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…”
The complete record
Every one of 975 lines we hold for Roderic O'Gorman, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 19 of 20.
“Last week, I asked the Tánaiste if the new policy dispensing with the need for a UN Security Council mandate will make a distinction between peacekeeping missions and peace-enforcement missions. The response was unclear, and I would welcome further clarity today. To us in the Green Party, this is a critical distinction and, if our peace deployments are to become unmoored from Security Council authorisation, an important visible principle in preserving Ireland's reputation as a neutral, honest actor, would be lost.”
“lreland’s neutrality with regard to participation in armed conflicts, our position in not joining military alliances and our commitment to the specific ideals of the UN Charter have always allowed us to exercise a significant voice towards building and achieving peace as a resolutely non-aligned nation. I think on all sides of the House, there is agreement that the value of this independent role on the world stage must always be central to our foreign policy, as it underlines our legitimacy as an honest, independent actor for peace whenever we are called upon to participate as a peacekeeping force. The Government now proposes the removal of the triple lock authorisation for foreign military activities, which has a direct implication for that core idea of impartiality in military deployments.”
“As we know, this anger is eventually fostered by some political actors to get people to vote against their own interests. We see this already happening in democracies around the world. My message on International Women's Day is directed towards men. It is that we need to watch out for each other. We need to call this stuff out when we see it in the group chat, in the dressing room and in school. We need to challenge the jokes that are not really jokes. We need to challenge the harmless banter that we might normally let go unchecked. Whether it is misogyny, homophobia, bigotry or transphobia, it is all rooted in the same world view. If we want a better world for everybody, we cannot expect women to be the only people fighting for it.”
“What had he been listening to that had shaped his world view in this particular way? He was not alone in that view in the room, and we know that he is not alone in society with regard to this view. We see these same attitudes about women and minorities being echoed more loudly every day. We see them in the online comments sections, in group chats, and in the voice of those right-wing influencers who have been mentioned, such as Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson, Theo Von and others, who market their ideas as a type of common sense but are actually promoting homophobia, misogyny, transphobia and bigotry. Here is the thing - that road does not lead anywhere good. It does not lead to happiness, success or being the big man. It leads to anger, isolation and resentment.”
“As a TD, I have had the opportunity to visit many local schools. One thing I love doing is meeting a politics and society class and having an opportunity to discuss with them the topics they are studying and what is happening in our country. One such visit has always stuck with me. We ended up discussing the work-life balance Act and the extra rights it provided through domestic violence leave and extra time for breastfeeding breaks, proposals for which we would expect broad support. I remember a young man asking me in a very sceptical tone what the point of all this was. He asked why we even needed equality laws for women. Thankfully, there was uproar in the class at the statement and a robust debate followed between the students. His question always stuck with me. What had happened to this young man?”
“It is not often that I find myself in agreement with the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, but this morning, he tweeted that the Government had opened the door to commercial LNG facilities becoming part of the energy mix in Ireland and I fear he might be correct. Could the Minister clarify whether the Minister of State is wrong? Will the Minister commit that this Government will follow the policy of the previous Government and oppose commercial LNG facilities becoming part of the energy mix in Ireland?”
“I think the evidence to date points to the benefits of the scheme and suggests we should be looking to grow it. I look forward to engaging further with the Minister when additional information is provided.”
“The qualitative research is extremely valuable when we are investing significant amounts of taxpayers' money. The research process was built into this pilot from day one to ensure we were assessing the scheme's actual outcomes. We look forward to seeing the qualitative paper the Minister spoke about earlier. There are options here. The Minister could look to extend the scheme for the existing 2,000 participants, he could look to bring in a new 2,000 participants into the scheme or he could look to grow the scheme in its entirety. A decision will have to be made in terms of the next budgetary process. The Minister's predecessor, former Deputy Catherine Martin, secured funding for the scheme up to the end of this year, I think. From the start of 2026, though, a clear decision will have to be taken.”
“The National Campaign for the Arts, Performing Arts Forum, First Music Contact and Irish Street Arts, Circus and Spectacle Network groups are all campaigning and looking for this scheme to be continued. I would love to get the Minister's sense at this stage in the year in the context of his own priorities of what his thinking is on this scheme.”
“I am glad to hear the Minister refer to the impact assessment his Department conducted after year one of the scheme. I was really impressed by some of its findings, including artists being able to spend up to eight hours a week more on their practice and having the ability to invest up to €550 monthly into their practices for materials, workspaces and the like. There was a 9% increase in the number of artists able to sustain themselves solely in their practices because of the support the basic income scheme provided. The Minister also touched on a slightly intangible aspect, namely, the well-being impacts for artists. We know many types of artistic practice can be tenuous, precarious and lonely, and, therefore, the well-being impacts are something we can welcome too. There is a really strong campaign in this regard.”
