I thank the Minister for his response. I welcome the work that has been going into this and the efforts that this Government and the previous Government have made in putting forward the hot meals programme. Ultimately, it is there to provide meals to people who might not be in a situation to get them otherwise. This is definitely something we need to encourage. It is a great idea but we do need to monitor waste. In fairness, the Minister's team is working on that. As I have said, the Minister is providing the budge…

Today, I want to talk about something that I firmly believe in and have worked in. I have seen the effort involved in our own communities. The Minister of State has been leading on this since taking up his position in recent months. I have met him a number of times in north Kildare and know that he has been all around the country because he believes in what he is doing. He believes in the importance of social enterprises and in this Trading for Impact project. I met him in Clane and he will be coming to Lullymore s…

The issue that we are here to speak about is something that has been a national topic for many of us who have stood outside schools recently. We saw the importance of pensions and what they mean to caretakers and school secretaries. What we are talking about here, however, is across the board; it represents a sea change in how we look at pensions for the nation. From a State perspective, we need to give out pensions where we can, but what we must also do is look beyond that. This is what we are trying to do here. W…

It was not solely my office that was inundated. I am sure the Minister of State's own office and, indeed, all constituency offices across the country were inundated with similar issues. Having listened to other Deputies on this topic, I am left wondering how it is such a big problem every year. It seems to catch us almost by surprise. Here we are, school buses are needed and people need places. Unfortunately, it repeats itself all the time. We get the same calls. We know we should have bus drivers over 70. Everybod…

I would also like to reference Patrick Gerard Murphy. I knew Patrick as a fellow councillor. I went to many conferences with him over the years and had a pint and a bit of chat. He was always one for a bit of back-and-forth in the best way possible. He will be sadly missed. I was very sorry to hear about him yesterday. What I want to reference today is Ireland's energy supply. As we know, it is one of the nation's key challenges. Demand is rising, as was mentioned earlier in the context of the increase in our popul…

Sometimes, I come to the House and I am not exactly sure of the relevance of individual Bills or of what negative point the Opposition might make that day. The Opposition could not make a negative point today because this Bill speaks to the core of something we talk about in the country so often. We talk about money being spent, who spent it, why it was spent, who is to blame and where the accountability is. Unfortunately, we sometimes see increases in budgets but we do not necessarily get the returns. On Leaders' …

I wish to raise the issue of safety on our roads and, indeed, footpaths in relation to e-scooters and e-bikes. Last week, while coaching our under-14 hurlers in Leixlip, I noticed that there was an ambulance and a police car at an incident on the road behind us. I went up to investigate. I saw a nine-year-old boy being carried away in an ambulance. He had been cycling his bike and minding his own business, along with other people, on the footpath at 7 p.m. in Leixlip. An e-scooter had come along and, obviously, hit…

The issues I wish to raise relate specifically to our competitiveness across the EU, especially with the technological hat we have on as a country. I can see it especially in my own constituency with Intel in north Kildare. We are in a very lucky position as a country to be at the forefront of speaking at these EU summits. It is something we should not take for granted. Many people from this country over many years have contributed well and our standing across the EU is in high regard because of them. Indeed, they …

Today, I am delighted to resume statements on the all-island strategic rail review recommendations. In my constituency of Kildare North, many people depend on rail transport to commute to work and I have been one of those over the years and continue to be. People living in towns such as Naas, Maynooth, Kilcock, Leixlip and Celbridge all commute daily. I commend the work the National Transport Authority, NTA, has done so far on building a strong rail service to our capital city. Over the years as my career has conti…

I welcome the O'Regan family from Dublin via Cork and thank them all for coming to the Gallery. It is good to see them. We are speaking about the Middle East which is obviously a complex issue, as outlined by Deputy McGrath. The Government has done a huge amount of work internationally, from a diplomatic perspective, and has put a huge effort into discussing and raising the issue in a way that has not happened elsewhere in the western world. We have shown leadership as a Government. Indeed, our leaders have shown l…

My question for the Minister of State today is on behalf of the people of north Kildare, and indeed the entire county of Kildare. What plans does the Department have to increase local government funding to County Kildare, considering its rapid population growth, to meet its demands? The demands of the people there have been directly affected by the decrease in the provision of services.

I thank the Minister of State. The simple fact is that the population of Kildare has increased by 50% in the last 20 years. Although the State has grown, Kildare and especially north Kildare has outpaced that and grown rapidly. Unfortunately, the delivery of funding to the local government in Kildare, Kildare County Council, has not been kept at the same pace. That means we do not have the delivery of facilities we should have and which nearby counties have. Kildare has been at the lowest spend per capita among the…

I wholeheartedly welcome that number and €5 million extra per year is welcome news. I am also conscious that the LPT is ultimately paid by the people in the county. Much of that money is hard earned and it is welcome that we are now in a position where more of it can be retained. This money will go back towards the playgrounds, the parks and the delivery of basic services that we have all around the county. We know that we need to do more. The population is growing. Our estates are full. We can discuss a lot about …

I will focus on the issue at hand and what we are here to discuss. I came here to welcome the Bill in a changing world from the Government benches. As a country, we are familiar historically with terrorist activity; we have seen it on our own shores. We have seen waves of it throughout Europe and America over the recent years and especially in the 21st century. That terrorism has taken many different forms, such as cyberterrorism, online radicalisation and online glorification of terrorism. In my lifetime alone, we…

There is a serious issue with the insufficient central funding Kildare County Council gets. Since I started in the Dáil I have raised deficits in Kildare covering a range of issues and especially impacting due to our growing population. These include the lack of gardaí, lack of childcare and even the water infrastructure that seems to be crumbling in our areas. In 2022 the population in Kildare was 246,000. That was a 50% increase in 20 years. We are outpacing the national averages. Despite this growth, Kildare Cou…

Can we get a contactless payment system in the interim? Obviously, the timelines have been highlighted. It might be another two, three or four years before things happen. Could we look at putting in place an interim measure that whereby people could use app to make contactless payments? Coming from north Kildare, it does not seem reasonable that we should expect it to take three or four years.

The reason I bring up contactless payments is because I commute from north Kildare. As someone who has used buses and trains over years, I have seen the improvements in the public transport system. At the same time, contactless payments are something we have seen in many other countries and cities. A lot of people would have used them in different places. I see no reason Dublin and Ireland should be any different. That is the reason I tabled my question, but I also wanted to speak to an interim measure we could use…

The issue I raise today is facing a lot of towns across the country, especially in my constituency and town. In the likes of Leixlip and neighbouring towns like Kilcock, we see the centre of our towns facing dereliction and us having to do them up. We have vacant homes and towns that need regeneration. I want to draw a couple of key points that were brought up in the programme for Government. We need to establish a new towns and cities infrastructure investment fund to replace the urban regeneration and development…

I note that the Minister, Deputy Chambers, who is responsible for infrastructure, is beside the Taoiseach. The issue I raise today is the need for a second bridge in Celbridge. Celbridge, a town very close to where I live, has required a second bridge for decades. The population was 1,500 when the current infrastructure was put in place. It now has a population of 23,000. When I was a councillor, it was put down on our local area plan in 2017 that a bridge would have to be installed before any further development w…

I thank the Minister for his reply. As someone who grew up just after third level education was made free, I benefited, as did many of my peers and our parents and families. That opened up third level education, which might not have been a possibility before. We have seen those benefits. Obviously, that has evolved and changed over the last number of years. It is incumbent on this Government to reduce the cost of third level education. There are various ways in which that policy might be achieved. Some might be of …