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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“In January 2024, 16 months ago, the International Court of Justice found that the Palestinian people in Gaza had "plausible rights" to be protected from the imminent risk of genocide. This ruling triggered obligations under the Genocide Convention for countries to take all possible action to prevent genocide. Passing this Bill complies with that ruling. In October 2024, the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel found that Israel's actions in Gaza "constitute the war crimes of wilful killing and mistreatment ... and the crime against humanity of extermination". Our Government's inaction makes us complicit in genocide. It makes this State, this Government and the Irish people complicit in genocide and it is not good enough.”
“The Israeli bonds were established in 1951 to raise funds for the Israeli treasury, for use across the Israeli economy, and have long been used to support the apartheid system, the Israeli military and illegal settlements on Palestinian lands. These bonds directly fund the genocide that is currently being perpetrated against the Palestinian people in Gaza. Since October 2023, Israeli bonds have been explicitly marketed as war bonds, with the slogans "Israel is at war" and "Stand with Israel". The Central Bank of Ireland, by facilitating the sale of Israeli bonds, has contributed to the raising of almost $4.5 billion in Europe in the 16-month period from October 2023 to January 2025. Israel has raised roughly $12.5 billion globally through the sale of these bonds since Ireland became the designated home country in 2021.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. I commend Sinn Féin on bringing it forward and I strongly support it. This Bill would be a vital first step in stopping the genocide and starvation of the Palestinian people. The Bill is fully compliant with international, European and Irish law, and is supported by the independent Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers. Its legal opinion is supported by the leaked opinion of the Attorney General when he dealt with occupied territories Bill and the divestment Bill. The Bill is further underpinned by the International Court of Justice advisory opinion of July 2024 that Israel's continued presence in the occupied Palestinian territories is illegal.”
“The governance of the hospital must also be addressed and I believe the board must be stood down and the operation, control and governance of the hospital transferred to the HSE, which currently funds the hospital.”
“It has been at the level of governance, clinical oversight, procedures, breaches of procedures, breaches of guidelines and breaches of protocol. Putting children through the pain and suffering of surgery for developmental dysplasia of the hip that may not have been necessary in 70% of cases is simply unconscionable. The parents of these children are devastated and they have no confidence in the review process being proposed. They are rightly asking for a public inquiry and an independent clinical review by independent international paediatric orthopaedic surgeons. They are also demanding to be centrally involved in drawing up the terms of reference.”
“As someone who worked for more than 21 years as a hospital administrator in a general hospital, I am lost for words to describe the mayhem which is Children's Health Ireland. The word "bewilderment" comes to mind. It is certainly shocking. The first principle of the provision of a health service is that the patient comes first. We might say that is old-fashioned but it is still 100% true. There has been a fundamental breach of trust here, which has not only not put the patient first but that has harmed patients, in this case children. A series of reviews, reports, audits and investigations, including those undertaken by HIQA, the HSE and others, paint a picture of toxic, chaotic systemic failure at all levels.”
“Local government is the heartbeat of democracy. The Fine Gael–Labour Party Government abolished borough councils and town councils in 2014 and replaced them with committees that had no power, no functions and no money. I think it is already accepted by almost everybody, including the former leader of the Labour Party, Brendan Howlin, that it was a very bad decision. The programme for Government commits to the establishment of a local democracy task force. Will the Taoiseach please outline when this task force will be set up and if he will ensure local community voices are represented on it and ensure the terms of reference will include the re-establishment of town and borough councils?”
“There has been no public eye care service in south Tipperary since last September. There have been no consultant ophthalmology clinics, optometry clinics or nurse-led eye clinics. Dr. Hillery, the previous consultant, retired last September, having given years of wonderful professional and personal service to the population of south Tipperary, including children and the elderly. She gave more than adequate notice of her retirement, yet the HSE has failed in its duty to fill the vacancy and provide this vital service. There is now, of course, a huge backlog and real concern that the HSE may be attempting to transfer the service out of the county. I ask the Tánaiste to intervene with the HSE to ensure that this post is filled urgently and the service restored to the county.”
