St. Patrick's Boys' National School in Ringsend is a DEIS band 1 school that serves pupils in Ringsend, Irishtown and Pearse Street. The Department of Education has just notified it that it is going to lose a teacher, which is a huge blow to the school. It has failed to meet the arbitrary 127 retention pupil rate. The staff work themselves to the bone there. The conditions they are working in are very challenging. Pupils are already educationally disadvantaged in the school. It means they are going to have to shoeh…

I congratulate the Minister on his new position. There are a lot of moving parts to it, literally. I wish him the best of luck in that. I do not believe the Minister mentioned the extension of light rail down to the Irish Glass Bottle site. Obviously, he knows about the Irish Glass Bottle site extensively. I know his predecessor put back the Luas, the light rail, down to the Irish Glass Bottle site by over ten years, which will have a huge impact on the entire development. The development will be finished and occup…

There was another fatal stabbing in Dublin city centre this weekend. Clearly, Dublin is not safe for anybody using the city centre. There is a real sense of menace. It is no surprise to residents living in the inner city, for example, on Pearse Street and Kevin Street, that there was a fatal stabbing. Right across the inner city, it is no surprise because on a daily basis, residents and communities there have to put up with knife crime and serious antisocial behaviour. For example, last year on City Quay, which is …

Would it be possible to invite the Minister for housing in specifically to discuss the regeneration of flat complexes around Dublin? As an example, the refurbishment and redevelopment of communities and flat complexes in Dublin Bay South and in the south inner city is desperately needed. The regeneration is moving at a snail's pace. Residents are having to live in accommodation that is completely unacceptable. There is a situation where rats are running freely around developments not too far from here, including Le…

I congratulate the Cathaoirleach. I know he will be a very fair Chair. Thanks to Mr. Martin Groves and his team in the Seanad Office who facilitated the count. Thanks also to those who voted for me to be a Senator. It is a real honour to be elected to the Upper House. I will be working on various issues with all Senators. I am looking forward to that process and to bringing about positive change. I will keep fighting for residents in the inner city who continue to be neglected by Government. Regeneration of flat co…

Baggot Street post office is closing, Ballsbridge post office is closing and Rathmines post office is being sold off. This will have a devastating impact on the local communities. It comes on top of the closures, not too long ago, of the post offices in Donnybrook and Kevin Street. All five closures have come in the lifetime of the current Government. The legacy of the Government on the postal network will be dismal. If it is not the plan to kill off the post office network, will the Taoiseach reverse what is happe…

It is a very nice, comfortable bed, I can tell you.

The Dublin City task force launched earlier this week. It is hard to believe the Government needed to do a report to tell you what was wrong with Dublin City Council because we have been saying it in this House for years. I have been telling the Minister the issues with the redevelopment of the flat complexes. One of the task force proposals was the fast-tracking of flat regeneration, which is very important. So many of the flats are rotting from the inside to the outside because of the dampness and the mould. So m…

They do not have the funding, though.

They are all on the northside.

Ireland's animal welfare and dog welfare record is appalling. Ireland's record as the puppy farm capital of Europe and of backyard breeding is a shameful legacy of the Government. The Government's ban on XL bully dogs has resulted in dog rescue groups being overwhelmed on so many levels. Given that the term XL is not straightforward, can the Tánaiste state why there is no appeals process? On the Government's website relating to the ban on XL bully dogs, there is a photo of two dogs that are not XL bully dogs and on…

What about the photos?

I am talking about the photos of the dogs as there are incorrect photos on the website. If even they could be removed-----

Ireland is increasingly difficult for young people to grow up in. Sporting activities lead to mounting pressures for both providers and participants as the cost of living and lack of facilities escalate. This is creating increased inequalities in our society and nowhere is it clearer than in Dublin's inner city. The group Sporting Liberties has launched a very strong campaign highlighting the lack of facilities for children in the inner city. Recent reports have shown that thousands of children across the city do n…

The announcement of funding and grants is all well and good but how much of it is making its way down to the local community? You do not have to go too far from here to see. Someone living in Pearse House or Markievicz House has almost no good-quality sports or leisure facilities, so the Minister of State can spin and make announcements but families in Pearse House, Markievicz House and Leo Fitzgerald House do not have the facilities they deserve and should have. While we are all talking about announcements and fig…

I thank Deputy Tully for bringing forward this Private Members' motion. Enable Ireland Sandymount School provides education for children with very complex needs. Many of the students are wheelchair-bound and need movement breaks. They need these breaks in a specific class, which is out of action because of a serious leak in the roof over one of the rooms. This is having a negative impact on their physical health, mental health and education. The leak also means the library cannot be used by anyone in the school. Re…

I thank the Minister for coming in. Women's football is booming and has huge potential. The difficulty is the number of leagues for young girls to play in. These leagues are creating barriers for participation in football by young women. We cannot allow legacy issues around leagues and policies to deny girls opportunities to play sport and football. Sport for girls and everybody else is important, not just for physical but also for mental health. It is important to acknowledge that on mental health day. Sport and f…

It is important that these leagues have women at the top of their structures because it seems the common denominator is that men run these leagues and they do not facilitate or support women and young girls playing football. There has to be some mechanism to allow women to take positions at the top of the particular leagues.

I am delighted to get the opportunity to highlight the reckless spending by this Government. I have only two minutes, so unfortunately I will not be able to list all the reckless spending even in my constituency. I will concentrate on two projects. The first is Enable Ireland's school in Sandymount, which I have raised with the Minister before. For two years classrooms have been closed to the students in this Sandymount school because of a roof leak. I have raised it in the House on a number of occasions, as I said…

I wish to join with my colleagues in extending my sympathies to the family of Mary O’Rourke. She was a former colleague who was robust and had a big personality. As for the Topical Issue, after a week in which the budget was announced, when the Government has finished clapping itself on the back for its give-away budget it is important to remember that 70% of prisoners in Irish prisons have addiction issues. In August of this year, ten prisoners were hospitalised due to suspected drug overdoses. In response to a re…