This is absolutely something we can raise in our next discussion with the Garda Commissioner and his team. In my own experience, I have seen many community outreach and engagement activities by An Garda Síochána so it is not something beyond their capabilities. I do not see any reason why it cannot be done and we will certainly offer that as a suggestion.

Are we supposed to fly?

I thank Deputy Hearne for raising this important issue. The Government and the HSE are fully committed to enhancing services to better support children with disabilities in Ireland. The Progressing Disability Services Roadmap 2023-2026 focuses on the ongoing development of CDNTs to meet current and growing demand. A child does not require a diagnosis to access services. CDNTs provide a multidisciplinary assessment of individual needs and strengths as well as therapy supports. The demand for assessments of need has …

The overall HSE disability budget for 2025 has increased to €3.2 billion. That equates to an 11.6% increase over the previous year. This matter remains an extremely high priority for the Minister of State with responsibility for disabilities, for the Government and for senior leadership within the HSE. The HSE is supporting families of children while they are on waiting lists. These initiatives include access to webinars, workshops and advice clinics among other measures. This will ensure families continue to recei…

On behalf of the Minister, I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter and giving me the opportunity to provide clarity on a number of issues. The Coroner Service comprises a network of coroners in districts throughout the country and a coroner is an independent office holder. The Department of Justice has direct responsibility for providing financial and administrative support to the Dublin District Coroner's Office since January 2018. Outside Dublin, the relevant local authorities fund the costs of all o…

I again thank the Deputy for raising this matter The Department of Justice is committed to driving the modernisation of the coroner service in Ireland. There are many positive aspects to the current service. Foremost is the compassion of coroners and their staff when engaging with bereaved family members. A number of areas would benefit from being modernised. For this reform process to be effective, it needs to take into account the views of coroners and people who interact with the coroner service. The Department …

My thanks to People Before Profit-Solidarity for tabling this motion on gender-based violence. I acknowledge also the emphatic contributions made by all speakers across the House. Like other speakers, I also want to acknowledge our visitors in the Gallery today and thank them for their input. As the Minister made clear earlier, the Government is not opposing this motion. We are all in agreement that we need to keep the momentum of change going as we work towards our objective of zero tolerance for domestic, sexual …

I thank Senator Tully for raising this important matter. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has responsibility for co-ordinating and advising on the education provision for children nationwide. The Department of Education and the NCSE have introduced a number of strategic initiatives to plan for and provide sufficient mainstream special classes and special school places. We know demand for new special classes at post-primary level is expected to increase significantly over the next few years, due to …

In conclusion, it is a priority for this Government to ensure that all children have an appropriate school placement and that the necessary supports are provided to all our schools to ensure the needs of children with special educational needs are met. It is important to remember that the vast majority of children with special educational needs are supported to attend mainstream classes with their peers. To support children with more complex needs, special classes in mainstream schools and special schools are provi…

I thank the Senator for raising this matter on a number of occasions and again today. The large-scale capital project for Rush National School is included in the Department of Education’s construction programme, which will be delivered under the national development plan as part of the Project Ireland 2040 framework. The project brief for Rush National School includes the construction of a new two-storey, 32-classroom school with two classrooms for children with special educational needs, a general purpose hall and…

I thank the Senator for raising a project that is very important for her constituency. It is not acceptable to me or, I think, anybody else in Seanad Éireann or Dáil Éireann that this project should take so long. I will be communicating with the Department on foot of what I have heard here today. It beggars belief that so many projects in the Department's school building unit take so long. I have come to this House on many occasions to answer Commencement matters on issues rightly raised by the Senator and others a…

I thank Senator Harmon for raising this important matter of leave of absence following assault for teachers and SNAs. Where a teacher or an SNA is injured as a result of physical contact from a third party causing physical injury in the course of their duties, and during approved school activities, they may apply for leave under the leave of absence following assault scheme. The provisions of this scheme are contained in the Department's Circular 0061/17 for teachers and Circular 0062/17 for SNAs. It provides for s…

There is an established and agreed process to amend all circulars. Once discussions have concluded with the education partners and the Department of public expenditure, we will amend the necessary circulars to reflect the required changes. The Department of Education developed new guidelines and published them on 12 December 2024. They are entitled "Understanding Behaviours of Concern and Responding to Crisis Situations Guidelines for Schools in Supporting Students". The Department established a working group to de…

I thank all the Senators for their input this evening. It was very interesting to listen to the contributions. All of us, being practising public representatives, citizens and people living in our own communities, have a vested interest in ensuring community safety is key and paramount. We need only look at the programme for Government for the next five years, which has been agreed to and published and is available for everybody to read, to see very extensive sections on justice, policing, crime, rehabilitation and…

I also congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his election. I thank Deputy Murphy for raising this important matter. I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Finance, Deputy Donohoe, who has engaged with the Revenue Commissioners on this matter. He has been informed by Revenue that there has been no change in the legislation nor in Revenue’s interpretation of the existing legislation relating to the benefit-in-kind charge which is applicable on employer-provided vehicles or the exemption relating to the poo…

I will convey to the Minister for Finance the Deputy's request to be kept up to date. As I indicated in my opening remarks, there has been no change in the legislation, or Revenue's interpretation of same, relating to the benefit-in-kind charge that is applicable on employer-provided vehicles or the exemption relating to the pooling of cars or vans. However, the nature of this Topical Issue and the number of parliamentary questions that have been received on the issue suggest that there has been a change in how suc…

Who were you talking to?

I thank Senator Boyhan for raising this matter and for his continued interest in local government issues. As it happens, the monitoring delegation from the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe will travel to Dublin on 14 November next for a post-monitoring dialogue on its 2023 monitoring report. As a result, I am grateful for the opportunity to come before the House today on behalf of the Minister of State with responsibility for local government and planning to provide an update on I…

There are robust governance structures in place at local government level, based on legislation and good practice. All local authorities have an internal audit unit and an audit committee, chaired by an independent expert. There are also opportunities to further strengthen the powers of locally elected members in respect of their primary oversight and governance role in regard to local authorities. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage will continue to engage with councillor representative bodies…

I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Data Protection Act 2018 (Section 51(3)) (Defence Forces Tribunal of Inquiry) Regulations 2024, a copy of which has been laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 1st November, 2024.