Ruth Coppinger
Dublin West · People Before Profit-Solidarity · Ireland
“Next Wednesday, the trial continues of the Ulm five, including the Irish citizen, Daniel Tatlow-Devally. A delegation of TDs and Senators, including me, will attend the trial in Stuttgart next week.”
“This man said of one woman that he would attach her to a concrete block. He said of another that he would set fire to her. Should this person be getting a pay off from the Army? No, of course, he should not. He should have been put on trial.”
“I have very little time left, but I want to put on record that the woman in question was abused by an Army officer using military equipment and surveillance technology, which is extremely scary. She made a complaint, which has never been pursued.”
“When is the victims of crime Act 2017 going to apply the Army? The Women of Honour have pushed for change so that if there is abuse within the Army there will, we hope, be mechanisms to deal with that, but what about women who are abused by Army personnel who are not in the Army?”
“This officer was involved in a GoFundMe campaign, where rapists' names were used as a joke by the various men who contributed to it. I do not think rape is funny and the Army should not either. That GoFundMe campaign was left up for a long time. Why is the Army a law unto itself in relation to gender-based violence?”
“The victim's belief is that the military prosecutor has evidence of a very dangerous man but for some reason, the Army does not seem to be concerned because it has not prosecuted him on those charges. Why would the Army not want to prosecute somebody? Are we at war or something? Why is it so secretive?”
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“It will not bring in any money either. We have all said that this is virtue signalling and it ignores the context of the housing crisis. It was reported on "Morning Ireland" that, in Belgium, the Flemish Government tried this in 2014. It pushed asylum seekers onto the streets into homelessness and that was all it did. On the proposal to require five years of residency, loads of people I know and loads of people I have made representations about are trying to get their status. They are working here, they have got degrees and they have all sorts of qualifications that we need, and now the Minister is going to make it more difficult for them to lead a decent life here. It is shameful that anyone is going along with this.”
“The pact would set up detention centres; speedy deportation; no right to an in-person appeal; limitations on legal representation; a process where asylum seekers would be sent to third countries that are deemed safe - the Tories were doing that in Britain - biometric data; face scans; fingerprints, including of children; and restricting access to the asylum process, particularly for those who are vulnerable. Anybody going along with and leaning into this is just leaning into more racism in society. I refer to some of the things that the Cabinet is proposing. It is a racist myth that people are shopping around for countries to go to. People flee wars. People flee persecution, as we know. Forcing asylum seekers to pay for unsafe substandard accommodation, with people baying for their blood outside in some cases, is wrong.”
“I want to make some points about the EU migration pact, which is part of the vote we will have tonight. It is opposed by 160 different organisations including Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, the ICCL and the Irish Refugee Council. These policies are fundamentally racist. People go on marches in support of Palestine yet disseminate the idea that people should have their rights taken away. I have been contacted by loads of Palestinian people who are looking for asylum and for family reunification. We know there is genocide in Sudan and in Congo. Our office is inundated with people in need of help in these situations who are trying to get their family members out of conflict zones. You cannot go on a march and the propagate this nonsense as well.”
“We will divide it between us. This is a very important debate because all around the world we are seeing an increase in violence, genocide, brutality and gross inequality. That is the reason people are fleeing the countries they are from and that we are discussing tonight the measures the Government is taking, which very much fall in line with the British Labour Government and other governments around the world. Some of the things that are happening are very similar to what Trump is talking about. We do not have Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, yet going around the streets, but we have pictures of people being pushed onto planes. Charter flights are being commissioned at huge cost to the taxpayer so the Minister can tweet about them the next day.”
“That is how long an animal can expect to make money for its owner. Six thousand pups are unaccounted for, as was said. This is a dying industry. In Scotland and Wales they have banned it. I think they have just banned it in New Zealand. It is really time Ireland caught up. Leo Varadkar described us as a laggard in animal rights. Unfortunately, he did not do a lot about it but now we have a chance to do this. This is an industry that is fundamentally cruel, and it is very sad that we have an animal-hating cabal in the centre of the Department of agriculture right now.”
