Maurice Quinlivan
Limerick City · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“The Kilteragh estate in Dooradoyle, where hundreds of homes are also located, has no bus service. The nearest bus stop is located outside the Crescent Shopping Centre, which is 2 km away. Another area that is lacking a bus service is that which lies between St.”
“In recent years, there have been some improvements on the bus transport in Limerick city, with routes such as the 310 from Annacotty to the city centre being rolled out. These new routes and improvements have to be welcomed, but significant gaps remain in the provision of bus services across Limerick city.”
“We have already seen a four-year delay in the delivery of BusConnects, which has impacted the economic development and liveability of Limerick. When raising the issue of University Hospital Limerick on many occasions, I have spoken about the growing population of Limerick and the wider mid-west region.”
“We have faced major challenges in making the Limerick city centre a liveable and enjoyable place. Efforts have been made to improve the city and make it a more attractive place to visit and enjoy. We have had some great success with the promotion of King John's Castle as a music venue, Thomond Park and the annual Great Limerick Run.”
“As stated, good progress has been made regarding transport in the mid-west, but we still lag way behind other areas across the State. Last year, I published a report on bus infrastructure in areas on the north side of Limerick City.”
“What they have done with the route, with buses coming onto O’Callaghan Avenue from Kileely and then onto the High Road and Thomond at Johnseys shop, is very dangerous. The road has been narrowed so much that buses have to mount the footpaths on both sides. Somebody is going to get seriously injured unless something is done.”
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“The copies of the Minister's speech we were given finish with "We will continue to listen to feedback and seek ways to improve". We have been giving the Government ideas, solutions and stuff over the years but none of it has been accepted. I will mention one thing quickly. There are always 200 voids in Limerick city. The Government will not change the way it is done and there will always be 200 voids on the Minister's watch, so the sooner his Government is gone, the better.”
“Anybody who runs a constituency office dreads opening their clinics at the moment because coming in the door are people with the dreaded notices to quit in their hands. What do we do in Limerick? We refer them to the homeless action team. What does the homeless action team do? It tells people there is nothing it can do for them until about a week before they are going to be homeless and probably nothing it can do at the end of that week. The Minister's Government has caused this crisis and it has no plans to get us out of this mess. It has abandoned working families, because the bulk of people I have dealt with who have lost their accommodation and been evicted from their homes are working families with nowhere to go. We told the Minister that was going to happen when he brought in his new Bill.”
“I listened carefully to what the Minister said in his speech. One of the saddest things is that he actually believes what he read out. The figures announced recently of 7,062 eviction notices across the State show a 51% increase on the same time last year. This will come as no surprise to many of us because we predicted this was going to happen. In Limerick we have had 354 evictions in quarter 1 of 2026, and 269 were issued in quarter 4 of 2025. That is 623 in a six-month period. These are not just numbers but families. These are people who were renting for years and thought they had some kind of security. Some of these eviction notices are spurious because the landlords will be offering the places for rent on daft.ie in a couple of months. I have no doubt about that whatsoever.”
“Unfortunately, I overheard people’s diagnoses and people in stress. I heard people talking to doctors and nurses, who are doing their very best in an overcrowded situation. The answer is very disappointing. The Minister needs to get involved as a matter of urgency to appoint and get that board up and running. It is 224 days since the HIQA report was published. We need to get that board up and running. We need all three recommendations implemented. We must end the scandal of people in Limerick and the mid-west on trolleys.”
“The staff have been left in an impossible situation where presentations in January and February of this year have increased by 14%. The Government is not planning an extra 14% in its plans. It is actually talking about 300 beds when HIQA says 500 beds are needed. That is a concern. People deserve to be treated properly. When people come to a hospital, they need to be seen, including those presenting at UHL. The people I talk about on trolleys are people who are deemed to be in need of a bed, but no bed is available for them. At UHL, since 2022, we have had 93,000 people on trolleys. I have been at the hospital recently. I am sure the Minister of State has been there as well with relatives and friends. As Professor Joe Devlin said, there are trolleys everywhere. They are all over the place. People are being treated in corridors.”
