Sinéad Gibney
Dublin Rathdown · Social Democrats · Ireland
“Unfortunately, those are still not entirely clear. Although the Windsor Framework did look to enshrine that policy of no diminution of rights and the non-divergence of rights on either side of the Border, that has not been clear in how it is going to play out.”
“I want to raise one specific sector. Within my portfolio, the culture sector is a good example of where we could see a much better offering in the joining together of the two economic activities. For example, we have a very vibrant production sector for film and television.”
“The other word that is important to bring into any economic discussion and fiscal discussion around a united Ireland is "holistic" because, unfortunately at times, I see the Government looking at the economy as a discrete part of society and neglecting things that fall outside of economic discussion, economic imperatives, and policymaking…”
“There are ways that we can see how our governance of this jurisdiction can be improved simply by the opportunities that will be presented by opening up constitutional change and the discussions that we are all going to have about how we govern ourselves right now and how we may govern an entire island of Ireland.”
“When the Minister of State referred to office roles in Brussels, was he describing roles in NATO headquarters? The international forces the Minister of State is describing are exactly like the coalition that invaded Iraq.”
“I look forward to coming back to the topic of the triple lock in a few questions' time. I have read with extreme concern the reports over the past week on the lack of support provided by the Department of Defence to Women of Honour, whose members are participating in the Defence Forces tribunal.”
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“Just like we have seen this gap emerge between the end of the basic income pilot scheme and the beginning of the new scheme that we hope will introduced next year, to many it may not seem like a long time, but the reality for artists is that they cannot afford to wait. People have to make decisions about jobs and bills. It is often those pressures that simply make or break comedians and other artists. It should never be the financial pressure of the industry that decides whether art gets made and which artists get to make it, comedy included. An 18-month delay means 18 months where people decide they cannot make comedy, that they must emigrate or that their craft is not worth pursuing. It is 18 months where we will continue to haemorrhage that talent. For that reason, I welcome Deputy Ahern's amendment.”
“It levels the playing field in ensuring that people in comedy can access arts funding and that funding can help foster new talent, writing workshops, residencies and mentorships. People will have the chance to pursue a sustainable career, if they so wish, and to be supported in sharing comedy with as many people as possible. It would be an incredibly positive and easy move to take. There is already an argument that comedy should be eligible for this funding as one of the arts. The Bill would bring comedians certainty in the area and grant them the same respect afforded to their fellow artists. I add my disappointment with the Minister's amendment to delay this Bill by 18 months because artists cannot wait for support.”
“The impact that this lack of recognition has had on the comedy scene is quite stark because as things stand, everyone across the arts space endures the lack of support for artists in this country. It is what has pushed artists of all types abroad. London has become essentially an easier home for Irish comedians than Dublin. We see from their success just how much talent we have in this arena. It is a huge loss to our cultural scene and to our society that people have no choice but to practice their craft elsewhere. The Bill presents an opportunity to give comedy the recognition, and as others have said, the dignity and respect that it genuinely deserves as an art form.”
“Even today by having a little bit of a laugh in discussing this, it lightened the mood. It has made the whole debate a lot more enjoyable and probably more meaningful for anybody involved in it or watching. Laughter brings us together as humans and comedy creates laughter. However, comedy also prompts us to think. It prompts self-awareness in us. It promotes social causes, and Des in particular has championed that throughout his career, particularly in what he done around, for example, way back in one of his first television series where he looked at minimum wage jobs and then on towards learning languages, as he did with both Irish and Chinese and what that meant for his life. There is much power in comedy and what it gives to society and culture. This is something we have to nurture and cherish.”
“The two of them found their way through comedy as a career and all of the challenges that it brings. As somebody with a lot of family and friends in the performance space and arts space more broadly, I also see the stark difference between those people who find success in arts and those who do not. Everybody who engages in arts, including comedy, dance, theatre and visual arts, do it for passion. They do it because they are compelled to do it. In my experience, they genuinely have no choice but to do it. Comedy, in particular, puts people in situations where they have to dig deep and bear a lot of hardship to try to get to the point where they can break even and can actually build a viable career in this space. Yet, it is so important because it brings so much to us.”
“As the Social Democrats Party's spokesperson on the arts, I warmly thank and congratulate Deputy Ó Snodaigh for bringing forward this legislation, for championing this and for bringing in comedians today to brief us as a House. As Deputy Ahern has just done, I wish to outline my own comedy connections and why I feel such a connection with this legislation. One of the most important people in my life is Des Bishop. He is my cousin. He is somebody who I am very close with, and he has been a big part of my life and particularly my daughter's life since she was born 25 years ago. He calls me the sister he never had. I cannot quite say the same because I have a brother, but we are very close. Like Deputy Ahern, I have seen Des's career grow from when he was only 19 years old. He started in comedy in UCC with his brother, Aidan.”