“Also, it cannot exist without the State funding. The State funding is literally propping up a decaying industry. We can cite the figures but that is the reality. Why? There are other industries we could prop up. We do not need to prop up something that is cruel to the animals involved, linked with gambling and not very attractive to watch. I was asked by Greyhound Action Ireland to ask the Minister whether he can clarify an update on the figures he is using to justify the industry. The industry, he says, generates €132 million to the Exchequer. Could he break that down for us, please? How could it generate that for the Exchequer when it is literally being propped up by the Exchequer? Turnout at all the stadiums has fallen by about two thirds. The figures also presume racing careers of 48 months rather than the actual nine months.”
“I will devote most of my remarks to the greyhound industry but I will mention that horse racing is endemically linked with gambling, which is a real scourge and an addiction. There have been programmes broadcast throughout the week on that. Some €20 million is to be given to the greyhound industry. Animal welfare charities were given €6 million. Last year the ISPCA was given €1.2 million, which was €868 per dog to house, while the greyhound industry got €8,000 per dog. What is so special about this industry that it gets so much more money than other animal industries? In addition, 41% of dogs born in 2021 for the industry are dead or unaccounted for, and the figures are getting worse. Last year 5% of all dogs that raced were dead by the end of the race or very shortly after. It should be noted how unpopular this sport is.”
“It is very important that the Minister does not beat the rural-urban drum that he has been trying to beat on every animal welfare issue. We have greyhounds in Dublin, we have foxes in Dublin and we have horses in Dublin, and most of us living in an urban area are a generation away from a rural one anyway. The fact that €100 million is being given to the racehorse and greyhound industry is absolutely scandalous.”
“Ireland is an outlier in allowing cruel fox hunting. It is 20 years since it was banned in the UK, which first introduced this colonial pursuit here. I want to ask the Taoiseach a question but I do not want him to answer it now. Unusually, I would prefer if he gave it consideration. There has not been a Bill to outlaw fox hunting in the State. I will move one on behalf of Solidarity on 17 December. I ask the Taoiseach and other party leaders in the Dáil to consider allowing a free vote on this issue. Some 77% of people want fox hunting banned, including 74% of those in rural areas, in the most recent polls. However, the three large parties support and maintain it with a whip. This does not reflect the democratic wishes of the majority in Ireland. Imposing a whip did not work well in the presidential election.”
“We will appeal this decision to An Coimisiún Pleanála but we know it is a David-and-Goliath battle. We are up against a vulture fund with massive resources. There was a traffic survey with 115 pages. How are ordinary residents to compete with this? I am absolutely disgusted with Fingal County Council. It is just ignoring the community and facilitating big corporations. On 6 December, we will march into that town centre. We will disrupt its custom that day to send a message to the company that it will not get away with this lying down and that people have a stake in this town centre. We have nitrates derogations and data centres using our water, so please do not pretend this is about the environment.”
“There was a battle in Liffey Valley and a campaign. The workers there, though, are paying €2.50 daily. If they park their car there five days a week, that is €600 a year. They have to earn €800 or €1,000 to have €600 cash in their hands. That is well over a week’s wages for people. I also want to raise a point about social isolation. Many older people and disabled people use Blanchardstown centre to meet their friends. We are cutting across that. People will now be wary about doing that and we are adding to the epidemic of mental health issues and loneliness that exists. Does the Minister of State know we have these drones? I am sure he does know about it because we have raised this issue here. We will all be sitting at home ordering our coffee by drone rather than actually going out and meeting friends.”
“I am just wondering why I stayed until 12.15 a.m. to hear that explanation of what a planning application is. I do understand that the Minister of State has to be careful. I do get that. I thought we might be able to have a general discussion about whether people should pay car parking charges to access community and shopping facilities. What does the Minister of State think? Does he think this is right? Does he think it is good to use the guise that it is all being done for the environment? Does he seriously think that a vulture fund that bought this centre cares about the environment? It is there to make a profit, to get the rents and now, it seems, to generate car parking charges. With regard to Liffey Valley centre, there is kind of an element here of, "Sure, all the other areas have them".”
