The centre was able to pay a private company to represent it, is able to pay other workers a pay increase but it will not implement the WRC adjudication.

Double child benefit payments should not just be for Christmas as the Minister referred to in her Christmas babies speech. They should be for childhood. That is why the Government should have implemented the second tier of child benefit recommended by the ESRI and many other organisations fighting for children's rights. That is why, in order to make real progress and reduce child poverty, we needed to see the increase for a qualified child go up by €6 per week for children under 12 and €15 per week for children age…

My contribution will be an overview of the budget and its context. It was a huge opportunity for the Government to examine the fundamentals in our society that need to be addressed. Instead, this budget is the final nail in the coffin for any idea that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party Government has any plans or intentions to address the problems the country is facing. They are throwing money at people and hoping they will not realise that when these once-off payments are gone - even though they are welco…

I also support Cara and her call for the optional protocol of the UNCRPD to be ratified. I ask the Tánaiste to do that before the end of this Dáil's term. I want to follow up on an email I received from a constituent about the fact that the fuel allowance has not increased since 2020. Between 2020 and 2022, household energy bills more than doubled, totally eroding the efficiency of these targeted supports. The energy allowances now barely cover standing charges. In that time, we saw those living in energy poverty r…

It has not increased the actual amount.

I refer to targeted supports.

They were once-off payments that do not deal with the issue.

I hope this Bill is the first step in counteracting what I think is a process of profit-chasing by the banks by removing vital in-person infrastructure and services. I hope it is the start of the urgent action needed to ensure everyone has access to cash and banking services and is able to use cash across the economy. Most people have felt the effects of year after year of branch closures across the State. For many people, it is now extremely difficult to find a branch nearby, let alone one that offers a full range…

Shame.

Yes, I do.

That is why we have the problem.

I was listening intently to the debate this morning on the tenant in situ scheme. I need to ask the Minister a specific question. I have been dealing with the Housing Agency. A family living in my estate is approved for the Housing Agency's cost-rental tenant in situ scheme. The two-bedroom house went on the market for €290,000. It appears the Housing Agency bid for it but a private bid came in for €340,000, ironically at the same cost as the controversial bike shed. The Housing Agency could not go any higher with …

Yes.

I do not.

The Apple tax ruling shows who this country is run for. This is a country run by the rich for the rich. We are a wealthy country but working-class people and communities and rural communities see very little of this. The top 1% in Ireland has €232 billion in wealth whereas the bottom 50% owns €9 billion. There is an inequality crisis in Ireland. There is a deep need for change so ordinary people get their fair share. While Apple spent decades paying less than 1% tax on billions worth of profits, with a doff of the …

I am sharing time with my three colleagues. I am supporting the Private Members' motion from Sinn Féin on this childcare payment, as I would support any Private Members' motion calling for more money to be put into people's pockets. Childcare is one of the biggest costs to working families and it is a growing cost that is pricing parents, particularly women, out of employment. It is like a second mortgage or rent for people. Like mortgages and rent, under this Government it keeps going up. This is against a backdro…

This is a very specific question to specific issues in my own area in Dublin 12. I would welcome the Minister of State’s response.

I have looked back at the announcements made last December when the previous Minister of State, Deputy Madigan, stated that the Department would increase services into the schools. The Minister of State said the NCSE announced a new campaign on 16 October 2023 to recruit additional special education needs organisers and this recruitment is well under way. Can she tell me how many additional SENOs have been recruited since October 2023? She said that planning and work with schools to set up to 400 additional special…

I know we are quite tight for time. Perhaps the Minister of State will come back on a few of these things in a few minutes or later on. There have been no NCSE applications in a number of secondary schools in the Dublin 12 area. Will the Minister of State use the section 37A process on those schools? I think she knows the names of the schools. I gave them to her as part of the question. Drimnagh, Crumlin and Walkinstown are ever-growing areas with new families coming in. We hope to see thousands of families coming …

According to Irish Water-Uisce Éireann's 2023 annual report, published last month, there was €10.57 million paid in bonuses to the company's staff, a 7% increase on 2022. We know from previous annual reports these bonuses are stacked towards the top earners. In 2021, bonuses averaged €6,560 per staff member, yet the top earners received €19,171 each. There was also an increase in hospitality spend from €54,000 in 2022 to €129,000 in 2023. Last January, Ireland was convicted in the European Court of Justice of havin…