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.”
“Bhíos ag caint le healaíontóir i gCiarraí níos luaithe um thráthnóna. Labhair sé liom mar gheall ar na mothúcháin a bhaineann le AI. Dúirt sé liom it could help to generate ideas, layouts and content more quickly, leaving more time to focus on strategy and working with clients.”
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“I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on this very urgent issue. Across Ireland, workers and families are being pushed to breaking point. The price of home heating oil, petrol and diesel are spinning out of control and nothing is being done to stop it. We have just come from a meeting with the road hauliers and what was coming across was Government inaction and dithering and the Government not taking action to help ordinary workers and families. When heating fuel costs skyrocket, it is not an inconvenience for ordinary people. Rather, it is profound. It is an immediate strain on already stretched household budgets. As the Tánaiste probably knows, prices at the pumps are now regularly surging over €2 per litre. The cost of home heating oil has almost doubled from €473 to €970, as one constituent told me.”
“She sang in a previous album about the shoe box of dreams that she had under her bed. She worked for it; she went for it. Maith thú, Jessie. She had to find her own way, as she said herself, and make her own mistakes. She had to go but she never got too big, never got too heavy, never got too cool.”
“She faced the tragic loss of her husband in the past few years and even still the Department has refused her a medical card. On top of all the problems she has in dealing with the diagnosis, she is battling to try to get a medical card. That is something everybody in this House has to take on and try to achieve, not only for women but for people in general. Given the week that is in it, I will finish by acknowledging Jessie Buckley from my own county. She spoke about the great lineage of women in her acceptance speech. I do not know Jessie Buckley but I did know her grand-aunt, Dodie Horgan, or Dodie Comer as she was before she married. Certainly Jessie does come from a great lineage. Her grand-aunt passed away about two months ago. Jessie was an inspiration to women.”
“The U-turn by the Government on the issue sent out a message of hope that another way of doing things was possible. It sent a message for some other campaigns also that change can and will be achieved. I am thinking in particular about the lack of early intervention classes in the County of Kerry. We know there are two in the whole of the County of Kerry while in our neighbouring County Cork there are 22. There are also many schools looking for an extra autism class or, indeed, even one autism class, such as in the campaign waged by the teachers and parents in Moyvane national school. There is also another issue. I am dealing with a woman who has a cancer diagnosis and has to have 16 or 17 radiotherapy sessions. She has been denied a medical card even on a discretionary basis.”
“I am grateful for the opportunity to speak as we mark International Women's Day. It would be remiss of me on my daughter Ailbhe's birthday not to mention her. She is abroad at the moment and, unfortunately, I will not get to see her. I would like to send all my love to her and, while I am at it, to my other daughter, Farren, my mother, my sister, Irene, and especially to my wife, Mary. An opportunity like this is good because it gives us a chance to recognise the value and the contribution of women in Irish society today. We saw that in particular with the recent challenges in respect of SNAs. There was a groundswell of opposition to the proposals to cut the SNAs in schools. I saw that initially from the SNAs in Fussa school and from Glenflesk, Portmagee and around the county.”
“I move: Bill entitled an Act to amend the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 to give the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) the legislative remit required to effectively monitor and regulate standing charges on electricity and gas bills, and to provide for related matters.”
“Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents have a clear choice as to whose side they are on. Will they protect massive profits or will they stand up for workers and families?”
“This legislation will give the energy regulator the power to tackle price-gouging and sanction anti-competitive behaviour by energy companies, enhance transparency through the introduction of a new duty for energy companies to publish data on their pricing strategies and address the fact energy companies can set their standing charges because currently they are free to do what they like meaning households are literally paying hundreds per year before they switch on a light. Sinn Féin also wants to see data centres pay their fair share through the restructuring of network charges and the PSO levy. Households should not be paying six to eight times more, which is outrageous. The legislation will mandate the energy regulator to take energy affordability seriously and make it a priority.”
“Allowing price-gouging is not a technical issue nor an economic inefficiency but a moral failure and a political choice. The decision is to prioritise profit margins over human dignity and the companies are getting away with it. It is the choice to squeeze households because they cannot choose to stop heating their homes and the companies calculate people will endure an extra bit of hardship because they have no alternative, which is not acceptable. By adopting this legislation Government can end the regulatory vacuum in our energy markets by closing the loopholes that allow energy companies to fleece ordinary people while they run off into the sunset with their massive profits.”