“Are people seriously meant to go in, do their shopping and carry bag loads of shopping onto a bus? The Government should be clamping down on this. There should be no parking charges to access community facilities and vital shopping facilities.”
“A reply to a parliamentary question posed by a Government Deputy in June, and not to me, stated that since 2020, €1.6 million has been invested in Dublin West in bus enhancements. In 2020, it was €1.25 million. In 2022, it was €97. In 2023, it was nothing. In 2024, €407,000 was the rest. BusConnects, therefore, is a pipe dream. It has not even started. Is the Government seriously going to suggest that people should be able to get out of their cars and onto the creaking bus system? It is forcing people out of cars and onto a public transport system that does not exist. One area, Tyrrelstown, has one of these Go-Ahead ghost buses that frequently does not show. We all know that is what they are. This is the only access for people to the town centre.”
“It bought a site and now it wants to milk it for profit. It has no connection to the community that fought for this centre. I marched to get that town centre built, as did many other people in the area, and to make sure it had community facilities in it. What has this got to do with the national Government? It has a lot to do with it. It is being cited that this fits in with the national strategy of getting people out of cars and getting them using public transport. We do not have public transport in Dublin West. We do not have a Luas or a metro. We are completely reliant on cars and buses. This is one of the biggest and fastest-growing areas in the country, with 100,000 people. There are no new bus routes.”
“It is no longer in the hands of retail management. This is a regressive charge. Everyone will pay the same no matter what their income level is. It is also Orwellian, because the owners are saying it is about mobility enhancement and improving access to the town centre. There is no problem accessing the town centre. We access it every day of the week. Putting in barriers will slow traffic, cause traffic congestion, gridlock, more pollution and result in overflow parking in the neighbouring estates, which happens at peak times, at Christmas and so on. The most despicable aspect of this is that Fingal County Council has given planning permission and worked hand-in-glove with the vulture fund, Strategic Value Partners. The previous one was Goldman Sachs. It is trying to use national, Government transport guidelines to get this through.”
“I want to raise a very important issue for people in the greater Blanchardstown area, and Dublin West in general, which is the application and granting of planning permission for parking charges and barriers in Blanchardstown town centre. This is a proposal to fleece the community in a cost-of-living crisis and to fleece people who work in the centre. It will drive online shopping, job losses and shop closures, and we have already had plenty of them. It will put a barrier, literally, to community facilities in the town centre. These include Fingal County Council's own offices, a library, Draíocht theatre, medical facilities, a post office and a credit union. Obviously, it is a social hub for people in the area. The owner of this centre is a vulture fund. It just swooped in and bought the centre off another vulture fund.”
“We have had previous rulings on this and I have no doubt that the Minister will be told that we cannot do this but I am telling him to find a way to do it because this has become a key issue for so many survivors and those who work with them and counsel them. The Minister should find a way to do it and find it now.”
“We now have a situation where a full and complete ban is supported by survivors, therapists and all the professional bodies such as the Psychological Society of Ireland and the National Women's Council. The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre said the Minister's Bill must be withdrawn. The Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration is an all-party committee. I have seen videos of Government TDs calling for a complete ban. The Minister has legal acumen and plenty of expertise to access. He can decide that counselling and therapy notes are not evidence. He can outline in a Bill all the reasons they are not evidence. They are third party. They are similar to hearsay. They are not the words of the person themselves. I do not know how this scenario has existed for so long.”
“Some of the survivors and allies are here, as are therapists. We want action on the global pandemic but we also want to raise two things with the Minister. The DPP's threshold for prosecuting a case is a serious problem. Rebecca Clarke was one of those women and the Minister knows the case of Nikita Hand. The other key issue is the ban on access to counselling notes, which has become a significant issue. We now have a situation where the Minister proposes to let a judge make the decision. That is not acceptable because it still creates the scenario of trial or therapy. The person who has been sexually assaulted or a victim of violence has to make that decision knowing that their notes could be accessed.”
