The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, informed the House last week that all teacher training courses will now include a period where the trainee teacher will work in a classroom for children with additional needs. That is welcome. However, I am concerned by the Department of education payroll review, which highlighted there were 1,800 vacant teaching positions within the system. Some 1,200 of the vacancies are in the primary sector. This correlates with the figures that the INTO has published, which show a signif…

In the aftermath of Storm Éowyn, the Government committed to a full review of the response of the State to the impact of the storm. As we recall, across the west and north west, there were extensive periods of outages of water, electricity, broadband and communications services. It has had a large impact on the minds of people in that part of the country. Even today, constituents have reported to me an increase in the occurrence of intermittent electrical outages as a result of Storm Éowyn, which happened on 21 Jan…

I welcome the outcome of the rail review study. I particularly welcome the outcome as it pertains to the recommendations it makes for my own constituency and for the west in general, especially the doubling of the rail track to Athenry and the proposed reopening of the western rail corridor. I know the Minister is familiar with this. However, I go back to the publication of the national planning framework about a month or six weeks ago. In the national planning framework for each of the regional cities of Cork, Lim…

I will start by mentioning the July provision in schools around the country. One of the many successful measures taken by the Minister of State's predecessor was the expansion of the in-school July provision to mainstream schools, which occurred following the Covid years. I am not sure if the Minister of State has the figures but I estimate that tens of thousands of children are currently participating in July provision across the country. Schools have the discretion to extend participation, not only to pupils with…

There is a very progressive commitment in the programme for Government to support local authorities in the acquisition of new lands for parks and playing pitches to help build liveable communities. We all know the importance of active recreational spaces. Have efforts commenced to develop a strategy around that commitment?

The Minister of State noted many of the challenges that sports groups and local authorities meet in the development of facilities. The programme for Government also includes a complementary commitment to conduct a nationwide audit of sports facilities to address shortages in areas where there is a population of over 1,500. The audit will probably find a deficit in the provision of playing spaces in urban areas. I am not familiar with the locations but I have heard from some of my colleagues and from the media that …

The GAA has done a lot of analysis of its activities in different parts of the country. It is concerned about the future organisation of the GAA in some urban communities because the lack of playing space will limit its ability to undertake activities and increase its membership among new communities. That is worth noting in this debate. As a concrete example, in 2017 Galway City Council developed the Kingston master plan for an area quite close to where I live. It was to include playgrounds, changing rooms, outdoo…

The healthcare sector is one sector of our public service that relies heavily on attracting and recruiting practitioners and staff internationally. In 2024, 6,000 of the 17,000 critical skills permits provided by the State were in the health or social work sectors, 5,031 of which were for nursing staff. In 2023, the OECD said that 54% of nurses working in Ireland had trained in other jurisdictions. The equivalent figure in the UK was 18%. I harbour a guess that many of them are probably Irish. I arrive at two concl…

It has been very interesting to observe the debate and listen to the significant criticism and disapproval on the part of Opposition Members of what the Minister is bringing forward. Those same Members then say they do not intend to vote against the measure. In a very challenging scenario, the Minister has brought balance to a situation in which it is difficult to do so. Primarily, it is to his credit that he is protecting existing tenancies. The inference, namely that existing tenants will face substantial rent in…

I raise the recent report by the Department of Transport regarding the cost of congestion in the regional cities of Waterford, Cork and Galway. The report highlighted the cost of congestion in Galway will double between now and 2030, from €54 million currently to €107.4 million in 2030, which is an astronomical figure. In the following decade, from 2030 to 2040, the cost for Galway is expected to stabilise to €106.9 million. This stabilisation is based on the assumption the Galway city ring road will be operational…

This reflects insufficient scale and coverage of public transport. The Taoiseach needs to examine the NTA and its role in regional cities.

As the Minister is aware, the Commission on the Defence Forces report proposed the development of a national maritime security strategy. I hear welcome news this morning that a public consultation process on the development of the strategy has been opened as of this morning. Will the Minister provide us with further information as to how the strategy will develop and evolve from here towards its completion? Will he provide a timeframe as to when we will see the strategy completed and ready to be enacted?

The Minister has outlined well the potential threats that exist to our subsea cable infrastructure and to other aspects of our maritime domain, which require addressing and this strategy. One other recommendation that came from the report of the Commission on the Defence Forces was that the powers required by the Naval Service for effective enforcement in support of national security in the maritime domain should be addressed as there appears to be some inconsistency between the pieces of legislation in this area. …

I welcome that the Minister will engage with Defence Forces personnel regarding a base for the Naval Service Reserve in Galway. There is little coastal coverage for the Naval Service between Limerick and Donegal, which is quite a wide area. Some of the subsea cables to which the Minister referred come into the country through Galway, including some of the transatlantic ones. Indeed, some cables come in north of Galway as well. One cable comes inland in County Mayo. Of course, Galway already has Defence Forces perso…

Ba mhaith liom caint faoi fhadhb ar leith maidir le cúrsaí tithíochta sa tír: an fhadhb atá inár nGaeltachtaí agus inár gceantair Ghaeltachta. Mar a luadh go minic sa díospóireacht seo, tá fadhb an easpa tithíochta fud fad na tíre i ngach áit. Ach is fadhb ar leith í sin i gceantair Ghaeltachta. Cuireann sí todhchaí na Gaeltachta i mbaol. Más rud é nach bhfuil duine nó daoine in ann cur fúthu i gceantair Ghaeltachta, beidh tionchar aige sin ar an teanga sa cheantar sin agus ar thodhchaí na nGaeltachtaí. Tá a fhios …

I might say one thing, a Leas Cheann-Comhairle, about the provision of public housing. I have consistently found it frustrating that it takes 59 weeks - that is the Department's own estimate - to bring a public housing project from the initial concept to the signing of contracts to begin construction of that project. That is immensely frustrating. It is too long. There is currently a four-stage process on which the local authority must engage with the Department, and approval must be sought at each stage. I think w…

Like many people who have already spoken on the issue, most of my comments will be confined to local issues as they pertain to flooding and the risk of flooding in my constituency. I ask the Minister of State about the ongoing study on the flood risk that arises on the coast line between Oranmore and Kinvara. A study was commenced in February 2024 and given a timeline of in the region of 12 months. We do not yet know the outcome of that study. I think we can take it as given that the outcome will propose that a sig…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeann Comhairle as ucht m’ábhar a roghnú le haghaidh an mhír seo ar an gclár. Mo bhuíochas freisin leis an Aire Stáit as a bheith linn chun an t-ábhar a phlé. As the Chair noted, I bring to the fore a number of issues that arise from a report published last week by the Department of Transport called The Economic Cost of Congestion in Regional Cities 2022-2040. I understand this follows a similar study that was done for the greater Dublin area last year. Some issues arise from the report th…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as ucht an fhreagra. I will focus on the last paragraph of the Minister of State's response. He is correct to say we need more than enhanced infrastructure. I am glad, though, that his response also recognises the enhanced infrastructure, which will predominantly be the ring road, will alleviate some congestion and the report notes that. The last paragraph is interesting because it makes the point we need greater public transport and we need people to use public transport more. O…

My question, Question No. 17, is remarkably similar to Deputy Currie's. I was somewhat surprised that they were not grouped together. The Minister has already answered my question, which was to ask the number of additional places in the area of life sciences provided for next year. I am delighted with the Minister's response and that the number of places in a number of these areas has increased in the school of life sciences at my local institution, the National University of Ireland Galway. Like Deputy Currie, I e…