I welcome the efforts of the Minister and the Minister of State. The Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, has responsibility for SICAP, which does fantastic work in disadvantaged areas. However, funding for infrastructure is also incredibly important. Often, by changing the physical landscape of an environment, you can bring real change to those communities. We should be working in partnership with, for example, the local community safety partnerships, the SICAP partners, the local community development committees, …

Absolutely. The other thing is that it is sustainable and has certainty. Local authorities, for example, depend on funding over time. Often with sports capital funding, for example, they are able to identify a project and then over time they are certain of funding. RAPID has to be the same. We have to have this on a permanent basis for people who are planning in these communities. In places like Ballymun or Finglas, the problem often is that people are exhausted with initiatives. There is initiative after initiativ…

No.

That is out of order.

That is not true, a Cheann Comhairle.

Is mian liom labhairt faoi Ghaelscoil Uí Earcáin i bhFionnghlas. Rinne mé staidéar sa teach scoile seo 40 bliain ó shin. Bhí mo sheanathair ar choiste tógála na scoile 70 bliain ó shin, agus tá an teach scoile ag éirí an-sean anois. Tá teach scoile nua ag teastáil ón scoil agus tá gá leis go han-luath. Gaelscoil Uí Earcáin is a school I studied in 40 years ago. My grandfather was on the building committee nearly 70 years ago, yet the building still remains in desperate need of improvement. Over recent years, thanks…

I have to agree. The fact that both Deputy Ellis and I are putting this Topical Issue down together should show the Minister for education how important public representatives in our area consider this issue. Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit as a fhreagra. Tá na páistí, na múinteoirí agus an príomhoide ag obair go dian. Is pobal scoile iontach iad. Tá teach scoile maith tuillte acu. Impím ar an Aire Stáit gach gur féidir leis a dhéanamh chun an scoil nua a thógáil go luath. We have to press ahead with this. The …

Will the Minister of State outline the engagements he and his Department have had with local authorities and national sporting bodies in advance of the forthcoming round of sports capital grants?

I welcome that engagement. I want to highlight an issue particularly in cities. Often within cities land is the key issue. There might be land owned by one party and then there is a club or sporting body. That needs a degree of co-ordination. Of specific concern to me is that co-ordination and bringing parties together is not being done on a structured level. I have done it in my own communities where I have tried to bring different parties together. Dublin City Council’s parks have so much potential across the cit…

I welcome what the Minister of State is saying. When the sports capital grant opens, it is almost too late to start to bring together parties in that way. That is why the city council has such an opportunity to lead on this. I am looking at a park like Albert College, for example. Many soccer clubs but also GAA clubs really need somebody to bring them together and to put that package together on city council land in a park. I am thinking of clubs like Glasnevin FC, which really wants an all-weather facility in Albe…

I welcome the allocation of additional gardaí. Of the 140 allocated for Dublin, 113 will go to Dublin metropolitan region, DMR, north and west. In particular, so far this year, 37 new gardaí have been allocated to Finglas and to Ballymun. While I welcome that, I also want to see the roll-out of high-visibility policing. It has made a difference in the city centre. It has been rolled out to some other urban villages. People in places such as Santry, Whitehall and Beaumont want to see that high-visibility policing on…

Europe Day is an important day for us to reflect on what Europe means to us and what we mean to Europe. It also allows us to apply a lens to the current issues of the day. I will speak to that first. Ultimately, at its heart, Europe is a peace process. For many hundreds of years, a kind of toxic nationalism existed in Europe. While that toxic nationalism is certainly been diluted as a result of the European Union project, we should never take it for granted. In some ways, we took the peace of the Good Friday Agreem…

The Tánaiste referenced the voice of children, and I want to speak on behalf of two children in Ballymun, aged 11 and 6, who this week came across a discarded loaded firearm, discarded by gangland criminals. Like any children who come across a gun, they fired that gun. It is scary to think how close we came to a tragic accident. Ballymun is a fantastic community but for several months it has experienced significant gangland events. A number of firearms have been discharged since December and last year a man was mur…

As we get to the end of this Bill, I commend all the Minister of State’s officials who have worked on this legislation, all the stakeholders who have engaged with the Minister of State and the Minister of State herself. She has engaged with many of us across the House, and particularly with some of her Government colleagues who had concerns in relation to the Bill. I wish to speak to this group of Seanad amendments because it deals with the issue of involuntary adult admissions. In many ways, depriving anybody of t…

My children are now 14 and 16 and while that makes me feel old, it is remarkable to see the investment we have made in childcare over the period. We paid nearly €1,500 per month with no subsidy of any sort from the Government. As the Minister said, the national childcare scheme supports families. However, we need to be careful. A commitment was made. I am saying this not only to the Minister, Deputy Foley, but also to the Department of public expenditure. It is a key commitment over the lifetime of the Government a…

Along with the national childcare scheme, the commitment to a public childcare model is also important. That is why building blocks phase 1 was important. I welcomed the fact the Minister came to our nursery in Ballymun and saw at first hand the work being done. On the balancing act between childcare workers, providers and parents, I am concerned that the €45 million that was set aside last year is still the subject of some negotiation. I would like to see, as quickly as possible, that money landing in the pockets …

I thank the Aire Stáit. I commend him on staying in the House for the debate. It is important that Ministers who represent the country abroad hear the differing voices in the House. Statements on the European Council are always a very valuable exercise to allow us to put on the record our views and influence our Ministers when they are representing us abroad. The change of government in Hungary is welcome. I saw a photograph earlier this week of the Irish Council of State meeting and thought it perfectly captured h…

Two of my colleagues spoke about the European Single Market. While there have been benefits for industry from the Single Market, consumers in Ireland have not been able to get the full benefit in the areas of industry and financial products. Under our Presidency, what do we intend to do to progress that?

I am pleased to support the Bill, which will prohibit the sale of nicotine consumption products and the advertisement of nicotine inhaling products, particularly in retail outlets. It will deal with the point-of-sale display in mixed retail outlets. The colour and imagery of nicotine inhaling products will be restricted and the sale of the devices or the functioning of other products, such as toys and games, will be prohibited, as will all flavour descriptors and language other than the basic flavour names. The fla…

I want to raise with the Taoiseach a fairly harrowing incident that took place in my constituency over the weekend. Mary, a 91-year-old lady, fell and injured her hip at 2.15 p.m. and despite an ambulance being called, none attended to her until 6.15 p.m.. She was waiting, lying on the ground, for over four hours for an ambulance. A member of the Garda Síochána was there to assist her, and members of the public were there. This has caused widespread consternation in our community and led to other people worrying. W…