“While combat vessels may provide an opportunity to virtue signal to other EU countries about our willingness to take part in an arms race, the reality is that our capacity and fleet is best served by equipping them for humanitarian and disaster relief and surveillance. MRVs can monitor cables and foreign vessels and can also save lives on a scale that MRCVs cannot. It is comforting to hear that there are no plans to invest in combat vessels. I will be holding the Tánaiste to account on that.”
“None of them are combat vessels; excellent. We need to have a candid conversation about sub-sea infrastructure and the shadow fleet because that is the other context in which this arises. We could have the finest combat vessels available patrolling every inch of Irish waters, but most of the sub-sea infrastructure we are talking about also runs outside of our territorial waters. In those situations, we would be completely unable to do anything to protect those cables, no matter what kind of ships we had. We know this because it has happened on the edges of the waters of NATO member states in the Baltics.”
“I do not deny that we need serious investment in our Defence Forces, but we need to be clear on what we are trying to achieve because multi-role combat vessels would not deliver our humanitarian and disaster relief aspirations. They would limit us to a much more aggressive role at a huge cost to the Exchequer. We are currently unable to staff the ships that we have. Combat vessels are bigger and more expensive, require more specialised staff and are more expensive to run. I have not heard any discussion on the opportunity cost of going down that path. I am glad to hear that it is not on the agenda. The Tánaiste listed off some technical names of vessels. Will he clarify that none of those are combat vessels?”
“I am comforted to hear that we are not going to invest as a State in multi-role combat vessels because my key concern is that we have a long-established priority to acquire multi-role vessels, which give us a flexible fleet that is capable of surveillance and humanitarian functions. They are vital for maritime disaster relief, our capacity for peacekeeping and our ability as an island nation with a volunteer Coast Guard to respond to the needs of people in case of emergency. In delicate peacekeeping and humanitarian situations, multi-role vessels are much less likely to be met with resistance than an armed warship and have much more flexibility in the assistance that we can provide.”
“We have been talking about the replacement of our Navy ships and upgrading our fleet for some years. Throughout it all our focus has been on multi-role vessels, MRVs, as they are the best equipped to do what our Navy does best in providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. Are we now pivoting to multi-role combat vessels, MRCVs, as has been reported, which marks a shift away towards a more aggressive naval policy?”
“That is a direct denial of the right to claim asylum and it is a direct denial of the reality that 130 million people on this globe are displaced and need help. If, across the European Continent, we are in a race to the bottom to deny that right to claim asylum for people across the rest of the globe, we are on the wrong side of history. I urge Ministers to read three books: Suad Aldarra's I Don't Want to Talk About Home ; Sally Hayden's My Fourth Time, We Drowned ; and for those into fiction Paul Lynch's Prophet Song . These will help them to zoom out and look at this issue in the way they need to.”
“The Government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to provide for basic rights like the right to work and the right to access a driving licence which would allow people within the system to integrate into Irish society. The main thing I have tracked as hugely problematic in the last ten years is the move that has taken place since I entered into this space and got involved in discussions. People used to wonder whether the Government was really that cynical, and whether the State was really trying to make it difficult and unattractive for people. Now we are at the point where the Government is openly saying that it wants to address the pull factor and does not want to attract applications from people for international protection.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this topic today because this is an area I have deep expertise in. For ten years before becoming a TD, I worked in human rights and equality and for the second half of that decade, international protection was my primary focus. I find it incredible to listen to the statements from Government representatives here today calling for action on certain elements of our international protection system when they are part of a series of governments which, term after term over the last three decades, have overseen an absolutely shambolic approach to international protection. We had direct provision for two decades where people had barely enough means to live on.”
“Families up and down the country are struggling with energy affordability. Despite the fact this Government and the previous one failed to act on that and failed to invest in the grid and in renewable energy, what we saw yesterday was a report from another toothless task force telling us it will put forward recommendations next year. We need statements this week to discuss what action can be taken to provide targeted measures that will support people now and help them to survive this winter.”
