The challenges that continue to be faced by many small- and medium-sized businesses are considerable. Locally, in my part of Tipperary, we have seen a number of closures in the area of hospitality. Tipperary town has seen more than its fair share of closures and there are also instances in other parts of the county. Every loss has its impact on the locality and other businesses operating nearby. We must do what we can to offset the challenges these businesses are facing and keep their survival at the forefront of o…

Thirteen-year-old Cara Darmody is back protesting again about the lack of proper autism assessments and services. Cara is calling on the Government to meet those obligations and to reimburse any family that has been forced to go private. She is calling for four things. The first is for a commitment, backed by a timeline, for needs assessments for all children who apply, to be carried out within six months. The second is for a commitment, backed by a timeline, for access to relevant services within months rather tha…

Is there any response on Cara Darmody?

Ireland needs to be able to adapt its approach to match our particular circumstances and any further challenges that may arise in future. Shackling ourselves by agreeing to an all-or-nothing approach is not in our interests and we will be voting no on the Government’s proposal. Most people recognise that people genuinely fleeing injustice and seeking asylum should be given protection and supports. We are in a time when conflict, persecution and climate change are displacing people across the world. Global inequalit…

I also thank Deputy Tully for bringing the motion to the House. This is an important motion in light of the report by Family Carers Ireland, which revealed that 74% of those surveyed do not receive significant formal support, while 72% have never received respite. By its very nature, the rights of carers and the supports they are given extend to the very people they are caring for. If carers are not given the support they need to care for themselves as well as the person they are caring for, both parties are being …

This debate is necessary, especially in light of the fact that the matter to which it relates is subject to a vote at EU Council level. That vote, it must be remembered, has been delayed, which, in itself, sends a key message about the current composition of the nature restoration law. There can be no doubting the very fact that nature is facing a crisis. On a global level, it is starkly apparent though a number of recent studies carried out on biodiversity loss have indicated that nearly 50% of species are in decl…

The Taoiseach said earlier to Deputy Canney that he will not wash his hands of the people of Galway. That is great news. However, the Government has washed its hands of retained firefighters in this country. I question its commitment to them. Retained firefighters had to return yesterday to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, because of the failure by the Government to deliver the commitments it gave. The offer it put on the table is a pittance and an insult to the retained firefighters who put their lives at …

Will we have just words again or will the Taoiseach act to support the people who put their lives on the line for us every day of the week?

First, I want to focus on special education from the perspective of teachers who have contacted me. A letter was sent to me by teachers in a school in my hometown of Cashel. They say they believe that disability should never be a barrier to achievement but it is becoming increasingly apparent, with the increasing scarcity of resources and lack of services, that their school community is suffering. This is a brief reflection of what schools are facing at the moment when it comes to dealing with the current demand, l…

I welcome the Palestinian ambassador to the House and those who were in the Gallery earlier. I also want to thank those who have supported the Palestinian people down through the decades and continue to do so. Sadly, the recognition of the State of Palestine has been a long time coming. It is ten years since the Dáil unanimously passed a Sinn Féin motion calling for this to happen. That delay and the reluctance to take action in good time has seen the people of Palestine continue to be oppressed, occupied and subje…

Where are the missing houses?

Well done; great answer.

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this matter because only last weekend there was a public demonstration organised by parents who are continuing to encounter significant difficulties in getting school placements for their children. Every year, we come across the same range of challenges facing parents who are seeking a suitable school place for their children. The reason for this is a lack of coherent planning by the Department to ascertain the school places needed and to provide accordingly. When I enquired wit…

I want to speak on the Government’s appalling attitude towards the elderly in this country. I am speaking against the backdrop of the suggested repurposing of the new community nursing home in Nenagh as a step-down facility to take the pressure off University Hospital Limerick, caused by Government failures. I am also speaking in the wake of the repurposing of St. Brigid’s Hospital in Carrick-on-Suir, only to be subsequently closed for good. There continues to be uncertainty about the future of the Dean Maxwell com…

As I mentioned earlier in the Chamber, plans have been announced to repurpose the new community care nursing unit in Nenagh. The decision to change it from a public facility to a privately run step-down facility, in order to take pressure off UHL, is a prime example of robbing Peter to pay Paul and moving the deckchairs around. Again, it is the elderly in the area who will suffer. It appears the Minister believes it is appropriate to deal with a shortage of beds in the mid-west by transferring that shortage elsewhe…

On the Minister of State's last point, 50 patients will come from UHL to the new unit. Twenty patients in the existing St. Conlon's facility are waiting to move into the kind of facility that the Minister of State is talking about. They will be left in the old St. Conlon's. I did not give the impression that HIQA turned down St. Conlon's. All I said was that HIQA had previously reported the need for a new nursing home in the area. The 96-bed unit mentioned by the Minister of State needs to be supplied. She spoke ab…

I accept that "rejected" is probably the wrong word. They have been told the unit is not fit for purpose anymore. I do not want my parents or other people having to walk on unsafe floorboards in a nursing home. I want them to have toilets in their room and visitors not having to sit on beds. If hoists have to be used for elderly people, I do not want lockers and so on to have to be moved out of people's way. It is nonsensical that a purpose-built unit for 20 patients and others on the waiting list has been taken aw…

It is dependent on the 96-bed unit being finished.

I thank Deputy Ó Broin for tabling this motion. Each time the housing crisis is discussed in the House, the Minister tries to avoid his failures by producing misleading figures. How many affordable houses have been delivered under the local authority affordable purchase scheme in Tipperary? The answer is "None". At the same time, people are facing a rental market collapse, with the standardised average rent for quarter 4 of 2023 increasing by 10% for new tenancies in Tipperary and by 7.7% for existing ones. Clonmel…

I would have been happy to allow Deputy Conway-Walsh speak for another minute if she wanted. As has been said, the Government is taking the wrong path here. The majority of measures in the EU's migration and asylum pact are not in Ireland's interests. Through its determination to bind itself to every element of this pact, the Government believes it can distance itself from its own failings by convincing us that the powers to build a better immigration system just were not there. A few years ago, direct provision ce…