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 no doubt the Minister and officials will meet MIE. I know they are in ongoing engagement on this matter. I thank him for highlighting this.”
“I thank Deputy Ó Muirí and he is correct that I had the honour of visiting Marino Institute of Education. It is a brilliant third level facility and it had made this point for some time. I want to acknowledge that. The reason some of its courses are not funded under the free fees initiative is because of its status as a private institution with charitable status under the co-trusteeship of the European Province of the Congregation of Christian Brothers and Trinity College Dublin. From memory, we brought in a new Higher Education Act which gives an ability to a private institution to decide to bring itself closer into the family, to use colloquial language, and therefore that opens up opportunities on free fees. On foot of the Deputy raising this, I will ask the Minister, Deputy Lawless, to come back to him directly.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and congratulate him on publishing his first legislation so soon into the term of this Dáil. He is quite right that this is a huge area. We have seen many companies such as JP Morgan and Ford make significant comments over the last week about job displacement and the type of new jobs that will be created. There is a live debate around regulation. We discussed the issue of AI at our competitiveness summit this week. We have a dedicated Minister of State, Deputy Niamh Smyth, who is doing an excellent job in this area. I have no doubt she will give consideration to Deputy Ó Cearúil's Bill and the Government will give it due and fair consideration also.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising that issue and my sincere sympathy goes to the family of Catherine. The Deputy is quite right to highlight this issue. The Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, has had a number of meetings with her colleague and counterpart in Northern Ireland, the Minister of Health, Mike Nesbitt. I know there is a real willingness and desire on the part of both Ministers and both health services to see how we can do more together on cross-Border health. The Deputy is right that Altnagelvin was a big and important development, so was the all-island congenital heart disease network. We do not want to just keep looking back and saying is it not great we did that. It is about what is next. I suggest if the Deputy is willing to give those details to the Minister for Health, she will come back to him directly.”
“The Gender Recognition Act 2015 resides with the Department of Social Protection so I will ask the Minister for Social Protection to come back to the Deputy on that matter and with a timeline for the review she is seeking.”
“Sorry, there is no going around the back of the scrum. Do not dare do Israel versus Palestine. This is child protection. We have a visa system. We have a rules-based system. The Deputy might want to have a different approach to migration. This Government has rules and those rules will be followed in relation to migration.”
“It must be exhausting speaking for the whole nation, but I also speak for people in this country, as does every Member of this House. We are not tearing up our rules-based migration system. If, God forbid, anything happened to any child from any part of this country who came in here unaccompanied by a parent, the Minister would be hauled in here and asked what he did and why he let it happen. Child protection matters. There is no short circuit; there is no quick-----”
“I do not want to cut across the independence of that. The Minister has outlined clearly the reasons why his Department was not in a position currently to grant the visas. I am ad idem with him on that.”
“I genuinely take the good faith in which people are raising it. They are quite right to raise it. Many people have raised it and contacted us all about it. The Minister for justice has a specific and important job to do and that is to apply the laws of our land on visas, child protection and immigration. If he did not do that, I am sure he would be criticised in the other direction. We are granting and have granted visit visas for quite a number of people from Palestine. We are always looking for ways, as a people, to support and show solidarity. We also have to operate and respect the integrity of our system. I am quite confident the rules being applied here by Ireland are exactly the sort of rules we would expect any other country to be applying as well. There is an appeals process in place.”
“Please do not interrupt me on a sensitive issue. We have just discussed child protection. It is very important. Vetting is very important. We have strict rules on migration and who can come into our country. It has to be a rules-based system. I do not want to go too far into the application. I am sure everyone is engaging in good faith. There is certainly not an effort by the State to seek to block or be difficult here. I am engaging in good faith on this too. There are rules and processes. There is an appeals process available. I have no doubt that will be considered by some of people I have heard speaking publicly on this today. I know this is an effort by people to do good. I do not doubt that. However, we have to uphold the integrity of our migration system as well.”
