Roderic O'Gorman
Dublin West · Green Party · Ireland
“These are men and women who served their working lives within the British civil service system but who, following unification, would be drawing their pensions in a united Ireland. The question of the funding of that will be extremely significant in any talks following a "Yes" vote on both parts of the island.”
“Some 100 extra staff have been hired to the public domain team to tackle waste and dumping and our councillors will continue to fight for a cleaner and greener Dublin.”
“These challenges are magnified by the continued failure of the current political institutions in Northern Ireland to operate for the best interests of the people rather than achieving best political advantage for the parties.”
“In the Dublin Central area, an average of 50 tonnes per month of illegally dumped waste is being removed by the council. It is a huge amount of waste, and this is more than is collected in an entire year from whole counties elsewhere in the country. Our current model of waste management is a direct contributor to this.”
“This means that in many areas, bags are the notional solution but these cause issues with seagulls or foxes or are intermingled with illegally dumped bags. The net result is our footpaths are strewn with waste. Dublin City Council recently rolled out a system of waste compactors in the core areas of the city centre.”
“The solution is to rationalise the current system, put local authorities back at the centre of waste management processes and use this to get a better handle on pricing and illegal dumping through contracts that are right for each specific area, instead of the one-size-fits-all model we have at the moment that is not actually working anyw…”
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“It is important we are addressing this issue on the first week back, especially after the summer we have had, which saw communities, particularly the Indian and southeast Asian communities, targeted for both verbal and physical assaults in a number of locations across the country. I represent Dublin West, which is an extremely vibrant, extremely diverse part of Dublin and one where we have communities from many different countries. Over the course of the summer I had the opportunity through canvassing and local events to talk to people specifically from the Indian and south Asian communities and hear of their experiences.”
“Will this year's budget contain financial measures to address child poverty among children living in the international protection system?”
“I welcome the focus the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach have placed on child poverty in their public comments in the run-up to the budget. However, will they take steps to address child poverty among that cohort of children who are most vulnerable, the 9,000 children in the international protection system? Children in the international protection system get €29.80 per week; that is it. This figure was last increased in 2018. The Tánaiste knows the child poverty unit in the Department of the Taoiseach drafted proposals to address this. He will have seen them, I saw them and the now Taoiseach would have seen them last year. Money was actually put aside last year to address this but we never got it over the line. Does the Tánaiste agree with me that €29.80 per week is not enough to give any child a decent standard of living?”
“It is now four weeks since the school term started back. Like Deputy Sherlock, far too many primary and secondary school students in my constituency still do not have access to a school bus even though they meet the criteria. Students attending St. Peter's College in Dunboyne, the Catherine McAuley National School and Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg are still left hanging. Why is that every single August, the Department of Education cannot get this right? When will those kids get the school bus place they are entitled to under the criteria?”
“Why does she have to pay for potentially life-saving shots when just six months ago the Government committed to rerunning the Laura Brennan HPV vaccine catch-up campaign?”
“I have asked when the Government will rerun the Laura Brennan human papillomavirus, HPV, vaccine catch-up campaign on a number of occasions. This morning, I spoke to Lucy, a 20-year-old student who missed the HPV vaccine when she was at school and who wants to take it up now. She has been quoted up to €600 to get the vaccine. The cost of the initial appointment with a practice nurse, multiple shots and multiple GP visits to get those shots totals €600. She is a third level student. She does not have that level of disposable income. I spoke to the Minister for Health last night. She outlined her position on the importance of the school vaccination campaign. I appreciate that but I still do not have an answer for Lucy. Why does she have to fork out €600?”
“There was a vote in the European Parliament last week and three Fine Gael MEPs voted for Ondej Knotek as rapporteur on climate policy. During his term in the European Parliament, he said: [The] policies of climate activists, as you are, are not leading to saving the climate. You are lying to people about that if they will be ambitious, that there will be no floods and so on.... But that's not true. You have no data, you have no science base, you have no impact assessments: you are just lying. No science, no data - that is your guy, Tánaiste. That is the guy Fine Gael voted to put in this vital role. While the rest of us have moved away from denying the existence of climate change, Fine Gael MEPs have decided to appoint to this crucial role a person who denies there is science linking changes in our climate.”
