The Minister of State confirmed that 2,242 children were denied places last year. Many thousands more are forced to deal with Bus Éireann and the Department scrambling at the eleventh hour. There were 40,500 calls and 21,600 webchats with Bus Éireann last year in respect of the system. The system needs to be improved. There was a review. The fact is, however, that the Minister of State is choosing to ignore his Department's long-awaited review. The answer to the question I asked is that there will be no changes thi…

We waited a long time for the review. To be clear, it stated that reducing the distance criteria would enable more children to be eligible for transport, increasing uptake and thus facilitating greater access to the labour market for working parents. This is mainly women. There are obvious benefits in terms of the environment, socialisation and meeting our climate action targets. The Government's target is a 30% reduction in private car escort to education journeys by 2030. To meet these targets and deliver on the …

I have heard the response repeatedly. There needs to be an acknowledgement by the Minister and within the Department that there are two things happening here. The first is a funding crisis in our schools overall. There is a massive shortfall. There is an expectation, because the Government is saying it will not bring in a cost-of-living package, that next year will be worse than this year. The second is a shift towards digital technology. It is not small money. In some cases, it is €800 over two years. There are pa…

The Minister and I share a constituency. She must be aware of what is happening and she must have been contacted. Earlier, she referenced a school that is moving to digital. I have been contacted by parents with children in that school and by parents across the State who have been part of a consultation but whose opinion is not reflected in the policy of the school. They simply cannot afford new digital devices and they are really exposed. Notwithstanding that they have been pointed towards the credit unions or oth…

The credit unions did that before.

No, we are not.

The Taoiseach's argument consistently has been that we need to wait for the European Union to act in unison as regards sanctions against Israel. It is now clear and widely reported that there is no requirement for unanimity. What measures will the Government take, along with other countries, and what other countries are they, to enforce meaningful sanctions on Israel?

The concerns regarding CETA concern the ISDS and the investor court system. Canada has significant investment in the fossil fuel industry in Ireland. I am interested in green energy and the opportunity for research, development and co-operation with Canada. Those are legitimate concerns that relate to Canada and they need to be addressed. What are the plans for co-operation with Canada in research, development and investment in green energy?

We did not say that. We only asked half the questions, is that it?

We only asked half the questions.

You could say that about a lot of places.

One of the big issues we face is acknowledged to be water infrastructure. I bring to the Taoiseach's attention water infrastructure challenges in County Meath, namely the water mains in Duleek, where there are repeated outages, including two in the past five days, and the water treatment capacity in Kells. Regarding Duleek, we met with Uisce Éireann a number of weeks ago. There is a commitment to act but things are proceeding far too slowly. We want to see those works advanced as quickly as possible. Attention may …

Today, we discuss a painful chapter in the State's history, namely, the systemic failure to protect children from sexual abuse within day and boarding schools. Sinn Féin welcomes the establishment of the commission of investigation. We also welcome the fact that the terms of reference include all survivors, regardless of whether they attended a religious or non-religious school or institution. The establishment of a commission has been called for by survivors for decades. In truth, it should not have taken this lon…

Domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a crisis shaped by the modern world, one where smartphones, online pornography and harmful attitudes towards women and girls are fuelling abuse. We cannot and must not ignore how technology has become a weapon in the hands of abusers, nor how degrading content is warping minds, including young minds. Revenge porn, coercive control via messaging apps and the harassment of women and girls online are rampant. Meanwhile, the widespread availability of extreme pornography is…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this issue. I am raising the issue of the cost many parents are faced with for digital devices like iPads, tablets and laptops when schools move to a one-to-one digital device policy. It is happening quite a lot and comes at very significant cost to families, many of which have multiple students at school. Devices can cost anything up to €800. At a time when many families were expecting to have the cost of school books taken off them the exact opposite is happening. I have …

The Minister of State's response is the response we have been getting to the question over the past few months. I want to put a number of things on the record, which I would appreciate the Minister of State conveying to the Ministers for Education and Youth and Social Protection. We have a funding crisis in education. We cannot take from ICT funding that is desperately needed to keep the lights on and deliver ICT in schools to provide a loan scheme for students. The money is not there. We have a cost-of-living cris…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this Bill and I thank Deputy Smith for bringing it forward. The usual approach from the Government is to delay these Bills by 12 months or let them go to Committee Stage to die. It is a particular point when the Government opposes a Bill. I would say it was a surprise but it is entirely consistent with my experience of how Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments deal with airport-related issues, Dublin Airport-related issues and airlines, whether Ryanair or Aer Lingus. At the roo…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the all-island strategic rail review. It is an important piece of work. Anyone who looks at the old maps of the railway lines compared to today knows there is a significant job of work to fill the gaps. There are lots of gaps, such as the west and the north-west, but I wish to focus on my area. It is important and I welcome that we have DART+ West at M3 Parkway. We need to go further with that, including up the east coast. In principle, it is fundamental that we invest and expa…

I welcome the establishment of the commission of investigation into historical sex abuse in schools and the appointment of the chair, announced today. I have questions about the methodology, particularly as it relates to sampling and other areas. However, I ask about redress and pursuit of financial accountability. The Minister says that further work is being to examine the matter of financial redress, and how any future scheme could be funded. This is important to many survivors. It is viewed as a measure of accou…

The Minister must be completely detached from the reality of the cost-of-living crisis if he thinks it is okay to heap €1,000 on students and families this September. The Barnardos cost-of-living report for 2025 found: One in five families cut back on or went without heating (18%) and electricity (17%) over the past six months. More than two in five families going without or cutting down on basic essentials such as heating, electricity, food and medical appointments. One third of parents (32%) went into arrears on …