This morning I hosted graduate nurses and midwives who have been left without permanent jobs because of the Government's budget decisions. These are fresh graduates, ready and eager to work, who have spent four years training for our public health service but on graduation they were told to apply for jobseeker's allowance. They told us of the difficulties of their situation this morning in Leinster House. They spoke about the sacrifices they made to qualify and the fact that many of them are considering emigrating. They said that they had to listen to the Taoiseach describe the budget as a great budget for workers when they are not being given permanent contracts.
I watched yesterday as healthcare workers went on the picket line. We know that we have 1 million people on our hospital waiting lists. These graduates deserve permanent contracts. The INMO has been raising concerns about this over the last number of weeks and rightly so. It is standing behind those graduates. Can this be sorted out and can those graduates get the permanent contracts they deserve?
Thursday 15 October 2026
Questions on Policy or Legislation
48 contributions, as the Official Report records them.
Jennifer Carroll MacNeill
Fine Gael recorded as Minister for Health (Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill) As a minister Link to thisI thank the Deputy. There is a need to recruit strategically and the fact that graduates graduate every year is completely known within the health system and needs to be planned for every year. In relation to the north west, this was a particular issue when graduate nurses were offered positions and then those offers were withdrawn. A total of 307 nurses and midwives graduated this year, 224 of whom have been offered posts, with 186 having accepted those offers, which is about 73%. They deserve the respect of having a contract offered to them in a planned way and there is no reason that offers should be withdrawn because of poor planning.
There are positions continuing to be recruited and I expect that to continue.
Sally Rooney is one of our most prominent contemporary authors. Her books and the TV shows based on them are cherished the world over. However, UK audiences will no longer be able to pick up a copy of Normal People or Intermezzo in their local bookshop. Because of her support for Palestine Action, Ms Rooney's UK publisher, Faber, will no longer sell her books in the UK. Her publishers have explained that they can no longer pass on royalties to her because of her support for Palestine Action and the interpretation of UK anti-terrorism laws as they apply to that. She is not alone. Thousands, including older people, disabled people and even a vicar, have been arrested in the UK for merely holding up signs saying that they support Palestine Action. Her position, of course, is echoed by many other Irish artists like Beoga, Kneecap, Stephen Rea - the list goes on. At a moment when international law is being so grossly flouted by Israel and others, those who stand up against that, in this case at great personal cost, should be supported rather than punished. Is the Minister going to raise this case as a matter of urgency with the British Government? Is she concerned about the proscription of a group advocating for Palestine that engages in civil disobedience, not terrorism? Is she concerned at creeping censorship in the UK, and is she worried about the grave consequences for civil liberties in the UK from this authoritarian law?
Helen McEntee
Fine Gael recorded as Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade (Deputy Helen McEntee) As a minister Link to thisI thank the Deputy for raising this matter. She will appreciate that while I cannot comment on another country's laws or legislation, I can say-----
Why not?
-----I was shocked by what I read.
The question was about whether the Minister was going to raise it with them.
Sorry, allow the Minister to answer.
I know Sally Rooney. I like her work. We all watch it, and read it as well. I have spoken a number of times to the foreign minister, who has clearly set out his position in support of Palestine. I have worked and engaged with him on steps and measures they can take as a Government to show and reflect that support. In terms of this specific decision, I have no problem speaking directly to the minister but obviously any decision on their laws and how they are interpreted by the courts is a matter for their courts. I will speak directly to the minister.
As we are heading into the winter months, I raise the issue of flood preparedness. The Labour Party will not blame the Government for the rain, but we will blame it for how prepared or otherwise we are for it. In my constituency, families living in Grange Park and Woodside in Rathfarnham were devastated earlier this year by flooding. Huge and costly damage was done. A flood scheme is being built along the Whitechurch Road, but the residents of Grange Park are genuinely terrified that the flood works will not be completed before the next big rain event and that they will see a repeat of the flooding from January of this year. Households in that area have not been able to renew their flood insurance, so that only adds to their fears around flooding this winter. While the long-term flood alleviation schemes are being built in my constituency and across the country, will the Government ensure our local authorities and the OPW urgently prioritise contingency measures to physically protect at-risk homes? Will it update us on the progress made on flood insurance reform and on bringing in a scheme like the flood scheme in the UK?
