I am grateful to Deputy O'Reilly for raising this important issue. While I am taking it on behalf of the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, it is one I have a personal interest in. We spent many a day on this topic in the previous Dáil. As the Deputy will know, the programme for government sets out a strong enterprise and fiscal framework prioritising economic and employment growth, with a target of creating 300,000 extra jobs by 2030. I am pleased to report that Ireland's labour market continues to perform strongly with record employment of over 2.8 million people last year, rising participation and sustained growth. For clarity there are more people at work today in Ireland than the population of Ireland in the 1950s and 1960s. This reflects the resilience of the economy and the success of Government policies supporting job creation, fostering innovation and providing opportunities across sectors. Skills and talent are in high demand with near full employment and continued growth in ICT, pharmaceuticals, medtech, financial services and agrifood driven by both indigenous firms and foreign direct investment providing opportunities for young people to begin exciting careers. All the research in the past week from three or four different bodies showed that the Irish workforce and population is now either the fourth or second most educated workforce in the world. While unemployment edged up to 5% in December, it remains broadly consistent with full employment. As the Deputy rightly points out, the youth unemployment rate reached 14% in December at 50,700 persons, which is below the EU average of 15.2% and euro area average of 14.8%. As everyone would accept, I think it is not unusual for youth unemployment rates to be higher than those of older cohorts, due to a lack of relevant work experience among younger workers, skills mismatches or difficulties experienced moving between education and employment, with clear seasonal and demographic patterns. This is nothing new in that regard. However, many of these factors are temporary in nature. As young people widen their professional networks and gain broader work and life experience, their employment prospects improve. The Deputy raised an action plan. It is a valid point and anybody in this Chamber can work on these things. It does not need to be party political. As she will be aware, in May 2024, the then Minister, Heather Humphreys, and the Minister, Deputy Burke, launched the updated Pathways to Work Strategy, which included a number of initiatives to reduce youth unemployment and the employment and youth engagement charter, an initiative to support and inspire young jobseekers and other marginalised groups to build their knowledge, skills and experience to enhance their employability. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment and its agencies will continue promoting employer awareness and encourage uptake of supports such as the expanded JobsPlus subsidy scheme and the work placement experience programme. The Department will continue to work closely with the Department of Social Protection to implement revised Pathways to Work actions and to develop the successor strategy, which will support jobseekers to find and maintain quality employment. The Deputy alluded to the anecdotal experiences of many families at Christmas, which I do not dispute. In my new role as Minister of State with responsibility for diaspora, I have spent the past seven months extensively engaging with the Irish abroad. Some have been abroad for generations and some only recently. There is this notion that people are fleeing Ireland because there are no jobs, which was certainly the case when I left university when we were in the grips of the financial crash. We need to knock that on the head. There is a great opportunity to emigrate and move abroad but when we look at the category of people who came back to Ireland last year, we see over 30,000 Irish people returning after an experience abroad. We talk about housing and destinations such as Canada and Australia. The biggest issues there are the affordability and availability of housing with average prices in rental terms in cities such as Melbourne, Toronto, Vancouver and Sydney all ahead of Dublin. It is important that we play fair. This is an issue. I am not denying it is an issue. It is an issue being experienced by other European partners. We have a strategy in place and we are more than happy to work with the Opposition to make sure that it is fit for purpose and that we listen to those canaries in the coalmine the Deputy alluded to.

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That is after five years of low numbers.

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Where we are in agreement is that the trend is the concern. Youth unemployment being ahead of general unemployment is something we can accept happens but the rate at the moment is a worry. I share that with the Deputy and it is important we clarify that. That is why the Government continues to monitor labour market conditions and the youth unemployment rate and several of our recent initiatives will be central to supporting the broader economy, not least our ambitious investment plans and the action plan on competitiveness and productivity the Department published last year. An interesting thing when I was in the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment was the work of the labour market activation committee, which brings together that Department and the Department of Social Protection to see where those gaps are. They are consistently working with stakeholders from civic society, the labour movement, industry and representative groups as well as those academics who look into this research, whether from the ESRI, the Nevin Institute or any other bodies of a similar nature. That is something constantly looked at by the Government as well as why there is a constant evolution of our enterprise strategy and why we say we need to create 300,000 extra jobs in the programme for Government. That is not simply to stand still or offset anything. It is just to move forward, which is so important. We look at the general economic trends across the European Union and in the United Kingdom. There is a serious worry there but Ireland, thankfully, has not been caught up in that. However, there are serious headwinds. One thing of particular focus is the fact that when we are creating 100 new jobs per week, these are new jobs and that they are generally tailored with the educational abilities of the next generation of Irish workers coming out at whether at second level or third level. Certainly, any trend that is slightly above normal requires investigation. The Government is committed to looking at that on an ongoing basis. If Sinn Féin wants to contribute to that research or have its own research, we are more than happy to work in tandem in the national interest.