“I am deeply concerned by a part of the Minister of State’s response. He said that, “Under existing plans, we will deliver 420 additional beds by 2031”. He also said that 128 of those beds have already been delivered at UHL but HIQA said in September, when it knew these beds were there, that 500 beds were needed. That is what it said. I spoke to senior officials in the hospital before I came here tonight. I am deeply concerned about that. I am deeply concerned that the mid-west has been left behind for years. We do not just need a small plan to go forward but an intervention. We must realise the mistakes we made in the past. People have been abandoned for years. As I said, Waterford has more consultants than UHL, but we have double the number of people presenting.”
“Some 224 days later, the delays in progressing these recommendations is systematic of the lack of urgency, as usual, where UHL is concerned. A project board needs to be established swiftly to deliver these projects. The challenges at UHL stem from bad decisions taken in the 2000s that ignored the concerns raised at the time about capacity. The board at UHL has called for a suspension of staff ceilings and other staffing restrictions in the mid-west. This call needs the Minister of State's support, and we need to ensure that all resources requested are made available to contribute to the ending of the disgraceful situation at UHL.”
“It was announced years ago and yet there has been no urgency to swiftly progress it. UHL is not receiving the support that it needs. For instance, if we compare UHL with University Hospital Waterford, despite UHL having double the number of people presenting at the emergency department, University Hospital Waterford has more consultants than UHL. This is a clear demonstration of years of underfunding for the mid-west region. We have a commitment from the Minister that the three recommendations in the HIQA report will be implemented and yet no board of management has been established to deliver this commitment. The HIQA report, which was published on 30 September 2025, stated the mid-west needs 500 acute additional beds.”
“Not only that but the HSE has advised me that it will receive only 50% of the funding needed and that level of funding will struggle to achieve half of the planned 20,000 annual procedures. Will the Minister of State intervene in this issue and speak directly to the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill to make sure that we get the 100% funding that we need? I have been advised by staff and patients at UHL that the MRI machines are often not working, which leaves patients taking up beds for longer than is necessary as they wait for their slot for MRIs that work. It is really appalling that in a modern hospital already plagued with overcrowding that such necessary equipment is often broken. The next additional 96-bed unit at UHL is scheduled to open at the end of 2029.”
“There are commitments to open additional beds in Ennis, St John's Hospital and in Nenagh hospital by 2030 or 2031 but we need immediate intervention to tackle the ongoing risk to patient safety caused by the overcrowding at UHL. Put simply, recent Governments have failed to curb the crisis in healthcare at University Hospital Limerick. The new bed unit opened in October last year. While very welcome, it has only reduced the numbers being treated on trolleys by approximately 2%. While any reduction is welcome, this leaves on average 94 people on trolleys every single day in UHL to date this year. The new surgical hubs that could alleviate some of the pressure at UHL will now open at the end of the year and not this month as originally planned.”
“This strips them of their privacy and dignity, yet despite this and despite UHL consistently having the highest number of patients on trolleys in the State, there seems to be no immediate actions being taken to address this crisis. Those who read about the trolley crisis may believe that it only pertains to those in the emergency department. It does not. A walk through the hospital's zones is a walk past numerous trolleys scattered across wards. I have seen this myself. Professor Devlin also has stated that "there are trolleys in corridors all around the hospital". This is a crisis, and it requires a crisis intervention. I am sure the Minister of State will talk about some of the investments and additions that have been made in the last number of years at UHL and the wider mid-west region.”
“The medical board at University Hospital Limerick has, as the Minister of State is aware, warned that the risks to patient care at the hospital remain intolerable and unacceptable. I have spoken countless times in this Chamber over the past decade of the challenges faced by patients and staff at University Hospital Limerick, UHL, and I welcome the intervention of Prof. Devlin of the UHL medical board. Dr. Alan Watts, a consultant in emergency medicine and a member of the board as well, said on the Live 95 FM radio station in Limerick, "There are people on a trolley in the emergency department who should not be there." He said that they should be in a bed and that corridor care is not adequate healthcare. Today, there were 101 people being treated on trolleys and in hospital corridors at UHL.”
