Tom Clonan
University of Dublin · Independent · Ireland
“It is appalling; you could not make it up. However, as this is a very grave and dark thing, they raised these concerns by way of protected disclosures in February 2025. Here we are, 18 months later, and no action has been properly taken. Those protected disclosures have not been processed about a child safety issue.”
“I thank the Senator. The Adult Safeguarding Strategy Bill that I hope to introduce fills the gap that exists in Irish legislation around adult safeguarding for our elderly citizens and for all of us who at some point in life will need care. This Bill is consistent with what the Government has set out in the programme for Government.”
“They told me one of them was informed of a child sexual assault or the potential for one - even a rape of a child - and under the guidelines, this requires mandatory reporting, so they set about reporting it to An Garda Síochána and Tusla.”
“A woman came into the clinic and expressed concerns - and I am sorry to use this language here - that she had discovered her spouse - her husband - was accessing child pornography images and films through his devices. These are crime scenes. This is the sexual abuse and rape of children.”
“This should be dealt with with energy and urgency, because all this talk about process is not child-centred. It is administration-centred and it is a classic HSE tactic to cover up, deny and delay grave matters. I want to know why this particular manager is pushing back on mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse.”
“I thank the Minister of State for reading out the statement on behalf of the Minister, Deputy MacNeill. None of these remarks are directed personally at the Minister of State, but to be honest, ChatGPT could have written that response. In it, the Minister, Deputy MacNeill says she and the HSE cannot comment on individual cases.”
The complete record
Every one of 631 lines we hold for Tom Clonan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 13 of 13.
“This is not just a national scandal; it is an international scandal. We are a wealthy country. I note the Minister is not here herself, possibly because of diary commitments. I hope this will not be the beginning of a repeat of the trend in the previous Seanad when Ministers routinely failed to appear in this House. They are not in charge of anything. They are public servants and are here to be accountable. Eve Lynn's mum is here and I am here. I appreciate the Minister of State taking the time to be here. I am glad it is him because I know he will take on board everything I will say. If one looks at the pattern of failure on the part of the HSE in respect of Eve Lynn, it is a recurring pattern that impacts on families across the State. Here we have a young girl who has never had a meaningful intervention within the therapeutic window.”
“I thank the Minister of State for attending. It is International Women's Day on Saturday. Later today, we will have a Private Members' debate on women's health on this auspicious week. I raise the issue of a young Irish girl, Eve Lynn Woods, born in 2018. She is seven years old. Like thousands of other children in Ireland, she has received no meaningful physiotherapy or occupational or speech therapy. She has received no assessment of needs and she is seven years old. She has a diagnosis that her parents - her mum, Kelly-Marie, is here - had to pay for themselves when she was two years old out of sheer desperation. This is the story of thousands of Irish families across the Republic, my own included. I have a 23-year-old who has never received any meaningful physio, speech or occupational therapy or hydrotherapy intervention.”
“I imagine that such a detachment could be dispatched by Cabinet in the event of an emergency. I do not have an issue with that. At the moment, the number is 12. That is impractical. I would have suggested 120. If it is more than 50 troops to be deployed, a two-thirds majority of the Dáil and Seanad should be required and there should be a free vote, with no Whip imposed. Everybody should vote with their own conscience when putting men and women in harm’s way. No TD or Senator should ever be whipped into making a decision to send our troops into harm’s way. Things are very febrile, at present, but it is not the end of the world order. It is a change in the world order. We should not abandon our shared and collective values of the rules-based order; we should cleave ever more closely to it. Let us see what is on offer.”
“In effect, this would mean that the only recourse is Government approval and Oireachtas approval. However, if there is a simple Government majority, as is the case now, it means that any future Government can send any number of Irish troops anywhere in the world, without recourse to the wishes of the Irish people. We need to be really careful about that. Do I trust the Government? Do I trust my colleagues across the floor? I do, but governments get it wrong. If we get it wrong in the sending of Irish men and women – our children and grandchildren – it is a very serious matter. Therefore, I propose that under no circumstances should a simple Government majority be allowed to send Irish troops abroad when that number is over 50. It is reported that the Government will put in place a new threshold of 50 troops.”
“A conversation needs to be had in Ireland about the much-publicised Government plans to get rid of the triple lock. It is one thing to get rid of something but what will it be replaced with? That is not yet clear but I am sure it will be when the legislation is published. My hope is that the legislation is not guillotined in the way so much legislation has been in this House. This is not the fault of any one person but there was a tendency towards the end of the last Government for legislation to be not put through pre-legislative scrutiny and to be guillotined and pushed through the Houses. This happened with the wording of the two amendments to the Constitution that were rejected by the people last year. We need to be very clear what we mean if we remove UN authorisation as one of the layers of the triple lock.”