“It is allowing planes carrying arms through Irish airspace, and military planes are going through Shannon. This must stop and we must immediately enact the occupied territories Bill.”
“We must now ask ourselves whether the State, the Government and we as a people are complicit in genocide. I acknowledge the State’s support for the South African case in the international courts, the Taoiseach’s description of Israeli action in Gaza as a “war crime”, and the statements at the weekend by the Taoiseach and other Government leaders; however, we must do more. We must take action. What is happening in Gaza is the ultimate appalling vista. It is the deliberate destruction of the Palestinian people by bomb, bullet and starvation. This country, because of its Famine and its neutrality, has unique moral authority and, indeed, an obligation to lead the international community in stopping this genocide. Shockingly, the Government is complicit in genocide. It is allowing the Irish Central Bank to sell Israeli Government war bonds.”
“Home and Community Care Ireland, in its prebudget submission for 2025, called for the restoration of the 1.9 million hours cut previously and an additional 2 million hours to meet unmet needs, and a support structure for home care workers. I strongly support this.”
“All statutory and voluntary organisations supporting people to live in their homes for as long as possible have called for a statutory, rights-based home support scheme. Currently, there are 5,556 people on waiting lists for home care and home help. There is a huge divide between Dublin and the rest of the country. There is little or no waiting list in Dublin. For example, there is no waiting list at all in north Dublin and central Dublin, whereas the south Tipperary area has the second highest waiting list and the north Tipperary area the third highest. This postcode or geographic discrimination must stop. Many individuals in south Tipperary who have been approved for home care are either not getting any entitlement or not getting their full entitlement. Again, this needs to be addressed urgently.”
“Half a million family carers provide 19 million hours of unpaid care each week, saving the State approximately €20 billion. The abolition of the carer's allowance means test is the least the Government should do in return. The cost is modest in the overall budget of the State. In 2024, the Parliamentary Budget Office estimated the full cost at €375.3 million, which is similar to the figure of €389 million that was estimated by Family Carers Ireland. The provision of respite is another vital support that is needed both for carers and those cared for, almost three quarters of whom have never received respite care. This leads to ill-health and burnout, particularly for carers.”
“The acid test of the bona fides of the Government on carers and caring is the immediate abolition of the carer’s allowance. This has been the demand of Family Carers Ireland for years and was promised by all political parties in the run-up to the last general election. It was understood that the means test would be abolished within the first 100 days of this Government coming into office but we are still waiting. Worse still, the programme for Government is silent on it, so we do not know when or if it will ever happen. The Minister should announce its abolition immediately. Family carers play a very vital role as front-line healthcare workers in supporting older people, people with disabilities and those with high care needs in their own homes.”
“I warn the Taoiseach there is widespread frustration and anger among the public about this issue. Any attempt to change the six-month legal timeframe will be met with huge pushback that will endanger his Government. I urge the Taoiseach to take emergency action now on this issue before it is too late.”
“Some 15,296 children are on the waiting lists, up 8% from the end of last year. In the first quarter of the year, only 7% were assessed within the time limit. The HSE stated there will be 25,000 children on the list at the end of this year and the average waiting time will be more than two years. These figures are shocking. Children are being failed every hour of every day. The State is breaking the law every hour of every day. The question has to be asked, is there one law for citizens and another for Government Ministers? If a citizen broke the law, they would be prosecuted. I wonder when a Government Minister will be prosecuted. I was shocked at the arrogance of the Taoiseach during Leaders' Questions today. His attitude was "shoot the messenger" and blame the psychologists - we are breaking the law but we will change the law.”
