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
Every one of 1,582 lines we hold for Ruairí Ó Murchú, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 7 of 32.
“This Government and this State do not cherish all the children of the nation equally when it comes to education. We are here discussing appropriate school places, inclusive education and ensuring that children have the correct supports they require. Unfortunately, we keep having this conversation because there is a continuity of failure to deliver. I will start with one example, but we could all probably list 50: Hi Ruairí, my name is Lisa, and I'm emailing regarding my son Matthew who attends an ASD class in a primary school in Dundalk. He's going to secondary school in September. I could not get him a place in an ASD class as they are so full he has to go to mainstream. My problem is that an SNA co-ordinator has told me that she can't promise him SNA access as they only have six between first and sixth year.”
“No. The guy with the spinal injury has been knocked out of the taxi industry because he has to buy a wheelchair-accessible vehicle and he is not able to operate it. I understand how this has happened. I will send it on. It is an unintended consequence.”
“It was about all-Ireland tickets for the person who could not get the free travel option for the all-Ireland final date. They have tried to book it but they are not able to get the free travel option.”
“I will give one example of another specific issue: I am writing to ask for your assistance regarding an issue I'm experiencing with the current taxi licensing system. I have a long-term spinal condition which limits my ability to carry out heavy manual handling. Under the current regulations, new taxi licences are restricted to wheelchair-accessible vehicles and standard saloon taxi licences are no longer being issued. As I am not in a position to safely operate a WAV due to my condition, I find myself effectively without a viable pathway into the taxi profession. Obviously, this is an unintended consequence, but it is something we need to look at.”
“I was contacted by somebody, like the Taoiseach, who might have an interest in the all-Ireland final on 19 July, before anyone mentions the county I am from, which is doing quite well at the moment. The fact is that the free travel option they would have on the basis of their disability was not available in the rail options that were open to them. They wanted this highlighted as a point. I agree with Deputy Conway-Walsh, and we have spoken before about the need for a cost-of-disability payment, but we need to increase supports for those in work too. The work and access programme and the wage subsidy scheme need to be looked at. The latter definitely needs to be applied to those who are also self-employed and entrepreneurs.”
“On 30 March, he escaped this, barefoot, releasing fire exits and climbing gates. He was on the main road. He was, and is, in a situation that is not appropriate. The family cannot get sufficient communication from the HSE. We need a solution to this situation.”
“The issue of child poverty can be exacerbated by disability. I want to bring up the case of 14-year-old Harry. He is non-verbal and has been diagnosed with ASD, ADHD and general moderate learning disability. He has been in University Hospital Limerick, UHL, since 30 March. He is in a state of extreme distress and is engaging in daily self-injurious behaviour. He is confined to a single hospital room under 24-hour supervision by security guards. This is a medical setting. Timber blocks have been installed on windows to prevent escape. This is a repeat of a 2022 incident where Harry was similarly marooned in UHL due to lack of appropriate HSE disability provision. He has been in a full-time disability service run by RehabCare for the past four years. He was put in a temporary Red House facility in Limerick on 11 February 2026.”
“We all accept that we are not in an age of absolute national sovereignty but we would like to think that we would maintain as much power as we could from the point of view of being able to regulate, legislate and do the best for our people. In saying this, I do not think governments have always done this but they should have the capacity and the ability to do it. I do not see the advantage and I do not see what gain we get. When we are talking about trade, as far as I can see all of the positives of CETA are in operation as we speak. The framework exists for corporations to get their absolute rights vindicated in the court systems that exist here, in Canada and throughout the EU.”
“I will not take very long. There is an element of repetition at this stage. I would ask, as Deputy Ó Laoghaire has, that there would be an answer on how we ended up with a guillotine at the close of business. A lot of us enjoy playing soccer and wanted to talk about volunteerism and the need to invest in football but we could have done that at any other time. This is legislation with incredibly worrying aspects. The Minister of State is going to talk about protections that were put in place on the basis that the ISDS and investor court systems leave us open and susceptible to corporations that will be able to take action against the State and may have a chilling effect on governments from the point of view of acting in pursuit of what is the social good, or any sort of good, in a wide range of particular issues.”
