Sharon Keogan
Industrial and Commercial Panel · Independent · Ireland
“The future of European border security is being decided right row at the European Commission. It is currently drafting the renewed mandate of Frontex, the EU border police force. As Ireland holds the rotating EU Presidency, the Minister for justice cannot simply pose as a disinterested broker while our European borders are compromised.”
“Holding the EU Presidency gives this Government massive agenda-setting leverage at the Council of Ministers. The Minister must use this chairing power to strip out counterproductive rights promotion provisions. Under the guise of good intentions, these provisions and their enforcers have defanged and undermined Frontex.”
“I thank the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I appreciate that he will engage with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, on this. We live in the land of technology.”
“The Minister, Deputy Calleary, is welcome to the House. I rise to focus the attention of the House on a vital public service that sits at the very heart of social inclusion on this island, the free travel scheme.”
“Sitting down with Stormont to deliver a single unified rule book for free travel means we lift everyone to the same high standards of dignity and mobility, ensuring that a person's vulnerability is not penalised simply because of the jurisdiction they happen to live in.”
“It will point to the senior pass scheme, where a resident here can apply for a separate concessionary card to travel into the North. Let us be completely honest with ourselves.”
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“If the severity with which Noone was treated for an objectively mild and milquetoast statement came as a shock to anyone in these Houses, the fact is that this incident is typical of a culture of silence and of suppressing dissent, a culture that has been created and even actively encouraged by the vast majority in these Houses. Let us not forget that only last year the Government was attempting to eliminate the presumption of innocence in the name of fighting hate speech. Luckily, I am glad that Noone has come back to social media and says that he stands by his statements. I applaud his integrity in standing up for himself and staying honest and I look forward to his future reviews of chicken rolls and cups of tea. Ladies and gentlemen of the House: stay delicious.”
“I also welcome our Cavan guests this afternoon. I would like to address two important issues: immigration and freedom of debate. Last week in this Chamber and in the Dáil, many of our colleagues lined up to denounce Conor McGregor and the speech he gave in the White House concerning our current immigration crisis. While there are criticisms to be made of McGregor, ultimately he was enabled by the decades of utter silence on immigration by all the same Members who criticised him. This point was made last week by the famous Irish influencer Garron Noone, and for the sole act of acknowledging that there was an immigration issue, Noone was harassed and bombarded with abuse and was forced to take his accounts down.”
“We have a responsibility to safeguard the health and well-being of our children. By supporting this Bill, we can take a significant step to reducing the risks associated with energy drink consumption among minors. I look forward to hearing colleagues' views on the subject and kindly request their opinions and feedback. While I have the floor, I remind everyone that there is a vote today to restore the Gradam an Uachtaráin Bill to Committee Stage. The Bill will be a decisive step towards recognising the exceptional contributions by many men and women all over the nation and the world to Ireland. I urge all Members to support it. I look forward to working with all Senators in advancing these initiatives.”
“Giving them energy leaves them crawling up the walls. To this end, I will introduce a Bill in the near future which will seek to prohibit the sale of stimulant drinks to individuals under the age of 18. It also includes provisions for clear warning labels on product packaging and a restriction on advertising targeted at minors. The aim is to protect children from the harmful effects of these beverages and to promote healthier choices. Work on this Bill sought expert opinions from children's advocacy groups, the Irish Heart Foundation, medical experts and teachers' unions. I believe this Bill will have popular support. Last summer, a public poll in TheJournal.ie found that 73% of people would support such an energy drink ban for under-18s while an additional 14% would be willing to support a ban for under-16s.”
“I wish to speak about the issue of the rising consumption of energy drinks by young people and to speak about solutions. Energy drinks are widely available and aggressively marketed and contain high levels of caffeine and other stimulants such as taurine. Research has shown that these drinks can have serious negative impacts on minors, including on their attention span, academic performance and physical and mental health, such as sleep disturbances, anxiety and even heart problems. Just last January, the HSE's lead expert on obesity spoke publicly about how the consumption of energy drinks has surged in recent years among under-18s in Ireland. He stated that a ban on children buying them would be very positive. From my experience of fostering more than 100 teenagers, I know they are already exploding with energy.”