I can assure the Deputy that work across all Government Departments and agencies is happening specifically about being prepared. The document sent to every house across the country was to focus on a wide range of issues including flooding and incidents like Storm Éowyn, where the impact on all of our communities was significant. A huge body of work is being done across the agencies to make sure that if another type of incident or flooding were to occur again, we can respond in the quickest and most effective way and other agencies can engage with each other in the most effective way. That we are prepared as opposed to responding is the most important thing here. Cabinet committees will be meeting shortly to make sure the Ministers and agencies they represent, including local authorities, are co-ordinating and focused on how we prepare for as opposed to respond to these types of incidents when they happen. The Deputy will also be aware that where flooding has happened, the Government has moved immediately to try to provide financial and other supports for houses, and we will not be found wanting. However, we need to try to prevent that from happening in the first instance and that is our priority.
Yesterday more than 300,000 workers, from street cleaners and doctors to people in this building, had to go out on strike because this Government delivered the most patronising response. It has not been called out enough on it today in this Chamber. It is asking for productivity from nurses who cannot afford to put petrol into their cars. We have heard from student nurses who cannot afford to buy lunch. Teachers are pulling their kids out of sports clubs because they cannot pay the fees. For me, this goes deeper than a pay rise above inflation, which is extremely important. At the root of this is the housing crisis. Does the Minister feel a deep sense of shame that for the first time in the history of this country, a public servant, never mind two public servants, cannot afford to buy a house? So many young workers told all of us they are planning to go to Australia or Canada because they cannot see any future for themselves in this country. Should they be looking to Spain and France, where there are mass mobilisations on the issue of the housing crisis? Should they not be looking for their union to broaden this out beyond a percentage pay increase? Does the Minister feel a deep sense of shame at what happened yesterday?
There are two issues. On public sector pay negotiations, the ambition of the Government is that it will sit down with the unions as quickly as possible so we can discuss an increase in pay that goes beyond inflation, as it has done in the previous negotiations. It is also so we can look at the other elements that are discussed as part of the public sector pay agreement, recognising the huge pressure and strain on our public service given the increase in population and the demand on services.
The second point is on housing. There is more money being invested in housing than in the history of the State. Because of decisions taken by the Government, which were objected to by the Deputy and others, we are now starting to see an increase in the number of new builds and commencements, and importantly, an increase in the number of people able to afford to buy their new homes. Specifically in the budget, elements of which the Deputy pushed back on and opposed, we changed the tax band to make sure that where there are two public sector workers in a household, they can take home more of their hard-earned pay by not going into the higher tax bracket until a much later stage. Our focus and priority have been to get people around the table to make sure we can increase people's wages, and make sure during the budget that housing, public services and tax measures can be changed or introduced to support workers every day.
How is it acceptable that for over a year a prison officer has sought in vain to have the Ministers for justice and Defence correct what he believes is a deeply misleading briefing concerning the 1988 shooting in Portlaoise prison? The prison officer, Mr. Sean O'Brien, was seriously injured when Defence Forces personnel fired live ammunition at him when he tried to prevent the escape of Patrick McVeigh, a man wanted at the time for extradition to the United Kingdom. The current briefing from a former civil servant claims no historical record exists besides a sanitised statement from the former governor Martin Reilly. However, there are a lot of contemporary witness statements, along with an affidavit from Martin Ferris and confirmation that Mr. O'Brien was in pursuit of Mr. McVeigh alone and under fire. There is also RTÉ footage of that. Will the Minister open an investigation with the Department of Defence? If it is found that there are discretions, will we award Mr. Sean O'Brien a medal for extraordinary bravery and a pension he deserves?
There are appropriate procedures and mechanisms for any claim or issue to be raised directly with either of the Departments that have been referenced.
I welcome to the Distinguished Visitors Gallery a delegation from the British House of Commons environment audit committee. They are here meeting our colleagues. I know they have met with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy and the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Artificial Intelligence. I welcome them and hope their visit and meetings are productive.
