Skip to main content
Normal View

Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 3 Mar 2022

Vol. 1019 No. 2

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

On behalf of Sinn Féin, I wish the outgoing leader of the Labour Party, Deputy Kelly, well following his announcement last night that he has resigned his role. I extend my best regards to him and his family.

I welcome Ms Linda Ervine, who will be in the Seanad today to speak on Seachtain na Gaeilge. We extend her a fáilte mór from this House and acknowledge the great work she has done on the Irish language in east Belfast. Her work is well known throughout the Thirty-two Counties and beyond.

I wish to record once again our absolute condemnation of the actions relating to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and to extend our solidarity to the Ukrainian people at this time. I welcome the unanimous agreement of the Dáil last night to pass a motion condemning Russia's actions and supporting the territorial integrity of Ukraine. I welcome the significant and severe economic sanctions that have been put in place by the international community as part of the efforts to get Vladimir Putin to realise the futility of his actions. Those sanctions are working. One can see the impact they have had already on the Russian monetary system. I hope this unprecedented diplomatic response will open up the possibility of a resolution to the crisis. As with any conflict, I believe the way out of this is through politics and dialogue.

Undoubtedly, the severe sanctions are going to impact on ordinary citizens across Europe and further afield. The Taoiseach has acknowledged that this will be the case. The price of oil and gas on international markets is on the rise once again. This follows the massive price rises that are already putting major pressure on households throughout the State and contributing to the massive increase in the cost of living. That is particularly the case in the west of Ireland in counties such as Mayo, where half of the homes use heating oil as their main home heating fuel and, because of the lack of public transport, people have no choice but to use an ever-increasing proportion of their low incomes to pay for petrol and diesel. One hospital appointment in Galway or Dublin can take up a full week's income for those already struggling to survive.

What is the EU plan to help alleviate the impact the economic sanctions will have on ordinary people? Have discussions in this regard already begun? What is on the table to help households here and across Europe to negate the worst impacts of energy price increases on workers and families? People want something to be done immediately. They need to feel it in their pockets and in their household incomes. They are already struggling. I acknowledge the measures that have been introduced, but some of them, even in higher education, will not kick in until September. The months between now and September are going to be long and arduous for many households throughout the State.

I welcome Deputy Conway-Walsh to the leader's seat. It is always a pleasure to have the opportunity to engage with another member of Sinn Féin, particularly one from Erris, a part of the country I know well. It is always a pleasure to have a disagreement or an agreement on occasion with people from that part of the world.

The situation in Ukraine is, as people will appreciate, unprecedented. We came through the shock of a pandemic that nobody could have predicted and thought we were going to enter a period of relative stability and normality. Vladimir Putin, by his actions, has upended all of that. We are now facing another shock in terms of prices, particularly for energy. There will be a meeting of senior Ministers this afternoon and there will be an opportunity to study a number of things, including how we can assist Ukraine, in both our political response and our humanitarian response, and Ukrainians who may come here. There will also be a discussion on what else we need to do or are able to do to help households, businesses and farmers that are going to affected by the sanctions and the economic disruption caused by the crisis in Ukraine.

Ireland does not have a lot of direct trade with Ukraine, Belarus or Russia, but there will be indirect effects. Even though the coal in Moneypoint now comes from Colombia, not Russia, and our gas supplies do not come from Russia, the impact of Russian gas being slowed or potentially even being shut off will cause price rises and is already doing so. We have seen the prices of oil, petrol, diesel and fertiliser rise significantly in the past couple of weeks.

In terms of what we need to do, first, we must implement the actions the Government has already announced. That includes the €200 being deducted from people's electricity bills. People will see that in the next couple of weeks and certainly by the end of April. The additional money for the most vulnerable households, the extra €125 in the fuel allowance, is being paid at present. We will have to give consideration to any further actions we may need to take. However, it must be borne in mind that the underlying cost of energy, coal, petrol, diesel, aviation fuel and home heating oil is not something we control. That is rising more and more and the portion of that which is taxation is falling as a consequence - not the raw amount but the portion that is taxation. We will see what we can do in that context. There will be some co-ordination at European level as well. Discussions in that regard are under way.