“Who leads out on setting the EU climate targets has never been more important. That is why the vote of the European People's Party and the three Fine Gael MEPs could not have come at a worse time. I have a simple question for the Tánaiste: does he think it is a good idea that a climate denier is leading out on the EU's 2040 climate targets? What will he do about it?”
“That group proudly declares on its website that it calls for abandoning the European Green Deal, so we have climate change deniers setting the 2040 targets. The Greens in the European Parliament led a vote to stop this but the European People's Party - the party of Fine Gael and the Tánaiste - supported allowing climate deniers set the 2040 targets. What is more, three of the four Fine Gael MEPs - Regina Doherty, Nina Carberry and Seán Kelly - voted to allow this happen. Globally, we are at a crucial time in our fight to lower emissions. Critical negotiations will take place during COP30 in Belém, Brazil in November. We are all very aware of the position of the new US Administration. That is why the leadership the EU has demonstrated over so many years is so critical.”
“Last Thursday Deputy Ahern raised the issue of climate with the Tánaiste. In response the Tánaiste said: The climate emergency has not gone away; far from it. We need to look at how we can accelerate the pace of change that needs to take place. I agree with the Tánaiste. One thing we should not be doing is appointing a climate denier to lead out on the new EU 2040 climate targets but that is exactly what Fine Gael MEPs voted to do last Wednesday. Last week the European Parliament was considering the process for the EU setting its 2040 climate targets. The Patriots for Europe group - the group of Viktor Orbán and Marine le Pen - managed to get appointed as chief negotiator for the policy.”
“It has always been Government policy that children deserve an appropriate place. I know there is pressure here but has something been learned from the experience of St. Mochta's?”
“I thank the Minister of State. I welcome that clarification. He spoke about intensive work having taken place around the country to support the opening of new classes. I know very intensive work took place between parents, the school leadership team, the principal, the deputy principal and the chair of the board of management over the last two weeks. I have met parents, as have other Deputies. I thank the Minister of State because I know he made an intervention as well. I want to acknowledge that. It is important to say that, while the NCSE is working very hard to open new autism classes, it dropped the ball here. It is not acceptable that children in this school who had diagnoses and who had a letter stating they were entitled to a class would watch other children get places in newly opened classes while they did not.”
“The Minister of State knows how to build the tension. He has given us some general points but we are still on tenterhooks as to what is happening in this particular school. I believe the Minister of State has a little bit more to say, so I will allow him to complete his answer.”
“Two weeks ago, parents of children who attend St. Mochta's National School in Clonsilla who have diagnoses and who have been approved for a place in an autism class were shocked to find out that, even though the school is opening two autism classes, none of their children was being offered a place. I have met the parents and the school leadership, as have other Deputies. A lot of work has gone on in the background on this matter. I hope the Minister of State has some good news for the school, the parents, the school leadership and particularly for six young children in Clonsilla.”
“As we undertake statements on Pride today, I hope we can avoid any sense of complacency in this Chamber and any sense of back-slapping but instead focus on the unfinished work: the threats to freedom of expression; the absence of the right to marry; the ever-present threat of death that millions of gay, lesbian and trans people face all over the world every single day; and in Ireland, the unfinished provision of health supports for trans and intersex people that this Government must act on in its term of office.”
“We see increasingly a toxic atmosphere for gay and lesbian citizens online. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, spoke eloquently about the impact of that. We know it is getting worse. We must also recognise the failure to meet the diverse healthcare needs of our trans and intersex community in the health services. We must recognise how even the discussion of the provision of that healthcare gets polluted by ideological attacks, rather than focusing on the healthcare needs of a very small and vulnerable part of our community.”
