Is the Minister going to ensure that the North-South interconnector will be underground? That is the fundamental issue for people who live in Border communities. On the basis of what he said, is the Minister guaranteeing that there will be no new costs passed on to consumers as a result of the private wires legislation? Consumers cannot afford any new costs. There is a concern to the effect that the private wires legislation will undermine climate obligations by diverting energy. We have seen in the past few years …

I ask the Minister about nature-based solutions to mitigate and provide resilience to the impacts of climate change. We all know what has happened recently with warmer and wetter winters bringing more flooding, with a cost of billions and more than 100,000 properties in the State at risk of flooding. We know this will continue. Drainage systems will be exceeded, and we need to slow the water down and use the land as a sponge to ensure the surface can have more involvement in resilience to flooding.

What are the Minister of State's views on Ireland's resilience to extreme weather events? Is consideration being given to nature-based solutions to provide resilience to the impacts of climate change?

I hope that in his next answer, the Minister of State actually tells us what type of nature-based solutions will be foreseen or utilised by Government. I refer to the area in Kerry between Knocknagoshel and Brosna. The older people there tell me that up to 20 to 30 years ago, when heavy rain came, it would be soaked up by the bogs and released slowly. That does not happen anymore, partly due to afforestation and vertical drainage, so huge volumes of water are coming into the basins there and causing the flooding do…

My question similarly relates to vulnerable children. Following the Halpin report into CAMHS in north Kerry which showed deficiencies in care and a departure from standard operating practice, can the Minister confirm that the compensation scheme will be widened to include people who have had an apology already from the HSE and that the review will be widened to a much broader category of children who have been dealt with in the north Kerry area?

Ba mhaith liom ceist a chur ar an Tánaiste mar gheall ar chártaí leighis agus cártaí leighis saorthoilteanacha. Tá bean i gCiarraí agus fuair a fear céile bás, agus i ndiaidh sin, fuair sí ailse. Bhí uirthi rud éigin a dhéanamh mar gheall air san ospidéal. There is a woman in Kerry who applied for a discretionary medical card because she had been refused one. Her husband had died in tragic circumstances. She herself then developed cancer and needed 16 or 17 rounds of radiotherapy at the last count. We applied for t…

I might cc the Tánaiste.

Tá a fhios ag gach duine atá anseo ó Ghaelcholáiste Chiarraí an tacaíocht agus an chabhair a thugann SNAs do dhaltaí agus don phobal iomlán sna scoileanna. I have been contacted by many schools, in particular, Fossa National School outside Killarney, which has lost four SNAs in that one school in the analysis provided to date. A review is coming up, but there seems to be an overly strict application of the meaning of "significant needs". I have also been contacted about this issue by schools in Glenflesk, Listowel …

I, too, welcome the school community from the convent in Listowel. It is entirely appropriate that there is a school delegation here from the town of Listowel because anyone in this House will remember the flooding that took place two or three weeks before the election of November 2024. Unfortunately, while work has been done in Listowel, which the Minister visited recently, where banks have put in, we remember what happened in Killacrim and off the Bridge Road. However, the long-term plan, which we recently met wi…

At the outset, I wish to sympathise with the family of Grace Lynch and also with anyone who was affected by the collision on North Earl Street this morning. In the light of all of this, and the increase in the roads deaths in 2025 - 190 people died on our roads last year, that is, 190 families shattered, 190 chairs empty at kitchen tables and 190 sets of hopes and dreams suddenly cut short - I want to pick the Minister of State up on what he said about whether the powers An Garda Síochána has are being used. Is he …

What is at stake here is fundamental, and that is trust. It is trust that our food is safe, that our high standards are upheld and that those at the top are bound by the same rules as those at the bottom. This trust and leadership is earned. We need to know that the State's own agency to promote and develop the Irish food industry has the best interests of the Irish people at heart, is 100% beside Irish farmers and stands with them, and will not throw Irish farmers under the bus as soon as there is extra profit to …

I take this opportunity to acknowledge the 60th anniversary of the death of Mike Quill, the great union leader in New York who worked in that city's subway system for many years. He always preached an anti-racist message. He was involved in the struggle for the country of his birth, fighting in the War of Independence, and the struggle for his fellow workers in New York. Everywhere we turn, we see infrastructure that is undersupplied, overloaded and crumbling. Our creaking infrastructure, a deepening housing crisis…

I spoke to the Minister of State last week about the passing of Stephen McCarthy who took his own life in August 2024. Over the weekend, I received a text from his brother Shane who lives in London. He said that: If you have a family member yourself and people that you care about, no matter what community you're from, as everyone probably knows I'm from the Traveller community, my brother Stephen was also but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter where you're from or who you are, nobody deserves to die through s…

The National Vetting Bureau and the Garda vetting Act have been in place for about 14 years. Has the Minister any plans to simplify the administrative burden placed on volunteers and employees through Garda vetting and the bureau itself? Will he make a statement on that given the length of time it has been in place?

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I agree with him that the system was designed to protect young people and vulnerable adults and I appreciate that it must be robust. However, as he has said, it has been segmented and we need a portable system. He mentioned that steps have to be taken. We produced a Bill in 2022 and we were told by the Minister standing in at the time that a body had been investigating the practicalities for some time. We all know that people are getting vetted three, four, five, maybe e…

What we proposed almost four years ago was that the chief bureau officer would establish what we call a register of general consents. The Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers gave great assistance so that people would remain on the register for three years, give their permission and, under section 6, give a general consent to the disclosure of vetting information to any organisation that might require it. At the time, the Minister said the Department must investigate any revetting impact upon constitutional right…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for giving me the opportunity to raise the issue of the need, or demand, for a suicide crisis assessment nurse. A few years ago, I was speaking to a young man, Stephen McCarthy, who lived about 300 yd from where I live. A woman had seen us speaking, and she asked if she could have a word with him because her son was in school with Stephen. She said she remembered him as a smart, intelligent boy and that he seemed to have a deep sense of fairness, because life had not been fair to Stephen…

I should mention the name of the boy because I have his family's permission. It is Clancylee Casey, who was known as John. He is the boy who is going to be buried. I appreciate the crisis resolution team the Minister of State has put in place in the solace cafés and that there has been an 18% reduction, but the fact remains a lot of people are slow to go to the emergency department. While what she said is welcome, I ask her to review the situation and have a look at putting a SCAN system in place in Kerry. She is c…

I know that the Minister of State does not have it but I also know that it is complete.

Workers and families across the State are being failed on public transport and worker flexibility. These failures are not abstract; they are the lived reality of people across the island. There are commuters wasting hours of their lives in traffic chaos, waiting for buses or sitting in cars as they inch through gridlocked traffic. It is having a tangible, real-life impact on the quality of life for people. Despite years of promises, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have created a system that is defined by delay and stagna…