Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions – Dáil Éireann (34th Dáil) – Wednesday, 17 Jun 2026

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

Today, the families of those killed or injured at Creeslough will bring their fight for answers to the Dáil. They will be here to speak to Members later this afternoon and we will make them most welcome. Every one of us remembers that fateful Friday afternoon in October 2022. We remember the reports of an explosion at an Applegreen service station and apartments in the small Donegal village and how that shock later turned to disbelief as we learned that the explosion had claimed the lives of ten people. It took the life of five-year-old Shauna Flanagan Garwe, the youngest victim, and that of her doting father, Robert; 13-year-old James Monaghan and his mother, Catherine O'Donnell; 14-year-old Leona Harper; Jessica Gallagher; James O'Flaherty; Martin McGill; Martina Martin; and Hugh Kelly, aged 59, who was the oldest to die. It was a tragedy that spanned generations and is etched into the collective memory of the people of Donegal. Families were left heartbroken, shattered and bereft.

Both the Taoiseach and I visited Creeslough in the immediate aftermath of the explosion and I certainly will never forget the devastation. No doubt, neither will the Taoiseach. For nearly four years, these families have fought for answers, for the full truth of what happened to their loved ones and how it happened. Families are calling for the establishment of a public inquiry. The Government's response is that a public inquiry cannot be granted while the criminal investigation is ongoing, but the former Garda Commissioner was clear. He stated that it was possible to hold a public inquiry without compromising that investigation.

The families' reasons for wanting a public inquiry are very well-founded. They are concerned that the criminal investigation may not examine regulatory oversight and safety standards, that without a public inquiry, the full circumstances of the disaster may never be established, and that criminal proceedings may take years, thereby delaying answers.

It is wrong that the families had to campaign publicly simply to secure a meeting with the Minister for justice. The Minister, the House will recall, initially spurned the families' request for engagement. That caused real upset, anger and frustration. Finally, after sustained pressure, the Minister changed his mind and met the families on 9 April. Following that meeting, Darragh Mackin, the legal representative of some of the families, stated, "The minister has now confirmed unequivocally to these families that he will consider holding an inquest with a senior judge or the senior coroner, something similar to Stardust". Yet nearly three months later, there has been no progress and the families are left feeling like they are in limbo. That is why they bring their campaign for truth and justice to Leinster House today.

Tá freagraí tuillte ag na teaghlaigh a maraíodh agus a ngortaíodh a ndaoine muinteartha i bpléascadh an Chraoslaigh. Tá siad ag éileamh fiosrúchán poiblí chun an fhírinne iomlán a aimsiú. Caithfidh an Rialtas freagairt dá n-éileamh gan a thuilleadh moille.

These families have endured years without answers about the deaths of their loved ones. What exactly happened? How did it happen? Could it have been prevented? After four years, they need clarity. They need to know what the Government is going to do. Please, will he tell them today that the Government will establish a public inquiry?

The Taoiseach

First of all, I do of course recall the horrific events at Creeslough where ten people died. It was an horrific tragedy in its impact on all those individual families of those who died and on the wider community. It is important that the survivors and families get comprehensive answers, but also accountability and justice. The real issue and debate here are about the best mechanism to get answers, accountability and justice.

It is important that the Garda has been leading a tripartite investigation alongside the Health and Safety Authority and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities. Seven arrests have been made in relation to the case. The most recent occurred on 12 September 2025. No charges have been brought at this point. An Garda Síochána submitted a primary investigation file to the Director of Public Prosecutions on 29 September 2025. A supplementary file was submitted in March 2026. The supplementary file includes formal recommendations from An Garda Síochána.

That file is being considered by the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP. We must acknowledge that there is, and in my experience there has always been, an issue with public inquiries while a criminal investigation is under way. It is not as simple as the Deputy articulated. I genuinely think there is an issue. We should allow the criminal justice system to conclude. Quite a significant degree of the case would be in public, if a criminal investigation is to be initiated or if charges are served and so forth. The question is what is the best mechanism to get the full answers about what transpired and to get accountability and justice in the event of any criminal negligence or wrongdoing being found.

