Ruairí Ó Murchú
Louth · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“It was hardly a shock to me and many others that he decided that the simplicity that was asked for by Sinn Féin last week, such that we would consider preparations for Irish unity, was not acceptable. Most people would see this as a possibility, even those who do not necessarily like the idea.”
“I welcome that. I have spoken previously to the Minister about the necessity of providing Mr. Delaney's report on the incident to Natasha and the wider family.”
“We will all be very interested to see what the new circular is. The Minister of State said it will be announced in September. A needs-based system is what we need. I would like to think the young boy I talked about would be able to avail of this. I will use him as an example. The correct assessments were carried out.”
“We just need to make sure that the circular is fit for purpose and that the young primary school child to whom I refer will be given the supports he requires. I will just finish reading from the communication to which I referred earlier.”
“We need to ensure that the engagement with Lebanon is ongoing. Are we happy with the interaction with the UN? There had been some issues relating to the coroner's court. Everyone needs to do everything that can be done to ensure truth and justice for the family of Private Seán Rooney.”
“I thank the Ceann Comhairle for all the flexibility she allows in this Chamber, and hopefully that will continue as we speak. I welcome an awful lot of what Deputy Devlin said.”
The complete record
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“I ask the Minister to expand on that and this review in relation to PA services. I think the biggest issue, as I said previously, was that the position was that the role of the PAs in supporting disabled students was to be considered as part of an interdepartmental review and no progress could be made until the review had concluded. They were unable to state with any certainty when the review would commence and finish. At this point it could be almost both those projects, but it is a timeline as to when that is dealt with in that we could support those people who are doing vital work in facilitating those with disabilities in the PLC set-up. Again, we need to look at the third level sector across the board. That is vital. I ask the Minister to expand on the project, the review and then the timelines for completion.”
“At this point they will be looking at going back on a social welfare payment, with all the difficulties that occur in relation to this. We really have to facilitate them around that. I ask the Minister to come back with a timeline and a means by which we deal with this.”
“It is a vital piece of work. It will commence in 2026. I ask the Minister to give me a rough outline as to what he thinks this deadline is. I do not think anybody here would dispute that there has been a need to do this for a long time in relation to further and higher education and to find out how we best suit those with disabilities and ensure we can keep them within the educational process. I am obviously disappointed - I have told the Minister this before - that the review in relation to personal assistants had not happened previously. That would have facilitated the WRC to look at the contracts and the other issues for the workers. They got a slight pay increase but they need to be on a similar rate, whether it is to an SNA or some other educator, and then there are those rights. They do not have a 52-week contract.”
“The Minister met personal assistants from the likes of Drogheda Institute of Further Education, DIFE, the Ó Fiaich Institute of Further Education and Cavan Institute who do huge work in relation to those with disabilities. Fórsa has a pay claim in with the WRC at the moment. Some issues were resolved but I think the biggest issue was the fact that there was the expectation of a review. We know there was going to be a review specifically of PA services but I think it became subsumed into a wider review of disability services. I ask for an update in that regard.”
“At some point, we have to get down to the real work of building a new Ireland but this is definitely a good start. I call on the shared island unit to do more on that than it is doing at the minute.”
“I agree with the Minister. It is about making sure that happens, with the heads of agreement and then beyond that. Subject to all the caveats associated with setting deadlines, Dundalk university college could be up and running in 2026, possibly in September. As I said, it will be signed, sealed and delivered in respect of the relationship. We all welcome the fact that the college will be autonomous, rather than being subsumed into another outfit. There is a huge body of work to do to achieve alignment. We know the issues, whether at third level or in relation to apprenticeships. Certification and recognition of awards has created a whole pile of issues. We need some sort of means by which we deal with those cross-Border issues.”
“We are all very supportive of this proposal, and why would we not be? Obviously, I want to see Dundalk university college, but the cross-Border aspects are fabulous, as is the research and innovation centre the Minister referred to. This is a world-class institute and a world-class university coming together to produce something better. We will be able to build on the great work done by the regional development centre that has spun out a number of impressive start-ups, some of which are incredibly well-known or world famous. We just need to see more of that. This project could avail of shared island funding. As the Minister said, the timetable is tight enough, so we need to make sure we can facilitate it. Does the Minister have any idea of when this legislation will need to be delivered?”
