I will endeavour to work constructively with Deputy Doherty and others in Donegal on this issue. As Deputy Doherty said, I met the Raphoe community playgroup. It told me about the great work it has been doing and I am in no doubt about that. It has been in operation since the early 1980s. It moved into a new purpose-built facility in 2000 and, as Deputy Doherty rightly said, that building has been condemned due to defective blocks. We all have sympathy for it but it does not want sympathy. It wants money. It wants to move this forward. It has been working very hard to come up with a solution. The Department of children has the building blocks grant scheme, which provides capital funding for new buildings and extensions. There is an issue with the ownership of the land. We need to find a way through that. I have written to the Ministers, Deputies Foley and Browne, on this. The Minister, Deputy Foley, is committed to working with the group through the Donegal county childcare committee and Pobal. I will keep Deputy Doherty updated on this.
Sentiment score: 0.03
I thank the Deputy for the constructive suggestion. He is right, in that we have to get a hell of a lot better at planning. The sense of surprise when a child seeks to move in a moment of transition in his or her life is not acceptable. We need to break down the silos. We have established the Cabinet committee on disability. We met last week, or the week before last, and a number of decisions were made, including to put therapists back in schools, starting with special schools. I see a lot of frustration from parents who get a place for their child in school and think it is great and they have finally made some progress only to realise that is just the education part and they are still not able to get speech and language therapy, physiotherapy or occupational therapy. That decision we made last week, on which the Minister for Education will shortly bring proposals to Cabinet, will allow the NCSE to hire therapists for schools, starting with special schools. That will make a difference. I know that no parent sleeps out at night if not for a very good reason. It speaks to their frustration and genuine worry. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, met with a number of parents in the group last Wednesday. I understand there was positive engagement on the issue and the Minister wants to meet the group again to discuss their concerns and how progress can be made.
Sentiment score: 0.09
I like "páistecare"; it is a good way of putting it. What emerged during the election period is that while all parties had different areas of focus, they all said that something significant needs to happen on childcare. I take the point, and while it is not for me to tell committees how to do their work, as they are established, a focus on how we can advance a proper fit-for-purpose childcare system is crucial. I am proud of some of the work we have done on reducing the cost of childcare. I know it can still be too high but not being able to get a place is the real issue. That is why I am unashamedly on the record, and the programme for Government alludes to this, regarding the need for the State to intervene in terms of public provision. We will of course be working with private providers too. They have a role to play, and I have no issue with that, but there are certain parts of the country and certain communities where there really is a lack of provision. I am happy to work constructively with the Deputy. Perhaps when the new Oireachtas committees are established, which I hope will be soon, this could be an area of focus.
Sentiment score: 0.29
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I thank those workers and everybody who works in the Oireachtas complex for the important role they play in how this place and our democracy functions, and the broadcasting of all that to the public. It is not out of any lack of sympathy or respect for the workers and the issues the Deputy raised but this is a matter for the Oireachtas. We have had significant debates about the difference between the Oireachtas and the Government in this House in recent times. My understanding is that we are shortly due to constitute the new Oireachtas commission. Perhaps that is a forum in which this could be discussed.
Sentiment score: 0.26
The Government will have members on it too, and Government parties certainly take precarity of employment seriously.
Sentiment score: 0.53
I thank the Deputy, and I hear his frustration on behalf of his constituents. My understanding is that in April 2024 a delegation of Cork County Council officials and representatives from the Union Hall Save Our Pier committee had a meeting with the then Minister and the assistant secretary general for the seafood and marine division in the Department headquarters in Agriculture House. At the meeting the council outlined that the development plan for Keelbeg pier consisted of three phases - the refurbishment of the old pier, the extension of the new pier and the dredging of Glengarriff Harbour. My understanding is that the council was reminded of its own responsibilities to step projects forward to make them ready for delivery and that any costs associated with studies, design and consenting must be borne by the council. My understanding is the council was advised to apply to the Department once the relevant consents were in place and I will seek a further update on that. I will send the Deputy a note on the next steps. There is quite a bit of detail, but I am happy to engage with the Deputy directly on this to see if we can make progress.
Sentiment score: 0.27
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Indeed, I heard him comment on it publicly this week as well. I first admire his guts in putting forward radical ideas on energy policy. That is worthwhile in this Dáil because energy and security of energy supply are really important for homeowners, businesses and for broader security reasons. The best advice available to me in Government is that the pathway to advancing the supply is through renewables and offshore wind development. However, I will ask the Minister for energy to respond to the Deputy's proposal directly.
Sentiment score: 0.51
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As he rightly said, the National Transport Authority, NTA, has a responsibility for transport planning in the greater Dublin area and the development of the Luas red line extension to serve Poolbeg is currently one of the projects they are giving real consideration to. Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, is the sponsoring agency for the proposed Luas to Poolbeg project and the NTA is the day-to-day approving authority. I understand the NTA recently instructed TII to undertake a pre-feasibility analysis of the Luas to Poolbeg project. We are cognisant that an increased demand for travel from Poolbeg to the city will need to be catered for in coming years. The Deputy is quite right. The transport requirements of the area will need to be met in a variety of ways, and indeed light rail-Luas could well be one of those. These issues will all be considered in our review of the national development plan and what level of funding is available. However, the project will be considered in that context this summer.
Sentiment score: 0.17
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I take those parents extraordinarily seriously. Parents are busy and have a lot going on, particularly parents of a child with special needs. To come and sleep out at the Dáil shows the sense of real frustration, worry and concern they feel right now. Some 369 of the 400 classes for next September have been sanctioned as of today. The NCSE continues to assess additional provision in local areas. My understanding is that the provision of those additional special classes for the 2025-26 year, that is, the next school year, will be confirmed in the coming weeks. I understand the Minister for Education and the Minister of State with responsibility for special education met with a number of parents of that group last Wednesday. I am told it was a positive engagement on the issues parents face when seeking a suitable special educational placement. The Minister said she would like to meet that group again to follow up and we will ensure that happens.
