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upper floors and long-stalled redevelopments leave this part looking neglected while retail has shifted elsewhere and been replaced by fast food shops that dilute its char…”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.”
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“The Aontú Private Members' motion is designed to reduce the cost of living for families. It is designed to reduce the pressure on families across the country. The Minister of State is right to some extent. There is no doubt that the wars in Ukraine and in Iran, for example, have increased the cost of living for families. However, this Government is the main architect of the rip-off Ireland that is hurting this country at the moment. The Government can list a range of different supports it is giving to families, such as child benefit and fuel supports, but most people would rather it stopped taking the money out of their pockets just to give it back to them in another support. That is the key issue here. The Minister of State mentioned supports for energy costs.”
“There is absolutely no way this Government should proceed with five petrol and diesel price increases before the end of the year.”
“This is the key point, in that we in Aontú have been very careful to show where the Government is wasting money and where money can be saved to pay for a reduction in certain taxes to make life easier for people. We have seen an incredible waste of money recently with the Re-turn scheme, which added 25 cent and 15 cent to cans and bottles. That is now leading to a €500,000 cost annually for clean-up in Dublin as a result of the scavenging from bins it is causing. Iarnród Éireann incinerated €50 million of taxpayers' money on an IT system that failed to work. In the second part of my contribution, I will list all of the places where this Government is wasting money, where that money can be saved and where there is a facility to then reduce the price of energy for hard-pressed customers.”
“We are paying for electricity companies not to produce electricity at certain times of day every single day. Grocery bills are up 40%. It adds approximately €3,000 extra per family per year for exactly the same goods they were purchasing ten years ago. Families are paying, for example, 50% more for beef cuts, butter has risen by 42%, chicken breasts, which were €5 in 2022, are now €12.98, the price of steak has doubled and eggs have gone up 35%. This might seem small beer to Ministers on big wages but for many families struggling to provide nutrition for the children, this is a major mountain they have to climb daily. The Government is simply adding to that. All of this cost-of-living crisis is happening at a time when the Government is incinerating money.”
“The situation is getting worse. Despite the extent of arrears, the electricity companies are raising their prices today. Tone-deaf semi-State bodies, blind to the hardship of customers, are operating on the basis of Government policy. The ESB is making a €300 profit per household, which is roughly the same as the difference between average electricity prices in Ireland and those in the rest of Europe. The whole electricity market is a mess. The grid is creaking and unable to deal with the levels of renewables coming online at the moment. The data centres the Government is incentivising are sucking up all available electricity. We have bottlenecks, constraints and dispatch down notices, which mean we are now actually paying for wind farms in Ireland to switch off electricity output. It is mind-bending stuff.”
“However, semi-State organisations operate on the basis of Government policy. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, this semi-State body is putting up the price of electricity today. The Nevin Economic Research Institute has stated that the average household in Ireland is paying €360 more for electricity than householders in other western European countries. That is because of the Government. The ESB is a semi-State body that operates on the basis of Government policy. Last year, it made €650 million in profits. Can the Minister of State see the disconnect here? A semi-State body operating under Government policy made a profit of €650 million during a cost-of-living crisis that has seen 500,000 families go into arrears on their electricity bills. Does he not understand how morally wrong it is for a Government to operate on that basis?”
“Health costs are 85% more than the European average. Indeed, Ireland now has the second most expensive electricity market on the planet for domestic users. The Government is achieving world records for all the wrong reasons in terms of the price of electricity. Barnardos has found that one third of Irish households went into arrears on energy bills in the past 12 months. That is astounding. According to the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU, 500,000 Irish households are in arrears on gas and electricity bills. What is the answer from the Government? It is to put electricity prices up today. A total of 1 million householders will pay €300 more on their annual electricity bills because of today's rise. The Government might say that ESB, including its Electric Ireland division, is a semi-State body.”
