I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 37 and the name of the Member in each case: (1) Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh - the need to discuss naming the new national children's hospital in honour of Dr. Kathleen Lynn TD; (2) Deputy Claire Kerrane - the need to discuss the need for additional resources for rural towns welcoming asylum seekers; (3) Deputy Gary Gannon - the need to discuss antisocial behaviour, crime and policing in Cabra, Dublin 7; (…

I raise with the Tánaiste the extension of the free GP care scheme to children aged under eight. This has been on the cards for some time. In fact, the timeline for delivery was the end of last year. That time has come and gone and children aged six and seven still do not have their free GP cards. The parents of these 80,000 children want to see the scheme introduced before their kids age out of it. My understanding is that talks on the contract are still ongoing. Will the Tánaiste provide us with an update on it b…

I wish to share time with Deputy Murnane O'Connor.

I welcome the Bill. This positive and proactive legislation will improve not only how we tackle and prevent crime but also how we protect members of An Garda Síochána as they work to keep us and our streets safe. I know there has been discussion and criticism of some parts of the Bill. I refer in particular to the potential implications for privacy and civil liberties. I very much welcome the open discussion, which it is important to have. I also welcome the consultation that took place when drafting this legislati…

I am delighted that on the first sitting day of the Dáil in 2023 climate is the top of the agenda. This is where it needs to be. It is not just climate but climate action. Our action plan for this year is critical. There is no doubt that solving the climate crisis is a priority for Irish people. Unfortunately, while awareness and the will to make change is growing, so too are temperatures, sea levels and the number of climate disasters we see. This is why the climate action plan needs teeth. It cannot be advisory. …

I do indeed. I thank the Ceann Comhairle. In 2020 as the Covid crisis first hit our shores, the Tánaiste led our country through the most difficult months. He showed what a fine Taoiseach he was through his focus on the well-being of our citizens, his clear plan to deal with the crisis and, above all, his commitment to forming a Government to lead. Tomorrow people across the world will tune in to the World Cup final to find out who the winning team is but today we reaffirm in Ireland that in Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil …

Post-primary schools in Dublin Mid-West are bursting at the seams. Secondary schools in Lucan, Clondalkin, Rathcoole and Citywest are all operating waiting lists. That means school administration teams are under pressure. It means parents are stressed out and that we are creating anxiety for children. Research carried out independently in Clondalkin suggests there could be a shortfall of as many as 90 children between those currently in sixth class and second-level school places locally. My constituency is a really…

I am glad to contribute to this debate today. I thank the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, for making his officials available for briefings on this Bill to the Oireachtas committee, and for engaging with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage to address all our questions, our concerns and our ideas. I understand the concerns about the limits on debate time and the pre-legislative scrutiny report not yet being published. I also appreciate the reasoning behind the need to progress the Bill …

I wish to raise the lack of public transport in Newcastle, which is a growing town. The 68 bus is the only bus that serves the village itself. It is the only form of public transport into the village. It runs only about once an hour and of late it has not been reliable. On top of that, the express route for commuters was cancelled earlier this year without any notice. According to the National Transport Authority, NTA, the long-promised orbital route, the main benefit of which is that it would link Newcastle to Haz…

I agree. It is welcome we have such collaboration on this important issue. Vicky Phelan will have a long and lasting legacy in Ireland and we will have a long and lasting legacy in our Statute Book. I agree with many speakers that if we have to slow things down to get this right, then let us get it right. This is about re-establishing trust and confidence in our healthcare system and, ultimately, saving lives.

I love my job because being a Deputy can have an impact. I am particularly excited to talk about legislation that will have a serious impact. Put simply, the Bill will allow for councillors in local government to take maternity leave for the very first time but the added benefit of it is that it will encourage more women into politics. I am a member of the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage that has been scrutinising this legislation and I am often struck that I am the only female Deputy on t…

Since June I have raised the cancellation of public health nurse check-ups for babies and children in community healthcare organisation, CHO, 7 and in particular the areas of Rathcoole, Lucan, Clondalkin and Newcastle. I have been told repeatedly that the HSE has a pipeline of students due to graduate who will become public health nurses. However, this has not materialised. In particular, it has not materialised for us in Dublin. That means parents are still stressed out about this and children and toddlers are sti…

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak about COP27. It is great that we are all here today dedicating our time to do so. The climate crisis is the biggest threat facing us and it is not a future threat. It is a current threat. It is here and now and deserves to be treated as the most pressing issue we face as a human race. Unfortunately, however, that is not always the case, globally or here at home. The two main priorities for this year’s Conference of the Parties were scaling up climate finance for clima…

I ask the Minister the way in which online safety and awareness is currently incorporated into the primary and post-primary curriculum, please.

I thank the Minister for that update. We all acknowledge that we are living in a very different world now from the one we were in ten or even 15 years ago. Children nowadays have so many more pressures on them and much of that is as a result of the online developments. Online gaming and social media are now an everyday part of many, if not most, teenagers' lives. While that has benefits in that we will have a technically agile workforce when these children come out of school, it also poses challenges. These are cha…

It is fantastic to see that the responsible and ethical use of technology is very much at the core of this because that is what we want young people to do, which is to behave responsibly online towards their peers and, above all else, to stay safe. I am aware that the Minister mentioned Webwise in her initial contribution and I have had many dealings with them. They are one of many organisations which provides fantastic resources which are there for students and teachers, but are also there for parents. I encourage…

I am pleased to be discussing this legislation and the changes that will come in as a result of budget 2023. Our social protection system, and our social welfare system before that, has always been instrumental when it comes to supporting and protecting people when they need help the most, whether through times of illness or unemployment or when people reach an older age or need maternity benefit or carers' allowance, etc. There are so many other instances in which we supply help when people need it. Throughout the…

As a Dublin Deputy, I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate on safety in our capital city. Dublin is a brilliant city. It is a place I am proud to live and work in. It is a place to which people come from all over the world to visit and stay. Of course, we are not without our problems, and this is especially so when it comes to safety on our streets. Building stronger safer communities is a priority for the Government. We have seen this reflected very much in the actions of the Minister, Deputy McEnt…

I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 37 and the name of the Member in each case: Deputy Danny Healy-Rae - to discuss the critical situation in Kerry about accommodation for a person with intellectual disability for residential care. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan - to discuss the recruitment crisis in An Garda Síochána. Deputy Paul Donnelly - to discuss the teacher recruitment issue in Coolmine Community School where many students are being denie…

I offer my sincere condolences to the people of Creeslough, the community at the centre of this tragedy, and to the family and friends of Shauna Flanagan Garwe and her dad, Robert Garwe, Catherine O'Donnell and her son, James Monaghan, Leona Harper, Jessica Gallagher, Martin McGill, Hugh Kelly, James O'Flaherty and Martina Martin - sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, nieces, nephews, aunts and uncles and dear friends who are all incredibly missed. I will not be alone in saying the people of Creeslough should be incr…