Michael Collins

Independent Ireland welcomes this Bill. It is a short and narrow Bill but it will be an important one if it keeps the wheel turning for social and affordable housing. Independent Ireland will always support a measure that lets councils and housing bodies keep building but, let us be honest, this is a technical fix, not a housing plan. What is the Minister of State's plan? Today, I do not see anyt…

I have another minute. Good. Men and women are trying to get a start in life but are being refused in their first steps. It is nothing short of scandalous and the reasons for the refusals leave me scratching the back of my head. To my sincere embarrassment, I can look at a site and see holiday homes at sky level behind the site where the house is proposed to be built and they are being refused be…

I do not want to stand up and criticise everything. Independent Ireland and I have called for a VAT reduction from 13.5% to 9%. That reduction has arrived, which is a good news story. I am astonished to hear the Social Democrats, the Labour Party and People Before Profit continuously dismiss this as a non-event. I am not going to do that. They are on about the fast food industry, but most of the f…

One of my constituents after seeing the budget today sent me this message: "Work, work, work, and at the end of the year you are back to where you started." After budget 2026 has been unveiled, many working families across the country are asking a simple question: where is the relief for us? Despite rising wages, soaring rents and relentless inflation, the Government has chosen not to adjust incom…

I have both statements and questions. To start with, I just spoke to Councillor Ger Curley who is an Independent councillor. The worries and concerns of the people of Cobh are for Paddy O'Donovan and the other Irish citizens who have been detained. There are serious concerns in Cobh in regard to Paddy O'Donovan, including among his family. I hope that we convey those concerns to the relevant peopl…

As I said, given our own experience in the Famine, where food was exported while our people starved, does the Tánaiste agree that Ireland carries a special moral duty to stand against the use of hunger as a weapon?

In my final 20 seconds, I will ask the remainder my questions together and see how I get on. What concrete actions will Ireland as a neutral country take at the UN and in the EU, and bilaterally, to insist on safe passage for humanitarian supplies and to hold to account those responsible for the blockage? Will the Tánaiste assure the House that Ireland as a neutral country will not be silent or co…

I welcome the Government's new community pharmacy agreement but, to be very clear, our independent pharmacists and communities have waited far too long for this kind of recognition. This agreement has good intentions but we in the Independent Ireland Party will not stand by and let it become another glossy plan that gathers dust while patients and pharmacists on the ground continue to struggle. T…

On 21 May this year, Independent Ireland put forward a motion, part of which called for the abolish the means test for carers. The Government said it would not oppose the motion. Budget 2026 is here next week so let us see if the Government puts its money where its mouth is. Family carers save the Irish State over €20 billion every year by providing 19 million hours of unpaid care each week. That …

West Cork is home to some of Ireland's most extraordinary sporting talent, from the Olympic gold of Paul and Gary O'Donovan and Fintan McCarthy in Skibbereen to the blistering speed of Phil Healy from Ballineen. Our athletes continue to inspire the nation. We have seen Nicola Tuthill from Kilbrittain rise as one of Ireland's brightest stars in the hammer throw, breaking records and representing us…

As we near the budget announcement next week, there is no doubt about the demands on the Government with the cost-of-living crisis, with families and the elderly severely squeezed financially at this time. Tillage and dairy farmers are under enormous pressure. Independent Ireland has also called for the abolition of the carer's means test. One thing Independent Ireland has called for in the past …

I thank the Taoiseach. As he will know from his holidays in west Cork or elsewhere, when there is a huge influx of people, there is a bonus from that but the problem is that the bonus does not last. If you go past a café today, there might be two or three people sitting outside it. It is during the busier times that they make their little bit of profit. The proof is in the experience of the busine…

At the meeting of the Business Committee last Thursday, I asked that the Minister for agriculture come before the Dáil on the grain crisis in this country at present and the sensational drop in milk prices, which is putting some farmers under serious pressure. I also ask that the Minister of State with responsibility for fisheries comes to the House for statements on the struggling inshore fisherm…

