I want to return to the issue of Garda numbers, as I often do, in regard to County Meath. County Meath is the county with the lowest number of gardaí per head of population, something which has been the case for a long time. By way of comparison, in 2009 there were 315 gardaí in County Meath, with a population at that time of 172,000 people. At the end of 2024, there were 316 gardaí, one more garda for a population of 225,000 people. We can see that there was a massive population increase, in excess of 50,000, but …

Mo bhuíochas leis an Teachta Ó Snodaigh as an rún seo a chur faoi bhráid na Dála. Tá mé ag labhairt mar urlabhraí oideachais mo pháirtí, ach níos tábhachtaí arís, tá mé ag labhairt mar thuismitheoir páistí ar mhaith liom go mbeadh oideachas trí mheán na Gaeilge acu. Teastaíonn an deis sin uaim do mo phaistí féin ach freisin do gach páiste. I nDomhnach Seachnaill, áit a bhfuil cónaí orainn, tá an deis sin againn le Naíonra na Ríthe and Gaelscoil na Ríthe, fiú go raibh ar fhoireann, tuismitheoirí agus páistí an naíon…

As this is the first ministerial questions session, I wish the Minister and Minister of State the best of luck in their roles. This is a very important time and I hope we can make progress. Is the Minister aware of the concerns raised by school leaders with regard to the accelerated roll-out of senior cycle reform, if she accepts that the accelerated timeline does not allow enough time for essential preparations and if she will make a statement on the matter?

I welcome the fact that the Minister has met stakeholders. It is important that she meets all of the stakeholders in the sector at the earliest opportunity. If she has met them, she must surely have heard their concerns. I have not heard that reflected in her response thus far but they will have detailed them to her. They relate to a range of areas, principally capacity and preparedness, whether in terms of the development of curriculums, the readiness of schools in terms of IT, laboratories and the capacity to tak…

We have spent more time identifying those issues than on spelling out exactly what the timeline will be between now and September for teachers, in the main, and, related to that, for school communities, parents and, most important, students embarking on this new programme from September, if that is the timeline. That detail has to be spelled out to school communities and school leaders at the earliest possible opportunity. If that timeline is not there or there is no schedule to roll it out for this September, the …

I ask the Minister about school places in south County Meath. We will need additional places in Dunshaughlin for this September. What additional demand for special class and special school places for September 2025 is now anticipated at primary and secondary school level? What measures is the Minister taking to ensure the necessary school buildings, staff and resources are in place to meet that demand, if emergency measures are expected, and if she will make a statement on the matter?

That is the point, and I have not heard from the Minister of State that they will be. The question was about what additional demand for special class and special school places for September 2025 is now anticipated on the back of that new process. The Minister of State did not answer that question. In fact, he spelled out what we knew already, which is what the Department is planning. How does what the Department is planning match with, or not match with, what the actual demand is? We have repeatedly heard from all …

There is a protest at the Department of Education scheduled for tomorrow. It is a 24-hour sleep-out by parents who are demanding appropriate places for their children. They should not have to do that. It is disgraceful and shameful that they have to. I send them solidarity and tell them that I will certainly do everything I can to keep this on the agenda and to push for an appropriate place for every child. That includes a place for this September. The question is then on appropriate places. There are not 126 but 1…

Will the Minister outline her assessment of the teacher recruitment and retention emergency at primary and secondary levels and the measures she intends to take to address it?

Will the Minister give us a timeline for those proposals and outline the nature of them? I appreciate that some may require funding. The picture is one of a crisis and emergency. At primary level, there has a shortage of more than 2,500 teachers for the 2024-25 academic year. There are many unfilled posts, and a large number of schools have had to use unqualified staff to cover absences. At secondary level, it was reported in a recent survey that 64% of schools have unfilled vacancies due to recruitment and retenti…

The recognition of experience abroad is important. I encourage the Minister to engage with her colleague the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Browne, on the housing crisis, which is a major issue for teachers and a major driver when it comes to people leaving the country and not taking up teaching here. In responding to the situation relating to recruitment, we must continue to increase the number of training places and look at alternative pathways into the sector. However, we must also l…

What is the current number of full-time equivalent educational welfare officer positions across Ireland, by county? How many of these are currently vacant? What is the timeline for filling the vacancies? Will the Minister make a statement on the matter?

I thank the Minister. She mentioned the rate of chronic absence from schools has more than doubled after Covid. More than a quarter of primary schoolchildren and more than a fifth of secondary school students missed at least a month of school days during the 2022–23 school year. As the Minister said, the figure is even higher in disadvantaged areas, with 42% of children attending DEIS primary schools having missed 20 days or more during the 2022-23 school year. I welcome the increase in the number of officers and a…

I thank the Minister. I believe she will be providing me with the figures. I realise providing figures in tabular form does not always work well when taking oral questions. I am also hearing from school leaders that there has been a shift in protocol in terms of the expectations and demands of schools before Tusla educational welfare officers are engaged. From some of my engagement with school leaders, I have learned this puts an additional burden on schools that they do not have the capacity for. It is not an impr…

How does the Minister intend to deliver on the programme for Government commitment to expand opportunities for students to attend Gaelscoileanna and Gaelcholáistí? Is it her commitment, as it was her predecessor's, to work towards increasing the number of young people currently in Irish-medium schools, as was committed to in the previous programme for Government but is not committed to in the current programme? Will she make a statement on the matter?

What is needed is action. I appreciate the action plan and the survey have roles in that regard. I emphasised in my question a number of pieces that were included in the previous programme for Government but are not included in the current one, including increasing the emphasis on spoken Irish in the classroom, working towards the doubling of the number of young people currently in Irish-medium schools, providing a comprehensive policy for the Irish language from pre-primary level to teacher education for all schoo…

I thank the Minister. It is all about action on this issue. In the area the Minister and I represent, there is appetite for this. In south Meath are Gaelscoil na Rithe, Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg, Gaelscoil na Mí and Gaelscoil na Cille. There is a thriving Irish-language community at primary level and yet while we repeatedly built secondary schools in that area, none of them have been Gaelcholáistí. There is a real job of work to ensure that avenue is there for students. Referring again to the area the Minister and I…

The failures in disability services in providing supports and services and dignity for people with disabilities is Ireland's great shame. It is a shameful disgrace, and it is a disgrace that lies on the shoulders of successive Governments. I listened to a very powerful testimony from a couple from Dublin on the "Oliver Callan" show on Friday. They talked about how they were advised to get out of Ireland. I have personal family experience where that is exactly what they did - they went to Belgium. My nephew's mum is…

I ask the Minister for an update on the national hydrogen strategy and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Concern has been expressed, including by Hydrogen Ireland, that there is an urgent need for progress on the strategy. The strategy was welcomed and we published legislation in the previous Dáil term for it to be prepared. We welcomed it when it was prepared. It is then a matter of making it happen. There is concern that there has not been enough progress to date. While I welcome the pieces that have been progressed so far, they are largely desktop elements. I am concerned that the potential of this opportunity will…