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.”
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“There was a clear message right across the Defence Forces because people saw what happened to those who spoke up and many others stayed silent. I raise the devastating case of Ciarán Kenneally, a man with great courage who stood up and highlighted issues in terms of financial irregularity in relation to Tusla in Cork. In 2019, he made a protected disclosure about gross mismanagement, bullying and potential irregularities in the Tusla office in Cork. Instead of being protected and the case being investigated and highlighted, he was left without pay, unable to access social welfare because Tusla struck him off, gave him zero pay slips and refused to engage with him. It refused to accept his resignation letter because it highlighted problems and difficulties within Tusla. However, what followed was worse.”
“The Defence Forces Justice Alliance submitted more than 50 protected disclosures. These disclosures included reports of bullying, harassment, abuse, sexual assault and institutional wrongdoing. Many of these disclosures related to the Minister and senior officials within the Department. The protected disclosures were sent to the very Department and the very senior figures implicated in the allegations. The playbook is at hand here again and the inquiry was closed at a preliminary stage. We know the wrongdoing did not stop. It continued. People who had served with honour and courage were left discouraged, silenced and in many cases traumatised over and over again. They became convinced that the protected disclosure legislation was not fit for purpose. There are many more examples.”
“I welcome the courageous individuals in the Gallery who stood up, such as Maurice McCabe, John Barrett and Ciarán Kenneally. These people and many others, including the Women of Honour, have done a tremendous service to the State. They showed incredible courage and conviction. In every case, the State used every lever in its power to smear these individuals. I rise with a heavy heart and a sense of responsibility. What we are addressing here is not a technical matter. It is an indictment of the State by the people who stood up to protect the State. I want to highlight the horrific experience of the members of the Defence Forces, the Justice Alliance and the Women of Honour. This case is a systematic failure embedded over many years by silence made possible by the State that looked after itself before justice.”
“I ask the Minister of State to carry out an analysis of the productivity per hour of these arrangements on both the public side and the private side. It is important the Minister of State does that to ensure there is value for money here.”
“I was struck at the public accounts committee, PAC, recently when the hospital official was asked who is managing this and she said that the hospital operates on a basis of trust. It is extraordinary. There is €240 million of taxpayers' money gone into the NTPF and we operate on the basis of trust. I believe there is an enormous amount of work the Government must do to ensure that the taxpayer is getting value for money, particularly when it comes to insourcing and outsourcing. We have to ensure that we are incentivising productivity in the health system. There are huge questions in relation to this particular issue of transferring patients from the public list onto the private list and in some cases, the consultants themselves are over this particular issue.”
“I want to raise as well the issues in relation to the National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF. The funding for the NTPF in 2017 was €17 million and this year it is expected to be €240 million. It is an incredible rise. While I believe the motives behind the NTPF are good and indeed many of my constituents have availed of it, there are significant issues in relation to the potential for a conflict of interest because of the issue of insourcing and, indeed, outsourcing. Insourcing is where the HSE and the hospital transfer patients from the public list onto the private list within the hospital, and sometimes with the same consultant. A question, therefore, arises. Are we incentivising a lack of productivity in relation to this? Also, who is managing this? Who is ensuring that we have good governance in relation to it?”
“I believe we are at that limit at the moment. What about the inverse? What about proactive policies, for example, tax credits for gym membership? It would be good for one's health. It would be good for society, good for the Exchequer and good for the health system if the Government took a more proactive view of gym membership and supported gym membership across the country. Gyms are struggling with the cost of doing business, insurance costs and all of the other costs associated with it. I believe the Minister of State could introduce a tax relief for gym membership and also, potentially, tax deductions for gym equipment at home. These are proactive measures the Minister of State could take that would be a net benefit for society but also from the Exchequer perspective.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. Health insurance reports show that the average premium rates rose by over 12% in 2024. Some plans even jumped by 25%, a quarter, for some individuals. The average adult premium in the country now is €1,800 - an incredible figure. The Health Insurance Authority is preparing to raise the levies again further by another 10% on insurance premiums. This is an enormous cost for individuals who are above the very low threshold for a medical card and find themselves grappling with this enormous fee every single year. I would like to offer some positive suggestions. The Minister and the Government should take more proactive steps. The Government has a policy when it comes to smoking that it is going to tax cigarettes to the point where people will give up.”
