2026-01-28

Eight days on, and the Taoiseach still ignores the calls for Larry Murrin to step down from his role as chair of Bord Bia. His position is untenable. There is a massive conflict of interests with him remaining in post, particularly as his company imports Brazilian beef into the Irish market. This is totally in conflict with the role of Bord Bia, which is to promote Irish food, including Irish beef. How long will the Taoiseach keep his head buried in the sand, ignoring farming organisations, parties across the Dáil and many of his own TDs? The Government appointed Mr. Murrin as chair of Bord Bia. It has the power to remove him from post. The more it dithers and delays, the more damage is done to the reputation of Bord Bia. When will the Government use the powers available to it and remove Mr. Murrin as chair of Bord Bia?

I would like the Deputy to outline the powers and the basis for what she said. I have never been one for witch hunts. Notwithstanding the issues, I just do not like them. Governments have to do things properly and have to behave properly and appropriately. In terms of individuals, I have no relationship or whatever with Mr. Murrin. However, Bord Bia has performed exceptionally well. In total, Irish beef exports to 70 countries have increased over the past five years by €890 million. That is from €2.2 billion in 2019 to €3.1 billion in 2024. That is an increase of 40% in beef exports, and we are in here looking for the head of the person who was the head of the organisation that has achieved that. We need to have perspective in our debates.

Farmers have perspective-----

I know, and farm organisations-----

-----as does everybody else.

Time is up.

We have to run organisations properly and effectively.

We will stick to the minute for each Member.

There has to be some balance.

I thank the Taoiseach.

The board met-----

The Taoiseach's time is up. It is Deputy Ivana Bacik's time now.

-----and it took a view.

Carers do incredible work out of love and in service to our State, but they continue to face penalties despite the invaluable work they do. I have heard heartbreaking testimony from carers across the State, overwhelmingly women, who are now living on the bread line after providing years of unpaid care. I want to raise a specific issue, namely pensions. I have heard from women carers who stepped outside the paid workforce to carry out care. They feel hoodwinked now because nobody explained to them their care-related credited contributions would not qualify for the contributory State pension. Having missed out on a salary during the period of care, they have also forfeited a pension. There is a 2024 recommendation from the joint committee on social protection to treat all care-related credited contributions as the same value as paid contributions in the context of pension eligibility. The Minister is here with the Taoiseach. I am looking for a response, if not immediately then perhaps from the Minister in writing. I will forward the specific query, which is an important one for carers.

As the Deputy knows, we have a significant set of objectives in the programme for Government that we wish to achieve. The most important of these is the removal of the income disregard and the means test. There are other measures as well. I will ask the Minister to respond to the Deputy on the specific issue she raised in respect of pension contributions.

Storm Chandra brought absolute chaos to parts of Dublin, Wexford and Wicklow yesterday. Homes and businesses were destroyed and there was commuter hell for thousands of people left sitting on the M1, the M50 and the N11 for four or five hours in traffic. The reality is that these storms are going to come more often and will be more severe. We need to be better prepared. The Minister for housing made an extraordinary accusation on Alan Corcoran's show on South East Radio this morning when he accused Met Éireann of guarding information and, essentially, withholding flood warning information about this storm event. Does the Taoiseach agree with the housing Minister that Met Éireann is guarding this information? If so, what is he going to do about it?

I did not hear that interview. The Deputy is correct to say that the severity and frequency of these storms is going to continue. Climate change is here now. We are investing in adaptation and mitigation efforts. We are contributing financially to that. We really need a debate on flood relief schemes in the context of getting them through the system. There is enormous consultation involved. Environmental considerations have to be taken into consideration. There is an absence of balance between the-----

Flood relief schemes have nothing to do with the traffic issues yesterday.

This is not a back-and-forth.

The Deputy raised the issue of storms. I want to make the point that we must protect life, property, businesses and the livelihoods of people. I would argue that, as a society, we have overdone it in terms of all the various consultations and so on that must take place to the detriment of getting flood relief schemes through local authorities and the planning process in a timely manner. The one in Enniscorthy was refused on the basis of the presence of the pearl mussel or whatever. That should not happen. The new legislation we are seeking to pass will deal with some of that, but it is an issue on which we need greater consensus across the House.

