Roderic O'Gorman

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 th…

Not quickly enough.

Thirty-one thousand.

I have regularly raised with the Taoiseach the need to strengthen our social media regulation. Recently we have witnessed the proliferation online of sexualised images of children and women made using X's Grok AI tool. This has to be a wake-up call for taking action against the further debasing of the online space. No society should stand for the targeting of people - children - like this. Does th…

After two decades of negotiation, the Mercosur agreement looks like it is a done deal for Europe. It is a bad deal for Irish farmers but it is a disaster for the environment in a world that needs to protect its Amazon forest green lung and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. A central issue here is how increased demand for South American beef for export to the EU markets is going to create a demand f…

I thank the Minister of State for her comments and for being here tonight to address this important matter. I recognise the work that Deputy Rice and the committee have done in bringing forward this report. It is irregular to be discussing a PLS report on legislation that does not yet exist. I recognise having tonight's debate allows us to hone in on a number of issues of key concern. It is far m…

I thank Deputy Coppinger for bringing forward this important legislation today, which I and the Green Party will be strongly supporting. Along with the Bill on dog breeding last week, it is a welcome opportunity for this House to focus on some of the more extreme and, frankly, indefensible practices which animals in this country are subject to. I want to speak very directly about this. There is si…

It bans trail hunting. Okay, I will step back from that point because I think it is important there is at least one drag hunt in Ireland. It is not my thing but as long as a fox is not being killed I am not particularly concerned about that. It is important we keep the focus here on the central issue which is using legislation to ban the killing of foxes - the killing of animals for pleasure. We …

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the Chamber to present this important legislation. I welcome this valuable Bill although, as I will speak to in a moment, the scope of it is far too narrow. I would like to put a few questions to the Minister of State on that and she might be able to address them in her wrap-up. As a starting point, we cannot be in any doubt that when we consider the pr…

Last June, parties across this House welcomed the show of support for freedom of expression by hundreds of thousands of Hungarians when they marched in the Budapest Pride parade, which that country's government had tried to ban. Now we see the Hungarian Government initiating prosecutions against the Green mayor of Budapest and the Pride organisers in another Hungarian city. Could the Government fi…

I wish to raise the long delays in a rebuild project that three schools in my constituency are facing. They are St. John Bosco Junior Boys School, St. John Bosco Senior Boys School and Mary, Help of Christians Girls National School. These schools are just off the Navan Road in Dublin 7. They serve the communities of Ashtown, Navan Road and such new communities as Pelletstown. They are great school…

I thank the Minister of State for the update, but I am disappointed that he, or the Department of Education and Youth, is not in a position to give a clear date for when the schools' design team will meet the Department to, first, discuss the latest addendum report submitted by the schools and, second, give them permission to move past stage 2a. In the speech the Minister of State read, we see tha…

It is really important that we be clear about the central question we are debating here and will vote on tonight. This is a law that seeks to reduce cruelty to dogs. It is important for the hundreds of thousands of dog owners and lovers in this country who know the innate sense of injustice and fury when they see or hear of a dog being mistreated. I have heard that sense from many of the Deputies …

As the Australian law comes into effect today, we are at a consequential time for the right of national governments to set digital policy. Whether that law succeeds remains to be seen, but we are at a critical junction right now where states, and in Ireland's case states along with the EU, must set policy in the national interest. Protecting children from hate and exploitation is a really good pla…

The Complex is the only multi-disciplinary arts centre in Dublin's north inner city. It combines a performance space, a gallery and 18 artists' studios. It is also about to close. Management of the Complex have been talks with the Government and the city council since 2018 to secure the long-term future of this centre but it has now been served with a notice to quit. The city council passed an eme…

4. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the amount of revenue generated from the rezoned land tax in 2024 and in 2025; the number of landowners who sought exemptions from the tax; the number that were granted; the percentage of the overall land covered by the tax that was granted an exemption; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64997/25]

Like Deputy Rice, I want to raise the situation of Seán Binder and the 23 other human rights defenders who are appearing in court in Greece today. Their crime is volunteering as rescue workers and saving the lives of those who are distressed at sea. In the seven years since he was arrested, Seán Binder has posed this question, "If you come across somebody in distress, what do you check first, thei…

I welcome the reintroduction of this just transition Bill. I thank Deputy Whitmore for doing so. I thank her for recognising those who worked on this legislation, including my party colleague Eamon Ryan, Dr. Sinéad Mercier and the trade unionists who have been involved in the past. Since this Bill was first proposed by the Green Party in 2018, much has changed in the legislative agenda and the pol…

I thank the Labour Party for tabling this motion. I am happy to speak in support of it. I am glad the Minister is here giving her time to the debate. It is so important that we have this debate and do not shy away from addressing the issue of trans healthcare, particularly in these times of increasing hatred. Trans people are looking to politicians more than ever to see someone articulate their ne…

In the limited time I have, I will make one short point. So much of the debate on the cost of energy is focused only on today and what can the Government do today to alleviate increased cost on households. That is, of course, essential but what is the point if we are not also talking about how we get away from our dependency on expensive, shock-sensitive fossil fuels? Even though more should be do…

102. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is aware of the report undertaken by the Joint Committee on Climate, Environment and Energy regarding pollution in Lady's Island Lake; the measures his Department or agencies related to his Department are undertaking to respond to the report; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66952/25]

Senator Noonan and I have raised the environmental damage at Lady's Island Lake on several occasions in both Houses. I welcome the recent announcement of funding by the Minister for housing, Deputy Browne, for Wexford County Council to help tackle the issue. What is the Minister's Department and the agencies associated with it doing in response to the report of the joint committee regarding the po…

The problems in Lady's Island Lake are not new. The reports of pollution there go back as far as the early 1980s. Every few years it seems the problems get so big that there is a call for action and that is usually dealt with through the breaching of the sand spit at the southern end of the lake. The EPA report from January, which the Green Party would credit with sounding the alarm, could not hav…

I just would like to bring the discussion back to Lady's Island Lake specifically because there is a real opportunity here to take measures that will restore the lake to a functioning ecological system. We are still in the dark about some of the specific details about what is happening. Have farming inspections around Lady's Island Lake increased? Have there been inspections of septic tanks? Has t…

I want to raise the issue of the growing levels of hate in Irish society and what steps the Taoiseach's Government can take to address it. This is the hate that led to a deliberate arson attempt on an IPAS facility where women and children were living. It is the hate that compelled young men to attack two drag queens on the street of the Taoiseach's own city a few weeks ago and which allowed some…