Pádraig O'Sullivan
Cork North-Central · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“Imagine being the father of two boys who have Friedreich's ataxia and one of them passing away. I know the Tánaiste is familiar with the case of Craig Coady. I normally do not personalise stories in here but he spoke about this quite openly on Red FM in Cork on Tuesday.”
“I am not asking anybody to comment on the process itself as I know we have to respect it, but is it possible that the review committee can be brought forward and convened as quickly as possible to see this through one way or another because of the mental trauma, anguish and emotion? Many people travelled up on Tuesday.”
“I do not expect the Minister to intervene or comment on that specific case, and we have to respect the process, but I am sure the Minister will agree that as part of a wider strategy, we need to inculcate that wider ecosystem where patients get access to this care upfront and early access to drugs, where needed.”
“Last week, I was at a conference with the Minister and the EU Commissioner. We discussed various topics, including healthcare and the development of a life science strategy in Ireland. I know it is something that he and the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, have worked intensively on.”
“It was remiss of me not to welcome members of the Alzheimer Society of Ireland. I am struggling to see through the glare of the glass. I can see a Limerick man, Kevin Quaid, up there. It is not too often that a Cork man would welcome a Limerick man but I welcome Kevin. I can also see Siobhán. I think Andy Heffernan was there as well.”
“I have asked many parliamentary questions on this over the past few years. Very little has changed. The only thing that gives me hope is that the company has since met the CPU and submitted a commercial offer that remains under consideration. I am not asking for special treatment for any drug.”
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“That decision deserves to be celebrated loudly and genuinely here today. Irish nursing also carries a history to be enormously proud of. For generations Irish nurses have been regarded as among the finest in the world, sought after, respected and trusted in every corner of the globe. Their reputation was not handed to them; it was built ward by ward, shift by shift by the women and men who gave everything to their patients and to their profession. We stand on the shoulders of that tradition today and we should acknowledge it with pride. The dedication continues. Right now, there are nurses in Cork, Munster and every county across the country who are on their feet doing what they do quietly, expertly, without fanfare. They are not looking for applause - they never have been - but they deserve it all the same.”
“When our parents or grandparents were at their most vulnerable, confused, in pain, afraid, it was a nurse who often stayed with us, who explained things gently, who held a hand when no family member could be there, who made a cold, clinical environment feel somehow human. There is no qualification in the world that teaches you how to do that; that comes from something deeper, from the character of every one of those nurses and from genuine compassion. Irish nurses have that in abundance. The INMO represents over 42,000 nurses and midwives across the island, 42,000 people who made a deliberate choice to dedicate their working lives to the care of others, who sat their exams, completed their training, put on their uniform for the first time and decided that this was how they wanted to spend their days.”
“I thank all the nurses around the country on this day, International Nurses Day. It is only fit and right that we start our speeches in here by saying "Thank you", not just as a formality or a generic line in a speech but as a meaningful and heartfelt one. All of us in here have experienced healthcare at various stages of our lives or with our family members, and nurses have always been there to help us along those sometimes most treasured moments in our lives but sometimes the most difficult moments in our lives as well. If you think about it, the first hands that would have touched many of us in this world have been those of a nurse or a midwife. When we were frightened in hospital as children, it was a nurse who sat with us.”
“I know the Minister is not an architect or an engineer, that he will not be designing the prison, and that it will be done by professionals in the Prison Service or hired by the Prison Service but I need to hammer home that the community needs to see a dividend out of that. I would hope the Minister's words here will be passed on to the people who will be designing the scheme when it is put forward. It is about something substantial for the community. On the northside of the city, there is a clear lack of community buildings, amenities and so on. I am hoping that due consideration will be given. I hope that will be passed on to the governor of the prison and the people who will be tasked with designing the prison.”
“We are all aware that this prison extension is going to happen but I welcome the confirmation from the Minister. It is unfortunate that the plan for it to be delivered extends to 2031, which is the best part of five years away. While I understand that these things take time, I hope that if everybody puts their shoulder to the wheel, that could be shortened. I welcome the fact the proposal is to go forward for planning. When it comes to the design level, we will do what we can to work with the communities that live nearby in terms of designing a prison that can fit in well with the community that is already there. My real motivation for raising this is to hammer home the community benefit side of things. It is imperative that fair consideration is given.”