What about Met Éireann?

The Mayor of Budapest, my Green Party colleague Gergely Karácsony, is being prosecuted for holding a Pride parade in the city last June. As the Green Party spokesperson for foreign affairs, Councillor Janet Horner, has pointed out, Mayor Karácsony is facing a fine this time. Will he be facing jail the next time? In June, I and Irish MEPs joined the hundreds of thousands of Hungarians in standing against the efforts of Orbán's Government to stifle the freedom of speech that Pride represents. At what point does Orbán pass the tipping point? At what point do we recognise that his Government has gone beyond being conservative and very right wing and has actually become an authoritarian entity that is using the law to stifle freedom of speech? Prime Minister Orbán may well be here later this year as part of the events relating to the EU Presidency. Will the Taoiseach make his views about the value of freedom of speech, as represented by Pride, known to Mr. Orbán if he does come here?

I have made my views known to him on previous occasions. It is reprehensible behaviour. What is happening with the prosecution of the Mayor of Budapest for organising and participating in the Pride parade is unacceptable. I have made that consistently clear, both as foreign Minister and as Taoiseach, to Prime Minister Orbán, as have others. There are fundamental issues here, as an EU member state, in terms of upholding basic values. As part of his campaign to seek re-election, Prime Minister Orbán is attacking the European Union, seeking to undermine it, engaging in name-calling and so forth. There are serious issues that the EU will have to come to terms with at some stage.

All brands of salbutamol nebulisers currently covered under the medical card scheme are out of stock nationwide due to a manufacturing problem and issues with the supply chain. Therefore, pharmacists, through no fault of their own, have to come up with alternatives, namely the prescription of an unlicensed product that is not covered by the HSE and that is not reimbursable. That probably costs about €30. I am getting dozens of calls to my office about this. When I put it up on Facebook and asked people to make contact with me, hundreds of individuals made contact with our office about other products that are not available or about substitute products that are coming in. There are products that are not available that are covered under the medical card scheme. People have to use substitute products as a result and they have to pay for them. These sometimes cost €30, €40 or €50. Can we make allowances for those people who are on the medical card such that when there is a supply deficiency and a product is not available, the cost of substitute products will be under the medical card scheme?

We have to be careful about this, because there has to be some regulatory framework governing substitute products.

I agree.

It is not simple. We have had experiences in the past where situations have been exploited or whatever. I will refer the matter to the Minister for Health and him to respond to the Deputy about the issue. I appreciate him raising it because obviously, it is an issue of concern to quite a number of people out there.

I raise the issue of the five gardaí who were acquitted in Limerick Circuit Court this week. They all deserve apologies from the Garda Commissioner, and I sincerely hope this will happen. The Garda division of Limerick encompasses quite a large area of County Clare. I have spoken on this issue many times over the years. In my opinion, this was a witch hunt that was wasteful of the time of our Judiciary and of taxpayer's money. It cost an estimated €3.5 million. It took nine years to happen. You would have been tried for murder in less time than this trial took. The investigation and subsequent trial destroyed the careers and reputation of the five gardaí involved. There is more to it, however, because a much wider net of more junior ranking gardaí had their personal phones and laptops confiscated as part of this investigation. They too have endured reputational damage and seen their careers stagnate and flounder under a veil of unwarranted suspicion. Any remaining trials must be struck out. The apologies need to come from the Commissioner. Additionally, however, the principle of discretion needs to be made very clear to all gardaí. It is a central plank of the syllabus of Templemore training college. Thus, it must be a central plank of day to day policing in Ireland. We either allow it or we do not. Discretion must be central. Can I just say-----

No, the Deputy cannot. His time is up.

-----that we see in other jurisdictions how brutal policing can be.

The Deputy's time is up.

We have a very proud history of policing by consent in Ireland.

Deputy Crowe is encroaching on everyone else's time. His time is up.

We must always protect our gardaí and stand with them.

