Simon Harris
Wicklow · Fine Gael · Ireland
“There are more than 10,000 routes and thousands of buses involved and the number of students using the services is not a million miles away from 200,000. The current terms of the scheme are going to continue to apply for the 2026-27 school year.”
“I thank Deputy McDonald for raising what is genuinely an important issue. I do take the point that when we talk about this in the abstract or from a process point of view in here, that for people watching this is their real lived experience.”
“There number of children who have been supported by means of the school transport scheme, as Deputy Fitzmaurice knows and has alluded to, has grown significantly in recent years. Since 2018, the number increased from 120,000 in 2018 to more than 181,000 now. Included in that figure are 24,000 pupils with special educational needs.”
“I knew the Deputy would have to mention the GAA, especially with Galway and Limerick playing at the weekend. I wish everybody involved the best of luck. We are very committed to the school transport scheme. If the Deputy wants to see our commitment, he should look to our budget.”
“An ageing population, increasing healthcare needs, the transition to net zero and the need for continued investment in housing, energy and infrastructure will place a significant demand on public resources.”
“There is also a legitimacy to the point the Deputy made about how it is a legitimate form of transport for some people. We see this working in other European countries. We see it in our nearest neighbours. I do not want to get the regime wrong, but I think they have registration at the point of purchase that allows people to track this.”
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“I have spoken to the president of the IFA in recent days, as has the Minister. Everyone wants a resolution to this. The board of Bord Bia will meet again on 2 March. We all agree that this protracted dispute is not in the best interest of the agrifood sector. Engagement is taking place and efforts are being made to resolve the matter.”
“Following that meeting, the IFA submitted a document that consisted of seven strands and that requested that the board of Bord Bia commit to initiating a review process into the various issues that have arisen in recent weeks. Many of the seven strands relate to the quality assurance schemes. These can be dealt with by the farmer forum that Bord Bia is establishing on foot of the commitments given at the 18 February meeting. In addition, the Minister is examining the option to commission an expert-led governance review which would cover the other strands of the IFA proposal. There has been direct contact with senior members of the IFA regarding its proposals in the context of trying to find a potential compromise. The word "compromise" is important here, because compromise does not mean somebody getting their own way.”
“Farmers are far from stupid; they are the backbone of the indigenous Irish economy. They also know that this Government has their back. It had their back on nitrates and on Mercosur and will have it when it comes to the CAP and bluetongue. We know that they know we are with them and will be supporting them. We have had a point of disagreement with regard to the chair of a semi-State board. The Government has a job to do, and this Oireachtas has had a vote in respect of that. We have had committee hearings and there have been board meetings. The Minister for agriculture, Deputy Heydon, is engaging intensively on these matters. I thank him for all the work he is doing. The board of Bord Bia held a scheduled meeting on Wednesday, 18 February.”
“All of us feel that we are getting to a point where it is also going to have to involve a conversation about reform and about what an inclusive model of education looks like. Nobody has a monopoly in terms of the answer on that. It has been an upsetting week. In politics, when something goes wrong, it is your responsibility to say that, to fix it and to learn from it. That is what we intend to do.”
“Something good has to come from this. When you are a parent under pressure worrying if your child is going to get the supports that they need, you do not really care which arm of the State, which office, which Minister or which Department. The buck stops with us, the Government. That is why we needed to stop the review, provide the additional SNAs where that was identified, not have a downward revision in schools but then crucially use this time - that is the really important bit. I say this in the spirit it is meant. We should engage collaboratively in this House, whether at relevant Oireachtas committees or wherever the appropriate place is, to identify what we want the system to look like into the future. The level of investment now, quite rightly, is very high. The number of people in the system, quite rightly, is very high.”
“Our priority, alongside the SNA circular review, is the roll-out of the therapist workforce in education. We now have for the first time - it has only started - established within the NCSE an education therapy workforce. Forty-five special schools are being sanctioned first but the ultimate aim here is to get this into mainstream schools. That could make a very significant difference because one of the realities that I hear from SNAs is that often they find themselves having to also pick up the slack due to the lack of provision of other services, most particularly therapies. We need to look at how we can address that therapy deficit too.”
