2026-01-21

I wrote to the Taoiseach this morning regarding Bord Bia's chair, Larry Murrin, whose position I now believe to be completely untenable given that his company was importing Brazilian beef. I hope he will act on my letter. The childcare system is in crisis.

On a point of order, what is the leader's question? The Deputy is only allowed bring up one issue at a time.

That is correct.

We cannot be doing sleight of hand stuff like that.

I am about to bring up my issue now.

Continue with Leaders' Questions, Deputy.

On a point of order, a Cheann Comhairle, this is important.

I absolutely accept it, Taoiseach.

The Deputy cannot have two or three issues at the one time.

I accept the point of order.

The Deputy raised an issue and it is sleight of hand because if I do not respond, I will be accused of X, Y and Z.

I accept the point of order. If that is not your question, Deputy McDonald, please proceed with your question and observe Standing Orders.

I was merely informing the Taoiseach of a piece of correspondence.

Not under Leaders' Questions.

I do not think the defensive response is entirely necessary, but how and ever, people can judge that for themselves.

Very touchy.

Very tetchy Taoiseach.

Unaffordable fees are crippling families. Parents, in many cases, pay the equivalent of a mortgage each month. Across the State, as the Taoiseach knows, there are nearly 50,000 children on waiting lists denied a childcare place. Many parents find themselves relying on family members to mind their children while they are at work. Some are forced to cut back on their hours or consider leaving their jobs entirely. Now we hear that mounting cost pressures have seen nearly 1,000 early childcare facilities close their doors over the past six years. The Government committed to reviewing core funding to operators but that has not happened and it has had devastating consequences. Of course, it is just another promise broken by the Government. The news of these childcare closures will come as no surprise to the tens-of-thousands of parents desperately seeking a childcare place for their child but it will add to their stress. The childcare crisis is one of capacity but it is also one of affordability and the Government has done a very poor job of tackling these persistent issues. The job of government is to build a strong, sustainable childcare system that is affordable and that is good for children, good for society and good for an economy where people can have a good work and family life. However, the Government has not shown any ambition, vision or urgency to deliver this childcare system that working families so desperately need. The Taoiseach has known for a very long time that the Government needs to invest in buildings and sites to increase childcare spaces but it has dithered, it has delayed and now we have tens-of-thousands of children waiting. The big problem is that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are very good on promises but very bad when it comes to delivery. The Taoiseach promised a roadmap to €200 per month childcare within the first 100 days of his Government. Parents waited more than 300 days and what they got was a rehashed pledge to deliver an affordability roadmap sometime between 2027 and 2029. Children needing a childcare space now will have started school by then. Does the Taoiseach really think that hard-pressed parents can wait another two or possibly three years before the Government even produces a plan to cut their childcare bill and wait longer for its delivery? More children in primary school-----

Deputy, that clock is incorrect. It was reset by mistake. I have the clock in front of me, but I will give you an extra 20 seconds on the basis of that clock.

What is that all about?

It was just reset by mistake, so your time is up.

It is four minutes.

Four minutes is up, actually. You have 20 seconds to finish up, Deputy.

The Taoiseach used half the time to make his point of order.

The Taoiseach, of course, sabotaged my efforts but there you go.

Which question was it that he sabotaged?

You have 20 seconds, Deputy.

The nub of it is, the Taoiseach promised affordable childcare and he has not delivered it. He failed to produce the childcare places that are necessary and I would like to know what he is going to do about this in the here and now, not in 2027 or 2028.

Thank you, Deputy.

Families are struggling, children are left without places. What is the Taoiseach's response now? Thank you, a Cheann Comhairle.

Thank you, Deputy. I call the Taoiseach to respond.

Given that it was raised, I did receive the Deputy's correspondence this morning in respect of Bord Bia. Bord Bia has been performing exceptionally well this year, last year and over the past number of years. If we look at 2020, there were exports of over €13 billion in foodstuffs. This year it is €19 billion. So, it is extraordinary, impressive outcomes and results in the export of foodstuffs including beef. We export beef and Irish food to 75 countries around the world. I am just back from China where I saw Bord Bia executives marketing Irish food very effectively and very efficiently in Mandarin. Do not try to drag down a good organisation.

Be very careful.

It is not about the organisation.

Do not try to drag it down now. Let us not go for this populist, low-level activity. Let us not go like herd instincts-----

Childcare, Taoiseach. Childcare places.

----- by jumping everywhere and go after people wrongly without proper perspective or understanding of the food industry, which has been a good success story for Ireland over the past number of years and continues to be.

So, is Brazilian beef okay?

Your leader asked a question, Deputy.

