It is not that crude at all. I thought that we were going through a Thursday where the Deputy was not going to call on me to abolish a tax or a charge or spend loads more money but I should have known that it is Thursday, and it happens every Thursday. The reality of the situation is that public service broadcasting matters. Public service broadcasting needs to be funded. I encourage the Deputy to support public service broadcasting. There have been a range of scandals and crises in RTÉ but there are also really good and decent people working in public service broadcasting. There are also really good people working in public service broadcasting beyond RTÉ. I think people in Ireland value public service broadcasting; I do. I have my television licence, and I am sure the Deputy has his.
Sentiment score: 0.32
I thank Deputy Cummins for raising the issue, and I respect and accept the sincerity in which she does so. The first thing I suggest is that in general we should be having earlier engagements and conversations in this House, in committees and, of course, with the school communities. I take that point. I suggest that perhaps at an earlier time post this summer, we have the conversation about next summer because there are always learnings. I take that point. I am going to balance that by saying that since 2019, the summer programme has gone from strength to strength. We have more than 1,800 schools and 71,000 children participating in the programme. That compares to 545 schools and 23,000 children in 2020, so there is an increase of 210% in child participation as well. The point I am making is that there is growing demand. I thank the people who will be involved in providing the programmes across the country this year. I am very happy, and I know the Minister will be, to have a detailed discussion about any learnings from this in terms of the future.
Sentiment score: 0.30
No, I do not. I thank Deputy Nash for raising this issue. I accept the importance of it. I will follow up on the matter with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, and the HSE and will ask that they engage with Deputy Nash today on it in the context of seeing what more can be done. I take the point that it is an expansion of capacity that we need. Let me engage further on this with the Deputy today.
Sentiment score: 0.23
I thank Deputy O'Gorman for raising this issue. I acknowledge the very good work that has been done by the Oireachtas committee, which is chaired by my colleague Deputy Michael Murphy, who continually keeps me apprised of this work. I very much look forward to the report of the committee. My message to everybody on the committee is that we should not rule anything out in relation to steps that may be needed. I approach this issue with humility. In the context of what we are doing in relation to road safety, I can only say that we need to do more. I am not satisfied that the current structures are delivering the outcome we need, but I also want to hear from the committee and to see if there can be a cross-party consensus as to what the next steps should be. I have heard different ideas from different victims' groups, including the idea of a road safety commissioner and the like. There is some logic in that. I also think of where the Road Safety Authority is today versus where it was in the past. We think of Gay Byrne and all of that era. I have an open mind on this. I will engage with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, but, from my perspective, the next important development is the report on road safety, which I think we expect relatively shortly from the Oireachtas committee.
Sentiment score: 0.22
I truthfully do not know the answer, so I will not pretend I do. However, I will endeavour to find information and ask the relevant Minister to respond to the Deputy. All information and books should always be age appropriate. I think that is something we all believe is important in both our libraries and education system. I will ask the Minister of State with responsibility for our libraries, Deputy Buttimer, and the Minister, Deputy Calleary, to come back to Deputy O'Flynn directly.
Sentiment score: 0.15
That is a really good idea. I think of my local beach in Greystones, where tracks were put in place relatively recently that allow people to walk, push buggies, use wheelchairs, etc. This has been transformational in terms of improving accessibility to the beach. The Deputy's point about accessing bathing water in and of itself is an important one. We are back to this issue again. We do not have to split the atom here. If some counties are doing it well and others are not, we need to share that information. On foot of the Deputy raising this today, I will certainly ask that this happens. I am sitting beside the Minister of State with responsibility for local government. I will ask that we look at how we would convey best practice from some local authorities to others. We will come back to the Deputy directly.
