The Order of Business is No. 1, motion regarding the orders of reference of the Seanad Public Consultation Committee, to be taken on conclusion of the Order of Business, without debate; No. 2, Electoral (Amendment) Bill 2023 – Second Stage, to be taken at 11.45 a.m. and to conclude no later than 1.15 p.m., if not previously concluded, with the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed ten minutes and that time may be shared, and the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; and No. 3, Social Welfare (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023 – Second Stage, to be taken at 1.15 p.m., with the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed ten minutes and that time may be shared, and all other Senators not to exceed five minutes and that time may be shared, and the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate.
An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
I thank the Deputy Leader and support the Order of Business. It may be that in the new year we will have a debate on the proposals for the referendums that will take place on 8 March. We do not have a lot of time to tease out not only the legislation giving effect to that, but also how it will be implemented practically in terms of changing the constitutional references to the role of women in the home and the concept of a family. Those are important debates that we will have.
As the Deputy Leader is aware from her current and previous roles, the removal of the means test for carer's allowance has been debated repeatedly. The issue was raised recently in Kerry by Kathleen O'Sullivan from Portmagee, who looks after her daughter, Hannah, who has cerebral palsy. Kathleen cannot take on part-time work. There are all the issues in respect of pension entitlements. Of course, if the person in question is single, that brings its own challenges. A debate on how we treat the most vulnerable in society, the carers who do such valuable work, should be organised for the new year. We should look after them in every way possible.
The Road Safety Authority is responsible for compiling official statistics on road traffic accidents. It receives collision data from An Garda Síochána and produces official statistics to help to develop evidence-based road safety interventions. The statistics it produces in respect of accidents detail the time the accident occurred, the day of the week on which it occurred, the age group and gender of those involved in the accident and whether they were drivers, passengers, pedestrians, motorcyclists or cyclists. The problem is there are no statistics in respect of whether the driver was drunk or on drugs. Other matters not recorded are the type of driving licence or experience of the driver, the age and roadworthiness of the car, weather conditions at the time of the accident, the speed limit, the type of road, including information on bends, road surface, etc. Statistics on the possible cause of the accident, whether the driver was on the phone, or any medication being taken by the driver due to age or illness or for any other reason are not being collated. The Government is reducing speed limits throughout the country in order to prevent deaths and we all agree with that. It is doing so, however, without having the statistical information. The Road Safety Authority does not have a statistical officer. It should have a statistical officer and produce those statistics before we, as Members of Parliament, reach an informed view in respect of reducing speed limits, the reason for reducing them and whether they should be reduced in certain areas. I ask the Deputy Leader to investigate this issue. The Road Safety Authority is one of the few Government agencies that does not employ a full-time statistician. The Government should consider that and the Road Safety Authority should employ a statistician to collate information on all the things that happen when an accident occurs. All Members totally agree with a reduction in speed limits if it will save lives, but we are making decisions without having full facts and information on the matter.
Last night, we had an excellent debate on the issue of members of local authorities. We are coming up to local and European elections, to be held next year, and a number of senior members of local authorities have decided they will pack it in at that stage. They will get a relatively small lump sum for up to 40 years of service in some cases. Why is it that outgoing members of local authorities cannot avail of a last-minute additional voluntary contribution, AVC, in order to enhance their income? Any public servant leaving the public service can avail of a last-minute AVC to invest a sum of money and get a 50% tax rebate. It is something we should do for those of us who depend on members of local authorities for our seat in this House. A career in the public service, particularly in politics, can come at a massive cost. I will talk about my own case. When I came into the Seanad, I was prevented from job-sharing even though my employer was willing to allow me to job-share. Only teachers and lecturers in what were institutes of technology and are now technological universities are banned from having a job share even if their employer allows it. In my case, that cost me more than €10,000 a year. Class K PRSI has damaged my pension, while the fact that the single scheme pension Act was commenced in 2013 has damaged any pension entitlement I will have. I am not the only one in this House to be affected in this way. We do not talk about these things because people will say it is politicians looking after themselves. I have a family, as does every other politician or every other worker in this country. I am entitled to be treated the same as any other worker, just as my county council colleagues are entitled to every available system to maximise any income they have. As a House, we should support members of local authorities being offered the opportunity to avail of a last-minute AVC. When I finished my teaching career, I was not able to avail of a last-minute AVC because I was not going to keep the post and leave somebody without a permanent post. Not being able to get a last-minute AVC cost me €60,000. At the end of the day, we have to look at ourselves in politics and not be ashamed of the fact that we work for a living.
