Will the Minister give an update on three secondary schools in west Wicklow: Blessington Community College; Scoil Chonglais, Baltinglass, and St. Kevin's Communtity College, Dunlavin? These are all awaiting building projects to commence. With a growing population in west Wicklow and further development planned in the area, these projects require urgent attention. These are the only secondary schools in west Wicklow and they are crying out for extra spaces. The projects are not moving along. The commencement date fo…

I was less than 30 seconds.

I thank the Minister of State for being here this evening. I want to discuss the individual county council building targets from 2025 to 2030 and the actuals from 2020 to 2024. The national planning framework needs to be finalised. I have been raising this since I came here and, prior to that, in my time as a county councillor. Coincidentally, a first revision was published today. I hope it can be put through the Houses of the Oireachtas quickly. The delay so far is preventing much-needed house building because the…

That answer is high level. What I am getting at here is that more micromanaging is required. In particular, each county has a target but I would suggest this should be monitored on a monthly basis, with an explanation sought if it is not reached. This should be done cumulatively as well. It should even go so far as having quarterly meetings with CEOs and the heads of planning and the Minister and Minister of State with responsibility for housing. It needs to be done at that level, otherwise it will not happen. On a…

Next Monday will see the launch of a new men's mental health programme in Baltinglass, County Wicklow. This is the Headsup programme. Headsup is an evidence-based mental health education and training programme for men who are finding life stressful, have issues with unemployment, feel isolated or lonely and who wish to learn ways to improve their well-being. Headsup gives men the opportunity to build their mental health and physical fitness, while developing their ability to make connections, set goals and develop …

We should all know the huge benefit international trade has been for Ireland. On a financial basis alone, of the €97 billion we take in in taxes, more than €50 billion is attributable to our multinationals by way of corporation tax, VAT and PAYE. This supports all the services that the State supplies, including health, social welfare and education. I often wonder whether this fact is lost on many people. I wish to raise three issues relating to international trade. I will first discuss lessons from history on tarif…

I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his new role. I congratulate the two Ministers and wish them the best of luck in what is clearly a very challenging role. After spending over 20 years on Wicklow County Council and having dealt with four county development plans, I would like to make a number of points on the Housing Commission report. Many aspects are good but some show a disconnect with realities on the ground. In this regard, I will deal with rural planning first. Page 186 of the report states, “Streng…

I raise a specific issue here today on the oversight of the various boards that are responsible for managing the spending of public money. We all know about the waste of public money that is making the headlines. Many are expressing outrage, but we are not hearing many solutions. We need to come up with changes and I offer one here today. I have reviewed many State boards and I am struck by the lack of people on these boards who have accountancy, cost control or audit qualifications and experience. Is it any wonder…

It breeds inefficiencies.

I want to raise a specific issue with regard to the war in Ukraine, that is, the issue of Ukrainian children being held prisoner in Russia. A report by researchers at Yale University gives a detailed account of Russia's child deportation campaign. There is a network of 43 Russian facilities to which Ukrainian children have been moved since February 2022. Many of the camps are in Crimea and southern Russia, close to Ukraine. The researchers say that at least 6,000 children have been transferred to the camps, but the…

My contribution will be short. I thank the Minister and I wish her all the very best in her new role. I have no doubt she will perform very well. I raise the specific issue of pharmacies and the receipts they give to customers. This is an issue I raised many years ago and brought a successful motion to Wicklow County Council on the matter. I request that all pharmacy receipts give a detailed breakdown of the medicines and any other costs. This should be the norm, as it is in any other retail purchase. It is in the …

I am sure I will probably echo some of the sentiments expressed by Deputy Lahart. At the end of his contribution, he referred to something with which I will start, namely that the programme for Government is laudable and I commend it. However, it is based on the premise that we continue as a prosperous country and continue to collect taxes, primarily from foreign multinationals. For example, out of the approximately 2.6 million people working in this country, about 350,000 work for multinationals. More than 50% of …

I have a totally new proposal here today. It is to develop an American Presidents' trail, linking all the ancestral homes of US Presidents. There have been a huge number of US Presidents whose ancestors came from this island, North and South. It would also be a way of linking Northern Ireland with southern Ireland in a cohesive way through tourism. As I say, many US Presidents have their ancestral homes here. This is an opportunity and it could be something along the lines of the Wild Atlantic Way that would develo…

It is a great honour to be elected to represent the wonderful people of County Wicklow. I am very grateful to them for the trust they have put in me. I wish to raise the lack of funding for national roads in recent years. This has impacted the people of Wicklow, which is a commuter county. The N81 is one of the most dangerous roads in the country, as has been proven in several studies. The N81 is the only national road coming out of Dublin that has not been upgraded. It is a death trap. A preferred route was picked…

During my first words in the Dáil earlier this afternoon, I was restricted to one minute. Now, I have five minutes and I do not think I even need five minutes.

First, I pay tribute to the people of County Wicklow who elected me here. I thank them for placing their trust in me. Second, I would like to say that I want to work with the other three Wicklow TDs - Deputy Whitmore has just stepped out of the Chamber - for the betterment of County Wicklow. Third, and probably more importantly, I want to work with every Deputy in this House for the betterment of this country. I am happy to work with everyone to improve the quality of life for the citizens of this country. I will b…