Over the past number of weeks, I have listened intently to parents who are sick with worry. I have listened to special needs assistants who are lying awake at night wondering if they will have a job come September. These are jobs that they love and vocations they do with every fibre of their being. I have listened to children and their voices, which are really important in this debate. They simply want to feel safe, supported and included in their own classrooms. What have they been met with over the past two and a…

Ní leor sin.

If the Taoiseach listened-----

Can we get a medal for the Taoiseach?

Hear, hear.

The Minister of State does not need me to tell him that 2,300 jobs, at a conservative estimate, in our coastal communities are in jeopardy because of the quota deal reached in December 2025. The wider economic hit could reach €200 million. In ports like Dunmore East in my home county of Waterford, families are asking whether there is a future for them and their industry. When you step back and look at the decisions and attitudes of successive governments, their actions and, more critically, their inaction, it is im…

We need to see remote work become a right and not just a perk as it is now. It should be an entitlement for workers for whom it is available and not a norm when it makes sense for all the reasons that have been outlined. It is clear to us that remote working has clear family benefits, social benefits and environmental benefits as well as those benefits to the community that are often unseen and unremarked upon in this debate because, simply put, people have more time. This is about workers' rights. There are health…

So therapists will be reduced.

They have to.

A startling initiative.

We all accept the transition needed in our energy system. We need renewables and investment and we need to tackle climate change seriously, but we cannot balance climate ambition on the backs of working families. Most countries that are transitioning their energy production to renewable sources are now seeing decreases in the price of electricity. Why are Irish families not seeing that? Why are they still paying the third-highest household electricity prices in Europe? Why are more than 300,000 households now behin…

In less than five years, house prices have risen by 47.7%. That is a failure of the Government of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. It is a failure to respond, a failure to intervene and a failure to deliver. Over 2,000 family homes, which is a conservative estimate, have been bulk purchased by investment funds since the Minister's claim they had stopped it. In Waterford today, there is not a single housing assistance payment, HAP, property to rent. House prices are up 10.7% in Waterford across city and country. The avera…

Aontaím go hiomlán leis an méid atá ráite ag mo chomhghleacaí, an Teachta Ó Snodaigh, i dtaobh na háiteanna nach bhfuil meánscoileanna lánGhaeilge iontu. Tá an-chuid de na meánscoileanna lánGhaeilge atá againn faoi bhrú i dtaobh foirgnimh agus spáis. Tá éileamh níos mó ann ná mar gur féidir leo freastal air de dheasca an easpa infheistíochta i bhfoirgnimh, suíomhanna agus a leithéid. Táim ag smaoineamh ar Ghaelcholáiste Phort Láirge i gcathair Phort Láirge, a bhfuil ag feidhmiú as prefabs le blianta anuas agus nach…

The ongoing and very real impact on the community in Passage East in County Waterford and the serious shortcomings in response to recent flooding events must be to the forefront of the Minister's mind having visited there last weekend. My colleagues, Councillor Pat Fitzgerald and Deputy David Cullinane, and many residents have raised the need for an effective early warning system with timely and accurate information. This must be addressed as a matter of urgency. Probably the most frustrating issue that locals rais…

And who is responsible for-----

That is ridiculous. How many years in government now?

Take responsibility for your own inaction.

We need Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael out on their ears.

You have never addressed supply.

To continue with that theme, as the Taoiseach knows, the report of the Policing and Community Safety Authority report at the end of last year the continuing failure of the Government to address Garda recruitment and retention and rural policing in particular. It identified serious risks to policing performance from staffing shortages due to missed recruitment targets and increasing pressures on gardaí. People I have talked to in rural areas of County Waterford are experiencing the sharpest impact. Too few gardaí ar…