Thomas Gould
Cork North-Central · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I stand here in the shadow of Cork men and women who fought and died for Irish freedom. I think today of Mary MacSwiney, who went from her brother's deathbed to this Dáil. She was the true embodiment of a rebel. When we talk about the cost of Irish unity, Mary MacSwiney also spoke about the cost of Irish freedom in the Dáil.”
“The truth is the Six Counties have been economically trapped and cannot reach their full potential under Britain. If these economies were to grow like Cork and Galway, they would be a net positive financial impact on Irish unity.”
“The difference that Irish unity could make is much more tangible for them now. Ireland unfree shall never be at peace. I want to send a message to all of those young people. The cost of unity is the cost of their future. It is the cost of the life they could build here.”
“I welcome the debate today. Ireland has a proud history and tradition of myths and legends, from Cú Chulainn to Tír na nÓg to the Children of Lír, which have passed down through the generations. However, the latest myth and legend some people are telling is far more damaging. There are people who claim that we cannot afford Irish unity.”
“Professor Seamus McGuinness of the ESRI clearly stated that FitzGerald's hypotheses were based on a scenario that could never happen. Do you know what that reminds me of? For years, when we talked about climate change, climate change deniers were rolled out to give their opinions, even though all the science was against them.”
“The Minister of State referred to the new 90-minute fares and the fact that people can tap on and tap off. I want to let her know that the fare is €1.90 but next week, it will be €2.40. That is a 26% increase in the fare. How can that be justified?”
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“It has been covered in the national newspapers and local newspapers and on local radio stations. If this was happening in Dublin, an emergency would be called and a special team put in place, but because it is in Cork - the northside of Cork - we are putting up with it. To give the Minister of State a feel for it, from 28 August to 25 November, in the Dillon's Cross area of Cork city, 11 tests were done of which four showed the water to be unsafe. In the Gardiner's Hill area, 19 tests were done, of which eight showed unsafe water. In the Thomas Davis Bridge area, eight of 21 tests showed the water to be unsafe. In Gurranabraher, three of 12 tests showed unsafe water and, on 14 October, manganese levels in Gurranabraher were 90 mg per litre. The HSE says it should not be above 50 mg.”
“It did not use the local council staff who are contracted. The whole issue of privatisation means that it brought in a private contractor that put caustic soda into the pipes which stripped the lining of 300 km of cast iron pipe, releasing rust, dirt and filth that was there for years and that is what is running into people's drinking water. I have raised this with Uisce Éireann. This is a serious public health matter. I raised it with the HSE and the EPA. This week, I got test results which prove everything I have been saying for the past two years. Last week, RTÉ's "Prime Time" covered the issue and that programme also proved that the water in Cork is not fit for consumption. Zara King of Virgin Media covered it on that station's news broadcast.”
“I am disappointed that the Minister, Deputy James Browne, is not here today. This is a serious issue. If I had known in advance, I might have postponed the question until next week when he would be here to answer it. It is about a serious public health matter in Cork and the senior Minister should be here to provide answers or I should have been notified he would not be here. For two years, the communities in my constituency have been plagued with dirty, filthy water. Sludge, muck, dirt, rust and high and unsafe levels of manganese in the water have been coming through people's taps. This is because, two years ago, Uisce Éireann spent €40 million on a new water treatment plant - €40 million. The water is worse now than it was before that. That has led to Uisce Éireann bringing in a private contractor.”
“This is an opportunity for Ireland to send out a message. We have said this for two years - and I will say it again - that we are against genocide, that we will not close our eyes and that we will not turn away while it happens. That is the reason for this legislation. The occupied territories Bill is so important. I know the Taoiseach is not here, but 100,000 men, women and children died in Cork during An Gorta Mór. That was 100,000 people in my county alone. Forty-six thousand people have died in Gaza and the West Bank. Enough is enough. Enact the occupied territories Bill.”
“The only solution it wants is the one that was announced yesterday by the President of America, Donald Trump, which is that all the Palestinians will be pushed out of Gaza, pushed out of the West Bank and pushed to hell or to Connacht. We had to hell or to Connacht. The Palestinians should not have to face the latter. We think back to all of the millions of Irish people who died or emigrated and who built America. They built the houses and roads. Do people not remember history? This is a very important piece of work. We could take a lead for the world. We are only a small country but I believe we are a great country. The Irish people have hearts, generosity and intelligence. They want this and we will support the Government if the wording is right. We want to back it. We want the Tánaiste to back this.”