“While small fishers struggle to get by, huge factory trawlers are hoovering up fish stocks inside and outside of our waters. We need a common-sense approach to fishing that protects our environment, fishing stocks and Irish inshore fisheries, because right now we have a situation which does not do any of those things. Tá an saol ar chósta agus oileáin na hÉireann crua. Tuigeann daoine go bhfuil an saol seo crua. Tuigeann siad go bhfuil sé deacair agus contúirteach. Is é an rud nach dtuigeann siad ná cén fath nach bhfuil aon chabhair ar fáil dóibh. We cannot ignore the crisis as it worsens year on year. We are facing a cliff edge of dwindling fish stocks, dwindling quotas and an industry and community pushed further towards the margins.”
“There is a version of our fishing industry that can be all of those things, namely, indigenous, stable and sustainable, but this vision is not yet the reality. Instead, the reality is a way of life that is being squeezed out of existence. It is galling to Irish inshore fishers and their communities, who are also dealing with the rising cost of living and hearing how wonderful our economy is, that their margins are being squeezed tighter and tighter. They certainly do not feel that their interests are being represented and fought for at national and EU level. We have seen the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea call on the EU to significantly reduce fishing quotas and our fishing stocks have drastically reduced. We are in a dangerous situation where fish cannot repopulate at the current rate of fishing.”
“These communities, particularly along the Atlantic coastline, which were never the most economically advantaged to begin with, are being pushed further to the margins. As I said, I come at this topic as my party's enterprise spokesperson, so I want to speak about the trade and sustainable industry components of that. In this context, I have heard and said many times in this Chamber that we need to find an economic model in Ireland that is not so reliant on foreign direct investment, FDI, and that is stable and sustainable. That means building up an indigenous industry and protecting it into the future. We need a stable economy and a tax base that we can rely on in good times and bad and which is guaranteed into the future in a world where few things are.”
“These are challenges that we need to take seriously and which we need to resolve as a matter of urgency. Inshore fishers have been a community that we have consistently left behind. Up and down our coastlines, we have communities that traditionally were full of people who made their livelihood on the sea. For many of those communities that way of life has been almost entirely wiped out in the past 50 years. Those who still do so face decreasing incomes, depleted fish stocks and lack of support in a job that is increasingly perilous. The Common Agricultural Policy has been a huge support to Irish farmers but the Common Fisheries Policy has left Irish inshore fishers with the short straw on European fishing quotas. This has been compounded since Brexit, where Irish inshore fishers lost another quarter of that quota.”
“Ireland is an island nation with 12% of the EU's fishing grounds and people along our coasts have made their livelihood from the sea for generations and it is vital that they continue to do so for many more generations. Sadly, however, overfishing has led us to a place where the scientific advice is recommending drastic reductions in quotas, including zero catches for cod, haddock and whiting. We cannot have a fishing industry without fish, and we need to see a policy which makes sure that we have plentiful stocks for years to come. We also need to fix the pattern of overfishing that has brought us here in the first place. We face immense challenges in this area when it comes to protecting our oceans, fishing communities and the jobs of people who live along our coasts.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this vital topic. I also acknowledge Deputy Mac Lochlainn for his continued efforts to push for this and the Minister of State's attendance here as the relevant member of the Government. I want to make a few points today. This is a community that has been consistently left behind. It speaks to an area of my portfolio, which is the trade and sustainable industry element. I am coming at this as our enterprise spokesperson. Overfishing, as we have heard from many contributors today is compounding these problems. I want to focus not just on the industry itself but the lived reality of fishing communities across Ireland, the challenges they face and the policy failures that are simply squeezing them out of their business.”
“I am not just asking when enough is enough. Why has the Government taken this complicity a step further? Why has the Government decided to do so now?”
“I find it baffling that the Minister cannot tell me why he has allowed this to happen. He is saying that it is the Department of Transport. Surely this is a foreign affairs issue, and surely he should be taking responsibility for it. It has been raised in this Chamber many times. It was bad enough that we have stood by and allowed munitions of war to pass through Irish airspace en route to Israel without permission, a crime the Government has failed to prosecute a single company for. It was bad enough that we have continued to allow the US military to use our airports despite all the harm it has done and continues to do globally in the execution of US foreign policy. What is worse is that we are now allowing the US military and the US Department of War, newly named, to use Shannon Airport en route to Israel.”
“In November 2023, the then Fine Gael leader, Leo Varadkar, told the Dáil that no US military flights going through Shannon were going to Israel. This seems to have been the policy of successive Irish Governments since 2006. Now it appears that as well as diplomatic clearance, the Department of Transport signed off on the plane carrying munitions of war through Irish airspace to Israel, as well as US troops. Why now? Cen fáth anois? After all that has happened, after all Israel has done with US support, is this acceptable to the Minister, his Department and the Government? Why is it acceptable to allow our airspace and airports to be used to carry troops and weapons to Israel? I ask again: why has this been allowed? Will the Minister continue to allow it?”
