I thank the Minister for Education for being present in the Chamber and the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this Topical Issue matter. I was extraordinarily honoured to welcome the Minister to the Cork East constituency. I wish to convey my gratitude and thanks to her and to her officials and advisers who travelled to the constituency for a very successful visit. We had an engagement with secondary school principals on issues around inbound children who are coming from the conflict in Ukraine and staying in Ireland. …

I acknowledge the contribution that has been made. I certainly will go through it and feed that back to the schools with which we are engaging and are in discussions. I appreciate the time and effort the Minister is putting in into this. It cannot be understated how much of a challenge this is for the Civil Service. We face considerable criticism but this a very unique and new challenge we have to deal with. I emphasise the need for urgent and rapid progress to be made on planning for the new academic year to give …

First, I will respond if I may. It is important that some very valid points have been made by members of Government parties and, indeed, by the Opposition as well. I am giving my own perspective to the Government as somebody who lives on a dairy farm in the very heart of rural Ireland in the constituency of Cork East. There are significant worries about some aspects of what the Government is planning. It is important for us to address those issues. I am also speaking from the perspective of a young person looking a…

I welcome the opportunity to participate in this engagement with the Minister and Ministers of State from the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine. I welcome the work that has been undertaken in the Department. As a Deputy for the constituency of Cork East and somebody who lives on a dairy farm, I would like to highlight a number of issues with the three of them today. It is greatly welcomed that the Minister and both Ministers of State are here in the Chamber. I wholeheartedly agree with the point made by th…

I wish to ask about the work the Government is undertaking on the establishment of the media commission, including the recruitment of staff. I would appreciate if the Minister of State could give the House some information on this important topic.

I thank the Minister of State for his informed response. I welcome that the legislation will provide for the establishment of a multi-person media commission. It is important that we realise we are living in an extraordinarily different time in terms of how people consume media and information. It is timely and perhaps a little bit behind time that the State is starting a body of work in this area. Urgency must be shown in this regard. Unfortunately, many younger people are susceptible to potential misinformation t…

I appreciate the responses the Minister of State has given me today and the reassurance that this work is being undertaken by the Minister and the Department. I thank the Minister of State for his ongoing engagement. He has referred many times to the sports capital grant programme. We all look forward to those appeals being finalised. I look forward to further discussion with him in that regard.

As the Minister and Government will be aware, there has been a major increase in costs for the agriculture sector. There has been a 127% increase in fertiliser costs, feed costs are up by more than 20% and energy costs are up by more than 30%. This is hugely concerning and costly for members of the agricultural community. Will the Minister investigate innovative ways to cut costs for farmers, particularly with respect to the SEAI and energy costs? For example, bills for dairy farmers could be in excess of €5,000 to…

Will the Minister outline any work that is being undertaken in the context of the community sponsorship scheme and whether consideration is being given to enabling Ukrainian nationals in communities to access the scheme?

I welcome the work the Government has undertaken since this crisis began. As the Minister noted, it is only 28 days since the invasion took place and we are undertaking a multimillion euro and multifaceted approach to dealing with many of the concerns that have been raised. More could, perhaps, be done but we will get there in time. The events taking place internationally are deeply concerning, as I am sure he acknowledges. The community sponsorship scheme was used for the first time a number of years ago at the ti…

I have a couple of additional points based on observations I made on my community in the weeks since this crisis began. Throughout rural Ireland, we see families, including young mothers and children, arriving. We need to do more to find suitable accommodation. Many places in rural Ireland could easily be renovated and brought up to a standard whereby safe accommodation could be provided, but conservation architects cause many issues when it comes to renovating many derelict buildings in towns and villages, as many…

I thank the Minister of State. I want to raise the important issue of the fuel concerns affecting all sectors in the road transport sector in Ireland, in particular smaller private bus operators. There is not a community in Ireland that is not serviced by the work undertaken by many coach hire companies. The work they do to promote tourism is very much appreciated throughout rural Ireland, as is the work they do with sporting clubs and other organisations in our communities that heavily rely on the private bus sect…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I appreciate the information that has been brought to light and that the Minister, Deputy Ryan, is aware of it. That is welcome. It is good to hear about the extensions. However, putting it in an overall picture, we must remember that more than 41 million passengers are taken to school by coach operators. That is a staggering statistic that indicates the scale of the service provided to people across the country. Two thirds of operators have experienced fuel cost increas…

I would like to ask the Minister of State to give the House an update on work that has been undertaken by his Department on wastewater treatment facilities. Wastewater treatment is a key part of the development of any new housing infrastructure but it is a particular issue in my own constituency, where many housing developments are being held up in multiple settings. Particular areas of concern are Midleton, Youghal, Killeagh, Mitchelstown and Carrigtohill. I would appreciate if the Minister of State could furnish …

I thank the Minister of State for the response. Unfortunately in my own constituency there are many pertinent questions that still need to be answered. That has been the case for a very long time, preceding the Minister of State's entry into government and the entry into the Department of the Ministers present. I want to do a lot of work on this issue because we need it to build new homes in my constituency. Many younger families cannot find suitable, affordable rental accommodation but aspire to buying their own h…

I acknowledge that commitment from the Minister and thank him. I hope the visit can be arranged as soon as possible. The reason I wanted to bring this to the floor of the Dáil is that it has been enormously frustrating trying to get this issue moved on. I have many concerns with the management structure of Irish Water as an entity, how we as parliamentarians and public representatives can have any input into the work it does and how accountable it is to this House and the political system when it comes to inadequac…

I thank An Taoiseach for his update to the House with regard to the NESC. I wish to ask about the issue of housing, which was an important part of the body's work. In the context of the upcoming mortgage rules review by the Central Bank, I encourage the NESC to undertake a body of work to do analysis for long-term renters in our society, of whom tens of thousands of young working professionals are in that category, about how it may be able to lend money under a more sustainable economic policy from the Central Bank…

First, I would like to say how grateful we are for the support we have received from the Department. I thank the Minister and, in particular, the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, for visiting the constituency. In terms of this particular grant funding, many clubs are now asking about what the plan of the Department will be. I would very much appreciate it if both the Minister and the Minister of State would be able to provide us with some detail on timelines for the funding to be allocated as well as the process…

The appeals process is a delicate matter for many clubs and the status of appeals will depend on the nature of the errors in the applications that need to be amended. Obviously, some clubs made very minor amendments, many of them relating to appendices 4 or 5, as the Minister of State will be aware. I ask that a strong degree of leniency be given to enable them to resolve those issues. One example with which the Minister of State will be familiar relates to Fermoy GAA's application, on which we are working hard. It…

I acknowledge the presence of the Ukrainian diplomats and their ambassador, H.E. Larysa Gerasko. They are welcome to the House. It is appalling to see what is happening in the sovereign state that is Ukraine. I have had the good fortune of meeting many members of the Ukrainian community. I had my first interaction with people who were not from Ireland when in primary school. I went to a small rural school of just 39 pupils. It was my first interaction with people who were not born and raised in Ireland. I have very…