I am conscious of the comments of the Ceann Comhairle in relation of this matter and am respectful of them. This issue was raised in the House by the Deputy's colleague Deputy Farrell two weeks ago. I commented on the matter then and I have also commented on it in the media. In doing so, at all times I have been very conscious of the privacy of the individual involved and their wish for no further public comment regarding this matter. I am also very conscious of the ongoing disciplinary process that is under way in my party and the need not to cut across due process.
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I have also said that this was an incident that happened many years before my leadership.
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I accept the Deputy has been constructive in her framing but I have seen very little evidence of calm in this place today or in recent days on this matter. I am always happy to engage but I am also respectful of process. The Dáil reform committee, which has representatives of all our parties, has now concluded its process by way of a democratic vote. I do not intend to undermine that or undermine my party colleagues or others who have worked extraordinarily hard - as have the Deputy's colleagues - regarding these matters. It is at a point where we may not agree but I believe the process has concluded. On the broader point on trade and tariffs, that is a good idea and I would be very happy to do that. Yesterday, I had the first meeting of the newly established trade forum. Let me try to establish this for either next week or the week after. I would be happy to engage constructively with the Opposition on that.
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I thank Deputy Hearne for raising what is a very important matter. I spoke to the Minister for Education on this issue this morning. I met this week the Ministers for Education and Health and the Minister of State with responsibility for disability specifically on the issue of children's disability services. There was an announcement today by the Minister for Education and the Minister of State with responsibility for special education regarding additional special class capacity for the coming year. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, wants to move beyond this year-to-year scramble for a place which is not fair on parents, children or schools. She has instructed the NCSE to not just look for this year but this year to also look for September 12 months. The Minister intends to meet parents either today or tomorrow. Crucially, on the issue of therapies, we need to urgently advance the programme for Government commitment in respect of putting therapies back in special schools. This is a really important reform and I am happy to engage further on that.
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Every child has a constitutional right to a place.
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On such a serious issue, the Deputy does not need to say people are rambling on. We are trying to sort this issue for parents and children, and to absolutely vindicate their rights. While every child in this State has a right to a school place, every child also needs to have a right to an appropriate school place. The Opposition can laugh all it wants; everything is not always funny.
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So do I, Deputy Coppinger, very well.
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I know, from a familial perspective, what it is like when you do not get that place. I know that, so do not lecture me on this stuff. We know.
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We are going to address the issue. As recently as today, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, made an announcement regarding additional capacity in special education. The Minister for Education intends to engage directly with parents. Any parent would do anything for his or her child and I do not want to see any parent having to sleep out. Rather, I wish to see meaningful engagement where we can make progress on this issue.
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We will engage with them.
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I thank Deputy O'Connor and I will absolutely bring this issue directly, as I know he has, to both the Minister for Education and the Minister of State with responsibility for special education. I will ask them to come back to the Deputy through the NCSE regarding Youghal and how we can increase capacity in east Cork. In both the Deputy's constituency and many other constituencies, people are working cross-party to try to make progress on this important issue. We will engage constructively with everyone on this and there is significant additional funding and capacity coming on stream. Timeliness is important, however, and I will ask the Minister for Education to come directly back to him on that.
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I thank Deputy Carrigy for that. This is a very important project. It is a strategic corridor from Dublin to the north-west region and the Border counties. The project is about 54 km in length, connecting Mullingar and Westmeath to Roosky in Longford. The Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Canney, reminds me that his Department is well aware of this project. The emerging preferred route has now been selected and has closed out of phase 2. The route option selection, however, is ongoing. We will look at this seriously in the context of the review of the national development plan, which is due to conclude around July. Let me be very clear for the Deputy's constituents and people right across the country; this Government is back in the business of building roads.