“Four hundred thousand Irish men, women and children died of starvation that same year. We must be ashamed that food is exported from the fields of starving children in the West Bank and Gaza to line our supermarket shelves, particularly in light of both the experience of our ancestors and our history. In the West Bank right now, there is a two-tier solution where Palestinians are treated like second-class citizens. It is not me saying that. That is what is being said internationally. If we look at the way they are being treated, we can see that we are dealing with an apartheid state. This Israeli Government does not want a two-state solution.”
“This is the depth of the atrocity that this right-wing Israeli Government and army are bringing on the people of Gaza and the West Bank. In 2023, €3.6 billion worth of goods were imported from Israel to Ireland. Much of these profits were made on the back of the grief of the Palestinian people. We should not have these goods in our shops. We should not have these services or this trade relationship with this state because what it is doing is profiting from genocide. How can that be right? Memory goes back to our own history. In 1845, 25 million bushels of corn were exported to Britain from Ireland. Three million live animals were exported between 1846 and 1850. Four thousand vessels carried food from Ireland to ports in Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool and London during 1847.”
“One in every 50 people in Gaza has been killed by Israel. Can you imagine the scale of that? Forty-six thousand people have been killed since 7 October 2023. We now have a ceasefire, but in the midst of the ceasefire that came into effect on 26 January, a two-year-old girl, Layla, who was being fed by her pregnant mother in the West Bank, was shot in the head. She was shot in the head by an Israeli army sniper. Three thousand toddlers have been murdered in 12 months. That is an unimaginable figure. One year ago, Hind Rajab bled to death while she pleaded, "I'm scared. Please come." The people who tried to rescue her were gunned down. She was six years old and was dying. The Israeli army intentionally left her to die while they murdered anyone who tried to save her life.”
“As a person who represents Cork North-Central, I can tell the Minister we have had a lack of clean water for two years. We have a situation now where a company that made €300 million in 2023 - it is making hundreds of millions of euro in profit - cannot deliver water to the people. You are in charge. What are you doing? I listened to Deputy Dooley say that we should not blame everyone. There was a Government backbencher in here a while ago giving out that local authorities are not working together and local authorities are not doing more. The Government privatised local authorities. The Government stripped local authorities when the austerity years came in and those workers still have not been replaced. Government Deputies are coming in here saying that we should not blame the Government for that. They are in power. Who are we to blame?”
“They are told not to go there as they are full, and we are talking about contingency plans. Thank God things were not as bad in Cork as they were in the rest of the country because we had nowhere for them to go for them. For the information of the Minister, we have a SouthDoc in Blackpool. We have the HSE telling people in Cork to go to SouthDoc and SouthDoc in Blackpool is closed. There are two SouthDocs in the city: one on Kinsale Road and one in Blackpool. The Government has closed SouthDoc in Blackpool and the Minister is coming in here now to talk about our readiness, from a hospital and health service point of view. Where are people to go? The accident and emergency departments are full. These are the facts. Then we discuss Irish Water not having generators ready in water treatment plants.”
“Not only is the Government allowing the ESB to do this, it is also allowing the ESB to do privatisation, with a reduction in the number of workers, the bringing in of more contractors and work being subbed out. Then we want to know why half the poles are down and half the country is without electricity. It is because the Government is more interested in profit and privatisation than in looking after people. There are serious questions to be answered here. I wish all the Ministers the best in their new portfolios. The Minister for Health spoke about hospitals and our readiness and generators. To let the Minister know about hospitals, in Cork today people are told to stay away from the CUH and the Mercy Hospital accident and emergency departments because there are 69 people on trolleys in CUH and 14 in the Mercy Hospital.”
“It will be close to €1 billion in profits when the figures are out. At the same time, it has neither maintained nor put in place structures and planning to ensure that when these storms happen there are not 13 days without power - some families will go without for longer. It is two weeks without power, in this day and age. At the same time, we are told there is no compensation scheme for those without power. The ESB - the neck of them - is warning there could be increasing charges because of the cost of the fallout of the storm. This is from a company that is charging Irish people some of the highest electricity prices in Europe, and now it wants to put them up again. Is the Government asleep at the wheel? Fine Gael has been in government for 14 years and Fianna Fáil has been with them for ten.”
“First of all, I thank the people of Cork North-Central for re-electing me. I am proud to be back here for a second time as a TD. I am really proud of my family, my friends and everyone who got behind me. I will work for all the constituents of Cork North-Central and of this State because we have a big job of work to do. This storm and the previous storms have highlighted the job of work that we need. I also thank sincerely all those front-line responders - the staff of ESB, Irish Water, An Garda and local authorities - right across the board and the volunteers who came out. They have done magnificent work with one hand tied behind their back because of ESB and Irish Water and the Government's inability to plan, fund and resource these organisations. For example, the ESB made €500 million in the first six months of 2024.”