“Yet, while wholesale energy prices have fallen sharply at multiple points in recent years retail prices have remained stubbornly high. The explanation we are given time and time again is hedging. Hedging can be used to stabilise prices but when used without transparency, accountability and oversight, companies can hide their inflated margins and delay price reductions. That is not stability but exploitation. The ESRI agrees and has called for an independent review. When companies hedge at high prices and then refuse to pass on savings, consumers pay twice through inflated bills and through the erosion of trust in the a system that is supposed to serve them. Right now the public is being asked to trust a system that gives no visibility, no guarantees and no recourse.”
“A staggering 500,000 are behind on their bills and Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents seem to think the way our energy market is functioning is acceptable. I do not agree. I do not accept ordinary households should have to pay what data centres pay for their electricity. I do not accept energy companies can use wars and invasions as an excuse to jack up household bills and I absolutely do not accept that heating your home is some sort of luxury. The rip-off is not inevitable but a political choice made by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents. Energy companies operate in our society not in a vacuum and every bill they issue lands on the kitchen tables of workers, pensioners, students and parents.”
“If adopted, the Electricity Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2026 and the Electricity Regulation (Amendment) (Standing Charges) Bill 2026 could facilitate Ireland to finally tackle Ireland's extortionate price of energy, which is the highest in Europe, according to Eurostat. Ordinary households are being fleeced by energy companies. They are stretched to breaking point and are forced to choose between heating their homes and filling fridges. Trust in our energy markets is wearing dangerously thin. Average household Bills have more than doubled over the past few years, as the Minister of State will know, and that is a direct result of Government inaction. There are record numbers of households in arrears.”
“I move: Bill entitled an Act to amend the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 to give the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities (CRU) the legislative remit to monitor wholesale and retail prices in the energy market; to increase the frequency and level of reporting; to monitor and regulate hedging practices; to strengthen its powers to monitor anti-competitive behaviour of gas and electricity suppliers; to give it an expanded role in consumer protection; to strengthen its power to address energy affordability; and to provide for related matters. Ba mhaith liom an Bille seo a mholadh chomh maith. Tá dhá Bhille agam inniu chun déileáil leis na costais mhaireachtála. We are introducing two Bills that will help to end Ireland's energy rip-off for good.”
“The Minister is using an increase in the number, for example, in my own county off a low base. In 2021, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael announced a target, which has hardly been enhanced by the Healy-Rae support since the last election, of 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2030. That obviously has not happened. Even though some electric vehicles have come down in price, they are neither affordable nor accessible for many ordinary people, especially in rural areas where more electric vehicles would have a bigger impact on emissions because research has shown that if used in rural Ireland they would have a bigger climate impact because they remove 35% more emissions compared to their urban counterparts. Seven out of ten grants that are awarded are for cars costing €40,000 or more and one third are for cars costing over €55,000.”
“The Minister mentioned it, but it is not actually the case. Ireland has 2,500 public chargers, whereas Denmark has 18,000 and that is a country that is smaller than ours. The Minister is not scaling up to deliver as many, so we are never going to incentivise and encourage more rural dwellers to use EVs with a charging system like that.”
“The Minister said rural motorists are in a more advantageous position, but there are a couple of issues in relation to that. He also said that he exceeded his target, with the purchase of 212,000 EVs. However, he had moved the goalposts because a few years ago he said it was the ambition of the Government to have 845,000 EVs, and he reduced the target, so that is how he actually hit it. He said he is committed to having 30% of the private car fleet switch to battery by 2030, but that is hardly going to happen at this stage. The Minister also mentioned the advantages for rural dwellers, but the stats do not match that. In 2024, registrations in rural Ireland collapsed. In Cavan, they were down by 48%, they were down 45% in Sligo and down in Leitrim by 44%. There is a problem with the lack of public chargers.”
“I want to ask the Minister about electric vehicles and the measures he is taking to make them more accessible for drivers in rural areas and those on lower incomes. Will he make a statement about it? Research has shown that successful applications for grants are clustered in affluent urban areas in Dublin and in parts of Cork. We think this is inequitable and regressive and the Climate Change Advisory Council agrees with us. What efforts is the Minister making to extend the grants to families and workers who are not as affluent?”
“While there are primary and secondary criteria and priority, it is the people who are standing at bus stops on their own, in the dark, in the winter and in the rain who are feeling it most.”
“Is there something the Minister can do to speed up the process? For example, a section 38 planning notice has to be given. Can that be sped up in some way? We are playing catch-up because the infrastructure just is not there. It has not been provided for many years. What we need is a large amount of money to get these things over the line. I understand the NTA criteria are based on the number of services that use the bus stop as opposed to the number of people who use it. For someone standing on the Tralee to Listowel Road or standing in the rain in Ballybunion, the delivery just is not there. For people standing in west Kerry, one of the wettest parts of the country, a structure has not been provided. There are poorly marked stops on some rural roads.”
