Before I call the Leader, I welcome Ann-Marie Ronan from Cork, who is here with her dad, I think. I met Ms Ronan earlier. They are very welcome to Leinster House. I hope they have a pleasant visit. I welcome our other guests this morning as well. Céad míle fáilte to everybody.
An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
The Order of Business is No. 1, Garda Síochána (Recording Devices) Bill 2022 - Report and Final Stages, to be taken at 12.45 p.m. and to adjourn at 2.45 p.m., if not previously concluded; No. 2, Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2023 - all Stages, to be taken at 3 p.m., with the proceedings thereon, if not previously concluded, to be brought to a conclusion after two hours by the putting of one question from the Chair which shall, in relation to amendments, include only those set down or accepted by the Government, the opening remarks of the Minister during the debate on Second Stage not to exceed eight minutes, all Senators not to exceed six minutes, and the Minister to be given no less than six minutes to reply to the debate, and Committee and Remaining Stages to be taken immediately thereafter; No. 3, motion regarding the earlier signature of the Electricity Costs (Emergency Measures) Domestic Accounts Bill 2023, to be taken on conclusion of No. 2 without debate; and No. 4, Private Members' business, Ban on Dumping New Products Bill 2022 - Committee Stage, to be taken at 5.30 p.m. and to adjourn after two hours if not previously concluded.
I thank the Leader for outlining the business of the day. What I am looking for at some stage in the coming weeks is a debate on tourism, the importance of tourism and the challenges faced by tourism providers. We have a serious accommodation crisis because some of our hotels are being used, rightly so, to house Ukrainians. The tourism product we have in this country is extremely good but it can always be improved and worked on and we can develop new markets abroad. Over the past ten years we have faced a number of crises, from an economic crash to Brexit to Covid. The one sector to bounce back all the time very successfully has been tourism. Sometimes it can be taken for granted. Sometimes we do not take a long-term view of tourism, and as regards investment in marketing around the world we could do a lot better. We do not have too many natural resources here, but one resource we do have is people working in the tourism sector who have the céad míle fáilte, which really works. At some stage perhaps we could have the Minister in to have a debate on tourism and creating more winter tourism. Summer tourism is great, but if we could have winter tourism as well, that would be even better. There are obvious challenges with cost inflation and cost of hotel rooms. I call for an overarching debate on tourism in this House and I hope the Leader will facilitate it at some stage.
Last night, Brigid 1500 was launched in Kildare because in 2024 we will celebrate 1,500 years since Brigid walked these shores. She certainly left a very meaningful cultural and societal legacy and one that it is really important we celebrate. In many ways she was a woman ahead of her time. She was very concerned about biodiversity, sustainability, education and the arts. Most particularly, at a time when we are in a world of war, she was a woman of peace who cared deeply about social justice, so her message is as strong now or stronger than it was 1,500 years ago. Last night in Kildare we had the launch of a number of festivals and events that will happen throughout 2024. Most particularly, there will be a schools programme, which is available not just for schools in Kildare but for schools right around the country to solidify Brigid's lasting legacy. I am planning some events here in Leinster House for 1 February, so I look forward to Members' involvement. I thank all those involved in Brigid 1500, including Kildare County Council and, in particular, Sister Rita, Sister Mary and Sister Phil from Solas Bhríde, who have kept the flame of hope alive for many years. I wish all of them well.
I wish to raise again the blood-boiling issue of water outages in the Allenwood-Kilmeage-Robertstown area of south Kildare. I have to raise it here because we cannot table a Commencement matter on it because the responsibility lies with Irish Water as opposed to directly with a Minister but, obviously, the Minister has to be concerned about it. I have raised it a number of times, and the community is now seeing outages every single week. We have had eight outages in the past few weeks. It is having a hugely negative impact on houses and families, but today three schools have closed because of it as the toilets cannot be used. When three schools have been impacted, we have to call it out. Irish Water has plans in train to deal with this, but it is not time for plans. The people need solutions, and we still need to send a message to the Minister in respect of Irish Water to deal with this.
