Pearse Doherty
Donegal · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I move amendment No. 1 to Seanad recommendation No. 2: To delete from the row dated "1 September 2026" down to and including the row dated "1 May 2030" and substitute the following: " 15 July 2026 €502.88 €502.88 €371.85 €371.85 €371.85 €0.00 €210.45 €172.14 €167.25 €79.17 €11.48 14 October 2026 €502.88 €502.88 €371.85 €371.85 €371.85 €0.…”
“Next week, this House will rise, the doors of Leinster House will be locked and Ministers will head off on their summer holidays. Their parting gift to ordinary Irish people across the State will be to have locked in fuel price increases that will hit them in their pockets.”
“That is not acceptable and it is why we in Sinn Féin have tabled this amendment to say that these price increases should not be going ahead and that prices should be properly monitored at the appropriate time.”
“This is tied to the latter amendment and I will speak further at length on that. Recommendation No. 1 deals with the diesel rebate scheme, which operates within a window that closes on 1 October.”
“Hope is what we rely on when we have no control. It is not a substitute for prudent economic planning. There is zero certainty here. There are no guarantees that the Strait of Hormuz will remain open or that global supply lines will not be choked tomorrow morning.”
“As if that were not good enough, the Government is not just hitting people with increases on petrol and diesel. On top of that, it is going to hit them with an increase in the cost of home heating oil, natural gas and a basic bag of coal.”
The complete record
Every one of 1,554 lines we hold for Pearse Doherty, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 10 of 32.
“The EU fisheries deal represents another serious failure on the part of the Government to adequately defend Ireland's fishing interests. While the impact will be felt right across the State, it is coastal communities in places such as Killybegs in my constituency, Kilcar and elsewhere that will feel it most acutely. The Seafood Ireland Alliance is warning that this could mean a €200 million hit for the Irish fishing industry. If the Minister of State thinks that jobs will not be lost as a result of this, he is living in denial. It is an extraordinary figure. The consequences for Killybegs and many other areas and coastal areas will be profound. Under this new deal, the safeguards of the Hague preferences were not applied. Larger member states resisted and Ireland did not secure their activation.”
“That is obviously going to devastate the lives of renters right across the State. Can the Taoiseach answer a straight question? How on earth does the Government expect renters to afford these massive rent hikes, which mean, as stated, that rents have risen above €2,000 per month, not to mention what is about to come as a result of his policy decisions?”
“Rents across the State have risen above €2,000 per month for the first time ever according to the Daft.ie report published this morning. The biggest increases are in the four major cities outside Dublin. The cost of rent has risen by €168 per month in the Taoiseach's city of Cork. In Galway, rents are up €164 per month. In Waterford, they are up €163 per month. In Limerick, they are up €82 per month. Rip-off rents have almost doubled since Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael formed their partnership a decade ago. The availability of homes to rent has collapsed to its lowest level in 20 years. To make things even worse, the Government’s rent-hike legislation will kick in from Sunday next. This will open the floodgates and allow big property funds to hit renters with massive increases never seen before.”
“Nine years ago, the Tánaiste promised that no child would wait longer than four months for spinal surgery but children are still left in awful situations. When is the Tánaiste going to keep his promise?”
“"We have been left with nowhere to turn". These are the words of Máirín Nolan, mother of seven-year-old Roxanne Kelly. Roxanne was born with a serious condition affecting her joints. She was then diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of two. Máirín says she spent years going between her doctors but has been left in limbo. There is no solution for her complex needs. In that time, Roxanne's scoliosis has worsened. Her spinal curve is now 80 degrees. The family are left to fundraise to take Roxanne to Florida, where doctors have agreed to carry out the scoliosis surgery. Roxanne is just but one child being failed. Hundreds of children are waiting. We know that 525 scoliosis operations for children were cancelled in the past four years.”
“Is it listening to young people who are telling me or my colleagues that their lives are being put on hold and that they have lost a decade as a result of Government policies on housing? The social fabric is breaking down. Some people see no future here because of affordability issues. I am asking the Tánaiste what the Government is going to do about it. Where the Government is taking this situation is that house prices are rising, rising and rising. The policies of the Government, such as the policy it voted for last night - it had promised it would not do so - to allow vulture funds to bid against these same people who want to purchase their homes, are doing one thing only, and that is pushing up house prices. Answer me this: how can the Tánaiste stand over Government policies that have seen house prices increase by €100,000?”
