I want to raise the issue of driving test waiting times. Nationally, the average waiting time is back up to 12 weeks. Last year, the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, who is present, instructed the RSA to bring the average times down to ten weeks. We need to bring them down and we need to keep them down. The policy should be to stabilise and sustain them at ten weeks. The centre with the second highest waiting time in the country is that at Mulhuddart. This waiting time has consistently been one of the highest and …

I am thankful for the opportunity to speak about International Women's Day. I congratulate Jessie Buckley for becoming the first Irishwoman to win an Academy Award for Best Actress. Her success is a powerful reminder Ireland continues to perform strongly on the global stage but while we celebrate achievements like that, we must also look inward and ask whether the systems and structures here at home are truly setting women and girls up to succeed. I am concerned there is a narrative taking hold that the progress we…

While much of today's focus is rightly on rural closures, I want to speak about a different challenge, namely, delivery pressures in rapidly growing urban areas like Dublin West. In my community the problem is not the loss of a post office today; it is whether the system can keep up with demand. Parcel volumes across Dublin West have increased by 42% in the last year. At the same time, the number of delivery addresses has grown by 4%. Letter volumes may be down by 7% but that does not relieve pressure when serving …

The League of Ireland is experiencing sustained growth, with Premier Division attendances up 8% in 2025 and over 1.1 million attending matches involving League of Ireland clubs across the country. At a time when domestic football is clearly on the up, will the Minister of State outline what measures he and his Department are taking to support the rise of the League of Ireland?

I agree with the Minister of State. In a few weeks, thousands of Irish supporters will cheer on the boys in green as they face the Czechs in Prague on 26 March, aiming to move closer to World Cup qualification for the first time since 2002. Moments like this remind us of our responsibility to strengthen the domestic game in order to support future national success. As the Minister of State said, Brexit has reshaped the pathway for young Irish players. More promising footballers are staying in Ireland for longer and…

I am also biased about Dublin West football clubs. We have the best in the country. I welcome the €3 million allocated in budget 2026 for League of Ireland academies. This important investment gives clubs the resources to build modern and professional academy systems and create clear pathways for the next generation of Irish players, both boys and girls. It represents a significant opportunity. More young players can now remain in the domestic system, developing and gaining experience at home. As the League of Irel…

I am seeking an update on the commitment to introduce pay-related parent's benefit and potentially others. I am doing so because Government policies are not joined-up enough when it comes to new parents whose babies are in their first year of life. These parents can find themselves in a catch 22 situation where they either want to stay at home but cannot afford to do so or want to go back to work and cannot source childcare for babies under 12 months of age. The large majority of OECD countries are using earnings-r…

That is really encouraging, particularly as we in Ireland are above average when it comes to the length of time we can spend at home with our new babies on foot of maternity and parent's benefit. As stated, we are below average when it comes to the financial supports to do so. As the Minister indicated, pay-related jobseeker's benefit is working very well and is a model that could be applied in this instance. I cannot emphasise enough how important the first year of a baby's life is for both the baby and the parent…

I am really looking forward to engaging in the public consultation. The figures are important. According to the OECD, payments are lowest in Ireland and the UK, where less than one third of gross average earnings are replaced by maternity benefit. Countries such as Lithuania, Austria, France and Germany have benefits based on past incomes. We have a high percentage of maternity leave employer top-ups. In 2021, the most recent year in respect of which I could obtain figures, about 70% of women received a top-up. How…

Last week's outcry shows just how highly SNAs are regarded not just by families who rely on them directly but by all families. It would be a mistake to move on too quickly without exploring reform or we risk ending up back here again. Equitable access to education is a value we hold dear. That is why there is such strong public support for building an inclusive education system. Where barriers exist and difficult decisions must be made, let us have those conversations honestly and openly. I visited a school in my c…

I strongly welcome the Tánaiste's commitment to developing a national savings and investment strategy. It is the right direction, and there is obviously clear support for it. Irish households are strong savers, but too much of that money is sitting in low-yield accounts quietly losing value to inflation. If we are serious about building a culture of long-term investing, we must remove the barriers that discourage participation. The reduction in the exit tax rate on gains from 41% to 38% in the budget was a positive…

We are here today to debate a Bill with the right to remote work in its Title but a title alone does not make it a right. It is being sold as a right to flexible and remote work and I do not believe it is. In all other countries I am aware of, remote work arrangements depend on employer-employee agreements or specific conditions in law or regulation. Employers must consider the request, though they can still refuse for legitimate business reasons. I said this during the previous Labour Private Members' time on the …

The Taoiseach appreciates challenging and informed questions from this side of the House. I appreciate the recent rise in Garda numbers - 168 new gardaí were attested last week - and the work of the current and former Ministers for justice on this issue. Blanchardstown got six new gardaí last week, our largest allocation in this Dáil term, but we need more. In the K district, which is my constituency plus Finglas, we have roughly garda per 529 people. This compares, despite our higher levels of recorded crime, with…

I commend the authors and investigators of Kenova. The report has been a long time coming. Many families have waited on this. Much was banking on it. This report once again shows the depth of the brutality and callousness to which innocent people and communities were subjected during the Troubles. The scars, some of which are obvious and some of which are not, will be carried for generations. These acts were neither justified nor justifiable, whether committed by paramilitaries or members of the security forces, wh…

I do not think we have a legislation problem in road safety. I believe we primarily have an implementation and enforcement problem. Our Vision Zero strategy is heading in the wrong direction. Road deaths in Ireland rose by 22% from 2019 to 2025, while the EU average fell by 12%. That is not progress. Behaviour on our roads is worsening, while the system meant to protect people has failed to keep pace with the reality - more people, more cars, new vehicle types and more pressure on infrastructure. There has been a l…

New parents are in a catch-22 situation. The flat rate, per-week payment for maternity, paternity and parent's benefits makes extended leave unaffordable for many families, although it has improved. The reality is that they have no option but to go back to work to cover the costs of rent or mortgages or the cost of living. They then need childcare. Baby rooms in childcare services should be the solution but, since the introduction of core funding, the number of baby rooms across the State has dropped by 25% and by …

This Bill amends the Child Care Act 1991, which is wide-ranging legislation that seeks to promote the welfare of children who may not receive adequate care and protection. Over the years the Act supported the establishment of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, and an amendment to Article 42A of the Constitution to recognise the rights of the child. As per the programme for Government, the Act is being updated based on a review identifying what is working well to address gaps and operational improvements. It is abs…

I thank Deputy O'Gorman for publishing this Bill and for the work that has gone into it. I have consistently argued for a balanced approach on this matter. I want to see innovation and the deployment of drone technology but I also want to see effective regulation and enforcement of that regulation. There are politicians in the area who just want an end to the drones. That is fine but I am not in that camp. I recognise the benefits and potential benefits of drone technology but I believe there must be practical and …

The programme for Government committed to evaluating options to amend the ECCE eligibility criteria and it is clear why. It relies on a blunt cut-off date for children starting the ECCE scheme whereby they must be two years and eight months by 1 September. The inequity this causes is obvious from replies I have received to parliamentary questions. A total of 17% of children do not take up the second year of the free ECCE scheme. When that 17% is broken down by birth month, 3,257 were born in January, while just 171…

I will not spend two and a half minutes talking about the benefits of remote and flexible working because I spent five years talking about those benefits, as my colleague Deputy Wall knows. Instead, in the two and a half minutes I have, I will focus on the first line of the motion, which states that "employees in Ireland have no right to flexible and remote work, only a right to request it from their employer". Have my Labour Party colleagues found a country that gives people such a right? The only one I have found…