Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin

This is Groundhog Day in terms of school transport. It is the same as last year. The only thing that has changed in the school transport system is the families affected. We are still inundated with emails from frustrated parents from Rathdrum to Kilmuckridge. Children who have always qualified have suddenly been refused tickets. Others received tickets but no service is available. In other cases, …

Irish author Emma Donoghue stated, "They are robbing us in hopes of replacing us." That is a shocking statement. Irish artists, writers, musicians, actors, composers and performers are being ripped off by big tech billionaires through plagiarism or, to give it the proper term, theft. Their copyrighted creative work is being used to train AI systems to spew out "art" without the consent of the crea…

I highlight the serious case of a ten-year-old called Poppy, whose experience is a compelling example of a wider service failure for children in my constituency of Wicklow-Wexford, which covers south Wicklow and north Wexford. Poppy has complex feeding difficulties and has been referred between the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, the children's disability network team, or CDNT,…

In north Wexford and south Wicklow, if a child needs specialist care, say, in the area of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, OT, speech and language, psychology or with a dietitian, if they are in desperate need, what procedures are in place if the necessary specialist intervention is not available due to staffing shortages? Does the HSE consider it acceptable that children remain without these …

We welcome additional funding for the post office service. Sinn Féin has committed to major investment in the post office network as part of our alternative budget. Communities across counties Wexford and Wicklow have had to endure many post office closures over recent years, with 11 closing in Wexford in 2018 and five local communities in Wicklow losing their services or seeing them consolidated.…

Many Irish people have mixed emotions on the European project. It is a love-hate relationship of sorts. I spoke in the European Parliament recently as part of the Erasmus programme. I certainly love the element of mutual co-operation and cultural exchange with countries with which we have had links since the time of the monks shining a light into the dark Continent. However, many people dislike th…

Once again there is a crisis for families and primary school children in Counties Wicklow and Wexford and across the State. From Bunclody right up to An Bhearn Dearg, from Rathdrum to Kilmuckridge, children are waiting not months but years to have their teeth checked and attended to. My background is in primary school teaching and half of children at primary school level are not receiving dental s…

When will the long overdue emergency funding for rural roads in Wicklow and Wexford be delivered? The Tánaiste may have driven on some in the south-west of Wicklow. It is absolutely disgraceful that we are now in June, in the middle of a dry period, when it is perfect to do works. We have waited since November, when Storm Claudia struck. Wicklow County Council sought between €15 million and €20 mi…

I visited the new data centre in Clondalkin last month at the invitation of Echelon which is installing two centres outside Arklow. I heard extraordinary and fantastical claims of the benefits in terms of employment and income for Arklow and the wider area. We shall see about that. Even if I was to believe it all, once the plant is operational the benefits to the community of Arklow and south Wick…

Can the Minister imagine being an Irish person who had been farming their land for hundreds of years when violent, entitled, deluded thieves from Brooklyn, New York, Ukraine or Russia crossed the world, having decided they wanted to come to her community to terrorise her off her land, set dogs on her sheep, raze her ancestors’ olive groves to the ground, rob her farm at gunpoint and then want to t…

Ireland does not need their blood money nor their services. We are better than that.

Many may be fixated on upskilling in AI but Ireland is at crisis in another way, with the lack of practical skills. There are shortages in a whole range of craft areas, with a lack of builders, the lack of upskilling and training in building or construction, including plastering, plumbing, retrofitting, electrical services, carpentry and I could go on. These are all practical skills we desperately…

Scaremongering.

I once more raise the case of a young Arklow Gaelscoil teacher, Eímear Byrne, with the Minister of State and the Government. As the Minister of State knows, Eímear urgently needs life-saving treatment in the US that costs €600,000. Recently, Eímear received devastating news. Doctors discovered three more aneurysms and she now needs a third open-heart surgery procedure. This one is even more comple…

With respect, that is very similar to a stock answer the family has been given over the past few months. I will not accept the answer and I know Eímear, her family and the community in south Wicklow will not accept this answer from the Government or the Department. It is a stock answer and it is simply not good enough. This involves tiny money. The Minister of State said I referenced the EU and th…

Across Ireland, we can see the absence of a lot of wildlife, nature and biodiversity that was commonplace when we were all growing up or even 20 years ago. Rivers that were teeming with fish are now polluted and butterflies are a rare occurrence. We are witnessing the destruction of natural habitats. The warning signs are there and clear for everybody to see. One third of Ireland’s 99 bee species…

I ask the Minister of State to address the shocking case of a self-employed couple in Coolboy near the Wicklow-Wexford border, Ciarán and Jessie Redmond, and their two daughters Kendall and Chanelle. Chanelle has recently been diagnosed with leukaemia. Her father, Ciarán, a Gorey man, has been forced to give up his work as a painter and decorator to care for her. As they battle one unimaginable cr…

I understand the Taoiseach is aware of the situation where Gorey Hill special school, which was put in on a temporary basis on the campus of Gaelscoil Moshíológ, where I worked prior to starting here, is now expanding across the remaining green areas of the Gaelscoil. It is basically a problem which has arisen due to the lack of forward planning by the Department and casual indifference. It is hav…

I welcome the inclusion of County Wexford in the scheme for homes affected by defective blocks, which are unmortgageable, uninsurable and unsellable. I was on Wexford County Council in 2022 when a motion was passed in light of concerns raised by people in the areas of Bunclody and Ferns. Sean and Rachel Murphy first noticed small cracks in their brand-new homes near Ferns six months after they mov…

Many of our rural villages are being allowed to die on their knees because of Government inaction. They are being strangled due to the obstacles that are put in the way of people who want to develop changes. My journey here today took me through the village of Aughrim, which has not seen any proper development for the past decade and a half. The lack of infrastructure such as wastewater treatment …

Before starting here, I taught in schools for 34 years, the last ten years in special education, but I have never seen things so bad in terms of the shortage of appropriate school places and SNA provision for those with behavioural, sensory, emotional or communication difficulties. The State is systematically failing these children, their families and the professionals I worked with. This week I h…

We all know that grassroots soccer in the League of Ireland is severely underfunded, particularly in regard to facilities, infrastructure and academies in comparison with other countries such as Croatia. Countries smaller than Ireland boast of having 190 full-time club academy staff in comparison to Ireland's ten. Our budget for League of Ireland academies is comparable to those of Andorra or San …

I was really proud during this past week to stand alongside so many sound people from Wexford and Wicklow - men, women and children - the finest of people who took to the roads out of sheer desperation in peaceful protest at a Government of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independent TDs that simply was not listening to them. They demanded meaningful supports and real change. They got neither in the Ch…

If a driver pays €60 for petrol or diesel, this Government takes roughly €40 off that so before the crisis hit, Ireland had some of the highest fuel costs in all of Europe. The Government could have chosen to deliver the maximum excise cut possible on diesel and petrol and remove excise entirely from home heating oil but it chose not to do that. Instead it chose to short-change people basically - …

I think I have another half minute.