These figures are serious and of concern but they are from 2023, the year the data was collected. The Government had not yet, at that stage, brought in free school meals for all primary school students or free schoolbooks at second level. I am sure the Deputy would acknowledge these measures have had a significant impact on many families and are making a real difference to children in poverty, but we have to do more. We have had a series of cost-of-living packages but we need something better than cost-of-living packages on an annual basis. Unlike any other government in Europe, we have been in a position to bring in those kinds of cost-of-living packages, but we need a sustained, targeted child poverty initiative, which I am working on with the child poverty unit in my Department to prepare for the forthcoming budget.
Sentiment score: 0.08
At the weekend, I was in Nice for the United Nations Ocean Conference and took the opportunity to meet with a number of people in respect of this issue. The crew of the Madleen deserve our recognition. I pay tribute to their bravery and courage for profiling and keeping in the public and international spotlight the shocking situation in Gaza and the deprivation and starvation there. It brings to mind the absolute necessity and imperative of substantial aid being allowed in. I spoke to the King of Jordan and the foreign minister of Jordan, who are working flat out to try to get structured aid back into Gaza. I also engaged with the French Government and others on this issue. I will attend a UN conference next week in New York, chaired by France and Saudi Arabia, in respect of a two-state solution.
Sentiment score: 0.33
I hope we can leverage significant international support for pressure to be put on Israel.
Sentiment score: 0.64
Then there will be the EU Foreign Affairs Council meeting after that and then an European Council meeting-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
The reference to complicity in genocide is shocking and wrong. I genuinely mean that.
Sentiment score: -0.35
I do not in any way underestimate the Deputy’s sincerity on this issue. I respect it. She has been very consistent on this, but it is wrong to say others in this House are complicit in genocide when they most certainly are not.
Sentiment score: 0.01
It is a phrase that is thrown around too cheaply, and violence and criminal acts can emanate from that. Certain people are already engaging in criminal damage of TDs' offices and the Department of foreign affairs because of that handy phrase used to label everybody as complicit in genocide. Ireland is doing everything it possibly can on the key platforms for us to try to put pressure on Israel. What Israel is doing is fundamentally wrong and it is breaking international law. We know that. We condemn it.
Sentiment score: -0.41
The legislation last week would have done nothing to change that.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Central Bank may be in a position over time to do something.
Sentiment score: 0.00
There may be a route there, but that in itself is not going to change what is happening now.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I do not want to be facetious but under the triple lock arrangements at the moment, it would not be possible for the Naval Service to go overseas. In any event, I applaud the crew of the Madleen-----
Sentiment score: 0.22
-----because they acknowledged themselves that it was a symbolic gesture.
Sentiment score: 0.00
As the King of Jordan said to me at the weekend, we need trucks and trucks of aid, not drops. We need absolute, unimpeded aid going into Gaza at huge scale. On the other hand-----
Sentiment score: 0.11
He has, actually and in fact, the European Union remains the largest donor to Palestine and the Palestinians. Apart from all that, the international community, particularly the EU-Israeli association agreement, is something we have to focus on. That would have impact. As I mentioned in response to Deputy Bacik before I ran out of time, the Foreign Affairs Council will be meeting the week after the UN conference, and the European Council will meet after that.
Sentiment score: 0.12
We will do everything we can to endeavour to get an outcome in respect of the EU-Israeli association agreement. It will be difficult, because a lot of countries in Europe do not have the same mindset that we do.
Sentiment score: 0.19
My understanding is that the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has determined to grant an aquaculture licence to Woodstown Bay Shellfish Limited and that the licensing process involves consultation with a wide range of scientific and technical advisers as well as various statutory consultees. I am informed that the legislation also provides for a period of public consultation, which for this application was apparently held in 2019 and was rerun in 2021. In total, 609 public submissions were received. I am told the decisions in respect of aquaculture licence applications are only taken following the fullest consideration of all consultations and public interest elements of each application, including environmental considerations. A public advertisement outlining the decision was printed in The Southern Star newspaper on Saturday, 31 May 2025. The public notice said that an appeal against the aquaculture licence decision may be made in writing within one month of the date of its publication to the Aquaculture Licences Appeals Board in Portlaoise, County Laois.
Sentiment score: 0.23
There is a process here. I do not interfere in every single process. I do not have executive authority to do that. I think the Deputy knows that.
