Paul Nicholas Gogarty
Dublin Mid-West · Independent · Ireland
“As I have mentioned in the House before, if a border poll passes by 52% to 48%, the legal threshold of the Good Friday Agreement is met but the social consensus is not and moving 800,000 citizens into a new state against their explicit, democratic will does risk causing civil unrest.”
“We also have other gaps that are much smaller, like a ten-year phased transition, reducing the net annual cost to between €2.5 billion and €3 billion. We then had the middle figure of about €11 billion. We actually do not know how much it is going to cost but we do know it is going to cost something.”
“For example, adopting a single currency, getting rid of the exchange rate volatility and the transaction costs for cross-Border businesses are all advantages.”
“I would be loath to call a border poll right now because of the risks associated with that, but if a border poll did occur, the State would have to be prepared for the huge structural disruptions that would follow, so we have to start working now - that is why this debate is welcome - without arrogantly presuming it is going to become a r…”
“I have been listening to this debate in my office since Deputy Currie started her contribution. I always follow these debates on Irish unity with interest as someone who wants to see a united Ireland by consent.”
“Some have been mentioned in this House, such as a devolved regional assembly in Stormont to preserve local governance for the unionist community, a shared bill of rights protecting the dual Irish-British citizenship, and re-evaluating our relationship with the Commonwealth.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,194 lines we hold for Paul Nicholas Gogarty, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 10 of 24.
“An estimated 4,500 people have been reported killed during the latest round of protests in Iran. This figure could be more than 12,000 when all the figures have been checked. This follows 2022 protests when 551 people, including 68 children, were confirmed killed. In 2019, up to 1,500 people were killed. In 2017-18, 41 protesters were killed. In 2009, 70 protesters were killed. These are only the numbers of those killed in documented protests and crackdowns by this murderous and undemocratic regime. It does not include executions after unfair trials or political prisoners' deaths in custody. Iran has significantly increased its executions in recent years and now reportedly carries out more than half of all executions in the world outside China.”
“We are talking about people living real lives with serious consequences if they have to tear these down. They will end up in a homeless hub and that is not appropriate. Any help the Minister of State could give in that regard would be appreciated.”
“It is something that will be welcomed by so many families within communities. In framing the legislation before it actually comes before the committee, could the local authorities also be contacted? Local authorities obviously have to enforce planning regulations but I was told before by a county manager that they do not have the resources to bring every case to court. There are situations. For example, I know of a mother of two severely autistic children whose family built an annex out the back because she had nowhere else to go. A local authority has issued enforcement proceedings to tear the whole structure down. If the Minister of State could issue guidelines saying to go easy until the legislation comes in, then there may be the opportunity to retrospectively apply for retention in situations like that.”
“They are not registered with the tenancies board so we have to make sure this is purely for family members only, initially anyway.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. This is not going to sort out the housing crisis but it will make a dent. Where it is going to help in particular is where people can either have a starter home or an age-appropriate home in the area where they already live, work or grew up. That is crucial because a lot of people cannot actually get a property in the area where they have grown up. In that context, it is important to make sure this legislation is primarily for families with, maybe, a two-year exemption period where someone has used it and they have moved on and then it could possibly be extended under the rent-a-room scheme, for example, should people have that annex available. I am very conscious that there are a lot of cowboy operators out there who have built unauthorised developments in back gardens and are renting them out.”
“Early last year, I asked for some flexibility for people to build within their gardens. I note that under pillar 1 of the housing plan, action 4.8 commits to increasing the number of development types exempt from planning permission. When is this coming in? Will there be clear boundaries in terms of the scope? It should be for families and not for commercial rental in the first instance.”
“If you want a bring a dispute to court, even the hourly cost for a solicitor is quite onerous. You are talking about €200 or €300 multiplied by the number of hours. It is not worth it to fork out €1,000 or €2,000 on a case that might only be worth €4,000 or €5,000 to you. The principle of justice remains, however. That is why having it sorted out outside the courts would have been cheaper and more efficient. While we hope there will not be many cases, where they do arise, they are going to be quite onerous. As Deputy Ó Snodaigh said, people are going to have deeper pockets. The people who are trying to scrape a living will not be able to sort out their grievances if the 50-50 split is not as it should be.”
