I welcome this opportunity to discuss online safety. It is long overdue. It is a topic of interest to all of us in this Chamber, every parent in the country, every teacher, adult, teen and child. I ask that the Government work in a collaborative manner on this issue. It is too important for partisan politics. The opinions and input from all in the Opposition must be given due regard. The Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport must be front and centre in this process, along with input from the C…

The Disability Act 2005 states an assessment of need must take place within six months. The Government cannot get its act together on a 20-year-old Act. The response to my most recent parliamentary question on this matter stated that of the 1,200 or more children in Louth waiting for assessments, 250 have been waiting for over 12 months and 350 have waited between six and 12 months. The HSE stated the statutory timeframes are not being met in Louth due to limited staff resources and an unprecedented increase in the…

We can all agree that search and rescue crews are among the bravest men and women on these shores. They are willing to put their lives on the line day in, day out to go beyond what would be deemed reasonable by the average person to save lives, sometimes in the worst weather imaginable. All they are asking for is to be treated fairly and to have their true working hours reflected in their pay and conditions. This is not the first time this matter has been brought to the attention of the Government or that of the IA…

Drogheda is the largest town in the country, with an expectation of becoming Ireland’s next city. The design of Government policy has meant it has become a commuter town, with little to no investment in infrastructure to serve it. Almost 20 years ago, a train station for Drogheda's northside was included in the Drogheda northern environs plan. To this day, it remains an objective of the Louth county development plan. Notwithstanding the already high population figures we have, we are due to see a population boom in…

Yes.

It has been clear for quite some time that this Government has been mismanaging the entire IPAS process and accommodation. Concerns raised by the Opposition and civil society groups have been dismissed by this Government. It has buried its head in the sand, stating how much it is spending to fix the problem, which only continually gets worse. It is solely responsible for the mess and it will not be remedied under this Government, which makes statements in the press but then takes a hands-off or do-nothing approach.…

A local headline in Drogheda today reads, "28 people could have died", following the horrific arson attack on the George's Street IPAS accommodation centre. If it had not been for the swift intervention of An Garda Síochána and Drogheda fire services, families and children, including a three-week-old baby, would not have escaped with their lives. One family had no way out of the top-floor room in which they were trapped other than by going down the stairs that were ravaged with flames. Concerns have been raised abo…

With so much money in the State coffers, the Government had the perfect opportunity yesterday to set sport on the right path for the future. It was a striker's dream, an open goal with no opponents and the Government just needed to do its job and put the ball away. Instead, it scuffed its shot, kicked the turf and missed the net in an open goal. I fail to see the logic or rationale as to why the Government would short-change football academies by only allocating €3 million instead of the €4.45 million requested. Th…

I cannot emphasise enough just how important academies are to the future of Irish football. At the very top of the scale, we just need to see where our national team is right now in the international rankings and look at recent defeats to so-called lesser teams. At grassroots level, the opportunities that were there before Brexit no longer exist. Irish players cannot go across the water to larger academies and learn their trades like how it used to be done. Those young academy players are here. They want to play; t…

The programme for Government stated that the Government will explore new mechanisms for the creation of football academies with the FAI and the League of Ireland, so I am not going to stand here and give the Minister plaudits for doing what he has committed to doing. The FAI pre-budget submission asks for support for League of Ireland academies, which is what my question this morning is about. This will create a total of 81 new jobs in clubs around the country before a jump to €8 million annually with the hope of c…

I must start my contribution to these statements on Gaza by mentioning the peaceful Global Sumud Flotilla, our friend and party colleague Senator Chris Andrews, and all who are on the vital humanitarian mission. In the early hours of this morning, an armed vessel with no lights on approached the flotilla. Those on board the flotilla ships believe that this is an Israeli military vessel that is trying to intimidate them, damaging their communications systems and doing very dangerous manoeuvres circling the lead boat…

Last week, when I saw that statements on sport were on the agenda for this week I was particularly pleased. When I saw the change to the much longer title, with a much narrower focus, for these statements, the realisation dawned that the Government benches were going to use this as an opportunity to be their own cheerleaders, focus on the positive and ignore the bigger picture and the significant challenges our sporting communities face. That said, I welcome the opportunity to highlight the positive effects that gr…

Insurance costs in this State defy belief. The reasons given by insurers for costs being so high defy logic and are beyond rational realisation. However, the Government will not tackle them and their obvious profiteering despite mountains of evidence that should demand action from any government, anywhere, that really has the best interests of its citizens at heart. Sinn Féin, from the Opposition benches and in the committee rooms, battled hard to get reforms introduced that should have seen the price of insurance …

The starkest example of how unimportant child poverty and homelessness are to this Government is in its amendment to this motion. The Government's response mentions reducing child poverty but nowhere does it mention eradicating it entirely. The response also mentions that this Government has announced a target of 3% or less of consistent poverty to be achieved by the end of 2030. Does the Government believe it is acceptable for up to 3% of Irish children to live in consistent poverty? Will it make that its campaign…

I raised this issue directly with the Tánaiste last week and, due to the level of calls I have received from parents and guardians across Louth and east Meath, unfortunately I feel the need to speak on it again. Every year, the Government knows how many school buses are needed, how many seats are needed and what routes are required. Every year, we end up having the same discussion, highlighting the children in each of our constituencies, including those with special educational needs, let down by this Government. T…

I want to raise the debacle that is the school transport scheme, in particular the scheme for children with special educational needs in Louth and east Meath. My constituency office is inundated with parents, some worried and some livid, as their children have not received a place on the school bus, even though they received their tickets some months ago. Very late notice was given to parents, in most cases on the Friday afternoon, with school due to start on the following Monday. This has caused major distress to …

I will use my time to highlight an unbelievable situation. A DEIS school in my constituency was originally denied the recommended SNA allocation. The reason given to the school for this decision was a freeze or cap on SNA recruitment. When the Minister was questioned in March about this ridiculous freeze, we were told that if the school feels it has insufficient SNA support to meet the needs of its students, an application can be submitted to the NCSE requesting a review of its allocation. This school had undergone…

We welcome the progress secured by the LGBTQI+ community in recent years. The rights obtained were hard fought for over many decades by activists who refused to be deterred in their fight to be recognised as equal before the law. Despite the clear progress we have seen, in many areas the struggle for full LGBTQI+ equality is far from over. Many areas of inequality remain and more work is required in order to ensure that true equality is achieved. It is as important we have statements like this in 2025 as it has eve…

Hear hear.

In May, I hosted a public endometriosis meeting in Drogheda. Since then, my office has been inundated with women contacting me by phone, email and in person. Gemma, a 32-year-old nurse from Louth, is one of these women. She asked me to share her story. Gemma says: My symptoms of endometriosis were prevalent from the first period I had. The bleeds were heavy, excruciatingly painful, causing me to regularly miss days at schools. I had scans, there would be cysts, I would be sent home and told to take more pain relief…