It is of the highest priority to adhere to the national planning framework policies, in particular in terms of brownfield first. In my area of Meath East, in the Ratoath, Dunshaughlin and Ashbourne areas, there has been an omission of brownfield. I understand the complexity of the delivery of infrastructure, but in one situation we have an actual creep of the town centre. An OSI reference for the town centre of Ratoath seems to have moved in a south-east direction. That is something I have taken up with Tailte Éire…

Since time is tight for our group I will come forward with three solutions. Prevention is better than cure, so the first is healthy eating and exercise from the youngest to the oldest commensurate with their abilities. The second is the value of the wisdom of older persons councils and the Age Friendly Ireland programmes. We must listen to the wisdom and cost-effective suggestions of our older citizens, especially in the area of falls, which are high-cost from a hospitalisation point of view. We should increase res…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Cheann Comhairle. I wish the Minister of State and her team the best of luck on this issue on which there is great unity across the House. In essence, we must listen to the voices, the lived experiences and the needs of children and adults with intellectual, sensory and physical disabilities. We must enact and implement personalised budgets that are person-centred and family-driven and that will enable the achievement of the unique ability of each child and adult. The evaluation phase of th…

I congratulate the Minister. Many of the solutions around apprenticeships, training for special needs assistants, entry courses to occupational therapy and speech and language therapy can be delivered by Dunboyne College of Further Education. The Tánaiste visited the college in February 2022 in his then role as Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. A commitment was given that money was ring-fenced for the new college on a stand-alone site, as a single-phase delivery. When will…

Ba chóir dom labhairt go tapaidh anois. I wish the Minister, the Ministers of State and their teams the very best of luck and success in what is probably one of the most important portfolios. I will try not to repeat what colleagues have said. The significance of agriculture and agrifood to our economy is nothing to be sniffed at. The word "vital" is used. That is derived from vita , the Latin for life-giving. I will restrict my focus rather than be repetitious on food production. It overlaps with my career in heal…

I wish the Ministers of State the very best of luck. The greatest wealth is health and the greatest health is mental and emotional health. We can be a little flippant in this House with the use of the word "resilience". We use it in connection with things when it actually derives from the ability to successfully adapt to stressors, to maintain psychological well-being in the face of adversity and to bounce back from difficult experiences. To this end, investment in the support of children's mental health is of para…

Go raibh maith agat, a Cheann Comhairle. Táim fíorbhuíoch de mo chairde, mo chlann agus muintir Chontae na Mí as a dtacaíocht dom le mo bheith anseo i nDáil Éireann. I am also very grateful to the team here in Leinster House and indeed my new colleagues here in Dáil Éireann. There was a slight baptism of fire over the past two months. However, that is how we learn best. To go on with the business in hand, we have an abundance of data and evidence and, most importantly, we have heard the lived experiences and the ne…