All the advice I have received down through the years, and particularly Attorney General advice, has been that inquiries can compromise criminal investigations. However, we are open to an inquiry. If there were a criminal case, or if a case were to be heard in court, it would reveal a substantial amount of information, but if there are ongoing and outstanding issues and concerns that remain after the conclusion of a criminal investigation and an inquest, consideration can be given to the establishment of a public inquiry. I understand that, in April, the Donegal coroner met the families of those who died, explained the inquest process to them and reiterated to the families that the Garda investigation would take precedence, as it is the most important investigation at the time.

I understand fully. It must be awful to be waiting so long for answers about what transpired. Our thoughts are with the victims, their families and loved ones, the survivors of the tragedy and the wider community of Creeslough, which was so impacted by what happened more than three years ago.

Deputy Mary Lou McDonald

It is not I, but the former Garda Commissioner, who offered strongly the view and advice that there would be no compromising of the criminal investigation in the holding of a public inquiry. Be that as it may, we are now nearly four years on and the families have to have clarity on the direction of travel from the Government. The Taoiseach seemed to indicate an acceptance of the idea of an inquiry and that the question might be what the outstanding issues are and how they might emerge. Will he meet the families and hear from them directly? Undoubtedly, there is a need for accountability, including criminal accountability in open court. I do not dispute that for a second. The Garda and other statutory authorities must do their jobs, but the families have additional requests and questions. Will the Taoiseach make clear the direction of Government travel and meet the families at a time of mutual convenience?

The Taoiseach

I will make two points. The Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, met a number of family members and their legal representatives in April of this year. It is unfair to say he spurned them. Generally, the position has always been, when a criminal investigation is under way, that Ministers for justice have to keep a distance from the case, given the separation of powers and so forth. I have no issue with meeting the families and will do so. That is to be worked out.

However, there is a fundamental point, if the Deputy thinks about. Regarding the viability of having a criminal investigation and a public inquiry at the one time, as a layperson - this is not a legal observation - I think it would be problematic and challenging as regards witnesses and so forth. The Government's position is clear. It is that we want to see the criminal justice system bring this to its conclusion. I accept the point about doing so in a timely manner and I am assured that the Director of Public Prosecutions is assessing the file and will make her decision.

Deputy Holly Cairns

Today, we have another damning report from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, on Ireland's declining water quality. Nearly half of our rivers are ecologically unhealthy. They are dying, as is all the wildlife and biodiversity in them. Our high status water bodies are deteriorating. These rivers are hugely important ecologically. They are refuges for some of our protected species, such as kingfisher and salmon. Almost 10% of these rivers have declined in quality in the past year alone. More worrying, we have seen a net decline of 25% in the number of high quality rivers since 2012. The trend is clear and undeniable, and we all know why it is happening. It is predominantly because of agricultural run-off, with wastewater discharges also being a major cause. These are the facts. That is the science.

We can see the devastating impact of Government policy and inaction. In many cases, that impact will irreversible. Last week, the journalist Ella McSweeney shared a graph of wild salmon returns to Irish waters in recent decades. From the mid-1970s to today, salmon returns collapsed from 180,000 per year to fewer than 20,000 per year. Ms McSweeney rightly referred to it as extinction in our time. That is what we are witnessing and what the Government is facilitating.

Just last week, there was another major fish kill incident in the River Glyde in County Louth. Drone footage captured 25 km of pollution and tens of thousands of dead fish, including adult and juvenile Atlantic salmon and European eel. The source of the pollution has been confirmed to be agricultural discharge. A file is now being prepared for a potential prosecution, but even if that happens and the prosecution is successful, the fines are so small that they barely register. There is a reason Ireland is now the only country in the EU with a nitrates derogation. It is because the derogation is simply incompatible with good water quality.

The Taoiseach will accuse me and the Social Democrats of attacking farmers, but nothing could be further from the truth. As a party, we just do not peddle obvious falsehoods and inherent contradictions, so we do not claim it is possible to spread disproportionate levels of nitrogen on soil and keep our rivers clean, not when we all know that agricultural run-off is our biggest pollutant. That is not anti-farmer. It is just fact. Does the Taoiseach accept that fact? If not, will he just come out and say it, that protecting our waterways and biodiversity simply is not a priority for the Government?

