Natasha Newsome Drennan
Carlow-Kilkenny · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“Rates of TB in the North are far higher than in the South and many outbreaks in the South have been traced back to Northern herds. Farming families are put under immense pressure financially and mentally when they lose a herd to TB. That is heartbreaking.”
“I welcome the chance to speak about the fiscal impact of the long-overdue reunification of Ireland. I also welcome the Tánaiste's speech. It is a pity that more people in the House did not speak up in the same way. For too long a false narrative has been published by those who oppose reunification.”
“We need to ask why the economy in the North lags behind that of the South and, more importantly, how we can fix that. There is no doubt that reunification will bring challenges, but it will also bring immense opportunities. It is time that we started focusing on those.”
“This legislation exists because of the advocacy and commitment of Jason Poole, whose sister was killed by her ex-partner, a man with a documented history of domestic violence. The research clearly shows that individuals with prior records of abuse are significantly more likely to offend, often with escalating severity.”
“I strongly welcome the introduction of the domestic violence register and fully support this Bill. It is encouraging to see cross-party support for its introduction, which is a clear sign that this issue crosses all political divides and demands action. The reality is that domestic violence is seldom a one-off incident.”
“Over the past 25 years, Amber has grown and become a safe haven for many women and children. For far too long, Carlow has been one of the few counties in the State without a women's refuge. Given the rise in calls relating to domestic abuse and cases of domestic abuse, that is nothing short of a disgrace.”
The complete record
Every one of 332 lines we hold for Natasha Newsome Drennan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 6 of 7.
“Without that, what hope have you got? Yet, it seems nothing happened to stop this. There were no financial penalties or closures. The RTÉ documentary made clear that care plans were not being used appropriately, if at all, and certainly were not being referenced when decisions were made on staffing and resourcing. HIQA found repeated failures to ensure that staff were appropriately trained and supervised and identified that records were not being managed in line with regulations. It even found that records relating to family complaints were not being documented. RTÉ revealed that Emeis was plámásing families with tales that it would improve services but nothing in practice was changing. I am particularly taken by this quote from the CEO of Emeis: "Our jobs are profoundly human.”
“It was not only non-compliant but repeatedly non-compliant, with little evidence of even trying to improve its standards. HIQA found that the provider had failed to implement the compliance plan submitted following previous inspections and that the overall governance and management of the centre had deteriorated since the previous inspection. Most worryingly, staff were unaware that a resident at high risk of malnutrition had been reviewed by a dietitian in January and as a result, interventions to manage nutritional risks were not completed. In layman's terms, people at the home were suffering from starvation and neither management nor the owner seemed to care or even inform staff of changes to care plan. Malnutrition, to an ordinary person, is a major red flag. Food is a basic requirement for survival.”
“Astonishingly, the Government has allowed this to happen despite revelations of widespread abuse at the company's centres in France. HIQA has inspected multiple Emeis-run homes and has identified repeated non-compliance across its reports. Malnutrition was a feature echoed across the report and the RTÉ documentary clearly identified not only understaffing but gross misconduct and total disregard for individual care plans. The staff were not being governed properly and poor practice was clearly routine. Poor practice seems to be the standard that was expected and encouraged. The residence in Portlaoise is only one example of how Emeis runs its nursing homes in Ireland. The residence has been inspected on multiple occasions by HIQA and on no measure in the latest report was it found to be fully compliant with regular standards.”
“She described it as feeling that desperate because she knew the real human suffering that was happening. She continued, "These are our parents, our aunts and our uncles. As a professional, I was shocked, I was angry. As a human being I was heartbroken." These revelations of systematic institutional abuse at residential home care come 20 years after Leas Cross and ten years after Áras Attracta. In the intervening years, scandal after scandal has underlined the inadequacy of existing legislation, with a major gap in the law in the absence of an adult safeguarding Act and insufficient resourcing and empowerment of safeguarding teams. Emeis Ireland is the largest nursing home operator in the State. In recent years, it has expanded to more than 2,400 nursing room beds across the State.”
