At the outset, I welcome and congratulate three students from Mullaghbuoy National School and the green committee there. Donal McMorland, Jason Woods and Jack O'Neill were the regional winners of the award for global citizenship today in Tullamore. They are very welcome to Dáil Éireann. The Minister, Deputy Browne, did not make that decision, but there was a communication from Department officials to Dublin City Council in respect of the matter. The Minister will engage. He is of the view that this matter can be resolved satisfactorily. Funding has not been refused. Funding has not been withdrawn. It remains in place. There has not been a refusal of regeneration for Oliver Bond House. Engagement is going to be key here. Hopefully, we can get this resolved very quickly.
Sentiment score: 0.40
I support investment in cycling. The greenways, cycleways and active travel programme have represented a transformation over the past decade in particular. It has been fantastic. People are voting with their feet in places where safe cycleways can be provided. Obviously, we need more sensible arrangements in terms of bike sheds, if I am honest. People did seek that here in Leinster House and we saw what happened afterwards. More generally, investment in cycling is a good thing. It is healthy, and it has implications for less congestion and so on, but we need to provide very safe routes. A lot of that has happened over the past number of years. We will continue our investment in active travel, cycling, pedestrian walkways and so forth.
Sentiment score: 0.40
I think what we need is all of our officials in the Department working flat out to make sure that every child gets an appropriate place next September. That is where we need staff deployed. We do not need new units to start producing data. There is a balance to be struck in terms of the deployment of public servants. We are increasing the number of public servants on an annual basis. The increase has been significant over the last number of years. To be fair to the Minister, Hildegarde Naughton, and the Minister of State, Michael Moynihan, their focus has been very much on securing additional resources and working with the National Council for Special Education to get the places. They opened the portal early in October. That has resulted in far more significant numbers. I think about 6,000 children in existing mainstream classes have now been identified as needing additionality in terms of supports. That is happening. The Department is flat out on that with the NCSE.
Sentiment score: 0.17
I have already spoken on this earlier in the House. I accept the workers do not want to be on strike. It is wrong to say that the HSE or the Government does not want to reward front-line workers. There were good faith negotiations entered into. The unions recommended the outcome of those negotiations that came out of the WRC to the workers. The ballot was negative. The HSE is saying it is available for discussion and engagement with the unions. I think that is what should happen.
Sentiment score: 0.03
First of all, we have put significant increased resources into the ambulance service and have incrementally increased it on an ongoing basis. They have been very significant increases, which I outlined earlier to the House. I think it was a 41% increase since 2022. I can check that figure again. Deputy Tóibín needs to be careful with figures, as he knows. He tends to manipulate figures from time to time.
Sentiment score: 0.23
I have noticed that in different areas. Some people's cases may have had nothing to do with the ambulance service getting there. The Deputy must acknowledge that, too.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I know, but the Deputy implies it. That is the problem.
Sentiment score: -0.20
We need dialogue. We need negotiations in the WRC to get this resolved.
Sentiment score: 0.11
I am very conscious of the situation there. I have visited that hospital on a number of occasions. As a model 4 hospital, it is in urgent need of significant modernisation in terms of infrastructure and it needs that 300-bed block. It is critical to it. There has been a lot of work done already to get to this stage. One could argue that it has taken an inordinate length of time to get to where we are now. I will certainly talk to the Minister for public expenditure once that legislation is passed, given the critical nature of it to the health service across the entire north west and west. I think there is a very strong case there.
Sentiment score: -0.01
I thank Deputy Timmins very much for his constructive proposals. I will certainly talk to the Minister for housing in regard to his suggestions around amendments to the national guidelines and developing a very pragmatic approach, given the severity of the housing crisis we are facing.
Sentiment score: -0.02
I cannot get involved in every single application. I am not clear about what Deputy O'Rourke is saying. Is it an application for an extra classroom?
Sentiment score: -0.10
Teachers come automatically if the numbers increase. There is a pupil-teacher ratio that applies automatically if numbers increase in any given school. I doubt it is a question of the sanctioning of a teacher. Maybe because so many people want to get into the school it does not have the capacity right now, but that is another issue and maybe it needs to be resolved with the Department. I will raise it with the Minister.
Sentiment score: 0.12
It is a community matter.
Sentiment score: 0.03
I do not have the specifics of this. Is it Portmarnock community centre?
Sentiment score: 0.00
That could be a sports matter. I will talk to both Ministers and we will see what we can do.
Sentiment score: 0.01
First of all, what Spain proposes or does is Spain's business. Many people hold up Spain as representing different stances internationally and so on. I am not familiar with the comments. Is the Deputy saying that the Prime Minister made them?
Sentiment score: 0.00
The defence minister said there should be a European army. Well, the specific characteristics of Irish foreign policy are well known across the European Union and are cited in all documents pertaining to defence, as are those of Malta, Austria and Cyprus. Our military neutrality was decided by Government policy back in the Second World War, essentially, and has evolved since then. We are not joining NATO and we have no intention of joining a military alliance.
Sentiment score: -0.06
I thank the Deputy very much. He has made a very compelling case in his citing of constitutional decisions in respect of survivors' entitlements to pensions and so forth. I will raise the matter with the Minister for Finance in the context of the forthcoming budget in October to see if he will examine it because the threshold looks rather low.
Sentiment score: 0.25
I accept fully that there are cost-of-living pressures on families and individuals arising significantly now from the war in Iran, which has-----
Sentiment score: -0.56
-----resulted in a 20% contraction in oil supplies and a dramatic escalation in oil prices. That is very worrying in terms of its potential impact on the world economy for the rest of the year. Hopefully, that war can end as quickly as possible. In the meantime, we have announced, as the Deputy knows, a €750 million package-----
Sentiment score: -0.17
-----trying to alleviate the pressures on families. I will have to get a look at the bill the Deputy referred to because I did not quite catch the name-----
Sentiment score: -0.16
-----of the company he was talking about, but-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The Minister, Norma Foley, was, to be fair to her, effective in the Estimates process in getting additional funding to establish ten new family resource centres across the country, a significant milestone in terms of what had been happening prior to that. I will talk to the Minister about core funding requirements. Again, we are anxious to give additional capacity to family resource centres. We value the role that they are playing and the challenges they are under.
Sentiment score: 0.28
First of all, I think the Minister is actively engaging with the mid-west university hospital and has continued to engage. I will alert the Minister to what the Deputy has said. He is speaking of HIQA's review. As he knows, the Minister did respond to that review, I think.
Sentiment score: 0.26
The next thing is that I will raise with the Minister the outcome of that report. In fact, the Minister discussed the emergency care situation in Limerick this morning with the Cabinet. Also, in recent weeks, there has been a 10% increase in activity levels at the emergency department in Limerick, so there is no doubt that the hospital remains under significant pressure, notwithstanding the fact that 278 new beds have opened in acute hospitals across the mid-west region. I will ask the Minister to communicate with the Deputy in respect of the matter.
Sentiment score: -0.01
I will engage with the Minister. The HSE and the hospital should be engaging with the family in the first instance. There are proper mechanisms for accountability in respect of situations like this. However, I will talk to the Minister.
Sentiment score: 0.34