There are policies that the Minister is certainly responsible for, but we sometimes also have to accept that people act in good faith. That is what I am saying. We should not rush to judgment against Tusla officials.
On prevailing side: this member voted with the winning side in 509 of 516 decisive votes (0 abstentions excluded). Read it as a government-or-opposition indicator rather than a measure of influence — the figure is near 100% for members supporting the government of the day and near 0% for those opposing it.
This is the point of the site: contributions keep the party held on the day, not the one held now.
| Party | Recorded as | Contributions | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| FF | Fianna Fáil | 19,180 | 2020-02-20 – 2026-09-30 |
Membership spells on record: FF 1989-06-15–1992-11-05 · FF 1992-11-25–1997-05-15 · FF 1997-06-06–2002-04-25 · FF 2002-05-17–2007-04-30 · FF 2007-05-24–2011-02-01 · FF 2011-02-25–2016-03-09 · FF 2016-03-10–2020-01-14 · FF 2020-02-08–2024-11-08 · FF 2024-11-29–present
There are policies that the Minister is certainly responsible for, but we sometimes also have to accept that people act in good faith. That is what I am saying. We should not rush to judgment against Tusla officials.
I do not know whether there is.
It is drawn to the attention of the authorities when there is an unaccompanied minor. They could be 17, 18, 19 or 20. They could be 15 or 14. I put it to the Deputy that people acted in good faith here and with the best intentions. What happened to that poor young child was horrific and shocking. There is no question about that. All I am simply saying is that the immediate rush to judgment and to attempt to blame is, I think, wrong. To respond to Deputy Mark Ward, I will talk to the Minister about Balgaddy. I think…
I did not congratulate. The Deputy used the phrase "congratulated". I never used the word "congratulated".
But why does the Deputy do that? Why-----
If Mick Clifford wrote an article, he did, but it needs to be informed and evidence-based.
I did not. This pejorative language, this attempt to label people, is a problem in the House. The left will condemn the far right and so on but it is not even prepared to allow people to have a discussion in the House on these issues. I think what they are doing is counterproductive, that is all I would say. I think it is counterproductive to shut down debate. I believe debate should be informed and evidence-based, but you cannot shut it down.
When we say these things, that is wrong. I have my values in respect of people and ethnic background.
That is all I am saying. I just think that there is too much of that going on. The Catherine Day report was based on the premise of 3,500 people coming in through the asylum programme on a yearly basis. That went up to 18,000 last year. It is down by close to 40% this year. There are issues around the asylum process. There is no point in saying there are not - there are. We have to have a robust and fair procedure. The acceleration of the first phase has happened and is happening. People are getting through the fir…
I suggest that the Deputy write to the Minister for justice on that as well in terms of the British context and what is happening there. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan raised the redress scheme. The Minister has indicated that work is under way in respect of that. I will ask the Minister to revert to the Deputy in respect of the survivors of the Stardust fire. A lot of progress was made on a redress scheme for the families and so on. We are now progressing further commitments in that regard. Regarding Deputy Boyd Barrett,…
Yes, please, and send a copy to the Minister for justice. I will liaise with the Minister and talk to him in respect of it. Deputy Conor McGuinness spoke about an over-reliance in routine policing and how a garda had not been seen in Portlaw. Visibility is improving. More and more gardaí are being recruited. The numbers applying are up significantly. The issue is now about how to get as many gardaí trained as quickly as we possibly can to get out there on the ground and to improve their visibility.
I propose to take questions Nos. 18 to 36, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on disability has been established to oversee the implementation of the programme for Government commitments in the area of disability, with specific focus on children's disability services as well as disability more generally under the Government's new National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030. Under the programme for Government, we are committed to delivering a step change in disability services and to advanci…
Which school?
We are about seven minutes over time, is it?
I will try to do what I can as quickly as I can.
No, I am conscious of others. Deputy Dempsey raised the issue of transition from child services to adult services and that there was an absence of early planning for that. She also made the comment that parents were told that therapies would not be available in transition. That is not acceptable and respite should not be withdrawn. In the disability unit that I have established, a key workstream will be planning and designing for the future. There should be proper data and proper early analysis of expected need for…
I will have that examined. That is something that we can certainly look at. I will talk to the Minister for Social Protection in relation to that.
Sorry. Again, I will talk to the Minister in respect of it. To be fair, this should be done at hospital level. It should be done properly through the clinicians properly engaging with the family and with the parents. There are liaison officers in CHI as well who should be-----
I will make the Minister aware of the case.
There are about ten projects now that you have all mentioned. I am good but-----