Latest news with #DáilÉireann
Irish Independent
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Irish Independent
The Indo Daily: Election promises under scrutiny- The Government's six-month report card
Six months into this new Government coalition, and all seems to be oddly quiet in the world of Irish politics. Yes, we've had the furore over the Regional Independent Group's support for the Coalition, Verona Murphy's survival of no-confidence and the ruckus that followed Michael Lowry's memorable two-finger salute. But since the dust settled on all the ruaille buaille of those turbulent early weeks in January, business has been unusually quiet in Dáil Éireann. So, what has the Government actually been doing - and what has it achieved so far? With grand pre-election promises around childcare, tax cuts and housing, is the Coalition living up to its commitments? Or is it simply too early to call our elected officials to account? In today's Indo Daily, Mary Regan is joined by Ireland Editor Fionnán Sheahan and Irish Independent Political Correspondent Gabija Gataveckaite to take a political temperature check of Leinster House and to give the Government its six-month report card.
Irish Post
a day ago
- Business
- Irish Post
Protest outside the Dáil over Ireland's housing crisis
LARGE demonstrations have taken place outside the Dáil Éireann over Ireland's escalating housing crisis. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions organised the "Raise the Roof" protest to coincide with a parliamentary debate on the issue. The union labelled the crisis "the greatest political failure of our time". Ethel Buckley, deputy general secretary of SIPTU, stated: 'Workers are being priced out of home ownership and can only access housing by taking on unsustainable financial burdens.' She went on to add: 'This has serious consequences, not just on a personal level, but across society. We're seeing vital jobs go unfilled and more young people emigrating.' 'What's urgently needed is a complete overhaul and long-term strategy to provide secure, affordable housing.' Ireland's housing crisis has forced the government to navigate the wide gap in priorities between renters, landlords and property developers. Homeownership is simply out of reach for many young people due to high demand and low supply. According to recent data from property site Daft, average monthly rent has now surpassed €2,000 nationwide. In response, the government has tried to introduce policies that both limit rent hikes and encourage construction by developers and investors. Taoiseach Micheál Martin has stated that the government aims to considerably boost construction to meet national demand. However, Sinn Féin has repeatedly criticised the government for not taking enough action to resolve the crisis. The opposition described the situation as a severe emergency prior to the protest. Eoin Ó Broin TD, Sinn Féin's housing spokesperson, said: 'We're calling for measures that genuinely protect renters, not the weakening of rent pressure zones that we've seen so far, but a total freeze on rent increases and concrete support to bring costs down.' Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) are areas where rent increases are legally limited to shield tenants from sharp price hikes. The Raise the Roof campaign has widespread public support, but it remains uncertain whether this will alleviate Ireland's housing woes any time soon.
Irish Times
10-06-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Fears over Russia being used to make ‘insincere' argument against triple lock, Opposition group says
The Government is using fears about Russia to make an 'insincere' argument against the triple lock, according to an alliance of Opposition politicians. Left-wing and Independent politicians have claimed that a number of Government TDs and Senators are uncomfortable with plans to relax the legal barriers that can stop Irish troops from being deployed overseas. Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire of Sinn Féin, Paul Murphy of People Before Profit, Duncan Smith of Labour, Patricia Stephenson of the Social Democrats, and Independent Senator Alice Mary Higgins held a joint press conference today along with a number of civil society groups calling for the retention of the lock. The triple lock is the mechanism under which Ireland can deploy more than 12 troops on missions abroad. Such deployments require the approval of the Government, Dáil Éireann and the UN Security Council . READ MORE The Government has consistently argued that this gives countries like Russia or China, who enjoy permanent membership of the UN Security Council, the power to veto Ireland's participation in international missions. The UN has not agreed a new peacekeeping mission since 2014. Last month, the Government approved plans brought forward by Tánaiste and Minister for Defence Simon Harris to unravel the triple lock . Mr Harris has said he wants to make progress with the controversial legislation before the Dáil summer recess. Labour's Mr Smith said the Government's discomfort with Russia's place on the council 'seems to be quite recent' and that the issue was not about the status of the UN Security Council. 'I would say they are being insincere in that,' Mr Smith said. He said he believed some Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael backbench TDs and Senators were against their own Government's plans to scrap the triple lock. [ Government wants progress on scrapping triple lock before Dáil break Opens in new window ] 'I do believe there are people in Government that share our position, and we need to reach out to them and try to get them to change the minds of what's going on in Cabinet at the moment, and the public are on our side. 