This Topical Issue is to discuss supports available to vulnerable children and adults in County Wexford who suffer from a disability. Families with children and adults with disabilities are in crisis in terms of the supports and carers that are made available to them. I was contacted by a distressed and exhausted mother who has three children with serious disabilities. She is literally at her wits' end. She has a 25-year-old, a 22-year-old and a 17-year-old. They all have very complex medical needs, including intel…

I have not mentioned the family or the company involved. The Minister of State is quite right in saying that this lady's care for her children is a vocation. I have worked with her over many years and her dedication and commitment to her children, who have profound and complex needs, is just remarkable. She is now exhausted and distressed. She has been fighting for a long time. If the Minister of State will believe it, she actually did some of the training for some of the nurses who came in. She showed them how to …

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." This Government has driven hesitation and has stitched delay and employer vetoes into law. Only a few months ago, it vetoed our Bill to stop employers holding a veto over joint labour committees. It endeavours to leave workers with the allusion of flexibility but none of the protections of a just society. The result is a system that talks about modern work while quietly forcing people back into habits that no longer make sense. This Bill would facilitate the enjoym…

That is in the Bill.

Come aboard.

Can the Deputy announce it?

Similar to my colleague from Wicklow-Wexford, I would like to raise the issue of the condition of roads in County Wexford. I travelled some of the rural roads in Wexford over the weekend and, quite frankly, they are in an appalling condition. I do not have to tell the Taoiseach that Wexford suffered an enormous amount of weather damage over the past number of weeks. The roads were in a very poor condition. I recently met officials from Wexford County Council and they were quite worried about the allocation of money…

I thank the Ministers of State for being here. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, in particular for his visits to Wexford to view the devastation, particularly in Enniscorthy. I met him there last April when we sought to devise a new plan after the rejection, on environmental grounds, of the-----

I am sorry. I move amendment No. 1: To insert the following after "with a view to supporting these families": "; further notes that the increase in storm severity and recent floods are the result of accelerating climate change; and further calls on the Government to: — resource local authorities to hire more general operatives to ensure staff are in place to maintain and clear drains, culverts and ditches, and respond quickly to weather events; — provide grants to local authorities to purchase emergency flood preve…

The core purpose of this amending legislation is twofold. It seeks, first, to explicitly prohibit the creation of non-consensual intimate or otherwise harmful imagery and, second, to extend the period during which proceedings may be initiated, thereby ensuring victims are not denied justice due to the often slow discovery of online offences. Coco's Law, the 2020 Act brought through the House by my predecessor in Wexford, Brendan Howlin, working with the inspirational Jackie Fox, already criminalises the distributio…

I move: That leave be given to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for an entitlement of an employee to remote working arrangements where reasonably practicable, for this purpose to amend the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023, and to provide for related matters. Colleagues may recall that a couple of weeks ago, my colleague Deputy Mark Wall proposed a motion in this House regarding flexibility and flexible work. The irony was that the Deputy left Athy, County Kildare, at 6.30 a.m. and …

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

Yesterday, on South East Radio, the Minister, Deputy Browne, who is the Minister with responsibility for the national emergency co-ordination group laid the blame for the latest flooding incident in his home town of Enniscorthy firmly at the door of Met Éireann. Incredibly, today, on the same radio station, the same Minister, who also has responsibility for local government issued a statement effectively blaming Wexford County Council for the lack of a planning application for a new flood relief scheme. On 15 April…

What about the national emergency co-ordination group?

I am very pleased to support this motion. It contains some excellent proposals, many of which I know the Minister of State would take on board and agree with. It recalls the commitment in the Government's mental health policy, Sharing the Vision: a Mental Health Policy for Everyone, to provide appropriate mental health emergency facilities in every hospital. It calls on the Government to require every model 3 and 4 hospital to have a dedicated mental health emergency room separate from chaotic emergency departments…

Even the Minister of State will agree that the Government’s counter-motion is particularly poor and disappointing. The journey from my county, Wexford, and so many others, and indeed parts of Dublin, has become a daily test of endurance. Whether workers are trapped in endless tailbacks on the M11 or squeezed onto overcrowded trains that take much longer than they should, they are paying the price for a system that cannot and does not meet what they require simply to get to work. Hours upon hours are lost before the…

The issue of unfinished estates is something the Minister is familiar with. It is taking an inordinate amount of time for estates to be taken in charge, particularly some of the older ones where I appreciate there are some difficulties. Mostly the hold-up is down to Uisce Éireann. County councils, unusually, have come to the table on this and have said they are anxious to take estates in charge, yet Irish Water seems very reluctant to allow this to happen. It wants to engage with developers and companies but some o…

In December the IDA published its annual results for 2025, stating it has secured a record 323 investment proposals, representing a 38% increase on the previous year, and expected to deliver over 15,000 new jobs. In Wexford last year, Bank of New York Mellon disposed of 310 highly skilled jobs. The workers lost their jobs and the offices are on the market in an IDA business park in Wexford town. This is an ideal opportunity to acquire a really good suite of offices in a building that an IDA company could move into.…

Over the past year or so, we have all seen the emergence into the general populace of what can only be described as a profound technological transformation. Artificial intelligence is no longer a distant concept. It is here and it is partaking in every part of our daily lives, shaping our economy, public services, our ways of communicating and, increasingly, our vulnerabilities. The decisions we make in this House or further afield in other parliaments will determine whether AI becomes a force for human flourishing…

What about Deputy Ciarán Ahern?