“This has been the standard response from successive Ministers for years. I have been raising this issue in this House for over ten years. There was a parliamentary question on 2 February 2017, and on 22 February 2018 I raised the issue during Leaders' Questions with the current Tánaiste, who was Minister for Health at the time. It is always the same answer: "We must do more." He said on that day: I thank Deputy Healy for raising this very important issue on the assessment of needs for children with disabilities. He is entirely correct; this is an area in which the State needs to do an awful lot more. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have been in government in one form or another for the last 14 years but, far from improving the situation, the provision of assessments of need has disimproved hugely.”
“I compliment the remarkable courage of Cara Darmody, a 14-year-old disability rights campaigner from my constituency. I welcome her and her dad here this evening. Cara started her campaign in support of her two brothers, who have autism diagnoses, but now she is supporting and campaigning on behalf of all children in the State with disabilities. She has been very successful to date. She extracted €10 million from the current Tánaiste during the general election campaign. This issue, of course, was huge in the election campaign, and we had all sorts of promises and commitments. Housing and disability services were the biggest issues during the campaign and they are supposed to be the Government's highest priorities. "More needs to be done." That is what we have heard time and time again. Sorry, but it does not wash any more.”
“I understand that she has requested a meeting with the Minister. I ask the Minister to confirm that she will meet Cara as soon as possible.”
“When is this Government going to stop failing children with disabilities? Next Tuesday, Cara Darmody, a teenage disability rights campaigner from Ardfinnan in my constituency, will start a 50-hour sleep-out in pursuit of urgent and immediate action to secure assessments of need for children with additional needs within the six-month legal limit. There are over 14,000 children on the waiting list. To be precise, the actual number is 14,221. Some 90% of these have been waiting for well in excess of the six-month legal limit. The majority have been waiting for more than two years. Last year, the total number seen was 4,162. This means that people are spending three and a half years on the waiting list. At my request, the Joint Committee on Disability Matters this morning agreed to invite Cara to address it.”
“I thank the Minister. The town and borough councils were abolished in 2014. They were replaced by committees with no powers, functions or funding. This abolition of town and borough councils has seriously damaged towns throughout the country, including in Clonmel where we had a form of local government going back to the 1400s. This is a very serious issue. I had hoped the Minister of State could give a timeline for the establishment of the local democracy task force, initially, and for the completion of that work and re-establishment of the councils.”
“Local government is the beating heart of democracy. It was abolished in 2014 by the Fine Gael and Labour Government. When will the Minister establish the local democracy task force promised in the programme for Government 2025 to re-establish local government?”
“The delay in April 2024 was 14.9 weeks and it is now 27.3 weeks, which is simply not acceptable. While I welcome the Minister of State's opening statement, I find it difficult to accept or believe that the RSA will have the ten-week target date achieved by September of this year. I wonder if, in fact, the RSA is fit for purpose in this regard. More needs to be done. New centres need to be opened and new permanent and full-time driving testers need to be appointed urgently.”
“South Tipperary needs two additional driver testing centres, one at Carrick-on-Suir and one at Cashel. South Tipperary is particularly badly affected by the huge current backlog. The centres at Clonmel and Tipperary town have delays of 28 weeks, or seven months, which is simply not good enough. We have very poor public transport and there is no adequate transport serving major employers, schools and colleges in the area, like Abbott Ireland Vascular Division, Boston Scientific, Questum, Tipperary County Council, Tipperary University Hospital, Tipperary Further Education and Training College and the Technical University of the Shannon. We need at least two new centres to deal with the current situation in south Tipperary. In the last three months, the number waiting has jumped by 11,000, from 72,400 to 83,486.”
“I am sorry but that is not good enough. We have to do more. Gaza is absolutely shocking. We have genocide and war crimes every hour of every day. The Palestinian people are being starved and bombed every hour of every day. Time is not on their side. Half a million are in a catastrophic state of hunger and starvation. Surely some country, or some leader, must stand up and take dramatic action to stop this. The Taoiseach has already said that this is a war crime. We went through something similar ourselves in the 1840s and 1850s. We have, and the Taoiseach has, the authority - the international authority - to do something practical and dramatic to stop what is happening. These people are being starved to death. The Taoiseach has the opportunity to lead the international opposition to this. For God’s sake, please do so.”