I appreciate the very strong position that has been consistently articulated by Deputy Crowe in respect of this issue. It is fair to say that those gardaí have been acquitted by the courts. That is an issue on which we have to reflect. I will discuss the matter with the Minister for justice and the implications of that. It seems that a review of what transpired needs to happen because it impacted Garda morale more broadly and had a significant negative impact on the careers of the five gardaí and, as the Deputy stated, of others as well. The principle of discretion is important. An Garda Síochána has served us well. There have to be checks and balances in every system. There has to be accountability. There has to be perspective in how all of these issues are dealt with. Given what transpired, one has to question whether the principle of perspective was applied here or not.

I thank the Taoiseach. I call Deputy Carrigy.

I take on board what the Deputy is saying and I appreciate that he has been consistently and articulately advocating on this issue for a long time.

Time is up. We have to stick to the time.

I speak as a member of the all-party Joint Committee on Autism. At a meeting yesterday, the autism innovation strategy, launched by the Government in August 2024, came up. As part of that strategy, in one of the points related to advocacy, understanding and acceptance, we stated we would establish an autism innovation fund. The fund is to be twofold, to provide for funding for innovative projects, initiatives and activities designed to support and empower autistic people around Ireland and, second, to support research that aims to increase our understanding of autism and autistic people. To date, to my knowledge, no procedures have been put in place and no funding has been spent in that regard. In budget 2025, €2 million was budgeted for this and nothing was spent, and €2 million has been budgeted for 2026. When will we see this money rolled out to organisations that are advocating on behalf of the autistic community throughout the country?

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I will have to talk to the relevant Ministers in respect of the autism innovation fund, which was recommended by the committee. I may have further discussions with the Deputy to see how best we can proceed with this and in what specific area. It has application across education, health, work and generally. Maybe it should be combined with some research and some broader analysis of the spectrum, if you like, and how best we can do better in respect of people who are on the autistic spectrum in terms of their participation in life.

The Taoiseach says time and again that housing is the number one issue for this Government, and he accepts that there is a housing crisis. Notices to quit are on the increase in every county, including mine, Waterford. Last week, I met with three families, all of which have children, who received notices to quit. They are very worried and stressed about having to find alternative accommodation, which the Taoiseach knows is not easy. They have been getting on to letting agencies and asking me and others to support them. It is a really stressful situation. Obviously, I contacted the local council to see what support it can give, and one of the few options was the tenant in situ scheme. The senior management in the council told me that the best way they can describe the Government's response to this issue is that it turned the funding down to a trickle. In 2023, the council was able to purchase 29 homes in Waterford under the tenant in situ scheme. In 2024, it was 39 homes, but because the Government dramatically reduced the funding last year, it was four homes.

I thank the Deputy. The Taoiseach to respond.

The council is telling me that this year, it still has not received its allocation. I ask the Taoiseach to look at this issue again because this scheme is one of the few supports that is available and is actually working for those families.

Actually, the Government brought in the tenant in situ scheme and provided substantial funding. In some areas - I am not saying in Waterford - the scheme broadened and was used by local authorities for investments that should never have occurred. We had cases where some local authorities were spending €50,000 to €60,000 on the refurbishment of houses. The whole purpose of the tenant in situ scheme was to stop people going into homelessness immediately, so the house was purchased. Suddenly, the fund was getting used for much broader purposes. There was a need to review it and target it at those who were in an immediate danger of homelessness.

The Government gutted it.

We did not gut it because the same funding was applied, and that additional funding was applied. Some local authorities were approaching it differently - there is no question that they were - with different applications that were unnecessary in my view. It tends to happen when funding and so on gets allocated like that. There has been engagement with the local authorities and the Minister, and we have a scheme in place. It is more focused and targeted now than it was.

Nearly 24 years ago, the site of the former Fitzgerald camp Army barracks in Fermoy in my constituency of Cork East was handed over to the IDA. Unfortunately, it has remained idle since, with no formal applications to operate on the site received in the last five years. This is despite the fact that this is a serviced site in a prime location only five minutes from the Cork to Dublin M8 motorway. I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that the development of such a site would be an enormous boost for the businesses in Fermoy and the wider Blackwater region. Therefore, can the Taoiseach clarify whether the IDA still considers this site strategically viable? If not, what alternatives could be considered?

