I call on the Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, to confirm his appointment by the President as Taoiseach and to move the motion.
Appointment of Taoiseach and Nomination of Members of Government
B'áil liom cead a chur in iúl, mar eolas don Dáil, gur chuir mé m'ainmniú mar Thaoiseach in iúl don Uachtarán agus gur cheap sé mé dá réir.
I beg leave to announce, for the information of the Dáil, that I have informed the President that the Dáil has nominated me to be the Taoiseach and that he has appointed me accordingly.
The comprehensive programme for Government contains a significant number of matters which will require the assignment of responsibilities and the creation of new functions. In addition, there is a series of changes to co-ordination within Government which I will be implementing in the Department of the Taoiseach. I will give more detail concerning these changes in my comments following the formal nomination of members of the Government.
Tairigim:
Go gcomhaontóidh Dáil Éireann leis an Taoiseach d'ainmniú na dTeachtaí seo a leanas chun a gceaptha ag an Uachtarán mar chomhaltaí den Rialtas:
I move:
That Dáil Éireann approve the nomination by the Taoiseach of the following Deputies for appointment by the President to be members of the Government:
- Deputy Simon Harris as Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister for Defence.
- Deputy Paschal Donohoe as Minister for Finance.
- Deputy Jack Chambers as Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation.
- Deputy Helen McEntee as Minister for Education and Youth.
- Deputy Darragh O'Brien as Minister for Climate, Environment and Energy and Minister for Transport.
- Deputy Norma Foley as Minister for Children, Disability and Equality.
- Deputy Peter Burke as Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment.
- Deputy Dara Calleary as Minister for Social Protection and Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht.
- Deputy Patrick O'Donovan as Minister for Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport.
- Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill as Minister for Health.
- Deputy James Browne as Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage.
- Deputy Jim O'Callaghan as Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration.
- Deputy Martin Heydon as Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine.
- Deputy James Lawless as Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.
- Rossa Fanning SC as Attorney General to the Government.
- Deputy Mary Butler as Government Chief Whip and Minister of State attending Cabinet with responsibility for mental health.
- Deputy Hildegarde Naughton as Minister of State attending Cabinet with responsibility for disability.
- Deputy Noel Grealish as Minister of State attending Cabinet with responsibility for food promotion, new markets, research and development.
- Deputy Seán Canney as Minister of State attending Cabinet with responsibility for international and road transport, logistics, rail and ports.
In addition, in the coming days I will take steps to propose further Deputies to serve as Ministers of State covering an expanded range of responsibilities in order to fully address the priorities set out in the programme for Government.
The legislation required to give effect to this will be introduced without delay.
The Government that I am nominating today is a Government that will work every day to protect Ireland’s strength at this moment of real threat, and it will also take sustained action to address critical social needs. Each member of the new Government will have responsibility for a distinct programme of action but each will also be required to actively contribute to the Government’s core priorities. A whole-of-government approach, taking key issues out of departmental silos and delivering action on multiple fronts at once, will be a defining characteristic of the Government’s work. In a number of priority areas, a series of new co-ordination mechanisms will be put in place that will be led from the Taoiseach’s office.
We can all see that there is growing turbulence in the world and there are very real threats to institutions that are fundamentally important for Ireland. A core priority for the Government will be to protect and strengthen Ireland’s position within the European Union and in wider international fora. As a fundamental part of this, we must protect the trade which is vital to our economy and the institutions which are vital to promoting our values. We will join with others in seeking to strengthen the EU, complete essential economic reforms within the Union and insist on its democratic values.
We will also seek to accelerate the opening of new markets and expand the opportunities for Irish companies to prosper through trade. We will further emphasise the importance of trade to our international diplomacy. In order to underpin this, the trade function will transfer to the newly renamed Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which will be led by the new Tánaiste, Deputy Simon Harris.
Next year, we will assume the rotating Presidency of the Council. We will use our Presidency to promote a positive agenda of concrete actions across a range of social, economic, political and environmental fields. It will be a Presidency defined by action.
The Minister of State with responsibility for Europe will be assigned to both the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He will play a central role in planning for the Presidency and also implementing a range of permanent measures that will deepen the contacts between Ireland and our fellow member states.
Everyone who believes in the cause of peace and basic values must hope that the ceasefire in Gaza holds and that we can quickly move to a massive programme of humanitarian aid and reconstruction. Gaza is, however, one part of a wider and deeply troubling development where civilians are increasingly targeted in conflicts, and the impacts are escalating. We can see it in Russia’s savage war against Ukraine, in the decade of atrocities committed by the Assad regime and Russia in Syria and in Sudan. In our aid programme and in our work globally, this Government will be a leading voice in building alliances to challenge this appalling drift in recent conflicts and wars.
The development of a new relationship with the United Kingdom is also a vital part of our work. We will begin holding regular, formal summits to promote active co-ordination. Each Minister will be tasked with building bilateral relations to replace those that were once a routine part of shared membership of the European Union.
Moving forward, the work of building a lasting peace and reconciliation on our island will continue to be led by me through the shared island initiative. The unit co-ordinating the initiative will be strengthened and we will implement a major expansion in the actions covered by the initiative. We will seek to work closely and constructively with the democratic representatives of the people of Northern Ireland, and aiding the effective working of the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement will form part of the work of every member of the new Government.
A strong economy that supports high employment and funds public services must never be taken for granted. Ireland has succeeded in the past because we have kept evolving and we have understood that we must work to shape our economy’s direction and capacity. We will retain strong public finances, including the provision of reserve funds that can protect investment programmes and protect services in tougher times, but we will also deliver a comprehensive programme of investment in both services and infrastructure.
In order to ensure that we deliver major projects efficiently, cost-effectively and faster, the structure and operation of the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform will be significantly reformed and strengthened. A new infrastructure division will be established and headed by an official at deputy Secretary General level. The unit, together with its Ministers, will have responsibility to remove unreasonable roadblocks to essential projects, strengthening expert oversight and ensuring that investment programmes are implemented without delay.
The new Government will also work to support Irish businesses, not only to find new markets but also to reduce costs. A roadmap for long-term stability and growth for small and medium-sized industry is an early priority which will include extensive research and consultation. As part of this, and recognising the importance of tourism to much of our economy, the tourism function is being transferred to the Department of enterprise.