“I do not doubt the good faith of the people in our country and in other countries who have been trying to make this trip happen. No one doubts that. No one doubts wanting to support children. Of course, we are not just talking about 33 children seeking to come to Ireland. We are also talking a number of adults, almost all of whom are not the parents of any of the children.”
“The Dáil has not quite shrugged its shoulders, but it has not done much more than that. We have to act on this. The Minister is determined to act on it. The Government is determined to act on it. Technology and facial recognition technology have a role to play here in getting on top of these predators and bringing an end to some of these disgusting practices. There is also a role at an EU level. We need the European Union to decide whose side it is on here. We have had discussions about social media, digital media and all that sort of stuff. The EU needs to put the protection of children ahead of any other interest in terms of online platforms. We will continue to engage intensively on this.”
“There is a special place in hell for anybody who commits a sexual crime against a child. While we cannot do much about places in hell, we can do things about places in prison. We can do things about making sure our legislation and resourcing are as robust as possible. As the Deputy rightly said, we need to come at this with every possible resource and avenue. I appeal to the Oireachtas to please listen to An Garda Síochána about the tools and legislative changes it needs in terms of technology. There was a rush of people into this place the last time but none of those people were involved in stopping the exploitation of children online. The gardaí are asking and the Garda Commissioner has asked this place to give them more powers in relation to facial recognition technology.”
“The role of this unit also includes the investigation and co-ordination of cases relating to possession, distribution and production of child sexual abuse material and any related sexual abuse and exploitation of children. They are also proactively investigating intelligence concerning paedophiles and their use of technology, including through the targeting of those suspected of the production, distribution and possession of child abuse images. There is a huge amount to do in this area. We will keep an absolute focus on it. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Foley, and perhaps, the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, to further engage with the Deputy directly on it.”
“We are fully committed to playing an active role in negotiations on new EU laws that will require online service providers to deal with child sexual abuse material and attempts to groom children on their platforms. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, played a leading role on this in the previous Government. An Garda Síochána's online child exploitation unit is the national centre point of contact for receiving referrals in relation to child sexual exploitation or abuse material. Referrals are received from a number of sources, including the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, Europol, Interpol, the FBI and the National Crime Agency.”
“To encourage victims to come forward and access supports, in November 2023, probably when the Deputy was having that previous engagement, the national action plan to prevent and combat trafficking was launched. Its key actions include a new national referral mechanism, making it easier for victims to come forward; new and widespread training for all those who may come into contact with victims; and ongoing development and training through NGOs targeting front-line staff in certain industries. Sexual exploitation of children is an extremely serious offence. We have comprehensive legislation in place to deal with it but this is about making sure that we can robustly always quickly implement that legislation. It is something we have to give absolute attention to.”
“We have decided to listen to the views of some who do not have to sift through that more than the gardaí who are on the front line. I will absolutely follow up with the Minister, Deputy Foley, in the first instance, about the SERP report and the issues the Deputy has identified, and ask her to come back to the Deputy with a timeline. I assure Deputy Nolan that this Government is fully committed, as I know everyone in this Oireachtas is, to addressing sexual exploitation in all of its forms, most particularly child sexual exploitation and child trafficking. To tackle human trafficking, including the trafficking of children, the Government has supported the expansion of the border management unit. Around 200 members of the border management unit are based at Dublin Airport alone.”
“I thank the Deputy for highlighting this extremely important issue and for highlighting it on an ongoing basis and for her work on this. We appreciate that. It is important. I was listening to the Deputy and thinking back to some of the debates we had in the previous Dáil. We are going to have to do more to empower An Garda Síochána with the technology it needs for this. The predators, exploiters and criminals, and I can think of many worse words which I am not allowed to use in this House, are using these technologies and are ahead of some of the things that we do. I visited the Garda in the Phoenix Park in relation to this and watched how gardaí are having to sift through the most horrific images for an extraordinarily long time. There is technology that can do that more quickly.”
