Seamus Healy
Tipperary South · Independent · Ireland
“Across Ireland, 624,000 people provide regular unpaid care to children and adults with additional needs. A recent 2026 report on care shows that 75% of carers never received respite, 49% cut back on essentials such as food and heating, and 48% experienced severe loneliness.”
“Respite and residential services for persons with intellectual disabilities are in crisis. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides the right to live independently in the community with choices equal to others.”
“It states, "Our campaign started with a simple question: 'Who will provide the care my daughter needs when I am no longer able to care for her?'" It continues, "It is not uncommon to hear parents say; I would hope my son or daughter goes before me. Then at least I know he or she is safe.”
“What is needed urgently and what is called for in that submission is, first, an emergency funded plan in budget 2027 to address the needs of parents in their 70s, 80s and 90s who cannot wait for systemic change.”
“Down the centuries, generations of Irish men and women espoused the desire for a 32-county independent sovereign republic. As far back as the 1790s, Theobald Wolfe Tone, the father of Irish republicanism, focused on a vision of complete separation from Britain, the elimination of sectarian divisions and the unity of Catholic, Protestant a…”
“He saw partition as a reactionary device to divide the Irish working class. Again, how right he was. This Bill requires the Government to prepare and publish a Green Paper on Irish unity, convene a citizens' assembly, engage with communities and provide regular updates to the Oireachtas.”
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“This is deeply unfair and I would ask that the Minister ensure the carer's allowance payment is disregarded for purposes of assessment of the working family payment.”
“Across Ireland, 624,000 people provide regular unpaid care to children and adults with additional needs. A recent 2026 report on care shows that 75% of carers never received respite, 49% cut back on essentials such as food and heating, and 48% experienced severe loneliness. Of course, these carers saved the State millions of euro annually. I have a specific question arising from a family in my constituency. This family's severely disabled teenaged son passed away last year after a long and traumatic illness. The dad had to give up work but is now in a position to return to work. He is being penalised by way of a reduction of his working family payment because his wife's carer's allowance for another family member is assessed against him.”
“What is needed urgently and what is called for in that submission is, first, an emergency funded plan in budget 2027 to address the needs of parents in their 70s, 80s and 90s who cannot wait for systemic change. The Government in the medium term needs to publish a fully funded and resourced five-year plan for community living for people with intellectual disability. It should be prepared jointly by the Departments of disability and housing, the HSE, local authorities and the approved housing bodies. I support this important motion and thank the Social Democrats for bringing it forward at this time.”
“It states, "Our campaign started with a simple question: 'Who will provide the care my daughter needs when I am no longer able to care for her?'" It continues, "It is not uncommon to hear parents say; I would hope my son or daughter goes before me. Then at least I know he or she is safe. That’s how bad the situation is." It further states: There is an urgent need for systemic change in disability services. It needs to focus on housing and care for adults with [intellectual disability] whose parents are aging and no longer able to provide full-time care. Over 2,000 adults with [intellectual disability] live with parents aged 70 [years] or older, with 500 parents being over 80 [years of age] and some even in their 90s.”
“Respite and residential services for persons with intellectual disabilities are in crisis. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provides the right to live independently in the community with choices equal to others. They must have access to a range of in-home, residential and other community services, including personal assistance. In Ireland these rights are honoured more in the breach than in the observance. The true level of need for residential and respite services is unknown and, consequently, there is no plan to deal with this, meaning that too often the HSE responds to emergency situations. A recent submission to the Oireachtas disability matters committee by the organisation Before We Die is worth quoting. It sets out the stark nature of the current situation.”
“I have no confidence that the strategy outlined in this Bill will lead to a united Ireland. We must develop a 32-county campaign for an all-Ireland referendum on Irish unity.”
“He saw partition as a reactionary device to divide the Irish working class. Again, how right he was. This Bill requires the Government to prepare and publish a Green Paper on Irish unity, convene a citizens' assembly, engage with communities and provide regular updates to the Oireachtas. Reports, information and discussions can, of course, be helpful. However, the Bill is framed in the context of a border poll, with separate polls on each side of the Border. That is not a national referendum. Even the decision to hold such a poll is solely the prerogative of Britain and the British Secretary of State for the North. The current Secretary of State, by the way, has already said there is no prospect of a border poll for generations to come. We must not allow Britain to decide our future.”