We need to be updated on those discussions. There has to be an immediate response, or one that is as immediate as possible. There are growing conversations in many EU countries about ending imports of Russian oil and gas into the future. Has the Government considered what the State can do to secure its energy supply if this comes to pass? We were told all the time that the Corrib gas project would secure our energy supply. That has not been the case, although a proportion is supplied from the Corrib field. We must do something more and something immediate. People are really suffering. I welcome the fact that the Tánaiste will be visiting Castlebar tomorrow. He will be in a town where people are suffering as a result of rent increases and many other cost-of-living increases they are experiencing at present. They are looking to the Government for solutions, answers and help at this extremely difficult time.

We believe that our energy supplies are secure, or as secure as they can be in the current context. We used Russian coal to run the power station at Moneypoint. That has now been switched over to Colombian coal. We are not dependent on Russia or Ukraine for gas. Approximately one quarter or one third of our gas comes from the Corrib - it is our own gas - and the rest comes from the UK. The latter is gas from the North Sea and liquified natural gas, LNG, brought through terminals in the UK. We are confident at this stage that we will not face any disruption in the supply of gas, petrol, diesel or electricity. The long-term security issue will be resolved by renewable generation and hydrogen, but that is many years away.

We are more concerned about energy prices. Everybody driving by a forecourt this morning will have seen the price of petrol and diesel, with the psychological €2 per litre being seen in some stations. We have already seen increases in our gas and electricity bills. Unfortunately, because of the events in Ukraine, we are likely to see further rises over the next couple of weeks. The Government will respond. It has responded already in terms of the fuel allowance and the household discount for electricity bills. We are looking at other ways of responding, but we would be dishonest if we did not say to people and businesses that the reasons for the increases in price are largely outside of our control. The proportion of energy prices covered by taxation is falling, but we need to look at excise and see if we might do something there.

As this is my final Leaders' Questions, I will ask about something that is important to me and on which I have worked for many years. It relates to women's health. First, I acknowledge Vicky Phelan and wish her the very best from the floor of the Dáil, and I hope all Members share that with me. I also acknowledge and thank Ms Lorraine Walsh, Mr. Stephen Teap and Mr. John Wall for their support and the work we have done over the past number of years. They certainly have had the biggest impact on me politically, more so than probably anyone else. It is four years since Vicky won her High Court case in April 2018, when she bravely refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement.

We all know what happened with regard to CervicalCheck as a result of that. Huge progress has been made, and I acknowledge that.

We need to move on, however, in respect of a range of issues, such as a review of legislation on abortion to look at policy and the real problems with a lack of access for women and safe access zones. We also need to look at the national maternity hospital to make sure it is publicly owned and controlled. Nothing else is acceptable. When the CervicalCheck tribunal was established in 2020, I stated that it was not acceptable. I predicted that more than 200 cases would go to the High Court. There are now more than 300 cases before it. To date, it has received only 19 claims. For me the concerns were never addressed. It is never too late to do the right thing. This is shameful and wrong, and it should be looked at. Most of all, we have the final progress report of Dr. Scally on the recommendations of his scoping inquiry into the CervicalCheck screening programme. There are four outstanding actions. Will the Tánaiste outline the status of these?

The issue that really concerns me is the Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019. To be fair, the Tánaiste has history on this. It was published in December 2019 and debated in the Dáil but has been stuck on Committee Stage ever since. We need to get the Bill over the line because it would provide for mandatory open disclosure and ensure patients' voices are heard. This is about ensuring that people have an absolute right to know information about their healthcare and that hospitals, screening providers and doctors do not keep information from them. This has been going on for way too long. I ask, on behalf of Vicky and everyone else, that we address this as soon as possible and finally get it over the line. It is a dear request for me. I want to see this legislation get over the line. It is a big component of the recommendations in the Scally report.

