2026-01-13

Before we start, I wish everyone a happy, peaceful and progressive 2026. As we now move to the first Leaders' Questions of 2026 under Standing Order 38, I call Deputy McDonald.

The Government has approved big pay hikes for CEOs of semi-State organisations and the pay increases are substantial. The pay packet of the head of CIÉ is up by €35,000. There is a €60,000 hike for the CEO of the Irish National Stud, a €50,000 pay bump for the chief executive of Bus Éireann, a €75,000 hike for the head of Iarnród Éireann and it has also been reported that a pay increase has been sought for the RTÉ director general, which would bring the salary package for that position close to €300,000. I think we can agree that is good news for the CEOs of semi-State bodies. The contrast with the Government's treatment of working households could not be more stark. These are households, workers and families who count every euro just to make ends meet. Some 1.4 million workers in this State earn less than €45,000 per annum. Can the Taoiseach imagine their disbelief when they see the Government increase the salaries of semi-State CEOs by €60,000 and €70,000, increases far higher that which is earned by those who keep the country going, such as young nurses, gardaí and teachers, those who work in retail, factories and hospitality, cleaners and carers. There is no big pay hike for them. On the contrary, the Government's bumper budget of €9.4 billion abandoned those working people and, in fact, left them worse off. The Government could not find the money to give ordinary workers a break in their income tax. There was no money for a cost-of-living package, no money for an increase in the renter's tax credit, no money to maintain energy credits as electricity bills go up and up and no money to cover the extra cost of living with a disability. The Government left people with disabilities €1,400 worse off, but it could and did find the money for generous tax breaks for developers, landlords and banks and now we know it found the money to deliver bumper pay increase for top brass semi-State executives. Where is the fairness in that? For many workers, wages have been outstripped by relentless price hikes. The daily struggle of low- and middle-income workers to keep their heads above water, look after their children, pay their bills and put food on the table is very real, but the priorities of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in government are clear. The Taoiseach, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will always show up for those at the top. Meanwhile, ordinary working people are taken for granted, brushed aside and short-changed over and over. Níl fadhb ar bith ag Fianna Fáil agus Fine Gael ardaithe móra pá a thabhairt do phríomhfheidhmeannaigh i gcomhlachtaí leath-Stáit, ach tagann siad le faic i gcónaí don chosmhuintir. Cá bhfuil cothrom na Féinne ansin? The Taoiseach abandoned ordinary workers in his budget. Can he explain to them how he can stand over big pay hikes for semi-State CEOs when they do not get a red cent of a break on their income taxes?

We have no clock. We have a problem for the moment but I am using a stopwatch here so I will give the Taoiseach a few seconds.