“That compares with an average of 2% across the EU. However, one Government policy after another has supported data centres rather than Irish households. This Bill offers an opportunity to hold these energy companies to account. It offers transparency through regulator reporting responsibilities. However, our do-nothing Government seems more than content to allow Irish householders pay more than their European counterparts. It seems determined to not rein in these companies. Irish consumers and families suffer, yet data centres and energy companies benefit from the Government inaction and a failure to hold them to account. With no election on the horizon, citizens are suffering through a cost-of-living in crisis while the Government sits back and watches.”
“Instead, we get inaction and a hands-off approach, with citizens abandoned by the do-nothing Government across the Chamber from us. The Government is committed to the corporate bottom line as opposed to the well-being of its citizens. That is, unless there is general election in the offing. When that happens, course, energy credits are available. However, once the election ends, those supports conveniently disappear like snow off a ditch. Since the onset of war in Ukraine, we have warned that the regulator requires more power to get this escalation of prices under control. However, the Government has sat on this legislation for three years. It is an outrageous situation when we consider that Irish households pay ten times the network cost of data centres. In this State, 23% of electricity goes to data centres.”
“Irish householders pay 40% more for electricity than the EU average, which comes to €480 more per year. On average, households owe €500 to their energy suppliers. The vast majority of them simply do not have that. Over 320,000 households are in arrears on their electricity bills and 180,000 are in arrears on their gas bills. This is scandalous. Irish people, when they can, always pay their bills. These figures demonstrate the scale of the rip-off that our Irish householders face. While Irish workers and families struggle in an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, energy companies are making obscene profits. Surely if the Government were concerned about the well-being of its citizens, it would step up and hold these energy companies to account.”
“While people become frustrated waiting in the emergency department and despondent from being treated in the corridor, the feedback we receive regularly is that once you get in the door, the care you receive at UHL is pretty good. I salute our nurses and midwives for the wonderful work they do. I commend the INMO for its attention to the needs of its members, and I call on the Government to ensure that our nurses are provided with safer and more secure working conditions.”
“I briefly mention the nurses who work in my hospital, University Hospital Limerick, UHL, and commend them. For many years, they have been doing their already challenging job in some of the most difficult conditions faced by healthcare workers in any medical facility in the State. They are among the best heroes of our health service. Over the last number of years, the overcrowding in UHL has got worse for thousands of patients treated on trolleys all over the hospital. This severe risk to patient safety has often been mitigated by the professionalism and dedication of our nurses, and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.”
“Beyond this staggering personal toll, there is a danger that we will continue to lose our highly trained nurses to other jurisdictions. The INMO survey results are damning in this regard. Some 61% of respondents have considered leaving their work area in the month prior to completing the survey. Some 80% of those reported unsafe staffing levels in their areas. It is clear from these results that staffing levels and workload pressures remain a huge stress on our nurses. We need to establish in legislation safe staffing policies to protect both our nurses and patients. How can we expect to attract people to a sector if we cannot guarantee their safety, we cannot guarantee their leave days will be available when they need them, and we cannot guarantee that they will have manageable and safe nurse-patient ratios?”
“They are the person a patient will trust and often confide in, the provider of emotional support to the ill, the comforting voice in a maternity ward, and the shoulder to cry on for those consumed by loss. Given the immense role they play across the health service, it is appropriate that there is a day to celebrate them today. The work they do and the hours our nurses put in comes with a cost to them personally. A 2026 member survey by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation noted high levels of stress, burnout and concern about working conditions for nurses. Some 39% of respondents reported that their work negatively impacted their psychological well-being, and 24% of respondents reported visiting the GP due to work-related stress over the preceding 12 months. These are stark statistics.”
