It is probably not often that I would admit I have little to say as Deputy Ó Cuív encapsulated exactly my views on this matter. If everything is stripped away, the issues involved are about public health for both the staff and students with special needs and education for people with special needs. I know parents and students with special needs in Limerick. What they have gone through with the lockdown has been horrendous. No group has suffered more. We need to speak about going into the tunnel with one sole object…

I wish to raise two issues. Could the Tánaiste give an update on the discussions that have taken place between the Ministers, the Department of the Education, the unions and the schools on special needs schools and classes recommencing? It is a major issue on the ground for parents in Limerick and it is something on which he might provide an update. I note the Government's commitment on the vaccine being prioritised for those other than front-line workers. I refer to GPs and their staff, dentists and their staff an…

GPs in Cork have been given their vaccinations but not in Limerick. Dentists in other areas such as Sligo have been given the vaccine. I ask the Tánaiste for a commitment to prioritising those areas.

I have a question for the Minister, Deputy Foley. The concern with the leaving certificate is certainty for students, who are the most important of all. What is the Minister's personal view, as she ultimately makes the decision? Does she want a written leaving certificate - the normal leaving cert - or is she looking at predicted grades or a hybrid model? Students are entitled to and need certainty. The leaving certificate is potentially the most important exam in a person's life. What is the Minister's personal vi…

I have very little time.

I have a very quick question for the Minister of State, Deputy Madigan. I very much welcome the decision made today on special needs schools and special classes opening on 21 January, which is next Thursday. Have parents been informed? If not, when will they be informed? Have the schools been informed? What is the process by which parents will learn, in terms of communication with schools, that their child with special needs is going back to school next Thursday?

I thank the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, for coming in and taking this debate. The national broadband plan is very significant. It is the rural electrification of its time. Broadband is as important in this modern age as electricity was decades ago. I refer to high-quality fibre broadband in particular because of its speed and the amount of data it can carry. I am the Chairman of the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications Networks. We held hearings with Natio…

I ask the Minister to deal with the specific questions. Would the Minister support Eir and NBI coming together to expedite the roll-out of fibre broadband in the amber areas that are alongside blue areas where Eir has already rolled out broadband? People are looking over the ditch to their neighbours who have broadband and they do not, and they could be waiting two or three years. Can the roll-out of broadband be expedited from seven years to five years? The Minister spoke about people working from home during the …

On the roll-out of vaccines to GP practices, a number of GPs from my constituency in Limerick have contacted me in recent days. I have been in contact with the Minister's office. GPs in Cork and Kerry have got the vaccine, as have many GPs in Dublin. There appears to be significant inconsistency in the roll-out of vaccines to GPs. Who is responsible for the roll-out of vaccines to GPs? Is it community health services or University Hospital Limerick? Will the Minister look at having a national roll-out of the vaccin…

The Minister has not answered my question. How can GPs in Cork all be vaccinated out of the South Infirmary and Bantry and people in nursing homes be vaccinated, while GPs and their staff on the front line in Limerick are not? The roll-out is inconsistent. Will the Minister look at putting in place a national roll-out specifically for GPs to ensure that there is consistency of treatment throughout the country? That is of great importance. There were other questions I wished to ask. The vaccine programme is a ray of…

I should not be here today. I am looking for an update on a project, namely the Coonagh-Knockalisheen distributor road, which would effectively take out the cul-de-sac that Moyross currently is. In 2007 the then Government and the Cabinet committee on social inclusion, as part of a regeneration project, produced a report which became known as the Fitzgerald report. One of its key recommendations was to consider improving accessibility into Moyross. The report specifically identified that the Coonagh-Knockalisheen d…

I thank the Minister for his reply but I must take issue with it. He referred to delay of the project. There is €5 million allocated to the project for this year. There is no issue with funding here. This is an issue of sign-off from the Minister to allow this road project to go ahead. He stated it is now getting to construction decision stage. If he walks the route, he will see construction has already taken place from Coonagh Cross to the back of the shopping centre and that major capital works have already taken…

What about the-----

This is about opening up. The projects are not mutually exclusive. Time is being lost on this project. I hope the Minister will consider it for funding straight away.

Unfortunately, this issue is becoming more prevalent. It was raised at joint policing committee, JPC, briefings by Garda Superintendent Gerard Roche in the Limerick city division. He stated that, aside from what people would traditionally know as drink-driving, there had been an increase in the phenomenon known as drug-driving. He has requested more testing equipment. Currently, the division has only five machines, four of which are mobile and the fifth one being static. The Garda has applied for a further six mach…

I thank the Minister. She stated that the national figures had shown an increase of 106% in the first six months of the year. That correlates with the 128% increase in the Limerick Garda district across the first nine months of the year. It is a serious issue. The Minister also mentioned that there had been a reduction in traffic levels due to Covid. One can only imagine what the detection rates would have been had we normal driving patterns. This appears to be a growing feature on our roads. The Minister spoke abo…

Remote working has very much come to the fore because of Covid-19. It was always very much in consideration but it now needs to be accelerated, particularly in rural areas. What steps has the Minister taken to encourage remote working? What additional funding has she secured as part of the budget to support this work so rural community centres and even urban community centres that can be adapted for remote working may become enterprise hubs in their own right?

In the constituency I represent, covering part of Limerick and north Tipperary, including Newport, Birdhill and Ballinahinch, this is a major issue on the ground. Can the Minister tell me what community centres have already been allocated funding for the broadband upgrade? What can community centres in the constituency of Limerick City, which covers east Limerick and north Tipperary, including Newport, Ballinahinch and Birdhill, do to make an application to access funding from the Minister's Department to facilitat…

Could I follow up on that? A major issue in rural east Limerick and rural north Tipperary is that Eir might have broadband available at both ends of a road but no coverage in between. I ask that local authority broadband officers take into account in their analysis and appraisal the locations that cannot access broadband but where it could be made available in the local community centre. In this way, the centre would qualify under the scheme on the basis that there are areas nearby that do not have access to broadb…

It should be put into the community centres as well.