The other issue I will raise briefly relates to Pfizer. Pfizer in Newbridge has a staff of 1,200 and provides excellent employment in the area. We heard just yesterday that 100 of those will have to take redundancies or possibly transfer to the Grangegorman branch, where there will be another 130 jobs. I have spoken to County Kildare Chamber, which is talking to other companies that may be able to take on the staff, but we need to approach this in a compassionate way and to ensure that the Minister is on top of it to make sure we do not have further job losses.
I wish to raise two issues relating to housing. While we had a debate on housing yesterday, I wish to bring up two issues I did not have the opportunity to bring up then as I was chairing that session.
The first relates to the rural housing guidelines, with which we have a serious issue. Over the past five or six years, I have consistently written to various Ministers and Ministers of State about rural housing guidelines. I do not need to lecture anyone in this House who represents rural communities on the problem we have. The Government needs to respond to the challenges and difficulties experienced by those seeking to build rural housing projects and one-off housing in the countryside.
Ireland's rural housing policy planning guidelines are from 2005 and we are still expected to be working to them. They are no longer fit for purpose. The restrictive policies for rural housing are a serious impediment for those wanting to return to rural communities, build up the communities from which they came and access affordable housing. This should be afforded to them. These are people who are land owners in rural communities. We see GAA clubs, schools and parish life collapsing throughout rural communities because of the lack of options for people to build houses at their own expense on their own land. Surely we need policy for this.
I understand this is a contentious and thorny issue for the Green Party. The Taoiseach asked the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell to write to me, which he did. I received a detailed letter from him last Friday evening setting out that the draft is in place. Let us get the draft rural housing guidelines out to a period of public consultation. This should be the next step so that people can engage on it. I fully accept that any new rural housing guidelines must be balanced and environmentally sensitive. They must address the social concerns of communities and their housing needs. The economic and social benefits for families who wish to build their own homes for themselves on their own land is critical. I particularly want to make reference to Galway, Kildare, Roscommon and Wexford which are the four counties I visited last week. I engaged with elected representatives who all share the same concern.
I also want to raise the issue of Sam and Odette Doran, apartment owners involved in the "Not our Fault" campaign. They meet on a weekly basis outside Leinster House when it is in session. Their story has been covered in local newspapers this morning. They were told by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage that €2.5 billion was put aside for a compensation package. It is important that we have a discussion on this. They are outside Leinster House today and will be here until 2 p.m. I intend to go out to meet them. I know a number of Members on all sides of the House have engaged with them. We have to do something for people living somewhere that is crumbling through no fault of their own. We have to support the people who are in these houses.
I call for the immediate release of Emily Hand and all of the hostages held by Hamas. Once again I utterly condemn the attack by Hamas on 7 October. Horrendous as those actions were, they in no way justify what has been happening in Palestine over the past month. A total of 11,000 Palestinian citizens have been slaughtered, including more than 4,000 children. I want to quote from Gideon Levy, an Israeli journalist and author who writes a regular column for Ha'aretz.
A Hamas terrorist was taken out of the debris, carried in his father’s arms. His face is covered with dust, his body jerking like a sack, his stare blank. It’s not clear if he’s alive or dead. He is a toddler of three or four, and his desperate father rushed him to the Gaza Strip's Indonesian Hospital, which was already bursting with wounded and dead people.
Another terrorist was extracted from the wreckage. This time she's clearly alive, her fair, curly hair is white with dust; she's five or six, being carried by her father. She looks right and left, as though asking where help will come from.
A man in a tattered vest scribbles here and there, a white sheet folded like a shroud in his hands, covering an infant’s body, and he’s waving it in despair. It’s the body of his son, a newborn baby. This infant hadn’t yet had a chance to join Hamas’ military headquarters in the Jabalia refugee camp. He had only lived a few days — a butterfly’s eternity — and was killed.
