There is a process in place and it should be the case that the Deputy can access and can talk directly to people. I am not saying that it is working effectively; it is clearly not if the Deputy is raising this here.

However, it is absolutely essential that an organisation that has been provided with €12 billion, as it has been in a revised national development plan, and that has been provided with billions of euro to support the delivery of homes and to invest in our capital infrastructure is accountable to every person in this House.

I am agreeing with the Deputy. I am saying very clearly it should be the case. Deputies should not be standing up here saying that they cannot access or engage with people. I will again raise this directly with the Minister. We have spoken of it. I have spoken of it. My party colleagues have spoken of it. Any organisation that receives billions of euro of taxpayers' money from the Government should be and is accountable to every Member in this House. It is not acceptable if the Deputy is not able to access, talk di…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. At the outset, I commend the fantastic job that all of the teachers and staff within our schools do. While I take the opportunity whenever I can in my role, particularly last year as Minister for education, I had an opportunity to travel right around the country to meet with many teachers, SNAs, secretaries, principals, caretakers and assistants - everybody who plays a significant role in the education of our children. The work they do is absolutely phenomenal and I want …

I fully agree there are lots of things we need to focus on to make sure children are going to, staying in and progressing in school. When I was Minister of the Department, following on from the work of the previous Minister, Deputy Foley, before me and work the Minister, Deputy Naughton, is now carrying on, there was an action plan put in place specifically looking at attendance and how we can ensure children come to school, particularly where the levels within DEIS bands and primary schools were increasing at an a…

The Deputy is right; people need action, not words. That is exactly why, at this time and at this moment in the year, €1.4 billion has already been provided to people to try to assist with what is a very challenging time - I fully agree with the Deputy - much of which has been caused by the conflict in the Middle East, where we need to focus our efforts as well. While we are a small country, we still have a voice and we need to use it to ensure every effort is made to end the conflict because that is the first and …

As the Deputy said, the National Transport Authority made the decision to publish the new fares on 3 September of this year, with the revised fares taking effect from January 2027. This was a really important step in standardising the national fares structure. It is in line with a strategy that was published back in 2023. Since 2022, we have seen inflation of almost 21%, which has of course driven up the cost of operating our public transport. The public transport network is not immune to this inflation, in the sam…

We do have a plan. Every year, more and more children are getting access to school transport. I appreciate not everybody is getting access and there is more work we need to do. I think the figure was 181,000 young people who had access to school transport this year. We have to acknowledge we only have so many buses and drivers, but we also need to make sure we have a system that works effectively. One of the most important things we will work on in the time ahead is a new ticketing system. We know there are buses w…

I am pretty sure no matter what we did in this House, the Deputy would be encouraging people to protest either way and that is people's right. That is something we must protect, but he cannot ignore the fact that as a Government, this year alone, we have introduced supports of €1.4 billion. In other parts of Europe and the world, very few governments have been able to introduce that type of funding and support to assist people at what is a really difficult time. The debate will take place later this evening-----

-----and obviously the Deputy does not acknowledge that data centres represent critical infrastructure, that they are central to our modern economy and that significant work was being done through the large energy user action plan, LEAP, which is the new strategy looking at large energy users. A main focus of that is how we can introduce more renewable energy and how we can reduce the energy needs of those large data centres. We do not have any other large industries that are drawing on our grid but I fully agree w…

There is a clear plan in place, which is already happening because I have seen it in many businesses, to make sure that where possible, businesses put in place their own measures to make sure they are focused on a zero-sum approach and can produce their own electricity and their own grid through renewable sources. That is where we need to get to and I agree with the Deputy on that.

Every local authority is probably conducting the review of their own county development plan at the moment. It is important in that review that we are all increasing our housing targets and the allocations that we have been given, and that we are making sure land is zoned on land that is appropriate, but also that land can be opened up where it needs to be. To support that, there is a significant fund that has already been provided. More will be provided at a later date but money has already been provided to local …

Unfortunately, I will not be able to give the Deputy a direct response today. I hope the Deputy would agree that this Government, the previous Government, and governments before that have placed a huge emphasis on investment in cancer care, prevention and on identifying it at the earliest stage possible, then providing the treatment, and also investing in new therapies. I know the CAR-T therapy that the Deputy referred to, which is a breakthrough, its significance, and making sure that every patient across the coun…

I met a number of members of men's sheds at the National Ploughing Championships this week and they raised this matter with me directly. I have known and worked with men's sheds locally and at a national level for many years. As the Deputy said, I can only commend the position and role that they have in our communities in addressing the well-being of older men and health issues, and bringing people together in a way that simply did not exist before they were put in place. I commend the teams that operate, deliver, …

As the Deputy outlined, this is actually a really positive story. We have all, the Deputy included, worked closely with parents over the past number of months to make sure that the additional classroom that was needed to ensure that children going from naíonraí were able to go into a Gaelscoil in their local community. That happened. I welcome the work by the Minister, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, to support us in making that happen. My objective now, the same as the Deputy, is to make sure that the classroom, is pr…

I acknowledge the work that has been done to get to this point in trying to make progress on this capital investment. I will raise this directly with the Minister and highlight the Deputy's representations on behalf of the local community and those working in the hospital in ensuring that these type of services can be provided. Again, while I cannot give the Deputy a commitment today, I will raise it directly with the Minister.

Without knowing the details of the contract or what happened, I take what the Deputy is saying. I am not contradicting that, but without knowing the details of what has happened, the timelines and why it has happened, I do not want to comment on something I do not have information on. The Deputy is right. In any business, if somebody is offered a contract and they have signed it, an agreement is in place. It is important that this is followed through on. We also want to make sure for anybody entering into a workfor…

Deputies Healy and Roche have referenced, and I reiterate, the importance of our men's sheds. I acknowledge the significant contribution they make within our communities, particularly for the men who avail of the services. I do not think they see it as services; it is a place for them to go to engage, address and talk about issues that are important to them, as well as engaging in activities. I will raise the Deputy's concerns directly with the Minister. I have no doubt, as there are various strands of funding that…

That is simply not the case. I outlined in a response to a previous Deputy that we have seen costs reduce. We have a 20% cost discount in terms of a living discount. The young adult Leap card is a 50% discount and we have allowed children under nine to travel for free. We have tried to put in targeted measures over the years, while at the same time recognising that the cost of fuel is impacting our public transport sector in the same way it is impacting everybody else. We also want to ensure there is investment in …

I agree with the Deputy on both fronts. I think we all agree that we need to invest more in renewable energies. We need to invest more in offshore wind and in solar of all types, not just on land but on roofs and on our public sector and service buildings. We also need to engage with communities and make sure that we get this right. What the Deputy has outlined in his county is a similar concern that I have in my own county where a huge number of solar farms have been approved and more applications are coming in. I…