Next Tuesday.

I thank Fianna Fáil for tabling this motion. I acknowledge that it is getting much cross-party support and has stimulated much debate here this morning. My colleague Deputy Keira Keogh has done a lot of work on online safety and, as she rightly says, the primary motivation and aim is securing our children's future. She has said that parents are doing their part in trying to protect their children from online dangers like pornography, cyberbullying and harmful algorithms that can lead to exploitation. Recently we ha…

I welcome the Minister of State and thank her so much for coming in. I am going to talk about dental care, particularly in schools. Access to dental care is in crisis and staffing has become a very serious issue, with staff shortages the main concern for dentists and dental staff. In 2024, 65% of dentists were unable to recruit candidates for dentist positions. A quarter of dentists said they were not taking on any new private adult patients and a third stated they were not taking on any new child patients. My conc…

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate emergency care is provided to children up to 16 years of age but we should not be letting them get to the emergency care situation. The teeth of primary schoolchildren who cannot afford to go to a private dentist are not going to be good. I feel really privileged that I could afford to go to a dentist, but if my children had to wait until sixth class, they would have no back teeth. There would be no enamel. They would be so uncomfortable and it would be emergency procedur…

I welcome the ambassadors. Last week in the Seanad, Fine Gael tabled a motion on road safety. Many of us spoke on it, including me, and it of course had cross-party support. Little did I think that, four days later, a 16-year-old girl, Mia Lily Keogh O'Keeffe, would be tragically killed in my hometown of Navan. As the mother of two young girls, I simply cannot imagine what that family are going through. Mia Lily was struck at a pedestrian crossing on the Slane Road in Navan. It was a hit and run. Her dog, Bowie, wa…

I am sharing time with Senator Ní Chuilinn.

I thank Senator Harmon for bringing this Bill forward. Nothing ever becomes real until it is experienced. I know Senator Harmon has spoken to people who have experienced this, which is why she is so passionate about bringing the Bill forward. I spoke to her last week about it. Fair play to her. We all feel that. This is a very important Bill, which contains Parts dealing with injury leave for people who work in jobs that are nearly like a vocation. When it comes to SNAs, parents cherish the fact that their child ha…

This morning, I had the privilege of going to Meath Travellers' Workshop with Maria Walsh MEP. I had been there a few times previously, but sitting and listening to the people there today was a real eye-opener. It was a good experience. Something I am ashamed to say I did not know as a public representative is that every year we have a week called "Traveller Pride Week". This year, it will happen in late May. I think it will be around 25 May. Listening to some Travellers this morning, we discussed how education and…

I welcome the Minister to the Chamber to discuss this very important Bill. I will begin with a quote from Robin Sharma: "Passion plus production equals performance". I also love the quote from Steve Martin where he says, "Talking about music is like dancing about architecture". I am glad to get the opportunity to speak on the Bill. It is legislation that marks an important step forward in supporting creators' performance and rights holders across Ireland. Copyright is really about fair recognition and fair reward. …

Next Tuesday.

In November, I was invited by the Rotary Club of Navan to attend the Just 1 Life event, an event I know the Minister of State will go to, which is a powerful young driver awareness programme. Approximately 350 students filled the Solstice Arts Centre in Navan. The event featured deeply impactful presentations from An Garda Síochána, a roads policing sergeant, Dr. Ahmad Jamal, an on-call consultant at Our Lady's Hospital Navan and Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, alongside a critical care nurse, ambulance call centre s…

Last November, I mentioned that I had met representatives of Johnstown Football Club. I spoke about its desire to provide a football club in the Johnstown area of Navan. I mentioned that there were around 4,000 homes in the area with 12,000 people living in them, without even a playground, never mind sports facilities. There is nothing really there in Johnstown. It is larger than many towns across Ireland but does not have anything close to the community facilities that other towns have. I am delighted to be able t…

This morning, I would like to highlight the issue of a very important respite and day services centre in Navan, County Meath, called Clann Mór. I had the absolute privilege of going out to visit the Clann Mór centre on the Commons Road in Navan last year and got to see the wonderful service it provides. My goodness, it really does. The people within the service are just so happy to be there. However, although Clann Mór welcomes the increase in the budget for this year for disability services, it is under massive pr…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan, for coming to the House to discuss this Commencement matter. I would like to discuss the issue of bus escorts and transport for special schools. When the Minister of State and I spoke at the Joint Committee on Education and Youth on 16 July last year, he gave me a commitment that he would look into this. I look forward to getting an update from him. I am on the board of an amazing special school in Navan, County Meath. It was a big eye opener to see the work o…

I thank the Minister of State for his comprehensive answer. I am glad he said that the pay needs to be worked on and that he took that away from our discussion on it last year. I acknowledge that he says this is an issue for the Department of Social Protection, but the Deputy is the Minister of State working with the bus escorts and that transport side of it, so it is about the two Departments liaising on it. They cannot wait five weeks in the summer to get paid. It just has to be looked at. I am glad to hear that …

I wish to discuss the issue of flood insurance and a national flood insurance scheme. I had a meeting with the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, last Wednesday in which I raised this very subject with him. I was delighted that he responded in the meeting that he was anxious to do something about it. It has not been looked at here in Ireland for ten years. I was delighted to open the newspapers on Sunday to see the Minister of State’s comments about the need for this type of scheme. It is great when we can work togeth…

I want to speak about a village in my area, namely, Enfield, County Meath. It has a population of over 4,000 people. Before Christmas, I met a representative of the Enfield community development group to discuss its sheer irritation at the fact that, four years after Enfield was identified as one of the towns nationally to be awarded funding to develop a town centre first plan, none of the projects has begun because of a lack of funding or will. A town team, comprising representatives from all over the community of…

This morning I want to speak about the village of Kilmessan in my home county of Meath. It certainly feels like Kilmessan is being left behind at the moment. In 1996, Kilmessan had a population of 230 people. I imagine the next census will show that it now has a population of well over 1,200 people. For the last nine years, in Kilmessan we have been very fortunate that a private landowner has allowed the community to put a playground on a site in the centre of the village. As is their right, they have now decided t…

I thank the Minister of State for attending. In recent weeks, we have confronted some stark warnings about where unchecked AI can harm society. It has brought into focus both the immense promise and real challenges that AI presents to us. I attended a presentation in the audiovisual room yesterday and I am not the better for it. I listened to what young girls and young boys are exposed to about what they should expect when they become sexually active with each other, how girls are arriving in emergency departments …

I wish to pass on my sincere condolences to the family of Brian Crowley. Last Friday night, I was at sitting at home. I opened Instagram and saw a fellow politician online shaking and in tears. This person is a county councillor elected democratically by the people of the town of Navan, not once but twice. On Friday evening, on her way back to her car, this councillor by approached by someone asking her to confirm that she was a county councillor. Upon replying, a tirade of abuse began: "You are not welcome; go bac…