“We want to see real accountability in relation to this and reform of tribunals and commissions of inquiry. The first step would be the Taoiseach coming in here to answer questions in relation to it.”
“That is why the Taoiseach should be here, namely, to answer questions in relation to it. Sending in junior Ministers without responsibility in here is simply not good enough. This money could be spent on so many better things, such as housing, health, infrastructure, Irish Water and so on. It could be spent on special needs. I know a family in Mayo struggling to find a school for their child because the schools are oversubscribed at the moment. There are so many issues in the country and it seems this Government just does not want to address value for money for the taxpayer. That is hugely regrettable. Instead, the Government appears to be happy to continue to pump millions into a black hole. This inquiry needs to be wound up. We need to get to the end of this inquiry and €100 million on one inquiry is simply unacceptable.”
“We have serious issues in relation to cost overruns in this country. Inquiries, commissions of investigation and tribunals have cost the taxpayer millions of euro. The fact the Taoiseach is not here this evening is reflective of that. He is the line Minister in relation to this and he should be here to answer questions. Millions of euro are pumped into this system and yet so many of these inquiries fail to deliver justice. The Moriarty tribunal was established in the late 1990s, the final report was published in 2011 and the cost is in the region of €100 million but what is the outcome? It is zero accountability and zero convictions. Almost 30 years later, and despite the final report being published over a decade ago, the Irish taxpayer is still paying for it. What is going on?”
“I want to raise concerns about the Supreme Court ruling in Britain on religious education and collective worship in the North of Ireland. Aontú is a pluralist republican party. I believe it is really important that all parents can choose the ethos of the school they wish to send their children to. Catholic schools played a significant role in the lives of nationalist families. They were a safe place for Catholics in the North and promoted the Irish language and games.”
“I have raised this with Uisce Éireann and MARA but it is time the Government intervened and injected some urgency into this.”
“I have raised this many times previously but the water quality in Clew Bay, County Mayo is being massively damaged at the moment. Raw sewage from Newport town is collected and stored in containers. When the high tide comes in to Clew Bay, it washes raw sewage on to the shoreline. Everyone is in agreement that a water treatment plant is needed for the town and it has been in the planning process for decades. There are significant issues in relation to the Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, which is not meeting its statutory timelines, and indeed Uisce Éireann. It appears that what is happening is a letter-writing club between the two organisations, with no progress being made. I have raised this previously and I ask the Taoiseach to intervene. We cannot have critical infrastructure delayed for decades as a result.”
“However, they bought after the cut-off date that the Government introduced in its scheme and, as a result of this cut-off, cannot avail of the defective concrete scheme.”
“The people of Mayo, represented so courageously by the Mayo Pyrite Action Group, are living in homes that crumble around them. Their walls weep damp, their children breathe mould and their lives are suspended in uncertainty, yet the Government offers schemes that are actually defective in themselves. They exclude, they delay and they diminish. The families are not looking for charity. They are looking for justice, they are looking for 100% redress, they are looking for retrospective payments and they are looking for fair timelines. IS 465:2018 is unjust and, indeed, has become a barrier to so many families. Recently, a family in Mayo bought a house in good faith and got an engineer’s report.”
“In terms of the safeguards, I think it is well documented now that there are no safeguards and that the beef price can actually fall by 9% over five years without any safeguards being implemented. It will cost the farming sector across Ireland up to €130 million. It is time for the Government to get off the fence and either come down with the farmers or come down on the side of Mercosur. It is time-----”
“The fact is that genetically modified grain is coming into Ireland and the European Union and is competing with Irish native grain, and yet we cannot engage in that. How does that make sense? I sat in the committee this evening and we spoke to our Polish counterparts. We are working to try and build alliance across the European Union, but that is what the Government should be doing here. It is what the Minister for agriculture should be doing. I think we do have support in that regard. We saw the electioneering that went on at the ploughing championships and at agricultural shows across the country before the general election. All of those commitments seem to be forgotten. The language this evening was incredibly vague. That is absolutely and totally disappointing.”
