Peadar Tóibín
Meath West · Aontú · Ireland
“Lonely Planet. It did a review of Dublin and stated, "Once Dublin’s grand boulevard, O'Connell St has struggled with decline". It stated that vacant buildings, derelict upper floors and long-stalled redevelopments leave this part looking neglected while retail has shifted elsewhere and been replaced by fast food shops that dilute its char…”
“The Irish people are a generous and decent people and have been over the past number of years, with the provision of supports to people from Ukraine who are fleeing the war. This is right and just. The war unleashed on Ukraine is absolutely wrong. Aontú will support the reduction in the rate of payment under the scheme.”
“I am very disappointed to see that the Government, the Social Democrats, the Labour Party, the Green Party and People Before Profit will vote against an amendment that wants to means test the payment, as an amendment also did on the previous occasion, and put it on a level footing with other housing assistance payments.”
“Landlords are rational and they will make economic decisions to best suit themselves. Landlords have been more inclined to take on Ukrainian tenants over Irish tenants in recent years. This system is discriminatory. It gives an advantage to guests in the country over the people who have lived here for most of their lives.”
“Anyone who sat the leaving certificate economics paper just a few weeks ago will know that demand also has a role. It determines what rents are, the price of houses, etc. It is physics and maths and not ideology. We need to get to a situation where we equalise supply with demand.”
“A global study by TomTom indicated that it is the 38th most congested city globally, behind cities such as London, Toronto and Rome. The task force indicated that the Cork Luas system would be built. That Luas system is in planning and that planning is taking a long while.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,244 lines we hold for Peadar Tóibín, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 17 of 25.
“We will be tabling at the next opportunity a motion of no confidence in Simon Harris. There must be change in relation to this. I also wish to speak about Cara Darmody and the phenomenal campaign she has run over the last year. It is incredible that she has had to go and stay outside the gates of Leinster House overnight on many occasions just to be able to put the issue of assessments of need front and centre. I am glad to be able to say that she has actually achieved a number of commitments from the Tánaiste in relation to this. She has received a commitment that the right to an assessment of need will remain in law. She has received a commitment that a deadline for a new assessment of need law will be placed and this will happen before January 2026.”
“We have had nine separate reports, many of them not even published yet and some of them not made available to the parents, in relation to the dysfunction happening. There is a toxic management culture within CHI. Money is being spent without proper oversight. Children have had unauthorised springs inserted into them. Many children have had operations forced upon them. These are children who did not meet the threshold for those operations. Indeed, the waiting lists for children awaiting operations are now actually increasing. The buck has to stop somewhere. Somebody has to be held responsible for this. If there is no responsibility, there will be no change. This is one of the reasons we have asked for a proper public inquiry, along with the family, in relation to this issue.”
“It is incredibly wrong, so much so that this State must take responsibility for it. We have a situation where Simon Harris promised when he was the Minister for Health that no child would have to wait for over four months to have the operation they needed. Yet we have a child who waited over three years for the operations. It is absolutely wrong. We have seen Harvey's parents, Gillian and Stephen, in the depths of horrendous grief, having to campaign for the rights of other parents and children to have the operations they needed in a timely fashion. They have also campaigned for justice for Harvey too. It is wrong that we have a Government that has pushed back against having a proper investigation into what is happening in CHI. Nobody here can stand over what is happening in CHI at the moment. It is drowning in dysfunction.”
“At the moment, this is no country for young children and for many people who have disabilities. This day last year I raised with the then Taoiseach, Deputy Simon Harris, the case of Harvey Morrison Sherratt. I raised the facts that he had been taken off a waiting list unbeknownst to his family, had been left in excruciating pain for his condition to develop and never had the necessary operations he needed to be able to regain health. Tragically, over the summer, Harvey Morrison Sherratt died. I do think we have reached a watershed moment in terms of how people with disabilities have been treated in this country. To lose a child is the most tragic experience any parent will ever have to go through. To lose a child in such excruciating circumstances for the want of proper treatment is absolutely wrong.”