Having no clock is a gift to all Members of the House. Could I say at the outset, ar dtús báire, ní aontaím in aon chor leis an méid atá ráite ag an Teachta. Níl aon amhras, sa bhuiséad a bhí againn le déanaí, go raibh muid ag súil go háirithe leis na daoine is boichte sa tír. Is iad príomhaidhmeanna an Rialtais ná níos mó tithe a chruthú, fostaíocht a choinneáil agus an méid fostaíochta sa tír seo a ardú. Tá sé sin á dhéanamh againn agus tá sé sin soiléir ó na figiúirí is déanaí atá tar éis teacht ar an bhfód. Is mian linn cabhair agus tacaíocht a thabhairt do dhaoine atá ag brath ar leas sóisialta, go háirithe leanaí, agus bhí sé sin le feiscint. I do not agree with the Deputy's assessment of the Government's priorities. Our overarching priority has been to sustain a very strong and robust enterprise economy, and particularly employment, because the most effective thing we can do is to create opportunities for people to gain meaningful employment in this country. By any yardstick, we have achieved that as a Government over the past number of years. We have the largest ever number of people working in this country, with over 2.8 million people working. We equally have had substantial growth in the numbers working in our country over the past number of years. That is key in terms of living standards and enabling people to cope. There are 2.825 million workers and that is a record for the Irish labour market. There is an increase of over 550,000 people between 2020 and 2025. That is a staggering achievement. When Ireland is compared with other EU member states in respect of the creation of employment and a robust economy, I think you will not find an equal. Under the IMF, in terms of the world economic outlook, the Irish economy is the fastest growing among the world's most advanced economies. That is why, in the budget, we focused on services and a substantial increase in allocations to education, disability and health. Those increases will make a difference and are making a difference in respect of those key areas. Looking at the analysis by the ESRI and others in respect of the investment in children, you will see that those on the lowest decile of income gained the most from the budget. That was our priority in the budget, particularly in regard to children and child poverty and the analysis bears that out. Equally, in respect of disability, we have made substantial progress both in terms of a record number of additional special classes for 2026 and earlier notification so children can get appropriate offers at the appropriate time and so forth. There has been a 20% increase in disability services expenditure and that is where we have put the focus. There has been a huge allocation for capital infrastructure in the budget and over the past number of years to deliver the water, energy and critical infrastructure needed to sustain the employment I spoke about earlier and to sustain our economy. Real wage growth this year will be about 3%. Wages will increase by about 5.5% and with 2% plus of inflation that means real income growth. The growth in consumption expenditure will be more than 3%. That does not reveal the type of scenario the Deputy created. We acknowledge there are cost-of-living challenges to people - there clearly are - but we have worked hard, through a range of supports and free schemes that I could list, from free books to hot school meals, that we have introduced to cushion people against the undoubted pressures of cost-of-living increases. In relation to semi-State CEOs, the Deputy knows full well that an independent body got together. There had been few increases in recent times. It was becoming difficult to recruit people to key positions within the semi-State sector, which is important for the economy also. That underpins the figures the Deputy outlined.

The actions and decisions of the Government speak for themselves. It is clear for anybody who wishes to see precisely what the Government's priorities are that they are to look after those at the top. We saw that in the Government's €9.4 billion budget - landlords and developers - and now in this decision. It is a decision, approved by the Government, to increase the pay of CEOs. Here is the point of contrast. Some 1.3 million workers, as I told the Taoiseach, earn €45,000 or less. That is half the workforce. I cannot believe the Government is, frankly, so tone deaf and detached from reality that it cannot see the profound unfairness in its actions. It gives pay hikes for one set of privileged workers and nothing for working people. That has landed badly.

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

As we return for this new year, those families who struggled last year are struggling still on the Taoiseach's watch and he steps by and tries to argue that is not the case. They are living this reality.

As the Deputy knows, we have public service pay agreements, where we work with the social partners in agreeing on a regular basis. We have had effective agreements with the public service unions in respect of workers in the public service. We will continue to do that. Because of what have been very good outcomes in terms of the fiscal situation and surpluses that we have managed to sustain, that will enable us in future budgets in terms of personal taxation and so on. We decided in the last budget to invest in services. I would have thought that is something the Deputy's party would want us to do. There would have been a time when the Deputy would have argued for that but she keeps flip-flopping all over the place in terms of her policies. I do not know where Sinn Féin is coming from or going to in respect of any sustained consistent policy or philosophical position in terms of where Irish society should be. We are investing in services. We make no apology for investing in special education or in disability services and we make no apology for investing in childcare or, indeed, disability and other services and particularly in infrastructure, which we need to do for the future of this society and the economy.

Keep saying it; you might believe it.

