Speeches: 15 July 2026

Under your government, homelessness has, sadly, been normalised and evictions have continued apace, including mass evictions.

To ensure that Palestinian goods are not accidentally captured, we would prefer that the legislation makes clear that it bans goods that meet two criteria instead of just one.

There's only one way that this decision to close down the college makes any sense, and it's if, as an educationalist or a politician, you think, we've no need for humanities education anymore.

All of a sudden the rug is pulled from under you and you're told your jobs are gone, the college is gone.

It makes a mockery of a public consultation process when we know from the department because I've been engaging with them and indeed the Minister that there are over 900 submissions to this consultation process.

The topic is recruitment and retention of veterinary nurses.

Your hands aren't tied, you're sitting on them, there's a difference.

To allow that to continue for five years in my view is absolutely inexcusable and that is why on several occasions we have brought forward an amendment...simply says introduce a means test, be fair about this.

Skyclarys is not a cure but it offers something precious, more time with mobility, working, communicating and living independently.

Parents are not fundraisers for schools.

Interconnection is key across the European Union, absolutely key in terms of avoiding, first of all reducing dependency on fossil fuels and then avoiding the kind of crises that we have repeatedly if there's a war in a given part of the world and that leads to massive inflationary pressures as well as security of supply issues.

We cannot rely on people's goodwill in order to meet the health needs of people with intellectual disability.

In order to maintain the confidence of the public in the consolidation of cancer services, we really do need to deliver for them.

But unless we have the infrastructure right and the digital infrastructure right, we are going to be wasting money.

Taking veterinary work away from the qualified vets might sound like a good idea, but could end up in a situation where you will have less vets on the ground in rural Ireland to attend to sick animals, be they large, small or equine.

We have an obligation and responsibility to help people.

That free book scheme now has completely been undermined, 100%.

And the truth is, Minister, that you created this problem.

Poverty should not determine potential.

We agreed that to achieve its goals the European Union needs a budget that both protects existing successful policy areas while also providing for new areas of focus including security and innovation.

Too often participation in these activities depends not on the child's talent or interest, but on the ability of the parents to pay.

Irish water are totally out of control.

A child's education should never depend on their parents' ability to buy a digital device and no student should be disadvantaged because they cannot afford the device their school requires.

If you don't have the ability to get to the transports, to get people out of the area, then what happens is that you have to ensure that the services that are required to go to them are there.

I would caution against saying that we're okay on the capital side because there are areas of the state where we're not quite there yet.

I know we're a long way off from it in reality, but we shouldn't be legitimising the idea that parents should be forced into debt to fund their children's education.

It's going to mean thousands, tens of thousands of newly homeless people.

I'm not familiar with the background to it, if I'm honest, so therefore I can't comment in any great detail on it.

Every student should have access to the benefits of digital learning, regardless of their family's financial circumstances.

The ARP scheme was introduced as an emergency measure at a time of exceptional need, where the demand for accommodation for those seeking refuge from Ukraine outstripped the availability of accommodation.

The one thing for me would be to accelerate the development of infrastructure.

So under no circumstances can Ireland tolerate or countenance a reduction in CAP funding.

These workers and families are typically on low to middle incomes, but they're living in one of the richest countries in the world.

In the struggle to meet these costs, many households will turn to moneylenders because there's nowhere else to go, and pay penal interest rates in some cases to illegal moneylenders who are charging 50% plus in interest.

The scheme that was created was uneven, unfair and discriminatory for those seeking accommodation or housing.

A free education means free.

Uniforms are supposed to represent equality, but now they have become another financial burden on families who are already struggling with a cost of living crisis.