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 adds to growing evidence that long-term vaping is harmful and challenges the idea it could be a healthier alternative to smoking. The statistics on young people using e-cigarettes, tobacco products and vapes show the figure has increased from 20% in 2015 to 30% now, with 17% of 15- to 24-year-olds using e-cigarettes. Meanwhile, 13% of under-18s had used vapes in the previous 30 days. Three quarters of the children in the studies had never smoked. A new market and a new cohort of young people who had not smoked were vaping, much as happened in the 1970s and previous decades. We know the colourful packaging is designed to go with outfits, handbags or whatever. It is happening. It should be noted the vaping industry makes really spurious claims. One claim is this is the biggest way people get off cigarettes.”
“In the study, 180 vape flavours were tested from a huge range of products. It would take decades to test every product, as there are so many chemicals within them. They were found to contain 127 acutely toxic chemicals with 153 health hazards and 225 irritants. Loads of evidence is emerging about the dangers of these and the fact that young people whose lungs are still developing are using these nicotine products and will damage their health in the long term. We really need action from the Government. Another study on vaping and young people's lungs did fitness tests on young people who smoked, vaped and did neither. Vapers and smokers were less able to take in oxygen. Vapers had an average peak exercise capacity of 186 watts, similar to smokers. That is extremely worrying. The evidence is right in front of us.”
“Research was done by the RCSI in Dublin recently and a few of the comments made were very important. For example, it was suggested that it "is plausible that we are on the cusp of a new wave of chronic diseases that will emerge 15 to 20 years from now due to these exposures." It was also suggested that "without comprehensive regulation [and laws], as we try to treat the nicotine addictions of older tobacco smokers, there is a substantial risk of transferring new health issues to younger generations." This is very serious. It is not a bit surprising that the companies behind the tobacco industry are moving into this to make profits. Flavour like cotton candy and cherry cola are deliberately targeted at children, not at adults trying to quit smoking which is the so-called justification for allowing the vaping industry to operate.”
“I am extremely frustrated that we are here on the cusp of October making statements in the Dáil when the election was last November. It is outrageous that the Government has not got its act together to produce a number of Bills over the summer. Even the Minister of State’s party colleague is taking her to task on this issue. We are talking about this important health issue for young people but no legislation is forthcoming; we are just making statements. We need to hear what the proposal for action is. Major companies are now targeting young people with these so-called vapes. They are also posing for older people as a gateway to give up smoking. It is ludicrous we are only having a little chat about it, with nothing actually worked out. I want to mention the health issues for young people.”
“This is a real incursion into people's mental health. Manna Air Delivery is portrayed as a plucky startup. I put it to the Minister of State that it is not. It is a €60 million venture and Coca-Cola is behind it. People are entitled to have basic privacy, noise reduction and a say in this. They will have a say.”
“The Minister of State's reply fails to grasp the point. The framework says that the Irish Aviation Authority oversees the implementation of the EU drone regulations, but it does not monitor noise. It said this at the Joint Committee on Transport. There is nobody monitoring what is the biggest single problem of these drones, which is noise. The Minster of State has said that drone delivery operations are closely regulated for aviation safety. There is loads of evidence that these drones are flying in winds beyond what they are meant to fly in. There are a lot of safety concerns around that. The community has never had its say on this. This technology mainly impacts people who cannot even enjoy their back gardens any longer or cannot even sit outside and read a book because of this constant drone noise.”
“A huge meeting took place in Dundrum over the summer, where this is also to be introduced, and Manna and the people who were talking about tech inevitability got their lesson there. In Dublin 15, there is now Drone Action Dublin 15, which is bringing residents together to organise a town hall meeting on Monday, 6 October and to inform and give the residents voice on this issue for a change.”
