This question is to ask the Minister the steps taken in Cork county and city to ensure all children who require a place have the possibility of securing a place in a special class or a special school for the next academic year. We have this problem every year with mainstream school places across the suburban area of Cork, but we have a particular pinch point this year with special school places. This is not something we envisaged two and a half years ago when we had the previous crisis and Carrigaline special schoo…

That is ridiculous. I drove three hours up the road to listen and so I could come in on this.

I echo the comments from Deputies Bacik and Malcolm Byrne on election interference from state and non-state actors. I will comment briefly on alleged Russian interference in elections in Moldova and Romania as an example. We see every day on our Twitter feeds or on various social media platforms various types of misinformation and fake news. Obviously, that is most critically effective in and around election times in various countries, but what are we doing here and now to plan into the future for potential electio…

I now call on the Minister to conclude the debate.

No, it is at the discretion of the Chair. Deputy Murphy was not here on time so I am moving on to the Minister. The debate is time-limited.

The Tánaiste mentioned in a previous response the eye-watering budget the HSE has at its disposal. Some €5 million was promised in 2023 as part of budget 2024 and was approved by the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform in December 2024. This budget of €5 million related to transport initiatives, accessibility, provision of minibuses and so forth for people in the disability sector. Organisations like the Galway Centre for Independent Living, Cumas in Wexford, the Irish Wh…

I will begin by agreeing with much of what Deputy Smith said, but I will elaborate on some points. We all agree that this is a challenging time for international security and international trade. The adjective "turbulence" or the phrase "turbulent times" have been used quite a lot in the media over the last week. I would say it is far more worrying than just turbulence. The world is on fire. We have heard that analogy used in terms of the climate challenge we already have, but I would use it in terms of internation…

This is a topic that many of us have tried to get speaking time on over the past few weeks so I appreciate the attendance of the Minister of State, Deputy Kieran O'Donnell. My first point concerns Irish Water. It is probably a major bone of contention for the vast majority of Members across the Oireachtas. I always think it is good to localise and individualise things to give a picture of how things are progressing across the country. Cork County Council and Irish Water came together three years ago to devise the c…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House to discuss this issue. On the northside of the Cork city in my constituency we have had a spate of animal welfare issues in recent weeks, many of which have made national headlines. I also raised this issue here last year as a Topical Issue. Last year, we gave over €6 million in funding to charities to police this for us. Despite that investment, on the ground in Cork city we are seeing more and more of these incidents of animals being mistreated and in certain …

I thank the Minister of State. In my introductory remarks I did acknowledge that the Government has done its bit in providing money for the charities. I note that the Department's response the Minister of State read out refers to this legislation is constantly being kept under review. Obviously I welcome this but I genuinely believe that we have more than enough legislation. It is there already. There are reams upon reams of legislation. Be it the Control of Horses Act or the Animal Health and Welfare Act, the powe…

Táim saghas cosúil leis an Teachta Connolly ag an am seo den bhliain. Táim idir dhá chomhairle faoin am seo den bhliain. Tagaimid go léir isteach agus labhraímid mar gheall ar cé chomh tábhachtach is atá an teanga agus, go pointe, go gcreidimid sa teanga agus sa todhchaí atá le teacht don teanga. Ní theastaíonn uaim an frása "tokenism" nó "cur i gcéill" a úsáid ach braitheann sé cosúil leis sin ó am go chéile. Aontaím leis an Teachta Connolly go gcaithfimid níos mó ama a thabhairt chun an teanga a labhairt sa Seomr…

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for letting me in again. I raise the issue of child and adolescent mental health services in Cork. In response to a parliamentary question I asked two weeks ago, which might give an indication of how bad things are, I was told that in 2020, 435 people aged 18 years or under were on the waiting list; in 2021, there were 645; in 2022, there were 901; in 2023, there were 1,362; and, unfortunately, in 2024, there were 1,905. Clearly, things have spiralled in the wrong direction over a number…

I wish to raise the issue of the need for a special school in Cork. Like many other public representatives in Cork, I welcomed the announcement in October, before the election, by the then Minister, Deputy Foley, that we would get a special school in Cork, albeit in an undisclosed location that was subject to negotiation. Fast forward five months and I know from talking to people on the ground that no progress has been made in acquiring a site for this building to open in September. No time is being allowed between…

This is an existing-----

I raise with the Taoiseach the issue of equine welfare but maybe animal welfare in a broader sense. In Glanmire in the last week, we have had an issue, particularly with horses, and I know this is happening up and down the country. We have reams after reams of animal welfare legislation but no enforcement. We came across another case in Glanmire last week as I said where all of the agencies, from the Department of agriculture and Cork City Council to An Garda Síochána who all have adequate powers to deal with issue…

I thank the Minister for attending the rare disease event we had today in the audiovisual room. She is the first Minister for Health who attended one of our meetings and it was greatly appreciated. As I said to her afterwards, there is a degree of optimism among the community that things might improve in the coming years under her stewardship. We are looking forward to working with her. I remind Members that Rare Disease Day is on Friday, the last day of the month. We talk about many constituency matters in here. T…

Last week in the House I raised the quality of water in Cork city, especially on the north side. I understand that many improvements have been made in the past 12 months or so, but the unfortunate reality for many people on the north side of the city is that it will take a number of years - or decades if we listen to Irish Water - to replace the cast iron pipes littered across the city that break periodically. In the meantime, I ask that all resources and funding necessary to make sure people have access to clean d…

This Friday is Rare Disease Day 2025, the last day of the month. It is a topic I have mentioned to the Taoiseach over and over again. I am asking this question as the programme for Government makes a number of commitments, one being the investigation of new methods for earlier reimbursement of certain treatments including early access schemes for rare diseases. It also states that we will work more efficiently with our EU counterparts in progressing arrangements like the Beneluxa Initiative that has been under way …

I congratulate the Minister on her new post. Like Deputy Devlin, I worked with her for many years when she was in charge of education. I just hope she can bring some of the energy and hard work she showed there. She was not afraid to make hard decisions when they needed to be made. I hope she brings that to this Department because it is very much needed. I listened to the Minister's opening statement in my office. She spoke about workforce strategies and how she would try to tackle the recruitment problems. Fundame…

Sorry, we must have order-----