“What frustrates parents of a child with additional needs is that we can stand here and say we are spending more money than ever before - true - we will have more SNAs in classrooms than ever before - true - and we will have more special classes open than ever before - true - and yet one will not meet many parents of a child with additional needs who feels the system is where the system needs to be. We need to look at how we workforce plan. The Deputy raised an interesting point and I will not give a knee-jerk response to it on the floor of the Dáil. I certainly remember when I was in school a classroom assistant used to actually be a role. I have no sense of where the policy thinking in the Department of education is on that but I will certainly follow up with the Minister for education on that.”
“We should do this in a deliberative manner. We should listen, we should engage and we should get it right. Crucially, we also need to get the SNA redeployment scheme over the line. My understanding is it is almost there. This is something that I acknowledge Fórsa has been engaging constructively on. I thank it for that. This is important and it would put SNAs on a similar par to teachers in terms of redeployment. Third, we need to also have a look at workforce planning in general in special education.”
“Reviews have always been a feature of the SNA system. They largely paused since Covid. They have always been a feature. We need to make sure, though, that the review is based on a revised circular that is more reflective and understanding of the reality in the school classroom today. The reality is that when it comes to the phrase "additional and significant needs", there are children whose additional and significant care needs are obvious and visible, and there now likely more such children, certainly than there were in 2014, and there are some who are less likely to be visible and perhaps could be referred to as hidden or at least often hidden. That is the point that I heard Ms Cotterell make. It is a point that I heard many people make. It is a point that I think is true. We are going to revise the circular.”
“I thank Deputy Ward for bringing up this issue. I am particularly grateful to him for mentioning Michelle Cotterell, the principal, because I saw the report on the Six One news the other night. I have never met Ms Cotterell - I would be happy to meet her - but I thought her presentation of the issue was exceptional. She made the point - indeed, it is a point I have been repeating in the days since - that we have to use the period of time between now and future school years to look at the fact that the school community or composition, not only of that school but of all schools, has changed significantly since the 2014 circular, and that is what we intend to do. We have to be honest in relation to this, and we should be honest. Parents of children with special needs assistants, teachers and SNAs themselves know this.”
“-----the HSE now operates and the role and the value of the chief social worker because the chief social worker has been a positive addition, for the many reasons that the Deputy outlined, to the HSE. I will ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy further.”
“The confidential recipient now reports in their information to the chief social worker and had previously reported in to the HSE's CEO. That is being done from a place of wanting to reflect how-----”
“I disagree with the Deputy's characterisation of it but I appreciate the point he is trying to make. It is a highly important issue that we all need to be alert to. This office has operated since day one as an independent office. It was an independent office that receives confidential information and then reports it to the HSE's CEO. When it was reporting it as an independent office to the HSE's CEO, there was no chief social work officer responsible for reforming and driving reform in this area. There now is. Certainly the Minister can revert to the Deputy on some of the concerns he has raised, but I want to be really clear: the office remains independent. There has been no effort to subsume the office into the HSE's internal structures. What has changed, and the Deputy is correct on this, is the reporting structure.”
“In this case, there is some wisdom to the idea that the chief social worker is a person who has a level of professional expertise and qualification that may indeed be more appropriate. The structure has changed. I genuinely do not believe there is any attempt to downgrade or in any way devalue the vital work done. I reiterate the Government's view that this work is vital, beneficial and has made a very significantly positive impact on improvements to our health service. We want to see that continue. However, the structure of the HSE has changed and there is now a chief social worker position that did not exist when the original structure was put in place. That is my understanding of the change, no more and no less. I will ask the Minister for Health to reflect further on the Deputy's comments and revert to him.”