“That is why I am asking that Cork be prioritised for a major capital extension with a clear timeline, clear staffing protections and a commitment that any development delivers tangible benefits both for prison officers and the wider Cork community.”
“I ask the Minister to speak to whatever public consultation can be done, whether by the Minister, the Department of justice, the Prison Service or the OPW, to consult with the public as to what community dividend we can have for the local community. Whether that public consultation would yield an amenity space, a community building or otherwise, it would be important to factor it in. This is not just about being hard on crime. It is about running a prison safely, professionally and efficiently while respecting the people who work there and protecting the wider public by ensuring the system is stable and controlled. Cork Prison cannot continue to operate over capacity year after year.”
“Short-term measures and marginal increases in bed numbers do not address the fundamental problem, which is that the physical size and layout of the prison is no longer fit for purpose given current committal levels. That is why I call on the Minister to commit to a substantial extension of Cork Prison, delivering additional modern accommodation that reduces pressures, improves staff safety and allows the prison to operate within safe limits on a consistent basis. I refer to it as an extension because many of our opponents in the Opposition would contend that we are trying to land a second prison on top of people. As usual, they are trying to play politics with this issue. An extension is warranted and that is what it is; an extension. Any extension to the prison needs to bring a clear community dividend or community benefit.”
“Overcrowded landings, people sleeping on floors, limited sightlines and cramped shared spaces significantly increase the risk of violence, assault and disorder, while also making routine duties more dangerous and stressful for staff. Prison officers in Cork are being asked to maintain order, safety and discipline in conditions that fall well short of what would be regarded as acceptable in any other public service workplace. Staff cannot be expected to carry this burden indefinitely. While I acknowledge national plans to add capacity around the country, Cork has for many years been under sustained pressure but without a permanent solution.”
“I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, for coming to the House. It is rare that we get a senior Minister taking a Topical Issue, so I appreciate him coming in. I want to address the ongoing and worsening overcrowding in Cork Prison and the very real impact it is having on prison officers and staff, who are being asked to manage conditions that are no longer sustainable. Cork Prison has an operational capacity of 296 but the daily average number of people in custody in 2024 was 335, which rose further to an average of 354 in early 2025. That means Cork Prison has been operating at 120% to 130% capacity, with between 50 and 80 people sleeping on mattresses on the floor on any given night. This level of overcrowding is not just an inconvenience. It is a serious occupational health and safety issue for all the staff who work in the prison.”
“Levying money on foreign-registered trucks, particularly in the UK, needs to be looked at. Our hauliers are being levied at the moment. If we are talking about preparing the next package for the next shock that will undoubtedly be felt in this sector, we need to look at other ways of being innovative and how to pay them. Such a scheme might be a way forward in how we contribute to the next package.”
“Going forward, we need to look at the tolling system if we are on about protecting supply chains. I am from Little Island in Cork, which is a large industrial area. We have dozens of haulage companies around the harbour area, coming in and out of Ringaskiddy and the city. Cork is a city that is very heavily reliant on the haulage business. We need to have a look at tolling. In certain countries, there are exemptions for HGVs at certain types of tolls. They look at the weight of the truck and so on. That is something we need to consider in an upcoming budget. At the moment, if trucks come from Britain or Northern Ireland, there is no additional levy placed on them whereas if an Irish truck or haulier crosses the Border or goes over to the UK, there is a levy of £10 per truck, I think.”
“I encourage all eligible operators to prepare their applications when the online portal opens in the Department of Transport in May. The backdating to 1 March means that every qualifying vehicle is already accumulating entitlement. I am actually surprised at the number of small hauliers who are still unaware of the details of the scheme. It is something we need to emphasise in the next few weeks. It needs to be communicated an awful lot better from the top down. A Cheann Comhairle, if I could mention two other issues, I know you have a long history with the haulage sector and I would be interested to hear your thoughts afterwards on a few of these suggestions.”
