I thank the Minister of State.

I begin by sending my solidarity to the global flotilla. A number of boats in the fleet have already suffered attacks as Israeli aggression tries to derail the flotilla's journey. I condemn these attacks and hope that all the crew and passengers will remain safe. I highlight a petition by one of my constituents, Holly Caffrey, calling for action on Gaza. It is one of many actions by the people of Kildare South to call out these crimes on the people of Palestine. The death toll in Gaza has reached unimaginable level…

You learn something new about your colleagues every day in this House. Every euro spent on sports funding is money well spent. At a time when there is a housing emergency, the Government must concentrate on the provision of the largest number of houses possible, but as I have said before in the House, this cannot be done without the proper social infrastructure, including sport. By investing in sport as one of the pillars of any social infrastructure, this will allow new houses to become inclusive communities, some…

I think we can all agree on the importance of oral hearings as part of the social welfare appeals process. To that end, I ask the Minister to set out the number of requests for oral hearings over the past four years, and the number of oral hearings held virtually, in person and over the phone.

I thank the Minister for the reply. My concern is that a reply to a parliamentary question from my colleague, Deputy Duncan Smith, stated that social welfare held 5,397 oral hearings in 2018 and the Minister has confirmed that the 2024 figure was down to 432. I am sure the Minister gets many requests for appeals. I know my office does. One of the mechanisms my office has used is the appeals process, in particular the oral hearing, because it gives the appellant the chance to meet somebody in person and face to face…

I have to disagree on the importance of oral hearings. Much as virtual contact is good and modern, I deal with many people who cannot come to terms with that new technology. I used to attend 30 to 40 oral hearings. I am sure other Members of the House used to attend them as well. I have hardly attended one in the past two years because of the lack of oral hearings being held. When you are sitting beside somebody and they are putting across their case, they have an independent person - it has to be an independent pe…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Niamh Smyth, for coming to the House. I want to talk to her about childcare, particularly in Kilcullen, County Kildare, in my constituency. It was the end of July when I was contacted via email and phone by a number of families in Kilcullen about the lack of childcare in that growing town. I met with a large number of mothers on a very sunny day outside a local community centre. I was immediately struck by their concerns and the problems they were facing. I was informed about t…

I thank the Minister of State for her reply. She is right; it is a problem in County Kildare and a problem throughout the State, but it is particularly bad in the town of Kilcullen. Nowhere else that I know of has 110 families facing childcare difficulties in the one town. The population of Kilcullen is just over 4,000, so one can imagine the percentage of families seeking childcare. I have given the Minister of State some examples, and she is right about them almost all being women. Women are giving up their work …

In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Wednesday, 1 October 2025.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — the number of children in consistent poverty nearly doubled in 2024 to 8.5 per cent, rising by over 45,000 in one year to 104,780, up from 4.7 per cent in 2023; — the research by Economic and Social Research Institute shows one in five children, over 225,000, live in families below the poverty line when housing costs are accounted for; — the cost-of-living crisis is deepening with annualised food price inflation in August up by 5 per cent; — Ireland already has some of the m…

I hope that is something we can all agree on in this House. An eviction ban on cases where children are involved should help to provide some respite for the many households that are struggling. We can help to protect future generations and that would lead to a long-lasting, positive outcome for Ireland's young people. The eviction ban during the Covid-19 pandemic prevented people entering homelessness at a time of enormous uncertainty and, most important, protected vulnerable children.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I appreciate the promotion. I raise the importance of the housing aid and housing adaption grants that are administered by the local authorities. In particular, I refer to a letter recently received by all public representatives in County Kildare stating that the grants have been paused. My office is aware of more than 20 applicants who have been told to apply again next year. Those application forms have been returned to the constituents in question. I am sure the Minister will be awar…

I am glad to get the chance to speak on auto-enrolment which is a very important topic for workers in this country, as has been said by colleagues throughout the House. The Labour Party broadly welcomes the introduction of the auto-enrolment scheme which is very much needed. It will and should provide an uplift to the basic standard of living in the future for workers in this country who cannot afford to pay into a private pension or where their employers do not have an occupational pension scheme in place. I welco…

I thank Deputy Eoghan Kenny for affording me the opportunity to raise a number of matters. I welcome that the Minister of State is before us this evening. Like many Deputies here today, I have been inundated with queries from worried parents who are struggling to get answers from Bus Éireann on their children's school bus places. In many cases, parents were contacted a week or two before the start of the school term, and in a number of cases in my own county of Kildare two days before the school was due to start, a…

I think everyone in this House can agree that family carers right across the State do an outstanding job 24-7. I would, as I am sure the family carers would, love to hear the Minister's plans to introduce respite for those family carers.

I appreciate the Minister's reply. As I said in my introduction, we are all aware of the great work of family carers, what they do for the State and the €20 billion they save the State every year. However, as the Minister said in her reply, they need a break, something we all can agree on. Today I attended the family carers' pre-budget presentation. One of the issues for the people they represent is that respite care is not strong enough in many places. I appreciate, as outlined in the Minister's reply, that this i…

One of the areas I want to concentrate on tonight is emergency care. I have come across a number of cases recently where family carers need that respite care in an emergency situation. I know that Family Carers Ireland has been providing such a service for a number of years and it tells us that that service is underfunded. I ask the Minister tonight to consider through the budget proposals, through her Department and in her cross-departmental conversations tomorrow to look at that emergency care and look at additio…

We are all aware - and it has been discussed already tonight - of the length of waiting lists of families waiting for therapies in this country. I ask the Minister of State to address the House tonight on any plans she may have for a reimbursement scheme for families who have had to pay privately for their child due to these long waiting lists.

I thank the Minister of State. I am all for public services and I welcome the fact the Minister of State is chasing down the maximum number of public services we can and increasing the number of consultants and clinicians we have in that area. Unfortunately, too many families are waiting too long for those much-needed services for speech and language, OT, physiotherapy or whatever their child might need. I know we spoke already about Cara Darmody and the €10 million fund that was created for private assessments of …

I always welcome the Minister of State finishing with a question like that. I am going to use the opportunity once again to raise Sensational Kids, a new building in Kildare town. I am sure the Minister of State is aware of this particular building. It remains unbuilt since November 2024. This building could have allowed up to 300 children per week in the greater Kildare and Leinster area to receive those services I mentioned but also training for those therapists in speech and language, OT and physiotherapy. That …