“The basic income for the arts scheme is a proud legacy of the Green Party's time in Government. It is benefiting more than 2,000 artists with a monthly payment. I believe this scheme should be maintained and, indeed, enhanced. Can the Minister give us an indication of the research that has been done on its impact at the same time as the pilot is operating? Can he also give us an indication as to whether keeping the scheme or growing it is one of his budgetary priorities?”
“Sticking on that idea of the commuter experience, one proposal I welcome in the new programme for Government is the proposal for a transport security force. Many of us who have had a negative experience on public transport, particularly because of the location as you can be isolated in a train or Luas carriage, know it can be hard to get out of those situations. That is why we need a transport police. That is something the Green Party suggested in its manifesto. Will the Minister tell us about his ambition for this particular force? When does he expect to first see officers in trains or on buses? What scale of force is he thinking about, and is it just for buses or does he see it on all types of services around the country?”
“The issues we are talking about now are not just once off and are not recent. They are long term, and they need a long-term response.”
“The reputation of this company has taken a real pounding because it is not meeting the services it committed to. The commuter experience is a key part in determining demand for public transport. People are telling their friends and family that they cannot rely on route X or route Y. It is negative in terms of encouraging people to make that shift to public transport. I have always felt the NTA needs to put a greater focus on the issue of the commuter experience. That is why in our recent manifesto we proposed the idea of an office of punctuality and reliability in the NTA that would have the ability to look route by route to get into the micro issues of the blockages on individual routes. Will the Minister consider resourcing an office of punctuality and reliability in the NTA so we can get a better focus on good quality journeys?”
“In recent weeks the performance of one company, Go-Ahead, which operates bus routes across Dublin, has been widely criticised. At the same time Go-Ahead is being rewarded. It has successfully tendered to operate new bus routes. Does the Minister understand the frustration commuters feel at not getting the service that should be delivered, and at new services being awarded to that same company? Will the Minister tell us what tangible actions he and the NTA are taking to improve the commuter experience?”
“France operates a similar model, the livret A, which acts as a saving scheme for French citizens where the capital is used to reinvest in the national social and housing scheme. I would be grateful if the Minister gave consideration to this proposal in his deliberations.”
“Getting that process right initially would speed up timelines and create a better return for the process. If that supply pipeline is not coming through in sufficient numbers either from the State or private capital, we have to ask if we have exhausted every source of investment for new builds. That is why recommendation No. 20 in the commission’s report is of interest to me. It is one that reflects the Green Party’s proposal for a citizen’s housing fund. The recommendation calls for the examination of a specific private savings fund that can be used to assist in the funding of housing. Given the right impetus by the Government, this could unlock significant new investment into housing delivery while demand is so high and returns are potentially strong.”
“While that is correct, it has not been acknowledged that tackling vacancy and dereliction at local authority level is something that should be viewed on the same scale. The commission’s report focuses on that issue. In particular, recommendation No. 61 substantially covers proposals on rural vacancy and dereliction. Recommendation No. 1, mandating Tailte Éireann to introduce and establish a land price register under terms that are similar to those for the property price register, is a small change but one worth pursuing. It would provide much greater transparency to potential developers of sites, particularly about potential capacity issues, wastewater, electricity, etc. Too often, zoning fails to take account of hidden problems at a site and as a development progresses, snags emerge and construction ultimately stalls.”
“There are some policy options that align well with our wider aim of creating a thriving, coherent community. These are chiefly in the area of vacancy and dereliction in urban and rural areas alike. The town centres first model was implemented as part of the previous Government’s housing policy. I am glad it survives on in the current programme for Government. However, it has not been implemented to its full potential. Although much of the work has been done on the pilot and the initial towns in the first phase, town centres first should be a norm in every local authority. There has been much focus in recent years on how difficult it has been to build up social housing construction capacity within local authorities.”
“I will use my time to focus on a few of the recommendations of the Housing Commission’s report. I note there have been some important policy changes in recent years - the introduction of cost rental housing, the vacant property refurbishment grant and the new land hoarding tax – but we still have a dysfunctional housing market. People are still struggling significantly to access home ownership and rents are far too high. While the fundamental aim has always been to have supply, that is the job of the State and the market in tandem. The task of delivering the right houses in the right location with the right density and social services and for the right time in people’s lives requires far more interconnected planning by the Government. That is the task in the present environment.”