“At €120 million over three months, it is a serious, substantial commitment, not just a token gesture. I want to highlight something that sometimes gets overlooked in these debates. This scheme does not stop at main roads. It reaches Local Link services, connecting rural communities. It reaches school transport providers and ferries to our offshore islands, communities that depend entirely on these vessels for their way of life. That is a Government that is thinking about everyone, not just those who shout the loudest. This scheme complements the broader package - the excise reductions, the NORA levy adjustments, and the enhanced diesel rebate scheme - demonstrating that this Government is prepared to use every lever available to protect workers, businesses and consumers.”
“Nearly half of all licensed road haulage operators in this country own just one vehicle. If that operator cannot meet their costs, they will have to close down. When they close down, the consequences ripple outward. Higher transport costs mean higher prices for every business they supply and, ultimately, for every household in the country. That is why acting quickly was not optional, but essential. The road transporters support scheme does exactly what good, targeted policy should do. It is graduated, meaning that the smallest of operators who are most vulnerable receive the greatest proportional support at €1,350 per vehicle. It is backdated to 1 March so that no one is left carrying the costs the State has acknowledged they should not have to bear alone.”
“I want to begin by welcoming these statements. They are long overdue. I commend the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and all the Ministers involved in the negotiations over the last weeks. The figures speak for themselves. In four weeks, diesel prices at the pump rose by approximately 25%. For a sector where fuel already accounts for nearly half of all operating costs, that was not an inconvenience, but an existential threat. We are not talking about large multinationals here with deep reserves and teams of financial advisers. We are talking in many cases about sole traders, owner-drivers, family businesses, people who get up before dawn, who keep our supermarket shelves stocked and make sure medicines reach our hospitals and building materials reach our construction sites.”
“I have got to know a lot of people, as has Deputy Aird, over the past few months like Emily Felix, who suffers from Friedreich's ataxia, and Craig Coady, the parent of two boys who also have that terrible and debilitating disease, one of whom passed away, unfortunately. The end for the second child is inevitable because we continue to bury our heads in the sand. We in this House are participants in this because we continue to oversee an overly bureaucratic process that blocks patients from accessing treatment. In some cases, people are travelling to America for treatment that is funded by means of GoFundMe. When are we going to cop on to ourselves and initiate an early access scheme similar to those that obtain right across the EU? It is consistently said that we are laggards. We know this, but we continue to bury our heads in the sand.”
“The Tánaiste will not be surprised that I am again raising the issue of rare diseases. In the coming weeks, RTÉ will be broadcasting a "Prime Time Investigates" programme on this topic that will highlight the difficulties patients with such diseases have in accessing drugs here. The Tánaiste was Minister for Health in 2017, so I know he is aware of this matter. Back then, he described the system as broken. The system has not changed one bit in the intervening nine years. There was a bit of transparency in the form of an online tracker, but, fundamentally, the process is the same.”
“However, fundamentally, we must be truthful with ourselves in here and recognise that the system is flawed. It is the same system we have had for decades. Any common drug or other product on the shelf of a pharmacy that costs you €2 or €3 goes through the same process as one of these drugs that costs hundreds of thousands of euro. If we fail to acknowledge that fundamental flaw in the system, this issue is going to keep being repeated.”
“I thank the Minister of State for the response. It is predictable, although I do not say that to be dismissive. I know a lot of this and have known it for some time. The point I made in my initial salvo was that we rank 23rd out of 27 EU countries with regard to reimbursement for rare disease drugs. That is a fact. Whether it is Skyclarys or some other drug for some other ailment, the fact of the matter is that Ireland is a laggard among our EU counterparts in terms of reimbursement. I understand that engagement with this company has been attempted. I have not come across this company in the past. I wrote to it myself last week to look for engagement. I would like to think it might do something immediate, short-term and local with patients to give them early access in the absence of State intervention.”
“They are now in a position to change the process but we have not looked at it in a meaningful way in the six years we have been in power together. We have given a commitment in the programme for Government and I want to see us follow through on it. First, we must undertake to provide an early access scheme for people to access many of the drugs we are talking about this morning. Second, we must fundamentally overhaul the reimbursement system. They are two commitments in the programme for Government. I would like to see in the reply that the Minister has finally embarked on the task of starting that work, specifically on Skyclarys, which is currently under consideration.”
