I know people were happy with the reduction. It is swings and roundabouts as to whether the total level went up or down, but it is what it is. No one in this House can deny the challenges students face. Of course, there are students who do not pay because of SUSI. I appreciate that the threshold for SUSI increased, but there are students stuck in the middle. This is the challenge. We have heard of students sleeping in cars or dropping out because they cannot afford it. Some students are working almost full-time job…

The Minister is right about students sleeping in their car whose parents earn over €100,000. While €100,000 is a huge amount of money, the difficulty and challenge are when there are several children in the family also in college or doing things. That puts pressure on family budgets. We have also spoken in this Chamber about students who are alienated from their parents but cannot access SUSI grants because their income is based on what their parents earn. We need to iron that out. While we are talking about a smal…

I thank Deputy Murphy for bringing this Bill forward. It is so important. Hare coursing is called a blood sport. That is where we should start. In what world is that acceptable, a blood sport? Think of what that actually means. What previous contributors have said has really landed with me today. We need to look at anything that is called a blood sport and realise that maybe in 2026, we are a little bit outdated. We are constantly talking about improving the lives of animals in this country. I am a city TD, as ever…

In today's Irish Independent we read of the devastating number of women, 1,872, who fled abuse and tried to get a refuse space but could not. The Istanbul Convention states that we should have 500 refuge spaces but we only have 172. Safe Ireland's report outlines that we do not have enough to support women who are fleeing. When a woman has made up her mind to flee abuse, it is the most dangerous time. We need to do more. We need an urgent debate in this House about this topic.

I wish to raise the issue of the growing concern in Ireland's academic community with regard to the future of funding for arts, humanities and social science research under the new Research Ireland strategy. Before getting into the details, I note that I come from an arts background. My primary degree was in history, sociology and English, my next was in sociology and I have a doctorate in education, so I am clearly a little biased on this. I really feel the value of the arts, social sciences and humanities in term…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I appreciate it. I am very happy to hear that international best practice will be applied in this situation. I know from my engagement with PhD researchers that Ireland is not on a par with other countries throughout Europe or internationally. There are challenges with regard to the stipends, although I know they have increased over the past while. There is also the issue of employee status. I am speaking about PhD researchers as distinct from doctoral students, which…

I thank Deputy Bacik and the Labour Party for this Bill. I welcome the visitors to the Public Gallery. I am sure it is not easy for them to listen to the back and forth on something that should be an easy and straightforward thing to do. The Social Democrats welcome this Bill. We are disappointed in the Government for the six-month delay. As has been said, perhaps some people do not have six months, and have waited a very long time for redress. As I have listened to this debate, it has struck me how many debates ar…

I support this motion. I am thinking of the thousands of families across Ireland whose lives are absolutely devastated by the defective concrete blocks crisis. I pay tribute to Deputy Charles Ward for his relentless work on this issue. Since he came in through this door, he has gone at this issue every single week. He could not have worked harder on this. The people who elected him to Dáil Éireann must be very proud of the work he is doing, so well done and keep going. I have no doubt that the Deputy will keep goin…

I also want to raise the Women's Aid annual report for this year. It shows a 33% increase in domestic violence disclosures and a significant proportion of those - almost 5,000 - are children. A long time ago I worked in the UK with a domestic violence project. What I see is that it is just getting worse. I do not want to play politics with this. Every single person in this House has a responsibility to work together to make sure we increase the supports to women and increase the punishment for the people who are pe…

Why is Pride important and why do we march every year? I was contemplating these questions over the last while. For as long as people are being attacked for who they are, are not able to be who they are and are targeted for their sexuality or identity, we will need to continue marching. That is why. I look forward to Saturday. Verbal abuse of the LGBTQ+ community is a daily, casual occurrence. It is a chipping away of safety, security and belonging. An Garda Síochána said there has been a rise in hate crimes over t…

In my constituency, there are a number of children at risk of deportation. They are too young to have known anywhere else and they are going to be ripped from the communities in which they have friends, classmates and all the people who care for and love them. This time last year, a number of children from my constituency were deported before the end of the school year, which was very traumatic for everybody. This year, I do not know whether the deportations will happen during the school year. I asked last year tha…

The summer provision programme has been very difficult this year. It used to not be difficult to implement but this year it has been particularly difficult. I have spoken with parents and principals who feel very disrespected. They have had to assume an extra burden this year, and the stress has really been really unacceptable. The issues include the short timeframe that the portal was opened. It was then reopened thanks to pressure from Members, including the Tánaiste. They are also upset about the business case m…

Congratulations to Deputy Quinlivan and everybody on the disability matters committee for this great document. I have read it. There is so much in it. It must have been a huge amount of work. It is very thorough. My colleague Deputy Liam Quaide is not able to speak today but he would love to have been able to do so. One of the things that struck me with this report is that in schools, education and in this place, we often silo things. The disability matters committee has done a wonderful report. We in the education…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for the making of regulations by the Minister for Health providing for nutritional standards and related requirements for school meals provided under school meal schemes funded by moneys provided directly or indirectly by the State or local authorities; to provide for the enforcement of such regulations by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland; and to provide for related matters. As this is my first Bill in Dáil Éireann, I am both very prou…

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

I thank my colleague Deputy Gibney for the work she has done on this motion. I congratulate Deputy Ennis on his maiden speech. It is a great honour for people to be able to come here and I congratulate him. Football is important to many people. This game has involved many people who would never watch a programme about politics or tune into anything to do with politics. This means a lot to people. The roll-out of this game in this country or another country has ignited a flame for many people who probably just go to…

Dublin 8 is a magnificent place of history. It is where I live. I am very proud to live there and am extremely proud to represent the area. There are so many places in Dublin 8 that tourists come to visit, including St. Patrick's Cathedral, Christchurch, Kilmainham Gaol, the Royal Hospital Kilmainham, IMMA, the Guinness Storehouse, Dublinia, Marsh's Library, the Liberties and the National War Memorial Gardens. I could go on because there are loads of them. We are really lucky but not every part of the history of th…

There are continuing problems in the area of special education in this country. We now have an issue with summer provision, which used to be called July provision. There are children who are still locked out of that. They will not be able to attend school by day because of staffing issues. They will also not be able to apply for home-based provision because that portal has closed. We need an urgent debate in this House about what is going on in special education.

I would like to have a conversation about the Minister's plans to publish information on the number of children awaiting appropriate school places on a regular basis. This would be similar to how the relevant Department issues the homeless figures every month. It is in order to show transparency as to where the Department of education is with regard to being able to tell everybody how many children throughout the country do not have appropriate school places.

I am delighted that there is portal methodology and all of that. It will allow us to get a handle on what the picture is. In the context of children who have not yet got a placement, the question remains as whether the schools involved need new buildings. If they do, how long will that take? Where will the children involved be housed or educated while that is happening? Did the Minister of State have to use his powers under section 37 to ensure that schools open appropriate places? We still do not know what the num…