“The Dublin 15 service is in breach of both of those stipulations and in my opinion and that of residents, it should cease until there is regulation, community assent and it complies with all of those things. Complaints have been escalating. The impact is overwhelmingly negative given the few who use it for convenience foods such as ice cream and coffee. No environmental impact is required for its impact on wildlife. The privacy protections that Manna claims it has have been found to be completely not the case. It claims they only use cameras for the delivery drop that do not impact other residents. That is not true. We have evidence of that. However, the community is fighting back.”
“We have to begin by saying that we all agree drones have massive potential for good in society such as for emergency relief mapping and delivering medicines to isolated areas etc. The focus of this Topical Issue is the fast-food drones that have been operating in Dublin 15 in particular. Manna, which operates these drones to deliver fast food, has been doing so for about a year and a half. It is unlicensed, obviously, but it has three bases without planning permission. No consultation was ever held with the community before introducing this very invasive technology over the community. The recent policy framework process that the Department conducted acknowledges that societal concerns must be addressed. It also acknowledges that there must be approval of local authorities.”
“People who are in this country and working here are living in fear, including taxi drivers and nurses. Obviously this is strongly coming from the far right, but it is coming from within the system as well. “Stop the boats” came from the Tories. There are actions this Government has taken or failed to take, like allowing our housing crisis to not be dealt with for so long. Growing inequality just allows fertile ground for the far right. I will mention some TDs in this House who were using the exact same language as the far right. I noticed "The myth of multiculturalism ... [and the] spiral of violence", "... a semi-utopian belief that Irish and European societies can ... integrate irreconcilable and overtly hostile value systems" and "One culture enshrines equality ... the rights of LGBTQ people [and the other does not]".”
“That speaks to how they are imbibing racist ideas from older people, social media and the world around them. It is not a new phenomenon. The Indian community I have spoken to would say it is completely underreported. In the last number of years people just have not bothered. The Minister must take note of what is said in every forum I have been in, which is that gardaí are very dismissive when these incidents are reported to them. They just want to whoosh them out of the station. There is no record, seemingly, kept in many cases and that was a widespread complaint. I am asking the Minister to meet representatives, to hear that and then to take it up with the Garda. There should be a record kept of racially motivated incidents. I am running out of time but I want to say a couple of quick things.”
“Over the summer there was a series of attacks, apparently particularly directed against the Indian community. We had the case of an Indian man in Tallaght who was attacked, beaten and humiliated. He had clothing removed from him and there was the age-old racist trope of accusing somebody of colour of being violent. They were trying to accuse him of being a paedophile and there was absolutely no evidence of this, as the Garda said. We also had a six-year-old girl pushed off her bike. Her mother is an Indian nurse here. There are countless reports of similar incidents. Even the other day I had a report of an attack in a playground in Tyrellstown on somebody of colour and obviously I am going to look into that even more. The worrying trend is children and teenagers are involved in some of these attacks.”
“-----will the Irish Government now act unilaterally? The UN has now come out and said that this is officially genocide. The Government is legally obliged. With this body coming out with that recommendation, no more excuses are available to any government. Will the Government, for example, pass the occupied territories Bill in full, undiluted, and not just tell us that it will report back? It should be clear what needs to be done.”
“It does not even look like that will pass, because big powers like Germany are likely to oppose it. This is the same Germany whose police state is beating the likes of Kitty O'Brien, an Irish citizen, and many other activists on a regular basis. We all agree it would be much better and more powerful if the EU acted in concert. I heard the Tánaiste speak a short while ago on that. Given that the EU has shown that it is going to put imperial interests ahead of human rights-----”
“The annihilation of Gaza is apparently under way. We are seeing a ground attack, the blowing-up of high-rise buildings and the orphaning of children. I am in an Ireland-Palestine solidarity WhatsApp group in Dublin 15. The videos Gazan people are sharing are absolutely chilling. We are in a new phase of the genocide. There is a global day of action today. There will be a protest at the Dáil at 4.30 p.m. This has been a shameful exposé of the EU. For 23 months, it has been willing to allow preferential trade treatment for Israel at a time when it is carrying out genocide and killing at least 60,000 people, although I am sure it is a lot more. Even now, all that is being spoken about is not ending the trade relationship with Israel but ending the preferential treatment it has been getting.”
