murphy. The National Training Fund was established by the National Training Fund Act 2000 as a dedicated fund for schemes. It aimed to raise the skills of those in employment and provide training to those who wished to acquire skills. This fund now can be used by the Department to support Tipperary ETB and the other ETBs throughout the country. I appeal to the Minister of State to go back to the drawing board and ensure these people are allowed to continue on their career paths.”
“I am disappointed to hear that. There is clearly a misunderstanding because there are students who have enrolled for courses in September. That is inaccurate information that Tipperary ETB has supplied to the Minister of State. I will quote the comments of a student, who said the course made them come out of their shell a lot. The student said it is the best thing they have done and went on to say that everyone was friendly and the work was fun. The student said that the course helped them to become more confident and to find a path. Those were the words of just one of the participants. A second student said that looking back at the person they were last year and the person they are now, they realised there had been a big change. The student thanked the LTI co-ordinators. They have done so much. I have spoken to them today.”
“I have been at so many ceremonies and presentations of certificates and have seen the pride on their faces and on their families' faces that they have got a second chance and are now back in full-time employment, thanks to the lifeline of the LTI. It is so important. I know the Minister of State understands that through her own area of Sligo, and she is very compassionate on this issue. I appeal to the Minister of State that we have to go back to the drawing board.”
“I met former LTI participants who completed the programme in Cahir Enterprise Centre. They now work in the very same enterprise centre and are so pleased that they got that second chance, the opportunity to better themselves when they might not have been able to do so at mainstream school. I am pleading with the Minister to engage with SOLAS to review the funding allocations for Tipperary ETB and this programme to have it restored. I believe Tipperary ETB is a victim of its own success because there are so many different courses and programmes. This is not the one to take away. No one wants any of the further learning courses to be taken away but these are the very people we talk about who are on the margins and have not been able to come through. It gives them a second chance. It is wonderful.”
“I understand the Minister of State met the chair and some officials of the ETB in Tipperary yesterday. Cahir Development Association, the Spafield Family Resource Centre in Cashel, Knockanrawley Resource Centre in Tipperary town and Littleton community programme are the four concerned. However, the LTIs cannot be lost. They are an essential lifeline and pathway to continuing education for early school leavers, some who might not have been suited to mainstream education and some who are returning to education. Many have progressed successfully. I have spoken to many people today who are affected by this decision, whose futures have been pulled from them with the news that the course they enrolled in has been pulled like this. The tutors, and I salute the tutors, are very dedicated and interested in these people progressing. It is sad.”
“I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for allowing me to share time with my colleague in south Tipperary, Deputy Michael Murphy, on this issue as it is of concern to both of us. Management of the Tipperary ETB shared devastating news with the local training initiative co-ordinators, LTIs, at four centres in south Tipperary. It informed them that due to budgetary constraints from SOLAS, the LTI programmes will cease at the end of this existing term. This is shocking news. Tipperary ETB made it clear that it has received a challenging budget allocation from SOLAS for 2025. Despite ongoing engagement, it has been unable to secure enough funding to sustain the current level of further education and training programmes. Following a review of the funding, it has taken the decision to discontinue the LTIs. This is a retrograde step.”
“We are trying to turn ourselves inside out, and that is very bad. It is fatal, and people are waking up to it. Níl siad sásta, and why would they be sásta with that because it is a total betrayal of what the men and women of 1916 fought for in that building and all over Ireland as well.”
“We seem to be acting for many other agencies, not serving the people under the Constitution those brave men and women fought for in that building. It is an iconic building, and it has to be held as a museum and a semi-sacred space to remind our politicians that this is Ireland. We represent the people. We are not leaders of the world. Our neutrality is an outdated concept according to the Taoiseach. We are putting money into a European army now, and God knows what next. It is time for a wake-up call here regarding our language, heritage, culture and the iconic building of 1916, the GPO, and all that went on there with the brave men and women and the bloodshed. They took a stand to free us from peril, and what are we doing now? We are changing our country with migration and everything else, changing our culture completely.”