“Why should they be treated differently? It is wrong. It is discrimination. I ask the Minister of State to reflect on this point and see what he can do in relation to this issue. I definitely do not believe it is unconstitutional and I am sure a case will be taken against the Government. As regards getting someone to move in with you three years beforehand, you may end up getting sick and somebody might have to move in. Somebody in their 30s, 40s or 50s can get cancer and a relative might have to move in. They will not have that three-year grace period. As far as I am concerned, the legislation needs to be changed.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his reply and for repeating everything we know about the CAT concerning households. It is not addressing the discrimination case in respect of childless couples. I am not advocating for anything to be taken away from adults with children but for giving a voice in these Houses for equality for couples and single people without children. Everyone should have the same level of control over how their fully taxed assets are passed on. All citizens should be treated equally. This is definitely not the case now. Let us be honest. Why should the children of my children and the children of Micheál Martin and Simon Harris be treated differently from, let us say, the nephews and nieces of Senator Victor Boyhan, Senator Gerard Craughwell, Deputy Ken O'Flynn or Deputy Roderic O'Gorman?”
“Furthermore, I ask if the Government is taking steps to reform the tax system to ensure real fairness and equality for all citizens. Last year's reforms simply do not cut it. This is a time for us to address the issue and ensure our tax system reflects the values of equality and fairness. I look forward to the Minister for State's response. I hope we can work together to bring about meaningful reform for the benefit of all our constituents.”
“It is our duty to ensure all citizens are treated equally, regardless of their parental status. The current CAT threshold appears to violate this principle, discriminating against people and creating huge financial hardship for loved ones simply because they are not immediate children. It leads to the State extracting huge amounts of wealth from assets that have often been saved and invested in over the lifetime of childless adults. This is at a time when many families have changed from the straightforward nuclear model and relationships are not as clear cut and uniform as they used to be. I ask the Minister for Finance whether any action or investigation is being undertaken to review whether the current CAT inheritance tax categories constitute a form of unconstitutional discrimination.”
“This constituent, who is single and childless, now wishes to pass on the house to his nephews or nieces but faces the possibility that they will be unable to afford to inherit it due to the tax burden they would face. If he had children, there would be no inheritance tax due, which highlights a truly unacceptable disparity and unfairness in our system. In another case, a young man and his partner have recently moved into their first home, which he inherited from his grandmother. What could have been a very happy occasion in his life was overshadowed by the fact he faces paying off a loan for the next ten to 20 years to cover the tax bill. This is because he happened to be two generations removed from the disponer instead of one. The principle of equality before the law is enshrined in our Constitution.”
“Ignoring the last category for a moment, let us focus on the sheer disparity between the first two categories. The tax-free allowance for category B is one tenth of that for category A. To put it in more concrete terms, if I gift or will a house worth €300,000 to my son, he will pay no tax on that, whereas if I willed it to a grandchild, they would have to pay €82,500. These thresholds create a hierarchy that favours parents over childless adults and grandparents, who cannot pass on the same value of assets tax-free to their loved ones. This issue has been brought to my attention by constituents who feel the system is discriminatory and unfair. I will share the story of a constituent who inherited his parents' house and paid €165,000 in inheritance tax.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming in here this morning. I rise to address a matter of significant concern for many of our constituents: current capital acquisition tax thresholds and their potentially discriminatory impact on childless adults and non-nuclear families. The capital acquisition tax, CAT, threshold determines the amount of inheritance or gift that can be received tax-free based on the relationship of the disponer, that is, the giver of the inheritance or gift, to the recipient. As of the last budget, the categories were reformed as follows: €400,000 can be inherited tax-free by children, who are category A; €40,000 can be given to siblings, nieces, nephews and linear descendants, who are category B; and it is €25,000 for all other cases, category C.”