I am not afraid of the job I do and I do not care what anybody says outside of here, at the end of the day. I am not in any way embarrassed to ask for members of local authorities and Members of this and the other House to be treated the same as any other worker and given every facility when they come to retirement age. I will leave it at that.
I welcome the Deputy Leader here this morning. I want to discuss the issue of precarious employment in higher education and call for a debate on the recent report by the Irish Federation of University Teachers. I begin by thanking the federation for its work in highlighting the issue, in particular its recent report. We have known for a long time how precarious things are for workers in higher education from Oireachtas education committees and audiovisual room briefings. This report is a clear call to action.
One of the most significant causes of concern in the sector is the widespread use of what are essentially zero-hour contracts. According to TheJournal.ie there are 11,200 lecturers working on these short-term, temporary contracts. The Irish Federation of University Teachers report highlights that only 15% of researchers are on a permanent contract. Almost 10% of respondents indicated they did not have a written contract of employment. Significantly, the report highlights as well the high level of unpaid hours worked as part of these contracts. It seems incredible that workers in this sector are being treated like this and that this has been allowed to go on for so long.
Addressing the issues in further education also requires the Government to address the housing crisis. We know the lack of financial security in higher education means that those in the sector often face difficulties in securing accommodation or applying for a mortgage. Many in the sector have also reported homelessness or are living in overcrowded or unsuitable accommodation. The insecurity is heaping real and significant hardship on workers in the higher education sector. This influences their mental health and their life choices such as whether to start a family or to get married. Some are leaving academia - in Ireland or in many instances entirely. I call for a debate on this report by the Irish Federation of University Teachers. We talk about building a knowledge economy so we should address the issues in this report and start by doing so with a debate in this House.
I start by welcoming the extension of the hot school meals programme announced by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and the Government yesterday. To think there will now be an extra 900 primary schools included in this programme is fantastic. I looked at the list from my own county and 27 extra schools will get this. This is fantastic because we know that at least children will get this very important meal. I do not know anybody who does not welcome this and I hope it will be extended further. It is very important that the Minister has done this and to think that from April 2024, I do not know whether it will be 1,400 or 1,500, schools will be involved is really significant.
I am not as happy about the second thing. I am really disappointed the Government decided to reduce the grant for domestic solar panels by €300, from €2,400 to €2,100. In my eyes this is a big error. We spend day after day, week after week, and month after month encouraging people to look at new, environmentally friendly ways of heating their homes and then we reduce the grant. One of the reasons we were told the grant has been reduced is because the cost of solar panels has come down. We should be increasing that grant significantly, year by year, to encourage more and more people. After all we are trying to get rid of fossil fuels. We are doing a lot on that. When people, particularly in rural areas, who have had to rely on fossil fuels quite a lot want to make the changes they need to make, surely they should not be penalised. It is a big error. Perhaps we could ask the Minister to come to the House. It will not happen before Christmas but early in 2024 - because the cut will come in during 2024 - we should ask him to reverse that and to not allow that to happen because it should not happen. It is important that we make an issue out of this and make sure that, from an environmental perspective, people have economical heat in their homes.
I will raise one issue today which is the report of the Dublin Citizens' Assembly dated December 2022. We are now in December 2023. The Government tasked the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage to review the report and consider various matters, which we did. The terms of reference were established and set. We have more or less completed that work. The joint committee will meet today and there is an expectation that the Government will have a report next week. The Government will certainly be making decisions at some point very soon, perhaps in the new year.
There were 18 recommendations in this report by the citizens' assembly. Senators will recall we had great debate about the number of city councillors and county councillors in the Dublin area that would be on it but the proposal from this House was not successful. However the citizens' assembly made its report. Within the 18 recommendations, the final recommendation calls for a plebiscite. I want to put on the Official Report in this House that I will fully support that the people of Dublin city and county, the four local authorities, have a plebiscite. I believe in it myself, fundamentally. I do not speak on behalf of the committee. I speak on behalf of myself and as someone who champions the cause of city and county councillors. I also live within the county. We should keep it under review.