I wish the Taoiseach and everyone a happy new year. As we begin this new Dáil term, we are at a moment of genuine international crisis. The world is in turmoil. Violent authoritarian regimes are increasingly threatening peaceful democracy worldwide. Russia continues to rain terror upon the people of Ukraine, while we see courageous pro-democracy protestors being massacred by the highly repressive regime in Iran. At this time, it is sad to see this trend towards authoritarianism and warmongering also happening in a country that, for decades, has been an ally for Europe. We have seen Trump's Administration in Washington, even just in recent weeks, becoming increasingly erratic, volatile and dangerous. Over recent weeks, he has committed an outrageous and flagrant breach of international law through intervening by military force in Venezuela. There is no doubt that Maduro was a brutal leader without democratic legitimacy - we in the Labour Party condemn him - but Trump's move was blatantly illegal and it has had no effect in improving the lives of Venezuelan people as a result. Trump is not stopping there. We are hearing new threats issued daily from him, to Mexico and Colombia and, unbelievably, he is now even threatening potential military takeover in Europe, with the dire warning that he will take Greenland, by force or otherwise. No one can say we were not warned. Last year, Trump renamed the US Department of Defense the Department of War. He has sanctioned the International Criminal Court and at home in the US, he has taken extraordinary unilateral actions, without recourse to Congress and purely through executive order. When authoritarian rulers tell us what they plan to do, we must listen and act. If Trump is prepared to menace his own NATO ally, Denmark, over Greenland, then we do not know where his line will be. We are facing a stark reality now. We can only call it imperialist warmongering by the US. Ireland and the EU must take an unambiguous stance in defence of the UN Charter and the principle of national sovereignty. They are not abstract ideals; they are the foundations of international order. We, as a small country in particular, depend on those foundations for our security and prosperity and our voice in the world. We must stand up for the people of Greenland just as we stand with the people of Ukraine and Gaza. We must protect the soul of this country because there is a risk of political contagion. We heard Steve Bannon openly boasting of engineering a so-called Irish national party, developing an Irish Trump, which is a really scary prospect. When people like Bannon and Trump tell us what they plan to do, we need to listen and act. We need to assert ourselves to tell world leaders in an increasingly despotic landscape who we are too, and they need to listen. This July, Ireland will host the EU Presidency. The Government faces a showdown between Boston and Berlin.

Thank you, Deputy.

It is not easy; we know that. How will it navigate the growing pressure between the EU and the increasingly despotic US?

I thank Deputy Bacik for raising a very important issue and for wishing me a happy new year. I reciprocate and wish her a very happy new year also. The showdown at the moment has been Russia versus Europe. That is the real showdown of substance. I do not like using the word “showdown” – it is conflict. It is an illegal invasion of Ukraine, which has been going on for four years, an appalling attack on the infrastructure of Ukraine, incredible loss of life, deliberate killing of innocent civilians and endeavouring to render Ukraine non-viable into the future in terms of the attack on the energy infrastructure. The losses of life on the battlefield are beyond comprehension - both Russians and Ukrainian men and women at young ages. It calls for an immediate cessation. That is the real conflict going on in Europe right now. I know the Deputy does not mean this but I am struck in this House that we always end up with the US as the big baddie. We have spent precious little time on Iran in this House for quite a number of years. It has always struck me that Iran has been invisible in any discussions on the Middle East if you go through all the debates in this House, bar the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, raising it on a previous occasion on the Order of Business, I think, in the previous Dáil. It is interesting. That has been the prism through which many people look at the world. That is notwithstanding some of the legitimate criticisms Deputy Bacik made, which I acknowledge. We need a sense of perspective here. Iran has been, fundamentally, a malign influence in the Middle East through Hezbollah, Hamas and its behaviour in Syria in support of the Assad regime. We stand with the people of Iran in terms of their right to freedom of assembly, freedom of speech and freedom to associate and the need for a new form of government in Iran that is democratically based and facilitates the flourishing of those freedoms. On Venezuela, Ireland is very committed to the UN Charter and the international rules-based order. Maduro was a very repressive ruler. Unfortunately, the international rules-based order has not been in a position – I say this as a factual observation as opposed to a value judgment – to restrain some of these very authoritarian leaders across the world. There is a problem at the top in terms of the authority and credibility of the international rules-based order. I worry we are at a similar period to that which pre-dated the Second World War when the authority of the League of Nations was eroded. We know what happened then. The world got a chance after the Second World War. We will not get another chance after any confrontation that may arise if the geopolitical situation gets worse.

In the spirit of new year’s goodwill, I will start by agreeing with the Taoiseach. Of course, Russia represents the biggest threat to Europe and to democracy. That is why I prefaced my remarks by saying that. Of course, Iran is a brutally repressive regime. The Taoiseach does not need to tell us that. I am the only Opposition leader on Putin's blacklist. We have stood very clearly and firmly in solidarity with the people of Ukraine and, indeed, the pro-democracy protesters in Iran, but it is at this time, when we are seeing authoritarianism spreading across the world from countries like Russia, Iran and China, that we need our allies to stand with us. This is when we need to be sure we can rely on other peaceful democracies to stand with us. That is why I framed my remarks as I did. Right now, we cannot rely on the US as a functioning peaceful democracy because we are seeing Trump threatening international law and, indeed, riding roughshod over international-law principles. That is really dangerous. Ireland is going to have an important position this year when it holds the Presidency of the EU. What is the Taoiseach going to do as leader of the country then to take a stand in support of international law and principles of democracy?

