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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“I would advise the Minister of State to go back to the Department now and find out whoever wrote that speech for him because that speech was not worth the paper it was written on. I got all the same excuses and the same promises last year. Here we are now and the Minister of State is being rolled in here to read out the same old claptrap again while the people of Cork cannot get a bus. The Minister of State is talking about a bus to Kinsale. There are 150,000 people living in Cork and he is talking about a bus to Kinsale. There are 25,000 students in UCC and another 15,000 in MTU and he is talking about people from Kinsale going to college, but what about the people of Cork going to college? Some 150,000 people cannot get a bus and the Minister of State is coming in here talking about four buses a day. This is fecking crazy stuff.”
“If I get off the bus at Heuston Station and look up at the bus panel and it says the bus will be there in five minutes, it will be there in five minutes. How can it be done in Dublin when it cannot be done in Cork? Why are the people of Cork looking at the app and the buses never turn up?”
“The drivers are telling us they do not want to do that. They want to pick people up. They are also being told to roll up "out of service" and drive past people. Another person contacted me today. They saw a bus coming down the road after waiting for an hour that diverted down another road to get it back early. That is what is happening. Bus Éireann is completely ignoring the people of Cork. Fining Bus Éireann for being late or skipping a stop means that people are being left behind. What action will be taken to ensure that the people of Cork are not left stranded by the side of the road? I was talking to my daughter. Her friend was waiting on a bus last weekend. The bus was to be there in seven minutes. The bus did not arrive for over 40 minutes.”
“We are talking about providing public transport and at the same time, Bus Éireann is letting the people of Cork down once again. It was the exact same last year. People were waiting hours for buses. Some people might have a family member who can collect them while others might have the price of a taxi but many people do not. We were promised that more drivers would be hired and that there would be an end to delays and ghost buses. One person who contacted me told of how they were standing at a bus stop and an empty bus passed them. The bus was empty. It was because that bus driver was told to get back to base or ahead because the NTA fines Bus Éireann every time it is late so instead of picking up passengers who are waiting in the cold and the rain, Bus Éireann management told drivers to drive on and pass them.”
“They have put in seven complaints in the past ten days and got two generic responses. To let the Minister of State how bad things are, I put a post on Facebook a couple of hours ago and asked people to let me know their stories. I cannot keep up with the number of stories that have come in. A total of 161 people responded to me in a couple of hours outlining their problems. They cannot get to work, school, college or hospital appointments. They are telling that it affects the 202, 203, 205, 206, 207, 208, 212, 214, 215 and 220 routes. That is just from people texting me or sending me messages. I have messages on Facebook and WhatsApp and emails about it. We are not talking about a couple of minutes. We are talking about people waiting for an hour or longer in the rain and the cold this winter. How is that acceptable?”
“A lady contacted me today. She finished work in Cork University Hospital last Friday evening and was waiting in town for the 203 bus. She stood there for an hour before the bus turned up. Two buses were on the app. They never turned up. By the time the bus turned up, over 100 people were waiting to get on at the bus stop. She said trying to get on the bus was like a stampede. Imagine what it is like after working a long day in a hospital and having to struggle to get a bus home. She also said that she walks 5 km every morning to work because she cannot depend on the bus because the service is so bad in Cork. Why does she walk 5 km? It is because she knows that if she walks, she will get there on time. Another person contacted me who uses the bus to commute.”
“If it cannot do the audit and does not have the information, how is it going to do the maintenance? Does the Minister of State know how much was allocated for preventative maintenance? It was €67 per house for each local authority. Each local authority is to have €67 to calculate what preventative maintenance needs to be done. Does the Minister of State really think that is going to do the job? I am asking him a straight yes-no question. I am telling him it will not.”
“I am not sure if the Minister of State knows this, but he should. If someone is not telling him this, he should get into the Department tomorrow and ask the question. He talks about preventative maintenance. At the current rate of preventative maintenance, it will take 78 years to do the stock survey of all local authority housing. That is the figure the Government provided to me - 78 years - and he comes in here to answer the question saying this is what the Government has planned. There are people who are living in mouldy, damp houses with leaks in the roof and windows and front doors that are unfit. People have heating systems that are not up to standard and the Minister of State comes in here talking about preventative maintenance. The Department cannot even do the audit.”
“If we open the voids programme all year long, that will stop. We could get a fix here today. We could agree on this. We are trying to be cross-party constructive and that is something we could do together that would make a real difference to social housing and people on the housing list.”
