Tá an ceart ag an Teachta go bhfuil na cruinnithe a bheidh agam an tseachtain seo agus an tseachtain seo chugainn tábhachtach. Léiríonn siad an gaol láidir agus tábhachtach atá idir ár dtír agus an Bhreatain. Léiríonn siad cé chomh tábhachtach is atá an gaol idir na tíortha san Aontas Eorpach agus, gan amhras, an gaol an-láidir atá idir na Stáit Aontaithe agus ár dtír. Sa trí chás sin, tá cúrsaí eacnamaíochta ríthábhachtach. Ní aon amhras ach go mbraitheann forbairt cúrsaí geilleagair na tíre seo ar na gaolta sin idir na Stáit Aontaithe, an Bhreatain agus an tAontas Eorpach, ós rud é go bhfuilimid páirteach san Aontas Eorpach anois ó 1973 ar aghaidh. Since I became Taoiseach I have identified a number of relationships that are key to Ireland's future and have been key to our success over the last 30 or 40 years. The Irish-United Kingdom relationship is an extremely important one. The UK is our closest neighbour and tonight we begin an annual summit that will now occur every year between the UK Government and the Irish Government. It is a relationship of family, a relationship of neighbours and a very strong economic relationship and we should not forget that, notwithstanding Brexit. Many Irish small- to medium-sized companies begin their export story in the British market. We will be seeking and working to see if we can ease the barriers that are in the way of trade between the United Kingdom and Ireland and indeed the EU more generally because economic growth in Britain will be good for Ireland and will help economic growth in Ireland. I am looking forward to that meeting along with my colleagues in government. A number of Ministers will be meeting their counterparts as part of this UK-Ireland Summit also. The EU Council is a moment of huge importance. I am somewhat perplexed by the Deputy’s reference to Europe kickstarting an arms race. She is, I think, missing the point. Many European countries are very fearful of the threat Russia poses to their very existence. Many of these countries have history with Russia, particularly the Baltics, Poland and many others. We should not forget that or, in our complacency in this part of the world, undermine or seek to dismiss very legitimate fears these countries have about their very survival – and it is real. Europe has to be self-reliant. This is in order to ensure peace and prosperity because Europe wants peace. President von der Leyen made that clear in her opening remarks. Europe is about peace, it is about prosperity and it is about quality of life for its citizens. No one wants war but the bottom line is Europe is exposed right now and EU member states need military capability and security capability across a lot of domains including cybersecurity, maritime security, energy security and so forth. The relationship of the United States with Ireland is older than the State itself and is an extremely important one. We are going fundamentally of course to celebrate the historical links between Ireland and the US. St. Patrick’s Day has always been the traditional day to do that, and St. Patrick’s week as well, and to be there for our diaspora. Some 30 million people claim Irish descent. In terms of the core issues, the economic relationship is very important. We are an open small economy.
Sentiment score: 0.15
We are pro-free trade and I will articulate that perspective. We will also articulate our views regarding Ukraine and the Middle East.
Sentiment score: 0.00
First of all, I invite Deputy McDonald to talk to political parties in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. She should ask them if our position is somehow going to ease their concern and anxiety. I do not think she gets it and I think she needs to engage more widely in terms of the perspectives of others on the European Continent. They have bitter experience of what happened to their people over many decades and centuries. The one bright spot for them was that, with the collapse of the old Soviet Union, they got access to the European Union. That is where they want to be, and they want to be secure. In respect of peace, we want a peace settlement that is durable and sustainable in Ukraine. President Trump wants a peace settlement in Ukraine. There are different perspectives on how to arrive at that.
Sentiment score: 0.27
In terms of Gaza and the Middle East, let us be clear. We want to consolidate the ceasefire and will be making that point very strongly. We want a surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza. The Arab peace initiative and the Arab proposals in respect of Gaza have come through, which have a lot to commend themselves.