“The fact there is not a proper investigation with statutory powers to investigate those is absolutely wrong as well. What funding will the Taoiseach provide Tusla to make sure it can do the work to investigate those closed cases?”
“The children's ombudsman has blasted the lack of structures the State has provided to properly investigate the deaths of vulnerable children. He stated there were no statutory powers to investigate these deaths and no powers to compel information from public bodies and services. We also have had the news that Tusla will conduct well-being checks into 42,000 children whose cases were closed during the Taoiseach's Government's Covid restrictions. That is a very serious situation about that Government's handling of the Covid crisis.”
“I raise the case of Daniel Aruebose as well and the fact that his remains have been found in north Dublin. It is incredible that a three-year-old boy would go missing from State care. I want to express my deepest sympathies to the relatives of this small boy. Daniel has been failed by the State. It is horrific and damning that we have a situation where the State was searching for the remains of two boys who were either in State care or known to State care and were no longer being tracked by State care. Daniel is among 254 children who have died in the past ten years either in State care or known to State care. Until yesterday, he was among dozens of children who are missing currently from State care.”
“Today, we learned about 500,000 people who were in either electricity or gas arrears. The Government is putting them into debt. It collected €4.1 billion in fuel taxes last year, which is the highest ever level in the history of the State, in the jaws of a cost-of-living crisis. Carbon taxes are topping out at €1 billion-----”
“Let us talk about the health service, which the Tánaiste mentioned. Billions of euros have been poured into the HSE and we are getting less and less in return. The national children's hospital, which the Tánaiste signed for, is still mired in cost overruns and delays. There have been 500,000 adverse incidents in hospitals just in the last five years and 3,142 people died as a result of those adverse incidents in hospitals. Since the Government has been elected, it has spent €2.4 billion in compensation for those adverse incidents. Incredibly, 115,000 people went to accident and emergency departments last year and waited so long they left without seeing a doctor. Thirteen thousand nurses have left Ireland in the last five years, and in some years, the majority of doctors are emigrating as well.”
“Its solution to rents has been to create a situation where rents will be forced up and its bright idea of a housing tsar has been shelved because of embarrassment. There is one thing that is more affordable and more available at the moment, and that is cocaine. Criminals are doing a better job in creating a functional market for an illegal drug than the Government is in terms of housing. Rape and sexual assault are increasing in this country. The incidence of domestic violence is four times higher now than it was when the Tánaiste first entered this Chamber. The number of gardaí per capita and the force's morale are on the floor. Fifty-three Garda stations do not have an assigned garda at the moment. Last year, 1,000 prisoners were released from prison after 24 hours because of overcrowding in prisons.”
“The ESRI has stated the Government will not make next year's targets either. The Government has made record-breaking house prices, record-breaking rents and record-breaking numbers of people who are homeless at the moment. I asked the Minister for housing about how long it took to get a planning application through An Coimisiún Pleanála. He said he did not know. In many cases, it is taking more than 16 months and some applications are there for two or three years. Uisce Éireann has said it will not get around to filling all the gaps in water infrastructure that are blocking homes being built until 2050 at the moment, and there is no plan for the Apple tax to be invested so far in relation to this. The Government's solution to the housing crisis has been to make apartments smaller and darker.”
“The Government presided over a CHI that operated under a toxic culture and misused State funds. There are 37 children missing from Tusla. Since 2021, Tusla has made referrals to the Garda in respect of 161 children under its care who are suspected of being victims of child sexual exploitation or child trafficking. Since 2014, 235 children in State care or known to State care have died. Of them, ten were murdered and 51 died as a result or suicide or drug overdoses. When the Tánaiste first entered this Chamber, there were 457 children homeless in the State. Today, there are 5,000 children homeless in the State. The Government misled the State about 40,000 houses being built last year when 10,000 of those homes never materialised. The Government promised 41,000 homes would be built this year. It is now going to be closer to 32,000.”
