Tom Brabazon
Dublin Bay North · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“I raise the issue of Uisce Éireann and the lack of meaningful engagement it has with the public and public representatives. I have had a number of dealings with it recently, most notably on James Larkin Road where it is doing an important project.”
“I welcome what the Taoiseach said in respect of the Dublin city task force. Us Dubs agree that the city centre certainly requires a lot of TLC. Speaking with many constituents in Dublin Bay North, they have fond memories of travelling into town to go shopping in the Talbot Street area.”
“Howth Yacht Club caters for all types of people. One might think a yacht club is the preserve of the wealthy middle class but the club goes well beyond that and has ambitious plans to become an inclusive club catering for those less able and less fortunate than regular club members.”
“I certainly would not be raising this issue in this public way in the Chamber if the matter were progressing in the manner the Minister of State has described. We have been waiting two years for the resolution of a consolidated lease in circumstances where the club's specialist hired solicitor has, in effect, done the work for the State.”
“The club has five leases from the Department of, Agriculture, Food and the Marine. To tidy up the title, the club hired a specialist solicitor to try to consolidate the leases to simplify the title in order to ease grant applications.”
“I welcome the Minister's response in that regard but the suggestion made is only one of a suite of measures to combat this reckless carry-on. We need more accountability from importers of scramblers, more Garda pursuit training, more intelligence gathering and more community involvement in handing over intelligence to Garda authorities.”
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“Like Deputy Shane Moynihan who spoke earlier, I have serious concerns about e-bikes, e-scramblers, e-scooters and ordinary scramblers, which are the scourge of people's lives across the city. Aside from the dangers these modes of transport create on our roads and footpaths and across our open spaces and parks, we often see users not wearing any helmets being "ballied up" - for want of a better phrase - and not carrying or using lights in the dark evenings, having removed the speed governors from their vehicles. Many of them are unfortunately being used in criminal enterprises for, in particular, muling and carrying illicit produce for the drug trade. These bikes, scramblers and scooters, when used as part of a criminal enterprise, are usually operated by minors.”
“A uniformed officer who earns €60,000 a year will receive an occupational pension of only €16,300 on retirement at age 55, which he or she must live on for more than ten years before accessing the State pension at 66. Meanwhile, an older officer who joined before 2013 will get a full pension of €31,800 from the age of 55, simply because the supplementary pension scheme applies. Dublin City Council launched a recruitment campaign for the fire brigade this week.”
“I wish to raise an inequity that has arisen as a result of changes in the pension arrangements for the uniformed members of Dublin Fire Brigade, An Garda Síochána, the Prison Service and the Defence Forces. A group from Dublin Fire Brigade delivered a letter to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage last year calling for an urgent meeting to discuss this issue, which is resulting in many members considering leaving the service. Has that meeting taken place? If it has, what was discussed and what actions were agreed? One firefighter has indicated how she could be left with a pension of about €300 per week when she retires after decades of service as a result of an unfair two-tier system.”
“Workers in hospitality, retail, care and emergency services often start or finish outside public transport hours; therefore, a licence is essential to employability. Some education courses require a driver's licence, like paramedic studies in the University of Limerick. A constituent of mine has been in touch to seek help for her son, who wished to apply for this course as he aspires to become a paramedic. However, the University of Limerick has a strict requirement that students must hold a full driver's licence to secure a place in the programme in January. The closest date was in June. We require a learner driver to be accompanied by a qualified driver. There must be an accompanying quid pro quo of an efficient driving test system, allowing people to have their test done expeditiously.”
“A driver's licence enables access to everyday activities like work, sports, volunteering, education and healthcare without having to rely on others. It allows young people to take some of the burden from their parents or guardians by driving younger siblings to school, sports activities, shopping, medical appointments, etc. For families dealing with illness or disability, having a young driver in the home can be life-changing, providing flexibility, safety and timely support. Many jobs require a driver's licence as a condition of employment, especially in trades, construction, healthcare and delivery services. A large number of apprenticeships programmes require learners to have at least a learner permit.”