After 27 years of frustration, Uisce Éireann is finally being held accountable following a case brought by the EPA. The organisation was found guilty on both charges for breaches of its wastewater licence at Shannonvale Park, Clonakilty yesterday and fined €4,000. This is a major step forward. It recognises the environmental damages done to Shannonvale Park and to the River Argideen to Clonakilty,…

Today we are speaking about the Global Sumud Flotilla, a civilian led humanitarian mission currently en route to Gaza. The flotilla, made up of vessels from over 40 countries, is carrying medical supplies, food and essential aid to a population facing catastrophic conditions. This is not a political statement; this is a humanitarian one. The people involved are doctors, nurses and aid workers. The…

I fully support this motion, which rightly calls out the Government's failure to tackle the rip-off culture that has existed in the insurance industry for many years. I have stood in this Chamber previously to highlight the burden that sky-rocketing insurance premiums place on ordinary people. In November 2023, I asked the Minister for Finance why a constituent's motor insurance had increased so d…

The Coach Tourism and Transport Council of Ireland's pre-budget 2026 submission is a call for fairness, common sense and strategic investment in Ireland's commercial bus and coach sector. This industry is essential. It delivers over 95% of school transport services, supports 11,500 jobs and contributes €620 million annually to the economy. It carries 75 million passengers per year, including touri…

The expansion of the fare scheme to include commercial operators, specifically the inclusion of commercial operators in the free public transport initiative for the under-nines, is a must as we go forward. We cannot have a two-tier system, which will lead, if it continues, to private bus operators going out of business. The Minister mentioned the school transport service catering for 178,000 peop…

The fact that more than 5,000 children are currently living in emergency accommodation is a national disgrace. It is 5,000 young lives disrupted, 5,000 children in crisis, and 5,000 futures being shaped by instability and hardship. We in the Independent Ireland party believe the Government must go much further and much faster. It must declare a national housing emergency because that is what it i…

Today marked the close of nominations of candidates for the Presidency. Only three people will go forward for the Presidency of this country, which has a population of 5 million. Some very genuine people, one of them being Maria Steen, put their name forward only to be blocked by what can only be called a big party rigged system. This age-old-age process must be scrapped. Independent Ireland will …

Let us speak plainly about the Government's new auto-enrolment pensions scheme, which is due to begin next year. On the surface, it is being sold as a measure to help people save for retirement but after a closer look, it has all the hallmarks of another USC in the making, a so-called temporary charge that workers are still paying 14 years later. Under the scheme, employees and employers will each…

Independent Ireland met the Irish Hairdressers Federation today. The federation is in a crisis or, as it put it, a chronic situation. There is a stark future for many hair salons if they do not get a VAT reduction to 9% in January. Hair salons employ thousands of people and apprentices in this country. Suppliers are now refusing to credit many of these salons. There is a huge crisis. Can we bring …

I pleaded at a meeting of the Business Committee recently, maybe two weeks ago, for this debate to take place. I thank the Chief Whip for accommodating it and the Minister of State for attending today. Deputy Gogarty asked who is going to be fired. There has to be significant movement from the Minister of State's end on resolving the crisis. I plead with him in this regard. He is not long in his …

Once again, I speak on the behalf of people who are being crushed under the weight of soaring energy costs. Once again, I am forced to say that the Government is asleep at the wheel. There will be no energy credits this year. Why is that the case? It is because there is no election. That is the reality. The Government conned the electorate last year. That was how it bought votes. There is now no e…

I join with my colleagues here today in condemning any threats to the Tánaiste and his family that he has had to put up with which, to say the least, were shocking and sickening. I hope the full rigours of the law will be applied. Independent Ireland will do anything it can on this side of the political divide to help to support him in that regard. I presume the Tánaiste was at the very successfu…