It is quite clear that what we are witnessing is genocide. If we look at the International Criminal Court's definition of genocide this is what we are witnessing. What is really shocking to me is that there are no consequences for Israel. I have to ask in all sincerity how can this be. We are witnessing it on our screens day after day and night after night and there are no consequences. I fully support the Government's call for a ceasefire 100% but we have to do more. We can do more. We can immediately call for an investigation by the International Criminal Court. This is the very least we should do. We should immediately endorse Senator Black's occupied territories Bill. We should immediately endorse Sinn Féin's divestment Bill, which has been stalled in the Dáil. We should immediately recognise Palestine in line with the vote taken in the previous Parliament. How can we stand by and watch what is happening day after day and decide it is just enough to call for a ceasefire? It is clearly not enough. History will judge us and it will judge us very badly. We need a coalition of the willing and the Irish Government should lead that coalition of the willing and take action.
I join my colleague from County Kildare in raising a number of issues, particularly with regard to the water outages in west Kildare. It has gone beyond a joke and I encourage everybody to get involved, particularly when we are speaking about schools now having to close their doors. I ask the Minister to come to the House or for the Leader to write to Uisce Éireann on behalf of the House. I know Uisce Éireann sent a reply in the past half an hour to state it is working on it but we have had a number of these works so far this year and they do not seem to be solving the problem that needs to be solved for the people in west Kildare.
I also join my colleague in asking for immediate action regarding the 100 redundancies at Pfizer in Newbridge. It is very dear to me as it is where my late brother worked. I know the community that is Pfizer in Newbridge and how it comes together. It will come together in what it is now facing. It is very important that the people of Newbridge come together and that all of the agencies of the State also come together. I support my colleague on those calls.
The Labour Party is using its Private Members' time in the Dáil to discuss funding home help. Our health spokesperson, Deputy Duncan Smith recently called for the recruitment freeze on home help and other care workers to be lifted immediately. The waiting list for home care support in this country is 6,020 but in July the Government cut home help support by 1.9 million hours. Comparing the numbers of those seeking home help support in the first six months of 2022 to the same period in 2023 we see a 3.7% increase in people needing care. Over the past week I have spoken to a number of carers in the system who because of their age are being encouraged to retire by the HSE. At a time when we have 6,000 people on a waiting list we should be actively asking these experienced people to stay on and encouraging them to continue working in the system. Given our older population, I ask the Leader to use her office to try to get a debate on home care with the Minister in the House.
I am delighted to say that on Tuesday the Taoiseach officially opened the new and long-awaited Athy distributor road. This is the first opportunity I have had to put on the record of the House my thanks to all those from all political parties, community groups and individuals who over many years have been involved in the project. I am particularly proud of the role a number of current and past members of the Labour Party played in getting the road open. It is the right to thank the officials in Kildare County Council who worked so hard to get the road open. I also credit BAM, which got the road open six months before it was due to open. The new road has already transformed my home town. It is giving Athy the opportunity to develop into the modern town it has always deserved to be. It is time to speak about a positive future for Athy. With the absence of choking traffic Athy is open for business. We have great businesses in the town and I encourage everybody to visit Athy in the coming weeks. They will have a new experience and will be able to partake in the great businesses that are in this great town.
Israel's cruel carpet bombing of Palestinian civilians in Gaza has captured the attention of the world. Israeli forces have killed twice as many Palestinian children in Gaza over the past month than the total number of Palestinian children killed in the West Bank and Gaza since 1967. A total of 4,237 children have been murdered in the past month. It is horrific.
Today I want to speak about what is happening in the West Bank and we must not ignore the increasingly dire situation there. Illegal Israeli settlements have obstructed the freedom of Palestinians to move through the West Bank for decades due to the proliferation of army checkpoints, segregated road systems and the separation wall. What is worse is that settlers have engaged in a co-ordinated campaign of violence against Palestinians. They are often escorted by soldiers as they rampage through Palestinian villages, destroying buildings and olive trees, stealing livestock and agricultural equipment and vandalising water tanks, pipes and solar panels.
Settlers have murdered at least a dozen Palestinians in the last month and have arbitrarily detained Palestinians, beaten them, urinated on them and sexually humiliated them in a frenzy of racist colonial brutality.
