A Cheann Comhairle, the point I made was around management of An Garda Síochána and I have tremendous respect and gratitude-----

-----for the wonderful work gardaí are doing.

No.

I was referring to senior management, a Cheann Comhairle.

Senior management are not listening to gardaí.

We are now almost five weeks on from Storm Éowyn and many communities in County Mayo are still without communications. Ballinamore nursing home, for example, is still without a landline. There are many elderly people without a landline and it is causing difficulties around accessing emergency services and accessing pendant alarms, which run off the landline. Many people in Mayo are still without this service and it is causing major difficulties. Days after the storm, the Tánaiste rather dismissively said communicat…

I welcome that the Minister is in the Chamber for this discussion. I welcome the comments made by the Minister of State about the modular developments. It is a positive, practical solution and something that should have happened a very long time ago. I ask the Minister to expedite that. At the moment, according to the Minister's comments 40 sq. m is the maximum size but I think sizes of 60 sq. m, 70 sq. m or 80 sq. m should be considered, where it is suitable to do so and where sites allow. There are great companie…

The crisis in gender-based violence continues to devastate our society. The number of domestic violence cases rose by 20,000 in the past four years alone. Women and children are bearing the brunt of this crisis, the impact of which is being felt in every constituency across the country, including that of Mayo, which has experienced its highest number of domestic abuse cases in over a decade. The Covid-19 pandemic, when the Government's message was to stay at home, caused a major difficulty for so many victims of do…

I thank the Minister of State for the response. I am surprised by the lack of data on insolvencies in recent years. The issues and the crisis facing the SME sector are getting increasingly worse. A Deloitte study recently found that almost 900 insolvencies occurred in 2024, an increase of almost a third on 2023. It predicted that the increase will continue, as will the issues affecting SMEs. The worst affected sectors are the hospitality, fitness and beauty industries. Since the Government hiked VAT, more than 700 …

We should also focus on preventative healthcare from the earliest stages, from children upwards. Sport is of critical importance. One in five children stops participating in sport in the transition from primary school to first year. There is another massive drop off in terms of participation in third year among those who are 15 and 16 years of age. It is important that the Minister addresses it. There are serious issues in the changing of curriculum and additional bureaucracy. It is going to hamper extracurricular …

Ballinrobe has paid a very high price for poor Government policy in recent weeks and months. The practice of placing very vulnerable and high-risk individuals in emergency accommodation has been a recipe for disaster. What is happening at the Railway Inn in Ballinrobe has caused major difficulties for the town. Crime is rising in the area. Garda numbers in Mayo are falling. Gardaí are really struggling to deal with the issues that exist. There has been a huge lack of rehabilitation support and a lack of Garda servi…

----- in the town to cease and end the practice of emergency accommodation in Ballinrobe-----

----- particularly at the Railway Inn.

There is no point in discussing disabilities unless we can address the core issues relating to the disability sector. The core and fundamental issue is recruitment and retention. The CEO of the Disability Federation of Ireland stated that this issue is having a catastrophic impact. The reason that it is having such an impact and that there are so many difficulties is because two thirds of disability services are delivered by the voluntary sector. This Government has utterly failed the voluntary sector. Section 39 a…

I raise the really important issue of forestry, particularly following the recent storm, Storm Éowyn. It caused massive damage right across the west, the north west, the midlands, and it destroyed thousands of hectares of forestry. These farmers planted under Government advice, encouragement and incentives. Indeed, these farmers followed Teagasc advice around what to plant and where to plant. This was no Ponzi scheme and yet following the storm, the farmers woke up with no forest in many cases and their pensions in…

I welcome this motion on housing, particularly in light of what we learned yesterday about County Mayo being the biggest county for derelict properties. Some 14% of the country's derelict properties are in Mayo. It is also the second highest in terms of vacancy, at almost 11%. Yet so little is being done - it is important the Minister hears this - to assist local authority housing staff in turning over those properties. It is not just on the private side. Local authorities right across this country are responsible …

On the development of Dublin, we learned today that the builders of the national children's hospital require an additional €800 million of taxpayers' money. We also learned that there will be a further delay until this time next year. The Department of Health has stated that the delay is due to the fact that it is difficult to bring children from hospital to hospital in the winter. I find it hard to believe that we are delaying construction again for that reason. Will the Taoiseach publish the clinical advice perta…

As recently elected TDs, we have all seen the pressing and urgent situation faced by many families. I have no doubt the Minister knocked on hundreds of doors, just as we did. We were met with challenging situations of parents and families trying to meet the needs of their children while managing work and family life and advocating for basic rights and the needs of their children. What struck me over the past number of weeks was that the Government moved earth to create more ministerial positions for its colleagues,…

The cyberattack cost this State €100 million. That is expected to grow by a further €600 million. It has been reported in the Irish Independent today that 500 people are suing the State in respect of breaches relating to the attack. An incredible 32,000 people had their data stolen. Following the attack, an international criminal gang set up 57 bank accounts in the names of HSE and Tusla staff and fraudulently claimed PUP Covid payments worth up to €183,000 from this State. During that time-----

During that time, the national cybersecurity agency had a budget of €5 million. In contrast, the Department of the Taoiseach had a public relations budget of €15 million. What is the total estimated cost of the cyberattack to this State?