“There has been a very significant overhaul of the structures in place. We now have a chief social worker. That chief social worker has that overall responsibility for delivery of adult safeguarding services. We have had expert reviews in relation to that role and the structure of safeguarding services within the HSE as well. My understanding, and based on what the Deputy has said, which I have no reason to disbelieve or doubt, is that the confidential recipient's reporting line will now be to the chief social worker as opposed to the chief executive of the HSE. I make the point that, even as originally constructed, the office always reported in, for want of a better phrase, to the HSE, whether to the CEO or the director general previously.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and reminding us of a lot of the very good work that has been done by that office since its establishment. I recall the appointment of Leigh Gath, who I think was the first confidential recipient. She was a woman whom I knew and she did incredible work. She was a Thalidomide survivor herself and a disability advocate. She really did excellent work and I acknowledge that and think of her today. I will ask the Minister for Health to come back to the Deputy directly with any further information or thoughts on this but my understanding is that when the office was originally established much of the structure that is in place today in relation to safeguarding, and even the role of the chief social worker within the HSE, bizarrely, perhaps, did not exist.”
“It will not tell them about nationwide renters' protections. It will not tell them that, actually, the sound bites delivered in here yesterday were dispelled on national radio today. Let us be fair on this sensitive issue. Let us actually bring forward ideas in relation to this. We are bringing forward a balanced package to stimulate supply and protect renters.”
“There will be an effective no-fault eviction ban. The Opposition will put up a selective clip that will put the fear of God in people in relation to rent but it will not tell them about the no-fault eviction ban.”
“I patronisingly get asked by the Opposition whether I do not understand, but does the Opposition not understand that we have to increase supply? We have to increase supply. I never hear from the Opposition, beyond more State investment - which we are doing - what policy lever the Opposition would pull to encourage more people to build more apartments. The people who vote for them and those who vote for me-----”
“The Government has tried to arrive at a balanced point of view here, one that drives more people to invest because, by God, we need it - we need more homes and apartments built in this country - but also one that, alongside that, puts in place a very ambitious, comprehensive set of protections for renters that have not existed in this country before and have been warmly welcomed by many, including those in the UCD school of social policy.”
“That is a significant protection for people who rent a property. They know they are there for six years, there is an effective no-fault eviction ban in place and their rent is effectively capped at no more than a 2% increase per year. That is a significant package of changes. Yes, there are comments from all sides of the debate - the left, the right and everywhere - about how we could have done this or done that. Lots of different people have a different perspective.”
“That was apparently a projection, according to the comment on the radio this morning, over ten years. I am not saying anyone did it intentionally but it has been done in such a manner that has caused fear and worry. Nobody is suggesting market rents are going to be reset at 25%; not the investment fund the Deputy quoted. That investment fund has clarified that this morning. It is important we make that point too. I have acknowledged, because it is the truth, that from March it will be possible for new tenancies to have rents set to market rate. I have also said, and it is only fair the Opposition also says this, that along side that there is a protection for the renter that is not there today, in that their tenancy is secure for six years and their rent cannot be adjusted beyond inflation capped at 2% for the next six years.”
“Surely we see the benefit in private investment alongside an unparalleled level of State investment in housing. We are investing more than most European countries in housing supply, yet we know, as do the Housing Commission and everybody who has looked, that in and of itself will not be enough. It will not be enough to fix the housing emergency unless we also attract in others to add private investment funds. If we talk of ideology, we should be very careful we do not demonise that. We need a diversity of supply. We also need lots of different types of building and construction under way. I hope the Deputy would accept the points I have made in this House that the comments this morning on national radio regarding the 25% clarify there was never a position that was going to be in a year or, indeed, in two or three years.”
“I have never been accused of having a craven ideology before. Our only policy objective in this coalition Government is to make sure we build more homes for our people to buy and rent and to make sure we deliver supply. Without properties, apartments and homes to buy or rent, every conversation we have in this House is interesting but academic. It is interesting but abstract if we do not build enough homes. The Housing Commission, which I am sure did not have any ideology either, as it had lots of different perspectives and backgrounds, said very clearly that there was a need for private investment in terms of getting to the supply. I make the point respectfully that it is surely not the Deputy's position that the only people who should be building apartments should be the State.”
“Objectively and fairly, the decision we took to invest in, and now open, a brand new, state-of-the-art Central Mental Hospital, deemed one of the best forensic mental heath hospitals in Europe, is a major step forward in forensic mental health services in this country. If you had all the money and all the staff in the world, you would still open that hospital on a phased basis to get it right and to do it in a very orderly way considering the complexity of care that is required. We have seen that. Ninety three patients have been successfully moved, capacity has been increased to 114 and there is now a process to continue to open all of the beds. More broadly, should there be an ability of the mental health services to spend more capital the Government will provide that funding.”