Will the Tánaiste ensure the national maternity hospital is publicly owned and controlled? Will he provide a status report on the remaining recommendations in the Scally report? Most of all, and most importantly, will he indicate to the House that the Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019 will be enacted and brought into operation very quickly?

I take this opportunity to pay tribute to Deputy Kelly on the role he has played in recent years as leader of the Labour Party and as a Minister in a previous Government. Some people will say that the Labour Party has struggled to overcome its period in government. Quite frankly, however, it has a lot to be proud of when it comes to the period it spent in government between 2011 to 2016, which was a very difficult time. In the early part of that Government's term, as the Deputy will recall, I was the senior Minister in the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport and he was Minister of State. While we did not always agree, we did get on and we managed to get a lot of things done.

I particularly remember integrated ticketing, as we called it at the time but which we now call the Leap card. It had gone on for years and years. It was one of the projects the Deputy was given responsibility for. He really banged heads together. Sometimes being a bit brash is not necessarily a bad thing in politics. It required weekly meetings and it got done within months.

Another area for which the Deputy had responsibility was taxis. It was very difficult and an area that people ran away from. He managed to make some very important reforms that were good for passengers and consumers and for people who drive taxis. I want to recognise all of that on this occasion. They may seem like small things but they had not been fixed for a very long time. They were finally fixed because, by and large, Deputy Kelly is the kind of politician who gets things done.

In recent years, Deputy Kelly has taken a particular interest in issues regarding women's health, whether the eight amendment or CervicalCheck. He has been a very strong advocate for Vicky Phelan and a number of women who were affected by that debacle. I have seen their social media messages today, and they are very complimentary of the Deputy.

With regard to the Scally report, significant progress has been made in implementing its recommendations. The most recent progress report was published by the Department of Health just yesterday. It shows that as of the end of 2021 four out of the 170 actions remain to be completed. The Minister for Health has asked Dr. Scally to conduct a final progress review of the implementation plan. That is now under way.

Something that is of real importance, and the Deputy mentioned it, is the Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019. The latter includes a mandatory requirement for open disclosure where a serious incident occurs. The Bill will also bring private hospitals within the remit of the Health Act. It also contains provisions to protect clinical audit. It was introduced in Dáil Éireann on 12 December 2019. It has passed Second Stage and needs to move to Committee Stage. I am informed it could go to Committee Stage as early as next week, but it will certainly do so in the coming weeks.

I thank the Tánaiste for his kind words. I appreciate them. The Bill is extremely important. I am delighted to hear that it will move to Committee Stage next week. The right of citizens to have access to their information and for nothing to be hidden from them is critical. It is the be-all and end-all of everything that came out of the Scally report. I absolutely feel that in honour of Vicky Phelan and many other people, including Ruth Morrissey, who was treated very badly by the State, we need to ensure that the Bill completes its passage this term. Will the Tánaiste make a commitment, if at all possible and working with all of us on this side of the House, to the effect that the Patient Safety (Notifiable Patient Safety Incidents) Bill 2019 will be brought into law before the summer?

In the past few moments, the Minister for Health's office has confirmed that Committee Stage of the Bill will be taken next week. This will allow us to make progress. There are some changes the Minister wants to make. Some of them follow on from the examination Dr. Scally did on this matter and the civil liability amendment situation and some input from members of the 221+ support group. The plan is for it to move to Committee Stage next week. It is not entirely within the control of the Government as to how long the process in that regard takes. However, the Bill has been delayed a bit too long. We should all endeavour to get the legislation enacted no later than the end of this year.