“The music industry has changed over the years. The revenue from streaming is minuscule so a lot of artists are trying to get their stuff onto the likes of TikTok and are trying to get airplay on radio, where you still get a certain amount of royalties. They usually try to get to a point where they can tour. Touring can be hit and miss for a lot of artists. They do not necessarily make a lot of money. The very successful ones do. That is why the previous Government's introduction of the stipend for artists was so beneficial. We hope that will continue. This is a long-winded way of saying that, while some people may occasionally hit pay dirt and get some of their works licensed, if you are a contributor to someone else's work, your income is going to vary from year to year and will often be quite low.”
“That question has still not been answered, as to why the Minister of State believes that the Circuit Court would have the knowledge, expertise, inclination or resources to deal with this area. I am not saying there is going to be an avalanche of cases but if there were a number coming, would the Circuit Court have the capacity or the ability to get those experts in good time?”
“I have more experience of dealing with issues related to family courts where I have been chasing up issues relating to the in camera rule. It does not necessarily relate to this legislation but it does on one fundamental point, which is that sometimes, it is apparent that the judges rely on so-called experts because they are familiar with them but they are not necessarily the experts in their field. What could happen here by bringing it to the Circuit Court is that it would delay the process and make it unaffordable. Basically, while we may end up with a resolution, it is going to be a half-baked one further down the line when it could have been preferable to fix the existing system.”
“I want to support these amendments. We have had a lot of discussions at the introductory stage in the committee. The Minister has been engaging with the representative bodies and I take that on board. However, there are still issues in relation to what should be taken on board and what should not be. This being the Report Stage before the Bill goes to the Seanad, maybe the Minister of State would give her final and absolute legal advice, because I do not see what would be wrong with putting these amendments in. If something else is highlighted in the Seanad, it can be amended at that stage. What is proposed is reasonable unless there is some absolute legal barrier. That is my tuppence worth.”
“We need to tackle the grid head-on as a strategic project and front-load that money, even if we have to borrow it and go into debt. Remember that, during Covid, we spent money like there was no tomorrow. I am well aware of and have mentioned the advice from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council that we should not be spending beyond our means and depending on untenable pharmaceutical revenue, but when you are looking at strategic investment that would pay us back in the medium to long term, we need to invest in water sooner rather than later.”
“Although I supported motions against the Mercosur agreement because it does not exactly ring-fence the environmental concerns that we have about the rainforest or market access for farmers, it is hypocritical of us to try to get a nitrates directive derogation so that we can pump more animal excrement into our waterways. On one hand, we are touting what a great Government we have for putting further investment into water, even if it is not enough. On the other hand, our waterways are being diminished. There is still an increase in the amount of less than satisfactory waterways, according to the most recent figures. It was at 52% satisfactory. Now it has come down to about 49% or 50%. If it is going at that rate, the pollution of our waterways will always increase faster than the money.”
“Even if it means breaching the EU Stability and Growth Pact, we may need to borrow for it. We have to build the capacity ourselves. We have to think much bigger. We are still importing massive amounts of fossil fuels into this country to meet our energy requirements when we could be net exporters of renewable energy, with stored renewables such as hydrogen, but we are not putting in that investment. Regarding the water grid, if you will pardon the pun, it is a drop in the ocean. That is the problem. We need to get serious. A number of my colleagues previously referred to the issue of blaming farmers and agriculture for water. According to the EPA, that most of the at-risk water bodies - 62% - are at risk is related to agriculture and agricultural run-offs.”
“I welcome the opportunity to talk about water again. We talked about it six months ago. I note that the Government has announced additional funding but if you look at the amount that is proposed in the programme, it is still wholly inadequate compared with what is required. The Uisce Éireann strategic plan is looking for over €16 billion up to 2029, and it has been estimated that, up to 2050, we need to spend over €60 billion on our water and waterways. That level of investment is a wartime investment, similar to what I have raised, along with Deputy Heneghan, as regards the grid. If you are going to have the potential to get revenue from AI companies down the line to build houses, you have to have water infrastructure and grid infrastructure. We are nowhere near to making those types of investment.”