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I thank both Deputies for raising this important Topical Issue. I welcome the opportunity to outline the position on this important matter on behalf of the Minister. This Government takes the safety of vulnerable individuals in our society extremely seriously and recognises the effect of Storm Éowyn and the impact it had on power, water and telecommunications services for those individuals. The Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht is responsible for the seniors alert scheme, which provides older people with personal monitored alarms. These personal alarms operate over available telecoms networks to connect users to the monitoring services, allowing users to call for assistance. Since the scheme was launched in 2015, 159,090 participants have been approved, including more than 17,700 in 2025 alone. Participants are provided with the device for free as well as free monitoring for the first year. I am informed by the Minister, Deputy Calleary’s officials that the Department is currently reviewing all aspects of the seniors alert scheme, including the technology and services available, and plans to launch a new iteration of the scheme in 2026. The new scheme will take account of the learnings from recent weather events and will also have regard to modern technology advancements to ensure that the most reliable, robust devices currently available are procured. With regard to the broader issue of connectivity losses during emergencies and the work ongoing in the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport in relation to this issue, the Deputies should be aware that the provision of electronic communication services such as mobile phone and broadband services is a matter for telecommunications operators, which operate in a liberalised market, regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg. ComReg is independent in the exercise of its functions in accordance with section 11 of the Communications Regulation Act 2002. Storm Éowyn had an unprecedented impact on telecommunications networks. The impact of power loss on the sector during the storm, and delays to repair of overhead lines in some areas afterwards, had significant effects on citizens, particularly in rural areas of the north and west. The Government and the telecommunications industry recognise the challenges faced by those whose telecommunications connectivity was impacted during the storm, in particular vulnerable individuals who rely on the functioning of this technology for health monitoring and pendant alarms. Since the storm, the Department has undertaken significant engagement with a variety of stakeholders to address gaps in sectoral preparedness and response. Operators have independently assessed their preparedness and committed to a variety of network-specific measures, including reviewing the power requirements of sites, acquiring additional backup battery and generator capacity, preventative network maintenance, enhancing redundancy with backup routes to their core networks, and accelerating the use of satellites to provide additional resilience. The Department has formed the telecommunications response and resilience group, the purpose of which is to promote resilience and high availability of Ireland’s telecommunications infrastructure and to provide a co-ordinated sectoral emergency response capability. The members of the group, which include Government stakeholders, ComReg and industry, have agreed an initial work plan to include the development of measures to improve the physical and power resilience of networks, co-ordinate and communicate more effectively during emergencies, and prioritise key infrastructure to provide minimum levels of connectivity during emergencies. The focus of the group’s initial efforts is to improve the resilience of telecommunications sites, particularly mobile, as well as communication and co-ordination between response stakeholders. These broad, impactful and achievable measures will restore connectivity more quickly to all customers during emergencies, particularly those who rely on using health monitoring and pendant alarms.

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The review of Storm Éowyn, published in October of last year, by the Department of housing recognised the particular challenges of providing humanitarian support to vulnerable people during emergencies, acknowledging the complex and multisectoral nature of developing effective response measures and the complexities of defining, reporting and sharing information in relation to vulnerable people. However, it did more than just acknowledge it. Some of the recommendations of the review include exploring outreach structures to ensure communication is possible with vulnerable and isolated people in the event of an emergency, where typical challenges of communication are unavailable, and that the area of vulnerable people be further developed under the auspices of the Government task force on emergency planning. The Department will continue to engage with relevant processes developed as a result of Storm Éowyn and, where appropriate, link industry with developments in State response measures, including central government and local government. The review recognises the importance of the role that An Post played during Storm Éowyn. When the impact of the storm on telecoms and data infrastructure made contacting people difficult, An Post staff delivering post provided a direct link to persons living in remote locations and checked on the welfare of older or vulnerable individuals. An Post has indicated a willingness to continue to support the co-ordinated response to a national or local emergency in this capacity. The ComReg consumer care team is also dedicated to offering help to all consumers who may experience difficulties with their mobile phones, home phones or broadband providers, including vulnerable elderly people and consumers with disabilities who experience difficulties in outages or have no service. Where a consumer has difficulty with a provider, it recommends contacting its consumer care team, which can be done via a wide variety of channels outlined on its website. An information campaign is under way now to make sure that people are aware of those channels and that it is not simply when the event happens that people are desperately seeking around to know how to make contact, particularly when that might be the very reason the person is having to make contact.

