Seán Crowe
Dublin South-West · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“Tallaght and the wider south-west Dublin region have been among the fastest growing parts of the State for decades, yet transport investment has consistently failed to keep pace with the growth. Thousands of new homes planned and a rising population place even greater pressure on our roads and public transport networks.”
“There is a commitment in the programme for Government to enhance driver training but this has not been of much comfort to learner drivers who cannot get an appointment for a test. Numbers on the waiting lists for driving tests continue to climb and waiting times grow longer.”
“I have raised this on a number of occasions, including with different Governments. Could the Tánaiste give the people who rely on the Tallaght and Dún Laoghaire test centres assurances that a new test centre will be opened in south Dublin in 2026? This is something that needs to be tackled.”
“Economic growth means little if it fails to improve people’s lives. Climate action remains one of the defining challenges of our generation, but the transition to a greener economy must be a just one. Workers, families and rural communities cannot be expected to shoulder the cost while large polluters continue to profit.”
“Mar a dúirt an tAire, Ireland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union comes at a defining moment for Ireland and Europe. Communities across the Continent are facing soaring living costs, deepening inequality, housing crises, climate change and growing international instability.”
“Ireland must be at the heart of drafting Europe’s new strategy for security and defence. We need to ensure that the core principles of European foreign policy include accountability for breaches of international law and meaningful international efforts to secure just and lasting peace in many conflicts just beyond our borders.”
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“The capital, Khartoum, is a ghost town and civilians have been the target of the most dreadful war crimes. Such situations only deteriorate further in the absence of dedicated aid programmes and Sudan is only one such conflict. Irish Aid does fantastic work but Ireland is a small player when it comes to the overall amount of funding. The gap created by USAID presents a challenge to the EU to respond, particularly in Africa where Chinese projects have created more tangible results as part of the belt and road initiative. The EU is a source of major funding but sometimes we have to ask whether overseas development assistance is going to the right places to produce the same tangible results. I am deeply worried that as the EU is looking to be increasingly militarised as part of Readiness 2030, it will come at the expense of foreign aid.”
“The US has made clear its intention to step back from the world. The cessation of USAID around the world makes that clear. It could be the death sentence for millions as programmes combatting HIV, climate change and malnutrition run out of money. Even programmes monitoring outbreaks of diseases such as ebola have been cut. In a post Covid world, we can all appreciate the short-sighted folly of such decisions. Foreign aid is as important now as it has ever been. There is much conflict in the world that goes on without much notice although it affects the lives of untold millions. One of the most serious situations is in Sudan, which has worsened beyond all pessimistic predictions. Hundreds of thousands are dead and millions displaced. Some 30 million require UN aid. Cholera and famine once again stalk the country.”
“The international community has stood by while shells and bombs have rained down on innocent people with genocidal fury. Talk, such as we had in this Chamber, about watering down the occupied territories Bill only emboldens Benjamin Netanyahu and his cronies to commit further war crimes. Meaningful sanctions must be imposed by Ireland, the EU and the wider world. This was done against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. We agree with and support those measures. Indeed, they could be expanded against Russia and then against Israel because we can no longer expect the US to put a brake on Israel before it goes too far anymore. In fact, talk about turning Gaza into a new riviera only signals that they do not care if every Palestinian is killed or driven out and hotels are built on the dead bodies.”
“Those ultranationalists did not accept the ceasefire and now the price for their support is dead Palestinians, so that a budget can be passed by the Knesset and an election avoided. This is all done with the tacit approval of the American Administration. Indeed, the US is blaming Hamas for the renewed violence when it has yet to retaliate to this latest bloodshed. I say this not in support of Hamas but as an indication of how apparent it is that the wholesale destruction of the Palestinian people, first in Gaza and then beyond, is a very real possibility that the world must now accept exists. The international community must take a more active role in standing up against the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people because we have utterly failed to do so.”