“I begin by sending my solidarity to those in the National Ambulance Service who are engaged in strike action today. I know they would much rather be at work. Today's action should and could have been averted but the Government failed to address the issues that caused them to strike. At this late hour, I call on the Government to intervene and engage with the workers, and ensure that ambulance staff receive the respect and safe staffing that they deserve. Nurses are the backbone of our health service. While the direct role is often to deliver medical care, the functions that they undertake span many more tasks than that. Nurses are medical professionals.”
“The worst thing is that it was designed to deal with 20,000-plus day cases, which would take people out UHL and helped to alleviate the issues there. The real kicker here is-----”
“As the Taoiseach knows, a new 96-bed unit was opened in University Hospital Limerick, UHL, last October. That was very welcome, but it has not addressed the issues at the hospital in the way that some people had forecast. To date, 7,554 people have been on trolleys in UHL. That is a reduction of less than 2% on what was seen last year despite opening that 96-bed unit. UHL has doubled the number of people who attend the hospital in Waterford, which has more consultants, and good luck to it. UHL needs a lot more to be done. One of the small pieces of fixing the jigsaw of the health service in the mid-west region was opening the surgical hub. That was due to open next month but has been delayed until December. That is not the worst thing that could have happened.”
“At the same time, we need to help workers and their families to address the rising cost of living, particularly as it relates to rent, transport, and energy. We also need to legislate for the right to collective bargaining and guaranteed union access to workplaces. The way to drive productivity is to invest in people and improve employment protections. Trade unions deliver better pay and conditions and a stronger and more productive economy, so why is there no urgency to deliver collective bargaining? As usual, when there is a choice to be made Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will always side with employers as opposed to the workers because they know when there is collective bargaining, their rights are stronger, with better pay and better conditions.”
“The Minister can spin it whatever way he wants, but the Governments of which he has been a member have not addressed the issue of low pay. As a minimum, we need to start with the introduction of a statutory living wage. The latter has been pushed back to January 2029. This needs to be delivered now and not in three years' time. The 200,000 workers impacted cannot wait; the rising cost of necessities dictates that they cannot afford to wait. Our plan for a living wage includes safeguards for SMEs that may struggle to meet the cost involved and offers exemptions for financially vulnerable businesses. A living wage is necessary to stop the epidemic of low-paid and often precarious work in Ireland.”
“I am proud member of a trade union, SIPTU, and have been for almost 20 years. When I lived in America, I was a member of the services union 32B/32J. I was delighted to see the positive impact that the support from that union had on the election last year of Mayor Zohran Mamdani in New York city. A survey from the Irish Congress of Trade Unions has found that more than half of workers believe their pay does not match their skills and effort. Figures published by the European Commission in 2025 show that one in five employees in Ireland is classified as a low-wage earner. The proportion of Irish workers deemed low-wage earners has effectively remained unchanged since a similar study on earnings was conducted in 2018.”
“We cannot keep rinsing and repeating this tired and outdated approach to special educational needs. We need to do much better.”
“It is only a few short months ago that many of these parents rallied across the State in the Save Our SNAs campaign. Their advocacy forced the Government to change course. The Joint Committee on Disability Matters, which I chair, recently published a report on inclusive education for persons with disabilities. I urge the Government to read that report and to look especially at the Sky is the Limit programme, which operates in Corpus Christi Primary School in Moyross, in my constituency of Limerick City. It is a programme that embeds counselling, therapy and family support services within the school environment, thus allowing pupils and parents to access help that would otherwise be difficult for them to navigate. It is a model that could be looked at as part of the needed changes to how we deal with the issue of special education.”
“It is even more wrong that parents are compelled to take legal action to ensure that a child's right to an education is met. As we know, 22,000-plus children are waiting for an assessment of need alone. The Government looks at this challenge and opts out without appropriate consultation with disability groups to establish inclusive special education classes. There are simply larger classes with the same level of supports as previously, with no commitment to increase staffing. We have a broken system, and the Government seems determined to compound the failures in the system. The Government seems to be unaware that we face a crisis when the school holidays end. It seems that at every turn a parent of a child with additional needs must fight. It is battle after battle after battle.”
