I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach and the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important issue. During the Christmas period, a young person in my constituency had an asthma attack. The rapid response vehicle, RRV, arrived and the advanced paramedic on the RRV saved his life, and of that there is no doubt. I say that because we have had a continuing issue in County Roscommon. I think this is my seventh time to raise it in the House. The rapid response vehicle promised to the people of Roscommon on the closure of the accident and emergency department back in 2011 and had been in place perfectly since then is being quietly downgraded. The RRV is now no longer available 24-7 as was promised. That is the first issue. It is being parked up on Mondays from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. I presume this is saving the National Ambulance Service, NAS, a few euro every week. However, it is also putting the lives of people of County Roscommon in grave danger. I do not say that lightly. There is a significant difference between what a paramedic can do in an emergency and what an advanced paramedic can do in an emergency. I will take an asthma attack as an example. The advanced paramedic can administer intravenous, IV, steroids, magnesium sulfate, paracetamol and antibiotics. A paramedic cannot administer any of those intravenously. In a sepsis case, which are sadly increasing, the advanced paramedic can give the IV antibiotics and the IV fluids, whereas a paramedic cannot. Another example, which again, sadly, is common, is cardiac arrest. In such cases, the advanced paramedic can administer the drug that is needed quickly, insert the advanced airway incubation and administer IV fluids. A paramedic cannot do any of that. We have two issues in Roscommon. One is that the NAS is trying to save money by parking up the rapid response vehicle every Monday night. The family of the young man in question have told me that if he had had an asthma attack on a Monday night, he would not be alive today. That is not acceptable for my community and county in any way, shape or form. The other issue we have, one I have raised with the Taoiseach and repeatedly with the director of the National Ambulance Service, is that a paramedic is being used on the rapid response vehicle far too often. Paramedics are filling the role of an advanced paramedic because the National Ambulance Service has failed to have a full roster of advanced paramedics. I do not believe the NAS has made enough effort to fill that line. For example, we have had cases of cardiac arrest and heart attack where a paramedic rather than an advanced paramedic is on the rapid response vehicle instead and cannot do what is needed to save the person's life. We recently had two cases involving a heart attack and cardiac arrest. Frankly, I am getting sick and tired of raising this issue. I am not someone who comes into the Chamber and shouts and roars, but this issue is of the utmost importance. People's lives are being put at risk. I am really concerned that this continues. We need the rapid response vehicle on a 24-7 basis. I know the NAS issued an action card for the rapid response vehicle in Ennis and in Nenagh hospitals to ensure the vehicle is protected. That is not in place in Roscommon. I do not know why that is the case given that Roscommon hospital, like Ennis and Nenagh, lost its accident and emergency department. I want that same protection put in place for County Roscommon. The other point to make is that we are training community paramedics who are finding themselves doing the role of advanced paramedics when they are not available. This is a waste of time. We need the rapid response vehicle on a 24-7 basis in County Roscommon to ensure we can keep people alive.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue in relation to having a rapid response vehicle on a 24-7 basis in County Roscommon. I acknowledge that the Deputy has been continuously raising this issue and advocating in relation to advanced paramedics. By way of background, as the Deputy well knows, the National Ambulance Service serves County Roscommon out of three bases located in Roscommon, Boyle and Loughglinn, which all operate on a 24-7 basis. All three bases are staffed by a highly skilled workforce of pre-hospital emergency care practitioners, including paramedics, advanced paramedics and emergency medical technicians. In addition, the National Ambulance Service operates a modern fleet of emergency ambulances, intermediate care vehicles and rapid response vehicles from these bases. Turning to the specific issue, I am aware that this topic has been raised by the Deputy, as I said, on a number of occasions. The National Ambulance Service operates two rosters at its Roscommon ambulance bases, one for the operation of a rapid response vehicle and the other for emergency ambulances. The RRV roster has four paramedic posts and there have been two vacancies on this roster. The National Ambulance Service made repeated attempts to fill these vacancies in 2025 through its national transfer process. I am informed these attempts have been unsuccessful and the National Ambulance Service will continue efforts in 2026 to fill these vacancies. This is not about trying to save a few euro or trying to save money. The NAS is actively trying to recruit into this role and will continue to do so. I am also informed by the National Ambulance Service that the rapid response vehicle in Roscommon is currently rostered on a 24-hour basis, six days per week and on a 12-hour basis on Thursday nights. I understand that the daytime shift on Thursday is covered by available emergency resources in the region and the rapid response vehicle from surrounding areas. Roscommon also benefits from the emergency aeromedical service operated by the National Ambulance Service in conjunction with the Irish Air Corps, as well as additional aeromedical support provided by the Irish Coast Guard in the region on an as available basis for its bases in Sligo and Shannon. I can also update that the HSE is progressing plans to establish a new National Ambulance Service helicopter air ambulance service this year, which will predominantly serve the west and north west. This service will be particularly beneficial in providing additional emergency coverage to patients in County Roscommon. As well as front-line urgent and emergency care, the National Ambulance Service is a vital partner in the development and expansion of a range of clinically appropriate alternative care pathways to improve patient flow and reduce pressure on emergency departments. However, I take on board the point the Deputy made in sharing the story about a young man who had an asthma attack. I thank her for sharing that and his family for allowing her to do so. It points to the fact that if that service had not been available, the outcome may not have been what we would have wanted it to be. I am taking this question on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, and I will certainly feed back to the Minister the Deputy's concerns, especially the point she made about paramedics filling in for advanced paramedics. For the record, I asked for a breakdown on NAS clinical staffing in County Roscommon. The total number of paramedics, including six advanced paramedics, is 21. There are two paramedic supervisors and six emergency medical technicians. That amounts to 29 staff currently in place. I will speak to the Minister about the 12-hour period and the issue of paramedics filling in for advanced paramedics.

