Paul Lawless
Mayo · Aontú · Ireland
“Confidence in our education system depends on quality resources but parents remain seriously concerned about inappropriate material that is being promoted in our schools, libraries, etc. Concerns have been raised in relation to the book What's the T?”
“They would make up a higher proportion of the membership of the Dáil than is the case at Westminster. Aontú's leader, Deputy Peadar Tóibín, during his time on the Oireachtas enterprise committee, completed the first Oireachtas report on the all-island economy.”
“Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace — respect for diversity. Aontú believes fundamentally in a united Ireland.”
“It is important that those who oppose a united Ireland - who are now a minority on this island, and increasingly so - are treated as equals and with the respect they deserve in the discussions relating to a united Ireland. I have good friends from the Protestant tradition to whom I speak on a near daily basis.”
“The Tánaiste once said that he wanted to make Ireland the best country in the world in which to raise a child. He is failing in that regard. We have a situation where we have record homelessness among children, spinal surgery waiting lists and children with special needs or disabilities who are waiting for supports.”
“Rather than celebrating and respecting our differences and our right to be different politically or religiously, they wish to make us all the same. They want to make us all apolitical atheists who never speak on or campaign in respect of the issues.”
The complete record
Every one of 702 lines we hold for Paul Lawless, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 1 of 15.
“I do not agree with the idea of a citizens' assembly because that is just kicking the can down the street. Éamon Ó Cuív famously said that we already have a citizens' assembly in this country, namely, the Dáil, and this is where we should debate the issue. That is why we have elections. That is why we go to the people. I think we should take this opportunity.”
“They would make up a higher proportion of the membership of the Dáil than is the case at Westminster. Aontú's leader, Deputy Peadar Tóibín, during his time on the Oireachtas enterprise committee, completed the first Oireachtas report on the all-island economy. The basic finding of the report was that every public service on the island would be better served by a united Ireland. The North's economy is in very bad shape because London is not interested in it. The North is primed to take off economically. It would do so if the foreign direct investment strategy that obtains in the South also obtained there. The North has more labour available and more people seeking work. It has a lower costs for labour, property and energy than is the case in the South. lf we were operating on an all-island basis, everyone would prosper economically.”
“The Tánaiste once said that he wanted to make Ireland the best country in the world in which to raise a child. He is failing in that regard. We have a situation where we have record homelessness among children, spinal surgery waiting lists and children with special needs or disabilities who are waiting for supports. Many of the families of those children feel abandoned. If we make Ireland a better place in which to live, we will see a situation where those in the North who are currently undecided on the question of Irish unity will want to be part of this great country. In the event of a united Ireland, unionists in the North would actually have more influence and more of a say in their constituencies and in the running of their localities if they were sitting in the Dáil as opposed to in the British Parliament.”
“Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace — respect for diversity. Aontú believes fundamentally in a united Ireland. During the Civil War, the pro-Treaty side said that the Treaty would create the freedom necessary to attain freedom. Those on the anti-Treaty side wanted freedom there and then and were sceptical that if it was not achieved in the 1920s, it never would be. No matter what side our political ancestors were on, the crux of it is that they would want us to strive for a united Ireland today. Liam Mellows once said that if Ireland was partitioned, two establishments would arise on each side of the Border and that they would depend on the Border for their power.”
“Rather than celebrating and respecting our differences and our right to be different politically or religiously, they wish to make us all the same. They want to make us all apolitical atheists who never speak on or campaign in respect of the issues. The move away from faith-based schools in the North towards integrated and secular education is upsetting to people on both sides of the divide. Both sides are ironically united in their fight to remain different. Protestants want to be Protestants and Catholics want to be Catholics. Unionists want to be unionists and republicans want to be republicans. The idea that we should all become the same is completely contrary to the Good Friday Agreement and the vision of John Hume, who said: Difference is of the essence of humanity.”
“It is important that those who oppose a united Ireland - who are now a minority on this island, and increasingly so - are treated as equals and with the respect they deserve in the discussions relating to a united Ireland. I have good friends from the Protestant tradition to whom I speak on a near daily basis. Despite our differing politics, it is really important that we remain open to communicating with people. The reason we are friends is because we debate these issues. We do not ignore our differences. Rather, we celebrate and discuss them and challenge each other. One of my favourite quotes from the Good Friday Agreement is, "We acknowledge the substantial differences between our continuing, and equally legitimate, political aspirations." Some people in this Chamber who are well-intentioned are getting it wrong.”
