Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an gCeann Comhairle as a cuid Gaeilge. Tá sí ag éirí níos láidre. Ag cloisteáil na díospóireachta inniu, bhí sé suimiúil go raibh a lán daoine ag gabháil leithscéalta as a gcuid Gaeilge. Níl aon ghá leis sin. Is ceart go n-úsáideann muid í sa Teach seo agus sa Teach eile. Ba cheart go mbeadh muid in ann í a úsáid ar lá ar bith, ní hamháin le linn Sheachtain na Gaeilge. Déanaim comhghairdeas leis an dhá chlub Chumann Lúthchleas Gael, An Ghaeltacht agus Daingean Uí Chúis, as na buanna a bhí…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist thábhachtach seo. According to the latest labour force survey, which was released by the Central Statistics Office, CSO, on 19 February, employment has been increasing for young people, standing at 323,200, which is up 6,000 over the past year. Reflecting this, the youth unemployment rate of 9.8% in quarter 4 of 2025 is lower than a year earlier, when the rate was at 9.9%. It is important to note that youth employment is in most economies generally about twice the level…

I thank the Deputy. I confirm that we are monitoring all AI developments very closely. We are doing so in the context of developing the successor strategy to Pathways to Work. That strategy will include priorities for younger people. We expect it will be published in quarter 2 of this year. We have made some changes. I particularly draw the attention of the Deputy to the changes in Tús. The Tús work placement scheme is being extended to 18-year-olds who are in receipt of jobseeker's allowance or who are the benefic…

I will certainly provide that information to the Deputy. The range of supports that Intreo advisers use includes Springboard+ and identifying Springboard+ opportunities. It provides free and sometimes heavily subsidised education for in-demand skill areas. We can match courses to people's skills and abilities. SOLAS continues to provide focused training programmes. There is also the work placement experience programme. With the back-to-work enterprise scheme allowance, I am encouraging people to set up their own bu…

I thank the Deputy. The Government recognises the additional costs that are associated with having a disability. We are committed to improving outcomes for disabled people. The programme for Government includes a range of commitments to support disabled people, which includes a commitment to introduce an annual cost-of-disability support payment. In addition, under the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030, which was developed with significant input from disability groups and their advocates,…

First, those remarks were not aimed at people with disabilities. They were aimed at political parties that are trying to weaponise the issue.

Supports are available but we want to do a lot more on this. That is why we are putting a huge amount of work into a permanent payment. The cost-of-disability summit in May will produce a briefing paper. I intend to bring that to the Government as part of the budget 2027 negotiations. We are only at the end of February and the budget negotiations are not yet under way. This issue will be my priority going into those discussions. I invite Deputy Hayes and all the political parties to take part in the submission proc…

As I said, we are focused on a permanent payment, not a temporary payment from budget to budget. We are focused on getting the design right and on involving as many voices as possible to ensure we consider as many ideas as possible in order to get it right. We had very good and constructive discussions about this with the disabled persons' organisations yesterday. We want to ensure the summit in May is a practical, focused and business-like event. Certainly for me, it will not be a tick-the-box event. We genuinely …

Age-related rates apply to persons aged between 18 and 24 in receipt of a jobseeker's payment. However, young jobseekers can receive the full adult payment if they participate in training and employment programmes. This is the correct approach, which will help to minimise the scarring effects that extended periods of activity can sometimes have on the long-term prospects and well-being of young people. Age-related rates are not applied to all young adults. Exemptions apply to those with dependent children, those pr…

I assure the Deputy I do not want to give off any suggestion of the person she mentioned. We want young people to remain connected to the labour market, to avail of the employment and training opportunities and, more importantly, to avail of opportunities that are suited to their skills and interests as opposed to going through generic schemes. We went through the options earlier, including Springboard and the new changes to the Tús scheme. We want to ensure young jobseekers can receive a higher payment if they par…

I agree. We want to avoid people, particularly at a young age, falling into that poverty trap. We want to keep them connected to the labour market, which we all agree is changing rapidly. That is why extra payments are given to those in training and on work experience. As I said, we are working on a new Pathways to Work strategy. We have had over 430 submissions. We had five stakeholder forum events across the country. We have also met our colleagues in government and in other agencies of Government. We are develop…

I thank the Deputy. She was going to send me some details in relation to the case yesterday because I want to make sure that situation does not arise again. The lead role in relation to the engagement with the Commission for Regulation of Utilities or energy providers in relation to pay-as-you-go meters is a matter for the Department of climate. While we have no function in this space, it is an area that we support people in. The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment has advised that the electricity and…

In relation to getting access to supports, I certainly want to work with the Deputy on that, particularly for the pay-as-you-go meters. I would be concerned about the rates that are charged on those meters. I will engage again with my colleague, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, on this. We increased the fuel allowance by €5 from the 1 January this year. That is a weekly payment of €38 for 28 weeks, which supports over 460,000 households with their energy costs and that will be an investment of €486 million. The househ…

I agree. I am happy to have an engagement with the CRU but, obviously, it is not statutorily responsible. We could have an engagement in the context that I do not have any role but I do think this is an important issue. There needs to be some sort of understanding of the pressure families and homeowners are under with these pay-as-you-go meters. There can be situations of what the Deputy calls microdisconnections where people are left without power and heat, with minimum notice. I will engage with the CRU around th…

I thank Deputy Roche for his question. My Department provides a range of income supports for those who are unable to work due to illness or disability, including those with rare diseases. These include non-contributory payments that are based on a needs test, such as disability allowance, but also contributory payments that are based on PRSI contributions, such as invalidity pension. Eligibility for these supports is not dependent on the type of a rare disease a person has but on the extent to which the particular …

I am happy to engage with the Deputy and the rare diseases group around those issues and the proposals the group may have in relation to the systems within the Department. As I said in my response, we provide a range of supports for people who are unable to work due to illness or disability, and that includes people with rare diseases. Eligibility is not dependent on the type of rare disease but on how that disease impacts on a person’s ability to work and earn an income. The scheme already supports persons to work…

Absolutely. We want to try to have a Department that helps people who have to manoeuvre through these conditions. One of my frustrations in public life is the way we silo people. That day needs to go in terms of the Department of Health doing one job, the Department of Social Protection doing another and the Department of disability doing another. That is why we are taking a whole-of-government approach to the summit on the cost of disability on 13 May. I am working with the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, and o…

I thank the Deputy. I have to say that when I was appointed Minister for Social Protection, I did not think a lot of my time would be spent on school meals. It is one of the most popular programmes and most debated in the House. That is a good thing and we want to get it right. In 2019, there were 37 schools and 6,600 children who were eligible for hot school meals. Today, all 3,200 primary schools and 550,000 children are eligible for hot school meals. There are 3,700 schools around the country which are eligible …

The dietician has been working since September and she has completed an in-depth review of school meal supplier menus and their compliance with nutritional standards. The nutritional standards have been in place since 2019, since the inception of the programme. They were developed by the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute, the HSE, Safefood and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. There are 16 standards in total - 13 relating to food and three relating to drinks. The interim report is based effectively on desk…

I assure Deputy Hayes that the nutrition side is being closely monitored. Coming back to the overall discussion about suppliers, my preference is for local suppliers. That could be meals on wheels. Deputy O'Shea is with us. The Duhallow community food project is also a very good model. It is locally produced. This day last week, I was in St. Munchin's Community Centre in Limerick, where they do extraordinary work. We saw the food being prepared there. I do not mind whether it is private or public. I think it should…