“I believe this country must take action that is within our control, like stopping the Central Bank from facilitating the sale of Israeli state bonds, stopping all military flights through Shannon, even if that is a temporary measure-----”
“I acknowledge and appreciate the Taoiseach's description of this as a war crime and I acknowledge and appreciate the involvement of the State with South Africa in the international courts, but we must do more. This State and the Taoiseach, because of our famine history and our neutrality, have a unique moral authority and obligation to do everything in our power to stop the genocidal starvation of 2.3 million human beings in Gaza. The Israeli state must face consequences. The Taoiseach has himself described it as a war crime.”
“Today, 2.3 million Palestinians are facing starvation. All reputable international organisations say that 500,000 Palestinians are facing catastrophic levels of hunger while another 1 million are facing emergency levels of hunger. The State of Israel and its defence forces are deliberately starving the Palestinian people. They have blocked all food aid to Gaza since 2 March and, in the words of the Israeli defence minister, no humanitarian aid will enter Gaza. The shiploads of food exported from Ireland during the Famine can be compared to the 3,000 truckloads of food being blocked by the Israel Defense Forces on the borders of Gaza.”
“One million Irish people, the Taoiseach's ancestors and mine, starved to death during the Great Famine in the 1840s and 1850s. Two million of us were driven to cross the Atlantic in coffin ships in search of mere survival. Thousands of us died on those ships. At home, our people died in cabins, in ditches, on the roads and in workhouses. There is hardly a parish in the country that has not a famine graveyard. To this day, the awful devastation of the Famine is imprinted in our minds, our hearts and our very souls. While the failure of the potato crop was the initial cause, the appalling vista is that the Famine could have been avoided but for the deliberate actions and inaction of a foreign imperial Government. The continued export of shipload after shipload of food from Ireland while we starved was thoroughly disgraceful and inhuman.”
“Current Irish law entitles every worker to join a trade union but there is no obligation on an employer to recognise and negotiate with a union. It is at the whim of the employer to deal with the union or not. Trade union negotiated rates of pay and conditions are not only good for union members. Studies have shown that unionisation and trade union pay and conditions raise the wages and benefits of all workers. This is a common-sense and reasonable Bill. It is important legislation which I fully support.”
“We won the eight-hour day - previously, workers worked for 14 hours in desperate conditions - the five-day week, public holidays, annual leave, pension and sick pay schemes and much more. The trade union movement should go back to its roots and remember the example of the men and women of the 1913 Lock-out. On this, the 109th anniversary of the Easter Rising, we should remember with pride the great trade unionist James Connolly, the 1916 leader executed 109 years ago last Monday in the Stonebreakers' Yard in Kilmainham Gaol by British crown forces, shot tied to a chair. Connolly's writings are as relevant today as ever. His book Labour in Irish History is a masterpiece. It is well worth reading and should be on the curriculum for our leaving certificate students.”
“My maternal grandfather, Patsy Meaney, was also a union member at the turn of the 20th century when he worked as a labourer with Clonmel Corporation Gas Company. My father-in-law was a branch officer with the Irish Union of Distributive Workers and Clerks and was condemned from the pulpit for leading a strike for better pay and conditions for members. As always, church authorities stood with the employers. I strongly recommend union membership to all workers, especially young workers, at a time when casualisation, short-term and temporary employment are the order of the day. Unity is strength, and the trade union movement has won massive victories against all the odds, many of which we now take absolutely for granted.”
“From December 1971, when I started work as a clerical worker with Waterford County Council, I became a member of the Irish Local Government Officials Union, now called Fórsa, and served as a branch officer and activist for the next 30 years. I served on the national executive of that union and was chairperson of its health and welfare division when I worked with the South Eastern Health Board. I represented the union on Clonmel Trades and Labour Council and served as the council's president. My family has a tradition of union membership and activism. My father, Jim Healy, was a founder of the Clonmel branch of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union in 1932, and his father before him, also called Jim Healy, was a union member at the turn of the 20th century when he worked as a carter with Murphy's Brewery in Clonmel and Thurles.”