“The figures are eye-watering. It will cost 73 cent per kWh to charge an EV in a public space, while drivers can charge their vehicle overnight for 7 cent per kWh. It will cost one tenth of the price to charge an EV at home. The Government says these taxes are designed to move people away from carbon usage and into sustainable types of transport systems. In this case, however, the ESB is incentivising petrol and diesel as fuel sources for travel. It is incredible. Ireland is an outlier in terms of the spiralling cost of living. This week's Eurostat report showed we are the most expensive country for housing, health and energy in the EU. That damning finding is worth repeating: Ireland the most expensive country in the EU for housing, health and energy. Overall prices here are now 36% higher than the EU average.”
“It was collecting more in taxes than the total cost of drilling for that oil, extracting it and pumping it to the surface, taking it from the North Sea to a refinery, refining it and then taking it on a ship to Ireland, transporting it to a petrol station and selling it to consumers. All of that cost less than the Government was extracting by way of taxes on that fuel. We have a rip-off model in terms of the Government's approach to this issue, and it is wrong. The plan announced yesterday is simply to return to that rip-off model in the form of high levels of fuel taxes. The Government is tax-gouging families throughout the country, especially those in poverty and in energy arrears. In relation to electric vehicles, EVs, the ESB, a semi-State company, is hiking up the price of charging at public charging spots.”
“The Government was collecting hundreds of millions of euro from hard-pressed consumers in this country for four years and simply could not find anything to do with the money. It is an incredible admission. The M50 toll is another tax on workers. The bridges cost €53 million to build and the Government has collected billions of euro in tolls from drivers. The M50 has paid for itself 30 times over, yet the Government seeks to increase toll fees year on year. Before the current excise cuts, the Government was collecting 60% of the price of petrol and diesel by way of taxes.”
“Carbon tax was supposed to be ring-fenced for climate change projects. However, replies to parliamentary questions from Aontú show that in a three-year period, €250 million of carbon tax revenue, or nearly a fifth of the total, went back into the State's coffers. Over those three years, that amount of carbon tax money was directed to non-climate projects or went back to the Exchequer because it was not needed for the stated purpose. The National Oil Reserves Agency, NORA, levy is another example of the Government assaulting consumers. Aontú has found out that €278 million, or 70% of the total revenue from the levy, was simply left sitting in a Government bank account between 2020 and 2024.”
“It is absolutely incredible that any government would raise fuel prices by so much during a cost-of-living crisis. Much of the increased prices we pay in this country are as a result of Government actions. The Government is an architect of the cost-of-living crisis. It is implementing measures that are adding to inflation and household bills. I will give examples. The Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael-Independents Government collected €1.17 billion in carbon tax last year, which is the highest ever, in the jaws of a cost-of-living crisis. This tax, which is now the biggest fuel tax in the country, hardly existed five years ago. The Government took €4.3 billion in fuel taxes alone last year. It is eye-watering stuff. The citizens of this country are being shaken down by way of these taxes.”
“Today, we in Aontú are using our Private Members' time to try to ease the burden on families throughout the country and make life affordable for them again. The primary aim of our motion is to stop the Government from increasing the price of petrol by 27 cent and the price of diesel by 32 cent between now and 1 December. Incredibly, it is the Government's plan to increase the price of petrol and diesel five times before the end of the year. It is a startling plan for any government to implement in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, when so many families are to the pin of their collar. One of those increases will be a carbon tax increase, which will likely be imposed after the budget. Aontú's motion seeks to stop the Government from increasing carbon tax.”