“I am glad of the opportunity to speak on the issue of Irish unity. Aontú is one of the few parties in this House that is active North and South and that stands candidates in elections in every county. At this time, the poll figures indicate that we are moving in the right direction. Even our opponents on this issue are almost accepting the inevitability of a united Ireland. I feel an enormous privilege and responsibility as an elected member of this House at such a time in this nation’s history when we are on the cusp of Irish unity. It is an extraordinary thing to say that the island will be united in the very near future. As a result, it is fundamentally important that we prepare for and discuss Irish unity.”
“A number of complaints have been made to the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau, the Corporate Enforcement Authority, Fiosrú and the Department of justice. Will the Government investigate this? I appreciate that the Tánaiste may not know all the details, but it is a major issue that my constituent Aisling Waldron has been fighting, often alone. I ask the Government to investigate why the Garda logo was allowed to be used. The company is widely reported on in mainstream media as Cybersmarties Limited.”
“I want to raise the case of a children's online safety company whose management is accused of defrauding at least 15 victims, across seven different countries, of more than €500,000. This is an Irish company and is based in Limerick. My constituent Aisling Waldron, a dedicated advocate of child safety, was hired to oversee child safety. She is owed over €72,000 in unpaid wages. She was recruited on the back of fabricated user numbers and, indeed, fabricated and falsified contracts from the Vatican Bank and the Portuguese Government. Most seriously, the company was allowed to use the emblem of An Garda Síochána. That endorsement gave the company credibility and that credibility helped to defraud the victims.”
“The Minister has such an enormous responsibility for the children of this country and if it is the case that there is inappropriate material being promoted to children, she actually is responsible and it is her job, I believe, to make sure that never happens again and that there are robust processes in place to make sure no child will be subjected to sexually explicit, age-inappropriate material in our schools and libraries and promoted by Children's Books Ireland and RTÉ.”
“Is the Minister aware of the controversy surrounding the What's the T? book by Juno Dawson? Is she aware that the book was promoted by Children's Books Ireland? That is very important. The idea that the Minister would say she is basically not responsible is, I believe, questionable. She is the Minister for education; the buck stops with her. For her to say she is not responsible is unacceptable, in my view.”
“Confidence in our education system depends on quality resources but parents remain seriously concerned about inappropriate material that is being promoted in our schools, libraries, etc. Concerns have been raised in relation to the book What's the T? by Juno Dawson, which contains sexually explicit material and was promoted to children by Children's Books Ireland and RTÉ. It received significant publish backlash, and rightly so. It has been reported that a teacher raised concerns with the Department in an email back in March 2023, and indeed the former Minister for justice, Charlie Flanagan, raised this personally with the Minister's predecessor in December 2023. Despite those concerns being raised, the book remained recommended as a good resource for children. Very plainly, what has the Department done since this controversy broke?”
“What arrangements are in place for parents and parents' representative organisations to raise concerns directly with the Department regarding the national education curriculum and the provision of resources such as books, etc.? How frequently does the Minister meet with these organisations, stakeholders and parental bodies?”
“The other question that the House has not addressed is whether it is good for children to be on laptops from 9 o'clock to 4 o'clock during the school day and then to go home and be consumed with social media. The Government has created this with a solo run with the change of curriculum, and now it is up to the Government to address it.”
“It is very clear to me that the Government has essentially created a problem as a result of lack of consultation, and now the people paying the costs are the hard-pressed families who are struggling with the cost of living. It is a very similar situation to the school uniform, where we had single suppliers for crested uniforms. These suppliers were often charging double what other suppliers were. We have created the very same problem and the Government has learned nothing. It needs to intervene here. I am dealing with families who are afraid to speak up and raise the fact that they do not have the money to afford this, and that their children may be adversely affected by not being on the school team and so on. It is perhaps irrational but this is happening on the ground.”
“The principals are now trying to deliver a curriculum that was never designed in schools because the Department and officials did a solo run to radically change the curriculum. At both junior cycle and senior cycle, the Government introduced a massive amount of continuous assessment without any provision for how that continuous assessment would be delivered, and now principals are scratching their heads, wondering how they deliver all of this continuous assessment in an age where many children do not have personal laptops. They sent out letters to families with €1,000 or €1,500 bills for laptops. I wrote to the Minister and asked if she could make a statement on this, and the Minister said that no child should be required to purchase a laptop, yet the bills and letters are still landing because the principals do not know what else to do.”