“Parents should not have to set up a GoFundMe page to get treatment for their children. That is down to our Minister for Health and the previous Minister for Health. It has been 14 years. It is all well and good to talk about timeliness and numbers on waiting lists, but we must remember that the horrific delays we hear about have enormous human cost and can change lives for the worse. I am going to send the Minister the details of Katie's case. If she can do anything to avoid her having to raise €300,000 to go to America to get treatment, I would really appreciate it.”
“She has cerebral palsy, a dysplastic hip and a twisted femur. Without surgery, she risks hip arthritis, full-time wheelchair use and scoliosis. Katie has spent 14 years and five months waiting for surgery. Let me just repeat that for the Members of the House. She has spent 14 years waiting. That is nearly her entire life she has been waiting for the surgery she needs. The explanation given to Katie as to why she cannot receive surgery is that she is too weak. She has been told her hip is not dysplastic enough and that she is too young for surgery. Then, believe it or not, she was told she is too old for surgery. At this time, Katie is braving the pain. Her family have been forced to search for treatment abroad and are desperately seeking to raise the money for this treatment.”
“Meanwhile, children and minors who have more complicated cases and suffer from one or more conditions, such as Jamie, who tragically suffers from Chiari malformation in addition to scoliosis, have to wait longer for treatment because they must wait on more tests and consultations. This is despite the fact they very often require treatment more urgently for precisely the same reasons. As Jamie's mother describes it, the current system is one where the ones who need treatment the most wait the longest. Again, timely treatment of scoliosis is not only reactive treatment for scoliosis when it arises; it is also preventative treatment. Another young woman, whom I met today protesting outside these gates, agreed to share her story. She is Katie Byrne from Cobh in County Cork. Katie has just turned 18.”
“In Istanbul, Jamie was able to receive all the tests and the surgery she required in a matter of days. That is a standard of timely treatment, not the months or years Irish citizens are expected to wait. Waiting times are causing enormous damage to real human lives. One of the consultants who spoke to Jamie's mother told her many patients often receive permanent damage to their lungs by the time they receive their pre-surgery tests. More generally, Jamie's mother highlighted a broader issue with waiting times, which is that the current system appears to prioritise the more straightforward and simple cases, especially those where treatment abroad is needed.”
“The lack of timely provision of treatment in both our public and private healthcare sectors and the fact this has forced a family to seek solutions abroad at great personal expense to themselves is just another example of a wrong we urgently need to right. At 14 years old, Jamie's medical checkup found her condition was not urgent or serious. A year later, however, at the age of 15, she was told in Crumlin hospital she would lose function in one of her lungs if she did not receive surgery as soon as possible. Her timeframe for treatment was six to eight weeks. Her mother told us that, given her previous experience, such as having had to wait five weeks for an X-ray and having to go all the way down to Navan for it, and given the urgency of her case, the best option was to seek treatment in Türkiye.”
“While those promises may have been made in good faith, it is apparent, however, that they have failed to materialise. It is imperative, therefore, that the State steps in to take a greater role in oversight and ensure we deliver the healthcare our citizens pay for, deserve and need. I return to the word "timely". Today, a mother from County Donegal agreed to share her story relating to her daughter, Jamie McGinley, to highlight the shortcomings of our current system. Young Jamie has been lucky in that her family managed to find treatment for her in Türkiye, although the fact they had been forced to do so due to the lack of timeliness in this healthcare system is shameful.”
“I welcome the Minister to the Chamber. Along with my colleagues, I too am delighted this Bill is progressing through this House. I draw attention to the first section that states this national treatment service is to be established "for the timely and effective inpatient and outpatient treatment of scoliosis" and that it will designate hospitals and other facilities for "the timely detection, assessment and remedial treatment of scoliosis". The emphasis here is on the word "timely", which is mentioned twice for good measure. Over recent years, we have been treated to one horror story after another of waiting lists and their impacts on patients. Previous Governments and Ministers for health have promised to reduce waiting lists and the numbers of people on them.”
“A recent HIQA report has only echoed many of these concerns. In addition to the shortage of social workers and the delays in allocating them to vulnerable children, other serious problems include inadequate planning and monitoring. The report said that there was a significant lack of oversight in those areas, as well as gaps in the review of safety plans. The report also identified the poor governance of the oversight of the child protection notification system as a serious issue. In any sane country, scandals like this would result in inquiries, resignations and the overhaul of the system. We have yet to see anything of the sort. Therefore, I renew my call for the Minister for children to appear before this Chamber post haste to answer for this growing list of concerns and disasters.”
