I thank Deputy Clarke for raising the issue of the cost of living. I am slightly surprised she did because I was wondering cá bhfuil Mary Lou this week. I happened to see online that she is over in the United States at a Friends of Sinn Féin talk tonight. You can pay $250 at 6 p.m. to be a champion for change and she will throw in a free T-shirt-----
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Pardon me?
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No, I was just wondering where the Leader of the Opposition was.
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I was wondering where the Leader of the Opposition was this week-----
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----- to find out that when Sinn Féin is lecturing us in here in relation to the cost of living, it is charging $250 and throwing in a free T-shirt at a fundraiser.
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The leader of Sinn Féin should be in this House doing her job.
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The leader of Sinn Féin should be in this House instead of charging $250. This Government has a proud track record when it comes to supporting people. The package we put in place, which Sinn Féin voted against, reduced the cost of diesel and petrol and-----
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-----reduced inflation by 0.6%. We expanded the fuel allowance-----
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-----with the largest or second largest package in the European Union, while Mary Lou is over charging people $250 and-----
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----- giving out free T-shirts.
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As Deputy Hearne knows, because we discussed this at length when Sinn Féin raised this last week, my comments related to the new measures that were brought in and it is true that under the new measures new tenancies, the majority of people are covered on no-fault evictions.
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Obviously, measures you bring in are prospective. We brought in a whole package of measures in terms of longer tenancies, making sure the RPZ was nationalised and bringing in an effective no-fault eviction ban for the majority of new tenants as well. I take very seriously the case the Deputy raised. I do not feel too comfortable about speaking about an individual case in the Dáil but if the Deputy wants to sent me the details, or send them to my constituency office directly, I will work with Deputy Whitmore on this. We need to do better on that and I am happy to engage on it.
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What people should do is slow down.
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I try to be constructive in this House.
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The problem is lots of people are dying on our roads. I am serious about this. If the assertion is the camera is wrong-----
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If the assertion is the camera is broken, then I would ask someone to please look into the broken camera. If the assertion is that people are speeding and should not be getting a fine, that is not it.
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Can someone please check this? I am not responsible for the operation of cameras but if the camera is not working, it should be fixed. I presume the Department of Transport can look into that, or the gardaí. The broader issue here of these static cameras making sure our roads are safer is a really important one. If our cameras are catching people speeding, and penalty points or fines are being administered, that is Government road safety policy.
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I acknowledge genuinely Deputy O’Gorman’s long-standing commitment in relation to this. It is quite incredible that we have a vaccine in this country that can effectively eradicate a cancer that disproportionately impacts and kills young women in this country. Unfortunately, there have been campaigns, misinformation and disinformation. At times, not every Member of this House has supported the vaccine. I hope we have moved beyond those times because this is a vaccine that is highly safe and highly effective and everybody should support it. I welcome the Deputy's thanks to the Minister for Health and the work she is doing on the catch-up programme. I know the priority here is to target the vaccine in the first instance at the age group where it is most effective - I think that is close to the age of 13 year - but we certainly do not rule out taking further actions; far from it. The Minister will continue to monitor this closely and I will keep in close contact with the Deputy on it.
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The Deputy will be glad to know the Minister for Health thinks he is entirely right and, therefore, I do too. I know the Minister spoke to this at the INMO conference because the work being done by the ANPs is as the Deputy describes. It is a key part of the delivery of healthcare. It is keeping people out of our hospitals as well. It is a very valued role in the health service. We have a piece of work under way in the Government across a variety of Departments, liaising with our colleagues in the Department of public expenditure and reform. The Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, is fully committed to this as are we. We will keep the Deputy updated.
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As the Deputy said, there is an incremental credit scheme that does allow teachers to claim credit for other years of relevant service, whether within the EU or outside it. However, there are some issues the Deputy is right to raise in relation to schools which may not necessarily satisfy the current required criteria and then the service of the school cannot be considered towards that incremental credit. The service of the school cannot then be considered toward that incremental credit. I think that is the nub of the issue we hear time and again. Through the Teachers Conciliation Council there is a subcommittee that looks at incremental credit. The teacher unions have now lodged a claim concerning the recognition of private post-primary teaching service outside the EU as well. The Department is examining this as part of the budgetary cycle. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to engage with the Deputy directly.
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The Government is committed to continuing to reduce class sizes. We have seen a significant reduction in pupil-teacher ratios over the past several years. However, the Deputy is right to say it is not an exact science, and I will not pretend it is. It has to be at a point in time. There are opportunities for schools to appeal, put forward information with regard to special circumstances or show they expect that numbers will grow again in the following year. I am not sure it is entirely as blunt an instrument as might be suggested. However, I will ask the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to give consideration to the point the Deputy has made. On the point about Ukrainians, we have tried to minimise the movement of Ukrainian students during the school year. It has not always been possible, but we are conscious of the fact that when kids are settled in a school it is important to try to minimise that disruption. I will ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy.
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I accept that the return on investment in family resource centres is extremely good. I met with the one in Greystones recently and the national organisation came to see me also. It is due to come to see me for a pre-budget meeting in the autumn as well. Being truthful, over the past number of years, we have been trying to balance core funding for existing centres with trying to fill in the map because there are quite a number of communities where there have not been family resource centres. My colleague, Deputy Carrigy, has been making the case for Longford for a significant period. There has been that balance between new centres and making sure we are adequately funding existing centres. We have to check we get that balance right. I look forward to meeting the national group and if the Deputy sends me details on Portlaoise and Mountmellick I will engage with him on it.