The Taoiseach

First, it is a priority for the Government. The EPA report has serious findings. There were some positives in terms of some areas that had improved, and I think the report recommends that they be studied more, particularly in the Bannow area, to understand what is being done there that could be replicated elsewhere.

The Deputy will be aware that we have set up a Cabinet subcommittee specifically on water quality to oversee the implementation of the programme for Government commitments. A number of key Ministers are on it.

In terms of investment in water quality, there is an overall national development plan allocation for water. The Government has allocated about €12.2 billion over the next few years for water services and water quality, of which 95% or €11.7 billion is earmarked directly for Uisce Éireann. There is a further €230 million for rural water infrastructure, including group water schemes and so forth. Regarding river, lake and coastal water quality restoration, about €306 million has been allocated to that. A substantial amount of the money for Uisce Éireann is for capital projects, which means upgrading water treatment plants, removing supplies from the EPA remedial action list, eliminating contamination risks, new wastewater treatment plants, upgrading sewerage infrastructure, eliminating untreated sewage discharges into rivers and coastal waters, water mains replacement, pipe upgrades and the national leakage reduction programme. That is the level of investment we are putting in, which is unprecedented. The Deputy cannot say that the Government is not prioritising water quality, because that is one very effective way of improving it.

By the way, I will say in passing that Uisce Éireann needs to dramatically reduce the pollution emanating from its own discharges, half of which are operational issues, which in my view is absolutely unacceptable from a governance and management perspective.

In terms of agriculture, there is a significant issue there. We have never said there was not, but we have again, in a range of initiatives, provided supports for farmers to take additional measures to improve water quality. The farming for water European innovation partnership, EIP, with funding of over €60 million, was launched in 2024 and involved Teagasc, Dairy Industry Ireland and the local authorities water programme, LAWPRO. There were about 5,500 applications from the farming community. Since 2015, close to €200 million has supported investment in manure storage and low-emission slurry-spreading equipment. There are about 54,000 farmers participating in the agri-climate rural environment scheme, ACRES, while the agricultural sustainability support and advisory programme, ASSAP, will continue providing free, confidential water quality advice through to 2027.

Deputy Holly Cairns

In the 1980s, we had over 500 pristine rivers. Now, we have just 20 - actually, it is probably less than that because that is a 2018 figure - so for the Taoiseach to say this is a priority for the Government simply is not credible. Agricultural run-off was responsible for pollution in approximately 1,000 water bodies and the Government consistently fights for a derogation for Ireland to be able to apply more chemical applications to the soil, which inevitably run off into the rivers. Not that we needed further evidence that this was not a priority for the Government, but research has been done on alternatives to applying chemical nitrogen and we know that red clover can be as effective at fixing nitrogen into the soil, and the Government shelved that scheme only last month. The Taoiseach should stand up again and tell me how it is credible to say that the Government is prioritising water quality in terms of agricultural run-off.

The Taoiseach

On the maintenance of the nitrates derogation, we have been availing of the derogation since 2006 primarily because our grass-based farming system is much different to systems across the Continent. About 7,000 farmers have participated in that. By the way, those participating farmers probably have a higher and better record than those outside the derogation.

It is more complex than the Deputy is articulating. In some tillage areas, you can have significant run-off. It is not all dairy. Depending on-----

Deputy Holly Cairns

I did not say it was.

The Taoiseach

Please, I did not interrupt the Deputy. It depends on soil composition and other factors.

I looked at the data on estuaries. There has been quite a significant improvement in terms of phosphorous in estuaries, although not so much in terms of rivers and lakes. It is not where it should be - there is no question around that - but we have a number of fronts. You could end the directive tomorrow morning but that would have huge impacts on the dairy industry and other industries.

An Ceann Comhairle

Thank you, Taoiseach.

The Taoiseach

The Deputy has not spelled that out-----

An Ceann Comhairle

I call Deputy Bacik.

The Taoiseach

-----and has not even articulated that either.

Deputy Holly Cairns

I have many times.

Deputy Jennifer Whitmore

We actually did today, Taoiseach.

An Ceann Comhairle

Deputy Bacik, please.