Ukraine's agony continues. Some 1 million refugees have left the country and thousands of civilians have been killed. Cities, homes and healthcare facilities have been bombed to smithereens. Seven days after the Russian tanks began to roll across the border, Ukraine remains unconquered and the capital is holding out. Amid the horror of Putin's war two key positives shine out, namely, the resistance of the Ukrainian people and the Russian anti-war movement. Again and again, history has shown that people power holds the key to ending war and dictatorship. The Ceausescus were overthrown not by NATO but by a mass uprising of the Romanian people. The other Stalinist dictatorships were not ended by tanks but by the masses. The beginning of the end of the First World War were the strikes and protests on the streets of Russia that overthrew the tsar and put capitalism into the dock.

Next week, the Irish State will send representatives to Versailles for an informal European Council hosted by President Macron. The question of building a European military machine is expected to dominate proceedings. President Macron's views are well known on this. He has said that we will not protect Europeans if we do not decide to have a true European army. I suspect he will make this point more forcefully next week. This week, the Tánaiste told RTÉ news he thinks Ireland needs to go deeper on the question of European military co-operation. He said it needs to increase military spending and expressed a wish to open up a debate on such issues.

The socialist left looks forward to engaging with the Tánaiste and others in this debate. In that context, I will make a number of points in the time remaining to me. My first overarching point is that the history of Europe shows that dividing the continent into armed camps does not lead to peace. If the Tánaiste goes to Versailles next week, he should take a trip out to the green fields of France and he will see what I mean. Ireland won her independence by way of a struggle against a great imperial power in the 20th century. Ireland should not now align with the ruling classes of France, Germany and elsewhere that are seeking to make Europe a military power in the 21st century.

We oppose any major increase in Ireland's military spending. One of the three options in the recent Defence Forces report was to increase the military spend from €1 billion a year to €3 billion. We think that the vast bulk of that money should be spent on housing, health, childcare and the like and that the majority of people in this country would agree with us on that. We are in favour of spending to end the scourge of low pay in our Defence Forces.

In conclusion, I again call on all people, especially young people, to come out onto the streets to say "No" to war and to show solidarity with and encourage the two key forces that hold the key to progress here, the brave anti-war protestors on the streets of Russia and, crucially, the heroic ordinary people of Ukraine in their resistance.

I echo and agree with the Deputy's remarks on at least two accounts. The first is that we all admire the bravery of the Ukrainian Government and the Ukrainian people who are resisting this attack and this attempt to take over and occupy their country. Even with regard to a city like Kharkiv, which is near the Russian border, in which most people are Russian speakers and in which there is, in many ways, a dual identity, Putin has made a big mistake. If anything, he has cemented and strengthened the Ukrainian national identity. Russian speakers and people who perhaps feel a little Russian and a little Ukrainian are feeling more Ukrainian today and are pushing back in that city against the Russian invasion. To me, that says that Ukrainians and Russians alike want to live in a democracy and are willing to fight for that, as they are now doing. I have immense admiration for those Russians who are attending protests in St. Petersburg, Moscow and other cities to say that this is not being done in their name. It is a very brave person who protests on Nevsky Prospect in St. Petersburg or in Red Square. We need to recognise that and offer them our solidarity and support.

One thing we need to do, which we have not done enough of in recent years, is to start defending our system a bit more. Our system is the system of the west. It is based on liberal democracy, the rule of law, the social market economy and multilateralism in international affairs. It is not a perfect system. I know that. We have lots of problems but nobody is trying to climb over walls or climbing into dinghies to get into China, Russia, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran or any of those places. We need to recognise the fact that we are very fortunate to live in a social market economy and a liberal democracy. We are fortunate to be part of organisations like the European Union and the United Nations. If anything, this attack on Ukraine should be a wake-up call for all of us to be willing to defend our system because a system worth building is worth defending. If the European Union was worth building, it is worth defending. If our independence was worth securing, it is also worth defending.