Entire villages are fleeing because they have received repeated credible threats of being massacred by illegal Israeli settlers. The basis of a future Palestinian state, the stated aim of Irish foreign policy in the region, is being violently eroded before our eyes and the Government refuses to do anything about it. These illegal settlers receive weapons, money, operational support and even legal assistance from Israel. Their aim is to ethnically cleanse the West Bank and that is the reality.
The current Israeli Government includes far-right, settler parties. The Prime Minister's party also claims that Israeli sovereignty extends over all historical Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean. This is the most racist and extremist government in Israel's history and is being pandered to by the EU and America. The gross hypocrisy and cowardice of the EU and several powerful member states' responses to Israel's attack on civilians in Gaza has definitely proven that the Government's attempts to convince other member states to respect international law and challenge the occupation of Palestine have failed.
In 2022 the Dáil voted to recognise the de facto annexation of the West Bank by Israel. Illegal Israeli settlements are making life unbearable for the Palestinians. They are one of the largest barriers to a two state solution. We need to render them diplomatically and economically unviable. This means passing the occupied territories Bill. Otherwise, the Government's rhetoric is entirely hollow and useless. I would like to request a further debate on Government policy in this area. I am holding a briefing today at 4 PM in the AV room. I hope all parties will attend. I want to thank Members of Fine Gael for saying that there will be able to attend. I hope Members from Fianna Fáil will be able to attend also.
I thank the Cathaoirleach for representing us so well yesterday in Westminster at the opening of the House of Lords. We owe it to Senator O'Loughlin that we have a bank holiday on St Brigid's day. I commend her hard work in championing that cause.
I want to raise the issue of the Road Safety Authority, RSA, and the abysmal figures we are seeing. There is a huge increase in the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads due to speeding and people using their mobile phones. It is a huge problem, particularly among young men. People under the age of 35 account for 50% of the deaths on our roads and the majority of those are men.
Obviously, speed cameras work. I went to Rwanda on an interparliamentary trip. In the capital, Kigali, they have an AI speed camera system they call Sophie. A driver exceeding the speed limit receives a text informing them and they also receive a fine so they are quite vigilant in not speeding on the roads. The roads there are not as good as the roads here. This example shows that the technology is available to improve our road safety, but we have not invested in it. We need to properly invest in road safety in Ireland because it is really lacking. It is just not good enough having ad hoc systems of gardaí just pulling up on the side of the road and doing a few speed camera checks. We need proper speed camera infrastructure on our roads so that people know they will be caught and there will be repercussions.
I would like to request a debate in the coming weeks, and sooner rather than later, before we finalise the Finance Bill, on the pension cap. Colleagues may be aware that in the run-up to the budget, along with colleagues in Fórsa and IALPA I started a campaign to try to get the pension cap, which is currently at €2 million, indexed linked. This was set by the then Minister, Deputy Joan Burton, in 2013 for very good reasons back then. However it now needs to be index linked to allow it to be reflective of what the value of €2 million today would be.
I know all of my colleagues would have received correspondence from IALPA and Fórsa asking them to support this measure. This was turned down by the Minister of Finance and I understand why. There was an anticipation that it would only look after elites and incredibly well-off people. However, we can see from the commentary in the media over the last week that we have a much-needed vacancy in An Garda Síochána, that of the deputy commissioner. The eight assistant commissioners who are primed and best placed to be the new deputy commissioner will not apply for the role because of the pension cap and the enormous bill it would impose on their salaries and pensions when they retire. It is ludicrous that we have a situation where there are eight highly qualified assistant commissioners with training and experience in An Garda Síochána who will not apply for the next position up in the job because of a pension cap that is ten years old and out of date. Even a brief debate of 60 minutes with the Minister for Finance would be useful to talk about the merits of updating the cap that was introduced in 2013. In fairness, it was introduced at the time to stop developers and builders who had hoards of money from putting it into their pensions as opposed to giving it to the likes of NAMA or any of the institutions that were around at the time, knowing of the difficulties we were suffering with regard to the building industry at that time. The cap has had its time and it needs to be index linked. I would like to request a debate on the matter
I want to speak again about the flooding in north Louth. The work continues around the peninsula and the Border to try to get the land and houses back to something resembling normal. There is a sense of fear and anxiety around the place because we are looking at grey clouds and we are afraid more rain is going to come. I spoke to a lady this morning who told me her house had been flooded four times over the past week. It is devastating to have to deal with this over and over again.