“The current administration will hopefully be out of office in a while, but we have to keep our links with our friends in the US because there is sanity in that country among the vast majority of the population but we have to get through these troubled times in the meantime. All we can do is speak softly and act with one united European Union voice. Unfortunately, many times we do not have that united voice, but I urge the Minister of State, the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste to use whatever influence they have, not just in relation to the Greenland issue but the ongoing issues in Israel and Gaza, as well as Iran, something I will return to during Leaders' Questions tomorrow.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on international events, however brief my time. The Government has quite a bit of input from the European Union perspective. We have President Donald Trump addressing the World Economic Forum. He said he is not going to use military force today, but he is putting pressure. As the Tánaiste said, we have some aces up our sleeves as well. The Government are dealing with a narcissist and a big baby supported by a vice president who is worthy of less admiration because he lambasted the current US President and then when he got into office, he acted like a coward.”
“The 15-minute cities will be 50-minute ghettos in 20 years' time because people will not be able to get out of the place if they have a car and they might not be able to have a car because there is nowhere to park it. Three lads renting a house, say, and trying to get from A to B across the city cannot get on a train in the first place and have nowhere to park a vehicle. We need to rethink the whole thing and think a little more cleverly.”
“We need a new town in the midlands that is designed properly. We need to redesign city living and build right up in Dublin city centre in order that people can walk around and go to the shops. We need to bring in all the public sector workers, including gardaí, by giving them incentives to live and work in the city centre. We must stop building out in the suburbs unless we can guarantee the infrastructure is there. In fact, the infrastructure situation is getting worse. In Adamstown, Clonburris and other areas like them, residents are now being given restricted parking spaces. They are told there are 0.75 spaces per unit because this is an area with active travel initiatives, a public transport hub, etc., except it is not.”
“I mentioned before that in one estate in my constituency, 90% of the people who are paying top dollar for those houses are not from Ireland. They are from abroad. They are working and paying taxes and contributing here. The issue is, though, that they have not grown up in the area. People who have grandparents who could help mind their kids are being priced out of the market. Meanwhile, software companies are saying they want to go to Dublin. There are rural areas that could do with kids in schools and with the added investment and the industrial policy has not been firm enough to say that if people want to set up their software company, they can set it up with the broadband hubs in rural areas. Keep the population and keep the post offices and banks open. The entire spatial strategy in this country is for the birds.”
“Now, we have the Government asking South Dublin County Council to rezone more and more land all around the county yet Dart+ South West has been put on the long finger. BusConnects is a shambles. I have said before that the NTA is not accountable to anybody. The train service in terms of extra carriages is not being provided, but the Government is asking people to move into places where it cannot guarantee they can get to work. That is why we need flexibility in terms of working hours. It is so people can bring their kids to school or try to find a crèche, if they are lucky enough to bring their kids to a crèche as well. We need more investment, and we need more flexibility. We also need a change in industrial policy.”
“That was not passed, and the board did not uphold our appeal. As a result, the train station in Kishoge had to be totally revamped at a cost of €4 million. The car park that was at Kishoge train station is now gone for housing development, so they had to narrow a lane and put the car parking spaces alongside for the National Transport Authority, NTA, to permit it, and that has led to additional congestion. As someone with a green background, I know that the more roads we build, the more that cars are going to fill them. We are always going to have a congestion equilibrium but if we put the investment into public transport, we are going to have a lower equilibrium. We are still going to have people driving. If the buses are flowing freely and the traffic gets easier, people are going to start driving again - that is human nature.”
“I live in the wonderful constituency of Dublin Mid-West, which has some fantastic people, but it is also the congestion capital of Ireland. That goes back to when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, sometimes with dodgy backhanders, were rezoning land on greenfield sites left, right and centre. They built houses everywhere with no facilities and infrastructure. Then, when we had a chance with strategic development zones like Clonburris, Sinn Féin, People Before Profit, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats accused me and others in Lucan, where we were trying to put in playing pitches, of being snobs and trying to move houses to Clondalkin instead when we were trying to move houses to Kishoge train station so people could walk down and get a train. We tried to put in measures that would open the train station before any houses were built.”
“No matter what, people will try to find ways to get that buzz. It is the why people want to get that buzz as well as the how people want to get that buzz that needs to be tackled in the wider context. I am not trying to say, "There are other issues we need to look at; therefore, this Bill is not important." This Bill is extremely important. It needs to be brought to Committee Stage as soon as possible so we can have a proper debate on it. I thank my constituency colleague, Deputy Ward, along with other colleagues and the service who worked with him on this, for bringing it forward because it is very useful legislation. That has to be recognised.”