“The ceasefire in Gaza has been abandoned by the Israelis. It has not just been breached; it has been blown to pieces. They never wanted a ceasefire and have now abandoned negotiations on an exchange of hostages and prisoners. Netanyahu says the negotiations will only take place under fire. Already, Israeli forces have moved to partition the Gaza strip. Air strikes have recommenced in Gaza and southern Lebanon. Hundreds are dead, the vast majority of them women and children. Even the UN finds itself in the line of fire with at least one of its workers dead. Netanyahu says that this is only the beginning. His domestic position is weak and he relies on the far-right ultranationalists to keep his Government afloat.”
“Will he guarantee or give a commitment that no school will have to close and move to online learning due to a lack of funding?”
“The programme for Government commits to increasing capitation funding to schools to ensure that schools can meet elevated day-to-day running costs and reduce the financial burden on families. A school in my constituency was forced to consider closing from April and moving to online learning. It is not the only school in the area experiencing huge challenges in meeting its day-to-day running costs. Sacred Heart Junior National School has received advanced funding in order that it can stay open until the end of the school year. Both parents and staff are worried about the impact this will have on funding for next year. Does the Tánaiste know of any other schools in the same boat? Does he share my concern that the current capitation system is not fit for purpose?”
“The landlord will say he is giving all the information and the local authority will say it has all the information, but it has not been able to sign off on the scheme. There are problems with the scheme but it is a lifeline for ordinary families. We are asking that the Minister throw out that lifeline, give certainty to the market and resolve this outstanding issue.”
“It does not make any sense but the Government seems to take every opportunity to make the housing crisis even worse. We have heard during the debate about the number of people, some 2,500 households, who were saved from homelessness. Families with children, couples and single people, including pensioners, have been prevented from enduring long stays in emergency accommodation because councils were able to buy their private homes. We know the scheme works. The question for the Minister is why he has not signed off on the scheme and why councils are waiting for an answer from his Department. I was dealing earlier with a case of a family whose landlord is going out to the market tomorrow, having already got in a valuer. The house has gone up by €30,000 in value since it went into this scheme.”
“The Ukrainian people cannot be held to ransom as the threat of violent subjugation hangs over their heads. The war must end and Ukraine must be restored so that millions of displaced people, those who stayed in Ukraine and those who fled with their families to safety, can go home and begin to build their lives in peace. Those who lent supplies and arms during the conflict must commit to building and supporting any peace process as vigorously as they did in contributing to the war.”
“That was only an escalation of the unrest and disruption that had already displaced thousands. Sadly, the doctrine of the Russian world is the idea that anyone in the Russian sphere of influence is theirs by right and that the Sea of Azov should be Russian alone. This is naked Russian imperialism and nothing less, with a desire to conquer and colonise eastern Ukraine for its industrialised areas and wealth of natural resources. Imperialism and colonisation have no place in the modern world. No one State can deny the self-determination of another. Countries cannot aid Ukraine in war only to turn it into a vassal state afterwards. The surrender of territory or mineral resources cannot be a precondition to peace or support during a conflict.”
“Ireland, a neutral country, a country that was occupied, divided and colonised, is well suited to acting as an honest broker in a situation such as this. The world has need of such intermediaries as it becomes more and more polarised. In more than 100 years we have not seen such a large number of great powers eye each other with such wariness and suspicion. We see this in the UN Security Council where, for the first time, all five of the permanent members seem to be pulling in different directions. In the absence of arbiters who can stand and be trusted to act without fear or favour, ending a war such as this becomes all the harder, if not impossible. The Ukrainian people cannot afford for this war to go on and on. This war did not begin three years ago.”
“Ireland stands resolutely with the Ukrainian people as they defend their nation's right to freedom and sovereignty. Sinn Féin supports the utilisation of all diplomatic, economic and financial sanctions against Russia in response to the breaches of international law and flagrant disregard for human rights. As a neutral country, Ireland must be consistent in its stand for the observance of international law, whether it is by Russia, Israel or any other country. The efforts of the international community must be focused on building a pathway to peace through engagement and dialogue. Too many lives have already been lost. Too many have been destroyed as a result of the loss of homes or loved ones. The war must end with the unconditional withdrawal of the Russian military and their foreign allies from Ukrainian territory.”
