Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Over 24,000 Irish citizens who had been living peaceful, happy lives in the Middle East are now stranded due to a war waged by the US and Israel. Their parents are worried. This Government must do everything possible to guarantee their safety and welfare and to get back home to Ireland those who wish to return here. Hard-pressed Irish householders, farmers …

In the digital age we need to keep up with technology, keep a close eye on it and ensure children are safe. As we all know, algorithms are designed by the big tech giants to be addictive - the equivalent of digital cocaine. They know, insidiously, that they are destroying the physical and mental well-being of an entire generation of young people today for one sole purpose, namely, to broaden their…

Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam. A country without a language is a county without its soul. Is ráiteas fíorthábhachtach ó Phádraig Mac Piarais, a bhfuil dealbh de thuas sa Ghailearaí anseo, é sin. Tá athbheochan nua ar an nGaeilge ar siúl faoi láthair. Tá borradh mór faoin nGaeilge. Tá dearcthaí agus meonta fhíordhearfacha ann ina leith ach is a mhalairt a fheictear ón Rialtas. Tá sé an-difriúil ar f…

Tír gan teanga, tír gan anam. A country without a language is a country without its soul. Is ráiteas fíorthábhachtach ó Phádraig Mac Piarais é sin. Tá dealbh de thuas anseo sa Ghailearaí. Faraor géar, don chéad uair riamh i stair na hÉireann agus i stair ársa 2,600 bliain na nGael, tá baol ann anois in 2026 nach mbeidh pobal ar bith fágtha in Éirinn, fiú pobal beag iargúlta, ina mbeidh an Ghaeilge…

Access to a doctor is a necessity and a basic right for people, especially when they are sick. However, a GP shortage in south Wicklow and north Wexford has reached crisis point. I ask the Minister to intervene. People are desperate. They are travelling more than 20 km but still cannot find a GP who will accept new patients. One practice in a small town in my constituency has a waiting list of 200…

What is the Government planning to do about the devastation of the coastline in north Wexford and south Wicklow? I am talking about Cahore, Glascarrig, Courtown, Castletown, Arklow and right up to Brittas Bay. There are few people in Dublin who do not have fond memories of Courtown. The beautiful and historic Courtown Woods have lost an area equivalent to 18 football pitches over the past few deca…

For me, this is about listening to the people and that is about uniting rather than dividing people. We need to communicate with local communities. It is disappointing to see the Government and fellow colleagues on the left, when we are tabling sensible amendments which are about good planning, making this issue about Sinn Féin, which it should not be. I absolutely despise racism. I have been to m…

You are calling out our amendment. That is what we are saying.

We are saying we should not be playing to these. We should not be giving into this agenda being driven by speculators and finance capital-----

-----because they are the people who are driving this into these areas.

At the end of the day, for me, it comes down to the best way to unite people, which is just to listen to the people, listen to local communities and try to have fair planning policies. As I said, how many centres are in Dalkey? How many centres are in Foxrock? It is about fair planning. That is the way I look at it.

We have to have transparency. There is the example of the two directors of a cafe which had a profit of €2,992. Three years later, they paid themselves €4.6 million. There is something very strange there. Looking at my area of County Wicklow, €1.3 million was spent on security for the vacant site of a failed IPAS centre. It is just a site sitting there. Deputy John Brady brought it into the public…

I will briefly reinforce Deputy Carthy's points. Two years ago, the Secretary General of the Department of integration gave out the figures for payments per night. He highlighted how the State was paying the private accommodation providers over twice the amount that was being paid to house asylum seekers in State-owned accommodation. That just reinforces the contradictions within this system yet a…

Similarly, and as I have a background in primary teaching, I am quite concerned at giving Tusla more of a role. Many people would certainly question the merits of this because over the past five years, there have been 7,000 recorded cases of children going missing from Tusla care. I remember Tusla came before one of the committees, when it acknowledged that 33 separated children or unaccompanied m…

Human trafficking is a problem that needs to be eliminated. I believe Ireland is ranked in tier two in terms of international comparisons, which means we are not really doing what we should be doing or can do to eliminate human trafficking. In the region of 67 victims of trafficking were formally identified, including five to ten children, and in many cases they ended up being subject to labour, s…

I want to be constructive. I would welcome any Government policy that will deal with the present chaotic system of IPAS processing and enforcement. However, we should make the decision. That is fairly obvious. Based on our own circumstances on a divided island, this issue cannot be addressed in the present system. The system to date has not been fit for purpose. I want to be constructive, as I wa…

In terms of absconding, are figures available for the number of people in the State subject to deportation orders?

Does the Minister have the number of people in the State subject to deportation orders, and have their records been checked in terms of absconding?

In terms of absconding, I know from a parliamentary question reply that there were 2,330 deportation orders last year-----

It is next, though.

I was coming to-----

The absence of Irish unity makes what we just voted on unworkable. On the passenger name recognition, PNR, data that is used, it is already used for the common travel area by both Britain and Ireland for tracking criminality. Can that be used to get a clearer picture of who has left the State? Both countries have passenger name recognition data.

Likewise, I think this amendment is helpful, constructive and sensible. To take a similar area in County Wexford, Rosslare was a really deprived village. It had two IPAS centres and was probably the most welcoming village in Ireland. It is the gateway to Ireland and Europe. People there raised over €100,000 immediately for the Ukrainian response and took in over 70 Ukrainians. It was one of the fi…

The rural roads of County Wexford and parts of south Wicklow are deadly dangerous. They are literally disintegrating before our eyes. It is not a recent problem, as they have been at the bottom of the list in intercounty studies for the past 30 years. Recent floods have completely wrecked them. Despite this, it was announced today that County Wexford is now going to receive less funding for roads …

Vulture funds are robbing many of our young people of the opportunity to ever have a home of their own in their country. The Government is still allowing these vampires to snap up properties in bulk across the State and rent them back to people at inflated prices. How can families, young couples or first-time buyers outbid these massive investment fund? They simply cannot and it is wrong, disgusti…