As we go on with the clean-up operation, I want to raise concerns about the resources of councils or even the inclination of councils to clean culverts, streams and gullies around our country areas. The Cooley peninsula and north Louth are no different from other rural areas. We need the upkeep and the maintenance of our gullies and drains. I am old enough to remember a council worker who used to go around on a bike with a shovel on the back and clean drains and clean the shucks as we call them in Cooley, to make sure that the area was safe. It would not prevent all the damage done over the past week, but it would certainly prevent other flood damage.
I want to highlight the need for a flood relief scheme for the Cooley peninsula that would encompass engineering fixes for flooding from the mountain. We have one in preparation for the sea, but would do not have one for the mountain. We never thought that the mountain would flood us, but unfortunately it has.
I again request a debate on matters regarding Inland Fisheries Ireland, IFI. I am sure the Leader is familiar with Aasleagh Lodge and the Erriff Fishery which is in a beautiful part of the world in south Mayo on the border with Galway. Up to 2016 it was a thriving tourist amenity in the area.
In 2016, IFI decided to sell the lodge and cottages and retain a salmon fishery in State ownership. To do so, it was necessary to move the working fishery base from the centre of the property to the site along the Leenane to Westport Road. The completion of the sale, as proposed by the previous CEO of IFI would be a win-win for the State. There would be an investment in the lodge for tourism and maintenance of the fisheries.
Shortly after the arrival of the new CEO in 2020, the board withdrew the property from sale in favour of an alternative proposal. While the house and cottages are abandoned it seems that money is now being poured into the offices in the old coach house that is located "slap bang in the middle of the property", to quote the current CEO at a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts on 6 July.
From the transcript of the hearing, I learned that the IFI has recently spent €219,000 plus VAT on the offices. This property can never now be sold or repurposed while the working base and offices remain smack bang in the middle of the property. At the committee meeting IFI was asked if the expenditure on the offices was approved by the board when the future use of the property was uncertain. The head of finance answered that the expenditure was approved when the board approved the capital plan in May 2020. However, there is no reference to Aasleagh Lodge in the capital plan. IFI rules require that all capital expenditure in excess of €50,000 must be laid before the board with the rationale outlined by the CEO before the project can proceed. This did not happen. I am running out of time, but I will resume this again. I ask the Leader to write to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the CEO of IFI.
Perhaps she could even arrange for a site visit for interested Members to Aasleagh Lodge to see what is going on there, the state it is in and the plans for this once beautiful resource for the area of Mayo and Galway.
How will we deal with rural transportation going forward? There is a lack of taxis, in particular. People on a night out are unable to go home. Uber needs to be rolled out in Ireland. Medium and small rural towns have no taxi service at the weekend. People cannot go home so nights out are totally prohibited. Christmas trade will be affected again. The bus service in rural Ireland does not work for what I am talking about. The taxi service issue has been totally abandoned in recent years. People are running from the market and we have no way of dealing with it.
A significant debate needs to happen with the Minister for Transport about his plans for the industry. What does he propose to do with the taxi industry? When will we look at deregulating it and putting Uber into rural Ireland? A person, if Garda vetted, would have the opportunity to make a few pounds by acting as the taxi for the town or village and making sure the centre of population is a safe location to go home from.
People were on to me again in my clinic in Kinsale last weekend about this issue. We had no taxi in Kinsale last weekend. Imagine a town of that size with no taxi. It is because it is not viable and people do not work those hours anymore. Unless we do something drastic quickly, people will not be able to socialise or go out and the isolation issues we have will be intensified. The Minister has been talking about and looking at this huge issue for so long. It needs to be addressed. I propose a debate with the Minister for Transport in this Chamber in the coming weeks about his vision for the taxi service and for Uber. Does he have a long-term plan for towns and villages that effectively have no transportation when it comes to evening time?