“Last week, we witnessed highly distressing scenes of neglect and abuse at two Emeis-operated nursing homes in Dublin and Portlaoise. These were scenes the Government had long assured us were consigned to history. First and foremost, my thoughts are with the individuals and families affected. I hope counselling and health services have been made available immediately to them. If not, the Minister of State must ensure this is done today. I also commend Clare Doyle and the various whistleblowers who contributed to the unearthing of the abuse of the residents of the nursing homes. Clare's words were exceptionally powerful and deserve repeating. She said she felt as though she was having one of those dreams when something awful is happening and you are screaming into the abyss.”
“It is only when Israeli pockets are hit that we see any change because all the words of condemnation clearly do not matter a damn. Let us be frank and straight about this. The overwhelming majority of people here in Ireland want to see a stand taken against Israel and its war crimes in Palestine. However, the Irish Government and the EU have taken a decision to provide quiet and subtle support to Israel. This is clear from the Government's actions here in the Dáil. Outside the offices of TDs in Carlow and Kilkenny there are protests calling the Government out on voting for bonds over babies. All TDs should have a free vote. If not, they will have to live with the screams they ignore and it will haunt them every day.”
“Genocide is taking place in Gaza. There is widespread ethnic cleansing happening across Palestine. Israel is an apartheid state. Almost every week, weapons are being transported through Ireland to Israel and these weapons are being used to continue that genocide and ethnic cleansing and to uphold the brutal system of apartheid. There is absolutely no denying this. While there is no absence of talk and spin from the Minister and his Government supporters, there is a complete absence of action. Indeed, the Government is actively blocking measures brought before the Dáil that would put pressure on the apartheid State of Israel, such as enacting the occupied territories Bill and the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill. Only last week it voted to support the continued sale of Israel bonds by the Irish Central Bank.”
“We have to invest in the basics because without them villages like mine of Knocktopher and others across the State are dying on their feet. Shops, pubs, etc., are closing. It is ripping the heart out of communities. It is laughable for the Government to say housing is its number one priority. We are in the middle of a housing crisis. It is time to start acting like it.”
“This housing crisis is devastating families and workers across the State. To see dozens of council-owned homes lying vacant across Kilkenny and over 2,500 lying vacant across the State drives home that this is not a priority for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. If it was and there was political will, local councils would be appropriately funded and would not be given the pence they are currently given. Sewerage and water treatment facilities are a fundamental requirement of expanding communities and building new homes but Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, in their wisdom, did not see fit to provide the necessary infrastructure in the upgrading of facilities across Kilkenny and Carlow. As a result, many prime sites for building are left untouched and towns across Carlow and Kilkenny are left paralysed.”
“Across Kilkenny, almost 100 council-owned homes lie empty. Over 60 of them will remain empty throughout 2025. Almost one third have been boarded up for over a year. Dozens of families and people in dire need of housing have been blocked from a home of their own this year. While the Government will try to pass the blame on to the local council, the fault and blame lies solely at the feet of the Government and Minister for housing. The black and white reality is Kilkenny County Council does not have the funds to turn these homes around. For each vacant council home, central government gives the council a mere €11,000 to get that home fit for tenancy. Giving just €11,000 to bring a house up to spec shows how utterly removed the Government is from the real cost of building works. It is an insult to the council and the people of Kilkenny.”
“The reality is that people do not want to run the risk of investing in the heart of Thomastown. Families living in the town live in constant worry of their homes being submerged once again. People are sick and tired of the damage, the long clean-up process and putting down fresh flooring over and over again. There is a heavy cloud of uncertainty hanging over the whole town. At the start of the month, there was more flooding in Thomastown. A local business that had served Thomastown for decades was left crippled due to flood damage. We are fortunate to have such a strong community and emergency service, which have all worked around the clock to help the community in times of crisis. It is disappointing to see the Thomastown flood relief scheme being kicked down the road. We need the scheme made a priority by the OPW.”