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I thank Deputy Rice. As he said, Pride is a celebration and a protest, but it is also a public statement of intent about the importance of quality and inclusion. When I was Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade I met all of our diplomats in Dublin Castle and made the point that we have to live up to our own values test, and our values test is simple. If you are whispering something that you used to say loudly and proudly, you are not passing the Irish values test. There is a chilling effect at the moment. There are people who want us to shut up and be quiet about equality issues. We should not do that. Yesterday, I and the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, the Taoiseach, several other Government Ministers, including the Minister for equality, Deputy Foley, met with LGBTQI+ organisations in the Sycamore Room. We had a good conversation about the progress that had been made, particularly with section 232 of the assisted human reproduction Act, commenced by the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill in recent weeks. I share the Deputy's view and his description of conversion therapy. I am sorry I do not now have a direct answer to the question as to when that action will be taken, but I will engage with relevant Government colleagues and come back to him directly. We should seek to do this quickly together.
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I thank Deputy Dolan. I will certainly do that and speak with the Minister, Deputy Naughton, about that issue today and come back to Deputy Dolan and the Galway East representatives. I know Councillor Moegie Maher well and I will be in trouble if I do not go back to him too. As the Deputy knows, we have made the decision to significantly increase the funding for the Department of education. We also made a significant capital allocation and may make more in the time ahead because a lot of schools are stuck in stage 2B and we want to move them on. I will certainly make sure we see progress on Carrabane National School, and I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Naughton, today.
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We will publish a roadmap on how we create the childcare system I think everybody in this House wants. We had a good meeting of the Cabinet committee on this in recent weeks. Fees are one element, and we have a commitment to get to €200 per child per month in the lifetime of the Government. However, fees without access will only frustrate parents. We have increased the childcare budget to the largest ever, at €1.5 billion, which is up by 12% on last year. That is the highest ever level of State investment. I take the Deputy's point about private for-profit, but we are now seeing for the first time public money being used to deliver public facilities. The Deputy can expect to see that roadmap from the Government around budget time, where we need to move a number of things in parallel. The one that often gets attention is when are we getting to the €200. We are committed to getting to that in the lifetime of the Government, but we have to move the other streams alongside that, which I think is at the core of the Deputy's question. If he sends me the details of the Knocklyon case, I will have the Minister, Deputy Foley, come back to him.
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I am delighted to hear of the progress with the family resource centre. We need to be very careful here. Everybody wants to see people who have a drug addiction get access to healthcare - 100%. We are all very clear on that, and it has been the clear direction of travel in the Department of Health for many years. Everybody wants to see anybody who is involved in criminality and gangland criminality banged up, taken off our streets and met with the full rigour of the law. However, there is a group in the middle that we are not talking nearly enough about, and it is really annoying me. There is a group of people who are not addicted to drugs and not involved in gangland crime, but they are facilitating it by snorting coke, popping pills and smoking drugs. They are often in middle Ireland, or whatever we want to call middle Ireland. I do not support any idea that we would suggest that behaviour is appropriate. In my constituency or somewhere else, people might buy illegal drugs and not realise or care that they are funding absolute misery, criminality, threats to children's lives and everything else in other communities. We need to be very careful here. We need to listen to the Garda and the Irish Medical Organisation. There are a number of complex issues. We will absolutely help people in relation to drug addiction, 100%, and absolutely lock up the gangland criminals. However, the gangland criminals exist because people are going around, taking illegal drugs and thinking it is a consequence-free activity, when it is bringing misery to many parts of society.
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I accept that there can be rigidity, but I also balance that with the fact that there has to be some system in place. Is there a better way of doing it? I am open to considering that. I believe there are appeals mechanisms, and an understanding is meant to exist in the system. If the Deputy sends me the details of the school in his constituency, I will ask the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to come back to him.
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know it is one he has been working on for some time. The Carrigtwohill school campus project is the largest single school building project ever undertaken by the Department of education, and it will serve a school community of about 2,400 pupils. The Department tells me that it has had a positive and productive engagement with the three schools and the patrons through all stages of the project, and it will continue to support the schools on the new school campus. The project was completed towards the end of 2023, with a 1,000-pupil post-primary school, Carrigtwohill Community School, and two 24-classroom primary schools, Carrigtwohill Community National School and Scoil Mhuire Naofa. It includes 14 classes and three projects for children with special educational needs, three general purpose, GP, areas, a PE hall and 13 ball courts in total. I am aware of this issue of the lack of a green space, given that Deputy McCarthy has told me about it. I understand the school has now sought to use a green area that forms part of the site. It is not suitable as a formal playing pitch because it is an attenuation basin under the flood management system, but the Department wants to work with the schools to see if they can get it as an informal recreation space. I undertake to work intensively with Deputy McCarthy and the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to try to get that in place for the new school year.
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The Deputy is right. I always learn a lot, when I come in here on a Thursday, if a multitude of colleagues across the House are bringing up the same issue. I have to be blunt. We are increasing the number of teachers and SNAs working in our schools, we are increasing the number of schools that we have and we have a redeployment scheme in place. Obviously, we have to have criteria for the teaching allocations. That is all just true. We have seen the need to provide additional funding to the Department of education to meet a number of financial pressures that it has had. In relation to Our Lady of Lourdes National School, I will ask the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to provide guidance to the Deputy as to whether there are any other options or avenues open to that school. I will also ask her to come back to the Deputy directly.
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