I commend the Minister and the Government on the continued investment in the Defence Forces and a significant increase in the budget and in cybersecurity. We know about the threats we face, including from the Russian shadow fleet operating in Irish waters. Will the Minister give us an update on the naval defence capability development plan? Might the Government consider Harland and Wolff in Belfast, now owned by the Spanish company Navantia, as a location to build future naval vessels?
Earlier this year we launched the maritime security strategy, the first of its kind, recognising that we are an island nation, that our maritime domain is seven times the size of our land domain and that there are new and emerging challenges we need to respond to.
There were a number of recommendations in that strategy, one of which is that we would expand our naval base while at the same time investing in technology and equipment and, of course, investing in Haulbowline, which is our naval base at the moment. Those recommendations are being progressed. There has been no decision taken as to where we might expand or invest in. However, there is a Naval Service regeneration plan, which is due to be with me shortly and which I hope to publish in the near future, but also an overall capacity review, specifically, one for Haulbowline and more generally as well for the needs of the Defence Forces of the future. I will be working with the Department and the Defence Forces to progress that and, obviously, to ensure they have as much investment as possible to move some of that forward.
I would like to raise the issue of public transport capacity and connectivity in the growing community surrounding Galway city, particularly in my community of Moycullen, and the 419 bus route to Oughterard and Clifden. Constituents continue to report overcrowding, limited capacity, full buses and difficulties accessing reliable public transport services despite sustained population growth in the area. Previous communication from the National Transport Authority, NTA, resulted in a response that the NTA's priority was the greater Dublin area. The NTA needs to understand that it is a national transport authority and its remit is no longer just Dublin.
While there was good news this week that additional bus routes would be serving the Barna community in south Connemara from 1 November, we need to look at additional capacity on the 419 to Moycullen, Oughterard and Clifden. Galway deserves better than being told that Dublin is the priority or that we should accept second-hand buses cast off from Cork city.
I acknowledge as well the visitors who are with us here today.
I know this is an important issue for constituents. In fact, when I was canvassing with the Deputy at the by-election, these matters were directly raised. The Deputy was advocating strongly on their behalf. As he outlined, the route 424 is particularly difficult during peak times, in the morning and evening. In response to that, the additional service included morning services as well as evening services. Bus Éireann has said in the response to many of the Deputy's queries that it needs to continue to monitor the capacity and service levels for all of the other routes, including the 419. I will relay this directly to the Minister for Transport, particularly this route, given the challenges for people and the need to increase its capacity overall.
This morning, in the audiovisual room, we heard from newly qualified nurses and midwives who have finished their training but have no certainty as to if, when or ever they will be offered contracts. This is despite the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, saying there are substantial hospital vacancies. I spoke with some of those nurses and midwives this morning and I was struck by some of the comments. Quite reasonably, they asked why they had to come here to beg for jobs when there is a national shortage of nurses and midwives. It is a legitimate question and the Minister should answer it. Another stated, that despite having graduated as a nurse, they do not feel like a nurse and they feel like an imposter. Another graduate said that in their class, 21 people graduated and only one got a job.
How can it be the case that we are in a period of overcrowding and a capacity crisis and in my local hospital, University Hospital Limerick, and across the wider health services there remains funding and recruitment restrictions that are preventing the HSE from recruiting staff it needs? I welcome that public money is being invested to deliver high-quality graduates to the healthcare system, and yet the intransigence of Government and its failure to recruit is allowing the public finances to be used to deliver a quality health service, not here but in Australia and other places across the world because our nurses are emigrating.
Thank you, Deputy.
We are never short of money for agency staff but cannot hire graduates who would deliver a service at much less cost. Why is the Government at every turn wasting public money?
Deputy Quinlivan, you should resume your seat.
Will the Government ensure the nurses and midwives who train will be offered a job when they graduate?
Nationally, there are 1,375 graduate nurses and midwives this year. Of these, 1,145 have been offered positions and more than 1,000 have accepted. That is a national offer rate of 83%. That is different in some regions. In the Deputy's region, this year so far the hospital has recruited an additional 139 people. I commend the Deputy's hospital and region. Despite having the highest increase in attendance in the emergency department of 9%, it has only had a 1.4% in terms of its pay. It is managing the best.
