Liam Quaide

This time last week, I raised with the Tánaiste the urgent medical case of Filip Kosacki, a 15-year-old boy from Midleton. I have consent from his family to speak again on his behalf. On 16 January, Filip was diagnosed with a ureteropelvic junction obstruction in Cork University Hospital, CUH. He is in constant pain. He has not been able to attend school since early January and his mental health i…

I raise the urgent medical case of Filip Kosacki, a 15-year-old boy from Midleton. I have consent to speak on his behalf. On January 16, Filip was diagnosed with a ureteropelvic junction obstruction in Cork University Hospital, CUH, and identified as being in need of emergency surgery. He is in constant pain and has not been able to attend school since early January. There has been confusion betwe…

I am conscious that Deputy O'Reilly's motion today is in respect of Storm Éowyn. I commend her on tabling this motion and agree fully with it. Storm Éowyn did not have such a devastating impact in my constituency of Cork East, but it is one of an increasing number of extreme weather events in recent years that underline the seriousness of climate change and a more general lack of preparedness for…

76. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development his plans to establish a dedicated grant scheme for the maintenance and upgrading of community playgrounds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14526/25]

Will the Minister commit to funding, in a direct and integrated way through our councils, playground provision for towns and villages according to their population size and based on an assessment of existing facilities? Midleton, for example, is a thriving town in east Cork, but our playground provision nowhere near meets the needs of a large and growing local population of young families. We hav…

Playgrounds are central parts of a flourishing community - places where children get to explore, have fun, challenge themselves and connect with peers. To provide for children in these respects, Midleton requires a much larger playground than either of the two that we currently have. Ballinacurra, which is just outside Midleton, has no playground at all for a rising population. We also need a skat…

It can be invigorating to be part of a committee pursuing funds for playground provision. It brings people together in common purpose for their community. My councillor colleague, Ann Bambury, was central to such an initiative in Bandon for a very ambitious project there, but it should not be left to families to become social entrepreneurs and project managers, essentially spending vast amounts of…

There are 150,000 cohabiting couples in Ireland who are unmarried or in a civil partnership, and half of these couples have children together. Yet currently, if one person in the couple were to unfortunately pass away, the surviving partner would not be entitled to a bereaved partner's pension. The Supreme Court ruled in January 2024 that these partners are being discriminated against under the eq…

Our neutrality has not just been a key military stance since the foundation of the State. It is in some ways a core part of our national identity and culture. It has been a foundation of our international diplomatic status and given generations of Irish people a sense of security from wars happening on an international stage. The subject of neutrality is one of the most vexed and divisive in our …

I also welcome the delegation that is here. I fully support this Labour Party motion. Family carers are a large group of people who have been tragically neglected by the State. They provide vital unpaid care, often under severe financial pressure and with huge personal sacrifice. In the case of young carers, this sacrifice can include losing out on parts of childhood and carrying unsustainable emo…

85. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Social Protection his plans to include healthcare workers suffering with long Covid symptoms within the occupational injuries benefit scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8935/25]

I welcome the Minister and congratulate him on his appointment. A cohort of healthcare workers with severe long Covid who contracted the virus at the height of the pandemic in high-risk settings are suffering with chronic disabling symptoms and have not been able to return to work as a result. I know this because in my previous role as a psychologist I worked with many of these workers. Some have…

The long-term prognosis for these healthcare workers is very unclear. They often suffer from a range of symptoms which include debilitating fatigue and malaise after very modest levels of activity and there is no clear treatment pathway for them. In some cases, healthcare workers have been out of work for between four and five years. Many were infected in early January 2021 following the so-called…

On the temporary extensions of the special Covid leave with pay, these healthcare workers should not have to endure repeated last-minute cliff-edge moments regarding their financial security. They are being left in limbo for months on end while talks between trade unions, Departments and the HSE have remained at an impasse. They often do not know if they will be able to pay their mortgage in a mat…

I would also like to welcome our Ukrainian dignitaries and friends this evening. Monday marked the third anniversary of Russia's brutal and illegal invasion of Ukraine. The Ukrainian people have shown heroic courage fighting off Russian aggression over the past three years. Eight years prior to that full-scale invasion, parts of eastern Ukraine were seized by Russia and the local population in th…

I thank the Minister and Minister of State for listening to our concerns today. I will take up the theme of loneliness from my colleague because as a society it is crucial for us to reckon with it, in particular with regard to older adults. Large-scale studies by TILDA have presented us with stark findings regarding the impact of loneliness on a person's health, quality of life and emotional well-…

Earlier this month, St. John's special school in Dungarvan, County Waterford, had to operate a draw overseen by a local Garda superintendent. The draw was not for a raffle to raise money; it was to allocate places in the school for children with additional needs. This is the kind of dystopian ritual that schools are being forced to undertake due to chronic under-resourcing of special education. Th…

I raise the human rights issue of adults under 65 with an intellectual disability or acquired brain injury who end up living in nursing homes or who find themselves stranded in psychiatric wards due to a lack of community-based supports. This is a desperately sad situation and another example of how much distance is opening up between our economic prosperity, on one hand, and the vindication of ou…

I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his appointment. The lack of suitable school places for children with additional needs is critical for many families in my constituency of Cork East. There are 16 autism classes in five primary schools in or around the Youghal area. These are feeder schools for Youghal's only secondary school, Pobalscoil na Tríonóide, which has only three autism classes…

I thank the Minister of State. This week I spoke to a family that is campaigning for the proposed secondary school autism class in Youghal. Their current experience of primary education in Youghal is going very well for their son. However, the lead-up to being granted that school placement was a time of major trepidation as it was far from guaranteed due to the level of need out there. Looking ahe…

I want to raise the long-standing issue of the water supply and water pressure in Ballyhooly, County Cork. Over the years, residents there have had to deal with extremely low water pressure and, at times, a non-existent supply of water, for prolonged periods. This has been affecting residents in nearly aspect of their daily lives. When water pressure is low, people cannot shower, bathe or cook or …

The Social Democrats are introducing this motion on addressing the housing disaster at a time when the Government is clearly at an ideological loss. Its policies of incentives for developers and investments for vulture funds, and their inflationary demand-side measures, have failed to move the dial on the housing disaster. More people are homeless today than ever before and the Government is falli…

I congratulate the Minister of State on her reappointment as Minister of State with responsibility for mental health. We hear so many stories about what is going wrong with our mental health services and as public representatives advocating for our constituents it is difficult not to fall into a position of perpetual complaint and outrage at times because there is so much unmet need out there and …

I welcome the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, and congratulate them on their appointments. The area of special educational needs and disability involves so much frustration, worry and stress and unnecessary daily hardship for families, as well as so much discontinuity and inconsistency of care and rehabilitation, that it is difficult to know where to f…

When I was canvassing for the local and general elections last year, the need for measures to combat speeding in residential areas was one of the most pressing issues for constituents. In the local elections, it was probably one of the top three issues. Speed measures are essential for safety and quality of life. They provide a backdrop of calm in residential areas and give peace of mind to parent…