“With respect, the Tánaiste just dodged the complete question. The question I asked him was about affordability. He talked about the first home scheme, for example. He knows that if the typical home in Dublin is €500,000, the first home scheme does not even apply any more. You cannot get it for €500,000 or more. You cannot get it in Greystones or Bray for the median home because the prices are €575,000 and €550,000. Let us get back to the crux of the issue. The point I have made to the Tánaiste - the CSO has said this very clearly, and I am sure the Tánaiste does not dispute it - is that house prices have gone up €100,000 in four years alone. In the past year, they have gone up €32,000. Is the Government listening to young people?”
“I ask the Tánaiste directly a very simple question that so many young people are asking me and I am sure have asked him: how high do house prices have to rise before the Government realises that its policies are simply not working? Is it €600,000 or €700,000? Make no mistake - that is the direction of travel the Government is taking this country in. How is anybody supposed to live in Dublin given these prices? How high do prices have to go before the penny drops with the Tánaiste?”
“They feel locked out not because they have failed but because the system has failed them. This is a social emergency now. Just last night, the Government voted to allow vulture funds to bid against ordinary families who are trying to buy houses, further exacerbating the problem. Every single CSO release confirms the brutal reality out there. People are being priced out of their communities, the places where they work and their country. I am sure the Tánaiste will say again that supply is the answer. If the typical home costs €500,000, ordinary people will still be locked out. This is not just a housing challenge; it is an affordability catastrophe.”
“Even two solid, decent incomes are no longer enough. How is anyone going to live in Dublin? How is a nurse, a garda or a young teacher to build a life here? How is a couple who are working hard, paying their taxes and doing everything asked of them supposed to compete in a market that has spiralled completely beyond their reach? The crisis is deeply personal now. When young people who are trying to buy their first home look at their parents' generation, they see that people of that generation were able to marry, buy a home and raise children in their 20s or early 30s. Now, those young people see a future taken from them. They are ten years behind that timeline. It is a lost decade for this generation. They cannot start a family, put down roots or plan their lives. They watch their 30s slip away while prices surge further out of reach.”
“Cén dóigh inar féidir leis seasamh leis go bhfuil tithe ag dul in airde le €100,000 taobh istigh de cheithre bliana? The Central Statistics Office now tells us the typical price of a home in Dublin has reached €500,000. The Tánaiste repeatedly tells us that prices are too high, yet they are rising higher and higher year after year under his Government. In just four years alone, prices have jumped by €100,000 across the State. How can you stand over this? To buy a typical home in Dublin now requires an income of over €100,000. People in the Tánaiste's own area where he comes from in County Wicklow need an income of €130,000. There are parts of this city where people need an income above €150,000 to purchase a typical home. The vast majority of workers are nowhere near that level. That is the reality.”
“Tá an Phríomh-Oifig Staidrimh anois ag rá go bhfuil an gnáthphraghas tithíochta i mBaile Átha Cliath tar éis dul chomh hard le €500,000. Tá an Rialtas i gcónaí ag rá linn go bhfuil praghsanna tithe ró-ard, ach tá siad ag ardú bliain i ndiaidh bliana faoin Rialtas seo. Ní fadhb í seo do Bhaile Átha Cliath amháin. Tá praghsanna tithe ag ardú níos gasta taobh amuigh de Bhaile Átha Cliath ná mar atá siad taobh istigh de Bhaile Átha Cliath. Tá praghsanna imithe suas €32,000 le bliain anuas ar fud an Stáit, agus níos mó ná 14% i gcontaetha ar nós Contae Laoise, Contae an Longfoirt, Contae Uíbh Fhailí agus Contae na hIarmhí. Ar fud an Stáit le díreach ceithre bliana anuas, tá praghsanna tar éis léimt breis is €100,000. Cén dóigh inar féidir leis an Rialtas seasamh leis sin?”