Sentiment score: 0.26
I thank Deputy Roche for raising this important matter. Of course, we all want to make sure that new parents, mums and dads, are able to spend time with their babies. There are currently two weeks of paternity leave available in Ireland. It is also important to say there are also nine weeks of parent's leave and benefit available to both parents. Parent's benefit is currently paid at a rate of €299 per week. Let us be truthful here: the take-up of parent's leave is much lower among men than it is among women. Again, we should try to unpack this because I think some of the issues the Deputy talks about may well be correct: young families, mortgages to pay, financial commitments and people trying to balance a range of issues and bills that a household will face. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to introduce pay-related parent's benefit whereby your payment would be linked to your salary, similar to what we have done in relation to pay-related jobseeker's benefit. That is a good model. People who have worked hard and paid into the system then are able to get something back from that system at a time when they might need it as well. It is a commitment I am keen to see progressed, and I will ask that the Minister, Deputy Calleary, updates Deputy Roche on it.
Sentiment score: 0.40
I thank Deputy Gould for raising this issue. I met with Grace Lynch's parents last week and was really struck not only their advocacy but also - I do not wish to speak for them - by the very clear views they have on what more that can and should be done in this space. I am very happy that we would engage with Deputy Gould on this as well. There is definitely an issue. I had a good conversation with the Minister for justice and the Minister for Transport on it this week. There is a legitimate issue around supporting the Garda, including potentially in relation to their driving training, resourcing and the likes. In fairness to the Minister, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, he is very much committed to that. I also think there is a real issue around ownership and how we track and trace it. Other countries, quite frankly, have done that better than we have so far. I have mixed views - "mixed views" might be the wrong phrase - on the facility piece because from some of what I hear back, I am not sure if some of these people are looking for somewhere to go and do this. I think, and the Deputy would see it in his own constituency, there is sometimes an element of intimidation and the likes. I will reflect more on that point. On foot of the Deputy raising this, I will ask that the Ministers, Deputies O'Brien and O'Callaghan, come back to him with an outline of the next steps we intend to take.
Sentiment score: 0.27
I thank Deputy Currie for raising this project. She has worked with Coolmine Community School and the board of management to get an application for a new building into the Department, which was submitted a couple of weeks ago. I can confirm that the Department received the application from Coolmine Community School on 5 May for that large-scale capital funding to provide a new school building. The Department recently already agreed a brief for the provision of two special education classrooms as well, which will be delivered as quickly as possible through modern methods of construction. The application that is submitted now will go through its detailed appraisal and there will be good engagement with the school. On foot of the Deputy raising this today, I will ask the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to visit the school with her in the near future.
Sentiment score: 0.30
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. On foot of his raising it, I will specifically ask the Minister, Deputy Foley, to engage with him on the particular and immediate issue he is highlighting in Kildare. I take that point. When I talk about what we are going to do more broadly, he is highlighting an issue that is a factor in the here and now for people. We are significantly increasing our investment to childcare, core funding and the employment agreements for people working in childcare. We are fully committed to that €200 per child, per month in the lifetime of the Government. That is a commitment in the lifetime of the programme for Government. Myself, the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and the Taoiseach have all said we want to see progress made on that over the course of the next four budgets. Specifically in the here and now, I will ask the Minister, Deputy Foley, to come back to the Deputy.
Sentiment score: 0.24
Of course, the Ministers are not doing that at all. Let us be clear. This is a decision the FAI has to take. If we start making decisions on the floor of the Dáil in relation to running Irish soccer, God knows where we will end up. The reality is there are very clear rules that UEFA and FIFA have. Those rules specifically exclude and preclude parliaments from making decisions in relation to the governing authorities. The FAI has gone through a process, I think it has gone through a robust process. It has made a decision. The last thing any one of us would want to do is take a decision that ends up benefiting the Israeli football team and disadvantaging the Irish soccer team. I hear about what the players have had to say about not wanting pressure in relation to them. I have not seen that statement from the Palestinian Football Association. I take in good faith what the Deputy said. My own note tells me that the Palestinian Football Association stated: "The Palestinian Football Association expresses its appreciation for the principled positions taken by the Football Association of Ireland in support of the rights of the Palestinian people and Palestinian athletes."
