I am very pleased to hear that because I feel there that is a risk they may actually morph into academia again, which would be a shame. Also, the Minister of State told me there are 65 programmes here and there are 342 in Germany. I acknowledge they are different systems and so forth but we probably have a long way to go and there is much potential. I ask the Minister of State to comment on something I have been talking about for quite a bit, which is the local training initiatives as a pathway to apprenticeships. …

We are all aware of the pressure on gas supplies in Europe. As winter approaches, this will probably get worse. The oil and gas strike in Norway is thankfully over, but it shows how precarious our one connection to Scotland is. We have no contingency for gas supplies or for gas storage. We depend on it to cook our food, heat our homes, power our industry and generate electricity. Many reports over the last week from experts have shown concerns about this. Does the Minister agree that it is premature to decommission…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this item and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, for being here to respond. I think this issue is fairly simple to rectify. It should not cost any money. I have been approached on behalf of students working on ships who are required to go to sea in a training capacity. Many of these companies operate in Europe and are not registered here, but they require police certificate clearance. Police certificates state whether somebody has a criminal record. They are issued by the Garda …

I thank the Minister for her response. I know the Garda Commissioner, having engaged with him in a previous role, and he is very reasonable. I am sure that when the Minister and Garda Commissioner have a conversation, they will be able to find a way of resolving this issue. Other cruise liners and shipping companies across Europe also have these demands and they work with other jurisdictions, I am told, with no issues. They can get these police certificates from every jurisdiction except Ireland. It is a matter of …

I compliment the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy James Browne, on the work they are doing in this area. As my colleague, Deputy Michael Moynihan, has just said, it is of great importance. How is the youth joint agency response to crime, which is related to this question in many ways, going? Are there plans to expand it?

I agree with my colleague that we need gardaí on the beat, out on the street and visible. A lot of them are tied up with paperwork and filing reports and so forth. What is the situation with respect to the other branch of the Garda that has not been mentioned, namely, the Garda Reserve? I understand there are moves afoot to recruit members to it. What are the plans there and when will there be progress in that area?

I thank the Minister for her words earlier. I want to commend her on the work she has done with respect to the increased number of refuge places. I ask her again to redouble the work on the availability of violent pornography. I agree with the Minister that it has a pernicious effect. I have been reading some reports on it recently and it is very scary and frightening. I ask that the Minister redouble her work on that issue and on making the crime of coercive control more widely known about. Many people do not know…

I am taking this question on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, who sends her apologies for not being present. The Deputy is interested in the ongoing training that will be provided to current teachers to deliver appropriate education supports to autistic children entering their school or class. This has to do with the integration in mainstream classes of children with these kinds of additional needs.

I thank the Minister of State for her response and for the information she has imparted. Deputy Carroll MacNeill maintains that access to psychological training is necessary to help understand and better manage behaviours, especially overstimulation behaviours that might reflect the child's anxiety, and she is interested in what kind of training is made available to teachers in this area. The Deputy asks if teachers will be given better training on special education, which the Minister of State has probably address…

I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive response. Is it mandatory for teachers who work with children with additional needs such as autism to have a specific level of training and qualification before they work with these children? If so, what is the extent of those qualifications and that training, certification and oversight?

This is an issue I have been going on about for quite some time, and I know my colleague Deputy Buckley is also interested in this. That issue is the need to establish a special school in east Cork. We have children travelling long distances out of the area into Cork city, Dungarvan and so on and going on 100 km round trips every day. What plans are there to establish a special school in this large and highly populated area?

I thank the Minister of Stated for her interesting response and for her engagement with me on this. I want to encourage her to keep battling to try to get this done. Is she aware there was agreement a number of years ago to establish a special school and a premises was identified? Then, for other reasons outside of everyone's control, that premises was no longer available and the plan was dropped. There was an acknowledgement at that stage by the Department and the NCSE that there was a need for a special school in…

I thank the Minister of State and encourage and support the work she is doing to set up a special school in the area. I agree on integration but am aware that some special schools in Cork city, where these children have to go, have waiting lists, so we have children with no place. I appeal to the Minister of State to talk to the NCSE to get this work done quickly. I know what happens in Departments. They set up a study and another study, it goes on forever and nothing happens. We want a deadline on this. There is a…

As my colleague, Deputy Buckley, said just now, east Cork is experiencing rapid growth and the county development plan recently published indicates phenomenal growth in the area. I acknowledge the Minister visited east Cork recently. It was a welcome and successful visit. She met with the principals, visited two schools and they are still talking about it. There is a need for forward planning beginning now. Notwithstanding the excellent work done to date with extensions, new schools and so on, we need to do more. I…

I thank the Minister for her response. I know she is aware of the unrelenting pressure on principals all this year and in previous years with respect to waiting lists. At the start of this year, some schools had 300 children on the waiting list. I know there has been duplication of enrolment with many parents applying to more than one school because they were concerned about not getting a place. I understand there are children who still have not got a place. Taking into account the huge projected growth in housing …

I thank the Minister and acknowledge the massive amount of work that is being done. Many of these schools are already bursting at the seams and are almost oversubscribed with students, so we are running fast to stand still. The work is very welcome and I am not decrying it in any way but we need to be proactive in our forward planning. I again ask the Minister whether she will ask her officials to examine the possibility of using this now empty premises, which is of very high quality and well appointed, as a place …

My colleague Deputy Carroll MacNeill sends her apologies. She asked me to raise this issue about a decision to re-evaluate a school and its grounds.

The Minister has answered all my questions in that comprehensive and positive response. I thank her for that.

After a very long process, the Cork County Council development plan 2022-2028 was recently adopted by the elected members. The Office of the Planning Regulator has now stepped in and recommended changes to housing density in the Carrigtwohill area. It wants very high density in a rural area. The Minister has issued draft directions to the county council and there is a process going through at the moment. Is the Minister bound at the end of the day or has he the flexibility to adhere to the recommendations made by t…

If a school leaver or third level graduate wants to join the Defence Forces, he or she is faced with taking psychometric tests, which 60% of applicants fail. Are we missing something here? These tests include an assessment of verbal, analytical and abstract reasoning. A failure rate of 60% is extraordinarily high for people who want to join the Defence Forces. Will the Minister comment on that and indicate whether there is any intention to review the process? Given the failure rate, the tests seem to present a very…