I suggest to the Deputy Leader that we have this item, rather than the report, on the agenda in the new year. At that point, there may be further information, reports and recommendations but it is important we keep a live observation of what is going on. Decisions will be made soon and we know there will be local elections next year but it is an important piece. I thank the citizens' assembly and the chair for the work they have done on what is a very fine report. There is no point in setting up assemblies, engagements and independent groups to review things if we do not listen to them. There are 18 recommendations and I am very supportive of all of them.
I facilitated a really important meeting with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and representatives from 120 businesses in Clonmel recently. The chairperson was Mr. William Burke, and Mr. Richie Gleeson, Ms Aisling Kilroy and Ms Nuala Hickey came to meet the Minister. The meeting was about Irish Water and water services in Clonmel. It is a huge issue for businesses. Essentially there is a long-term plan which will be to use the River Suir to bring new water into the town but that is a 15-year plan. In between that Irish Water is making short- to medium-term changes in Clonmel. I will explain what that means for the water supply being delivered to Clonmel from the Poulavanogue treatment plant which is on top of the Comeragh Mountains and looks down on the town. Irish Water is closing that plant and moving everyone who was in that to a different plant in Monroe. That does not sound like a problem but the quality of water from Poulavanogue is top quality and everyone is being moved to Monroe which is hard water. That is difficult for homeowners because they have to get filters and that is not ideal. For businesses who use a huge amount of water that is a real problem and a cost. Approximately 600 businesses and 2,000 homeowners in the area will be affected. Irish Water's plan is to do this by 2026 with an indefinite timeline for when the long-term plan will be put in place and funding has not even been secured for that yet. Basically, what will happen is that businesses and homeowners in Clonmel will be put onto a supply with a water quality that is worse than what they were on already. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has been very engaging on this but we need more engagement from Irish Water. Most public representatives would agree with the frustration we have about getting answers from Irish Water, from our perspective but particularly from a councillor's perspective. Two councillors in Clonmel, Michael Murphy and John Fitzgerald, have real issues in terms of getting answers from Irish Water on this issue and I would like it to be raised.
I join my colleague Senator Murphy in welcoming the Minister's announcement about the hot school meals programme yesterday. This is very positive and 28 schools in my own area of Kildare have now joined the list. This is a tremendous result for Kildare and in particular for the children for whom it will ensure a hot meal each day in primary school. There is also a knock-on effect that Bradbury's bakery in my home town of Athy is providing a lot of those hot meals and providing employment as another knock-on effect of that. That is to be welcomed. It is not just there but also in other companies throughout the State that this programme has provided employment for a lot of people. There was a big announcement in Tipperary regarding this recently. As well as the positivity around schoolchildren there is also a positivity around employment and that is to be very much welcomed.
There was a big announcement in this regard in County Tipperary recently. As well as the positivity around schoolchildren, then, there is also the positivity around employment. This is very much to be welcomed.
I also wish to ask for a debate with the Minister for Transport in relation to the arterial motorways leading into the capital city and the situation with traffic on them each morning. I raise this issue because yesterday, once again, I was part of the car park that the M7 and N7 have become leading into our capital city. This is happening regularly. I ask the Minister for Transport, the NRA and TII to immediately consider having an emergency vehicle on standby every morning on our arterial roads to ensure we get the traffic on them moving. Yesterday morning, what happened was that the car of one unfortunate commuter broke down right in the middle of the motorway and this resulted in traffic being held up for an hour and a half. I was contacted by many people yesterday who had been late for hospital appointments, work etc.
It would seem to me there is a very simple solution. If somebody was on standby on the motorway, then a car in this type of situation could be removed from the middle of a lane. This would help the motorist concerned but also the hundreds and possibly thousands of people delayed coming into Dublin, as was the case yesterday. I think this is a very easy solution to implement. I am told it works in other countries. It is definitely worth considering. This problem affects not just the N7 but also the N4 and all the arterial routes into Dublin. We are still waiting on updates on public transport and on the prices of public transport, but in the meantime, the motorways are being clogged up each morning, unfortunately, by minor accidents. Our emergency services do a great job in relation to major accidents, but these minor accidents need to be looked at. An emergency vehicle needs to be on standby. This would make a difference to those people involved in minor accidents and also allow other road users to get to hospital appointments or to work and not be sitting in their cars for up to two hours.