Sentiment score: 0.22
In fairness, that statement says that the Palestinian Football Association expresses its appreciation. There should always be engagement between governing bodies that the taxpayer funds.
Sentiment score: 0.48
We definitely needed to see more progress and the Minister, Deputy Foley, is ambitious about making that progress. Under the new maximum fee caps, we have seen the highest possible upfront cost for a typical full-day place of 45 hours per week drop. The Deputy is correct that that is still too high. However, the cost has dropped from €198 per week to €183.70 per week. The commitment is very clear. It is not just my commitment; it is a commitment every political party in the House gave. The parties in government and Opposition parties agreed that the direction of travel is to get to €200 per child per month in the lifetime of this Oireachtas. That commitment is in the programme for Government. It is a commitment every member of the Government has signed up to. I agree with the Deputy that we need to make more progress in the budget. I, along with the Minister, Deputy Chambers, the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Foley, have all said that is our intention.
Sentiment score: 0.30
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. As he knows, I know the roads in Wicklow and Wexford well. He is correct that like many counties in the country they saw a significant impact from that storm. Work has been underway. I spoke to Wicklow County Council about submitting documentation to the Government, which I am sure also applies to Wexford. That has happened, in fairness. I would like to see the process come to a conclusion very quickly. The Deputy is correct that there is a window when the weather is relatively better than it often is. It is a concern for Deputies across the House. I will follow up with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and come back to the Deputy with a timeline.
Sentiment score: 0.23
I thank Deputy Kenny for raising this issue, which is quite a serious one. The summer programme is fully funded by the Department of Education and Youth and schools are supposed to run the programme within the budget provided by the Department. I am not unfairly having a go. Of course small costs above and beyond might arise and a decision may be made to do something outside the programme. I get that somewhat. The level of cost the Deputy is highlighting is completely at odds with the purpose of the programme, which is taxpayer funded as part of the education system and open to all who qualify for it. I ask that the Deputy pass on the information to the Minister for Education and Youth who will examine it. The Deputy's second point is also correct. There is cross-party consensus on the idea of free school books. What we do not want to see is that free school books are now free school books being replaced with everything going onto a tablet, laptop or the likes. The Minister has written schools about this. I ask that she further engage with the Deputy on this on foot of him raising the issue. I will speak to the Minister, Deputy Calleary, about the exceptional needs payment and he will come back to the Deputy directly.
Sentiment score: 0.15
I thank Deputy Bennett. While we do not have plans to open new emergency departments, we do have plans to continue to drive investment into hospitals at levels 2 and 3, including Monaghan hospital. I remember visiting it a number of years ago. It is a very good hospital and it is ambitious about doing more. On foot of the Deputy raising this issue, I will ask the Minister for Health to come back to her on Cavan emergency department wait times and any further plans in regard to Monaghan.
Sentiment score: 0.08
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I will bring it to the attention of the Minister for Health and ask that she engage with the Deputy directly on the women and infants health programme and the HSE on the need for that consultant post for complex conditions during pregnancy.
Sentiment score: 0.35
I thank Deputy McGrath for raising this issue. It is not the first time he has raised it. He raised the application process window on a previous occasion and I was pleased that we were in a position to reopen it. I will now speak with Ministers Naughton and Moynihan on clarity and staff requirements for schools, in particular the issue the Deputy highlighted around home-based provision and the need for clarity for parents. I am conscious it is a very tight window. As I said earlier, and I say sincerely, once we get through the summer we should have broader engagement on how we can learn lessons. The Minister and the Government are very committed to the programme. We have seen a huge increase in the number of people using it and the number of schools availing of it, which is all great, but there are timeline issues and clarity could perhaps ease the stress and anxiety for people in future years.
Sentiment score: 0.41