Sentiment score: 0.43
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue because it is very important and one I am determined to deal with in the short term. I want to ensure there is a proper system in the years to come whereby parents will know in the previous academic year where their child will attend second level for the subsequent academic year. Parents are going through too much in terms of endeavouring to find a school place or navigating the therapy support services that children require. I will deal with the school places issue. First, the population growth in the number of children with special needs is significant. Funding has significantly increased. The number of additional places, teachers and SNAs has increased dramatically. That is no comfort or consolation to those parents who do not have a place or access to services, but it needs to be said. We have established about 11 new special schools since 2020. This is the first Government in a long time that began to establish new special schools. There had been moves against special schools for ideological reasons and people felt that perhaps mainstream schools were more appropriate, but that stopped in the past couple of years. This coming school year, five more special schools will open. I have spoken to the NCSE and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, who has also been in touch with the ETB and the NCSE. There are problems in north and south Dublin and Cork county. There may be other problems outside of those areas, but there are particular issues in those locations. Suffice to say, we will have to increase the number of special schools and special classes. There will be 400 extra special classes coming on board in the school year 2025-26. Some 218 have already been sanctioned in the past week alone and more will follow imminently. Staffing has increased by 27% since 2020. There are now 23,400 special needs assistants. There is no freeze on the recruitment of SNAs. There has been an increase of 32% in the number of SNAs since 2020. We have 20,800 special education teachers, an increase since 2020. I acknowledge that is poor consolation to those who do not have a school place. We will work flat out to ensure we do everything we possibly can to create spaces and new special schools between now and the end of this academic year to prepare for children coming in next September. No effort will be spared in securing places for children for whom places have not currently been identified.
Sentiment score: 0.24
On the assessment of need, I said earlier that we are looking at the legislative framework. We will have to introduce legislation to deal with the issue around assessment of need.
Sentiment score: 0.00
There will have to be forward planning and that will be made clear to the agencies and the Department. There will have to be proper preparation in the coming years, looking at the demographics and the need and making sure there is a much more seamless system for parents and children with additional needs. That is the bottom line as far as I am concerned. Every child is entitled to an education. No school can be saying, "No". There must be far more proactivity out there as well. The NCSE is conscious of this and I have made it clear. I will be convening ongoing meetings with the relevant Ministers and agencies to ensure we address the increased demographic issues that arise with our increasing population. The census is very clear. There has been quite a significant change between the past two censuses in respect of those indicating disability within the general population, but particularly children with additional needs. I am not satisfied with the way things are now. I will be very open with the Deputy in that regard. This is a key priority for us. It is fundamental to me and to the House as well.
Sentiment score: 0.19
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. To clarify, funding is not an issue here. The Deputy spoke about planning and so forth. I am aware of the case highlighted by Sheila Casey Jones in respect of her son Patrick. In Cork alone, we now have about 16 special schools, as well as Cork University Hospital School, educating approximately 1,000 children in the Cork area. Three of those schools, namely, Carrigaline, Rochestown and East Cork community special schools, were only established in the past two to three years. I made the point earlier that in previous years people were promoting the idea that we should have full mainstream integration and there was less enthusiasm around special schools. This view emanated from UN sources. This was growing currency in the past decade and, in my view, that is wrong. When the last Government came in, we changed direction and said we wanted special schools established. Ultimately, we need to move towards full campuses where there is a full continuum between mainstream, post-primary, special and integrated between the three. The ETB is the way forward. I initiated the special schools under ETBs with the Minister, Deputy Foley, in recent years. We have brought the ETB system into special education for the first time. Cork ETB is now the patron of Carrigaline Community Special School. That is the future and the State has to be proactive in providing special education places, new schools and new additional places and special classes. There will be 400 special classes established this year alone. Special needs education now accounts for 25% of the overall education budget, as is right and correct. With regard to the school in the north city area, I am awaiting further information on where that issue is for that school on the northside of Cork that could be acquired. This needs to happen quickly for parents like Sheila Casey Jones and their kids. I take the point that these issues need to be accelerated but there has been much more happening on the special school front in recent years than might have been the case in the past decade. We need to do it much faster, however, because the population is growing. The demand and the numbers coming out of primary will increase; there is no question about that. Post-primary has been much slower than primary in terms of the special needs provision. We have legislation which can compel schools. The approach has always been to try to persuade schools and bring people with you so that the ethos and spirit is correct in facilitating special needs education. In my view, it is a fundamental issue in terms of rights and, therefore, no school should be refusing a child on the basis of the child having an additional special need. That relates more to the special classes issue but we do have to develop more special schools and we are determined to do that.