“On the other hand, we are going to sign this trade deal, which will have a devastating impact for our climate. Who is this going to benefit? We have some of the best beef in the world, with some of the strictest and toughest environmental standards, and standards right across our food sector. The beef that we are going to import is a verifiable health risk, with 17-beta-estradiol, a growth hormone that is widely found and widely used in cattle production in the Mercosur countries. It is classified as a carcinogenic. The use of hormones is completely banned across Europe. It is completely banned in Ireland, yet we want to import this into Ireland and right across the European Union. We have seen these double standards not just in this beef deal but also in the tillage sector, which knows all too well about this.”
“I welcome the farming organisations this evening and thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion. Last week, the Climate Change Advisory Council of Ireland outlined that if we continue on our current trajectory around carbon emissions, this country will face up to €26 billion of fines by 2030. It is an incredible sum of money - €26 billion. At the same time that our European institutions, and indeed our Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments, have signed us up to these fines, they are also about to sign us up to the Mercosur trade deal, which will see 99,000 tonnes of beef from Europe, deforestation across Latin America and the importation of substandard beef at a carbon cost of three to six times that of Irish beef. How does that make sense? How does it make sense that we will pay up to €26 billion in fines by 2030?”
“I will not interrupt the Minister of State and I would appreciate the opportunity to finish. The triple lock is under threat from this Government. That is the case. It is a vital safeguard to protect neutrality. Removing the triple lock would remove the third arm of the lock and would allow the Government, which is effectively the Cabinet, to act. As Deputy John McGuinness said here not so long ago, the Government is increasingly becoming a small number of individuals. It is not simply the Cabinet but the leaders of respective parties. As Deputy McGuinness said, we must be cautious and careful in relation to this. I urge the Government to reconsider. If it is so intent on removing the triple lock, let us put it to the Irish people. Let the Irish people decide.”
“We have a very strong and proud tradition of peace and neutrality. I urge the Government to use this competence that we have to initiate dialogue. Every action and communication from the international community should be to de-escalate this situation. I urge the Government to play an active role in that. The priority must be to prevent further loss of innocent life and destruction of infrastructure by actively championing negotiations consistent with Ukrainian sovereignty but the UN Charter as well. Our stance on Ukraine is intrinsically linked to our policy of neutrality and our commitment to peace. This is currently being challenged by the Government as it proposes to dismantle the triple lock. I urge the Government to remember where the triple lock came from. This was a key commitment in EU referenda.”
“I very much welcome the opportunity to speak on this today. It is almost four years since the invasion occurred. It is important that we acknowledge in the House the role Ireland has played over the four years. In particular, I commend the Irish citizens and communities who have worked so hard on integrating people from Ukraine and supporting them, right across my constituency and right across Ireland. What is happening is utterly barbaric and the loss of life is really difficult to comprehend. I spoke to a Ukrainian family the other day and they outlined the horrific situation that is still happening on a weekly basis. Aontú will continue to condemn the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. As we enter its fourth year, it is really important that we in Ireland and the international community use every possible lever.”
“The Tánaiste himself dictated to his councillors so as to prevent independent voices and members of smaller parties from gaining access to the nomination paper. The number of spoiled ballot papers in 2025 was almost as high as the combined vote for the Social Democrats, the Labour Party and the Green Party. That is the level we are talking about. It points to the biggest democratic deficit in the history of the State. In fact, the biggest democratic deficit in the history of European elections was registered here last month, yet nothing has been done about it. Aontú has already introduced a Bill seeking to reduce the threshold. What have we and the Government learned from what has happened? What is the Government going to do to reduce the threshold to ensure rich and vibrant democracy in future presidential elections?”
“I congratulate President Catherine Connolly on her remarkable success and wish her well as Uachtarán na hÉireann. However, there has been a crisis of democracy - a huge democratic deficit in democracy - in this election. Three hundred and seventeen thousand people either spoiled their votes or voted for a withdrawn candidate. In some constituencies, the proportion of spoiled votes was north of 20%. Many boxes across the country showed that the number of spoiled votes was actually higher than the number of votes received by the candidate who came second. This was not an accident, nor was it the result of apathy. This was frustration. These people went to their ballot papers to voice their frustration over the huge deficit reflected there.”
