Will the Government abolish the USC?

The Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, is in New York. He does not need to take a bite out of the Big Apple at this moment in time. He needs to be back here. He needs to be in this Dáil tomorrow to make a statement and take questions about the spinal surgery scandal.

More than 100 families on the north side of Cork city were told yesterday they will have to wait until at least next year for early learning and crèche places to be put in place for their children at the old Before 5 family centre in Churchfield. The fault lies not with the company taking over the running of the services on the Churchfield site following the liquidation of Before 5; it lies with the Minister's Government for failing to take preschools under the control of the Department of Education. By failing to …

There have been ten ECB interest hikes. It has gone from 0% to 4.5%. Before this latest increase, some 20% of mortgage holders are estimated to lose €3,000 this year. A further 20% are estimated to lose €5,700 a year. Mortgage holders are being put on a rack and stretched. At the same time the banks make combined profits of more than €5 billion. This Government has refused temporary mortgage interest relief to date and reduced the banking levy last year. The motion proposes that this should be reversed. I support t…

The Before 5 Family Centre in Churchfield, Cork, closed at the end of August and went into liquidation. The centre provided preschool, crèche facilities, after-school and homework facilities, play therapy and adult courses. Approximately 170 children lost out as a result of the closure. More than 100 families were affected and 14 workers, some of whom have been there for 28 years and made a valuable contribution to society, lost their jobs. Earlier today, I had an exchange with the Minister for Children, Equality, …

The key sentences in the Minister of State's reply are, "However, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth does not own or operate early learning and childcare services. These services are privately operated." In reality, the Minister of State is saying we have a significant crisis on the northside of Cork, 100 families have been left without childcare, people are trying to manage this situation, hold down jobs and cannot get into other childcare facilities, and the State does not tak…

More than 700 people attended a public meeting in Navan last night on the closure of Tara Mines. It is fair to say the miners and the people at that meeting have not seen much evidence of a social dialogue. Some 650 jobs have been put on ice and no say for the workers. The mine is shuttered with no date for a restart and no say for the workers. During the pandemic this employer said those workers were essential. Three years later, it says they are dispensable, at least for the rest of the year. The Government shoul…

Deputy Smith can have much time as she wants.

I wish to speak in support of the Health (Termination of Pregnancy Services) (Safe Access Zones) Bill 2023. The Bill needs to be seen in the context that there is related legislation. I refer to the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) (Amendment) Bill 2023, the Second Stage of which was taken on 31 May. The latter Bill would allow access for people who struggle to get access at the moment. Safe access and access go together. The Bill before the House should not be seen as a stand-alone measure. I will b…

I support this motion, which outlines well the housing crisis and its impact on the people. The provision of social housing is a key part of the solution to the crisis. Social housing must be quality housing and when the State is a landlord it must be an exemplary one. This is not always the case and it is certainly not always the case in Cork city. I want to bring to the attention of the Dáil the case of the Noonan's Road flats in Cork city. There are 60 units in these flats. The vast majority are occupied by Cork…

Jenin in July 2023 needs to be added to the list of the Israeli state's war crimes. At least 12 Palestinians were killed, at least 100 were hospitalised and 3,000 people were evacuated. The Israel Defense Forces may have withdrawn but Netanyahu holds out the threat of more, stating: "I can say that our extensive activity in Jenin is not a one-time operation". The US Administration has defended the right of the Israeli state to carry out murderous raids of this kind. It is precisely those forces that arm the Israeli…

As the Taoiseach knows, library workers have been subjected to a campaign of harassment and intimidation in recent months by far-right activists who are objecting to books on LGBTQ+ sexuality. Nowhere has this been more the case than in Cork city. Library staff have been subjected to abuse, have had "paedophile" slurs hurled against them, and have been filmed against their wishes. The film was put up online. This Friday, these workers will march from Cork City Library to Cork City Hall with their union, Fórsa, othe…

A constituent of mine recently received correspondence from Cork University Hospital informing him that he had been placed on a waiting list for cataract surgery. He rang the eye department at the hospital to ask what date he had been given for this surgery. The lady on the other end of the line gave him the date. She said it will be in July 2031. My constituent is 82 years of age. He said that that might be a bit of a problem. He said he would probably be in the departure lounge at that stage. The woman then asked…

The State will have a hard job collecting the television licence fee in 2023. People are asking where the money goes to. They have seen €345,000 in secret payments for Ryan Tubridy, and nearly €250,000 going on Irish Rugby Football Union, IRFU, Rugby World Cup tickets for corporate clients and so on. In the best of times, the television licence was always a regressive tax in that the rich man or woman pays as much as the poor man or woman. No grounds of inability to pay are considered, for example, and in the best …

I understand that the European Council will again be discussing migration and there are some points on this subject I want to bring to the attention of the House. Some residents of the direct provision centre at the Kinsale Road in Cork have recently received correspondence from International Protection Accommodation Services, IPAS, stating that they are to be transferred to a disused Army camp in County Wicklow. These residents are asylum seekers who have successfully applied for asylum. They now have their papers…

Cork’s first-ever trans pride march will take place through the city this Saturday. The march will assemble at 2 p.m. at the Cork City Library. It is a defiant choice of venue, given it has been the scene of anti-LGBTQ+ protests, including the ripping-up of books by far-right activists this year. This march is a protest. It is first and foremost a protest against the increase in hate crime against our trans community. One of the organisers of Saturday’s protest, Saoirse Mackin, told me today she knows more people w…

In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher banned teaching about gay relationships in schools. Thatcher's section 28 laws are infamous today, a symbol of darker times. However, is Rishi Sunak about to turn back the clock? According to The Observer , Sunak is now considering instructing teachers not to use a new name or pronoun at a pupil's request until parental consent has been obtained; instructing schools to inform parents if a young person seeks to change their name or starts wearing a different uniform; and instructing s…

I know why Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are voting to renew the Offences against the State Act. Both parties are long-time supporters of non-jury courts and a range of other repressive measures. The Green Party is voting against its declared principles. Nothing new there. What about Sinn Féin, though? The Sinn Féin justice spokesperson was, I believe, silent in his contribution about what way the party intended to vote if its amendment was voted down tomorrow night. It abstained on the issue last year. Is it going to …

I will speak to one issue only in the time available to me, namely, the crisis at Beaumont Residential Care in Cork. As has been said, we have 56 people who are residents of Beaumont Residential Care, who are there on the fair deal scheme and who are facing, to put it mildly, an uncertain and precarious situation. Not all of these residents, although many of them, are people who are frail, suffering from ill health and in some cases suffering from Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia. The first point about this …

Young people were to the fore in the protest at UCC this morning. That is not surprising. Young people have the most to lose from the militarisation of the world that the Government wants to join in with. Despite being pushed and dragged out the doors of UCC by gardaí, despite only one speaker out of 80 at this forum being from Generation Z, despite the tut-tutting in Oireachtas corridors from old baldies and greyheads, young people's voices will be heard. I see the Tánaiste is saying that their arguments were inco…