I thank the Minister for her response. My question was motivated by a number of factors. For the life of me, I cannot understand why we are reverting to something that could be an inconvenience. I understand that social welfare payments to recipients were always made via post offices, but there was a break from the norm. During that time, was there evidence of an increase in welfare fraud, for example? I asked for a rationale for the decision and it cannot just be to revert to what was the previous situation, which…

It is without question that our post offices are vital pieces of infrastructure, but what other measures is the Government taking to rejuvenate them? People highlight any number of factors behind the decline of post offices, but there only appears to be one solution, that being, a procession of unemployed people having to travel to their post offices, stand in queues and receive payments that could more practically be made online. The Minister referred to how immunocompromised people may not want to stand in queues…

I welcome a number of advocacy champions for the Irish Cancer Society who are in the Public Gallery, including Katie Lally, Pat O’Gorman and Léa Hearst. I also welcome Maria Fleming, who has been a great advocate in Dublin Central and holds us all to account. I value the work they have done and I am proud to welcome them to the Dáil. The Social Democrats are proud to table this motion to mark an important week for cancer action and awareness. This Friday is World Cancer Day. Cancer is inescapable. There is not one …

This morning, the Dáil unanimously passed a Social Democrats motion on the cost of cancer care. It was hugely welcome and it was a very unifying debate in the Chamber. The motion had three asks, namely, to abolish the €80 inpatient charge for those receiving cancer treatment, to direct the HSE to end the practice of using debt collectors to collect hospital charges from cancer patients and to honour the commitment in the programme for Government to introduce a cap on the maximum daily charge for car parking for vis…

I thank the Taoiseach.

One of the justifications the Government has given today for not affording students a hybrid leaving certificate is that 25% of the students do not have a junior certificate. I have never liked the leaving certificate but one of the arguments made in its favour by its proponents is that it is a fair exam that everybody sits on the same day. Now we have a scenario where three out of four students have had the practice of sitting a State examination but one out of four has not. Automatically, the logic of fairness go…

That is how privilege is locked in.

I will begin by acknowledging that although many of the events I will speak of happened a mere couple of hours up the road, I find it difficult to relate to them because I was 11 when the Good Friday Agreement was signed. I never had to march with my family to seek justice from state forces. The bombs had grown silent by the time I would have been old enough to hear them. The peace was hard fought for and we should cherish and fight for it every day of our lives. I first acknowledge that last Sunday marked the 50th…

I thank the Minister of State for bringing forward this Bill which seeks to modernise our higher education sector and brings significant changes to the governance of higher education. This must be balanced with autonomy and, critically, sustained funding of our higher education institutions, which I intend to address later. I will begin by speaking about other aspects the Bill makes reference to, including educational access for those who historically have been under-represented in higher education. The Bill uses t…

In the brief time I have I am going to focus on two points of immediate concern. The first is COVAX and the issue of vaccine distribution around the world, particularly in the developing world. The Taoiseach has mentioned in the pre-European Council statements and again today in his discussion with Deputy McDonald the continued support for COVAX. COVAX reached a milestone a couple of days ago on 15 January, when it gave out its billionth vaccine. That was half the intended target announced earlier in the year. Beyo…

Yesterday was International Day of Education. While we laud ourselves as a country with high completion rates in mainstream education, as has just occurred in the debate between the Taoiseach and Deputy Paul Murphy, the fact is that many students are being left behind every year. The DEIS retention rate for the leaving certificate is 84.8% compared to 91.5% nationally. This has left alternative education providers and centres, such as the Cork Life Centre in the Taoiseach's constituency, to provide a second chance …

I welcome the motion and the opportunity to debate an incredibly important subject relevant to the lives of students throughout the country. I have absolutely no issue with the substance of the motion and will fully support it. It has already been referenced by Deputy Ó Laoghaire in his contribution that a further debate we could be having on this is on the model of assessment that would be fair not only for 2022 but beyond it. A large part of my contribution will discuss this. To speak on the motion as it is, this…

Last week, to try to make sense of an inconceivable loss, we pointed to the very simple act a young woman was doing when she was murdered by a man. Social media platforms ignited with a simple phrase, "She was just going for a run". It reminded me of the everyday acts that other women in this country were carrying out as they were murdered at the hands of men. She was just walking home from work. She had just returned from a night out. She was just in her home on Christmas Eve. There are no words that can make this…

First, there are no words that can make this okay for Ashling Murphy and those who knew and loved her. I express, once again, my party's sympathies and solidarity with her family and all who knew and loved Ashling. I hope that our collective outpouring of grief and anger as a nation following her killing provides some modicum of solace to them in the horrendously difficult days, months and time ahead. For women all over Ireland, I hear how frustrating and heartbreaking it is to have the same conversations over and …

I cannot but acknowledge the fact that, in an allocated two-hour debate on education, there is no representative from the Department of Education here. The Minister left after 30 minutes. I intended the tenor of my contribution to be constructive but the fact there is nobody here will alter that slightly. Given the fact there is an absent chair where a Minister should be, I cannot help but feel this is symbolic of a Department that is not in control of what is happening on the ground and has been absent for much of…

I think it is good fortune that the Minister of Public Expenditure and Reform is here to answer questions today, because I have a very specific question that relates to public expenditure. The grant for minor works arrived in schools today. We all welcome the fact that there was a 50% increase on the grant for the minor works which, is it assumed, will be used to install HEPA filters. Some schools may have to choose between installing HEPA filters and other minor works, such as bathroom renovations and fixing windo…

That is not the clarification I was asking for.

I asked about the 2023 grant.

In his opening remarks, the Taoiseach mentioned COVAX and support for that endeavour, which was very disappointing. COVAX does not increase the production of vaccines. We know that now because we are almost two years into this debate. COVAX is not working. It does not add to know-how in vaccine production. It is an extremely limited undertaking because it only involves a secure supply that is possible only through the purchase of vaccines on the open market. It is a laissez-faire approach when what we need is a han…

Covid in children is at an all time high. I want to revisit the conversation we had previously with regard to HEPA filters. The Taoiseach mentioned previously that a budget for HEPA filters would be coming on stream in the next couple of weeks. Is that budget the annual minor works grant scheme? If that is the budget to which the Taoiseach refers, are we facing a scenario where schools will be in the invidious situation of having to choose between fixing a broken window or toilet and the installation of a much-need…