“I ask the Minister to outline all the engagements between his Department, Dundalk IT and Queen's University Belfast. We were all happy to see this recent partnership, which will result in greater provision of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and the creation of an innovation hub, all of which is very positive. I commend Diarmuid O'Callaghan and his team on their work. We need to ensure this partnership is facilitated and enhanced.”
“We know there is a particular issue in relation to planning for school builds. There is a lack of flexibility in the system and there needs to be a greater level of agility. I brought this issue up previously with regard to Ardee Educate Together National School. It is a national school and a great build but the problem is there are 21 parking spaces and double that number are needed. There are only two set-down places for minibuses for children with disabilities who are brought to the school and there is a need for five. There is a lot of space to do this but building is about to continue, which means that when the situation is eventually resolved, it will be a lot more costly. Engagement is needed between Louth County Council, the design team, contractors and the Department.”
“The previous Minister, Deputy Foley, put out the following statement: "The Department of Education and Youth will shortly agree a new process to remove the requirement for professional reports such as assessment of need reports from entry requirements for special schools and special classes." We have all been inundated with queries from people who are very worried about this. We have no clarity and no information as to who is going to be assessed. I have no issue with streamlining processes but people need to know there is a process and who will make the assessment. We must ensure children who need added supports get those supports and an appropriate place, whether in a special class, special school or with supports in a mainstream class. The Minister of State really needs to provide clarity.”
“If the Minister could find a means of reviewing and solving these issues, such that we did not have to keep coming in here to raise them, we would be all happy enough.”
“The Minister spoke about the industrial relations infrastructure but that has failed to deal with this matter to date. We have had numerous cases over and back. Like everyone else, I can accept that one aspect relates to the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, section 481 relates to the Minister for Finance, and another issue relates to the Minister for Enterprise, Culture and Employment; however, we just need to find a means to deal with the issues, be they related to copyright, workers' rights or blackballing. It is fair enough to say we want to see a sustainable and thriving film industry and that we should have something because we put so much money in through tax breaks and other means but, again, the DAC anomaly is different from what obtains in many industries.”
“There are protections for the employer, the producer, which do not exist for the employee and which exist in other industries, even in the gaming industry, which section 481 provides benefits to. Those who work for gaming companies are in a far better situation and have more protections than those in the film industry or those who have been blackballed and have not been able to work in the film industry.”
“For that to happen, it must be ensured that people have their rights. We cannot have those in the industry, who are risking the industry, not providing those rights, hiding behind the technicality of the DAC and, beyond that, forcing those who expended creativity and did huge work to hand over the rights to that into the future. None of that is fair or correct. It will impact into the future in relation to a sustainable industry. We have all heard of reshoots happening, sometimes outside of Ireland, and one reason I was given was that there were productions with too many trainees, without those who had worked previously and been involved in many successful productions. Particular issues arose.”
“When people have, under pressure, signed over residuals, when the DAC disappears, that right, the means and the ability to take down funding and take down those residuals still lie with the producer. None of this is suitable in any way. It has also been pointed to me that Screen Skills Ireland, a division of Screen Ireland, has been busy appointing trainees to film productions. It is a fair question, if it has the power to appoint trainees to productions, why it cannot appoint professionals as well? I get that we come into the Chamber and we repeat ourselves, whether on housing or healthcare. We almost have single transferable speeches. If anyone goes through the record, they will see the exact same points having been stated. We all want a thriving film industry that is sustainable.”
“We have to look at how conditions have changed over the years and we have to find a means by which we can ensure that people can access whatever resources they need from the point of view of vindicating their rights because, as we have explained, this is a very different industry and the producer and the employer have the means of hiding behind the DAC. The DAC is set up for every individual project. That may be for a film shoot. The DAC is set up and the producer takes down the money. We as the State provide the tax breaks, they get the money and then the DAC is created. The DAC technically employs people, but it is the producer. It is only a means by which they carry out each individual operation or television or film production. Afterwards, it disappears. Where do the rights and everything else go?”
