There are things that are more important than getting votes. There are things more important than re-election for yourself. There are things that are more important to the human condition about solidarity and about looking somebody else in the eye and knowing that he or she is a fellow human being doing his or her best to raise his or her family and to contribute to society, and what Members in this House are consistently doing is linking immigration with criminality and making people feel fearful of the outsider. …

-----and lowest common denominator politics-----

I am happy to use the word "untruths".

I will say what I have to say without fear of legal action by Members opposite. I will say the following about immigration and this country: we have a moral and an historical obligation in this because the Irish are all over the world. We have an obligation to be as accommodating and welcoming as possible. The Government has a responsibility to give information to the entire country about the nature of our process and system but we also have a moral and an historical obligation to never stoop to the depths of the R…

Hear, hear.

Ask your lawyer.

After careful consideration of the track record of this Government in the areas of crime, policing and addressing the root causes of crime, the Labour Party will not be supporting the Government's motion. We did not rush to political point scoring in the aftermath of 23 November. We were traumatised when the news filtered through of a vicious assault on innocent schoolchildren and their carer. That shock was compounded when we saw images of law and order breaking down in the centre of our beloved city. We did not l…

Hear, hear.

I support what has been said. We would very much appreciate a visit by the Minister. The problem is that nobody is taking responsibility for the issue. People's capacity to have faith in the public transport system is being completely undermined by the situation regarding access. It feels unsafe, the lifts do not work, etc. This is a major issue in that part of the world. If the Minister were to bring both his presence and the weight of his office to the area, people there would feel as if the matter was being take…

I join Deputy Clarke and the Minister in sending our solidarity to the school community of Gaelscoil Choláiste Mhuire on Parnell Square. The Minister spoke about the incident last week and I appreciate her efforts. It is a heartbreaking situation. I know the school is traumatised and will be for quite a period of time. There can be healing and there are no better people to help to heal than teachers and SNAs in a school community that loves its children so much. My question is on the efforts of the Minister in the …

I do not think many people in the education sector, especially the primary sector, get the sense that the Minister appreciates the scale of the crisis. The INTO, the IPPN and the Catholic Primary School Management Association had a joint survey of primary schools which, as the Minister knows, was published a number of weeks ago. It stated there were 800 vacancies in the primary school system. I visited a school in west Dublin that is operating at 45% capacity. This issue is particularly acute in Dublin. We have to …

I sometimes feel the Department is depending on the fact that schools do not want to speak in their own communities about the crisis they face. It does not give a good look to a school to be speaking about the fact it cannot fill its staff with teachers. I wonder whether the Department is almost depending on this. This doubly disadvantages disadvantaged schools. It disproportionately hurts disadvantaged schools. It also disproportionately hurts children with additional needs because, in a crisis in a school, a prin…

This is related to the reputed practice of a particular school that came to my notice of linking the payment of a fee with the enrolment of a child. I want the Minister to comment on that practice and set out the Department policy in respect of it.

I have no intention of naming the school. The school management has told the Minister that they made a mistake. We need to have robust communication from the Minister. I appreciate the effort she made in contacting the school. The parents from that school will be very appreciative of those efforts. It is quite outrageous that a school would say a mistake was made in making the connection between the payment of fee and the enrolment of a child. No parent involved in that scenario is ever going to put their hand up a…

The Department is willing to accept that the school made a mistake. However, can the Minister reiterate to every school across the country the reality that they cannot link a payment to enrolment? Will the Minister also accept there is a toxic relationship between money and education in this country? There is far too much of an assumption within school management sometimes that a voluntary contribution is linked to full engagement in school life, and they may suggest that it is voluntary but it is not. We have to m…

Hear, hear.

He cannot help it.

Really? Go home and collect your money.

Says a convicted criminal.

I am not a criminal though, like you; a convicted criminal.