“While I acknowledge that some progress has been made on projects like the Kilkenny city and Ballyhale flood relief schemes, it is disappointing to see that the Thomastown flood relief scheme has been kicked far down the road. There is no current timeline for planning, let alone commencement, and this neglect is unacceptable. We need to support growth in towns like Thomastown across Ireland. How do we expect someone to invest in the community and to take the challenge of setting up a business or buying a home in the town when he or she cannot even get home or business insurance to cover premises in the event of flooding? A lack of insurance has taken a heavy toll on the town. We have fewer and fewer families living in parts of the town due to flood risk.”
“I welcome this opportunity to contribute on the crucial issue of flood relief schemes. My home county of Kilkenny has borne the brunt of devastating floods far too often in recent times. We do not need to look too far into the past; we all remember the damage done across Kilkenny by Storm Babet in 2023, when the banks of the River Nore broke, leaving Kilkenny city suffering heavy flooding and scores of homes, businesses and roads submerged. During the same storm, Thomastown also suffered heavy flooding. This was far from an isolated incident. Heavy and persistent rainfall kept the risk of flooding high for months. These incidents show just how vulnerable Kilkenny city and the likes of Thomastown are to flooding.”
“The volume of traffic on this route has increased hugely. For 2024, we are looking at a figure of 15,000. That should be 8,000 or 9,000. This route has hugely exceeded what it was built for. There are also 11 local road junctions along this road now. This road was not built for those. We have what is the main route for Wexford traffic coming in to go to the hospitals. More than 80 people have died in the last 40 years. This is an urgent road project. Kilkenny County Council has more than done its job; now we need funding for it. Transport Infrastructure Ireland has committed to carry out a review of the road layout at particular junctions, which I have spoken about, including at the Rhu Glenn Hotel, but how is this acceptable? This is urgent.”
“There was just talk of carrying out reviews of the road, again with no timeline for completion. In February, I warned that every delay and deflection would risk more lives. Tragically, there was yet another fatal traffic collision at the end of April when another woman lost her life. It is not acceptable that Government bodies can acknowledge the risk and danger along the N25 but show no level of urgency in installing road safety measures. We cannot sit idle on this. We need to see action before any more devastation. Funding needs to be prioritised for this road. Will the Government commit to funding the N25 Waterford to Glenmore road scheme in 2025? More than 80 people have died along this stretch of road in the past 40 years. It is more than just a black spot; this is a death trap.”
“Part of the N25, in particular the stretch out past the Rhu Glenn Hotel, can be described in no other terms than a deadly accident black spot. Over the past number of years, there have been several fatal road accidents along this road. The road traffic report clearly states that the road has completely exceeded the safe number of vehicles. It has a 360% increase in road users. The community has repeatedly sought road traffic safety measures. In February, following the death of a local woman on the road, her family again appealed for urgent safety measures to be put in place. I raised these requests with the Minister. I raised them with the council. I raised them with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII. While the concerns were acknowledged, no timeline for improvements was given.”
“We can enact the occupied territories Bill and the Illegal Israeli Settlements Divestment Bill. All the main parties gave their support to the occupied territories Bill in the run-up to the general election but, of course, it has fallen into the category of the broken election promises of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. We need to end the sale of Israeli bonds by the Irish Central Bank. It is the inaction of the EU and our part of the international community that has emboldened Israel to take its genocide to new levels because it sees and feels that it is untouchable, thanks to its supporters within the EU.”
“Israel's crimes against humanity, its deliberate attacks on hospitals, civilians and medical personnel, could not be documented any more clearly but the EU is still unsure as to whether Israel is breaching a respect for human rights. We need to be frank with our EU counterparts. The EU is complicit in this genocide and in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. Arms and public funds continue to flow from Europe into Israel. We need sanctions on Israel and an arms embargo. We need to stop the flow of arms through Shannon and Irish airspace to Israel. We need an immediate cancellation of the EU trade deal. Israel is a rogue, terrorist state and needs to be treated as one. While ours is only one state within the EU 27, there is so much more we can do at home.”