“In the time between this debate beginning and ending, six women will have been murdered by family members. That is a shocking statistic from the UN. I support this Bill. I support anything that will help survivors of sexual assault to have peace in their lives. It is the very minimum that is needed, though. In a previous Dáil, I introduced a Bill to provide for no-contact orders. Anybody should be able to prevent anyone who is harassing them from having any contact with them. They should not have to go to jail. We should be allowing people to prevent harassment in any way. Today is International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and, globally, there have been marches everywhere. There was a shutdown in South Africa while in Dublin, we marched to the Minister's office a short while ago.”
“It is forcing many people to choose between therapy or a trial. What the Minister is proposing is the easy route but not the correct route. I ask the Tánaiste to ask him to go back to the drawing board. With his legal acumen and all the legal expertise the Government has, he should be able to come up with a way to rule out counselling notes as evidence in a fair trial in line with the Constitution. Maybe we could return later to the question of the DPP, if not today. It is a real problem for Nikita Hand, who had to take a civil case - God knows the difference she made by doing so - and people like Becca, who did every single thing right but did not get her day in court.”
“I was here on a Thursday for the last debate on gender-based violence. It was pretty empty and it was many months ago. I get Leaders' Questions once a month, so I would appreciate if the Tánaiste could focus on the issue of the counselling notes and the DPP. He did at the end there; fair play. On the counselling notes, the Minister has drafted a Bill under massive pressure and after campaigning by survivors who should not have to do this. Sarah Grace told the world she would nearly rather be attacked again than go back into our courts system. That should be a cause for real concern. One of the issues has been therapy notes being used by the defence. The Minister has drafted a Bill but it leaves the option open. A judge will decide if they can be included. Even the fact that such a decision could be made is traumatic.”
“The justice committee, the National Women's Council, the Rape Crisis Centre, all of the professional therapists and psychologists and all survivors want a complete ban on this. The Tánaiste needs to tell his Minister to go back to the drawing board and to find a way to make it impermissible to introduce counselling notes as evidence. They are third-party notes. In fact, they are hearsay. They are not evidence fit for a trial. We need a complete ban on this now. There must be no more messing around and no more retraumatising people who actually have the gumption and stamina to take a court case in this country, which is very rare.”
“What is in the Tánaiste's control is the justice system. I will quickly raise two issues. The first is the fact that, over the last decade, the DPP has opted not to prosecute 13,000 cases of sexual violence. People like Nikita Hand and Becca Clarke, who is here today, had their cases turned down even though they were among the 5% of people who actually try to prosecute a case. The other issue I will raise with the Tánaiste is that of the Bill regarding counselling notes that is being drafted by the Minister for justice. This is something I have raised with the Tánaiste before. The fact that their therapy notes can be used by the defence has been identified as a misogynistic and traumatising issue for many survivors.”
“Across the globe, women and people of all genders will march. There is going to be a shutdown in South Africa. In Ireland, ROSA is calling for protests at City Hall in Dublin at 5.30 p.m. next Tuesday and in Limerick and Cork, also on Tuesday. The UN is highlighting online violence and online misogyny this year. There is no doubt that spreading misogyny is the bedrock of violence against women. This week, the US President said to a reporter "Quiet, piggy." The New York Post is asking whether women ruined the workplace. We are seeing a huge backlash against women's rights. Companies that are based here and enjoy huge tax breaks are participating in the grooming of young boys and the spreading of the manosphere and of misogynistic ideas such that traditional attitudes, as they are called, are re-emerging.”
“Survivors of gender-based violence have just held a press event calling for Government action and for people to attend global marches taking place on Tuesday, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. I welcome Natasha O'Brien and Becca Clarke to the Gallery. They are among the survivors who just spoke. I also send solidarity to the loved ones of Stella Gallagher, who was killed in Cork this week. Violence against women and LGBT people is a global epidemic. The UN recognises it as such. Even ten minutes, a woman or girl is killed by a family member. The femicide report in the UK says that more women are killed by their sons than by strangers. There are no riots or calls for debates in here when we hear statistics like that but it is the actual reality.”
