Speaking in the Dáil on Statements on Report of the O’Higgins Commission of Investigation CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY  I want first to join with others in thanking Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins for this report. In the words of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Judge O’Higgins has produced a thorough and thoughtful report which deserves the…

The deliberate removal from the Programme for Government, of any commitment to implement the recommendations of the McMahon report on Direct Provision is beyond disappointing. It is in fact a betrayal of the thousands of people who have found themselves languishing in Direct Provision Centres all around the country. In Government Labour oversaw the publication…

I am encouraged the Taoiseach responded positively to my call at Leaders Questions today to establish a multi-agency task force to combat the rise of gangland crime in Dublin’s North Inner City. The North Inner City is a wonderful neighbourhood with a strong sense of community. It is unacceptable that violence and murder is now…

The killing this morning of Gareth Hutch is both a human tragedy and a shocking reflection on the ineffectiveness of law and order in the North Inner City.  It brings to five the number of revenge attacks on the Hutch family for the shooting dead of a member of the Kinahan gang in the Regency…

“Decent work agenda almost entirely absent from Programme for Government” Labour Senator Ged Nash has welcomed revised CSO figures released today which have shown a further drop in unemployment rates. However he has slammed the fact that the decent work agenda promoted by Labour is almost entirely absent from the Programme for Government. He said:…

Speaking in Dáil Debate on Mental Health The €12 million taken from the Mental Health budget this year, so hard and bravely fought for by former Minister of State Kathleen Lynch, cannot be allowed to fall into the black hole of the general Health budget. That amount will be a comparatively minuscule contribution to the…

The Minister for Justice must as a matter of the upmost urgency lead an all-government response to combat the spiralling rise of violence in Dublin’s North Inner City. It is appalling that another life was lost today to gangland crime. The all-government response should involve the Departments of Justice, Children and Education to ensure there…

Labour Dublin West Deputy Joan Burton has welcomed the CSO’s latest Quarterly National Household Survey figures which show that in April unemployment dropped to 7.9%. But she warned that there can be no room for complacency in particular, as regards, more vulnerable unemployed groups including the long-term unemployed, older unemployed people and younger early school…