“Only a fortnight ago, I spoke about the serious failures of the Children's Rights Alliance to review Tusla's performance and I highlighted concerns that there were serious gaps appearing in the Tusla system, leaving hundreds of children vulnerable. Considering the news released in the past week, it deeply saddens me to say that these fears have been validated. The recent inquiry by Judge Conor Fottrell found that at least 250 children had not been assigned a social worker as the State agency had failed to comply with court orders to do so. The judge also informed that Tusla had failed to comply with over 660 additional court orders. What beggars belief is that the chief executive of Tusla, Kate Duggan, confirmed that she was aware of the issue and that absolutely no action had been taken.”
“In 2020, a report was issued by the Review of the Administration of Civil Justice, chaired by the former president of the High Court. It recommended that the life span of a lis pendens be restricted to 28 days. Other straightforward reforms could involve requiring the plaintiff to swear before a judge that they are filing the lis pendens in good faith, or, mandating that it be followed up by an application to the court within a certain time span, or that a court could award damages to the property owner if the lis pendens filing is found to have caused financial damage. This is a real issue that causes severe problems for people. There is the obvious need for reform and there are many solutions. I call on the Minister for Justice to come before this Chamber to answer why the Government has taken absolutely no action on this issue since.”
“I raise the issue of the abuse of the lis pendens system in Ireland. The filing of a lis pendens renders the sale of the land over which it is filed virtually impossible as no purchaser would be willing to take the risk of buying a property with litigation pending over it. As the system stands, it is possible for a lay litigant to file a lis pendens with the court for virtually no cost. Meanwhile, undoing a lis pendens is extremely expensive for the person who owns the land it is filed against. It can take years to overturn and requires the person effected to go to the High Court. Members of the House, reform of the current lis pendens system has been called for on multiple occasions in the past and many proposals have been made on this.”
“We need to look at how we can adapt taxation policies to favour the older people who contribute so much to our society. We lose a wealth of knowledge when CEOs and so on retire. Those people could go into a charity tomorrow morning and make a contribution. The taxation of their pension should be reduced. Let us make the working environment attractive economically to give older people the option to keep working should they want to do so.”
“The ESB has on its website information regarding a toolkit for the elderly. The Minister of State might consider providing funding for that emergency kit through the community alert or age friendly groups. It includes things like flashlights, candles, a battery radio, a 120 V adapter for car charging and water, which people could buy with the funding. In Duleek, we have an absolutely fantastic age friendly housing scheme, via the church, located near the shops and the medical centre. We need more affordable housing and provision for affordable downsizing. Let us imagine the capacity that could be given to families if more age friendly housing schemes were provided in communities. Some people do not want to retire and are happy to keep working. They want to contribute, no matter whether it is for ten or 15 hours a week or whatever else.”
“People do not need a certificate from their doctor, or to meet any other medical requirement, to access housing aids, but they need it to qualify for the housing adaptation grant. Will the Minister of State please consider getting rid of that requirement? Clerks of works can go to someone's home and see that he or she is suffering from dementia. They can see the situation of people in their 80s, like Linda's father. They do not need people to meet all the requirements that are being asked for in regard to occupational therapists and doctor's certificates. If the Minister of State would consider dropping the medical requirement for the housing adaptation grant, it would be a very worthy change. Following Storm Éowyn, there were calls in the Chamber for the provision of a generator to every house. That is not practical.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming in here today. Last year in the budget the Government allocated €93 million for the housing adaptation grant for older people and those with disabilities. I welcome that. I also welcome the increase in the grant to €40,000, which means it is a 100% grant for those earning under €37,000. The extra €10,000 was a great move, and I think it is adequate. However, the process can be cumbersome for persons seeking the housing adaptation grant. They must get two written quotes. They must get builders to visit. As the Minister of State is probably aware, we have a shortage of builders in this country this moment. It is also very tough to get a builder to do the work. People must also get certificates from their doctor.”
