We put a comprehensive plan together in terms of the broader area of special education. We also issued a circular and so on. That was an agreement with the trade union Fórsa at the time. The matter went to ballot, and the result was not positive. Government always stands ready to engage with the trade union representatives in respect of the broader picture. The investment in SNAs has been huge. It will continue to be significant, as will the investment in special education across the board.
Sentiment score: 0.33
We can, but I am not clear about the direction in which the Deputy is heading on that. Is she saying that we should shut them down or put them out of use-----
Sentiment score: -0.21
------with all the implications that-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
------would have for users of technology? The hosepipe ban is important but trying to juxtapose, having the big baddie over here and saying we should not have a hosepipe ban because------
Sentiment score: -0.39
I just do not think that is a valid juxtaposition.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, which I dealt with extensively earlier in reply to Deputy Cullinane. The Minister is doing everything she can to expedite the convening of the rare disease technology group, to which the matter has been referred. This is very serious and urgent for all concerned. Some countries do reimburse it and others do not. The health technology assessment relating to this matter was published. If the Deputy reads that assessment, she will see that it proved challenging. We are not scientists, but we all feel for the families. We understand. We have met people with Friedreich's ataxia. They cannot get this drug fast enough. For all drug approvals unfortunately, there are processes which, unfortunately, have to be gone through. I take the Deputy's point.
Sentiment score: 0.01
I take the Deputy's point. The Minister for Health has sought a comprehensive report from Children's Health Ireland on one of the issues that concerns me, namely injuries to children arising as a result of e-scooter accidents. I refer, in particular, to head injuries, brain damage and so on. We have to assess that report when we get it as a factor in how we deal with this issue. The Minister of State, Deputy Canney, will be bringing proposals to Government. We will have meetings next week in relation to this. We will then be in a position the, perhaps, to engage more widely with Members of the House on the matter. This is a very serious issue for us. Without question, it probably did not have the regulatory framework it should have had at the outset. That is something we need to look at.
Sentiment score: -0.04
I thank the Deputy for raising the situation and how it personally impacts on Emma O'Shea from west Cork. Well over 200 families are impacted by this rare condition. It is particularly high in Ireland in comparison with other locations. I accept fully the impact and trauma on Emma's and other families. The Minister is doing everything possible to progress the issue and get the group established. There is a broader issue about the assessment of new drugs and how we do that. We have to have a scientific dimension to it and a proper rigorous evaluation of the efficacy of drugs. I think that is accepted. Over 70 drugs for rare diseases have been approved in the last four years, so we do approve drugs for rare diseases-----
Sentiment score: 0.16
-----as per the exiting process that is laid down in legislation. However, I take the Deputy's overall point.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I thank the Deputy very much for raising the issue. He said that there had been engagement but the responses had not been effective or impactful. I will take the matter up with Uisce Éireann. It has established a unit on the effectiveness of communications with public representatives. I have brought this to the attention of Uisce Éireann, as has the Minister, and it has undertaken a review of engagement with elected representatives with input from across its entire business. That is due to conclude shortly. That is a general point about how it engages with public representatives, including Members of this House. On the specifics, I have had engagement in the past on matters of the kind the Deputy raised. I did get a response ultimately. It was quite a few years ago. It was about residential concerns, disruptions and so on that could happen when major works were under way. I will engage with the company to see if we can get an improvement from the Deputy's perspective.
Sentiment score: 0.15
First of all, the school transport scheme is a very extensive scheme. About 180,000 students are now carried on the school bus transport system. Costs have been increasing on a yearly basis, as has investment in the programme. There are limits to what we can do. We cannot do everything in one year. However, we continue to work on it. The Minister of State with responsibility for special education and school transport, Michael Moynihan, has been engaged on this for the last year and a half. We are making improvements to it and the changes to the eligibility criteria will be implemented on a phased basis. The numbers have increased. There are pilot projects. About 11 were approved for the 2025-26 year where the distance criterion was reduced to 2 km for primary and post-primary schools. The need for a pupil to be attending the nearest school has been removed, as the Deputy will be aware, in those 11 pilots, so we will see how they work out.
Sentiment score: 0.14
The Deputy's endorsement of the competence of the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, is duly noted. I hope it will not come back to haunt him some day in subsequent events. The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, is an effective Minister of State with responsibility for the marine and has a great rapport with the industry. I appreciate the Deputy saying that. Deputy Heydon, of course, is the senior Minister in the Department and has been working with the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, with regard to fishery interests and other issues. That is the basic position.