“I heard recently of an issue of a particular crew member trainee who was very happy to get the job, but whereas companies would previously have paid for accommodation or at least paid rates that covered it, that was not the case in this instance. We have heard of cases of people who, to ensure that they are getting work and to ensure that they are getting into the industry, are sleeping in their cars. That means we have an unsustainable system. I am not only looking at it from the point of view of a test on whether blackballing happens. We need to look into the ins and outs of how things have changed and the number of trainees versus the number of professional crew that are on particular productions.”
“Alongside blackballing, while everybody welcomes the idea of training within an industry, we are being told constantly that there has been a reduction in the number of professionals engaged in productions and that the number of trainees has increased. I understand the issue in relation to those trainees. They are looking to get into the industry. They are probably willing to go above and beyond and sometimes they will accept conditions that somebody who has worked previously for a company would not. It is obvious you are not going to accept less pay, longer worker hours or whatever the particular conditions are for no good reason. I would ask that we find a means of looking at this.”
“I am asking the Government, as it has the capacity to answer these questions, to use whatever means. None of us is particularly worried about what the means of enforcement are because we constantly get told that it should not happen through finances or taxation, as those are not the means by which you ensure that people's rights are vindicated. However, there are cultural tests and other tests in relation to section 481. It is fair enough that we have a proper system that allows for the testing of these particular issues where people's rights are not vindicated. We need to deal with the issue of copyright and we particularly need to deal with the issue of crew so that their rights are vindicated.”
“We have heard of multiple instances where conditions have got worse and the capacity and ability to deal with these are not there because of the outlier circumstances that exist in this particular industry. That is not to say there are not good producers producing good content and ensuring that they are providing their workers with rights but that is not the case across the board. A huge amount of this has been gone through over and back, because we are constantly told about the industrial relations infrastructure. In fairness, the case that Deputy Boyd Barrett spoke about was a case where the High Court hammered the decision of the Labour Court and vindicated these people's rights by stating that, forget the ins and outs of DACs, they were employees of this production company. That is the shooting match. We need to make sure.”
“We are talking about legislation as regards grants and loans. We need to ensure that we do the due diligence and we set up the framework because when we used ask these questions previously, we were told there would be a stakeholder forum, which there was, and that the outworkings of that would be that we would deal with these issues. That has not happened. The issue was brought up with the Tánaiste, who is the new Minister for Finance. Deputy Ó Snodaigh pulled his amendment on the basis that this would be an issue that would be looked at. That is something that needs to be dealt with because we cannot have it be the case that people cannot vindicate their rights, for instance, under the EU working time directive.”
“We have all spoken previously about the EU copyright directive. It is an absolute necessity. Irish Equity needs it. It does not make any sense for those involved, be it in writing or in creativity in general, if, following their works, they do not get the benefit of those works into the future through the payment of residuals. Last week, I asked whether anyone could imagine if Mariah Carey was not getting her residuals for a particular Christmas song or if George Michael, or, I should say, George Michael's estate at this stage, was not. With any major film, we think of the writers and the actors. Do we think that nobody would have bought into the idea of residuals? The fact is we are talking about a scenario where someone is basically being given an offer they cannot refuse to sign over those residuals. We provide section 481 funding.”
“They state explicitly that there are numerous examples of blackballing, that is, if somebody is not particularly happy with conditions even after having worked for that production company for many years on many different productions, the designated activity company is created and the head of department, HOD, on the new production makes the call as to who is going to be on set. The determination can quite easily be made that, if someone is trying to vindicate their rights, they do not get the call. If this were any other industry, that situation would not arise. It is an outlier industry in that sense, and everything is one production at a time and the protections are not necessarily there. We have also seen an erosion of conditions and even the paying of expenses that occurred previously but now does not occur.”
“Unfortunately, there will probably be a fair amount of repetition from all of us. The Minister could go back through the record and find these particular issues being brought up multiple times. At this stage, it is a request from us that this particular issue be dealt with. We all want a thriving film industry. We see the benefits of the supports under section 481 but it is a huge amount of taxpayers' money that is provided to producers to produce, the intention being that we produce quality employment alongside a quality product and ensure that we have a sustainable industry into the future. There are question marks over this, particularly from those who have approached us and work in the film industry.”
“It is vital we analyse whatever Australia does in order to get information but we must not blindly follow it. This is a huge issue and we need to make sure we do what is necessary.”
