Pádraig Rice
Cork South-Central · Social Democrats · Ireland
“There is no clinical reason this should not be extended to oral contraceptives. Pharmacists are highly trained healthcare professionals. They should be allowed to operate at the top of their licence. They are available in every community and are very accessible.”
“I welcome the Bill. We spend a lot of time inside these Houses talking about other parts of reproductive healthcare and not enough about contraception, so it is really welcome that we are having a focus and discussion on it and are moving forward with changes.”
“The oral contraceptive pill has been around for well over half a century and is one of the safest and most well-studied medicines available. In 2019, the World Health Organization publicly stated that oral contraception should be available without needing prescription.”
“I move amendment No. 8: In page 5, between lines 20 and 21, to insert the following: “Report on prescription-free oral contraceptives 4. The Minister shall, within six months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before Dáil Éireann a report on a proposal to allow registered pharmacists to dispense prescription-free oral contracepti…”
“We are talking about the prescription of oral contraceptives as called for by the World Health Organization, as set out by the Irish Pharmacy Union and as endorsed by the previous health committee. We are looking for a report on that with the detail of the various elements, if more detail is required.”
“It is important that we allow pharmacists to operate at the top of their licence and give them as much power as possible, and alleviate pressures on GPs. As I said, this is recommended by the World Health Organization and endorsed by the previous health committee and the IPU. That is the background to this amendment.”
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“There is a movement across the world to increase participation among young people by lowering the voting age. We know the UK Government intends to lower the voting age. In recent weeks in the Netherlands, D66, which won the election there, put the ability to vote at 16 at the heart of its manifesto. This will happen here too, and we will get there despite the resistance on the part of the Government. It is worth looking at some of the evidence. There are three strong arguments in particular. One concerns increasing civic participation and lowering the barriers to registration. Research demonstrates that there is a trickle-up effect on participation when 16- and 17-year-olds are eligible to vote. It provides for younger people to not only engage in civic life but also to participate in conversation about politics and local issues.”
“If the Government was genuinely serious, it would engage with us, move this Bill forward to Committee Stage, listen to both the arguments put forward and to young people and genuinely engage. We could do that over a number of months and have a debate on this important issue. Introducing a timed amendment, a route the Government also took in respect of our Bill in the Seanad a number of weeks ago, is the wrong approach. I ask the Government to reconsider its approach to this and actually give this issue serious consideration, listen to the arguments, to young people and the Opposition and work together on this important issue. As my colleague said, there is now a global movement to reduce the voting age. We have seen it in Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador, Germany, Malta, Nicaragua, Scotland, Wales and Greece.”
“First, I congratulate my colleague, Deputy Farrelly, on bringing forward this proposal, leading on it, setting this out and being a champion on this issue. I am very disappointed by the Government's response of kicking this issue down the road. We have young people who really want to engage with the democratic process and have their say. People who are aged 16 and 17 now will be aged 17 and 18 a year from now. By the time the Government finally gets its act together, they will be aged 18 and over, so this matter is time sensitive and we need to make progress on it. The Minister for justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, stated recently that if the Social Democrats brought forward legislation, the Government would give it serious consideration. I do not think a timed amendment is serious consideration.”
“We know the real impact that living in poverty has on people's overall health and health outcomes. I hope that, out of today's statements, we get a focus on men from these communities who have much poorer health outcomes. We need to put more resources, focus and energy into reversing some of these trends and changing these stats so that we can have better outcomes for men across Ireland.”
“I support the Minister of State in her efforts to do that. We will always have her back on that. We want to see progress together on that. I would also like to see an expansion of the gay men's health service that currently exists in Dublin. I would like to see those expanded at a regional level across the country. Each region should have a version of that service. It should not just be Dublin. In the final minute, I would like to touch on the experiences of disabled men. We know from the Disability Federation of Ireland that 43% of disabled people over the age of 15 have reported some level of depression. There are really high levels of depression among people who are disabled. Similarly, of those unable to work because of disability, one in five lives in consistent poverty.”
“We need to take really seriously our treatment of Travellers, particularly health outcomes for Travellers. Similarly, I will touch on the experiences of gay, bi and trans men. Trinity College published a study this year, entitled "Being LGBTQI+ in Ireland", that set out the mental health experiences. Some 27% of people experienced severe or extremely severe levels of depression, 34% experienced severe levels of anxiety, 23% experienced extreme levels of stress, 52% had self-harmed, 64% reported suicidal thoughts and 26% had attempted suicide. There are really concerning levels of poor mental health in that community and it really needs to be a priority. I echo the calls made by others earlier about the importance of trans healthcare. It is lifesaving. We would save people's lives by having better trans healthcare.”