I met nurses in the emergency department very recently. They are doing an extraordinary job. They have safe staffing applied in the emergency department and throughout the hospital. I commend all of the people in Limerick who are managing much increased services on budget.
Thank you, Minister.
However, 83% of the nurses have received an offer at this point.
In February, we were told that a successor to the pilot basic income for the arts scheme would be launched and operational in 2026. Over 10,000 artists applied to be part of the new scheme with the Minister having said that funding would be provided for 2,000 artists. On Tuesday, applicants received an email stating that only 750 artists would receive payments in 2026. The remaining 1,250 would not see a payment until 2027. What is going on here? Why is the Department of culture unable to take in, assess and give a determination on which artists get the support?
The idea behind the basic income for the arts scheme was to give certainty but as my colleague, Councillor Donna Cooney, noted today, the well-being of artists is being toyed with by the Government in the way it is botching the relaunch of this scheme. When will all the applicants know the outcome? When will they know whether they are getting the support of the basic income for the arts scheme or not?
The important thing for the artists to know is that the Government is committed to introducing, as we have now done with this year's budget, a permanent scheme to support our artists. This is not something that has existed in the past. This is something that we, as a Government, supported. The Deputy and by many others have advocated for it and we have wanted to introduce it. This year the Minister has introduced for the first time a permanent scheme. While I cannot speak for the Minister, I believe we are going through a transitional period from what was a pilot scheme to a more permanent scheme. I have no doubt that the intention and the objective of the Minister, as is the case for all of us, is that as many artists as possible will benefit from it but, importantly, that it will give them the support that they need to progress in the significant work that they are doing.
This is about An Post and the Crumlin sorting office closure on Friday. People were only informed of it this week. Following the closure, it has moved out to Fonthill. To give context to that, Fonthill is 11 km from Crumlin. It is in the Dublin 22 region. The Clondalkin office had moved to a premises at the Grange and now the Crumlin office has moved to Fonthill with the idea that the Dublin 8 and Dublin 10 parcel depot will follow. It is extremely inconvenient. People only found out about it this week. The business guys who have the boxes there were not informed at all. It is poor form. The point I wanted to make is it has caused needless worry. The local post offices do not have the capacity to store the parcels and many have refused. It is over 11 km. Involving two buses there and back, it is at least a two hours' journey to collect a large parcel.
At the outset, I acknowledge the work An Post does and the contribution that is made by all workers in An Post. While I do not know the details of what has happened, although the Deputy outlined it, what I can commit to is raising this directly with the Minister to see whether there has been engagement or if a further process is required here. I will certainly bring this back directly to the Minister.
I want to raise the serious concerns around Crannóg Nua special care provision, including the recruitment and retention of staff and the impact of the new management structure. Staff have written to the Minister, Deputy Foley, on eight separate occasion at this point submitting their concerns about the changes and have sought engagement. I have put in parliamentary questions, some of them before the summer, that remain unanswered and asked for a meeting that has not been facilitated.
The figures need to be clear. The reduction of beds from 15 to 13 relates to all three special care units collectively. Crannóg Nua has had six children in the service in April but mostly operated with five during the year despite having a cap of three. Can the Minister confirm that concerns raised by the staff have now materialised and provide an update on the recruitment and retention of staff given the reduction in bed capacity?
Crannóg Nua had previously received positive reports from HIQA. The May 2026 report again highlighted staff concerns and the lack of confidence in the senior management's response. Will the Minister commission an independent review to establish what has gone wrong, address the decline in compliance, and ensure that staff concerns are properly heard and acted upon?
At the outset, it is important to stress that Government is committed to investing in specialist care, particularly when it relates to children. We are all of the same view and have the same objective here. What I can do is raise this directly with the Minister. I apologise that I do not have the details of the case but I have no doubt that where issues of concern are raised, particularly by staff, they are taken on board and responded to in the most efficient and effective way but, importantly, with the focus of the child at the centre of everything that we do. I will take these issues that the Deputy has raised and ask the Minister, Deputy Foley, to come back to him directly.
