Pa Daly
Kerry · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I thank the Minister of State for coming in to deal with this issue when other colleagues were not available. She will be able to bring her experience of this area to this debate. I am slightly caught for time, so I will try to parse it a little bit. I wish to ask the Minister of State about the harmful content on social media platforms.”
“While we know violence against women is a crisis and femicide in Ireland is a crisis, it is overwhelmingly men who carry out these acts. These are men of all cultures, races and ethnicities. However, social media giants have a responsibility and are clearly not stepping up to the plate. They are not complying with their obligations.”
“The Digital Services Act was introduced. It was to ensure a safe, predictable and trusted online environment and to prioritise greater activity and online safety. There is the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022 to protect children and the public from harmful and illegal content. There is a danger.”
“We are running over time but I will make one more point. If, as it provides in the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act, we are to protect children and adults from online conduct, how does it look as an example to younger people in particular when this content is still allowed to be there?”
“Somebody even said that they hope these comments are not going to be deleted to suit one's ideology, which they misspelt. That is the kind of narrative that is going on. They are mocking her beliefs and her. It is similar to what is being investigated by the police in Britain.”
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“I pay tribute to the ESB workers who risked their lives not only after Storm Éowyn but also after the severe snow alert. Eighteen days later, power has not been restored for many. For others, the power returned only to go back out again. Although Storm Éowyn was severe, power cuts are not unique to this storm. Despite paying the highest electricity prices in Europe, many people are regularly left without power. I received an email from someone in the Brosna area of County Kerry who said she can count at least ten power outages since 2 July 2024. Along with those, there were another six planned outages. She says it is critical the ESB provides a genuine explanation because there are financial implications. She had to throw away food that had been spoiled. They were cold and left without heating. Many of these letters came to my office.”
“Rather than punishing the poorest, coldest homes, our vision includes significant supply-side investment in accessible and affordable schemes, expanding public, community and domestic ownership of renewables and reform of our energy market, one in which the burden of transition is distributed more equitably, not to a corporate buyout. If people are being mandated to make significant changes, they deserve to feel like they are not being ripped off. We need to know the lights will not go out. When it comes to the Government's plan for transport, it is packed with commitments that are already there as part of the national development plan.”
“Public transport is either unreliable or entirely unavailable and to make matters worse Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents have failed to outline in detail how they plan to spend the carbon taxes they have talked about so much over the past four years. These are the same carbon taxes they plan to increase every year. Despite committing to ring-fence these funds, only 61% of carbon tax funds have been spent funding carbon action since 2020. The State-driven eco-austerity heaps enormous strain on ordinary workers, families and farmers. As a result, climate action becomes synonymous with rising costs, compounding fear, resentment and frustration. Sinn Féin, on the other hand, wants a just transition to tackle excessive consumption and wealth.”
“In addition, the regressive carbon taxes, combined with inaccessible schemes, will punish people without alternatives, locking out those who need the most support. Some of the Government-backing TDs used to agree with me on that, even tabling motions calling for carbon taxes to be scrapped. I wonder if this has now changed. The people of Kerry will be watching very closely to see if they stick to their word because poorer, mostly rural households all over the country and the county simply do not have an alternative to burning turf or using their gas boiler to heat their homes. Do not talk to me about affording an EV.”
“Ireland's electricity prices are going to remain the highest in Europe and as our over-dependence on imported energy becomes further entrenched, the bottlenecks in planning and the grid will hamper Ireland's green energy revolution, which is vital for the west and south west of the country. Our incredible 640 GW of potential for renewables is going to slip through our fingers. After 14 years in government, it is incredible that we still have no offshore wind or even planning permission granted for it off the west coast. We will continue to blow right past our climate targets and we are going to risk up to €8 billion in fines. The Government's punitive, inequitable approach to climate action clearly has not worked and is not going to work in the future.”
“While it is packed with promises to explore, investigate or examine, the programme for Government lacks any vision and any of the political will that Ireland needs. At the same time, many of the convictions Independent TDs claim to have had while in Opposition seem to have fallen by the wayside. It it is going to lead to another five years of crisis in housing, health and the cost of living. Some people trusted the Government on housing in the run-up to the election but they have realised it was not quite being upfront. It knew what was coming down the line after the election with the results for its housing targets.”