Sentiment score: 0.30
Is it that the Deputy wants the State to subsidise general summer camps?
Sentiment score: 0.00
We are providing enormous funding for the summer education programme and so on. There have to be limits to Government expenditure. Local authorities have been supporting summer camps on a local basis. I think that, in Cork city, it has been going on for 40-odd years that we have allocated funding to local summer camps organised by community associations and so on. There are limits to what the State can do in all of these scenarios. We have prioritised education, and special education in particular. Under that programme, there are also supports for particular communities in which there may be high levels of disadvantage.
Sentiment score: 0.11
I thank Deputy McGrath. I acknowledge and accept that there are very serious issues across south Tipperary in respect of water outages and boil water notices. I will raise the issue with Uisce Éireann. We have allocated very substantial equity and investment to Uisce Éireann, particularly in the context of the national development plan. I will get an update for the Deputy.
Sentiment score: 0.25
First of all, the Government wants to secure a pay deal with the public sector workers and their representatives. That has been very clear in recent meetings and engagements. In my view, we reached an agreement, which has now expired. What normally happens is that engagement takes place, there are informal soundings and so on, and formal talks then begin. My sense is that there was never an expectation that these talks would happen before September in real terms. I expect talks to develop apace in September.
Sentiment score: 0.30
May I first of all say that these are reforms that the Minister for justice has brought in? He sought Government approval for these reforms. I do not know what the Deputy's position is on the reforms per se but it is without question that the system needed reform. I hope the Deputy accepts that. Perhaps he could articulate that at some stage.
Sentiment score: 0.33
There has been engagement.
Sentiment score: 0.46
The Minister and the Department have engaged with the Law Society. I am concerned because I think people should not be withdrawing their services. I ask those who are doing so to rethink and reflect, and to do what in my view is their obligation, which is to represent people in court. What was going on in many cases was not acceptable either in terms of multiple adjournments and so on.
Sentiment score: 0.04
The fee structure needed to be reviewed and reformed.
Sentiment score: 0.00
First of all, I thank Deputy Connolly for raising this issue. He has been a consistently strong advocate for the Galway city ring road. I accept his point that there has to be a similar intensity in terms of getting this project under way as there is in terms of the metro because this is choking Galway. It is extremely difficult for people living in the Galway area to get from A to B. It also has potentially significant negative impacts on industry in the Galway region, particularly for people and families more generally. I have said to the Minister for Transport that I believe very strong engagement should take place. It is not for Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, but the councils and so on, but the Deputy's idea of an early settlement strategy is one I would put to the Minister and it is one that should be embarked upon.
Sentiment score: 0.10
I thank Deputy Moynihan for raising this issue. It is an important issue. This year has seen very high levels of applications for this scheme, extending well beyond the €10 million per year allocation. It is €50 million from 2023 to 2027. All possible options are now being examined by the Department in respect of the high numbers that have applied. Decisions will be made shortly to allow farmers to plan accordingly. Farmers will be notified as soon as possible by the Department of agriculture about the details of the scheme for 2026. I am aware of the issue and will pursue it as well on behalf of the Deputy.
Sentiment score: 0.23
I thank Deputy Murphy for raising the issue. He raised a number of important points. I will seek to convene a meeting with the CEO of Uisce Éireann and the Deputies for the area. I will also examine the Deputy's issue around Oireachtas committee structures and things like that. That is a fair issue. I am not suggesting that every semi-State body should be subject to parliamentary questions because with artificial intelligence, AI, now we are seeing a huge generation of parliamentary questions. In other words, we want people sorting out the water problems instead of being consumed by responding. There is a balance here to be struck. Uisce Éireann needs to get focused on the issues and get it sorted.
Sentiment score: 0.20
I will talk to the Minister. I did not get the final point the Deputy made. The issue is that about 93% of all eligible providers have signed up to the current core funding scheme. Some are leaving in certain areas, as was articulated yesterday-----
Sentiment score: 0.07
I will engage with the Minister for children on this and ask her to talk to the Deputy in respect of the points he made. Our aim is to try to get the fees down and we have made a lot of progress in the last number of years in doing that. I hope that people are not exiting in certain areas because they feel they can get better prices on the market as opposed to the constraints that the core funding scheme puts on people.
Sentiment score: 0.59