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I am familiar with the Fitzgerald camp barracks. I will talk to the IDA and respond to the Deputy. Personally, I think that if the IDA has purchased the site, it is potentially a site that could attract foreign direct investment, FDI, into the Fermoy and north Cork area, which is important, if that is possible. I remember people in Carlow asking me many years ago if the IDA site could be used for something else, for domestic purposes. I asked them to hold on and, thankfully, we did. Why? It is because Merck, Sharpe and Dohme came in and is now manufacturing the highest value cancer drug in the world, Keytruda, in Carlow. I know people see an empty facility or spare ground and ask whether it can be filled with all sorts of things. I will talk to the IDA to see what the potential is. I will get clarity from it and then come back to the Deputy.

I want to reinforce the message from a previous speaker in relation to scrambler legislation. As the Taoiseach knows, I worked particularly hard in opposition, with his support, to draft a Bill around scrambler legislation between 2016 and 2020. In government, we introduced legislation which senior gardaí in Tallaght in my constituency have described as game-changing. Because senior gardaí were reluctant to engage in pursuit of people on scramblers, we asked them what laws they wanted. As far as we were concerned, we gave them the laws they were looking for, which included confiscation, as was mentioned earlier. I support a ban on scramblers on public roads, which the Taoiseach has spoken about. In my constituency, however, while they are a nuisance and a real menace on public roads, it is in public parks that they do most damage, tearing up pitches and amenity space. I ask the Taoiseach to consider that because, at the end of the day, if the Government banned them, there would still be a question of how-----

I thank the Deputy. I call the Taoiseach to respond.

-----to pursue them to confiscate them. That is where our laws came in.

I appreciate that the Deputy has been consistently advocating for law on this issue. We passed the 2023 Act largely as a result of the Deputy's advocacy and that of Deputy McAuliffe, and, I have to say, others in the House. It seems that for about 85% of that legislation, the regulations were then formulated to commence and then there was one aspect, the banning. There is a pursuit policy. As the Deputy knows, pursuit policies have to be balanced with avoiding any further danger and loss of life. On public parks and pitches, scramblers should of course be banned. That is what I hope to deal with today in our meeting. I do not hope to do so; I will deal with it.

I want to speak on behalf of the fishermen of this island who are warning that 2026 will be the worst year the sector has ever faced after drastic reductions to fish quotas and cuts to the key stocks. The industry is facing an imminent existential threat. The Government recently announced the establishment of a task force to support the industry and coastal communities. I certainly welcome that. I ask the Taoiseach that the regional inshore fisheries forums, RIFFs, are directly represented on the new fisheries seafood task force chaired my Mr. Michael Berkey. This equity is vital for all inshore fishing communities around the county. Each RIFF member would be representing approximately 300 vessels from their local region. I ask the Taoiseach and Minister as well that we have proper labelling for imported fish. People here think they are eating Irish fish when they are eating fish that is days old coming from all parts.

It is going to be a very difficult year, a difficult number of years, actually. I have met with the fishing representative bodies along with the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, who have responsibility for the marine. Largely because of the research that came in terms of the stocks, which everybody generally accepts - that has always been a consistent position - there has been a 70% reduction in pelagic, which is shocking. It really will be devastating. As the Deputy said, our challenge is to establish the task force. I also hear the call of the inshore fishermen in terms of representation on that. I will talk to the Ministers in respect of that. More importantly, there will have to be a state aid programme or support programme from the Government to support fishers through this very difficult period. It is not just the pelagic; there are significant reductions in other species as well, which makes for a very difficult scenario. Also, the European Union then has to get more robust in its engagement with Norway, the Faroe Islands and Iceland in terms of the overfishing of fishing stocks more generally.