“I take the Deputy's point and I accept her bone fides in relation to this but this is an issue Government is taking extraordinarily seriously. The Minister of State, Deputy Butler, is taking a very hands-on leadership approach to this area. I thank her for that. She has the support of all of us in government. On the specific, very worrying and concerning revelations in the "RTÉ Investigates" programme, the Minister has sought a full report from the HSE on each of the experiences and cases highlighted in that programme. I know she is very eager to get that report and is very eager to be able to work through any such report on a response to the issues.”
“Additional funding has also been provided to extend this service to Limerick Prison and we are very eager to progress with that as quickly as possible. There is a programme for Government commitment. I think the Deputy has a different point of view on health and the Prison Service but the view was here that there was a need to provide within the Prison Service for people who require imprisonment to meet their mental health needs, separate and distinct from the health needs that could be provided in the hospital.”
“Additional funding has been secured to open the remaining 16 beds and recruiting staff is the key priority here. There is a need for very specialised staff in some of these settings, as the Deputy will be aware. An additional €2.8 million was provided in budget 2026 to open what they call the new ICRU which will bring beds into use that will support smoother patient movement through the Portrane campus and will also create further space. On our prisons specifically, we already have two psychiatric intensive care units at Carraig Mór centre in Cork and the Phoenix care centre in Dublin, and we are also now providing psychiatric in-reach services to ten of our country's 12 prisons, assessing and treating prisoners with moderate to severe mental illness.”
“I know it is a statement of fact but it is important to remind us all that the Central Mental Hospital is just that; it is a hospital. Its purpose is and must be to provide treatment to support rehabilitation but also to have a carefully, safe, managed environment to help people return to the community where possible. We have seen demand for forensic mental health services grow in recent years and we have seen the opening of the new CMH at Portrane. That was an important moment. It saw the transfer of over 90 patients from an old, outdated, really inappropriate building in the Dundrum facility to a new hospital that has been recognised as one of the best forensic mental health hospitals in Europe. However, we need to open more beds in it. We have 114 operational beds at CMH. That is an increase of 20% on the former hospital.”
“While I am not a clinician, the responsibility of the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health and all of us in the Government must be to maintain public confidence in an essential service for a highly vulnerable group of patients - I use the word "patients" because that is what they are - and the dedicated staff who care for them. I spoke to the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, recently on this. She has asked the HSE for full reports on the cases highlighted in the programme, particularly those involving the Central Mental Hospital. I just want to make that point. The Minister of State has also asked that all appropriate care options for the individuals featured be examined. There are actions under way to try to improve this situation.”
“I thank Deputy Sherlock for raising this very important, sensitive and real issue in our country, our prisons and in relation to our mental health services. It is something that I know is having a real and painful impact and is a worry for many families in our country too. I join with the many who have already thanked those who spoke on the recent "RTÉ Investigates" programme on the forensic mental health services for sharing their lived experiences and giving voice to issues that should not be seen or debated in this House as abstractions.”
“-----in the minute that is given to me to respond to the charges that are put across this House. The position put forward by Sinn Féin in telling people their rents are going to rise by 25% is categorically untrue. It is being done to scaremonger and to worry. Sinn Féin talks about investment funds as though they are the big bad wolf while regularly meeting them, according to the lobbying register, and while accepting millions of dollars from construction companies and property developers in Friends of Sinn Féin in the United States, as we saw in The Sunday Times.”
“Yes, for new tenancies, for the first time, the market rate can be set but then it must be locked except for allowing for inflation. That is a significant protection. All this is done with one aim only, that is, to increase more supply because without supply and private investment, according to the Housing Commission, we will not be able to have renters and home owners. We need to keep on doing supply.”
“They have come out and said that what Sinn Féin said about it being 25% simply is not true. They said that the 25% was a projected figure over ten years. Deputy Doherty left that out. It is a projected figure over a period of ten years. Sinn Féin obviously recognises, or at least I think it does, there is a need for private investment to come into the rental market. I presume it does because its members keep meeting the companies. The lobbying register is full of times they, particularly Deputy Ó Broin, have met the companies to discuss these opportunities. Let us not scaremonger. People's rents are not increasing by 25% in March. No existing tenancy will see any change. Nationwide rent pressure zones will come into being. We will have an effective no-fault eviction ban.”