“I welcome and strongly support the Trade Union Recognition Bill 2021. I compliment my colleagues in People Before Profit on bringing it forward. Not only do I believe in the right of workers to join a trade union, but I also believe that employers should be obliged to recognise the union and negotiate with it on the pay and conditions of its members. I have been a proud trade unionist all my working life, during school holidays working in a meat factory, as a member of the Irish Transport and General Workers' Union and as a farm worker on Bulmers apple farm. I was a member of the Federation of Rural Workers and as an employee of a local tannery, I was a member of the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union.”
“Last year's Housing Commission report set out the situation starkly by stating, "Only a radical reset of housing policy will work." It went on to state, "It is critical that this housing deficit is addressed through emergency action." Emergency measures are provided for in Article 43.2.2° of our Constitution, Bunreacht na hÉireann. There is precedent in the financial emergency measures in the public interest legislation between 2011 and 2016. Any housing plan, including a housing activation office, can only be successful if it is governed by the declaration in law of a housing emergency and given emergency powers underpinned by legislation.”
“Uisce Éireann has said that meeting the Government's revised housing targets would require a significant increase in capital funding above its current programme to increase water and wastewater capacity in urban and rural areas. The Irish Home Builders Association has repeatedly warned that the electricity grid, drinking water, wastewater capacity and connections are a constraint on housing delivery. All of this feeds into the fact that a housing emergency exists in this State. Every TD in the Dáil, Government or Opposition, knows that. The housing emergency continues to undermine the very fabric of Irish society. To address the housing and homelessness crisis, we need a declaration of a housing emergency in law.”
“EirGrid, in its 2024 ten-year forecast, stated that 89% of the growth in the total electricity that will be needed in the next decade is attributable to data centres. They currently consume one fifth of Ireland's electricity. It is projected that they will use one third in the next few years. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities has warned that data centres pose a risk to increased housing delivery due to constraints on the electricity grid. Last March, the chairman of Irish Water said that the State's water and sewerage systems "are in a desperate state" because of "extraordinary complacency" and "passive indifference".”
“Like the previous speaker, I support this Sinn Féin motion. The Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, in its report last October, stated that there are obvious areas where Ireland's infrastructure is much underdeveloped. The key areas to which it referred were housing, health, transport and electricity. It stated that when one compares Ireland's infrastructure with that of other high-income European countries, one discovers that our infrastructure is 25% lower than average for a high-income country. The world competitiveness ranking places Ireland poorly for infrastructure provision, particularly basic infrastructure, including that relating to water and energy. Electricity supply and grid stability are real concerns. In this area, data centres are by far the most demanding.”
“I ask that the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice intervene with the Courts Service and stop these transfers, and make sure that the Courts Service properly maintains the courthouses in these towns.”
“The Courts Service recently announced that with effect from 1 November, the court sittings will be transferred from Carrick-on-Suir and Cashel to Clonmel. The decision came completely out of the blue and without any local consultation whatsoever. There appears to be a policy of stripping towns and local communities of locally-based services. Youghal is also to lose its court service and, of course, Carrick-on-Suir has already lost its district hospital, which is a serious blow to the town and the local community. The Courts Service has failed in its duty to properly maintain the courthouses in Carrick-on-Suir and Cashel, and it appears it is now using this failure to transfer the services from these towns.”
“That means the roll-out of publicly funded and delivered childcare services, better pay and conditions for early educators, who should be paid directly by the State, and a guaranteed legal right to affordable, accessible and universal early education for every child.”