The matter I wish to raise today is the concentration of four different emergency accommodation centres in the small town of Leixlip overseen by three local authorities, Dublin city, south Dublin and Kildare County Council, KCC.
Like everyone in the House, I care for the people who find themselves without housing, and I know larger pressures, such as immigration, have brought a surge in emergency numbers. Last week, Leixlip Manor Hotel closed to the public. Jobs were lost, and the people of Leixlip were left wondering why the local authorities have continued to focus on their town. Leixlip has one of the largest ratepayers in the country, Intel, and the town pays some of the highest property taxes in the country, but at this stage, the people feel forsaken by Kildare County Council and the Dublin Region Homeless Executive, which has homed in on our small town. Leixlip previously had an IPAS centre contract. Coldec Properties was paid major sums of money for this contract, despite an enforcement notice by KCC. This is why we need full transparency on who the local authorities are paying vast fortunes of taxpayers’ money to. How could this concentration of locations happen in one small town? Who is profiting from the locations? Who is overseeing this process?
I appreciate the concerns the Deputy has raised. Whether it is emergency accommodation or international protection accommodation, with any type of concentration, it is important that we get the balance right in communities. That is something the Government has committed to. A consultative forum has been established specifically to focus on homelessness. Within that, there is a responsibility for the management groups - there are different groups within the different regions - to consider different issues, such as the type, the range and the location. Importantly, there would be engagement with local authorities, local representatives and local communities when these decisions are being taken. I am not sure how this particular decision was taken or the approach that was approved, but I understand and appreciate the Deputy’s concerns. I will raise this directly with the Minister and ask him to come back to the Deputy directly.
I went around my constituency yesterday during the public sector strikes. I met a lot of different people - radiographers, social workers, porters, cleaners, and catering staff, many of whom work here in Leinster House. I got a text from a constituent asking, “How have we arrived at a situation where every dog in the street knows the cost of living has soared and this current Government does not understand the increased pressures and needs of ordinary people?” I want to raise with the Minister the specific question of lower-paid workers - those catering staff, cleaners and porters - across the public sector. Will the Minister apologise to them for the extreme delay and gross incompetence in organising a public sector pay deal? How will the Government make it up to them to ensure that their pay keeps up with the cost of living and that their conditions are appropriate to the public sector?
The Government has been listening and has heard very clearly that all workers are finding it very difficult, not just our public sector workers, but private sector workers too. It is a difficult time for everybody because of the rising costs across the board. That is why the Government focused specifically in this year’s budget on how we can put more money back into people’s pockets and reduce costs for people overall. We specifically outlined a figure of €1.2 billion to be able to start the negotiations and engage directly with the unions. That is our objective and priority. We want to give people the pay rises they are entitled to. We want to be able to do it at a rate that helps them get across what is a difficult time. We can only do that if the unions and the Government are sitting down together.
Absolutely. It is taking too long.
That has been our priority and our objective. I hope it will happen as quickly as possible.
I would like an update on the Gorey primary healthcare centre. Gorey is a thriving town full of high-quality shops and with a bustling hospitality sector, but this popularity brings challenges. Gorey is becoming one of the fastest-growing towns in Leinster and this has led to huge pressure on the medical infrastructure within the town. When we add the summer influx of between 40,000 and 50,000 people in seaside towns such as Castletown, Courtown and Cahore, the current medical facilities are under even further pressure to meet the needs of the population. For years, we have been promised a primary healthcare centre. I welcomed the news last week from the HSE that there will be an announcement next month on a preferred site. I thank the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. I recognise the incredible work that her Department has put into this and the swift responses to my queries. Will the Minister give the people of Gorey a further and clearer update on the progress?
I was very pleased to be in Gorey recently with Deputy Brennan. I recognise his advocacy on this very important issue of the primary care centre in Gorey, which has previously been discussed. I have a good update for the Deputy. I am pleased to confirm that the HSE has advised that the second tender process that was unfortunately necessary has now completed stage two, which is a priced offer. The tenders have been received and evaluated, and the HSE board approval for a preferred developer was given on 25 September, with letters issued to all of the developers. There is a two-week standstill period, after which the HSE will formally be able to engage with the preferred developer. Thereafter, a definitive projected timeline for the construction and opening of the primary care centre in Gorey will become available.
