My question concerns the percentage of projects that are community-owned and those owned by local authorities that applied to the community centre investment fund and the number of local authority-owned projects awarded funding under this community centre investment fund.

I welcome the community centre investment fund. It was something I called for while I was a member of Fingal County Council, as well as something I called for in this House. I hope the Minister enjoyed her trip to Hartstown community centre. I again commend the centre management. The Minister saw the passion and joy on the faces there when this substantial amount of funding was awarded. It will secure Hartstown community centre for the future. I also welcome that Fingal County Council is going to take this centre o…

Yes.

Again, there is no issue with the concept of the community centre investment fund. It is a good fund and a substantial amount of money. What I noticed when I was going through all of the allocations - I will refer to Dublin West and Fingal because I know them better - is that there were a number of Fingal County Council owned, run and managed community centres that also got phase 1 and phase 2. None of them got phase 3, but certainly phase 1 and phase 2. They have substantial capital funding. Not all local authorit…

We are here again, as we have been countless times, discussing the health crisis and the healthcare system. Each time, the Minister tells us of a plan he has to sort out the crisis and time and again, these plans never achieve their stated aims. We have told the Minister countless times in this Chamber what needs to happen to fix the waiting list and trolley crises and the lack of doctors and nurses and asked him to look at the housing crisis, which has caused many of these problems in recent times. The Minister ha…

I thank Deputy Ó Ríordáin for bringing forward this motion. It is a huge topic. A person would need two and a half hours rather than two and a half minutes to try to address some of the issues. The drug crisis is something that I have seen in the community in which I grew up in the north-east inner city and in the community I moved to in west Dublin. In some ways, there is a common denominator in both communities. They are working class with large pockets of disadvantage with poverty, unemployment, early school-lea…

While the six-month delay will be welcomed by many people, it is a case of kicking the can down the road. In fact, so many cans have been kicked down the road by this Government, it will make a fortune in the new cash for cans recycling measures when they are introduced in 2024. When the hikes come in they will hit people's pockets. They will hit the pockets of workers, businesses and families at a time when their finances are already under unprecedented pressure due to the cost-of-living crisis. While I am glad th…

Here we find another horrific story of abuse repeating itself again. It is another legacy of abuse from a religious order in Ireland. In Ireland, from the foundation of the State and possibly until the 1980s and 1990s, there was an omerta and fear connected to criticising a religious person, and such situations arise again and again in institutions - in mother and baby homes, schools and across a range of places where children were put into the care of religious orders. In some settings, Christian Brothers had cart…

I thank Deputy Tóibín and the other Deputies who brought forward this important Bill. On a few occasions, I sat in on the committee meetings because I feel passionately and strongly about the mistreatment of dogs. I will declare my ownership of a husky, who was at the groomer's today getting ready for Christmas. Anybody who owns dogs cherishes them. It is important that we look after them. Deputy Cronin referenced some of the issues and, therefore, I will not do so again. As I said, it is Thursday and we want to ge…

The recent RTÉ programme on O'Connell Street and the videos emerging from Cherry Orchard put a spotlight on policing, drug misuse, open drug-dealing and general antisocial behaviour There is also a growing feeling that the public transport system in some areas of Dublin is not safe for either passengers or staff. On a weekly basis, we hear of buses terminating before the final stop because it is not safe to drive into some estates due to antisocial behaviour. As well as leaving residents, commuters and visitors fee…

On Monday evening, I attended a meeting with senior management, teachers, and parents of Coolmine Community School, along with union representatives. Despite months of efforts by the principal and others, first year and second year students have no woodwork, no metalwork, and no technical graphics, because there are no teachers available. There are many reasons for this, which have been building up over the years, but the housing crisis has exacerbated those problems even more, making it difficult to recruit teache…

I welcome some of the comments made by the Minister of State on pay and conditions. When we were growing up, we all considered our parents as resilient and reliable people who provided for all our needs and comforted us in all our worries. As we become adults and, in some cases, parents ourselves, we realise the hard work and selflessness that goes into being a parent. We must and should be able to provide a good quality of life for our older citizens and parents, who choose to live out their lives in their own hom…

Have any assessments been carried out on the Minister's Department's response to Covid in terms of exclusion of some marginalised groups?

I commend the community call initiative, which I was involved with in Dublin West, where we delivered hundreds of meals and medication for people who were in dire need. What really struck me at the time was how isolated and vulnerable older people in particular were and those who had disabilities. I was at a recent launch of iCommunity with the Taoiseach and the Minister for Communities in the North, Ms Deirdre Hargey. I was struck by the Disability Action Network saying that 35% of social care had been impacted, m…

I could not agree more. As an example, people within the drug community are especially marginalised. These would be people who are active drug users who are getting supports from community drug teams. There had been a fractious relationship at times between Government agencies and some of the community projects. All of that was washed away during Covid, however, because everybody recognised we needed to work together to ensure what we did supported those who are particularly marginalised and disadvantaged. My conce…

I thank the Deputies for bringing forward this motion. By every metric the Housing for All strategy is failing. In Dublin 15, the housing crisis is at its worst ever. In excess of 88 families currently face a notice to quit, an increase of more than 50 in a little over three months. Some are relieved there has been a stay of execution, but for some the ban has come too late and they face a dire situation, particularly those who are overholding. They listen to the news every day and hear there is nothing out there t…

As Deputies Ó Broin and Gould have said, Sinn Féin will be supporting this Bill. However, it is a pity that the Government has been dragged kicking and screaming to this point. The notice to quit file in my office has in recent months filled up at an alarming rate. Moreover, from the speeches that have been made on a daily basis in this Chamber, I know it is the same for every other Deputy. Families with young children on notices to quit, many of whom are in receipt of HAP, are presenting to my office on a weekly b…

On transport, unfortunately the services being delivered by Go-Ahead Ireland include late buses, no shows, overcrowding and general poor standards of service. People are being left at the side of the street. The 270 bus in Dublin 15 did not arrive again yesterday. One student was forced to return home after it failed to turn up. Again Go-Ahead Ireland said that the driver was sick. This is the same stock answer we have heard for months. Go-Ahead's Irish subsidiary made €2.6 million in profit last year. It is really…

I thank Deputies Ward, Mitchell and Kenny for bringing forward this Bill to amend the Misuse of Drugs Act and create a new criminal offence to criminalise the use and coercion of children in the sale and distribution of drugs. The Bill will make it a stand-alone offence for adults to use children for the sale and distribution of drugs. It will make it easier for the Garda to press charges against these adult criminals. I welcome the Bill as a tool to tackle the problem of vulnerable young people being sucked into t…

I welcome the chance to talk about this Bill and the importance of tourism. Urban areas are also important in the tourism trade. In Dublin West, and in Dublin 15 in particular, we have many tourism opportunities. We have the old Castleknock Castle and Mulhuddart Cemetery. The Dublin Institute of Advanced Studies observatory at Dunsink is one of the potential jewels in the crown for tourism not just in Dublin but in Ireland. Anyone who has visited it will have seen the massive potential it has. To mention just one s…