Victor Boyhan spoke in Seanad Éireann, thanking Senator Lynn Ruane for sharing her lived experience of addiction and urging publication of the Local Democracy Task Force final report before the summer recess. He asked the Leader to facilitate a letter to Minister Cummins and Principal Minister James Brown to clarify the government's timetable.
Tribute to a colleague
Victor Boyhan opens by thanking Senator Lynn Ruane for her personal contribution on addiction and for bringing lived experience into parliamentary debate. He emphasizes the intimacy of the Seanad as a chamber and the strength that vulnerability and authenticity bring to political life.
Local government and funding
Boyhan links the day's debate to the broader issue of local government funding and reform, arguing that Ireland currently has, at best, local administration rather than a full local government model like other European states. He references the Chamber of Commerce Local Democracy Task Force consultation submission from August 2025 as part of the context for the discussion.
Request to the Leader
He asks the Leader to facilitate a letter of communication with Minister Cummins and Principal Minister James Brown asking when the government will publish the task force's final report and recommendations. He is clear that councillors of all parties now expect the report and that publication before the summer recess would be timely and important.
Why timing matters
Boyhan frames the request as a practical step to give clarity to councillors and local representatives who need core funding and a clear reform timetable. The speech underlines the connection between personal testimony in the Seanad and concrete parliamentary actions on local governance.
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Thank you, Comhairleach. Well, firstly, I want to thank Senator Lynne Ruan for her contribution here today in relation to her own experience and that of her friends and colleagues and associates in relation to addiction. That is one of the great things about Seanad Éireann, is the intimacy of this place as a chamber and how each and every member on all sides of this House brings to their work in the Seanad and their parliamentary work about their personal experience. And I think there's nothing to beat personal experience, the lived experience. And I want to acknowledge and again thank Lynne for sharing. It's never easy to talk about your own personal sets of circumstances. Politicians are great at talking about everybody else and the problem here, there and yonder. But when it comes right to the very person, to the very core of the person, it exposes a vulnerability about you. And when we're vulnerable, I think we're at our strongest. I really believe that. And I think that's important. And that authenticity makes us real and makes us connect emotionally. I think that's a really, really important thing. Few people have that gift and you are one of them, Lynne. And I want to thank you for that. And I want to thank you for that openness that you bring and that empathy about your own life experience in your parliamentary business. It makes you a very special person. And I'm so glad, and I think we all are, that you are a member of this diverse house. Because that's the other great thing, we're diverse. Leader, I only want one question to ask you. Tonight there will be a very interesting private member's motion before us, which I don't intend to go into now, in the name of Fianna Fáil, and I welcome that healthy debate about it. But it did occur to me coming up the stairs, it all goes back to that issue of funding, core funding for local government. We have in this country, at best, local administration. We do not have a comprehensive local government model that we have across Europe. So today I looked at the Chamber of Commerce Local Democracy Task Force consultation, their submission, which was August 2025. And I would ask you, Leader, if you could facilitate a letter of communication with Minister Cummins and the Principal Minister, James Brown, in relation to when it is the government's intention to publish the local government task force final report and recommendations. I would ask that that would happen before the summer recess. I think it's important. And I finish on this, the councillors of all parties and none now expect its publication. And I think it's timely, essential and important. And I would ask if you could facilitate just the request. That's all I'm asking. Thanks.
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