“In 2008, the life expectancy of a Traveller man was 61, similar to the life expectancy of the general population in the 1940s. It should be a real cause for concern, in particular given the high levels of suicide among Traveller men, as Deputy Quaide mentioned. I am a member of the Oireachtas Traveller committee. Last week, we had IHREC before us. I will read from its opening statement, because it should be setting off alarm bells in every Department. It quotes from the Council of Europe, which states: We must confront the injustices faced by Roma and travellers, the racism and discrimination that we allow to persist on a massive scale. This is one of Europe’s greatest human rights scandals. That is coming from the Council of Europe, echoed by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.”
“As the Minister of State and the Leas-Cheann Comhairle will know, every time we have health statements, I question their value, particularly given the backlog of legislation we have relating to the right to home care, legislation relating to CHI and much other legislation, but I see real value in this. It has been great to hear the consistent messages across the House about particular parts of our communities that are affected and the need for an intersectional approach, particularly relating to Traveller men, LGBT people and disabled people. That is important and hopefully it is a message the Department will take away, about focusing on those groups in particular. There is a shocking statistic that Traveller men live 15 years shorter. It should really concern us about the life expectancy rates.”
“Earlier this month, the Minister for Health told the Dáil that she is taking every step to attract radiation therapists into the public system. This is simply not the case. Radiation therapy graduates are not guaranteed HSE contracts, unlike graduate nurses. How can this be justified when we have vacancy rates of between 15% and 22%? Will the Minister make good on her word and take every step to attract these graduates? A good start would be permanent contracts for all of them.”
“At today's health committee, the Irish Cancer Society said there is a complacent notion that we are doing well in cancer but we are not. The reality is that the State's cancer services are deteriorating. A prime example of this is radiation therapy, which is beset with antiquated machinery and staff shortages. Radiation therapy machines need to be changed every ten years. That is their internationally accepted lifespan. In Ireland, 35% of machines are already 15 years old, while a further 40% will need replacement in five years. There is no national replacement programme in place. Alongside this, there are major staff shortages across radiation therapy services, with machines lying idle in public hospitals.”
“We need to ensure that is part of the debate and the consideration in preparation for that new and united Ireland that I would like to see.”
“There is a lot left to be done about living standards, eradication of poverty and concerns about suicide. I recently read the book Lost, Found, Remembered by Lyra McKee. In it she talked about the suicide rates and about the fact that, according to a report in The Guardian in February 2018, around 4,500 people had died by suicide since the Good Friday Agreement. She wrote: "It's the most tragic of ironies that 20 years of peace could rob us of more lives than 30 years of war did." Lyra also wrote in that book, "I don't want a United Ireland or a stronger Union. I just want a better life." I think there are a lot of young people in Northern Ireland who are of that perspective, who want better living standards.”
“We need to learn from our nearest neighbours. I lived in the UK in 2014 and 2015, around the time of the Scottish independence referendum and in advance of Brexit. What we learned from the Scottish independence referendum was that they failed to prepare properly. They lost that and it set back that movement about a decade. There are lessons to be learned from that. Similarly, in terms of Brexit, the result was so close - 52% to 48%. We should take cognisance of the real tensions and the divide that exist in British society as a result. We need to think back to the Good Friday Agreement and the promises that were made about peace, prosperity and an end to violence. There is a lot to be done to deliver those promises to people in Northern Ireland, particularly around prosperity.”
“One of the community workers working in Dundalk mentioned that she knew people who worked in the community right across the Republic but did not know any of those working in the North and that there was an invisible wall there. This kind of forum, over two weekends across the year, was designed to bring people together and for them to sit down with people they would not meet otherwise - people from different backgrounds and different perspectives but all of us part of one community living on this island. That is the kind of work that needs to happen, and more of it needs to happen. We need to give a lot of consideration to some of the issues that will dominate a unification referendum, including flags and anthems. We need to give these things deep consideration. That is work that should happen now.”
“This is work in which I am proud to be involved with some of my Social Democrat colleagues. Recently, we did a trip to Belfast and engaged with colleagues in Stormont. We have engaged with unionists over the last year to listen, to learn, to understand and to have a better understanding of Northern Ireland and the North in preparation for that. In my previous role, I worked with LGBT Ireland and in that role I set up an all-island LGBT forum funded through Community Foundation Ireland and the shared island initiative to bring together people from the LGBT community North and South whose lives had not crossed before.”
