9. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [38900/26]

Sentiment score: 0.00

South Dublin County Council management is planning massive rent hikes for 20,000 families from July of this year. That includes council tenants, HAP tenants, homeless HAP tenants and approved housing body tenants. The council is increasing the base rate by 25% but also making a series of other changes such as incorporating into the assessment the working family payment, which means some families are going to see their rents increased in July by 53%. Not only is this massively unjust and unaffordable for many, it flies in the face of what elected councillors agreed in a motion unanimously passed in February that stated there should be no change until there has been consultation with tenants and tenants unions, such as Community Action Tenants Union, CATU. That consultation has not taken place. At the very least, will the Taoiseach agree that this should be suspended until there has been a consultation and until elected councillors get to vote on it?

Sentiment score: 0.02

For some.

Sentiment score: 0.00

No. The base rate is up 25%. Everyone is up 25%.

Sentiment score: -0.10

Should the councillors not get to vote on it?

Sentiment score: 0.00

Council management is on it contrary to the vote of the councillors.

Sentiment score: 0.00

But the Taoiseach agrees that the councillors should get to vote and it should be suspended until there is a vote of the council.

Sentiment score: -0.45

We want to give power to councillors, not council management.

Sentiment score: 0.08

The councillors.

Sentiment score: 0.00

24. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on disability will next meet. [38901/26]

Sentiment score: 0.00

I raise the matter of a group of children who are being left behind by this Government. Those are children with mild or moderate learning disabilities and complex needs. Mothers of children with Down's syndrome have written to me to express how abandoned they feel. They say that the Government is intentionally misleading people by talking about special classes when 89% of those classes are designed for children with autism. It is welcome that we are getting autism classes but the Government should be honest about that. When the Government announced in March that it was sanctioning 387 new special classes, only one was a general learning disability class. Of course, it is welcome to have some recognition by the Government of the needs of autistic children and their right to education but children with Down's syndrome have an equal right to education appropriate to their needs. An hour a day of special education support in mainstream does not provide that. Will the Taoiseach raise this? Will the Government commit to opening more general learning disability classes?

Sentiment score: 0.19