Mattie McGrath criticises tokenism, demands action on special needs
Mattie McGrath spoke about failures to secure school places for children with special needs and criticised what he described as tokenism in candidate registration to obtain political funding. He said families are forced to fight repeatedly for services and called for better treatment of women and children.
He highlighted individual cases including Tina Barrett and her husband and Samantha Bray and family, who have had to campaign and lobby for school places for children with special needs. He described families "fighting, fighting, fighting," forced to use Facebook and public campaigning to get attention for their children's needs.
McGrath praised local early childhood provision, recalling visionary figures such as Carrie Etcherton and Helen McCrack and the development of Aninra in his village of Kostanewa. He noted that Dalton Yoga serves children from the cradle up to five years through the medium of Irish and described it as a flourishing institution.
He accused the political grouping Independent Ireland of registering women as token candidates to secure political funding and called that practice "an insult and an abuse of women." He said some candidates were put forward merely to obtain hands on finances and referenced Deputy Collins in that context.
McGrath said politics was "going backwards" and criticised rancour in debates and attempts to silence female colleagues. He referenced a female colleague, Carol Nolan, being denied the chance to speak and described a tweet aimed at Count Kohler on her first day of the Dáil as shameful.
He invoked his late mother Mary and other influential women in his life, praised his wife's long support, and spoke warmly of his large family, including five daughters, three sons and 13 grandchildren, saying he feels blessed.
Special needs school places
He highlighted individual cases including Tina Barrett and her husband and Samantha Bray and family, who have had to campaign and lobby for school places for children with special needs. He described families "fighting, fighting, fighting," forced to use Facebook and public campaigning to get attention for their children's needs.
Early childhood and local initiatives
McGrath praised local early childhood provision, recalling visionary figures such as Carrie Etcherton and Helen McCrack and the development of Aninra in his village of Kostanewa. He noted that Dalton Yoga serves children from the cradle up to five years through the medium of Irish and described it as a flourishing institution.
Allegations of tokenism in candidate registration
He accused the political grouping Independent Ireland of registering women as token candidates to secure political funding and called that practice "an insult and an abuse of women." He said some candidates were put forward merely to obtain hands on finances and referenced Deputy Collins in that context.
Political atmosphere and treatment of women
McGrath said politics was "going backwards" and criticised rancour in debates and attempts to silence female colleagues. He referenced a female colleague, Carol Nolan, being denied the chance to speak and described a tweet aimed at Count Kohler on her first day of the Dáil as shameful.
Personal reflections
He invoked his late mother Mary and other influential women in his life, praised his wife's long support, and spoke warmly of his large family, including five daughters, three sons and 13 grandchildren, saying he feels blessed.
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Transcript
I too am delighted to be able to say a few words on this topic here today and I would think of my late mother Mary and she read nine of us and indeed six boys and three girls, powerful woman that instilled many of the values, all of the values that I carry today with me. Indeed, I think of people like Carrie Etcherton, here for a short time in the 80s, a powerful woman, a visionary. I think of Helen McCrack, a wonderful visionary who decided to build Aninra in my little village in Kostanewa, delighted to be able to assist, a flourishing institution now where the Dalton Yoga are just from the cradle actually up to five years of age, are learning in the early childhood years, learning through the medium of Irish, a wonderful institution. I think of, I think of, people like that. I didn't think of people today, Tina Barrett in the care, sorry, two women who are fighting heroic battles to try and get school places for their children, each of a child with special needs. Why should this be? Each year, all of us here have this case, fighting, fighting, fighting. And it's just so unfair to those people, Tina Barrett and her husband and indeed Samantha Bray and the family, to have to, agonising and to have to be on Facebook and have to be out lobbying. I mean, the women, the women that came up here last week to the department with their children, most privileged children with special needs, they should be looked after. I think of Cara Darmody, losing her childhood, campaigning for services for her two brothers who have severe, frowned autism. That shouldn't be in this world today. And when I think of them, as I said, as I praise my own wife for putting up with me all the years, 41 now, and they have five daughters and three sons. And they have 13 beautiful grandchildren, two in the last two months. So we're blessed, and 10 of them are little angel, little baby girls. So we're blessed all over 10 years of age. How privileged I am to live in that society. But this politics is going backwards here. And the debate today and the rancor coming here isn't very nice. And when I see the latest political party, Independent Ireland, and when they were trying to get, there would be hands on finances to fund their party, put up token ladies, forum and all, just put up names, register them as candidates. That's an insult and an abuse of women, as far as I'm concerned. And it shouldn't be happening. If that's the kind of policies we're going to have, just to gain political funding, where you have to have the court, I never agreed with the court system in the first place. But to think that Deputy Collins as leader would do that, his own sister, his own partner, and others as well, that he would do that to just get political funding. And then, they don't think of stopping us speaking tonight here. Deputy, my colleague here beside me has just spoken so eloquently, Carol Nolan, two female members of our group, and would deny speaking, right? So, when you're listing out the compliments and everything at praise, think of what you're trying to do to silence other female colleagues in this party. And that goes for Sinn Féin Labour, and the way you tweeted to Count Kohler, our newly elected female member, on the first day of the Dáil, it was shameful. Thank you, Deputy. Your time is... Thank you.