Yesterday I attended a protest outside the gates of Leinster House by disabled people and their advocates and carers. They were there to highlight the desperate situation they are facing due to the lack of support in budget 2026 on the cost of disability. They have been advocating for a cost-of-disability payment for years. It was promised before the last election. They really feel the issue of disability was used during the election to get votes based on false promises of a cost-of-disability payment being introdu…

Cavan is a largely rural county. It is divided into three LEAs, which correspond to the three engineering areas. Speaking to the engineers in these areas, they tell me there are approximately 1,000 km of local road in each area. Based on the funding they have received, when we take out the cost of repairing regional roads in the area and town centres, they have approximately enough to repair 1% to 1.5% of the local road network per year. One engineer told me he had enough to repair 15 km of local road out of almost…

The Minister of State pointed out that the funding had increased by 25% since 2021, but so have the costs, so the increase is probably negligible. The council does prioritise roads, but it has to spend money on other aspects as well. It cannot put everything into roads. Repairing 1% to 1.5% of the rural road network per year is just not sufficient. It has to be addressed or we will not be able to travel on the roads if this continues on. The Minister of State says that Exchequer funding disincentivises councils fro…

Sepsis is the biggest killer in the world, with more people dying from it than from heart attacks, AIDS, lung cancer, breast cancer, Covid-19 and car crashes combined. One in five people who contract sepsis will die from it, of whom 20% are children. It affects people of all ages. Death from the disease is totally preventable if people know what the symptoms are and can request treatment. Two women from Cavan, Caitriona Flanagan and Hannah Tormey, have established North East Sepsis Awareness. The campaign covers co…

I am sharing with Senators McCormack and Collins.

I welcome the Minister of State. I grew up in County Cavan, which is a Border county. I grew up long enough ago to know and remember what a hard border was like. It was a Border imposed over 100 years ago without any consultation, purely for political reasons, by a British Government. It created two conservative states, one on each side of the Border. It did not just partition our country. This Border partitioned our people as well. It divided people and created a partitionist outlook. I know while things have move…

I want to raise the income criteria relating to people being accepted for the social housing list. At the moment, in Cavan and seven other counties, someone can earn €30,000 as a single person, with marginal increases for another adult or for children in the household. It is €35,000 in 12 other counties and €40,000 in our cities and in areas within the commuter belt. What is happening is that people are applying for social housing and they are accepted onto the list, but it is refused the following year or a year l…

First, well done to Senator Clonan. It is an excellent Bill. It was co-signed by the former Senators Warfield and Gavan from my party and we fully support this Bill. I sat with Senator Clonan and the Minister of State. I congratulate the Minister of State on her appointment to take on responsibility for disability. She has a good understanding of the issues facing disabled people from her time on the disability committee. The Disability Act is 20 years old this year and it is time it was renewed, updated and review…

This matter relates to Cavan No. 1 National School on Farnham Street in Cavan. The school has an enrolment of 106 pupils - the number is increasing - and its ethos is Church of Ireland. It is an excellent school that has a very caring attitude. The school is in crisis, however, because a number of students who require special needs assistants, SNAs, do not have them. Two students have just joined junior infants. One has been diagnosed as autistic and is non-verbal. The other has quite complex needs and is awaiting …

I am aware the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, visited the school about six months ago. There is a specific issue now regarding the SNAs. The allocation has been appealed. Hopefully, the result of that appeal will go the way of the school. There is also the issue of the additional classroom. It makes sense in one way to prioritise larger schools because they will probably have a larger proportion of students with additional needs, but we should not forget about the smaller schools that parents have their childr…

This morning, I was contacted by a school in Kilnaleck, a small village in my locality in County Cavan. Four families have been living there for the past 18 months. All four families have applied for international protection. They have been living in apartments in that village. Their children attend the local school. The parents are on the parents association. They support the school in everything it does. The children play football with the local GAA club and the parents go to matches. They are from all different …

I want to express my sympathy and condolences to the families and friends of the five young people who were tragically killed in County Louth, and indeed, to the communities of Carrickmacross, Drumconrath and Ardee. They have all been rocked by this. At the same time, I know that those communities will be a strength to those families and relations in getting through all of this. I want to raise an issue that affects Cavan. I am from a rural area in County Cavan. There are approximately 3,000 km of local roads in th…

I raise the issue of childminding as well because we are looking at an inevitable crisis in childminding if the Minister, Deputy Foley, does not act quickly. The Minister needs to engage with the childminding sector to discuss and rapidly adjust a new Government system for childminding. Up to 80% of childminders are going to cease operation within 12 months if action is not taken immediately because the new system will increase the paperwork, and the subsidies and grants are insufficient. There is no longer support…

There is nothing in this motion I could not support. It is something we discussed in the committee on education and youth just over a month ago. At that committee meeting, Dyslexia Ireland and the State Examinations Commission were present. The State Examinations Commission indicated it is not a question of if but when. It is very frustrating that it is such a slow pace of change. Dyslexia Ireland has been calling for years for additional time for students with dyslexia. It is the norm in many other countries, wher…

I call for an urgent debate on the National Ambulance Service. In an article today in my local newspaper, The Anglo-Celt , a whistleblower from the National Ambulance Service contacted the newspaper to express concern about ambulance cover in Cavan, which is at an unsafe level. The newspaper also reports that morale among staff is at an all-time low. There are also obvious recruitment and retention issues. It states that Cavan is regularly left with reduced numbers of ambulances. If the roster is left as it is for …

I too want to be associated with the expressions of sympathy on the sad passing of Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy. She was a truly inspirational figure, dedicated to helping those who were less fortunate and in need. She was compassionate and had great vision and organisational skills, as we see through Focus Ireland and the Immigrant Council of Ireland, for example. She was tireless in her quest to improve lives. She inspired many and, hopefully, her legacy will live on in others. I also congratulate Catherine Connolly, o…

I welcome the national human rights strategy for disabled people. I welcome, in particular, the fact that disabled people were consulted and that their views shaped the document. A number of DPOs claim not to have been consulted. A promise was made some years ago to draw up a register of DPOs. This has not been done. That is a pity. I would like to see it done in order that we can identify the DPOs made up of disabled persons. They should be consulted by Departments and public bodies, and properly resourced. A stra…

Over two years ago a pilot programme called Retrofit Ready was launched. It covered the counties of Cavan, Monaghan, Sligo and Leitrim. The aim of the initiative was to bridge the knowledge gap among homeowners and communities who want to retrofit their homes. Two community retrofit champions were appointed, namely, Owen McConnon for Cavan and Monaghan and Luke Tarmey for Sligo and Leitrim. They became the faces of the project. They built up trust with communities and individuals to work with them through community…

Our young people are among the most highly qualified in all of the EU. We have the highest number when it comes to young people between the ages of 25 and 34. That is something to be commended. Unfortunately, our system is not without its challenges. I will address a number of the issues. First, with regard to fees, we have free fees in name only. It is a student contribution charge. It was introduced a number of years ago at €3,000. While it is being permanently reduced to €2,500, for parents who had children in t…

I move: That Seanad Éireann: condemns: - Budget 2026, which breaks the pre-election promises of the Government parties to deliver childcare to parents for €200 a month; acknowledges: - the high costs of childcare that continue to exist with some parents paying over €1,000 per month; - that access to high quality early learning and care is fundamental to children’s wellbeing and development; - the vital role played by Early Years Educators in delivering quality care and learning experiences; - that quality provision…