“I also want to raise the issue of staffing, although I will not have time to raise all of the points. It is very hard to fill posts throughout the care system, as we know. Of 52 approved posts, 34 have been filled. Is this another problem that we have? There is also the culture of staffing. Anyone using the term "not fit for a sneeze" should not be working in the health system, or it should be taken up with them how acceptable it is for people to talk like that. As to what needs to be done very quickly to bring down the lists, two things were raised: either requisitioning space in other hospitals in the private health system, which is packed to the gills with equipment and money, or sending children abroad. Yet, we find that only two children were sent abroad for treatment despite a ministerial order to give all parents that option.”
“In October 2025, there are 223 and another 139 actively waiting for surgery. It has failed in its objective. It was complemented by the paediatric spinal surgery management unit. It is hard to get your head around all of these terms. That was meant to be in charge of managing spinal surgeries. That is the unit that is directly implicated with Harvey falling off the list. Whether it was a clinical error, as the whistleblower claims, or whether it was an administrative error, as a newer report claims, is irrelevant. That group of people still failed to treat Harvey. There are other examples of incompetence there, with ten children who were crossed off the waiting list by somebody under orders. That person apparently was disciplined for that when they were actually just carrying out an order. Other children have been harmed, as Harvey has.”
“I want to make a quick point about the inquiry and about the waiting lists. Participation in the inquiry has to be mandatory. Importantly, because this has been raised by parents, children who were affected by this should be allowed to testify. Many of them are older now and they should be listened to. That is really important. If issues are found in the process of the inquiry, they have to be dealt with there and then. You cannot just wait until the end of the inquiry because we all know that it could take some time. Parents have raised this. Does the Minister still have faith in the spinal task force, given how badly it has failed in its role? The paediatric spinal task force group was explicitly created to decrease the waiting lists. It had its first meeting in May 2024 and at that time there were 246 children on the waiting list.”
“I am in a small party so I do not get as many speaking opportunities on this issue as other, bigger parties, but I have been in here many times asking for a public statutory inquiry from the word go. I have known Gillian and, particularly, Stephen for just over a year, from before the tragedy with Harvey. We have to learn lessons from this because time and again, on so many issues, parents and relatives have had to campaign for years and years for justice on these questions. I remember saying that we would be in here and we would have a statutory inquiry. It should not have taken the death of Harvey to get this, because I wonder, had he not died, if we would still be here asking for this. We have to be honest about that. What if the whistleblower had not spoken out?”
“The Sudanese people had a brave revolution in 2018 and 2019. Both sides, the army and the RSF, are partners in crime against that revolution. They drowned it in blood and ensured that it would not go forward. I want to identify the UAE in particular. It did not want a democratic regime in that area. It did not want a successful revolution to send a message to others in that area, and that is behind this. The EU needs to support the people of Sudan.”
“Over two years, we have seen this conflict escalate, most recently with the RSF. The RSF has been encouraged by the EU traditionally. It was involved in the migration process or the Khartoum process. It has also helped to shape some of the proponents of the genocide. The genocide has killed about 150,000 people and 12 million people have been displaced. What is it all about? Once again, it is about resources. It is about access to the River Nile, agricultural land and gold because Sudan has massive resources like this, which are some important for control. Ironically, the quad powers that are being asked to broker a ceasefire are also involved in backing one side or the other, and sometimes both. It is absolutely critical that we end the chokehold of colonial and regional powers over Sudan.”
“I want to raise the genocide that has been happening in Sudan. It is the forgotten genocide because so much of our focus has been on Palestine. There is a large and important Sudanese community in Ireland. I had meetings with members of the community before the election. Many of them are doctors, contributing massively to our health service, engineers and so on. They are living with the reality of trying to keep in touch with relatives at this time. I want to mention how this relates to the EU. Interestingly, when we are apparently sending off our Minister for Finance to the World Bank, I just looked up Sudan's debt, which is 70% of its GDP. Maybe the ex-Minister might have a word in the ear of the World Bank. Imagine that we are fund-raising for Sudan when it is crippled with debt to western governments.”