“In short, when it comes to the position of women in Ireland, we can summarise today's situation with the adage - a lot done, and a lot more to do. I understand the Minister had a meeting - I do not know if it was today or yesterday - with representatives from the Irish Pharmacy Union with regard to free hormone replacement therapy, HRT. All the women in the country were thinking this was going to be rolled out as part of the budget. It was all going to be free in January of this year. The perception was that women in Ireland would be getting this free. Could the Minister please let the women of Ireland know where that is at, the reason for the delay and when the roll-out will take place? I thank the Minister very much for joining us here today.”
“I call on the Government to heed this motion. The current work limits stop carers from being able to upskill by preventing them from pursuing continued education. This causes far too many women to miss out on years and even decades of professional development, meaning that by the time they return to the workforce, they do so at a considerably lower pay grade. The carer's allowance, while an invaluable lifeline, is not an adequate compensation for this. The Government must also finally deliver on its promise to abolish means testing for the carer's allowance as many carer's are married women who are already dependent on their spouse, and this means testing increases their dependency leaving them open to financial abuse.”
“Luckily, while virtually the entire leadership of our political parties, nearly all of our Government sponsored NGO complex and the vast majority of the established media were gung ho to eliminate women from the Constitution, the Irish people themselves were not so easily fooled. However, now that the constitutional rights for women and carers are secured, we urgently need to move forward in making concrete improvements in their lives. Some 90% of the carers in Ireland are women, and the current regulations on the carer's allowance are in many cases actively harming them. Recently, Meath County Council passed a motion from Councillor Carol Lennon for the 18.5 hour limit on work imposed on recipients of the carer's allowance to be disregarded for cases of study, education, training and volunteering.”
“The Minister is very welcome. First, I extend my congratulations to all the women who were elected to both the Dáil and the Seanad in the recent election. I look forward to working with them all in the coming session and wish them all the best in their endeavours. In both Houses, we have the highest number of female Members elected in the history of the State. Here in the Seanad, nearly half of our Members are women, arguably making it the closest an Irish elected body has ever been to gender parity. This coming International Women's Day will mark another anniversary, that is, the comprehensive defeat of the Government's attempt to eliminate women from the Constitution. This time last year, I and a few other Senators found we were low on voices in calling for the public to reject the Government's motion and thank God, the public answered.”
“I call on the Minister for Finance to give a real explanation for that. It is high time that Irish people learned what is being done with their money.”
“Then, inexplicably, in 2022 the entire operation was defunded. To this end, the Government has yet to provide a satisfactory explanation as to why it did so. While the Government claims that Benefacts was not worth the money, I struggle to find this an acceptable answer. Let us compare Benefacts to the Transgender Equality Network Ireland, TENI. For several years in a row, TENI outright failed to return completed financial accounts to the Government, eventually prompting the HSE to suspend its connection with TENI in 2022 over the severity of the issue. How did the Government respond? It increased funding to TENI the following year, giving it more than €250,000 in 2023. In respect of 2024, we do not know yet. Benefacts is gone. In the meantime, the Government has yet to create the in-house counterpart of Benefacts.”
“Some people are willing to wave these stories as one-off incidents that are being exploited for cheap tabloid headlines. The reason these stories cause such an uproar is that everybody feels they embody the systemic problem of waste which the Irish Government is. The people are angry, not because these examples are just a few bad apples but because they are most of the barrel. Ireland needs its own DOGE because Ireland has its own US Aid problem. This to say we have a problem with pouring obscene amounts of taxpayers' money into an obscure and unaccountable NGO sector to which the Irish Government outsources its policymaking. In fact, we had an Irish DOGE - Benefacts. From 2015 onwards, Benefacts ensured that the source of every cent NGOs received was accounted for, as was their destination.”