“There may be little else we can get right on housing, but we can do this. With the stroke of a pen, we can increase the stamp duty to 100%, 200% or whatever the Government wants. That would make sure it is impossible for vulture funds to swoop in here with the support of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents who support the Government and buy those houses from under the noses of first-time buyers. Anybody who states that they are on the side of first-time buyers knows what they need to do. They need to pick a side, and it is not the side of the vultures they should be on.”
“We either pick the side of the vultures or the side of ordinary people. That is what it is about. The Minister in his opening remarks said that the challenge is balance and preventing the inappropriate bulk-purchasing of family homes. What is appropriate bulk-purchasing of family homes? Were the 293 houses were snapped up from first-time buyers last year all appropriate? Who is determining this? What the Government is allowing to happen is outrageous. It is more outrageous that the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, promised to end it and that Deputy Barry Ward said stamp duty is about a desire to stop this happening, yet the programme for Government states it will prohibit bulk-purchasing. The Government has an option to ban it and vote to say that it will end this practice.”
“Deputy Barry Ward spoke about how the Government introduced stamp duty and referred to the desire to stop this happening. The programme for Government was crystal clear in 2025 on keeping the stamp duty surcharge under review to ensure it prohibited bulk purchases. What is happening? Bulk purchases are still happening. Nearly 300 homes last year were accounted for, but we know there are many more because up to nine homes can be bulk-purchased without being registered. Bulk-purchases in their hundreds are still happening. The amendment that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents who back up this shoddy Government are about to vote for states that the Government believes the measures are having the desired effect. That is where the mask slips for the Government. I made the point that the vote is simple. We need to pick a side.”
“It is about whether we believe that vulture funds with unlimited capital should be allowed to come in here and buy up and bulk-purchase houses from under the noses of first-time buyers. Young couples who have scrimped and saved and done everything right and everything they can to be able to purchase their forever home find international capital is allowed to come in here by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and outbid them over and over again for houses. Not only are they outbidding first-time buyers, they are pushing up prices for all of the other people in the same situation. Let us see what was said on the record. The Minister, Deputy Harris, the man who says whatever needs to be said at any given time, wrote to the Minister for Finance and said this cannot be tolerated.”
“As I said earlier, the motion is a simple proposition. At its core it asks the Government to do what it said it was going to do, namely fulfil its commitment given before the election in the form of the Minister, Deputy Harris, and what it put in the programme for Government in black and white for all of us to see. The Minister of State referred to many other aspects of housing we could get into debates about such as how the Government missed its targets over and over, how it is pushing house prices beyond the reach of ordinary people, how it has allowed institutional investors to buy of most of Dublin and rent it out at extortionate rates and how it continues to allow investors to pay no tax on rent. All of those issues can be discussed at a separate time. The motion is simple.”
“What the Government has done is that it has sold Ireland. Not only has it sold Ireland, it has sold out its people. I ask it to do the right thing today. I ask it to live up to the commitment it gave and to the words in the programme for Government, which state that it will make sure this is stopped. How can the Government tolerate this? Last year, there were 293 homes alone, and many more unregistered because of the other loopholes it has added in. The motion is simple. We call on every Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Deputy, and, indeed, the Independent Deputies who back them. Whose side are they on? Are they on the side of the vultures or they on the side of ordinary, decent Irish families trying to put a roof over their heads?”
“What we do have an objection to, what we do call out and what we say needs to stop is vulture funds swooping in at the last minute, buying up homes and driving up prices. Will the Minister explain to me why we need investment funds buying second-hand homes. How does this deliver more housing supply? The answer is that it does not. It just drives up prices, plain and simple. Home ownership is collapsing under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. It is being sold off. I made this point many years ago when the Government introduced the fake measure that it said would ban vulture funds from buying up family homes. I said what it had done was to hang the white flag of surrender over the capital city of Dublin and other cities across this State.”
“Let us have it straight. Let us talk about the facts here. I mentioned that 2,000 homes had been purchased by vulture funds over the past number of years. That is only the tip of the iceberg, however, because, as we know, vulture funds do not have to register up to ten homes that they purchase in any given year. Thousands and thousands of homes are being snatched up by vulture funds, big landlords and other companies. Most of them are second-hand homes. People are sick to the back teeth of this nonsense, and the Government will peddle it out again, that we need to attract more international capital. Nobody objects on this side of the House to international investment in the construction of houses and apartments.”