“In his essay "Socialism and Nationalism", Connolly wrote: "If you remove the English Army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organisation of the Socialist Republic your efforts will be in vain." How right he was. Then we had the War of Independence, which, again, was very much Tipperary driven. The Soloheadbeg ambush of 21 January 1919 was the first military action of the war, led by the Tipperary big four of Robinson, Treacy, Breen and Hogan. All of those actions, from 1798 onwards, were predicated on the demand for at least a 32-county independent sovereign republic. James Connolly, writing in the Irish Worker in 1914 in reaction to partition proposals at the time, said partition would create "a carnival of reaction" North and South.”
“Four of the leaders of that rebellion, William Smith O'Brien, Thomas Francis Meagher, Terence Bellew MacManus and Patrick O'Donoghue, were tried at Clonmel Courthouse, convicted and sentenced to death, with that sentence later commuted to transportation. The Fenian rising of 1867 came next. It produced a very radical manifesto declaring an Irish republic nearly 50 years before the 1916 Proclamation. That manifesto was a progressive document advocating separation of church and state, universal suffrage and the restoration of land to the people. Then came the 1916 Rising, which was deeply rooted in the Fenian tradition. The rebels were joined by James Connolly's Irish Citizen Army, the aim of which was the creation of a 32-county socialist workers' republic.”
“Down the centuries, generations of Irish men and women espoused the desire for a 32-county independent sovereign republic. As far back as the 1790s, Theobald Wolfe Tone, the father of Irish republicanism, focused on a vision of complete separation from Britain, the elimination of sectarian divisions and the unity of Catholic, Protestant and dissenter under the common name of "Irishmen". He wanted to see a restructuring of society whereby power would be wielded by the people rather than by the landed gentry. The polices and ideas of Tone and the United Irishmen fanned the flames of rebellions after 1798. Those rebellions included Robert Emmet's attempt in 1803. The Young Ireland rebellion of 1848 was a very Tipperary-based action, the setting of which was the Widow McCormack's house near the village of Ballingarry in south Tipperary.”
“There should be better pay and conditions for early educators, who should be paid directly by the State. Public childcare is also a key issue for equality. We know that where the public system operates, women are much more likely to participate fully in society, whether that be in work, education, the arts or even in politics. The biggest obstacles for lone parents entering the workforce are the high cost and lack of availability of childcare. A public childcare service would certainly help in this regard. I thank Sinn Féin for bringing forward this motion, which I support.”
“This is increasingly the view of all those operating in the sector and of those observing it, including the citizens' assembly; the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, UNCRC; the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW; and Together for Public, an alliance of over 40 organisations, including the National Women's Council of Ireland, trade unions, academics, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, early childcare educators and many other civil society organisations. Childcare must be seen as a right for all and not as a commercial service. That means having a public childcare service similar to our primary schools. There should be a guaranteed legal right to affordable, accessible and universal early education for ever child.”
“There are huge challenges currently facing the early-years sector. They include serious deficiencies in capacity; thousands of children on waiting lists; some parents paying up to €800 per month for childcare costs; poor pay and conditions for staff; and serious problems in recruitment and retention of staff. The current situation is untenable in the long term. The only solution is the roll-out of a publicly funded and delivered service.”
“The provision of childcare services is an area in which I have had a particular interest and involvement for over 30 years. The Elm Park area childcare committee brought together community activists and parents from this area of Clonmel with the aim of providing a not-for-profit childcare service for the area. Clever Clogs, as we know it, is a community-based facility which provides a not-for-profit, quality childcare service in a purpose-built unit, supported by the local community. It has a local board of management, committee staff and parents. It receives exceptional support from the county childcare committee. As chairperson of the board of management, I express my thanks and appreciation to all those involved in Clever Clogs, particularly the manager and staff of the centre, the parents and my fellow board members.”
“We should also remove dental nurses, dental technicians and hygienists from the ineligible list for employment permits and add them to the critical skills list. That would allow recruitment from areas outside the EU. Direct access to dental nurses, hygienists and technicians should be introduced in a similar way that pharmacists can now prescribe in limited regulated circumstances. The legislation in this area is well over 40 years old. It is absolutely outdated and requires urgent updating. I support this motion and compliment Deputy Cullinane and Sinn Féin on bringing it forward.”
