I thank Deputy Daly and Professor Ian Marder of the criminology department in Maynooth University, who helped us to draft the Bill initially. We introduced the Criminal Justice (Promotion of Restorative Justice) (Amendment) Bill 2023 in December 2023. It fulfils several objectives for the State, the victims of crime and alleged perpetrators. If enacted, I strongly believe it will be of benefit to victims of crime, perpetrators and the wider community. Restorative justice involves a dialogue taking place between the…

For too long, survivors have had to fight to be heard. Since 2009, I have known and worked with courageous men who were the victims of sexual abuse at Creagh Lane school in Limerick. I met some of them again yesterday. The way they have been treated is frankly appalling. They have been on a very long journey to justice. Unfortunately, that journey has yet to be concluded. These men were failed terribly by the State. It is important that while we discuss this issue, we do not lose sight of just how evil these crimes…

For the past number of weeks or months we have had Ministers saying they will not do a cost-of-living package. They have evaded the question every time they have been asked. When we heard about the plan from the Government to increase fees by €1,000, the Minister can imagine our shock. It shows exactly how out of touch the Government can be, because there is a cost-of-living crisis. I do not have to tell the Minister that. I spoke to many of the students outside the door earlier today, but I speak to them all the t…

Fittingly, the all-island strategic rail review contains 32 recommendations across six headings. I welcome the all-Ireland nature of the document and its commitment to increasing rail coverage across the island. I commute to Leinster House most weeks on the Dublin to Limerick train. I acknowledge the staff who service Colbert Station in Limerick city on this route. They are always friendly, approachable and very informative. However, there are significant gaps in railway coverage and a lack of regional balance on t…

No disrespect to the Minister of State but I am really disappointed that nobody from the Department of justice is present. This is a really important issue as my colleague has outlined. I will preface my comments by saying the Government really needs to intervene here. It needs to commit to a fully resourced Garda operation targeting drug dealing and feuding in order that hardworking people in Limerick feel safe and secure in their homes, which some of them do not feel at the moment. Many people are extremely frigh…

I was really disappointed with the Minister of State's response. There was nothing new that we did not know about before we came in here tonight. It pains me when I talk about these issues in the city of Limerick that I love but it pains me more to see ordinary working families being abandoned by the State. In 2008, Limerick had 92 community gardaí; we now have 30. In 2008, John Fitzgerald commissioned a report which dealt with the policing regeneration programme. He said we needed 100 extra gardaí and a new superi…

They are not there yet.

That is not true. It is down 5% in the last five years.

It is wrong.

My colleague mentioned the pilot project, namely the community access support team, CAST, initiative that was launched in Limerick last October and commenced in January. The Minister of State was there at the launch. Like most things pertaining to mental health, the launch of the programme came two and a half years after we were advised it would commence. However, we got there in the end and in its short time in operation, the project has been successful. It involves a combined Garda and HSE support group that assi…

We are in a housing emergency. This is an ongoing crisis that this and previous Governments have failed to come to grips with. They have not even acknowledged the scale of the crisis they have delivered to us. Later this evening we will debate a motion on the huge number of vacant council homes that lie derelict, but this crisis extends far beyond that. Renters face extremely high rents of €2,405 per month, on average, in my home city of Limerick. Those in the market to purchase a house in Limerick can expect to pa…

The Minister of State and I both come from the Limerick City constituency. Before I came to the Chamber, I listened in my office to what he said. I was surprised. As he knows, we officially have 220 boarded-up council houses, of which 62, or 28%, have been boarded up for more than a year. He knows that because he has seen it. Across the city, Ballynanty, Kileely, Thomondgate, Moyross and Southill all have boarded-up houses. Those 220 homes should have families living in them. They are lying empty while children gro…

I raise the issue of criminal gangs in Limerick, which I have previously raised on a number of occasions. There is an ongoing feud in the Ballinacurra-Weston area on the southside of the city. We also have an ongoing issue in the King's Island area. In fairness to the Government, it has in the past put resources into the King's Island area under Operation Cobalt, Operation Croí and other operations. Unfortunately, those operations have finished. I understand the resources from King's Island have been transferred to…

Ensuring that every child can achieve their full potential is the ethos that should drive everything we do in terms of education. Economic background, social class, or financial resources should not be impediments to the success of any child in our education system. They say it takes a village to raise a child but it is also true that it takes the full community to educate a child. In mid-April I attended a research report launch for The Sky is the Limit at Corpus Christi National School in the north side of Limeri…

That was you. You were in the previous government.

I extend my solidarity to the Palestinian people. Israel has imposed a blockade across the occupied Palestinian territories, using the most brutal military tactics, and murdered tens of thousands of people. This is particularly true in Gaza where, over the past 19 months, there has been a systematic campaign of murder, forced displacement, attacks on health centres, the arbitrary detention of thousands of people, which has been a near-daily occurrence, and many actions that clearly constitute a genocide. Since the …

This is a Bill that my party and I will be supporting. I am a proud member of SIPTU and have been for a number of years. The aims of the Bill are sound and seek to provide a legal basis for trade union recognition by employers where 20% of employees are members of a union. In the 21st century, it is appalling that not every worker has fair representation, dignity and the ability to engage in collective bargaining. The Bill is incredibly important, particularly as the current Government made no mention in the progra…

It has been said that education is the most important weapon you can use to change the world for the better. In a changing and more complex world to navigate this has never been truer. For our further and higher education institutions to enable economic growth, they must be supported. The programme for Government commits to ongoing investment in these institutions to deliver sustainable economic growth, but we have yet to see that ambition matched with delivery. The Government seems not to realise the scale of the …

There is a housing emergency in this State. Whatever way the Government tries to spin it, that is what we have. Whether someone is a house buyer, renter or waiting on the council to provide a house, he or she will find they face a challenging and often very long course. Limerick has seen rents increase by an astonishing 75% since 2020 and house purchase prices have increased by 44% since 2019. Many people have been on council housing waiting lists in excess of seven years. Indeed, the average house price now stands…

As my colleague said, these questions focus on when we can see a review. Does the Minister have any idea when the draft review will be done? When will the review be completed? Shannon Airport is one of the regional airports we will be championing. As the Minister knows, Shannon Airport is the gateway to the Wild Atlantic Way. It serves the mid-west region. As we have said in the past, it is the fulcrum of the prosperity that is in the area, and thousands of people are dependent on Shannon Airport. It is a fantastic…