Like Deputy Barry, I do not agree that we should increase defence spending up to €3 billion. That would be too much. There are other priorities and other demands. However, I do think we need to increase defence spending. We need to pay our military personnel more. We need better equipment. We need to be able to guard our own seas. We need radar over our own airspace. The assumption that we have made for 70 years is that nobody would attack us because we are a country that is neutral militarily. Ukraine was neutral militarily. It was not part of any military alliance. It was attacked because it was politically part of the west, or at least wanted to be. We make the assumption that, even if we are attacked, the British and the Americans will come and save us anyway. I am not sure that is the kind of assumption a sovereign country like ours should make.

This debate is under way and will continue over the coming weeks and months. We look forward to participating fully in that debate. Part of the debate has to be the question of the links European governments had with the Putin regime and its supporters, including the blind eye that was turned in this country. Some €118 billion worth of wealth was sloshing through the IFSC from Russian entities between 2005 and 2017, dirty money laundered by oligarchs etc. Why was a blind eye turned to this within a 15-minute walk of Leinster House? Did the Government and Government Ministers really think this was just pensioner savings or communion money that was being kept in the International Financial Services Centre? We would argue that, in reality, the only consistent opponent of Putin and Russian gangster oligarch capitalism down through the years has been the socialist left. This is part of the debate. We look forward to engaging in that debate. We are confident that our ideas will echo strongly among ordinary Irish people.

I thank the Deputy. Far too many people in the west, including many western European governments, turned a blind eye to President Putin for too long. We saw that after the Crimea crisis. That sent a message to him that the west was weak and I would say he started making his plans around about then to take the rest of Ukraine. However, it is not just about governments or government ministers. Anyone who has expressed pro-Putin sentiments or who has been an apologist for Putin now has questions to answer. There are a lot of them in Ireland, some in this House, and many outside of this House. They should now be held to account for statements they made in the past that were soft on the Russian regime and for being apologists for Putin in any way. Quite a number of them would consider themselves to be part of the socialist left. I do not mean Deputy Barry but I can identify quite a number of people who would consider themselves to be socialists or part of the socialist left who have appeared on Russia Today, who have been apologists for Putin and who have consistently made statements that are supportive of that regime and that man. They need to be held to account now.

First, I express my support for the stance taken by Government and Ireland with regard to the Ukraine crisis. I applaud what we have done in waiving visa restrictions and allowing Ukrainian people to come here and avail of employment at the earliest opportunity.

I will raise an issue with the Tánaiste that was raised with me. It relates to some vacant property, particularly holiday homes, that people might be of a mind to make available to Ukrainian people. These people are wondering whether it is possible for them to do so without creating tenancy rights or whether they can provide short-term letting arrangements. Perhaps the Government could take a look at this because we have a difficulty with regard to how we are going to accommodate a significant number of Ukrainian refugees.

I will go on to talk about the agriculture and food industry, which has been an indigenous champion of this economy for many years. It is the bulwark of our rural economy and the basis for regional regeneration. My concerns are building. I am reflecting concerns I am hearing that our climate policy appears to be muddled with regard to where we are going with agriculture. It would not be a far stretch to say that potentially there is some confrontation building in public opinion between the agricultural sector and the needs of climate change.

As we are well aware, we have a commodities crisis at the moment, not least because Russia and Ukraine produce almost 30% of the world's wheat, 8% of the world's grain and 60% of the world's sunflower oil between them. All of this is going to feed into primary producer prices and the retail supply prices. As the Tánaiste will know, there is also a significant issue in respect of fertiliser. Russia is by far the largest manufacturer of fertiliser and sanctions are now driving up a price that has already increased by 300% this year to date. This will have an effect on productivity and on output and will certainly have an effect on pricing. The farming sector has been raising this issue for some time but little regard has been had to the matter. The increase in prices for energy in May the Government has committed to and the increase in the price of fossil fuels will also put extreme pressure on this sector.