“Across the State, we do not know how many children with additional needs are waiting for an appropriate school place for the coming academic year, and that is deeply worrying. I note that in the Minister's opening statement she did not give us those figures, even though she probably knew we would ask her for them. I urge the Minister and the Minister of State to provide us with these details. They are really important to plan for anything. In the run-up to each academic new year I, along with other TDs, I am sure, get calls in my office from parents who have not received a school place, or, if they have, it is often in a setting that is not suitable for their child. It is wrong that parents must contact their local TDs on this matter.”
“Before I conclude, in the short time available to me, it would be remiss of me not to mention my local team, Treaty United. It has done incredible work over the years promoting the sport in Limerick. The women's and men's academies continue to attract promising talent. Many have ended up in the Irish team. While the results for the men's team have not gone our way yet this year, I have no doubt that under the leadership of Tommy Barrett, the boys can turn it around. The women's team have started well this year and their 3-2 win over Cliftonville has pushed them right up the table. Irish football has solid foundations. Our national team have reignited our passion for the game-----”
“In working class areas I represent across Limerick, clubs such as Ballynanty Rovers, of which I am a lifetime member, Geraldines AFC, Star Rovers, Moyross United and many others offer a hub of community activity. It is the volunteer men and women coaches, groundspeople and unsung committee members who keep our local leagues thriving. However, if local clubs are to continue to develop the champions of tomorrow, they need support today. If we want to develop our homegrown talent, we must invest more in football academies. The Government has left football academies short by allocating €3 million instead of the €4.5 million requested. More investment is needed. Government party manifestos and that of Sinn Féin commit to increasing betting tax by 1% and this should be put into large-scale sports infrastructure.”
“In recent years, they have given us tremendous highs with their World Cup journey and while the current European qualifiers may not be going as well as they or we had hoped, they remain incredible role models for aspiring young athletes across the island. The fact they have performed so well is even more impressive considering how underfunded and neglected football has been in the State for years. The biggest problem we face is the lack of infrastructure and facilities and until we address this, we will be on a hiding to nothing. Many sports grounds are not fit for purpose. For instance, many still do not have changing rooms for women players, basic stuff. Supporting grassroots football is important for integration and cohesion.”
“We all hoped to be making these statements while looking forward to Ireland being in the upcoming 2026 World Cup. Unfortunately, despite the heroics of the boys in green, they fell just short. However, to give credit to them, their coaches and especially their fans, the journey gripped the nation and has enthused thousands, especially young boys and girls. I am hopeful that their efforts will be the catalyst for another rejuvenation of Irish football. In recent years, there has been tremendous growth in the number of women and girls participating in football. A lot of credit for this has to go to the women's national team.”
“As the world is moving into critical danger, if we do not deliver to make our country energy secure with the opportunity to do it through offshore wind, we will be buying that from abroad. We have the opportunity to buy our own, make ourselves energy sufficient and export wind or we can buy it back in ourselves. The HIQA report launched on 30 September had three options in it. We still do not know if we are going to build a second hospital in the mid-west. While this is committed to, there is no plan for it and no management committee set up. There is no progress on that and we do not know where we are. Trolley numbers in Limerick this week have been some of the highest we have seen across the State.”
“The bus lane has been there for a number of years but there is actually no local bus service on it. We have built hundreds of local authority houses and affordable houses through approved housing bodies in the area but there is no bus connection. Rail services, where they exist, are very slow and very sparse. For instance, we have the Castleconnell to Limerick city service and, for some inexplicable reason, we cannot deliver extra capacity and extra services on that. It is a no-brainer. Then we come to the issue of offshore wind. We have the unique opportunity in the Limerick area, particularly with the Foynes Port, the deepest port in the island and a huge stretch of river.”