“I am really concerned; 18,000 are waiting. Will I have to raise this at Easter and there will be 20,000 then? In another couple of months will it be 25,000? We need solutions.”
“The programme for Government refers to road safety in terms of enhancing driver training and introducing re-education courses for those who commit road traffic offences. I have raised the issue of the backlog of the Tallaght test centre with three different Ministers and now two different taoisigh. Five years ago, there were 5,000 people on the waiting list in Tallaght. There are now 18,000 waiting to sit their test. I do not know where the capacity for retraining and retesting will come from. Talk of additional tests is a drop in the ocean for what is required. Can the Taoiseach outline how his Government promises to deal with this ongoing backlog and demand in places like Tallaght? I suggested the opening of an additional testing centre in south Dublin but this seems to have fallen on deaf ears.”
“We should encourage the use of public transport as the first option but that is not always a practical solution as we have heard tonight. If people want to get a job in Intel, for instance, it might take a half an hour drive on a good day but it takes about two and a half hours to get from Tallaght as there is no direct route. That is the problem right across the board. We have to stop this discrimination against drivers. The Minister of State needs to give us answers as to how he is going to solve this when he gets a chance.”
“I want answers on when the Government will clear this. When I asked Eamon Ryan, who talked about new testers, he could not tell me whether he would be able to deal with the backlog. Clearly, there is a need for an additional test centre in south Dublin. Dún Laoghaire was the second highest when Eamon Ryan was in office. The population has exploded, as we have heard, in the last 20 years but there are even new towns since the last centre was opened. As the population grows, the provision of centres must grow with it, otherwise there will be bottlenecks and that is just not common sense. Additional testers and centres are welcome, but that only allows us to tread water. We have had temporary testers in the past and that only slowed the rising numbers. It did not do anything to break the backlog.”
“The difficulty people right across the State have in accessing a driving test, particularly those who rely on the test centre in Tallaght, is something I have raised in this Chamber not just for years, but over several Dáileanna. I remember raising the fact the waiting list in Tallaght had passed the 5,000 mark and urging that immediate action be taken before things completely spiralled out of control. That was with the then Minister, Shane Ross, back in 2020. I remember raising the matter with the then Minister, Eamon Ryan, when the number passed 10,000, and here we are now and there are over 18,000 people waiting in Tallaght. That is a population the size of Clonmel or Malahide, all waiting on a test in one centre. Will I be raising this at Easter, when it reaches 20,000? It is a fair question.”
“I visited a school where the toilets were not wide enough. Some of the children are very big. That is not just an issue in the school in question. I have also seen it in other schools. Children soil themselves and there is nowhere to wash them. There are basic things that we need to do. Families are struggling. I welcome the fact that the Minister said she will work with us and we will work with her.”
“There was mention earlier of a school in our constituency that does life-changing work for children with complex needs but the accommodation is not fit for purpose. It is not fit for the 21st century. I was deeply disturbed when I went there and saw the conditions that teachers are working in and children are experiencing. There were challenges all over the place. The Minister is aware of the situation and correspondence has being going back and forth with the school. Major works are required in every area. A consultant's report is required and I was told the cost could be up to €2,000. Perhaps that is something the Minister could consider. We are aware of the summer works programme and all the other things, but a lot of work is required. That issue needs to be considered for schools. Most schools do not have that money.”
“I listened to the Minister of State and wish him and the Minister well in their jobs. The Minister of State mentioned the parents in the Gallery. I am conscious that there are people here from Tallaght and the Dublin South-West constituency. Others are probably watching from home. I am conscious that there would have been many more parents here but for the fact that they cannot get out because of the lack of childcare facilities or someone to look after their children with special needs. The area I represent has seen tremendous growth in the past 20 years but many of the services, especially in disability and special education for young people, have not kept up. It has gone very slowly and has not kept up. I know that from talking to families. Vulnerable children and their parents are being left behind.”