Sentiment score: -0.01
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue, which is obviously of huge concern to those in County Louth, in Carlingford and Dundalk. The additional investment in Irish Water, or Uisce Éireann, is a key priority for the next national development plan for clean water but also for housing supply. We will be ring-fencing quite substantial capital allocations for housing supply but also, as is clearly needed judging by the issues the Deputy has instanced, in wastewater treatment. One of the challenges with wastewater treatment is that there are inevitably a series of objections at all levels, right up to appeals and judicial reviews, which significantly slow down the advancement of wastewater treatment plants, even though these plants substantially enhance the environment and clean the water.
Sentiment score: 0.47
There are challenges. Nonetheless, earlier this year, the new Government allocated up to €700 million additionally over the Estimate for a whole variety of schemes to give them the green light. It allocated about €450 million for new projects and then approximately €300 for the tenant in situ scheme and for further acquisitions of housing and so on by local authorities. Other schemes are coming through all of the time. It was interesting to listen to the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, this morning, which is concerned about additionality in public expenditure. Nonetheless, housing remains a priority for us. I hear what the Deputy says and we will see what we can do to deal with these issues.
Sentiment score: 0.07
First, the Department makes its assessment in respect of new schools in terms of demographics, existing schools in the area that may be absorbing a lot at second level, and future trends. I am not in a position right here to question the work the Department has done on this. I will raise it with the Minister and indicate that the Deputy has raised this issue in Greystones on the Order of Business. I will particularly ask about the 29 students who are, from what the Deputy is saying, still awaiting places. I would hope progress could be made in respect of those 29 students for next September.
Sentiment score: 0.26
I accept fully the frustrations as articulated by the Deputy in respect of this issue. As far back as September 2024, the Department of Transport sanctioned an additional 70 permanent positions for driver testers and this increases the total permanent posts sanctioned for testers to 200, which is a doubling of permanent posts since June 2022. A recruitment process is under way, with the first tranche of new testers now being deployed into the service. We hope that as additional testers enter the system, testing capacity will increase and progress should be seen in reducing waiting times in the months ahead. I would be concerned at those pass rates. There needs to be a review of that. Is it overly strict? I do not know. There are a lot of people driving today who, if they were to sit down and do those tests young people are doing today, might not pass. I do not want to be flippant about it but when we are getting a 40% pass rate, something is wrong somewhere.
Sentiment score: 0.05
I take this issue very seriously. I have met with Traveller organisations and agree that it is a very serious situation. I will ask the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health to respond.
Sentiment score: -0.01
I accept the Deputy's point and a lot of progress has been made over the last number of years in respect of caretakers and school secretaries in terms of salaries and so forth. We are committed to ensuring that grant-funded school caretakers will be afforded the opportunity to avail of an agreement similar to that offered to grant-funded school secretaries. There is more work to be done on both fronts but we will work with the trade unions involved, in the context of public expenditure constraints and so forth. I will come back to the Deputy, having spoken to the Minister for Education on the matter.
Sentiment score: 0.43
There is a commitment in the programme for Government to draw up a new action plan on insurance. We did a lot of good work in the previous government in respect of insurance. Insurance companies have to come to the table as well and respond to the reforms that have occurred, which industry and others sought, in terms of awards and all of that. More crucially, in terms of flood areas, there are issues without question. The State has to be cautious in the sense that the insurance industry has to play its role. Where flood relief schemes come in and are provided for by way of significant infrastructural investment, there is an onus and obligation on insurance companies to then insure again. The State, through compensation schemes, will do everything it can to underpin people who are impacted negatively and destructively by storms and flooding events but, fundamentally, we need a State agreement with the insurance industry. Primarily, where we do invest and create new infrastructure to prevent flooding, those houses or business should then be able to get flood insurance. The Minister of State, Deputy Troy, is dealing with this. I will alert him to Deputy Hayes's interest in the subject.
Sentiment score: 0.40
I will have to look into the background. An Bord Pleanála is saying that the site is designated for a school. The docklands will have to have a fairly extensive campus for a primary, further, post primary and special education. The city council identified that as the site for the school but perhaps more engagement needs to occur with the owners of the site. I will discuss that further with the council. In my recent interactions, that site did not emerge as a topic for discussion. Broadly speaking, development has been going well in the docklands. The earlier debate on rent pressure zones and trying to get a balanced package is about future investment in the area but I take the Deputy's point on that specific planning application.
Sentiment score: 0.15
Apologies. The Department of foreign affairs, along with the Department of Health and others, provides financial support for centres in London, in particular, where there is a service to engage with survivors of mother and baby homes, advising them, counselling them and giving them the wherewithal to apply for the schemes. We will engage with our UK counterparts in respect of trying to ring fence that and avoid any loss of benefits.
Sentiment score: 0.44