“Can I give the Minister of State a bit of advice and provide him with a solution? I sincerely want the Government to take this on board. He has just said the voids programme will be open in the new year. Why is it not open today? Why is the voids programme not open 365 days a year so that when a house comes back, the local authority can fix it up and allocate it out? Opening it just once or twice a year does not make sense. I am trying to be constructive but the Government always criticises us and says there is nothing coming from the Opposition. This is a simple fix here: keep the void programme open for 365 days a year so that houses are not left to rot. Can I give the Minister of State one statistic? Data I received earlier this year from local authorities showed that one in four vacant houses is idle longer than 12 months.”
“Will the Minister update the Dáil on the funding allocated to local authorities to bring the thousands of vacant properties back into public use for social housing, and will he make a statement on the matter?”
“Does the Minister have any grasp on reality? He says that he knows Cork and that he knows Dublin. He should hang his head in shame to walk the streets of Cork, Dublin or Limerick, or any town, and look at all the dereliction. His party has been in government for over a decade. They are the problem.”
“The Minister has said he is giving power to the Revenue Commissioners, but when will they start collecting levies? He said he is going to keep local authorities involved. The local authorities have been keeping derelict site registers since 1990. That is 35 years. Why are we not putting a levy on today? Why are we letting land hoarders and speculators get away with destroying communities and towns by leaving spots derelict? I had a meeting tonight with Sinn Féin members in Tipperary. They outlined to me the blight of dereliction in their communities. They have said to me that we are all talk up here and that we are not seeing it on the ground. That is what I was told today in Tipperary. I see that in Cork and I see it all around the State, and we are told we are all talk up here on the war on dereliction.”
“I will ask the Minister once more, as I asked his predecessor. I will walk the streets of Dublin with him tonight to look at the dereliction and the blight on the communities. It is not just Dublin but also Cork and towns and villages. The dereliction is everywhere. There is nothing in the Minister's housing plan to tackle it.”
“I can safely say that the Minister has just given a big spiel there, the same as the previous Minister did last year and the year before that. Nothing the Minister has outlined today will tackle dereliction. He talks about CPO activations. Local authorities will not take out CPOs because they are too complicated. They do not have the staffing, the resources or the money. I have looked at the Minister's 105- or 107-page plan. There is a paragraph on CPOs to tackle dereliction, but no funding and no resources. It is the same old, same old from the Minister. He talks about local government, the local authorities and the planning authorities getting more staff. Why are the local authorities not tackling dereliction? I will tell you why. It is because the Minister is not giving them the staff or the money. The buck stops with him.”
“Will the Minister update the Dáil on whether outstanding derelict sites levies will be collected by Revenue and whether additional funding will be provided to local authorities for the collection of the register?”
“This echoes the findings of the OECD in 2022 which ranked Ireland among the worst countries to access healthcare and for waiting times and found that we were the only western European state that does not offer universal coverage of primary care. We have no primary care centre in Glanmire. We have no primary care centre in Mayfield. We have no primary care centre in Blarney. All these need to be delivered. We support this Bill today but this Government should be providing Sláintecare so that everyone has access to free health care. That is what the Proclamation said, that all people, all children of the nation, would be treated equally.”
“Last week, I was in this Chamber and a woman contacted me from a hospital in Cork because her elderly mother, who had issues with Covid and with her health overall, was in a room in an accident and emergency department and she needed to be in an isolation ward. The family was desperate. They were crying out for help. The nurses and doctors were doing everything they could but there was not the capacity there. I will give the Minister of State a couple of facts. A study by the Geary Institute for Public Policy this year found Ireland's two-tier health system means those who cannot pay are pushed further down the list.”
“This month, almost 800 people waited on trolleys in Cork's CUH and the Mercy hospital. Thirty thousand people are on waiting lists in both those hospitals. Three thousand people are waiting more than a year. Where is the elective hospital that was promised for Cork? If that elective hospital was there, those 3,000 people would be in and out of it within the year, and those 30,000 people could be treated. This Government is fooling no one when it comes to health. There is a cost-of-living crisis and at the same time, if you do not have private health insurance, your family will not get the treatment on time.”
“How is the Minister of State allowing that? Why is the Government not tackling the insurance company? If a person cannot pay and has to take a break for three, six or 12 months, they should be able. I have called to people who paid it for years and then they are starting all over again. That is not fair. The Tánaiste, the Minister for Finance now as well, signed the contract for the children's hospital. I have a daughter aged 16. She will never see the children's hospital. It is not only my daughter, but all the other people out there who have children who have been waiting for this hospital for years. It is a scandal. Children who have suffered all their lives with illnesses will be aged out because this hospital that should have been delivered years ago, has not been.”