“When Deputy Simon Harris was Taoiseach, he said vulture funds buying up homes "cannot be tolerated". Those are his words. He wrote to the then Minister for Finance calling on him to intervene. He called on him to stand up for first-time buyers but it was all for show. It was all so he could leak it to the media and make it look as if he was doing something about it. Deputy Harris, though, is now the Minister for Finance and vulture funds are still buying up family homes. The only difference is that he has no one to write his letters to anymore. There is no one else to blame because this is happening on his watch, and far from not tolerating it, he is supporting it.”
“I tabled amendment after amendment to finance Bills, and Minister after Minister, in Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, rallied against them and voted against them time and time again. Let us be honest: even when the Government's hands were finally forced, it did as little as it could get away with. It was just enough to look like it was doing something about it. All the while, it was letting vulture funds snap up homes left, right and centre. The proof is there for everybody to see. Over 2,000 homes have been bulk purchased since the Government said it would stop it. The programme for Government again committed to ending this scandal. It is one thing that the Government said it would do, the one small measure it said it would take in its programme for Government, and it did not even deliver on this basic issue.”
“Ordinary workers and families right across the State have no chance competing with these funds. They hoover up homes and they drive up prices. People have watched as house prices have gone out of control under the Government's watch. They have gone up 50% in five years. People are desperate. They know they cannot keep up. No matter how hard they work or how much they save, the hope of ever owning their own home keeps being ripped away from them. When these vultures snapped up a housing estate in County Kildare back in 2021, people's blood was boiling. It was that anger that forced the Government's hand. I know this because for years before that, I was tabling amendments calling on the Government to act.”
“Vulture funds were invited into this country by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael and they then dusted down the red carpet for them. They were invited in to snap up homes on the cheap that should have gone to workers and families. Fine Gael rolled out that red carpet and has been waiting on them hand and foot ever since. That is the reality. Sinn Féin's motion is a straightforward proposal. Indeed, it is asking the Government to keep its word. It simply puts the needs of workers and families ahead of the faceless vulture funds. We are calling for a ban on these funds snapping up family homes. That is it. It is as simple as that. End this practice. That this Government has failed to do this when we are this far into a housing crisis is absolutely shameful.”
“I move that: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — the housing crisis continues to deepen for ordinary workers and families while corporate landlords, investors and developers make ever greater profits; — residential property prices have increased by 47.7 per cent since 2020, pushing first-time buyers further into debt to secure a home, while locking many out of home ownership; — high rents and residential property prices are making it increasingly difficult for workers and families to purchase and own their own home, leading to the collapse of homeownership; — investment funds bulk purchasing homes takes homes away from ordinary workers and families, and drives up prices; — despite the commitments by Government to end the practice, investment funds have continued to bulk purchase homes; — the Government re-committed to prohibiting the bulk purchase of homes in the Programme for Government; and — despite repeated promises to address the issue of homes being bulk purchased by vulture funds, the Government continues to allow the practice; further notes that: — Sinn Féin have repeatedly called for investment funds to not be allowed bulk purchase homes; — the Government was warned by Sinn Féin that belated measures introduced in May 2021, and the adjustment in Budget 2025, would be insufficient to end this unacceptable practice; — the Government are responsible for the continued bulk purchase by investment funds, with over 2,000 houses purchased by investment funds triggering the higher rate of stamp duty between May 2021 and the end of 2025, at the expense of individual home buyers; and — this only captures a fraction of the homes being bought by vulture funds, who continue to be able to buy up to nine houses at a time without even having to pay the higher stamp duty rate, and face no restrictions on the purchase of apartments; concludes that the Government, comprising Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Government Independents, are prioritising the interests of developers, landlords and investment funds, at the expense of struggling workers and families; and calls on the Government to ban investment funds from buying family homes.”
“Donegal Airport did not even know about it and found out about it by chance just a couple of weeks ago. The Government knew about this for months. When the airline said it was getting rid of the afternoon flights, the Department should have said, in October, it was going back out to tender and would stipulate that afternoon flights be provided. Nobody should be in this situation, but we now need to clean up the mess. I am raising this today, as I did with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste last week, because we are not going to let this go until these flights are restored.”