“Does he see it as simply bringing together some existing payments such as the working family and qualified child benefit payment or is he thinking about this as something new, which will give additionality to children and families who are maybe most at risk of child poverty?”
“I appreciate the Minister's clarification that the baby boost payment is here to stay. It is an initiative that the Green Party and I are proud to have led in introducing. A universal payment that is targeted at a particular time in a family's life where almost every single family is under pressure financially when a new baby arrives is a meaningful step the Government and the State can take to help. The programme for Government makes reference to other targeted payments, particularly looking at a new targeted child benefit payment. When will we find out more information about the Minister's and his Department's thinking on this?”
“Getting this idea over the line was surprisingly pretty hard. It was a long negotiation to get full agreement to get this into budget 2025. That surprised me considering that it is quite a small overall cost of €15 million compared with €180 million to do the double payment on child benefit. In light of that fight to get it over the line, I want the Minister's assurance that he sees the baby boost as a staple part of range of social welfare supports given and paid to families to support them and that he sees this continuing at least at the current rate from budget 2026 onwards.”
“I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his election, and I congratulate the Minister on his appointment. Last October, the Green Party and I championed the idea of a baby boost payment of an additional €280 when a new child is born. I was happy to see it included to see it included in budget 2025 and it was implemented in late 2024. Will the Minister give an update on its uptake around the country and its costs to date?”
“Time is running out and it is not fair for the Government to keep these people in such a state of uncertainty. The Government also needs to put in place clear plans for when the temporary protection directive finally expires. It would be valuable for the Minister for Justice to come to the House and outline the position the Government is taking at EU level regarding how Ukrainians will be treated once the directive expires. These decisions will need to be made in less than a year and we need to understand now how the Government plans to respond to this situation.”
“How we best sustain that effort in a way that keeps support alive for the many thousands of Ukrainian refugee families who will remain here after the expiry of the temporary protection directive is critical. At present over 15,000 households are in receipt of the accommodation recognition payment, ARP. It is supporting close to 35,000 people and we know that the Minister and the Government are reviewing that payment amid calls from some in this House to abolish it altogether. The creation of a sharp cliff edge here would have profoundly negative consequences for thousands of Ukrainians living in our country. It is essential that the Government rapidly clarify that it will continue the ARP and give certainty to the families and the hosts who depend on it.”
“In those initial intense weeks, the State mobilised rapidly to put in place a huge humanitarian response to cope with the thousands of arrivals each week - 6,000 per week at the highest point. I recall the hundreds of civil servants in the Department of children, other Departments and Government agencies who got up from their desks and went to Citywest. One day they were working in corporate affairs, childcare policy or youth participation and the next day they were assisting families to find bed spaces, ensuring children could be enrolled in schools and scouring the country for new accommodation. It was an incredible act of humanitarianism by the Irish State and one which has been sustained now for three years.”
“This week, we mark a grim milestone for Ukraine, which has withstood three brutal years of invasion, occupation and displacement. Millions of lives have been turned upside down. We speak today during another dark chapter in this story, namely, the faltering support of the United States and President Trump's shameful capitulation to Putin's agenda. I remember this week three years ago. I remember the bewildered people literally arriving through the doors of the Department of integration on Baggot Street because they thought they had nowhere else to go. Shellshocked and landed in a country on the other side of Europe, I remember the looks of relief and gratitude when they learned that they would immediately be given shelter, clothing and food, and that their children would go to school. It was an incredibly difficult time for them.”
“Is the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, going through the original draft and actually cutting a few chunks out of it so there is a smaller number of actions, as per the Government's own programme for Government? When will the Taoiseach publish the climate action plan for 2025?”
“We are now in the last week of February and, as yet, the climate action plan for 2025 has not been published. Under the climate action Act, the Minister has to present the climate action plan annually. The draft action plan for 2025 was ready for publication in December last year but Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael took a political decision not to publish it until the new Government was formed. The section in the programme for Government dealing with the climate action plan gives us a sense of the Government's ambition on climate. It actually talks about placing a focus on a smaller number of strategic and impactful actions. Is that what is happening?”
“However, there is no right in the Constitution or in legislation to the two years of the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme. The Taoiseach's party promised that in its manifesto and Fine Gael promised it in its manifesto but there is no reference to it in the programme for Government. That is part of the State taking parental involvement in the delivery of-----.”
“I thank the Taoiseach. From my experience over the past four years, I am well aware of those complexities but I am also of the strong belief that if we just continue to pump money into the existing system and continue our reliance on the existing system, we are not going to be able to deliver the sea change we need to ensure every child has access to the quality early learning and care he or she needs. There seemed to have been an agreement across political parties during the general election, but the desire and opportunity to provide leadership at the start of a new Government's term is not apparent in the programme for Government. Yesterday, in response to a question from Deputy McDonald on special education, the Taoiseach cited the constitutional right to primary education.”
