You are the Minister. The Business Committee did not ask for this. You are the line Minister and you had a meeting with the DAA today.

The Minister interacted.

As a small party, we need to prepare. In my hand is a list of the issues I was going to raise about the airport and this is the extra stuff I wanted to bring up. I spoke to my PA yesterday to discuss what we were going to speak about today. Everyone needs time to plan what they are going to say. It is understandable that we would have thought that the one thing we would have discussed with the Minister for Transport today was the airport. It is okay. I will move on.

It is incredible. I will speak a bit about Dublin Airport and it is fair that I do, but I will try to mix it in with the title that has been dropped on us at late notice. We are talking about sustainable transport. We are talking about the airport. This crisis has been multifactorial and has been years in the making. It will require a turning point as to where the airport is going and this should be it. It needs to become a good employer again. It needs to become an employer that will hire staff on good wages and g…

I apologise for being late and thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for facilitating me. This question relates to the Medical Laboratory Scientists Association, MLSA, industrial action. While I welcome the return to talks, I am interested to know what the Minister is going to do now in terms of engaging with the workers and their representatives. As the Minister knows, this is not over and we do not want it just to disappear back into the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, and for the Minister to hope that it just goe…

When I submitted this question the industrial action was still live and I am happy that it has been suspended and the parties are back at the WRC. However, we need to use this time wisely. A consistency with this Government when it comes to industrial relations issues, not just in the Department of Health but across all Departments, is a hands-off approach and no sense that the Government wants to get things resolved. This dispute is not just about pay; it is also about retention. We have a massive shortage of medi…

We absolutely do because it is very easy to say that people are leaving various jobs because of the housing crisis or low pay. While they are definitely factors for medical scientists, there are also really important career progression issues and other technical issues which are distinct to this industrial relations dispute. We cannot lose sight of that, which is why we need a keen eye to remain on this. The workers are not out on the picket line and the journalists and politicians are not out with them, getting th…

Yesterday during Leaders' Questions, I raised specific questions about the provision of special school places for children. I asked how many children are waiting on a place and whether every child will be guaranteed one. In Dublin alone, 80 children are waiting for a special class, with many more in the rest of the country. I got no acceptable answer yesterday from the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, even with the Minister of State with responsibility for special education in the Chamber, speaking into his ear du…

What the Minister of State said last week was not there was a willingness to use section 37A but that this was a new policy direction and that it was going to be the direction of Government policy, not that there was a willingness to use it as a last resort, as now seems to be the case. I welcome the news for those Dublin 15 families and children who have places, and it is great to have a Tánaiste in a constituency who can bring out the Minister of State to resolve the issue, but would that happen in Dublin 1, Dubl…

A very concerning report on the risks from radon was published today by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. Radon is the greatest health risk in Ireland in terms of exposure to radiation. Fifty-six per cent of the total radiation to which we are exposed comes from radon, which is linked to 350 new lung cancer cases a year, most of which could be prevented. While building regulations for new homes require the installation of radon membranes, are there any plans to make it obligatory to test for radon when a ho…

I thank People Before Profit-Solidarity for bringing forward this debate. It was submitted last week. It could have been resolved last Thursday or Friday and this matter might have been recent history but the proposers knew that would not be the case, as we all did. Even if it had been resolved, the proposers know that brining it forward also relates to wider issues in how the State engages with workers. I acknowledge that and I welcome the workers to the Visitors Gallery today. As others have noted, the dispute is…

Before I begin, I extend the Labour Party's deep sadness and shock at the horrific murder of 19 children and two adults yesterday in Uvalde, Texas. It is clear gun violence in the US is out of control, and there is ever-diminishing hope it will lead to much-needed change. Last week, a family once again had to resort to telling their story to RTÉ to vindicate the constitutional right of their children to an education. When our leader, Deputy Bacik, raised it with the Taoiseach last Wednesday, he apologised to the fa…

We still do not know how many children are waiting on special school places. We need figures that are as accurate as possible on an ongoing basis. We do not know how the Department will adequately enforce section 37A notices to ensure that every child who needs a place is granted one. An AsIAm report showed that one quarter of parents of children with autism feel that they do not have an appropriate school place. While we wait for a review, I also wish to ask the Minister whether the Special Educational Needs Act 2…

The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and I represent the Dublin Fingal constituency, which is the only local authority area in the country that does not have a municipal swimming pool. When I was a councillor, I worked to have an objective included in the county development plan calling for the delivery of public swimming pools, ideally including one in Balbriggan and another in Swords. Unfortunately, Swords has the unenviable title of being the largest town in Ireland without a primary care centre, a rail link or…

I will bring up the issue of the medical scientists' industrial action and direct it to the Minister for Health, as he is here. The remarkable decision not to return to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, after last week's day of action needs to be answered properly. The Taoiseach said that there have been "informal" talks but in his next sentence, he said that things have to be done "transparently". Where is the transparency in that? I have to ask the Minister of Health the question that was asked of me this …

In response to Deputy Ó Murchú, that will not happen. There has been no listening to the Opposition on this or any other issue. I thank Deputy Cian O'Callaghan for yet another very good motion on housing. It is incredible what the Government is doing here. Last year, we interrogated and tried to highlight as best we possibly could the problems with the shared equity scheme and how it would inflate prices. We cited the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, and international practice of how this was a poor sc…

At some indeterminate point last week it became clear that the Government was spinning its wheels on what was supposed to be an open and inclusive consultation on the various documents. For me it was clear during a meeting of the Committee on Health last week that the Government was just stalling for time and playing us out. It was like the end of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" with the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, coming to briefings, to the Committee on Health and to the Dáil and just talking the clock and …

I wish to raise another important issue related to women's health, namely CervicalCheck and the Scally report recommendation that a national cervical screening laboratory would be fully up and running by September of this year. The Tánaiste will understand the utter outrage and disgust of the women of Ireland and activists on CervicalCheck when the Minister could not give any update on when this national laboratory will be set up and operational. Furthermore, not one sample is currently being tested in Ireland at t…

The Labour Party leader, Deputy Bacik, made clear again on Leaders’ Questions today our position on this, particularly in regard to CPO, which is an area I would like to focus on at the start of my contribution. Since this project was announced in 2013, we have had four separate Ministers for Health and three separate Attorneys General. What I would like to know is how many of those Ministers sought advice from how many of those Attorneys General, given there is overlap between the various roles, with regard to sub…

Does Deputy Donnelly feel he was the first Minister to ask for the advice of the Attorney General on this in all the nine years?