I do want to refer to Greenland and the threats we are seeing there. I am possibly one of the few Members, if not the only Member of this House, who has actually been to Greenland.

I would share Deputy Boyd Barrett's view that the Inuit people are a wonderful and friendly people. It is one of the challenges in this debate. A lot of the discussion is rightly around geopolitics and security but we do need to think about the 57,000 people who live there. It is for the people of Greenland to determine their future. They have made very clear that at present they want to remain as part of Denmark. We need to show solidarity with them. Mark Carney summed it up very well this week. It is time for tho…

I will follow on from Deputy O'Meara, with whom I entirely agree on the accountability of Uisce Éireann. Last July I tabled a parliamentary question to the Minister around the question of accountability of Uisce Éireann to these Houses. While his office responded that he does not have a say in the operational matters, it was indicated that Uisce Éireann could be called before some of the parliamentary committees. That is not good enough. In terms of the response we get as elected TDs, we should be treated with more…

I strongly support my colleague Deputy O'Meara on this. The Oireachtas committee on sport has considered this as a serious issue. When the Minister of State looks to the next round of sports capital funding, we urge him to include this as a factor in deciding on funding. One of our local soccer clubs, Courtown Hibs, runs very inclusive soccer training for children and young people who are neurodivergent or who have physical disabilities or special needs. On the first Saturday of every month, Gorey parkrun runs a pa…

I welcome the announcement that there will be a further round of the sports capital scheme later. I commend the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy O’Donovan, on their commitment to the development of not just clubs, but the critical role they play within our communities. I would ask that, in the announcements, regard would be had to rapidly growing communities. As the Minister of State will appreciate, with rapidly growing communities, there is a demand for space. It is right that the Government’s top prior…

I speak in strong support of Deputy O'Meara's question in this regard. I have regularly asked the Department of education what facilities are specifically going to be provided for sport, particularly for new builds, but also in terms of existing funding streams that can be made available to schools to get sports funding. I look at somewhere like Riverchapel National School in County Wexford. Incidentally, it is the primary school of the Minister of State's colleague and mine, the Minister, Deputy Lawless. It has ov…

Go raibh maith agat. I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue matter. I appreciate it is not his Department, but I hope he will bring this matter back to the Department of education and that the officials tuning in will be very aware of the concerns around Bunclody Community College. Bunclody Community College is a school with an enrolment of 310 students. This is an increase of 42% since 2019, so it is a rapidly growing school. It is a very good school, with a very committed and excellent teachi…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I appreciate it is not his Department but, frankly, there is nothing new in this. This is deeply, deeply frustrating. The challenge for this school and for the staff, the students and the wider community - and I spoke with my good friend and colleague, Councillor Barbara-Anne Murphy, who chairs the board of management of the school - is that this school is tired of, frankly, false promises from the Department. This situation has been running for well over a decade in …

I welcome this debate. This is an incredibly important subject. I thank the Minister of State for the leadership she has provided in this space. Working with me as chair of the Oireachtas committee, she has been very co-operative, as have officials in her Department. As my colleague Deputy McAuliffe said, artificial intelligence is a tool, not a goal in itself. We use any tool to, hopefully, improve all our lives, our community and the delivery of public services. It is here and there are many positive use cases. I…

I welcome the Taoiseach's continued commitment to multilateralism and human rights, the rule of law and democracy. As someone who has raised Iran in this House before, I salute too the brave men and women who are fighting against that oppressive regime. Equally, it the right of the people of Venezuela, now that the despot Maduro has gone, to decide on their future, even though his removal was in breach of international law. I raise the question of Greenland. In August 2018, I made a personal visit to Greenland, inc…

This is an incredibly important report, as the Tánaiste said. I welcome the fact that he acknowledges the role of AI and technology, and how it may change our lives. It is worthy of a full debate in the House. Given the statistics we are looking at, by 2041, on current projections, there will be 1.4 million people aged 65 and older, and by 2065, there will be 2 million people aged 65 and older, triple the number at present. This is of particular interest to the Tánaiste, given he is probably the youngest in the Cha…

I agree with Deputy Clendennen on auto-enrolment. It is essential, but it is important that we take on board the concerns of SMEs. It is very welcome that we now have life expectancy of 83 in this country. It is a huge success that we are at that point. One of the challenges is that we age healthily. In Singapore, as part of the old age package, admission to community gyms and swimming pools is free for those over 65. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to tax relief for gym membership in order to…

I accept the Deputy's point that there are some examples in the sector but it is important to remember there are up to 16,000 people directly or indirectly employed in film, television and animation production in this country, including in the Tánaiste's constituency and in mine. For every €1 invested under section 481, the return to the State is estimated at nearly €4. It is a significant part of our economy. Deputy Boyd Barrett is correct that we need to be concerned about some of the residuals particularly with …

I certainly welcome this legislation. Vaping is both a public health and an environmental scourge. Many Tidy Towns groups are insisting that we get rid of these disposable vapes and the litter associated with them as quickly as possible. I want to focus on the public health elements of this legislation. Enforcement is critical and that we ensure when we introduce this legislation that we can enforce it. I hope there will be learnings from the experience in the United States where the US Food and Drug Administration…

I welcome the fact that the Taoiseach attended the COP in Brazil as head of Government. It is appropriate that he did so. I welcome his remarks while there. I ask the Taoiseach to consider that Ireland might consider hosting a future COP to raise awareness of the important issues he has outlined. I do want to express concern that if we are going to reduce our own dependence on fossil fuels and get people out of cars, we have to provide them with a realistic public transport alternative. I am passionate about rail t…

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I raise again the question of support for school secretaries and caretakers. It is unfortunate that the talks at the Workplace Relations Committee, WRC, collapsed and the issue is now going to the Labour Court in January 2026. We need to give a clear commitment in this House that we will look to get this issue resolved as quickly as possible. It is a real concern for long-serving school caretakers and school secretaries. I am thinking of people like Valerie Gregory and Declan Murray at St. Michael and St. Peter sch…

I thank the Minister for taking this debate and for his personal interest in this important subject. As legislators, we can have no greater responsibility than ensuring the safety of our citizens in both the offline and the online world, and particular those who are vulnerable, especially children and young people. It is critical that we get the balance right between regulation and education. It cannot only be about regulation. It has to be about ensuring that we equip children, young people and parents to be able …

I thank the Minister. He and I do not need to discuss the challenges facing the sector; I know he is very much aware of them. What farmers are looking for is a guarantee of a basic income. Obviously we already have the BISS scheme in place. I welcome the fact that as part of the CAP negotiations the Minister is looking at trying to provide some floor for farmers. It is not just important for the sustainability of farming, as the Minister mentioned, it is also important to us being able to tackle climate change and …

The Minister is aware that in the US there is a federal crop insurance programme which was introduced during the time of the depression. I was with the Canadian ambassador when he spoke to the IFA about guarantees, insurance and a basic income scheme that operate in Canada. It continues to be a concern that 1,400 tillage farmers have left the sector in recent years. I know the Minister is committed to this and I very much welcome his support for flour production in Ireland, bringing that back and diversifying marke…