There is a serious crisis in the inshore fishing sector. The sector has been denied the ability to fish for pollock and is questioning the methodology behind that. The price of crab, lobster and a range of shellfish species has either halved or just collapsed. The crisis with shrimp prices is ongoing since last year. The sector urgently needs support. Those in the sector have engaged with the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, at a number of meetings. At this stage, the sector is in need of urgent support from the State…

I thank the Minister of State and appreciate that she is speaking on behalf of the Minister for the marine. The response has been drafted by Department of the marine officials on behalf of the Minister and does not capture the urgency. We do not need increased grant aid for onboard and inshore investments. We are beyond that. Somebody is drowning and we are talking about giving them swimming lessons. I am sorry to use the pun, but that is what is happening. In the past, people could have fallen back on pollock to s…

We have a perfect storm in housing, particularly in north Donegal. Issues arise owing to the cost of rent and the cost of new homes, but when you throw in concrete blocks it really is a perfect storm. There are several factors, including the fact that many people cannot sell the houses they are in. Donegal County Council cannot purchase homes because they have defective concrete blocks and are subject to tests, freezing the housing market. I am referring to the existing houses. Rents are increasing year after year.…

The Minister received correspondence late last year from more than 80 GPs and more than 20 consultants in County Donegal about their concerns with Letterkenny University Hospital. I know he met with them and heard face to face the serious concerns they had. As part of the correspondence, they revealed to him that Letterkenny is a model 3 hospital, but the reality is it should be upgraded. Comparing Letterkenny with all other model 3 hospitals in the State, it is clear that we in Donegal are discriminated against. W…

As we are debating Europe Day and Ireland's place in the EU, I will take the opportunity to talk about one group for which the experience has been negative, our fishing and coastal communities. The issue relates to how the Common Fisheries Policy has been rolled out, interpreted and enforced in Ireland and how it has repeatedly gone unchanged. A 14-year-old girl has done more than most in recent years to expose the inherent contradictions at the heart of the Common Fisheries Policy that undermine the European Union…

The Donegal branch of Diabetes Ireland is urgently requesting a meeting with the Minister. He met the group briefly in a hotel in Donegal in 2022. The group was hoping to meet with the Minister last year, but the situation has got even worse since the meeting happened in 2022. The issue concerns adults with type 1 diabetes and the lack of endocrinologists, podiatrists and advanced nurse practitioners. We are asking for an urgent intervention and that the Minister meet the group at the earliest opportunity to hear a…

What the Minister has just read out does not tally with the request for the meeting that has been sent to him. The Donegal branch of Diabetes Ireland has said that the situation with patient safety at the hospital is "beyond critical". There is currently no endocrinologist in the hospital and there are three vacant posts. There are no advanced nurse practitioners. Two posts were not approved by the HSE. There are no podiatrists and there are also two vacant posts in podiatry. There is no access to pump therapy. The…

Will the Minister meet the Donegal branch of Diabetes Ireland? As he knows, it is highly respected. He needs to meet its members face-to-face to get their account of what is happening so he can best address the issues.

Do not get me started. I want to raise the issue of Scoil Mhuire National School, Milford, County Donegal. The Minister, Deputy Foley, visited the school last year. I do not raise it lightly today. It was a school built in the 1950s for the town that was there at the time. Today it is 215 children. If the Taoiseach visits Donegal, I ask him to see it to believe it. It is a totally inadequate building. The site is landlocked. It is totally inadequate. The school board of management has secured an alternative site, a…

The Minister will know that the worst affected sector of the economy since Brexit has been the fishing community. The losses have been devastating. It is not just the offshore sector. The National Inshore Fishermen’s Association has been before the joint committee and in the audiovisual room to make presentations on the serious crisis in the industry. Fishermen have repeatedly asked for support through a fuel subsidy. Governments in other EU member states have provided such subsidies. No state was more impacted by …

I have a letter that was sent to the Taoiseach this morning from the chairperson of the County Donegal branch of Diabetes Ireland, Paul Gillespie. In the letter he states, "Resources have deteriorated to such a level for Type 1 Diabetes care in LUH that we are concerned that patient safety of care is now beyond critical." The Minister, Deputy Charlie McConalogue will confirm everything I am saying. We have a profound crisis in that there should be three endocrinologists in Letterkenny University Hospital but there …

No, it is much broader than that.

There are three positions for endocrinologists, all unfilled.

Not agreed. On the schedule here today, we have a motion without debate about the EU asylum and migration pact. I appeal to the Taoiseach to facilitate the maximum amount of debate in this House on a serious matter. The Government has made a shambles of the whole immigration area. Communities all across this State have been failed. The asylum seekers themselves are being failed. We are asking for the maximum participation and opportunity for those of us in the Opposition who are seriously concerned with the Governm…

My question is about when construction on a new school building in Scoil Íosagáin, Buncrana, will finally commence. The school has been waiting approximately 20 years now for this to happen. I cannot stress enough how appalling the conditions within the school buildings are. The Minister has been sent an email from the board of management containing more than 100 pages of documentation, and the photographic evidence is really shocking. This is where they have to provide an education every day.

I am struggling to find words here. I have just told the Minister that a 114-page document has been sent to her. I have seen it and it contains photographic evidence of the absolutely appalling conditions that teachers and children have to endure. Planning permission was lost because two contractors did not proceed to tender stage. There has been a lack of urgency in the Minister’s Department. I have read some of the emails from the school's board of management. It makes for harrowing reading to see the corresponde…

I will come back to the Minister on the three-school campus on another day. In respect of the issue before us, she mentioned the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, but she is the Minister for Education. I want to be clear. Is she saying that in the days ahead, her Department is going to issue a letter of intent to the proposed contractor? Will that be followed very quickly by the signing of a construction contract? She is the Minister for Education, with all due respect, so I am asking her to confirm that to me in the D…

It is not agreed.

It is very clear that when the Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar, went to the park last night, we should have been going to the country today-----

The people should decide who our next Taoiseach is, not the assembled numbers here in government. The people should have their say. This should not be happening today.