“Unfortunately, we also have a regime in America that likes to present any type of control over the ability to say or do anything, provide any sort of information or take any action related to child safety or ensuring we do not allow huge amounts of disinformation and misinformation that could do harm to others, not only as a move against these tech companies but also as a move against free speech. We all accept the absolute necessity to protect free speech, but we also need to protect people from harmful content and brutal misinformation and disinformation. We are talking about information that can impact on people's lives. I request that we have real protections. As my colleagues said, blanket bans will not work. There will be ways found around them.”
“When we see information we do not have to believe absolutely everything. We also realise that, unfortunately, the reason some people believe misinformation and disinformation is that they want to believe it and it emotionally resonates with them. That is something that has to be allowed for. We need to provide people with the capacity to question that. Let us be clear. As long as it makes sense from a financial point of view for TikTok, Facebook and the entire Meta family, or anyone else for that matter, they will not be interested in taking any action that will cost them money. Deputies spoke recently about the huge geopolitical issues that exist.”
“What keeps people online is stuff that is really unhealthy. Young girls who may have an issue in relation to food are kept in the most unhealthy of places online. We have all seen news stories come up and then searched for particular videos or footage from it. Our timeline then becomes a field of muck and absolutely brutal stuff. That is fine. We are aware that some of this is disinformation or misinformation. I would like to think a considerable number of us have developed some element of an ability to analyse. However, there are a huge number of people out there who do not necessarily have the skill sets required. That is why we also have to put serious effort into ensuring people have those capacities. We have seen it in Finland in relation to digital literacy and the idea of analysing information.”
“The Minister spent considerable time going through the framework, whether that is the Digital Services Act, the guidelines or the powers of Coimisiún na Meán. I have spoken on this issue previously in committee, where I spoke to Coimisiún na Meán and An Coimisiún Toghcháin about their engagement with the big social media companies. It sometimes seems like a five-a-side team going up against Bayern Munich. I am not entirely sure that we have the power and frameworks to take on companies that have budgets and economies almost greater than those of countries. As was said by my colleagues, we are all aware of the huge issues that exist in relation to the algorithms, in particular the recommender systems, which are all about keeping you online, no matter what age you are, no matter what particular issues you may have.”
“We have all seen a huge amount of flood damage and the danger of nature. While a huge amount of work has been done by local authorities and emergency services, this brings to light the need to deal expeditiously with CFRAM protections that are necessary throughout Louth. With regard to the south part of the Dundalk and Blackrock project, the promise is quarter 2 of 2027 for planning application submission. There have been promises and we have been waiting years.”
“We need some sort of detail and we need to know there is a plan to address cybersecurity and hybrid warfare. The HSE attack brought to light what was probably happening to a lot of businesses which did not provide information. There has been increased funding for the National Cyber Security Centre, NCSC, but we need to get down to brass tacks. There have been drone attacks over the past while and we need to make sure that we have the capacity and technological know-how to be able to deal with these issues. There has been a failure to date in respect of funding to ensure we have the full capacity required.”
“They end up becoming outlier advocates and none of this is good enough. We need to make sure we do the workforce planning and take the emergency action to clear these backlogs and we need the Government to stop breaking the law.”
“One of the promises was that the issue of requiring an assessment of need for an appropriate school place was going to be resolved but it is not resolved yet. The Minister should tell me how that happens. We all know the issue that exists. I have no problem if a parent makes the determination they have a decent and proper means of being assessed for autism and then they can get proper therapies. I have absolutely no issue with that, if they decide and their rights are not removed in relation to AON. However, it is not promises they need. They need to see a roadmap. I do not know how many times we have been in here and have talked about a single point of access because the other thing parents give out about is the fact you have no one to go to. They end up becoming advocates themselves.”
“There is no point in us constantly being in here and hearing about assessment hubs being put together when we do not see this figure moving. I accept there are more children on the assessment of need list than there had been previously because in the past people were put on primary care lists and were able to get services but those services are not there anymore, meaning they have no choice. The system is putting people on the assessment of need list. We all accept the best-case scenario is you are assessed in relation to what your needs are and then that your needs are delivered upon. There were considerable promises made today and we engaged previously on this but, as Deputy Cullinane said, the biggest gripe an awful lot of parents have is being told you do not need the assessment of need to receive therapies.”