I want to be clear on the issue of the rapid response vehicle being parked up. This was done on Thursdays but I now understand it is done on Monday nights for 12 hours. The RRV is not being parked up because efforts to get an advanced paramedic have not been successful, whatever those efforts may be. That is not the reason because a paramedic is provided on the RRV every other day and night of the week. I believe it is being parked up as a cost-saving measure. If not, I do not know what the reason is. It is not because an advanced paramedic is not available because every other day of the week the service provides a paramedic quite happily. This should not be happening. In relation to the efforts being made to fill the four places on the advanced paramedic roster, which is the nub of the issue here, if an action card was issued - action cards are in place for Nenagh and Ennis hospitals - it would give a guarantee to anyone who is willing to go on the roster as an advanced paramedic. The reason people are not willing to carry out that role is that they afraid they are going to be pulled onto the air ambulance or moved elsewhere, as has happened. I do not know why County Roscommon does not have the action card to protect the rapid response vehicle. If we had an action card, it would give some comfort to an advanced paramedic to then decide to make the leap and take this role. I reinforce that point in relation to the action card. There is no reason the people of County Roscommon should not have the same protection as other places that are without an accident and emergency department. Of course, we are further from an accident and emergency department. That is why the rapid response vehicle is so important. I reiterate that lives are being put at risk in cases of cardiac arrest, heart attack, asthma attack and sepsis. This is happening in Roscommon, as I know from the coalface. I cannot and will not stand over a situation where people in my home county of Roscommon have their lives put at risk. I want this issue dealt with once and for all. I want the action card issued, the rapid response vehicle protected and the advanced paramedic and RRV provided on a 24-7 basis, as Fine Gael, the Government and the HSE promised the people of Roscommon in 2011.

I thank the Deputy for articulating the current situation in County Roscommon. The Deputy referred to people being put at risk. When anybody makes a 999 call looking for an ambulance, the call is triaged in relation to how serious the situation is, for example, whether it is a cardiac case, stroke, a broken limb, a fall or whatever else. The first response from the National Ambulance Service is always to triage and respond to the most critical incident first. It is important that anybody tuning in to this debate hears that. The Deputy said lives are being put at risk because the service is not available for 12 hours during the week. It is important to say, however, that all calls are triaged appropriately. Almost 30,000 patients were treated in the first six months of last year alone through a National Ambulance Service alternative care pathway, which is also important, with 40% of these patients not requiring subsequent conveyance. The Deputy is speaking about the emergencies that arise and the challenge that arises for patients and their families. I reiterate two points. In relation to the action card, which the Deputy said has been issued in two other counties but not in Roscommon, I will bring that point back. I reiterate also that I have been advised that the National Ambulance Service will continue efforts in 2026 to address the vacancies identified in Roscommon. I thank the Deputy again for raising this extremely important matter.

As the Minister of State knows well, County Wexford is experiencing a mental health crisis due to the lack of an acute mental health facility since the closure of St. Senan's psychiatric hospital in 2013. This facility served as the primary mental health institution in the region for over 150 years. There has been no replacement, meaning there is no acute mental health unit in Wexford. This is shocking in the context of the escalating mental health crisis we are witnessing nationwide. It is deeply troubling and leaves a significant gap in service provision in the south east. I was alarmed by information I received. While I knew this already, I wanted to confirm the exact figures by means of a parliamentary question before Christmas. The response showed that over 1,000 people had presented to Wexford General Hospital's accident and emergency department in mental health crisis between January and October 2025. Over the past five years, Wexford's accident and emergency department has seen 5,105 patients presenting in mental health crisis. It is incredible that 877 of those who presented to the hospital in mental health crisis were children. What is truly terrifying is that these thousands of people had no dedicated mental health facility available locally. I live on the Wexford-Wicklow border. It is a long way from Waterford hospital. In my office, we received far too many reports of patients waiting and being referred to an antiquated psychiatric department in Waterford city, only to be discharged or often refused services within hours due to a lack of staff or lack of space. I am sure the Minister of State will agree it is completely unacceptable to have these circumstances in 2026 in a country that is awash with money. My background is primary teaching and I am involved in secondary schools. The Minister of State will accept that this antiquated psychiatric unit in Waterford hospital is a completely inappropriate setting for children in a mental health crisis to be sent to, especially if they are travelling long distances, for example, from anywhere in Wexford or even south Wicklow. The Minister of State has responsibility for mental health. I ask that funding be allocated through the HSE capital programme for the development of a mental health unit attached to Wexford General Hospital. This issue is regularly brought up on South East Radio. All the Deputies present will agree with this proposal. All 34 councillors in County Wexford agree with it. It comes up at practically every meeting of the county council and there is cross-party support for it. We need to see movement on this unit in 2026. It is urgently needed to ensure that people in acute mental health crisis can access timely, appropriate and safe care close to their home. County Wexford has repeatedly been left behind in terms of mental health services. This is not only failing the people experiencing the crisis, but also their families. We need a whole family support and wraparound service. There are partners, parents and carers struggling to navigate a fragmented system while supporting loved ones in crisis. They require accessible counselling, education and practical supports to help them to understand and manage the challenges they face. The Government has paid lip service to mental health provision and well-being. It has failed to deliver A Vision for Change and Sharing the Vision. The result is that many of facilities are in a state of emergency. Funding has stagnated and reform has stalled. What plans does the Minister of State and the Government have to address the mental health crisis in County Wexford? I know all about Waterford and the overall budget, but the money does not appear to be going to Wexford in any meaningful way. I would be grateful if the Minister of State could comment on that.