“On the last day of the Dáil, many around the country will look to mark the Government's report card, so let us have a look at it. The attendance record has been atrocious so far. It is 230 days since the general election and the Government has turned up to the Dáil for 59 of those. That is 75% of the time that has elapsed since the election in which the Government has not come to the Dáil. It has been a stay-at-home Government seeking to dodge the accountability of the national Parliament. The Government promised it would make this country the best country in Europe to be a child, but it has presided over the implantation of unauthorised springs into children. It presided over a situation where children who did not need scoliosis and hip surgery received it, yet 245 children are still on the waiting list for scoliosis operations.”
“Thus, the Government talks about more spaces in the universities for GPs, but it is not translating necessarily into more GPs going through the university system to work in our health service. That has to change. There is a major capacity issue with the psychiatric unit in Crosslanes in Drogheda at the moment. I am told people who are suicidal are being told to go home in taxis because there is not enough space to deal with them. I would love if the Minister’s Department would pay attention to that because, as she knows, that is a life and death situation affecting many families.”
“Another reply to a parliamentary question we received showed 13,000 nurses had left Ireland in the last five years. That is an incredible figure. In 2022, over half the doctors who graduated left the country. Another reply indicated 51% of all undergraduates in medical schools in this State were from outside the EU. The reason for this is such students pay nearly €200,000 for their degrees over the five- or six-year period. The universities are dependent on those funds because they are short of funds, but the danger is that most of those individuals who are from outside the EU will want to work in their home countries by the time they graduate and will not be available to the GP system in this State.”
“Another reply to a parliamentary question showed there were 300 private clinics operating on the grounds of public hospitals. That is quite significant. We have private patients being treated in private clinics operating in public hospitals with the use of public equipment. A different reply to a parliamentary question showed 300,000 public patients had gone through the NTPF since 2017. That is not what the fund was set up for. It was not set up for such a large quantity of patients to be dealt with in that fashion. Those numbers have ballooned in the last few years. If you take the NTPF, the private businesses operating in public hospitals and the insourcing that is happening, there is a significant level of privatisation of the public health system happening right before our eyes weekly and that has to be challenged as well.”
“I spoke about how private companies were being created by consultants to funnel patients into the consultants’ businesses. A report showed that, in one year, €14 million had been paid out to some of these businesses. I was told by a consultant in the south of the country that there is no incentive to get rid of a waiting list, for the waiting list is the business model of these insourcing businesses. The Minister is going to have to get to grips with this issue. We cannot have that conflict of interest where a consultant operating on a public list is scheduling and creating rotas for people to work on those public lists but does it in a way that means there is a steady stream of business to the private business as well. That has to be challenged. I accept that it is on the Government’s agenda.”
“The number of people who die before an ambulance reaches their homes is increasing significantly year on year. In 2019, 757 were dead before the ambulance came. That is going to happen and is just a natural part of the system, but this figure had increased to 1,000 people in 2021. This shows that a lot of ambulances are being tied up. We had 11 ambulances outside Drogheda hospital one night because of the overcrowding in the accident and emergency department. They were waiting to see if they could deliver their patients to the hospital. They could not and had to stay there. There was no ambulance available in Monaghan, Cavan, Louth or Meath for the whole night as a result. I was the first person to raise insourcing in the Dáil.”
“This woman worked all her life, did the best she could, paid her taxes and retired, and three separate adverse incidents shortly afterwards have left her debilitated to this day ten years later. That is what is happening and there is no accountability for it. The State paid €2.4 billion in compensation in a ten-year period, so it is not just costing us in lives and ill health, but in billions of euro in taxpayers' money. We need to really inject accountability into the system. I ask that accountability be one of the significant elements funding is determined by in future. Last year, 115,000 people were so sick that they went to accident and emergency departments but had to turn around and leave without ever being seen by a doctor. That is an incredible statistic that shows the overcrowding that is happening in certain hospitals.”
“I know a woman who lives a five-minute drive from Navan hospital. She worked all her life in Dunnes Stores and retired at the age of 66. A couple of months later, she had a stroke. It took an hour and a half for the ambulance to get to her home. She was finally brought to the hospital. Two weeks later, she was being treated and was brought to the shower by two nurses. The hospital was so busy, one of the nurses was pulled away and the woman fell and hit her head on the floor of the shower unit and sustained a head injury. She was then brought up to Beaumont Hospital. Her name was very similar to somebody else's and she got the wrong blood transfusion as a result. She had significant internal organ failure.”