“It is a must because of the long waiting lists, the disastrous care that can happen if you have to wait years for treatment and the growing concerns that the public have that there is a lack of trust because of these waiting lists. Many families want to be treated in the public health sector because that is the type of systems that should be delivered, but for many of them there is a lack of trust. It is not even a lack of trust; it is a fact that they will not be seen in time. The burden of having to pay private health insurance for many families is crippling because they know what will happen if they lose it. I know people who had to take a break from paying their health insurance because they could not afford it and to get back in a couple of years later, no illnesses in a five-year period can be put in.”
“First, I want to make a comment personally in relation to everyone who works in the health service, the unbelievable staff, whether it is doctors and nurses, healthcare workers, or cleaners, canteen staff and maintenance staff. I myself was in a hospital yesterday for another appointment. I am regularly there because I have had a number of health issues over the years. It is inspiring to look at the people at the coalface providing the care. We can never underestimate and we should always mention the unbelievable work that they are doing. When it comes to private healthcare, for far too many families in this State health insurance is no longer an option.”
“Yesterday, we were in here and Simon Harris, the man who broke his promise to them, gave himself another promotion, to the position of Minister for Finance, but the only legacy people will remember is one of broken promises and his failure of the most vulnerable children in this State.”
“He does not have a second chair, a specialist chair, in which he can sit, watch television, have meals or play games. What kind of system are we running when a child who uses a wheelchair cannot access another suitable chair? These are basic necessities for children who have disabilities. This is all wrong. How are we running the health service like this? It should be based on need, dignity and clinical decisions, but instead it depends on where someone lives. Is it a postcode lottery? This parent told me she knows of other parents whose children do have access to the equipment I have mentioned. The Government should be ashamed of itself over how it has acted and treated these children and their families.”
“From what I am being told by parents, the criteria for children are too strict. The most severe cases are on the waiting lists but these children are left waiting for months, if not years, for urgent treatment and surgeries. The boy’s mother believes early intervention will give him the best opportunities in life and the best chance to correct the curvature of his spine. The system is in chaos while parents hear about scandals over springs and hip operations. How can parents trust the clinical decisions they are hearing about right now? The woman’s son is losing out because he was born in Ireland, and he is also losing out because he was born in Cork. I will explain why. He has two choices at home: to be in his wheelchair or to be in bed. There is nowhere else for him to be.”
“I want to express my sincere condolences to the family of Harvey Morrison Sherratt. While he was failed by this State, he was very lucky to have such loving, strong parents, Gillian and Stephen, who fought and did everything they could to get him the treatment he needed. Unfortunately, it was too little, too late, but they continue to fight for all children like Harvey. Before coming to the House today, I rang a constituent of mine who has a son with scoliosis who is in a wheelchair. I want to let the Minister know that these are issues that are coming directly from people on the front line. Her child does not qualify for scoliosis surgery because the curvature of his spine is not considered severe enough to join the waiting list. If he lived in England or America, he would be on the waiting list for surgery.”
“He was out playing with his friends and he was shot. The bullet passed from hip to hip, so he had no chance. He was running to his grandmother’s for safety. This Bill will not stop that, but for Mohammed and all his friends, it will send a message that we will not stand idly by and we will be the voice for the Palestinian people when the world will not be.”
“Its members gave their word to the people of Ireland, but even more importantly to the people of Palestine, Gaza and the West Bank, that we would lead the way in enacting the occupied territories Bill and that we would say to the world and to Israel in particular we will not stand idly by and we will do everything we can as a Government, a people and a nation to highlight the genocide that is going on. Some 70,000 have been killed in Gaza by the Israelis. In the West Bank there have 260 settler attacks on homes, farms and people in the past month. It is the highest number ever recorded because the Israelis feel they can get away with anything. Since January, 44 children have been killed by the Israelis in the West Bank. A young lad named Mohammed got one of the blue schoolbags from UNICEF and was probably delighted.”