“We are in a cost-of-living crisis. Groceries are up by 40% and diesel is up by 60% over the past five years, yet another bill is landing every August for families who send their children to school. That bill is an ICT bill. It is a bill for a laptop. Incredibly, the Government introduced free books last year but has this year introduced what is effectively mandatory ICT at a cost that is significantly higher than the books ever were. Many families have contacted me and outlined bills of €1,000 for a laptop. The same families came into my office and showed me second-hand laptops that they already owned but that the school principals and authorities said could not be used, meaning the families had to purchase brand new laptops from one specific supplier. The Government created this problem and has passed the buck to the principals.”
“Why was that the case? Why can a person seeking asylum here now abscond and leave without any trace? It is extraordinary. No one is talking about it.”
“I will raise the tragic case of Jamey Carney, the shocking murder we saw in Kerry. The Minister needs to come out in relation to this. There needs to be much more transparency. It is hard to believe that the person of interest has not been in any way highlighted. Photos have not been disseminated and there has been no awareness campaign. That must be addressed. How was this person of interest able to board a commercial flight and leave the country before An Garda Síochána was even aware of the situation? The law was changed on 12 June, effectively making it easier for an asylum seeker to abscond and leave the country. The law was effectively weakened. Just three weeks ago, on 26 June, it ceased to be an offence for an asylum seeker to abscond and leave the country during the applications or appeals process without notifying the Minister.”
“I commend Margaret Loftus from my own constituency of Mayo for her work in raising awareness of domestic abuse. I also commend the report recently published by the justice committee. Ms Loftus has raised many concerns. The in camera rule is one of them. She told the committee that the in camera rule prevented a lot of information from coming out. It is essentially a veil of secrecy. It needs to be looked at and reviewed. I welcome the publication of the Women's Aid report. I have read and studied it. We see record numbers of women contacting the helpline. The report details 500 cases of non-fatal strangulation, 1,500 cases of abuse while the victim was pregnant and 670 cases of abusers threatening to have children taken away from their mothers. There is a massive amount of work that must be done in relation to this issue.”
“It is hypervigilant - paranoid, even - about western states encroaching on its borders. That needs to be considered but the Government has not considered it. The European people have never been consulted on this massive change to the European Union.”
“I want to be clear from the outset that I support the right of Ukraine and Moldova to develop, prosper and integrate, but I have serious concerns about this Government's Presidency. The Taoiseach is on record as stating that Ukraine belongs in the EU. As we take up the Presidency, it is the Government's stated ambition to make historic progress on the accession of Ukraine and Moldova. I condemn Russia's actions in relation to the war in Ukraine. Precisely because I condemn them and believe in peace, I believe we should be cautious about fast-tracking the accession of Ukraine and Moldova into the European Union. The timing is critical. Ukraine is at war. Many decades ago, during the Cuban missile crisis, it was unthinkable to the US and its allies to have missiles belonging to the USSR in Cuba. It is a similar context for Russia.”
“One agency should be tasked with leading out and developing, in conjunction with the families, a plan for them. I urge the Minister to do everything she can to achieve this.”
“This mother is well into her 70s. It is a shocking story that will stay with me forever. It is so sad to think there is no central agency where this family can go for help. There are 2,000 adults with disabilities living with carers aged over 70. This family in Mayo are not alone; indeed, I have met many others. It is sad that in the region of just 2% of these families have a housing plan. The vast majority of these 2,000 families are living in fear of dying. This issue is very important. There are solutions and many of them are raised in the motion. We can no longer have a situation where families are passed between the HSE, local authorities and service providers in the various regions of the country. Nobody is owning the problem and families are being passed from pillar to post. It is very important that the Minister address this.”
“I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this very important motion, which Aontú will support. According to the Disability Federation of Ireland, there are between 5,000 and 6,000 households with a social housing need due to disability and a total of 10% of everyone on the waiting list are people with disabilities. I want to raise an important issue in my constituency. A senior citizen who has been caring for her daughter with Down's syndrome for decades is afraid to die, not because she is afraid of death in itself but because she is afraid of the uncertainty about where her adult daughter will end up. This is a child, now an adult, who is being cared for in the most loving and special way and is such a valued member of his family. Unfortunately, however, he is an only child and there is no remaining close family member.”
