That is for improvement to the existing road.

I appreciate that. A major part of the national development plan is multi-annual funding, which is to ensure that the money is there into the future, not just for this year and sure we will see what happens next year. It is about making sure that we have a commitment to deliver. So far, the commitment is only for this year and then it stops. That is the problem. I appreciate the frustration that I am sure some in government have. It is not just those in opposition who have concerns as to how some of these things ha…

I welcome these statements on apprenticeships and further education and training developments. It is welcome that there are 67 different apprenticeship programmes in the country and I know some of them are doing exceptionally well. However, there are also difficulties and problems and we cannot hide away from them. I pay tribute to all of the companies which open up opportunities for young people to enter apprenticeship programmes. Most of them do well and develop employment opportunities for these people who becom…

I ask the Taoiseach about the reliability and provision of public bus transport services in some areas. On Monday night at 1 a.m., an Expressway service bus left Sligo for Dublin Airport. It is supposed to stop in Boyle, just off the N4, at 1.35 a.m. but it did not and just drove straight past, leaving six people sitting with their bags and no bus. This is happening more often around the country than we would like. It is certainly not the first time I have brought up difficulties of this nature with the Expressway …

I am sharing time with Deputy Ó Murchú. The issues relating to rural Ireland have been well voiced during the debate, and for the vast majority living in rural areas, the big issues that face them are similar to those that face the rest of the country, namely, those of housing and health. For an awful lot of people living in my constituency, when they look for health services, they do not get the same level of service they would get if they lived in Dublin or other large urban areas, and that is a big issue. There …

One of the issues that has come up continually around the country is the flagrant abuse of road traffic incidents. I saw a recent case where there was a scooter on the M50, which is terribly dangerous. It was a dashcam that picked it up. I am sure that if there are cameras there, they need to be used in that respect. It brings to mind one of the aspects of this where often it is the public who will alert someone to situations of that nature. Often there is not sufficient technology in place to be able to make these…

I commend the Minister and his staff. This is extensive legislation that covers myriad issues that have been around for a long time. Some of the more modern problems we have, such as those relating to scramblers, needed to be dealt with effectively. I still have some fear about the issues relating to public space and so on but it is nonetheless a great advance on where we are. The issues of e-scooters, electric bikes and so on, and how they will be governed in future, are something we will probably return to, given…

I was a member of Leitrim County Council for 12 years and during that time I got to know many of the retained firemen in my local community. They are part of the community. They live in the community. They serve that community. They are there when the most terrible crises in life happen for so many people. In most parts of Ireland, when a crisis happens, when there is a huge accident and something catastrophic occurs, who are the people we call on? We call on people who are part time who are volunteering most of th…

Respite is a serious issue across the entire country. I have been engaging with the Minister of State for the past two years on the problems we have in south Leitrim with families who are trying to get respite. In fairness, she came to a meeting in Carrick-on-Shannon and met the families and all the stakeholders. A group was then put in place to build a facility in Carrick-on-Shannon. That work has been moving at a glacial pace. The group meets every month and nothing happens between then and the previous month. Th…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. I also live in rural Ireland in a rural area. I hear this debate about urban Ireland and rural Ireland, one-off housing and so on. I often hear people say it is unsustainable for people to live in rural areas, as if they were building a house hundreds of miles from anywhere. We have a network of roads and we build houses along those existing roads. We also have group water schemes that provide water, which is a critical part of the infrastructure in place in rural …

I wish to ask the Minister of State about the plans the Government has for the upgrading of our port system across the country. There are two aspects of this that we need to get to grips with. The first is the opportunities there are for wind energy at sea and the issues around infrastructure given that many of our ports, particularly those on the west and south coasts, do not have the ability to be able to provide the kinds of services that are required for that industry. Will the Minister of State answer those qu…

I thank the Minister of State. It is remarkable that a recent report said that Belfast Port is the only port on the island that has the infrastructure in place to facilitate the construction and maintenance of offshore wind energy generation. For a long time in this House we have talked about the opportunities that lie off our coast, and particularly the west and south coasts, for the generation of wind energy and the export possibilities of that energy to continental Europe, never mind for our own uses here on the…

The whole issue of putting this infrastructure in place and the development of the capacity we need is completely beyond the ambition of this Government, which seems to be really lagging behind in developing the ports system in the State. It is one of the great disappointments that this opportunity exists and yet the Government is talking about publishing plans, doing reports and getting consultants in to talk about it. We should be getting on with the business of developing this capacity as quickly as possible. I …

Is the Minister on board with that?

I wish to hear the Minister of State's views regarding safety measures, particularly for passengers and staff using public transport. For some time, in my previous role, I called for the establishment of a Garda transport division to protect people on public transport and the staff who run it. In many cases, there have been serious incidents of what is sometimes described as antisocial behaviour but goes well beyond that. It is thuggery and abuse. People have been attacked while using public transport. This means p…

Another aspect of this is the retention of staff. It is a problem. There is a shortage of drivers across the country and across the world, especially for public transport utilities. The issue for many is that they do not particularly want to drive a bus, tram, Luas or whatever where they will be attacked or abused by people on a regular basis. Alternative employment is available to them. We must ensure people are kept safe. There are issues with other aspects of employment law in that respect. There is a race to th…

I commend the Regional Group on introducing this motion. It is now ten years since the mobility grant was taken away. Successive Governments have continued to promise that it will be replaced and that something would be done, but nothing has happened. I welcome the Minister's reference to ambition to deliver on this, but unfortunately ambition has been very lacking among his predecessors. I hope he will be able to deliver on this in his term because many are desperate to have their needs assessed and dealt with app…

I wish to hear the Minister of State's views regarding safety measures, particularly for passengers and staff using public transport. For some time, in my previous role, I called for the establishment of a Garda transport division to protect people on public transport and the staff who run it. In many cases, there have been serious incidents of what is sometimes described as antisocial behaviour but goes well beyond that. It is thuggery and abuse. People have been attacked while using public transport. This means p…

Another aspect of this is the retention of staff. It is a problem. There is a shortage of drivers across the country and across the world, especially for public transport utilities. The issue for many is that they do not particularly want to drive a bus, tram, Luas or whatever where they will be attacked or abused by people on a regular basis. Alternative employment is available to them. We must ensure people are kept safe. There are issues with other aspects of employment law in that respect. There is a race to th…

I want to raise the issue of early intervention youth mental health services. Yesterday I met representatives of Youth Work Ireland in Buswells. This issue came up with the North Connaught Youth and Community Services, NCYCS, which has applied for funding for this initiative that provides brief intervention and support for people aged 12 to 25 who do not reach the threshold for the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. As we know, it is under serious pressure. We recently found out that in the communi…