“A public model of early learning and care is the final step that brings together the various reforms that have been undertaken over the last number of years. It is this which the new programme for Government fails to recognise. Will the Taoiseach commit to legislating to ensure that every child has a legal right to the two years of the ECCE programme? Does he believe that the work childcare professionals do is as important as that of teachers and that the State needs to pay them in a way that recognises this? Does he agree that a public model of childcare, working alongside private and community providers, is the best way of ensuring that all children and parents have access to affordable and accessible childcare wherever they live in our country?”
“When it comes to the development of a public model of childcare, a policy change that was absolutely central to the general election debates only four months ago, the programme for Government could not be more vague. There is a promise of an action plan but no timeline and no specific numbers. It is a long way from Fine Gael's commitment to 30,000 public childcare places by the end of 2030. I am not fully clear what the Taoiseach's own position is on the concept of the public model of childcare. That is at the heart of this. We have made a lot of progress but we have still to take that most important step and recognise that only the State can guarantee access to childcare in areas where private or community services have not been established.”
“Much of the sector and many parents are looking at the new programme for Government and asking where that political went. The new programme for Government makes no commitment to and absolutely no mention of creating a legal right to the two early childhood care and education, ECCE, years. This is despite that commitment being in both of the manifestos of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Where did the commitment go? Did the Independents ask the Government to drop it, did the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform get involved or did the Government just forget all about it? At a time when the loss of childcare professionals from the sector is a key threat to increasing capacity, the programme for Government merely commits to a business-as-usual approach to pay increases for staff.”
“The last decade has seen a big shift in public policy towards childcare in this country. The State now recognises that the first five years are a critical developmental time for young children and has built a range of supports for parents and children so they can give their children the best start in life. As part of those supports, the State now seeks to make early learning and care accessible and affordable. There has been real progress in recent years, including the doubling of investment in early years education, the halving of childcare costs and the huge increase in the number of parents using the national childcare scheme. All those numbers are going in the right direction. The progress is only as good as the political will behind it, however.”
“The Minister of State and also the senior Minister will be bombarded with competing agendas but they cannot let this particular issue slip. They need to drive forward change and progress at an even greater pace. Until women and girls stop being targeted, victimised and killed, we as a country will never have done enough.”
“At the heart of it is a necessary shift in male attitudes towards women and girls and a shift in the general societal attitudes about the spectrum of violence and abuse directed at women. We know this is possible but it is crushingly slow. The State holds the power to drive this kind of cultural shift forward in our educational curricula, through public information and through a zero-tolerance criminal approach. This is recognised in the motion today and I welcome that. I am glad that this motion will be agreed but I come back to my earlier point. There is no doubt that all of us in this House share the goal of ending gender-based violence in this country but, as with anything, genuine progress will take a laser-like focus at the top of Government.”
“While all efforts to help victims are absolutely crucial, they are by definition addressing the symptoms of the overriding problem. Prevention is the critically important piece if we are ever going to get this right. This is recognised in the Istanbul Convention but it is not always prioritised in the State's public policy. Prevention was a major focus. It was something the Green Party raised continuously in the last Government, and it is why in the third national strategy published last year there is a lot greater focus on prevention that in the predecessor strategies. This broader strategy recognises a hard truth. Violence against women and girls will remain a feature of our society until we successfully address the root causes and until our preventative effort works. This requires a cultural and a generational shift in attitude.”
“We know it is not enough as the most recent figures show that just over 65,000 cases of domestic abuse were recorded by An Garda Síochána last year. This is a 20% increase over the previous two years and a steady rise of 10% per year each year since 2020. We know it is not enough because we still see that applications for domestic violence protection orders have increased by 25% in the five years up to last September. Notwithstanding the statistics, it is of course critically important that women and girls who have been victimised can access the support of An Garda Síochána and the Courts Service swiftly and to the fullest extent. This is not always guaranteed and today's motion rightly identifies the many barriers and factors that are working against women and girls who deserve timely, appropriate justice.”
“I acknowledge the commitment that the then Minister, Deputy Helen McEntee, brought to this area. For my own part, the introduction of five days paid domestic violence leave was an important tool to provide assistance to victims. I am glad this leave is now in place and that Ireland is one of the first countries in the EU to introduce it. I want to recognise the work that Women's Aid did in supporting the introduction of that policy. However, with all of this, it is still not enough. We know it is not enough as women continue to die violently; three women so far this year according to Women's Aid. These were Paula Canty, Annie Heyneman and Gillian Curran. We are barely eight weeks into 2025 and information about another death is emerging in the past 24 hours.”