“I believe auto-enrolment may have a significant impact on those individuals. There will be a significant reduction in their pay as a result of this, estimated between €300 and €1,200 per year. This scheme is obviously designed to assist those people but many of them are living pay cheque to pay cheque in the current cost-of-living crisis. I hope those individuals do not opt out of the scheme. In these times every euro is so valuable. What assessment has been done in relation to this? On the self-employed and businesses more broadly, I am concerned that many larger companies may be able to absorb the individual contribution for an employee and that we might see the migration of employees to larger companies as a result of this. That is the risk here. While positive in theory, this scheme has significant risks for businesses.”
“Self-employed people are the backbone of this economy and the country and the Government has precluded them from social welfare. I was contacted last week by a gentleman who worked for Fastway. He is a self-employed gentleman who worked there all his life, paid taxes and what has he got? When he found himself on hard times, he cannot access social welfare and now the Government is introducing a scheme which will preclude him and thousands of other people from accessing auto-enrolment. I appreciate there are complexities but I urge the Minister of State to prioritise the self-employed person and incentivise those who take on risk and create employment because this Government has been a cold place for the self-employed and businesses across the country. I also want to raise concerns around individuals in low-income employment.”
“It has not done anything to reduce the cost of materials, energy and so on, yet this is the juncture at which auto-enrolment is due to start. Has the Minister done any stress testing in respect of SMEs? They are really struggling. We should be very cautious. We should engage with SMEs. We should stress test the market and so on to ensure this does not make more small and medium-sized businesses across Ireland unviable because many are struggling and they attend my clinics on a weekly basis. The elephant in the room here this evening is the self-employed. The man and woman who creates employment and who innovates needs not apply because there is no mechanism in which a self-employed person can avail of this scheme. That is an incredible situation.”
“While auto-enrolment will be an advantage to many in terms of the replacement ratio on retirement, it does come at a time of significant costs to businesses. It actually comes at a time when insolvencies in the SME sector have not been as high since 2016. Last year, there were 824 insolvencies and 98.5% of those were SMEs. They are basically being run out of business because of the cost of doing business. I refer to VAT, sky-high energy costs, sick pay, increases to PRSI and increases to the minimum wage. They are all having a huge impact on businesses. The recent SME report stated that 73% of businesses found that the high cost of materials is a significant risk to them. The ability to access finance is also an issue. The Government has let down businesses on all of these fronts.”
“I welcome the auto-enrolment scheme. It is a significant step forward for an estimated 800,000 employees across this country. There have been significant false starts and delays with the scheme. The Department must do a huge body of work in terms of advertising and communicating with people about the scheme and to ensure that people across Ireland can make an informed decision about entering into the scheme or potentially opting out. However, I have significant concerns about small businesses. Employers are facing additional obligations with this scheme. Let us be honest: there are payroll obligations, communications obligations and also the administration of the scheme. That is not to mention the additional financial contributions employers will have to make.”
“I welcome that we are finally moving to a stage where we can actually discuss this topic but it is important for the Government to realise it has created and presided over this chaos. It is crucial that it now implements rational steps that seek to improve the situation and address the chaos over which it has presided.”
“The situation of economic migrants using and abusing the IPAS system should have been addressed several years ago. Another abuse is the fact the Government has taken over the last remaining hotel in so many towns and villages. We have deportation orders that are never enforced. In fact, last year, more than 2,500 deportation orders were issued and just over 100, or less than 5%, were enforced. That is the reality but one would not think so from listening to Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs this evening. That is not to mention the utter abuse of taxpayers' money associated with the IPAS system. The Comptroller and Auditor General's report outlined a litany of such abuse, including more than €7.5 million wrongly being charged on VAT. That is the situation over which the Government has presided.”
“It is ironic that the Government is condemning the Social Democrats and the Labour Party for trying to censor debate, which I believe is wrong, which the Government engaged in just a few months ago. It is important that I welcome the Minister of State to the side of common sense, to critical thinking and, indeed, to law and order. We know the IPAS system has been abused for far too long. That abuse includes applicants coming from the North, which is a safe country, into Ireland. There has been abuse by way of the destruction of travel documents, which the Government has done nothing about because it is incapable even of having a rational discussion on the topic. This is something that could easily have been solved but a discussion on it in the House was refused.”