“The child of a woman in Tyrrelstown in my area was rejected by 21 schools but got a place in Dunboyne. There is absolutely no way to get from Tyrrelstown to Dunboyne. She was told that there was no school transport for her child. Another child was awarded a place in Baggot Street at the school for dyslexia. That child has no school transport either. Why are people not being given access to school transport? Why was an autism conference for the whole of Europe that was held in Ireland and that was hosted by AsIAm opened by Deputy Norma Foley, who could not provide school places when she was Minister for Education and who is now Minister for children? It really was an insult for an awful lot of parents - they relayed this to me - that somebody who is causing problems for people with autism would open a conference on autism.”
“Mochta's, Libermann, Corpus Christi, Lucan special school, Whitechurch school, St. Mary's boys' school, Finglas parochial, Holy Spirit boys' school in Ballymun, Killeshin in Laois, Holy Rosary Firhouse, St. Canice's boys' school, and Bayside. I want to add Danu special school, which the Minister of State has heard me harping on about an awful lot. Imagine that, for the second year in a row, there are children not going to school. Why did the Minister of State tell them they would have a building when they do not? There was no way there was going to be a building. They do not have a building for the second year in a row. The Minister of State visited months ago. The building is still not there. What a way to treat people. Although I am running out of time, I want to mention school transport.”
“When is a school place not a school place? When it is a sanctioned school place. The verbal gymnastics the Government has been engaging in have been going on for a while, not just under the Minister of State's watch but under that of his predecessor. We have been asking for a long time for a figure in respect of the number of children who still do not have places. Now we want the figure for the number who were told they had school places but who do not have school places. I do not have time in my very brief slot here, but the children of the parents involved in Equality in Education and FUSS, who are campaigning and some of whom are in the Gallery, were awarded places but are not starting school. I will quickly read out the names of a few schools, namely Belmayne, St.”
“The Government has consistently refused the calls in this Dáil for such an inquiry. We have had unlicensed springs. We have had unnecessary hip surgeries. We have had €19 million misspent. We have had the orphan report, the HIQA report and the Ombudsman's report. They want the publication of the Dixon and Nguyen reports. Why has Simon Harris not met these parents? He has talked the talk in the media, but he has never arranged to meet Gillian and Stephen. Why not? It is the least he could do if he is serious about addressing this issue and finding out more. Why is the Minister of State still setting her face against a public inquiry? She knows we will all be back here in a year's time, and she will be conceding one.”
“Finally, in 2022, he went on the spinal surgery list with the aim to have the operation in August. That surgery never happened. In April 2023, they received a letter to cancel it yet again. Harvey was in hospital five times that year and saw four different surgeons, and in August 2024, Harvey was removed from that waiting list with no explanation ever being given to his parents after 30 months waiting on a list. Eventually, they saw a surgeon in his private clinic and Harvey eventually got surgery in November 2024. At this stage, his curve was 130 degrees double what it had been when he went on the list. Unfortunately, as we know, Harvey died within eight months. Harvey's parents, who I have spoken to, want a public inquiry into CHI, spinal surgeries and these complex procedures.”
“In my brief time, I do not really have time to comment on the whole national strategy on disability. I just want to focus on one little boy who kind of sums up the attitude of this State to people with disabilities and particularly disabled children, namely, Harvey Morrison Sherratt, whose life was undervalued from the word go. Ironically, his parents were strongly encouraged to have an abortion when his diagnosis was made. They would not be entitled to an abortion in this country even now, ironically. However, it is symptomatic of the way that people are treated who do take on and do choose to go ahead with having a disabled child. Harvey got very late treatment throughout his infancy. His parents had to lodge complaints to the HSE before he was aged one. He had severe pain caused by spinal curving.”
