Thank you very much, a Chathaoirligh. I thank the Minister for taking the question. Is he considering extending the age of domiciliary care allowance from its current position of 16 years of age to 18 years in the upcoming budget?

I thank the Minister. I have been on this for six years now and I spoke to his predecessor about it. She made attempts to raise this from 16 to 18 as well. The Minister has continued on that and we have had a number of conversations on it. Recently we conducted a survey of almost 1,000 people and well over 900 of them wanted this increase. They wanted it because they are finding it very difficult to prove, in their opinion, that their child who continues to have the disability qualifies for disability allowance. Di…

The Minister has thoroughly engaged with me on this matter but the issue is the latest figures we have from his Department show nearly 16% of children were refused disability allowance when coming from DCA. That is almost 1,300 children who now have no payment. As the parents of those children regularly tell me, and I am sure other Members, their child's disability has not gone away. It is just they have been unable to prove and qualify for disability allowance. The disabilities their child and loved one has remain…

Does the Minister plan to introduce a cost of disability payment in the forthcoming budget in light of the high costs faced by people with disabilities?

I thank the Minister. I know he will share with us the amount he will give in the budget in the further reply. He will be aware of the additional costs for those people living with a disability. The Indecon report puts that cost at between €9,000 and €12,000 per year. Indeed, when we were at our Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism, we saw a number of reports that the cost could be anything up to €30,000 per year. It is a substantial amount for anybody living with a disability. I welcome that the Minister has given…

I welcome that the Minister has confirmed that there will be a permanent payment. It is important that those who have disabilities can look forward to having something they not only need, but will also help them with the cost-of-living crisis. I mentioned the heating supplement previously - there is a further question on it that we will not get to - and how there were only 700 people in receipt of it out of 170,000 or more people on the caring supplement. These are the issues that people are facing day in, day out.…

I raise with the Tánaiste today the urgent need for additional carriages and hourly train services on the Waterford to Dublin line, which runs through my hometown of Athy. I have been raising this issue for the last number of years and I just want to read to the Tánaiste today from an email I got this morning from Eimear, who at the time was on the 7.15 a.m. Waterford to Heuston service. She said there were 18 people standing in the gap by the doors on the second-last carriage this morning. Two of them were retired…

Deputy, we have been talking about pharmacists.

Too true is right.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House today and for giving me an opportunity to discuss with him the urgent need for additional special school places in my area of Kildare South. Over the past number of years, particularly since I have been in both Houses, I have been raising the urgent issue of special school places in Kildare South. We were previously given a commitment that we would have a special school in Kildare South. Unfortunately, as I have said many times in this House and the Upper House, that sch…

I thank the Minister of State. I have no doubt of his commitment to helping the families because when I contact him, he always comes back to me. That is a sign of his commitment to the families that I and everybody in this House represent. The problem I have is that I have been told by the KWETB that, particularly in the 12 to 13 age bracket, these families could be waiting a very long time to get a special school place because the demand is so high. As I have said, this is a demand that I have highlighted in the U…

I welcome the Minister. I also welcome the intent she has displayed in bringing this Bill forward to make changes to the process relating to assessments of need. While I agree that legislative reform is necessary, I am of the view that the proposed changes presented in this Bill do not address the key issues of resourcing and funding. The needs of children should be met by the State through the provision of well-resourced public health and education services. We all know that early intervention is vital but, shamef…

I welcome the Minister to the House today. I also welcome the opportunity to speak on the Social Welfare, Civil Registration and Charities (Amendment) Bill 2026. The Minister will be very much aware that in July of this year, I and other members of the Joint Committee on Social Protection, Rural and Community Development published our pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme of this Bill. I want to address those key considerations that were brought forward from those who appeared before the committee. I note …

Paternity leave is a fairly recent policy, introduced in 2016. In 2020, the uptake was 48.6%; in 2023, that increased to 54%. Of those who avail of paternity leave, only 43% go on to parent's leave. Compare that with those who start on maternity benefit, of whom 75% go on to parent's leave. Ireland offers €299 per week. For working families, this represents a 72% drop; that is the figure we have been given, based on quarter 1 average incomes. Other EU countries offer much more to parents. I again ask whether the Go…

Will the Minister fill us in on the work under way in the Department? This is a huge issue, as she and everyone in this House knows, for many parents. Nine weeks' parent's leave is simply not good enough for those who have to look after a newborn, particularly in cases where a C-section was involved, which parents have contacted me about. Given the amount of work and care needed to ensure the health of the mother and child, nine weeks does not help the situation. What stage is the work in the Department at? Will th…

I thank the Minister for her reply. It is disappointing to hear we have had no proposal from County Kildare. As the Minister is aware, I have discussed with her on multiple occasions in the House the deserts that exist in County Kildare, particularly around towns such as Kilcullen and Newbridge, where parents come to me and say they cannot find childcare. The question I have as a result of the Minister's reply is whether parents can contact the childcare committees. It seems to me that unless a provider contacts th…

By the end of the day I will be sending the Minister a number of proposals from County Kildare because so many families are asking me this question. The problem I have with the Minister's answer is that we are still reliant on viable proposals. Parents are hard-working, as we have just discussed with regard to parental leave, so how are they to come up with premises? I have contacted schools and local sports clubs to try to get them involved in this and they are not forthcoming with the premises. We still have thes…

Will the Minister provide an update on recruitment numbers for the Defence Forces as of this month?

The Minister is 100% correct that we all want to see recruitment to our Defence Forces continue. However the figures she has given far from the 11,500 sought by the Commission on the Defence Forces by 2028. The Minister mentioned 850 a year. Is that the height of the ambition? It is not going to take us near 11,500. I will mention a couple of issues. The first is the single public service pension scheme. RACO and PDFORRA have been in contact with the Minister a number of times about this. Has she had any update on …

There is no single issue here. This is about housing, pensions, pay and conditions. Has the Minister dealt though with the representative organisations on the single public service pension scheme? She might confirm that and let us know whether there is any update. The Minister mentioned all the other barracks, and that is very welcome and everyone who supports the Defence Forces will welcome that. However, the Curragh has been neglected when it comes to housing. On the basis of the Minister's reply to my previous p…