“Like Deputy Bacik, I wish to express my concerns about the scenes we are seeing in Dublin tonight and I ask Members to think twice before inflaming tensions even further. It is something we should all be mindful of. On the motion at hand, I believe in a new and united Ireland, one with a thriving all-island economy, with universal public services and inclusive politics. We have a real opportunity here to create a new and better Ireland, one that enshrines rights in a new Constitution, including a right to housing, a right to healthcare, that guarantees equality and delivers a more inclusive kind of Ireland for all of us. Before we get to that new and united Ireland, we need to unite communities before we unite territories. There is a lot of deep work that needs to be happen in preparation for that.”
“The budget is lacking in detail on these key programmes. We want to see increased funding and more detail on a programmatic level across the health service.”
“There is no ring-fenced budget for reform and the Sláintecare 2025 plan was published without any pledge of money for implementation. The Social Democrats have consistently called on the Government to lay out a five-year plan of programme funding for Sláintecare. I will make that call again. We want to see detailed costing on the implementation of Sláintecare. I agree with my colleague from Sinn Féin earlier who talked about the detail of the health budget. I have to agree with him that it is lacking in detail. We saw it in the budget yesterday for other Departments. On agriculture, there was €85 million for the eradication of TB in cows. We have been calling for increased funding for TB in humans and we have not got any details on that budget despite an increase of 30% in TB in the last year.”
“This year’s budget does nothing to make healthcare more affordable. For example, it is silent on extending free GP care and reducing charges under the drugs payment scheme. When it comes to the €1.5 billion increase on last year’s health budget, I must say I have my doubts. I suspect that there is an element of smoke and mirrors with many precommitted elements just repackaged because I certainly have not seen many new initiatives announced. After this year's budget, we have to be left wondering whether the Government is serious about Sláintecare. In 2026, this Government plans to do very little to progress it, and that is incredibly short-sighted. Despite repeated requests, we have got no updated costings on Sláintecare.”
“In fact, I have never seen a health budget so short on detail, ambition or reform. In the Minister’s quest for productivity and value for money, she has lost sight of other priorities. She seems to have forgotten that unless we fundamentally reorientate our health service away from acute to community settings, we will continue to treat people in the least efficient and most expensive way. Increasing productivity and achieving value for money in our health service is to be welcomed, but it is quickly becoming the Minister’s raison d'être . It seems that Sláintecare reforms have been put on ice for 2026. There should be a clear focus on consultant rostering, weekend scheduling and hospital activity, but so too should there be a focus on improving services and reducing out-of-pocket expenses.”
“If this is the case, 2,000 artists currently in receipt of the payment will be left high and dry, with no idea what their fate will be six months later. Some of these artists have finally got mortgages or are able to start families because of the stability the scheme provided, but now that is in jeopardy. Clarity for these artists is urgently needed. Now I would like to turn to health, which must be one of the more underwhelming aspects of the budget. First, I wish to point out that not once was Sláintecare mentioned by the Ministers yesterday when delivering the budget speeches. This is the plan that should be guiding all health spending and yet it was not even uttered once. However, I should not be surprised since Sláintecare is about reform, and the health budget is shockingly short on that.”
“When it comes to student fees, the Government is claiming that there has been a €500 cut. That is simply not the case. Last year, students paid €2,000 in fees and now they will pay €2,500. It is simply Orwellian to call this a cut. On basic income for artists, as mentioned by the previous speaker, I welcome the Government’s commitment to putting the scheme on a permanent footing. However, many questions remain unanswered, and artists are understandably anxious. Last night, a constituent of mine, who has been on the scheme for three years, contacted me about one specific issue. Yesterday, it was reported that there will be a gap of up to six months between the current scheme and the permanent successor.”
“How can it accept consistent child poverty by the end of this decade? There is hardly a greater avoidable tragedy in Irish society than that of children living in poverty. In 2024, 8.5% of children were living in consistent poverty; over 45,000 more than the year previous. We know the scarring effects that living in poverty has on the life of a child. This is why we should be eliminating consistent child poverty by 2030, not reducing it to a mere 3%. That should be the priority, not lining the pockets of developers and fast-food chain owners. Instead, VAT for developers has been slashed at a cost of €390 million per year, while VAT on hospitality, which includes the likes of McDonald's and Starbucks, will cost €681 million per year. It is as simple as this: "Show me your budget and I will show you your priorities".”
