Confidence in the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade: Motion
Dail Éireann — 2025-10-15
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Conor Sheehan (LAB), Limerick City

----- in August of this year. I was struck by her strength and her determination to get the answers she needs in order for her and her poor husband to have closure. We need accountability. The public inquiry into this must be wide enough. It must be statutory. It must get the parents the answers and the children the treatment they need. Accountability starts with political accountability and it starts here. I have no confidence in this Government. It is a hollow husk of a Government that offers the people of Ireland little hope.
I got to know Orlaith Maher-Lalor and her daughter Caoimhe, who has spina bifida, in my constituency very well in recent months. I was shocked and horrified by the way Caoimhe was dumped by CHI when she turned 18 in the middle of a healthcare crisis with no proper transition to adult care. CHI waited for her to age out because her case was too complicated. She is a wheelchair user and she has multiple complex health programmes. This Government has little to offer people - nothing, in fact - unless they are a property developer or happen to own a big American fast food chain. Instead, all this Government offers young people, people my age in particular, is a rent hike, a hike in college fees, a chance to emigrate or maybe a tiny, expensive and dark build-to-rent apartment.

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Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:13+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-10-15