“My particular issue is that I do not see any advantage to it. My understanding is that those trade elements that we are all benefitting from are in operation at this point and there is nothing negatively impacting on them. Look at where we are talking about. We are talking about Canada and this State within the European Union. Somebody is going to tell me that there is not a sufficient amount of legislation or a sufficient number of frameworks to deal with issues that may exist if a company feels it is wronged. I do not believe, however, we need to give them a battering ram from the point of view that it can put its lights out and make us think twice or three times about not going ahead with necessary legislation or regulation.”
“I get what the Minister of State says about the right to regulate and having certain protections. He has already stated that he believes the investor court system is an improvement on the old ISDS but I still have not heard anything that settles me in regard to the fact that there is any advantage to us signing up to this and that it does not leave this State open to the possibility of big corporations being able to put its lights out from a financial point of view and to have a detrimental impact on everything from regulation to legislating from a point of view of improving people's lives, whether we are talking about everything from housing to the environment to health. It is basically encompassing the entirety of the work done in a Chamber like this and beyond. That is my problem.”
“That is all I am saying. I suppose it had a chilling effect of sorts. I want to know from this Minister of State what advantage there is to us, the Irish people, to this Government or to any future Irish Government of having the investor court system in play. With other treaties, we have seen states walking away. Do we intend to do it ourselves in relation to not being shackled by what you can only say is corporations being facilitated to "chill"? I was going to use a term that I probably should not use in the House. I refer to forcing a government into a situation where it may not go ahead with legislation that may be beneficial to the people out of fear that a major corporation using this leverage of the ICS will put its lights out from a financial point of view. This is the first time the Ceann Comhairle will have seen me do this.”
“This was the Government that said it was not going to provide any sort of supports or mitigations at the start of the week but by the end of the week, having dealt with its backbenchers, some of the Independents and the pressure put on by people, it moved.”
“That is the reality. What I am saying is that the one thing we have seen, and whether we call it ISDS or the investor court system, with all the nuances, changes and added bells, it is still a rose or a briar by another name. That is all we are talking about here. I am asking the Minister of State whether he can ensure us that all the worries on this side of the of the House will not happen. Can he tell me the advantage to us in passing this legislation and in relation to the investor court system? Can he assure us in respect of all the worries he says we are over-egging? Everyone would trust anything this Government told them anyway, and you could see that over the past period of time.”
“We know for sure that many governments, and we could even possibly say it about this Government, have obviously been impacted by the fear of taking action on particular legislation and how it would go down in Washington or anywhere else. I am certainly not talking about the occupied territories Bill.”
“If any company is found to be in a circumstance where it has been wronged by rule changes and there has been an element of unfairness is the Minister of State telling me Irish or European law does not have the capacity to deal with that? Is he saying a company from here would not be able to deal with that through the Canadian courts? Is that what we are talking about? From what I see the Government is literally giving the power to big business and big corporations and not even from a point of view of screwing over the small guy but from screwing over us as a State. We are talking about the fact the Government could literally have its lights put out, or have the absolute fear of having its lights put out.”
“Let us not pretend that did not impact on other countries, and even on Australia, by chilling it from taking necessary action be it on environmental, health, workers' rights or human rights grounds. That is the problem. What are we getting? What is the advantage of this investor courts system? Am I wrong in thinking CETA is already in operation with respect to the trade elements, which are the parts the Government keeps saying are wonderful? We are all in favour of free trade and of building up those necessary relationships and ensuring we facilitate business across the board but what is the advantage of the investor court system? Most people would ask why we should take a chance on this. I do not see any advantage in any way, shape or form.”