“Looking at the whole problem, it is evident the national average waiting time for a driving test is 27 weeks. Waiting times in Raheny test centre in my constituency are up from 15 weeks in April last year to 33 weeks in April this year. That means if you book a test now, you may not get it until December or January. In Killester test centre, waiting times are up from 17 weeks in April 2024 to 25 weeks in April 2025. That could mean waiting until October. This has a huge impact on young people in particular as they are the cohort most often looking to become qualified drivers. For many young people, learning to drive marks a significant milestone in their transition to adulthood. It empowers them to take control over their own mobility, no longer relying on parents or guardians.”
“As late as yesterday I received a WhatsApp message asking whether the local Garda station was still taking calls. I witnessed in my constituency a minor public order incident escalating to a very serious life-threatening issue. This happened yards from a local Garda station. By the time the issue was triaged in the 999 system it was ten or 15 minutes later and the perpetrator had disappeared. The same person turned up at the same shopping centre the next morning. The system may be working from a Garda management point of view but, unfortunately, from a consumer point of view it seems to be quite weak.”
“Members of the public are sometimes required to ring 999 for a minor issue, perhaps a small gang of youths who may be acting in an intimidating way, yet, at the same time, it is potentially a quality-of-life-changing issue. Most of the public are still unaware of this new system. They find it very frustrating when they ring their local Garda station and are told they have to ring 999 instead. However busy the local stations may have been in the past, where a call has been made, people were always more likely than not to get a call back or a visit from a local garda after reporting an incident. However, under this 999 system, a 999 caller in many cases does not get a call back and may never hear back from gardaí. This is because calls are triaged in 999 call centres and limited resources are despatched to the most serious incidents.”
“As this is a justice-related issue, I first want to offer my personal condolences and commiseration to the family and colleagues of Garda Kevin Flatley, who tragically lost his life at the weekend in the course of his duty. The issue I wish to raise with the Taoiseach is that of the 999 dispatch system, particularly in respect of the Garda. People in general are not aware of the changes that were made by the Commissioner, in that they are no longer in a position to ring their local Garda stations and there is now an obligation on them to ring 999 in all incidents, no matter whether they are small or large, serious or otherwise. This is counterintuitive for members of the public who have been around for a long time and view 999 as something for a very serious incident or emergency.”
“We have slipped back and an increased level of paperwork is required of members of An Garda Síochána. There is a serious commitment in the programme for Government to ramp up Garda numbers, which will help, but it is no use if they are all tied up with paperwork. We need to make a big effort. While they need somewhere to base themselves, they also need the paperwork burden lifted from them. That is really important. It is proposed that a new divisional headquarters to replace Coolock Garda station, which has long outlived its usefulness and which needs to be taken out of commission, be built at Northern Cross.”
“I ask the Taoiseach in respect of policing reform whether reducing paperwork for rank and file members of An Garda Síochána is a priority. I know from interaction with local gardaí, particularly in the Coolock district, which is the second busiest station in the country, that they are burdened with increasing levels of paperwork. Fianna Fáil has pushed over many years for the reduction of the paperwork burden on members of An Garda Síochána in stations so we can get them out onto the streets to provide a visible Garda presence, which operates as a deterrent, on one hand, and a comfort to our citizens on the other. Having listened to gardaí and having listened in to the Garda Representative Association conference last week, I am concerned we have gone backwards.”
“We need to move this on with speed. I agree with some of the previous speakers - we cannot endlessly debate these things. We need the public consultation to be dealt with and truncated as quickly as possible and to get on with the policymaking and necessary legislation to bring in exemptions so that people can start planning and looking at designs, builds and delivery for young couples who cannot otherwise acquire housing on the market.”
“Like some of the other Deputies, I raise the tenant in situ scheme. A recent motion passed by Dublin City Council, the second-largest democratic chamber in this country, asked for the previous tenant in situ scheme to be reintroduced. Not only have Dublin City Council and other councils around the country run out of funds, but there are changes in the system whereby a tenant in situ applicant must have been in receipt of HAP or RAS for two years prior to application. I am at a loss as to the public policy objective of that change. Surely, if somebody qualifies for social housing, he or she should qualify for the tenant in situ scheme. It is urgent. It is the only method of saving people from homelessness right now. I also wish to raise the commitment in the programme for Government regarding modular homes, which Deputy O'Meara raised.”