“When I visited Poland as equality Minister I met some of the local LGBTI+ groups who told me how the human rights institution of that state, something like the Ombudsman for Children, had been weaponised by the far-right government at the time as a tool to attack LGBTI+ youth groups which were working with young people under the age of 18. In Hungary, we saw how the government attempted to suppress the very expression of the LGBTI+ community through trying to ban the Pride parade but we also saw the response 200,000 Hungarians gave to their government on the streets of Budapest. I do not take progress for granted in Ireland either. We have seen significant increases in homophobic abuse and attacks on our streets. This is backed up by Garda statistics on hate crime. This situation is getting worse.”
“I am grateful to be able to wake up every morning beside the man I love, a man I am able to call my husband because of a decision of the Irish people, and we are able to enjoy wide-ranging protections across a whole raft of law and policy in our own country. I am grateful but I do not take it for granted because even though we have seen protections extended, gays and lesbians around the world have seen the erosion of their rights too. We have seen progress reversed. That reversal of progress has happened in countries not too distant from Ireland.”
“The Government must show that same ambition at national level to back our dentists, serve our communities and treat oral health as the essential element it is. This means fixing the dental treatment service and giving medical card holders the same level of access to dentists as everybody else. It means investing in prevention and early intervention in order that we do not have to rely on emergency care and emergency situations to pick up the pieces. We are getting this right in some pockets of the country but that is not enough. We have to build on that success and ensure there is access to dental care in every part of the country.”
“It is going to give students valuable practical experience and will be a major boost for oral healthcare in Dublin 15, an area I represent. As well as giving that immediate benefit to residents in Dublin 15, we will now have a new stream of trained dentists emerging from third level every year whose entire training has been about serving the community. We will have a brand-new type of dentist, and that is something we should really welcome. Oral healthcare is healthcare. We need to treat it that way. It is about fairness and making sure that no child or older person feels left behind because of cost or a lack of access. The work under way shows what can be delivered when we have ambition that is backed with action.”
“In order to advance the education of students on this new programme, work by the RCSI and the HSE on a new dental education centre at Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown has commenced. This new centre is set to open in September of 2027 and will provide state-of-the-art facilities for training dental students while also delivering local care in the community. It is expected to support over 375 dental students annually and provide approximately 30,000 treatments in the community. What has really piqued my interest in this is the pilot programme under which supervised dental students will provide free dental care to local residents. That is going to help to improve access to care for those who face barriers, particularly financial ones.”
“There were about 1,600 dentists practising previously. That number is now down to 810, and only 600 of those are actively providing dental care. Community dentists are the backbone of accessible oral healthcare in our communities. They provide essential preventative and treatment services directly within communities, especially to those who need it most. They really help to reduce pressure on our hospitals and wider emergency services. It is for this reason that I really welcome the initiative by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, RCSI, and its recent establishment of a brand new bachelor of dental services degree. It will be the first community-based undergraduate dental degree course delivered in Ireland.”
“I thank Deputy Stanley for tabling this important motion, thus giving us the opportunity to place a particular focus on oral health and oral healthcare in the Dáil during the final week of this term. I am really pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the motion. We all know the importance of oral health. It affects everything including how we eat and speak. It can even affect our self-confidence, but, for far too long, it has been considered and treated as an optional extra in our health system. Dental healthcare is too costly and too hard to access for far too many and this has to change. One of the biggest challenges in our system is the shortage of dentists. The dental treatment service scheme, which provides dental care for most medical card holders, has seen the number of participating dentists fall by 50% over the past decade.”
“I hope, if we are able to introduce the Bill to this House, the Minister will likewise be supportive of what I think could be an important and meaningful step in offering protection to victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence.”