“I raised the matter with the Taoiseach, who did not deny the veracity of the document. He said he had no interest in reading it. He said it was not the Minister's job to look at this and that the finer details were down to staff in the Department, but that is not the case. We need ministerial accountability if we are going to sign off on such documents. One of the most shocking replies to a parliamentary question I have received from the Department over the past number of years concerns the number of adverse incidents in hospitals. In the five-year period from 2018 up to and including 2022, there were 500,000 adverse incidents in hospitals. Many of these were of low significance and did not have a massive impact on the individuals, but there were 3,142 deaths as a result of adverse incidents. I will give an example of how this arises.”
“The Minister will not agree with me but sometimes the lack of accountability in the HSE comes from the top. I mentioned the issue of Simon Harris not admitting initially to signing the contracts for the national children's hospital. He has rowed back somewhat on that, which I welcome, but I am still not confident about what will happen with the National Maternity Hospital. I was given a bill of quantities that was being used for the National Maternity Hospital. It was given to me by an anonymous individual. I had a look at it and there were lots of gaps in it. There was very little detail in it. It looked like the bill of quantities that was used for the national children's hospital. It looked like it had the space necessary for a future contractor to wangle a heap more cash out of the State. I ask the Minister to look at that.”
“Many people still have their documents in physical form and when those documents need to be shared, the physical documents need to be moved about for people. It means that we cannot deliver a proper system. Covid was an example of that because some people received their Covid shots on the basis of the nursing homes they were in while other people received them on the basis of their GPs. Some people were called for two Covid shots while others were not called for Covid shots. We all have bank account numbers at this stage and there are really important details of all our engagements with those banks kept on an IT system, and it works. The fact that we do not have this for the HSE is still a significant problem. Accountability is very important.”
“If we tied funding to services delivered, it would mean that theatres would not remain closed for months on end in some hospitals, as the hospital would get paid for the theatre being in use and having a throughput of patients. Therefore, it would be illogical to allow those theatres to remain closed. There is a difficulty in terms of the HSE and funding. Billions of euro are being poured into the HSE but we are not getting the service to which we are entitled. All the talk in this Chamber is about more funding for health services but the Dáil needs to start focusing on how we get better results for the money we are investing in the HSE. As the Minister will be aware, the IT system in the HSE is not fit for purpose. We see ourselves as a tech island, yet the technology levels in the HSE are not acceptable.”
“I welcome the fact that the Minister is looking to tie financial support for the HSE to its performance. It is something that I have made an argument for over the past number of years. I firmly believe that we need to reach a situation where the HSE is paid for the work it does for patients and the benefits it brings to patients. We would probably go further than this and tie funding for the HSE to the number of operations, treatments, consultations and engagements it has with patients. This will ensure that money would get to the front line and that taxpayers' money would not be lost in layers of administration, which happens in the HSE. The Government is fond of recruitment embargoes. A recruitment embargo in the administrative sector of the HSE for two years could be beneficial in reducing the level of administration in the HSE.”
“The crime of sexual abuse demands a statement of fact. Perpetrators of sexual abuse should be jailed. The Garda should be carrying out this investigation and making sure that those perpetrators are brought to justice. Unfortunately, at the end of all of this, we will not have justice for anybody in this country.”
“We need to make sure that we do not have runaway timescales and multiple deadline extensions and delays. I know for a fact that it will be many years before this investigation is going to be over. The reality is that many of the people affected will be dead by the time a decision is made. We believe there should be a permanent office of public investigation to ensure that we build capacity to do this work to a high standard and in an efficient, timely manner. The Minister is setting the timescale for this investigation to cover the period from 1927 to 2013, but she will also allow for discretion to reduce that period in respect of part of the investigation or in respect of any school. The other aspect that I have difficulty with is that this investigation will not make any statements of fact. This is a problem.”