“They are not allowed to have their baby - and 1.7% are born intersex - have any recognition. That has to change. I have seen it affect people's lives so much. I have been contacted by so many parents. Only this week, parents could not get their child into the school they wanted to go to because of their non-binary status. We have to recognise that. Trans healthcare is the priority. I ask the Minister of State to back up the very emotional speech she made. I believe she is very genuine about it but please back it up by transferring the healthcare of trans young people to GPs. Take it out of the hands of consultants, challenge these wrong notions and educate people about them.”
“It is almost as if the Cass report recommended a ban. It did not recommend a ban. People need to educate themselves and read up on this. There is no health benefit to what happened in Northern Ireland. It had no health justification; it was a political decision, and people need to change that decision to affirm the rights of young people. I also want to mention recognition of non-binary and intersex people. When I worked in a hospital decades ago, we were coding diagnoses and I saw the diagnosis "ambiguous genitalia". I asked the nurse what happens there and she told me that surgery was done and the parents had to pick male or female. The only surgery being done on young people is that. It is being done in our hospitals because parents are forced to choose a binary.”
“We need to move to a GP-led service just like we did with abortion and every other aspect of healthcare. We do not need a big specialist monolith which people cannot access and must wait ten years. We need this to be done by every GP. It is not rocket science, to use that cliché. Hormones are provided by GPs all the time to young girls with precocious puberty and women in menopause so they are becoming far more familiar with it. It was very moving but I am asking the Minister of State to follow this up because young people have a right to healthcare and it is shameful that political parties are leaning into the far right talking points, including those in Great Britain where transphobia is the order of the day. There is no danger in young people accessing healthcare but there is a danger to their mental health if they do not access it.”
“Often when we are personally affected by something, we appreciate it even more. I also have a trans family member. She was denied a blood test by her GP. That is where we are now. How is it allowed in our health system that a human being goes to the GP and the GP will not do a blood test because she is using hormones? Part of the reason is the National Gender Service, which is not fit for purpose, as I think the Minister of State recognises. Its members are posing as specialists. As far as I know, they are endocrinologists who specialise in obesity - not in trans healthcare - but they are giving GPs the impression that one must be an expert and should not dare assist any young person who is using healthcare that has not been through their GP.”
“We have the demonisation of trans people. We need a secular sex education programme in our schools to challenge these ideas that are being unleashed on the Internet. BeLonGTo was mentioned. When I went back to teaching, I helped to organise a stand up week. This is done voluntarily by teachers in their own time. It is not a standing part of school. It must be made part of all schools to affirm the rights of all young people we teach and to challenge and educate people. I was at the launch of a trans pamphlet and we discussed this. There is an awful lot of ignorance out there and a lot of it is not the fault of people themselves. It has to be challenged. I heard the Minister of State's speech, which was very genuine. There is no question about that so I am asking her to use her power to help trans young people in particular.”
“These statements are very welcome. I thank the Deputy who raised this from the floor because there had been no statements until this. The reason it is important is that it is very clear that despite the massive rights and wonderful gains that were won for LGBT+ people ten years ago and women in terms of repeal, we are in a different era now. We are in a different space It was very noticeable on Pride that fair-weather friend corporations had shrunk to a minuscule delegation following on from what has happened in the US where the tech "broligarchy" is embedded with Trump. The era of rainbow capitalism is gone and we are now seeing attacks on LGBT rights. I will focus on trans rights because we are all agreed that trans, non-binary and intersex people are feeling the brunt of a massive and horrific onslaught.”
“I ask the Taoiseach straight, why would the NPWS not point to the regulation where someone is no longer turning up to work and on the payroll? The information is that James Kilroy can not only keep his children but also that he can keep getting paid by the taxpayer years after killing his wife. Nothing seems to have been done about this. Why is this happening?”
