Briefly, I want to first compliment the Minister on targeting children. One thing she has done since she became Minister is target schemes and found funding, particularly for families who are in great difficulty. I must compliment her on that. Like the two previous speakers, however, I would like her to look, as she said she would, at ways and means, even if this did not mean extending it to 22 years of age. I refer in particular to families who are paying very high rents for accommodation for their children. These…

I agree with Deputy Ó Cuív. This has been one of the best schemes that has ever been introduced by a Government. I have just taken a note of what they are actually earning per week, which is €27.50. They actually do more work in rural areas than the county councils. I am asking the Minister of State to do what has to be done immediately. When officials get at reviews there is a review of a review of the review. I was a Minister myself and I know about reviews. They have to be told that you want the report completed…

Before I go to the next question, I want to compliment the Committee on Budgetary Oversight on the work it did on this as well, as a member of the committee.

Before we proceed to the next question, if Deputies are watching the debate, this is the last priority question and if they have questions they need to get to the Chamber.

The Deputy will have an opportunity to respond.

First of all, I want to say that Deputy Tóibín should come down to Mayo tomorrow. We have a €300 million investment, which is the biggest single investment. The road between Westport and Castlebar will open tomorrow. Allergan, Baxter and Coca-Cola are all crying out for people for their workforces. I meet principals of schools from every corner of the county. All these areas are expanding. I disagree with Deputy Tóibín. The great line from the Opposition is always that the west has been left behind. There have neve…

No, it is not. That is misinformation.

I disagree with Deputy Tóibín. He does not have his facts right. Sporting organisations in towns such as Ballina, Castlebar and Westport are not able to provide the infrastructure because so many people are coming back from the cities, and England, America and Australia, to live in County Mayo. It is a fantastic county. If the Deputy saw last week what we did in Ballina, we made Mayo and Ireland proud. We showed what could be done. The people did that. Deputy Tóibín talked about funding. When I was Minister, I hear…

-----about west Cork getting funding-----

-----when it had no application in and we could not give it funding.

The Minister is doing a fantastic job. Rural Ireland is alive and well and people like Deputy Tóibín will not talk it down.

He will not talk it down with his one-horse band.

He will not talk it down with his one-horse band.

I have to agree with Deputy Cannon. There is no question that ORIS and the other schemes we have all over the country are major tourist attractions, and not alone for people walking but also for people's health. They were a godsend in every corner in this country, in particular, during Covid-19 The next time the Minister is having discussions with the local authorities, she might ask them to make sure they maintain them, because the Minister and Department have done fabulous work. That is part of the problem. They …

I welcome the Minister of State. I received a text today from the Minister's secretary to inform me the Minister would not be here tonight but she has agreed to meet me tomorrow. Otherwise I would not have taken the debate tonight without somebody from the Department being here. I want to put this on the record. When I meet the Minister tomorrow, I will be putting this matter to her face to face. The reason I raise this issue tonight is that yesterday I went to meet the board of management and the principal after s…

I will not take up the House's time as it is late at night. I welcome the development that has taken place but I want to see further action as quickly as possible. Again, I compliment the students, principal and teachers given the conditions they are working under. They are doing a fantastic job. My daughters went to that school. I am proud of the school and I will be making sure it is brought to design stage and brought forward as quickly as possible. I will be having discussions tomorrow with the Minister and I h…

I thank the Minister for having this scheme and I compliment her on it. I do not expect her to have the answer to my question tonight but she might ask her Department for one. State agencies and local authorities are all supposed to hire a quota of people with disabilities, to give them an opportunity in life to be able to get a job. I wonder whether some of the local authorities, State agencies or Government Departments are taking that role seriously. It is important to give people with a disability opportunities …

I support Deputy Stanton. We get many people like that coming into our constituencies over the years, especially elderly people. Sometimes, they do not realise the kind of money they have in the bank. I ask the Minister to look at the disregard. It is too low. The big problem, which Deputy Stanton talked about, is where family members pay for everything for their mother and father or whatever the case may be, when they are sick. They say leave the money to them and they will get it, please God, when they are deceas…

I am grateful to the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for allowing me to contribute. If one scheme worked in recent years, it was the rules and regulations the Minister introduced in respect of the fuel allowance scheme this year. Thousands of people aged over 70 who worked all their lives and had never qualified for fuel allowance before got into that scheme. If I was to ask the Minister to do one thing, it would be to consider bringing the age limit down in next year's budget, from 70 to 69, to let more people into the sche…

I am thankful this Topical Issue matter has been selected. I am glad the Minister of State, Deputy Calleary, is taking it because he, the Taoiseach and I and members of the board of the Ireland West regional airport met recently at the airport. I was concerned in relation to some of the issues raised with us. As the Minister of State is aware, there has been a strategic development zone there. The Government has designated it. The problem is that while the land is there, nothing has happened with it over several ye…