Our position on neutrality is long-held. It is cherished and valued by the Irish public. Neutrality has provided our State with credibility and impartiality to be a voice for peace and for de-escalation in cases of armed conflict. Any attempt to weaken our neutrality or drag Ireland towards a military alliance must be strongly opposed. I have not heard one convincing or valid argument for a change in the triple-lock system but I have heard bogus ones. For such a significant change to our neutrality policy, I would …

The embargo on recruitment has been described by the INMO as a kick in the teeth. The Government's decision in the budget to underfund our health service means that 7,000 essential posts have been scrapped, placing a huge burden of work on struggling front-line staff. In Laois-Offaly, there is chronic understaffing of posts in vital services and supports. A total of 42% of all CDNT posts are vacant in County Laois while in County Offaly the figure is 35%. In CHO 8, the area that covers the midlands and counties Lou…

The issue I am raising is dental services in Laois and in Offaly, which are bad in both counties. The service in Laois is the most chronic, as far as I can ascertain, in the State. Dental services are important for oral health. If oral health is not good, general health is not good and it leads to problems down the line. This week, the Committee of Public Accounts, of which I am Chairman, received figures from the HSE, which show that the number of extractions under the dental treatment services scheme, DTSS, last …

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. I will deal with the issue of school dentistry first. The problem is that the children are not being seen. In Laois, the school year being completed is 2019-20. According to the previous paragraph in the document that I got, this refers to sixth class, which means that the children are in third year or they are moving into fifth year. I can tell the Minister of State I have first-hand experience with a family member and the children of neighbours living around us who wer…

Can the Minister of State come back to me with a response?

I want to raise with the Taoiseach support for the LGBT community. Funding under the community services fund, which is very important, is supposed to have a rural dimension. The Midlands LGBT+ Project, which runs a dedicated service for four counties in the midlands - Laois, Offaly, Westmeath and Kildare - is the only service for the LGBT community in those counties. It provides services to 15 groups, along with numerous individuals. I do not expect the Taoiseach to answer the question specific to the group. I am j…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this motion. What we have seen over the past six weeks in the Middle East has shocked all decent people in the world, including in this country. I condemn the actions of Hamas on 7 October and its attacks on Israeli civilians. In particular, I extend my sympathy to the family of Kim Damti. They are related to the Cooper family in Coolrain near where I come from in south Laois. They have been through a terrible trauma. However, the actions of Israel are shocking and horrifi…

I have serious concerns about the underfunding of our health service. We were told today that it is to the tune of €1.3 billion. We must also factor in the additional capital funding needed for the much-promised 1,500 acute additional hospital beds and the growing cost of the national children's hospital, both of which have not been allocated extra funding in the budget. Such a significant underfunding of our health services will impact the delivery of much-needed services in Laois and Offaly. It will impede the re…

There is a serious issue with the school transport system due to a lack of local knowledge and co-ordination by those people who are charged with running it. This year we have witnessed chaos in several areas of Laois and Offaly regarding the operation of the scheme. I have seen this problem reoccur every year and we need a solution to be put in place, which is what I want to focus on. Parents who paid the fee for their children as far back as April were informed just two weeks before schools were due to be reopene…

The situation we are in at the moment is that we have thousands of householders who are in serious arrears. I am meeting mortgage holders across Laois-Offaly, who are struggling. Some 21,400 are confirmed to be in serious arrears. Serious arrears means exactly that. Tens of thousands more are in arrears. Some households are paying interest rates of 7%, 8% and 9%. One man I met at the ploughing championships is paying almost 10% to a vulture fund. Repayments are rising by thousands of euro each year. This is happeni…

There is a commitment in the programme for Government to reduce class sizes, which is welcome. However, in Portlaoise town, 200 children who are in need of school places at primary level cannot get them. Children are being bussed to Mountmellick, Stradbally, Ratheniska, Mountrath, Timahoe, Barnashrone and The Heath every morning. Existing primary schools are bulging at the seams. Some new schools have been provided and I have welcomed those new schools over the past ten years. However, a few prefabs will not solve …

I welcome the announcement by the Minister earlier that a forensic accountant will be appointed, under the Broadcasting Act 2009, to audit the accounts of RTÉ, starting with the now-infamous barter account. At a hearing of the Committee of Public Accounts last week, we got an insight into how the €1 million-plus slush fund has been used by RTÉ's top executives, with €110,000 for a trip to the Rugby World Cup in Tokyo, Japan; €138,000 for ten-year Irish Rugby Football Union, IRFU, tickets; €26,000 for Champions Leag…

I ask the Taoiseach about the promise made on budget day with regard to medical cards for those on the median income or below. As I understand it, such a measure would bring nearly 400,000 people into the medical card scheme, albeit for GP visits only. As I understand it, this was to be in place before June. The reply I got to a recent parliamentary question raises questions as to where it is at the moment. With regard to discussions with the Irish Medical Organisation, IMO, there has been little sign of progress. …

I am glad to see both Ministers are present. This year, the cost of education is a bigger worry for families, as we are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. The Government can and must do certain things to ease that pressure on parents and students. At primary and secondary level, not only do parents face the expensive cost of schoolbooks, with an average cost of €200 plus, they are also expected to make voluntary contributions, which can be in the region of more than €200, in some cases. They have to pay tran…

We are taking the retained firefighters and their families for granted. The Government needs to put a realistic offer on the table. The two counties I represent, namely, Laois and Offaly, are completely dependent on retained firefighters. I met delegates yesterday from all the stations in the county and they outlined the crisis. This is not just the crisis of the firefighters but the crisis that exists in trying to get people into the service and keep people in it. They expressed enormous frustration at the lack of…

It was refused.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. The reality is we have 888,000 people on hospital waiting lists, record waiting times, record numbers of people leaving emergency departments without treatment. We got the figures this week on that. Figures released to Sinn Féin show that 497 people left Portlaoise emergency department between January and March 2023 without being treated. In Tullamore, 546 people left the emergency department without being treated between January and March this year. These are alar…

The Minister is misleading the Dáil.

Misleading the Dáil again.

Tell the truth. Time to move aside.