“For a long time we have allowed the US military to use Shannon Airport. Over a number of years, we have seen countless protests on this subject - it has been decades, in fact - of a threat to our neutrality and a facilitation of US military operations which contravene our foreign policy. Despite this, on 12 October a US Department of War charter plane carrying troops and munitions of war to Israel was authorised by the Tánaiste and Minister for foreign affairs to stop at Shannon Airport. Why did he allow this and will he continue to do so?”
“Just because there is a ceasefire does not mean that the genocide did not happen and that people and nations should not be held accountable, because the ceasefire has not meant an end to the injustice, occupation and the killing of Palestinians. It is on us to press for action when many would be more comfortable moving on and pretending it is all fine now. Our eyes are open. We cannot say we did not know and we must not say that we did not act.”
“Of course I support the peace and of course we also support the priority of delivering aid to the starving people of Palestine, but that does not remove the elephant in the room of the occupied territories Bill, because that is the very tangible way we can enact sanctions and action against Israel. The aid and leadership we provided are very welcome, but people are keen to hear that, just because there is a ceasefire, that does not mean we continue to trade with illegal Israeli settlements in violation of international law. Just because there is a ceasefire does not mean Israel is not in violation of human rights clauses in the EU-Israel association agreement.”
“We need to create accountability and we need to show that there are consequences for states that commit genocide, so what is the Government doing to fulfil that obligation with regard to Israel?”
“With respect, the Government has kicked the occupied territories Bill down the road. It appears set to exclude services, despite that being legally necessary and legally possible and recommended by Government backbenchers on the Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade. The ceasefire does not negate the ICJ ruling on the occupied territories, neither do statements on difficulties with services. We already have to differentiate on services from the occupied Palestinian territories under the EU-Israel association agreement, so it can be done. Just as pressing and as important is the need not to forget that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. We all want a world where genocide does not happen. For that to be a reality, we need to create that world.”
“I know we all welcome the ceasefire in Gaza, fragile as it is, as we heard this evening, but it is disheartening that Palestinians continue to die at the hands of Israel. With continuing illegal annexation of the West Bank and the Tánaiste's own words calling what happened in Gaza a genocide, what is he doing to seek accountability for these crimes against humanity?”
“We need to play our part as a State and a remaining member of the European Union to ensure there is no diminution of rights in the North as a result of Brexit and that we do not have a divergence of rights on this island. I will finish by quoting John Hume because, as I say, what is really important to me and what I will be bringing to this discussion is a respect for different communities and different identities within this discussion. Difference is of the essence of humanity. Difference is an accident of birth and it should therefore never be the source of hatred or conflict. The answer to difference is to respect it. Therein lies a most fundamental principle of peace – respect for diversity.”
“What we do is we push the dialogue forward, we bring through these very sensible measures that are set out in this motion, we implement them and parallel to that we advance the efforts this Government has already committed to. I do not see that we have to sit and wait until we are there. As others have said, there are a few other items that I really hope the Government continues to prioritise. One is dealing with the legacy Act and implementing the framework that has emerged this year. We also have to deal with the responsibilities we have down here in the South for our own issues around legacy and bringing access to justice for everybody in this State.”
“Although I acknowledge the good work of the Government with the shared island unit and in other initiatives that deal with this, there is a problematic mentality that says we have to be fully ready before we talk about a border poll. It reminds me of the same attitude that the Government takes towards the signing of international conventions. I dealt with this in my human rights work. Minister after Minister would tell me that they did not have everything in place yet so we could not sign the UNCRPD or ratify OPCAT. We will never be fully ready for this. I compare it to a young couple who are planning to have a family who are waiting until they can afford it. They would never be able to technically afford it if they sat down and thought it out. Similarly, this is never going to be absolutely perfect.”
“We have to respect that some people who have, up to now, been from a majority population or community are now facing into being a very small minority in a much larger population and we have to figure out how we deal with that. One of the things we really need to think about within this is that cultural divide. It would be amazing to send a copy of the Good Friday Agreement to every single household on this island to really help people start thinking about that. Those who have contributed already this evening are correct that these conversations are happening. They are happening at kitchen tables and in pubs. If we do not have better dialogue and better mechanisms to advance the implementation piece, it is going to be a huge problem. That brings me back to what I said earlier.”