Bord Bia has been one of the better State agencies and our food companies, which are global by the way, all over Europe and all over the world-----

That is what global means.

You had your chance, Deputy, please.

Let us not undermine them just for the sake of chasing other people for votes and for popularity. In respect of childcare, the Government is very involved in childcare and the State is very involved in childcare in a variety of ways in terms of subsidies, in terms of frozen fees and in terms of investment, capital investment in private and community childcare as well as yesterday announcing a new State childcare capital investment programme which will significantly increase childcare places over the coming years. We understand the pressures that households and families are under in respect to access to childcare and the cost of childcare, but we have looked at it on a number of fronts in terms of fees, in terms of investment and expansion, in terms of the workforce and in terms of significantly increasing wages for those working in childcare. We acknowledge there is more to do in that regard. In 2024, we saw a five year high in new services opening and a five-year low in pre-school closures. About 357 services opened, 131 closed. That is a net increase of 226. That positive momentum continued in 2025. Data to the end of November last year showed about 372 openings and 122 closures, which is a net increase of 250. The growth is being matched by rising participation. The number of children using early learning and childcare has grown by 35% between 2020 and 2025. Looking at the CSO data, for example, childcare prices have been falling on aggregate across the entire country. Different parts of the country would be higher than others in cities in particular but there is a broader story to be told. The situation is that we do work with childcare providers. It is challenging and there are tensions obviously, as there were particularly when we sought to limit fees. There has been huge investment to enable that to happen. The national childcare scheme supports about 277,000 children in 2026, which is 27,000 more than last year. Income assessed subsidy thresholds under the childcare scheme will be increased to €34,000 for lower income households and €68,000 for the upper threshold.

Thank you, Taoiseach.

The early childhood care and education programme, ECCE, continues for over 105,000, providing two years of free preschool.

Thank you. Deputy McDonald to respond.

Obviously I have hit a bit of a nerve there with the Taoiseach. Maybe it is just me, but I do not think a chair of Bord Bia whose company was importing Brazilian beef stands on credible ground. That is a view that I hold and I know that will be held by many farmers and people beyond that. On the childcare issue, the Government is not serious about providing the right number of places. There are 50,000 children now waiting for a place. The Taoiseach's big idea is to provide only 800 places over the next number of years. That is a joke and a bad one. The Taoiseach has made no reference to his promise of €200 childcare. He has obviously ditched that but he does not have the integrity to just state it plainly. He wants people to wait years more for a plan that might deliver that.

I thank Deputy McDonald.

Finally, he has done nothing on core funding. He had a specific promise in the programme for Government to review core funding, and to raise it, but there was not a gíog from him.

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

The Taoiseach is not serious about childcare. He is quite happy to let working families struggle and to have children left behind.

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

Hear, hear.

This Government and the previous one did more for childcare in the Past five years than any previous Governments. There has been progress along the way but there was very substantial progress in the Past four to five years. Deputy McDonald does not have it within her to acknowledge that. Core funding increased by 19% under the budget 2026 to over €436 million. That will enable us to maintain fees at 2021 levels in year four.

Some 1,000 providers have closed. Did the Taoiseach miss that?

It will also support providers with the cost of the new employment regulation order pay rates and then prepare for year five enhancements, including new funding to reduce the maximum fee cap. We have always said that reducing the fees to €200 was a five-year plan. It will happen. We are not ditching anything. We are committed to that and we are going to do it but it is over the lifetime of the Government. That was always made very clear.

I thank the Taoiseach.

Some 93% of eligible providers have now signed up to the fourth year of core funding.

I thank the Taoiseach.

There is good news on recruitment in terms of a continued 10% year-on-year increase in the growth of the workforce as well.

I call Deputy Bacik.