“A child can never give consent. When sexual abuse happens, children are exploited, used, forced and coerced. We need to be careful and sensitive about the language used. We also have a problem with commissions of investigation and the time they take to make decisions and facilitate justice. The Government, in these terms of reference, is providing the commission of investigation with the ability to do the same thing over and over again. That is free rein and discretion with regard to how long the investigation can take. The Government has not set a limit in the terms of reference regarding the time it will take to do what is envisaged. That is a difficulty. So many of these investigations over the years have gone on and on. The terms of reference need to be watertight.”
“I welcome the fact that there is going to be an investigation into the handling of child sexual abuse in schools over many years. Many lives have been destroyed as a result of the abuse people suffered in schools in this State. I have a number of issues with the terms of reference of the commission. The definition of "child sexual abuse" provided is problematic. How that wording is used is unacceptable and is insulting to victims. It does not recognise the gravity of the crime. It is a one-dimensional definition. It leaves out the perspective of the child completely. Much sexual abuse is carried out as a result of a person seeking to have power over another individual. Will sexual abuse for the motivation of enforcing power be included in the scope of this investigation? It does not seem so under the current definition.”
“I also want to be clear that we need to provide shelter for those fleeing war and violence. However, should not asylum seekers who are working here contribute to the cost of their accommodation? Is it fair that where two people in the same town are both working and earning the same, they do not both have to contribute to the cost of their accommodation?”
“According to information we in Aontú have received, 49% of people in emergency accommodation in the State have come from outside Ireland. That is a significant figure and there is no doubt it is putting pressure on the housing sector. Currently, 80,000 people net are coming to Ireland each year. If we include the population growth of the State, that is the equivalent of adding the population of Galway city to the country on an annual basis. Galway has a university, a university hospital, dozens of schools and tens of thousands of houses. The Government is simply not building that infrastructure on an annual basis. I want to be clear that the lack of supply in housing is the Government's fault. It is not the responsibility of newcomers that supply is breaking down.”
“Can the Taoiseach indicate what happened there and why no Minister sought to proactively fix this situation so we do not have this current stalemate?”
“Last week, I raised the issue of the GAA Palestine organisation seeking to get visas for children to play hurling in this country. I think most people will recognise the shocking devastation that exists in their home country, and most people with a heart would seek for them to be able to find solace in Ireland in the coming weeks. I was shocked to hear about a group of people from the GAA Palestine organisation having travelled to Dublin to seek a meeting with the Department. They brought all the documents with them but were denied a meeting with any official within the Department, I am told. One would imagine that the instinct of the Government would be to make sure the Minister met this group and be proactive in seeking a solution to this.”
“These international companies pay a third of all the taxes collected. Stephen Kinsella, who is an adviser to the Government, has said Ireland is the most exposed of any developed country in terms of the business model we are using. What influence did the Taoiseach use to defend the whiskey sector? What influence did he use to defend the medtech sector?”
“Every day, the Taoiseach comes into this Chamber and answers a different question from the one he was actually asked. He is the king of deflection when it comes to these issues. The reality is this issue is far too important. There are tens of thousands of Irish jobs at stake and the Government is at the back of the class when it comes to influencing the European Commission in terms of how it structures its retaliation to tariffs. Out of all the issues we discussed, we saw Simon Harris go to the European Commission last week and ask for a number of different things. All of them have been refused and, as a result, we are enormously exposed. We are already exposed in regard how the Government has structured this economy. Ten international companies pay 50% of the corporation tax in this country.”
“The whiskey sector is stopping production throughout the State. There has been a beeline of Ministers, and rightly so, to the EU to see if we can put pressure on it to take our interests into consideration in this, but the EU has not done so. Other than purebred horse racing there is precious little in this particular plan by the EU for Ireland. This Government has been great at outsourcing decisions to the EU but we also need to focus pressure on the United States. There is no French-American vote, German-American vote or EU-American vote but there is an Irish-American vote. When the Taoiseach was in the Oval Office Trump basically admitted that was the case. We need to use that leverage, our influence with the United States, to build a bridge between the US and the EU in relation to our national interests.”