“On Ash Wednesday, Catholics throughout the world prepare for Lent, our season of fasting and prayer. Our ashes represent our faith, a time for penance and our mortality. Today I remind the House that Christians are still persecuted and discriminated against throughout the world. On 13 February, 70 Christians were killed in the Congo. Practising our faith is not something we should take for granted in a fast-changing world. We heard last week from Senator Mullen that Ireland needs a Department of government efficiency. I would like to reiterate this call. There is a debate in the Dáil about it this morning. Senator Mullen cited some of the more prominent examples that have been in the news lately, such as the scanner, the bike shed and so on.”
“How can a partially Government-funded organisation that serves as an umbrella for numerous Government-sponsored NGOs be expected to give a neutral assessment of a Government agency? How does the Department of children expect to resolve such conflicts of interest? The omission of an assessment of Tusla is extremely concerning for another reason. In the past two years, a number of independent voices, including Judge Simms, UCD and the Child Law Project, among many others, have warned there is a serious danger that shortcomings in Tusla are being exploited for child trafficking. I therefore call for the Minister for children to appear before us to answer whether her Department has heard these concerns and what she is planning to do to address them.”
“Last week, the Children's Rights Alliance published its annual report grading the last Government's performance in protecting children. While the report is to be credited with delivering a vital and necessary assessment, there is a major and shocking failure in it; in more than 300 pages, it makes virtually no mention or assessment of the almost 6,000 children in the care of Tusla. How can a report on the Government's performance in child welfare simply forget to mention this? This is worrying, considering that the Children's Rights Alliance comprises approximately 150 member organisations, many of whom receive funding from Tusla. Consequently, I ask that the Minister for children appear before the House to answer questions regarding the independence of this report.”
“For instance, how can the report assert that Project Eagle secured a fair price for its portfolio, considering the Comptroller and Auditor General’s 2016 report which estimated that NAMA had undersold by approximately €313 million in today’s currency? Furthermore, why does the report not address the allegations made by former TD Mick Wallace indicating that the final buyer of the portfolio, Cerberus, had made payments to an insider at NAMA? Will there be any comprehensive investigation into these allegations or will we be left with another seven years for additional vague and ambiguous statements?”
“We require clearer and more effective legal frameworks to eliminate the issues associated with revolving doors of employment and financial interests. All too frequently, we observe individuals transitioning frequently between various roles in Government, quangos, NGOs and the private sector. Moreover, the protracted duration taken to release this report is particularly troubling. There is a pressing need for a simplification of the procedures governing the compilation of such reports. Often, the extended timeline for their completion and publication allows the individuals and organisations involved to move on without accountability. I urge the Minister for Finance to provide clarification on certain ambiguous responses presented in the report.”
“I will talk about the NAMA issue again and the management of Project Eagle. This report has taken seven years to complete, and while its findings exhibit ambiguity, they nonetheless highlight significant concerns regarding the way this country addresses conflicts of interest and transparency, especially in substantial financial transactions such as those involved Project Eagle. Although the report concludes there were no significant deficiencies in the board’s management of the situation involving its former adviser, Mr. Frank Cushnahan, who was aiding PIMCO, one of potential purchasers of the portfolio, this incident ought to serve as a critical wake-up call. It is imperative we revise our legislation concerning the management of conflicts of interest.”
“I thank the Minister. Many fathers in this country have been waiting for this legislation for a very long time. I know there is now an issue in respect of training. This is my fourth or fifth time to bring a Commencement matter on this issue before various Ministers in recent years. I will be keeping an eye on this. If the Minister can give me some feedback on when the training will commence and when fathers will be able to get their names on the birth certificates, that would be most helpful to me and to a great many fathers around this country.”
“For ten years this delay has prevented unmarried fathers from having their names recorded on birth certificates, affecting their legal rights and their children's ability to trace their lineage. More than ten years ago, this House agreed that this change in the legislation was the right and necessary thing to do for unmarried parents. The extent of the delay of its commencement is frankly baffling. I underscore to the Government that this issue extends beyond a minor exceptional demographic within our society. Over the past decade the proportion of children born to unmarried parents has increased significantly, from 37.2% in 2014 to 43.2% in 2022. It is imperative that this legislation be initiated with the utmost urgency. I extend my support for all governmental efforts aimed at expediting this process.”