I thank the Deputy very much for his question. I am quite disappointed at how the Deputy has presented the situation in Wexford. I think of all of those who are working in mental health services in Wexford today. They would be disappointed by the Deputy's statement that Wexford has been completely left behind in relation to mental health services. I will approach this issue in three different ways. First, as the Deputy knows, we have six new regional health areas. Community healthcare organisations, CHO, 5 and 6 have been amalgamated and broken down into three substructures. Waterford and Wexford are amalgamated under one integrated healthcare area, IHA, manager, Dr. Sinéad Reynolds, whose background is in mental health. She is a strong advocate for mental health. I will meet Dr. Reynolds in the next two weeks to discuss mental health services across Waterford and Wexford. I take umbrage with how the Deputy portrayed the department of psychiatry led by the clinical director, Dr. Vwoke Akpubi, in University Hospital Waterford. On two occasions, the Deputy said it was an antiquated service. That is not true. Maybe the Deputy meant the building, but the service is not antiquated. St. Senan's closed in 2013 before the Deputy and I became involved politics at national level. When St. Senan's was closed a decision was taken that all referrals would be made to University Hospital Waterford. There are 42 beds in the department of psychiatry at University Hospital Waterford. We also have a service-level agreement with St. Patrick's in Dublin. I know this inside out because I have lived it for the last five years as Minister of State with responsibility for mental health. We have a service-level agreement with St. Patrick's, a private hospital in Dublin, when we have issues with capacity. The Deputy has spoken about the number of presentations of children to emergency departments in Wexford. As he will know, when Wexford General Hospital had a fire a year and a half ago, University Hospital Waterford partnered very closely with it to take any of the overflow that could not be dealt with at that time. In response to the Deputy's comment that the unit is antiquated and not suitable for children, only two children were admitted to an adult department of psychiatry last year across the whole country, down from 100 when I took over in 2020. There were two cases last year, taken in real time when a clinician - a consultant psychiatrist - had to make a life or death decision on whether to admit that child or young person. In both cases, the patients were 17-plus and they were admitted with the approval of their parents. I cannot let that hang in the air. Wexford is being very well served by community mental health teams. There are six adult community mental health teams, one in Maryville, New Ross, two in Carn House in Enniscorthy, one in Tara House, Gorey and two in Summerhill in Wexford town. There are also two CAMHS teams and there are plans to put a third team in place. That said, I do accept what the Deputy has said in relation to the fact that there are no adult psychiatric beds. That is the nub of the issue in Wexford in general. Indeed, this has been raised with me by the Minister for housing, Deputy Browne, on several occasions and by other public representatives in Wexford. I want to give a shout out to Mental Health Ireland which is very strong in Wexford. Over the last five years I have launched many of its initiatives in relation to mental health, well-being, and emotional distress in the Wexford area and I want to applaud it for all the work it does on the ground. To go back to what the Deputy has said in relation to acute beds, I am aware that there are none in Wexford. I am also aware that there are none in Tipperary. We have done a capacity review of mental health beds and we will be having a look at this in the new year.

I acknowledge what the local teams are doing. They are doing brilliant work at Tara House, Arden House and lots of other places. I am glad to hear that the Minister of State accepts that there are no acute beds in County Wexford and that she will look at that this year. I am just reflecting what every politician in Wexford is saying and what the people coming to me are saying. They are saying that the facility in Waterford is not appropriate. I am not disparaging the work that they are doing. They are doing brilliant work under very difficult circumstances. I know this from a local county councillor who was bringing his own son. He said that it was so difficult. It was not possible to bring him by car because he was likely to jump out so he had to be brought by ambulance to Wexford. This is a county councillor in Wexford who will not mind me saying this because he has raised it publicly himself. I am just saying that the setting is inappropriate. That is his view. He has been campaigning on mental health for many years and has said that it is completely inappropriate for children. I also believe it is inappropriate. It is not a proper setting for someone in crisis. When people in mental health crisis present at Wexford General Hospital, the staff there do not have the training, resources or expertise to be dealing with them. I applaud the absolutely incredible work being done by groups like It's Good 2 Talk and Talk to Tom up in the north of the county. I have been dealing with Talk to Tom for years and have often referred children to it because it does brilliant work. However, Talk to Tom has not received one cent in statutory funding since it was set up. It organises local fundraisers. It is crazy that a local, voluntary group feels that it must step in to fill the gaps left by the State, a state that is awash with money. I was just looking at figures today showing that over €4 million was spent on security for a facility that was going to be used by IPAS across the border in County Wicklow. That is just one example but I could list hundreds of other examples of where money could be better spent. It is completely inappropriate to be wasting people's money. Some people say that it is not practical to have an acute facility in County Wexford. I disagree with the Minister of State's previous statement that it is not practical to have a facility in every county. I would be grateful to hear more about what she could do in that regard.