“I cannot pre-judge. We have a WRC and Labour Court that are independent of government. We have An Garda Síochána. We have a number of avenues and robust whistleblower legislation. I suggest in the first instance, if the Deputy believes there are more issues that need to be considered, to provide them to the relevant Department.”
“Without knowing the details of the case or pre-judging any information that I do not yet know, the WRC and Labour Court are avenues that are available to any employee who experiences any discrimination.”
“I thank the Deputy. When he criticised me about my response only being words, I am not sure what more I can provide in oral response to a question. I provided clearly in those words quite a bit of detail on the laws that are in place in our land. They are laws that those of us who are honoured to serve in government worked hard to put in place in 2014, with an enhancement in 2022. In the lifetime of this Government, we will carry out the statutory review. We are going to look at that at an EU level too . Regarding the specific case, I am conscious of not knowing the detail. I am not doubting the Deputy's bona fides. I suggest that the appropriate thing to do would be to provide the relevant information to the relevant Department or Minister, who will process that in accordance with the laws of the land and the Protected Disclosures Act.”
“Penalisation can include unfair dismissal, unfair treatment, coercion, intimidation or harassment. Statutory protection from penalisation is provided primarily by the Workplace Relations Commission, which can make orders for restitution and payment of up to five years' salary in compensation. Cases can be appealed to the Labour Court.”
“That is the purpose of our legislation and indeed it was the purpose of the broadening of the scope of the legislation in 2022, where we made it clear that there was a broader range of people who could report wrongdoing, beyond employees, to include volunteers, shareholders, trainees, board members and job applicants, and ensure they benefited from the protection of the law. It also imposes new requirements on employers as regards the operation of a formal whistleblowing channel. There are also now special channels for the reporting of wrongdoing relating to law enforcement, security, defence, international relations or intelligence. Our law of the land, the Act, prohibits any penalisation or threat of penalisation for a worker who has made a protected disclosure.”
“That will be charged with reporting to both the European Parliament and the Council on the national law transposing the directive, so it asks how every country is getting on with fulfilling their EU obligations and whether any additional measures are considered appropriate for any member state in the European Union's analysis of people's compliance with that directive. The Commission has indicated the report will be finalised no later than 2026. I say that by way of context for some of the broader issues the Deputy raised, because protecting whistleblowers is important. People who come forward in the public interest need to know that they can do so in an environment that is safe.”
“That is due to commence, I am told, in the near future. Under the law, it must be done by 2027. It must be done within five years. A public consultation will be held as part of that review. Those of us who were here in 2022 will recall that the Act has built into it a statutory review of the legislation. That will involve public consultation. We will be obligated as an Oireachtas to consider the legislation during the lifetime of this Dáil. We will be obligated to, quite rightly, have a public consultation as part of that. At EU level, there is a review of the EU whistleblower directive, which is Directive 2019/1937, expected next year. The amended Act we have is a transposition of the EU whistleblower directive.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising the matter, as I acknowledge he has on previous occasions, as he said. He raised it with my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Chambers, who has committed to engaging with him. I will welcome his views on the legislative basis we have in Ireland. I am not familiar with the details and if the Deputy has details, he should furnish them to the relevant authorities. That would be useful. Ireland has comprehensive legislation to protect workers who raise concerns about wrongdoing in the workplace. We have been on quite a significant legislative journey to try to get it right. The Protected Disclosures Act was enacted in 2014. It was enhanced and amended during the previous Dáil through the Protected Disclosures (Amendment) Act 2022. A statutory review of the Protected Disclosures Act is built in.”
“I am pleased that we have increased in funding in 2025 compared with 2024. I expect we will continue to increase its funding and will look to provide more educational opportunities to Tipperary. I will keep in touch with the Deputy on the matter.”