“We all know that budgets are about choices. This Government has made its choice. It has chosen big developers and multinationals. Ordinary workers and households be damned, because there is nothing here for them. In fact, middle-income earners will be worse off. What happened to all the pre-election promises? It is quite clear that the Government was just paying lip service in order to win an election. Where is its ambition? The budget lacks vision. It will not deliver transformative change. Yesterday, the Minister, Deputy Chambers, told the House that the Government’s goal is to have no more than 3% of children living in consistent poverty by 2030. That equates to 36,000 children. Why is this Government willing to accept that a single child in this State should be living in consistent poverty?”
“We need to work together on solutions for the people of Ireland. As stated at the outset, housing is the biggest issue facing the country. We need to put forward solutions. Greater transparency is part of that. I again commend my colleague on bringing forward this legislation.”
“I would like to see a mentality of actually engaging on legislation, of us trying to progress it together and of trying to put forward solutions, because what happens every time we bring something forward at present is that it is shot down by the Government. It opposes everything across the board. Whether it is a motion or a Bill, the Government opposes it and does not try to work with us to bring forward real solutions for people and improve things. As I stated earlier today, there is real lack of Government legislation. We have statements after statements but no legislation. More Government time could be devoted to bringing forward legislation and to progressing some of Bills of this nature that are put forward. I published a Bill last week. I would like to work with the Government to get it over the line.”
“We have record levels of homelessness, people in desperate situations and house prices and rents are soaring, When measures are put forward to improve things, those in government oppose them and present matters in a way to make it look as if things are going great. The narrative from the Government needs to change. It needs to be more reflective of what is happening for citizens and reflect the desperate situations people are in. The Government would do well to engage with the Opposition on our proposals and suggestions on how we can progress matters because that is the only way we will get to solutions. Two weeks ago, the Minister for Justice, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, stated that if the Social Democrats bring forward legislation, the Government would give it serious consideration and would engage with it.”
“I am sure some of the lawyers who work for the Department could overcome the challenges - if the Minister of State thinks they exist - and draft legislation On the broader issues relating to housing, none of the Department's housing schemes are working. There are affordable houses in Cork city that cost €400,000. On what planet is a house costing €400,000 deemed to be affordable by the State? The Minister needs to reconsider the position. We need greater transparency in the costs around housing and around the profits made by developers. Tat is what we are trying to achieve here. Sometimes when I hear Government representatives talk about housing, I wonder whether they have the same type of constituents that I have. Do they get the same emails that I get?”
“I, too, welcome the visitors in the Gallery. I congratulate my colleague Deputy Ahern on introducing his first of legislation in the House. It is a significant achievement and great to see. As we all know, housing is the biggest challenge facing the country. We need to consider all measures possible to address this challenge. Part of that involves increased transparency and accountability, better data and more information. That is what we are try to achieve here. I am disappointed but not surprised that the Government is opposing this legislation and an increase in transparency. It has never had an interest in greater transparency in this area. I have to dispute some of the arguments put forward. The Minister of State stated that it is legally challenging. Maybe he should engage with the Attorney General's office.”
“With continued political will, we can further enhance the role of community pharmacists and maximise their potential across every village, town and city. This would be in keeping with the principles underpinning Sláintecare and the Minister will have my support in advancing these aims.”
“The IPU has been making a compelling case for prescription-free contraceptives and pharmacies have been providing emergency contraception without prescription since 2011. There is no clinical reason for not extending this to oral contraception, as recommended by the World Health Organization. We should be making contraception more accessible, particularly for hard-to-reach groups. We should be streamlining the free contraception scheme so that patients can visit a pharmacy for oral contraception without having to go to their GP first. This new agreement was an opportunity to remove that barrier to prescription-free contraception and ease operations. As I said, overall, great progress has been made and I hope this momentum continues.”
“Instead of accepting that the exclusion of trans women is wrong and changing course, the Minister has dug in, further disadvantaging one of the most marginalised groups in society. It really is simple. Trans women should be included in the scheme. To employ one interpretation of the scheme for trans women and another for cis women is wrong. It is particularly galling this week when we had representatives of the trans community in the Oireachtas to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Gender Recognition Act. Free HRT should mean free HRT and I urge the Minister to do the right thing and reverse that decision. Another issue I want to speak about is free contraception. The role of pharmacists in providing free contraception could be expanded. Great progress has been made in recent years and I hope this momentum continues.”