Today, I want to raise a single issue: the harrowing case of former Garda, Margaret Loftus. I commend her on her immense courage in coming forward to speak publicly about her experience. Speaking on RTÉ's "Prime Time" last night, she described years of torture at the hands of her ex-husband, Garda Trevor Bolger. Last week, his three-month sentence for assault was suspended following his guilty plea to a low-end charge. Margaret Loftus described compellingly how her ex-husband exerted control over her right up to sentencing, even censoring her victim impact statement. Her allegations that he had previously made threats to kill and that he exerted coercive control were never tested in court. Over some years I was proud to work with other women Senators and TDs, with Women's Aid, Safe Ireland and others, to introduce the offence of coercive control into our law. Because violence in intimate settings is rarely one single blow, we know that it tends to constitute patterns of domination, fear and control. Margaret Loftus believes that An Garda Síochána closed ranks around her abuser for a long time. After she reported him, she was met initially with silence. He got a promotion. He was even issued a firearm. She has said her long pursuit of justice was as traumatising and damaging as the abuse itself. Sadly, that is the experience of many survivors. Margaret Loftus now fears that he may not even lose his Garda uniform. That fear is reinforced by sources which report that other gardaí convicted of similar assaults remained in service - a horrendous precedent. What was the collective response of An Garda Síochána to these troubling revelations? It seems its first response was to launch an investigation into Conor Lally, the journalist who first exposed this story five years ago. That is shameful. Stories like this make it unsurprising that the Garda Inspectorate has found that half of domestic abuse victims were dissatisfied with their experience of making a report to the police. We know that incidents of gender-based violence and domestic violence are lived, endured and survived by women in this country every day. Tragically, sometimes women do not survive these incidents. Violence against women is an epidemic of shocking proportions. The public body, the service that is primarily tasked with tackling it, in some cases, is quietly facilitating those who perpetrate it. Zero tolerance cannot be an effective slogan if violent men are tolerated within our policing system or within our security apparatus. It is a real concern too within the Defence Forces. We have seen that exposed by the Women of Honour and Natasha O'Brien. Margaret Loftus needs to be given reassurance. She has said she will handcuff herself to the gates of Leinster House if nothing is done to address a culture that may include cover-up. Will the Taoiseach confirm to her that neither the Garda nor the Defence Forces will tolerate the accommodation of abusers within their ranks?

First, I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. In the first instance, I pay tribute to the victim here - Margaret Loftus. I commend her bravery in speaking out. I did not get an opportunity to see "Prime Time" last evening. Her courage in reporting this matter has seen it come through the courts and a guilty verdict delivered. We applaud her strength and resilience, showing that no matter who the perpetrator is, those engaged in domestic violence will be investigated and will be prosecuted. The Government will continue to reinforce a zero-tolerance approach to domestic violence and gender-based violence. Such behaviour has no place in any part of modern society. As Deputy Bacik knows, in recent years we established Cuan, and we are pursuing a new strategy. Standards have to apply. I was involved in the matter in regard to the Defence Forces. It applies equally to An Garda Síochána. I have no doubt An Garda Síochána will reflect on these findings. I do not want to prejudice the outcome of any disciplinary situation. I say that with the best interests of the victim in mind here, in terms of an outcome that could materialise. All of the facts, as the Deputy and the court outlined, would have to be considered by An Garda Síochána. When I reflected on this case, given the Charleton inquiry and earlier inquiries, there is a lot of concern about how this case progressed in terms of the lesser charge and so on. I have real concerns about that because some of that emerged in earlier inquiries as well. I say that without prejudice to this case. How this progressed is a matter of significant concern. The length of time is extraordinary for the victim. This does need to be examined, and will be examined. There has been a finding of guilt and a conviction. Internal Garda disciplinary processes will now have to be followed. That is where it is right now. Again, there is a broader issue in terms of standards and character that apply to membership of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces.

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

I thank the Taoiseach for his response. There is one very practical measure that Women's Aid has recommended could and should be adopted by An Garda Síochána immediately following this very disturbing case. There needs to be clear guidelines on how to the Garda addresses a situation where a report of violence is made against a serving garda. These guidelines need to be easily accessible to the public, so that victims or survivors can be reassured and are not deterred from coming forward. In particular, they must be reassured that complaints will be dealt with seriously and expeditiously because, as the Taoiseach rightly says, the length of time in this case is a matter of particular concern. Speaking more generally, we do know that, as I said, this is one incident in what is an absolute scourge of violent incidents against women. Domestic violence kills. We have seen far too many women killed in the context of their homes and their intimate relationships, by abusive partners. Since 2021, more than half of all murders in Ireland have had a domestic violence motivation. This is chilling.

I call on the Taoiseach to respond.

We need to ensure as a society that we are taking this very seriously.

I thank Deputy Bacik. I call on the Taoiseach.

I agree wholeheartedly with the Deputy. It is chilling. It is quite shocking. Every effort will have to be made to deal with this on a societal basis through State agencies and State forces - in terms of An Garda Síochána and the Defence Forces. There has to be a very clear zero-tolerance approach to domestic violence. As the Deputy says, increasingly such violence has led to fatalities and murder, as we see on an all-too-regular basis. We will work with the Deputy. To be frank, this transcends parties. If any additional legislative measures are required, we will not be found wanting. The investigating gardaí deserve some credit for pursuing this.

Yes, absolutely.

That should also be acknowledged. There are regulations in place to deal with the aftermath of the court case. I do not want to prejudice the outcome of that case.

