I have previously put on record my view that Cork can be a world leader in this area because of the depth of the harbour and the potential for bigger projects, including floating offshore wind projects, to be located there. The Minister spoke earlier about resourcing of An Bord Pleanála, the CRU and EirGrid. The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority is going to be vitally important in ensuring that we get the benefits in this regard. Does he have a clear plan as to how these bodies are going to be adequately resourced…

I thank the Minister. I ask him again if there is a plan for the resourcing of those key bodies. How clear a signal can he give to those who are planning offshore floating wind projects about the timeline for and scale of the auction? Those details are not in place as yet. Those involved need a clear signal.

Can the Minister indicate approximately when this will happen?

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to make provision for the installation of solar panels on school and community buildings without the need for planning permission, and for this purpose to amend S.I. No. 600 of 2001. Putting solar panels on schools is a no-brainer. There are 4,000 schools in the State and the overwhelming majority do not have solar panels. Imagine the energy that would be saved if they had solar panels. Imagine the money that hard-pressed schools would save if they h…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

This is an area that affects the lives of countless families. I acknowledge that very often many local authority staff do the best they can to try to facilitate and support people in very challenging circumstances. With regard to rules, procedures and budgets there are obstacles to ensuring that people are properly supported. Some of them have been identified. One of the biggest issues I come across is timescales, given the bureaucracy that can sometimes go with trying to ensure an adaptation happens. This has been…

It has been a rather depressing week for special education. Yesterday's absolutely last-minute announcement of special needs assistant, SNA, allocations has continued years of disrespect to those crucial education staff. I read with interest an article in The Irish Times two days ago where a Government source described the plan of the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, in respect of proposed centres of education as dead in the water. I know that the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, has misgivings about that ma…

This area of legislation has been talked about for many years. The 2015 Act was imperfect, but even it had a long and winding history to get that far. Our history - and I include our very recent history when I say that - is, unfortunately, blighted with stories of people with disabilities, including intellectual disabilities, who have been institutionalised, locked away and hidden away from the rest of society. At times, the wishes of their families were not respected. More often than not, their own wishes were not…

Workers and families across the State, including in my community in Cork city, cannot catch a break. They are forced to make incredibly difficult choices which no family should have to make between paying a bill and putting food on the table. That issue will rise further up the agenda as time goes on. They have to choose between turning on the heating or filling the car to go to school or work. For months we have been urging the Government to tackle the cost-of-living crisis. The cost-of-living crisis did not arise…

Has the Acting Chairman, Deputy Mattie McGrath, got Deputy Daly's name down as well?

I might manage to give a minute to my colleague, Deputy Daly. I am struck by the sums of money we are talking about. We have so many debates in this House where we talk about there not being money for this and that, and €450 million has been found for this scheme. Now I like the idea of breathing life into our cities and ensuring that our city centre cores are strong and that we have affordable apartments, but this is not the way to do it. There is not even a condition on affordability. When we are handing €450 mil…

In September, an "RTÉ Investigates" programme concerning the disposal of perinatal organs at Cork University Maternity Hospital drew outrage and caused untold hurt to the families involved. These are all families who lost babies in tragic circumstances and who opted for post-mortem examinations to help them get answers to why those babies died. They signed consent forms stating that organs had to be disposed of in a sensitive manner by burial or cremation and that they would be contacted before that happened. That …

Faoin tseachtain seo, tá nach mór 6,000 leanbh ón Úcráin tar éis dul isteach inár mbunscoileanna agus meánscoileanna. Tá pobalscoileanna ar fud an Stáit tar éis rudaí dochreidte a dhéanamh chun cabhrú leis na leanaí seo, ag cur fáilte rompu agus ag tabhairt leabhar agus cultacha scoile dóibh. While they have made incredible efforts, taking in additional students has put pressure on schools' whose resources are stretched. Many schools' budgets are already overstretched as they try to make this year's funding cover t…

Roimh fhoilsiú na tuairisce seo ar an gcóras Stáit Thuaidh agus Theas, tá go leor ceachtanna ar féidir linn a fhoghlaim ón gcóras atá acu sa Tuaisceart. We are in a cost-of-living crisis. This summer, and each summer, one of the biggest bills families are faced with is the cost of schoolbooks on return to school. Families are spending hundreds of euro on schoolbooks each year. It is a programme for Government commitment to expand the free schoolbooks scheme. We are now two years into the Government's term and, asid…

In the last few weeks, I have been contacted by scores of parents who cannot find a childcare place in Cork, and it is one of the biggest issues coming into my constituency office and across the State. When I contacted Tusla to try to get a scope of the issue, it was no wonder parents were finding it difficult. The agency told me 73 childcare services had closed in the past five years in Cork city and county and that there are 384 fewer childcare places in the city than five years ago. When families do find a place…

In the short time available, I will say we support this legislation. It is very important. Gardaí play a crucial role in our society. That has been underlined even more by the support it offered to our communities during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the role it plays in tackling crime has always been apparent and is always something that is crucial. It carries with it enormous dangers and enormous risks. Countless gardaí are injured, often quite seriously, in the course of their duties. This happens while they are at…

Parents will be very much starting to worry about how they will pay for the next school year. It is always an enormous expense of several hundred euro and often more than €1,000 for families who have multiple children in school, for books, uniforms and voluntary contributions. We are in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis that families are grappling with, so what will the Minister do to make the return to school as affordable as possible for families?

People across the State are doing all they can to keep up with sky-high bills and runaway price increases. The cost-of-living crisis is not new and it has been going on in education for some time. The idea that we have a free education system at primary and post-primary levels is a myth. The Department of Education is one of the only Departments that has not put forward any serious proposals in recent months to tackle increasing costs within its portfolio. I am not blown away by the Minister's answer. She instanced…

The Minister said I must take a more holistic view. I very much welcome the expansion in DEIS. While I would have appreciated more engagement at the time, I very much welcomed it. It is very beneficial, but it is focused on tackling disadvantage and ensuring that every student has the same opportunity to progress. It is not focused on reducing costs, which affect every family across the State. The costs are enormous. I want to come back to the point about schoolbooks. It must be the loneliest sentence in the entire…

The summer provision programme is vitally important. Eight weeks and more is an incredibly long time for children who are autistic or have profound intellectual disabilities or other special needs not to have any contact with education. That is why the programme is so crucial. Very often, parents find that the programme does not last long enough or that they are unable to find a tutor or school-based programme. What can be done ensure the take-up of this programme by schools is increased and how can that be incenti…