“The Minister of State is saying we should just trust this Government on the basis the investor court system is now better than ISDS and all we know that is wrong there. The Energy Charter Treaty and the fact that everyone with any element of sense is moving away from it has been mentioned by many. The Antin versus Spain case relates to giving big business the ability to take a state to the cleaners. That is the reality. The Australian case is the always the first one brought to people's attention and while I accept Australia eventually won, it is about the idea of big tobacco in the form of Phillip Morris even taking that case. Even though Australia won, it did so at a huge cost and the case ran from 2011 to 2015.”
“I thank and commend the club and I hope it continues with Ciarán Kilduff, Daryl Horgan and all of the rest of the team. I could talk about multiple teams. I could talk about everybody from Glenmuir FC to Bellurgan, and I have to mention Castletown Belles or I will not be forgiven by Mackers and Erin. I could talk about Bay FC, Quay Celtic and Woodview Celtic. I even played in Rock Celtic the other week and Bellurgan FC. Bellurgan actually allowed me play on a proper team.”
“If we are going to talk about that element of volunteerism, recently, Muirhevna Mór Football Club was awarded a Louth County Council civic award on the basis of 50 years of real work. As much as the club is having success at the moment, it has had some recent tragedies. We remember Martin "Gilser" Gill and Ciarán "Skinny" Bond, people who put in a huge effort over a long time and will be badly missed. We all welcome what we saw with Heimir Hallgrímsson and Troy Parrott and we almost thought we were back to Jack Charlton and Ray Houghton - not this time. Obviously, it is different for the women's senior team who are absolutely flying. Long may it last. We will need to see large scale sports infrastructure funding and Oriel Park will need to see it more than anywhere else. We are finally some good days, having had our recent problems.”
“I will repeat what everyone else has said, that if we are to get serious about soccer - we have seen the absolute success of the League of Ireland lately - we need to put the money required into academies. We all know about the deficit in infrastructure. Many of us see it on a weekly or bi-weekly basis and it is not good enough. It is not good enough for all those who attend. The Minister of State and I had an interaction recently about what the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, said about a plague on all your houses. While an issue needed to be dealt with, particularly what happened in Oriel Park and flares in general, that was an absolute slap in the face of all those who put the time in and volunteer for clubs, everything from grassroots up to senior clubs in the League of Ireland.”
“Yes. This is about how we can get to having a proper, multiagency approach to deal with the complexity and early intervention and policing aspects. The big worry when we are talking about drugs and all that causes that problem is the national drugs strategy and the fear of moving away from the drugs and alcohol task forces and such community involvement.”
“I do not believe the community safety partnership is going to quite bridge the gap, however much I would like to think it would. I am thinking of Barrack Street in Dundalk.”
“Louth County Council is trying to update its tenant engagement and antisocial behaviour strategy, and I sat in yesterday for a short period on a consultative event. We can imagine the conversation. It is all about having a multiagency approach, strengthening community safety, embedding tenant engagement for the first time, improving well-being and neighbourhood cohesion and ensuring fairness, transparency and accountability. That is all sound. This is a continuation, however, of an issue I have brought up before. I think we have to be really serious in relation to the complex issues involved. I am sure many of us will have dealt with local authorities, the Garda and others in this context. The fact is we have to get very serious.”
“It is about how there has never been more need for us to maintain international law and an independent foreign policy. That is why people will be on the streets with the Irish Neutrality League on Saturday. It is a matter of us not falling into the issues that exist now in this age of empires and where might is right. We must do our part to stand against that, given our history of anti-colonialism.”
“The Taoiseach said he had conversations in relation to multilateralism and, obviously, questions in relation to economics. I understand this was very early on in January and, with Donald Trump's regime, we are not entirely sure what the future holds other than it goes from terrible to even worse. We have since had an illegal war with Iran, we have the fact that the Israelis are continuing with their genocide in Palestine and what they are doing in Lebanon is utterly unacceptable in any way, shape or form. Many of us were outside the gates of Leinster House with Lelia Doolan and would commend her for what she has done. I would like to think I will make it to 91 years of age and still be fit to do half of what she is doing. She has to be commended.”