“Regarding the additional €15 million every year, it is fundamentally important that is ring-fenced for the front line and that it does not get caught up in a central office in An Post. It is important the Minister of State guarantees this funding will go to the front line and will prevent more closures of the network across the country. We have to plan and reform. The postmasters of Ireland want to provide additional services, such as car tax renewal, renewal of licences and of passports and public services card replacements. All of these things can be delivered in the local community but it is important they are allowed and that the services are expanded.”
“In fact, the revenue he receives is static and fixed centrally. At the same time as this is happening, there has been a reduction of footfall, as many social welfare payments have now migrated to bank accounts and so on. The Minister of State needs to look at this issue. Postmasters can play an important role in counteracting fraud. It is a very important one that is not being recognised by the Government. I believe in supporting the postmasters of Ireland but I want to raise a number of important points. The previous scheme was allowed to expire without any successor and this was wrong. It has meant that they were left with a gaping hole. They were struggling and did not know how they would survive.”
“I know of postmasters who regularly and routinely alert An Garda when there are instances of fraud. They alert neighbours when a local does not come in for their pension. That is the value of the local post office that the Government has to recognise. I also want to speak about the economic model behind post offices. We have to question why the subsidy is necessary. If we look at the postmaster economic model, they receive 55 cent for processing a bank transaction and 65 cent for a social welfare payment. The cost of a stamp is fixed centrally. While the revenue is static, costs for wages, insurance and regulatory compliance are rising. I spoke to a postmaster recently who outlined that the cost of his alarm system had doubled in the space of a year. Yet, his revenue will not double.”
“The post office service is really important and I welcome support for post offices across the country. It is particularly important for senior citizens in rural areas. In many rural areas the banks are closing and withdrawing services and face-to-face services. That is why it is particularly worrying that so many post offices are closing. In the past ten years, 19 post offices have closed in County Mayo. Let us look at the region of Kilkelly, where nine banks have closed. This is in an area between Ballyhaunis, Charlestown and Kiltimagh. As a result, post offices across the country - in this case in Kilkelly - have stepped up and have welcomed the customers who have been abandoned by these banks. The post office is really important. It provides in-person oversight to payments that no online system can replicate.”
“My fear is that if we elongate the duration of county development plans, it will prevent councillors making changes. I urge the Minister of State to ensure councillors have the flexibility and ability to make amendments and so on because that is important. A new council should have the ability and flexibility to change the plan significantly. In relation to key towns with a population of under 10,000 for the purposes of development, funding and so on, the problem is if there is a ten-year plan and the population grows beyond that. There should be a level of indexing within that plan whereby if the population goes above 10,000, it should still be considered a key town. I was going to talk about wind turbines as well but my time is up.”
“Now we will see the power they have in terms of development plans being pushed further out and that is a big concern. I ask that changes, flexibility and amendments be allowable. In Mayo, we have a county development plan that was produced in 2022, before I was elected to the council or the Dáil. My understanding is that this plan was supported by all of the councillors in Mayo at the time. It was ratified on 29 June 2022. Now we are stuck with this development plan until 2028. The big problem with this plan is that it classifies huge parts of the east, south and north of the county as being preferred for wind turbine developments. Now the councillors have realised that they no longer support the plan and want to see changes to it.”
“However, I have concerns and I want to register them here on the floor of the Dáil. I will give an example. A council term lasts for five years and if we are now moving to a situation where county development plans will last for ten years, then obviously that plan should be in line with the new council and the new mandate. If the people of a local area vote out the councillors because they are not happy with the work they are doing or with the development plan, then the new council should have the mandate to change that plan. That is a big concern I have. What is the point in having an election if there will be no impact? The truth is that local government has been downgraded to such an extent that councillors have virtually no power.”
“We talk about delays, and I welcome some aspects of this Bill because the Minister of State is trying to address the delays, but we have been waiting for this to be published for over a year now. We know, broadly speaking, that the units may be 40 sq. m but there is no insight. People are ringing me, families are phoning me and builders are phoning me asking me what is happening and we do not know. There has been delay after delay. This is a crisis and I believe it is time that Deputy Cummins, as the Minister of State who is working in the Department of housing, actually realised it is a crisis. I want to talk about the Bill in relation to the county development plans and the ten-year timeframe. I understand there is some value to this in terms of processing time and speeding up the timeframes.”