Last week, I warned this House that the Housing Agency is stretching IS 465 to exclude homeowners from the defective concrete block remediation scheme. At least one engineer is saying they will not fix defective homes, ignoring the criteria IS 465 sets out for defective blocks. The Government cannot hide behind technical language while families are left unsafe in their homes. What I am raising today confirms that this is not a mistake. It is a pattern and this pattern is now putting people in danger. I am aware of multiple cases where homeowners who clearly meet the eligibility criteria under IS 465 are being refused access to the scheme by engineers employed by the Housing Agency. These are not marginal cases. They are homes in which the mica content is above 6%. They fall under group 4 as regards damage and are officially classified as dangerous buildings. Anyone with eyes in their head can see these homes contain defective concrete and yet these applications were refused. The agency's own words are clear. In one case, it said that, having considered IS465:2018, as amended in 2020, it was appropriate that the decision in the case was refusal due to the building damage not being caused by the use of defective blocks containing excessive amounts of certain deleterious materials. Let us be clear about this; mica is a deleterious material. Under IS 465, any building incorporating deleterious materials qualifies under the damage threshold and is eligible for remediation. Even if the engineers claim mica is not the sole cause, the blocks are defective under the IS 465 standard. The cause is not the issue. The law and the standard are completely clear. Residents deserve protection right now. Access is also being denied due to so-called external sulphate attack. Leading scientists advise that external sulphate attack would only reasonably be expected below the damp-proof coursing of the house, that is, in the groundwork and soil below the bell cast. Despite this, detailed IS 465 testing did not examine below the damp-proof course. The very location most at risk was not tested. Let me be clear, these actions have real-world consequences. People living in extremely unsafe homes are told the damage to those homes was not caused by defective concrete. They are then instructed to pay for further testing out of their own pocket, costing thousands. When they challenge that decision, they are forced into an appeals process that sends the case back to the engineers who made the decision in the first place, so we are going around in a loop. This is not an appeals process. It is a circular State-sanctioned loop. Will the Taoiseach instruct the Minister for housing and the Housing Agency to immediately stop using this flawed interpretation of IS 465 and to review the decisions in these test cases to protect homeowners? It is a simple yes or no. I know how much the scheme cost and exactly what is involved in it. I just need a yes or a no so that we can look at these test cases and move on.

We are moving on in respect of this scheme. The scheme is expected to cost in excess of €2.2 billion. Government is committed to that. That is a key fact and decision. As the Deputy will know, it is estimated that close to 3,000 homeowners are now at various stages of the scheme. That was the figure at the end of August 2025. A lot of people are engaging with the scheme and a lot of cases are being progressed. The grant rates, which were increased in 2024, are based on expert advice and are set at a level that ensures homeowners will get the money they need to put their homes right. As the Deputy will know, there have been ongoing improvements and changes. To ensure the grant scheme followed the most up-to-date science, changes were made to the scheme late in 2024 to take account of the most recent research. A forthcoming Bill will make amendments to the grant scheme to allow these changes to be implemented by the administrators of the grant scheme, which happen to be the local authorities. The Bill will also allow for an increase of up to 10% in grant rates and payments under the scheme. The Deputy spoke about IS 465 and determinations that have been made. There is an appeals mechanism. By definition, an appeals mechanism has to be independent. The Deputy is saying that we should intervene to change the determinations. It is a statutory process under an appeals panel that is led by a senior counsel and which includes experts from the legal and engineering professions. The panel is appointed by the Minister in a clear and transparent way, which is managed on his behalf by the Public Appointments Service. It is through that service that people are selected to go on the panels. The appeals system is an independent statutory function under the defective concrete blocks Act of 2022. It has now begun to issue determinations to appellants. It has accelerated its work in recent weeks. I will alert the Minister to the fact that the Deputy has raised this issue today but I do not see an alternative to an independent statutory system to hear appeals. There has to be an objective and independent process to hear appeals in cases where people have not been allowed into the scheme. However, I will certainly alert the Minister to what the Deputy has raised.

There are 3,000 people on the scheme. I am one of them. Some 300 houses have been built and another 300 are going through that process. At this rate, it will be 150 years before we get 10,000 houses done and we have 25,000 to do. Materials are coming in that IS 465 needs to recognise. That is where the fault is. The appeals board is independent in name only. There is an issue with that, which I will raise with the Taoiseach at a later point. It has been clearly indicated that there are serious structural dangers with the scheme's design. Will the Taoiseach tell the Minister for housing to look at these test cases? I just need to the Minister to look at these test cases. That is what I need to move forward. If he will accept this, it will help to change what is currently going on.

I will talk to the Minister and ask him to look at these test cases and to revert to the Deputy after doing so. We want to make this work.