“It would really be an extension of the Coonagh to Knockalisheen road, and that is not even in the national development plan. It was pulled by the Green Party in the previous Government and there is no sign of it in this Government. It is an economic artery for Limerick. As I have said, it would service both universities and the business park in the Castletroy area, which are struggling. Traffic is unbelievable and we need to sort that out soon. We have people backed up on the Mackey roundabout and they cannot get off on the M7 or the motorway to access Limerick. Bus services in Limerick, where they do exist, are unfortunately sometimes not reliable. Sometimes they are non-existent. One example of that is the Condell Road in the city. I have raised that before. We have a bus lane in that area.”
“They are probably the only two regional cities or second and third cities across western Europe that are not connected by motorway and it will be years before that is done. In Limerick, we recently opened the Coonagh to Knockalisheen road. It is not completed but that was over 20 years in planning and was hard fought for by the communities in Moyross in particular to get it over the line. Another piece of infrastructure that is needed in Limerick is the northern distributor road. Businesses will say they need this, as will IBEC and universities, whether the Technological University of the Shannon on one side or University of Limerick at the other side, to relieve the pressure on the north side of Limerick and south-east Clare, where it is particularly needed.”
“On this Bill in particular, waiving the pre-legislative scrutiny is a mistake. Given the Government's record of failure to deliver value for money, the Opposition is right to be critical of that. Bills should face all opportunities for scrutiny in order that we strengthen them and are not correcting a mistake after the Bill has been enacted. A concern of mine is that the Bill does not define what critical infrastructure is but rather leaves that to the gift of the Minister. When we talk about infrastructure we all have our own projects in our own areas, but talking about Limerick and the Munster region, we obviously look at the Limerick to Cork motorway. It is long promised and not delivered.”
“For the day that is in it, it may have won the vote of confidence but I can assure the Minister that his Government has lost the support - if it ever had it - and the confidence of the people. Public services are under huge pressure. Many services do not work properly and we see billions of hard-earned euro wasted, often due to poor planning. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are serious wasters of public funding. Never has so much been spent to deliver so little. Much of our infrastructure is crumbling. Our housing crisis continues with 17,000 people in emergency accommodation and we have a broken planning process. A total of 22,200 children are waiting on their legal entitled assessment of needs. Critical infrastructure is not planned for or delivered. This is the legacy of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael for 100 years.”
“We need to bring together all the stakeholders, such as horse owners, An Garda Síochána, Limerick council, animal welfare organisations, projects such as My Lovely Horse and the Department of agriculture, to work to set a timeframe - I would suggest six months - after which horses will not roam in public areas in Limerick. We need a change of direction here. The hands-off approach has not worked. We must take the reins and ensure we finally address this issue.”
“I have no issue with those good horse owners whatsoever. However, I take massive issue with those who abuse their animals, leave them shackled day and night and unable to roam, often with no water or food, regardless of the weather. I take issue with the legislation that is there to protect these animals not being enforced. Some will argue that the keeping of ponies and horses is a tradition but, to be clear, riding horses through our public spaces and wrecking them is not a tradition or culture. It is a display of lawlessness and an affront to those who abide by the rules. We need a solution.”
“I recently attended a meeting with the directly elected mayor and the director general and their staff to discuss this issue. I provided them with the detail of the numerous parliamentary questions I have asked over the years on this ongoing issue. I am sure the mayor, like the rest of the council, wants to see this matter addressed, but the direction and leadership must come from the Department. It comes back to providing resources to ensure the enforcement of the legislation. The level of impunity can be frustrating for so many people. I know that many urban horse owners do not mistreat their animals and care for them. There are some fantastic urban horse projects, as the Minister mentioned, across the State where those with an affinity for animals can learn how to care for them and do so with pride.”
“I thank the Minister for his response. I will seek clarification on the number of horses collected, year on year. The reason they are not being collected is that the local authorities have, in many cases, simply stopped collecting them. They will say that themselves. When we collect horses in Limerick, for example, we need to ensure we have gardaí available and that the pound is available. The pound is only able to collect four horses. Gardaí tell us it is not worth their while coming out to collect four horses so the collection of horses has simply collapsed. It is not that there are fewer horses there. Unfortunately, there are far more horses there. The Minister will have to come to see it for himself to believe what is going on. I have tried to bring people together on this issue.”