“We have a situation in the planning system where families have to go through report after report for bats and environmental report after environmental report. There is no report done, however, on the council's or Government's side to see whether this family need a house and what the impact is on this family and all of the families across Ireland who want nothing from the State except to be left alone and be allowed to build in their local areas. I welcome the progress and I urge the Minister of State to get on with the implementation of that. In respect of the auxiliary units, the modular units, this was first spoken about over a year ago in the Dáil and I welcomed that at the time. I am still waiting for the legislation and the guidelines to be published.”
“I know of a family in Mayo. The mother attended the local primary school in the parish. Her father attended the same local primary school. Her children are now attending the same local school. She sought planning permission to build in the catchment area of that primary school. She was denied on the basis of local planning need. Three generations living in the same area and she was refused planning permission. That is how discriminatory and unfair the planning system is in Ireland. I very much welcome the fact there have been changes and progress is finally being made on this. It is welcome and I support it. I will absolutely fight to make sure the changes will accommodate as many people to live in rural areas as possible, because it was wrong. For too long, we had a planning system that prevented people living.”
“A significant conversation needs to be had in relation to the constraints in terms of the labour force and the effect it is also having in terms of the development of homes. The National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy is another tax on fuel and it goes into the climate action fund. Since 2020, the climate action fund has been in surplus by almost €300 million. Since the start of this crisis the Government has been misleading us all. It is time it was called out on this. When it was first announced, the Government rolled out a package. At first, it was a €500 million package, then it was a €700 million package. The cost of this was not cost in terms of income forgone. It was a hypothetical figure. All the additional costs being brought forward, the increases in carbon tax, were added to it.”
“This year the Government is on track to take in €200 million more in carbon tax, despite the fact that there has been a reduction in tax due based on the price increases that were due to take place. The Taoiseach constantly outlines that we need this tax for retrofitting and for climate measures. However, the numbers state that between 2020 and 2023 half a billion euro in carbon tax was unspent. It was returned to the Exchequer. Meanwhile, the Government is continually increasing the carbon tax, despite the fact it cannot be spent. I have spoken to so many families who applied for and were approved for SEAI grants but because there is such a constraint in terms of labour, they are waiting for two or three years for that work to take place.”
“Can the Minister of State explain that? Diesel is up 60%. Much of that increase is due to geopolitics but there is also the fact that the Government is gouging in terms of taxation, which accounts for the majority of what we pay at the pump. That is the truth. We are being overcharged. A significant amount of what we are being overcharged is as a result of Government policy on the high cost of energy. Built into the carbon tax is that very policy. The Government wants to increase the cost of fuel, increase the cost of diesel and petrol, irrespective of the cost at the pump. That is what the Government voted for. We in Aontú did not. In 2021 we did not support the climate action Bill because we knew what it would lead to. In relation to carbon tax, last year the Government collected €1.1 billion in carbon tax, the highest tax on record.”
“Let us not mislead the House here. It is important that we say that from the outset. The truth is that Ireland is an outlier in terms of the cost of living in the country at the moment. We are the most expensive country in Europe for housing, health, energy and alcohol. Is the Minister of State going to blame the Opposition for the disasters of health and the cost of housing? The Government has presided over this. It is time the Minister of State owned this. Overall prices are 36% higher in Ireland than in the rest of the European Union. Health costs are about 85% higher in Ireland than they are elsewhere in the European Union. One third of households went into arrears in the past 12 months. That equates to more than 300,000 people. Since 2021, energy is up 57%. During that time there has been an increase in renewables.”
“I thank my colleagues in Aontú for their work on this motion and thank the Deputies for their contributions today. The fact is that the point raised by the Minister of State a few moments ago is actually untrue. This Government has a policy of increasing the number of data centres. For every new wind or solar development the vast majority of that additional capacity is going to data centres.”
“The Taoiseach was in Mayo recently and I hope he enjoyed his trip. There are major issues with the hospital, however. Recently a young man was waiting three days for emergency surgery following breaking his leg. This was a result of a lack of staff. The theatre was ready, as was the consultant. Everything was ready but the nursing staff to facilitate the surgery. This is causing major difficulty. It is happening as a result of an over-reliance on agency staff. It is very important that we prioritise recruitment in the HSE for staff and pay them the wages they deserve.”
“This is now complete and utter gross mismanagement of the system. We need to address workplace planning in the system, expand the places and protect those places for Irish students.”