“It seems to me this issue is being used as a political football to score points against the Government. I am not a fan of water charges personally. I do not like them, to be honest. However, Sinn Féin and others are well aware that the water charges directive comes from European law. It is not within our capacity in this House to change it. We must obey it. We are possibly in breach of the directive as it stands.”
“We need to ensure all households on a line are obliged by law to contribute to unblocking blocked sewers where it is their responsibility. The other issue is the massive commercial charging by Uisce Éireann on primary and secondary schools. I spoke to a principal of a DEIS 1 school last week in connection with this issue. They anticipated their bill for water would be between €40,000 and €60,000. This means one branch of the State pays another, which creates an unneeded circle of bureaucracy. I listened to some of our colleagues on the Opposition benches earlier accuse the Government of not supporting their Bill to make permanent the abolition of water charges. The Opposition is well capable of taking legal advice and does so on a regular basis when it suits its agenda.”
“There are often situations where the local authority, for example, has to come out and carry out CCTV inspections of the sewers because the tree root system on the public verge side has broken the sewage pipe and caused leaks and backups into private property. This is where serious pressure is brought to bear on local authorities and Irish Water to intervene. Often, first responders from Irish Water say it is not its responsibility and it is the responsibility of the householder. The first line of defence is to say liability does not rest with us, it rests with you as the householder. This is despite service level agreements between the local authority and Uisce Éireann. We need to extend the first fix sewage pipe breaks on properties, particularly those that are localised.”
“Often, it is the home that does not have the shore outlet that is responsible for causing the blockage. It is often the person who has sewage coming up into their garden who has to hire a company to come in privately to unblock the blockages. This is patently unfair and needs to be looked at. On top of this, there are also issues where the sanitary services Acts seem to impose an obligation on householders to be responsible for pipework that is not on their property and extending out into the middle of the road. This is a statutory imposition and is frankly perverse and unfair. The legislation imposes responsibility on private householders to maintain what is in essence a public sewer out into the middle of the roadway. We need to look at this legislation and ensure the scheme is made fairer.”
“Given the increasing complexity and interaction between Irish and European law, cases involving judicial review tend to be quite complex and multifaceted. They tend not to be simple, single-point cases but based on a multiplicity of points across EU and Irish jurisprudence. Accordingly, I do not think that statutory timelines putting guns to heads across in the Four Courts will help in this regard. Other issues I have come across regularly from constituents include instances of a number of houses on a sewer line, as Deputy Healy mentioned, and when there is a break in the line or one house repeatedly causes difficulties blocking the lines, causing misery for neighbours, sometimes unwittingly and sometimes consciously. These problems are often experienced where raw sewage backs up in one person's garden, causing misery for those people.”
“I agree with the proposal that there should be some statutory deadlines enforceable against Uisce Éireann to ensure timely delivery of houses, particularly on sites where more than 100 units can be delivered, and to remove that roadblock from housing delivery. We can deliver this reasonably quickly, in my opinion. Deputy Ó Broin mentioned we should appoint additional judges to shrink the time for judicial reviews. We agree with that in principle; however, it is not possible for us to legislate how quickly a judge can hear a case or how long it should take him or her to hear or deliberate on it. This is sailing close to us telling the other branch of the State how to do its business. We are treading on difficult constitutional waters there and should be careful.”
“As we all know, water is the basic element of life. It is essential to all aspects of life. I welcome the commitment in the programme for Government to invest heavily in our water infrastructure, which is critical and needed to deliver additional new housing units across our capital city and the country. I welcome that the strategic funding has a multi-annual spend of €16.9 billion up to 2029, a huge amount in anyone's book. Other speakers underscored the necessity for us to catch up on the underinvestment in our water infrastructure for many decades. I think everyone in this House accepts that this a necessity. Having said so, I will make some general points in relation to Irish Water, beginning with the issue of the provision of additional housing.”
“This could be the worst time ever to consider imposing tariffs which will further destabilise our global village. Tariffs are simply counterproductive. They disrupt deeply integrated transatlantic supply chains and put at risk the entire global economy and the welfare of citizens on both sides of the Atlantic and all around the globe. It is not too late for President Trump to do the right thing.”