“It is time to get heads together so a permanent solution can be found, and the people in these estates can reclaim their public spaces and we finally deal with the issue of urban horses being mistreated, wandering and causing stress and chaos in many parts of our cities.”
“It would not have been there for four or five days. Why are we expected to tolerate this in working class areas? Why is this acceptable? Green spaces should be available for all. They should be spaces where children can kick a ball and play. We need to reclaim our public spaces for everybody in the community. What we have in many urban estates are limited green spaces being claimed by a small few, who allow horses to graze on these public spaces. They often destroy them and prevent other children and other people from using them. These are community spaces and communities must be allowed to reclaim them. There is an important role for the local council and the Garda to play in addressing the issue of wandering urban horses but overall responsibility for the issue ultimately lies with the Minister and the Department.”
“The issue was raised in the Dáil almost 50 years ago by the late Limerick TD Mick Lipper, and it is this extremely disheartening and depressing that I have had to raise this issue myself on many occasions since I was first elected more than a decade ago. We have not got to grips with this challenge. The mistreatment of these poor animals has been tolerated for far too long. Some months ago I drove through three of Limerick's urban estates and during a 45-minute drive I encountered 50 horses. Many times since, I have noticed that the number of horses on the public green spaces has not changed whatsoever. The placement of horses in public spaces in more affluent areas would simply not be tolerated. Can we imagine a dead horse remaining in situ in a more affluent area? It would not have happened and it would not have been tolerated.”
“I urge the Minister that when the legislation is amended that an enforcement mechanism is included. Allowing those who abuse, misuse and assault their animals to simply replace a dead horse with new foal must not be allowed to continue. Allowing people, often young children, to ride these horses on our national road network, delaying traffic and causing distress to the animals, must end. Allowing people to purchase horses and ponies without adhering to chip-and-pin legislation must end. Equine legislation requires that all horses are micro-chipped, have adequate land to graze on and are kept in a safe environment. This simply is not the case in many urban areas and has been ignored.”
“While I appreciate the animal was finally removed, the incident highlights the plight of these animals, their mistreatment and the lack of enforcement of chip and pin and other urban horse legislation. There are no consequences for those who mistreat their animals. Legislation that is not enforced is not worth having. The Control of Horses Act is under review and has been for some time. I have submitted parliamentary questions on this, including one four years ago and one in October 2022. One response stated the Control of Horses Act is under review with a view to simplifying and further improving the legislation and that plans are advanced. Another response thanked me for raising the important topic and stated it is one the Minister takes very seriously but here we are, four years later, with no progress.”
“Here we go again. I have raised the issue of wandering ill-treated horses many times over the years. It remains an ongoing and worsening concern in Limerick and other areas. Recently a horse was euthanised in a green area on a local estate in Limerick city. The very ill horse was abandoned on Friday, 13 March, unable to rise from the ground. A vet finally arrived on the Sunday and euthanised the horse, and the carcass of the horse was removed on the following day, Monday, 16 March, four days after the horse was abandoned. This incident started on Friday with a horse clearly dying, abandoned on a green area in the middle of a housing estate full of families. It was an ugly sight, particularly for children, to witness.”
“Today, the Minister of State has presented us with a Bill that prior to now has not adequately engaged with the most important stakeholders in the process and has been fast-tracked due to the Minister of State leaving it to the last minute to implement it to avoid pre-legislative scrutiny. It is not complaint with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, it does not address the major problems with the Act itself and it discriminates against young people, denying them the opportunity to engage in an element of the decision-making process. I stated earlier that this is a very messy way to do legislation. It is an appalling way to do legislation, dictating to a stakeholder without adequate engagement. The Minister of State simply must be aware of that.”