“That is how much respect the Minister of State's colleague gave to the people of Donegal, the Minister of State and anyone else who tried to be in his ear. At the end of the day, this is a Government decision and the Government knew about this since October. The Minister of State talked about risk. There is no risk any more for us because the midday flights are gone. The risk has materialised. People who I know and, I am sure, the Minister of State knows are telling him today that the reason they are able to still put their children to bed is that those flights were not a convenience for them but a lifeline, and the Government signed them away. What has happened is appalling and I still have not heard the steps the Government needs to take to do that. There is a way to fix this. It should never have come to this.”
“The Minister of State talked about the airport. Staff at Donegal Airport are ripping about this. They are actually taking legal advice. They told the Department not to enter into the contract. We told the Department not to enter into the contract. I put it to the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach. The Minister of State said the Minister for Transport is listening. The Minister just gave a slap in the face to the people of Donegal. He entered into a contract. It is there in black and white. I have a copy and it refers to "the Minister for Transport and the airline". He entered into that contract without even speaking to the representative group which organises and supports the cancer flights from Donegal to Dublin.”
“Between 10% and 15% of the 44,000 passengers are healthcare passengers. This has to be reversed. I ask the Minister to spell out clearly whether the Government will finally stand on the right side of this and stand with the community campaigning to get this decision overturned.”
“We need a Government that is working not against the people of Donegal but with them and with the group, the advocates and the cancer flights and services group that travelled up here. One of its members is back in Dublin today after being up here in a deputation yesterday. This person is accompanying a cancer patient in a hospital here in Dublin who is getting life-saving treatment. The consultant, a very senior person in that hospital, had a conversation with a patient today in which he said he saw this issue on the news yesterday and that if it goes ahead, it will be unworkable, and he had no problem being quoted on that. Everybody knows that what the Government has entered into is unworkable. It is not fair to the people of Donegal, tourism, businesses, commuters and it is a disaster for people who rely on this service.”
“They are demanding that Donegal be no longer the forgotten country and that we hold on to what we have. The best example of that has been Majella O'Donnell, Daniel O'Donnell's partner, who spoke on "The Late Late Show" about the importance of these flights. The Minister of State and his Government have done a dirty deed. The Government has seriously betrayed the people of Donegal. The contract was executed just 24 hours before the Government knew of a delegation representing 500 cancer patients who currently use the flight and 15,000 people who signed a petition in a matter of days. That is exactly how people feel. They feel hurt and betrayed. However, we also need to feel a bit of hope that this life-saving service can be restored.”
“The Government was told time and again in the lead up to this the importance of these flights. It has entered into a contract with the airline which will end these flights. I struggle to find words in parliamentary language to explain the frustration, anger and hurt of the people of Donegal in terms of what has happened. It is best shown in terms of what has happened over the last number of days when we found out by accident that the Government had actually entered into this contract, which it has known about since October last year and which meant that the afternoon flights from Dublin and Donegal would end. When we heard this, people from across the county, from community groups, sporting organisations and State bodies to musicians and actors, pulled together and explained that this is unworkable.”
“In all my time in politics I probably only ever saw the anger of the Donegal people as acute as I have seen it in recent days and that was with regard to the handling of defective blocks in the county. There is probably a thread that runs through this. The Minister who refused to come to our county and meet homeowners with defective blocks was the Minister for housing at the time, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, who is now the Minister for Transport who signed the contract that ended the midday flights from Donegal to Dublin for the next four years, affecting cancer patients across the county. People travelled to Dublin yesterday and told their testimony. They explained that they would not be here today if it were not for those midday flights. They literally would not have been able to get to Dublin in time to have life-saving treatment.”
“The solution is simple: ban vulture funds from bulk purchasing family homes. It is as simple as that. End the practice. Step up and do the right thing on behalf of people who are being completely outpriced in the market and are losing faith as a result of the Government's policies.”