The Minister for higher and further education and research will lead an effort to ensure that we maximise the economic impact of the investment we make in those sectors. We will ensure that we secure their financial foundations and implement measures to systematically consider the science and research dimensions of Government initiatives. We will plan and work on a major new initiative in the research field.
Education will be as important to shaping our future as it has been in shaping our past. We will move forward with a programme of modernisation and reform that will go hand in hand with increased resources that go directly to classrooms in every community in our country.
I am determined that this will be a Government that step-changes the level and scale of support for people with disabilities and their families. Existing approaches will not achieve the breakthroughs we need and it is time to move beyond them. Disability will be represented at Cabinet by a full Minister for the first time in our history. The Minister will have responsibility for many services and will lead cross-government action. This will include a new model of delivery for vital therapies. In order to reinforce this work, a new disability unit will be established in my Department.
I am determined that we will begin a new era of community development. In rural, provincial and urban areas, many challenges can only be met if we bring together all relevant agencies, work with the communities and develop interventions targeted specifically at each community’s distinct needs. The Minister for Social Protection will lead this work but all Departments will contribute.
Ensuring the safety of our communities, the ability to walk the streets or to be in your own home without fear is a fundamental responsibility of Government. We need to improve the level and impact of community policing, and we need to address new forms of behaviour which are causing great damage. The Department of Justice will be significantly reformed to make sure that it is focused on our programme of action. In addition, we will address the fact that Government activity on migration is too dispersed and requires more direct leadership. A new division of the Department of Justice will take responsibility for the control of our borders, management of immigration and co-ordination of integration. This will be headed by a Secretary General with a distinct budget and more direct oversight.
We understand the enormous pressures and difficult circumstances of many of our citizens who cannot find a secure home to buy or rent. Accelerating the number of homes available and delivering direct support to people is critical to our work. We will ramp up investment in the required infrastructure and I will shortly announce details of a new co-ordination and implementation group that will operate from my Department.
Rural communities and the agrifood sector remain a vital part of our social, economic and cultural life. We will work to deliver a sustainable and prosperous future for them. Recognising the importance of fishing and the marine, I will appoint a dedicated Minister of State to lead investment in this sector.
The achievement of climate and biodiversity goals is not just a challenge for this Government and Dáil; it is the defining challenge of our age. The scale of investment we need to transform to a green economy means that we must step-change investment, both public and private. Based on an approach that has been successful in financial services, I will establish a new climate investment clearing house that will initially focus on energy transformation.
Both during the pandemic and in the years since, we have shown that reform and progress are possible in health.
The full benefits of major reforms, such as the new consultant contract and service development, will only be fully felt in the next few years. However, we have to also look for ways to transform how we run our health services, not just administratively but, more importantly, in how we treat individual patients. A programme of health digitalisation is central to this transformation. Its implementation is a priority for us and work will begin without delay.
Each member of the new Government will have clear responsibilities for delivering on the ambitious programme we have set out. It will be an outward-looking Government, one which is focused on protecting our economy and delivering sustained progress in housing and education, in helping communities, in transforming services for people with disabilities and in many other areas.
Our country has shown time and again just how much it can achieve. In building one of the longest continuous democracies in the world, we have overcome many great challenges. I have great faith in our strengths and I have no doubt that we can, working together with a positive agenda of change, move our country forward together.
I congratulate the Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, on his election and appointment as Taoiseach of our country and Government. I congratulate all colleagues in Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Independents who are assuming ministerial office today and others who will assume ministerial office in the days to come. I very much look forward to working together in partnership for the next five years. We have much to do.
It is clear to me from the very detailed and thorough negotiations we undertook on the programme for Government that we have a very strong, shared understanding of the scale of work we must do and the scale of delivery we must achieve. Between us, we have a very clear mandate from the Irish people, which I believe is summed up in one word, "delivery". This has been re-emphasised by our parties, in the case of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, in an extraordinarily strong endorsement through our respective ratification processes. Where my party is concerned, we had a new process for the first time, which entailed five regional meetings right across the country and which really energised me and the elected members of our parliamentary party as we embark on this new Government.
For Fine Gael and the Fine Gael Ministers appointed here today entering a fourth consecutive term in government, we are very conscious that this is an historic opportunity. We feel the weight of our responsibility keenly and we are looking forward to serving the country to the best of our abilities. Personally, I am deeply honoured to be appointed Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade and Minister for Defence at a time when I consider these to be critical portfolios for the continuing success and the future security of our country. Ireland's place in the world has never been more important. We are a small, open economy and that model has served us extremely well. We are also a proud and active member of the European Union, with the many advantages of the Single Market. We are, however, much more than just an economy. Ireland believes in multilateralism and international law and we will always use our voice to stand up for what is right, be that in Ukraine, the Middle East or our work through the excellent Irish Aid in the global south.
As Tánaiste, I will continue the expansion of our diplomatic strengths through Global Ireland. We will not only increase the breadth of our influence by opening new missions but, crucially, we will also increase the depth of our influence with new skills and focus in our existing embassies and consulates, particularly trade depth. In the coming hours, I will convene a trade conference of all of our consulates and our embassy in the United States with the sole focus of engaging with the thousands of decision-makers of the Trump Administration and ensuring that they know the two-way relationship and strength of Irish investment in the United States. The United States is vital, but we will also bring new focus to the untapped potential of our diplomatic and trade relations across India, the Far East and South America. We will continue to protect our citizens abroad through the meticulous consular work that is carried out and the online transformation of the passport service.
We have no more important sets of relationships that the ones on these islands. The British-Irish reset has worked. It is under way. Our Governments are working closely together as partners, and that will be evident in the first intergovernmental summit. A new group of Ministers here in new roles will prioritise meeting their counterparts in Northern Ireland to ensure that every opportunity to work together is taken. I travel to Belfast all the time, but will officially travel to Belfast in my new role in the coming days for a round of official meetings. We are putting effort into our relationship, but we are also putting money into projects and infrastructure that matter through the shared island fund the Taoiseach referenced. Our bridge-building will be both physical and philosophical. Ireland will host the biggest international gathering of leaders that has ever come to our shores next year. As well as the EU Presidency, we will welcome 40 presidents and prime ministers for a summit of the European political community. I will prioritise the planning and execution of this, and a Presidency that showcases our country, while steering the EU agenda in 2026.
