This motion comes at a critical time for workers in my constituency of Dublin Fingal West where transport pressures are at breaking point. My office receives emails on a daily basis from constituents who simply cannot get to work on time because buses and trains at peak hours are completely full. Workers are being left behind at stops through no fault of their own. I want to share the stories of some of my constituents who have contacted me directly recently. One told me: "Again the impact of not getting onto this …

Safeguarding in sport must be extended beyond child protection to include clear and enforceable adult safeguarding standards.

Given the increasing and well-evidenced recognition of abuse, coercive control and harassment experienced by adults across sporting environments, not only within elite levels of sports but within community clubs and local clubs, does the Minister of State accept that the continued absence of a mandatory adult safeguarding policy constitutes a serious gap in governance, accountability and participant protection? In light of the clear duty of care owed to all participants, how can the Minister for State justify the r…

The absence of robust safeguarding policies in many sports often comes to light by chance. However, even minimal scrutiny reveals that safeguarding is frequently treated as an afterthought for adults. It is only considered once something goes seriously wrong. When these situations arise, clubs are often ill-prepared to respond appropriately. Responsibility is often placed on ordinary volunteers and members, many of whom have no training or experience in dealing with domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, stalk…

Dereliction makes our towns look worse, damages local pride, drives footfall away from businesses and sends the message that neglect is tolerated. At a time of such acute public infrastructure needs, this is simply unacceptable. This Bill does not create a new tax. It asks only that the existing law be taken seriously and enforced properly. In my constituency of Dublin-Fingal West they deserve better than boarded-up streets and wasted land when solutions are sitting in plain sight. The constituency of Dublin-Fingal…

At the outset, this debate is not about opposing free trade, nor is it about pretending that Europe can insulate itself from a volatile global economy. In an era with political instability and the imposition of US tariffs on the European Union, international trade agreements matter. They are important and can be beneficial, but importance alone is not enough. When we examine the Mercosur deal, we have to ask whether it stands up to the values and obligations that Ireland and the wider European Union claim to uphold…

Today, the Labour Party is calling for the urgent adoption of a comprehensive public health approach to the decriminalisation of possession of drugs for personal use and the development of safer consumption spaces. I thank my party colleague, Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, for his work over the past number of years. I thank the Minister of State for not opposing this motion. The purpose of this motion is clear - to highlight the failure of Ireland’s current drugs policy, to see through the work of the citizens’ assembly and, m…

I welcome the announcement by the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, of €27.75 million for capital projects at Ireland’s publicly owned harbours under the 2025 fishery harbour centres and coastal infrastructure development programme. While welcome news for our coastal communities, the way this funding is being divided is far from equitable. To touch on a point just mentioned by Deputy McGuinness, let us talk about harbours. This year, €19.5 million, or the lion’s share, is going to just six Department-run fishery ha…

Will the Minister outline the details of the new RAPID programme announced in budget 2026? Communities have been eager to see renewed investment in their areas and clarity about how the programme will operate is really important. Will he outline the main features of the new scheme and indicate when he expects it to become fully operational?

The Minister outlined quite succinctly that the RAPID programme has been really important over the years in tackling disadvantage and dereliction and breathing life into new towns. The previous scheme made a real difference in places like Athy, where that targeted investment helped communities deal with deprivation and improve local facilities. As the Minister moves forward with the new RAPID programme announced two weeks ago, I urge him to make sure that towns like Athy and Newbridge in Kildare are again included.…

I am taking this question on behalf of my party colleague Deputy Mark Wall so I might as well use the opportunity to give my constituency a plug in the hope we can secure funding for local projects that make a difference. My hope is that the new RAPID scheme will be a funding model that will also allow smaller grassroots projects for local groups, volunteers and small-scale interventions to take place. They need State funding to keep this going. It is much appreciated.

I want to raise the case of a child in my constituency, Dublin Fingal West. She will be nine next month. I have permission from her parents to use her name, which is Willow. She was waiting for two years for an assessment for speech and language therapy. Thankfully, she has got the assessment and it has been confirmed that she needs speech and language therapy now. However, her parents have been told that it will be another two years before she can receive the speech and language therapy. That means that she will b…

I wish to address the ongoing issue of communication, or more accurately the lack thereof, from Bus Éireann with public representatives. Numerous emails from my office and from colleagues I have talked to have gone unanswered. In other cases, I was even asked to provide written consent from constituents confirming I had their permission to contact Bus Éireann on their behalf. I did exactly that, yet weeks later there has still been no response. The current Oireachtas communication line to Bus Éireann is wholly inef…

We are all aware that it is there because we all use it. However, what parents and public representatives need are results. We need a good communication channel and we need Bus Éireann to start replying to those emails. We need accountability in a system that works. It is simply not acceptable that elected representatives, who are trying to resolve issues for their constituents, are left for weeks without a basic response. It is not good governance, it is not transparency and it is certainly not respect for the pub…

I speak today on behalf of the constituents of Dublin Fingal West, dealing with the stress caused by their houses literally crumbling around them. Families did everything right. They saved, they waited for their homes to be built, took pride in their home and now they live in fear, with cracks going up the walls, through the floors and the ceilings yet the response from the Department is painfully slow. Its slowness to admit people to the scheme is beyond belief. Why the dragging out of the process, the endless wai…

The budget that was announced two weeks ago has revealed what this Government really thinks about Irish agriculture. Despite the pre-election promises, farming received barely a minute's mention across the two ministerial budget day speeches on 7 October. Within that silence, the story of the Irish tillage sector stands out as truly symbolic, a measure of neglect and a reflection of how disconnected Government policy has become from the reality on the ground. Despite the huge effort made by farming organisations, t…

Storm Éowyn exposed significant vulnerabilities in our national preparedness and recovery systems. Rural Irish communities endured prolonged power and communications outages while many small family-run farms were excluded from State supports due to restrictive eligibility criteria. We cannot continue to respond reactively to such crises. Will the Minister commit to developing and implementing a comprehensive resilience and recovery plan now to ensure rural and agricultural communities are protected when the next ma…

I appreciate the Minister’s response in regard to horticulture, but I want to return to the reality facing many small farmers after Storm Éowyn. These people are on modest incomes, with nothing in reserve, yet they are central to food production and rural life. Many of them suffered genuine damage, including polytunnels torn apart and crops lost, yet they could not insure those structures, nor did they qualify for many State supports. They were effectively left to rebuild on their own despite being among the most v…

I appreciate the support. I might, in the future, talk to the Minister about this outside the Chamber. I thank him.

Farmers are under pressure and families are struggling with food costs. Communities want to see more local produce on shelves. Is it not time we had a new joined-up national plan to make this happen?