“I move: That Dáil Eireann: notes that: — Ireland is an outlier regarding the spiralling cost of living, and a Eurostat report this week showed we are the most expensive country for housing, health, energy and alcohol, overall prices are 36 per cent above the European Union average, with health costs in Ireland being 85 per cent higher than the European average; — a study by Barnardos found that more than one-third of households went into arrears on energy bills in the last 12 months, with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities showing half a million people are behind on gas and electricity payments, and electricity prices are to rise from next week by 8 per cent, while gas goes up by 7.7 per cent; — rents are also at record levels, as are evictions, in the wake of the Government's rent reforms, and a two-bed accommodation in Dublin is now almost €2,700 a month, while nationwide it is €2,176, which means it costs approximately €30,000 a year to rent here; — the cost-of-living crisis is now mainstream, and families with two incomes are finding it hard to cope, with very little left over for emergencies; — in the past five years grocery bills increased by 40 per cent, and that adds up to approximately €3,000 extra a year, for the same goods; — since 2021, energy costs are up 57 per cent, diesel is up 60 per cent, a pint of stout is up 28 per cent, beef cuts for home-cooked stew are up 50 per cent, butter has risen 42 per cent, chicken breasts that were €5 in 2022 are now €12.98, steak has doubled in that time and eggs have gone up 35 per cent; — this year, the Nevin Economic Research Institute found that Irish households pay around €360 more per year than the western European average for electricity, and it identified Ireland as a significant "cost growth outlier", as overall consumer prices have risen by 24 per cent over the past four years; and — families across the country are working hard, yet barely keeping their heads above water; recognises that: — the Government has implemented measures that add to inflation and household bills; — the Government refuses to halt the punitive increases in carbon tax and the M50 tolls; — the Government collected €1.17 billion in carbon tax last year, the highest ever; — carbon tax was supposed to be ringfenced for climate projects, but Aontú parliamentary questions found that a quarter of a billion euro of carbon tax revenue, nearly one fifth of it, went back into the State coffers in three years; — 39 per cent of the carbon tax either was directed to other non-climate projects, or went back to the Exchequer, proving it is not needed for its stated purpose; — the National Oil Reserves Agency levy for the climate action fund found that €278 million, 70 per cent of it, was left sitting in the Government's bank account from 2020 to 2024; — the Government took in €4.3 billion in fuel taxes last year alone; — the Government seeks to increase diesel prices by 32 cents, and petrol by 27 cents, a litre on the 1st August; — Irene Tinagli, Italian MEP, Economist and Chair of the European Parliament's Special Committee on the Housing Crisis, categorised Ireland's housing crisis as the "most severe and complicated in Europe"; — this year, the Government removed the rent cap for new builds and new tenancies for the objective of making the housing market more lucrative to investors, and the move failed to increase supply, but it resulted in increased rents and record evictions; — the M50 has paid for itself 30 times over, yet toll fees were still increased this year, as it has taken in over €2.2 billion in revenue since 2008, and is now a tax on work; — there is no reprieve for burdened customers with the ESB, as despite the semi-State company making supernormal profits of €650 million last year, half a million people are in energy arrears; — the Deposit Re-turn Scheme was introduced in 2024, adding 25 cent and 15 cent per can and bottle onto consumers' shopping bills upfront at the till, and it is an amount in excess of most other European countries who have the same scheme; — the scheme has put extra costs on the taxpayer since its inception, such as the half a million-euro cost of cleaning up Dublin from the scavenging it has caused, while the introduction of bottle holders around the bins to try and stop it cost €155,000 before being scrapped; — the Government's waste is at levels never seen before, including the Iarnród Éireann €50 million Information Technology system failure that was written off, the recent €127,000 Health Service Executive (HSE) Kerry bike shed, following on from the infamous €336,000 Oireachtas bike shed, and another cost overrun is the National Children's Hospital that has seen its original estimate of €650 million increase to €2.24 billion and counting for the hospital, with no opening date; — there is the €10 million being spent on Dublin City Council's Wood Quay offices, which are planned to be bulldozed in three years' time; — the Metrolink, that started in the mid-2000s, should have cost €2 billion but is projected to cost €15.8 billion, and Ireland is the world leader when it comes to squandering public money, bad budgeting and bad planning; — Government spending overruns have averaged €5 billion each year since 2023, and the International Federation of Accountants has strongly criticised the State for year-to-year budgeting, using unrealistic forecasts, and ignoring these overruns; and — health accounts for more than 40 per cent of total current spending overruns, and capital infrastructure overruns hit €1.6 billion in one year; and calls on the Government to: — cancel the planned increase in fuel taxes on diesel of 32 cents, petrol of 27 