“What we need is a fully-funded resourced and staffed public dental service, and that should be established as a matter of priority. That requires a determined focused and multifaceted strategy to retain the existing dentists and to recruit additional dentists into the public dental service. To do that, a significant number of additional training places for dental professionals at third level must be put in place. Currently, there are only 70 dentists qualifying each year. That will increase in the next academic cycle to 87 due to the new dental school at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. However, because of the fact that these colleges use fees from overseas students, 44% of students in them are from overseas, so it is almost certain that up to half of the students will never practice in Ireland.”
“That is totally unacceptable. Of course, there is also the six-year wait for orthodontic treatment. Parents are being forced into private orthodontic treatment costing literally thousands of euro, sometimes as high as €6,000, €7,000 or €8,000, or their children must suffer on. Orthodontic treatment, as we know, is time sensitive and should be available when necessary. Middle-income and low-income families suffer most due to the lack of the public orthodontic service. Even in the private service, dentists tell us that 25% are not accepting new adult patients and 33% are not accepting new child private patients. The ratio of dentists to patients in this country is one to 2,160, therefore we are at the lowest quartile of OECD in that regard. The dental services is in chaos.”
“That was a strategy that was supposed to move the outdated curative care emphasis to a preventative care and health promotion model. However, seven years later, in 2026 there is no implementation of that plan. There is no plan; it is still apparently under consideration. The service has deteriorated since. Of the 208,000 eligible school children, only 104,000 were screened - 50% - and that figure itself was down by 31,000 on the 2017 figure. Between 2009 and 2023, there was an €800 million cut in the funding for dental care for PRSI and medical card patients. Under that dental treatment services scheme, there was a drop of 94,000 in treatments between 2012 and 2024. That was down from 395,000 in 2012 to 301,000 in 2024. As other speakers said, there is a two-year waiting list for patients in pain but requiring general anaesthetics.”
“Tipperary town, in my constituency, with a population of over 5,000 people and serving a further 10,000 in mid-Tipperary and east Limerick in its hinterland, has no dentist accepting public patients, medical card holders. That is absolutely and totally unacceptable. It is proof positive that the dental and oral health service in this country is totally in disarray and is failing patients very badly. In 2024, the number of dentists operating the dental treatment services scheme was 810. That was down from 1,452 in 2012; a drop of 642. Currently, the number in the scheme is believed to be less than 600. The very small number of dentists employed by the HSE in the public dental service is also reducing by 30, with 65 unfilled posts as of early this year. The year 2019 saw the Smile agus Sláinte plan for the dental service.”
“He is also the co-ordinator of the South Tipperary Stroke Communication Group, which supports stroke survivors and families and organises national conferences. There is a pressing need for support groups like this throughout the country and for financial support for these groups and I am asking the Government to include in the 2027 budget funding for groups like the South Tipperary Stroke Communication Group and other such stroke groups.”
“Last week, we had a presentation on stroke awareness and recovery. The session was led by Martin Quinn, a constituent of mine from Bansha in County Tipperary. He is a stroke survivor himself, a national stroke advocate and a lifelong community and voluntary activist at local and national levels. He is a former national president of Muintir na Tire, chair of the Citizens Information Service Network of Companies and an organiser of the Tipperary Peace Convention. At that stroke presentation, he acknowledged the improvement in treatment and rehabilitation in recent years but went on to say that more needs to be done, particularly in the area of additional specialist stroke units, rehabilitation services and support services.”
“The Parliamentary Budget Office says €259 million. The Government has a €9.2 billion surplus in budget 2026. The Minister has the opportunity and the funds. He should do the right thing and show the Government's bona fides to carers on 1 July.”
“Every political party, including Fianna Fáil, made a commitment in general election 2024 to abolish the carer's means test, full stop, no ifs or buts. There were no terms and conditions. There was no small print and no devil in the detail. The Government was going to abolish the means test for carer's allowance, but it has not honoured that commitment. That raises the whole question of trust in politics and politicians. The public are becoming quite cynical now about all things political. The Minister has another opportunity to do the right thing on 1 July. He is already making some changes, which are welcome. However, it still leaves one third of carers above the threshold of the means test. The Government has the funds available. The cost ranges from about €259 million to the figure the Minister has used, which is €600 million.”
“The findings of the report from Family Carers Ireland, entitled "The State of Caring 2026", should shock us all. Some of the key findings include that 75% of carers have never received respite, 76% are cutting back on non-essentials, 71% find it difficult to make ends meet, 69% do not receive sufficient formal support, and 49% are cutting back on essentials like food and heating. A stark 48% experience severe loneliness, 32% report very bad mental health and 19% report bad or very bad physical health. Carers do significant work and save the State billions of euro. It is now time to recognise that and implement the commitments and promises that were made during the general election 2024. The Minister has the opportunity to do that on 1 July and he should do that.”