“I thank the Deputy. I know the seriousness with which he views this issue. He has said it is a "central issue" and that is obviously how he feels about it. It will be interesting to see whether, through the range of courses provided by Tipperary ETB and the pathways available, it believes it can meet the needs of learners through other mechanisms or whether it will require LTIs to continue in the new year. On foot of the Deputy raising the issue, and it being raised a few times in the Dáil this week, I will ask the Minister, Deputy Lawless, to engage with SOLAS and Tipperary ETB, as I know he will be eager to do anyway. We will see how the situation progresses. We are very committed to the work of the ETB in Tipperary. I thank the staff of the ETB for the work they do. It is an organisation I have come to know reasonably well.”
“I believe there are over 9,600 unique learners in Tipperary who were supported last year through post leaving certificate courses, PLCs, apprenticeships, traineeships, Youthreach and adult and community education programmes. I am happy to have further engagement with the Minister, Deputy Lawless, and SOLAS on the matter. There is a number of different pathways to achieve those training objectives. When Tipperary ETB has gone through its process, it will be interesting to see if it identifies any gaps and if it does, how the Government responds. It might be that the ETB is able to meet the education and training needs through a variety of other means. I am happy to keep in touch with the Deputy on the issue. I am satisfied at the moment that Tipperary ETB is going through a process and I look forward to the outcome of it.”
“I understand that Tipperary ETB has not formally approved or scheduled any LTIs to operate beyond the conclusion of this year's initiatives and, therefore, no learners are formally enrolled for September. I am also aware that Tipperary ETB has advised that it is considering alternative options to support those learners who typically would have been served by LTIs. It has requested the contact details of any current or prospective LTI learners and intends to engage with each of them on personalised guidance and to consider the various educational options that might be available to them. I know it remains committed to that.”
“To be clear, the Deputy has not asserted to the contrary. We have provided a budget for Tipperary ETB this year of €35.5 million through SOLAS, which is an extra €1.1 million on what it received last year. We are very much investing in further education and training opportunities in Tipperary ETB. My understanding, going somewhat from memory, is that local training initiatives are one mechanism through which people access training. They generally operate on an annual funding cycle and are always reviewed by all ETBs at the end of the cycle. They look at a range of factors, including demand, funding, local strategic priorities and the like. They then decide whether to offer those courses again.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. As a previous Minister with responsibility in this area, I know Tipperary ETB to be an excellent and well-run organisation. I am aware of some of the exciting projects in which it is involved, including at the old barracks in Clonmel and the plans for a FET college of the future. I know the ETB to be a well-run organisation and would take very seriously any feedback it has for the Government on any supports it requires. I am happy to have further engagement on this issue and to speak with the Minister, Deputy Lawless, to reflect the views raised by the Deputy and other Tipperary Deputies. My understanding is that not only has SOLAS, the national agency, not reduced its funding to Tipperary ETB, but we, through SOLAS, have increased its funding.”
“EV sales increased by 23% in April this year compared with the same month last year. Home retrofitting is scaling up. I agree with the Deputy that we need to go further but we are beginning to see the direction of travel. We must back that up with investment but also by making sure projects are delivered more quickly, particularly in the area of offshore renewable energy.”
“We are committed to providing the investment that is required. I am being very honest in saying I am not convinced currently of the need for more legislation in this area. There is a lot of legislation in place. It is an implementation issue now in terms of how quickly we can accelerate delivery. Most sectors of our economy are seeing a decrease in emissions, including agriculture and transport. Our electricity is now cleaner than ever before. Last year marked the first year in which no peat was used for power generation, which was a symbolic end to a high-carbon era. It reflects the structural transformation under way in our energy network. Wind energy provided 48% of Ireland's power last February. In January, Ireland reached the important milestone of hitting 5 GW of installed onshore wind capacity.”
“I have read the Commission's report on our implementation of EU environmental law. My honest evaluation is that it is a mixed bag. It points to some areas of progress over the past year, including in biodiversity, our clean air strategy, the publication of successive climate action plans and the binding legislation.”
