-----who have a mind to change this country and give the money back to the people so they can have services like wastewater treatment plants and public transport. The people of Ballinascarty have have not had their rivers cleaned out and so their houses get flooded. That is where we are at. There is no money in the purse and no money announced yet.

I tried. I put our policies-----

-----but all they took was a scrap of paper from ye.

All they took was a scrap of paper off the back of an A4 page with a couple of old biro prints across it.

That is what they took into government and we are feeling the effects of it on my side of the country since.

For the past two years, parents in Bantry and the surrounding areas have been advocating for a dedicated school bus service to transport over 30 children from Bantry to Schull. Despite numerous representations to the previous Minister for Education, this issue remains unresolved. Today I am appealing to the new Government to address this pressing need. Providing a school bus for these children is a modest request, especially considering the significant expenditure in other areas. These parents and children deserve …

I wish the Minister of State the best in his role. We were all asking for more gardaí on the ground and in our communities. It is no surprise that, in the few minutes I have, I will be making this request for west Cork. We are very fortunate in west Cork, particularly the Ballydehob–Schull area, to have Garda Jonathan McCarthy living and working. That is very valuable. A garda like Jonathan is of incredible value to a community because such a garda knows who is who, who should or should not be in the community, and…

The Irish Natura and Hill Farmers Association, the ICSA and the Irish Rural Association are today protesting about GAEC 2 at Agriculture House. If this is not stopped, it will mean more regulations acting against Irish farmers. They need an urgent meeting with the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine. Instead of giving these genuine farmers debate time today, I am asking the Taoiseach to meet with Opposition leaders to talk about the speaking row in this Dáil. Last week, Dáil reform became Dáil dictation. …

Yesterday's meeting of the Dáil reform committee was a staged set event by Government politicians present. My understanding was we would all put forward proposals, which we did as well as the Government did, then discuss them, iron out what issues we had and draw up an agreement, but instead of Dáil reform being Dáil reform, last night it became Dáil dictate with the Chief Whip calling a vote. It was a first for Dáil reform. It was seconded by another member of Fianna Fáil but, in a show of unity to this appalling …

Taoiseach, I have always advocated for the rights of Irish fishermen whose quotas have been decimated over the years with 25% lost after Brexit and no recovery of quota since. Irish boats have, for generations, fished Rockall but in 2021, the Scottish Government claimed the rock and a 12 mile limit around it. Has the Irish Government conceded the ownership of Rockall to the UK? If not, what is the Government proposing to do to get Ireland's right to fish the grounds around the rock back?

We need a proper debate in the Dáil this week about damage caused by flooding in Ireland, especially in the past week, particularly in County Cork. The community in Ballinascarthy was flooded once again for the second time in two months, as was Dunmanway and Halfway. The River Bride also flooded in Blackpool. The main cause of this flooding is the lack of rivers being cleaned. They are full of muck and silt. A national river cleaning programme must be put in place immediately to save people's property and maybe the…

-----confident that efforts are being made to make sure that something like this will not happen again?

Last week it was reported that more than 14,000 children are waiting for an assessment of need. As is the same with everybody else I am sure, one of our constituents has a son who was diagnosed with a moderate intellectual disability and had an assessment of needs conducted in 2016. The family was informed he required psychological, speech and language, and occupational therapy but he has never received these services. It appears that the HSE is conducting assessments but is failing to deliver the required services…

In August 2024, a headline in one of the newspapers stated that the longest waiting time for a driving test was 22 weeks. However, six months later, 22 weeks is now likely the shortest waiting time. During the Thirty-third Dáil, I spoke 11 times about the lengthy waiting times for driving tests. Now, in the Thirty-fourth Dáil, we are making no progress. The solution is clear. We need more testers in the centres working extended hours to clear the backlog. I have several constituents facing significant delays. I kno…

Will the Minister of State provide detailed information on the employment opportunities created by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment since 2024 in Cork South-West, specifically in areas such as the Beara Peninsula, Mizen Head Peninsula, Sheep's Head Peninsula and areas from Inishannon to Bantry? It is important that we create and are seen to be creating good jobs there for the people of that constituency.

I thank the Minister of State. I failed to welcome her to her new role when I spoke earlier. I wish her the very best of luck going forward. I was very specific in my question. I have raised the same question with the Minister of State's predecessor in the Dáil before, and I received a lot of answers but they were not specific to these places. I am very concerned, especially living on a peninsula myself, about the peninsulas and where the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment is focusing on in areas such a…

I would appreciate it if the Minister of State could come back on that. Obviously employment is good no matter where it is. I know there are massive employers in Cork city such as Apple, the pharmaceutical companies and others. They are second to none and are to be always welcomed and secured. Many people are spending two hours in a car going up to Cork every morning to work and coming back to west Cork because there are no major employment opportunities in those areas. I picked Beara, Sheep's Head and Mizen Head, …

Uisce Éireann's strategic funding plan requirement was €11 billion in 2024, comprised of €6.1 billion investment in infrastructure and €4.9 billion in operating costs. While all spending has to be questioned, I will try to concentrate on what Ireland is getting for this huge budget. Every housing target that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats have set are nothing short of farcical. I will not use the word "lie" in the House, but what I will say is that they are misleading t…

I thank the Minister. I raised three issues within Uisce Éireann. Regarding the generators, there was not even a switchover point in many of the plants that are there at the moment. If there was a switchover point and the emergency struck, they could bring a mobile unit in. Without it, they could not even plug it in. It is an astonishing situation. Apparently there are employees full time to organise this for the last number of years. The people of Ireland are calling out for accountability. I have asked the Minist…

They have raw sewage pouring into their communities every day-----