“In the context of this, I am not sure about the technical nature of this proposed legislation or if it can be worked in here but if people are caught in possession of nitrous oxide canisters, or indeed bottles of alcohol, it should be recorded, not as a criminal offence but to ensure that there is some form of intervention, whether it is through youth services, an education programme or some sort of mental health service, depending on whether the community gardaí are involved and know the individuals concerned. Too often, addiction spreads out. It covers a multitude. This just happens to be the addiction of choice for a lot of people in the current age. If we clamp down on this, they will find something else. There was an incident recently involving a poor young lad in relation to aerosol usage, for example.”
“I note that this legislation deliberately, and rightly, seeks not to criminalise young people for possession of nitrous oxide canisters but no more than people caught with bottles of vodka or bottles of gin, there seems to be no mechanism for intervening from a public health perspective. When we had some of the debates at local authority and national levels about decriminalisation of cannabis, for example, the Portuguese model was often cited where it was seen as a health issue.”
“I mentioned the other day, in relation to nitrous oxide but during debate on the vaping legislation, that there is a different angle in terms of the storage, supply and monitoring from a safety and environmental perspective in relation to nitrous oxide canisters. Tonight is not the time to digress too much in that regard but we have all seen them all over the place causing a blight on our landscape, so it is not just the numerous health issues, for young people in particular, but also the environmental damage. The environmental aspect needs to be brought back. I will talk for a second about the issue of the addiction in general.”
“- is a good thing. Almost 50% of young driver fatalities - I am going back now because I do not have the up-to-date legislation - from 2013 to 2017 had toxicology for alcohol. More recently, we have toxicology for drugs as well. Nitrous oxide usage is a growing public health concern. I and my team, when we go around, are picking canisters up left, right and centre. We have been told by the local authority that you can put them into domestic bins. Where they go after the domestic bins, however, is definitely another question because they can cause safety hazards for workers sifting through that rubbish, so it is better to bring them to recycling centres.”
“There is a wider issue as well, as Deputy Gannon and others have referred to. I go back to one of the comments made by one of the Sinn Féin contributors, who quoted Ciara Murphy, project leader at the Finglas youth service, who highlighted on "Prime Time" how the price of alcohol is actually driving the use of nitrous oxide. If anything, that should be seen as a slight positive in the sense that alcohol still causes a significantly higher number of deaths among young people than nitrous oxide. Alcohol is one of the biggest risk factors for death and disability in 15-to-24-year-olds in Ireland, and one in four deaths of young men aged 15 to 34 is directly related to alcohol. With 50,000 children starting to drink in Ireland every year, anything we can do legislatively through the pricing mechanism - the minimum price, etc.”
“I do take on board what the Minister said about the existing legislation that makes it an offence to sell nitrous oxide if it is for unpermitted use as a drug product. The question I ask there is that if that is the case, how come that legislation has not been enforced to the extent we would like it to be enforced over the past ten years? That is a question that has not been answered. If this legislation, as proposed, makes it a little heavier and puts greater onus on the supply chain, it can only be a good thing. There is the question, as others have mentioned, if this were to go through tomorrow, no matter what way it were to be amended, as to whether the Garda has the resources to follow up. Will the inspection authority have the resources to follow it up and prosecute where required? These are questions that have not been answered.”
“I support fully this Bill by my Sinn Féin constituency colleague, Deputy Mark Ward. In terms of its efforts to restrict the sale, possession and supply of nitrous oxide products, it has added to the whole debate. It should absolutely be lauded. In that context, while I take on board what the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, said about EU legislation and having to give notice and having to look at the legislation because it was seen only in the past while, we know that Second Stage Bills coming from Opposition parties cannot proceed to Committee and Report Stages unless the Government facilitates that in any event. There is a lot of time, even up to nine months, that could have been used to prepare the Bill for the next Stage and have that proper debate, so I do not see the excuse as being particularly valid.”
“The resources for training, inspection and enforcement absolutely need to be provided, as well as measures to make the sector more attractive for the additional workers needed.”
“Of course, these higher standards may require more training and more staffing in a sector already facing shortages, which may mean people rightly needing to be paid more. That is all well and good, but the Minister of State needs to accommodate the additional outsource costs. We need guarantees that people will be paid properly. Compliance demands could also reduce the available care hours. We need some form of grant system to ensure that the companies will do this without taking away the actual hours for service. Ultimately, what we are trying to do is keep people at home. This legislation, by the time it is scrutinised and amended, will hopefully create the framework.”