The Defence Forces is an institution that goes above and beyond. It serves Ireland with distinction every single day. When a naval ship sails over the horizon, when our Air Corps aircraft fly out of sight or when a battalion of peacekeeping troops leaves Dublin Airport, they may leave our immediate consciousness, but for the men and women of the only army in Ireland, the work has just begun. They do that work with skill, dedication and honour. I want thousands more young people to consider serving their country, community and families through a career in the Defence Forces. To achieve this, the biggest transformation in the Defence Forces' history needs to be followed through on. Investment has increased. Working conditions and pay have been improved. Together there is much more to do. Being militarily neutral but still having the ability to protect ourselves are not contradictory. We are investing in new aircraft, radar, equipment and vessels. We also need the biggest investment ever undertaken in facilities at our Army barracks, at Casement Aerodrome and Haulbowline.
On policy, Ireland will fully participate at EU level on all matters of defence. Our allies and colleagues in eastern Europe are under attack. Physical war rages on our Continent and cyberwar and espionage threaten us all. Defence cannot be an added extra and must remain at the heart of policymaking.
I move now to my Fine Gael ministerial colleagues who have the honour of being appointed to office today. I congratulate our deputy leader, Deputy Helen McEntee, on being appointed the Minister for Education and Youth, where I know she will prioritise a workforce plan for the sector, oversee increased capitation to schools, establish a new DEIS plus scheme to support schools with the highest level of educational disadvantage, the creation of a dedicated national therapy service in education, and continue to increase the number of special schools and special classes across the country.
I congratulate Deputy Paschal Donohoe on being appointed Minister for Finance again. His primary priority will be the overarching essential of ensuring the economic security of our State with a strong enterprise and fiscal framework which will prioritise economic and employment growth, competitiveness, fiscal responsibility and investment in innovation, energy and decarbonisation. He will, working with Cabinet colleagues, prepare and submit a new medium-term fiscal plan, which will set out sustainable budgetary plans for the next five years, and will, working with the Minister, Deputy Chambers, bring forward in the next budget a range of measures to help our small and medium businesses and help to contain energy costs for businesses and households.
I sincerely congratulate Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill on her appointment as Minister for Health. She will oversee an absolute game-changer in marrying resources with reform by bringing forward multi-annual funding for our health service, developing a new workforce plan for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and advancing a statutory home care scheme for old people. I know she will also build on the significant progress which has already been made in transforming women's healthcare.
I am delighted to congratulate Deputy Martin Heydon on being appointed Minister for Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and the Marine, a role I know he will take on with great experience and energy. He will have many priorities in the time ahead but I want, in particular, to highlight the work I want him to undertake on Ireland's nitrates derogation renewal plan, on implementing an audit of all farm schemes with the intention of cutting red tape for farmers and in ensuring a farm succession scheme which supports generation renewal.
I congratulate Deputy Patrick O'Donovan on his appointment as Minister for Arts, Culture, Communications, Media and Sport, where his priority actions will be working with the Minister for Justice on the passage of a defamation Bill, ensuring stable funding for RTÉ and other public service broadcasters and accessible funding for local radio and print media, the redevelopment of our GPO, examining the feasibility of the minor capital works grants scheme to support arts and cultural facilities that are not funded through the Arts Council and continuing the vital roll-out of the national broadband plan.
I congratulate Deputy Peter Burke on being reappointed as Minister for enterprise, but this time as Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, where his key priorities will be the publication of a whole-of-government action plan on competitiveness and productivity within the first year, launching The Year of the Invitation as a new tourism initiative, and publishing and implementing a new national tourism policy until 2030.
Crucially, we have agreed the establishment of a new small business unit in the Department to help bring a dedicated focus to this area.
I congratulate Deputy Naughton on being appointed a Minister of State attending Cabinet with responsibility for disability, which will be a vital role for all of us in government working across key Ministries to deliver the step change required in disability services. The Minister of State's priorities will be the publication and funding of a new national disability strategy; working in partnership with disabled people and their representative organisations to co-design improvements to services; identifying measures to attract and retain staff and developing a new work force plan for the sector; implementing the action plan for disability services; reforming the Disability Act 2005; and implementing the autism innovation strategy.
I commend and congratulate all Ministers, from the Fine Gael Party, the Fianna Fáil Party and Independents. I am excited to work with each of them in their respective briefs.
Aside from the individual ministerial portfolios I have highlighted, we face a number of key collective challenges that, as I said earlier, the public wishes us to address with renewed energy and focus. The need to make further progress on housing is intrinsic to the social contract in this country. It was a priority for all parties in the programme for Government talks and will be driven by us with a relentless focus on delivery, delivery, delivery. We will work together to bring a new focus to delivering the infrastructure required to bring our country to the next stage of its development and enable faster delivery of housing and much more. We will work together to prioritise investments across the justice system, recruiting at least 5,000 additional gardaí and building stronger, safer communities. This Government will be ambitious on climate action to decarbonise the economy, continue to reduce emissions and lead a revolution in renewable energy in pursuit of energy independence, while ensuring energy security, protecting nature and promoting a circular economy. Most importantly, at a time our country and our world yearn for stability, this is a Government that will deliver five budgets. That is vital and that is our mandate. We will continue to have the fundamental commitment to deliver at all costs.
I believe we have got the balance right between investment and reform. We stand at the outset of a five-year term that will see significant advances in the social, economic and environmental goals we share and fulfilment of the mandate given to us by the Irish people. For my own part, I am excited and energised to play a leadership role as Tánaiste and to work with this talented team of people. I pledge to work relentlessly on delivering the programme for Government in the interests of the people of this great country. Go raibh maith agaibh.
Thank you, a Thánaiste. We move to the Sinn Féin slot. I call Deputy McDonald.
I am having a serious episode of déjà vu.
You lost again.