cents, and green diesel of 2.4 cents per litre; — remove the Value-Added Tax (VAT) from construction for a three-year period, as removing VAT from construction would reduce the average price of a house by an estimated €50,000 per house, and this is also a market activation initiative, as it would improve viability; — reduce profits at semi-State ESB to zero, allow it to wash its face, cover its costs and invest, as this would save every household €300; — reform the Deposit Re-turn Scheme, as the not-for-profit company running it has €103 million in unredeemed deposits in its accounts; — bring in a solar panel grant scheme that is accessible for all, increase the grants for solar panels to 50 per cent for low-income families, and reduce it on a sliding scale to the current grant level for high income families; — reintroduce the rent caps for new build and new tenancies, as rent caps should be set at the rate of inflation or 2 per cent; — scrap the M50 toll; — end increases in carbon tax; — publish the profits in the grocery sector, as mandating the biggest supermarkets to publish their profits would not interfere with the market, but would bring transparency to the industry and benefit customer choice; — introduce a "heads will roll" clause for senior civil servants, if they spend money in an irresponsible fashion, as there has to be a cost to their careers, up to and including losing their job; — appoint a Minister of State in the Department of the Taoiseach, whose responsibility is to make sure, in real time, that capital projects are not overrunning in cost; — audit non-governmental organisations that are being funded by the State, to ascertain if they are providing a benefit for citizens, and cut Government funding to those who are not providing a benefit for citizens; — end the €5 billion of Government budget spending overruns; — reduce the processing time for International Protection Accommodation Services applications, to reduce accommodation costs; — introduce a 2-year recruitment moratorium in administration within the HSE, to rebalance staff numbers towards the front line; — introduce output payments within the HSE, to ensure that the health service gets paid for the consultations, treatments, engagements and operations that are delivered to patients, as this would save money, incentivise hospitals to reduce the length of hospital waiting lists and reorientate staff numbers towards the front line; and — increase the price of electricity to new data centres, as this would reduce household electricity prices.”
“Will the Taoiseach ensure that the price of electricity for data centres is increased so domestic users will get a reduction in price? Have data centres played any part in his discussions with Donald Trump or the American regime in terms of foreign direct investment?”
“The vast majority of data centres in Ireland are owned by American technology multinationals. As the Taoiseach knows, data centres are swallowing up increasing amounts of our electricity. They are putting the grid under enormous pressure. The costs in relation to constraints and bottlenecks are so high now that energy companies have to switch off their turbines and energy users have to pay those energy companies to switch off their turbines. Network stabilisation is now one of the biggest elements of electricity bills. Data centres' insatiable thirst for gas means that we are always pushed into the marginal pricing that gas increases. The Government's policy is part of that problem. Tomorrow we will see massive hikes in the cost of electricity.”
“It means people coming into the system will pay between €20 and €30 extra on a monthly basis for this. Will the Taoiseach delay the process that is costing so much money? Will he ensure the process is reviewed? Will he listen to doctors, pharmacists and patients on the ground?”
“In the past there was a system of phased dispensing that was paid for by the State. It evolved into patients getting blister packs. In disadvantaged areas and areas of low income many people who had blister packs had the cost covered by the Government. The Government recently brought in changes to the way this is to be paid for. It did this without discussing it with pharmacists on the ground and there was no consultation with doctors or patients. Now there are no payments for phased dispensing or blister packs for those receiving one on a weekly basis. A lot of home help providers do not deal with medication unless it is in a blister pack. All of this adds to the massive increase in the cost of living that families are enduring at the moment.”
“There is a lot in the process that we are yet to look at. We will wait until the committee has looked at the Bill. We probably disagree with many of the Opposition parties in that we believe we do need a gas storage system. Whether this is the gas storage system remains to be seen.”
“The Government went bull-headed in relation to that particular project and, as a result, slow it down, instead of using the technology that is used between Aachen and Liège in relation to the movement of electricity, which is to underground it. It is really important that community consent is worked out at the start. At the back of all this is the issue of data centres. Data centres are significantly pushing up the price of electricity for individuals. It is causing problems with the energy system being on a knife-edge at all times. We need to stop data centres. They need to pay the same electricity costs as domestic households. That would do two things: it would decrease the price of electricity for domestic householders in Ireland and it would reduce the incentive for data centres to come here.”