“This is what we heard from the Government in November 2024. Will the Minister give us an update on the progress made in the four months since then and on this engagement with the HSE superintendent registrars? In addition, can we receive a timeline from the Government on the plan to commence this legislation? If this engagement has raised additional steps that still need to be fulfilled before commencement, will the Minister list and outline these steps along with the order in which they need to be fulfilled? This legislation has been delayed for a decade. I feel obligated to remind the Government that this delay has had and continues to have a real human cost.”
“I welcome the Minister and congratulate him on his ministerial role. I wish him well for many years ahead. I thank him for joining me this morning for this Commencement matter regarding the continued non-commencement of section 6 of the Civil Registration (Amendment) Act 2014. We were previously told that the legislation had not been commenced due to the needed correction of a technical error in the legislation. Following the correction of this error in 2024, however, we were told that further engagement was still needed with HSE on the operational readiness necessary prior to the commencement. The then Minister, Heather Humphreys, was pleased to inform us that the officials in the General Register Office, were engaging with the superintendent registrars in the HSE in this regard.”
“Regional response and preparation groups will know far better what they need and will be able to work much more closely with their communities. In short, how can the Government prevent another Storm Éowyn from happening? The two words are "preparation" and "delegation". By the way, I also commend the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, on the fantastic work that he has done with the forestry sector since 29 January. People need to be aware of that. The Deputy is only in the job a month and he has done fantastically. We are dealing with 24,000 ha of forestry.”
“Leaving too many elements of emergency response in the hands of the national-level Government can result in fatal delays. We saw this several months ago during the tragic floods in Valencia in Spain. There, delays and confusion between Madrid and the regional government of Valencia aggravated the crisis, making it one of the deadliest in Spanish history. I fear that, with too many competences left in the hands of the national-level bodies, Ireland is waiting to experience a Valencia-level disaster of its own when the next Storm Éowyn comes. Too many local response groups that are ready to help can get stuck waiting on delayed support or permission to come down the line from Dublin. Ireland desperately needs to apply the principle of subsidiarity in its emergency response, as it does in many areas.”
“As the Covid pandemic taught us, it is paramount that children's routines be maintained in the face of interruptions. Another area in which we can make immediate improvements is to assist the local emergency response groups. I call on the Minister of State to co-operate with the Minister, Dara Calleary, to make grants available through Pobal for community alert groups to stock up on emergency ESB kits for the elderly and those living alone. More broadly, we need to move away from our overcentralised emergency response system and towards a system of regionalised emergency response and prevention. Our current system of local execution and national oversight is not efficient. Is it necessary for Dublin to begin delegating more responsibilities and competencies to the regional level?”
“I am sharing time with Senator Joe Conway. The Minister of State is welcome. Across the country, we had close to 1 million buildings without electricity. There is estimated damage of over €200 million to homes, roads and infrastructure as well as over €500 million in damage to the timber and horticultural industries. In my home constituency of Meath East, there are still homes that are lacking telephone lines over a month later. As has been said at length in this House, we have seen the result of the Government's tendency to take a reactive emergency response approach instead of a proactive emergency prevention or minimisation one, but in the spirit of being proactive, I call on the Government to make a number of improvements for the future. One improvement would be for it to ensure that every school was provided with a generator.”
“Does the Government not intend to place some minimum timeframe and requirement on teaching graduates, for example, to give back to their country? At a bare minimum, will the Government consider putting a cap on the sabbaticals of recent graduates?”
“Most nations across Europe and the western world are currently facing emigration crises. The Irish Government seems to have outdone itself in terms of mismanagement as we appear to be one of the only nations on earth facing simultaneous immigration and emigration crises. Since a recent study found strong indications that less than a fifth of the tenants in the Dublin market are Irish, I call on the Minister for Justice and the Minister for housing to say what they are willing to do to solve these twin issues. Are the Ministers even willing to acknowledge that these two issues are connected in the first place? Finally, regarding the question of emigration, what is the Government willing to do about the fact that many Irish people take their training and academic degrees from this State and leave?”