Deputy Kevin Boxer Moran

Blame the poor farmer.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. No woman who lived under the shadow of the eighth amendment will ever forget its impact. Many of us will recall the X case, the A, B and C case, the PP case and the tragic death of Savita Halappanavar. We all know that there are thousands of other women who were harmed and whose lives were deeply impacted by Ireland’s constitutional ban on abortion between 1983 and 2018. Thousands had to travel abroad for necessary healthcare. In later years, many self-medicated with pills purchased online and far too many, in the early years, had to resort to using underground phone lines to get abortion information. As students union president in Trinity in 1989, I will never forget taking calls from women and girls in crisis pregnancy who were seeking the phone numbers of abortion clinics in England and had nowhere else to turn. Women who were panicked and desperate would describe their terror to me. Their bodies were no longer their own. Their futures were no longer their own. Due to the eighth amendment, they had to resort to calling a Trinity student’s phone line to ask for help.

After many decades of campaigning, we succeeded in repealing the eighth amendment in 2018 and in legalising abortion here. That was very welcome but far too many women are still travelling. At least 1,500 have done so since 2019. Women across Ireland are still feeling the loneliness of rejection by their own health service, so we must address the barriers to accessing necessary reproductive healthcare. Resources are not the issue. The constitutional ban is gone. What is preventing women from getting the care they need is political squeamishness and cowardice.

Deputy Conor Sheehan

Hear, hear.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

It is a residual, insulting, patriarchal mistrust of women that forms the basis of the mandatory three-day wait and the Government's unwillingness to engage with the evidence that other change is needed.

I welcome the Taoiseach's confirmation that he will vote in support of the Private Members' Bill to remove the three-day wait on Second Stage tonight, but even if that reform is introduced, it will not be enough. It will not be enough, in particular, for women who receive a devastating diagnosis of fatal foetal abnormality and who still have to travel abroad because of the unnecessarily restrictive provisions in the current law.

The Taoiseach asked barrister Marie O’Shea to lead a review into how abortion care was working in Ireland. Her report was published three years ago. From that moment, he and his colleagues were on notice the system was failing women and that arbitrary and paternalistic processes were failing women and, indeed, doctors. Therefore, we need to go further than removing the mandatory three-day wait. We need urgent reform of the overly restrictive provisions on fatal foetal anomaly and implementation of all the recommendations from Marie O’Shea’s report.

The three-day wait is just one serious obstacle and women cannot wait any longer for it to be repealed, so can we have a timeline for this change? None was forthcoming from the Government yesterday. Three years on from the O’Shea review, when will we see all of her recommendations implemented to deliver effective reproductive care and abortion rights?

The Taoiseach

First of all, I recognise that this is a very sensitive issue and I appreciate the Deputy raising it in the manner she has. She campaigned consistently over a long period for the abolition of the eighth amendment. On reflection, in my view, this area should never have been in the Constitution in the first instance. It came out of a particular era in the 1980s.

Be that as it may, the people spoke in the referendum. In the context of that referendum, there was a general debate on what would follow. If we look at what has happened, there is now safe and equitable access to termination of pregnancy services. The Deputy did not really acknowledge that in her presentation. Significant steps have been taken in this regard, including the expansion of hospital services, a sustained increase in community providers - there are about 492 now - the introduction of safe access zones and the continuation of the revised model of care for termination in early pregnancy. These measures have substantially reduced barriers and increased access to services for those who need it.

There is a broad spectrum of sincerely held views on this issue. We should respect that, and the Government respects that insofar as we have a conscience vote on these issues, and we have had. The constituent members - Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independents - allow for a conscience vote on this. That is what will happen in respect of the vote this evening on the three-day wait period, and we should respect everybody's perspectives and views on this question.

Deputy Mary Butler

Hear, hear.