“That lack of community consent and the lack of ability to achieve that community consent at the start slows down projects. The Minister of State will know that there is a Government plan to build a North-South interconnector for electricity. I was in short trousers when the Government came up with that idea. It is incredible. That project has been going on so long. It has gone through all the hoops and is still no closer to getting built. Why? Farmers along the curtilage of that particular route are refusing to allow the ESB and EirGrid onto their sites. They are not going to let them onto their sites. It is not going to get built as a result.”
“Fracked gas is incredibly damaging for the locations from which it is fracked and it has a far higher emission rate in terms of methane, which is pushed out in the system too. Aontú is against fracked gas in Ireland. It would be hypocritical to support an energy solution that includes fracked gas from other parts of the world. I also believe that there has not been enough examination of the potential impact of the gas terminal on the communities in County Clare and their health. That is important. Local communities must have consent for the production of infrastructure. When I went to Belgium, I asked what the parameters and priorities were to plan for infrastructural projects for their electricity. Second on that list was the idea of community consent. Community consent is nowhere in the aspects of the development in Ireland.”
“One of the issues here is we have to have a realisation that human beings also share these locations. Laws that come from Europe, such as the habitats directive, need to take that into consideration too. We also need to realise that one of the problems we have in energy production in Ireland is that we have the slowest planning, tendering, procurement, licensing and judicial reviews in the whole European Union. All of these tools necessary for the production of infrastructure are slower here than they are in most of the European Union. That is because of this Government's incompetence on those issues. I have problems with this Bill that are important. LNG is likely to be the source of the gas storage. Fracked gas is a major element of LNG.”
“We want to see a healthy environment. We believe in a biodiverse environment. We want to see this country grow strongly in making sure that we have a healthier environment. We also need to make sure that there is human balance in that discussion. There are European laws, such as the habitats directive, which make it difficult for human beings to live in certain parts of the country. The big problem in Enniscorthy at the moment is the floods. I love the pearl mussel. I want to see the pearl mussel to do well. Unfortunately, the pearl mussel is located right in the middle of Enniscorthy, which stops the building of these flood defences. As a result, Enniscorthy has flooded for the last 25 years. Midleton flood defences have waited 14 years for a planning application to be put in.”
“They said that electricity would be locally generated in the future, that we are not going to have the necessity for the massive grids to transport electricity across the country and far more electricity will be microgenerated and locally generated. Another aspect of this is a spatial element. A lot of the wind generation is happening in locations where the industry is not and, as a result, that creates the bottlenecks and difficulties getting the electricity to these locations. We should be developing industry into the areas where the electricity is coming from. It is very similar to the whole debate on taking water from the Parteen Basin to send to Dublin and add more of a population to Dublin rather than adding the population to Limerick, and, as a result, not having to move that resource so far in that area.”
“We believe that we need more microgeneration. More homes need to become self-sufficient in electricity. We need more rooftop production of electricity. The way to do that is to make sure that those solar systems are accessible to everybody. They are not accessible to everybody because the grants that are available are still far too small for low-income and middle-income families. We want to see more farmers get involved. Energy should be seen as a crop for farmers to be able to make a living from. Far more use should be made of sheds, land and biodigestion. I went to the headquarters of the Belgium electricity provider a number of years ago. We were looking at the grid system. They were looking at the grid and seeing a reduction in the grid over a number of years. I asked why the grid was reducing.”
“If you were to create a comedy show to lampoon the Government's incapability to deliver energy, you would not have the creativity to contrast those two elements in the manner that they are there. There is such a problem in relation to this. This issue is getting worse. There are no offshore wind turbines at the moment. Many of the companies currently engaging in the system to become wind energy companies are actually disengaging now as a result. We in Aontú believe we need to build renewable energy in this country. We want to see a far bigger element of the electricity production come from renewables. We want to see this country become energy secure. We talk a lot in this Chamber about food security. Energy security is as important as food security in this country. The more dependent we are on other countries, the more insecure we are.”