Yesterday, there was a development on something that has been brought up in this Dáil in recent years. Jessica Sheedy died at 18 years of age in Limerick. She was admitted to hospital on 8 May 2018 for an operation and died on 11 May 2018. A Medical Council fitness-to-practice inquiry found that three allegations of professional misconduct and ten allegations of poor professional performance made against Dr. Lal were proven beyond doubt. Dr. Lal also accepts other allegations of professional misconduct were proven. I have brought up this issue many times in here. I know Ann and Jimmy personally. I was at their wedding. It has taken eight years to bring this case to where it is today. I thank the present management at University Hospital Limerick for allowing this to happen. I cannot say I have the same respect for the previous management. I will let the courts deal with what Dr. Lal did to the Sheedy family, to Jessica Sheedy's friends and to the wider community. However, I believe there should now be a criminal investigation into the CEO at the time of this misconduct. There are allegations of tampering with evidence and misleading an independent inquiry by not providing all documentation required for that inquiry to make a decision. There have been two independent inquiries but it is only now that all of the information has come out. It is alleged that staff members were silenced and made to sign non-disclosure agreements to protect Dr. Lal, who has now admitted misconduct. For eight years, people have been put at risk because of a cover-up in the hospital to protect Dr. Lal. That is what we are on about. There has been nothing about the patients who have gone in there. It is a learning hospital. If best practice was followed and something went wrong, you would put your hands up and fix what is wrong because it is a hospital. It is a learning place. It was shown that there was no proper person doing the operation. They should never have been allowed do the operation in the first place. By covering it up for eight years, how many people have been seriously injured or have died under that same management? There should be a criminal investigation against the then CEO.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, this shocking situation. I saw it yesterday on the news. It is absolutely unacceptable that a family should lose their daughter in such circumstances. It seems to me that this person should never have proceeded with the operation, should never have been doing the operation. I cannot comprehend how that happened. A benign tumour should have been a straightforward procedure. Then Jessica was taken to intensive care because it was not carried out in an effective manner. We learned that he did not seek the intervention of a vascular surgeon in a sufficiently timely manner - this is in a major hospital in the country - after Jessica suffered a major blood loss during the procedure. There was also a failure to carry out adequate pre-planning for the surgery. That is what the fitness to practise committee heard. The Medical Council has issued its findings. Dr. Lal has been the subject of a number of factual allegations and he has made full admissions. There are very serious issues here. The Medical Council found that each of the allegations had been proven beyond reasonable doubt and each amounted to a serious failing. I think the hearing has been adjourned to Wednesday for the hearing of submissions on a sanction. I do not want to prejudice what may follow here. This has to be examined in the most comprehensive way because questions arise in the light of all of those clinical failings which have resulted in the loss of life of a beautiful young woman. It should never have happened. What flows from that, then, in terms of the broader workings of the hospital? How was a clinician in a position to undertake a surgery of this kind in the manner that was taken? I fully hear what the Deputy is saying. Obviously, different people have to take actions, not at my urging or that of others. They have to be objectively arrived at and pursued. In other cases, disciplinary action was initiated in terms of officials, as the Deputy knows. Again, I am not going to make assertions right here and now. Words are of no use to the Sheedy family.

I thank the Taoiseach. I see that the Minister for Health is here, and the Minister for justice as well, and other Ministers. I am asking for their help. This took eight years and only for her mother Ann, Jimmy, Marcella and all her friends keeping at this and having a medical background themselves, this would have been buried for a lot longer. Only for the current management in UHL, this would have been buried. There has to be accountability of the people who were overseeing the hospital at that time. The problem is that this was buried for eight years. It is a learning hospital. If there was a mistake made, put up your hands and do not put anyone else at risk. There has to be accountability for the then CEO. They were in here in the committee. I have brought it up so many times in the Dáil. We have to make sure justice prevails. To me, they have actually put people's health-----

Thank you, Deputy.

There are no words. Please help and make sure justice is done.

There has to be accountability; the Deputy is correct in saying that. I appreciate what he has said about the current management. I also want to place on record that under the leadership of Bernard Gloster, there has been a welcome change in approach to dealing with situations like this----

And Sandra Broderick.

----in terms of apologies being made much more timely. Eight years is far too long when everybody knew what had happened here. The Deputy is absolutely correct. In issues like medical surgeries, people should put their hand up. It should be about evaluating, learning and so on. People should say that was done wrongly. It should not take eight years for a family to get some sense of accountability in terms of what happened here. The objective is to make sure it does not happen again to some other young person or some other patient. That always has to be the objective. I thank the Deputy for raising it.