Ciarán Ahern

I begin by cautiously welcoming the short-term reprieve brought about by the Government's decision to reduce excise duty temporarily; to cut the NORA levy, a measure to which this legislation gives effect; and to take on board one of the Labour Party's proposals, which was to extend the fuel allowance by four weeks. The Labour Party voted in support of the introduction of these measures last night…

I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this timely motion forward. As we saw at the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, the cost of energy and fuel has skyrocketed in the weeks since Trump and Netanyahu’s bloody misadventure in the Middle East began. Never ones to waste a crisis, whether at the garage forecourt or in our home heating tanks, fuel providers here saw an opportunity for profit and they went for i…

The surge in fuel prices triggered by instability in the Middle East is a stark reminder of just how exposed Irish households remain to global shocks. How did we get to this point? First, unfortunately, there seems to be a lack of strategic planning. The Government has reacted far too slowly to a rapidly escalating problem and the crisis seems to be getting ahead of it. This is our second energy c…

I first and foremost send my solidarity to the innocent people in Iran and the broader Middle East who are caught in the middle of this illegal war between a brutal and repressive Iranian regime, a genocidal Israeli regime and an increasingly fascist and autocratic American regime. By the way, this is not a "situation" in the Middle East, which is the title the Government has put on this speaking …

91. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Transport if his attention has been drawn to issues affecting commuters using the new F1 bus route in Dublin South-West; if it is acceptable in his view that workers using the bus to travel to Dublin city centre in the morning have had an additional 20 to 30 minutes added to their commute; the reason the peak-time, high-frequency timetable only applie…

Is the Minister aware of the issues affecting commuters using the new F1 bus route in Dublin South-West? Does he believe it is acceptable that workers who were using the bus to travel into the city centre every morning have had an additional 20 to 30 minutes added to their commute as a result of the changes to this bus route? What is the reason the peak-time, high-frequency timetable only applies …

I have been very straight about my support for the BusConnects projects and the objective of the programme, which is to improve bus journey times, frequency, punctuality and reliability. That is off the bat. It is great obviously. The routes had to change because they have barely changed in the entire history of the city. When implementing any change to routes there will always be issues like this…

That is exactly the point. It is about the interim measures. The roll-out of this programme is piecemeal, and I can understand why, but until we have all the infrastructure in place and all the routes perfectly link up, as per the overall plan, we are going to have issues like this. I ask again that the Minister talk to the NTA and suggest that it review this and maybe implement the 49 route again…

Figures released by Eurostat today show that households are paying twice as much as data centres for their energy in Ireland. Data centre expansion is putting huge pressure on our energy grid and soaking up all the new, renewable energy that we are generating. Not only that but they are not even paying their fair share for the pleasure. This is just the latest in a series of examples where this Go…

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this important motion. I pay tribute to the thousands of SNAs, teachers, parents, school principals and those in the broader school community who have forced the Government to back down on the attempt to cull SNA supports for schools and children with additional needs across the country. It was the groundswell against this move and the national outcry of thousands of …

I wish to look at one example in the same special school in Tallaght and the broader shift in the model of what we expect an SNA’s role to be, and the struggles that the school and staff go through on a daily basis. This school has a student with type 1 diabetes and epilepsy. The child has increasingly complex needs and seizures approximately every fortnight. The school is dealing with all of this…

I thank the Minister of State for his engagement tonight. We would be delighted to meet. Regarding this particular medical issue, there are concerns around a lack of training for SNAs in dealing with issues like this. My colleague, Deputy Eoghan Kenny, has brought in a Bill on emergency medical care training for SNAs but this is an ongoing issue. This is an emergency and something they have to dea…

2. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Taoiseach for an update on the first progress report of the Climate Action Plan 2025. [4030/26]

29. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Taoiseach his assessment and response to the NESC report, Connecting People to the Energy Transition. [4031/26]

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. I commend Deputy Gibney on introducing it to the House. I thank Senator Higgins for introducing it and shepherding it through the Seanad. I know a huge amount of work was done in the background on this. Senator Higgins obviously had extensive engagement over the years with businesses, representative groups, trade unions and broa…

I thank Deputies Tóibín and Lawless for tabling this motion. The Labour Party has submitted an amendment which, we hope, will be an effort to strengthen the motion. As Deputy Lawlor said, however, this is something we all need to work together on. Like Deputy Lawlor's constituency, my constituency of Dublin South-West was hit really hard by the floods that happened in the wake of Storm Chandra, pa…

I express my sympathies and that of the Labour Party to the pedestrian who died and the three other people who have been injured in Dublin city centre this afternoon in a terrible crash. Where do we start on road safety? A total of 190 lives were lost on our roads last year, the highest since 2014. We need to get a grip on this. I am not sure that the Minister of State has the political will or t…

I thank Deputy O'Gorman for bringing forward this really important Bill. In relation to naming companies in this Chamber, I was given out to about that recently. These companies are not individuals. They are not private individuals. They are big enough and bold enough to defend themselves, so I do not know whether we need to look at our rules on that. We should, in this House, be able to call out …

As Deputy Coppinger said, they are before the committees, they are in the papers, and they are big and bold enough to defend themselves.

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. I was not having a go at the Chair.

I am the first speaker this evening from outside of Dublin 15 and it has been noted that there are a couple of us here from outside the area. This is coming for us all. That is why I am here, and I am sure it is why Deputy Gibney is here. We have seen plans for Dundrum and elsewhere around Dublin. There should be a certain urgency to getting this right so that we nip the issues in the bud that we …

Every week we come into this Chamber and we discuss infrastructure. It might always be the title of the debate but Ireland's infrastructural deficit lies behind so many of the problems we discus every day. Whether we are talking about flooding, commuter chaos or housing, what is really under discussion is the consistent failure of the Government to build and sustain the infrastructure that Ireland…

Over the course of this Government’s time in office, we have seen a disappointing pattern of irresponsible grandstanding by Ministers trying to play tough on immigration. This Bill is the latest example. It goes further than is required under the EU migration pact in restricting the rights of migrants and leaves gaping holes when it comes to protecting those rights. There were real issues with the…

A total of 190 people died tragically on our roads last year, the highest level in ten years. There have been a few events in recent weeks that undermine people's faith in this Government's and this State's commitment to road safety at an institutional level. The Minister for Transport stated in a response to me last week that there is only so much the State can do and that driver behaviour is a b…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — employees in Ireland have no right to flexible and remote work, only a right to request it from their employer; — more workers are being forced back to the office, with some large employers, including in the public sector, moving to increase the number of days per week that must be spent in the workplace; — in a recent study by INRIX, Dublin ranked as …