Will the Minister consider increasing the funding for the scéim forbartha lionraí Gaeilge now that the Northern Assembly is back up and running and, by extension, Foras na Gaeilge and other cross-Border bodies.

Irish language community organisations around the country are promoting the language on the ground on a daily basis. They organise classes, provide speaking opportunities for all levels and work with schools, etc. In short, they have stood up to do a job the State has never been seriously interested in doing and has long forgone, that is, to reinstate Gaeilge as a spoken language of Ireland. Many people want more opportunities to speak the language and those who have Irish want opportunities and supports to bring u…

The scheme is useful and is probably the best we have right now. However, it is not adequate as it stands. Community groups in my constituency are telling me there are serious problems. There is not enough funding for an adequate number of staff. The work and pay conditions for existing staff are not competitive enough so there is a problem in retaining staff. Many of the groups are hoping to employ additional staff in specialised roles to deal with youths or as business development officers. In that vein, the sche…

I raise the issue of a GP service for Swanlinbar in County Cavan. Since the retirement of the GPs in the area at the end of 2020, there has been a rolling locum contract in place. The HSE has claimed it has advertised the position but has not been able to fill it. Now it says it will ask a GP from Ballyconnell to provide a three-day service to the people of Swanlinbar. They are not happy with this solution. They want a five-day service. They also believe there is a possibility that the locum will take on that contr…

Like other speakers, I welcome the return of the assembly, the restoration of the Executive and the functioning of the North-South bodies. It is good to see MLAs back in the chamber and being able to get on with the work they were elected to do in May 2022. It is particularly welcome that the DUP has finally decided to re-enter the democratic institutions and that the outcome of the assembly election is now finally being respected. I take this opportunity to congratulate Michelle O’Neill on her election to the posi…

There is an urgent need to deliver sustainable public sector broadcasting and an independent media sector. The Future of Media Commission was clear in its report and recommendation that direct Exchequer funding is the best model for a modern public service media organisation. The financial scandals at RTÉ have rocked people's trust and confidence in the national broadcaster and the TV licence fee. The number of people refusing to pay the fee has soared in the aftermath of these scandals and 60 people per day are fa…

I raise the issue of households where an adult family member, as a result of illness or old age, must use incontinence wear. This results in the bin being packed to capacity when collected every two weeks. It means the family is inevitably charged extra as the bin is deemed to have excessive weight. There is frequently insufficient space in the bin for other waste. People are constantly worrying if they do not have their account topped up that their bin will not be collected and they will have nowhere to dispose of…

Any one of the 153 states party to the Genocide Convention could have brought a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. South Africa is the only country to take this moral and principled stand and Ireland should join its genocide case against Israel. In the emergency hearing on Thursday, 11 January the legal team acting for South Africa set forth its case, aided in no small part by the obviously genocidal and dehumanis…

In accordance with Standing Order 80(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time this evening.

I want to raise the issue of a constituent named Aoibh. She is two years old. She was born with a rare and complex condition which has a profound impact on her mobility. She has been under Children's Health Ireland Temple Street since birth. She was reviewed by a consultant orthopaedic surgeon last August and a plan was put in place for surgery. Since then, that surgeon has been suspended and Aoibh and hundreds of other children like her have been left in limbo. Some of them are in pain and some have restricted liv…

I ask the Minister to outline the level of additional core expenditure for new developments, excluding funding for carry over and otherwise maintaining existing levels of service, that has been allocated to Cavan General Hospital in 2024.

It goes without saying that the staff in Cavan General Hospital are excellent but they are under pressure. The Minister has said that there has been an increase in the number of staff and I appreciate that but there has also been an increase in the number of people using the hospital. There are insufficient numbers of front-line staff, particularly therapists. I was talking to a therapist recently who told me that her caseload for one day was 30 people. That is not sustainable. In the end, because there were only t…

I know from meeting with hospital management that they are very proactive and are trying at all times to alleviate pressures. Sometimes, constituents contact me to say they have an appointment in maybe six months for a hernia or something. When I talk to them further, it turns out the appointment is only an initial one to see the consultant. It does not take into account the time they will have to wait on a waiting list for an operation. That is too long. Some of them will end up using the cross-border directive bu…

I want to raise an issue that was highlighted in news reports last week resulting from a report by the Child Law Project and Dr. Niall Muldoon, who is Ombudsman for Children. It highlighted the case of a teenage girl with a disability who was held in a hospital room off the emergency department for two months in 2021 because Tusla - the Child and Family Agency and HSE disability services could not work together to ensure that the proper supports were put in place to support this child and her family. The young girl…

The cost of purchasing a home has been pushed up further and further in recent years and has made it impossible for many workers and families, who have saved every euro they could, to buy their first home. A major contributor is the fact that investment funds have been allowed to come in and bulk-purchase homes from developers. Most recently, an investment fund bulk-purchased 85% of homes in a new housing development in Dublin. This is in no way an issue in Dublin alone. Investment funds have brought up many proper…

The vast majority of constituents who come through my office door do so for help or advice on housing. Increasingly, families and individuals are facing eviction. One man in his 40s who recently lost both his mother and his brother, and whose only remaining family is his son, is being evicted. He is on the housing list but there are not enough one- or two-bedroom houses to accommodate him. He is on one wage and there is no possibility of him being able to rent in the private sector. His son currently stays with him…

It is planned to open a class for autistic children in Mullahoran Central National School, County Cavan, in September 2024. Funding has been approved by the Department since March 2022 to build a base class. All documentation has been submitted but the school has not got the permission to proceed to tender. If it does not get that permission very soon, the class and space will not be ready for next September. The school is constantly contacting the Department through email and phone calls but is getting no answers.…

Irish people have experienced the devastation of having to make the journey to foreign shores not knowing if they would be welcomed when they got there. In most cases, they were welcomed with open arms but, in some cases, they were not welcomed by people who were intent on sowing division. If any people know the need to offer a welcome and refuge to those fleeing conflict or persecution, it is the Irish people and the vast majority do think that way. That being said, I have questions as to how the Government has ha…

I ask the Minister the actions she has taken to enable Foras na Gaeilge to reopen the scéim forbartha líonraí Gaeilge.

Irish language community organisations are doing great work with limited resources and they are serving an ever-growing demand. They need to be adequately funded and properly supported. A number of these groups exist in my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan. It is a constituency that tells a very different tale when one compares the two counties. In Cavan, we need a lot more Gaelscoileanna. Monaghan’s community groups need more resources because they need to be able to better provide Irish-speaking children a chance an…