I thank the Minister of State. I am happy that the Minister recognises the importance of the community involvement scheme and that it allows communities to access funds for repairs of more lightly trafficked public roads. I hope the upcoming budget will be more committed to continuously supporting the community involvement scheme because it is important. It is about residents living around rural sections of public roads so that those roads can be maintained and improved. I would like to see more funding for the com…

Some years ago, my great friend, the late TD, Louis J. Belton, commented at a Fine Gael Parliamentary Party meeting that one cannot have law without order. In the past few years, maybe because of abuse of social media and the spread of fake news, Ireland has changed. There is a lot of anger and vicious abuse of people, particularly public representatives and those with responsible authority, which is driven by cowards who incite others behind the veil of social media stories and far-fetched theories. It is my stron…

I have spent three hours here waiting to speak.

I condemn the awful and disgraceful events in Dublin last week. Our thoughts are with the innocent children, the care workers and all of those who rightly intervened to save lives. I thank all the emergency services, and the brave men and women of An Garda Síochána who stood firm to protect our citizens and our society, and to uphold the rule of law. We need to give An Garda Síochána more powers, more resources and more importantly fewer restrictions as it goes about its work. This is a time for unity and reflectio…

This is a long-running saga. I recall 30 years ago coming to Leinster House to fight for the survival of the Dublin-Sligo train line. We are very proud of the line but I do not think it gets the attention it deserves. Something is happening in Sligo and the north west. I always say Sligo is the new Galway of the north west. The number of talented young people who have come to our area, whether to Sligo, Leitrim, Roscommon or Donegal, is incredible. We now need a train service. We have a train service that leaves Sl…

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. This is an issue that many people have brought to my attention and I see it myself. There are times that we want more trains from Sligo going through Ballymote, Collooney, Boyle, Carrick-on-Shannon, Dromod and Longford. If I want to get from Dublin to Longford, that is fine, but we want to get to the north west. I thank the Minister of State for the work that has been done. The reduction in fares makes it much more affordable and encourages more people to use the line. A…

I support Deputy Grealish. The large-scale sports infrastructure fund has been very important and we should have another large-scale sports infrastructure fund as soon as possible. The Minister of State will be familiar with one club in the north west, Sligo Rovers, a co-operative venture owned by the people of Sligo and surrounding areas. They want to apply along with many others in my area. It would be very good to have this sports fund set up.

On a point of clarification, Sligo Rovers will play the Minister of State's club, Drogheda United, on 28 October at 6 o'clock. When he comes to visit his in-laws, he and the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, are more than welcome to call in.

Across from my constituency office on Pearse Road in Sligo is Mercy College, Sligo. On numerous occasions, I have heard nothing but positive references to the parents, teachers and students of this great college. Its enrolment is now at 663, which is an increase of almost 50% since the original accommodation was granted in 2019. It has applied for a building extension and has been informed that a review of the accommodation is taking place within the Department. I would like to know when that review will take place…

I thank the Minister, and I appreciate that the Department has a large number of projects to manage but we would appreciate if the Minister could follow up on our request so this project can be moved forward. Three years on from the announcement of this project, the accommodation remains the same despite an increase of 25% in our student enrolment. When the Minister is down in Sligo and the north west in time, I invite her to call in to my office and call over to see this wonderful school.

I appreciate the demands that are there but we need to keep lines of communication open between the Department and the school. We will do everything to ensure that this happens.

I thank Deputy Ó Ríordáin and the Labour Party for bringing this motion forward and I thank Members for coming here today. As a former secretary of Boyle Celtic, and the first to get a grant from the lotto of £20,000 for the County Roscommon District League in 1987, I can say that this a most important motion. Soccer has come out of the doldrums since the ban. I remember going to the first game following the lifting of the ban in 1971, when two Sligo Rovers players, Gerry Mitchell and David Pugh, lined out for Slig…

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak to the House on the issue of rural development as a Deputy representing one of the most rural parts of Ireland but one of the most successful parts of Ireland in attracting Government and Department funding in recent years. In 1999, I was elected as a member of Roscommon County Council and at that time, the only funding the local authority could rely on was the then Department of the Environment and Local Government, and money was thin on the ground. I want to acknowl…

I will proceed. I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue matter. It is very topical in counties Sligo and Mayo. There is no allocation of funding this year for this road project. The Minister for Transport, Deputy Ryan, has confirmed that there will not be any funding for the N17 for many years, which is the Knock to Collooney road project. Design work began on this scheme in 2018 and in August of that year the project appraisal plan was approved by the strategic research analysis division of the…

I thank the Minister of State and I also thank the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and the Green Party. They are fighting hard for climate, for community and for equality. These are the three aspects: climate, community and equality. I appreciate that this is just funding and I will talk to my leader, the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, to try to get this resolved. Again there are many things which we need to work on but this is an issue that certainly needs addressing. Again, I state that this is a national road and one …

In light of the amalgamation of Geevagh National School and St. Joseph's National School, Kilmactranny, County Sligo, from September 2023, parents are seeking assurances from the school transport section of Bus Éireann or the Department of Education that the current bus routes will remain the same. It is thought that more than 20 children will be affected if these routes change and that parents would then have to drive those children to a new pick-up point. Bus Éireann has opened up bus ticket allocation for the ne…

When I think of a united Ireland, I think of my grandfather, James Feely, who 100 years ago was released from Mountjoy on the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. He was commander of the north Roscommon brigade of the old IRA and fought for a united Ireland. When we consider a united Ireland now, it is very different 100 years on. Ireland joined the European Community, along with the UK, 50 years ago. It was a seismic change to the way our two countries interacted. On average, 26 meetings a day are held between Irish…

I very much welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important issue. I thank the Minister and the Minister of State for the work they are doing on this. I come from the constituency that covers Sligo, Leitrim, north Roscommon and south Donegal. Certainly sheep farming is very important in these areas. I am very aware of this situation. I have met the four IFA county chairs, namely, Joe Sweeney from Donegal, Des McHugh from Leitrim, Pat Leonard from Roscommon and Kathleen Henry from Sligo. They outlined exactl…

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