I welcome the establishment of this commission. It is very welcome and very long overdue. It is essential that this commission of investigation must be survivor-centred and the terms of reference must be comprehensive and drafted in consultation with the survivors and the representative organisations. Given that up to 300 allegations of sexual abuse in 32 schools in Cork were recorded during the scoping exercise, I suspect it is more. I have spoken to some of these survivors. I have known these survivors. Many have…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, for being here. It is much appreciated. I thank him and his Department for their engagement. I am speaking today on behalf of the residents of Castlemartyr, Mogeely, Midleton, Whitegate, Killeagh and Rathcormac to urgently implore the Government and Minister of State to initiate tranche 2 of the flood relief programme for these communities. These towns and villages have been repeatedly and severely impacted by flooding events that have devastated homes, livelihoods and e…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply, in which he stated, “Any flood relief scheme needs to map and understand the location and the flooding sources and constraints.” This is spot on, but I just want a preventative measure very fast. Land at Gleann Fia, the land next door to the site at Mogeely, owned by a farmer, can hold water, and there is an agreement in this regard. We can divert the water away from the timber houses. If there is a constraint that we can lift very fast, it will be a win for everybody. T…

Many Corkonians have happy memories of taking the train to Youghal on a summer day. The train might have 14 carriages but we would be lucky to get a seat on the train from Midleton. Sadly, the train service between Cork city and Youghal has not been in operation for almost 30 years, when passenger services were withdrawn. An online petition has received more than 6,000 signatures, which shows the hunger among the people of Youghal to have this train service back up and running. Irish Rail owns the land, and a space…

I came across a quote today that said a sane state did not wage war against civilians and did not kill babies as a hobby. That is a very strong statement. What has been happening, particularly in Gaza, over the past number of painful months has been atrocious. It makes me nervous that people in the western world - in the whole world - are looking at what is happening Gaza and war and death have been normalised. This shows that, while not all of us, a lot of people in this world have lost their souls and humanity. I…

Presidential voting rights for all citizens of Ireland have always been high on the agenda for Sinn Féin. We strongly believe all Irish citizens resident on the island of Ireland should have the right to vote in our presidential elections. The President represents all the people of Ireland and it is only right that all citizens on this island be allowed to vote for their first citizen, their Uachtarán. Successive polls have shown the majority of Irish people support voting rights in presidential elections being ext…

I ask for a copy of the Minister of State's opening speech. Nobody got a copy of it.

I wish the Minister of State the best of luck because, as I have always said, our fishing industry should be one of our greatest amenities and benefits to the State. I want to paint a picture of east Cork, where I am from, including Youghal, Goleen, Ballycotton, Cobh and the small ports in between of East Ferry, Whitegate and Aghada. I was struck by a piece on youghalonline.com in November 2024 which stated, referring to Youghal's lost fishing industry: Youghal, once a bustling fishing port, has seen its industry d…

I thank the Minister of State for his opening remarks. First, I commend the whistleblowers on this. I keep saying here that you get absolutely battered for helping people and telling the truth in this country. The Irish population is ageing and growing, which is associated with higher levels of ill health and greater demand on all types of health and social care services. This obviously poses great challenges but we in Sinn Féin believe we should see improved health as an opportunity as well as a challenge, celebra…

The housing crisis that the country is currently in the grips of is affecting entire communities, none more so than the communities I represent in east Cork. What was once known as a great region with welcoming towns, strong community spirit and national beauty is now grappling with the growing problem of the lack of social and affordable houses. As we speak, there are currently more than 300 empty council houses in County Cork, of which 100 have been vacant for more than two years. While these homes remain idle, t…

The Minister has heard from the speakers here tonight. This is absolutely bonkers. We are talking about dereliction and vacancy. I am going to relate two very brief stories. I am lucky enough to be able to walk the dogs every Sunday morning and when I do I pass two beautiful, three-bedroom semi-detached homes that have been vacant for over 12 months. They are probably still good enough to be turnkey but they are lying idle now and are going to rot and it is going to cost thousands to repair them. Prior to being a T…

I welcome the Minister of State back. I always shoot straight from the hip. I thank him for all the engagement. I am grateful for the engagement of Cork County Council and the municipal district council. He knows what I am going to bring up. It is Midleton again. The last time we were here, when he was Minister of State previously, I raised the Midleton northern relief road bridge final study, the CFRAM study, in October 2013. What was frightening about that was that it gave a detailed map and depths of the potenti…

More than 15,000 children are overdue their assessment of need. Approximately 1,000 of these are in my county, Cork. To make matters worse, parents in Cork are waiting up to 30 months for these assessments for their children. This is a far cry from the six months' waiting time required by law. In fact, more than 90% of assessments of need are completed outside of the legal time limit. It is absolutely bonkers. These delays are not just numbers. They represent real children who are missing out on critical early inte…

I thank the Minister of State for being here at this ungodly hour. I have recently been in contact with a number of dedicated school secretaries across my constituency of east Cork who are campaigning for their rightful access to public service pensions. Public service pensions are not just a benefit but a vital safeguard for workers' futures, providing security and dignity in later years. Public service status would see secretaries given access to the protections and pensions that come with this status and would e…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I got the same response, probably word for word, less than two hours ago in a reply to a parliamentary question. I cannot stress enough how much these issues need to be resolved. The last line in the response from the Minister for Education was: For those reasons, any proposals must be considered in detail by my own officials and those in the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform as the granting or otherwise of public servant status is not within t…

The lack of a proper road in Cobh has stifled plans for more than 1,300 council houses in the area. This is one of the reasons An Bord Pleanála gave for refusing an application by a company to move into the former IFI plant in Marino Point. We also have a massive tourism industry in Cobh, but our only bridge is the Belvelly Bridge. Under the current plans, we have heard it will be this way for at least ten years. It is dangerous for visitors travelling in and out of this tourist destination, but it is unbelievable …

I wish the Minister well in her position. We all get involved in politics because we want to do the right thing. I, too, acknowledge the wonderful staff in the health system, but this is about accountability and responsibility, both of which are lacking within CHI. I sometimes shudder when I listen to the words of CHI, and I will tell the Minister why. Katie Burke, who is now a young woman, has been waiting 14 years, seven months and five days for a hip operation. We were talking about unnecessary hip operations a …

We are back again. It is not easy to come in here and say what Deputy Brennan said, and I admire him for that. I think we all have our personal stories. Going back to age 16, I can remember my personal story. It was not easy either. It just goes to show that we are all normal in this House and we all have feelings. This motion is about not having confidence in CHI. It is as simple as that. I suspect that the majority if not all the parents of those kids who are affected are probably sitting on the same bench as us.…

I want to raise the issue of communication between Irish Water and elected representatives. I will read a statement outlining the situation of a constituent who contacted me last week. I was contacted by a resident of Ballyhooly in east Cork. This resident has a serious autoimmune disease called ulcerative colitis, a form of inflammatory bowel disease that makes proper hygiene essential for her. However, due to the ongoing water supply issue in the area, she cannot even wash a cup and is forced to spend 45 minutes …

All Members in the House today are very passionate about this issue. They all have their own personal stories of people who have lost loved ones. I thank my Sinn Féin colleagues for some very good contributions. We talking about a Bill that is not perfect - we have Second Stage debates to try to tweak legislation - but it is not merely a Bill; it is a lifeline for thousands of families. We often come in here and talk about doing the right thing. This is the right thing. As people say, you do not need a marriage cer…