The Taoiseach

On the three days, it is interesting if you look at the unplanned pregnancy and abortion care, UnPAC, study commissioned as part of the review of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. It explored the experiences of individuals accessing abortion services under section 12 of the Act. The findings indicate that the mandatory three-day waiting period was a recurring feature of discussions across the majority of interviews conducted. Participants expressed a range of views regarding its value and impact. While some regarded it as a procedural requirement that had to be navigated, others viewed it as a barrier or deterrent to accessing care. Very few participants considered the waiting period to have been beneficial to their own decision-making process, although some acknowledged that other women might value additional time for reflection. Those availing of the services now illustrate the degree to which the services have proved to be quite comprehensive in scope and access.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

I absolutely acknowledge the progress that has been made since 2018 and since the legislation commenced in 2019, but we still have to acknowledge we are failing far too many women.

Deputy Conor Sheehan

Hear, hear.

Deputy Ivana Bacik

Fifteen hundred women is not a small number, and in each situation, there are really difficult circumstances. I am glad that we are seeing a change of heart from the Government on the three-day waiting period after years of insisting that, because it was inserted into draft legislation late in the campaign just prior to the vote, the Government was prevented from looking to abolish it.

I welcome the Taoiseach's change of heart on this but supporting this modest measure through the first stage of a multi-phase legislative process is not enough. We need a timeline for its passage into law, if indeed Government is going to support that.

We also need to see the crucial change on fatal foetal anomaly. I am looking at Marie O'Shea's report. She talks about the challenges in clinical practice and the potentially unfair outcomes for parents arising from implementing the current section. I have spoken with doctors and with women and couples affected. We need to acknowledge the language in that section needs change. That is another crucial part of the reforms necessary to guarantee women and their partners decent healthcare.

The Taoiseach

The timeline for the amendment is subject to the Oireachtas. It is going to go to the committee if it is passed; if it is not, it will not go to the committee. That is where we are. It will be subject to the vote this evening and, subsequent to that, it will be considered by the committee. The Minister has already engaged with Deputy Cullinane on this. The Minister will be co-operative and in constructive mode if the amendment is carried this evening.

We have to be careful when generalising about the reasons every single person had to go to the UK. One of the issues here is every case can be different. Legislative attempts to deal with that could have unintended consequences. I voted against the Social Democrats Bill two weeks ago because I felt it went too far. Legislatively it was imprecise and poor in terms of wanting Government to interfere in clinical decision-making. Maybe that was unintended but it was clearly in what was proposed. This is not simple. We will continue with a conscience vote in terms of the members of our party.

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

We are living in a rip-off Republic at the moment and the Government is the architect of it. Families are being hammered on a daily basis by ever-burgeoning prices on a range of necessities of life. The price of electricity has risen by 57% in just five years. Ireland has the highest household cost of electricity in the whole of the European Union. The ESB, a semi-State operating on the basis of Government policy, made €636 million in profit last year. It is an incredible fact that a semi-State operating under Government policy is making supernormal profits at a time when 500,000 people are in energy arrears. That works out at €300 profit for every household in the county.

Last year, according to replies we received to parliamentary questions, the Government made €4.3 billion in fuel taxes. In the jaws of a cost-of-living crisis, it made more in fuel taxes than ever before. Its plan is to increase carbon tax. Carbon taxes were €1.2 billion last year - 80% higher than they were five years ago. They will increase in October this year and every year to 2030. The cost of diesel is 40% more than last year and carbon tax is the main driver of that.

The Taoiseach

It is not the main driver.

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

It is the main driver of the increase in the price of diesel. It is a blind tax. It takes no consideration of people's ability to pay. In actual fact, it hurts those on low incomes the most. This is the most detached Government in generations. It simply does not get it. It does not understand what is happening in people's kitchens - the pressures, the stress, the anger. People are a toothache or a timing belt away from debt. They are living from overdraft to overdraft. People are working all the hours they can get, yet they are struggling to keep the lights on and pay for fuel to commute to work.

We had a warning from the Central Bank last night that inflation is about to get worse. Gabriel Makhlouf said global supply chain pressures intensified in March and April and will put upward pressure on goods prices. It is spreading across all sectors - retail, services, industry, construction. All this has pushed mortgage rates up in recent weeks. Despite all this, despite the crisis families are in, at midnight on 31 July, away from the political spotlight, when Dáil Members are sunning themselves on holiday-----

Deputy Darragh O'Brien

Ridiculous. What kind of populist-----

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

-----it is the Government's plan to raise petrol by 27 cent per litre and diesel by 32 cent per litre. That is an incredible thing. Is this not the ultimate two fingers to the people of this county who are in trouble in terms of the cost of living? Will the Taoiseach commit today not to increase fuel taxes on 31 July and to give the people of Ireland some respite?

