I call for a debate in this House on Garda numbers nationwide. Last week, 194 probationary gardaí were distributed across 19 divisions throughout the country. One of the divisions, which happens to be my home division of Roscommon, Longford and Mayo, received no allocation. I have spoken to a number of locals and people who have previously been on the community policing forum. There is a lack of uniformed gardaí for which there is a real demand in our area. Recent surveys, including one by PhoneWatch on Central Sta…

I will also speak in support of the Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2025, a Bill that increases the amount Screen Ireland can invest, loan or guarantee to support films, TV and digital productions. It is a straightforward amendment but an important one. It will allow the sector to grow, create more jobs and to support more Irish stories on screen. The screen industry is often judged in terms of glamorous shining lights, red carpets and ceremonies but the real impact we all feel in Ireland is with the ordinary peo…

I am sharing time with Senator Joe O’Reilly.

The first line of this motion acknowledges Irish people emigrated to places throughout the world in times of famine and, more recently, in times of economic difficulty. We must always acknowledge that those people proved their worth. They got involved in the communities they moved to and respected the rules of the countries they moved to. We must acknowledge that also. Here in Ireland, migration plays a crucial role in the economy. Thousands of people come here to work. One in five has come to study and support our…

I raise an issue that is affecting a lot of schoolgoing kids in Roscommon, especially in the Athlone municipal district. This relates to kids trying to get to school on a daily basis in Roscommon town and the unpredictability and unreliability of the school bus service. This has been raised with me by a number of the councillors in Roscommon's Athlone municipal district, namely, Councillors Domnick Connolly and Valerie Duffy. They are highlighting the bus that services areas like Mote Park, Four Roads, Rahara, Curr…

Tomorrow, Friday, 14 November, is World Diabetes Day. World Diabetes Day reminds us that diabetes is growing in Ireland. It is a national challenge requiring urgent and co-ordinated policy action. Today, more than 300,000 people, or one in 17 of our population, live with diabetes, with between 12,000 and 14,000 new cases every year. Type 2 diabetes is projected to rise by 60% in the next ten to 15 years. Diabetes already accounts for between 10% and 12% of the HSE budget and 60% of the costs relating to preventable…

The Minister is welcome to the Chamber. This Bill is significant. It will enable the ESB to deliver the largest single expansion and reinforcement of our national electricity network in decades. It will allow the ESB to borrow and invest at competitive rates, strengthening both our grid and our energy security. As a councillor, on 25 November 2024, I had a motion before Roscommon County Council calling for investment in our electricity infrastructure. I am delighted to hear that the Minister is delivering this and …

The Minister of State is very welcome. I welcome the opportunity to speak on this topic. I will highlight a programme that has been running in Roscommon for a number of years. When I formerly sat on the local community development committee, LCDC, I remember supporting it with funding in the past. It is called the Fit Farmers programme. It was created and delivered by a lady, Laura Tully, a Roscommon native who saw at first hand the strain farming life can take on the body and mind. Anyone who grew up on a farm wil…

The Minister is welcome. I, too, commend Senator Curley and the other Senators on bringing forward the motion. It was before the education and youth committee. I would like to acknowledge all of the members of the committee present. Extra time for students with dyslexia and dyscalculia in State examinations is an issue that affects families and schools in every county in Ireland. It is long past time that it was addressed properly. Over the years, we have seen remarkable advocacy from Dyslexia Ireland, teachers and…

I welcome the Minister of State. I wish to speak about something simple but powerful, namely communication and the role it plays in tackling loneliness and isolation among our older people. The telephone support allowance was introduced in 2018 to help people living alone with the cost of staying connected through a phone or home alert system. It is paid at a rate of €2.50 per week. In seven years, that has never once been increased. To put this in context, a landline can cost anywhere from €30 to €40 a month and t…

I thank the Minister of State very much. I fully welcome all of the additional supports that were put in place following the budget. I am looking forward to 2026. As part of the programme for Government, there was a review put in to review the fuel allowance, the household benefits package and the living alone allowance, and they were all welcome. However, I would not be doing my job if I did not try to fight for every penny to support this demographic and for every opportunity to give them that extra bit of financ…

I, too, join in the sympathies expressed to former Councillor Jim Finucane. I also welcome the guests of Senator Cosgrove. Some have been in the Seanad so many times over the past couple of weeks, I am worried they are eyeing up some of our seats. They are all very welcome here today. The Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland recently published a report showing the average cost of rebuilding a home rose by 7% nationally over the past year, following an increase of 6% last year. Thankfully, it is below the 12% incr…

Put him on a stamp.

I echo the sentiments of the previous speakers and thank the Minister and Minister of State for listening to the numerous contributions in this House earlier this year calling for additional support for the post office network. I thank the Minister of State for taking that on board because, as previous speakers have mentioned, we are not just talking about a service. We are talking about an institution in rural Ireland. We are talking about the cornerstone and flagstone of rural communities. It is great to hear tha…

I also welcome the visitors from Clann na nGael GAA in south Roscommon. This tour was organised in conjunction with former Deputy Denis Naughten. It was great to be able to facilitate it and that of the next group that is going to be in here. While I am talking about welcoming visitors from the west of Ireland, I take the opportunity to raise the issue of the increase in toll charges that is going to be implemented from 1 January 2026. At time when the cost of the living is increasing, it is a bit much to look to i…

The Minister is welcome. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030. I want to use this time to highlight feedback I have got from a lot of people and others I have engaged with on the ground, so that when we look back after the term of this strategy, we will have hopefully addressed some of these and things will have moved on. At its core, the strategy is about fairness and making sure everyone, no matter their ability, has the same chance to live, work a…

A few weeks ago, I called for additional support in the telephone allowance for older people. I called for it to cover broadband and to potentially become a communications allowance. Following recent storms, a number of households all over the country have been without electricity or water. At the same time, our providers are still applying standing charges to these people's bills. I do not know any other sector in which you still have to pay for a service that is not provided. I am particularly defending and stand…

The Minister is welcome. I thank him for the opportunity to speak on the Domestic Violence (Free Travel Scheme) Bill 2025. I commend the Senators on bringing this Bill before us. It is a very simple, practical idea that could make a big difference in people's lives, especially to women and children trying to escape violence at home. I come from County Roscommon, one of the nine counties the Senator referred to that currently do not have a domestic violence refuge. However, work has started on that, and a multiagenc…

In a totally unrelated way, I too want to raise the work of Croí here today. I was not at the information session Senator Rabbitte attended last week, but on Friday last I was involved in the first Croí 5 km run-walk held outside Galway as a fundraiser. The organisation's major fundraiser, which supported all the amazing work Senator Rabbitte spoke about, took place last Friday night in Salthill. We ran the first one to be held outside of Galway in County Roscommon and it was the first such event to be held there. …

I welcome the Minister once again to the Chamber. Like the previous speaker, I will not spend my time clapping him on the back but nor will I kick him. If he is a success in his Ministry, we will all benefit. That is how we must look at it. Budget 2026 shows that he listened to what people were saying and he delivered where he could deliver. As Senator Dee Ryan said, he put a mechanism in place in respect of student fees that will enable sustainable delivery. I hope he will answer what other speakers asked about gi…