“I come back to a very important issue that I have raised previously, namely, the abolition of the means test for the carer's allowance. I am asking the Minister to do that on 1 July, in view of the promises made in the general election in 2024 by all political parties and particularly in view of the recent report by Family Carers Ireland that showed very significant issues in care provision.”
“Representatives from the SEAI recently told the Oireachtas climate committee that cash upfront is a serious issue for middle income families, who have neither excess cash nor access to cash to avail of these schemes. After Government grants, a retrofit can cost up to €43,000 per house. This is leading to a green divide, where homes in affluent areas have access to the schemes as they have moneys and funds available for these upfront costs. I urge the Minister to take these issues on board and to act on them urgently as they are affecting families right across the country.”
“That timescale is obviously unacceptable and the scheme needs to be resourced and funded to ensure retrofitting is completed in at least 12 months. In regard to the retrofitting of local authority council houses, the National Oversight and Audit Commission has confirmed the target to retrofit 36,500 social housing units to B2 standard by 2030 will not be met, and not by a long shot. The target is low anyway and lacks ambition but the report states that even this low target is compromised by insufficient financial resources and by the operation of the scheme on an annual rather than multi-annual basis. The third issue is the lack of access by middle income families to various energy efficiency schemes.”
“I welcome and support this motion and fully support the points made previously by my Independent and Parties Technical Group colleagues. I want to take the opportunity to highlight a number of retrofit and insulation issues affecting middle and low income families across the country. The warmer homes scheme available to families in receipt of fuel allowance is an excellent scheme in itself but it is underfunded and under-resourced. This results in a huge backlog of applications, with it to increase due to more families qualifying for key social welfare payments which underpin the scheme. Currently, it takes two years to complete a retrofit under the scheme. It takes two visits and 14 months to do the survey and it takes a further ten to 12 months to have the works commenced and completed.”
“Access to GP services seriously impinges on this issue, especially for women in rural areas. It is increasingly the case GPs are not accepting new patients and GP appointments can be delayed for a week or more. This issue affects rural areas and areas of deprivation most. The statistics from the WHO show we are seriously under-resourced when it comes to GPs. The norm is one GP to 1,000 people but our figure is one GP to 1,759 people and can be as high as one per 3,500 people in some areas. A survey in 2024 found two thirds of GPs in rural Ireland could not accept new patients. This gives rise to a clear urban-rural divide, with rural women being disadvantaged. I support the Bill.”
“The report recommended the removal of the mandatory three-day wait, stating it delays time-sensitive healthcare and is demeaning to patients. As these services are not operated 365 days per year, the three-day wait can extend to four or five days, particularly if the first visit is towards the end of a week and if there are public holidays. The mandatory three-day wait may cause women to time out of eligibility for care in Ireland as well. The review was also subject of a report by the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and the committee supported the package of measures recommended by the review and stated work should be advanced to give effect to the recommendations without any delay. It recommended the Minister for Health should bring forward appropriate proposals as a matter of priority.”
“I welcome and support this Bill. In December 2018, the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Bill was signed into law. Section 7 of the Act provided that a review of the operation of the Act be carried out. That review was included to facilitate monitoring of the operation of the legislation in practice as well as of the delivery of services. A public consultation commenced in December 2021 and concluded in April 2022. Submissions to the consultation were accepted in several formats, including online, by email and by post. Almost 7,000 submissions were received and reviewed and the review found that, while the vast majority of early-stage terminations were accessed smoothly, significant structural and legislative barriers remained, including the three-day wait rule addressed by this proposed legislation.”
“The Taoiseach should close the door on privatisation, announce a referendum, as he and previous taoisigh committed to over the past ten years. He should honour those commitments.”
“The Government has certainly not honoured its ten years of commitments, as I outlined. All those commitments have been broken. The Taoiseach has not answered the questions. We can only presume that he and the Government wish to keep the door open to the future privatisation of water services in this country. The Taoiseach must know that if that happened, it would be an absolute disaster. We only need to look across the water to the UK to see this. The UK water sector struggles with a combination of massive debt, failing infrastructure and underinvestment. It is now generally accepted that the UK privatised-for-profit water services model is flawed. Profits and dividends are prioritised over modernisation. Thames Water, for instance, has a debt burden of about €20 billion and is facing collapse.”
