Paul Nicholas Gogarty

I wish to focus on one aspect of this motion I support, namely, the reference “to honour Ireland's obligations under the Genocide Convention and to fulfill the duty of the State to use all means likely to have a deterrent effect on those suspected of preparing genocide or reasonably suspected of harbouring specific intent, and work to prevent the genocide.” We have had a two-faced approach. I will…

I want to talk about something that is ongoing. It is not specific to today but it has been happening every single day and every single year since this State began, and anecdotally, it appears to be getting worse. I am talking about antisocial behaviour and, in particular, antisocial behaviour by those aged under 18. Young people are invariably good. We had a discussion a while back about the fact…

There were 15,813 referrals of 12- to 17-year-olds to the Garda youth diversion programme in 2023. They are the ones who end up getting into the system but I am more concerned about the ones, the hangers-on of the ring leaders, who should not get into the system in the first place. Are there any further plans for consequences? I raised the issue some months ago with the Tánaiste, Deputy Harris, of…

As the Taoiseach said, the schools are doing a great job. It is mainly female teachers in primary schools, and they are the ones who are getting misogynistic abuse at sixth-class level. We have had different debates about that. The Taoiseach mentioned the community safety partnerships. I wish they would hurry up and get them set up because there is a deficit there, including in communities that ar…

Ireland's associate membership of CERN is a fantastic step forward in science, technology and innovation in this country. As a TD, I was happy to be able to offer a pairing to the Minister during his recent visit. Great thanks is due to the Minister and his team for facilitating this associate agreement. Well done to all. As an associate member we will have access to what is one of the world's mos…

It is now six months since the Government was established and we have seen very little. We now have a moderate and small-scale proposal on the hikes on the price of rent. The Minister said it is an effort to get a balance between keeping rents down and getting investors in. Different lobbies have different statistics to throw out but in places such as San Francisco, for example, rents have risen w…

3. Deputy Paul Nicholas Gogarty asked the Minister for Finance his views on postal orders as a means for making payments for bills with State agencies and local authorities, especially among those with limited IT skills and no chequebooks; whether such organisations have the right to refuse postal orders; if so, whether this could be amended through his offices; and if he will make a statement on …

We know that the use of cheques in this country has declined dramatically, especially since Covid. The current rate of use is now half what it was in 2023, and has probably declined more. I do not have the up-to-date figures. Many people do not have chequebooks anymore or if they do, they are stashed away in a box somewhere and are not used that much. Equally, there are many older people who do no…

What I am more interested in is the Minister raising it with the agencies. For example, South Dublin County Council has cash offices in Tallaght and Clondalkin, but many people who rely solely on public transport find it very hard to get to those places. I wish to give a specific example regarding resident parking permits for an area that have to be paid through South Dublin Parking Services. When…

Do not rub it in.

Couples in the first home scheme and other schemes are being priced out of the market in south Dublin and elsewhere. People who are working hard do not qualify for social housing but cannot qualify to make commercial bids and join the overnight queues for a small number of available properties. I understand the current pricing in south Dublin is €475,000 for houses and €500,000 for apartments. How…

On this occasion, I would like to offer my personal condolences to the family and welcome the apology given on the record to the late Shane O'Farrell. I used to say that the period between my previous tenure as a TD in 2011 and being re-elected last November was a very long time. Compared to what Shane's family has had to go through even to get this acknowledgement, I feel for the family on a pers…

We talk about Gaza every week in this Chamber. It is right and proper that we do. One can get emotional about it because every time a child dies it is a harrowing experience, but one has to look at it in a more balanced way in terms of trying to get something done. That is what this Bill is attempting to do; it is trying to put pressure on the Irish Government to make the Central Bank of Ireland d…

The Minister of State's colleague and my constituency colleague, the Minister of State, Emer Higgins, said a while back that efficient use of public resources contributes to better delivery of services for our citizens. Obviously, the Minister of State present cannot disagree with that. It makes a lot of sense. The Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, mentioned she had launched a public consultation…

I also wish to raise the paltry bonds payable by developers for estates to ensure they are finished so that they can be taken in charge. It is such a small amount that in some areas of my constituency, 15 years later some estates have still not been taken in charge. Similarly, the bonds payable by companies for large-scale contracts are often not worth the paper they are written on. There is no in…

Without carers, especially family carers, the burden on the State would be far greater. Over the years we have heard stories of people being placed inappropriately in geriatric wards or people who need more intensive care being sent home early because of insufficient spaces. Carers play a valuable role and unless we totally change our definition of what constitutes society in Ireland, it will neve…

Will the Government review the Adamstown and Clonburris strategic development zone plans? The last Adamstown review was 12 years ago. There is a major issue arising now due to insufficient carparking spaces. Planning permission has been granted on the basis of 1 to 1.25 spaces per unit but we now have one development near the train station, The Sidings, where there are no parking spaces provided w…

Today it is 80 days since the humanitarian aid blockade of Gaza began. This regime has long since passed the threshold for what would constitute legitimate defence following the horrific and condemnable Hamas attacks on October 7. This was already genocide before the deliberate and inhumane blocking of lifesaving food, medical supplies and shelter, not to mention continued bombing, but new lows co…

Making statements on biodiversity in Ireland is a bit like that time when Ghandi was asked about western civilisation and he retorted: "I think it would be a good idea." Biodiversity in Ireland would be a good idea if we followed through. I welcome the €2.9 million funding announcement to local authorities for biodiversity projects under the National Parks and Wildlife Service local biodiversity a…

I take a slightly different approach from that of Deputy Tóibín. We have to remember what the ARP is for. It is part of our contribution to help war-torn Ukraine which has been aggressively attacked by Putin's regime. As we are not a military country - we are militarily neutral and not participating in any transfer of weaponry - we have made a contribution as part of the effort to help Ukraine. Th…

Services for people with disabilities are in disarray. There is an ongoing battle for disability services to be provided where needs have been assessed. The National Federation of Voluntary Service Providers, which represents a mixture of voluntary public services organisations and voluntary grant-aided bodies, has gone on record recently to state their ability to deliver existing services and mee…

Like others, I raised this matter back in February. There has been very little, if any, progress since that time. What is happening is quite frustrating for TDs constituents. This is not really a local issue, although I do want to raise a local aspect in a moment. There has been no real progress since February. I mentioned at the time the need to implement the service level agreement requirement o…

Ireland is 19th on the global innovation index but we are behind similar-sized countries such as Estonia, Denmark and Finland, which is in seventh place. I asked previously what is Ireland's equivalent to Nokia. In terms of research and development, what are we doing that is Irish born and that is creating jobs on the basis of Irish initiatives rather than international companies coming here? I w…

The Institute for Management Development’s world competitiveness yearbook 2024 ranks Ireland 38th out of 67 countries in basic infrastructure. To take water as an example, Dublin City Council wants to build 6,000 homes in Ballyboggan but this is under threat due to a lack of water and sewerage infrastructure. The greater Dublin drainage project needs to be progressed. Nationally, it is estimated t…

I was at a presentation by Haven Horizons yesterday in the audiovisual room, as were others. This domestic, sexual and gender-based violence prevention centre does wonderful work - without proper State funding, I might add, something that needs to be looked at. At the discussion afterwards, an issue I was mulling over came up, and that was the contribution that social media make to such violent an…