All of a sudden, I am transported back to 2020. The Tánaiste spoke of a balanced programme. I have to say what is manifest and obvious: you have got the gender balance wrong. You are very male. Some of you are pale but you are very, very male. In politics in a representative democracy, we should strive to reflect and mirror the communities we represent, inasmuch as we can. I have to say as an Irishwoman, leaving aside that I am a parliamentarian, I find it kind of depressing that again we see the absence of us. I want to put that on the record.
The Taoiseach said he has "a positive agenda for change" and that we face historic opportunities. He is always good at grandiose claims at the beginning of the game of politics. I am old enough to remember that last time he told us housing was the priority and that he would sort out housing, and that he had heard the electorate and recognised how bad things were. That is what he said and pledged. Where are we now? Many are struggling to put an affordable, secure roof over their heads. There are sky-high house prices and extortionate rents, and those in need of council housing are spending years and years on waiting lists. The Taoiseach presides over a shameful level of homelessness. We have structural, ongoing, growing homelessness in Ireland at a rate none of us imagined or dreamt of. That is the Government parties' record on housing. That is what they have done. If that was their priority, and that was their best shot at their priority over five years, then God help us if we see what a mediocre performance on issues they do not care about looks like.
People cannot get the healthcare they need when they need it. Our hospitals and accident and emergency departments are constantly overcrowded. Hundreds of thousands of people languish on treatment waiting lists. The trolley crisis is now a daily occurrence; it is mundane. It is taken as read, day in, day out. It is nearly impossible to get a GP or dentist appointment. That is the Government parties' record on health. Working parents fork out the equivalent of a second mortgage on childcare fees. There is a serious lack of places in the system. There has been no real demonstration of respect and advancement for early childhood educators and childcare workers, and thousands of children are on waiting lists. Stress, worry, pressure is the Government parties' record on childcare. Households continue to struggle to make it to the end of the week, light and heat their homes and put food on the table, with soaring grocery bills and rip-off insurance costs, never mind the rent or mortgage. Hard-working people see their wages go out as quickly as they come in, sometimes more quickly. That is the Government parties' record on the cost of living.
All these problems existed when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael clubbed together in 2020 and they are still with us today, worse than before, a testament to their collective failure. Being entrusted with ministerial office is a big responsibility and I genuinely wish anybody determined to make a real and positive difference well. However, mark this: without a radical change of policy and approach, the Cabinet announced tonight will amount only to a rearranging of the deckchairs. As this Government takes office, I have no doubt ordinary people face more of the same. For anybody who believed the leopard had finally changed its spots, the cynical approach to Government formation taken by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the so-called Independents surely disabused them of that notion. Instead of focusing on the challenges facing our people, they wrangled over the rotation of Taoiseach, who got which ministerial office and who got the big meeting room in Leinster House. They turned their attention, in other words, to feathering their own nests.
Now it feels like a bumper season of "The Late Late Show" for you lot with a Ministry for everyone in the audience: more super junior Ministers, more junior Ministers, more expenses for Ministers. This smacks of entitlement. It is the largest number of junior Ministers in the history of the State. The electorate has every right to ask: "Are we getting value for our money?" Did anybody go to a polling station on 29 November last thinking what Ireland really needed was a raft of new junior and super junior Ministers? I do not think so. Parents who cannot get an assessment of need for their child certainly did not. Patients who cannot get a hospital appointment did not. Mothers and fathers raising children in emergency accommodation certainly did not. Communities impacted by crime and antisocial behaviour did not. We need more nurses, therapists, gardaí, teachers and SNAs, but the needs of ordinary people, it seems, are an afterthought. The Government instead drove on to fashion a brazen, grubby deal to grease the wheels of power. If the previous Government was formed on the back of a Micheál Martin U-turn regarding Fine Gael, this Government is formed on the back of a Micheál Martin U-turn regarding Deputy Michael Lowry.
We know, following the Moriarty tribunal's findings of corruption, the Taoiseach's view of Deputy Lowry was that he was unfit to hold public office. Described as a rogue politician, demands were made by the Taoiseach for him to resign his seat, but today he is happy to have him as the kingmaker in the formation of this Government. The question for the Taoiseach that he has not answered is simply this: what changed? When did he stop considering Deputy Lowry to be a rogue politician? When did he go from viewing him as someone unfit to hold public office to viewing him as someone with whom he wishes to form a Government? The answer is clear: that changed when it suited the Taoiseach and when it suited his interests.
This demonstrates that Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil will do anything to attain and hold on to power at all costs. They prioritise doling out sweeteners to Michael Lowry's group to satisfy the Regional Independents. They attempted to engineer a stroke to allow those TDs to be in government and in opposition at the same time, a move that would make a mockery of this Dáil and undermine the integrity of this House. However, we saw that off as a united Opposition, and thank goodness for that.
This is a Government built on stroke politics as seen in its programme for Government. This is where things get interesting and where the lofty rhetoric really gets tested, because what is noteworthy is the lack of timelines, specifics and clarity, and the lack of ambition too. The lack of any new ideas is mind-blowing.
The outgoing Government's greatest failure was in housing, a failure so profound and so deep that it affects every aspect of our society. However, rather than change direction, which a rational serious government would do, it seeks to dress up your failure as success. Throughout 2020, Micheál Martin, Simon Harris and Darragh O'Brien trumpeted the claim that 40,000 new houses would be built by the end of last year, and they repeated this during the election campaign. Today's CSO full-year report exposed their claim as bluff and spin, with housing completions for 2024 falling far short of that figure, missing even the original target. The fact is that fewer homes were built last year than the year before. Far from turning a corner, as the Taoiseach so frequently claims, they are going around in circles.
The programme for Government guarantees that the Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael housing disaster will continue, that home ownership will remain beyond the reach of working people and that the need to ramp up the delivery of affordable housing and of council housing will remain unmet. It is not only in housing where their poverty of ambition leaps from the page. Where is the public model of childcare that Simon Harris talked a big game on? Not a whisper. Where is the delivery date for €200 a month childcare - the plan that we had and which you borrowed but are not going to deliver? Where is the specific commitment to abolish the means test for carers? There are just more vague pledges to improve the lives of carers but no specific actions. There is nothing in this document to convince us that the scandal of children with scoliosis and spina bifida being left to wait in agony for their operations will be brought to an end, which is shameful and a shame on you.
