I heard what the Minister said about "grubby behaviour". We will not have the debate now but it is my understanding that this is as much about a failure of co-ordination between Government Departments as anything else. As I said, we will not have the debate now but I will speak to the Minister about it again. I recognise that a lot of good work has been done by the students union and by the ATU itself in trying to get host families for students, and a colleague of mine, Councillor Marie Casserly, is helping to link…

We also need to look at short-term solutions. We have spoken about the long-term situation with accommodation but we need proper co-ordination and extra bus routes to help get students to ATU Sligo. I am pleased to say that a new Local Link service from Ballymote started this week but we need more. We need to look at extra services within a radius of 40 km to 50 km from Sligo. Time and again I have spoken about the need for extra services from Rosses Point, which is only 7.5 km from Sligo town, and yet people canno…

He can do so in a moment.

I again raise the issue of the urgent need to build a new Garda station in Sligo. While I know it is ultimately the responsibility of the Garda Commissioner, nonetheless a site was purchased by the Office of Public Works, OPW, and funding was put in place before the last election to build a station. Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal were all part of the same Garda division. The excuse given was that Letterkenny was now the divisional headquarters. However, another realignment of divisions has taken place, and Sligo-Leitri…

I welcome back the Minister. I raise with him the critical situation currently being faced by many private and voluntary nursing homes. They provide care for more than 25,000 people in more than 400 locations and provide 80% of all nursing home care. Yet, 31 private and voluntary nursing homes have closed over the past three years with the loss of 915 beds. The crucial issue is that these closures have primarily been located in regional and rural areas. Furthermore, the trend is worsening because 19 of those 31 clo…

I thank the Minister. He did talk about substantial support but he said it himself, that was pandemic support. It was for Covid only. It did not deal with the systematic inequity in the fair deal system. The Minister talked about a 6% or 7% increase, yet the difference in support between the two types is of the order of 60%. It is not enough. I could not name a nursing home in my own constituency but I can name St. Brendan's nursing home in Mulranny. Its situation is dire and it is now in the public domain. I spoke…

The Ministers of State and the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach will have to be patient. I am recovering from a bad bout of laryngitis but I have to speak on this motion. This regulation is the most profound and far-reaching legislation on land use change ever proposed by the European Commission. Even though they do not know it, it will impact every man, woman and child, both rural and urban, in terms of land use, planning and infrastructural planning. It will significantly impact settlement patterns along with urban, rural…

I apologise to the Minister of State; I am recovering from laryngitis but I really wanted to raise this issue. It is a crucial issue concerning how a 17-year-old, a young person who is a child under Irish law, was treated at an emergency department at the weekend. I received a message from a constituent at the weekend outlining how this young person cut the top off his finger. He was brought to NoWDOC in Carrick-on-Shannon, but it was closed and his sibling drove him to Sligo hospital. He was bandaged there and tol…

I thank the Minister of State for not just reading what was before her. She gave us lots of statistics but none of them mattered to a child who presented at Galway University Hospital. Anybody under the age of 18 under Irish law and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child is a child and should not be turned away. I can understand that perhaps with rosters that there may have been a difficulty. It is not acceptable but I can understand it. Yet, to tell people to get a bed and breakfast or go home and do a 230 k…

The Deputy is out of time.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: recognises that: - 2022 was the worst year for overcrowding in Irish hospitals on record, with over 121,000 patients being left without a bed; - in 2022 University Hospital Limerick was the most overcrowded hospital in the country (18,028) followed by Cork University Hospital (12,439), University Hospital Galway (10,150), Sligo University Hospital (8,136) and St Vincent's University Hospital (7,513); - 67,000 patients waited at least a day in Emergency Departments (EDs) before being admit…

I could not believe what was in front of me when I was reading this report. When you look at the statistics, you see the reason that 2022 was the deadliest year of the decade for women in Ireland with 12 deaths in the State, two in the North and one Irish woman in the UK. That means 15 women died violently last year. Five children also died in siblicide and domestic homicide. That reveals for us the manifold elements of domestic abuse. The Garda informs us that 52% of murders had a domestic violence motivation. As …

A few weeks ago, the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, visited Sligo and indicated to council officials that no funding will be available for the Knock to Collooney N17 road scheme for the foreseeable future. This means the effective abandonment by the Government for this upgrade because “not in the foreseeable future” means more than 20 years away and less than 100. At that point, it is more likely to be “Beam me up, Scotty” than laying concrete. I remember the fanfare when the Government launched Project…

I ask the Minister to confirm the retention of a school transport route in Sligo from McCann's cross, which is halfway between Coolaney and Tubbercurry, stopping at Lavagh church and on to St. Attracta's Community School in Tubbercurry. There is a second bus on the route, which is a new service that started last November. There is real anxiety and uncertainty among parents and students and they are desperately asking for its retention.

I have heard what the Minister has said and acknowledge the progress that has been made but I am none the wiser in terms of the answer to my specific question. Parents were very grateful that a second bus was provided last year. It is a 50-seater bus and is almost always full, which indicates that there is a huge need. However, word has filtered through that the second bus may not continue and that has massive implications for families. One school actually contacted the school transport service and the reply it rec…

Perhaps the Minister will clarify in her final response but from what I have heard, she has said there will be no diminution and no removal of services that are currently in place for the next year. If that is the case, I am absolutely delighted. I could sit down and the Minister could get on to the next question. I will wait for her confirmation. Earlier I spoke about how this impacts parents but it impacts students massively. Imagine if a student had to change school, classes, teachers, lose their friends, or los…

I thank the Deputy for stepping into the breach. We now move back to Question No. 60.

We are back to Deputy O'Reilly again.

The Deputy is earning her salary today.

This is Deputy O'Reilly's question.