I thank the Deputy for raising this matter as it provides me with the opportunity, on behalf of the Department of Education, to outline to the Dáil the current position in relation to the large-scale capital building project for Lismullen National School, County Meath. I am answering this question on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Foley. This project is included in the Department of Education’s construction programme which will be delivered under the national development plan as part of Project Ireland 2040 framewo…

I thank the Deputy and I understand his frustration. However, having read this brief myself on the progress that is there, one can quite clearly see that there is a chronological timeline. I note that there was a planning permission which lapsed at one point, a new planning application was made to Meath County Council in July 2023 and the final grant of planning was received in October 2023. As the Deputy has pointed out there and as I said earlier, it is on the priority list. The fact that I am in the Dáil Chamber…

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important project for Kerry and its environs. I am, obviously, answering this question on behalf of the Minister for Transport who has responsibility for overall policy and Exchequer funding for the national roads programme. Once funding arrangements have been put in place with TII, which is mentioned by the Deputy, under the Roads Acts and in line with the national development plan, the planning, design, improvement and upgrading of individual national roads is a matter for…

I thank the Deputy for his passionate contribution. I will bring it to the attention of the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and the Deputy's Kerry Oireachtas colleagues, whom he mentioned. As I said, there is sufficient funding in place to ensure the route options phase will be concluded in 2024 with a preferred route selected. I note the Deputy's comments around road safety and he makes a valid point. It is important to say that in the period between 2020 and 2023 approximately €118 million in Exchequer capital funding was…

The briefing I have, and what I am told by the Minister and indeed the officials in the Department of Transport, is that sufficient funding is in place to ensure the route options phase will be concluded in 2024 with a preferred route selected. As with all national roads projects in the NDP, the delivery programme for the N22 Killarney to Farranfore project will be kept under review in future years and considered in terms of the overall funding envelope available to TII. There are allocations coming out later this …

I thank the Deputy for his question, which is on a very important issue. I am taking this on behalf of the Minister for Health. I will open with an explanation of what HHC is and its current legal position. Tetrahydrocannabinol, known as THC, is the principal psychoactive constituent of cannabis. It is a Schedule 1 controlled drug in the misuse of drugs regulations and is subject to the strictest of controls. Hexahydrocannabinol, HHC, is a derivative of tetrahydrocannabinol, but it not a schedule-controlled drug. I…

I thank the Deputy for outlining that. I can see he is concerned about this. Hexahydrocannabinol is not currently a controlled drug under the misuse of drugs regulations. As the Deputy said, it is being monitored closely at international level by the European Union drugs agency, which I understand is the initial step in placing a substance under drug control measures. It is important to point out that the Criminal Justice (Psychoactive Substances) Act 2010 is an Act to prevent the misuse of dangerous or otherwise h…

Yes, I will bring this to the attention of the Minister for housing. I offer my condolences to the family. That is a difficult situation notwithstanding this matter. I note what the Deputy said about the review and that it needs to be done as soon as possible. I will bring those particular comments back to the Minister for housing. I know this mica scheme has been a big issue for the Deputy for a very long time and I acknowledge his concerns in that regard. I am answering this Topical Issue matter on behalf of the …

I thank the Deputy. As I said, I know he is very passionate about this matter and has been for a long time. He acknowledged that there does seem to be a pathway here. I hear his comments around communication, and I will bring that back to the Minister for housing. I will also bring back the Deputy's suggestion around an interdepartmental group. He mentioned that he wants that review as soon as possible. I understand that this implementation steering group will produce a report on the operation of the enhanced schem…

I thank the Deputy for his question. As he will be aware, there was an oral parliamentary question on this issue a day or two ago. It is important to stress that there was engagement with education partners on this issue and I mentioned that to the Deputy previously. A total of 70% of schools will have a reduction of only about five hours while 67% will maintain the same allocation or receive an increased allocation. Based on feedback from the review we received from education stakeholders, we believe that this is …

I thank Deputies for their contributions. As they correctly pointed out, I have already spoken to most of them on this matter. A number of different misperceptions have been presented in the House and I hope I can address them. First, there have not been any cuts to special education teacher, SET, posts. There are now more SETs than ever before. This year there will be 14,600 SETs, which is an increase of 1,000 from last year. In the past ten years the number of SETs has doubled to the record figure of 14,600. It i…

There are 3,000 special classes in the country. We have advanced planning and forward planning consistently. Every child known to the NCSE received a place last year and that will also be the case this September. I do not accept the argument that a significant amount of work has not been done or is not being done with regard to special classes in general. However, if the Deputies have a particular case, they can let me know about it and we will engage on it. I am not saying that anybody is wrong. I am saying I must…

I thank the Deputy for the question. Deputy Gannon is quite correct that a circular was sent and the special education teacher allocations were issued to all mainstream schools on 6 February. It only raised the provision of teachers and there are a range of ongoing measures for the other supports, which I will also address with the Deputy. It is important to say there has been no reduction in the overall number of special education teachers in our schools. The Deputy will be aware we have 14,600 special education t…

I reiterate that there was full consultation with the education partners-----

Will the Deputy let me speak? I did not interrupt him.

We will have to agree to disagree on that. I am not going to say something that is incorrect. There was consultation with the education partners. We listened to their feedback and concerns and they were included in this review. The Deputy mentioned children with complex needs. As Minister of State with responsibility for special education, I can say that it will never be the case that the needs of children with complex needs are not taken into account. The review makes sure children with the greatest level of need …

I appreciate that the Deputies are making representations on behalf of various principals and constituents who may have contacted them. I have no difficulty with that. It is important to bear in mind the actual statistics in respect of the new distribution model, which show that 67% of all schools will either have an increased allocation or will maintain their allocation. It is important to understand as well that this is a distribution model, which means the total available SET resources are distributed as fairly …

I, first of all, want to give my unequivocal support to the Minister, Deputy McEntee. On a personal level, I want to thank her for her incredible work on domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. It has been phenomenal and the Taoiseach was right to say that she is the first Minister to tackle it in a serious way. I listened to what the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, said earlier on in response to Deputy McDonald's comments on the school and the assistance it received. As a Minister of State in the Department of Educa…

Public order Pearse here and Mary Lou Trump. How can anybody believe anything that comes out of her mouth? The Deputy talked earlier to the Taoiseach. The Deputy spoke to him and questioned him about facts in relation to rents. That is a fact. I ask Deputy McDonald to withdraw that comment.

You did.