I want to raise with the Minister of State a really urgent and time-sensitive issue. As he is well aware, Wicklow town and Rathnew have seen a huge population increase in recent years. We have probably had 800 to 1,000 new homes built there. Very many of them are family homes for young families. We have seen people coming from other counties into the area. I was made aware last week that there is a major issue in regard to primary school places. There are six primary schools in the area: St. Coen's, St. Patrick's, …

I thank the Minister of State. That is very welcome and I think there is a solution here. Hopefully, if he talks to the Minister - I have mentioned it to her myself - we can get someone to visit. In my remaining time, I want to put something else in the education area on the record. We are seeing major issues with the NCSE and a sort of stoppage of processes. I think it is moving to a new process or a new scheme or system. What seems to have happened is that anything that was under consideration has been stalled an…

Is breaking promises how the budgetary process operates?

I welcome the all-island strategic rail review. It is a vital step towards connecting the unconnected throughout the country. Ultimately, however, it is a missed opportunity because it is not ambitious enough. Even if it were fully implemented, the review would still leave us behind the Ireland of 1906. It is not often that we look back at the country 100 years ago and say, "Jesus, if we were only there now with all those railway lines and rail services." That fact alone is damning. Fermanagh has been entirely excl…

Under Standing Order 35(3), I wish to propose an amendment to the Order of Business-----

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business in relation to statements on LNG. It was reported today that An Coimisiún Pleanála has written to the Minister seeking a clear position from Government on commercial LNG. It is time for the Government to stop talking out of both sides of its mouth with regard to LNG. We need clarity on that.

And the LNG issue.

I raise with the Minister the issue of a special school in Bray, County Wicklow. It is Marino special school, which caters for children with complex needs. It is critically overstretched when it comes to its SNA allocation. An exceptional care review was to be conducted on 18 June. That was cancelled on the evening of 16 June by the NCSE and the school was told that care review would happen in the next school year, which is no good to Marino. I was surprised that this is actually happening. Marino special school ha…

How would you know? You were not listening.

Is the Minister aware of the ongoing issues with the provision of Go-Ahead Ireland's bus service in County Wicklow and the fact that its contract is up for renewal? I extend an invitation to him to come to Wicklow and stand at a bus stop down there with me and wait for the bus to come, seeing as invitations are being thrown out this evening.

The roll-out started in January, and there were major problems when it started. It has got better. Unfortunately, there are still problems on many routes, including the L2, L1, L3 and L15. The reality is that people who go to get a bus need to know that it will show up. They need more than to think that it might show up or that it will show up most of the time. A bus needs to show up every single time or else people will not use buses and will not be able to trust the service. Unfortunately, that is what is happeni…

I thank the Minister for that. I acknowledge that there have been improvements, but some routes have been particularly hit. I believe they are those routes in Wicklow. This is one of the problems. When a bus does not show up, it requires the person left standing there to email the NTA, Go-Ahead Ireland or a TD. They usually come to a public representative and say there are problems. When we see that there are multiple problems, we raise the matter here with the Minister. What would be really useful is transparency …

GP services around the country are at breaking point. They are oversubscribed and understaffed. It can often take two or three weeks before people get to see their doctors. I spoke to a 90-year-old woman recently. She has to wait three weeks when she needs an appointment. She has a history of dizziness and falls. Oftentimes, she ends up in accident and emergency, which sends her back to her GP. We see the problems there. I also dealt with a child in the constituency the Tánaiste and I represent who needed chemother…

The name of the programme in question was GP Care for All. Unfortunately, last year they had to come to the Dáil to campaign to be kept open. Clearly, that small proportion of GP services that follow the model we want, and that was agreed under Sláintecare, have to fight to stay open because the Government has not been supporting them sufficiently. I will give the Tánaiste some statistics in response to those he provided. Six in ten GPs across the country cannot take on any new patients. They have closed their book…

The building of 106 social homes in Blessington was halted recently, which makes no sense to me during a housing crisis, where money is apparently not an issue in this case and the homes had planning permission. Will the Tánaiste explain exactly what happened with these homes and when building will start? There is no clarity as to whether or when building will start.

When it comes to housing, can the Government get anything right? It has been planning these rental reforms for months and yet it made an absolute hames of them last week. Even the Taoiseach's Cabinet colleagues could not make sense of them. They were quoted in the media talking about not understanding the rules. For the avoidance of any doubt, there was one simple thing these reforms were to do, and that was to drive rents higher.

That is because driving record rents even higher, according to the Government, is somehow going to bring rents down. Make that make sense. No wonder the Taoiseach's Cabinet colleagues are utterly bewildered. The Taoiseach has claimed repeatedly that housing is the Government's biggest priority. Yet, when it comes to policy announcements, they are chaotic and sloppy. Even today, the Minister conceded that students and those on short-term rental contracts will not be protected from the rental reset, which is an absol…

We offered the State savings scheme that would free up €160 billion, potentially, on deposit in Irish bank accounts.

I ask the Taoiseach to please take those suggestions on board.

Yes, the Government is taking decisions, but it is taking all the wrong decisions. That is the problem and that is what we are saying to it. It needs to completely rethink its policy and needs to start prioritising people who want to be homeowners, people who want to be able to afford the rent rather than the investors. That is the crux of the problem. The Government's policies are being directed by the investors. The Taoiseach spoke about never having a real opportunity to tease things out here. That is because ev…