“The United Nations has reported that up to 14,000 children in Gaza are at risk of starving to death in the next 48 hours. That is the same number of children under the age of 18 living in Carlow. It is unimaginable to picture that amount of death for such innocent children - 14,000 childhoods erased in 48 hours. The genocide in Gaza is reaching levels of unimaginable horror. Yesterday, the EU Foreign Affairs Council met and agreed to take the softest action possible in reviewing the EU-Israel trade agreement and see whether Israel is in breach of Article 2 of the agreement, on respect for human rights and democratic principles. In the next two days, 14,000 children are expected to starve to death and the best the EU can muster up is a review into whether Israel is breaching respect for human rights.”
“He said he would gradually phase it out over the lifetime of the Government. If home carers took that attitude, our hospitals and nursing homes, which are already seriously under pressure, would be bursting at the seams.”
“We need to see significant investment by Government into public nursing homes. By 2030, there will be more than 1 million people aged 65 or older. By 2057, this number could nearly double. Consecutive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments have failed to plan for this demographic shift. It is reckless carry-on. The Government could quickly put into action measures that would make a meaningful difference. The Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, made a clear recommendation on pay for section 39 workers. This recommendation was accepted by the workers but the Government is stalling. We need to see this recommendation put into effect and ensure funding for section 39 organisations is guaranteed. If the Minister of State was serious about this role, he would have scrapped the means test.”
“Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Lowry Independents need to stop stalling, scrap the means test on carers and introduce a pay-related carer's benefit. It is time that social protection for people with disabilities and carers was increased. Approximately 70% of carers are struggling to make ends meet. This is an absolute disgrace and a shame on the Government parties for standing idly by. Across the State, nursing homes are facing increasing stress, with closures due to financial or workforce pressures. Families are paying ridiculously high costs for private care and consecutive Governments have failed to properly invest in public care homes. The continuing notion from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael that the private sector will provide for the shortcomings is only heaping more pressure on families across the State.”
“It is family carers and home care assistants who are doing the lion's share of work in reducing pressures on our hospitals and nursing homes by supporting people to carry on living at home. For someone to remain living at home in the community they have known for possibly all their life, it makes an enormous difference to their health and well-being. By the end of February, almost 5,000 people were awaiting home support hours. The Government needs to get serious about addressing this need because not only are those seeking home care being failed by the Government but family carers and other healthcare workers are too. These workers and family carers have been left to pick up the pieces as a result of Government failures despite their work saving the State €20 billion each year.”
“I thank the Independent Group for bringing forward this motion. As someone who has worked as a carer in the disabilities sector for 18 years, I am acutely aware of the struggles facing this sector. This motion clearly sets out the vital role carers and front-line healthcare workers play in our society. The role they carry out every day across Ireland is a quiet but vital contribution to Irish society. They are the backbone of our care system, ensuring older people, people with disabilities or those with high-care needs are given the highest level of dignity possible and supported to live at home for as long as they wish. As we are all aware, our hospitals are under pressure and we have a growing shortage of nursing home beds.”
“Right now, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Lowry Independents are carving out an utterly shameful legacy of neglect of tens of thousands of children across the State. I cannot not name for the Minister all the families who come to my door, because there are too many, but what I can tell her is that they are struggling. Some are on second mortgages and some have lost their house. Families have torn apart by the cost and stress. Enough is enough; it is time to act now.”
“It is they who have been hit the hardest. Parents are forced to watch on as their children suffer and are denied the correct supports in school. The whole family bears the mental and emotional strain. An affected family is left with only two options: sit patiently for years as all the pressures build on it and their children suffer or pay thousands of euro for a private assessment. With all the Government’s failures, there are people in the private sector profiting on the back of this. An autism assessment costs €2,000, an ADHD assessment costs €1,500, and a speech and language assessment costs €600, with follow-up sessions costing €90 each. What will the Government say in ten or 15 years’ time to the children failed under its watch? Children have been waiting years for an assessment and for proper supports.”