“We are talking about patients who need help to safely manage their medication such as those with reading difficulties, mobility issues, the very elderly and those living with addiction. This cost-cutting measure risks patient safety. The Minister needs to go back to the drawing board if this is the case. There are so many aspects of this agreement that I would like to speak about but I want to prioritise the issue of access to the free HRT scheme. It is completely unacceptable that trans women are being excluded from the scheme. There can be no excuse or justification for this decision. I and others have been raising this with the Minister for a couple of weeks now and I am disappointed with the response.”
“When the Irish Pharmacy Union first proposed this scheme, it estimated that nearly 1 million GP consultations with medical card patients could be dealt with more appropriately by pharmacists. I cannot see how this will be the case under this scheme because although it may no longer be necessary for medical card patients to go to their GP surgery with common conditions, that will still be the only place where they can do so free of charge. Another major issue with this agreement is the ending of phased dispensing for certain groups and the limiting of eligible medicines, as reported in the Irish Examiner last week. Phased dispensing was put in place in 1996 and is now being discontinued to cut costs, seemingly. This will impact some of the must vulnerable patients who should not have been used as a bargaining chip.”
“First, there appears to be no agreed maximum rate for consultations and second, the fee will not be reimbursed by the State. I cannot understand why medical card holders, at the very least, are not covered by this new service. The common conditions service is a positive development but to realise its full potential and to maximise the potential of the entire pharmacy sector, medical card patients should have access to this new service free of charge. I accept that for eligible patients under the HSE drugs scheme, the medication dispensed will be reimbursed. However, one of the main arguments for the common conditions service was to divert medical card holders away from overstretched GPs, where possible. Why would medical card holders with a common condition go to a pharmacy at a cost when they could go to their GP for free?”
“According to the HSE such infections are responsible for 50% of community-acquired pneumonia, with an overall mortality rate as high as 25%. It should be a no-brainer to offer this vaccine to all those over 65 and high-risk groups free of charge. The expansion of the PPV23 vaccine into pharmacies is welcome but it should not come with a means test. Speaking of charges, I have concerns about the arrangements for common condition service, primarily the consultation fee. Just last week I asked about this by way of a parliamentary question to the Minister. In her response she said that the common condition service will be a fee-paying service with pharmacies entitled to charge a consultation fee which will not be reimbursed by the State. There are two issues here.”
“At that time, there was considerable pushback from the sector but thankfully it is now standard practice for community pharmacists to deliver the flu vaccine as well as Covid vaccines. In fact, community pharmacists now administer one in every three vaccines in the flu and Covid vaccine programmes. I welcome the news that community pharmacists will begin administering the PPV23 vaccine under this agreement. However, my understanding is that this vaccine will only be provided free of charge to medical card patients over 65, unlike the flu vaccine which is free to anybody over 60. Is this the case? One dose of the PPV23 vaccine is recommended for all people aged 65 and over but uptake is low, at below 36%, according to the HSE. Prevention of pneumococcal infection through vaccination should be a priority.”
“Absolutely. We talk a lot about productivity in healthcare. We also need productivity in Parliament. Returning to the topic at hand, the community pharmacy agreement, first I want to say that I welcome the investment in community pharmacies. In recent years, we have seen a real and tangible expansion of the services on offer in community pharmacies and that should be acknowledged. The Minister and her predecessor are to be commended on their work to date in progressing the recommendations of the expert task force, which was established in 2023. It was not too long ago that such changes were extremely difficult to get over the line. A prime example of that was the introduction of the pharmacy-provided flu vaccine over a decade ago.”
“Before I start, I would like to put on the record again my concerns about the amount of Dáil time that is given over to statements. Since the Government was formed, we have dealt with only two pieces of health legislation on the floor of the Dáil, and only one of those was new legislation. The other Bill, the Mental Health Bill, was restored from the previous Dáil. This is not good enough. We need law reform in a host of areas and I would like to see some of those progressed. In fact, only last week I published a Private Members' Bill. I would be happy to work with the Minister to use Government time to progress that legislation, if necessary.”
“How can the Minister justify this policy where radiation therapists are so desperately needed? Why would they move from the private sector to take a pay cut? To address these staffing issues, we need two measures. We need a guarantee of graduate employment for those qualifying and we also need incremental credit for radiation therapists.”