“Importantly, this change will allow courts to refuse bail in serious cases, strengthening protections for survivors who are at immediate risk. We also have to recognise that children present during these types of breaches of protection and barring orders suffer deep trauma and this Bill could give them a greater degree of protection. This is not symbolic legislation. It is survivor-informed, evidence-based and based on years of calls from NGOs working in the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence sector. I believe, as I know the two other parties involved believe, this is important legislation. It has passed Second and Committee Stages in Seanad Éireann and we hope to see it progress through Seanad Éireann and introduced in this House. I understand the Minister of State speaking to the Bill in the Seanad was broadly supportive of it.”
“We in the Green Party, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats intend to advance the Bill through that House and hopefully through this House as well. The Bill proposes simple but necessary changes to provide that breaches of court-ordered safety, protection or barring orders should no longer be treated solely as summary offences. As it stands, someone who violates one of these orders often faces a maximum of 12 months in prison. The Bill would introduce an indictable offence for serious breaches, enabling such cases to be tried on indictment and punished by up to five years' imprisonment. It is not about criminalising people unnecessarily but it is about ensuring those who deliberately and repeatedly violate court orders, who often show patterns of coercive control, face meaningful consequences.”
“I begin by recognising the survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence present in the House today and the many who will watch this debate over the course of the afternoon. I know many TDs have spoken eloquently on this issue today but we know that words must be followed by action. I draw the attention of the House and the Minister to one particular action, the Domestic Violence (Amendment) Bill 2024. My colleague, Senator Malcolm Noonan, along with the Social Democrats and the Labour Party, has reintroduced this Bill into Seanad Éireann. It was introduced during the previous Seanad by the former Green Party Senator, Vincent P. Martin, and it has now been reintroduced, and completed Committee Stage in the Seanad last week.”
“The Government has created the confusion, and the Minister can clarify it. It is not fair to ask people to wait three months.”
“The Minister is right. I was in government when the cost-of-living measures in the area of the student contribution were agreed. That is why, whereas there is a lot on the programme for Government I am critical of, I welcomed the commitment in there to continue to reduce the student contribution fee over the lifetime of the Government. I took from that the clear meaning that every student in the country took, which was that this was a process that would see further reductions. What the Minister announced was a full-on increase of €1,000 that students are now dealing with. He talked about trying to be up front and honest. We then have to deal with the situation of his coalition colleagues. The Tánaiste is giving this broad stage wink to students like he will look after them in September. It is not fair to create this level of confusion.”
“The Minister has spoken in great detail about the various supports that exist for students, but the issue people want clarity on and need to know about is the question of how much the student contribution will be in September. The reason they are asking that question is because of his comments on "This Week". He opened this Pandora's box, and he has the capacity to close it if he so wishes. He was not helped by the contribution of the Tánaiste and his liberal briefings across media over the past number of days suggesting he was going to do something. That has actually compounded the confusion. Parents and particularly students need to know how much they will pay in September. It is not okay for the Minister and his colleagues to spend the next three months saying it is the normal budgetary process and they cannot talk about this.”
“This has been a messy episode but it is okay to recognise that and that there has been an error. However, importantly, it is right and proper to correct the error. That error can be corrected tonight in this Chamber by the Minister or his colleague in the wrap-up speech through a clear statement as to what students will owe in September of this year. He should please do the right thing.”
“The right thing to do is to step beyond the mantra "the normal budgetary process" and tell students what they will owe this September. This has been an unforced error by the Government and it is right to fix it now. The Government, including the Minister, owes students an apology. I have no doubt that, like me, he is getting emails from students and particularly from parents – parents for whom the student contribution is a struggle but one they make every year because they know the importance of education and want to support their sons and daughters in the next stage of their lives. Those parents will still make it even if it is €1,000 or €500 extra, or whatever the figure is, but it will mean an extra sacrifice in the weeks and months to come. They are entitled to know what that actual cost will be.”
“The Tánaiste's voicemail that was widely distributed among journalists certainly did not help. At a time when we see Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael bickering with each other, we see the impact on students and their parents and the hardship they are facing and suffering all over the country. The Minister's coalition is leaking and creaking, and students and parents are suffering. So, what do we do now? I have been in the Minister's position of trying to negotiate a budget and know it is difficult and a huge challenge and that one has to fence off the various demands over the course of a year, particularly as one gets closer to the budgetary process. However, the Government, including the Minister, owes students certainty on this issue.”