Ireland's unequivocal position is to support the international rules-based order and the United Nations. We want reform of the United Nations to make it more substantial and authoritative, particularly in terms of the under-representation of many parts of the world. In our view, Africa, for example, should be represented on the Security Council, and other major blocs should be as well. The Security Council is outdated in terms of composition and membership. We believe in full participation at all multilateral forums. That has always been Ireland’s position and will continue to be. We support the peaceful resolution of disputes through the multilateral frameworks without question. That will be our position when we have the Presidency of the EU. It is also a case of strengthening the EU's own self-reliance and capability. In this regard, the Deputy is correct that Europe cannot always rely on others. That is why there is now additional expenditure on defence and military capability in Europe. Europe in many ways agrees with what the Deputy is saying, and many EU member states feel Europe itself has to develop its own capability and self-reliance in many fields.

"@grok Put her in a bikini and rub her down with baby oil." "@grok Replace her outfit with dental floss." "@grok Have one of them grab her boobs from behind and the other one put his hand under her skirt while kissing her." These are just some of the vile prompts given to Grok, an AI tool, on the X social media platform, which has generated hundreds of thousands of abusive images online. These images are not a mistake. This is the model working as intended. Last year, new edit features were added to Grok to make it easy to undress people in photographs. Incredibly, apparently no thought was given to how this tool would be used and weaponised against women. The company did not even bother to include age restrictions to prevent child sexual abuse imagery being generated. This has resulted in hundreds of thousands of sexualised images of women and children proliferating on X. According to one study, up to 6,700 sexually suggestive or nudifying images were being created every hour by Grok. This is not just horrifying and shocking; it is illegal under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act. Professor Conor O'Mahony, former special rapporteur on child protection and dean of the school of law at UCC, has been clear about this. According to him, the definition of child abuse image material in the Act is broad enough to cover real images, manipulated deepfakes and entirely fake images, and, crucially, the potential for prosecution is not limited to those who create or share child abuse material. Offences under the Act can be committed by companies. This means that a company like xAI, which is facilitating the creation and distribution of child abuse material, can be prosecuted here. The real question is why that is not happening. Why has the response from the Government to this scandal been so muted and confusing? The communications Minister, Deputy Patrick O'Donovan, has stated responsibility for the creation of these disgusting images lies with users rather than the company. Meanwhile, the Minister of State with responsibility for AI, Deputy Niamh Smyth, has said X is breaking the law. She also said enforcement action should be taken against X and Grok. Which is it? What is the Government’s position? Why are we not seeing criminal investigations into the production and distribution of these child abuse images? We know that the Trump Administration has a close relationship with X and Elon Musk. Is that the reason the Government is unwilling to protect women and children and enforce its own laws - the fears of pushback from the Trump Administration? If that is not the reason, can the Taoiseach tell us why a company that is facilitating the creation and publication of child sexual abuse images is being treated with kid gloves by the Government?