“Regarding staffing, Cork and Galway both have new builds and new machines, but not enough staff. St. Luke's network has a CT scanner with no staff, a skin cancer treatment service operating at reduced capacity because it has insufficient staff, and at the same time, we had 30 graduates in radiation therapy from Trinity College last year. Only ten of them secured posts in Ireland, a further ten left the profession, and ten more have no employment. Radiation therapy graduates need a guarantee of employment from the HSE. At the moment, we are just training them to leave the country, leave the profession or go to the private sector. We also have the ludicrous situation where radiation therapists hired by the HSE do not get incremental credit for previous service in the private sector.”
“Nationally, 35% of machines are already 15 years old, with two more approaching 17 years old. Some 40% of machines will require replacement in the next five years and overall, 75% of the machines will require replacement now or within five years. We need greater investment and we need a programme to replace these machines.”
“First, on machinery, I accept there is a replacement programme under way for St. Luke's but why are machines breaking down before action is taken? The internationally accepted lifespan for a treatment machine is ten years but in St. Luke's, Rathgar, they have two machines that are 15 years old and another two that are almost 17 years old. They are limited to using three machines at a time. This means that a quarter of the capacity in Rathgar is being lost. Why? It is to mitigate breakdowns. These machines need to be replaced every ten years. It is entirely predictable, so why is there not a national programme in place to support a ten-year replacement programme? This ad hoc replacement of antiquated machines coming too late in the day is compromising patient safety.”
“I wish to ask the Minister about cancer services. Over 50% of cancer patients require radiation therapy at some point in their care. It is routinely used to treat the most common types of cancer such as breast, cervical and lung cancers. It is the cornerstone of modern cancer treatment and yet, it is neglected. We have ageing machines. In other areas, newer machines have no staff to operate them. Qualified radiation therapists cannot get jobs and there are shocking levels of outsourcing to the private sector. As of July, €17 million has been spent this year alone contracting-out radiation therapy. What action will the Minister take to address deficits in both staffing and equipment?”
“Of course, we must always push for peace and diplomacy but we have to reflect on the reality of the situation and what it will mean for the people of Gaza, who have already been through such horrors. In conclusion, I once again urge the Government to pass the occupied territories Bill, to end the use of Shannon by the US military, to apply the maximum pressure on the international stage and to protect those on board the flotilla. This is a defining moment. The Irish people have been clear. This genocide must end and the Government must act.”
“I will echo what my colleague, Deputy Gibney, said yesterday that in the face of the intimidation tactics Israel has been using, we need to be ready to step up to provide whatever financial and logistical support we can to protect those on board. I also want to mention the proposed plan. While I welcome the hope of peace, we have to look at what is being proposed. The reality of this deal is that Trump has presented us with a dangerous ultimatum, threatening devastating consequences should it not be accepted, Netanyahu has refused to accept even the concept of a Palestinian State and the people of Gaza have had no voice in the proceedings. Is this really how we end a genocide?”
“The genocide in Gaza is, without a doubt, the issue I am contacted most about by people from Cork. I am frustrated by the lack of action we have seen and that I have nothing of substance to say to the people who contact me. I cannot answer their questions as to why the Government has not passed the occupied territories Bill or why it is allegedly allowing the use of Shannon and Irish airspace to facilitate the transport of weapons. The Government has the power to act on these issues and I urge it to use that power. I offer my support to those on board the flotilla, including the 22 Irish citizens, which include two of our colleagues in Leinster House and the Cork citizens Tadhg Hickey and Donna Schwarz.”
“The Government just needs to make resources available. Somebody I met said that if this were in cattle, the Government would not be found wanting. A TB strategy was published last year but there has been no real progress. Will the Government provide the necessary funding for the TB strategy and the national TB centre so this worrying trend can be reversed?”
“My question relates to tuberculosis, otherwise known as TB. Last year, TB rates increased by 30%, which is really concerning. In 2024, TB cases in children under 12 months equalled the number recorded in the previous decade combined. This year, TB cases are expected to hit 300, yet this growing health crisis has been largely ignored by the Government. The sharp end of this crisis is experienced by some of the most marginalised people in our country. Professor Anne Marie McLaughlin has highlighted that a significant number of the cases are those living in overcrowded settings like direct provision and prisons, both of which the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, is responsible for. Increasing levels of homelessness have also contributed to the sharp rise in TB. If action is taken, we can turn this around. After all, TB is 100% curable.”
“They have been campaigning on this issue for some time. I thank them for their persistent advocacy and work in developing this legislation. I also thank Jake and Juliet in my office for their ongoing work and support.”