“In previous budgets they felt they were being seen for who they were and the cost of disability was being recognised. They were given that payment and then it was taken from them. The promise was that the Government would look at this, analyse it, review it and then look at it next year. What about this year? What about this year for all those who cannot afford to live in this world? We talk about providing them with rights and providing our citizens with the same rights as everyone else but we have failed miserably and it is a deep shame. I do not know how many times we can be back here talking about assessment of need. We all have our parliamentary questions. The answer is 18,097 are waiting beyond six months for an assessment of need and the figure is heading towards 24,000 to 25,000. There is a backlog that needs to be dealt with.”
“That is the message. The Government must stop breaking the law. It is a terrible indictment of this State and the entire system that we are reliant on 15-year-old Cara Darmody to hold this State's feet to the flames. I have often said there is always an element of failure when people have to come to politicians in order to vindicate their rights but in this case we have a young advocate who has been given no choice because of the failure that has been shown to her family and many other families. I agree with Deputy Kerrane that it is vital we show our solidarity to those from the Irish Wheelchair Association and other groups who made the absolutely necessary point today that those with disabilities, who were promised so much before the election, have been failed so miserably.”
“Canada would also benefit from this. In fairness, the reality with this particular one is that we are all benefiting at this point but the investor court mechanism is the absolute Achilles heel. There is no benefit for this State to legislate for it. We would be a lot safer and better off without doing it, and that is the reason agreement was not even achieved when the EU affairs committee, at the request of the Government, produced a report on CETA and the investor court system. Even Government Members were not willing to support the Government’s position. That just states where the Irish people are in this regard. It goes without saying that we need to be very careful, considering the huge issues - even the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach would agree me on this - we have with the Mercosur deal and other particular agreements.”
“I imagine we would be talking about a huge amount of caveated legal advice if we were to allow the investor court system mechanism to leave the State open to being sued. From that point of view, it could change things and cause a chilling effect on future legislation. We would all like to see – I am not sure everyone would like to see it, but a number of us would, particularly those of us in the Opposition - legislation providing for real rent controls until we get to a better set of circumstances. What we do not need or like to think is that the IRES REIT, a Canadian company which owns thousands of build-to-rent apartments, could take the State to the cleaners or even be able to put the State under severe pressure. It is fair to say that trade deals, where we get something out of them, are good. I get that we come together.”
“Italy withdrew in 2016 and it is still facing claims today because there is a 20-year sunset clause. I am not here to defend the North America Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, or any of the huge number of trade agreements that have been put together recently but, with a huge number of them, at least there was the wit and intelligence to make the sensible move not to have ISDS or investor court system mechanisms because all they are doing is leaving states open to be absolutely hammered. It is all well and good saying that legislators will always work on the basis of carrying out legislation but we have often heard the Government talk about how it is operating on the basis of legal advice from the Attorney General and it cannot necessarily do this, that or the other.”
“Big corporations have been able to say they entered a certain market on the basis of the rules as they existed and that it does not matter if a government changes the rules to try to impact positively on climate change issues, health matters and the rental market, which would obviously be a huge issue for this State. We have seen the likes of Philip Morris in Australia. While I understand Philip Morris eventually lost the case, it had huge resources and was able to put the Australian state through the mincer for an extremely long period of time. We do not know the chilling effect that has had in the context of legislators carrying out legislation and how careful they must be, no matter how beneficial it is. We know the issues that exist regarding the Energy Charter Treaty.”
“I have awaited this moment for at least 30 seconds. We cannot take away from the importance of the issue we are discussing. As regards the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, we have no issue with good economic trade agreements and free trade agreements that work for all the people. I do not think many will complain about that fact. On the EU and Canada, I do not think anything is stopping us from accepting what was agreed within that set of negotiations. However, I do not think it will come as a shock that I have a very particular issue with the investment court system. We all know the issues there have been with ISDS. It can have a chilling effect on legislation.”
“This will become a bigger problem very quickly and it will become a more expensive problem. It is an absolute necessity that action is taken.”