“Some of these include deficiencies in capacity, with thousands of children on waiting lists; parents paying anything up to €1,000 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. A SIPTU trade union survey of staff in 2024 found that 86% identified low pay as their biggest work issue. Some 68% identified pressure due to staff shortages, while 65% identified stress and burnout. Managers in the services identified recruitment and retention of staff as the most critical challenge facing the sector, with the possibility of room and service closures. Childcare must be viewed as a right for all, not as a commercial service.”
“A new public system could learn valuable lessons from our service in Elm Park in Clonmel. Clever Clogs, as it is known, is community based and provides a quality childcare service in a purpose-built unit. It is supported by the local community, with a local board of management and committed staff and parents. It receives exceptional support from the county childcare committee. As a board member, I express my thanks and appreciation to all the staff involved in childcare and all the parents involved in Clever Clogs and childcare in Clonmel. There are huge challenges, as the Minister obviously knows, in the area of early childcare.”
“Forty years ago, when I was first elected to Clonmel corporation, one of the first issues I dealt with was childcare. I said at the time that a public childcare service was the solution to what was even then a difficult issue. After more than 25 years involvement in community childcare services in Elm Park in Clonmel, I am more convinced than ever that the public system is the only solution. Over time, other agencies have come to a similar view, including the citizens’ assembly, the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and Together for Public, in which 43 civic society organisations have come together, including the National Women’s Council, trade unions, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and early childhood organisations.”
“I remind the Minister that south Tipperary is not in the mid-west region. The IDA must ramp up its marketing of the Ballingarrane site. I am not satisfied that it has done enough. It must do more. I ask the Minister to intervene with the IDA to ramp up that marketing. There are some very successful industries in the area, including flagship industries, such as Abbott Vascular and Boston Scientific in Clonmel town and MSD in nearby Ballydine. The success of these industries should assist the IDA in securing an industry for the Ballingarrane site. As I said, this site is vitally important for the future industrial and social development of Clonmel and all the surrounding areas, including west Waterford, east Limerick and east Kilkenny. The sooner an anchor tenant is got for that site, the better.”
“I also understand, as the Minister said, that the IDA is marketing the site by way of a promotional video, but 25 years is far too long to wait for an anchor tenant for a site that is vital for essential future industrial development in Clonmel and its surrounding areas.”
“Ballingarrane estate was purchased in 2001 by South Tipperary County Council, in what was a far-seeing decision, to provide a vital piece of infrastructure for industrial development, not just for Clonmel and south Tipperary, but also for the surrounding areas of west Waterford, east Limerick and west Kilkenny. It comprises 270 acres, 50 acres of which are owned by the IDA, as the Minister said. There is already a successful development on the site. Questum is an enterprise acceleration unit operated by the Technological University of the Shannon. That has been very successful in employing approximately 200 people in 15 different enterprises. It is vital that a significant anchor industry be secured for the site. I am aware of the plans and the planning application for an advanced factory solution.”
“This question relates to the IDA-owned site at Ballingarrane in Clonmel. Will the Minister outline the number of IDA-sponsored client visits to that site at Clonmel in 2023 and 2024? What steps will the IDA take to find an enterprise for the site?”
“The programme for Government references strengthening local government but in a generalised and non-specific way. One of its very few specific commitments is the promise to convene a local democracy task force. I call on the Minister of State to set up that task force immediately, with the specific objective - not the generalised woolly thinking and talk in the programme for Government - of re-establishing town and borough councils throughout this country. No planning framework can succeed without local democratic input from locally elected representatives, especially in our large towns, cities and urban centres throughout the country.”
“The corporation for Clonmel borough, one of the five boroughs in the country, with a mayor and form of local democracy dating back to the early 1400s, was dismissed without a thought. It was replaced by a toothless committee with no powers or funding that is effectively a talking shop. The abolition of Clonmel Corporation has done serious damage to what was a thriving town but now needs serious regeneration and redevelopment. Not only do we need urgent access to urban regeneration funding for the renewal of our town centre, we also need the re-establishment of Clonmel Corporation, South Tipperary County Council and the town councils of Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel and Tipperary. Local government is the beating heart of our democracy.”