Natasha Newsome Drennan

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The targets for mammograms in 2023 and 2024 were missed by nearly 80,000. On KCLR recently, I listened to so many women across Carlow and Kilkenny telling their stories. One woman told of her experience after being referred for a scan by her GP because of a lump on her breast. She said months went by without a single word from the hospital. She contacted t…

Not on the people working.

But not next year. Not when they need it.

For years, the struggles faced by family carers have been raised here in the Dáil and in communities across Ireland. Family Carers Ireland has told us clearly that carers' situation needs to be treated like a house on fire. Budget 2026 was the Government's chance to take on that fire. Instead, this Government has arrived with little more than a water pistol. Last week in the Dáil, TD after TD from…

I strongly welcome and support this motion. I worked as a carer for people with disabilities for 18 years. I have witnessed first-hand the invaluable work carried out by thousands of other carers across this country and I can say this: I, along with the carers who I worked with over those years, am sick and tired of hearing the Minister and his colleagues singing their praises in this Chamber. Eno…

Every community in Ireland knows the value of sport. It is essential for our physical health, our mental well-being and strengthening community cohesion. Countless reports show the enormous social and health returns on every euro invested in sport. While the Minister of State and his colleagues are quick to jump on the bandwagon and praise the success of our athletes, they do so with empty words. …

You think it is a laughing matter that you spent that much money on it?

It is not funny.

I thank my Sinn Féin colleagues for bringing forward this important motion on the cost of insurance. The record is clear. Time and again, the Minister of State and his colleagues in government show clearly which side they stand on. They have consistently blocked, stalled and delayed reforms that would lower the cost of car insurance. As a result, they have ensured that insurance companies are giv…

We all know when our local school term begins. It is not a surprise. It is the most predictable event in our calendar yet despite all this notice, parents across Kilkenny and Carlow are left to face the same entirely preventable crisis in school transport. Year after year, the routes and student numbers remain largely consistent. This is not a complex, unforeseen challenge, but a basic function of…

For 18 years, before being elected as a TD for Carlow and Kilkenny, I worked as a carer for people with disabilities, supporting them to live their fullest lives possible. The people I worked for are the salt of the earth. As many of us know, working as a carer is so much more than just a job. We grow incredibly close to those we care for. That is why it has pained me so much to watch those with d…

This commission to investigate historical sexual abuse in schools is very much welcomed but it is long overdue. With every year of delay, survivors grow older and the risk of evidence being lost increases. Thousands of children across the State were failed by those entrusted to protect and raise them. Not only were they failed but their entire childhood was ripped away and destroyed. It is vital t…

I commend my colleagues in Sinn Féin, especially Senator Maria McCormack on her outstanding work in raising awareness about endometriosis. If we ever needed a clear-cut example of how women are treated as second class citizens-----

-----we need look no further than the treatment of those suffering from endometriosis. Despite one in ten women having this condition, there is currently a nine-year delay in diagnosis. This allows the disease free rein to spread, causing irreversible damage to organs. Three weeks ago Senator McCormack, Deputy Cullinane and I hosted a public meeting on endometriosis in Kilkenny city. Dozens of wo…

-----with support from their families. Now that we finally have a female Minister for Health, I implore her, woman-to-woman, to implement modern, fit-for-purpose treatment for women throughout Ireland because for far too long women's health has been treated as an afterthought by her side of the House.

I wish to raise the case of a woman in Kilkenny who is unable to work due to cancer treatment and who has struggled with her mortgage as a result. Her mortgage was then sold off, without any consultation, by PTSB to Mars Capital, as it was labelled "under performing". Zero compassion or understanding was shown by PTSB, a majority State-owned bank. This is an outrageous practice by PTSB, selling of…

What I am asking is that-----

The practices of these vulture funds have to stop.

Not in this case.

I thank the Labour Party for tabling the motion. All of us here at some stage will have to think about whether our parents will be in need of nursing home care. It is a very difficult and uncomfortable conversation for any family. It is something we would all like to think our parents will not need but this simply is not how life goes. We put immense faith in these nursing home providers that the…

Throughout Kilkenny, there are major ongoing issues with the school transport scheme. In Gowran, the Department advised last year that another school bus be added due to the increase in the population, but still no additional bus service has been allocated. In my own area of Ballyhale, families like my own have been pushed to send children to school outside of their parish, despite the school bus …

Bus Éireann needs to engage with people.

So far today, over 40 Palestinians have been slaughtered by Israeli airstrikes. In the past two days, over 250 Palestinians have been killed. A large number of these people were murdered while seeking aid from aid stations. Even Israeli media is reporting accounts from soldiers operating near these stations that they are being ordered to shoot civilians seeking aid. In the West Bank, Israeli force…

Has the Minister of State ever stepped back and reviewed the performance of Fianna Fáil in running the Department of housing over the past few years? I refer to a performance review, so to speak, because from the outside looking in, the performance of Fianna Fáil in the Department of housing is looking disastrous and in need of a complete overhaul. Across Kilkenny, we have dozens of council-owned…

Last week, we witnessed highly distressing scenes of neglect and abuse at two Emeis-operated nursing homes in Dublin and Portlaoise. These were scenes the Government had long assured us were consigned to history. First and foremost, my thoughts are with the individuals and families affected. I hope counselling and health services have been made available immediately to them. If not, the Minister o…