I thank People Before Profit-Solidarity for bringing this motion forward. I listened to a lot of the speakers and the opening statement of the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton. Last year, in June 2023, the autism committee published a final report with 109 recommendations. The blueprint for success is there. There are 87 more of those recommendations to be implemented. They deal with everything from school transport to respite care to summer provision. You name it, it is there. The blueprint has been done by an a…

I thank Deputy Kerrane for bringing forward the motion. I have listened to many of those who have spoken on it. There has been a bit of nitpicking as well. The Leas-Cheann Comhairle used the word "transformative" in her contribution, but this is about doing things right. If we are speaking in plain English here, this is about giving parents additional time for their child to grow up with them. It is about making childcare affordable. It is about taking the pressure off families. It is also about supporting workers.…

I thank Deputy Harkin and the Independent Group for bringing forward this motion. This is the crux of the matter every year, with school transport and everything else. One of the main groups I met last week was the Irish Primary Principals Network. It set out a synopsis of the solutions. Its first request is to increase admin time for teaching principals, stating: Burnout and Job Fatigue: Due to the dual responsibilities of teaching and administration, many Teaching Principals experience significant job stress and …

I welcome this opportunity. I have listened to everybody. I feel like we are chaining ourselves to the asylum and migration pact in the sense of taking an all-or-nothing approach. While there are good elements to it, I have some fears in regard to it. The current system is broken and we have not got it right. We cannot buy a bee in a box because we do not know what will be in the final version of the pact and what powers we will have in terms of our own decision-making. It is in our gift at the moment to get things…

I thank the Minister for his response, in which he stated, "Ireland is a world leader in the integration of variable renewable electricity onto the grid." Yet Ireland has the most expensive energy costs. A number of previous speakers referenced energy poverty. We still have food banks today. I told a story a while back in this House. It was a true story that broke my heart about a child aged probably six or seven who had spent practically all of his life sleeping on a beanbag. His mother was living in fear because …

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. We are back again. I have been raising this issue for some time. I will give him a synopsis of what we are dealing with in Midleton in east Cork. Midleton flooded in November 2000, October 2004, June 2012, July 2013, January 2014, February 2014, October 2014, December 2015, January 2016, December 2018 and the most recent and most devastating flooding was Storm Babet on 23 October 2023. I have been raising this with the Minister for a while. It is now the end of …

I thank the Minister of State for his response. I am a realist. Things do not happen overnight. As I said, I listed out events going back to 2000. I welcome the Minister of State mentioning Mogeely and Gleann Fia. I thank Cork County Council and the east Cork municipal district council because they are pushing and working with the OPW on this. The Minister of State's response states flood defences solution can be readily identified and achievable in a short timeframe. The flood barriers that can be connected to hom…

I thank the Minister of State.

I thank Deputy Clarke for bringing forward this extremely important motion. The Minister of State has heard from previous speakers so I will cut straight to the chase. I welcome her opening remarks. She stated: The allocation model for 2024-25 distributes the total available number of special education teaching posts in line with each school's profile of need. She also stated: The model makes an allocation based on a number of inputs, including enrolment numbers and school-level data from standardised tests, which …

Answer the question.

I thank the Minister of State for being here this morning. At the outset, I want to welcome the fact that Ireland joined Spain this morning in recognising the state of Palestine. It is nice to have a bit of good news amid all of the doom and gloom. To get back to the issue at hand, I want to read from an article published recently in The Echo which states that pupils at Fermoy Educate Together National School are packed into classrooms and lessons are being held in corridors. Under the headline "Children at Cork sc…

I know the Minister of State is only taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Education. In the written response he has provided - I am blessed with power reading - it states, "Fermoy was one area surveyed in 2012 and 2013 under the patronage divestment process where there was sufficient parental demand to support changes in school patronage." The response further states, "... there is no demographic imperative to establish new schools". We all have the constituency dashboards. We know exactly how ma…

I ask the Government to withdraw its countermotion. What we know so far about the Housing Commission report is that it calls for a radical reset of Government housing policy. That is what we call for in our motion. From what we have heard so far, the report indicates we have a deficit of over 256,000 houses. Some 23,500 homes would have to be built every year in addition to the targeted number the Government proposes just to clear the backlog. I heard other Deputies speak about planning issues. There are issues wit…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Colm Burke, for being here tonight. I am raising the long waiting list for dentures, specifically for people over 70. I want to go back to a newspaper article in January 2009, which appeared under the subheading: "Dentures will be rationed for medical card holders as part of a wave of Health Service Executive ... cutbacks, dentists representatives warned." The article states: The Irish Dental Association ... chief executive ... said dentures are the most expensive discretionary…

I thank the Minister of State. I respect the response outlined. I am well aware that new dentures can be provided every five years, but that is if a patient can access a dentist. That is the issue here. Then there is the medical stuff that goes with it. Oral health is vital. The Minister of State's written statement reads, "The HSE is required to support the provision of emergency care to adult medical card holders who have difficulty accessing a local dentist." In the case I am talking about, the gentleman was tol…

I reiterate what my two Cork East colleagues were saying about the flooding. I thank the Minister of State. I met him in Midleton and I put in a number of parliamentary questions, and, in fairness, the responses were fairly detailed. I echo what previous speakers said. The three problems here are fear, frustration and the pace. It seems there are solutions but it is about the pace at which they are coming. It is a miracle nobody was killed in the flooding because it happened so fast. I flag to the Minister of State…

I thank the Regional Group for bringing forward the motion. We heard from previous speakers about the people who care for others. It is personal but there is the knock-on effect of poverty, mental health issues and so on. I am going to concentrate on the good work that carers do, in particular on an amazing and successful story that I raised in the House a number of months ago. One woman cared for her daughter for more than 20 years. She never received a brown penny because her husband was earning too much. The lad…

It is hard to follow Deputy Doherty but having listened to him, I agree that this provision is mind boggling. I could name a couple of hundred local clubs that run lotteries, whether for rugby or soccer, as well as community groups. We even raise funds for the St. Patrick's Day parade. For me, the Government is shutting down the heartbeat of any community. Sport, in particular, is vital for the mental health and well-being of people in the community. It feels like the Government is threatening the only possibility …

I thank the Minister for being here today. I thank Solidarity-People Before Profit for tabling this motion. Much has been covered here. This is about disability justice and disability injustice. Many people have covered the options of trying to get work, proper living accommodation and public transport. There is a myriad of barriers after barriers. I have raised how bad the system is with two Ministers here recently. I can give the name of an individual because she and her mother gave me permission. Katie from Cobh…

I thank the Minister of State for taking the question. There seems to bit of a Cork contingent here tonight, for a change. I wish to read into the record a statement from the Sinn Féin spokesperson on Gaeilge, the Gaeltacht, arts, culture and heritage, Deputy Ó Snodaigh. It is to do with the scrapping of the LÉ Eithne . It states: Opting to scrap the vessel without even doing a cost-benefit analysis into the alternative of using it as a museum is bad policy-making. Even worse is the fact that this wasn't even discu…