Sentiment score: 0.28
It is wrong that parents have to be the proactive person in securing a place for their child. I believe the State should be doing that. The National Council for Special Education should have a proactive role in identifying the demand and need, and then agreeing the proper placement for a child. That is what I believe and it was the case before the establishment of the NCSE, when inspectors used to do this. When we stopped a lot of this in the late 90s, in 1998, decisions of that Government gave an automatic entitlement to children with special needs to a pupil-teacher ratio and to placements and so forth. The system then grew very big, however. It has grown exponentially due to mainstreaming and so forth. The figures are significant and tell another story, which is that there has been huge growth in special classes, SNAs and so on. That is no consolation to the parents who are currently protesting because they do not see any light at the end of the tunnel right now. They have no chink of light in terms of what the direction of travel is for their child or where their child is going to be. The NCSE, to be fair, has been working on this agenda of proactive engagement with parents. That is the key to the issue. The State should be saying, "We understand the needs of this child, we believe this is the best location for the child and we are going to facilitate the child being located there". That is where we will get to.
Sentiment score: 0.18
I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue, of which I am aware. As he knows, Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan has been raising it for quite some time, along with Deputy Gould and others. There have been ongoing issues with the quality of water in Cork, predominantly on the northside of the city. I have met with Irish Water on a wide range of issues and I have specifically raised this matter with its representatives. They indicated to me that some investments they have made will improve the situation. They are hoping for an improvement in the quality of water. The Deputy is correct that there are huge issues with replacing the Victorian system of pipes. We will be allocating substantial additional capital to Irish Water. It must continue the replacement programme. It will also have to develop newer capacity to ensure that houses get built and we can get development going. I will continue to work with Irish Water to accelerate the work required to deal with this issue. It is a very serious issue for people's quality of life, as the Deputy said, in terms of bathing water and drinking water. Of that there is no doubt. There is a programme of work under way in this regard. It cannot wait 90 years; that is accepted. We will be allocating funding to Irish Water through the updated national development plan but it must come with certain commitments and guarantees as to how that money will be spent. Some €100 million has been spent already on improving water supply in the Cork area more generally. As the Deputy knows, the Cork city water supply scheme is nearing completion. We have had the replacement of the Churchfield reservoir roof and the upgrade of the Glashaboy water treatment plant and the Lee Road water treatment system. The city now has a much more modernised water supply system. There are about 600 km of water mains pipes in the city, 50% to 60% of which are made from cast iron and go back to the 1920s, making them approximately 100 years old. That is one of the big issues. The system is prone to bursts and leakage. Sediment can become dislodged in the old mains pipes during repair or upgrade works. This has caused huge issues in terms of the browning and discolouring of water and so forth. There are ongoing issues. There is a programme under way by Uisce Éireann, which will continue, and there will be further investments.
Sentiment score: 0.13
As I said, Uisce Éireann is working proactively to address the issues with water supply in Cork. The planned flushing of the network took place in the first week of July last year in the Ballyvolane area, including Ballyvolane Shopping Centre, Ballyvolane new road, Riverview Estate and Meadow Park Lawn, over a seven-week period. Those flushing works are part of Uisce Éireann's network improvement plan to address water discolouration issues. Uisce Éireann says it is seeing a positive trend in areas that have been flushed to date. It expects those works to lead to further improvements in water quality. Planned flushing has been completed at Spring Lane, Ballyvolane Road, Park Court, Meelick Park and Kempton Park. A substantial area of flushing in Cork North-Central, which encompasses areas off the Ballyvolane Road, commenced at the end of September last year and was set to take approximately two months to complete. Further works were to get under way on Wednesday, 30 October, with the planned flushing to take place at Mervue Crescent and so forth. The work is continuing and the investment is going to be allocated. Obviously, Uisce Éireann will programme that investment. Substantial billions of euro will be allocated to Irish Water in the context of the national development plan to deal with this issue and wider issues in terms of wastewater treatment plants and water supply for new housing developments.
Sentiment score: 0.16