“The approach of countries that are less exposed than Ireland seems to be having more of an influence on the Commission in relation to its new retaliation policy. The EU has settled on that retaliation policy. It has identified €72 billion of US goods. It is unclear at this stage if the Government has had any influence on that process. The Government lobbied the EU to avoid a tax on bourbon, to avoid a tariff on US aircraft and plane parts and to avoid retaliatory tariffs on medical devices and the agrifood sector, yet all those sectors are now targets for EU retaliatory tariffs. Bourbon, Boeing and butter are a focus of the EU in relation to this. This is a really big difficulty. The aircraft leasing sector in this State has a value of €300 billion, with 10,000 aircraft located here. Medical devices are worth €16 billion in exports.”
“Ireland is on the precipice of the biggest economic crisis facing this country since the banking crisis. The tariff war has the potential to destroy tens of thousands of Irish jobs, significantly cut back GDP and hammer the budgetary income of this State. You would not know it here but the tariff war is the biggest economic threat to the State. Ireland is one of the most exposed countries in the EU to the US tariff war. Ireland exports far more relatively than other European countries to the United States. Last year, we exported €72.6 billion of goods to the US. What is happening in Europe is quite frightening. We have heard French President Macron call on the EU to take a tougher stance against the threatened US tariffs and the EU is hardening its position on tariffs.”
“For any mother to see a child first of all abused is a heart-wrenching, mind-bending shock. I just cannot imagine how a person would get their head over that situation, let alone for that child to be left in that scenario. There is clear evidence here that Tusla has not done its job and that the staff within Tusla have done significantly wrong by this child. This is not the only case that is coming to me. A large number of cases that are similar are coming to me. I do not imagine all of them are true, but I do think there is a systemic problem. I want the Minister of State to take responsibility to see that there is an investigation into this. Further, I believe there should be an independent panel of experts who become the last opportunity for a family to seek justice in these cases.”
“Approximately 35,000 more than are sitting the leaving certificate are getting referred to Tusla on an annual basis. I understand that it does not have enough staff and I understand how difficult it is to be able to adjudicate. A person would have to have the wisdom of Solomon to be able to understand who is right and who is wrong in some of these cases. However,this is a phenomenally serious case, and it is a case I want the Minister of State to take on board with regard to his Department. Rather than sending me to Ministers who are not here and who I already have contacted, I ask him to take this on as a personal responsibility to try to find a solution. This is a young child who is currently, it is alleged, in the charge of a person who is abusing them.”
“I have already written to the former Minister for children, Deputy O'Gorman, the Minister for justice, Deputy O'Callaghan, the Minister for children, Deputy Foley, and Tusla in respect of this case. I understand that the Minister of State does not know the background to the case and, in many ways, I am throwing at him the details of a case that is hard to get one's head around in a short time. It is impossible for the Minister of State to be able to respond to this in detail; I do understand that. I acknowledge there are thousands of good people working in Tusla every single day doing a phenomenal job and they are under fierce pressure. There are 100,000 children annually who are being referred to Tusla, which is quite a shocking reflection of what is actually happening in the country.”
“He stated that his name was smeared with suggestions that he was doing something untoward in his relationship with the child's mother; a woman he barely knows. I find these details shocking, especially the falsified interview with the child. The family can provide an audio recording that it is at odds with what Tusla supplied to the courts. I am extremely concerned that a psychologist appointed by the court is willing to supply an affidavit to state that her report of her interactions was altered and falsified by Tusla before being presented to the judge. Given that there is a vulnerable boy at the centre of this case, we need a proper and independent investigation. We need to ensure this case is investigated for the sake of the child who I believe is in a shockingly dangerous situation.”
“Tusla decided to take the child from his mother and place him in the custody of the person who he alleged was abusing him. The child remains in this arrangement three years later. This week, a member of An Garda Síochána walked into my constituency office and said that he, along with six other gardaí, are deeply concerned about the way this case has been handled, the way the social workers lied to the judge and the fact that the child had been taken from his mother and placed with a man against whom he has alleged abuse. The garda stated in a letter to me that he has raised these questions with management over the case, including the Commissioner and the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission, GSOC, and was reprimanded for doing so.”