“When I submitted this question, I specifically wanted to talk about Friedreich's ataxia and the drug Skyclarys, which is currently under consideration by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, NCPE, and the drugs group. It is a degenerative disease. I know the Minister of State is familiar with it. There are hundreds of diseases out there that would break her heart or the heart of anyone in this House if they affected a brother, sister, son or daughter of theirs. It is heartbreaking to see the stuff people are going through on a daily basis. The difficulty I have is that we have been blaming the process for too long. It clearly does not work and is fundamentally broken. At various stages, both the Fianna Fáil party leader and the Fine Gael party leader have said the process is broken.”
“I know this is a topic the Minister of State is very familiar with, as she has heard me raise it many times within our parliamentary party meetings. This is something she has heard plenty of times from me in the past few years. It is something I am very passionate about. I have more or less dedicated six years of my job as a public representative to pursuing various drugs for rare diseases. I have a feeling I know what will be contained in the answer in front of the Minister of State. It will probably be something about the fact that the State is spending more money than ever on drugs for rare diseases and drugs in general. The spend is more than €4 billion. What I would like to hammer home is that a tiny fraction of that - less than 1% - is dedicated to new drugs, specifically drugs for rare diseases.”
“In one fell swoop, we can secure 100 to 150 childcare places, which would be a massive boost for an area where primarily young, working families are situated. The building owner is on board and Cork City Childcare is supportive. It is one of two applications that have come forward from my side of the city. I am pleading with the Minister of State to take the message back to the Minister that Glanmire needs its slice of that €135 million.”
“It is probably the single biggest area where new housing developments are being built on the north-eastern side of the city. There has been a large influx of young families but, unfortunately, many of them have nowhere to send their children locally and they are sending them further afield. In the last couple of weeks, an announcement was made to close one of the naíonraí, which is one of the only language provision childcare facilities that we have. Many of those parents have to go to Mayfield and other parts of the city to avail of childcare. That discommodes people because it might not be part of their normal route to work and given the traffic and having to ferry children left, right and centre across the city, it is often difficult to make the journey.”
“It was remiss of me to forget that the Minister of State was in Glanmire when people were in the depths of despair after that flooding incident. I know they were most grateful at that time. They were also grateful to the Taoiseach and the then Minister, Michael McGrath, who was also there at the time. It was remiss of me to forget that, but I know the community in Glanmire certainly will not. In the brief time that I have, I want to make the case again. There will be dozens of these projects across the country. We will all have them in our constituencies. We will all be putting our best foot forward to try to get one of these over the line in each of our areas. I want the Minister of State to relay the message to the Minister, Deputy Foley, that Glanmire is unique in many respects, especially on the northside of Cork city.”
“This is particularly the case where young families are just trying to send their children to affordable childcare while they go about their daily business. As I said, I believe Glanmire can put its best foot forward. I hope it is given due consideration in the coming months.”
“It reckons that it can deliver up to 150 affordable childcare places in that building. The majority of the criteria were laid out in the Minister’s announcement some months ago. Glanmire ticks the majority of the boxes. I am sure that other Deputies will make the same pleas over the coming months in pitching for this €135 million fund. I know we will not be able to satisfy everybody's demands, but I am trying to put forward the case for Glanmire. I heard initial feedback that it is expected the scheme will be oversubscribed. In many ways, that is indicative of the demand that is out there. However, we are talking about hard-pressed, working families, especially in the context of the last few weeks, many of whom feel disenfranchised and feel that we could do more for them.”
“We have built 157,000 homes nationally since 2020, but the community in Glanmire is feeling the strain of that housing development. The State-led programme will step up and step in where the need is greatest targeting areas with unmet demand and low levels of existing childcare. Glanmire ticks that box. It has growing demand, limited existing community provision and families who would benefit enormously from an affordable, high-quality facility run on a not-for-profit basis. Again, Glanmire ticks that box. The initial phase of the programme will acquire and refurbish places that can provide in excess of 100 childcare places and facilities that can open in late 2026 or early 2027. Again, Glanmire ticks that box. I recently brought Cork City Childcare to Glanmire, with the owner of a proposed building and a proposed proprietor.”