Is mian liom ceist a chur ar an Taoiseach maidir le rud faoina raibh mé ag caint le duine ó mo Dháilcheantar i Marino, Mick Finnegan. It is to do with the Geoffrey Shannon report into historical child sexual abuse in St. John Ambulance Ireland. The survivors, including Mick Finnegan, have contacted me about not only the lack of progress but the lack of basic communication from the Department of children. Many feel they have been left out completely and some say their efforts to secure a meeting have not been acknowledged. The people who came to me and with whom I have had meetings came forward with a serious abuse issue. They have engaged with the State in process and good faith. They deserve better than silence. Inniu, is í an cheist atá á cur agam ar an Taoiseach ná cad é atá ag tarlú leis an status report anois. Is there any timeline for the report on St. John Ambulance Ireland and will any steps be taken to ensure survivors are properly informed?

Beidh mé ag labhairt leis an Aire leanaí, an Teachta Norma Foley, faoin cheist seo. Tá deacrachtaí ann agus níl Mick Finnegan sásta leis an méid atá tar éis tarlú go dtí seo. Mar sin, beidh mé ag labhairt leis an Aire agus, b’fhéidir, déanfar teagmháil idir an Roinn agus na daoine a luaigh an Teachta Heneghan.

Following Storm Chandra in the past few days, many homes around the country have been destroyed. I have stood in this Chamber previously asking about flood alleviation and what will be done in terms of planning. As I told the House on those occasions, I have personal experience, with my German family, of the effects of flooding. Four years later, things are not great from a building perspective but also from an emotional and psychological perspective. Things are very difficult and that is echoed in any society where a flood has come and caused damaged. In Dublin South-Central, Dublin City Council homes cannot be maintained because there are just not enough maintenance crews and this brings so many issues. With regard to what the Government is saying about flood planning in the future, can anything be done for councils around the country that are dealing not only with fixing the problems from the floods but also with preventing them in the future? It is about funding for councils to deal with the effect of flooding and rainfall on council housing.

We have allocated funding to councils. They might say otherwise but there has never been more funding allocated to councils than in the past number of years. We will continue to work with them in regard to prevention. Yes, there is an issue in terms of co-ordination and around local forecasting as opposed to the national forecast. There are issues there. To be fair, a lot of councils have improved an awful lot in terms of providing sandbags and various measures. A lot of interim prevention measures are happening now in advance of a full-scale flood relief scheme going through planning, being built and so on. These are very serious issues. It is soul-destroying when flooding happens to people's houses or businesses. I have been in flood-affected areas and in the homes. It is utterly soul-destroying psychologically and we have to do everything we can to prevent it. That is why the planning and the progress of flood relief schemes have to happen much faster.

I raise the reinstatement of the supplementary pension for our uniformed services members. As the Taoiseach is aware, the fast-accrual nature of the pensions for our Defence Forces, fire services, gardaí and prison officers was decoupled from the supplementary element during austerity. This is a financial emergency measures in the public interest, FEMPI, measure, which the Taoiseach's party made an unambiguous promise to unwind in this term. However, it did not make the programme for Government. I attended the seminar yesterday on pensions for uniformed service members, the coverage of which the Taoiseach will have seen today in the likes of The Irish Times. Aisling Buffini of Dublin Fire Brigade and many others spoke yesterday. This is having an impact on recruitment and ultimately on the retention of members of our uniformed services, who, it need hardly be said, perform such vital services in our country. Can this FEMPI measure be unwound as soon as possible?

First, very significant measures have been taken in terms of recruitment and retention in our uniformed services, with the result that we have huge volumes of applications to An Garda and other services. We have made progress in the Defence Forces in the past two to three years and we need more progress there. We have made progress on that front because of measures we have taken to enhance the conditions for people in the uniformed services. I will talk to the relevant Ministers. Pensions are always difficult and complex - there is no point in saying otherwise - but I will talk to the Department of public expenditure and other Departments in respect of the issue the Deputy has raised.

I raise Uisce Éireann's connection charging policy and the fact there is no discount available for any groups of customers. The connection charging policy has been produced and approved by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, together with Irish Water and the Department. Will the Taoiseach engage with the Department, particularly in relation to community and voluntary groups, which are being charged enormous sums for a water or wastewater connection facility? For example, the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, were in Rylane in my constituency recently celebrating the turning of the sod for a new community centre there. That centre is being charged €70,000 for a wastewater and water connection, which the community will have to fund. I ask the Taoiseach to engage with the Minister, Deputy Browne, to see whether we can create a policy allowing for a discount for community groups.

