Speeches: 13 May 2026

Our amendment would flip the burden essentially.

This issue is an issue that evokes deeply held and personal views across Irish society and it's important that we approach it with sensitivity, compassion and respect for differing opinions.

The criminalisation is an absolute disgrace.

We're bending over backwards and we're displacing fishers and we're bullying and threatening them in the courts to the extent that they're fearful that they may lose their houses.

We know we have to reach our targets, but the way we're going about it is simply wrong and we must take into consideration the communities that are down there.

Flexibility is the cheapest way to address security of supply, the cheapest way to bring down generation costs, because you don't need it, and the cheapest way to increase resilience and decarbonisation.

Women deserve compassionate, timely, evidenced-based healthcare. Not stigma. Not shame. Not barriers. Healthcare.

The reality is our childcare system is broken, but instead of reforming it, you want to continue with business as usual.

The words really do matter and this Bill has raised significant both legal but operational concerns and I have to bring those concerns to the House.

Removing the application of section 15 from designated projects or programs just simply removes one avenue for potential additional review.

What country allows the export of alumina to Russia's war machine and says we stand with Ukraine?

Parties opposing this tonight, and politicians individually, you favour forced birth, because you're basically saying that anyone who's pregnant, outside of the strict criteria that exist, should just be forced to continue that.

Buying four helicopters is great but if they can't do the job that we want of them what good are they?

This waiting period does not provide care. It does not provide support. It does not make the service safer.

[...] if we're talking about trying to reduce the number of people taking up smoking, it is a gateway to smoking, and flavoured vapes, in my view, is one way that that's facilitated.

Ireland is not just above or below the line, it is simply off the chart in terms of digitalisation of our health service.

Something has got to be done because it's causing problems, and I would ask the Department to look at that.

The Habitats Directive is blocking progress on any building jobs around this country, be it road, be it sewer, be it water, be it airports, be it ports or whatever.

People are dying on our roads we are one of the only states in Europe that are going backwards in relation to road safety.

For my part anyway Kerry has been starved for the need of an awful lot of infrastructure.

Road safety and health is the real thing that must be addressed, one way or another.

I believe they have a right to live and I don't think to wait three more days and to give the mother a chance to reflect... I don't think it's too long to wait.

This is highly insulting to the excellent reputable Irish companies who are producing these modular homes and if they only knew what they're talking about.

After years of service, CMPs still await proper recognition, regulation and workforce planning for their essential role.

So when we put the resources in to combating deaths on our roads and to improving road safety, they actually do work.

This continues to be a major disappointment to the people of Fomoy and the Blackwater region, given that the site would appear to be a perfectly suited site for investment.

Taoiseach you're supposed to be in charge so take charge.

With that evidence before us, I cannot fathom how any party would seek to abolish such a life-saving provision.

This assessment is scientifically untrue.

After 12 weeks, pregnant women in Ireland are still treated as vessels with no right to bodily autonomy, even though the fetus won't be viable for months.

Doesn't this just make the case for full sanctions on Israel, no trade with this apartheid and genocidal state, which is contained in our bill which will be debated tomorrow?

All of this is an act of mass distraction from what? From the horrendous conditions that people in Dublin Central, many of them, are forced to face every day.

I'm making this speech to warn anyone who's watching that what we're experiencing right now is a key moment of corporate takeover.

But I am of the view that all children born and unborn have a fundamental right to life.

Cameras catch offenders. They do not build footpaths.

My choice is my choice, but I support everyone on their choices and that's what we all should do.

We have a limited amount of Gardaí in this country, so we need to use technology to help them.

We are debating whether the state should remove one of the last remaining safeguards before deliberation of ending an unborn human life.

So I just want to put it on the record of this House that this bill will not advance big public transport projects. This bill undermines and lessens the chance that they will get planning permission and particularly strengthens the case of those who want to judicially review them for their own personal reasons.

I want to say that a pay has been mentioned and the pay needs to reflect the value we put on our Gardaí and if we pay them well people will want to join and it will deal with the numbers issue.

A new model or system in relation to the establishment of special classes is needed now.

A child cannot be brought back and it also can lead to a lifetime of regret for the mother.

They don't want your empathy, they want you to legislate, they want you to make sure that no other woman has to do that, that no other woman has to make the incredibly difficult decision with her family to terminate a baby that is wanted, a baby that is loved.