“The more connections we plug in to the rest of Europe, the more electricity that we will import. One of the reasons for this is Government incompetence and Government lack of investment. I will give the House an example of Government incompetence. Over the last 15 years, the Government has had five international conferences on offshore wind energy. The Government has paid for five conferences and invited Ministers from all around the world and experts in companies to those five conferences on offshore wind energy. On the other side of the equation, how many wind turbines do we have offshore? Zero. We have had more conferences on offshore wind turbines in this country than we have offshore wind turbines. You could not make this up.”
“We have a strange system now whereby every extra wind turbine that we add onto the system has a diminishing return in terms of value to the system. I am not saying that they do not have a value or that it is not beneficial, but each extra turbine is less beneficial because the system is not able to allow for those turbines to come along. I am old enough the remember the oceans of bumf that used to come from the Government that used to say that Ireland would be the Saudi Arabia of sustainable energy development. The Minister of State must remember that himself. There used to be brochures upon brochures telling people that we were going to become net exporters in terms of electricity. What has actually happened? The opposite. We are significant net importers of electricity. That is going to increase.”
“Even if that were not the case, we have a system that is highly unstable if we rely just upon renewable energy. There are many days when there is no wind or sun. You will always need a backup of gas-produced electricity. There is no doubt that we need a gas storage system in this country. I want to talk about the infrastructure for a start. The infrastructure in this country is so poor it is incredible. We have bottlenecks and constraints, and it is leading to a significant dispatch down in terms of electricity providers. We are actually paying wind turbine companies to stop producing electricity at certain times because it cannot be accepted onto the system. Of course, that is an extra price for the end user. Then we are paying for the backup of the gas systems to come on as well during that particular time.”
“In this country, it is typically produced by gas. This dependency is not going anywhere soon, for a number of reasons. One is the slow increase in renewable energy, and another is that the Government is significantly increasing demand because it is lamping on serious numbers of data centres. At the moment, about 24% of all electricity consumed in the State is being consumed by data centres, an outlier in Europe, where typically 4% to 5% of electricity in other countries is consumed by data centres. This means, no matter how much sustainable energy that we push onto the system, we are never going to reach the end because gas will always be necessary because the Government is increasing the demand for gas at a serious rate. Gas will play a role in the production of electricity for a long time to come.”
“This came to light in its most severe manner during the onset of the Ukraine war, when the supply of gas through most of Europe collapsed. We saw a massive increase in the cost of gas. This crisis continues today, with the war in Iran, a situation whereby a quick change in the Strait of Hormuz has had knock-on effects on the price of gas in this country. These are not aberrations. We are living in an unstable world and the locations of the production of gas are often the most unstable on the planet. Obviously gas is really important in the pricing and supply of electricity, because we have a system in this country, the Government's system, whereby we have marginal pricing when it comes electricity. That means the price of electricity is dependent on the last unit of electricity that is produced.”
“Ireland's energy system is a mess at the moment. We have the highest domestic electricity prices in the whole European Union. We are enormously exposed to shocks. Our grid is falling apart at the moment. It is not able to handle the electricity that is coming onto the system at all. It has happened as a result, in large part, of an absence of investment since the crash. We have had infrastructure capital depreciation at an enormous rate, which has not been filled with investment, as a result, in large part, of the Minister's Government. We need gas storage in Ireland. Ireland is the only country in the European Union without a gas storage facility. That leaves us significantly exposed to changes in the supply of gas and the price of gas too.”
“They happened on 30 days last year and there were 184 detections. It is window dressing, in reality. What we need is an Irish sea border for the movement of people. That has been accepted by the Taoiseach, Europe and Britain for the movement of goods as the only real way to be able to track the movement of goods.”
“Some 85% of asylum seekers who come into this State are coming from Britain through the North of Ireland. It is by far the biggest pathway for the movement of people in relation to the asylum process. We enjoy a common travel area with Britain but there have been significant problems over the past number of years. That is because there are three separate jurisdictions and not a lot of sharing of information. It means Ireland and Britain cannot control the movement of people and we do not have accurate records as to who is where. The Traditional Unionist Voice, TUV, has indicated recently there needs to be a hard border but that is simply impossible. There are 270 roads going north and south. I got information on Operation Sonnet last week. This is where Border checks are placed North and South.”