“Over the past three weeks, we have witnessed the devastation caused by Storm Éowyn, how the Government failed to build up resilience in advance and then how it failed to mount an effective response in the aftermath. As our climate worsens, so too will these storms and extreme weather events. I am sure everyone will agree that business as usual will not cut it. However, this programme for Government confirms what we already knew, namely, that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have run out of ideas. There is very little new in this programme for Government and certainly nothing new for the people of Kerry. The Government is determined to continue with more of the same and we all know what doing something again and again and expecting a different result means.”
“That is why we propose to overhaul the regressive solar PV scheme to be replaced with an income-based tiered grant scheme. A 5 kW battery alongside domestic solar panels can keep essential services running for up to 24 hours during a power outage. The solar revolution should be for everyone. We also have measures to develop long-duration energy storage to enable island communities to have a backup battery. These are some of the ways that this Government could be better prepared in the face of a changing climate. Instead of burying its head in the sand, I urge the Government to plan now for an electricity grid that is fit for purpose and resilient for our changed times.”
“These same companies continue to make eye-watering profits, some of which recently were at windfall levels, but their communication with vulnerable people left a lot to be desired. Regulation could be one way to bring down energy prices, which remain some of the highest in Europe. There are also broader structural issues which the Government must address. Investment must be made into Ireland's grid. As is reflected by Sinn Féin's proposal to establish a €2.5 billion investment fund, Ireland also needs to shore up its backup supply of generators. We should not be reliant on generators from other countries that take days to arrive. Household energy self-sufficiency should not be the exclusive remit of those with the greatest means.”
“It has to be said that some of the interactions between forestry owners and the ESB on maintenance corridors leaves a lot to be desired. Some owners of plantations point blank refused to allow access recently to ESB crews. These are people who have benefited from massive State grants and did not have to get planning permission for their plantations. Our recent proposals, however, were ignored. We also encouraged the Government to follow international best practice by introducing goodwill payments. As households pay for the grid through standing charges, it is only right that they should be compensated. Standing charges remain the exclusive domain of energy companies, despite our legislation to regulate them years ago.”
“Another family told me that they regularly resort to the use of outdated or possibly dangerous heating appliances because they have no other option. While the Government may accept this as normal, we do not. Unlike this Government, Sinn Féin has a plan to deliver an affordable, sustainable and secure energy system that is resilient to extreme weather events. We also want to distribute the burden of the maintenance fairly, for example through the restructuring of network charges and the PSO levy. In the immediate aftermath, Sinn Féin called on the Government to implement a number of measures including emergency accommodation, increased resourcing for local authorities as well as in respect of the issue of co-operation of forestry or plantation owners along maintenance corridors.”
“I want to commend the extraordinary effort of ESB and Uisce Éireann workers who cleared roads, fixed lines and provided thousands of meals for vulnerable people. Many of them were out day and night over the past 11 days to ensure some type of normality for homes all over the country. Serious issues remain because we cannot put a plaster over a gaping wound. The devastation of the storm has been compounded by historical failures of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to build an energy infrastructure which is fit for purpose. Power outages are not a rare occurrence in many areas, particularly in parts of Kerry. One resident in Brosna told me that they and their family experienced a staggering 20 power cuts last year. Others told me about relatives whose lives are regularly put at risk when life-saving medical equipment cannot be charged.”
“I dealt with people who were trapped in their own homes and whose home carers could not attend to them, people with mobility issues who were getting increasingly frantic with what was happening to them. In my own constituency of Kerry, people are asking for answers. When will this all of this finally come to an end? How will the Government ensure that we are better prepared to withstand such storms in the future? What additional help or payments will be provided to homes that have had essential services cut off for weeks? In response, the Government has been silent. It declined to recall the Dáil, focusing instead on negotiating eye-watering salary top-ups for a record number of junior Ministers, an indictment of the shambolic response of this Government.”
“The impact of the recent heavy snow and of Storm Éowyn has been utterly devastating. It exposed the vulnerability of Ireland's creaking infrastructure. Climate scientists have been warning for years of the increasing likelihood of extreme weather events, yet we were totally unprepared. Households the length and breadth of the country found themselves in desperate situations. In the peak of the aftermath, three quarters of a million homes were without power. Two weeks have now passed and nothing has changed for thousands of people. They cannot wash themselves, turn on the light or heat their homes. For the elderly and those with chronic illnesses, the lack of water and power poses a real risk to their lives.”