“You are talking about a staff of three becoming a staff of ten in 2025, but you are also talking about classrooms, one where there are two teachers and 40-odd students along with a whole pile of other issues. We really need to see when we will get additional accommodation, be it even modular.”
“I agree with Deputy Byrne when he spoke about firefighters and the need to be able to work beyond 62. A firefighter, a retained station officer, spoke to me recently and I think he has written to the Taoiseach. He is about to turn 62, so that is an issue we need to resolve. I want to bring up the issue of Scoil Bhríde in Sheelagh. I was in it in the last while. It has been engaging with the Department for a number of years. In 2022, there was a new teacher. In 2024, an autism class and another teacher were added. Then the school got another one because its numbers have risen. It is on the Border and the school has done huge work in getting more children from the wider area in.”
“We all accept that this was started by Donald Trump and genocidal Israel, but it is about what the Government did not listen to and did not do. It is about not realising that there are 700,000 households across this State that use kerosene, yet there is nothing in the package for them. We all know the issues for agricultural contractors, farmers and hauliers. They would say that they have had issues for years, and this was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Bus and coach operators would say that there are supports for some but not for others. None of this is good enough. There has been an absolute failure to do at the pumps what needs to be done. It is about green diesel, petrol and diesel. None of it was sufficient. We could have seen a 25 cent reduction in diesel and petrol, but the Government was not interested and did not listen.”
“The reality is that this Government is not into listening, and there is no confidence out there. It should be very worrying for the Government if any of them were on the protests. We had supporters of Independents and some people who probably never voted before, but also a huge number of people who would have supported the Government partners over generations. You could feel the anger of people who felt they had been absolutely let down. The only way to say it is that the Government, in particular the Taoiseach, managed to put fuel on the fire and stoke the whole thing up in the middle of last week. It showed an element of ineptitude in not realising just how angry people were. These are people who did not want to be out on protests. Let us look at the reality. It is about the cost of fuel.”
“The Chair is putting pressure on me. I was in Scoil Bhríde in Síolach the other day. It is an absolutely fabulous school. It has been okayed for two extra teachers but not okayed in any way, shape or form for the two extra rooms that are needed, and that is before the second sanctioned ASD class.”
“Again, that is about making sure we do not undermine the piece I spoke about where we need to make sure we can at least have decent consultation with people. I could talk about the rail infrastructure in County Louth and the need for more stations but I would start with Dundalk's Clarke Station. We are all talking about the absolute need for public transport, particularly this week, but we do not have enough parking spaces at that station. We have fewer than we had because they were taken away. We are awaiting some sort of solution on that. Even simple solutions like that are not being delivered. We talk about water. It will be years before we see the CFRAM plan delivered in County Louth. We are talking about five projects. As I have said many times before, I live in the Bay Estate and we have a joint sewerage and rainwater system-----”
“If we look at the Planning and Development Act, planners who spoke to me said it was more sentences, more paragraphs and more words that would be dissected in courtrooms. That was their belief. We need simplicity in this. There is nobody who does not want to see this sort of critical infrastructure being delivered and to reduce and streamline. We constantly talk about streamlining. We know the issues that have existed in the planning system. Obviously, we need to be able to get to grip with the circumstances. We are pretty late in getting into this game, or the Government is anyway. We need to know what exactly is going to fall into the sphere of critical infrastructure. I know people have asked about anaerobic digestion and renewables. Are we talking about State projects or is there room for manoeuvre in relation to other projects?”