“It all seems to be ad hoc and this is causing a lot of frustration. We have had an awful lot of wet winters in recent years, and that is going to continue. There are students going to college, people going to work and tourists who do not know where there is a bus stop and if it going to be safe. They need to have bus stops. There is huge frustration on the ground that there is no delivery. If it costs up to €75,000 when preparatory work is done, €500,000 is not really going to deliver a lot of bus stops.”
“I thank the Minister for his reply and I accept what he said. However, it is important there is a stop in the first place, and stops must also be safe and accessible. An audit was prepared by many local authorities, including my own local authority, in 2024. The difficulty on the ground is that, two years on, the bus stops have not been delivered. An audit is prepared by the local authority, the stop is designed and approved by the municipal district, and the NTA is also involved. However, many of the bus stops have costs, whether it is €25,000 for a simple pole or, where there is more preparatory work involved, up to €75,000 when there is a shelter. We have a problem in Ballybunion where there are no bus stops. In Lixnaw, there are none either. Tourists on the Dingle Way are looking for a bus stop and there are none.”
“The bus stop enhancement programme, which is led by the NTA, is a nationwide programme that invests in bus infrastructure. It commits about €500,000 per year, which is not enough. There are problems with delivery, it is all very cumbersome and it takes a lot of time. I will get into some of the details shortly. Will the Minister give us an update on the programme?”
“A lot of them do not want counselling any more and do not need it, but they do want to be included as part of the redress scheme. It is important, and I want to know and they want to know whether they will be included.”
“It is unclear, I suggest, what the Taoiseach says when he says the Government will continue to support them, because the people I speak to have not been supported initially. They have not been included in any redress scheme, so it is impossible to continue to support them when the Government has not been doing so, even though the Taoiseach acknowledges the wrong that has been done to them. This is important for the thousands of people who were boarded out because it was the State that abandoned, discriminated against and did not help those children at every step of the way. We cannot blame mother and baby homes or any segment of the Catholic Church or any other church for that matter. It was always the State. I ask Members opposite in their closing remarks to clarify whether those children, who are now in their 70s, will be included.”
“Regardless of the pathway from which individuals were boarded out, the Taoiseach has acknowledged that it is unforgivable, and that is good. He recognises situations where children were wrongly and harshly treated. He stated: "The Government recognises the suffering and damage ... this ... has caused, and we will continue to support you as much as possible." However, people who were boarded out from county homes cannot "continue to be supported" because they were never included in any redress scheme. Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that promises would be made, but promises were broken. Something must be done, he said at one stage. Will the people who were boarded out from the county homes be included in part of any redress scheme?”
“Yes. I see in the Taoiseach's statement on behalf of the Government that he acknowledges and apologises for the generational wrong. He acknowledges that some children who were subsequently boarded out experienced exploitation and that many boys were sent to work on farms and many girls were sent to work in domestic service. He said in the statement at the time-----”
“I just want to seek some sort of clarity on the statement, but before that, I congratulate, in spite of all the adversity they went through, the efforts those in the Gallery made against the tide and against the resistance they faced. They pushed on through and got it. Many of them came from Tralee as well but-----”
“Is it the case women's health is less of a priority for this Government? If not, why is there a delay in the delivery of a new maternity hospital for University Hospital Kerry which can offer safe access to theatre from the delivery suite? As it is at the moment, if a woman has a caesarean section, she is taken from the suite, down to the ground floor through a public corridor and up an unstable lift. It adds time to what is already an emergency procedure. There was an approved capital submission in 2018 which was put on hold to allow for a submission for a new maternity and neonatal unit. It was part of the development control plan but it has been removed from the priority list. What is the Government going to do about it?”
“I hope that in his next answer, the Minister of State actually tells us what type of nature-based solutions will be foreseen or utilised by Government. I refer to the area in Kerry between Knocknagoshel and Brosna. The older people there tell me that up to 20 to 30 years ago, when heavy rain came, it would be soaked up by the bogs and released slowly. That does not happen anymore, partly due to afforestation and vertical drainage, so huge volumes of water are coming into the basins there and causing the flooding downstream that occurred in Listowel just before the election. The Wild Woodbury project in Dorset in England cleans water, stores carbon and brings new wildlife habitats because the land is soaking up the water and filtering it. It is not enough on its own.”
