Has the decision been made?

The Dublin city task force and Dublin City Council recommended that a single waste management company should provide bin collection services, with a further recommendation that, in the long term, waste services should be taken under the control of Dublin City Council. This is positive and will be welcomed by householders across Dublin. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on the Environment and Climate Action made a similar recommendation. The wholesale privatisation of bin services in 2012, which was opposed every step …

In response to a parliamentary question to my colleague Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire last month, the Taoiseach said that the development of Ireland's first national security strategy is still ongoing, almost seven years after a Government commission called for it. The report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland recommended the immediate establishment of a strategic threat analysis centre, headed by a full-time national security adviser. This was a much-needed and welcome development but it is extremely d…

I am asking for an update on the application from St. Kevin's Community College in Clondalkin to replace their 50-year-old prefabs. These prefabs are old. They are not fit for purpose. They are not a good learning environment for pupils or a good working environment for teachers. I have health and safety concerns that I have reported to the appropriate authorities. When will these 50-year-old prefabs be replaced?

I am a former pupil of St. Kevin's Community College and have been working with the school for a long time - not just since 2024 - to get these prefabs replaced. The school and I have been receiving some contrasting information from the Department in the last months. In April, a communication referred to when the school had appointed a design team and the site presenting technical challenges, and that the Department was awaiting a decision from the school authority regarding how to proceed. The school was never ask…

I first attended St. Kevin's 37 years ago and these prefabs were in situ when I went to school. It is a school in an extremely disadvantaged area, but one that often punches above its weight. In fact, the Taoiseach visited the school last year to see the award-winning DEIS Connect programme. I wonder whether he knew there were kids in 50-year-old prefabs out the back. As I said, I used these prefabs when I went to school. I have aged in the last 50 years and I can only imagine how much these prefabs have aged. I vi…

Okay.

It has been completed. I am again going to press to see when these prefabs are going to be replaced. Will it be in the next six months, next year or the year after?

The Minister of State and I have had many debates over the years on mental health and dual diagnosis. The very first legislation I introduced here in 2021 was the Health (Amendment) (Dual Diagnosis: No Wrong Door) Bill. I introduced it because working in mental health and addiction services I saw the real need for that. I understand 100% why Deputy Clarke is looking to have this enshrined in the Bill because I fear if that is not done and this is not given the parity of esteem it needs, it could fall between the cr…

I appreciate the work that has been done by the Minister of State and the HSE in reducing the number of young people who have been admitted into adult psychiatric facilities under her tenure. It is acknowledged and it has worked but, as she knows, I always say that we should set the bar high. Let us aim for zero because that is what we should be aiming for. I am not questioning the Minister of State's bona fides in relation to the five people who were admitted last year. They had the consent of their parents and th…

It was ruled out of order for the money rule. I find that really disappointing. My concern is that because it has happened in the past, it could happen again. I appreciate that the Minister of State has done an awful lot of work on it over the last while. I wonder what safeguards we could have in place. If there is no appropriate facility where a child can access the appropriate mental health care, it is not a failure in legislation; it is a failure in service provision. That is where the failure comes in. This leg…

For too long, members of An Garda Síochána have been the gatekeepers for mental health services. When I speak to gardaí in my constituency, which I do on a regular basis, one of the issues they raise is when people arrive at the station under mental duress and they try to help them. A psychiatrist will sometimes come out to a Garda station and may or may not make a decision as to whether the person needs to be involuntarily detained. More often that not, people are not detained and are sent back out into the commun…

I would have been all over this Bill had it been brought before the House last year, when I was still the spokesperson on mental health. I will ask a question and I presume it is in this Bill because it is about involuntary admissions and the lacuna as regards the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act. If the Minister of State remembers correctly, there was a lacuna between that Act and this Bill whereby the only people who were excluded from making advance healthcare directives were people who were involuntarily…

At the weekend, I attended the Equality in Education protest in Dublin. The parents I met had a simple message. They want fairness and equality for their children with disabilities in education. No child should be left behind. Every child should get the support they need so they can grow, learn and flourish. Every child should be given every opportunity to reach their full potential. Not to do so is criminal. Denying any child an appropriate education is morally reprehensible. Parents should not have to fight for s…

As we speak, there are 83 vacant homes in my area of South Dublin County Council, five of which have been empty for more than a year. Each one of those homes should have a family living in it. It is disgusting that adults are stuck living in their parents' back bedrooms while the house next door is boarded up. Young people are boarding planes to Australia when they could be starting lives in these boarded-up homes. Children are walking past these boarded-up homes on the way back to hotel rooms they are sharing with…

There is currently a social media campaign entitled “Don’t stop talking about Palestine”. I fully support it. People, including the campaigners, are concerned that there is fatigue setting in among some, who are asking what exactly they can do. I urge people to keep talking about Palestine and to keep protesting about it, including on the streets and in the Houses of the Oireachtas. I express my solidarity with Sophie Ní Choimín, who is currently on hunger strike for the people of Palestine. I urge people to keep s…

I take the opportunity to wish the best to both Ministers in their roles. There is not a TD on any side of the House who does not wish them success because education is hugely important to our children. I want to raise a few local issues. Rathcoole Educate Together National School is currently in a temporary location in Citywest while it waits for a permanent building. It was told this would be a two-year temporary arrangement, but it has now been there for four years. It has now been told it will have to move to a…

We are discussing funding for carers and I want to talk about one funding source, namely, the domiciliary care allowance. The domiciliary care allowance is payable in respect of a child under the age of 16 who has severe disability requiring continual care and attention. Over the past number of years I have noticed a pattern of people contacting me and coming to my office with the same problem with the domiciliary care allowance. A very high percentage of applicants seem to be turned down on their very first applic…

It is not often the Government gets things right when it comes to housing, but in the case of the tenant in situ scheme it was working. What does the Government do when something is working in housing? It moves the goalposts. South Dublin County Council has seen a significant cut on the 2024 expenditure on the tenant in situ scheme. The Government has imposed significant new restrictions on tenant in situ applications. All non-closed 2024 acquisitions must be reassessed under the new rules. I am dealing with at lea…

Gaza needs aid. Gaza needs a ceasefire. Israel needs sanctions. That may be a very simplistic message but that is what is needed right now. Israel has displaced the people of Gaza. Israel has murdered the people of Gaza. Israel has starved the people of Gaza. The people of Gaza are being ethnically cleansed right before our very eyes. If you do not believe me, believe the words of Israel's finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich. He said Israel is going to occupy the Gaza Strip. He then predicted that Gaza would be tota…