“The saying goes "The axe forgets; the tree remembers". We are a colonised people. We understand the hardship, the suffering, the genocide, the starvation and the cruelty of occupying forces. Greta Thunberg said recently: "I’m not scared of Israel. I’m scared of a world that has seemingly lost all sense of humanity ...". What an unbelievable young woman that she and others have to lead the way while the world watches genocide takes place. She could have been speaking directly to the Minister of State and the Government. In a cynical move last year, like many other cynical moves they made before the election, its members committed to the occupied territories Bill. They said they would enact it. Now we have a Taoiseach who is saying it is not implementable. Shame on the Government.”
“I have one last case, and I will leave it at that. I know a woman who does not qualify for social housing because her job is too good but who does not earn enough to get an affordable home. Where is she going to go after Christmas? She has an eviction notice now.”
“I know a woman who is going to be evicted next week. There is nothing in this for people who are being evicted or who are sleeping rough. I know a woman who has her toddler and her mother in the same bedroom.”
“Do you know what I could not figure out? There are tens of thousands of boarded-up houses across the State that people are looking at every day. There is nothing in this for them. Do you know what I will tell you? There are thousands of houses owned by local authorities that are destroying communities because they are boarded up for years. There is nothing in this document for them. The Government gives local authorities €11,500 towards repairing vacant properties when the average cost is €31,000. Where is the extra €20,000? Will the Tánaiste commit? I am asking him and the Minister of State sitting next to him a straight question. Will they commit to funding local authorities to repair all these boarded-up houses that are destroying communities? Can the Tánaiste imagine walking down the road and coming across people sleeping rough?”
“Tánaiste, I have a document here that is 107 pages long. I read it this morning. It nearly put me to sleep ten times. There is nothing in it. I swear to God Almighty. Has the Tánaiste read this document? I have read it.”
“It will have a lifelong effect on their ability to develop, be the best they can be and live to their potential. There needs to be an urgent recruitment policy with additional funding because we need to get 100% staffing levels, and anyone who is out must be covered.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. I have just double-checked my figures there and 308 full-time with 234 in place is 76%. That means there are 74 therapist staff members who are vital to delivering really urgent therapies to children. If the Minister of State Googles CDNTs and what they do, she will read they are about child development and permitting kids to reach their maximum potential. How can children reach their maximum potential if they are not getting the therapists, therapies and the support they need? How heartbreaking must it be for parents to look at their child not getting the support, therapies or the vital help they need from the State? If these children do not get the support when they need it, they will never catch up.”
“The figure she gave was 308 and with 234 - someone will have to check my maths - that is a 75% occupancy rate of staff. I am saying if people are on maternity leave or whatever kind of leave, there must be replacement staff for them and the other staff need to be recruited as soon as possible.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. The only thing about that figure - she said there was 87% staffing and only 13% vacancy - is that if you take off the 32 staff members who are out sick, on maternity leave or off work for whatever reason, it means the figure is down to a 75% staffing level, which means there is a 25% vacancy rate. If a person goes on maternity leave, is out sick or is out of work for whatever reason, that post still needs to be covered. If it is not, then the children who need the therapies that staff member gives are not getting them. It is very important we do not manipulate the figures here. I am not suggesting the Minister of State is doing that by any means but the Department is supplying her with figures.”
“I ask the Minister of State to update the House on the number of staff that have been recruited in CDNTs in Cork in the past 12 months and the number who have either left or resigned. At the moment, we are facing a crisis in the CDNT units in Cork.”
“The other thing is we have people driving all over cities, towns and counties to try to find childcare places for their children, when they should be parked at the local development. That is why these planning guidelines need to be delivered as soon as possible.”
“I agree with my colleague on the provision of childcare places and crèches, specifically the right type of building. I have areas in my constituency where massive private housing estates are being built and the childcare centres are not and have not been built at all. I have queried them with Cork City Council regarding one estate in Glanmire where 500 houses are being built with no parks, no playground, no community centre and no childcare centre going in there. To me, we need these guidelines delivered. We saw during the Celtic tiger what happened when there was just building. We need to build communities, not just buildings. We need childcare facilities and we need the parks and playgrounds to go with them.”
“The Government promised the sun, the moon and the stars during the election but when it came to it, the Government double-backed on it once they got in. There are people struggling. They need the energy credits. The Government still has time to deliver them, because people will face a long, cold winter without them.”
“We are seven weeks out from this Bill being enacted and we cannot get answers to simple questions. In relation to social welfare, and something which has already been covered by some of my colleagues, is the cost of disability. We have a cost-of-living crisis. People are struggling to pay their bills, especially those most vulnerable such as people with disabilities and carers and, once again, the Government has failed them. The Tánaiste claimed that his behaviour to a carer, Charlotte Fallon, during the election campaign in Kanturk was out of character and not in line with his beliefs and actions, but his actions have to be read as they were. The budget is the proof of his actions. Once again, when will the threshold for carers be removed? When will the means test be removed for carers?”