“What are the Minister of State's views on Ireland's resilience to extreme weather events? Is consideration being given to nature-based solutions to provide resilience to the impacts of climate change?”
“I ask the Minister about nature-based solutions to mitigate and provide resilience to the impacts of climate change. We all know what has happened recently with warmer and wetter winters bringing more flooding, with a cost of billions and more than 100,000 properties in the State at risk of flooding. We know this will continue. Drainage systems will be exceeded, and we need to slow the water down and use the land as a sponge to ensure the surface can have more involvement in resilience to flooding.”
“One Minister even admitted that the Government has been sitting on its hands and navel gazing when it comes to offshore wind. We do not want that to happen.”
“Is the Minister going to ensure that the North-South interconnector will be underground? That is the fundamental issue for people who live in Border communities. On the basis of what he said, is the Minister guaranteeing that there will be no new costs passed on to consumers as a result of the private wires legislation? Consumers cannot afford any new costs. There is a concern to the effect that the private wires legislation will undermine climate obligations by diverting energy. We have seen in the past few years the increase from wind and the new energy coming onto the system, but it is all being gobbled up by the data centres and other large energy users. A fundamental concern is that this will continue despite all the efforts the Government and people are making in the context of onshore and offshore energy.”
“What will the situation be when it comes to mandating data centres that are proposing to have renewable energy when they are putting their own private wires in?”
“We will be discussing that tomorrow. The concern of many members of the committee is that the proposals will exacerbate the regressive and inequitable way that network costs are currently distributed. According to Eurostat, Irish households have the highest electricity bills in Europe. As a result of the proposals being brought forward, households could be landed with a rake of new charges on their bills in addition to what they already pay. The Minister mentioned about PR6 in reply to earlier questions. There is a new levy to fund LNG from increasing network charges on bills. Energy users and consumers are being hit from pillar to post with a host of new charges. They do not want to be subsidising the network charges relating to data centres, and we do not want to be obliged to do either.”
“This question relates to private wires. Will the Minister outline the new methodology that will be implemented? Will there be safeguards to ensure that all of the costs of providing original grid connections will be recovered by ESB Networks? Will action be taken to ensure that these costs will not be passed on to customers? Under current proposals, any user taking all their energy capacity from a private wire will not be required to pay network charges to the system operator despite relying on the public grid for backup. We have been speaking about the energy costs and the price of the same. Will the Minister guarantee that households will not incur more costs?”
“The Minister recently met the ESB and EirGrid to discuss house connections. There was a story in The Irish Times about that matter over the Christmas period. The Minister knows that under the current regulation, it is first-come, first-served model. He also knows that for this to change, he must empower the regulator by means of new legislation. He knows in light of the grids package and the new guidance for connections, there is nothing standing in his way in this regard. In the interview, which was published on 30 December, there was no indication that the Minister had any intention of bringing legislation forward. What took place in the meetings with EirGrid regarding connections? The Minister knows well that the ESB and EirGrid cannot do anything until the regulation is changed.”
“We have seen data centres expand to the point where they account for one third of energy demand. Dealing with this matter is within the Minister's gift. He cannot hide behind EU rules and regulations. Will he agree to support our legislation to put that prioritisation framework in place when it comes through?”
“A grids package was announced on 10 December. It gives the Government the green light to move away from the first-come, first-served model that gives rise to rampant data centre expansion that has displaced the delivery of housing and transport and led to the hiking up of energy prices for households. The Commission stated, "In areas with long waiting times for grid connection, the first-come, first-served principle should be abandoned". We will bring forward legislation on that in the coming months. The current model is broken. The Minister's officials will agree with that. The Secretary General of the Department has said that there are difficult choices to make between housing and AI. Instead of prioritising the corporate bottom line, I want the Minister to prioritise ordinary people who are going through a cost-of-living crisis.”
“This question has come up in the past. Will the Minister consider bringing forward a prioritisation framework for grid connections, particularly as we have a crisis in the context of housing and the cost of living? We have all heard about the problems with the MetroLink, for example, and the energy that will be needed for it. There is a reckless attitude towards data centre expansion. Even the Minister's officials agree on that. The Minister knows that he needs to bring forward legislation to deal with the prioritisation framework. Will he bring it forward?”
“Will he restructure network charges to ensure that data centres pay their fair share? Will he guarantee that the costs proposed for LNG and data centres are not passed on to households in the legislation for the strategic gas reserve and that relating to private wires?”