“We, in Ireland, must hold the line and work with our European partners while wearing our blue and green jerseys. This is where I differ from my colleague who just spoke. We must aim to ride out the storm by fully co-operating with our European partners and availing of every opportunity to negotiate with President Trump's Administration. We cannot underestimate the problems with the world economy if there is no negotiation. We must ensure we use everything in our armoury to bring President Trump and his Administration to the table to discuss these matters. Our world is turbulent at present. It is a world in which we have war in the Middle East between Palestine and Israel, civil wars in Syria and Yemen and the war between Russia and Ukraine as well as war in other parts of the world.”
“I am hopeful that we may be insulated from the worst parts of President Trump's tariffs. Potentially, there are between 700 million and 1 billion people in countries around the world living below the poverty line who would find it desirable to migrate for economic reasons before the tariffs take effect. These countries will no doubt be plunged into a dreadful level of impoverishment, particularly in the southern hemisphere. The tariffs will swell the number of people who desire to move for economic reasons. President Trump may well have to build his famous wall to stem the tide of migration. Unless sense prevails, migrants may well be climbing over his wall and tunnelling under it. President Trump must be careful what he wishes for.”
“A further reason to be hopeful is that corporate planners know that there are three years and nine months left in Donald Trump's presidency. By the time his term is up and he leaves office, a lot of transatlantic transfers will not have taken place. My hope is that corporate decision-makers might well knuckle down for the balance of the three years of tariffs and endeavour to ride out the storm on the basis that the tariffs may well be reversed by a more reasonable and sensible incoming president after President Trump. The last time such an experiment took place on a global scale we had the Great Depression. It is not even 100 years later, and here we are on the precipice of repeating history again. I hope the existence of a bigger trading bloc in the EU will help to save us from the worst excesses of this economic foolishness.”
“The infrastructure out of which some of them operate is extremely complex and it would probably not be either possible or desirable to move them stateside. To do so would mean losing the talented workforce and shipping plant from Europe to the United States. It would also mean losing out on access to the European market. In the meantime, there would be a significant increase in the cost of delivery of pharma products to the consumer, stateside. The increased cost to the average American citizen, with the devaluing of shares and stock prices, would have a devastating effect. There will no doubt be pushback by the American public against these tariffs when they feel the full force of their negative impact. We have already seen some of this pushback commence. This is another reason to be hopeful.”
“There is no justification for the tariffs being imposed, except to pull the wealth generation of multinational corporations from Ireland, Europe and other parts of the world back to the US. However, that does not recognise that these companies are in fact multinational by nature and by location, often having manufacturing, research and development, corporate headquarters, administration and tax bases in different places around the world, in many cases with good reason. Ireland should be confident going forward that we have an excellent level of graduates, support trades and access to one of the largest markets in the world, the EU of 450 million people. A number of multinational pharma companies operate in my constituency of Dublin Bay North. They offer reasonably good employment to a good number of employees.”
“I believe it was Deputy Gogarty who mentioned role models. Many of the role models people are seeing now are online, including TikTok, and some of the behaviours we are seeing involve children in groups going out and assaulting other children and adults. This is happening for the purpose of making TikTok videos and so on. Youth diversion is one part of a whole jigsaw of approaches we need to make. We certainly need to be tough on the causes of crime, but we equally need to be very tough on the crime itself.”
“I would not be a big fan of Tony Blair's, but we have to look at crime from two perspectives. We have to be tough on crime - I am all for that - but we equally have to be tough on the causes of crime. It is clear that when I look across my constituency at the hot spots where we have high figures of youth offending, these are certain areas that have been neglected for long numbers of years. In some of those areas where serious investment has been put in over the years, though, we still have that behaviour, so it is not all about investing. It is a combination of investment and supporting sports clubs, youth clubs, drama groups, art, you name it, but anything that gets kids together so they can enjoy one another's company and not feel like they are under constant peer pressure. We have to consider influences.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on this issue. I have a lot of sympathy for what many of the speakers said, in particular the contribution Deputy O'Flynn made today. There is a lot of youth crime, certainly in the constituency I represent. There are young lads going around on scramblers and e-bikes, masked up so their identities cannot be known. They are effectively untouchable; they are above the law because they are not being chased by An Garda Síochána. When they are pursued, they are viewed as being too young to be prosecuted, notwithstanding the fact that they are behaving like adults and are causing major disruption to local communities, certainly in the area I represent. I could tell stories to keep the Minister of State here for several hours about the effect this horrendous behaviour has on communities.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his response. Like other Deputies, I feel a visit to the school would open his eyes to the potential there for the solution that has been proposed by those on the ground. In 2004, Dublin City Council, in developing Belmayne and Clongriffin, set up what was called the North Fringe Forum. The Department was invited to engage with the forum and was told at that stage that there was going to be a crisis in respect of school places. It did nothing. Those in the Department put their heads in the sand and denied that there would be a problem. Twenty years on, they objected to planning for residential housing. There lies the problem. We need to root out the problem in the Department.”