'This is just stuff that you pick up on the margins of meetings or corridor chats and all the rest. They will be getting heat on this from people that don't want to see Irish troops being deployed, which is the majority of people ... it is a headache that backbenchers don't want.' Ms Higgins said she believed Government politicians who want to keep the triple lock 'have a deeper understanding than maybe some of the Ministers seem to have'. 'Because we're getting a very, very narrow description of neutrality as being this entirely technical matter of, 'Are we fully paid up members of Nato?' rather than, 'Are we a country that fulfils that principle under Article 29 of the Constitution?' – which is the peaceful settlement of international disputes,' she added. Save Our Neutrality, a cross-party campaign to keep the triple lock, will be holding a demonstration this Saturday against Government plans to relax the legal barriers for sending Defence Forces overseas.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Irish government apologises to family of hit-and-run victim
The Irish government has apologised to the family of a cyclist who was killed in a hit-and-run caused by a driver who should have been in jail. Shane O'Farrell, 23, was struck by a car while cycling near his home in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, in 2011. The driver, Zigimantas Gridziuska, had more than 40 convictions at the time, including some in Northern Ireland. Speaking in the Dáil Éireann on Tuesday, Tánaiste (Ireland's deputy prime minister) Simon Harris TD said: "We acknowledge failures in the Courts Service and the criminal justice system that exposed Shane to danger on the fateful day of his tragic death." The O'Farrell family have campaigned for a public inquiry into their son's death. The body of the law graduate was found nearly 60 yards (54m) from the point where he was hit by a car on 2 August 2011. Gridziuska, a Lithuanian national, left the scene of the fatal crash but the following day he handed himself into gardaí (Irish police). He had been a regular defendant in courts in Monaghan, Cavan and Louth in the years prior to the killing, according to RTÉ. In the January, before the fatal crash, a ruling from Monaghan Circuit Court meant Gridziuska should have been in jail at the time of Mr O'Farrell's death. Instead, he remained on bail. Another prison sentence handed down in February 2011 was also not imposed. The Court Services of Ireland previously said Gridziuska's prison sentences were never served because of what it described as an administrative error. As part of their long-running campaign, the O'Farrell family have previously travelled to Belfast and Brussels to raise their case in Stormont and the European Parliament. Harris hopes that the apology can "in some small way can start to heal the wounds left by Shane's untimely death". "The harrowing events of that day in August 2011 were just the beginning of a living nightmare for the O'Farrell family," he said. Harris added that the government has made "a number of decisions" which have been recommended by the minister and have risen from the campaign of the O'Farrell family. He hopes these decisions will "bring about meaningful change" and said that Minister O'Callaghan will outline these decisions in more detail. "As tánaiste, I fully endorse and support the apology." Irish government to apologise over fatal crash Shane O'Farrell: Irish PM to meet family of County Monaghan hit-and-run victim
Irish Times
24-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
‘No quick fix' for autism crisis as teenager's protest pushes issue to top of political agenda
She brought her books to study for the second-year summer tests next week, and plenty of chocolate and buns – though 14-year-old Cara Darmody can't have had much time for either given the interest in her very public campaign outside Dáil Éireann this week. There was a long procession of politicians, reporters and wellwishers stopping for a word with the teenager who spent 50 hours outside Leinster House this week to protest at the delays in providing assessments of need for children with disabilities and autism, and services more generally. By Thursday morning, after two nights on Kildare Street, she admitted to being exhausted. She got 'a bit' of sleep, she said. Darmody, who is something of a campaigning prodigy, has two younger brothers, aged 12 and eight, who have autism. They have received, says their father Mark, who accompanied his daughter all week, 'almost no services from the State'. READ MORE 'Neil in particular is among the most profoundly intellectually disabled children possible and was failed dramatically by the HSE,' he told The Irish Times. 'He is extremely challenging and violent towards himself, but the HSE still hasn't provided him with behavioural therapy, and he's in an inappropriate school place.' Cara Darmody, who has two brothers with autism, campaigns outside Leinster House. Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA Wire Similar stories were heard all week from advocates and families of children with autism and disabilities. Darmody's protest has drawn attention to a system that is deeply and profoundly dysfunctional. The State is failing some of those most in need of help and, in doing so, is in breach of its own laws. Under the terms of the Disability Act 2005, children are entitled to an assessment of need – a formal process for assessing their disability and/or autism which outlines the services they can expect from State bodies – within six months of applying for it. But the deadline is only met in a small percentage of cases – more than 90 per cent of applicants have their assessments completed outside the six-month legal deadline. On average, according to HSE figures, children are waiting more than 2½ years – 32 months – or five times longer than the legislation allows. What has happened? The waiting