A simple "No" would suffice.

The Taoiseach wasted a minute there. A simple "No" would have sufficed.

I am happy to hear that the Minister is supporting this motion and is certainly allowing it to go through. The purpose of this proposed amending legislation is to provide an increased level of protection for those at risk of homelessness following an eviction notice to prevent their entry into emergency accommodation. Just this evening, at 6 o’clock an email came through and the person said: I was wondering if you could help me. I have been sofa-surfing on my friend’s sofa with my one-year-old daughter. I sleep in …

I move: That Dáil Éireann: recognises the key role played by members of the Dublin Fire Brigade (DFB) as frontline workers during the Covid-19 pandemic; acknowledges that: — DFB provides an invaluable fire, rescue and ambulance service for the Greater Dublin Area; — this service saves countless lives and reduces the physical impact of medical emergencies to individuals as well as preventing damage to residential and commercial property daily; — the DFB is an emergency service that is at crisis point due to prolonge…

I thank my party colleagues and other Deputies for their support for this motion. I welcome the Minister's acceptance of the motion and acknowledge the passion he expressed for Dublin Fire Brigade. However, as fire officers have continuously said to me in the course of meetings with them in recent weeks, they want support now. They do not have very much confidence in anyone to deliver at the moment. They want to see something happen for them. On the sum of €61 million in capital funding, I believe that is for the f…

I raise the new round of funding which will be allocated to community centres. Is the €6 million fund sufficient to cover the need of local authority and non-local authority-run centres? I am concerned about local authority and non-local authority community centres. The former already have a substantial stream from the local authorities themselves.

I thank the Minister of State. I am sure he is tired of being spoken to about Hartstown Community Centre, which is close to my heart. We have been passionately trying to help and support it. Unfortunately, it recently endured another crisis, with an inspection from Tusla leading to another really difficult and stressful time for the voluntary board of management. Unfortunately, the management needs a massive investment of funding in the centre to turn it into a modern community centre. The existing funding is very …

I was hoping to hear something on substantial amounts of funding but also on the other aspect of this, because it is an extremely important point, which I will make again. Local authorities have substantial funding. For example, Fingal County Council, which is one of the wealthiest local authorities in the State, has substantial funding and is able to utilise that funding, as well as borrowing and so on, for capital funding for its own local authority community centres. I have seen it. Those centres do fantastic wo…

We have long known that Covid is an airborne virus. The response from the Minister and the Department on the issue of ventilation has been nothing short of useless. Yesterday evening, I watched the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, admit on RTÉ television that he took advice from one group, namely, the antimicrobial resistance and infection control, AMRIC, team, but has ignored the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization, as we…

Anybody who has experience of this issue does not believe that this is not a process to privatise the service. I have listened to the workers, spokespersons for the ILDN and LES managers. I sat in a committee on many a morning and listened to them clearly outline why this will be a disaster for communities, in particular those most at risk and those who are vulnerable. There is no doubt about it. People on the ground have said they will be left behind. I call on the Minister of State to protect the not-for-profit a…

Sinn Féin is clear in its support for good-quality, affordable and well-planned homes. We support this Bill, despite some of its flaws, which I will outline later, as it repeals the SHD legislation. That legislation was undemocratic and undermined democratically agreed local and city and county development plans. It also reduced public participation and led to an increase in legal challenges, as has been outlined. The SHD model being repealed by this legislation, which Sinn Féin opposed when it was introduced by th…

Anybody who has seen any of the debates or has had contact with people affected will know how desperately hurt people have been over this. I know it is extremely difficult to come up with something that will address all the issues but we need to try. They have asked us to ask the Minister some questions about the proposed scheme. We have all received emails on them in recent days. Some of the main issues people have raised have already been mentioned on Tuesday and were covered in the Minister's speech. It is wrong…

I thank Deputy Gannon and the Social Democrats for bringing forward this Bill. We are very happy to support it. I listened to the Minister's speech and, unfortunately, although there were fine words, the fact that we are kicking the can down the road for another nine months says it all regarding the response of the Government. I have been very privileged to have been in a position to provide sexual health education and training to young people in a Youthreach centre I worked in for a number of years. We delivered a…

I raise the issue of school places in Dublin West. The Chief Whip will know that this is an issue that happens annually. It was first raised in 1995 when the community council produced a report on school places because of the massive surge in house building over the past 30 years in Dublin West. There is a vast oversubscription for Castleknock Community College. Edmund Rice College, which it is hoped will go into its new school building in the summer, is oversubscribed. Le Chéile Secondary School, Tyrrelstown, is o…

This evening I would like to address the issue of confusion about Covid-19 in schools. It is compounded by the repeated assertions from the Minister for Education that the situation in schools is fine. We know from repeated messages from parents that everything is far from fine. Teachers, special needs assistants, cleaning staff and parents just want honesty. Yesterday alone, I received first-hand reports of schools with three classes where there are more than four positive cases of Covid-19. Two of these classes w…

I would like to welcome the provisions in respect of scramblers and quad bikes, in particular, which have been brought forward as part of this Bill. Just a few weeks ago, just down the road from my house in my constituency, a young person who was on a scrambler lost control and went straight into the back of a car. He ended up seriously injured in hospital and is very lucky to be alive. I would like it to be noted that I, and a number of Deputies over the years, fought long and hard for this legislation. We were to…

I thank my colleague Deputy David Cullinane for tabling this motion. We need action and need it now. The red tape in recruitment, which was spoken about, needs to be removed. We need more beds in our hospital system and to increase hospital capacity to prevent patients from having to wait in ambulances and on trolleys. We need to expand our ambulance fleet to ensure all communities, both rural and urban, are properly served. It is just not acceptable that the complement of the National Ambulance Service, 2,500, is …

I also thank Deputy Burke for raising this question. It is extremely important. I have been in contact with both Departments about a constituent of mine who has family in Afghanistan. Members of the family previously worked for the Afghan Government, one in a particularly high-profile position. That person is now going from safe house to safe house and is being protected by his family. It is an extremely serious case and I urge that it be considered. Evidence has shown that this person is particularly high-profile …

In moving forward to some sort of normality when all of this is done, we need to ensure that those in our communities, the communities we represent, and those most at risk, are not forgotten as we recover and reconnect. The people I am talking about are the thousands who worked through the pandemic and volunteered in the community. Throughout the pandemic and when we were in strict lockdown, I was part of an incredible organisation, both within the GAA and outside of it, through Fingal County Council, that delivere…

I understand that this is a technical issue. It is important that we discuss the issues around the provision of services for children in education and how they support students and their families. I worked for the school completion programme for 16 years and for Tusla for four years until I was elected. I am very proud to have worked for both organisations. They continue to provide an incredible service to young people and their families. I still have strong links with many of the people that I worked with. I stron…