I rise to bring up the issue of scams. I have been reading a great deal in local and national newspapers recently about older, vulnerable people in particular being scanned out of money or scammed in different ways. I saw recently a lady was scammed out of €35,000 because she thought she was in a relationship with someone she met online.
As we approach Christmas, Black Friday sales are coming along and people are shopping online. People have to be vigilant. Only last week, somebody put their iPad up for sale and met the person to collect the money and hand over the iPad. That person took the iPad but the money handed over was all false notes. There are many people scamming others online and giving them false information. People have to be especially vigilant online. Most of us receive a text message every week saying our parcel has been diverted because we did not pay whatever. I certainly get those regularly when I have not ordered a parcel online. We need to highlight the issue of people being scammed. People have to be so careful, especially in the approach to Christmas.
I welcome to the Public Gallery the Collins brothers from Cork, Mick, Con, Francis and Jeremiah. They are welcome to Leinster House today. Mick is married to my cousin Geraldine. I hope they have a pleasant day. It is great to have them here and to have Cork represented in the Seanad. I thank them for being here.
We have a new Local Link service. It goes to Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim. I thank the manager there, Fiona O'Shea, because one of those routes is being extended with enhanced service to Ballaghaderreen and Castlerea in Roscommon. It is excellent to see they are being smart. They are looking at existing bus routes and extending them to surrounding counties. This route, 977, will operate up to eight daily return services, Monday to Saturday, between Sligo and Ballaghaderreen. Four of those services will extend to Castlerea and there will be three daily return services on Sunday. This will be crucial for commuting, getting into our towns and villages and going to the ATU Sligo campus and the hospital in Sligo. It means again we are offering more connectivity to small towns and villages.
I highlight the importance of a required route between Athlone and Ballinasloe. I have raised this a number of times, including with the Minister, Deputy Ryan. The Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan is a five-year transport plan. We are a number of years into it. The Minister mentioned a service per day has been opening up or extending. We need to see a service between the towns of Athlone and Ballinasloe replacing what used to be the 20/20x Bus Éireann service that is no longer in situ. Can we ask the Minister to give us an update on the Connecting Ireland rural mobility plan and the plans for the year ahead for connections where bus services were removed by Bus Éireann and where we need to see connectivity for communities in those areas?
There is a group called the forgotten farmers that the Leader and most people in rural areas will probably know about. It is a group of farmers who established their agricultural holdings before 2008 and were under the age of 40 but did not qualify for Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, aid. The Minister, Deputy McConalogue, we as a party and, I am sure, others have done much for the forgotten farmers but we have not got over the line in terms of supporting them, which was promised.
I ask that we write to the Minister again for an update on where we are with that group. There is not a huge number of people in it. They need support. Unfortunately, as they could not qualify for CAP, they are in a more vulnerable position than other farmers. Particularly with the challenges we have now with the environment and so on, those farmers are finding it difficult to survive. I acknowledge the Minister and the Government have done quite a lot of work on this, but it would be nice to get this matter over the line and get extra support for those farmers who need it.
Can we have a debate with the Minister for Education or the Minister for Transport, whoever is in charge of it at the moment, concerning the request that over-70s be able to drive school buses? We have a critical situation in Tipperary. We have a shortage of people able to drive buses but we have businesses contracted with Bus Éireann which have people aged over 70 who would be able to drive those buses but are not allowed. There is no sense to it. We have a staff shortage and we have people who are qualified, who have a driving licence to drive a bus to bring kids to school, who used to do it before they were 70 and who loved their job. All we are saying is they should be allowed to do it. We recently increased the age for people to go into An Garda Síochána. I do not see any reason we cannot increase the age for people to be able to drive school buses. It is a simple thing. People who are over 75 need a medical certificate but not those over 70. Many people have driven buses for years, reached the age of 70 and cannot do it anymore but are perfectly fit and able and have the driver's licence to do it. It needs to be done. We are at a critical stage in terms of teachers in schools, but certainly in terms of school bus drivers.