“Can murderers, specifically wife murderers, continue on the State payroll after conviction? Is there any regulation to stop someone receiving State funds years after killing someone, particularly the mother of their child? A number of attempts have been made to find out if James Kilroy, who murdered Valerie French, is still being paid by the National Parks and Wildlife Service, NPWS. My information is that he is. A journalist asked the NPWS and was told it was the subject of legal correspondence. Three freedom of information requests by somebody else have failed to elicit a clear answer. The first response said they could not answer a personal question. The second said that they could not clarify the procedure and it was being dealt with on a case-by-case basis. The third request also failed to elicit an answer.”
“The fact is this is being put down by professional associations in the area to a lack of investment in public dental services. We need massive investment to create a public dental system. We also need to recruit and to open up the recruitment system. For example, we have a situation at the moment where only UCC and Trinity College Dublin provide places. My understanding is that a number of places are for international students so that the colleges can avail of increased fees. The problem with that is that it means those people may not stay and work in the public system. We need to open dentistry up, not just to those who achieve 625 points, which is massively unattainable for most people, and make it something that ordinary young people can get into. Teeth are not luxury item. They are not an accessory.”
“In 2024, 2,000 children were facing a waiting list of over four years for orthodontic treatment. We know most people do not even bother putting their child on the public list. They just save money or get a loan or whatever, and that goes into the hands of private providers. The prices for dentistry have increased dramatically in the past five years by 20%. It has led to what the Irish Dental Association has called a divide between rich and poor on affording care for their teeth. For dentistry that requires a general anaesthetic for children with disabilities or anxiety, the waiting list is even longer; it is well over two years. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, noted that the majority of dental care is private and paid out of pocket.”
“It really is shocking. I welcome this motion. We need much more discussion on this topic. I welcome the fact it has been tabled. A person might pay tax in this country, and this is where the injustice of the tax system comes in. On paper, we have a so-called egalitarian tax system, but in practise, we get nothing for it. I went to France some years ago and had a dental problem and I got treated immediately in the public system for €50. I would be waiting so long in Ireland for that, and it would probably cost thousands of euro. According to the HSE, there are 7,000 children in Ireland waiting for urgent dental care, and 1,100 children have been waiting more than four years. In 2003, 104,000 children missed out on school dentistry checks at which problems can be picked up early.”
“Teeth and gums are essential for a person's overall health. They are also essential for people's self-esteem and that is important as well. This idea that people should go to Turkey and get a loan or save up the money to restore their teeth is not generally done. Maybe celebrities do it, but for most people, it is to get implants to keep their teeth so they can actually smile and so that they do not feel self-conscious. Most important, however, it is related to people's cardiac health. A person I know who is waiting for a heart transplant had to get all of his teeth removed recently because it would be too injurious to his prospects not to do so. Why do we have a dental system where very few elite people can qualify and provide care under the private system and then there is hardly anybody in the public health system?”
“Why are teeth a luxury item in Ireland? Why are they considered an accessory? Everything about our dental system implies that. On one hand, one in six adults over the age of 54 in this country has no natural teeth. The figure for Japan is 15%. It is just completely different. We have a historic and systemic unequal dental system whereby if people are rich and able to pay, they can keep their teeth and keep them straight and white, and if they are poor, they cannot. Then, we have so many more people who have VHI, which does not cover, for example, periodontal treatment at all and yet the way most people lose their teeth is from gum disease. It does not cover orthodontics. Every parent in this country knows that when their child reaches a certain age, they will be coughing up four grand for braces. Why is that?”
“The widespread abuse was inevitable when secretive organisations like this existed. The Christian Brothers have paid €54 million officially, which is a drop in the ocean. We all know they are hiding money. The figure for the Spiritans is €157 million, for the Brothers of Charity, it is €33.9 million, for the Jesuits, it is €43 million and for St. John of God, it is €54 million. It is time for the Criminal Assets Bureau to get that, to take their land and money so they can atone for what they did.”
