I congratulate the Deputy Leader on his new post. I wish him all the best and thank him sincerely for all the assistance and support he gave to people like me and Senators Dolan and Seery Kearney when we started as Senators. I have not forgotten it. I refer to the article in The Irish Times today that states there could be a €2,000 incentive for new teachers to take up full-time teaching roles and this is part of the Government's agenda to address vacant posts in schools. This is a major issue in Dublin West. It is…

I congratulate the Minister of State on bringing this colossal Bill to the House today. I thank all of the spokespeople for housing and planning for their work on getting it this far, particularly my colleagues, Senators Cummins and Seery Kearney. I will leave the topline issues to them. I am here to speak on more tactical elements of the legislation. It is very important that An Bord Pleanála works to timelines. In Dublin West, we currently have two major transport infrastructure projects before An Bord Pleanála, …

I thank Irish Business Against Litter for telling us what we already know, namely, that Dublin city has become more littered and dirty. The capital was the fourth most littered area surveyed and is less clean than it was last year. It is the fourth survey in a row in which Dublin city has grown worse. To be honest, there are days when I cannot believe my eyes when I pass streets and alleyways. Even on main thoroughfares very close to this House, there is a pervading smell of wee or weed. Dublin West stretches acros…

I welcome the Minister of State. I will talk about knife crime, which is a concerning issue for people in Dublin West. Last year, we lost somebody in the middle of the day in Ongar village, who was killed in a knife attack. Almost one year later, in almost the same spot, there was another knife incident. I understand that knife seizures have started to increase, but there is a bigger story here than the bare facts we have at the moment. The feeling is that the possession of knives is more prevalent and, in some way…

I am going to get right to the heart of matters this morning and talk about core funding and staffing issues for childcare providers. This is based on engaging with a range of childcare providers of various types in Dublin West. All of them speak to overburdensome paperwork and financial reporting; accounting requirements that go far beyond their capacity and capability when everything is already transparent and submitted to Revenue; and administration that is getting in the way of relationships with parents and th…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. As I said, however, core funding is working for some but not for all. It is like a tale of two experiences and I fear we are not listening to the people who are having difficulty. My experience is that this issue is not affecting new services. There is not enough supply in the sector and we need to protect the services that are operating now and keep them in the sector. I completely accept that core funding works, but I think we are at a pinch point. In the next few w…

Today I want to speak about the updated procedures that were announced last week by the Minister, Deputy Foley, on the use of school buildings, including sports facilities, outside of school hours. It has come up in this House quite a lot and I have raised it myself frequently. If we have public sports facilities in schools, they should be accessible by the community outside school hours. This is also the case for childcare, after-school care and school-aged care. I appreciate that the policy has been updated. It h…

I raise the shortage of class places for children with additional needs. I am working with multiple families in the west of Dublin. We need urgent reform of the schools admissions process. The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, has committed to ensuring that any child who is known to the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, and who needs a school place will get one. She has said that more than 360 new special classes will be in place for the coming school year. In welcome news, there will be 39 therapis…

I wish the best of luck to the Leader. I congratulate everyone who was elected over the weekend, particularly in the Dublin West constituency, where we had Councillor Ted Leddy, Councillor Siobhán Shovlin, Councillor Kieran Dennison, Councillor Colm O’Rourke and the new councillor, Ms Gayle Ralph. However, Mr. Steve O’Reilly, who only had three months to campaign, just missed out for us in Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart. I hope that he will be staying on the scene and be back in a few years’ time. On a different note, I…

It is a huge honour to be here today with the students of St. Andrew’s National School. I thank their teacher, Mr. O’Dwyer, and all of their teachers for facilitating their visit today. What I want to raise today is the frustration that is sometimes felt by communities, community organisations, schools and school communities with the bureaucracy of the Department of Education. This is keenly felt when there is a block or a lack of progress in accessing essential services or advancing school projects, including in t…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. I welcome the Minister of State and thank the Taoiseach for the announcement last night that emergency medicine doctors are to crew the helicopter response service alongside paramedics for four months in a new trial. That is a huge step forward for the thousands of people who desperately need major pre-hospital trauma care. Ireland is an outlier in pre-hospital care. This has been highlighted through several years by a consultant expert group of Irish helicopter emergency me…

I refer to the situation in Ireland compared with the rest of Europe and the world, as well as the disparity on the island itself and in rural versus urban areas. This is an opportunity we need to grasp with both hands.

When I initially submitted this question, we did not have this extremely positive news. The important line in the Minister of State's contribution was the confirmation that the overall delivery of HEMS services in Ireland is consultant-led but the service is delivered by highly-trained advanced paramedics. She also stated: "emergency medicine consultants, with considerable experience in pre-hospital emergency medicine ... undertake a number of rotations each week on HEMS aircraft." As can be imagined, however, it i…

-----and the benefit of the North-South is going to be availed of. We have the North-South Ministerial Council up and running for the first time since 2017. Let us add this matter to the list of things where we co-operate.

I am the Fine Gael Seanad spokesperson for special education and inclusion. I have met with our new Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, a couple of times in the last couple of weeks with regard to our inclusive education policies and the shortage of special class, autism class and special school places for September 2024. Obviously, this is a huge priority for her and is critical for the families who are affected in Dublin 15 and nationally. I feel it would be appropriate to schedule a debate with the Minister at a…

I raise the work of physician-staffed helicopter emergency medical services as opposed to paramedic-led emergency care. A lot of our focus is on having access to air or road ambulances which primarily aim to get patients to hospitals and emergency departments in a timely manner. However, in other countries, they bring the hospital to the scene of the emergency, whether that is at the roadside, in a home, on a farm or in a workplace. The UK, including Northern Ireland, and other European countries, dispatch helicopt…

I invite the Minister, Deputy McGrath, to take the floor.

Before we move to the Fianna Fáil spokesperson, Senator Ollie Crowe, I welcome our visitors from Archbishop McHale College, Tuam. You are very welcome to the Seanad.

I welcome the Minister to the House today. I am delighted to speak about the Future Ireland Fund and Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund Bill. Despite the attendance here today, this is a really significant moment for us as a country. It shows that we have been able to bring economic stability and are now in a position, because of the national reserve fund and economic prudence, to take a serious step in the direction of resilience for the future. I see the creation of both of these funds as an insurance policy…

-----to invest in public lands. I do not want that to happen again.