lists are not a recent phenomenon. They have been growing for years, though the accumulation has been accelerating of late. And it will, the HSE says, get worse. In a response last week to a parliamentary question submitted by Labour TD Alan Kelly, the HSE said it expects the list of those who are waiting more than six months to grow from 15,000 at present to 25,000 by the end of the year. Such unusual candour from the HSE, Kelly reckons, is a 'cry for help'. [ Government 'all talk but no action' on disability assessment backlog, says activist Opens in new window ] Three things have combined to turbocharge the waiting lists. First, there is the difficulty in recruiting staff. The Government promises to train more therapists but that takes time; all parts of the system report shortages of staff. Second, a High Court case in 2022 found that a system of quick assessments which had been developed by the HSE did not fulfil the statutory requirements under the Disability Act. This has resulted in many individual assessments taking much longer – and therefore fewer of them are being completed. Minister for Children and Disabilities Norma Foley said this week that some assessments are taking as much as 90 clinical assessment hours; the HSE says the average is about 36 hours. As a result, therapists are now spending a third of their time doing assessments rather than providing the therapies needed by children after their assessments. Third, and Ireland is no exception in this, there has been an explosion in the number of children presenting for autism diagnoses. About one in 20 schoolchildren are now being diagnosed with autism – a threefold increase in a decade. The knock-on effects on the waiting lists are obvious. Applications increased from 8,400 in 2023 to more than 10,600 in 2024, a 26 per cent increase. HSE figures for the first quarter of this year indicate that there has been a further 20 per cent increase in the number of applications compared to the same period last year. The delays have led to huge pressure on parents. Many TDs report it as second only to housing in the representations they receive. [ 'Through that nightmare of a tunnel': the long wait for autism assessment in Northern Ireland Opens in new window ] 'There are tens of thousands of families affected by what we are talking about, my own included,' Alan Kelly told the Dáil on Tuesday. 'I deal with this issue every day. In my clinic recently, nine out of 17 appointments concerned issues experienced by people with autism.' People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy has had the same experience. 'The issue of parents of children with additional needs is now definitely the second issue after housing that comes to me,' he said. Some TDs spoke about their own personal experiences as parents trying to get supports for their children. 'Delaying assessment means delaying therapies, supports and a chance of a more equal and dignified life for those children,' said Sinn Féin TD Sorca Clarke, who has two children with autism. 'Parents watch as their children struggle, knowing that early intervention, proven to make a real difference, is being withheld because of inaction and indifference and because the system that is supposed to help is in fact failing them.' Cara Darmody halfway through her 50-hour Dáil protest to highlight disability assessment delays. Photograph: Sam Boal/Collins Faced with the lack of supports, parents – when they are done tearing their hair out – are doing two things: they are taking legal action to compel the State to provide the services to which they are legally entitled; and they are going private, paying for the assessments that the State is failing to provide. Paul Murphy says that 25 families every month are taking legal action. 'I now have a close relationship with solicitors whom I immediately put parents in touch with, saying: 'You can take the State to court for that,'' he said. 'People know that if you take the State to court, you will get your assessment of need eventually,' he said. The private option is not open to everyone. Fianna Fáil TD Catherine Ardagh, who has previously spoken publicly about her family's challenges, said: 'We were lucky to be in a position to pay; most families are not.' [ Government to change law in bid to speed up autism and disability assessments Opens in new window ] The one thing that everyone agrees on, though, is that there is no prospect of this being solved quickly. The Government says it is committed to a range of measures, including legislative change to simplify the assessments, increased funding, hiring new staff, training new staff, clarifying that assessments are not needed for other benefits, and so on. But Minister of State at the Department of Children Hildegarde Naughton told the Dáil bluntly: 'There is no quick fix.' Senior Government officials echo her comment. 'The reality is capacity constraints will remain in the system,' says one. Outside the Dáil, Cara and Mark Darmody ended the week satisfied that they had pulled the issue to the centre of the political agenda but they were left disappointed that the Taoiseach, who met them on Wednesday morning, has not promised to declare an emergency and act accordingly. 'We do accept that they are doing things – we don't buy into the ideology that the Government is doing nothing. But they're not treating it like it's an emergency crisis. 'He [the Taoiseach] was talking about issues around unions – but in Covid we did not say: 'We need to discuss this with unions.' He has evidence from the HSE that this is out of control. How much more does he need to declare this an emergency?' Cara Darmody and her father, Mark Darmody, outside Dáil Éireann. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw Will Cara be back? 'Yes, she has something planned already,' says her dad. 'Something big.'