To their credit, the Ministers, Deputies McEntee and Browne, brought through the Gambling Regulation Act 2024. I am sure the Minister, Deputy McEntee, shares my concern about the increasing prevalence of the online giveaway competitions that are appearing in all of our timelines. They often feature prizes of large top-of-the-range cars, large homes and cash prizes well in excess of the limits that other lotteries are guided by. Of course, they say it is a competition, but the paid entry and the very low-skill question could often be described as a lottery in and of itself. We have to keep up with emerging trends in gambling. I have written to the Gambling Regulatory Authority to ask it to investigate online giveaway competitions. As the Minister knows too well, the ESRI indicated that one in 30 Irish people may develop a problem with gambling. If we were to add the addictive nature of gambling to the addictive nature of algorithms and put them together, we would have a potent and powerful force. I ask the Minister to raise the matter with the Government and the Gambling Regulatory Authority so they can investigate the matter.
Gambling is a scourge. As the Deputy said, when we add online algorithms to it, that enhances it even further. It is probably something we do not speak of enough, but a lot of families are suffering because of it. I acknowledge the way in which the Minister, Deputy Browne, drove the legislation and implemented it in the previous Government. It is important that the gambling authority has the specific responsibility to respond to these types of issues. I am happy to raise it directly with the authority or the current Minister to see if there is something more that needs to be done specifically in relation to the problems the Deputy has mentioned.
I want to raise a specific school project that the Minister heard about this morning. I appreciate that she will not have the information before her, but I would ask her to come back to me. It involves the amalgamation of two older primary schools at Shanbally and Ringaskiddy in County Cork. The project is to be progressed under the ADAPT 4 programme of the Department to deliver 16 new classrooms and four special education classrooms. Unfortunately, there is deep frustration at the delays with this project. It has been in the pipeline for over 15 years. A project manager was appointed in 2023, but we have seen negligible progress since then. I ask the Minister to seek an update on this project. There are significant health and safety issues in the school at present in terms of the condition of the prefabs that are being used, leaking roofs, dampness and health and safety issues. It is an urgent project, but progress is very slow. I ask the Minister to seek an update as urgently as possible.
I commit to raising this directly with the Minister. What I can say, from my time in the Department last year, is that it is a Department full of committed staff and team members who want to move as many projects forward as possible. I have no doubt they are doing everything in their power to move things forward. I appreciate that there can be frustration, particularly when schools are facing issues and difficulties that have been going on for some time. I am committed to raising this directly with the Minister on the Deputy’s behalf.
Yesterday, we had 300,000 people on the picket lines seeking a fair pay deal. I spent most of the day talking to some of those workers across Wexford. I want to raise the issue of recruitment and question the HSE’s pay and numbers strategy that sets strict employment caps and recruitment targets. This strategy is clearly not working on the ground, especially when it comes to whole-time equivalent staff in the OT sector. In Wexford alone, five posts were taken away through this strategy. This has directly resulted in the compounding of backlogs, fatigue, burnout and increased mental stress on existing OTs. The waiting time for Enniscorthy is four years and four months, with 575 children on the waiting list. There is only one senior OT working, at 0.86 whole-time equivalent. I ask the Ministers concerned to investigate why the State is blocking permanent OTs in Wexford, and why, at the same time, it is spending millions on private staff and outsourcing private assessments.
There is no pay and numbers strategy. There has only been recruitment this year, including in Wexford. I will investigate the specific OT issue because, for example, an additional 102 general health and social care professionals have been recruited into Wexford Hospital. The Deputy may be speaking in relation to the community, but the staff number has increased everywhere, particularly in the Deputy’s region and particularly in Wexford Hospital, where there has been a very significant uplift. I will check that out, but it is not consistent with the information I have.
← Back to the rest of Thursday 15 October
Debate record: official record, fetched 15 Oct 2026
SHA-256 8d9d8639a13b…
Provenance
View raw