“On a US state department programme called alternatives to political violence a number of years ago I was in the train station in Montgomery, Alabama, where Rosa Parks in 1955 got on the bus and was excluded. That sparked a series of civil rights protests and eventually the US constitution was vindicated in that people cannot be segregated on the bus on the basis of their race. In Ireland, disabled people cannot even get on the bus. Rosa Parks was able to get on the bus in Alabama 70 years ago. People like my son cannot get on the bus or the train today. There is a lot of work to be done.”
“In his delivery mode, I ask that the Minister accelerate that. When it comes to regional bus services, the buses of many of the private contractors who were awarded the contract by the Government are inaccessible because it was not made a stipulation in the granting of the contract. Frankly, that is disgraceful. I ask everyone to think about this and imagine they had to make an appointment 24 hours before they travel on the basis of their protected category, for example, because they are LGBTIQ or ethnically different or because they are a Muslim. We would quite rightly be outraged. Citizens should not have to make those kinds of arrangements, simply to access public transport.”
“In a cost-cutting measure, Dublin Bus changed the rules around that and buses are allowed to leave the garage with ramps not functioning. That needs to be looked at. The DART is practically inaccessible for wheelchair users for a number of reasons, including that the lifts are constantly out of order. This is recorded on a daily basis by such people as Bernard Mulvany from People Before Profit and his daughter Sophia. My son will never use the DART. We do not even consider it because it is inaccessible. If the lift is actually functioning, people have to ring 24 hours beforehand and arrange to have someone in the station with a ramp and the service has to be told when passengers will be getting off. Iarnród Éireann and Dublin Bus are putting in place investment to address these issues, but it is not happening quickly enough.”
“I commend the Private Members' motion and refer specifically to one exhortation. It is number 22 of 29, but it is there: "ensure every service on our public transport network is accessible for people with disabilities and impaired mobility". I impress on the Minister of State - déanaim comhgháirdeachas leis agus cuirim fáilte roimhe ar ais go dtí an Seanad - that if the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is in delivery mode in the next five years, he should note that while technically much of our public transport is accessible, functionally and practically it is inaccessible to disabled citizens. We are fortunate in Dublin that we have such a proliferation of public transport, but Dublin Bus is inaccessible to many wheelchair users, for example, because when the buses leave the garage many of the ramps are not working.”
“It is being framed at the moment in the context of the Trump Presidency and the war in Ukraine as something we should get rid of or be ashamed of. That is not the case, so let us not use the triple lock as a stepping stone - a manufacture of consent - to dilute, erode or remove our neutrality.”
“Nobody in here should be whipped into sending Irish troops abroad and into harm's way. It should be a free conscience vote. If we are sending troops overseas, there has to be some sort of veto or safety valve. Should the Council of State be convened to review a Government decision? I trust the Government but it does not always get things right and we need to be really careful about that. Let us not have our troops sent abroad by simple Government majority in the same way it has guillotined legislation through this House without reference to any argument. We need to be very careful about our military non-alignment and neutral status. Despite what has been said in the media over and over again, our international partners have no problem with our military non-alignment. They respect it. It is a national competency.”
“For example, we have sent troops to Afghanistan from 2002 onwards. Irish troops served in Afghanistan with NATO in that peace enforcement mission. I am not even sure many Irish people are aware that Irish troops, under the Irish flag, served in Afghanistan for quite a lengthy period of time. Why not just raise that number, which is within the gift of the Government, from 12, which is effectively section strength, to, let us say, 120, which is company strength? That could deal with the emergencies that arise, like repatriating citizens from an airport or carrying out humanitarian or emergency response work, and we could leave the triple lock in place. It would remove the difficulty the UN Security Council mandate poses. If we are just going to go to a simple majority, will it be a free vote? It should be a free vote?”
“I wish to raise the issue of the triple lock. It has been reported widely that the Government is considering removing the triple lock and will introduce legislation to do so in the coming weeks. I have some serious questions for everyone in this House in this regard. I am trying to be as constructive as I can. The triple lock consists of a UN Security Council resolution, or UN Assembly approval, as well as Dáil and Oireachtas approval. Those are the three layers. If the UN dimension is removed, it does not revert to a double lock, but rather just one. A simple Dáil majority could send Irish men and women to a conflict zone. I am worried about that because we need to know what other mechanisms will be in place. At the moment, we can only send 12 troops overseas without the mandate of the triple lock.”
“We have to make sure we have a committee that can tie all of that together and really move forward on the fundamental human rights of disabled citizens. We have heard it from my colleagues across the floor. Ireland, unfortunately, is one of the worst countries in the European Union in which to have a disability. We can do better than that; is féidir linn.”