“These are those who came from either west or east Germany before reunification. To my eyes, I cannot see an Ossie versus a Wessie but they can. That is what we do not want. We do not want to find ourselves at the point of a potential for Irish unity not having done the groundwork of connecting our populations from every corner of this island, respecting their communities and their difference and maintaining it within that dialogue. Otherwise, it will be like how the Germans talk about themselves. The east Germans will say it was assimilation, not reunification. We do not want that. We have to protect all of the identities of all of the different communities on the island.”
“My friends there when I was in college up North used to joke with me that I would have to dodge the bullets. This was during the truce. That is just the kind of mentality. There is an unfamiliarity with the actual situation in the North and what culture and daily life is like. It is not mirrored because a lot of people I know in the North consume RTÉ and can name Irish politicians in a way Irish people cannot name politicians in Belfast. There is a massive job of work to do for us to build that cultural connection. We, as politicians and policymakers and as leaders in our communities, have that job of work to do. I look towards Germany and think we really need to learn from their lessons. I do a lot of travelling around Germany and people are heard referring to Ossis and Wessies .”
“It was a huge privilege to have that experience and change in my understanding and to recognise the huge sensitivities and the really complex nature of the debate in the North. It has been amazing to bring that into my political work. As Deputy Bacik mentioned, we have had a lot of engagements recently at the SDLP conference. I am now committee chair on the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly for growth, trade and investment, which will focus a lot on that cross-Border potential. What I am trying to describe here is my deep connection with the North, with our whole island and with the prospect of Irish unity but I follow that immediately by pointing out that I am the outlier. Where I am from in south county Dublin, I do not see that same level of connection with my peers. I have seen that the whole way up.”
“I continue to visit there, I have a lot of friends there and I am really passionate about the really special culture, people and life we have up there in that part of our island. If we fast-forward 15 years, I had to undertake work in my roles in the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, which was established by the Good Friday Agreement. Both of our human rights bodies on both sides of the Border were founded by the Good Friday Agreement and I chaired the joint committee of both of those human rights commissions. In my experience in that more official capacity, I learned, for example, to say "Northern Ireland" in certain settings rather than "the North" because I started to understand how language jarred for certain people, just as for other people saying "Northern Ireland" instead of "the North" is just as problematic.”
“I share the same concerns as have been expressed by many others and I will speak to them throughout my contribution. There is this mentality that we have to be ready fully before we take certain steps. I will try to explain why this is. I commend the work that has been done, particularly by the shared island unit. Obviously, the infrastructural pieces that are under way and the bridge building in different ways are really important to making sure we connect the two jurisdictions. However, I want to talk about the specific cultural bridges we need to build. I will talk about my own experience and journey in terms of the North. I went to college up north in Ulster University in Coleraine in the mid-nineties during the truce period and as a result have a huge fondness for the North.”
“Táimid uilig sásta go bhfuilimid ag iarraidh Éire aontaithe ach caithfimid an obair a dhéanamh ionas go dtarlóidh sé. We in the Social Democrats welcome this motion because the work needs to be done. We need to prepare for and implement the suggestions to build that road towards a united Ireland. They are not new suggestions. They have been knocking around for a long time now. This is a position and a policy that we support wholeheartedly. We have a very young support base and a young voter base and it is such an exciting time to be a politician on this island where we find ourselves in the conditions that are leading us towards reunification. It is an exciting time to see the groundswell of support we have in our younger generations for exactly that across our population. I commend the work that has been done by the Government.”
“We are pushing for this protection to be included in the EU democracy shield, which is currently on the desk of our own Irish Commissioner, Michael McGrath, and crucially enforcing the data protection laws that we have and making the Data Protection Commission fit for purpose. I would argue that the issue raised by Deputy Farrell and that features in The Irish Times today is exactly the kind of issue that will dealt with by this. Will this Government take action on these solutions to protect us and all of our children from online harm?”
“This morning I hosted a briefing with Uplift, ICCL and the Hope and Courage Collective. We talked about the dangers we all face online, including the security risks, the threats to democracy and the threats to our children, all posed by the lack of regulation of social media giants. We do not enforce the laws that we have. We were told by experts this morning that the perception internationally is that Ireland is not taking its responsibility seriously. We also heard about solutions, namely, making sure that recommender algorithms are turned off by default, so that people can choose what they are seeing online.”
