If this was a real roadmap for living with Covid, I am afraid we would be turning into dead end after dead end when it comes to people seeking supports for mental health. I am a member of the Special Committee on Covid-19 Response. I listened to expert after expert tell the committee that we are facing an avalanche of mental health issues. The experts stated that mental health services that were already out of date and not fit for purpose prior to Covid were facing unprecedented demands on their services. The many …

In an act of wanton vandalism on our revolutionary history, No. 40 Herbert Park, home of the 1916 leader, The O'Rahilly was demolished yesterday. The house was built in 1907 and The O'Rahilly, the only 1916 leader to die in battle, was the first occupant of the property. His widow Nancy lived here until her death in the 1960s. In 1913 The O'Rahilly became one of the founding members of the Irish Volunteers. He was in charge of the first major arming of Irish Volunteers from a consignment of German rifles and ammuni…

I thank the Minister of State for what was a very complicated and convoluted response, although I am sure it is factually correct. However, I do not think the developer would have had a look at all that kind of stuff before he went in yesterday and bulldozed No. 40 Herbert Park. This was an act of sheer corporate greed, the like of which will destroy Irish history and heritage in this city if it is allowed to go on. The developer had blocked Dublin City Council from visiting the site despite two letters asking to v…

In some ways, this Bill is just a dotting of i's and crossing of t's the Government might regard as a necessary function. However, current members of the Defence Forces have a different opinion of what they deem is necessary. The level of pay is so bad that members of the Defence Forces are forced to apply for the working family payment. The fact that the State supplements wages through the working family payment is an acknowledgement by it that they are underpaid. There are also those within the Defence Forces who…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges: — the number of Community Gardaí across the State has fallen from 1,182 in 2010 to 710 in July 2020, with a drop in Community Garda numbers in the Dublin Metropolitan Region decreasing by 45 per cent from 508 in 2010 to 278 in July 2020; — the number of Gardaí assigned to the Dublin Metropolitan Region in August 2020 at 4,059 remains below 2010 figures at 4,160; — that the Programme for Government makes a commitment to ‘prioritise visible policing in both rural and urban com…

I thank Deputies from all sides of the House for their contributions to the debate on this motion. It has been a worthwhile discussion and there is a general consensus that there is a problem which must be addressed. I am disappointed but not surprised that the Government does not propose to support the motion. I have gone out and met people in my constituency who are experiencing these problems. The people I spoke to gave me a different take from what my constituency colleague, Deputy Higgins, has presented. I wil…

Covid-19 has impacted every organisation across the country, and none more so than those in the community and voluntary sector. These are vital for building resilience in our communities. How many organisations applied to the community and voluntary stability fund? How many applications were successful and what was the application process?

All funding is welcome and it is good to see a few organisations in my own area that were beneficiaries of the fund. Talking to people in the Lucan and Clondalkin area who applied, it was my understanding that a limited timeframe was set for the first tranche that was rolled out in June. The application process was difficult and cumbersome. Community organisations could not access the relevant details that they were required to submit because they could not access the community buildings because of the restrictions…

I have met community organisations across the Clondalkin and Lucan areas. They are crying out for financial support that is continuous, structured and applicant-friendly. Community organisations are at the heart of our communities. They put the community in our communities. The reality is that many of our community organisations are historically self-sufficient. The traditional avenues of funding such as renting rooms, holding meetings or having cafés, as mentioned by my colleague, Teachta Paul Donnelly, have compl…

As alluded to by my colleague, we are all aware of the nightly onslaught of fireworks in our communities and would have received the document I have in my hand from Dogs Trust Ireland in that regard. I will read out a couple of testimonies. One states: Nothing works for my pup. She is petrified and we have people setting off bangers randomly so you can’t prepare for them. My dog has been hearing them since August in the distance. [I] can't [get him to] walk in the park [because] he's too fearful. Safety in our comm…

I want to draw the Minister's attention to the increase in the misuse of fireworks across Dublin. If the Minister stayed in Dublin in recent nights I probably would not have to bring this to her notice because it is quite visible. What resources are in place to deal with such a rise and what powers has An Garda Síochána to combat this rise? It is having a huge and detrimental impact on our communities.

It is only necessary to walk through parts of Dublin at night to witness the very visible misuse of fireworks within our communities. A constant barrage of flashing lights and noises is making our communities seem to be in a state of lawlessness. Elderly residents are living in fear and are afraid to leave their homes. Shopkeepers and local businesses are fearful for their staff and customers because fireworks are being aimed at them or into their premises. Bus routes have also been curtailed, which has resulted in…

I live in one of these communities and my impression is that the Garda is not visible when this is happening. I will give a few examples. A newborn baby had a lucky escape last weekend, after somebody posted a banger through a letter box in Palmerstown. Customers in parts of Clondalkin and Lucan are afraid to use their local shops. People will also not walk their dogs because of the distress that the noise is causing to their pets. I met with residents in Rathcoole recently, and they reported an increase in this ty…

As this is my first time addressing Deputy Butler in her capacity as Minister of State responsible for mental health and older people, I congratulate her on her appointment. As Sinn Féin spokesperson on mental health, I look forward to working with her in a spirit of constructive, genuinely solution-focused, tangible opposition. For too long, mental health has been the Cinderella of the health service. We need parity of esteem between mental health and physical health. In June of this year, the former Minister fina…

I wish the Minister well in his new role but he will not be surprised to hear me raising the issue of mental health once again. It was announced last week with great fanfare that over €5 million was secured for student mental health supports in institutions of higher education nationwide. While any additional funding for mental health support is welcome, it is worth noting that this is not all new money. Approximately €2 million of this funding is old money and was promised by the Minister's predecessor in 2019. Ac…

I am in the cheap seats at the back. The Government has decided to defer the issue of the pension age and commission a review. Before the review of the commission on pensions is completed, will a person be entitled to a State pension when he or she turns 66?

I thank the Minister. Let us be honest. The Government has kicked the issue of the pension age down the road. It became such a hot potato during the February election that neither Fine Gael nor its coalition partners could handle it. Fianna Fáil flip-flopped on increasing the pension age to 67, while Fine Gael, as we heard a few moments ago, wanted to cobble together an idea for an early retirement allowance, which would have hit people in the pocket by up to €2,000 a year. There was no consensus from the Governmen…

From personal experience, I have a different view on the matter. I would like to tell the Minister about my father, who started work at the age of 12, having left school very early, as was par for the course back then. He joined the Defence Forces at the age of 17 and served the State for 25 years, both here and abroad. He then, ironically, started working for the Department with responsibility for social protection, which he worked for up to the age of 65, when he retired last April. After spending 53 years workin…

There are many holes in the Bill - more than in a sieve. What will leak out of this sieve is families into homelessness. In my area of Dublin Mid-West, good tenants have entered homelessness through absolutely no fault of their own. We need to protect families. The ban on evictions, notices to quit and rent increases that was introduced last March protected families and led to a significant drop in the number of families becoming homeless. Thanks to the ban, fewer children have had to move out of safe and secure ho…

I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on her election and appointment yesterday. More than 14 years after A Vision for Change was published, Ireland finds itself in the middle of a pandemic that is expected to place additional demands on already overstretched mental health services. We have many mental health challenges ahead of us and I was a bit disappointed not to hear any mention of mental health in the Minister's speech. Pre Covid, never mind post Covid, we had long waiting lists to access care, limited out…