“One of the most basic responsibilities of a Government is to keep water in the taps and keep the lights on, yet in County Meath our water infrastructure is that of a developing country. County Meath towns are regularly without water and new housing estates are being delayed as a result of the water infrastructure. I know of one housing estate that has to wait more than a year for Uisce Éireann to connect it to the water infrastructure. Last month, Ballivor was without water for so long that the school had to close. Today, they are trucking water to Ballivor. Tomorrow, Athboy and Kildalkey will be without water. Water supply is cut regularly and the water is regularly discoloured, and vulnerable people are hurting. Can the Taoiseach confirm that the people of County Meath will have clean and consistent water within the next 50 years?”
“I ask the Government to sit down with the families and not to draw out the situation any further. I ask it to ensure there is proper investment and that the standards being used in rebuilding and redress are the standards that are scientifically appropriate, as ascertained by the campaigners. That is not the case at the moment and as a result, it is creating serious difficulties for families.”
“If those defective blocks were in south Dublin, there is no doubt in my mind that the Government's approach to the issue would be significantly different. It would make sure that proper standards were in place and the proper financial supports were in place as well. There is definitely a Dublin regional bias in respect of this issue. The Government talks about 100% redress but house owners will tell you that there is a significant difference between the redress that has been achieved and delivering the change in the buildings themselves. This legislation is still making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for many people to come up with the necessary finance to pay for the work that is being done. It is not just happening in Donegal. It is also happening in Mayo, Clare and Limerick, and now Meath and Cavan have been brought in too.”
“The truth is that families' lives have been absolutely destroyed by what has happened. Local authority buildings, public buildings and schools have been left in a situation where the blocks are crumbling around them. This has happened because of light-touch regulation by previous Governments. The fact that nobody has ever been held to account is at the heart of the problem. We have a system whereby the Government allowed light-touch regulation and then did not provide for any enforcement of any regulation. Therefore, there is a responsibility on the Government to ensure there is proper compensation and these homes are brought back to proper physical standards. I have no doubt but that there is a spatial element to this.”
“Gabhaim míle buíochas leis an Teachta Charles Ward agus leis an bhfeachtas atá ann mar gheall ar defective blocks, agus de bharr an rúin atá os ár gcomhair faoi láthair. Communities have been battling for years in relation to the very basic premise that the house they have paid for should be of a standard that they can live in and that can stand. Communities have been battling for years in defence of the basic premise that the house they paid for should be of a standard they can live in and that can stand. Aontú has been solidly behind the campaign over the past decade. I have visited many homes in Donegal with Mary T. Sweeney and witnessed the devastation. We have held public meetings in Donegal about the issue. We have marched and spoken at demonstrations in Dublin.”
“Telling people to make sure there is less water in the kettle before boiling it and turn off the lights, while, at the same time, pushing up this cap and putting so many data centres in the country makes a mockery of the Government's ask that people cut back their own emissions.”
“I will touch briefly on the issue of noise, which is having a massive impact on the towns and villages in north Dublin and south-east Meath that surround Dublin Airport. The airport is currently in breach of planning permissions that were put in place to protect people. That is wrong. The guidelines on this are not being implemented. The DAA has been given eight warning letters and two enforcement notices and is still not responding to this. There are 65 flights at night-time. Places like St. Margaret's are dying. The IAA is not doing the necessary assessment on the two runways working in unison. We want to be accessible to the rest of the world. As an island nation, we need accessibility but I plead with the Minister to start to inject proper spatial development into his plans. There is then the issue of carbon emissions.”
“Some 40% of the people who land in Dublin daily travel west, where there are other airports. Shannon Airport can take 5 million passengers. The current number is not even half that. Cork Airport could take another 2 million passengers and Knock Airport could take another 500,000 passengers. There is massive spare capacity in these airports, and using it would cause no difficulty at all. Putting all your eggs in one basket is dangerous in terms of exposure for transport. All of us can remember the images of the fuel protests when the M50 was blocked. We saw people having to walk, pulling their travel bags behind them, up a motorway to try to get to the airport. Making sure all of the growth happens in Dublin at the expense of the regional airports also creates a problem. There is no contingency plan for Dublin as a result of this.”