“Irrespective of the absolutely rightful arguments there were earlier on the fuel crisis and the ineptitude of the Government in dealing with it, at the end of the day there has been abject failure in dealing with our infrastructural deficits and we all need to see this improved 100%. I agree with what many have said, that we are somewhat worried about the fact that pre-legislative scrutiny was waived. I would like to think there will be sufficient time on Committee Stage and that we will not be looking at guillotined legislation from the point of view of working through all of the necessary amendments and arguments that need to be made. Every time the Government has come up with the ultimate legislative solution in relation to infrastructural deficits, it has not changed anything to date.”
“I agree. We all know where there have been deficits in infrastructure. We know the issues that have existed where people have played the system. That is undoubted. We have also seen situations where we have not seen perfect engagement, be it from the State or developers. We have all seen it in our constituencies. We have seen where pre-consultation and consultation have been done well, where they have removed some of the fears there can be in relation to projects, and then we have seen them progress better. It goes without saying we are talking about areas where we cannot necessarily deliver clean water or a sewerage system that is fit for purpose, and we are talking about this in 2026.”
“As Deputy Kennedy has said - actually, I meant Deputy Kenny; it is not the first time I have got that wrong - we do not hold the Government responsible for the madness of genocidal Israel and for Donald Trump, but we do hold the Government responsible for not listening, for not taking action and for the utter ineptitude of putting fuel on the fire in relation to the protests and what was going on during the week. Reference was made to those who were discommoded, and they were, but it could have been ended by the Government much more easily. What we need to see is real action. The Government survived today but it will not survive into the future because we need to see a real Government that delivers for people. What we have seen to date is failure. It is failure to listen and failure to act in real terms.”
“He is a constituency operator who has had people come into his office, including carers and those working as community nurses, who long before this period arrived spoke of the serious pressure they were under and that they were not sure how they could make it through or how the necessary work they were doing was going to wash its own face, because it would not. We had 320,000 people who were not able to pay their energy bills and were in arrears. Then we have this.”
“We have had nothing but disrespect from the Government and the absolute denigration of those who, as a last resort, went out to put the pressure on. We have seen the impact of the pressure. We have had a ministerial resignation. We would like to think that we may see more of that into the future as people are held accountable by their own electorates and by the people they know because, to date, we have had a Government that has not listened to the severe pressure that people are under. The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, is no different than me.”
“The fact is the Government did survive today, but that was not down to any conversation anybody had out there with people who were actually at the pin of their collar. It has been said by many but I am going to repeat it. Out at the protests were people who had never been seen on a protest before and who did not want to be anywhere next or near a protest. We are talking about agricultural contractors, farmers and those involved in the bus and coach industry. As Joanna Byrne has said, some of them are here today. There is some confusion and displeasure in relation to those who have the Bus Éireann and school bus transport rebate schemes, but these people have never got anything. They will tell us about the whole period during Covid when they were not looked after in any way, shape or form.”
“I accept we are dealing with a president who does everything without listening to anybody and we can see the abject chaos. It looks like he has bitten off more than he can chew. Not only do we have to protect people as regards home heating oil, petrol and diesel, we need to make sure we play our part in standing up for international law.”
“It highlights the situational circumstances and danger that peacekeepers have in their particular work and job. I commend them. It is absolutely necessary that we maintain a monitoring eye on what is a constantly escalating situation. We are not entirely sure whether the US President is negotiating with himself, getting presents from Iran or going to unleash hell. All we know is that any further escalation will lead to far more difficult circumstances. It shows the chaos in the American lack of strategy. No matter what we might think of it, the Iranians had a strategy, and it was about impacting oil supply and hurting US assets throughout the region. We need a de-escalation; none of this is good enough. I do not believe the Government or the European Union has been sufficiently strong.”
“I accept the Minister cannot comment on issues of security, but can she ensure that alongside the UN there is a monitoring of the circumstances and absolute support is provided to our peacekeepers, who are out there doing absolutely necessary work, as these families are incredibly worried?”