“Marti McElhinney is a spokesperson for DCB Downgraded, a group that has mobilised to deal with the specific aspect of the issue addressed in this motion. She said: These downgrades were made without any site visits, based solely on desktop reviews of reports, some already four years old, while in the interim our homes continued to deteriorate due to Internal Sulfate Attack (ISA) caused by Pyrrhotite in the blocks. All interim deterioration was never noted. All downgraded homeowners in our group have submitted appeals since February 2024. Twenty months later, not one has been adjudicated. This untenable and devastating limbo leaves our families imprisoned by the walls of our deteriorating homes. There must be 100% redress now.”
“She states: The bureaucratic and logistical burden on people trying to navigate this scheme, the material load of sourcing alternative accommodation while trying to minimally disrupt children's lives is a huge stressor on parents, who are also balancing work commitments to pay mortgages for soon-to-be piles of rubble. Families are spending huge amounts of money attempting to heat and light homes with literal holes in the walls and water leaking around electrical appliances. She goes on to articulate in eloquent human rights language how this is impacting on a range of rights across health, education, privacy and adequate standard of living, the hidden impact on the rights of disabled people, refugees and migrants, and on social justice and social cohesion itself in the counties affected.”
“I assure the Deputy on behalf of the Social Democrats, we are proud to cosign this motion, and give it our full support. This motion sets out how no family should be denied redress because they do not meet a superficial damage threshold, when an engineer can attest that their home is structurally unsound, how nobody should wait for years in an unsafe home because of administrative delays, and how nobody should live in limbo, not knowing if and when they will get support, be it financial, mental or material. My final point is that the burden for fixing this problem has been placed on people who did not do anything wrong. I wish to quote some of the people affected by this crisis. Dr. Áine Sperrin is a friend of mine, a former colleague, a Donegal woman and a human rights expert.”
“It comes in the demand letter from a management company threatening debt collectors if an owner does not pay remediation fees upfront, while no remediation scheme is yet in full operation for defective apartments, which my own constituents have raised with me. It manifests in people forced to live in unsafe conditions and without adequate, well-resourced schemes to fix this problem and that treat these victims with empathy and respect, these people cannot live their lives. It is clear that the parameters around redress are wrong and we are leaving people behind. Let us fix it. I thank Deputy Charles Ward for today's motion, which addresses this, but also for his tireless efforts in bringing this issue to the Dáil floor, and into the mainstream discourse of our country. It must feel for him at times like he is shouting into the void.”
“I wish to make three main points in my contribution: building defects are a legacy of lack of oversight from this Government; it is clear the parameters around redress are wrong and we are leaving people behind so let us fix it; and, finally, the burden for fixing this problem has been placed until now, on people who did not do anything wrong. Building defects are a legacy of a lack of oversight, and this legacy has crept into every aspect of people's lives. It is the wall that collapses, the dangerous fire escape they have to pray they never need, and the mould that chokes them in their own home.”
“When the Minister was questioned about this at the press conference yesterday, his answer was, "Bear with me and toughen on for a while." The beauty of this scheme is that it offered artists stability in a field rife with precarity, yet we are subjecting them to the exact same uncertainty and insecurity that basic income was supposed to stop. Briseann sé mo chroí an easpa dóchais a chloisteáil ó na healaíontóirí atá ag glaoch ar m’oifig. Is breá linn a rá go bhfuil muid ag tacú leis na healaíona ach nuair a thagann am an bhuiséid, tá siad á gcaitheamh sna fataí lofa ag Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael agus beimid uile thíos leis. We can have real change in this country, change that means ordinary people will not have to struggle to keep their heads above water year after year.”
“The basic income for the arts pilot scheme has been lauded as a success by the Government, but it has actually been cut. In the middle of leaks to the media and victorious announcements about the basic income being made permanent, the Government seems to have overlooked reality. Some 2,000 artists will lose their basic income in February, and nobody knows when the successor scheme will start or what it will look like. A permanent scheme is welcome, but it is cold comfort to the artist who told my office this morning that losing her basic income in February means she will not be able to continue working as an artist. She described the announcement as a phenomenally cruel thing.”
“As if our small Irish businesses do not provide employment, pay tax and contribute to this country. The economy this Government has built our futures around is one which places no value on small independent business and places all our eggs in one FDI basket, failing to protect us from global upheavals or tariffs. We need the Government to build an economy where small independent businesses are paramount, particularly as their profits stay in the communities while the profits of McDonald's shareholders are siphoned away. We offered solutions on targeted measures to help our struggling local businesses, but these have fallen on deaf ears. We heard about the focus on supporting businesses, but this Government only seems interested in the big boys and their lobbyists.”