Irish reunification represents the greatest opportunity for the progress, prosperity and future of our country. Any government worth its salt would actively plan and prepare for constitutional change, for the ending of partition and for a united Ireland. In its programme, the Government claims it is committed to the unity of the Irish people. It talks about a focus on investment, reconciliation and the implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, which is all well and good. However, the document contains no meaningful commitments to achieving Irish unity. There is no plan for unity and no effort to reach out to those with a different view on unity. It dodges entirely the need for a citizens' assembly. The programme is completely silent on how this Government will prepare for Irish unity referendums as provided for in the Good Friday Agreement. Generational change is happening in Ireland. The day will come when people will have their say on unity, so treading water is not good enough. The Government needs to put Irish reunification at the very heart of its work for the future.
For 15 months, the people of Ireland have protested in support of the people of Gaza and Palestine and have stood with them as they faced genocide. They have also repeatedly called on the Government to sanction Israel and to pass the occupied territories Bill as a matter of urgency. Now, despite previous assurances and posturing, Micheál Martin proposes to scrap the Bill-----
Deputies
Not true.
-----to set back the goal of ceasing trading with companies that profit from the dispossession, the apartheid and the brutal dehumanisation of the Palestinian people. I regard this as a stunning betrayal. Humanitarian aid is necessary and reconstruction is absolutely vital, but we need to be clear that on their own these are not enough.
We are the strongest defenders of UNRWA.
Israel must be held to account. There have to be consequences for the Netanyahu regime and its genocidal actions. I feel certain there will be a united call from these benches, the Opposition benches, and from the Irish public that this Government should do the right thing by Palestine.
I have said before that elections are where Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael make their promises and it is in government where they break them. If this document is the product of Fine Gael's supposed new energy, then I am afraid the tank is running on empty and the lights have gone out. If this document is where Fianna Fáil's moving forward together intends to bring us, then it points in the direction of continued failure. Our people deserve much better. They are entitled to see ambition to make their lives better. Another five years of mediocrity simply will not cut it. The priorities for Government must be to ensure that everybody can have a home of their own, to transform our health services, to deliver affordable childcare and to really tackle the cost of living. These things can and must be fixed but they will only be fixed by moving beyond the broken politics that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have followed for generations. I believe the day will come when we will have a new government for working people. That is why we will work harder than ever to represent people, to stand up for them, to fight their corner, to convince and to reassure more people that there is a better way.
I call Deputy Bacik, who is sharing time with four of her colleagues.
I offer personal congratulations to the new Ministers. We wish them well in their portfolios. We need to see positive change delivered by this new Government. There is one very negative change: we see a reduction in the number of women in Cabinet from four to three. There are as many men named James as there are women in this incoming Cabinet. That is a negative change, and we do not see any sign of positive change either from the programme for Government. There is no transformative vision, no State construction company, no public childcare scheme, no strengthening the protection of workers' rights and no radical measures to protect our climate and biodiversity. We in Labour cannot support this programme for Government; it is a recycled programme in a circular economy. Our new TDs will outline further why it lacks vision and lacks any sense of positive change for the communities we represent.
I dtús báire, ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le muintir chathair Luimnigh as ucht an deis seo a thabhairt dom agus déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Taoiseach agus an Rialtas nua. As I rise here to speak for the first time as a TD for my home city of Limerick, I want to sincerely thank the people for electing me. Without them, I would not be here today. I am cognisant of what an enormous privilege and responsibility it is to be able to speak freely in Dáil Éireann, the Parliament of a free republic.
They say to govern is to choose. This coalition of convenience has chosen, in the flowery language of ambivalence, to do very little to deliver the meaningful change that the people who elected me are seeking.
There is nothing flowery about this governing arrangement and this whole sordid arrangement has more than a whiff off it. As we meet here today, I am conscious that homelessness, house prices and rents in this country have never been as high, with the number of new homes built last year falling by 7%. Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and their coalition colleagues have shown, through deed, that they will not and cannot deal with this crisis. The Government's own Housing Commission report has called for a radical reset of housing policy and the Government's response to this has been to effectively pretend that it does not exist. It is clear from the programme for Government that this Administration is intent on ploughing the same failed furrow as the previous one. We, in Labour, believe in an active State and a social floor for health and housing, a threshold beneath which no citizen would be allowed to fall, and it is on that basis we will hold this Government to account.
Thank you, Deputy.
The people of Limerick elected me to be a strong young voice to represent them and I will not let them down.
Thank you, Deputy. I call Deputy Ciarán Ahearn.
First, I thank the people of Dublin South-West for placing their trust in me, and particularly thank my parents, Mary and Maurice, my wife, Maeve, and our son, Fionn, for all their support, without which I just would not be here.
I also extend my personal congratulations to the Taoiseach and all the Ministers appointed today. Their success will be our success.
However, I must say I am deeply concerned at the lack of ambition on climate in the programme for Government and, indeed, the lack of priority in their speeches today for it. The Greens may be gone from Government but the climate emergency remains the greatest collective challenge facing our country and facing this world. I fear that many of the proposals in the programme for Government and even some of the individuals involved in this Government contradict any notion of positive climate action. What hope have we of reducing transport emissions and increasing the use of public transport and cycling as viable options if the major policy change of this Government is to pour more Tarmac and induce more private traffic? This new Government has also opened the door to more data centres, but bowing to the needs of the tech billionaires without a net increase in renewable electricity is irresponsible, contradicts our climate obligations and increases electricity costs for ordinary people. We must secure Ireland's energy future. We must provide thousands of new green jobs.
Thank you, Deputy. I call Deputy Eoghan Kenny.
I congratulate my fellow Cork man, Micheál Martin, on his election as Taoiseach and congratulate his wife, Mary, and their children.
As the youngest Member of this new Dáil, it is a real privilege to address the House. I thank the people of Cork North-Central who have given me this opportunity.