“In March 2023, the then Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, said the Government was committed to holding a constitutional referendum to keep Irish Water in public ownership. Ten years later, and after all those commitments, we are no nearer to that referendum. Where is the referendum relating to the Thirty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Water in Public Ownership) (No. 2) Bill 2022? When will the Minister bring this Bill forward to the Dáil? When does the Government intend to call a referendum to put water services into the Constitution as a public utility?”
“2) Bill 2016. In the intervening years, that commitment has been given by successive taoisigh and Ministers. In 2017, the Oireachtas committee on water unanimously agreed that a referendum should be held. In 2019, the then Minister, Eoghan Murphy of Fine Gael, promised that a referendum would take place in the first half of 2020. The programme for Government in 2020, Our Shared Future, again promised a referendum to "Retain Irish Water in public ownership as a national, standalone, regulated utility." In November 2022, Micheál Martin, as Taoiseach, told the Dáil that the Government intended to hold a referendum on housing and water in, as he said, the near future, and that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, would be in a position to act on these issues early in the new year in 2023.”
“As Fianna Fáil leader, the Taoiseach led the party into a confidence and supply arrangement with Fine Gael in 2016, ten years ago. That was in the wake of large-scale water protests, which resulted eventually in the abolition of domestic water charges and the setting up of a special Oireachtas committee on water services. I and former Deputy Thomas Pringle represented the Independent TDs on that committee. That Government, which the Taoiseach supported, promised and committed to bring forward a referendum to put public ownership of water services into Bunreacht na hÉireann. Ten years later, we are no nearer to that referendum. I compliment former TDs and colleagues, Joan Collins and Thomas Pringle, for their efforts in pursuing this referendum and introducing the Thirty-fifth Amendment of the Constitution (Water in Public Ownership) (No.”
“We know it from the opinion of the Department's own legal adviser, who told the Oireachtas committee that "trade is trade in goods and services". This Bill, produced under public pressure, is a tokenistic measure designed to be ineffective. It is a political choice taken by this Government. Slovenia and Spain can include services; why can Ireland not? I ask the Minister to take back this legislation and bring in an amendment including services.”
“The court went further and confirmed that under international law, member states, including Ireland, are under an obligation to abstain from entering into economic or trade dealings with Israel concerning the occupied Palestinian territories or parts thereof, which may entrench its unlawful presence in the territory, and to take steps to prevent trade or investment relations that assist in the maintenance of the illegal situation created by the State of Israel in the occupied territories. This includes both goods and services. In 2025, the Oireachtas foreign affairs committee unanimously recommended that services be included in a ban on trade with the illegal occupied territories in Palestine. There is no legal basis for the Government's decision to exclude services from this Bill. We know that from the opinion of the Attorney General.”
“In July 2024, the International Court of Justice concluded that Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories is unlawful, that Israel should end that occupation, that it should desist from creating new settlements and evacuate existing settlements, and that it should pay reparations for land and property seized. Israel, of course, has refused to comply with that ruling.”
“Ireland's long and dark history of British imperial domination and our imperially imposed genocidal famine gives Irish people a deep understanding and appreciation of the genocide being perpetrated by Israel on the Palestinian people in the occupied territories. Ireland has both a moral authority and a moral responsibility to lead a campaign to exclude Israel from all economic, social, cultural and sporting activities. Israel is creating mayhem and devastation in the occupied territories. It is pursuing ethnic cleansing, driving Palestinians from their homes, farms and businesses and illegally occupying their lands.”
“Israel's strategy against Christians is a combination of violence, economic hardship, permanent siege, apartheid and it is doing this to drive Palestinian Christians out of their homeland. Israel must be brought to book. Stopping the Irish-Israel fixtures would be a small but vital step in that direction.”
“Israel is still committing a genocide in Gaza and 75,000 Palestinians have died, including 20,000 children. Gaza itself is a wasteland. Water, energy, healthcare and educational infrastructure have been wiped out and 1,000 Palestinians have died since the ceasefire was announced. Under international law, Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are illegal. There are over 250 settlements with about 500,000 people there. These numbers are expanding on a daily basis. Settler violence is an ongoing threat to Palestinians in the West Bank and in East Jerusalem and campaigns of harassment continue on a daily basis. This violence also targets Palestinian Christians. Their numbers have dropped tenfold. Seventy years ago Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus Christ, was 86% Christian. It is now 12% Christian.”