“That is a commitment that we are fully signed up to now that we have fully ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. I ask the Ceannaire and the Cathaoirleach in particular to impress this need upon the people who have the gift of that decision or discretion at their parliamentary party meetings this evening, if that is when they meet. We must ensure that the disability matters committee is reinstated because there is a little bit of fragmentation of responsibility. This is not a reflection on the individuals - the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Foley, and the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill.”
“I want to raise the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Disability Matters. This is an extremely important committee, which was set up originally on the basis that it was for a special purpose. I have heard a suggestion that the committee might not be reinstated during this Dáil and Seanad term. I ask that this committee be reinstated as a matter of urgency and priority, and that it be established on a continuous and permanent basis. The committee was chaired by Deputy Michael Moynihan, who is now a Minister of State. It was a very effective committee at vindicating the rights of disabled citizens. It also provides us with a unique opportunity to hear from disabled persons' organisations, not just service providers.”
“The power we can wield is greater than the sum of its parts, but only if we work together collectively and constructively for the common good of the Irish people.”
“I prevail upon Members at their parliamentary party meetings to support that simple legislation, which would transform the lives of disabled citizens. I also have legislation on disability rights in terms of personalised budgets, which would hand the control over their lives to disabled citizens and carers, take us away from the charity model and anachronistic, out-of-step approach to carers and disability rights in this Republic and bring us into line. I offer my congratulations to every Senator who has been elected - those who have been returned and those who are here for the first time. I echo what my great Trinity colleague, Senator Ruane, said, in that we in this House can have an impact. Even one Independent Senator can have a measurable impact on Irish society.”
“Now that I have the Senators all together - I am addressing the Government side of the House particularly because I know I enjoy the full support of everyone in the Opposition - I am asking each and every single one of them to please support my disability rights Bill, which would bring Ireland into line with the rest of the European Union. I introduced the Bill in the previous Seanad term. I am going to reanimate it and will ask each and every Senator to support me in that. I will approach each and every Senator on an individual basis. Let us do the right thing; is féidir linn. We can do the right thing. I see the former Minister of State, Senator Rabbitte. She is a great colleague with whom I had a great working relationship and I know she supports my legislation.”
“I act with their authority to support carers and disabled citizens, who are all over Ireland. Some Senators are carers or will become carers, but every single one of them, according to the World Health Organization, will become disabled at some point in their lives. The average human being is disabled for eight to ten years of his or her life, normally at the end of life but very often by way of illness, stroke, acquired brain injury, road traffic accident, you name it. I am here for one reason only and that is our experience as a family of disability and caring. Ireland is the worst country in the European Union in which to have a disability. We are outliers in terms of human rights legislation when it comes to disability. This is our Legislature. This is our Parliament.”
“We must never appease tyranny, whether that tyranny be in Moscow or among a small but dangerous coterie of people in Washington. While we must never renounce our military neutrality, we need to seriously invest in our defence, which is a matter that has been touched upon by others in the House. In particular, the men and women who make up our soldiers, sailors and air crew need to have a proper standard of living and their service needs to be respected. I am here for one reason only. I am from Finglas, but I was elected, as Senator Ruane said, by a constituency of Trinity graduates that is nationwide and all over the UK, the United States, Canada and Australia. It is a big constituency. Those people elected me, but I do not act in their interests.”
“As our diaspora all around the world and any of us who have travelled will tell us, it can mean the difference between life and death. We are very much respected in the world. I decry the so-called academics, who should be ashamed of themselves, who suggest that we should somehow have an inferiority complex. One economist now turned security analyst suggested last week that we buy American weapons and liquid gas in order to appease President Trump. I put it to the House that Denmark is a full member of NATO and has spent hundreds of millions of kroner on American weapons systems, but that has done nothing for its possession of and relationship with Greenland, with France even offering to send troops to Greenland to help protect it from American interests.”
“More recently, for the past 20 years, I have worked as an academic who publishes in peer-reviewed publications on military and defence matters. In all my time in these roles, I have not once met anybody who queries, resents or interrogates our militarily neutral status. Last year, I gave the keynote speech at the National Defence Academy, Austria, where there were military and political leaders from all over the European Union, including members of NATO. Not one of them raised any question about Ireland's military neutrality. Over recent months, I have heard a parade of so-called experts and pundits on all Irish media platforms suggesting a false narrative that there is an issue with our military neutrality. I tell you now that there is not. I can also tell you the value of our militarily neutral status.”