“Over the past decade, it has seen significant growth and, with recent zoning, the population is forecast to double in the next ten years, yet its childcare infrastructure has not kept pace. In Glanmire, I can count at least four premises that were designated for childcare services that were never delivered, specifically because of the non-enforcement of planning conditions by the local authority. More recently, we face the further closure of another two settings, which exacerbates problems locally. This is a barrier to work in some cases but, most importantly, it is detrimental to the well-being of our children. The Government's forward-planning unit has acknowledged the need to focus on areas where childcare places have not kept pace with housing development.”
“You have, to be fair. It was after the flooding. The Minister of State is familiar with it. In the last 15 or 20 years, there has been unprecedented development of residential housing there. In the current city development plan proposals, further residential zoning is earmarked. Recently, the Minister, Deputy Foley, announced €135 million for State-led early learning and childcare services. It is a very welcome scheme and, in time, will prove to be a landmark announcement if we build upon it. I stand here today to make the case for Glanmire and why it needs to be among the first tranche to benefit from the announcement. As I said, Glanmire is rapidly growing.”
“I thank the Minister of State for attending. I know this does not involve his own area, so I appreciate him taking this Topical Issue. As the Acting Chair said, I want to speak about childcare. It is probably one of the top three most prevalent issues in my own area of the city in Glanmire. If the Minister of State is not sure where Glanmire is or does not know much about it, it is a strong, growing suburb.”
“Can we please knock heads together and undertake to carry out what is committed to in the programme for Government, or at least begin to do so? It is going to take a significant period to carry out the reviews. Can we please get on task and do the job at hand?”
“It will not surprise the Tánaiste and Minister for Health that at another session of Questions on Policy or Legislation, I have another question about rare diseases. Like Deputy McCarthy, I am going to keep raising this until I see some action. The programme for Government commits to an early access scheme. It also commits to a review of the reimbursement process, which numerous Deputies have raised here over the past few months. We have had people with Friedreich's ataxia and different types of muscular atrophy and dystrophy. The list goes on. Dr. Rónán Collins was before the health committee and I asked him about vaccinations. Vaccinations are subject to the same assessment process as drugs, from the most simple form of application to the most complex. We have an archaic, outdated system.”
“I raise an issue relating to rare diseases. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle and I recently attended a meeting with sufferers of Friedreich's ataxia. The Tánaiste will be aware of the quest by people with Duchenne muscular dystrophy to have givinostat approved. I do not expect him to comment on that because it is subject to negotiation at the moment but the same thing is happening with a different cohort of patients. Some have come to this building to attend audiovisual room briefings and so on, all in the hope that they can access some rare clinical trial or rare medicine. That will keep on happening in perpetuity unless the system actually adjusts and changes. An early access scheme was mooted in the programme for Government. Has that work commenced and, if so, where are we at with it? Before long, we will be halfway through this term.”
“I ask the Taoiseach to discuss it with the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley, and to commit to a review of how we found our disability service providers particularly in Cork.”
“Yesterday on Taoiseach's Questions, I raised the significant problem of residential care provision for families in Cork. The Taoiseach knows the difficulties facing families and he has met a number of them. I know his office is inundated with requests for help. Unfortunately, particularly in Cork, it seems we are running from crisis to crisis. It seems that respite or residential care is only available for people in those crisis situations. I know the Taoiseach knows this is not a way to run a disability service. I have asked a number of parliamentary questions over the past few weeks and it seems that funding for different disability service providers is very erratic and ad hoc . Sometimes it just rolls over for historical or legacy reasons.”
“I have a good chance compared with some in the room. I believe we need to get real here. We spoke about developer-led infrastructure in particular with regard to improving our housing delivery. That seems to be taking a backseat now.”
“None of us in this room will be on this planet in 2080 and Irish Water is talking about improving water quality, in a Cork context anyway, by 2080.”
“I want to raise the section under quality of water or water bodies. The report outlines that the water body assessment showed that 55.3% of Ireland's rivers were assessed as high or good in comparison to 56.2% a number of years prior. The reason I am raising it is that it is specific to one case in Carrignavar, which is in my constituency. Over the past few months, we have been able to tell people that record funding is going to be given to Irish Water to fix many of the problems that have been historic in nature and were carried over from various local authorities. The reality here is that our water quality is disimproving in that period, according to this report. I attended a briefing with Irish Water last week. We listened to plans that go out to 2080.”