I am trying to count to five here because, as I reiterated, only two children across the whole country were admitted to adult wards last year. Two 17-year-olds were admitted, with the consent of their parents, for their own safety. There are no children being admitted to the department of psychiatry at University Hospital Waterford. That is the first thing I want to put on the record. Second, when we are finished here I suggest that the Deputy takes a look at the Mental Health Commission's report on foot of its visit to the department of psychiatry at University Hospital Waterford last year and the results therein. I am not going to leave it hanging in the air that there is a service in Waterford that is not fit for purpose because that is not the case. On three occasions, Deputy Ó Súilleabháin has disparaged that service. I know the teams that work there and I know the work they do. As the Deputy knows, under the capital plan there will be a new-build unit in University Hospital Waterford. A new 50-bed department of psychiatry is in the capital plan and has been progressing, albeit slowly, over the last three years. It was meant to be adjacent to the hospital. The consultants there and the executive clinical director wanted it to be part of the hospital and that is exactly what is going to happen. We must acknowledge the work being done by all six general adult teams in Wexford, the psychiatry of later life service in Wexford, and the two CAMHS teams in the county that I have visited. I also want to acknowledge the services that are available, including the liaison services through Wexford General Hospital. We cannot underestimate the services that are being provided. The issue the Deputy raises today relates to acute mental health beds in Wexford. There are none currently planned but we are certainly going to look at the issue, perhaps in the context of a crisis house or a high-level hostel. It is on my radar. I will give the Deputy that but I want to acknowledge the good work that is done in the department of psychiatry in Waterford.

I want to raise the issue of a victim's rights when the perpetrator of a crime is leaving prison or other institution. Prior to being a TD I was not aware of the very significant rights that exist under the victim's charter, including the right to know where a person is imprisoned, changes to his or her custody or location, and so on. That applies to those in prison but also to those people who are in the forensic mental health services. Difficult cases are described thus for a reason. A constituent of mine, Ms Fionnuala Bourke, has approached me because of what is a gap in the system. I have raised this matter with the Minister privately and would like to raise it publicly now. Fionnuala was stabbed nine times in a random attack by a stranger while she was on her way home from work. It was a brutal assault and she continues to live with the scars of it. This case was well raised and rehearsed in the media and in public. The perpetrator of that crime was convicted, despite lodging a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. That was disregarded by the jury and the perpetrator was found guilty and sentenced. The judge in the case specifically mentioned the fact that while the jury had disregarded the plea of insanity, it was not the case that the person concerned may not have a mental illness. In the judgment she was very clear in acknowledging that while also acknowledging that the person was guilty and therefore deserved a custodial sentence. Unfortunately, the perpetrator of the crime against Fionnuala had also committed a similar attack two weeks earlier. In that case, there was a successful determination that she was not guilty by reason of insanity. Therefore, she was referred to the Central Mental Hospital and remains there. The grave difficulty is that as far as Ms Bourke is concerned, there was no sentence for the crime that was committed. The person concerned served her time in a health institution, as may be appropriate, but no prison sentence was ever served. She also received other difficulties. For example, she was not the victim of the crime for which the person was detained in the forensic mental health services and as a result, she was entitled to no information about when that person might be released, periods of leave and so on. I know this issue was raised by a number of people, including me, with the Minister's predecessor. That Minister committed to examining whether legislation or changes in practice might be required. At the heart of the issue is a feeling of injustice from the perspective of Ms Bourke. A very serious crime was committed against her. Somebody was found guilty in a courtroom and a significant sentence was issued. However, the person concerned has not served, and will not serve, any custodial sentence. Ms Bourke remains outside the loop of information with regard to the detention. I raise the issue with the Minister and hope he will be able to provide more information.

Before I call the Minister, I caution that, notwithstanding the sensitivities of the case, we should avoid naming people who are not in the House. I call the Minister.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. He is correct to say that he has raised this issue with me privately. It does not come as a surprise to me. He is correct in stating that the issues that have been identified have been raised in the media. At the outset, I commend the Deputy. It is important that we take into account the position of victims in the criminal justice system. Historically, the criminal justice system is very much associated with determining the guilt or otherwise of the person who is accused of the offence and probably insufficient recognition was given to the very significant challenges that victims have to overcome in order to get justice. There is obviously the trauma of the offence itself and the Deputy has outlined that in the context of the person who has raised the issue with him. There is then having to make the complaint to An Garda Síochána. I must say that, in general, when I speak to victims they give me a very positive account of their engagement with An Garda Síochána. There is then the issue that the Garda must investigate a complaint, which necessarily takes time. The Garda puts together a file, which then goes to the Director of Public Prosecutions, DPP. That can be a traumatic time for victims as the DPP determines whether there will be a prosecution or not. Of course, if the DPP does decide to prosecute, the really important part of the victim's function is that they have to give evidence in court. That can be a challenging experience. If there is a conviction, that is the stage when we say that the State has delivered justice for the individual concerned. The Deputy is talking about circumstances that arise post conviction. In general, justice is delivered for serious crimes, such as the ones the Deputy has identified, when a person receives a sentence of incarceration. I fully recognise that prison is not the only solution to serious offences, but it is certainly part of the solution for the purposes of punishment and rehabilitation. There is significant legislation in place in Ireland to protect and enhance victims' rights. The Deputy will be aware of the Criminal Justice (Victims of Crime) Act, which does give rights to individuals. He will be aware of the Parole Act, which I was instrumental in getting enacted. It also gives rights to individuals in respect of victims seeking justice when it comes to perpetrators seeking parole. The issue the Deputy has identified relates to issues around when concurrent, rather than consecutive, sentences are imposed. In the case he has outlined, perhaps the injustice that his constituent feels may have been resolved if the sentence imposed in her case was a sentence that would commence after the perpetrator was released in respect of the other offence for which she was found not guilty on the grounds of insanity. People are detained in institutions such as the Central Mental Hospital. That hospital is a designated centre under the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006. It is, as the Deputy knows, part of the National Forensic Mental Health Service and provides a range of forensic mental health services to its patients. People who are victims of offences perpetrated by individuals who are retained within, say, the Central Mental Hospital can register with the National Forensic Mental Health Service victim liaison officer. I am not disowning responsibility, but that responsibility does not come within my Department but lies elsewhere. The Department of justice has no involvement in that regard. What is required in the future? The circumstances of the Deputy's constituent's case are very harrowing. They are also, I must say, unusual. That may be of cold comfort to her. We must, however, be careful about legislating for the exceptional case. The resolution is the ability that is there at present for a consecutive, as opposed to a concurrent, sentence to be imposed.

