I have a genuine fear for the reverberations and scars Gaza will have on humanity for generations to come. International law has been rendered meaningless. The primacy of United Nations institutions has been decimated. We recalled many times in this House and across chambers all over the world the phrase "never again". It became the battle cry of humanity after the Holocaust. The phrase that will be used by generations to come in respect of what happened to Palestinians will be "too little, too late", because the m…

Tá praghsanna árachais ró-ard agus níl aon rud déanta ag an Rialtas chun é seo a réiteach. The Government has completely failed to address the cost-of-living crisis. In fact, it seems to be in absolute denial that families and workers are going through a cost-of-living crisis with regard to energy costs, grocery costs, general housing costs and particularly the costs associated with having no choice but to drive a car to work, to school or wherever the case may be. Not only has Government failed to introduce measur…

He produced legislation for the Government to enact but it refused to do so.

Keep going.

These Revised Estimates relate to several matters, including costs associated with international protection accommodation and the purchase of the Citywest Hotel, funding for criminal legal aid, and the criminal injuries compensation scheme agus ba mhaith liom aghaidh a thabhairt ar roinnt de na sean áiseanna seo. While the justice committee had a very constructive engagement with the Minister yesterday, it should be put on the record that there is a long way to go in addressing the costs associated with the provisi…

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. We have a new school year and a new Minister in place, but we have had the same old school transport chaos. In my constituency office, it is just part of what we do in the latter part of every August and in September. We deal with families who are absolutely distraught because their entire back to school plans have been thrown up in the air because of a last-minute email from Bus Éireann telling them the school bus place that was paid for and booked back in April in most instances…

The Minister will acknowledge that one of the more difficult parts of our job is dealing with the families of children waiting to access children's disability network team services. My question relates to CDNTs in Cavan and Monaghan. How many children are waiting to access those services for up to three months, from three to six months, up to 12 months and greater than one year?

The Minister of State has outlined that 41 children have been waiting up to three months but, if I am correct, she also said that 334 are waiting over three months. The question itself was fairly specific in asking for more detail with regard to those figures. I wonder if the Minister of State has that data for three to six months, six to 12 months and over a year. From dealing with a number of families in Cavan and Monaghan, which are two distinct CDNTs, I know that in some cases the wait is inordinate, with diffi…

I appreciate the Minister of State indicating that she would get that additional information. It might give her a sense of the challenges we have sometimes in actually getting information from the CDNTs. I thank the Minister of State for that and I note what she said with regard to staff recruitment and the need to recruit additional staff and fill vacancies. There is also a big piece of work to be done in retaining the staff that we have. I often comment that probably the most difficult job is for those staff oper…

I join with the Minister in unreservedly condemning the deplorable and disgusting racist attacks that we have seen over the past weeks and months. I welcome this debate, first as an opportunity to make that point but also because it provides an opportunity to address the reality that immigration needs to be managed, and to recognise that the Government has largely failed to do that. When it comes to migration, what we have seen from Government is an absolute failure on every front. Níl aon phleanáil déanta ag an Ri…

The Government is denying the constitutional right to an education to many children with special needs. One of those children is a gorgeous young boy from Monaghan called Sonny McElvaney. Sonny has made developmental progress beyond what was ever envisaged, primarily because of the efforts of parents. He should have started school a couple of weeks ago. However, Sonny needs a full-time SNA and one has not been allocated. The school that he attends already has one SNA but also has another student who needs a full-ti…

The sharing of passenger name record data is important for the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of serious crimes, such as drug-related offences and human trafficking, as the Minister has outlined. This information forms part of the broader management of our borders. International co-operation in the fight against crime is crucial. The sharing of this information is a key aspect of that. These motions relate to agreements between the EU and the Schengen-associated countries of Iceland and Norway…

Hear, hear.

I agree that the local improvement scheme budget needs to be increased. I point the Minister to County Monaghan in particular, which is virtually at the bottom of the list of the 25 counties that receive LIS applications. Only one receives less than County Monaghan despite our probably having more private lanes than many others. Will the Minister increase the budget allocation to Monaghan County Council?

In 2024, Monaghan County Council received 273 new applications for LIS funding, yet the funding provided to Monaghan County Council for the scheme would allow for the resurfacing of eight roads in 2024 and nine roads this year. Even with the funding the Minister has indicated, and dealing solely with the applications received in 2024, it would take nearly 30 years to clear all of the roads. We need to bear in mind that the people who live on these lanes have to contribute to the cost of resurfacing their own roads …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht an eolais sin. I acknowledge, as the Minister has outlined, that these regulations will not in any way limit the rights of citizens. They will, in fact, place greater obligations on related offices in terms of the circumstances in which they may limit the right of citizens to information. The limitations the regulations place on organs of the State to limit citizens' rights are entirely reasonable. They ensure that any such limitation is time-limited to only what is necessary t…

Fáiltím roimh an deis labhairt sa díospóireacht seo. Prevention must be central to how these issues are tackled if we are to make their elimination a real possibility. That means tackling the underlying attitudes that allow such behaviour and crimes to flourish. It means education and speaking out. In particular, it is important for men to speak out to show that this behaviour does not represent masculinity. As well as tackling the underlying causes of this epidemic of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, we…

I ask the Minister the number of gardaí in each intake, the number who attested over the previous three years and if he will make a statement on that. I also ask him to refer to the potential of reaching the target of 1,000 new recruits this year.

There can be variation in the numbers going into each intake but the one thing that is very clear is that in no intake at the Garda College was there as many trainees as the college had capacity to train. At no stage did 200 or even close to 200 attest. In some cases, the figures were far below that. The difficulty is that the Government has been talking for quite some time now about 1,000 gardaí per year being attested. We are nowhere near this. It makes me inclined to accept the position of the Garda Commissioner…

Will there be five intakes this year or next year in the Garda College? The Minister might also indicate if there are plans to increase the capacity to allow intakes of 250 trainees. Has the Minister examined the impact of the rate of payment of the Garda training allowance? We know there was an increase but where the very changes he has referred to in the age profile of those joining the gardaí are concerned and how older people generally have more financial commitments, we are told by the representative organisat…