I thank all Members who contributed to the Order of Business. Senator Conway raised the tourism sector and stated tourism accommodation is being used to house a significant volume of refugees. The issue has been raised on numerous occasions in the House. There was a debate in the House with the Minister a number of months back. It is a concern, particularly in counties like Clare, where Senator Conway resides and where tourism is a big employer.
I will raise the issue with the Minister. The Senator rightly acknowledged that what was done in terms of accommodation was necessary and we had to do our best to accommodate people, but there is a genuine concern within the tourism sector about the plan to get bed nights back for 2024. In County Leitrim, for example, over 80% of bed nights are taken up. In Donegal, the figure is 50%. In my county, it is approximately 35%, and the same for Galway. That is a significant number of bed nights, which impacts considerably on pubs, cafes and restaurants, as they are not getting the same footfall. We have time now to try to do something for next year’s tourism season. I thank the Senator for raising the issue, which I will bring to the Minister.
Senator O’Loughlin spoke about the Brigid 1500 events being launched in Kildare, including a festival and the schools programme. She also mentioned the brilliant work done by Sister Rita, Sister Mary and Sister Phil. It is poignant to look back on what Brigid represented so many years ago and how relevant her message is today, particularly in light of conflicts across the world. It makes us pause to reflect. How much the message holds true today is amazing.
The Senator also raised the issue of water outages in south Kildare and the fact that three schools were closed today. I urge Irish Water to get moving rapidly to address the outages with a proper solution as opposed to trying to develop a plan. Time is of the essence. Three schools being closed is not acceptable in this day and age. Water is an essential. If there are weekly outages, there is clearly a major issue.
The Senator discussed the loss of 100 jobs at Pfizer in Newbridge. I hope that many of those jobs can be saved, perhaps through relocation. While that might not always be suitable for the individuals concerned, depending on family circumstances, I hope that the issues can be addressed by working with the chamber in Kildare and Senator O’Loughlin. Senator Wall also discussed those water outages and job losses at Pfizer in Newbridge. Clearly, these are major issues in the county.
Senator Boyhan raised the matter of rural housing guidelines. He will be aware that getting the guidelines published has been an ongoing challenge. We were expecting them in October 2022, so they are long overdue. There is not a consensus on what they should say. Depending on the part of the country in which you find yourself, you will have a different view on the matter. Speaking as someone from a rural area of County Mayo, getting planning permission on your own land is a major challenge, particularly where the area is considered to be under urban pressure. There are many challenges, and we need to consider the types of plans we put in place. The plans for the middle of a city are different than those for parts of rural Ireland, where there is a different way of life. I have strong views around the ability to get planning permission in a rural area and what that means for a village being able to sustain itself and keep its numbers. This is an important issue.
The Senator also spoke about Sam and Odette Doran and the Not Our Fault campaign. They are regularly outside the door with their campaign to make their point. I thank the Senator for raising the issue and putting it on today’s agenda.
Senator Gavan spoke about the conflict in Gaza and wished for the safe return of Emily Hand. I can speak for us all when I say that I hope young Emily can be returned to her family. I cannot imagine what it must be like to think your child is dead only to learn she may be alive. It is unbearable. I hope that Emily and all of the other hostages are released and that we see an immediate stop to all of the killing. Sometimes, there is a difference in the language we use and the issues we discuss from one day to the next, but broadly speaking, every Member of the Houses is on the same page. We want the killing to stop on all sides. We want a ceasefire. We want peace in the region and we want a two-state solution. I am also replying to Senator Black, who raised this issue as well. Ireland can be proud of its position on the matter. At the outset, we were one of four member states to ensure that a resolution at EU level to stop aid going to Palestine did not pass. We took a step straight away that was the minority view. We have always supported the Palestinian people in their cause for self-determination and we have always supported a two-state solution. As a country, we can be proud of how we have dealt with the conflict, notwithstanding the challenges, the need to keep diplomatic channels open and to talk to all sides, and the need to get our people back to safety. We are trying to assist at EU and UN levels to achieve a de-escalation in the region so that the conflict does not spill over and there can be an immediate ceasefire. This is a complex situation, but every person in these Houses and the country wants to see an end to the killing and the violence. That is something on which we can all agree.