As a secondary school teacher, I have witnessed successive Governments failing on education, particularly in relation to special educational needs. One parent in my constituency has applied to ten schools for her child, who has special needs, to start secondary school in September. That family remains second on the waiting list at the tenth school. Fianna Fáil want to class themselves as the party of education and want to talk about their proud legacy in education, as we heard earlier. I would ask them to consider every day over this Dáil term the families calling to my constituency office in fear that their child will not have a school place for the coming academic year. We, in the Labour Party, understand that sufficient current and capital funding is needed to meet the demand for school places both in special schools and mainstream classes and we must ensure every school's designs are fully accessible for all.
The problems of parents do not stop there. There is the cost of childcare. Parents will tell you that in order to pay for early years childcare, it will cost almost an entire wage. The State should be ensuring that parents can afford early years childcare. As with many socioeconomic issues-----
Thank you, Deputy.
-----it is those with the least have the most to lose.
I call Deputy George Lawlor.
At the outset, I thank my family, the people of Wexford, my friends and supporters and the Labour Party for affording me this opportunity to stand in this historic Chamber.
I congratulate and wish well the Taoiseach and his Cabinet. If I could single out one of the Jameses, James Browne, my fellow-county man, on his elevation to Cabinet; he is the first Fianna Fáil senior Cabinet Minister in 60 years from Wexford.
The re-election of President Trump in America is likely to present some challenges, to the say the least, in the context of world, European and, indeed, Irish trade. From an Irish viewpoint, if even a partial amount of what President Trump is threatening to impose in terms of trade and tariffs comes to pass, our economic relationship with the USA faces an uncertain future. If his threats come to pass, we could find ourselves in serious difficulties from a trade relationship point of view. Sadly, in my home town of Wexford this week, we saw the Trumpian ways at work when some 310 workers at BNY Mellon, an IDA-supported company, learned their fate in an eight-minute meeting which indicated that the majority of them were to lose their jobs. I ask the newly-reappointed Minister for enterprise to immediately engage with the workers and management in Wexford of BNY Mellon in an effort to find a total replacement with another company. It is up to the Government and the IDA to work closely on this and immediately, with urgency, find-----
Thank you, Deputy.
-----a replacement company to offer employment to these highly skilled workers.
I now call the Social Democrats. I have no names but I take it it is yourself, Deputy O'Callaghan.
At the outset, on behalf of the Social Democrats, I congratulate the Taoiseach on his election. Today is a special day for you and your family, for your wife, Mary, and your friends. I also take this opportunity to acknowledge the crucial role that families and partners play in supporting all of us in public life, very much behind the scenes. This is rarely acknowledged and it is appropriate to do so.
I also congratulate all those who have been appointed to Cabinet. It is a proud day for you and your family and friends.
However, this Government is already going in the wrong direction. There are only three women with senior Ministries appointed to Cabinet. That is down, from four in the previous Government. Does the Taoiseach not see anything wrong with this? It is 2025. Does the Taoiseach really think this is acceptable? Does he not think women should have equal representation at Cabinet level?
Earlier, I said that the Social Democrats would work constructively with the Government and other members of the Opposition in this Dáil and I reiterate that now. The Social Democrats have always been evidence based and solution focused in our efforts to make Ireland a more equal, sustainable and inclusive society. That will be our approach in this Dáil too. We will also robustly hold this Government to account. As members of Opposition, that is our job.
The decision by the Government to prevent the Dáil sitting next week is a brazen attempt to avoid sufficient scrutiny and accountability. Where is the urgency to tackle the challenges that we face in housing, disability, health and climate action? Where is the new energy that we heard so much about during the election campaign? It seems to have fizzled out. It is now three months since the Dáil sat regularly. The country faces huge challenges that need urgent action.
While Government work has ground to a standstill, one unilateral action was taken last week which I want to highlight today. The Taoiseach endorsed the IHRA definition of antisemitism which has been routinely weaponised to smear critics of the State of Israel as antisemitic. We saw examples of this ourselves on the front page of the Sunday Independent earlier in the week. The outgoing Israeli ambassador, H.E. Ms Dana Erlich, accused Simon Harris of being antisemitic and claimed that President Michael D. Higgins is fostering incitement. In the article, it was clear that she was relying on the IHRA definition to make these scurrilous accusations and the Government, by endorsing this definition, has opened up the door to these kind of baseless attacks. Does the Taoiseach now regret his decision? Antisemitism is vile and must be opposed in all of its forms. Criticism of the State of Israel is not antisemitic and this country should not endorse a definition that has been used to silence critics of a genocide.
In the run-up to the election, the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the previous Minister for housing all insisted that 40,000 homes would be delivered last year in the absence of any evidence. In fact, you contradicted forecasts from the CSO, the ESRI and the Central Bank to spin this yarn, trying to massage home-delivery numbers in advance of an election. You have now been found out. There was a shortfall of almost 10,000 homes. Your dismal failure on housing is causing huge levels of anxiety and suffering. The Government is creating a society where only those on the highest of incomes can afford a home. It is dangerous and dystopian.
Fewer homes were delivered last year than in 2023. That does not sound like a plan that is working. The Government's housing plan is taking the country backwards, not forwards. Median house prices last year increased on average by €40,000.
Who can possibly afford these kinds of eye-watering price increases? We need a radical reset on housing.
The recent election had an air of unreality about it. Far from being prudent fiscal stewards, Fianna Fáil and, in particular, Fine Gael threw around tax and spending promises like snuff at a wake. They and others pretended that one can ramp up spending while slashing taxes. What we did not hear from either Government party, not to mention the motley crew of Independents, was a coherent strategy for continued economic growth and stability. This is needed to facilitate the investment in infrastructure and public services that this country so badly needs. It is simply not credible to plan those investments while massively eroding the tax base. Nor was there any sense of a contingency plan should the global economy take a turn. Donald Trump's inauguration this week brings this risk into sharper focus given his plans to upend trade. His announcement that he will exit the OECD tax deal poses a particular threat. Ireland, as a small, open economy, will be heavily exposed. There are risks, not only to our windfall tax corporation receipts but also to jobs and incomes. We need an alternative economic strategy.