“The call to refuse to play Israel is supported by the Irish football community, including the Professional Footballers' Association of Ireland and the Irish Football Supporters Partnership. Indeed, Irish Sport for Palestine has commenced judicial review proceedings. There is precedent for stopping these fixtures. In 1999, the then Fianna Fáil government prevented the Euro 2000 qualifier between Ireland and Yugoslavia because of Serbian atrocities in Kosovo and in 2022, FIFA and UEFA banned Russia from all club and international games after Poland and Sweden refused to play World Cup qualifiers. Ireland as a nation and as a people must not be complicit in genocide. We have a particular link with the Palestinian people through our own long history of British imperialist domination and our own genocidal famine, an Gorta Mór.”
“I welcome this motion and will also support tomorrow's motion from the Social Democrats. Ireland must lead an international campaign to exclude Israel, a genocidal apartheid state, from all sporting fixtures and competitions and there must be no soccer games between Ireland and Israel at home in Ireland or on neutral grounds abroad. There is significant and growing opposition to these fixtures. In November 2025, 93% of FAI members voted to instruct the association to call on UEFA to suspend Israel. In May of this year, FAI general assembly members secured the numbers needed to call an emergency general meeting to vote on Ireland's participation in these soccer games.”
“During all this time, sick people, families and businesses have been paying for bottled water. I know I should not be asking the Taoiseach this question and nor should he be involved in answering it, but this company is an absolute disaster and we need his intervention on this again.”
“I again raise the boil water notice in place in Tipperary town, which affects over 5,000 people. It was implemented originally on 12 February 2026. For about ten weeks, the only information available to anybody was the initial post on the Irish Water website. I raised the issue with the Taoiseach and, through his intervention, an email was secured within a couple of days telling us that a new well was to be installed. There has been no further information, however. We are now four months into the boil water notice and the people of Tipperary town have no idea when a safe water supply will be back, whether it will be done by an existing contract, whether it will be open to a process of tendering or how long the work will take place. That is simply unacceptable.”
“We already have in the area a number of flagship industries, including Abbott Vascular, Boston Scientific, and MSD Ballydine. The success of these industries should assist IDA Ireland in securing an anchor tenant for this site. Twenty-five years is far too long to wait for an anchor tenant for the site and the future of the town of Clonmel and the surrounding areas is linked with the development. I urge the Minister and IDA Ireland to ramp up the marketing of this site urgently.”
“Within the regions, there must be a balance between counties, with an even spread across county boundaries. The town of Clonmel is a significant regional hub for south Tipperary, west Waterford, east Limerick and west Kilkenny. In 2001, South Tipperary County Council, in a far-seeing development, purchased the 270 acres of the Ballingarrane estate. IDA Ireland has purchased 50 acres of that site, and planning permission has been secured for a manufacturing facility of 110,000 sq. ft. It has access to water and electrical services and is a prime site. There is already successful development at the site. Questum is an enterprise accelerator centre, operated by the Technical University of the Shannon, with a number of incubation units and some 200 people employed.”
“Wind Energy Ireland says this requires sustained support from the Government, Eirgrid, the regulator and others in order to ensure that every available resource is aligned behind a single overriding objective. That objective is the energy independence of the country. In the context of this motion, I want to refer to the question of balanced regional development. Dublin is bulging at the seams, which is creating significant issues across society, including climate, transport, water and wastewater issues, antisocial behaviour and crime. The 2024 IDA Ireland annual report showed a breakdown of 57% of projects in the regions and 43% in Dublin. I believe that split should be significantly higher for the regions, with a target of 75% to 80% for the regions and 20% to 25% for Dublin.”
“Families and businesses are now living through the second global fossil fuel crisis in five years. We are increasingly vulnerable as long as we depend on energy imports. Unless we take action to diversify away from fossil fuels, we will again be hit by the next crisis. When that hits, pensioners, the sick and families will again worry about the cost of home heating oil. Farmers, fishers, agricultural contractors and bus companies will again face devastation as a result of increased diesel prices. Electricity and gas prices will go through the roof once more . Arrears on people's electricity and gas bills will hit new heights and families will be put to the pin of their collar to make ends meet. We have to generate our own clean, affordable power. That means we must generate power from our own huge offshore wind and wave energy resources.”