Sentiment score: 0.24
I thank the Deputy for the ongoing work he has done to promote closer relations and engagement throughout this island. Of course, he is right. The Good Friday Agreement committed to facilitating a number of initiatives, including the widespread availability of TG4 in Northern Ireland. I will certainly raise that issue, the issue of BBC Radio Ulster and all the other issues the Deputy has raised with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when we next meet. With regard to the sports events the Deputy referenced, it is my understanding that TG4 had the right to broadcast that event on an all-island basis. As such, viewers in Northern Ireland may access these events on a free-to-air basis on the Freeview platform, which carries TG4. My understanding is, without sounding like some sort of technical person, that there is an issue when a viewer in Northern Ireland attempts to view an event on the TG4 online player. On a technical level, this is because there is no separate IP address protocol for Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK and, therefore, the device assumes that the viewer is outside of Ireland. We need to work our way forward on this. I am assured that TG4 circulates this message on its Spórt TG4 website and social platforms. On the broader issue the Deputy has raised, let me raise it with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland and I will then come back to him. I accept the seriousness of this issue for people on both sides of the Border.
Sentiment score: 0.17
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. He is right. We are in a phase now when it comes to trade policy and our economy where we have got to keep influencing what we can influence, including the United States and the EU but we also have to control what we can control. As to what we can control, we can help companies diversify and help open up new markets throughout the world to Irish companies. This country is proudly a free trade country. We have always been a nation of traders and there are big opportunities in Singapore, Vietnam, Canada and, potentially, India. I had a good meeting with the Indian foreign minister in Dublin a couple of weeks ago. The Deputy is right to reference CETA, which we endeavoured to progress in the previous Oireachtas. We know the difficulties we got into on that occasion. I have been working with the Attorney General and with my officials to find a way forward and I am pleased to tell the House that I intend to bring a memo to Government in the coming weeks - hopefully this month - that will set out a legislative path that will allow this country to ratify CETA by the end of this year.
Sentiment score: 0.37
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I agree with him that we need to continue to invest in the bases for our ambulance service. I will certainly seek an update from the Minister for Health on the plan for the new ambulance base at the Tipperary hospital in Clonmel. My understanding from conversations I have had is that the Minister hopes to bring forward the HSE capital plan this month. That, perhaps, will be a moment of update. I will certainly ask her to come back directly to the Deputy.
Sentiment score: 0.30
I thank the Deputy for bringing this situation to my attention. It must be a very stressful time for Filip, his mother Kasia and the family, made all the more stressful by this confusion, to put it mildly. I suggest that the Deputy, with the family's permission, send the details to my office and I will link with the Minister for Health and the head of the HSE and l ask that they provide some clarity to the Deputy on a way forward.
Sentiment score: -0.03
I thank the Deputy for the important question. I will ask the Minister with responsibility for older people to meet her to discuss what more can be done. We are spending more on home support now than ever before. The home support budget for this year is the largest ever at €840 million, delivering more than 24 million hours of home support to more than 60,000 people at any one time. However, the Deputy pointed out the disparity between rural parts of her constituency and less rural parts of the country and how we can recruit and retain staff in those areas. The work the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, is leading on is around the need to get to the statutory home care scheme. That will provide much greater clarity in terms of funding, employment and structures than the current situation. In the here and now, I will ask the Minister of State what more can be done to help people in Carlow and Kilkenny and I will ask him to meet the Deputy to discuss this matter.
Sentiment score: 0.40
I thank the Deputy and I join him in thanking Colin Dempsey for his work on this project and bringing it to the Deputy's attention, and the Deputy, in turn, bringing it to the attention of the Dáil. He is right that everyone wants to see an efficient public transport system but other issues also matter. Safety and inclusion also matter. As we go about out daily lives, all of us want people to access public transport in a way that is inclusive and safe. My understanding is that disability awareness training, DAT, is provided by all public transport operators. The PSO contracts have a condition that the staff DAT has to be renewed every three years. As part of DAT, they now also have to give consideration to the issue of hidden disabilities as well. I will follow up with the specifics in terms of what the Deputy raised for very good reasons and I will ask that the Minister comes back to him and Colin on this matter.
Sentiment score: 0.32
I thank the Deputy. I do indeed know Carnew well as I represented it until the Electoral Commission took it off me. I am sure it is well represented now. Regarding IPAS centres, I am not familiar with that one. It is always important that communities are informed. However, I am also very proud to live in a county that has welcomed so many people from migrant communities and people seeking international protection. Communities across County Wicklow have done that. The flow of information with communities is important and I will ask the Minister with responsibility for migration to provide the Deputy with an update regarding the issue he has raised.
Sentiment score: 0.28
The Deputy is right. Survivors should never read that information third-hand or in the media. The Minister, Deputy Foley, shares that view. I will speak to her about what can be done to update the survivors directly and to apologise for any way in which that information has been disseminated and put into the public domain in a way that is not sensitive to the survivors and does not attach paramount importance to their needs. My understanding is that the report is due to come to Cabinet but let me seek clarity on the next steps and I will ask the Minister to come back to Deputy Connolly directly.
Sentiment score: 0.19
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and I thank Mick Finnegan for his incredible advocacy on this issue. He has been in Leinster House on many occasions because of his advocacy work. I sincerely thank him for that. I will speak directly to the Minister involved and I will come back to the Deputy.
Sentiment score: 0.32