That is a substantial sum of money, particularly when the State, through another Department, is allocating funding to new community centres - I am not sure whether that happened in Rylane - and then it is being taken out on the other side. On the other hand, Uisce Éireann needs some sustainability in terms of funding. We need a balance and, in particular, we need to take on board the overall public good and that the provision of community-based facilities provides for the public and communities at large.

The Taoiseach will be aware of the impact of Storm Chandra, particularly on the Wicklow-Wexford constituency. I pay tribute to the county councils, emergency crews and volunteers. In villages right across the constituency, in Woodenbridge, Laragh, Aughrim, Wicklow town, Castletown, Clohamon and Bunclody, we have seen rivers and streams burst their banks. I welcome the Government's opening of the humanitarian assistance scheme and that every support will be made available to those villages and communities. However, one of the big problems yesterday was flooding on the N11, which led to very serious delays for commuters from Wicklow and Wexford. The rail line, which is one of the most neglected rail lines in the country, is not an alternative. Indeed, it is closed again today. I call on the Taoiseach, as I have asked for several times, that we prioritise investment in our commuter infrastructure and that a transport task force be set up for counties Wicklow and Wexford to address the problems with regard to the N11 and the Rosslare rail line.

Without question, Wicklow and Wexford were severely hit by Storm Chandra yesterday. The schemes have been opened in terms of the emergency response payment and the business and community flooding support scheme, both of which are clearly required. Other locations across the country are affected as well but, certainly, the impact of rivers in Wexford and Wicklow bursting their banks has been severe. I was in Gorey recently with the Deputy. We met with councillors from Wicklow and Wexford and, yes, the issue came up in terms of the N11 and the whole public transport system. I certainly will talk to the relevant Ministers to see whether we can put together a group to examine that. I will also engage with Iarnród Éireann and others in terms of prioritisation of what is a populous area regarding investment and how we can accelerate the investment in the railway in particular.

A number of weeks ago, I was contacted by a mother in Loughglinn whose son had an asthma attack over the Christmas period. The rapid response vehicle arrived from Roscommon town within 17 minutes and saved his life. If that call had come in on a Monday night, the rapid response vehicle would not be available because it is parked up for 12 hours. The overtime the National Ambulance Service has been paying for a number of years has been pulled and the rapid response vehicle is no longer available for the people of County Roscommon on a 24-7 basis, as it more or less has been since the closure of the Roscommon hospital emergency department in 2011. I have been raising this issue for months. I again call on the National Ambulance Service to please restore 24-7 cover for Roscommon of the rapid response vehicle, which is needed due to our distance from the nearest emergency department.

I thank the Deputy for raising it. That seems like something that should be rectified. I will talk to the Minister and the HSE in respect of this, and to the National Ambulance Service. I appreciate she has been raising it on a consistent basis.

Uber and other taxi app companies have been at the transport committee this week. Across the world Uber makes enormous profits by driving down the amount given to taxi drivers and driving up the cost to passengers through add-on charges and dynamic pricing. Taxi drivers have been forced to protest about this. What they have proposed to benefit the driver, the passenger, the taxpayer and the wider public is that the NTA should have its own app so we do not have profiteering, surge pricing or attacks on the income of taxi drivers. The NTA should have a booking app that provides information on what taxis are available and transparency in terms of fares and that protects the incomes of taxi drivers to ensure we have a proper, safe, regulated, affordable, effective taxi system. Will the Taoiseach listen to the taxi drivers?

Again, I have to examine that. Obviously the NTA is the regulatory body. It is an independent transport regulator. Something like the Deputy proposes, or the taxi drivers propose, would need to be examined in the context of that legislation and whether the NTA is in a position to actually do what is being suggested.

Easy.

There could be a potential conflict of interest. I have not examined it in detail. The Deputy has raised it and I will ask that the NTA engage with that to see whether it is possible for it to do that.