“In 2021, Patrick was referred to Temple Street hospital with injuries to his testicles. Subsequently, Patrick was interviewed by a team leader from Tusla. He made further disclosures of what happened. The team leader gave the notes of that interview to the aforementioned social worker, who provided a letter to the court. Unbeknownst to the social worker and team leader, the family had recorded the interview. There exist major discrepancies between the letter to the court and the audio file. The court was told that Patrick had admitted telling a lie. It can be seen from a freedom of information request that the falsified interview report also prevented an investigation by An Garda Síochána into the alleged child sexual abuse.”
“In an email, the psychologist told the child's mother and solicitor that she had not made that assertion in the phone call to the social worker and that the social worker's account of the phone call, which was relayed to the court, was false. I have seen the email. In reality, the psychologist referred the child to Tusla and contacted the Garda, such was the gravity of the disclosures and her confidence in them. The psychologist wrote a concerning report to Tusla. It goes into graphic detail about the child's behaviour and disclosures. She wrote that in her opinion, Patrick had been abused. Tusla, however, in its report to the court entirely omitted the contents of the psychologist's report and findings. This led to further injuries to Patrick by his father.”
“I wish to raise a serious issue on the floor of the House. It is a complex issue, so I hope the Minister of State will be able to give it his attention, if possible. The case involves a seven-year-old child, who I am going to call "Patrick" for the purpose of this discussion. Patrick disclosed physical and sexual abuse by his father. These allegations were brought to the attention of Tusla by the child's mother in 2018. There was an ongoing court case whereby the father was seeking overnight access to the child. In light of the allegations, the court appointed a clinical child psychologist to carry out a section 32 report. At a subsequent sitting of the court, a social worker informed a judge in writing that the psychologist had told her over the phone that she did not believe the allegations made by Patrick.”
“Cash gives women a really an important opportunity to have the financial wherewithal to get out of domestic violence. Aontú campaigned vigorously against this. We see young girls in State care who are going missing from unregulated and unvetted special emergency accommodation, who are then being preyed upon by gangs for sexual exploitation. That is not zero tolerance. I have been raising those cases for years and it is still happening. I recognise there have been developments. I welcome Cuan and the fact that there are many people working in the sector who are doing really good work. I recognise that the Minister has a different approach to this and I wish him luck in it, but it is not zero tolerance with regard to what is happening in this country.”
“With regard to zero tolerance, we have seen the fall in the per capita number of gardaí in this country. There are 58 Garda stations around the country where there is not a registered garda. The criminal justice system is breaking down because there are currently no spaces to put prisoners. I found out that 1,000 prisoners were released last year within 24 hours of being put behind bars. This is not zero tolerance. We had the longest Covid lockdowns in Europe where many women were imprisoned with their abusers. We have a housing crisis that entraps women in the situations they are in. Many women have a choice: do they leave the violent situation or do they put their children into a homeless situation? We saw the push to get rid of cash out of society in recent years.”
“Eight years later, they are still only at the start of a site selection process for building a refuge in Cavan. If a woman wants to get out of a violent domestic situation in that county, she has very little option to do that. There are nine counties across the country at the moment with no refuge: Carlow, Cavan, Leitrim, Laois, Longford, Monaghan, Offaly, Roscommon and Sligo. I do not see where the zero tolerance exists if there are nine counties where there is not an opportunity for a woman to be able to get out of a violent situation. At the moment, we are aiming for 280 refuge beds by 2026 but the Istanbul Convention says there are supposed to be 450 refuge beds. We are not even near the target as we should have been a few years ago.”
“I have raised it with the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the previous Minister for Justice. All of them have responded in measured tones but all of them have shrugged their shoulders and nothing has happened. Not only is there not zero tolerance of this; there is an absolute tolerance of this in respect of the Government's approach to what is happening. The Government has enough cop on to ban the advertisement of junk food to kids because it knows it leads to behavioural change but it does not have enough cop on to ban the provision of hardcore, violent pornography to those same young boys. We talk about zero tolerance and I think of Clodagh Hawe, who was a teacher in Oristown National School in County Meath. In 2016, Alan Hawe murdered Clodagh and her three sons Liam, Niall and Ryan.”