“If we can get to that energy transition, we can stop using dirty fuels and start being able to produce clean renewable energy. There are a number of commitments in the programme for Government on climate. They include strengthening governance structures around the climate action plan, achieving energy independence by harnessing renewable energy resources, ramping up home retrofits, improving grants, on which we have given a commitment, enabling communities to secure grid access for local renewable projects and supporting the just transition commission to ensure no community is left behind. One of the big decisions the previous Government made was the establishment of the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund. We are putting billions of euro aside to be able to invest in that transition.”
“Ireland now has the lowest level of greenhouse gas emissions in 35 years. This is more significant when we consider that this period saw 1.5 million more people living in the country and over a million more homes. We are achieving reductions at a time when our economy is, thankfully, continuing to grow strongly. However, the Deputy is entirely correct that we have a long way to go to get to our 2030 climate targets. Certainly, there is no white flag being raised by the Government. The next phase has to be about acceleration. It has to be about how we can do more and do it more quickly. That is why the Government has announced our intention to establish a new climate investment clearing house to try to accelerate progress on our energy transition. That is the big dial change.”
“It will show a commitment in areas like investing in water infrastructure, supporting Irish Water, accelerating the delivery of renewable energy and investing more in transport, including public transport. The Cabinet committee on climate action, environment and energy met this week and had a good and detailed discussion on climate policy. The latest data from the Environmental Protection Agency, which made a presentation to the committee, shows that Ireland's emissions continue to fall for the third year in a row and are at their lowest level in three decades. I say that not because we are where we need to be but because we do not want to inject a sense of fatalism into the debate, which the Deputy is not doing. We are able to make more progress as a country. Emissions decreased by 2% in 20024 and by 10.6% between 2021 and 2024.”
“It is welcome to have a question on climate as I am not sure we, as a Dáil, are having the level of focus and discussion needed on this issue. The climate emergency has not gone away; far from it. We need to look at how we can accelerate the pace of change that needs to take place. We need a conversation about how we bring people with us, on which the Deputy had some good ideas. I, too, know people who would like to retrofit their home or switch to an electric vehicle but cost is still a barrier. We, as a Government, must reflect on that. The short answer to the Deputy's question is "Yes". He will begin to see real and meaningful intent when we publish our national development plan, which I hope will be at the end of this month.”
“Again, I do not say that as a slur but just before the final governance issues in terms of the drawdown of public money. That is what I was told was the situation this week. It would be useful, if we take the Donegal projects as an example, to convene a meeting next week of Oireachtas Members with the relevant HSE and departmental officials. I undertake to get that in place. I will also talk to the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister, Deputy Foley, about this matter today. From the Government's perspective, the funding has been allocated and now needs to be spent quickly for the benefit of these children.”
“I am very clear, not just from my perspective but from that of the entire Government, that on 25 March of this year, the Department of Children, Disability and Equality secured sanction for the €8 million grant fund. There is a budget of €3.2 billion for disability services, as the Deputy knows, and €8 million of a grant fund was sanctioned for the Department of Children, Disability and Equality on 25 March. From the Government's point of view, once it was sanctioned, we expected it to be drawn down and spent. In light of what Deputy Doherty has brought to my attention, I will of course follow this up again. I had conversations on it this week, coincidentally, where I was told there were some final compliance and governance issue with some projects.”
“That is an important step and we have seen when it comes to assessments of need this year that there has, thankfully, been a very large increase in the number of children now getting them, although there is much more work to do on that. On foot of Deputy Doherty raising this, and I can only imagine the genuine frustration of Denise and Jack and other Denises and Jacks, we will arrange for that meeting next week and I will keep in close contact with the Deputy. From the Government's point of view, I am clear, because I was in the room, that we have sanctioned the €8 million. We did that in March. I will ask for a specific meeting to take place with the Deputy and other Donegal Oireachtas Members next week.”