Donald Trump is not the only threat on the horizon. In Europe right-wing and far-right populists are on the rise on a platform of nationalism and xenophobia. Ireland, as we know, is not immune to the far right and the spread of disinformation. There are those who seek to blame every problem on vulnerable minorities and those who seek to thrive on hate. All of us in this Dáil should stand against these malign actors. Ireland is a country that has always been welcoming. We do not punch down. It is, therefore, deeply concerning that the programme for Government includes proposals to restrict the movement of international protection applicants. This sounds like de facto detention. Seeking international protection is not a crime. The Government must urgently clarify this proposal.
It is nearly two months since the people went to the polls on 29 November. The message they sent us was very clear. They want action on the many challenges this country faces, not inertia. The Social Democrats will work constructively with all parties in this Dáil to make this happen.
We now move to the Independents and Parties Technical Group.
I congratulate the Taoiseach and his family on his appointment.
For far too long, Donegal has been left behind. The waiting times in Letterkenny General Hospital this week are, on average, 24 hours. When going into Letterkenny by the Polestar roundabout, the emergency services cannot even enter because they get stuck. What used to be a five-minute journey now takes 45 minutes.
The boats in Killybegs are tied up and the fish factories are silent. This never used to be the case but it is what is going on now.
The Creeslough families are still waiting for a public inquiry. Ten people lost their lives and the families are still waiting on a public inquiry. The biggest humanitarian crisis of them all is the defective concrete crisis. Tonight, as we speak, there are families going to hotels. With a red weather warning coming, they cannot stay in their houses because they are structurally unsound. There are houses that have been remediated on top of Weetabix blocks. We are in a humanitarian crisis in Donegal. There are 10,000 families stuck in a loop waiting.
The Taoiseach talks about concrete action. The concrete in Donegal is not even regulated. The Tánaiste spoke about building bridges. Why not build a bridge over the Swilly to relieve Letterkenny and stop it choking? That is what is going on. The A5 is the corridor to the north west. Let us help the A5 project and Letterkenny. Let us build a bridge over the Swilly.
I am here for the people of Donegal. Donegal is the most important thing for me. The families need help. I am asking the Taoiseach now to prioritise Donegal over the next five years.
I congratulate the Taoiseach on his appointment. We now have a new Government but we have a new Government of two old conservative parties and one regional group. The two Civil War parties are united now like never before. The problem is that nothing separates them, except one letter; they are FF and FG. The Government's first action was to create more jobs for the boys - the girls seem to have been forgotten - and to suspend the Dáil yet again until 5 February.
We now have a programme for Government which, on the big issues facing workers and families, fails. For example, on housing where is the rent freeze that hundreds of thousands of people across the State need so badly? There are not even effective rent controls. We are going to have a rent register instead. Where is the massively expanded affordable housing scheme for those middle-income families that desperately need it? Where is the commitment to drive on with cost-rental schemes to provide homes for those low-paid workers who are just above the income limit for social housing? It is very important that this is addressed.
Last year, the then Minister for housing, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, promised that up to 40,000 - the figure was at least in the high 30,000s - new homes would be finished. What happened? We had 30,000 new homes finished, which was 3,000 fewer than in 2022.
In health there is no evidence of a commitment or determination to get a national health system in place, as envisaged under Sláintecare, which was put in place back in 2016 or 2017. There are no timelines to put that system in place. Instead, we are a muddling along with the inefficient two-tier system we have. There is no sign of the system that has been in place in most European countries for the past 60, 70 or 80 years. Hundreds of thousands of people will continue to languish on hospital waiting lists and waiting for appointments.
Schoolchildren who should have a dental check-up in third or fourth class in primary school are instead having one in fourth, fifth or sixth year in secondary school. This is happening in County Laois. It is an absolute scandal. The dental treatment services scheme will continue to be non-existent in many counties, including Laois, because private dentists will not operate the scheme. The Taoiseach must get it into his head that public dentists have to be hired within the HSE system. That is the only way the service can be provided. Unfortunately, the private system is not working.
Ar dtús báire, is mian liom chomhghairdeas a ghabháil leis an Taoiseach. Is pribhléid iontach dó a bheith ina Thaoiseach ar an tír - ní hamháin den chéad uair ach don dara huair – dá chlann, atá 100% taobh thiar de, agus do na hAirí nua.
Ba mhaith liom mo thacaíocht a thabhairt don Taoiseach ach ní féidir liom mar tá easpa aitheantais ó thaobh na n-athraithe bunúsacha atá ag teastáil go géar ag eascairt as an bpaindéim Covid-19, as an bpaindéim tithíochta agus as na cogaí atá ag dul ar aghaidh go leanúnach.
I will not repeat. I recognise and congratulate my super colleagues from Galway West and Galway East, Deputies Grealish, Canney and Hildegarde Naughton. I also acknowledge the new Chief Whip who worked extremely hard in the previous Dáil and worked with everybody.
While I would love to work with the Government, and I will do so in as far as I can on those issues on which I agree with it, I am extremely concerned that it has utterly failed to recognise that we need fundamental change arising from Covid, climate change and the normalisation of war.
I am very concerned about the programme for Government. It smacks a little of artificial intelligence when we look at the wording in it. It is very vague and aspirational but it is then very specific when it comes to reforming the triple lock. It states the Government is going to "progress" the occupied territories Bill, not enact it as a matter of urgency but "progress" it, whereas it will reform the triple lock. It is extremely worrying to see what the Government "will" do as opposed to the other matters.
I am also extremely concerned that the Taoiseach has adopted and included in the programme for Government the definition of antisemitism. It is leaving us wide open to charges of being antisemitic when I unreservedly condemn the actions of Israel. What Israel is doing is genocide. It is carrying out genocide. Then we have this definition the Government has adopted without discussing it with the Dáil.
The Taoiseach did not refer to climate change. The Minister to his right is on record as saying the planet is burning. If the planet is burning, the programme for Government has got to reflect that. It does not reflect it at all.
What the Government has done is to normalise homelessness. I am ashamed to stand here today when 15,000 people are homeless in our country. I congratulate the new Minister for Health and wish her the best. I come from a city where 61 people were waiting on trolleys yesterday with no hope of a bed.