“Israel does not want any government taking any action that will send a message across the world regarding what other governments could do. It is shameful.”
“It is a platform for companies, in particular US companies, to filter operations and profits through Ireland rather than Ireland creating its own industry. I do not have time to develop this point, but I will give some examples. The Azure cloud platform, which carries out mass surveillance of Palestinian mobile phones, came from data centres in Ireland run by Microsoft, as well as other countries. Project Nimbus, a €1.2 billion contract with Amazon and Israel, was possible because the data centres the Government loves so much create and hold that data here. The real reason for not passing the occupied territories Bill is not legal advice. Rather, it is the Government's cowardice and industrial policy, along with the Israeli lobbying that has been happening. This is about contagion.”
“Approximately 75% of corporation tax comes from American multinationals and 69% of FDI is US based. It has distorted our economy and many things relating to how we measure our success. It has created a deep structural link to Israel. I wondered why Ireland is the second largest trader with Israel. Lo and behold, when it is broken down, it is because Intel is here. According to a report into our FDI model and how it supports genocide, Intel had bespoke infrastructure created for it through investment from our Government. The Government's dependence on an economic model of capitalism in Ireland means that we are now not able to support any measures against genocide. Ireland has become a financial offshoring base through the creation of the IFSC.”
“We have heard a lot of guff in recent days, and I heard it again this morning as I drove in here, about the centre and how important that is to the Government. The centre is pro-genocide and pro-imperialism. Let us cut the crap here about the centre. The EU is not just trading with Israel; it is giving it favourable terms of trade. That is the centre. The centre is imperialism, now carving up Gaza. The Irish people have done a lot but the Irish Government has done absolutely nothing but talk. By the way, as well as reports on the treatment of detainees, we have seen reports of a shoot-to-kill policy but I want to talk about public opinion and why the Government is so against what the Irish people want. As my colleagues have said, Ireland has compromised its own sovereignty due to our FDI model.”
“It is a pity that the new Minister for foreign affairs is not here to listen to this debate. I cannot think of too many issues that are more pressing and that should be on her agenda right now. Again, this is another insult to the Dáil. I issue a content warning for anybody listening, but soldiers accused of sexually assaulting handcuffed Palestinian detainees have received standing ovations in court in Israel. The stories that we have heard since the release of the Palestinian hostages have made our skin crawl. I am in a WhatsApp group called D15 with Palestine that has many local Palestinian members. They share videos that they get from within Palestine but we could not even post half of them on our social media because it would be too distressing.”
“I want to read a quote about this Bill: If passed, Ireland and her Parliament will be sending a strong message, that it condemns the occupation of territories deemed illegal under international law. This Bill, at its most basic, is about upholding international law. It applies to illegal occupations anywhere in the world and not just to Israel and Palestine. It was a member of the Minister of State's party, Deputy Niall Collins, who said that in this House in 2019. What has changed? What has happened in the intervening years is that there has been a genocide. Gaza has been reduced not to rubble or ruins but to ashes. Israel has carried out that genocide. The Irish Government says that it recognises the genocide. The Government was in here in 2019 saying "rah, rah, rah" but now it is sheepishly pulling back from its own Bill.”
“I am not inspired with confidence because there has been a huge crisis in the need for autism classes and facilities for people who are neurodivergent, which she has stood over. We need more than a reshuffle. We need a new Government because for the year it has been in power it has severely disappointed and made ordinary working people pay for the crisis.”
“I feel these points are very important because there is a lot of back clapping and wishing Deputy Donohoe well on his promotion but he has been rewarded for, I believe, being a loyal proponent of austerity and an implementer of it since 2014 when the IMF was in the country. He has presided over many budgets that really did inflict a lot of hardship. He is being rewarded for not implementing things like the occupied territories Bill and for recent budgets which, even though we are back in record surplus, disabled people and workers paid for very severely. I want to mention also that this is a reshuffle of the Government and we are going to be voting specifically on Deputy Naughton. Again, this is nothing personal but she has been in charge of special education for quite a number of years and there has been a severe crisis in that area.”