I appreciate that matters before the court are often in the control of the Judiciary. There is a clear separation of powers between what happens in this House and what happens and how decisions are made in a court. As Ms Bourke sat across from me at my clinic, and she was there for some time, I could only agree with her. She feels that a crime was committed and that while justice was administered and there was a process for dealing with all of that, the ultimate outcome of the sanction of a custodial sentence was never served. There is probably no way of releasing Ms Bourke from the view that the injustice stands. It is a reasonable thing for any victim to feel. We cannot go back and the court case cannot be changed in any way. However, I think it is worth looking at. The Minister said, and I accept, that it is a unique case. It is a particular set of circumstances. As we go forward and examine the interaction between mental health and custodial sentences, this is a matter on which I would like the Minister to dwell. We must not forget the experience of Ms Fionnuala Bourke because she lives with it every single day. Where there is a concurrent sentence, there is a gap where access to information should be provided to the victim. I believe that in some ways, Ms Bourke has come to terms with that. It is a harrowing prospect that you do not know when somebody might be released and when you might meet that person again. That person may have made threats against you and you might encounter or interact with them again. We have the victims' charter to prevent that situation. In this case, there is no such process. It is an area we could consider, but I understand it is a difficult and tricky situation.

I acknowledge what the Deputy has said and agree with him. What happened to Fionnuala Bourke was that a harrowing and desperately traumatic crime was perpetrated on her. The perpetrator received a sentence and justice was done. My understanding is that she did not commence that sentence because at the time, she was being detained within the Central Mental Hospital. What happened in this instance was that there was a detention but not a detention on the basis of the guilt of the perpetrator because of the crime she committed against Ms Bourke. That could have been resolved through consideration regarding the imposition of a concurrent sentence. I am not sure which of the offences was dealt with first. I will look at the situation within the Department. I do not want to mislead the Deputy or indicate to him, or, more importantly, to Ms Bourke, that there is a simple solution that can be put in place to resolve this issue. I do not think that is the case. Hers was a highly unusual case. However, as a victim, she is certainly entitled to be given information in respect of when her perpetrator is to be out in public again. That is something to which she is entitled. I hope there are mechanisms in place to ensure that can be achieved. In many instances, it is very traumatic for individuals to find that the person responsible for the serious offence against them is back out in the community. I know one of the tools that the Prison Service, I and the courts have available is to provide exclusion zones or to grant release on certain grounds and conditions. Those conditions, certainly in respect of very serious offences, can result in people being prevented from going into certain areas. That is obviously an issue of some complexity and that measure has to be exercised sensitively but it recognises our deep concern about ensuring that victims are protected from the ongoing damage caused to them by such offences.

I see that the Minister for education is not here. I believe she has an engagement this morning. It is very rare for me to get the opportunity to raise a Topical Issue so it is very difficult to not have the Minister here. I am not questioning the Minister of State's ability to answer the question. I am sure he is very well prepared. However, it is very difficult when you go to the bother and do a lot of research into an area only for the Minister not to be here. I find that a little bit frustrating. Now that I have given out, I thank the Minister of State very much for being here to answer my question, which is about the plans for the inclusion of schools in the DEIS plus scheme. I am happy that the Department has answered calls for DEIS plus, which a number of school communities, particularly around this city but also throughout the country, have asked for. It addresses the fact that the original DEIS model has not been the panacea people thought it would be in addressing educational disadvantage. While it does have positives, there have been gaps in services and it has not achieved what it set out to in the depth that it was thought it would. It is really important that the new strategy being implemented is rigorous and methodical and that it is evaluated and monitored appropriately. The way in which it is evaluated must be much better than those for the previous schemes so that we can learn what is and is not working early on. I am a little bit worried that this strategy will only tickle the wicked problem of educational disadvantage and that it will not actually be able to address it fully. From the answers I have received in writing about this and from watching other debates that happened in November 2025, I see that schools will not be required to apply. Schools were asked to apply the very first time DEIS was implemented. There were advantages to that because schools were able to say exactly what the issues were. The second time DEIS was looked at, schools did not have to apply because metrics were put in place. There were difficulties with that because you did not get the on-the-ground knowledge. You can get data from the census, the HP deprivation index and things like that but unless you know what is going on in schools, you do not know what is going on in schools. That is one of the difficulties. The reply to my question in November stated: The DEIS Plus scheme will provide additional support to schools with the highest levels of need, in line with the Government’s commitment. I keep saying the word "schools" for a reason. We are trying to support children and young people. It is not about schools. Schools are the conduit but we need to use the terms "children" and "young people", which the reply does go on to do. The reply continued: It will target a cohort of schools with high concentrations of children and young people experiencing intergenerational disadvantage where there is a significant gap in outcomes and there are barriers to those children and young people achieving their potential. Intergenerational disadvantage needs to be taken together with intergenerational trauma. The reality on the ground in schools is that young people are not succeeding to the best of their ability because of intergenerational trauma and disadvantage. You cannot separate them out. You also cannot find that data on the HP deprivation index. That is one way of looking at it but you have to be able to see what is going on in a family. If they are living in private rented accommodation, that is not taken into consideration. If you are living in a fancy housing estate but are on the housing assistant payment, HAP, because you happened to get a landlord who would rent there, that is not counted. That is a big disadvantage when trying to identify those families who need additional support. DEIS needs to follow the child and not only the school.