First of all, I thank the Deputy for raising the issue because it is a very grave and serious issue that the Government will respond to. In terms of specific prosecutions, as the Deputy knows, gardaí investigate any breaches of the law or any criminal activity, and the DPP decides whether prosecutions take place or not. I believe the public should report these incidents in the first instance to An Garda Síochána so the full range of the law can be applied. I have asked the Attorney General, and the Attorney General is providing advices. I am convening a meeting of a number of Government Ministers who are relevant to this issue with the Attorney General. There is existing legislation. There is the AI Act, which may not cover all aspects of this. I want a rigorous examination of that, and then, if there are any gaps at all in the law, and there may be, for those to be addressed quickly. It is a very serious issue, and one on which we have to engage with the platforms. The friendship of any owner of the platform with anybody else is irrelevant to the Government’s consideration of this. It is about protecting our children, protecting women and protecting citizens generally from unacceptable images, unacceptable activity and manipulation of AI tools for wrong purposes. We have to be very clear and forthright with the platforms in respect of this. It is not just Grok or AI tools. It is in respect of any platform that, in any shape or form, facilitates abusive images to be portrayed on that platform, or any illegal material. We have to be ruthless across the board in respect of these issues to protect our people. There is zero necessity for this. It is outrageous and shocking. We will deal with it as a Government. Existing law enforcement should be applied. As the Deputy knows, we have the Digital Services Act. The European Commission has powers with respect to the proliferation of illegal content on online platforms, including X, and there is the protection of fundamental rights and protection for minors. Coimisiún na Meán has been established. The public can report illegal content to Coimisiún na Meán, which has to react. It is our online safety and media regulator, and is at the heart of the online safety framework here in Ireland. An Garda Síochána is also there. Reports can be made to the Irish national reporting centre at hotline.ie, and there are fines and so on. The AI Act is also there. We will examine it again because this is a fast-moving area in terms of the advance and movement of technology. We want to make absolutely sure that all angles are covered and that we deal with this robustly.

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. I am aware that the Minister of State, Deputy Smyth, had said she would arrange a meeting with X. That did not exactly fill me with confidence in the first instance. On “Morning Ireland”, we heard the UCD law professor and chair of Digital Rights Ireland, T.J. McIntyre, say that an immediate criminal investigation was warranted. He said that if somebody set up a child abuse image producing factory on, for example, Fenian Street, and their name was not Elon Musk, they would have been raided by the gardaí long ago. It is safe to say that in that scenario, there would not be any kind of meeting with the Minister. I am glad the Taoiseach acknowledged that we have existing laws in relation to this for companies. Not distributing child sexual abuse images is one that very clearly should be abided by. It is welcome that the Taoiseach has spoken to the Attorney General. I wonder when that happened and when he plans to convene the meeting of the relevant Ministers. Is the Taoiseach aware of any kind of investigation already taking place?

The Minister of State, Deputy Niamh Smyth, has spoken very frankly and robustly to me in respect of this issue. She clearly has very strong views on it and how we engage both with the platforms and how we should legally respond. Because there are a number of different Departments with responsibility for different dimensions of this, we want to develop and formulate a co-ordinated response that will be there on an ongoing basis to respond to issues that may arise from time to time as technology develops; as AI develops. I think that is sensible and it is the right thing to do. In terms of the investigations, that is a matter for the investigating authorities and it always has been in respect of any illegality or breach of the law. I am not aware of a specific investigation yet by An Garda Síochána but it does not alert us to every investigation that takes place. It has to observe due process. I presume that is how this issue will be dealt with also.

I wish the Taoiseach a happy new year. On the 24th of this month we mark the one-year anniversary since Storm Éowyn, the strongest storm ever experienced here, hit Ireland. Over 800,000 homes were left without power and over 100,000 without water. This had an enormous impact on families, farms and businesses. Tens of thousands of homes waited over a week before basic services were restored to them. In the wake of the storm the Department of housing and ESB Networks set out separate assessments of the State’s preparation, its response and what lessons can be learned for the next storm of this size and there will be more storms like this. As extreme weather events become more frequent and more destructive due to climate change, we need to strengthen our emergency services and resource those who repair critical infrastructure to respond rapidly and effectively. One of the key elements of responding to a major storm is the ability to get engineers from other countries on the ground quickly to help restore power. While we have a mutual aid agreement with the UK, we do not have them with European providers. I raised this lack of mutual aid agreements with European networks with the Taoiseach last October. I met ESB Networks last month. While it is actively negotiating mutual aid agreements with the European networks, they are still not in place. This is one year after Storm Éowyn. The Government's review of Storm Éowyn identified trees in private forestry plantations falling on power lines as a significant cause of outages. It set out that the laws governing the obligation to maintain corridors around power lines are inadequate and in July the Cabinet gave approval for the drafting of the electricity supply (amendment) Bill to put electricity corridors on a statutory footing but in December when I asked the Minister for climate when the Bill will be before the Dáil, he was not able to give me a date. It is not just me raising concerns about how prepared we are for the next major storm. Over Christmas RTÉ reported that the Climate Change Advisory Council was extremely disappointed by the sectoral adaptation plans to deal with extreme weather events approved by the Taoiseach's Government in November. The advisory council stated that there is no clear costings for activities within the plans, no indication of investment needs and no clear commitment of available funding to support implement. It has even asked that the Minister for climate attend one of its meetings to engage with it on this matter. As we approach the one year anniversary of Storm Éowyn, can the Taoiseach tell me when the electricity supply (amendment) Bill will come before this House for debate? Will he ensure that mutual aid agreements with EU electricity networks are rapidly put in place? Will he commit that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, will meet with the Climate Change Advisory Council to hear why it feels the Government's plans to deal with severe weather events are not good enough?