“We need to knock this stupid idea on the head immediately and get these children moved into the school building with the Belmayne Educate Together, which is happy to welcome them to its building.”
“I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment and wish him well on it. I know he is very committed to the area of special needs. I am very conscious that today is World Autism Awareness Day and I certainly do not want to be seen to be pitting one group of children against another, particularly given that the special school the Department wants to put into prefabs, which is totally unacceptable, is pitted against children who are also on the spectrum within the Belmayne Educate Together Secondary School. The use of prefabs as we have seen down the road in Gaelcholáiste Reachrainn, which were provided as a temporary solution but have become a 24-year permanent solution, is certainly not good enough for children with special needs.”
“It is a really important piece of infrastructure for us. Coolock Garda station is groaning at the seams. We can recruit all the gardaí we like but we have nowhere to put them. We have nowhere for our female members to change and nowhere for our male members to change. There is not much point in having these numbers unless they can be assigned to a particular area or district. It is really important for our communities that this project goes ahead and that every emphasis is put by Government on this. There was significant delay because there was a row between Dublin City Council’s valuation office and the OPW in that regard that went on for far too long. We need to get this to planning stage, get the ground turned and get this vital piece of infrastructure delivered.”
“I ask the Minister to look very seriously at the policies adopted in this area by the London Metropolitan Police, for example. It is very important no group is above the law in this regard. The Criminal Justice (Engagement of Children in Criminal Activity) Act that was passed last year is very important legislation and I welcome that it was commenced last May. However, I took a cursory look last night and I did not see any evidence in the media of any prosecutions having been brought under that legislation. I ask the Minister to look at that. There is ample evidence, based on my experience of going about my business in the city, and we can see lots of this going on under noses. My final point is on the divisional headquarters promised by former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar back in 2019 for my constituency.”
“It also has the effect of undermining the efficacy and the presence of a local Garda station because the minor issues a local station may have been in a position to deal with in the past are now dealt with and triaged by central command and control and you may or may not get a Garda car or Garda presence to deal with the issue, which can sometimes turn into something bigger. Another issue is the policy of non-pursuit of scramblers, e-bikes and so forth. These vehicles are used as courier mechanisms for drugs and weaponry throughout our city. You will often see children masked up on these vehicles. They are effectively untouchable because there is a Garda policy not to chase them. Creating an untouchable group who do not experience consequences has opened up a way for crime gangs to blossom in our city.”
“I echo the remarks of my colleague, Deputy Devlin, especially regarding the appointment of Jim O'Callaghan as the new Minister for Justice. I wish him well in that regard. I have a number of points to make about this area. They are small points but nonetheless very important. The use of the 999 number is counterintuitive. For years 999 was used by the public for genuine emergencies such as a homicide in the course of commission or a bank robbery that was under way. Now we have to ring 999 when there is a gang of teenagers on a corner and it seems utterly ridiculous.”
“The Educate Together school has a plan to create a sensory garden, basketball court and running track where the prefabs are to be located, even though there is capacity within the school. The Educate Together school itself deals with special education also, so the whole thing seems to be counterintuitive and mixed up. The entire policy needs to be dealt with in a holistic rather than a piecemeal and reactive way. Will the Taoiseach commit to visiting the two schools in early course to see for himself the issues being dealt with by people?”