The Minister, Deputy Naughton, sends her apologies. For my part, I was a teacher for 17 years. I fully concur with many of the comments the Deputy has made. She is right that the importance of this issue is such that it requires a rigorous and methodical approach and evaluation by everybody. I have always been of the same view as the Deputy that it is about following the student. She is right about that and I agree with her. I thank her for raising this very important issue. Educational disadvantage is a key priority for the Minister and the wider Government. The DEIS programme is a key policy initiative for addressing concentrated disadvantage at school level. Where I disagree with the Deputy is that I think it has worked quite well. The Deputy is right that it is not a panacea for everything but it has worked quite well. When schools did not attain DEIS status, they were completely discommoded. There was a disconnect. That was a mistake. Supplementing universal supports, the DEIS programme provides a fair and targeted way to address concentrated educational disadvantage that promotes equity and meets the needs of children and young people. The DEIS programme currently supports almost 1,200 primary and post-primary schools, reaching approximately 260,000 students with an annual investment of €180 million. This year's budget allocates an additional €16.5 million, which will rise to €48 million in next year's budget, to support the implementation of a new DEIS strategy and introduce the DEIS plus scheme, which will commence this year. The new DEIS strategy, which will include the DEIS plus scheme, will be published in the first quarter of this year. At its core, this strategy will focus on improving the opportunities and achievement levels of children at risk of educational disadvantage, developing more innovative approaches to tackling education disadvantage and working towards a more flexible system of supports to ensure that a school can receive the right support at the right time. The Minister is committed to narrowing the performance gap between DEIS and non-DEIS schools and introducing innovative solutions to address disadvantage. Recent research, including the OECD review of resourcing schools to address educational disadvantage in Ireland, has highlighted the role of the DEIS programme in providing an education system that consistently outperforms many other OECD countries but also exhibits relative socioeconomic fairness, making it one of the stronger performers globally. However, this research has also highlighted that important differences in outcomes persist for students who experience very high levels of deprivation. That is why it is important to note that the Government is committed to introducing a DEIS plus scheme to provide additional supports to schools with the highest levels of students at most risk of educational disadvantage. I hope this will take on board the Deputy's point about following the student. It will also be a model that tackles disadvantage. At its core, it must be able to be assessed in the right way. As a teacher of many years, I agree with the Deputy on that. She made reference to the intergenerational piece. The new DEIS programme will target a cohort of schools with high concentrations of children and young people experiencing that intergenerational disadvantage, where there is a significant gap in outcomes and there are barriers to those children and young people achieving their potential. I see this in my own Department, where we invest millions of euro every year. We really need to have a serious conversation about that intergenerational piece. A DEIS plus design advisory group was established by the Department to inform the development of the DEIS plus scheme. This group includes principals, home school community liaisons and school completion programme co-ordinators who work directly with children and young people experiencing high intergenerational disadvantage. In 2024 and 2025, the Department carried out consultation workshops. The work is focused on informing key policy development. I look forward to working with the Deputy on the matter. I will bring her remarks back to the Minister.

I am glad to see that we are on the same page with regard to following the child. To clarify, I do think DEIS has been extremely positive. However, it is not as positive as people thought it was going to be. When DEIS was brought in, people thought that schools would automatically become able to answer all the questions over time. They cannot because, as the Minister of State has rightly said, his Department is also responsible for intergenerational disadvantage. We cannot just pigeonhole this in the Department of Education and Youth. It has to be seen throughout Departments because, to deal with intergenerational disadvantage, we need to deal with intergenerational trauma. That is a very large thing. We in this country are only starting to understand how much it affects young people. I am glad that the Minister of State mentioned the school completion programme. As I have said several times in here, I was a school completion co-ordinator for 18 years before I became a TD. I am very proud of that role. I would not like to see it eroded. I look forward to the Department finalising the employment and governance structure of the school completion programme, but that is for a different day. DEIS plus should not only be about the funding it will bring. The funding is vitally important, but it is about the services that are provided to children. The pupil-teacher ratio being reduced in DEIS schools, particularly in DEIS plus schools, is really important, as are multidisciplinary teams, which are able to go in to address specifically, not generally, the needs of children and young people and see where they are at. I do not want to see professionals coming in to tell teachers how to do it. Teachers are teachers; they are not therapists. We need to make sure that professional therapists are in there who can support those children at the worst times of their lives, when they are dealing with things going on for them. I will also say, and this is not talked about quite a lot, that I want to see an opportunity for the arts, as part of social inclusion, to be brought back into schools. This was removed a number of years ago, but it is so important. I know it is something that is being worked on by Professor Paul Downes and people in DCU. Professor Downes is part of that working strategy.