I thank the Deputy for raising a very important issue and one which is under constant review and attention by the Government. Storm Éowyn was probably the worst storm we ever experienced in terms of severity - wind strength - and it had enormous impacts in terms of power outages and people being without water for quite a considerable period of time. An overarching review was undertaken by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management under the Department of housing which focused on a range of areas. Its findings were submitted to the Government on 21 October. The key recommendations related to humanitarian support, communication with the public, co-ordination of the response, resilience of critical infrastructure and essential services. A number of those measures have been taken in advance of this winter. Community supports centres, for example, were identified as a priority at the start. When I went out and about after Storm Éowyn, the community-based response was mixed. It was particularly strong in some locations and weak in others. We wanted to standardise the response and we wanted a rapid activation of community support centres that would co-ordinate with local authorities to support communities impacted by severe storms. For example, in Donegal on 4 to 6 October, eight community centres were activated in response to Storm Amy. We are improving that area. In addition to that, all those areas will, as soon as the tender is over, have the generators in place so they can respond to the needs of individual households in a given community where a storm might occur. Likewise, the Department of Transport is working with local authorities and Transport Infrastructure Ireland to confirm winter planning arrangements for all the road networks. Agreements between local authorities and local contractors are now formalised in terms of forestry and agriculture, so they could be stood up quickly for road clearing. The normal routine stuff - sandbags, salt road treatments and so on - has all been well prepared in advance, and likewise with TII. The procurement process for mobile generators had to be entered into by the Department of Rural and Community Development but those generators can now be deployed rapidly when required to support community support centres. There have been a series of ongoing meetings. One of the issues with Uisce Éireann during Storm Éowyn was there were very few generators in place at many of its facilities. It has now made significant progress on the installation of circa 30 new permanent standby generators. I will come back in on the legislation.

Absolutely, community supports are important and need to be improved but the Taoiseach has not addressed the issue of getting power back to people as quickly as possible and making sure we are resourced to do that. Last January, the strongest critique of Government's failure after Storm Éowyn was not getting power back to people quickly enough. In Mayo, 43,000 people lost power at the height of the storm; seven days later, 17,500 were still without power. In Galway, it was even worse: 59,000 people lost power on the day and seven days later 31,000 were still without power. That is why it is so important we have mutual aid agreements so we can get more engineers on the ground more quickly to help the ESB address those power outages. I ask the Taoiseach to address the point as to whether the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, will meet with the Climate Change Advisory Council to understand why it thinks the Government's storm preparedness plans are not good enough.

There are two things on that. I am instructing and driving Ministers to push and push to get many of these issues resolved because of the experience of Storm Éowyn. The legislation has been drafted. On the mutual aid agreements, we had very strong support from Europe, in fairness.

Not quickly enough.

I would not agree, actually.

Thirty-one thousand.

Deputy, this is not a back-and-forth.

Many of them came very quickly to our aid, just as we go their aid. We might not have a formal legal agreement but there are strong informal agreements and they have worked. I do not want to go through the statistics. The impact of that storm was devastating but 70% of customers had their power restored after 72 hours, 90% after seven days and, in 18 days, all remaining customers. The issue is with the corridors. That is critical. In the future, we should not have a domino effect when trees fall and destroy the power lines. That has been complex and was probably left too long to be worked out between the various players. I am saying, "No more of that". It has to be very clear. We have to protect the grid at all costs.