“The last time I raised this issue the Minister said he would look at network charges. What has he done since then to restructure them to make sure that data centres, for example, pay their fair share and take the pressure off households? In the next few months there will be a significant opportunity to bring about fundamental reforms to the energy market that could help households. A meeting is taking place in March. Ireland will hold the Presidency from July. This has to be the Minister's priority. The price of electricity is coupled with the wholesale price of gas due to the marginal pricing system. We have said for years that it has to be reformed. Will the Minister take steps to deal with that? Will he give the regulator the power to tackle price gouging? Is he holding it to account?”
“When we tried to put questions about how far away we are from the 2030 target, I was told it was not the Minister's responsibility. Whose responsibility is it? There is something wrong when the International Energy Agency has called into question the huge gap between retail and wholesale costs. What is the Minister doing to reform the energy market? It costs about three times more to buy energy here than it does to produce it. The ESRI is also saying prices are way above what they were on the eve of the election.”
“The problem with some of the schemes that have been introduced is that they are not working. Some of them are deeply regressive and inequitable. Most low to middle income households have significant barriers if they have any hope of reaching a B2 standard. What about the solid fuel homes which are mostly rural and are mostly home to elderly people? They are punished by the Government rather than being helped, through hikes in the carbon tax, which are now supported by the Healy-Rae brothers, where there is no accessible, affordable alternative. The same is true for those who rely on home heating oil. On the retrofit loan scheme the Minister mentioned, fewer than 2,000 households have availed of these loans since the scheme started.”
“Every time I raise this, I am astounded by the lack of progress on it. We have the highest energy prices in Europe, according to Eurostat. The national energy affordability task force has only met three times since its inception. The only thing it has produced is an interim report. No steps seem to have been taken to reform the Irish energy market and to hold energy companies to account, measures we have been calling on for years. What is the Minister going to do to reduce the price of energy and will he make a statement on it?”
“Another teacher told me that there needs to be a serious review. She said the upset caused by the communication, and particularly the response by the Taoiseach, was very traumatic for all. She spoke of hours of teaching time lost to form-filling and appeals from May to December, with the most vulnerable left without SETs while the forms are being completed. She also referred to the offhand and dismissive comment by the Taoiseach. We need inclusive educational diversity, which is listed as a core value, but the Government’s actions suggest otherwise.”
“Since then, pupils and teachers from Asdee, Fossa, Glenflesk, Portmagee and even Glasheen in Cork have contacted me. It was their voices that stopped the changes, which were unfair, unworkable and unacceptable. Families, schools and pupils deserve certainty, stability, clarity and continuity of care, not another temporary fix. That means returning to the drawing board, reviewing the outdated frameworks, halting the redeployment policies that created chaos and fear, rather than support and structure, and engaging in consultation with the schools, which understand their students’ needs better than anyone. I spoke to the principal of a school who said that children who are leaving preschool with their AIM workers are then left to swim in the mainstream without an SNA. He described that system as the height of blackguarding.”
“The Government's decision to pause and reverse its recent approach is, without question, a welcome reprieve, but let us be absolutely clear - that is all it is. It is a pause, an easing of pressure, not a solution. Behind the belated U-turn lies a deeper reality. The Government’s approach to special needs education remains fragile, stretched, unclear and ad hoc . In the middle of the system are the people who hold the system together - the SNAs, the teachers, the parents and the children, whose needs should be at the centre of every decision made. We recognise them. We recognise and acknowledge their determination, organisation and refusal to stay silent. The first I heard of this was two weeks ago, when the whole school community from Fossa National School contacted me.”
“Ba mhaith liom ceist a chur ar an Tánaiste mar gheall ar chártaí leighis agus cártaí leighis saorthoilteanacha. Tá bean i gCiarraí agus fuair a fear céile bás, agus i ndiaidh sin, fuair sí ailse. Bhí uirthi rud éigin a dhéanamh mar gheall air san ospidéal. There is a woman in Kerry who applied for a discretionary medical card because she had been refused one. Her husband had died in tragic circumstances. She herself then developed cancer and needed 16 or 17 rounds of radiotherapy at the last count. We applied for the card on her behalf and brought the matter as far as we could go. Her means were over the limit. The last thing a woman in her position should have to do is apply for a medical card. Discretion should have been used in her case, but it seems that decisions are limited on the basis of means alone.”
“My question similarly relates to vulnerable children. Following the Halpin report into CAMHS in north Kerry which showed deficiencies in care and a departure from standard operating practice, can the Minister confirm that the compensation scheme will be widened to include people who have had an apology already from the HSE and that the review will be widened to a much broader category of children who have been dealt with in the north Kerry area?”