Sarah O'Reilly
Agricultural Panel · Aontú · Ireland
“I support Senator Harmon in everything she has said. I want to raise the ongoing crisis in assessments of need and the impact this is having on families in Cavan and Monaghan. Earlier this year, I was helping a mother whose young son had been offered a place in an early intervention preschool.”
“In Cavan and Monaghan alone there are 578 overdue assessments. I commend Cara Darmody on continuing to shine a light on this issue. She is absolutely right when she says children are missing the window for early intervention. We all know that the earlier a child gets support, the better the outcome. These early years are precious.”
“Parents should not have to pay out of their own pocket because the State has failed to meet its own legal obligations. Disability teams continue to be short-staffed while many newly qualified therapists and psychologists cannot get the supervised placements and recognised experience they need to practise.”
“She has already had two near misses, as she calls them, that left her badly shaken. She describes Cavan's footpaths as being like a racetrack and says she dreads leaving her home now. That should not be the case. This is not just about an inconvenience.”
“I also welcome the delegation from Canada. They are very welcome. I have three sons living and working in Manitoba, Souris and Brandon. I bring up the issue of e-scooters. Imagine being afraid every time you step outside your own front door. That is a daily occurrence for a visually impaired woman living in Cavan town.”
“People had to take long detours just to get to school. The Department said that inspections carried out in March 26 found around 130 roads needed complete reconstruction, 440 had significant damage and several bridges could no longer be used. I believe those figures cover the entire country. My question is simple.”
The complete record
Every one of 719 lines we hold for Sarah O'Reilly, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 15 of 15.
“In the run-up to International Women's Day, I want to acknowledge and recognise a woman who is suffering greatly in a bid to get justice for her son, Noah Donohoe. Each and every one of us is someone's child. Many of us have a child or children of our own who we know could very well have been Noah. If what happened to this family was to happen to any one of us, none of us would ever stop looking for answers. We would never give up and I know, with this case in particular, the public are keeping a tight eye on it.”
“Principles, intelligent, critical thinking and genuine care for the electorate trumped Government virtue signalling. On the topic of the referendum, most of the carers in our country are women. There have been many promises from the Government to end the cruel and unfair means test on carer’s allowance that discriminates against women. Many women provide care full time but are denied financial supports because they are judged on the basis of their husbands' or partners' incomes. When will the Government get rid of the means test for carers? The programme for Government states that the aim is to phase it out. That is simply not good enough.”
“On the subject of International Women’s Day, 8 March will mark the first anniversary of the resounding defeat of the family and care referendums, which, had they been passed, would not only have stripped Irish women of their special inclusion in our Constitution, they also would have diluted the already scant rights of family carers even further. It is hard to believe that the National Women’s Council pushed to delete the word “mother” from the Constitution. Aontú, along with a handful of others, took on the might of the entire establishment in live debates. A few good men and women boldly faced down Ministers who were insulated by a compliant Opposition and the weight of many highly paid but unelected NGOs, all willing to ram the referendums through. However, right prevailed over might.”
“Fáilte and best of luck to the Minister in her new role. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate on women’s health. The Department of Health has released statistics to Aontú which show that there is a 12% difference in the five-year survival chances for women diagnosed with breast cancer in public hospitals versus those diagnosed in private hospitals. This is a very sad statistic. It is shocking to think that 12 more women out of every 100 will die after being diagnosed in a public hospital compared with those diagnosed in private hospitals. I hope those outcomes will improve during the Minister’s term in office.”
“In my area, there is a significant dependence on non-national route networks for many households, farmers and businesses. People deserve to have the roads brought up to a proper and respectable standard, with the assurance that this standard will be maintained. The previous Government used the previous Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, almost as a fall guy when it came to issues of road maintenance and funding. I ask that the current Minister, Darragh O'Brien, be invited to address this shortfall in funding. If we do not, then the people of Cavan and Monaghan will face years of endless patchwork repairs and substandard roads.”
“I welcome the recent announcement from the Department of Transport that there will be an increase in funding to improve rural and regional roads in Cavan and Monaghan. While this is an encouraging step in the right direction, it does not allow for the overall shortfall that we saw in funding between 2008 and 2023. Over that 15-year period, there was a shortfall of €105 million in the funding for road improvements and maintenance in Cavan alone. The drop in spending is reflected in the condition of the roads around Cavan and Monaghan today. There are massive issues and serious road depreciation. The current rate of funding will never get our roads to an acceptable standard for the people who work hard, pay taxes and already have to spend an extortionate amount of money to run their vehicles.”
“They are passionate about preserving our lands and heritage, but they are asking for fairness and for policies that reflect the reality of farming life on the ground. I urge the Minister for agriculture to listen closely to the concerns and issues raised by the INHFA. Rural Ireland’s future depends on our ability to protect the environment while also ensuring that family farms can survive and thrive. This policy was a sleight of hand. It disproportionately affects farmers in western counties and wrongly classifies good land, thereby imposing unnecessary and unfair restrictions. The proposal must be halted. I call on the Minister for agriculture to stand with the farmers, not in opposition.”
“I thank the Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association for raising a crucial issue and bringing it directly to the doorstep of the Dáil and Department of agriculture today. I had the privilege of joining the protest and hearing at first hand the genuine concerns and frustrations that these farmers are facing due to the recent decision to include mineral soils under GAEC 2. This policy fails to differentiate between peat lands and mineral soils and is simply unfair. It places a disproportionate burden on farmers, who are already grappling with the pressures of rising costs, changing regulations and the complexities of sustainable farming. The farmers I spoke to today were not against environmental protection.”