“That is extraordinary. We are training so few dentists in the country, yet 40% are from outside of the EU. The remaining 60% are a combination of Irish, British and EU students. This Government is not even capturing that data. This is really important. We need to understand how many Irish students are in the system. At a time when dental care is in crisis and the Irish Dental Association has said we are currently about 500 dentists short, the solution to this problem is that the Government gives a significant number of the limited places to students from outside of the EU, the vast majority of whom will not be retained in the Irish system. This crisis is going to go on and on. I have listened to Deputies from around the House outline how many years we are into this crisis. A crisis is temporary.”
“These children are suffering and that suffering will go on into adulthood because their teeth will no longer be baby teeth. That is the truth of it. We need to look at the dental Act. At present, there are bottlenecks in the system. For example, a dental hygienist cannot be seen until a dentist refers a patient to the public system. The fact that someone cannot access a dentist means that, therefore, they cannot access a dental hygienist. That is a bottleneck that needs to be addressed. Workplace planning is important. This Government is not planning for the future when it comes to dental care, as with many other services in this country. I submitted a parliamentary question to the Minister for further education. The data I received was alarming. It showed that 40% of students studying dentistry in Ireland are from outside of the EU.”
“Families are contacting me regularly about dental care. The level of frustration and desperation is shocking. The truth is that in many parts of the country people cannot access their dentist. In parts of the country people with a medical card will not find a dentist. That is how bad the dental service scheme is. In relation to the school screening programme, according to the Government, every child is entitled to see a dentist before they leave primary school. However, the vast majority will never see a dentist and get their teeth examined under that programme. The system is in such chaos and has such bottlenecks that thousands of students will continue to leave the school system without ever seeing a dentist. That is absolutely wrong. There are so many families in Ireland who simply cannot afford to go private.”
“We do not have rail to Knock Airport. The Minister for Transport has an opportunity to drive the western rail corridor, not just from Galway to Claremorris but on to Sligo and connecting to the airport via a shuttle bus. He should make Knock Airport the first airport connected by rail. These types of measures will help the people of Dublin but they will also help the people of the west.”
“On so many issues, including infrastructure, traffic, housing and employment, the focus on Dublin has not only been detrimental to Dublin, the east and the next generation of families who want to build and live in Dublin, but it has cost the west and regional Ireland the sons and daughters of all of the families who had to leave to seek employment in Dublin. It has cost the people of Dublin and their children the ability to purchase homes in Dublin. We see this focus on Dublin and an instinct to put Dublin first playing out in this policy. I urge the Minister to take the opportunities presented by Knock Airport and the other regional airports. They are there to be grasped. Knock Airport serves a catchment of 1.1 million people. How can those people access the airport? They do so with tremendous difficulty. That is the answer.”
“That is one operator, Citylink, which runs 40 buses. It is incredible. Galway city is actually in the catchment of Knock Airport. In many instances, it is easier for a person from Galway using public transport to access Dublin city and Dublin Airport than it is to access Knock Airport. That is a fundamental gap and fundamental issue. It is one of the reasons the full potential of Knock Airport is not being realised or utilised. In the region of 40% of people using Dublin Airport land at the airport and then travel west. The Minister's answer to that is to increase the passenger cap. Would it not make more sense for spatial development and to people's lives if we were to alleviate the difficulties in regional airports and address those issues?”
“Knock Airport has been one of modern Ireland's biggest success stories. Monsignor Horan built Knock Airport on a hill. Everyone said it could not be done. When the Government cut funding, he went to America and Australia and raised the shortfall himself. Over the past 40 years, Knock Airport has been a lifeline. It has helped hundreds of thousands of families see their loved ones. It has been so important to Mayo and the broader region. The focus on Dublin and the Dublin-centric nature of the Government is crippling Dublin. It is incredible to think of this conversation on the passenger cap and all of the difficulties that are arising as a result, while regional airports are crying out for funding and have the capacity to grow, with minimal investment. In the region of 40 buses a day leave Galway city and travel to Dublin Airport.”
“This is not just an isolated issue. It is happening right across the country. Children with disabilities are the most vulnerable. This July provision, in terms of the reduced allocation to schools, and the fact that the late allocations have arrived, means that many principals do not know whether or not they can open the door on Monday morning. Will the Taoiseach instruct the Department to review? Will he give schools the authority and the confidence to open on Monday morning with an appropriate staffing ratio?”