“The Tánaiste gave a commitment in 2024. He said that the bulk purchasing of these homes by vulture funds should not be tolerated, cannot be tolerated. He is the Minister for Finance. He has not just been tolerating this once or twice. He tolerated it 293 times last year. These were 293 opportunities snapped away by vulture funds from young people who wanted to buy their first home. The Tánaiste stands there and somehow defends this because he offers no solutions. It could not be tolerated in 2024 and it should not be tolerated now. Vulture funds should not be allowed to outbid and swoop in to buy homes from under the noses of ordinary first-time buyers. That is simple as. What is the Tánaiste going to do about it? If he genuinely believes it should not be tolerated, as he said, then what is he going to do about it?”
“Does he accept that as long as these exemptions remain, first-time buyers will continue to be gazumped by vulture funds? Will he now act to keep the promise he made and ban vulture funds from snapping up family homes? He said the practice, in his words, could not be tolerated. Will he finally step up and deliver on that promise?”
“Of the 293 homes purchased last year by vulture funds, 154 were bought in the last three months alone. This is happening right now under the Tánaiste's watch and the reason is simple: the Government's legislation is not working. It made a choice to leave the door open and vultures are swooping right through it. When the Tánaiste says that bulk purchasing cannot be tolerated, what exactly do those words mean? What we are seeing is not intolerance but permission for large investors to compete directly with first-time buyers and permission for a model where ordinary working people are told to save harder, wait longer and try again next year. Does the Tánaiste accept, in the face of the facts, that the Government's policy has failed?”
“There were 293 young people who had done everything right, saved for years and cut back, with some even moving back into their family homes to build up a deposit, only to find themselves outbid. Couples queued for hours and hours outside developments, lining up before dawn to secure a chance to bid on a first home, only for the vultures to swoop in, not with a mortgage application or savings scraped up year after year, but with institutional capital that no ordinary worker can compete with. This happened and was tolerated under the Tánaiste's watch as Minister for Finance. He told the public the Government's policy would put a stop to this. We said it would not. The Tánaiste stood over that policy and defended it. He said it would deter bulk purchasing. It has not deterred it and it has not stopped it. It is still happening.”
“This morning, we woke up to the news that there are no housing assistance payment, HAP, properties to rent in 16 different areas. These are right across the country, and include areas in Cork, Galway, Dublin, Athlone, Limerick and Waterford. I could go on. This is piling even more pressure onto those desperately seeking to put a roof over their heads. That is before we come to the abysmal failure to stop vulture funds snapping up family homes. In June 2024, the Tánaiste wrote that the bulk purchasing of homes needed by first-time buyers cannot be tolerated. Those are his words, not mine. Two years on, those words ring hollow. Under questioning by me, the Tánaiste confirmed that 293 homes were bulk purchased last year alone by vulture funds. These were 293 homes and 293 opportunities lost to working people.”
“I mí an Mheithimh 2024, scríobh an Tánaiste faoi mholadh cánach do thithe atá ag teastáil ó cheannaitheoirí céaduaire. Dúirt sé nach féidir cur suas leis agus thug sé gealltanas nach dtarlóidh seo arís, ach ar aghaidh go dtí i mbliana 2026 agus ceisteanna curtha air, dheimhnigh sé go raibh 293 teach bulc-cheannaithe díreach anuraidh ag creach-chistí agus tiarnaí talún corparáideacha. An nglacann an Tánaiste leis go bhfuil teipthe iomlán ar a pholasaí anois? This week, the Government's damning failure in housing has been laid bare for all of us to see once again. Its choices are making it harder for working people to afford a home. Last night, the Government pushed through a Bill that will hike rents by up to €5,000 for 60,000 renters every year, a gift to big corporate landlords on behalf of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.”
“Communities have been failed by the Government's lethargic approach to delivering a comprehensive and modern flood forecasting and warning service. I know the Minister of State was not in government during this period but his colleague, the Minister, was. He was on national radio talking about allocations and all the rest. The people who were flooded do not give a rat's about that. I will not say what I was going to say. They want the Government to deliver. They cannot understand. This was to be announced ten years ago. Money is not being provided. The delivery of this service is not there. It is not good enough.”
