I call the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan.

I thank Deputy McGuinness.

I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 39 and the name of the Member in each case: Deputy Catherine Ardagh - To discuss the additional investment provided in budget 2026 for children’s respite supports. Deputy Joe Cooney - To discuss a recent court decision regarding the connection by the Ennis Plaza to the Clareabbey wastewater treatment plant, WWTP, system. Deputy Michael Cahill - To discuss the establishment of a dedicated pilot study on…

The next item on our agenda is a Private Members' motion on the Office of the President from the Independent Technical Group. Before I call on Deputy Tóibín, I refer to a ruling made by the Ceann Comhairle on 7 October, to be aware that the President is beyond political debate as are the candidates running in the upcoming election. Both sides must respect that we do not delve into the current election or the President himself.

The Taoiseach will be aware the provision of home help services is vital support that allows many older people and those with additional needs to remain living independently in their homes. Recent rankings from Home and Community Care Ireland place County Longford second, with the highest number of people on a waiting list for a service. In my constituency office, I continue to meet families. Some of these have no service and some are grateful for a limited service. There are staff shortages particularly at holiday…

I have a question about the LIS. The Minister stated that some counties are not spending their allocation. I come from the county of Longford, where we have huge waiting lists. We spend our entire allocation. I ask that any moneys not spent by a local authority be ring-fenced and sent back to those local authorities that are spending what has been allocated and have long waiting lists.

My question is about the allocation of funding for the new LEADER programme from 2027 onwards. I have seen the success of the programme since it started in my county of Longford. We were successful in getting significant funding, all of which was drawn down for projects in the county. It has had a huge benefit and has improved communities throughout the county. I have been involved in a number of the projects in my own local area, including community centre funding and playgrounds that have been developed with fund…

I thank the Minister for that strong commitment. As he said, it has a massive impact in communities throughout the country, from playgrounds to tourism products - you name it. It has left its impact and it is important that we, the local action groups, LAGs, and the local LEADER companies working on the ground know that the Government is going to put in the matched funding to make sure they are able to staff themselves and are ready to roll out to the new programme when it comes.

In budget 2025 funding was allocated for five additional family resource centres, FRCs. I was one of those involved in putting a management team together to put forward a proposal and an application from Longford. We advocated here a number of weeks ago for funding for additional FRCs in budget 2026. This was granted and there is funding in place for ten additional FRCs throughout the country. We need an FRC in Longford. We hit the top in every one of the matrices, from truancy rates to referrals to Tusla. A team f…

I too was in the audiovisual room yesterday where we were touched by the life experiences we heard of Ciara and others, including Harvey’s family. It is only right that we as a Government and a nation must do better. I fully support the motion of support in the Minister, Deputy Harris. He is honest and open. He is a leader; he is our leader and he is my leader and he turns aspirations into actions, as he said earlier. I chaired the Joint Committee on Autism and I challenged him to do more. We challenged him to prov…

The Minister and Minister of State are both very welcome. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Housing Finance Agency (Amendment) Bill, which proposes to increase the statutory borrowing limit of the HFA from €12 billion to €13.5 billion. It is a necessary step to ensure that it can continue to do what it was established to do - to finance the delivery of social and affordable homes across our country. It plays a crucial role in our housing system. It is low-cost, long-term finance to our local authorities, AH…

The programme for Government is supportive of the provision of family resource centres which provide community development and family support services in towns throughout the country. Longford town has a population of 10,000. It has the highest truancy levels in the State by population. It has the highest number of referrals to Tusla and it has the most diverse population in the country. Yet, in the recent application, we were unsuccessful in securing funding despite putting together a needs assessment with all the…

In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Wednesday, 24 September 2025.

This strategy sets out a whole-of-government approach to disability. Individual Departments and State agencies are responsible for delivering on these commitments. I am just going to read into the record these individual commitments. They are that: We will create a more inclusive educational system for disabled children and young people that will respect the rights of everyone to choose and access the learning environments that meet their needs. [...] We will improve retention rates and progression for disabled chi…

We as a Government will be judged on delivering each one of these commitments. I ask that the Government put every resource possible into doing so, and I know it will. I know the commitment is there to ensure we deliver on all these commitments.

In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time this evening.

The just transition fund has delivered more than €169 million into the midlands and is in place until 2027. However, a significant number of local projects struggled to gain the matched funding to deliver those projects on time. I am looking for the Government to seek an extension on that just transition drawdown so these projects can be completed. I want the Government to look at introducing a just transition economic zone, similar to the Shannon free zone. We have seen the benefit that had for that whole mid-west…

We were all shocked by the recent “RTÉ Investigates” programme but it is important to put on record that this is not the case for the entire nursing home sector. Across the country, many nursing homes provide excellent service to our family members. We need to increase the support that we put into both public and private nursing homes. I visit nursing homes on a regular basis in my county. A multi-million euro development is taking place on-campus at St. Joseph’s Care Centre and there is also Laurel Lodge in Longfo…

It is a key commitment in the programme for Government to review the means test across the entire social welfare system. A more consistent, transparent and targeted approach is needed. It needs to be a priority to ensure low-income families, carers, those with disabilities and part-time workers are not unfairly penalised. I ask the Minister to ensure this review addresses anomalies across the schemes and takes into account the real cost of living today and the need to support people trying to balance work and carin…

I welcome the Minister's comments on prioritising those most in need. That is what we need to do, particularly for low-income families, carers, those with disabilities and part-time workers. I welcome consistency in the future. As a public representative, I do not see consistency in how applications are treated. People who are ultimately entitled are turned down on one or two occasions and have to go through an appeals system when it should have been granted the first time. I appeal for consistency in means testing…