I welcome the news announced by the Minister. I was honoured to be on the Joint Committee on International Surrogacy. There was a lot of work involved and we heard many families speak about their children. I am delighted the Minister is now working with other Departments to get the legislation through as soon as possible. That is important and it is good news. I also welcome that publicly funded IVF treatment will be available for the first time for families who need it. It is important that the Minister has given …

I know how hard the Minister of State is working but I can only say that we have enormous issues in Carlow. The CDNT in Carlow has over 200 children on its waiting list for autism assessment. I understand that children are taken off the list by the CDNT per date order unless prioritised as a high risk. I can correct that if need be but that is my understanding. I am sure the Minister of State will correct me if I am wrong. These children are getting lost in the system. It is important that we get these assessments …

The Select Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media has completed its consideration of the National Cultural Institutions (National Concert Hall) (Amendment) Bill 2022 and has made amendments thereto.

We are actively telling people that if they are having difficulty with their energy bills to seek assistance from their community welfare office. There is a high number of applications for supplementary welfare allowance. Timeframes for the decisions on claims are dependent on the volume of claims presenting and, therefore, more and more people are waiting. These are people who need this support now. The social welfare offices are doing their best but people are finding it hard to get through on the phones to speak…

After the three years we have just been through, capital funding for investment in tourism cannot come quickly enough for tourism businesses in my constituency. For the information of the House, Carlow once served as the administrative capital of the Lordship of Ireland under King Edward III from 1361 to 1374. So I can say with confidence, we were once the capital of this fair land. Yet we lag behind other counties when it comes to spend. Carlow is the least visited county in Ireland, but we have such wealth in tou…

What are the plans to review the community employment, CE, schemes?

I thank the Minister of State. CE schemes are designed to help those in long-term unemployment, who are disadvantaged or who find it impossible to get mainstream work to have a job in their local communities. They provide childcare help, elderly care and drug rehabilitation services. The €5 extra for CE scheme workers in the budget was a modest increase and as a result it is difficult to find people to participate in the scheme. I have raised this both in the Dáil and at my party's recent think-in, held in Mullinga…

I am aware much work has been done. We can look at the rural social scheme and the eligibility for Tús being extended to persons in receipt of disability payments. There is the new flexibility to allow CE schemes to recruit eligible candidates directly to fill 30% of places. However, we must be practical. The reason communities cannot get people on CE schemes is because CE does not pay them, first of all. If you have to travel 15 or 20 miles to where that scheme is you are losing money, though I do not even know th…

However, everyone I am talking to lately in all the different areas have come to me looking for CE scheme workers and cannot get them.

I met foster mothers in Carlow-Kilkenny yesterday and what I heard was worrying. Although these foster families do an incredible job on behalf of the State, I felt the State should do more for them. Foster care allowance has not increased since 2009 and if the same children were to be put into State care the weekly cost per child would be €6,000. I heard a foster parent was told to go out and get a job to pay for specialised equipment for a child with special needs and I also heard in their voices a fear that if th…

I thank the Minister of State. I know only too well the impact the energy crisis is having on families and businesses across the country. Families who have never asked for help before have been coming to my clinics. There is a fear, and that is something on which we need to try to work. Schools and many section 39 organisations have contacted me about funding, particularly in terms of the upkeep and what it will cost. Many day care services have contacted me. St. Clare's Hospitality Kitchen and other such groups re…

In Carlow town, we are so very fortunate to have the VISUAL Centre for Contemporary Art & The George Bernard Shaw Theatre, one of Ireland's leading contemporary arts spaces. It opened in 2009. With its beautiful gallery space and performance area, it is an incredible amenity to have. VISUAL houses a 335-seat theatre and the largest white-cube gallery space in the country. It produces a programme of both commissioned and existing high-quality national and international contemporary art, plus a host of performances, …

I thank the Minister for her reply and the Minister, Deputy Martin for her funding for the outdoor public space at the Carlow Exchange in Carlow town. This is beautiful for the community. I am aware of the €210,000 awarded by the Arts Council, which I welcome, but again I feel that this answer is not a good one in the sense that we have a fabulous building and a crisis with the cost of living and heating and electrical costs, and the different factors associated with that. We are now in a position, having gone thro…

I wish to speak about funding for a community build on the Tullow Road in Carlow. The council and the Government are working on a jointly funded €2.5 million project. The project comes under Part 8 planning, and it has been approved for a hub. For 35 years there have been many high-density housing developments in the Tullow Road area of Carlow. Unfortunately, little or no social, cultural, green or economic infrastructure has been built to accommodate the increase in the population. This has contributed to isolatio…

-----on this as it falls within both of their areas.

First, I welcome Wendy and all from Bluestack, Donegal. Well done to all. I wish you all well. When I am up visiting, I hope I get into your new café. I heard you have a beautiful new café. I hope you have a lovely day here in Leinster House. It is fabulous. Take care, and welcome. The Rural Independent Group was in possession. There are four speakers who have 12 and a half minutes, if Deputy O'Donoghue would like to start.

I thank the Minister of State and welcome the Bill. It is important that social care workers applying for registration are required to meet the same safe standard as all other CORU professions. I welcome that work is being done by the Social Care Workers Registration Board to ensure that the registration of social care workers will open on 30 November 2023. I wish this had happened in 2022, as promised. I have concerns about the hundreds of social care students who do not know whether their degrees will be accredit…

While we all welcome Housing for All, there are a few challenges in it. I will talk about Carlow, my home town where we do not have a full-time homeless prevention officer or co-ordinator. We only have contract posts and that is far below what is acceptable. Contract posts are an issue in local authorities and one to which I will return another day. Increasing housing supply and delivering sustainable and affordable homes for people is the Government's top priority but the collapse of the private rental market is a…

It was great to have the budget on Tuesday. Many people contacted me to say it was very good and they were happy with much of it. One of the areas I welcome was the €110 million promised to a range of health funded bodies including nursing homes, hospices and section 39 organisations. My understanding is that it is a once-off payment. How much would be ring-fenced for section 39 organisations that deliver great services across the disability services, older person services and mental health services? When I meet wi…

Like other speakers, I have spoken to many people today who said this is a good budget. I welcome the measures for families, including in childcare. The cost of childcare is one of the main issues I have been working on in recent years. Today's measure has changed things and is a good support for families. We spoke about health and education. Primary school children will have free books in 2023. It will be important to look at post-primary education in that respect. All of this funding is welcome. I welcome the mea…