“I condemn the horrible attacks that happened on the IPAS centre in Drogheda. I welcome the fact that the Government has done such a U-turn on immigration and its rhetoric. It is quite incredible to be sitting here listening to an immigration debate with comments by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs that they would have been called racist just a year ago. Where was the critical thinking then? Where was the independent thought a year or two years ago? It is amazing to hear Government Members raising concerns and talking about a firm and fair immigration system. This is something we spoke about for a very long time and for which we were condemned by the Government. I am glad that the Tánaiste has made a U-turn and finally allowed some common sense and critical thinking into this debate.”
“I appreciate that in terms of need, the budget and so on, but the point is that there is such a demand for the amalgamation of the two schools. It appears there is a one-size-fits-all, arbitrary metric when it comes to the capital infrastructure project. Will the Minister consider meeting me and the school principals to hear some of the issues that the schools are experiencing outlined for her and consider some funding for the schools to amalgamate? There is a significant need for it to happen in terms of education. I ask the Minister, along with officials in her Department, to please meet me and the schools’ principals to discuss the consultation that so many people in Claremorris and, indeed, in the Minister’s Department spent so many hours on. Will she meet me and the schools to discuss this project?”
“There is a huge level of support for it. However, the Department issued notice to the schools a number of months ago outlining the criteria the Minister outlined a few moments ago, basically stating that it would not be supporting it in any sense in terms of capital infrastructure. I ask the Minister to consider that report, the demand and the choice that I know the Minister is very keen to support. I ask her-----”
“I appreciate there is a significant amount of money - hundreds of millions of euro - spent on capital projects. Of course, there must be prioritisation and so on and, obviously, the need for expanding schools and special education should be an important prioritisation. However, I would appreciate it if the Minister could consider nuanced issues in schools as well. For example, Claremorris is a wonderful town with two single-sex schools. They had a consultation over several years, which the Department of education in Tullamore oversaw. There is huge support for an amalgamation of those two schools. The primary schools in Claremorris have recently amalgamated. The patrons of Mount St. Michael Secondary School and St. Colman’s College are supportive, as are parents, school management and the chamber of commerce.”
“I want to ask the Minister about the criteria for prioritising school capital projects and about delays. It appears that a significant number of projects have been delayed. Can the Minister outline how many capital project delays there are across the country and the primary reasons therefor?”
“There are teachers across the UAE who have been there five, ten or 15 years and if they return to Ireland, they will start on the lowest point of the pay scale. Those are key items that the Minister could take to address and it would go some way in alleviating the teacher shortage. The shortage is there and these are practical measures the Minister could take.”
“In fairness, the question I asked the Minister, in terms of the redeployment scheme, was why there is not a fair process for teachers who are living and working in Dublin and cannot afford, for example, to live in Dublin and want to move back to Mayo. The vacancies are there. Why is there not that scheme? Will the Minister engage with me in relation to that? Has the Minister undertaken any analysis of the two-year professional master's in education? Is the additional year in that two-year programme another barrier and will she consider reducing that back to one year? In circumstances in which we have a teacher shortage, not enough is being done. We are not doing anything in terms of redeployment. The two-year master's, it seems, is here for good.”
“I believe the Minister should be incentivising those teachers by outlining to them that we will recognise their service in the UAE and provide some increment benefit on the pay scale.”
“There are significant difficulties, particularly around certain subjects. From speaking to DEIS schools and rural schools, and indeed in Dublin as well, we need to focus on easing the difficulties of recruitment and retention in teaching. For example, why is it the case that if a teacher is permanent in Dublin and wants to move back to Mayo, that teacher has to give up their employment? Why is there not a scheme to redeploy - a proper functioning scheme for those people? Why is Deputy McEntee, as the Minister for education, not trying to recruit teachers in the UAE and Australia? We need them. Despite what the Minister said, we need them. I speak to principals all the time. What is the Minister doing to recruit those teachers?”