The Taoiseach

I will be working throughout July. I hope people get a bit of sunshine in July but the way things are going it is a fairly rare occurrence these days.

The issue the Deputy raised is serious. The one issue he studiously avoided mentioning, bar indirectly when quoting the Governor of the Central Bank, was the war in the Middle East. He ignored the two wars - ignored them completely - and he said other things were the drivers of increases in energy prices. The driver has been clearly the war in Iran. Everybody knows that and he ignored it in his presentation.

We acknowledge there is a cost-of-living issue. The Deputy quoted from the Governor of the Central Bank. What did the Governor say? The Deputy can quote it back to me if he wishes. It was that global pressures will create inflationary pressures here. That is true across Europe.

When the governor of the European Central Bank spoke to the EU Council at the commencement of the war, she said things were going in the right direction. Inflation was coming down to around 2% and growth was happening again in the European economy more widely. The war hit and we saw what happened in Qatar. The positive news is we have, hopefully, a sustainable peace. That will lead and already has led to a reduction in the global market price of oil and gas. That will continue for the rest of the year and into the new year. Even better outcomes could develop from that.

We are very conscious of inflationary pressures. That is why in the budget and in the recent package of €750 million, we intervened to alleviate pressures as much as possible on people. Some reductions in the budget were of a permanent nature. We increased core social protection rates by €10 and introduced a significant targeted increase in child support payments. The fuel allowance was increased and expanded to take in those on the working family payment. A one-adult household on the lone parent payment with one child will see an increase of 9%, that is €1,800, from the Department. A two-adult household will see an increase of just over 8% or €2,300, in their payments.

On the broader issue of those in arrears, there are about 184,000 in arrears on electricity over 90 days. The Department of energy and the Department of Social Protection will further analyse that and see how our resources can be targeted on that issue as they have been in other areas through MABS. We have helped families and so on deal with situations that they are in.

They key issue of course is we have to replace fossil fuels with renewables. The Deputy mentioned the carbon tax. Substantial money goes to farmers - 60% of ACRES is from the Exchequer. Substantial money goes on retrofitting. Since 2019, over €1.8 billion has been spent on retrofitting. We have been able to provide energy upgrades to 268,000 homes. We could not have done that if we did not have the carbon tax in place.

Deputy Peadar Tóibín

There are global pressures. There is no doubt about that, but this country is an outlier in terms of many of the costs people are paying. It is the Government's effect that makes this country an outlier. The Taoiseach talks about the carbon tax. We have shown through parliamentary questions that hundreds of millions of euro from that have gone back into the Exchequer and have never been used. These are parliamentary questions answered by Ministers.

The price of a shopping trolley has increased by 40% since 2021. This is the second most expensive country in the European Union. Groceries cost 15% more than the European average. Average rents have increased by 36% in five years, up to €2,700 in Dublin. In one year over the last five years, the cost of living has gone up €4,000 on average per household. That is the definition of a rip-off. We are one of the richest countries in the world, yet middle-income families are so squeezed as a result of Government decisions. The Taoiseach studiously stopped answering that question. I simply asked him a question. He might address it. Will he stop the increases in taxes on petrol and diesel on 31 July?

The Taoiseach

The Government is monitoring the situation and will make clear to the Dáil before the summer recess our position on that and how we deal with that. The permanent reductions in cost of living the Government has introduced include free schoolbooks at primary and secondary level, expansion of free hot school meals, universal childcare subsidy, €280 new baby grant, hospital inpatient charges abolished, expanded free GP care, free contraception for 17- to 35-year-olds, free HRT. I could go on in terms of the interventions the Government has done to create a permanent reduction in the cost of living, notwithstanding the huge increases.

We have had the Covid pandemic. The supply-chain crisis led to inflation. The war in Ukraine led to inflation and an energy crisis-----

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht - Wednesday, 17 Jun 2026

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 17 Jun 2026