I also highlight to the Tánaiste some issues affecting forestry. Despite the work the Government has done, we are still way behind in processing licences. Almost 70% of licences that are being processed are licences for Coillte, in other words for the State sector, at the expense of looking after rural and regional farmers who have invested in forestry.

I will also bring up the issue of wind energy. We know that a regulatory maritime institution will not be developed for another two years but there is a process ongoing at the moment with regard to an onshore wind development near the south-east coast within 5 km of the shore. No regard seems to have been given to developing this project offshore, as has been done in Scotland. As a Deputy from the south east, I will be in the vanguard in objecting to onshore wind in the UNESCO site in County Waterford. We need to look at developing that facility offshore.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to meet the six main farming organisations in Government Buildings. We organised the meeting as a regular round table to talk about Brexit, Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, reform and climate action. As the Deputy can imagine and as is often the case, events overtake us. Most of the meeting was about Ukraine, the cost of inputs, the rising cost of fuel and fertiliser, and how that will impact food prices and farm incomes. This afternoon at 2 o'clock the Taoiseach will chair a special meeting of Ministers. We will consider three matters. First is the humanitarian response and how we can assist Ukrainians who come to Ireland and more importantly how can we assist the millions of Ukrainians who will not come to Ireland but will be refugees in other parts of Europe. Second is sanctions and the political response. Can we do more to show our support for Ukraine and our opposition to the Russian Federation and Belarus? Third is how we can deal with the economic impact of another economic shock so soon after the last one. How will we help households with rising bills? How can we help farmers with rising input costs? How can we help the business sector? There is only so much that Government can do, but there are things that Government can do. We will consider them this afternoon and I look forward to reporting back to the Dáil next week if I have the opportunity.

I got a really good note from Minister of State, Senator Hackett, on forestry licensing the other day. After years of frustration - I know the frustration is by no means gone - there is real evidence of an uptick in the number of licences being granted. I might send that note on to the Deputy because for the first time in a very long time I had some hope that we were making some sort of progress.

That is for cutting trees, not for planting.

It is for both, actually.

It seems that one of the problems with the planting is that while licences are being issued, not all are being used.

I will reflect on what the Tánaiste said. However, as I said, the majority of licences are for felling and are being prioritised for Coillte and not for these small farmers who are trying to get afforestation licences, get roads built and get their own felling done.

I return to climate policy for a minute. While I am certainly not against it, we need a reappraisal of it. As far as I am aware, the Government has not revised the policy on increases to fossil fuel prices in May. That would be a very retrograde step for inflation. I believe the maritime area regulatory authority, MARA, will not be developed for two years or longer. We have still not discussed where we are going with a wind port in this country. We need to designate wind ports and Rosslare is the obvious one. There are clear benefits to housing in Dublin by reducing some of the capacity in Dublin Port. This needs to be seriously considered.

I know the Tánaiste is aware of issues with the N24 and I understand the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, will take a call in the morning on it. We need the N24 and N25 roads upgraded to improve connectivity for the south east and to give us some regional competitiveness. There has been no investment in those two roads in over 20 years.

As an aside regarding forestry, the Minister of State, Senator Hackett, is working on a new scheme to allow farmers to plant small plantations of trees. It is very small, but still significant if everyone does it. We would like to see farmers using a small part of their land for small plantations, ideally with native broadleaf trees. She is introducing that and allowing them to avoid the existing licensing system for doing that.

I believe MARA will be up and running much sooner than in two years' time. Hopefully, it will be set up in interim form in its new headquarters in Wexford this year and will be operational for real next year. I agree that we need to invest in Rosslare Europort when it comes to wind energy. We will have many offshore wind installations off the east coast as well as off the west coast, but initially off the east coast. We want to ensure that the turbines come from Irish ports and not from English or Welsh ports, not that I have anything against English or Welsh ports, but we would like to use our own ports. Investment in Rosslare will be crucial in that regard.

Top
Share