“That is why I reiterate that cancelling the other because they are different or have a different point of view is destructive and toxic to peace. I wish our Taoiseach the very best of luck when he gets to Washington. I hope he does. I compliment our Cathaoirleach on all the connections that have been forged between Ireland and the US. We must work on those connections and relationships, especially now, a time of turbulence and flux. I have worked as a peacekeeper, as an interparliamentary representative on the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, and as a journalist and security analyst for The Irish Times for 15 years and latterly for The Journal . I travelled all around the world throughout the global war on terror to places like Iraq, Syria and Guantanamo Bay.”
“There is now a President of the United States who, after witnessing the slaughter of the innocents, is prepared to ethnically cleanse 2 million people from Gaza and expel them against their will to other countries in the Middle East. We have serious challenges but I will say this: Hezbollah and the IDF have committed war crimes and both have murdered Irish peacekeepers, as recently as the Christmas before last, but we kept open our lines of communication with Hezbollah and spoke to the Israelis, including the IDF. No matter what the challenges are in Washington or other parts of the world, we must always keep a line of communication open to the people we disagree with most, because that disagreement is where the engine for truth and peace lies.”
“I say that having been a participant in the conflict. Those who have never participated in a conflict and never had to face the associated challenges should be careful with their words because the peace process is precious. It is in this House and it runs through both Houses, and we will have a very onerous responsibility in the years to come. I served in the Middle East in command of Irish troops and witnessed in the mid-1990s the slaughter of men, women and children at first hand. We have seen in the past year and a half the mass killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children. This is the context in which we convene here today and sit as an Upper House in one of the oldest parliamentary democracies in the world – one of 14, as the Cathaoirleach told us.”
“What a journey the peace process has brought us on to think that not just metaphorically but literally I held my colleague at gun-point not that long ago, and here were sitting together in a committee and working constructively to assist Irish citizens. That is the spirit in which all in this House should operate. We should all embrace one another. I have to say that I am sometimes disheartened by some of the cheap shots aimed at some Members of this House. We are all entitled to be here. It believe it was Senator Comyn who said that, no matter what pathway has brought us here, we are all entitled to be here. We should all do business together. There were two referendums after the Good Friday Agreement, both north and south of the Border, and we are all part of the same political family, notwithstanding what may have happened in the past.”
“I am very proud to say that I commanded troops in armed support operations in places like the Monaghan salient up to the Border with Northern Ireland, and north of Dundalk where the permanent British Army vehicle checkpoint used to be, watching the Wessex helicopters coming down where the RUC could not travel by road. I saw the absolute chaos, mayhem and anarchy that brought. After being elected, during the last Seanad term, I discovered that I was on a joint Oireachtas committee with a man who was being extradited to London to face charges and that I had been in the armed party. He was subsequently acquitted of the charges.”
“We have to engage and talk to everybody. We must reach out to the over 1 million people on this island who are frightened because of the lack of engagement and the lack of clarity about what we intend for this island. If there is anybody here who thinks that we can simply extend our territorial jurisdiction to Thirty-two Counties with the Constitution that we have and the flag that we have, they are very much mistaken. If we prepare, this could be a great example of a peace process, a constantly evolving, improving iteration of peace. If we do not prepare for it, if we say "Not now", I can guarantee that our children and grandchildren will pay a very high price. We should never take the peace on this island for granted. While I am on the subject, I served in Óglaigh na Éireann on this island prior to the ceasefires.”
“I am very familiar with Camlough and Carrickcruppen Road. It was the first place I ever rode a horse. I will explain that at some point in the future. What struck me about that journey in the run-up to this day was that we may have temporary partition on this island but we are one island, indivisible. When I was growing up in Finglas I had three older sisters, beautiful, assertive, occasionally violent. We used to play hide and seek. I will never forget their phrase was "Ready or not, here we come." For the lifetime of this Seanad, we are here in a number of particular contexts. One of them is "Ready or not." We are embarked on an unstoppable journey now to an all-island solution. If we prepare for it, it will be an incredible extension and expression of our great peace process. In order to do that, we have to prepare.”
“Go raibh maith agat, a Chathaoirleach, agus comhghairdeachas, and also to Senator Wilson, the father of the House. I remember on being elected that Senator Wilson gave me some great advice. He said, "It was talking got you in here and it is talking that could get you out." Wise words of advice. On the subject of geography, we have two Senators from Tallaght. I think I am the only Senator from Finglas. I wanted to put down that marker. Continuing on the subject of geography, last week I had the privilege of doing some parliamentary business that brought me up to Slieve League in Donegal, across to Derry, to Bishop's Gate, and from there to Coleraine, across to Ballycastle, down the coastline from Cushendun to Cushendall and all the way down through Belfast, right down to the Border. Senator Conor Murphy has left.”