I welcome this legislation. As the Chair of the housing committee, I also thank its members from all parties for waiving pre-legislative scrutiny at a meeting yesterday so this Bill could be on the agenda here today and passed before the week is out. I just wanted to put that on the record. Ultimately, this Bill is about protecting tenancies and trying to create an environment to get inward investment into the building of apartments. As Deputy Devlin said, the report of the Housing Commission was referred to the Ho…

I want to highlight the excellent physio service we have at St. Joseph's care centre in Longford. Following a recent HIQA report, however, there were queries about the location of it with regard to the older persons who were in the care centre and who have had to move location on site. There are now fears among staff and the 4,000 people who attend that service in the care centre that the service could be moved to Athlone or Mullingar. That would not be acceptable. I have met with the Minister of State, Kieran O'Do…

The programme for Government commits to improving our services throughout the health service. Specifically, I refer to St. Joseph’s campus in Longford. Recently, following a HIQA report, the physiotherapy department which serves the people of Longford and the patients in St. Joseph’s Care Centre has had to move location in the centre into a building that is due to be demolished in six months due to ongoing works and welcome investment into the campus. However, staff have been notified of the possibility that they m…

Physiotherapy.

For St. Joseph’s Care Centre in Longford.

Thank you.

Thank you, Deputy Ó Murchú.

The next speaking slot is-----

Thank you, Deputy Ó Murchú.

Next we have the Labour Party slot. I call Deputy Lawlor.

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

Notwithstanding significant investment in special education, and the Taoiseach spoke earlier about 400 additional classes, we still find ourselves in a position where some children do not have school places for September. For St. Christopher's Special School in my county of Longford, the children of three families do not have a place for September. Sacred Heart national school in Granard has an early intervention class. Children are due to transfer into the primary system, but there is no capacity within the primar…

In August 2024, the autism innovation strategy was launched by the Government. Today I ask the Government to action its pledge in the programme for Government to place this strategy on a permanent legislative footing. This must be followed up with the appropriate investment and implementation. The strategy contains over 80 actions that reflect the priorities of autistic people, address the daily challenges they and their families face, and seek to address the gaps in existing services and supports. It is also desig…

I thank the Minister very much. I welcome the commitment from the Minister on behalf of the Government to legislate for the autism innovation strategy. Key to it is giving every child the same chance in life and the opportunity to be the best they can be. I welcome the huge amount of work done in the Minister's Department with regard to new school places for September 2025. However, I ask that the work start. It probably should have started a number of years back to ensure we provide places for 2025, 2026, 2027 and…

The programme for Government commits to improving urgent and emergency care, yet since February advanced paramedics, some of our most skilled emergency responders, have been barred from bringing home their marked National Ambulance Service vehicles, preventing life-saving out-of-hours responses in local communities. Between 2022 and 2024, these managers, again out of hours, responded to over 200 acute, life-threatening echo and delta calls. The decision, based on benefit-in-kind concerns, was made with no patient s…

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú.

I thank Deputy Ó Murchú.

Next is Deputy Wall, who is sharing time with Deputies Eoghan Kenny and Lawlor.

I feel the same with regard to the local improvement scheme, coming from the rural county of Longford. Significant funding has been provided in recent years through the Department when the previous Minister, Heather Humphreys, was in that role. If the Minister, Deputy Calleary, looks at his list he will see that every penny allocated to Longford County Council was spent. I wish to highlight that we have the capacity to get more roads done if additional funding is made available to the local authority. I thank the M…

The Minister of State highlighted in his reply the funding for community centres. They recently had a round of the community centre funds announced. I want to ask a question about that with regard to an appeal mechanism on that. I had a parish hall in Newtown Cashel, County Longford, that was unsuccessful due to an error in a letter of comfort as regards the length of time the hall was available. Will there be an appeals mechanism on unsuccessful applications, particularly, as I said, since community centres play s…