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Like the Deputy, we all have been working tirelessly on this issue and no one on the Government side is in any way dismissive about this. I thank Deputy Lawless for raising this important issue. I have spoken to the Minister for communications, Deputy O'Donovan, and I have asked him to come back to the Deputy directly today regarding more information and timelines, including for Ballinamore nursing home and other areas the Deputy referenced in his constituency.
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I am due to meet shortly, along with the Minister for Health, with some people specifically on this issue. It is an area in which we need to do a lot better. I undertake to look specifically at the recommendations and suggestions put forward yesterday by Cared Ireland. Either the Minister for Health or I will come back directly to the Deputy on this.
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. We continue to have a big focus on the whole issue of vacancy and how to bring vacant properties and stock back into use in general. He made the point that even within the local authority stock, more could be done in terms of funding and timelines for the conversion of that stock back into use. I will raise that directly with the Minister, Deputy Browne, and ask him to get back to the Deputy.
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue for his constituents in Palmerstown and across Dublin Mid-West. He is right that this is an issue more broadly. People may feel anxiety in terms of everything moving to a digital or online world and will ask, "What about my needs and the needs of my community?". I assure those people the Government is conscious of this and that we intend to restore the access to cash Bill to the Order Paper. Indeed, we have done that. Once the committees are up and running, the Bill will resume on Committee Stage and we will be able to tease out the issues the Deputy raised in detail.
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue as it relates to his constituency of Kildare North. I am very much aware that there are operational challenges in Celbridge, including at Hazelhatch, and that the water network is under pressure. The good news is Uisce Éireann has water main rehabilitation works approved for design and construction in 2025, involving 5.3 km of new water mains. Site investigation works are planned in the coming weeks and construction is due to commence in quarter 2 of this year. I am assured that these works will help with the water network challenges.
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As the Deputy knows, at the moment, around 80% of our gas supply comes from two pipelines with the UK. If anything were to happen with one of those pipelines, we would all know about it in terms of very serious consequences. We need to have an insurance policy in place. That is the responsible thing to do. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is examining this area and will bring proposals to the Government shortly. It is in this context of energy security that LNG is being considered, but it is from the point of view of a State-led strategic emergency gas reserve to provide the resilience required. I will ask the Minister to get back directly to the Deputy on the specific report she mentioned.
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I thank the Deputy and Councillor Johnston for raising this important issue of reduced capacity on the northern commuter rail and the impact it is having on their constituents. The Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Canney, has heard what he said. We will raise this issue within the Department, with Irish Rail and with bus providers to see whether that case can be made. Deputy Smith is right on this. I am conscious that he is living in an area of massive growth in terms of population, which needs to be matched by provision of public infrastructure. We will get back to him directly on this.
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I agree with the Deputy on the school inclusion model. We have got to be honest when the model is not fit for purpose. I really believe this and I say this when I talk to parents. There are often issues that if there is more money allocated, it can make great progress. Of course, we will allocate more money to children's disability services but reforming the system will be as important. That is why the programme for Government commits to putting in-school therapy services back, starting with the special schools, including speech and language therapy, OT and physiotherapy. I met the Minister for disability on that this week and I am happy to provide the Deputy with a written update.
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No, because we have already done that. A Dáil reform committee has been established. As the Deputy rightly said, we had a Dáil committee that fully engaged. As the Deputy rightly said, it was not possible to reach agreement. I accept the Deputy engaged. Everyone engaged in good faith. I am not having a go here but at some point, we have to say we have talked this as much as we can. It is about eight minutes on a Wednesday, eight minutes on a Thursday and six minutes in a now-priority question to let 60 Members of Dáil Éireann have their say.
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I thank the Deputy. He is entirely correct. I know it from my time as health Minister. We all know it and the Deputy knows it well. It is an issue of great stress and concern to people in Galway and the west and, indeed, to people having to work in the hospital, and do amazing work but in substandard infrastructural conditions. The Government will respond in kind to the good work that has been done by that board set up in the hospital. We have already been clear on a number of projects and we will have an opportunity in the national development plan to be published in July to show further progress too.
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