“Our commitment on this was solemn. It was an €8 million fund. More broadly, because I am conscious that people are watching this, therapy services for children is an area in which there needs to be huge progress and we are endeavouring to reform that system. That is why we have taken decisions only in recent weeks to establish a new national education therapy service led by my colleague the Minister, Deputy McEntee. We should be in a position to start recruiting for those posts in the coming weeks, I hope, starting with special schools and then rolling the project out more broadly after that to special classes and then mainstream schools.”
“I am also told they have been assured their costs will be funded. From a Government point of view, we have allocated the €8 million. I take the point about the delay and I apologised for it, but we have now sanctioned the funding. I can fully understand that there might be final compliance checks or governance checks. I do not say this rudely to the groups, but it is the first time some of them have ever received public funding or the likes. I take the point that the HSE has to do that, but we want to see the money flow. Because of the importance of the issue, while I accept there are more projects than those in Donegal, I will ask that we have a meeting of Donegal Oireachtas Members. I will ask for that to be arranged with the relevant Minister or the HSE next week to try to bring a finality to this situation.”
“I think the Deputy raised it on a Thursday during Leaders' Questions and on the Monday, from my memory, we had a meeting of the Cabinet committee on disability and agreed to sanction a fund of €8 million - again from memory - into what was called the children's disability services grant fund. That decision was taken by the Government on foot of the engagement the Deputy and I had here. I have been asking about this pretty regularly because these are important projects and, indeed, I had an opportunity to speak to the head of the HSE, Bernard Gloster, about it only this week as part our ongoing regular engagement. In relation specifically to the Donegal group, I understood they are in very regular contact. I think there has even been contact this week between them and the HSE.”
“First, I join the Leas-Cheann Comhairle in remarking on the fact tomorrow marks the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This was one of the most horrific atrocities ever to take place on the European Continent and an atrocity that resulted in the massacre of more than 8,000 men and boys. It is our duty as a country, a Parliament and an international community to remember the brutality and devastation that occurred. I know we all join the community today. Deputy Doherty mentioned Katie Taylor from Bray. I join him in wishing her all the best. I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. He was right when he raised it in March. I did take action, as did the Government.”
“I hear Deputy O'Reilly about that. I acknowledge that people are trying to do something good, in good faith. We all share that view. There are rules in place relating to visas, particularly when it comes to minors, especially when they are not travelling with parents or guardians. An appeals process is in place. I make that point without over-commenting on individual applications. I agree on the point about consequences and made this point at the Foreign Affairs Council. We cannot find somebody in breach of their human rights obligations in an association agreement and say that is grand, we found them in breach and there is nothing to see here. There have to be consequences. I am checking this at the moment but my understanding is that the suspension of the agreement requires unanimity.”
“I again reiterate my call and I hope other EU member states that share our views on this issue will follow and produce their own domestic legislation.”
“At the last Foreign Affairs Council meeting, we asked Kaja Kallas, the High Representative of the European Union, to engage with the Israeli Government, because if someone is in breach, we have to ask how they intend to take themselves out of breach. We also asked her to engage with the College of Commissioners on what potential actions the European member states may now wish to take. The Taoiseach, the Government of Ireland and I would like to see the agreement suspended in the interim. That would be appropriate. It would require unanimity and I would be misleading the House to suggest that such unanimity would exist or be likely to exist. That is one reason why we are pursuing our own domestic legislation regarding the occupied Palestinian territories as an interim measure.”
“The EU-Israel association agreement provides that the relations between the parties would be based on respect for human rights and democratic principles, which constitute an essential element of the agreement. The agreement says that human rights clauses are an essential element. It is clear and we did not need any review to tell us that Israel is not living up to its human rights obligations. We eventually got 17 and then 19 countries to agree that we should have a review. The review has taken place and has found, quelle surprise , that Israel is in major breach of its human rights obligations and Article 2 of that agreement. I do not believe this can be a consequence-free zone. The European Union cannot find a party to be in breach and then just ignore that or wish that away.”