Eoin Hayes

The recent report by the ISME noted that there was a decline in SME credit balances from €62 billion in 2011 to €17.8 billion in 2023, despite headline economic growth in Ireland during that period. That is a stunning drop of 70% in capital to indigenous companies since the Taoiseach was last in government. He says he is a pro-enterprise Taoiseach but the evidence points to the contrary. What will…

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Two years ago I canvassed in the local elections. One day in Harold’s Cross I knocked on the door of a man about my age. He came to the door. There were toys in the hallway and he was making dinner for his kids. I asked him what were the kinds of political issues that were on his mind and he said, “The cost of living”. That was May 2024. Two years later I think about that man, with everything that…

The living conditions faced by Dubliners in social housing flats built between the 1930s and 1960s are frankly unconscionable. I have heard stories from people who are desperate, who are enraged and who, increasingly, are resigned to the failure of this State to uphold their human rights. I get countless pleas in my constituency of Dublin Bay South from people living in flats with mouldy walls, r…

6. Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Social Protection to provide an update on child poverty figures and the effectiveness of his Department's measures to reduce child poverty. [31238/26]

The subject of my question is child poverty. Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures that were released recently show that the consistent poverty rate for families headed by lone parents was about 13.4% last year compared with 11% in 2024. It is a 22% increase in consistent poverty for one of the most vulnerable groups in the country, including the children they take care of. Will the Minister con…

I thank the Minister for his reply. Many of those payments and changes are welcome but there is a question, in the context of the growing hardship on families, the cost of energy and the cost-of-living crisis, that people are being left behind. Potential talent, in particular, is being left behind at a young age if we do not reverse the trend of consistent child poverty. The Government's target is…

It is worthwhile to read into the record some of the harrowing stories presented by St. Vincent de Paul and the reality faced by lone parents. One parent said: "I can't get control, we can't make plans, it's like being in a deep hole, no matter what we do we can’t get out of it. We climb up and fall back in." Another single mother told the organisation: "I find life very hard, not being able to pa…

The CSO recently released data on rising levels of poverty among our older population. The consistent poverty rate for those living alone aged 65 years and over and was 9.6%, which is nearly one out of every ten, compared with 5.2% in 2024. This is a staggering near doubling in just one year. More than 30% are now at risk of poverty. I know the Taoiseach was in Stoneybatter yesterday evening and I…

Not for energy.

This is a targeted measure.

There is no question that Ireland and the world have experienced one of the most significant energy shocks in decades. As discussed earlier, there are no fully operational offshore wind farms in Ireland, one of the windiest countries in the world, after decades of underinvestment and deprioritisation by successive Governments, including those the Taoiseach has been involved with. It has been a gro…

Fianna Fáil has been in government for a very long time.

I start by thanking Deputies Ó Snodaigh, Nash, Rice, Murphy and O'Gorman and former Deputy and now Uachtarán Catherine Connolly for sponsoring this important Bill. I thank the LGBT Restorative Justice Campaign, in particular my dear friend, Brian Sheehan, for its incredible campaigning on this over many years. I also want to acknowledge the Minister and Department's commitment and urgency to pass …

The stories on the front pages of the newspapers this morning were not about ordinary people dealing with the cost-of-living crisis. No, there are no front pages given to the pensioner at home struggling to keep their home warm, the disabled person taking the now hours-long trip to a hospital for dialysis because they can no longer afford to do it at home, the single mother skipping meals to feed …

Let me express my deep gratitude and support for An Garda Síochána for clearing the disruption and blockades last week. On 17 December, the Taoiseach told me in this Chamber that it was "not fiscally sustainable" that the Government change any of its spending plans in order to accommodate basic, targeted measures to help with winter fuel costs. Now, we see a raft of measures costing way above the …

Less than 10%.

It is.

That is not going to pay the energy bills.

It is often said that in the past century the global economy has lifted billions of people out of poverty. China's economic prosperity was responsible for more than 60% of that figure and it has been based on very different models to the ones we have here in Europe. While, of course, we must condemn human rights abuses in China, it is also true that China now has more renewable energy than Europe,…

It should be lost on no one, today of all days, that climate change and the associated issues in energy security, water infrastructure and transportation infrastructure are of paramount importance for the future of our country. I welcome the Government focusing on the acceleration of the delivery of such infrastructure so we can meet this climate century and navigate it more securely for the share…

As the Minister said, we are lucky to live in a country where our police force, An Garda Síochána, is lauded by the vast majority of society. I want to pay particular tribute to the excellent gardaí in our constituency of Dublin Bay South and here in Leinster House and, in particular, to the incredible work of community gardaí which I see first hand in my work as a constituency TD. They do great w…

Politics, for better or worse, has made me occasionally suspicious of things. When things happen suddenly or without warning, I wonder what exactly is happening. I am a bit of a nerd, I have to admit. I like maths, numbers and researching things I am interested in. After a few hours of researching this amendment and looking at the Bill, I find what the Government is doing deeply troubling. I want …

It is not, but it is a very significant provision that the Government has put into it. Let me take Deputies through how I came across it. The Government has deliberately obfuscated this from the Dáil and it is a very serious matter for Government backbenchers, in particular. On the face of it, the change to the Order of Business to add to the agenda an amendment to the National Oil Reserves Agenc…