Aside from the water shortages and redundancies at Pfizer, Senator Wall discussed the need to address the waiting list for home help services. Many posts have been sanctioned and there is funding to pay for them, but recruiting staff is an ongoing challenge for the HSE across the board. Every effort is being made to hire staff into those positions, to reduce waiting times and to get home help to those who need it. The Senator also welcomed the opening of the Athy distributor road.
Senator Black spoke about Gaza in the Middle East. She requested a debate with the Tánaiste on the situation. I will forward that request at the earliest opportunity. She also spoke about the briefing she will be holding today at 4 p.m. She is not in the Chamber currently, but I responded to her on behalf of the Fianna Fáil grouping – she asked for us to attend – to say that we were meeting the Palestinian ambassador at the very same time. We will do our best to attend the briefing if that meeting concludes in time for us to do so. There will be representatives from the party at the briefing and I thank the Senator for organising it. I just wanted her to be aware of the position.
Senator Ardagh discussed road safety and the need to do more to tackle speeding. The Minister of State, Deputy Jack Chambers, is working hard on this issue. Dealing with road safety and speeding has been one of his priorities since joining the Department of Transport. Work is under way in his Department to introduce new regulations on reducing speed limits. As the Senator pointed out, though, it is also important that the existing rules be enforced. People should adhere to them and to any new rules.
Senator Ardagh gave credit to Senator O’Loughlin for bringing about our St. Brigid’s Day bank holiday. Well done, Senator O’Loughlin.
Senator Doherty asked for a debate on the pension cap. I will request one with the Minister for Finance. It might be difficult to get him to attend in advance of our debate on the Finance Bill, but we will ask for it anyway. The Senator is correct, in that the cap initially sounded like something that would just address the extremely wealthy, but we have now seen its impact. It is outrageous that we would consider hiring someone to be the head of our intelligence service who is not a citizen of this country. It beggars belief. We have US and UK intelligence experts essentially saying that they would not even consider doing anything like that in their countries. It would not be on the agenda. We have people in this country who are able and suitably qualified and who could take up the position if there was not a financial impediment to them doing so. I give credit to The Sunday Times, which prominently ran significant pieces over the past two Sundays highlighting how this was a major concern that we needed to take seriously. Similarly, there was an extensive piece with Mr. Drew Harris last Sunday around the challenging nature of security in the State. What he is dealing with today is much different than what we would have dealt with even ten or 15 years ago. Things have moved on in terms of intelligence and security. We are members of the European Union, so we are not operating alone in a silo. Many foreign companies invest in this country and employ hundreds of thousands of people here. Properly investing in and protecting our national security and having a good intelligence service is vital for the security of the State, maintaining foreign companies’ investment in our country and protecting our citizens. I hope that the concerns that are being voiced across the board are being heard where they need to be heard. If the impediment is the pension cap and we cannot manage to update it, you would have to wonder. I hope that the matter is being taken seriously. I am sure Ministers are considering it. There is still time to address it before the competition closes, which I believe is tomorrow.
If the situation proceeds as is despite the concerns raised, and if there is an incident – maybe there will not be – we will look back on this period knowing that we made the wrong call and the issue could have been addressed. I hope that people are listened to.
Senator McGreehan spoke again about the flooding on the Cooley Peninsula in County Louth. We send our sympathies to the families, businesses and communities in Cork and Louth who have experienced significant flooding in recent weeks. Watching the impact on those businesses has been harrowing, particularly coming into the Christmas trade period, which is when many of the businesses in question make their money. The Government is committed to putting in place a strong support package and getting money out to people quickly. Assurances have been given to the people of Louth that they will get the same package as was promised to Cork. The Senator is right to point out that different areas are now seeing flooding. Our climate is changing rapidly and we need to put in place protections to prevent such flooding in future.
Senator Kyne raised an issue concerning Inland Fisheries Ireland, which he has done so many times now that I have lost count. I commend the Senator on his tireless advocacy work on this issue and keeping it on the agenda. I would be open to a site visit.
Order of Business agreed to.