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I am very grateful to Deputy Ellis for raising this matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Social Protection. The objective of the school meals programme is to provide regular, nutritious food to children to support them in taking full advantage of the education provided. The programme is an important component of policies to encourage school attendance and extra educational achievement. In the last budget, the hot school meals programme was extended to all remaining primary schools. This means that approximately 3,700 schools and 682,000 children are eligible for school meals. There are 3,200 primary schools participating in the hot school meals programme for the current academic school year. A budget of €286 million has been provided for the scheme in 2026. There are a number of meals clubs available under the school meals programme. The breakfast club is but one of them and was aimed at DEIS schools pre 2022 to ensure that the most disadvantaged children were able to have a breakfast meal before school. To date, 778 schools are receiving the breakfast club. This means that 149,401 children benefit from this club, at an annual cost of €19.4 million. An evaluation of the schools meal programme was conducted in 2023. The report highlighted the effectiveness of the programme, including improved academic results. Studies show that school meals improve academic performance by increasing the time children spend in school and so provide support for families. The programme saves money and time on food preparation. Under the programme for Government, there is a commitment to continue to expand and improve the free hot school meals programme and ensure that suppliers adhere to robust guidelines on the nutritional value of meals, the dietary requirements of students, the reduction of food waste and the use of recycled packaging. As the rate of payment for a breakfast club and snack club funding are the same, some schools operationally split the snack club funding allocated between breakfast and snack. This does not alter their total allocation. St. Malachy's Mixed National School has been in the school meals programme since 2016 and continues to receive payment for a snack club and hot school meals for 131 pupils. The total funding allocation for this school year is €93,141. When the hot school meals programme was being rolled out to original DEIS schools, they were entitled to retain meal club funding for their snack clubs. St. Malachy's Mixed National School is part of a school completion programme funded by the Department of Education and Youth, with operational responsibility managed by Tusla's education support service and a local management committee. The committee is responsible for the oversight of the project delivery at a local level, including the use of project resources, employment of staff and accountability of public funds. The Department of Social Protection has provided the funding request from St. Malachy's Mixed National School and the local management committee of the school completion programme is considering how best to utilise the funding. If there is anything that we can do to be supportive of the Deputy's efforts and to make sure that this is a school-led initiative, the Minister is more than happy to meet him, perhaps for a deputation meeting, should that be required.

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I thank the Deputy once again for raising this matter and for allowing an opportunity to discuss the school meals programme and, in particular, the breakfast and snack clubs. I assure him that the Ministers for Education and Youth and Social Protection are both very much aware of the importance of children being able to receive a breakfast meal before they start their school day. The breakfast or snack club is a targeted support to those most in need. The Department of Social Protection continues to expand the school meals scheme and has prioritised the rollout of hot school meals to all primary schools. In relation specifically to the situation in St. Malachy's in Finglas, I discussed the management structure and the operational need. The funding has been provided from the Department. It is up to the committee to decide the best way to allocate it. I take no issue with the points the Deputy has raised. There is no pushback or opposition from this side of the House. We are all very much trying to achieve the same result in this. That is why I reiterate my invitation to the Deputy and representatives from the school to seek a deputation meeting with the Minister, Deputy Calleary, who is probably the most appropriate, but if not, the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, on this matter. Whatever I can do in my power as a Minister of State within the Government to help the Deputy to facilitate that, that offer stands. This sort of common-sense use of a Topical Issue is so important to make sure we are all working collectively for the greater good, in this case not only for the children, the families and the community more widely in St. Malachy's but for all those who face these issues. I thank the Deputy once again for raising this issue.

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