I wish to raise the school transport scheme. Thousands of children across the State have been left without places on school buses. Scores of children in my county of Meath, including at least 23 in north Meath who attend to O'Carolan College in Nobber, have been affected. The Government conducted a review of the scheme. It emerged that what locks many people out are the eligibility criteria. People who qualify for concessionary tickets are being left off school buses. Bus Éireann says that it cannot sanction extra …

Before we go to the Minister of State, I want to welcome to the Public Gallery a delegation from the European Committee of the Regions. Tá fáilte mhór romhaibh. I hope your visit is an interesting and a fruitful one.

We are now many months into this crisis and Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents have still not removed a single cent of excise or carbon tax from home heating oil. That is the reality facing workers, families and pensioners right across this State. The facts speak for themselves. The cost of home heating oil has soared by as much as 75% in the past year. A household ordering a 1,000 litre fill today is paying more than €1,600, compared with around €900 for the same amount a year ago. We are heading into win…

I thank the senior Minister for being here at this hour to take this. This issue is both topical and important. The school meals programme is one of the most important investments the State makes in children. At €300 million per year, it touches nearly every primary school in the State. Given that the Government's own review revealed that it is falling short, we cannot simply tinker around the edges. The research published yesterday was clear and indicative. The Department of Health's nutritionist found that just 7…

I appreciate the Minister's comments on his own preference for multiple providers. It is important to expand upon that. I referenced Duhallow. The Minister is aware the education committee has spent a lot of time on this. We have previously discussed this ourselves during Oral Questions. I have talked about Duhallow and St. John's and St. Paul's in Drogheda. This is not a niche experiment. It is a proven, viable, replicable model. In Finland, 850,000 meals a day are served through a community-led model. In Copenhag…

I will put the question and raise an issue with the Minister. I wanted to ask her about the measures she is taking to increase residential places for adults with intellectual disabilities in County Meath and the number of new residential places planned for 2026 and 2027. Along with a number of colleagues, including Deputy Guirke, I met a number of residential providers, including Clann Mór in Navan, County Meath. It has proposals at an advanced stage in relation to providing additional residential places. It, among…

The fifth-class-----

Roche, not O'Rourke.

The Minister is familiar with this issue, and I call on her to intervene personally and urgently. The fifth-class students in Gaelscoil na Ríthe in Dunshaughlin are currently being accommodated in a small library room in an old prefab. Support hours are being provided in the staff room. This is because a promised prefab that should be in place is not in place and they are being told that it will be the end of quarter one 2027 when it is delivered. This was a positive news story with an additional junior infants cla…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill. Road safety is incredibly important and too many of the important indicators are going in the wrong direction. In Meath, for example, people are telling me the same thing again and again, and I know it myself: you never see a roads policing unit. Motorists can go for months or more likely years without encountering a Garda checkpoint or traffic control. That absence has consequences. When there is no fear of getting caught, dangerous driving becomes normalised. Behav…

I wish the staff and the Minister all the best for the summer. I know it will be a busy summer but I hope that everyone gets a break. I ask the Minister to state the number of children with additional needs who require but have yet to receive an offer of an appropriate school place for September 2026, based on her most recent meeting with the NCSE; the date of that meeting; and the measures she has taken to ensure that every child with additional needs has an appropriate school for September.

The Minister finished on the bit I am interested in and that I specifically asked about,. What was the latest weekly update? The information the Minister has just given me was previously provided to the House on 23 April. It is now 16 July. Does the Minister have any additional information to provide to the House as of this week?

Again, we have those figures from a briefing we had with the Department as recently as yesterday. It is all welcome progress but the question I am asking today is what is the unmet need as things stand? How many children do not have an offer of a school place? How many children have an offer of a school place but it will not be ready for September, in terms of advancing of works? It has been reported in the media this week that an extremely high number of children will not have a place for September. Many of them a…

I thank the Minister. She said from November that 97% of posts were filled. In real terms at the same time, 996 teaching posts were unfilled, which is almost 1,000. Figures as recent as last week tell us that over 39,000 primary school students were in classes of 30 pupils or more in the past school year. A figure of 36,805 were in classes of 30 to 34 pupils and 2,237 were in classes of between 35 and 39 pupils. That is simply incredible in 2026 in Ireland and it has a direct impact on the type of attention childre…

It is a statement of fact that in recent years we have seen a reduced number of classroom teachers. Budget 2026 led to the removal of 498 classroom teachers, a net reduction of 381 when one looks at the gains. The year 2025-26 saw a reduction of 290 and 2024-25 a reduction of 237. That has a real impact. I can give the example of Lismullen National School. I hope to correspond with the Minister directly in relation to Lismullen National School, if she is agreeable. Parents have written to me. Next year, there will …

I welcome the opportunity to speak on statements on the fiscal implications of Irish unity. We hear people tell us Irish unity is a cost we cannot afford but the truth of the matter is partition is the cost we have already paid for for a century and more, and it is a price that is too high. Others have mentioned subvention and how it reduces when we strip away pensions and Westminster debt to an initial annual deficit of approximately €1.75 billion. I say “initial”. In the context of a budget of over €125 billion f…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I thank the Labour Party for bringing it forward. The cost of sending children to school has become increasingly unacceptable. Education should be the great equaliser but for too many families the start of the school year brings anxiety, stress and impossible financial decisions. No parent should have to worry about whether they can afford a school uniform, a so-called voluntary contribution or, increasingly, an expensive digital device simply to ensure their child…

What about the Tories?

The Government is punishing special needs assistants, SNAs, for exercising their democratic rights. It is tearing up a local pay agreement worth 1.5% and a new special leave arrangement simply because workers rejected a separate workforce plan. There is much uncertainty, anxiety and anger about what is happening. SNAs do not know what the future holds. This move on the part of the Government is yet another insult. Will the Government reverse this reprehensible decision on local bargaining? Will it work in good fait…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion and thank Teachta Ó Snodaigh for his work on it, on behalf of the arts in Ireland and further afield. The motion stands up for the people who created the books, music, films and art that we enjoy and sometimes do not enjoy. That is so important to our very essence. AI has many legitimate and beneficial uses, and many people, including artists, use it as a tool. The issue before us this evening is much simpler. Irish artists deserve fairness. Today, the copyrighted w…