“The irresponsible and reckless planting by Coillte was disastrous. There must be serious monitoring, control and sanctioning of Coillte for irresponsibly and recklessly planting close to power lines. We need to ensure that the planting corridors are widened and that regulations are being observed by Coillte.”
“I know people who were travelling 40 minutes to Navan to get fuel for their generators. That is how bad it was in our area. I want to bring up the issue of cash as well. It was really highlighted that the Government needs to do more to protect cash and the use of cash. When power was lost, shops that could open could not accept card payments. The move towards a completely cashless society does not allow for these environmental disasters, so that needs to be looked at. I want to thank my local shop, Supervalu, which opened its doors, provided hot water and allowed people to charge their devices. Coillte also has to be taken to task in relation to Cavan, west Cavan and Leitrim given the number of issues that arose because of fallen forestry and corridors that were not maintained.”
“I agree with some of my colleagues who spoke about the need to address vulnerable people in our areas and also about hot food, which was a big issue in my area too. This kind of power outage has been happening in Leitrim and west Cavan for years and people there have been shouting very loudly about it but nobody took any notice until now. It is good that we are going to address it now. Some people in my area were lucky enough to have generators but they ran out of fuel after five days. The filling stations in my area were not pumping fuel because they had no electricity so unless people had stored fuel, they would have run out. Unless they had a transistor or car radio, they would have had no way of finding out where there was fuel available. In order to get fuel, people would have had to have fuel in their cars.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming in to listen to us today. When Storm Éowyn happened the people in my constituency were hit really hard. There was loss of connectivity, electricity, water, as well as fuel shortages and a total blackout in my area. An 84 year old man looking after his 83 year old wife with dementia could not call for help because there was no network coverage. They had no power, water, or heat and no way to cook. His wife stopped drinking water because she did not want to use the bathroom as there was no water to flush the toilet. As a result of this, she became severely dehydrated and developed sepsis. Vulnerable people were left isolated and alone, often with no way to reach out for help. They had no panic buttons and no one was checking in on them.”
“Why is rural Ireland being left behind again and again? I call on the Minister for communications, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Alan Dillon, to hold broadband providers to account. There should be no more excuses, no more evading answers and no more delays. People have already waited five weeks.”
“Many rural areas already suffer from poor mobile phone networks, making landlines and broadband essential, yet broadband providers are nowhere to be found. There is no customer service, no accountability and no urgency to restore services. People are looking to the Government for help. They feel ignored and badly let down. I invite the Minister to drive around Cavan and Monaghan and see for himself the appalling state of communications infrastructure there - Eir lines holding up falling trees, cables drooping dangerously low and dangling along ditches, and thousands of poles like little leaning towers of Pisa. The damage is so obvious, with no sign of a provider service crew. How is this acceptable? Broadband providers seem to be answerable to nobody. If this were Dublin, it would be sorted in days.”
“We are now five weeks from Storm Éowyn and while ESB crews worked tirelessly to restore power, broadband services remain in total disarray. Many people across Cavan and Monaghan are still without a connection for broadband, landlines and network coverage. People are completely stranded, especially those working from home and those whose livelihood depends on connectivity. I will take the example of a family in my constituency who recently brought home their newborn baby. What should be a time of celebration is consumed with anxiety and stress, as they have to drive 10 km to an out farm because they cannot access their calving camera. It might sound like a small thing to us, but it is extremely frustrating for them. They are not alone.”
“With farmers having spent large amounts of money to comply with and qualify for this scheme, I ask that the Minister for agriculture address the issue urgently.”
“I wish to raise an issue causing farmers great distress, namely, ACRES payments. I have been working on a number of identical cases in which farmers have been denied payments as far back as 2023. In my communication with the Department, it is quite obvious to all that the farmers are not to blame in these cases. In December when I followed up on the issue, I was told by the Department of agriculture that there were a lot of issues holding payments up and it cited penalties. I was assured that payment would issue in January. It is now mid-February and, as recently as yesterday, I was advised that there was a functionality issue and an IT issue. I was advised that payments would issue in mid-March.”
“I am talking about people with dementia who are in their 80s, and people with children with autism who need devices to help to regulate them. By the end of it, I had people calling me to tell me that their father was dying and had no oxygen, yet all the Government had to offer were open libraries for charging devices. If something like this happens in the future, we will need a more organised response. Therefore, I ask the Leader to invite the Minister for local government to the Seanad in order that we can ask about future storm responses.”
“I extend my congratulations to the Cathaoirleach on his election as Cathaoirleach of the House and to Seanadóir Seán Kyne on his appointment as Leader. I will begin my first speech in this Chamber by thanking those who voted for me. I remember in a special way Councillor Anthony Waldron who passed away recently. He was a gentleman and we held a lot of the same political values. I extend my sympathies to his friends and family. My home county, Cavan, was badly affected by Storm Éowyn. The people are extremely angry and older and vulnerable people in particular felt abandoned. The lack of practical, tangible support from the Government was badly exposed and it was unacceptable. People who were classed as vulnerable by the ESB were not reconnected for 15 or 16 days.”