I know I am meant to be impartial in the Chair, I got caught in such a traffic jam on Tuesday morning while coming here for 11 a.m., for exactly the reasons outlined by the Senator. I support everything he said. I was stuck in traffic for an hour and a half without moving. I left home at 7 a.m. to be here for 11 a.m. I made it here, but I had to ring the Leas-Chathaoirleach to see if he was in the House, so I concur completely with Senator Wall. He is dead right.
I call Senator Boylan.
I raise the issue of Palestine again today because what we have been witnessing in recent days is barbarism of the highest order. I do not use this word lightly. It is genocide and the most brutal collective punishment of a civilian population that I think the world has witnessed. Nobody should be doing business with Israel now. It should be boycotted and shunned as a rogue nation where human life holds no value whatsoever. Israel is chasing Palestinian people down from block to block and now telling them to go and live in a wasteland where there is no water, no toilets, nothing, no facilities whatsoever. This is barbarism, and it needs to be called out and the world needs to stand up and just stop doing business with Israel.
I particularly wish to focus on a briefing I held yesterday in the AV room on the role of the social media platforms in this conflict. These companies are silencing the voices of Palestinians on their platforms. Meta is engaging in shadowbanning. Those who have a high profile with millions of followers and who speak publicly about being pro-Palestine are having their posts reduced. They are not being circulated. The algorithms are working against them. This has been proven by independent audits of the platforms. The same moderator standards are also not being used for posts in Hebrew. Until recently, Meta did not have a single Hebrew moderator in the company. Not one. No matter what anyone said about Palestine in Hebrew, then, it went through. This includes comments such as "kill all Palestinians", "murder them all" and "they are animals". All this went through as not violating the rules of the platform because there was nobody moderating the posts in Hebrew.
It is likewise for the AI systems existing. If the words "Palestinian child" are typed into some of the AI programmes, a post of a child with a gun will be returned.
Go raibh maith agat.
Put in the words "Israeli child" and the software will return an image of a nice happy child, like we would for any other nation. Apart from introducing sanctions against this rogue state-----
I thank the Senator.
-----one thing Ireland can do is to call the platforms based in this city to account. They have their EU headquarters here and they should be called in to account for their actions and get them to at least treat Palestinians equally, the same as they do the Israelis.
Míle buíochas. I call Senator Conway.
I am delighted to hear today that the Cabinet has approved the minor sewerage schemes in County Clare that we have spoken about so often in this House. I refer to Broadford and Cooraclare. It has been 12 months since I put down a Commencement matter on this issue. The reply to that query stated this work would be sanctioned in the first three months of this year. We are now in the last days of the year and it has been sanctioned. This must be welcomed.
I also raise the issue of the tragic death of Catríona Lucas several years ago. The verdict of the inquest last week was that she died as a result of misadventure. Her family is deeply upset, and the community in County Clare is deeply upset, by this finding and the fact that there are circumstances and issues surrounding her death that have not been highlighted. I support the call for a statutory inquiry into the death of Catríona Lucas. I think it is what the family should get. If and when that happens, and I hope it does, answers might finally be found regarding what happened to cause us to lose one of our greatest volunteers when she was out trying to recover a body.
I call Senator Keogan.
I raise the issue of ESB electricity outages. This is not just happening in my town but throughout the country. It is happening on Saturdays, when businesses cannot operate, and during lunch times. There is no compensation for these businesses. If this were an Irish Water outage, that company would compensate its business customers. The ESB, however, does not. This is wrong. How can businesses be expected to operate when they do not have electricity? I refer especially to the hospitality sector. I read an article a few days ago about the Restaurants Association of Ireland and that 30 restaurants had closed in November alone.
A scary situation is going to take place next year for businesses, whether this involves the living wage, with increases in the minimum wage coming in January 2024, pension auto-enrolment, statutory sick pay provision, PRSI increases or the provisions of various legislation that must be implemented next year. There will be the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 and parental leave being extended to nine weeks. All these initiatives will be hitting small businesses next year and will cost them €4 billion. The Department stated yesterday that it is going to give some €257 million to rateable businesses. I actually could not believe there are only 140,000 rateable businesses here. I somehow thought it was more. This €257 million, though, is a drop in the ocean compared to the support these companies are going to need come January 2024. I feel we are heading into a storm for these small businesses here come January and February 2024. There is already talk of there being an economic downturn. For small businesses, we are heading into a very scary place come 2024.
Senator Clifford-Lee wanted to say something but had to leave the Chamber. She has just returned and I call her now.
