I certainly will not be critical of this as it is something that I advocated for as education spokesperson until recently. It is beneficial and great to see it being rolled out in schools, even though we started from a long way back compared with other European countries. It is good to see we are catching up. I have more of a statement than a question. As we roll this out, it is important to ensure on an ongoing basis over the course of many years that we keep an eye on quality. In some countries that have long-est…

Breaking news.

At the heart of this matter are 73 families who are extremely worried at this point in time. They do not know what the future holds for their loved ones. They do not know how they can possibly afford to pay for their care at Beaumont Residential Care without the fair deal scheme and they do not know where else they can find a place in a nursing home. As the Minister of State is aware, as it stands, Beaumont Residential Care is due to come out of the fair deal scheme in less than ten days, on 31 May, in about a week…

Or the NTPF.

I will raise a few issues. I appreciate that people have been in contact with the Minister, and I hope she has responded and given them whatever reassurance she can. Nobody is looking for a new mechanism. I am not seeking to negotiate this with the Minister of State in the Chamber; I know that is not realistic or the way things work. As I understand it, the way this works is that the NTPF negotiates directly with nursing homes and that the arrangements are not necessarily the same with each individual nursing home …

I am not asking the Minister of State to advocate but to ask the NTPF to come back to the table.

Ba mhaith liom tréaslú leo siúd a ghlac páirt sa tuarascáil seo. The men and women who took part in this survey, difficult and all as it may have been, did us all a huge service because we have for some time been trying to grapple with the scale and frequency of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. This data is crucial as an underpinning for any policies and the allocation of resources to the area. Notwithstanding that and the fact many would have suspected there was under-reporting, "surprising" is perhaps …

Táimid ag tacú leis an reachtaíocht seo, cé go bhfuil sí gairid. Is reachtaíocht thábhachtach í agus tabharfaimid gach cabhair don Bhille seo dul trí na Tithe, chun cúnamh a thabhairt do theaghlaigh agus leanaí ar fud an Stáit. This Bill is needed to facilitate, and give legislative effect to, the €100 cost-of-living payment that will be paid with the monthly child benefit payment in June. We will support and facilitate this legislation's passage. Naturally, the Government's decision in late February that a lump su…

I am conscious of not trying to be a nuisance but I imagine it was anticipated that both the previous debate and this debate would have continued for longer. I would say that is it. Is there any scope in the Standing Order?

I will focus on two areas. First is the skills shortages around renewable energy, wind energy in particular, but also apprenticeships more generally. In late 2021, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment published Skills for Zero Carbon, which was produced by its expert group on future skills. It looked to assess in exact detail how many people, doing what kind of jobs would be needed to deliver our renewable energy, retrofitting and electrical vehicles by 2030. It estimates that by the end of 2030 we wi…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges that: — unsustainably high grocery and food bills continue to put workers and families under significant financial pressure; and — this pressure has been exacerbated by the failure of the Minister for Finance, Michael McGrath TD, and the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Pascal Donohoe TD, to provide certainty to workers and families in respect of energy bills and mortgage relief from rising interest rates; notes that: — grocery p…

Ballincollig is a place that has grown from not much more than a village 40 or 50 years ago to one of the biggest towns in Ireland. There are well over 20,000 people there and when the census results come out, there could be 25,000 people. The fire service has been there for much of that time but the growth in the area has significantly overtaken the station. It is important to understand this, and not only in the context of Ballincollig. It is very important for Ballincollig and its outlying area. It is a crucial …

Two points arise here. The first concerns the WRC. The firefighters are telling us that they have been to the WRC on two occasions about issues relating to this so there is no lack of engagement on their part but, unfortunately, it has not borne fruit. The Minister of State is not wrong. It is to a large extent a local government function. I appreciate that but we came here with a particular ask. We are not asking the Minister of State to second-guess the functions of Cork City Council. Obviously, a portion of this…

In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis where ordinary workers and families are struggling to get by, mortgage holders are seeing a large increase in their interest costs as a result of interest rate hikes by the ECB. The hike we saw last week was the fifth since July, meaning borrowers will be paying thousands of euro more in interest this year. Others are likely to see their interest rates increase in the current period. Tá daoine faoi bhrú dochreidte agus tá siad anois ag féachaint ar chostais ag éirí níos mó. W…

In the late summer of last year, a lot of time was dedicated to ensuring there were adequate places in special schools and special classes. At the time, we all agreed it was important that this year we would be as far ahead of that as possible. That said, I have already heard from four or five families in my constituency, and I was just speaking to Deputy Clarke about Athlone and various parts of the country where children do not have a place for September. What is the plan for them? Has the number of children who …

There was a bit of that. It was fairly broad brush strokes. I have acknowledged and welcomed some of it in the past. The question is specifically about the number of places. As things stand, the NCSE should know how many places are available in special schools and special classes. It should also know how many children require those places. Anecdotally, on the ground, it seems that this year again there are more children than there are places. Could the Minister of State confirm that? Is she taking steps to address …

The Minister of State offered to provide numbers. Given that such information was sought in the question, I would welcome some numbers in her final response. I am aware of one particular child who is in a special junior school, who has applied to five or six different schools. The child does not have a place for September. I know other families whose children are in unsuitable places, who have home tuition and other such arrangements. I am aware that this is an issue in other areas. Given that Deputy Pádraig O'Sull…

Sinn Féin has been talking about free school books for primary school for many years. It has been in place in the North for approximately 70 years. I certainly welcomed the announcement in the budget that it was to be considered for this September. Schools are beginning to wonder how they get themselves organised. I received a written answer from the Minister recently that put a small bit more meat on the bone of what she had outlined previously. However, schools are still very unsure how this will happen, not to m…

I ask the Minister to repeat the last part of her answer and outline exactly what is happening after the Easter break. That is relatively late in the school year for some primary schools. I agree with a lot of what she said. She certainly will not find me saying that this is a bad idea. We have been talking about it for long enough and it is a good idea. It will reduce the burden on parents and level the playing field to a certain extent. A lot more needs to be done to reduce the costs for parents in respect of vol…

I agree that there must be consultation, and I was saying that before Christmas, but there is a balance to be struck in that regard. Hopefully, we can get a payment schedule for schools as soon as possible so that they can go out and buy the books. Has the Department looked at the question of e-books? They could play a role in the context of parents' concerns about the weight of schoolbags. Is that part of the discussion here and where is that likely to fall?