“At any point in time, we could have a proper and speedy review of what is possible and how quickly we could fix this. There will be traffic chaos, which has been pointed out. There are very simple issues. The process was probably simpler once upon a time when the school was given responsibility to deliver projects. I am sure there were problems and mistakes in that system, but at least schools did not have to go through three layers. Louth County Council is only one of those layers and then we have the Department, building unit, architects and contractors. This is not working. The process is taking too long. There are issues in respect of the yard size. I have written to the Minister and will hand the Minister of State a letter later. I ask that she follows up with the Minister. We need to try to deal with this as quickly as possible.”
“Louth County Council is almost a facilitator. It speaks to the design team. I raised this issue with the Taoiseach in terms of the need to streamline regulation. We all know the issues that exist in respect of planning. We need a system that can be more agile. While we need checks and balances, that should be possible. If mistakes are made or issues are seen, they could be addressed in a timely manner. The project could proceed through the process and the problem would still persist and would need to be dealt with in six months. There may be a new planning application, but at that stage we would consider removing parts that have been added in, such as hedges, fencing, pavement or tarmac and other works that need to be done.”
“Staff are coming from right across Louth, Meath, Monaghan and beyond, so it is not as though people are able to cycle or whatever else. I was shown the works and met the contractor. He will very soon carry out tarmacking and other works. If the work was done at this point in time, it could be done cheaply and would only involve removing stuff that has been put in from an aesthetics point of view. I ask that we find a solution as soon as possible.”
“Regarding the school car park, I was sent a plan showing how it could be extended with a widened road. There are 21 spaces. There is a need for probably double that number. There are two set-down minibus spaces and you would almost have to park perfectly to get into them. Like I said, there are five minibuses that will leave children with challenging needs to the school. In addition, they come from various places, so it is not as though the school can just put more children onto one particular bus. This has been in operation for a long time. The school building was promised in 2012. It may be that a ratio that was delivered earlier regarding parking spaces does not take into account the five autism spectrum disorder, ASD, classes.”
“The present system will result in absolute traffic chaos. The principal has repeatedly raised this with Louth County Council and the architects, Kennedy Fitzgerald Architects. I went to Louth County Council myself and was told this had gone to the design team, which had refused it on the basis of cost, and that it would have to go back for planning. However, I agree with what is written in the letter in that this issue can be easily resolved by continuing the bus parking set-down area by three spaces to the west onto unused space, of which there is a lot, between the school and the boundary fence. The letter actually says "see map" but we do not need to get into that. This is quite simple. If you are going into the school building, you will come off the road and swing a left. That is a road on the school property that could be extended.”
“However, there are particular issues and I think they could be very easily addressed now. If they are not addressed now, it will be very costly to deliver later. These are the details that were sent to me regarding special needs provision, buses and transport. The school has five special needs classes for pupils with autism, comprising 30 pupils. They do not have enough drop-off and collection points for special needs buses. They barely have room for two minibuses, whereas they require five. The lack of bus parking will cause backup for the remaining buses and cars and result in huge traffic jams and delays. Special needs pupils with autism have difficulties with transferring and waiting and this could affect pupil regulation and cause meltdown for pupils with challenging behaviours.”
“I thank the Minister of State. Fair play to anybody who is going to sit through ten Topical Issues. It is a matter of actually getting delivery on some of these issues. This issue is one where you think there must be a simple solution, so it is a matter of us finding that solution. I was sent a letter from the board of management of Ardee Educate Together National School and its principal, Ann Middleton. I was lucky enough to go around the site for the new build. All I can say, which is no different from what is in the letter, is that it is absolutely fabulous work. It needs to happen as soon as possible. As I said, I had a site visit. They are great grounds. It is an absolutely spectacular building. It looks like something that is fit for purpose, as we would expect of any new build these days.”
“If we do not have that, we might have the horror stories we have all heard about phone calls not being made to the people who have all the experience. While it is important to have trainees, sometimes the ratio can be the wrong way and there may be too many trainees. This might result from someone looking at it from the point of view of saving money. The film industry is a fabulous thing. We all want to see it continue and be supported, but we need to make sure that workers' rights and artistic endeavours are looked after and that there is a sustainable industry, particularly when the State looks into it. We have an industrial relations infrastructure and framework but it is a very different situation in the film industry from many others.”