“The Taoiseach is eating into my time, which is very little. I want to start with where Deputy Donohoe is going with his new job. The World Bank and the IMF usually work together. Their policies drive inequality and austerity all around the globe. They decrease workers' rights, environmental considerations and life expectancy in any country they go into. We have a situation where 1% owns more than 95% of the wealth according to Oxfam, and where a dozen men roughly have the same amount of wealth as half of the entire planet. This is the system the World Bank presides over and that Deputy Donohoe will also preside over. Regarding the debt burden on African countries, 18.5% of the income of Africa is spent servicing the debt which Deputy Donohoe will be presiding over as well. This is more than many of them spend on healthcare.”
“I was going to address Deputy Donohoe as Minister; I do not know what to call him right now. Obviously, personally I wish him and his family well but I am here to be political. He is a very ideological person so I am sure he will appreciate this.”
“It has been pointed out to me by disabled people that there is a marriage bar in place because if they get married, they lose their income and are reduced to poverty, meaning so many disabled people cannot get married. This was pointed out to me by two disabled people who got married in the last year. They have taken a financial hit from that because one becomes the dependant of the other. We have had marriage equality campaigns and we are going to need a campaign to allow disabled people the right to get married, thanks to the absolute privileging of profit, capital, big business and corporations at every hand’s turn by this Government and previous Governments Fine Gael has been a part of.”
“The answer I got was that it would cost €6 billion, which is laughable. It was essentially based on every single person who is disabled claiming it, which the Minister of State knows is not true because lots of disabled people do not claim any payments whatsoever. I am not saying she drew up that answer; I am just giving her an example of why it was ludicrous. Even if everyone who has a very severe disability was not means tested, the cost would be about €500 million, roughly what it cost to give the developers the apartment incentives the Government gave them in the budget through tax write-offs and so on. The Government made its priorities very clear with those decisions. I think Deputy Boyd Barrett alluded to this issue earlier.”
“There needs to be a permanent cost-of-disability payment because households are paying way over the odds if they have a disabled person. In actual numbers, that cost is estimated at anything from €300 per week upwards. It should be noted that the reason for the drop-off is the disability support grant, the living alone allowance and the one-off payments for electricity and so on. One in five people who are disabled is already living in consistent poverty and the Government has made it so much worse. A lot of people mentioned carers, and rightly so. The means test for carers should be removed but, again, nothing has really been done on that. There should not be a means test for disabled people either. I submitted a parliamentary question some time back on what it would cost to get rid of the means test for disabled people.”
“People were joking with grim humour about what they were going to spend the €10 a week on, but that €10 was completely taken away by all the other things. The Irish Wheelchair Association estimates disabled people are €1,400 worse off and the Disability Federation of Ireland said the same. Is the Minister of State saying they are lying? I ask because €1,400 is quite a lot of money. The reason for this is the withdrawal of the one-off payments that were provided in the last couple of budgets. We all know, or should know, that the permanent cost of disability is massive. The most conservative estimates put that cost at between €10,000 and €15,000, and I would say that is way underestimated. There was a promise to introduce a permanent cost-of-disability payment. That has now been delayed until 2027. That is another broken promise.”
“I had a look at the Fine Gael website, which is not something I normally do. The party has an ad running with the title "Fine Gael supported carers and people with disabilities in Budget 2026". Sometimes you need to check in case it is AI or whatever, but how exactly did Fine Gael support carers and people with disabilities? Could the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, explain that? I am going to go with disabled organisations and individuals rather than Fine Gael on this one. If we learned anything in the last few years, it should have been to listen to disabled people and to the force they are, given the care referendum, the Green Paper being pushed back and so on. I am a little mystified as to why the Government picked out disabled people for no help at all in the budget.”
“Every week, we come in here and ask the Taoiseach to have a statutory public inquiry. The Government's stance has been to have a scoping inquiry here and a scoping inquiry there. We need a full statutory inquiry into all of the issues surrounding Harvey, CHI and spinal surgery. The Taoiseach should have asked questions since this broke on Sunday, given how important this issue is in Ireland for so many people.”