No, it is not.
Sentiment score: -0.30
I have listened to quite a lot. I have observed with some interest the growing alliance between the Labour Party and the Sinn Féin Party in this House.
Sentiment score: 0.42
The Opposition keeps using the phrase that the Government is trying to ram this through. It seems to me that the Opposition has been trying to ram through a new order in the House and a new precedent.
Sentiment score: 0.00
This is an important matter.
Sentiment score: 0.23
It seems that in the new order Deputies McDonald and Bacik will dictate who forms the groups in this House.
Sentiment score: 0.00
We have freedom of association.
Sentiment score: 0.64
It is a fundamental, basic principle that people are allowed to associate with whom they like. That is the first point. That is being denied here for the first time. I have never seen this before, since I became a Member of Dáil Éireann. There has been a bit of a herd-like attitude to this debate among the Opposition and some commentators. People have not looked at the fundamental principles underpinning all of this. In the next six weeks alone, 90 priority questions will be asked here. Sinn Féin will have 47 of them, the Labour Party 12, the Social Democrats 11 and there will be zero for backbenchers on the Government side.
Sentiment score: 0.01
The people who elected their TDs-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
With respect, a Cheann Comhairle, I have had to listen for five or six minutes-----
Sentiment score: 0.48
I want to make a point. The people have elected TDs-----
Sentiment score: 0.04
People would be shocked by the idea that their TDs do not have the right to speak or ask questions-----
Sentiment score: -0.32
-----whether they are in a political party or not. We are not going to be railroaded, browbeaten or intimidated by the Opposition in terms of its tactics. I will be very happy to facilitate a debate on the issue of flooding in Cork. The Deputy asked last week for a debate on the Housing Commission and there will be statements on it on Thursday. If we can do it this week, we will.
Sentiment score: 0.11
My clear belief is that there is a constitutional right for every child to have a school place and an education. I met yesterday with eight Ministers to discuss the establishment of a disability unit within the Department of An Taoiseach. There has been and there will continue to be significant investment in special education, particularly in the context of additional special schools and classes. The number of special classes doubled in the past five years to 3,336. Some 11 new special schools have been established since 2020, with five more planned for 2025 and 2026. That is no consolation to Jay and his family. However, we will do everything we possibly can to get a place for that child for September next and, indeed, places for all the children who are waiting. That will be a very clear focus of the Government, particularly in area of special education, where investment continues and will have to continue.
Sentiment score: 0.30
The tenant in situ scheme has been effective and impactful, certainly last year and the year before.
Sentiment score: 0.67
The Minister is looking to target that scheme more effectively, particularly for people who are very vulnerable. We will have clarity next week on the situation for the remainder of this year.
Sentiment score: 0.33
I addressed this earlier. I make the point that as a percentage of the overall population, the number of children with special and additional needs is increasing fairly significantly. For example, in 2018, about 42,000 children benefited from domiciliary care allowance. That has risen to 64,500 in a short number of years. We need to provide additional spaces in this regard. Officials from the Department of Education are visiting St. John's today, as are officials from the National Council for Special Education. There has been investment at the school, with a three-classroom extension completed last year. The issue will be to provide for those on the waiting list that is now there. I understand that some of them are from east Cork and other geographical locations nearby. We need to make sure that we provide places for those who have not been allocated places in St. John's and whatever else we can do to help St. John's to deal with the increase in numbers.
Sentiment score: 0.22
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The decision by New Look is a devastating blow for the workers in the first instance. We will do everything we can, through the Government agencies, to see if we can secure alternative employment for those workers. Clonmel is a fine and very attractive town, and a significant hub in the region. I will talk to the Minister about a timeline for call 4 of the URDF.
Sentiment score: 0.15
Fundamentally, it is about recruitment and retention. What is the name of the service?
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Deputy outlined the situation. One person is on maternity leave - I will check with the HSE about that because there should be a locum operating in that role - and another has left. The recruitment and retention of therapists has been a real issue for the HSE. There have been additional resources provided. Progress is slow. Approximately 272 extra whole-time equivalent staff were recruited last year. A further 111 are expected to join soon. The national vacancy rate dropped from 29% to 21% in 2024. How that manifests in the case of Mayfield is a different matter. I will try to ascertain the position in that regard. The Deputy's point is well made. We are alert to the need to recruit and to retain staff.