“I appreciate what the Minister of State is saying. I also appreciate that the Minister of State was not in office during the eight years I am talking about. However, his Cabinet colleagues were. We lost a lot of time when no schemes were delivered. That is the problem. In 2024, three schemes were supposed to be delivered but none were. I want to go back to the national flood forecasting and warning service. Less than €6 million of the nearly €20 million allocated has been delivered. As I said, this is a project that has been going on for ten years now. The Government agreed to establish the national flood forecasting and warning service. In the meantime, only one stage of the plan has been delivered, meaning we are currently stuck with an out-of-date and inaccurate warning system that does not even take ground conditions into account.”
“The other part of the question related to the allocation for the national flood forecasting and warning service between 2020 and 2024. We are ten years on and this still has not been delivered. I heard the Minister, Deputy Chambers, talk about allocations and all the rest. We are ten years on and still do not have a system in place. There are serious problems within the Department.”
“We have a serious problem here. I note that the Minister of State mentioned the 13,500 properties that are protected but the Dáil was told the same number of properties were protected in 2023. The fact is that we have not protected a single additional property since. The numbers have not changed in the past couple of years. According to the Government's website, I think 143 or 144 schemes were identified eight years ago and still have not been completed. I know that nothing can be done overnight and the Government continues to reach to judicial reviews and all the rest but large numbers of those schemes have not even gone to design stage, let alone planning stage. There is a serious issue with the delivery of schemes within the State.”
“Will the Minister of State, Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran, provide an honest update on flood relief schemes across the State? As we know, the catchment-based flood risk assessment and management, CFRAM, report, which carried out an evaluation of the entire State, identified 150 schemes. This was announced back in 2018 with huge fanfare. A total of 150 new schemes were going to be delivered. I note the Government keeps referring to schemes that have been delivered, including schemes that were delivered when I was a teenager. I do not want that information. I want to know how many of those 150 new schemes have been delivered to date.”
“They represent not only the 500 cancer patients who, at any given time, see this service as a lifeline but also 15,000 people who signed this petition in the past couple of days alone and who knew that this is going to be a devastating blow. The Taoiseach said he would do everything within legal limits. Will he take the opportunity to set out what can be done?”
“Deputy McDonald raised the issue I am about to raise with the Taoiseach earlier. We have campaigners from Donegal with us who made the journey. The long and the short of it is that the Government entered a contract with Emerald Airlines yesterday. That contract will end afternoon flights to Donegal and Dublin. The Government did that despite that Donegal Airport asked it not to because it was seeking legal opinion. The cancer campaign group asked the Government not to do it. Some 15,000 people across Donegal asked the Government not to do it. I made pleas on the floor of the Chamber and privately to Ministers involved asking that it not be done. However, the Government signed a contract that will diminish the service to Donegal. The people who are here today are not here for the good of their health.”
“Health insurance is up. Public liability insurance is up. The Government has completely failed to be true to the promise it gave in the election campaign to reduce childcare costs. It abandoned workers when it promised them it would provide them tax cut, but instead it was developers who got the multimillion euro tax cut. The Government based all this on inflation rates that are now 50% higher than it had projected in the budget. It has got this wrong. People are struggling and people are suffering. A cost-of-living package is desperately needed. The Minister and his colleagues need to get out of the bubble they are in and recognise where ordinary people are at.”
“I accept the Government did all those things; that is a statement of fact. However, if the Minister thinks that people are not worse off this year than they were last year, he is living in a bubble and that is the problem here. The facts are clear. As I said, energy is just one example where 303,000 people cannot pay their bills and that is only electricity. Another 170,000-plus cannot pay their gas bills. Prices are going through the roof. The Minister talked about how the Government had put up rates. It is also putting up rents with the rent-hike Bill. Electricity bills have gone up. The Government put up college fees. It has put up taxes on petrol and diesel. It put up the tax on the family home. It is planning to increase taxes on home heating oil. Insurance premiums are up. Car insurance is up. Home insurance is up.”
“Market researchers tell us that food inflation is 6.8% and the CSO tells us it is 4%. Five large supermarkets control 90% of the market. The Government refuses to stand up to these vested interests over prices that are out of control. The Government is not ending the rip-off or getting prices under control and all it has done is withdraw the supports. Does the Minister accept the reality of all of these figures and recognise that the State has to intervene and support those individuals in a cost-of-living package that the Government wrongly decided to withdraw at the wrong time?”