Léargas

Today I hosted a briefing in the Dáil by parents from the Happy New Ear group. The group have been campaigning for the introduction of a bilateral cochlear implant programme. Currently, children in this state who are profoundly deaf only receive one cochlear implant, rather than the two which is accepted as best international practice. I urged TDs and Seanadóirí who attended todays briefing  to become champions for those children and adults in need of bilateral cochlear implants and to increase our lobbying of the Minister for Health in advance of the budget estimates in June for Budget 2014. This is a very winnable campaign. It is an issue that the government can fix. It needs political will. The HSE has commissioned a business plan to be submitted in June for inclusion in its estimates for Budget 2014. We need to increase our efforts to ensure that this business plan is comprehensive and effective and that the necessary funds are included for a bilateral cochlear im...

  Two weeks ago the European Council met. The meeting focused on the “European Semester” and the economic priorities for the EU in 2013. It is clear, both from the economic priorities emanating from the Council and its approach to the Cyprus crisis, that the EU is wedded to the failed policies of austerity. There is nowhere the dynamism and determination needed to tackle the jobs crisis across the EU.   However it is the events in Cyprus that have dominated political and public attention in the period since that meeting.   This morning in the Dáil there was an opportunity for party leaders to speak on the Council meeting but most speakers concentrated Cyprus. It is there that we see the real dysfunction at the heart of the EU approach to the economic crisis.   The fact that the Euro Group, including Minister Noonan, would sign up to a bailout which contained a levy on bank depositors under and over €100k, while sparing Senior Bondholders in the banks, ...

This week saw Sinn Féin publish a Bill which seeks to repeal the Property Tax. The Financial Local Property Tax Repeal Bill is about lifting the burden of this unfair tax off families and households and to replace it with alternative measures to raise taxes, including a wealth tax. The record of this government in its two years in power has been appalling. Fine Gael and Labour were elected to undo the damage of Fianna Fáil but have chosen instead to implement Fianna Fáil policies. The government’s austerity policies are driving up poverty and disadvantage. Emigration and unemployment are at record levels; public services, particularly health, are in crisis and there are more cuts to be imposed this year; the economy is flat lined and another new tax – the family home tax – is to be forced on households in the coming months.   Both Labour and Fine Gael opposed the property tax in opposition. The Taoiseach said in the Fine Gael election manifesto that: “ Fianna Fail’s p...

    Our Lady's Nursing Home, Falls Road By Kieran Trainor   The west Belfast Féile an Phobail is a remarkable community based enterprise. It never ceases to surprise and amaze me. This year marks 25 years as a thriving peoples’ festival. Over that time great playwrights’, poets, singers, writers, actors and extra-ordinary citizens have showcased their talent. As a founding member and as a director of Féile I have had the pleasure to meet many of them. Sadly this week I opened an exhibition for one local exceptionally talented artist who tragically died very young but who left behind him a breath taking collection of paintings, drawings and sketches. Kieran Trainor was born on October 19 th 1964. He grew up in Beechview Park, just off the Whiterock Road, not far from where I lived in Ballymurphy. Like most of his contemporaries Kieran attended St. Thomas’s Secondary School on the Whiterock road. But his talent was clearly recognised and he sat his A...

  I had the opportunity today (Tuesday) to raise the continued wrongful imprisonment of Marian Price and Martin Corey in prison in the Dáil during Taoiseach's Questions. I said: "Marian Price and Martin Corey should not be in prison. Sinn Féin made representations to the parole hearing and was informed that these two individuals would be a threat to the peace process if released. I wish to state on the record of the Dáil that they would not be a threat to the peace process if released.   Their detention is actually the threat to the peace process. Ms Price and Mr. Corey are a threat to the peace process as a result of the circumstances in which they are illegally detained. I look to the Government to raise this issue in the United States and also with the British authorities before the review of their detention concludes. The last thing we want is a judgment handed down by a kangaroo court to the effect that Ms Price will be held in detention for ever a...

In separate letters to the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste and in the Dáil on Tuesday, I urged the Irish government to use the good offices of the Presidency of the EU, which it currently holds, to raise the report of the EU Heads of Mission in Jerusalem at the next meeting of the EU Leaders. The Taoiseach agreed to do this. The content of the EU report has only emerged in recent days although the report itself was handed over to EU governments in January. It makes grim reading and is a scathing indictment of the Israeli government’s flouting of international law and its violation of the rights of Palestinian citizens living in East Jerusalem and the occupied territories.   The report finds that the Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the west bank are ‘the biggest single threat to the two state solution.’   The EU report accuses the Israeli government of implementing a settlement policy that is ‘systematic, deliberate and provocative’ .   ...

I learned tonight with sadness of the death of President Hugo Chávez. On behalf of Sinn Féin I want to extend my sincere condolences to Vice President Nicolás Maduro and to the people and government of Venezuela and to the family of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez who died this evening in Caracas. President Chávez worked tirelessly to improve the lives of Venezuelan citizens. He dedicated himself to building a new and radical society in Venezuela. His progressive social and economic changes took millions out of poverty. He extended free health care and education for all citizens and his re-lection last year with a huge majority was testimony to his vision. President Chávez was a hugely influential figure in South America and in world politics. He was an energetic and enthusiastic leader and when it was discovered that he had cancer he confronted his illness with the same courage and determination that marked his political life. He will be greatly missed.

  Mary Lou, mise agus Senator David Cullinane   Today Sinn Féin is holding a conference in Liberty Hall looking at the last century of workers in struggle. I gave the opening speech, welcoming guest speakers, setting the historical context, and raising the issues of today, especially the role of the Labour Party and the Croke Park 2 agreement. The initial bullet points gave a sense of the focus of my remarks and they I include the full text. Protecting Workers Rights ·        100 years after the Lockout this state is only one of three EU member states in which workers have no legislated right to workplace representation – have no right to sit across from their employers and negotiate the terms and conditions of their employment. ·        Workers have no right to collective bargaining. ·        The government claimed that current legislation provides adequate pr...