“We all want to see de-escalation and an end to this illegal attack. We must all be incredibly worried about the wider chaos it is creating. Obviously, the chaos is impacting us in relation to fuel prices, but there are incredibly serious circumstances. Israel has used this from a point of view of continuing its attacks on Gaza and the West Bank, and it looks like it is looking to build a cordon sanitaire beyond the Litani River in Lebanon. I wrote to the Minister and I appreciate the reply, regarding the issue brought to me by family members of those serving with the 27th infantry battalion which is on peacekeeping duties in south Lebanon.”
“There have been some very interesting newspaper headlines today particularly, such as "Czechia ár lá." I think we can all say we trust in Troy, Caoimhín, their teammates and manager, Heimir Hallgrímsson, who I was lucky to meet at Oriel Park at a Dundalk game recently. Ádh mór and good luck to the Irish team. I ask the Minister to give an update on her interaction with the European Union following the United States illegal attack on Iran alongside genocidal Israel and the chaos that has created.”
“I accept there was a busy period in 2024 but work has to continue through the public service, the Civil Service and the Department. I will take on board the Minister of State's commitment to delivering on these targets because it is absolutely necessary. I assume from what he has said that he will have, and I hope there will be, engagement with SERI. I was approached on the fact that it had a number of questions. It is looking for an ecosystem where social enterprise can flourish, from local start-ups to those that have a capacity for international expansion. At the minute, they cannot access enterprise supports through LEOs, Enterprise Ireland or Skillnet. An amount of €340,000 per year is allocated to deliver 57 actions, which were set previously under the national social enterprise policy.”
“We are almost two years into the implementation of the national social enterprise policy for 2024 to 2027 and a number of key milestones have been missed. What actions are being taken to ensure no further targets are missed? We have had engagement on this before and I have met SERI, a group representing a number of social enterprises in the State. It is about ensuring we have a framework that works.”
“John of God intellectual disability services and the level of engagement involved was great. I appreciate the efforts of the officials from the Department and the Courts Service who were involved in that regard. The Minister of State indicated that there will be a number of events in which they will be involved. That is absolutely necessary. We need to make sure the issues that exist across banking and so on are dealt with. As I said, the really positive thing I got when speaking to the representatives of St. John of God disability services was that while it had been very worried about assisted decision-making at the outset and had thought they would not be able to protect those who needed protection, when the organisation stretched itself and put supports in place, both it and those in its care benefited. We need to see more of that.”
“There is a certain consistency regarding what was stated on Second Stage and on Committee Stage. There is the idea that we want a framework. We want something that works. Everybody accepts that the legislation is necessary. There is a logjam. There are a number of people who were not going to be discharged as wards of court, and nobody wanted to see them left in limbo. It is about making sure that the review can look at all the weaknesses that exist in the assisted decision-making legislation. It is also about ensuring that the discharging process works as well as it possibly can. I reiterate the absolute necessity of engagement with families and with the person who is in need of support, as well as the wider stakeholders like disability services. What I saw with St.”
“I reiterate that idea that we need to make sure that we have the maximum amount of engagement with the stakeholders, the likes of disability services such as St. John of God's and others, but also good engagement with families and those relations who have been involved in the care of their children, in an awful lot of cases, for all their lives. We need to ensure at the core of it is, in this case, the ward of courts, and then all those people who will fall under this particular bracket. Because we are going through courts, I am always worried about logjams and everything else. We need to make sure we have the adequate resources and that we do not have hold-ups that are not necessary. The big one is about supporting those who need support, but also providing those that have capacity with as much freedom as we possibly can.”
“As I said previously, it is vital legislation in the sense that we find ourselves in this place. I could make the argument that we should not have found ourselves in this place. Enough time should have been put aside. I have, once again, put on the record some of the issues and the worries I had. I will commend the interaction that there has been. The big thing for all of us is that idea that we review and make sure we deal with those anomalies that exist where those with a disability who are in disability services and previously could have got a bank account with two signatories, that this has now become at times a near impossibility. In cases, people have gone to the credit union or other institutions to try to work around it, but that is not good enough.”