I welcome the group from Loreto Secondary School in Balbriggan. They are sixth-year politics students and I am very happy to be hosting them here today. They are a group of very enthusiastic students, here along with their teacher, Anne-Marie Ryan. They do a great job in Loreto Secondary School in Balbriggan. I am proud that many of the students have gone on to study politics at third level, so it is very fitting these students are here today in Leinster House. I would appreciate if everyone would give them all a welcome.
I welcome the students from Loreto Secondary School in Balbriggan and their teacher, Ms Ryan. They are all very welcome to the House today and I thank them for being here. I believe there is also a small group here from Cork, which is even more important than Balbriggan. I am told they are actually from Stradbally in County Laois.
The Cathaoirleach got it wrong.
Yes. I am meant to be neutral and everybody is welcome to Leinster House. Tá fíor-fháilte rompu go léir go dtí Teach Laighean. I call the Deputy Leader.
The ladies are very welcome here this morning. I am really delighted to see so many young women looking at and interested in politics. Hopefully, they will give me and Senator Clifford-Lee a run for our money in the future. They are all very welcome.
I thank my colleagues for raising a wide variety of topics this morning. Senator Keogan raised the level of ESB electricity outages we have.
I am not really sure about the rest of the country but we certainly get them a lot in north County Dublin. The girls will probably be able to attest to that. To be fair to the ESB, when there are planned outages it gives plenty of notice to our houses, homes and businesses. Sometimes there is contention with businesses and there is a lot of wrangling as to when the dates are. However, a lot of the outages that happen are not planned. They occur because we have degrading lines and we should have more underground lines than overhead lines and because there are cows, apparently, knocking their backsides into lines and causing outages, as well as birds and a whole variety of reasons that are causing these unplanned outages. We need to have a proper look at that and see what we can do. If the lines we have need to be upgraded, they should be upgraded. We should be looking at the quality and the delivery of services and maybe we should be having a look at the cost to businesses and trying to compensate them in some way, shape or form because they cannot plan for unplanned outages. I thank the Senator for raising that.
Senator Conway welcomed the minor sewerage schemes that have now been sanctioned for Clare. To be fair to him, he has been raising that for over a year.
Senator Boylan spoke about the awful ongoing war. The images are absolutely awful. I do not doubt that what she is saying is true but honest to goodness, all I am seeing are the awful images of the results of the Israeli attack on Palestine. I really do believe the Senator is right with regard to the manipulation of people's messages on Instagram, and all social media platforms. Those companies were before the committee yesterday and gave all kinds of statistics about how they are doing everything right and yet all we still see is very biased information and sometimes misinformation. The Senator is right that it needs to be challenged.
Both Senators Wall and Murphy raised the welcome advancements in the hot school meals programme yesterday. If I died and went to heaven tomorrow, that would be the thing I was most proud of. It was a fight to get the pilot project done but it is a credit to Heather Humphreys that she has championed and expanded this. The plan is to go to every single primary school in the country, which is welcome.
I feel Senator Wall's pain with regard to the motorways. The idea he brought up is a simple one but it could be really effective. Let us ask the Leader to write to the Minister for Transport and we will organise a debate on that.
Senator Ahearn spoke about businesses in Clonmel. He is looking for more engagement with Irish Water, which I will certainly ask for.
Senator Boyhan asked for a debate on the report and the new recommendations from the report, which we will hopefully see next week. We will organise that in the new year.
Senator Murphy also spoke about the perplexing move by the Department to reduce not only the domestic grants for solar panels but also electric cars. There are millions of homes that need to be retrofitted and have solar panels put on. Some 23,000 have been done this year and 15,000 last year and there are 1.4 million homes in the country. I do not think it makes sense but we will ask and maybe have a debate on it after Christmas.
Senator Warfield is looking for a debate on precarious employment. The miscellaneous Bill that was passed in 2018 bans zero-hour contracts. It ensures people get written contracts within five days of taking up employment. The Senator is saying that is not happening. Let us have a proper look at that and see how we can help.
Senator Craughwell is looking for AVCs for our local authority members. We can certainly look into that.
Senator Paddy Burke is looking for more statistics to be collected by the RSA so we can be better informed as to what decisions we need to make to reduce road deaths.
Senator Mark Daly spoke about the referendum proposals we will be putting to the people on 8 March. Those are the first two Bills that will be coming to the Seanad when we resume in January.