“I am genuinely very concerned about the outlook for full-time residential care. I assume this is replicated in other parts of the country. We need to fund service providers adequately to provide accommodation. I thank the Taoiseach for meeting the Before We Die campaign, which is at the helm in terms of progressing the issue, and I hope he has more interaction with it in the next few weeks.”
“I too want to raise an issue around residential care, following on from Deputy Daly. The Taoiseach and I share a county and city. To be fair, his office was very helpful in the case I worked on with it over the past two weeks where a person required urgent residential intervention. The problem in a Cork context was that this young adult was diagnosed with a mild disability. To call a spade a spade, there are no residential opportunities for anybody with that categorisation in Cork, irrespective of their condition. That is happening in Cork at the moment. The county is essentially only dealing with emergency cases and cases are being managed on a week to week basis. At best, that is what people are trying to do. There is very little forward planning. I have met all of the service providers over the past few weeks.”
“If we allow what is being proposed to happen, where resources could be agreed by principals, SENOs and school management, in the absence of diagnosis we are actually going to create another problem further down the line and that needs to be re-examined.”
“When reviews happened every 12 months, or when they were ongoing by the special educational needs organisers, SENOs, the changes might have been marginal. There might have been 0.25 of a gain of an SNA or 0.25 of a loss of an SNA, depending on the circumstances of the school. The problem, as I said, is the gap is so wide now that we are facing those cliff edges. There needs to be some mechanism built in where we do not face drops of such significance. I have a serious concern, and I hope to speak about it again tomorrow night, in relation to assessment of need. It is very difficult for SENOs to quantify the need in the absence of diagnosis. We are creating a further problem for ourselves in a couple of years' time. It is quite clear the demands that will be required of a school.”
“Fundamentally, I have an issue with calling this a review in the first place because a review is something that is ongoing. There was clearly such a gap between the last review and this proposed review that I think we should just call it what it is and should start from scratch and build up again. I do not think a review is the right term for it. I spoke to both the Minister and Minister of State over the past few weeks in relation to cliff edges in particular, and that is what we experienced here. There were schools, including in my constituency, where two, three or four SNAs were being lost because the gap between the reviews was so big. The Minister and Minister of State should consider some threshold or ceiling. Reviews have always happened.”
“As I said, I worked in a classroom environment for 15 years. Some of the best professionals I have worked with over my career have been SNAs. When we were looking at professional development and people doing courses, in many cases, teachers would not do the necessary upskilling that was required. I think of instances where we had to start utilising EpiPens and so on in class. The SNAs were among the first to put up their hands to do many of those tasks. Let us be honest about it; they should not have been doing them. When the Minister and Minister of State are considering this over the next few months, I hope they broaden the circular that has been referenced here. I hope it recognises the reality on the ground in many schools and the practical examples I have just given.”
“There has been a lot of commentary tonight to which I have been listening. I welcome everybody in the Gallery. Some of the commentary I agree with while some of it I fundamentally disagree with and, in my three minutes, I will try to explain as much as I can. As a teacher, I taught for 15 years in a school. I would have had interaction with our autism spectrum disorder, ASD, hub, which we had in Fermoy where I taught for most of my career. I challenge anybody, including the Minister and Minister of State, to find a better example of where an ASD hub is integrated into the mainstream school setting than in Fermoy where I taught. It was right up there with best practice. I disagree with some of the commentary over the past hour or so. Some people are alleging that we do not value SNAs.”
“We need something clinical and that can generate statistics in order that people can be guided in making these decisions, particularly the SENOs.”
“I will leave the Minister of State with three points because I know he will be engaging with the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and his senior Minister in the next few days. First, the cliff edge that I have spoken to him about regularly cannot be the reality. The review I spoke to him about which happened every year needs to be consistent so we do not face this cliff edge in the future. At this point, the loss of any SNA is not tenable given the climate and context of what has happened and the lack of trust and the anxiety created. There were always minor movements in the number of SNAs over the years but given the gravity of what has happened and the scale of some of the drops, it is not tenable. I spoke privately to the Minister of State about the lack of a requirement of a diagnosis. That will create problems down the line.”
“Diagnosis takes place at various times throughout the year. The needs of a school change over the course of a year and we need to have built-in headroom in terms of the allocation of resources going forward.”