“With so many private operators, there are massive turnovers of staff, and the risk to the patient care is suited to fit the schedule of the company rather than the needs of the client. I have seen this myself where a constituent who was catered for directly from the HSE was shifted into a calendar that did not suit her needs. However, when you try to raise issues with the provider, you are routinely ignored. There are no checks and balances or parliamentary questions, only an indirect means of seeking an inspection. This is why an enforceable, HIQA-led standard is important, along with a system of proper inspections, stiff penalties for companies that operate without being registered and meaningful consequences for operators that do not provide adequate levels of care for clients.”
“By 2023, according to HSE data analysed by Home and Community Care Ireland, the independent sector, made up largely of private operators and a small number of voluntary community providers, made up 61% of all home support hours, with the HSE only accounting for 39%. The outsourcing trend has been driven by a number of factors, not least that the HSE is struggling to recruit and retain home support workers due to public sector pay issues, rostering and the basic demographics of the country with an ageing population, creating a demand that apparently rose faster than the HSE could hire staff or pay for them directly. This is what has led us to this situation where we are dependent on an insufficiently regulated sector and we need to bring in meaningful legislation. Hopefully, this is meaningful.”
“I welcome the Bill. We all recognise the benefits of being able to allow people who need some level of support to remain independently in their homes as long as possible. In amending the Health Act 2007, the legislation will create the first statutory regulatory framework for home support providers, with mandatory registration, HIQA-led standards, inspections and criminal penalties for unregistered operators, bringing Ireland into line with other jurisdictions, including our neighbours in the UK. This is all well and good, but it is about the enforcement. Over the years, the HSE has been gradually outsourcing services for older people and persons with disabilities to private companies. Between 2018 and 2022, the total home support hours increased by 22% but the HSE-delivered hours only increased by 7.6%.”
“The EU AI act is a landmark piece of legislation but we need to resource it to keep up because the technology is going to change all the time and we need to be at the forefront and keep up the pressure. If they are not going to play ball, we should get rid of the AI systems.”
“High at risk areas like policing, elections, healthcare and employment must be routinely inspected, not monitored after the harm or after the event, and non-compliance needs to have the strict penalties at our national remit and at EU level. I acknowledge that the EU is doing a much better job than other jurisdictions but we need to go further and not ease up due to pressure from the likes of Trump. I note the Minister, Deputy Burke, has said that building an AI ecosystem requires something that is informative, trusted and transparent. To deliver on that we probably need a public register of high-risk AI systems that are deployed in Ireland and keep our public in the loop rather than let them be disinformed by the trolls and the bots.”
“However, if we want this legislation to truly protect our citizens, we need rigorous enforcement, enhanced transparency and resources to adapt to any technological advances as they come. Quite frankly, the jury is still out. As of now, we have regulation under bodies like the Central Bank, the Data Protection Commission, Coimisiún na Meán, the HSE, the Health and Safety Authority but we still need one single, empowered point of co-ordination. I am interested to see how the proposed national AI office is actually going to work. Will it be in place by this year? Will it be properly resourced? I am talking about technical experts, the engineers, the auditors and the data scientists who can do a deep dive into the AI and algorithms, rather than just carry out sample audits and tick boxes. Enforcement must be proactive, not reactive.”
“It should not be left in the hands of the tech bros. None of these massively wealthy individuals has shown any inclination or ability to put the common good at the heart of their businesses. The algorithms are all about prioritising engagement no matter how negative, no matter how down right evil. They are all about maximising revenue and there is little or no moderation left. As others have mentioned, moderators have been fired to push up the profits. That is why I welcome that Ireland has taken some first steps in implementing the EU Artificial Intelligence Act and designating the 15 national competent authorities to enforce it, which places it among some of the first EU member states.”
“Artificial intelligence is already embedded in all aspects of our lives. We look at healthcare, education, transport, the creative arts, music, business and Government services. As others have said, there are many practical applications that are useful but, equally, there are a lot of dangers out there which have been referenced. They are now impinging on our basic human rights and we need to protect our children and manage threats to our energy resources. It is not going too far to say there is an existential threat to humanity from AI. Even the creators of it have acknowledged that. We need to be very careful. That said, AI is not going to go away which is why it has to be hugely regulated to protect our basic freedoms. The likes of Musk talk about taking away freedom but to protect our freedom we need to regulate him and his ilk.”
