Seamus Healy

Families and businesses are now living through the second global fossil fuel crisis in five years. We are increasingly vulnerable as long as we depend on energy imports. Unless we take action to diversify away from fossil fuels, we will again be hit by the next crisis. When that hits, pensioners, the sick and families will again worry about the cost of home heating oil. Farmers, fishers, agricultu…

We are exhausted by the number of reports, reviews and investigations into the cost of disabilities for individuals. We had the Commission on the Status of Persons with Disabilities in 1996. We had Indecon's Report on the Cost of Disability in Ireland, which was published in 2021. We had a Green Paper on the cost of disability in 2023. We had an ESRI joint report with the Irish Human Rights and Eq…

Vulnerable people and families are now being charged up to €15 for blister packs. Medical cardholders, people on fixed incomes, sick people and people with disabilities must now pay this additional charge. As the Minister knows, there is a cost-of-living crisis and these groups are already under severe financial pressure, being hammered by increases across the board. Food costs over the past five …

I welcome and support this motion and thank Deputy Stanley for bringing it forward. I want to address some remarks to Fianna Fáil TDs, Fianna Fáil Senators and the wider Fianna Fáil membership. Is Fianna Fáil going to abandon its history? Is Fianna Fáil going to abandon Bunreacht na hÉireann, Éamon de Valera's Constitution? Is Fianna Fáil going to abandon Éamon de Valera's declaration of neutralit…

Is it going to abandon people like Éamon Ó Cuív and Willie O'Dea who are on record as opposing the abolition of the triple lock? The Minister has said that there is no connection between the triple lock and Irish neutrality but as we very well know, the current Taoiseach told us previously that the triple lock is the core of Irish neutrality. These are huge questions for Fianna Fáil, and for its f…

The current income limits for council housing are completely outdated. They are too low and must be increased urgently. These low income limits have the effect of locking large numbers of low- and middle-income families out of public housing and indeed private home ownership as well. The families do not qualify for council housing or the housing assistance payment, nor will they qualify for a mort…

The homeless figures for the end of March 2026 are a damning indictment of this Government and the previous Government's effort to address of the housing emergency. A record 17,517 people were living in homeless emergency accommodation, including 5,571 children, which is another shocking record. The record shows that evictions result in direct, immediate increases in homelessness figures. Quarter …

County Tipperary has more than 5,900 km of road and, based on the current pavement surface condition index ratings, it would cost more than €300 million to bring all the road network to a good standard, that is to the Department's rating of at least seven. According to Department of Transport guidelines, Tipperary County Council should treat 5% of the road network or 295 km under the road improvem…

I thank the Tánaiste. Good road conditions are vital for County Tipperary. It has limited public transport and is largely a rural county. People who work in any of our towns such as Clonmel, Tipperary town, Cashel, Cahir, Carrick-on-Suir, Thurles, Roscrea or Nenagh must drive to work and people who go to third level institutions in Clonmel or Thurles must drive. People who shop in any of those tow…

I should not have to ask this question but, of course, Irish Water has no respect for customers, so I do not have a choice. Tipperary town, with a population of more than 5,000 people, has been on a boil water notice since 12 February. There is an information blackout from Irish Water. Despite the efforts of the public, local radio and local and national public representatives, we still do not kno…

It is the case.

I welcome this Bill. I support it and thank Sinn Féin for introducing it. The Bill gives the Commission for Regulation of Utilities the power to monitor wholesale and retail prices in the energy market; to increase the frequency and level of reporting; to monitor and regulate hedging practices; to strengthen its powers to monitor anti-competitive behaviour of gas and electricity suppliers; to give…

68. Deputy Seamus Healy asked the Minister for Defence if she plans to introduce the defence (amendment) Bill to provide for the abolition of the triple lock; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33645/26]

Is it the Government's intention to proceed with the proposed defence (amendment) Bill to provide for the abolition of the triple lock, which is against the expressed wish of the Irish people as expressed in two referendums on the Nice and Lisbon treaties?

Neutrality and a triple lock have served his country well. The current Taoiseach is on record as saying that the triple lock is the core of Irish neutrality. Of course, that neutrality goes back over 100 years to when James Connolly erected a banner on Liberty Hall declaring that, "We serve neither King nor Kaiser, but Ireland". It also goes back to hugely successful protests against conscription …

Irish peacekeepers who have served throughout the world for decades know the value of the triple lock. Neutrality has been an invaluable component of Ireland's foreign policy. This country's involvement in and reputation for peacekeeping gives moral legitimacy to our voice for the international rule of law and peaceful resolution of conflicts. Former Defence Force members with first-hand experienc…

What about the General Assembly?

The General Assembly is entitled to call for peacekeeping missions.

Decent housing is enshrined as a human right in Article 25 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It should also be enshrined in Bunreacht na hÉireann, the Irish Constitution. A referendum to that effect should be called immediately. The policy of successive Governments has been and continues to be an abysmal failure. Target after target has been missed. There are well over 17,000 famili…

Local government is the beating heart of democracy. In July of last year, when replying to a question of mine, the Taoiseach confirmed that the abolition of town councils was a big mistake and that he was a great believer in restoring town councils. He said that many town councils had great visionary district councils in the past. In November of last year, the Taoiseach confirmed that it was an is…

It is on the record.

The Government has failed rural Ireland. What we have is a lot of talk and not enough delivery. There is a housing crisis, a cost-of-living crisis and a disability crisis in rural Ireland. There are other issues that people in rural Ireland face on a daily basis, such as those relating to a lack of water due to burst water mains, outages, treatment plant malfunctions and boil water notices. Irish …

I welcome this motion and support it. It is appropriate that we debate this motion on workers' rights in the lead up to May Day. May Day and May Day demonstrations resulted from the adoption of a resolution for a great international demonstration at the International Workers' Congress in Paris in 1889. That demonstration was in support of workers' rights and the demand for an eight-hour working da…

I want to raise again the fact the people of south Tipperary have no consultant ophthalmology service. There has been no eye service for almost two years now. The HSE has failed in its duty to provide that vital service. We have no consultant-led service, no optometry clinics and no nurse-led clinics. As a result there is a huge backlog of 3,000 people, with hundreds of children who have never bee…

The programme for Government commits to intensifying the transition to lower cost renewables and electricity generation and to transitioning away from imported fossil fuels. We can see just how expensive fossil fuels can be since the illegal US war on Iran, just how dependent we are on them and how vulnerable that makes us to price shocks. Successive Governments have been too slow to move away fro…