It is with great sadness I learnt earlier today of the death of Finbarr Flood.  Finbarr had a distinguished career in sport, business and in the service of the public.  He excelled at everything he did but he wore his success with the humility and modesty that were to be his trademarks.  Among a host…

The Receiver appointed to Lynam’s Hotel in O’Connell Street is seeking to have all the homeless families removed as the hotel is being put up for sale.  It is unacceptable that the sale of property by a receiver should be given priority over the lives of the people living in that property.  The needs of…

When Susan O’Keeffe asked me to read a Yeats poem in public for Yeats 2015 last year (the 150th anniversary of the poet’s birth), I picked Easter 1916. The line that stands out for me is “too long a sacrifice can make stone of the heart”. Our theme today comes from a different line in…

News that the CineMobile, Ireland’s only mobile cinema service has ceased trading is a great disappointment and will result in the denial of a local movie-going experience for the tens of thousands of visitors that it attracted each year. CineMobile has provided an invaluable service to festival goers in places like Galway and Kilkenny, but…

Earlier today in the Dáil Labour Party Leader Brendan Howlin called on the Tánaiste to provide an update on when the Youth Mental Health Task Force will be set up. Labour Youth welcomes the news that the government will make an announcement next week on the formation of the Task Force. The ISPCC report released…

I welcome the establishment by the Taoiseach today of the North Inner City Task Force. The Task Force will be charged with supporting the regeneration of the North Inner City area of Dublin. Along with my Labour Party colleague Joe Costello I called on the Taoiseach to establish this Task Force as far back as…

The second visit by the Taoiseach and some of his cabinet and junior ministers to the North Inner City at 4pm today to announce the establishment of the promised North Inner City Drugs Task Force is to be welcomed. The Task Force is the Government’s response to the epidemic of drug and gang-related murders in…

Speaking in Dail during Statements on Housing Strategy It is welcome that the Government has published an Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness and that it has taken on board many of the recommendations of the Oireachtas committee. However, while it contains lots of measures, proposals and aspirations, I am concerned at what it does…