“They have been designed to reveal as little as possible, not just to protect the church, but also to shield the political establishment and indemnify the State financially. We have a redress scheme operating for the mother and baby homes that excludes many. We need a real reckoning with the gross abuse that took place arising from the inordinate power given to the Catholic Church by the Irish State in the century since Independence. Rather than establishing public systems of education, health and care, the State handed over control of these to the church, which resisted any feeble efforts made to establish public education and health. This is not an historical issue as 90% of primary schools are still religious-run and just 5% are multidenominational. On redress, it is time to seize the church's assets. We all know the money is there.”
“The revelations of child sexual abuse in schools run by the Spiritan religious order, particularly Blackrock College, where adult men bravely spoke out - I salute them - about their ruined childhoods at the hands of abusers, indicate massive under-reporting of male abuse generally. We need a secular, objective sex education programme to educate children about abuse - something the religious orders that run these schools have resisted at every hand's turn, along with the far right, on the grounds of protecting children. Physical abuse has not been included and no redress has been indicated. For far too long, whenever it is put under pressure from a particular scandal or revelation, the Irish establishment has commissioned piecemeal reports or commissions, as seen by the official commission into the mother and baby homes.”
“I declare my solidarity with all those affected and their families, who still bear the scars and carry the legacy of this abuse. So many abused children went on to develop addictions and health issues as a result of the heinous trauma inflicted upon them. The scale of abuse that was revealed in the scoping inquiry that led to this commission is simply astounding. A total of 2,395 allegations of abuse have been made against 888 alleged abusers but, again, this was in a very small range of schools. Shockingly and sickeningly, almost one quarter were in schools for children with additional needs. We must bear in mind that the inquiry was limited.”
“There is nothing else. What else can we do? If someone comes to any of us with a termination notice, having gone to the Residential Tenancies Board and Threshold, what else can we offer them? The Government has taken away the budget for the scheme. In Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council, in practically the whole of Dublin and most of the country, this has gone as an option. What is the Government offering people who have termination and evictions notice pending?”
“It is absolutely pathetic that the only thing the Government can offer young people to reduce the price of a home is to reduce its size. Going from 37 sq. m to 32 sq. m means these units will be smaller than a mobile home. Eight of them, apparently, would fit on a playing pitch. The estimated cost reduction this will bring about is between €28,000 and €40,000. It still will not make apartments affordable for any workers, including teachers, nurses or anyone else. It will not stop the exodus. In addition, the Government is loosening the regulations for builders in regard to light and the provision of windows. Yet again, it is a developer-led system. Fingal County Council has announced it has stopped the tenant in situ scheme. The only possible means by which a TD can save any person from homelessness has now been removed.”
“Has the Taoiseach raised with the Canadian Prime Minister the ongoing support of Canada for Israel, which is very unfortunate, and Canada's commitment to spend 5% of GDP on arms and to participate in ReArm Europe? Points have been made by a previous TD about democratic values that we share. TDs who went and dined with the US ambassador while it is funding a genocide are lecturing the rest of us about democratic values but I have been on more marches for Woman, Life, Freedom in Iran, something that that Deputy could never go on because he struck a woman once and paid no price, so I would stay very quiet. I have also been on protests outside the embassy of the USSR, which is something that Deputy has never done. We hear a lot of lectures from people about democratic values. They never raise the values of the US, Canada and other nations.”
“When a Democrat Congresswoman emerged from there yesterday, she was shaken and completely unable to speak about the horrors she witnessed. We have a duty to speak up about human rights abuses in the US or any other powerful nation and not to be deterred for economic reasons.”
