I thank the Minister of State very much. She is right that so many people across this House have come through the voluntary sector. Last Thursday the Minister, Deputy Calleary, opened the Castlerea swimming pool. He welcomed the provision of €73,000 from the community recognition fund for the Castlerea Town Team, in conjunction with Roscommon County Council. It is an organisation of which I have been secretary for the past three years. I am a former chairperson of the organisation. I think of the Suck Valley Way. I…

The Minister of State is welcome once again to the Chamber. I reiterate the welcome so many of the previous speakers have given, including Senators Flaherty and McCormack, for these guidelines. We are happy to see them. We see the Minister of State addressing what we have all looked for. Well done on that. This is building on the success of the croí cónaithe and vacant property refurbishment schemes. In my county of Roscommon, at the end of 2025 there were 459 applications, 325 approvals and 119 homes brought back …

I raise an issue that has been brought up with me by a number of families recently in relation to domestic wastewater treatment systems. The local authorities through the national inspection plan have an onus on them to inspect a certain number of domestic water treatment systems annually. Unfortunately my area in Roscommon has historically had a very high failure rate. In 2025, the failure rate was 85% of the systems inspected. Thankfully in 2026 that is down substantially to about 50%, I think, so far this year. …

I welcome Kathleen, Kevin and Alison here today. Kathleen may be retired but she is probably as busy now as she has ever been with the Tidy Towns Association. She is building on the great effort she has put into that down through the years. I wish Kathleen continued success. It is just coincidental I am bringing this up at the moment. I welcome and commend Councillor Emer Kelly for, once again, raising the ongoing parking crisis in Roscommon University Hospital at the regional health forum recently. The response th…

They have confirmed that.

The MEPs are all very welcome. Europe often speaks about balanced regional development. The Midlands-North-West constituency still faces major deficits in transport, connectivity and economic investment. Addressing those challenges requires every level of government to work together properly. This is why the relationship between our MEPs, the European Committee of the Regions and our regional assemblies is important. REGI exists to represent local authorities and regional voices in Europe. It gives councillors and …

Give him two.

The question was on the initial remark. It is to withdraw it. That was the question.

I wish to be associated with the congratulations to Deputies Seán Kyne and Daniel Ennis. I will highlight the issue of access to education for people with disabilities. We have a focus on the WorkAbility programme, a major initiative running through to 2028, which has a budget of approximately €36 million. It is designed to help people with disabilities transition to education, training and employment. As well as this, we have a focus on the higher education access programme, the national access plan, which aims to…

I propose that we suspend the House.

The Minister is once again welcome back into this Chamber and I welcome the opportunity to speak on student accommodation and supports. With two minutes, I am going to have run through a lot of the other things and not go through things that have been said already. I welcome the student accommodation strategy. The Minister put it very well when he spoke about viability, allowing to build, and affordability, enabling and empowering the students to be able to afford the accommodation. The 42,000 beds by 2035 is a goo…

I think the Acting Chairman is exceeding his powers there and the Cathaoirleach might have something to say on that.

I welcome the opportunity for the Minister of State to make a statement on the extension of the upper age limit for drivers of small public service vehicles contracted under the school transport scheme. Like so many Members of this House, I welcome the recent decision to extend the upper age limit for certain school transport drivers from 70 to 72 years of age. It is a practical recognition of the valuable contribution made by many experienced and medically fit drivers across the country. At a time when driver shor…

I thank the Minister of State. I spoke with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, last night, who will give me a more direct answer on this matter. I have always found him very approachable on this issue. I am happy to work with him on it. Like myself, the Minister of State is from a rural area. He sees the school transport to and from schools on a daily basis. These eight-seaters will not meet the demand for SEN transport. Capacity for wheelchairs is severely limited in these smaller vehicles. I must commend Cou…

I wish to acknowledge the Health Research Board's publication on the national drug treatment reporting system, which was just announced this morning. Drug treatment and the demand for such is currently increasing year on year, with the total number treated to date being 15,422. However, this morning's report highlights that cocaine now accounts for 42% of the drug problem, with opioids at 25% and cannabis at 15%. It is now affecting every area of society and in every part of the country. In the past, I called for a…

Last week in this Chamber, I called for the Labour Court to get involved in the ambulance strike and support our National Ambulance Service. A planned 48-hour strike, which would have commenced today, has been stood down to allow those talks to take place. Plans remain in place for a 72-hour work stoppage on 26 May and there is also a work to rule by front-line ambulance staff that began last week and is continuing at the moment. From my experience on the ground engaging with ambulance services, some members have g…

I do not have time to compliment Westmeath on its win on Sunday, so I will move on quickly. I compliment the Minister of State on the Lough Funshinagh flood relief scheme, the communication around it and the recent public consultation to identify the best option for Roscommon County Council to submit with the strongest prospect of success before An Coimisiún Pleanála. I also compliment him on his engagement with the communities throughout the whole process. However, the matter I wish to raise with the Minister of S…

I call for a debate on how sustainable energy projects are planned and the need to involve local communities much earlier in the process. People understand that we need more renewable energy, we need cleaner energy, lower emissions and greater energy independence so that Ireland can reduce its reliance on imported energy and bring down energy costs in the long run but too often communities only hear about major projects when plans are already far advanced. At that stage people feel that decisions already been made …

Last week I brought up the issue of fraud through text messages and emails, how one third of people affected by this type of fraud do not report it and the fact that 57% of people who did report it were getting their funds back. Since I raised it last week, I have been inundated with correspondence from people all over the country. A number of people who have been affected by this who never felt the ability to report it or talk about it have contacted me and told me their stories. We need to have a debate in this H…

I am sharing time with Senator Ahearn, four minutes each.