“This morning on national radio, as Deputies may have heard, and if she has not heard it, I hope Deputy McDonald will go back and listen to it, the representative body for the investment company quoted in the Dáil yesterday felt it necessary to go on national radio to describe Deputy McDonald's comments yesterday as, first, not correct, and, second, as absolutely a complete mischaracterisation of the issue. That is important for the people at home. These are people-----”
“We are not going to do this; we are going to have a serious conversation. That is other than being able to rise for inflation and, even then, capped at 2%. For the first time ever, somebody who takes out a new tenancy in March will have that six-year security, the protection of an effective no-fault eviction ban, and will also know the rent cannot rise further during that six years, except in line with inflation but no more than 2%. This 25% figure Deputy Doherty's party leader threw around this House yesterday is not a fair representation at all. That is not my view.”
“We will see greater protection for renters than ever before. For the very first time ever, we will see nationwide rent pressure zones. For the first time ever, we will see six-year rolling tenancies providing people with that security of tenure. For the first time ever, in many ways, we will see an effective no-fault eviction ban. We brought in very strict and stringent rules in relation to that as well. Yes, from March, it is possible for new tenancies to be set at market rates but here is the next bit. It is only possible for them to be set once and then they need to be locked in at that level for the next six years other than being able to rise for-----”
“There is a consistent and ongoing effort to misrepresent the factual situation in relation to the new rent rules and rental reform. I welcome the opportunity this morning in the Dáil to, I hope, disprove some of the scaremongering and misinformation and to provide some facts to people who are watching at home and would like to know the facts. First, from 1 March, there is no change at all for existing tenancies - none, zero, none at all, no change. That is really important. What does come into place from 1 March is a balanced package of measures, which includes within it some of the greatest protections we have ever had in the history of our State for renters. That is not just my view. That is the view of the University College Dublin, UCD, professor of social justice who spoke on this in recent weeks as well.”
“The line is "The Child, my sister, my brother, who was conceived out of darkness in a moment of light and placed into the care of Stone." We unequivocally apologise on behalf of the Government, the State and all the citizens of this State for all that you have endured.”
“I hope today’s apology goes some way towards that and that the support of the State today can start to make up, in some small way, for the neglect of the State when you were at your most helpless and vulnerable. I wan to conclude by restating again our deep sorrow for the grievous wrong that was done to you as children. We can never forget that the suffering deliberately imposed on the most blameless innocents is a stain on our nation. We can never stop trying to understand how, as a State and as a society, our most basic instinct - to protect our children - was warped into an appalling acceptance of abuse and abandonment. I think of a line from the poetry collection The Poison Glen by Annemarie Ní Churreáin – a collection informed by conversations with survivors of Irish institutions – in the poem "Creed".”
“Today, we clearly and unequivocally on behalf of the State apologise to those who suffered abuse in these circumstances. Today, we confirm, on the record of this House, that the State did not, and does not regard individuals as having committed a criminal offence and that no criminal record is recorded against them by virtue of their detention in any industrial school. I appreciate that with the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Act 2025, we have entered into a new phase of ongoing supports for survivors of abuse. Today we seek to build on those concerns and supports as the Taoiseach has outlined. I welcome that. We hope that the actions we have taken to date and those we take now make some contribution to the healing process for survivors.”
“Mandatory reporting was introduced but we must also remind ourselves that when it comes to caring for and protecting our children, we must always be vigilant and always seek to improve services and safeguards. Child welfare concerns can never be seen as a thing of the past but must be an ever-present priority if we are to be true to the reforms we have made. In addition to the experience of those who were abused while in institutions, the Taoiseach also spoke about those who experienced abuse while boarded out. The 2021 State apology rightly recognised the many situations where children who were boarded out were treated shamefully. Far from being placed into the bosom of a family, children were neglected, abused and exploited for labour.”
