Increasing rail fares on the antiquated Rosslare, Wexford, Wicklow and Dublin rail line would be an absolute joke. It would be a bad choice and would make no sense. Despite great expansions at Rosslare Europort, the gateway to Europe which connects Rosslare to Dublin, our capital city, it is an absolute farce and has regressed hugely. It takes longer to get to Dublin by train than it took 40 years ago, when I started using the service. There are fewer carriages, carriages are cramped, toilets in stations are often …

The home heating oil Bill seeks to remove the carbon tax from home heating oil to help households struggling with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have not removed a single cent off home heating oil and they and Independent TDs have voted Sinn Féin down eight times this year as we sought to bring down the price of fuel. Every week people are faced with rising grocery bills, higher insurance costs, increased household expenses and energy prices far above what families can afford. For thos…

I am supporting this motion calling for the introduction of a €500 energy credit for households funded through a fair levy on data centres. As the Minister of State will know, ordinary workers and families continue to struggle with soaring bills while data centres consume almost a quarter of Ireland's electricity. They are driving up household energy bills while paying much lower relative rates than householders. This is shocking and something over which every Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TD, many of whom are fanatica…

This is Groundhog Day in terms of school transport. It is the same as last year. The only thing that has changed in the school transport system is the families affected. We are still inundated with emails from frustrated parents from Rathdrum to Kilmuckridge. Children who have always qualified have suddenly been refused tickets. Others received tickets but no service is available. In other cases, one sibling got a ticket while another sibling attending the same school did not, so the parent drives behind the bus. W…

Irish author Emma Donoghue stated, "They are robbing us in hopes of replacing us." That is a shocking statement. Irish artists, writers, musicians, actors, composers and performers are being ripped off by big tech billionaires through plagiarism or, to give it the proper term, theft. Their copyrighted creative work is being used to train AI systems to spew out "art" without the consent of the creators and in many cases without any remuneration whatsoever. The life's work of artists is being fed into systems that ge…

I highlight the serious case of a ten-year-old called Poppy, whose experience is a compelling example of a wider service failure for children in my constituency of Wicklow-Wexford, which covers south Wicklow and north Wexford. Poppy has complex feeding difficulties and has been referred between the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, the children's disability network team, or CDNT, primary care and the complex feeding clinic for over three years. Despite CAMHS advice that Poppy needs specialist diet…

In north Wexford and south Wicklow, if a child needs specialist care, say, in the area of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, OT, speech and language, psychology or with a dietitian, if they are in desperate need, what procedures are in place if the necessary specialist intervention is not available due to staffing shortages? Does the HSE consider it acceptable that children remain without these services? If they are unavailable, is there an emergency plan B to deal with desperate cases like these? There are many …

We welcome additional funding for the post office service. Sinn Féin has committed to major investment in the post office network as part of our alternative budget. Communities across counties Wexford and Wicklow have had to endure many post office closures over recent years, with 11 closing in Wexford in 2018 and five local communities in Wicklow losing their services or seeing them consolidated. Each of those closures represents a major loss of an essential community service. It is a huge blow to rural Ireland. T…

Many Irish people have mixed emotions on the European project. It is a love-hate relationship of sorts. I spoke in the European Parliament recently as part of the Erasmus programme. I certainly love the element of mutual co-operation and cultural exchange with countries with which we have had links since the time of the monks shining a light into the dark Continent. However, many people dislike the increasing militarisation of a federal superstate that appears to prioritise the interests of corporations over commun…

Once again there is a crisis for families and primary school children in Counties Wicklow and Wexford and across the State. From Bunclody right up to An Bhearn Dearg, from Rathdrum to Kilmuckridge, children are waiting not months but years to have their teeth checked and attended to. My background is in primary school teaching and half of children at primary school level are not receiving dental screening appointments, something that was standard 50 years ago when this country was supposed to have been poor. More t…

When will the long overdue emergency funding for rural roads in Wicklow and Wexford be delivered? The Tánaiste may have driven on some in the south-west of Wicklow. It is absolutely disgraceful that we are now in June, in the middle of a dry period, when it is perfect to do works. We have waited since November, when Storm Claudia struck. Wicklow County Council sought between €15 million and €20 million and Wexford sought a similar amount. These counties have historically had the worst rural roads in Ireland. I have…

I visited the new data centre in Clondalkin last month at the invitation of Echelon which is installing two centres outside Arklow. I heard extraordinary and fantastical claims of the benefits in terms of employment and income for Arklow and the wider area. We shall see about that. Even if I was to believe it all, once the plant is operational the benefits to the community of Arklow and south Wicklow in local employment may be minimal. I am sure their electricity will not be any cheaper. On my visit, I stressed tha…

Can the Minister imagine being an Irish person who had been farming their land for hundreds of years when violent, entitled, deluded thieves from Brooklyn, New York, Ukraine or Russia crossed the world, having decided they wanted to come to her community to terrorise her off her land, set dogs on her sheep, raze her ancestors’ olive groves to the ground, rob her farm at gunpoint and then want to trade its fruit with us here in Ireland? Ireland knows about dispossession better than anyone. Trading with the occupied …

Ireland does not need their blood money nor their services. We are better than that.

Many may be fixated on upskilling in AI but Ireland is at crisis in another way, with the lack of practical skills. There are shortages in a whole range of craft areas, with a lack of builders, the lack of upskilling and training in building or construction, including plastering, plumbing, retrofitting, electrical services, carpentry and I could go on. These are all practical skills we desperately need. Unfortunately, Ireland moved away from this as a society. We started to look down our noses at training and appre…

Scaremongering.

I once more raise the case of a young Arklow Gaelscoil teacher, Eímear Byrne, with the Minister of State and the Government. As the Minister of State knows, Eímear urgently needs life-saving treatment in the US that costs €600,000. Recently, Eímear received devastating news. Doctors discovered three more aneurysms and she now needs a third open-heart surgery procedure. This one is even more complex and urgent, so time is critical and the family and the community of south Wicklow need and want the Government to inte…

With respect, that is very similar to a stock answer the family has been given over the past few months. I will not accept the answer and I know Eímear, her family and the community in south Wicklow will not accept this answer from the Government or the Department. It is a stock answer and it is simply not good enough. This involves tiny money. The Minister of State said I referenced the EU and the EEA. I did not. I know that the treatment abroad scheme has certain confinement. What I am talking about is the except…

Across Ireland, we can see the absence of a lot of wildlife, nature and biodiversity that was commonplace when we were all growing up or even 20 years ago. Rivers that were teeming with fish are now polluted and butterflies are a rare occurrence. We are witnessing the destruction of natural habitats. The warning signs are there and clear for everybody to see. One third of Ireland’s 99 bee species, the main pollinators of all plant life, are now threatened with extinction. I pay a particular tribute to the Irish bee…

I ask the Minister of State to address the shocking case of a self-employed couple in Coolboy near the Wicklow-Wexford border, Ciarán and Jessie Redmond, and their two daughters Kendall and Chanelle. Chanelle has recently been diagnosed with leukaemia. Her father, Ciarán, a Gorey man, has been forced to give up his work as a painter and decorator to care for her. As they battle one unimaginable crisis, another has now emerged: homelessness. Their landlord is selling the house, as is their right. However, the Govern…