I thank the Deputy for raising many pertinent points, which I do not disagree with. She is right that it is not just about funding. During my own career, it was not just about funding. This is about that wraparound service and that engagement. It is not just about being able to measure but being able to have students reach their full potential. It is not just about literacy and numeracy. The Deputy mentioned the arts but it is also the socialisation piece and, for example, the hot school meals programme. She is right. I will make the point that the Government is committed, in a cross-departmental way, to tackling child poverty. We see education as the enabler to achieve that. The development of the DEIS plus scheme will be a further positive step in our commitment to lifting more children out of poverty and giving them the future they deserve. I will take back the points the Deputy made. I genuinely share some of the views she has. We get that because we are on the ground. We are in the classroom and the school community. We are engaging with home school liaisons. I am a former director of adult education and taught the applied leaving certificate. There is also the issue of school completion. It is not just about the funding piece. We cannot say that we will allocate X amount of money and then just throw that at it. That does not always work, as we both know. The new DEIS strategy to be published this year will set a future roadmap that will support children and young people at risk of educational disadvantage. It is to be hoped it will empower them to reach their full potential. The strategy will focus on improving opportunity and achievement levels for children and young people, but it will also ensure that in the school community we can develop more innovative approaches to tackling educational disadvantage and tackle that intergenerational piece we have to keep working at. The point is, which maybe goes back to what the Deputy is trying to say, it should be a flexible system of supports to ensure the school can receive the right support at the right time for the student, person, pupil or child, whether they are a teenager or primary school student. I look forward to working with the Deputy on this. The Government is committed to tackling educational disadvantage and reducing child poverty. I thank her for raising the matter.

Late buses, ghost buses, cancelled buses, buses that go past you because they are packed at peak hours and areas that have been completely abandoned: BusConnects is a shambles. Drivers are stressed to bits with the present box system. They are being harassed and disciplined because they cannot meet ridiculous timetables, with unrealistic routes and timetable requirements. It is an absolute shambles for commuters trying to use the bus system to get to work, for older people, disabled people and students, and for bus drivers who are harassed to bits. All of that is compounded by the privatisation of the system and apps that tell different information. If you go on the Transport for Ireland app, it tells you one thing, bustimes.org tells you something else and reality tells you something else again. It is absolute chaos. The National Transport Authority, NTA, explains ghost buses as being a result of longer routes and cross-city routes. We told it that when BusConnects was first designed. Some of the worst examples I am getting are in my own area. These are the east spine routes, which used to be the 46A and other routes. My colleague, Councillor Conor Reddy from Finglas, says it is the same with the F spine, which affects Finglas, Tallaght and so on. In the first week of the F spine in his area, he got 350 emails with complaints about buses not turning up and so on. The question is what we are going to do about it. I have not got time to go into it, but Go-Ahead is performing even worse than Dublin Bus. The whole thing is an absolute shambles. Does the Government recognise the problem? What is it going to do about it?

I feel that every couple of weeks for the last number of years, I have been getting up here giving out about ghost buses, buses that are put out of order or are packed and people cannot get on them, buses that are cancelled, people waiting forever and people not being able to rely on basic public transport services in this country. There is no recognition by the Government of the fundamental issues. There are staffing shortages, which is an underlying issue, but there are also other issues. It is very clear that privatisation is a disastrous experiment for which workers and commuters are paying the price, if we look at the figures for the lack of punctuality and fines for Go-Ahead. Go-Ahead has 22% of the fines for buses in Dublin but only provides 12% of the services. That is on the one hand. On the other hand are new spine routes that simply do not make sense. I will give some anecdotes from Dublin South-West to go with that overall picture. Up until the F spine, the routes that we got most complaints about all the time were the S6 and the S8 and the lower frequency routes of the W6 and W2. What is the common feature of all of those? They are all Go-Ahead routes. The S6 has so many problems that it has its own Instagram account, I hate the S6, used by students who are going from Tallaght or Blackrock to UCD to highlight all the problems with it. I will give an example from the W6 from Tallaght to Maynooth where, last Thursday, a constituent and 15 other people, to be exact, were waiting at The Square bus terminus for over half an hour for the next bus, not leaving the stop in case it showed up, which it did not, in freezing cold 2°C weather. On the F spine, people are telling me again and again that their journeys into town have been increased by half an hour. We have this new high-frequency route, but because the route is going to places that do not make sense and are not made for a whole number of buses to be going to, the routes have slowed down significantly. That is the NTA's fault, not Dublin Bus's fault.