“I raise the issue of prefabs. Will they be discussed at the Cabinet committee? I have serious concerns about prefabs being used as long-term or even medium-term solutions for education provision. For example, in Gaelcholáiste Reachrann in my constituency pupils and teachers have been left sitting in prefabs for over 24 years. The new school has been at planning stage 3 for at least 12 months and there does not seem to be any progress. It is very frustrating. Belmayne Educate Together is a brand new school which has opened up down the road from it. The latter school started life in prefabs but has moved into its new school building, which is great. There is now a proposal to open a special school in the prefabs on that site.”
“It is imperative that we deliver on the rights of these children without any delay and that all the measures needed be front-loaded at the earliest opportunity but certainly within the lifetime of this Government. Caithfimid an rud ceart agus cóir a dhéanamh i leith na bpáistí tábhachtacha seo.”
“The HSE says it is trying to recruit additional therapists but that this is proving difficult. I welcome the fact that the programme for Government will lead to increased staffing, increased support for families who need funding for private assessments and increased numbers of regional assessment hubs. I also welcome that important legislative changes will be made in this area. I strongly urge the Minister of State to move every might and main to ensure that these children in particular are picked up early and that the key phrase of "early intervention" is actually delivered upon. We need the policy changes and resources delivered at the earliest possible moment so as not to leave these children behind who have so much to offer our society.”
“It is also worth noting that public representatives are dismissed by the HSE with the excuse that there are large numbers of children waiting and that it is doing its best. When the statutory waiting period of six months passes and a letter is sent by a solicitor's firm to the HSE, the children involved get the services they need. The threat of proceedings against the HSE seems to do the trick. This leads to inequity in the system. Unfortunately, that is not the end of the matter. When assessments are carried out, many parents are told that their children need physiotherapy, occupational therapy or speech and language therapy. The number of therapists is wholly insufficient and this leads to more waiting times and, accordingly, less chance of the all-important early intervention.”
“Tá an-áthas orm labhairt ar an ábhar seo sa Teach anocht. In recent years, it has become very apparent that the State has failed many neurodivergent children. Many have been left languishing for years waiting not just for assessments but also for timely early interventions. It is often stated by the HSE and its representatives, and by the child experts, that early interventions are key to helping neurodivergent children achieve the maximum that they can achieve and reach their full potential. Unfortunately, it is rare that a child who needs an early intervention actually gets it. Many concerned parents are forced to go to expensive private providers only to find themselves out of the public system thereafter. Assessments cost in the order of €2,000. In many cases, this is simply not affordable.”
“The whole idea of increasing the lending limits will introduce a better service to the credit union membership as well as increasing competition within the financial services sector which is very welcome. I look forward to that. Has the Minister of State had a chance to engage with the credit union movement on this proposal since his recent appointment? Has consideration been given to bringing the credit union movement under the scope of the dormant accounts legislation?”
“The proposed changes will ensure the regulatory framework remains appropriate to the sector and will provide greater scope for the those credit unions which wish to undertake further house and building lending. Does the Minister of State expect to make progress on this soon?”
“I welcome that there is a substantial section in the programme for Government on credit unions. I also welcome the pledge that has been honoured to retain a dedicated Minister of State with responsibility for financial services, credit unions and insurance. I congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment to that role. I also wish to mention the former Minister of State, Deputy Fleming who made a very significant contribution to this whole area in the previous Government. Late last year, the Central Bank of Ireland published a review of the regulatory framework for credit union lending and launched a public consultation on proposed changes to the framework.”
“Does the Minister of State have any plans to engage with the Central Bank to review credit union lending limits to enhance their ability to serve their members?”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach. I dtús báire, ba mhaith liom a rá gurb é an chéad bhabhta dom a bheith ag labhairt os comhair an Tí seo. Teastaíonn uaim buíochas ó chroí a ghabháil leis na daoine i nDáilcheantar Chuan Bhaile Átha Cliath Thuaidh a chuir anseo mé. Is mór an pribhléid agus an onóir dom a bheith anseo agus teastaíonn uaim buíochas ó chroí a ghabháil le mo bhean chéile Liz agus mo chlann féin, mo thacadóirí, baill an pháirtí agus mo chairde uilig ar fad a chabhraigh liom san fheachtas chun teacht anseo. I thank my family and the party members, supporters and friends who got me here. It is a wonderful privilege to become a Member of this House. I sincerely thank them. I say to the people of Dublin Bay North who put me here that I hope to repay their trust with diligence and hard work.”