“The ongoing genocide in Gaza is obviously a stain on the European community and the US. Is the fear over tariffs going to inhibit our Government from raising serious human rights abuses within the US? I have seen videos - I am sure the Taoiseach has too - of children shackled and chained in an LA detention centre by ICE and being transported, in scenes reminiscent of the Holocaust, before the end of the Second World War. I have also seen alligator Alcatraz, in which hundreds of people are being detained, with no convictions and no charges, in the Everglades, in Florida. Trump has called these people deranged and dangerous. They are being kept in cages in a swampland with pythons and alligators. There are 700 people there, apparently.”
“This has not received the publicity it deserves, but it has come out and said that as a society, as a professional organisation, it calls for "an immediate end to the practice of accessing therapy notes in legal cases involving rape and sexual assault..." and essentially backs my Bill. This has to be ruled out. It is something the Minister can do. We do not have juries for the Special Criminal Court because there was an emergency. There is an emergency of gender-based violence.”
“I have been approached by loads of people who have been victims of rape and whose cases were not taken. It is extremely upsetting that, having gone to the trouble of reporting and getting a medical, the DPP then says "No". In the case of Nikita, it is just incredible that the case of somebody with that level of injuries was not taken. I salute her and so many others for standing up to very wealthy people and now facing deny, attack and reverse victim and offender, DARVO, tactics in the courts. The Psychological Society of Ireland has come out in absolute opposition to the idea of counselling notes being used in any way.”
“It jars with me greatly because it is such an easy thing to declare and announce that a place has zero tolerance when we know that is not the case. There is huge tolerance of violence against women in our society, in this building and in so many workplaces, and so on. The culture of violence against women is rooted in inequality, patriarchy, and economic inequality, etc. I have very little time so I will quickly mention two issues about our legal system. We put people through the most obscene legal misogyny. The first thing I will mention is the DPP because this is an issue that needs more attention. We all know of the case Nikita Hand bravely took against Conor McGregor and won in the civil courts. Nikita should not have had to take that case. The DPP should not have a veto over cases in this way. It is not the first time.”
“I welcome those present in the Public Gallery for this debate. The Minister mentioned at the beginning of his remarks that he would speak to representatives of the GAA about the game changer campaign. Obviously, I welcome any move by sporting organisations because they have such access to children, to girls and boys. Nobody against whom credible accusations of domestic violence have been made should be managing any sports team. This applies to soccer as well; I am not targeting the GAA. When the Minister speaks to representatives of the GAA he needs to check the GAA's safeguarding policies, that they are robust and based on best up-to-date practice because that does not seem to be the case. I will also mention the phrase "zero tolerance".”
“This Saturday, trans, non-binary and intersex people will march in Trans and Intersex Pride Dublin. It is estimated that at least 1.7% of the population is born intersex and their parents have to choose one or the other - male or female - even though they may have characteristics that do not conform strictly to either male or female. When will we review the Gender Recognition Act and allow non-binary people, who are recognised in many sports - for example, the Dublin marathon recognised non-binary status - but who are not legally recognised on passports and birth certificates.”
“My office has been contacted by someone who became an Irish citizen and was not able to have their non-binary status recognised on their passport, or the new name they adopted in the country they came from. Non-binary and intersex status is recognised in Denmark, Germany, Malta, Iceland, the Netherlands and even the USA, as well as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, India and so many other countries I do not have time to list. As well as people who come here from those countries who may have this issue, it is people in Ireland who are non-binary and identify as neither male nor female are having their true selves negated by us not recognising non-binary people in the Gender Recognition Act 2015, an Act that was meant to be reviewed a long time ago.”
“It seems mealy-mouthed in the extreme to call it a genocide when, as one of the richest countries in the world, with a massive budget surplus and health service, a basic thing we could do is to treat some of these children who have suffered the most appalling treatment. They are now being checked repeatedly to ensure that only one person is coming with them. This is terrible. Why is this GAA club facing these barriers? The Tánaiste cited child protection. The GAA itself has comprehensive child protection rules. We opened up for American Football and all sorts of other things in recent times. These children are coming to participate in a well-known institution in this country. They are coming to visit Croke Park and play matches but their visas are being stalled.”