I thank the Deputies. I am taking the matter for the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, who apologises that he cannot be here. As both of them know quite well, the Minister has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport, but neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operations of the public transport service. That rests with the NTA, which both Deputies articulated. I will not insult them by telling them that. I appreciate and acknowledge the remarks they both made in the context of the experience of commuters and the travelling public. It highlights the importance of the need for BusConnects to be completed. I assure both of them that the Government is committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options. Public transport plays a key role in delivery of this goal. As I said, it is unacceptable that members of the travelling public, as both Deputies articulated, have experienced no buses, ghost buses or late buses. The reply given to them outlines a variety of reasons for bus cancellations, which will be available on the record of the House. The issue of staff availability is an issue that is ongoing. It is not just about Dublin; it is in Cork as well. The most frequent reason for bus cancellations on routes is related to traffic congestion and traffic delays. The key point I will make to all is that it is not about lack of investment by the Government. The Government is committed to public transport, which has been seen in the budgetary allocation. I appreciate that this is discommoding for members of the travelling public. It is unacceptable that buses have to be cancelled. It has an impact on passengers. That is unacceptable. The frequent occurrence of this is in part because of the high volume of traffic. There are a variety of reasons, but it is important to recognise that the NTA has a responsibility in this matter. Phase 7 of BusConnects, the F spine, is a good example of the responsiveness of the NTA to the challenging environment in Dublin. The most extensive phase of BusConnects to date, phase 7, was launched on 19 October. While that involved the removal of some services, new services and changes have been introduced, including the 24-hour spines F1, F2, 80 and F3, which aim to enhance connectivity across the capital and support Dublin's growing night-time economy. New local and radial services, such as the 23, 24, 73, 82 and L89 services, now serve areas including Ballymun, Finglas, Charlestown, Walkinstown and Liffey Valley. Following feedback from passengers and local representatives, alignment changes were made to a number of these routes and the NTA is reviewing further amendments to the routes to tackle challenges to reliability. With regard to ghost buses, when a service is cancelled the operator is required to cancel the service on the system that monitors bus locations and feeds the real-time information system. While that generally does happen, there have been some occurrences where the relevant operator personnel did not input the cancellation in a timely manner. The NTA continues to monitor this issue and to stress to operators the need for timely inputs of cancellations where they occur. Deputy Boyd Barrett spoke about the issue of apps. Tomorrow, in Question Time in the Dáil, there will be a number of questions on the apps. It is unacceptable for people to have to rely on different forms of information where there is an app available that should have, in real time, the pertinent, relevant information. I will bring the Deputies' points about the S6 route back to the Department. I am not familiar with the route because it is not in my locality but I will certainly look at the Instagram account and feed it back to the NTA. It is unacceptable for someone to wait in subzero temperatures for half an hour for a bus to Maynooth and for it not to show up. I take the points the Deputies raised on behalf of people who want to use public transport. We must give them certainty and a guarantee that public transport will work for them.

I do not even have time to go through the number of issues I have but I will try to get some of them out. With BusConnects, many areas were abandoned, particularly working-class areas with older populations. Finglas east no longer has any connection to the north inner city whatsoever. Ballinteer no longer has any connection to Dún Laoghaire. These are older populations. Why does the Minister of State think people then get into cars, which increases congestion? The 46A and the 145 services, which are now the E spine routes, going past UCD, no longer have any connection with Heuston Station, where many of the students come to the universities from. It is crazy. We said this. Buses on many of the spines crossing the city are guaranteed to get caught up in congestion. We said in advance that these things would not work. Privatisation makes it all even worse because Go-Ahead does not give the same decent pay and conditions to people, so it cannot hold onto mechanics and bus drivers. As a result, it does not even have the people to operate buses on the route. It is a shambles and the Government has to do something about it, not just say it is terrible.

It is Government policy to slice and dice and privatise our routes in Dublin. By every metric of reliability, punctuality and penalties incurred, Go-Ahead is much worse than Dublin Bus. Why then is the Government persisting with privatising routes and giving them to Go-Ahead? Why are they not returned to Dublin Bus? Will the Government call a halt to the plans to privatise even more routes to Go-Ahead, including routes 56A, 65 and 77A, in light of all of the evidence shown that Go-Ahead provides a much worse service? It is interesting that in the answer, the F spine is given as a good example. I got an email a few days ago that takes on board all the changes. It states that the F1 bus: takes nearly 2 hours from O'Connell Street to the Square, and that journey was taken in Saturday afternoon traffic. The amalgamations made for this route were frankly ridiculous, and the bus travels through several small estates lacking in necessary traffic infrastructure to properly facilitate a bus route. These residents have lost their previously efficient 49, 54A and other routes and the new F1 is not a suitable replacement. I could go on and on with similar stories.

Deputy Murphy might forward that to me because it is important that we bring feedback to the NTA. I assure the Deputies that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, and I, and the Department, fully recognise that transport connectivity is hugely important for people who live, work and study. Deputy Boyd Barrett mentioned the link to Heuston Station. It beggars belief that there is no link from Heuston Station to the colleges he referred to. From a Government point of view, public transport connectivity is key to revitalising our villages, towns and urban centres. By expanding the public transport network and increasing service levels, as outlined in policies like Connecting Ireland and BusConnects, we are aiming to achieve more balanced regional development and greater connectivity for all public transport users. BusConnects has already achieved significant success in transforming Dublin's public transport network, notwithstanding the challenges the Deputies have articulated. Recently, research carried out for the NTA by Ipsos B&A showed that four in five customers have expressed satisfaction with the services of BusConnects and 45% believe the bus service has improved. I know we have a journey to travel. The NTA and Department will continue to collaborate with operators and customers to enhance the punctuality and reliability of services throughout the network redesign. I thank the Deputies for raising these matters. I will be happy to take the points they have made. I have taken note of the issues they have raised because it is about the travelling public.

Can we send information on to the Minister of State?

Please do. I encourage the Deputy to do so. If we do not take the experiences of the travelling public on board, then we cannot learn. There are mistakes and gaps. I would be the first to say that. I see it in my city of Cork. I am not living in an ivory tower. I use the bus in Cork. I recognise this when I meet people. Going back to the Deputies' fundamental point, it is crazy, in a world with the technology we have, that an app cannot have correct real-time information for members of the travelling public. That drives people daft. It increases the volume of emails to the Deputies and the levels of anger and frustration. I will bring this back to the Department.