“I support the motion and I thank Deputy Coppinger for using her first opportunity in Private Members' time to raise this absolutely critical issue. There can be no equivocation when it comes to assessing our efforts to end violence towards women and girls in this country. We are simply not doing enough. I say that as a former Minister for equality, I say it as a politician with a long-standing interest in this area and I say this simply as a person living in Ireland today. All of us elected to Leinster House have a responsibility to keep this issue at the forefront of our debates and our legislative and policy efforts. That is not to say significant work has not been undertaken. We have seen the third national strategy published. We have seen increased investment and the establishment of Cuan; an agency solely focused on DSGBV.”
“I am concerned that the response at this stage is very high level. It is about the EU regulation but that is not dealing with the real issues for people who experience these drones operating over their homes when they are not ordering the burrito. It is not dealing with their particular issues. I advise the Minister of State, as his Department brings forward this policy framework, that it cannot be high level. It will have to deal with issues like privacy, safety, noise pollution and the planning status of drone bases. I thank the Minister of State for his time.”
“This idea of a data impact survey in terms of the assessment, again, is a very technical piece but does not deal with the question whether we know if that drone camera is on or off as these regular flights are taking place. In terms of the statement that drones are dynamically routing away from more densely populated locations, these drone bases are in the centre of Dublin 15, an incredibly densely populated part of our city. They only work in this area. There is no diverting away from the densely populated area. They work there. This company, Manna, is about to start undertaking deliveries in two or three other parts of Dublin city as well. I am not doing this as a criticism of the company; I am just raising these issues. The Minister of State is going to have TDs from other areas raising these issues with the Department.”
“I thank the Minister of State. He is right that this is new. It is a service that could have real potential. I am thinking of a medicine delivery to a constituent in the Minister of State's constituency from a pharmacy that might be a significant distance away. There is real potential here. I am a bit concerned, however, about the Minister of State's response. One of the lines in it is that commercial drone delivery operations are heavily regulated. They are not, or the regulations are not touching the concerns people have, which I have outlined. Planning is not properly regulated. There is no clarity as to whether a drone base needs planning permission. It is a live issue in my local authority at the moment.”
“Can he commit that it will deal with four specific issues: noise pollution, particularly for those estates that are under the flight paths of these drones; the planning status of the drone bases where these drones fly to and from; safety and the risk of drone collisions, particularly if other companies start to use similar delivery approaches; and privacy concerns around who gets to see the data from those cameras? Will the policy framework that he and probably his Department is bringing forward deal with those four crucial matters?”
“When I put a parliamentary question to the Minister of State's colleague, the Minister of Transport, recently, he said that the Government is working on "a policy framework to guide high-level strategic planning and development of the drone sector in Ireland" and that the "framework will be published in the coming months." Can the Minister of State give me, my constituents and, indeed, people all over Dublin a clear timeline within which this policy framework is going to be published?”
“There are at least two drone bases where they come to and from in my constituency right now. There is no clarity in terms of whether planning permission is needed under the planning Acts. In the Green Party's general election manifesto, we said that this is a new technology and there are real benefits, but that we need to regulate it. We called for that in our general election manifesto because right now it is wild west territory in terms of how these are used.”
“Safety is another issue. Right now, there is just one drone company using these airborne drones. What happens if a second or third comes in? If they are not regulated or not co-ordinated, a crash is a real possibility. These are hefty machines. If one or two came out of the sky, there could be real dangers. Privacy is another matter. Each of these drones has a camera on it to oversee the drop of the paper bag. It is not meant to be switched on for the journey, but just when the bag is being dropped. This is a camera operated by a live pilot back at the base. Who knows if it is on or off? We do not know. These things are flying over our homes all the time with a camera, and we have no idea if that camera is on or off, so there is a real privacy concern there. There is a planning concern as well.”
“However, as this delivery approach is about to spread to new areas across Dublin in the next number of weeks, there is an urgent need for airborne delivery drones to be regulated because right now, the rules about their use are really lax. Residents across Dublin West have raised a number of issues with me. The first significant issue is noise. Drones make a very distinct sound as they travel through the air and as they rise and descend. While this noise could be tolerated maybe on a once-off basis, there are now flight paths over certain estates in Dublin 15 where in an afternoon there could be 30 or 40 drones flying over and back. I am not exaggerating; I have been there and seen that over an afternoon. That is the scale of what we are talking about. That can have a real impact on someone's enjoyment, particularly of their garden.”