“We are now on day nine of this fiasco. Time and again last week and even this afternoon in the Dáil, the mantra “the normal budgetary process” has been trotted out by the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, and the Ministers for Finance, public expenditure and further and higher education. Yes, there is a normal budgetary process but we are far outside that process on the single issue of what the student contribution will be next year. The blame for that lies with the Minister, Deputy Lawless. Nobody made him drop his bombshell last Sunday week. He made a decision on intervening and on making his bold statement. That was when he should have deployed the phrase "the normal budgetary process", not cause the confusion of the past nine days. The blame does not lie with him alone.”
“It balances the needs of fishers, nature and offshore wind but this Government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independents is tearing all of that up. Why is the Government so committed to rolling back on the environmental progress that has been made over the last four years? Why is it caving in on marine protected areas?”
“How can the United Nations be expected to take the Taoiseach's words about protecting our oceans seriously when he is dumping the laws that would actually do so? Last month the Taoiseach attended the World Ocean Summit, at which he said that he looked forward to "joining with fellow world leaders over the coming days to discuss and collaborate on ways to secure the future of our oceans and seas". Then, over the weekend we learned that the Government is dropping plans to put in place a law to give protection to vital parts of our seas here in Ireland, the marine protected areas Bill. A marine protected area is a defined area where marine life is legally protected. The draft Bill is well advanced and literally years of work have gone into it.”
“I raised my concern that there was a risk that passing a Bill that only covered trade in goods from the occupied territories and not trade in services, which was a very obvious gap, undermined Ireland's argument before the European Court of Justice that the restriction in the Bill represented a genuine manifestation of Irish public policy. The officials were unable to give me a convincing argument on that point. I believe that by proposing a Bill that omits services, the Government is setting it up to fail a legal challenge. This weakness can be solved by including services in the Government's Bill.”
“They were clear that the legal advice received by the departmental officials was to the effect that the ICJ was referring to trade in goods and services. As such, if Ireland passes a Bill that excludes services, we will not meet the requirements of the ICJ advisory opinion regarding our engagement with the Palestinian territories. I also asked the officials how we could defend the occupied territories Bill against a possible challenge under EU law. To do so, we would have to use the public policy justification in Article 36 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. It has been noted that the European Court of Justice scrutinises and is very strict about how that particular treaty article is used. A member state must show that it is advocating a genuine and sufficiently serious threat to a fundamental interest of society.”
“Yesterday, I took part in the pre-legislative process for the Government's occupied territories Bill, or the OTB-lite. Like others, I focused on the Government's exclusion of services from the current draft. The officials from the Department of foreign affairs were able to give me a clear answer on one point I raised. One of the conclusions in the ICJ opinion, delivered last year, was that states should "abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the Occupied Palestinian Territory". I asked the officials if it was their legal opinion that the term "economic or trade dealings" in the ICJ opinion referred to trade in goods alone or referred to trade in goods and services.”
“I also urge him to redouble his efforts to secure the necessary capital funding in the NDP review. Without this money, this vision of the all-island strategic plan will never be more than a pretty graphic.”
“Bold ideas, though, have to be backed by bold action and guaranteed capital investment. The public deserve clear answers. When will the Government publish a detailed, phased implementation plan for the all-island strategic rail review so we can track progress and hold people to account concerning what they said they will do? What projects are first in line? When will construction begin? Given the scale of investment, which is estimated at €35 billion up to 2050, how much will be committed via the review of the national development plan due to be published this month? Delays would not only threaten our climate targets but also the economic and social gains this plan offers. I therefore urge the Minister of State to commit to publishing the full implementation plan and to publish it without delay.”