“Ireland is an outlier here. Many people will say that London is too big for the rest of the economy, but 40% of the Irish population live in Dublin whereas about 20% of the British population live in London. We are an outlier, in European terms, with regard to how horrendously lopsided we are as a country. What is the Government's response to that? Its response to the water pressures in Dublin is to spend billions of euro to take water out of the Parteen Basin and bring it up to Dublin. Most logical and spatially aware Governments would say we should develop the Limerick region and get the population into the region where that natural resource is located. The same is happening in regard to airports. Today, tens of thousands of people will have left areas right next door to another airport to travel three or four hours to Dublin Airport.”
“While this is happening, it is not good for Dublin. Dublin is becoming more congested, with people having less access to housing and education. Transport facilities are becoming harder to access while, at the same time, schools are being closed in rural and regional Ireland, which is emptying out its young people. The average age of the population in Killarney is now ten years higher than the average age of the population in Balbriggan. That is a self-fulfilling prophecy because the energy of development usually happens with the youth and because regional and rural Ireland is missing its youth, it is also missing that development. Some 50% of the State's total income tax revenue is spent in the Dublin area. The vast majority of foreign direct investment is going to the greater Dublin area. There are significant problems.”
“They cannot afford to live in the city, so they end up living 40 km, 50 km and 60 km away in a commuter hell as they try to hold down those jobs. That commuter hell is obviously bad for their lives. Spending two or three hours daily in a car is bad for mental and physical health. For people with a young family, it hurts the children they do not get to see and creates anxiety for them. It hurts the community because those people do not get home until 8 o'clock in the evening, which means it is too late for them to be able to volunteer in their football, soccer and rugby clubs. People are commuting from Ulster, Connacht and Munster into Dublin on a daily basis. Disastrous, lopsided, city-state spatial development is happening under this Government, with absolutely nothing being done to mitigate it or push against it.”
“There are serious spatial development problems in this country. The Minister is long enough around these Houses to recognise that, and he should recognise it. A demographic change that has accelerated in recent years has been one of population moving from the west coast to the east coast. Currently, 40% of the population lives in the greater Dublin area. The GAA did a very good report recently on the demographic problem we are hitting. Two thirds of the population of the country, North and South, live in a very narrow band along the east coast. Most university-level jobs are being located in Dublin. Young people have to move to Dublin to work in those jobs but, obviously, Dublin is too expensive.”
“There is very serious overcrowding in Tullamore hospital at the moment. It is the largest hospital in the midlands region. A memo was sent around to staff stating that there was a black escalation, as I have been told by staff within the hospital. They were told that 35 inpatients are being accommodated in surge beds across the hospital, with a further 14 off-site in private medical beds. This is not the flu season or the depths of winter. It is happening in the middle of summer. I am told that it has been caused by increases in population and a parallel failure to increase facilities to cope with the extra numbers. Will the Taoiseach tell the Dáil today what he will put in place to deal with the crisis immediately? What long-term plan has the Government to make sure that this does not arise in the future?”
“We are one of the richest countries in the world, yet middle-income families are so squeezed as a result of Government decisions. The Taoiseach studiously stopped answering that question. I simply asked him a question. He might address it. Will he stop the increases in taxes on petrol and diesel on 31 July?”
“There are global pressures. There is no doubt about that, but this country is an outlier in terms of many of the costs people are paying. It is the Government's effect that makes this country an outlier. The Taoiseach talks about the carbon tax. We have shown through parliamentary questions that hundreds of millions of euro from that have gone back into the Exchequer and have never been used. These are parliamentary questions answered by Ministers. The price of a shopping trolley has increased by 40% since 2021. This is the second most expensive country in the European Union. Groceries cost 15% more than the European average. Average rents have increased by 36% in five years, up to €2,700 in Dublin. In one year over the last five years, the cost of living has gone up €4,000 on average per household. That is the definition of a rip-off.”