“There is a significant teacher shortage across Ireland. The unions have reported this over many years. Indeed, the situation is getting so bad that some schools are combining classes. Other schools are sending classes home. What analysis has the Minister done of the impact this is having in schools, particularly rural schools and DEIS schools? What is the Department doing to address the teacher shortage issue in this country?”
“That would be a positive development. We will support the Bill. I am disappointed the Minister seems to be opposing what is a very simple and practical measure to reduce the cost of sending children back to school.”
“The promotion of the second-hand clothing option is a wonderful measure. Ireland is second highest in Europe for textile waste, with, on average, 53 kg of textile waste per person. That is double the European norm. Would it not be a great thing if schools were front and centre in promoting the use of second-hand clothing, hand-me-downs and reusable items? When I lived in America a number of years ago, I found the concept of the thrift shop to be a great thing. Many of my American friends would talk about the great deals they got in a thrift store. Assisting schools to promote reusing uniforms is a positive measure. Of course, it can only really happen if we enable a greater use of generic uniforms. That is the key. Regional towns with a number of schools would see a movement of uniforms across those schools.”
“A jumper that might cost €20 instead costs €60 or €70, which is totally unreasonable and unfair. The Bill is a positive measure. Clear labelling, for instance, is a positive measure. Often, students will come home and tell their parents they need a particular jumper. It is a good thing to ensure parents know what is mandatory and what is optional. Minimal use of branded items is another positive measure. Crested jumpers are typically more expensive than non-crested ones. Reducing the exclusive nature of uniforms will allow a greater number of providers and suppliers into the marketplace. I spoke to many families last September who were, in effect, forced to purchase uniforms from one or two suppliers. Competition is a good thing. The Bill will promote competition in the market and reduce costs for struggling families.”
“Likewise, the not so voluntary school contribution is causing great difficulty for families. It is causing difficulty for principals as well as they are forced, in effect, into becoming debt collectors. It is totally unacceptable. The back to school clothing and footwear allowance is welcome and positive. However, it appears the Minister is rejecting this Bill on the basis of citing that provision. This is totally unacceptable. The allowance often gets diverted into food, heating and all those other costs. The Bill reduces the cost of going back to school. Who could be against such a measure? In some cases, parents are told they must, for example, buy a branded jumper, shirt and skirt. The branded nature of such clothing, which may include embroidery, means it may be double the cost of non-branded items.”
“I welcome the Bill and thank my colleagues in Sinn Féin for bringing it forward. We will support the Bill because it is about simplicity. The more simple we keep uniforms and the whole back-to-school experience, the cheaper it will become for families. In Mayo, as throughout the country, families are struggling. September brings significant financial fear due to all the costs associated with going back to school, including the cost of uniforms, shoes, warm coats, schoolbooks and, increasingly, IT equipment. I spoke to a family recently who spent almost €1,500 on a tablet for their child entering first year. That is an incredible amount for this family to have to find. It is a very challenging situation for parents. School transport is another big factor.”
“It should be a model to follow, a place we can go to learn and research and an education facility. I have no doubt that if we see an epidemic like the environmental disaster we saw in the River Blackwater, we will rue the day that we close this. This will cost millions of euro to re-establish down the line. Before this hatchery is closed, I ask the Minister of State to join me in Cong, visit the facility and see the valuable contribution. It is just two hours from County Clare. I will join him at the facility in Cong at any point of his choosing. I am asking him to pause, reflect, intervene and understand what is at stake here for the entire region, not just for tourism but in terms of the salmon stocks in south Mayo. It is fundamentally important.”
“There are hundreds of jobs and businesses that rely on tourism in south Mayo. This is an important aspect that must be considered. I ask the Minister of State to consider the impact on tourism and the impact it will have on fish stocks in the region. The report that was published by the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation, NASCO, is being used to essentially close the Cong hatchery, but the fact is that NASCO recognises that well-managed hatcheries can play an important role in conservation of our fish stocks. The science used to justify the closure manipulates the international guidance and overlooks Cong’s valuable service. I asked about the assessment that was done on the fish stocks that are produced in Cong but no data was provided. This hatchery should be used as a flagship hatchery.”