“Along with other products that I have referred to before such as the vaping material and nitrous oxide canisters, they are littering our country and we need to have something with a behavioural impact as well as increased fines.”
“In Ireland, we use over 200 million single-use tea and coffee cups a year. That equates to at least 20,000 cups an hour. That is a staggering figure. Coffee cups are, according to Irish Business Against Litter, among the top five most littered items in the country according to a recent survey. Most of these cups cannot go into recycling bins because of the polyethylene lining used in the paper, making them non-recyclable. The Government had proposed a 20 cent levy as well as other measures. As the Minister knows, the litter issue is one thing, but the long-term environmental damage is another. When is the Government going to use or amend the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 to bring in a refundable deposit?”
“When it comes to costings, I note that the CRU introduced a simplified class 2 licence with a lower one-off application fee of €200 for smaller networks. However, there is still the risk that there will be increased costs for small businesses in that the requirements, such as preparing safety cases and annual levies, could place a disproportionate financial burden on the smaller LPG operators. Of course, the Bill does nothing to address the high energy prices and the price gouging of energy companies on hard-pressed residents. That is a separate issue but I wish to put that on the record. I also point out that whatever about the gas safety requirements, we are not doing enough in terms of the overall energy supply to progress renewables as fast as we should.”
“Whistleblowers have contacted me to say that they have substantial evidence to support all the issues that I have outlined and they have made submissions in this regard. I would love to see whether this is going to be investigated properly. In respect of the Gas Safety (Amendment) Bill 2026 and how it brings previously unlicensed rural LPG networks into a formal safety regime, it is welcome. It will hopefully address the immediate risk of gas leaks and non-compliance with safety standards. In the context of what I just mentioned previously, it all depends on the actual enforcement rather than just having the regulations. The CRU, in theory, can issue safety improvement notices immediately, reducing or removing the previous 21-day waiting period. On paper, this will make enforcement more implementable and effective.”
“I wish to go through a few other issues that have been mentioned including: no earth bonding; exposed gas pipes on external walls without protection; gas pipes routed through apartment stairways between floors; gas pipes in voids with no external ventilation; gas pipes in lift shafts alongside electrical controls with mechanical joints and no fire stopping between floors; gas meters being used to support two-inch gun barrel pipework; no gas shut-off valves where gas pipes enter apartments; gas pipes buried in sand and cement without proper shielding, as I have mentioned; insufficient gas pressure to safely operate boilers, cookers and fires; poor-quality soldering on fittings; lack of required ventilation for gas cookers and fires; boiler flue terminals located too close to air vents; and cold water supply for heating systems connected directly to the mains.”
“The first example is one over which I remember getting ejected from this Chamber because I refused to sit down when I raised it. I remember holding up a piece of pipe in the Chamber. The defect is gas pipes not being sleeved when entering homes. Back in the day, I mentioned there was a risk to tens of thousands of households throughout the country from gas pipes that were not installed to the original IS 813:2002 Irish quality standard. They were, therefore, liable to corrosion. There is a risk that the eventual corrosion of the pipes will lead to gas leaks and, in some cases, a risk of potentially fatal explosions. This issue was never fully addressed like it should have been.”
“There is also a failure to address clear safety issues during meter installations. With regard to Bord Gáis, I have received complaints that the servicing of gas boilers is an issue and some should not have been commissioned in the first place due to safety defects. Other significant safety concerns are overlooked during routine servicing. In respect of the RGII, there have been allegations that large numbers of hazard certificates have been sent but they are not being acted on. With regard to the SEAI, homes have been surveyed and heating systems upgraded that are allegedly not fit for purpose. Documented safety issues during upgrade works are also being ignored by installers. I have a list of examples of common safety defects that I will go through.”
“This is a Second Stage debate on the general issue of gas safety. That is why I, like others, are raising issues that are related to but outside the scope of this Bill, although I will come to the specifics of the Bill as well. I have been raising issues of gas safety over multiple Dáil terms. It does not appear that the issues have been addressed. We have had complaints sent into multiple agencies. We have had protected disclosures about issues relating to gas safety and enforcement. We seem to have a serious problem. For example, when it comes to Gas Networks Ireland, it has been brought to my attention that there is an issue with gas meters being installed under stairways and inside front door areas that are designated escape routes, a practice that is not compliant with safety regulations.”
“It is great to hear people talking about climate change here and the impact this deal will have. I would like to see that level of conversation continue going forward.”