“So many occasions when we have had to once again unleash the national trauma of our past and expose again the wounds which never healed for children afflicted by a culture where indifference enabled violence, neglect and abuse. The dark past of this country is an abyss of misery for the children so victimised. It is right, as I have said, that this House listens and apologises and, more importantly, it is essential we act. It is true to say extensive work has been undertaken to reform our child welfare laws and ensure that our structures and accountability for child protection are robust and effective. The country held a referendum and the people voted to enshrine the best interests of children in our Constitution and in law.”
“Not too long after I was first elected, I remember being present in this Chamber after the publication of the Cloyne report which, although a separate commission process to the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, again exposed the disgusting downplaying of the rape and torture of children, and a dangerous disregard for child protection practices. I recall being present in this Chamber in 2013 for the then Taoiseach’s apology to the Magdalen women, as we visited again the cold and pitiless Ireland that was systematically punitive to girls and women. Of course, I remember being present in 2021 when the Taoiseach apologised to those who spent time in mother and baby homes in this country.”
“As with the survivors here today, each one of you has your own unique experience of suffering but I know that through your efforts you are seeking to improve things for all survivors of institutional abuse. I am sincerely and profoundly sorry for the pain and suffering you were subjected to in and by the State. Today we are building on that State apology of 1999 and all that has followed. Although not yet a Member of this House, I remember the Ryan report some ten years later and the appalling litany of abuse described therein. It is impossible to read the records of abuse reported by witnesses to that inquiry without feeling sick to your stomach.”
“It is right that we should hear these harsh truths in this House and it is right that we should apologise for them. In truth, we can never apologise enough for what happened. In May 1999, the Government apologised to the victims of childhood abuse and recognised the acute pain and abuse that children suffered when they should have been cared for and protected by the State. Instead of love, care and protection, they were gravely wronged. In that apology, it was rightly accepted that abuse ruined their childhoods and remained an ever-present part of their adult lives. Although unable to escape the enduring and deep hurt that they carried with them down the years, survivors have demonstrated an extraordinary commitment to sharing their stories, their terrifying living nightmares, so that the State would act.”
“The State has often compounded the wrongs of the past by failing to admit them quickly enough and failing to comprehensively acknowledge our part in them. I can think of too many examples where this has been the case. I hope today might serve another purpose in helping us to learn from that once and for all. Today I am glad that we are recognising the hurt and the pain of those abused in childhood in State institutions. Every time the silence that once surrounded your suffering is broken is a moment of light shining in the darkness. We have heard, as we should, in this House on many occasions of the systematically cold and harsh treatment of children and the endemic culture of abuse which went unchecked in our State for far too long.”
“I join the Taoiseach in thanking the group of survivors from industrial and reformatory schools for their presence in the Dáil today, and indeed for their campaign to highlight the ongoing legacy of trauma bestowed by this country's shameful history of cruelty towards children. Today we welcome Mary, Mary, Miriam and Maurice. I know you met with the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, last year. I know you told your own personal stories, which is a harrowing thing to do in and of itself. In doing so, however, you have brought about a renewed focus on the terrible experience of all survivors, and a further acknowledgement by the State of the dreadful harm that was done to children.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I know how serious these issues are. The context in which I mentioned not being on the streets was not to suggest that people with a disability do not feel extraordinarily strongly on these issues or want to ventilate that. The point was that the consultation for the new cost-of-disability payment will open tomorrow and I want people to be in rooms and engaging in that and given the opportunity to do so. The Government is committed to developing a cost-of-disability payment. The Minister, Deputy Calleary, is working on that and will engage closely with people with disabilities and their representative organisations with a view to getting this right.”
“There is indeed a commitment in the programme for Government to look at this. In that context, we will look at it, and I thank the Deputy for raising it with me. It is a fine balance and we have to consider all these things in the round, in terms of the quantum that may be available for a tax package in the budget and how we wish to deploy that while also making sure that we do not cause undue inflationary pressures on housing or the like. We need to think of all this in the round. There is the question of how the first home scheme operates too. I too am proud of the help to buy scheme. It has helped over 60,000 people. I am pleased that we have confirmed that it will continue for the lifetime of this Government, and there is a commitment in the programme for Government to review that scheme.”