I thank Senator Gallagher again for raising this matter. It will help bring clarity on the interim arrangements in place. I know from speaking to the Minister, Deputy Foley, before I took this on her behalf this morning, that the Senator has been working very closely with her and she wants to relay that both of you will continue to do that with other public representatives in the area as well. This provides the clarity on the interim arrangements, which are really important for families availing of these respite se…

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. The Government is fully committed to supporting children with special educational needs to fulfil their full potential, and the programme for Government makes a number of commitments to deliver on this objective. The NCSE has responsibility for co-ordinating and advising on the education provision and care support for children and young people with special educational needs in our schools, including the allocation of SNA support to schools. Reflecting the central role th…

I will certainly relay the Senator's contribution and the issues she has raised to the Minister for education. I know and very much understand the value of SNAs. It is something the Government very much prioritises, which is why we have seen an across-the-board increase in the number of SNAs every year. It poses significant challenges for a school when there are changes, reviews and adjustments. It is important that each school engages with the NCSE regarding its concerns to ensure they are fully considered and com…

I am responding on behalf of my colleague, the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy Naughton. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with an opportunity to discuss the role of the Department of Education and Youth’s emergency works scheme. The purpose of the emergency works scheme is to provide funding specifically for unforeseen emergencies or to providing funding to facilitate inclusion and access for pupils with special needs. It does so by ensuring the availability of funding for urgen…

I will certainly relay the points the Deputy made back to the Minister. The response I have been given outlines the difference between the emergency works scheme in terms of the criteria to qualify for it and for the summer works scheme. The Department is making the case that the downpipe issue is a matter that would qualify for the summer work scheme as opposed to the emergency works scheme, even though, as should always be the case, it would appear that the school is achieving very good value here in relation to …

I thank Deputy Cronin for raising this matter. It gives me an opportunity to set out for the House, on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth, the position with regard to long waiting lists for post-primary school places across north Kildare. I assure the Deputy that the provision of school places to meet the needs of children and young people at primary and post-primary level, including those with special educational needs, is an absolute priority of the Department. While the Department is aware of enrolme…

I will relay to the Minister for education the Deputy's comments and the representations she has made on this issue on the floor of the Dáil today. To touch further on the assessment of need and demand for school places in a school area, the Department uses data from a range of sources, including child benefit data, enrolments and information on new residential developments, to plan for school place needs. As has been outlined, there has been significant investment made in school infrastructure across County Kildar…

I thank Deputy Wall for raising this matter today. I welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter with Members of the House on behalf of the Minister for Transport and to provide an update on this pilot scheme in County Kildare. The Minister for Transport has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding in relation to the national cycle network. The national cycle network was published in 2024 and identified core cycling corridors around the country which, when delivered, will help increase cycling rat…

Deputy Wall will appreciate that it is critical that we do, and are able to, offer a real alternative to people in different parts of the country to ensure they can walk and travel in a safe environment. This is why there was and is a necessity for pilots such as the Moone to Timolin scheme. I acknowledge that the novel nature of the pilot has caused concerns and frustrations, as have been very clearly articulated and represented by Deputy Wall here today on the floor of the Dáil. I assure him the pilot is importan…

I thank Deputy Doherty for raising this important matter for our county on the floor of the Dáil. I am glad to be taking it on behalf of the Minister for Transport who has been in London since yesterday meeting Cabinet counterparts in the British Government. I have been authorised to take this Topical Issue on his behalf and a number of other Topical Issues on behalf of a number of other Ministers who are not in the country today. Both Deputy Doherty and I attended the meeting yesterday with the Secretary General i…

Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher and I, along with Deputy Doherty and all the other Oireachtas Members from the county, are at one on this in terms of trying to find a way forward and make sure there are flight times in place that suit and meet the needs of the people of our county. Deputy Doherty will see from the response how this evolved. We both heard at yesterday's meeting that the tender that was issued was the same as the previous tender. There was no change but what came in as a result of that tender was diffe…

I thank Deputies Byrne and Guirke for raising this matter this morning. Under section 46 of the Postal and Telecommunications Services Act 1983, the Minister for Culture, Communication and Sport, with the concurrence of the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, approves any superannuation schemes submitted by An Post, including proposals to increase pensions and deferred pensions. The requirement to seek approval from both Ministers is also reiterated in the code…

I thank Deputies Byrne and Guirke. I have outlined the timelines. While these pension increases were to apply with regard to An Post from 1 January 2025, the agreement relating to the increase was not agreed between the unions and An Post until September 2025. It was only at that point that it was agreed. The agreement went to the Department at the end of October, as has been outlined. Governance mechanisms and the need to make appropriate decisions require that the Department must engage with NewERA because there …

As people can see from the outline I provided, we have been acting very promptly. I do not believe it could have been done in a shorter timeframe. NewERA had to do its assessment, look at the fund and the request relating to it and make recommendations to the various Ministers. As soon as I got it, I signed off on it. It has gone to the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and I have no doubt he will act very promptly. Our objective is to get this applied as soon as possible. We understand that it is very important.

I thank Deputy Byrne for the question. I know these are funds she has a strong interest in. As the Deputy knows, my Department operates two capital funding programmes for sport, namely the community sports facilities fund, CSFF, and the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, LSSIF. Sporting organisations can apply directly for CSFF funding while applications to the LSSIF must be made through either a national governing body, NGB, of a sport or a local authority. The Department made a total of 2,500 CSFF payments to…

Our objective is to try to make the application process for both the sports facilities fund and the large-scale infrastructure fund as accessible and workable for clubs as possible. Obviously, when it comes to the large-scale infrastructure fund, the grants are of a much more significant scale - into the millions - and there is therefore more involved in the application process. We take on board the views of local authorities and the national governing bodies in relation to the prioritisation of those. We have had …

It is something that we bore in mind. We are aiming at having a new round of the sports capital fund by early summer. We will certainly be taking on board the feedback we receive before then from sports clubs around the country and Deputies on trying to make sure that it is as accessible as possible. I know there have been challenges in the past. The smaller the organisation, the more challenging and daunting it can seem to apply. We do not want that to be the case. In terms of how we structure it, while we will ha…

I thank Deputy O'Donoghue for his question on an important issue. As we know, everyone involved in sport in any capacity, regardless of age, should be able to enjoy an experience that is free from any form of abuse. The creation of a culture that promotes the safety and welfare of all involved must be at the core of the operations of all of our national governing bodies of sport. Sport Ireland, as the authority tasked with the development of sport in Ireland, works with the NGBs to ensure that appropriate safeguard…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. It is crucial that everyone has a security and safety support network around them to ensure they can safely participate in sport. This takes a lot of effort by our clubs to make sure those structures are in place. It also forms a key part of the Government's work, with Sport Ireland, to ensure support and guidance are provided to NGBs. That is fully expected and required of the NGBs to continue to be able to avail of State support and funding. The ongoing work by clubs in…

Sport Ireland sets the criteria. It has a strong set of criteria for child safeguarding compliance. It is a compulsory requirement for NGBs and a critical element of NGB funding. These criteria are reviewed twice annually. NGBs are required to submit their child safeguarding statements to Sport Ireland for review. Sport Ireland expects all funded organisations, as does the Government which funds Sport Ireland, to maintain those high standards of governance, strategic planning and operational delivery, including but…