Roderic O'Gorman

Around the country, we have finished up with the old joint policing committee model and are moving to community partnerships. Could the Minister comment on the resourcing of community partnerships around the country and, in particular, how those resources are targeted to the varying needs of different areas?

I thank the Minister of State for the comprehensive reply. There are two community safety partnerships in my constituency. One of them, the Dublin central local community safety partnership, is a long-established partnership that was part of the original pilot. My Green Party colleague, Councillor Janet Horner, sits on that partnership. Given that it has been in place for a number of years, we can…

I am delighted to hear there is €8 million for the central office. I have no doubt the councillors and the statutory bodies, particularly the local community representatives, would have a very clear idea as to how a proportion of that money could be spent well locally. I would say it is the same whether we are talking about Cabra or west Limerick. My concern centres on what has been described as a…

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical debate. This is the second time I have raised a Topical matter about three primary schools, St. John Bosco Junior Boys School, St. John Bosco Senior Boys School and Mary Help of Christians Girls National School. I want to focus on the long delay in the rebuild project for these three schools. The schools are just off the Navan Road in Dublin 7,…

I thank the Minister of State for her response. I recognise that she is responding on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Naughton, and she is from a different Department. I am disappointed with the response she provided from the Department of education. Again, there has been a failure to give a date for this really important meeting between the Department and the school's design team. There is a conse…

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is rights, justice and action for all women and girls. As we reflect on this today, we should bring our focus to the women and girls who have been denied access to justice and full vindication of their human rights in Ireland today. International Women’s Day is an opportunity to advocate for meaningful change, so in the brief time I have, there are t…

There is a real sense of worry in Irish households now as they see the increase in fuel prices occasioned by the war in Iran. They are seeing the repeat of what was seen four years ago following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It demonstrates yet again our vulnerability to international energy price shocks because of our dependence on fossil fuels. I respectfully say that the Cabinet cannot dela…

I thank the Deputies for bringing forward this important proposal today. The Green Party welcomes this Bill and the broader discussion about how we can meaningfully protect children and young people online. Rapid changes in IT and the profound impact these are having on all our lives demand that we remain agile and responsive as a State to the need to scrutinise these technologies for the public g…

As the Middle East is in turmoil, we are witnessing another spike in the price of fossil fuels, which still power too much of our economy. Our energy system needs to meet three key challenges in the year ahead. It needs to provide affordable energy, which will allow us to travel and warm our homes without breaking the bank. It needs to provide security of supply so we are not at risk of energy sh…

No.

The Taoiseach has not been able to provide me with any firm sense of when that renewable energy from offshore wind will start to feed into our national grid. What we know when it comes to security of supply is that Qatar has shut off its entire production on the understandable basis of being attacked in one of the most unstable regions in the world. Is that what security of supply looks like to th…

I am raising the school building needs of Gaelscoil Coláiste Mhuire in Dublin's north inner city. As the Taoiseach knows, the school had been temporarily located on a site in Parnell Street for 23 years and it is long overdue its move to a new building on Dominick Street. Right now, it is occupying the former DIT building on Cathal Brugha Street. Construction on the new building finally started in…

Will the Minister explain how it is fair for Irish consumers to pay almost double what data centres pay for electricity? At a time when energy costs are still a cause of real financial hardship for many households across the country, data centres are paying almost half what households pay per kilowatt hour of electricity. They also pay dramatically less in network standing charges, so householders…

I listened carefully to the debate on this set of amendments last week on the concept of a community impact assessment. During the debate most speakers discussed the very real challenges they experienced in their own constituencies when faced with decisions to open emergency international protection accommodation - decisions that were made, for the most part, when I was Minister for integration. I…

I thank Deputy Lawlor for bringing forward this legislation. As a Minister in the previous Government, I was proud to lead on the introduction and passage of the original work-life balance Act of 2023. As we know, this introduced a right to request remote working for all workers. It also introduced the right of certain workers to request flexible working, which included remote working but also fle…

I share many of the concerns raised by colleagues in terms of the process being adopted here and the fact that we are treating some really valuable amendments via a committee of the whole Dáil rather than at the justice committee. I am not sure what went on and why it is not going to the justice committee. From my own experience, allowing committees to delve into amendments and tease out the vari…

There are three amendments to this section and I think there is an amendment to section 4 regarding the common travel area. Our unique border situation with Northern Ireland poses a particular challenge to how we manage migration and asylum here. I think everyone in the Government and the Opposition share the goal of maintaining an open border there. Understanding how the specific flows between Ir…

I am speaking in favour of this amendment. I am not sure why Deputy Gannon's amendment was ruled out but this one was not. The comprehensiveness of the definition that Deputy Gannon was seeking to provide was really useful. Nevertheless, this is a good definition as well. Throughout this debate there has been real concern about the new concept of "legal counselling" that the Bill appears to be in…

The injunction taken by the Hoxton Hotel taken against one of the few late nightclub venues left in our city centre is one more example of how clubbing and any sort of late night social setting is becoming impossible in Dublin. I know the Taoiseach will not want to discuss the specifics of the legal case, and that is fine, but would he not agree that this situation demonstrates why our country's l…

I thank the Deputies for bringing forward this important motion. I am very conscious as we speak here this morning that there are families all over the country still undertaking a clean-up of their homes and businesses and assessing the impact of the severe flooding on them. Climate change means these floods are going to become more regular and more severe. That is why the approach the State take…

In 2024, 37 new bus shelters were built across Dublin city. In 2023, the figure was 30 and even in 2022, post Covid-19, 23 new bus shelters were built. In 2025, three new bus shelters were built across Dublin. We can understand why people are a bit sceptical about the housing targets with a construction record like that. Will the Taoiseach ask the Minister for Transport why the Government's abilit…

They need money.

After the Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, the Minister for Transport announced an important measure to ban scrambler bikes in the wake of the tragic death of Grace Lynch. That measure is vitally needed and must come with greater enforcement. From media reports, I understand a second proposal was withdrawn at or before the meeting that would have made helmets and high-vis jackets mandatory for people u…

I welcome the Tánaiste's confirmation that there are no proposals for mandatory helmets for cyclists using pushbikes. This would have been hugely damaging to the transition we are seeing and the supports we are seeing for people taking up cycle. We agree on the point of the need to differentiate between pushbikes and the electronically powered vehicles. Some of those vehicles, particularly scoote…

I had the opportunity to raise road safety with the Tánaiste earlier this afternoon. I was glad he was able to confirm that the ridiculous notion of a proposed mandatory requirement for helmets for people using a push bike is not going ahead. I welcome his confirmation of that. During that discussion, I also raised some of issues raised at the Joint Committee on Transport's meeting on road safety…