“A map of Ireland's railway network in 1906 that is often shared online provokes passionate debates about the state of our current rail network. We used to have 5,000 km of railway and more than 1,000 stations connecting all corners of the island. Today, the network is just a fraction of what it was at its peak. These debates show one thing very clearly: people want to see increased investment, increased capacity, the reopening of stations and the return of rail to every corner of our country. For the first time, we now have an all-island strategic plan agreed North and South for the development of rail on this island over the coming decade. It is a realistic and costed plan, and offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reshape how we move people and goods around our island.”
“I noticed that in the Minister of State’s reply, there is a focus on the 1 February deadline. As colleagues have said, there were no plans to open an ASD class in St. Mochta’s on 1 February and the only agreement on that opening came in April. In April, when the school did agree to open these two classes, it received a verbal agreement that the deadline would be waived for the six children who were in St. Mochta’s. A commitment was given and that commitment has to be realised and fulfilled. I am glad a meeting is taking place. There is now an opportunity to make sure that the six children in St. Mochta’s are able to avail of an appropriate school place and get the support they deserve within the school.”
“Mochta’s because the new students are all across the age groups. They are from junior infants all the way up to fourth class. The 12 new students - the students St. Mochta’s has given the names for – are junior infants and senior infants students. They are just starting their time in St. Mochta’s. Every child in Dublin 15 deserves an appropriate place in the right school. We can address and fix this in St. Mochta’s. It is important that the Department and the NCSE engage with the school and resolve this.”
“I thank the Minister of State for attending. I understand the NCSE is attempting address the crisis we have for places in special classes, and I know it is acting quickly. However, the way it has acted in the context of St. Mochta’s is not the right solution. St. Mochta’s has agreed to open two special classes - two ASD classes - in September for 12 students. It currently has six students on its books attending the school, each of whom is known to the NCSE. They also have letters with the clear recommendation they should be in an ASD class attached to a mainstream school. The school has now been allocated 11 students – every one of those deserves a place as well – but if the six students who are in St. Mochta’s have to wait until those 11 students have moved on through the system, they will never receive a place in a special class in St.”
“There was some newspaper coverage over the weekend, based on documents prepared by the Minister's officials, that stated there was a belief that the scheme would open to applications before the end of the year. If the Minister is saying he wants to bring it to pre-legislative scrutiny in the autumn, I presume that was a massively optimistic read of the situation. Are we looking at a drawdown date in 2026 for the statutory scheme? Will he confirm whether he expects the statutory scheme to be up and running in 2025 or 2026?”
“I appreciate the Minister's offer of a briefing. I will certainly take him up on that because residents are really worried. They are getting this information from their management company, which says there is a blockage. The Minister made a number of comments that if any of them are listening will probably make them even more nervous in terms of delay. There needs to be clarity. I accept his point that it is a live situation, but it is really important to understand. My understanding is that no money has been drawn down under the interim scheme as yet. The Minister might clarify that in his concluding reply. I will definitely take a briefing on the interim scheme.”
“Will the Minister explain clearly what the procurement issue is, when it will be addressed and when money will be drawn down under the interim scheme?”
“I thank the Minister. There are three real elements here. There is the statutory scheme, which will look after fire safety, structural issues and water ingress. The interim remediation scheme is solely for fire safety works. We then have the pathfinder projects, which are under way and are probably a subcategory of the interim remediation scheme. Has any money been paid out under the four pathfinder projects or under the interim remediation scheme? If not, when does the Minister expect money to be paid out under those schemes? There is an issue to do with EU public procurement on the interim remediation scheme. I was talking to someone who was at an AGM of their management company recently who was told no money is being paid out because it is caught up in EU issues.”
“The Minister will be well aware of the anguish, worry and stalled lives of families living in apartments with structural defects, be they fire safety issues or water leakages, which they experience through no fault of their own. The defective apartment remediation scheme is a lifeline that will finally allow these families to move on. The Minister will appreciate how important that particular scheme is. We need a clear timeline for the legislation and a drawdown date for the money for both the statutory and the interim remediation schemes.”