Sentiment score: 0.11
I agree with the Deputy 100%. He articulated very well the importance of St. Patrick's week in the US, particularly in regard to solidarity with our significant diaspora there. The diaspora really values the engagement with Ireland. It is important in terms of the undocumented. The link with Senators and Congressmen and Congresswomen is extremely important in terms of looking out for the undocumented in various parts of the US.
Sentiment score: 0.47
The economic relationship is enormous. Many thousands of Irish livelihoods and Irish workers depend on the economic relationship between the United States and Ireland. That needs to be said. It has been taken too much for granted. Hence the need for a very proactive engagement for the entirety of St. Patrick’s week across the length and breadth of the US.
Sentiment score: 0.31
I thank the Deputy for raising an important matter. As he will know, along with him and others, I have been a champion of an elective site being built on this site. I am also supportive of the project relating to an elective hospital for Galway. The HSE tends to have rather lengthy processes, particularly in terms of getting to the stage of tendering for a project of this scale. My understanding is that it is close at hand, but I will check for the Deputy to get an accurate timeline for the progression of this particular elective hospital.
Sentiment score: 0.37
The Deputy will accept that the Government has invested heavily in the Dundalk area over many years.
Sentiment score: 0.38
It has also invested in Drogheda, and progressively, as the Deputy said. I do not have the background to the meeting next Monday. However, I will check with the Minister regarding the up-to-date position.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The scheme is being examined by the Ministers for housing and public expenditure. As I said earlier, there will be clarity on this next week, when I expect an announcement in respect of the scheme.
Sentiment score: 0.35
The prime focus has to be on tenants, not necessarily on landlords. We just had a debate about value for money and waste. However, when a Minister is taking a few weeks - I am not saying Deputy O'Dea is saying this; I am just saying it to the Opposition - to see whether the scheme can be retargeted or fine tuned in order to make it more targeted for vulnerable and needy people, there are those who say we should plough ahead and do what we are doing already.
Sentiment score: -0.17
I agree with the Deputy. Every effort is being made by the various State agencies to restore services. I have met with most of them - Uisce Éireann, ESB Networks, EirGrid and so on - in the context of getting power restored as quickly as possible and also in terms of the restoration of communications networks. More than that, we need to invest in areas in terms of the social and human networks that were so indispensable to people during this storm. Much of the investment in sporting facilities and local community groups has proved very effective. Many of those facilities were used by communities during Storm Éowyn. Therefore, we think we can support them more. There will be a targeted approach to institutionalising that social network resource we have a bit more.
Sentiment score: 0.24
Glacaim go bhfuil deacracht ann gan amhras. Nílim cinnte gurb í stailc an tslí is fearr chun é seo a réiteach. Bhíos ag labhairt leis an Aire, an Teachta Calleary, faoi seo ar maidin. Bhí an tAire ag Ard-Fheis Chonradh na Gaeilge i rith an deireadh seachtaine agus bhí daoine ag caint faoi. Beimid, agus tá súil agam go mbeidh an Tánaiste, ag déanamh ár ndíchill chun feabhas a chur ar an scéal. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil deacracht faoi leith ann.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Deputy has raised this issue previously. Again, I do not intervene in every single case. The Minister with responsibility obviously assesses the situation in different locations. I will certainly alert the Minister that Deputy Lawless has raised the matter.
Sentiment score: 0.14
The Bill is being currently. Some 450 homes are under construction or being refurbished at the moment.
Sentiment score: 0.00
Yes, but there are 450 under construction. That is a significant number. We have to keep ensuring that there is momentum behind this in terms of getting houses refurbished, rebuilt or whatever. This is a hugely resourced scheme. The Government has committed enormous sums of money towards it, and correctly so. If the Deputy is saying there is an insufficiency in terms of the scheme, Donegal County Council will have to deal with it.
Sentiment score: 0.17
It is my understanding that there is a High Court action, in which the judge-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
I know, but it is not the Government's fault that we lost. The previous Government had decided-----
Sentiment score: -0.01
I agree with the policy. I was going to make the point that because of the High Court decision, the Department said it had to be exhaustive in terms of the second consultation to make sure that it would not fall foul of another court decision in the time ahead if someone challenged it. It was concluded last summer. The consultation is over now. My view now is that we need to move ahead and get this done. I will come back to the Deputy on that.
Sentiment score: 0.08