“What is proposed could have a negative impact on services and increase costs for taxpayers. I will provide an example. I want to raise the issue of people who currently have a non-workplace private pension. It was confirmed to me in a parliamentary question that these people will now be forced to auto-enrol for six months despite already paying into a pension. However, on the Government website it states that people will only be automatically enrolled if they do not have a supplementary pension. This contradicts the parliamentary question response I got from the Minister. It also states on the Department website that anyone who opts out but who still meets the eligibility criteria will be automatically re-enrolled every two years. This simply does not make sense. Does this apply to those with non-workplace pensions?”
“In principle, auto-enrolment is a good idea, and it is badly needed. However, when it is being brought in by this Government, which recently introduced a budget that gave tax breaks to developers and speculators while giving nothing to ordinary workers and families, we have to be very sceptical about it. The reality is that this Government's auto-enrolment scheme prioritises increasing profits for private pension funds over the rights of ordinary workers. The National Treasury Management Agency, rather than private companies, would be the best placed to provide the system. There is an overreliance on the private sector. It has always been the goal of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to privatise everything that they could privatise. Once again, that is the Government's priority instead of prioritising the workers.”
“Deputy Kelly said a while ago that the Labour Party Members are bringing this forward because they think it is a really important piece of work. I think the vast majority of us feel we can work together on this but there has to be an open agenda and an open attitude to it.”
“One of the really important bits of work that was done in the committee in the last Dáil was that we heard from experts from Portugal, America and British Columbia. In British Columbia they were very forward-thinking in relation to decriminalisation, but after 15 months they had to row back because suddenly people were taking drugs in playgrounds, in parks and on the streets. There was a free-for-all. We need to get these experts in. I am thinking of the work that has been done in Portugal. Our joint committee on drugs can get all these experts in and come up with a plan. We can learn from what has been done in other jurisdictions - both the mistakes made and the good work done – and bring forward a policy. I will finish on this. We want to work with people.”
“I know from personal experience of my own family members and friends. I have friends and family members who have died. I am not going to go into it here but I get it. I understand it. It comes from trauma, from poverty and from a lack of services and supports. There needs to be a fundamental change by this Government when it comes to funding task forces, drugs services and rehabilitation services, supporting people in recovery and how it perceives people in addiction. If you walk the streets of any city or town, or even some villages, you will see people in the throes of it. People walk past them and do not even look at them. It is not like they are not human beings. Every one of them has a family, their own story and their own voice and we have to support them.”
“There were some appalling and stigmatising comments about people who are in the throws of addiction. Even the last Minister, when I made the point that at least one person with lived experience of gambling should be on the gambling board, said they would not be able for it or that it would be too challenging for them. How patronising is that for a person who has the lived experience. The thing here is that we need to listen to people with the lived experience about what they have gone through. The only promise the Government has made is in relation to the citizens' assembly. This report had detailed recommendations. Not all were agreed and more work was needed. That is now what the Joint Committee on Drugs Use is doing. We need to support that work and to tease out these issues because we have a crisis.”
“In the last Dáil, I was very honoured to be the party spokesperson on addiction, recovery and well-being. It was a privilege for me to meet all the different groups and organisations who were working at the front line, supporting people in recovery and those in the throws of addiction and supporting their families. I commend my colleague, Deputy Graves, who has taken over this role now. She has hit the ground running and is doing a huge amount of work. A huge amount of work is needed here, especially for those who are in the throws of addiction, for those who are trying to start the recovery journey and for those who are well into that journey. The Minister has to be honest as to the attitude of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael over the years. We saw it in the Chamber in the last Dáil.”
“The question here is whether the Minister of State, the principal, the board of management and the parents are satisfied that the concerns about a reduction in teaching hours for pupils have been addressed and that there is 100% certainty that there will be no such reduction. As the Minister of State knows, St. Gabriel’s is a specialist school that deals with children with some of the most complex issues children can have. It is a very important school. I spoke to parents who were very upset when it looked like there would be a reduction. They were worried not about themselves but about their children. What the Minister of State said sounds good, but is it enough to guarantee that the children will get an education at the level they are entitled to? If so, I will welcome it. I just want to have the guarantee put on the record.”