“Over 15,000 children are currently awaiting an assessment of need. By the end of this year, that number is expected to soar to over 24,000. The law set out in the Disability Act clearly states children must be assessed within six months, but only 7% of children are assessed within that timeframe. Day after day, the Government is breaking the law and, in doing so, failing vulnerable children. After more than a decade of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael running the Department, the neglect of children reached limits that none of us thought possible. To leave children waiting years for crucial interventions is nothing short of systemic child neglect. Every week and month, without proper supports in schools and communities, this inflicts untold damage on the children’s development. This crisis disproportionately targets ordinary working families.”
“It is time this Government set out a clear plan for increased investment in water, electricity and sewage infrastructure and a plan that has the resources behind it to ensure it is fully implemented. I am afraid, as things stand, that there will be no housing targets. This has to be looked at.”
“Bennettsbridge is the next town with works planned to upgrade infrastructure but it will be more than four years until these works even begin. Communities across south Kilkenny, like my own village of Knocktopher, as well as Ballyhale and Mullinavat, have no planned works to upgrade local infrastructure. Simply put, this means no new housing developments being built in the coming years. This is crippling these communities and impacting everything from schools to shops to local sports teams. People there do not want to move and leave they communities they were raised in, but they are being pushed out as a result of decades of underinvestment across rural Ireland. We need to see a step change from this Government, with no more passing of the blame around.”
“I thank my colleague Deputy Ó Broin for his work on this motion. Right across counties Carlow and Kilkenny, we have towns and villages crying out for an increase in housing. These towns and villages have prime sites for housing developments that are unusable simply because the Government of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael has failed to invest in adequate and fit-for-purpose infrastructure. It is common sense to plan for the future, but this has clearly not been the case across County Kilkenny when it comes to water and sewage treatment infrastructure. Castlecomer, a community of more than 2,000 people, does not even have adequate access to fresh water. Boil notices and water restrictions are a common occurrence. How is this acceptable in 2025?”
“Each member state needs to be working to build a stronger and more resilient EU, rather than an EU that depends on chemical-laden food produce and substandard meat. Our produce and that of other member states is among the highest quality in the world. We should be raising the bar, not lowering it.”
“How is it justifiable to spend upwards of €800 billion on EU rearmament while farmers across Europe are struggling? If these billions were put into the agri sector instead, we could transform agriculture and our wider food sector. We would be able to deliver a common agricultural policy far greater than the limits of the current CAP - a CAP that would rejuvenate farming, rural communities and generational renewal. Our farming sector is moving towards a cliff edge. Around 1,400 farmers leave farming each year and the EU's answer to this is to spend billions on arms and to try to push through dangerous and damaging trade deals like the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, CETA, and Mercosur.”
“If they did, the United States and Israel with their vast arsenals would be the most peaceful and safe nations in the world. This €800 billion will achieve nothing but line the pockets of arms manufacturers, only for them to declare in five or ten years that this technology is obsolete and to demand yet more funding. If the EU truly wants global security and lasting peace, it must invest in the well-being of people. There is no sector more essential to the well-being of Europe than agriculture. The Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, must be recognised as a core pillar of EU security. Strengthening EU-wide food production will ensure resilience. It will reduce our dependence on volatile imports and protect us from a global crisis beyond our control. The CAP budget for 2021 to 2027 is €327 billion.”
“This Friday marks the 75th anniversary of the historic signing of the Schuman Declaration just five years after the end of the Second World War. To paraphrase that declaration, it was intended that the pooling of Europe's resources would change the destinies of regions long devoted to the manufacture of munitions of war. Today, 75 years later, the core of that vision has been abandoned. Instead of demilitarising our future, the EU is pushing a hard-line militarist agenda. Ursula von der Leyen announced plans for an €800 billion rearmament fund, putting the military-industrial complex at the core of the EU vision and resurrecting the very industry the Schuman Declaration sought to subdue. More weapons and bombs do not bring peace and security.”