It looks like this is an east-coast Government. It looks like there is only one Minister from Connacht or Ulster in the Cabinet. Some 60% of the Ministers in this Government are from the greater Dublin area. That is not spatial development. The west is certainly not awake in this Government.
It is incredible that the Cabinet is being named on the day the news broke that 30,000 homes were built in the State last year. Housing is the biggest issue affecting this country and the Government has been in reverse. When the new Taoiseach awoke this morning, on the day of his elevation, tens of thousands of people in this country awoke in homelessness. While the Taoiseach was in Áras an Uachtaráin, young families were in the airports, emigrating to escape the high price of rents and houses. Ministers had to wait for one day for their ministerial seals but there are hundreds of thousands of people in this country who are waiting for hospital and health treatment at the same time. It is interesting that so much of the Leinster House campus was festooned with gardaí when many of our citizens are dodging town centres because of the lack of gardaí in those areas.
It is also important to say that many parents are lying awake every night trying to decide how they are going to make ends meet with the money they have. Yet, we have newly minted Ministers of State who are going to be counting €800 per day in salary for every day they work over the next while. One of the biggest problems I have with this Government is the fact that things are moving so slowly on so many different projects. It is interesting that 89 days will have passed from the last time there were consecutive sittings of the Dáil until the next time it next sits on consecutive days. There is a slow, bureaucratic culture at the heart of this Government. That is also to be seen in practically every infrastructural project that is happening at the moment and it has consequences. This Government has the urgency relating to the national children's hospital.
It is nearly two months since the people of this country went to the polls. I stand here today humbled by the trust and faith the people of Mayo have put in me. Thousands of people elected me to speak for them and yet today is my first opportunity to do so. It took two months to form a Government when it is effectively the same Government. There has been no real change of Government. It was voted today that there would be another break of two weeks. TDs, it seems, get more holidays than junior infants.
While Ireland waits, this Government delays. I was elected by farmers who work day and night to keep food on their tables but who can hardly keep their heads above water. I was elected by parents who have not seen their children in years because they were forced to emigrate for a better future. I was elected by young couples who cannot afford to rent, buy or build in the communities in which they grew up. For them, I take this job seriously. I came here to work, to challenge this Government and hold it to account and to offer positive and proactive solutions over the years ahead. What is the first thing the Government has done? It has voted for further delay. Delays, it seems, are the order of the day in housing, infrastructure and healthcare. If delays were an Olympic sport, this Government would certainly bring home gold. The people of Mayo and, indeed, the entire country deserve better than excuses and inaction. They deserve a Government that shows up and shows the urgency the Tánaiste speaks of.
I congratulate the Cabinet and my constituency colleague Deputy Calleary. I look forward to working with the Government.
I congratulate the Government and the newly appointed Ministers. This is a special day for them and their families. The Government that has been presented to us tonight is like a shabby, broken down house that has had a slap of paint thrown over it. The hope is that it will all be fine on the night, lads. That is what this Government is. I read the programme for Government. I thought I would be in for a long night's reading. I was shocked to find out that this programme for Government is a copy of the previous programme for Government. This Government is out with the same and back in with the same.
The Government has ignored the fact that 15,000 people will be homeless tonight and that 611 people are on hospital trolleys as we speak. People are living in boxrooms in their parents' houses. A generation of people will never own their own homes thanks to this Government and 20 years of Fine Gael, being backed up, in one form or another, by Fianna Fáil. This house that has been built and that has had a slap of paint over it has been reinforced by a set of Independents with a serious crack in their foundation.
I wish the Taoiseach the best of luck. I say to the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs that I listened to Mr. John Deasy the other day, and, my God, we have some work to do in America to build relations. I heard that our diplomats shunned the Americans on the side that is in now. We have some work to do. I wish the Tánaiste the best in that regard.
On housing, it was sickening to see the report two weeks ago that 60,000 houses have been started. A child would know that was because there was a rebate. Today, we see that we have fallen back by 7% in terms of housing. More people came into this country than we have houses to accommodate. Those are facts. That is also the case in respect of the people we have here.
I wish the new Minister for agriculture well. There is one thing he needs to work on straight away. In the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, there is a major problem in Wexford. Farmers have been waiting for two years. They have had inspections but on the IT systems, it is the same BS we hear every day.
I wish my colleagues from the west, Deputies Calleary, Canney, Naughton and Grealish, the best of luck. I ask the Minister for agriculture to think of a retirement scheme. For farmers with suckler cows, we see this evening that there are going to be layoffs in a factory. I ask the Minister to address that straight away. We have lost the suckler herd over the past five years.
We intend to work constructively with the Government but it will be about producing the goods and not being like "The Late Late Show" and offering one for everyone in the audience.
Tá
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- Burke, Colm.
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- Buttimer, Jerry.
- Byrne, Malcolm.
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Cahill, Michael.
- Callaghan, Catherine.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Canney, Seán.
- Carrigy, Micheál.
- Carroll MacNeill, Jennifer.
- Chambers, Jack.
- Cleere, Peter 'Chap'.
- Clendennen, John.
- Collins, Niall.
- Connolly, John.
- Cooney, Joe.
- Crowe, Cathal.
- Cummins, John.
- Currie, Emer.
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- Grealish, Noel.
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Níl
- Ahern, Ciarán.
- Bacik, Ivana.
- Bennett, Cathy.
- Brady, John.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Byrne, Joanna.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Collins, Michael.
- Connolly, Catherine.
- Conway-Walsh, Rose.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Cummins, Jen.
- Daly, Pa.
- Devine, Máire.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Ellis, Dessie.
- Farrelly, Aidan.
- Farrell, Mairéad.
- Fitzmaurice, Michael.
- Gannon, Gary.
- Gibney, Sinéad.
- Gogarty, Paul Nicholas.
- Gould, Thomas.
- Graves, Ann.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Hayes, Eoin.
- Healy, Seamus.
- Hearne, Rory.
- Kelly, Alan.
- Kenny, Eoghan.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Lawless, Paul.
- Lawlor, George.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
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- McGuinness, Conor D.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Mythen, Johnny.
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- Ní Raghallaigh, Shónagh.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Donoghue, Richard.
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