“There must be an extensive investigation and those responsible for failures must be held to account, simple as. We must uncover the full extent of unnecessary surgeries, examine where profit motives influenced decisions, and identify failures at every level - clinical, administrative and political. Individuals and institutions responsible for harm must face consequences. Proactive communication must be at the core of CHI going forward. Every parent whose child underwent orthopaedic surgery at CHI needs clarity. They cannot be left in the dark wondering. As we transition to a new children's hospital, the existing culture cannot be allowed to carry over. We must ensure that the strongest levels of governance, care and communication between CHI and families are fundamental going forward in the new national children's hospital.”
“Had The Ditch not reported on this audit, how much longer would the Minister and the board of CHI left families in the dark? This raises deeply concerning questions on culture and governance within the board and the executive of CHI. We need to begin the process of rebuilding public trust and credibility in CHI. It is clear that a reset is urgently needed. Sinn Féin does not have the confidence in the board or the executive of CHI. Clearly, the board should stand down or should be stood down. With a new board in place, it should go to work putting together a new executive management and clinical leadership team that would lead an overhaul of major culture and governance issues within CHI. Hundreds of children across the State have been failed in the most serious and distressing of ways by Children's Health Ireland.”
“We need to be frank. Public confidence in the board at Children's Health Ireland is shattered and is in pieces. It is beyond repair. These unnecessary hip surgeries are a national scandal, a scandal of which we still do not know the depth. Thousands of hip surgeries have taken place over the past decade. There are possibly hundreds of cases of children who underwent highly traumatic surgeries that were unnecessary. Thousands of children and parents are left in the dark wondering whether their surgery was necessary. This scandal could date back over a decade under the watch of various Ministers for Health. It is especially damning that concerns were hidden from parents. Parents were only made aware of the audit into the hip surgeries because of the investigation work of The Ditch .”
“Is he actually going to do something to help this family? Will he stay true to his word? Is he going to talk to the Minister for Health to help to find a solution for William and his family? This is a time-sensitive case.”
“Four weeks ago, I raised with the Taoiseach the case of four-year-old William Jonathan Moore who has been diagnosed with a life-threatening condition, Duchenne muscular dystrophy. As I said at the time, his condition is so rare that no treatment is available in Ireland or the EU. William has been accepted for treatment at the Boston Children's Hospital but the United States is not covered under the treatment abroad scheme. The Taoiseach told me here in the Dáil: If it is only available in the US, we should do something about that. I will come back to the Deputy about it and will talk to the Minister for Health. In the past four weeks, neither I nor William's family have got any update despite our requests. How is this acceptable? The Taoiseach said we should do something about it and that he would talk to the Minister.”
“Where people have been able to build in Kilkenny and Carlow, the wait for the water connection by Uisce Éireann is often very much delayed. At a time when we are in urgent need of new builds, these delays are grinding building works to a halt and driving up costs for developments. Why is it that Uisce Éireann has not been able to increase its operational capacity to reduce these ridiculous waiting times? It is crystal clear to me that the public deserve a comprehensive review of Uisce Éireann's capital programme to see where it is prioritising its resources. Communities like Castlecomer, which lack even a basic reliable water supply, must be treated as an urgent priority. Communities across rural Ireland should not be left waiting for years for such a fundamental right.”
“How much time will be lost in the planning stages alone due to the Government's chronic underfunding of An Bord Pleanála and local council departments? The root cause of this lays squarely at the feet of the Government because of the failures to invest promptly in essential local infrastructures. How many more boil notices will the likes of Ballyragget have to endure? How many more years must this shambolic situation continue? Is it too much to expect a clear, sustainable water supply for villages across Carlow and Kilkenny in the Ireland of 2025? Beyond Castlecomer, towns across Carlow and Kilkenny are paralysed. Prime sites for new developments have been stalled by outdated water and storage systems.”
“I strongly welcome the allocation of time today to discuss Uisce Éireann. This week, the community of Castlecomer in north Kilkenny received yet another notification of overnight water restrictions. This is a recurring issue that they have endured for years. This time the cause is critically low water levels. It is now April. We have not even reached the summer months and Castlecomer's water supply is already struggling to cope. What do we expect the community to do if we have warm or dry June and July? This is a sizeable community, yet Uisce Éireann's progress in securing new groundwater sources has moved at a snail's pace. While water exploration is under way, it will not conclude until summer. After that, we face further delays, land acquisitions, planning permission and the construction of vital infrastructures.”
“He told me he would love to retire like his friends but must put his family first. His story is not unique. It is the Ireland of today. We cannot let Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael dictate the narrative on retirement, with the mindset that you must work as long as you are fit to do so. After a lifetime of contribution, people deserve the right to retire at 65 with dignity, to enjoy that time, go on new adventures, take up new hobbies and spend quality time with their children and grandchildren. This legislation is a start but we must address the causes of financial insecurity for older people.”
“I am getting to it. It is the cost to them. Now, Ireland’s energy costs are the most expensive in the EU. The consequences are stark. Research carried out by ALONE shows one in three people over 65 are at risk of poverty. This is a national disgrace. After a lifetime of contribution to society, a third of our elders face possible poverty. Is it any wonder so many feel compelled to work past retirement age? I recently met a 69 year-old man who was forced to retire at 65, as per his contract. His reasons were simple and genuine. Despite his children holding full-time jobs, they struggled to save while renting. He returned to the workforce as a self-employed worker, not for himself but just so that he could help each of his children equally to get their own home.”
“Staples like chicken fillets have seen a staggering increase of 120%. How can older people enjoy a decent standard of living in retirement when the State pension fails to keep pace with inflation, let alone these outrageous price hikes? Every Member of this House knows a pensioner who has faced extraordinary energy bills or older people forced to leave their heating off for fear of the next bill. On one side of the crisis we have vulnerable pensioners, while on the other are energy providers like Electric Ireland, a major State-owned company posting record profits. Under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, Ireland’s energy costs have gone from being among the most affordable in the EU-----”
“This is welcome legislation from the Government. An increasing cohort of workers opt to work past their planned retirement age, some into their late 60s or even into their 70s. While this is fundamentally a personal choice for many, it would be naïve to ignore the external factors which put workers into a situation where they feel they have no choice but to keep working. These factors are direct results of failures by this Government and its Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael predecessors - failures that include the cost-of-living crisis, sky-high energy costs, chronic underinvestment in housing and a healthcare system that is bulging under the pressure. This Government has constantly failed to grasp the severity of the cost-of-living crisis. Grocery prices have risen by one third in just three years.”
“I am asking that the Minister for Health engages with the HSE and William's family to ensure that they are supported to get the treatment and that the Department works to develop support for any future cases of DMD.”
“I raise the case of a young William Jonathan Moore, a four-year-old boy from Kilkenny who has been diagnosed with a life-threatening condition, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, DMD. This condition is so rare that no treatment is available in Ireland. William has been accepted at the Boston Children's Hospital for treatment. However, as I am sure the Taoiseach is aware, the treatment abroad scheme does not currently cover the United States. The State has a duty to provide care to children such as William to be treated in Ireland or abroad. At the moment, William's future is dependent on the goodwill of the public via a GoFundMe page for treatment and local fundraisers. We have had bespoke arrangements in the past for children with rare conditions, where the only treatment options were in the United States.”
“The knock-on effects of the failure to invest in housing across rural communities are having a crippling impact. Schools, sports teams, local shops and pubs are all left struggling. Investing in housing and infrastructure is not just about units or bricks and mortar but about insuring sustainability across rural Ireland and supporting communities that have contributed so richly to our economy and culture.”
“Until these works are completed, communities in south Kilkenny, like my own village of Knocktopher as well as Ballyhale and Mullinavat, will see no developments being built. This is having a devastating impact on communities. It is pulling the social cohesion of rural Ireland apart. So often I meet young families and couples who are eager to raise a family in the communities in which they were reared where their parents, uncles, aunts and cousins live, that is, their support network, but the only option they are left with is to travel far from that community. As a result of the actions of the Government, we are left watching rural Ireland decline and more of our children and communities emigrate while an ageing population is left struggling for resources and care.”