I raise an issue relating to public servants recruited before 1995 who paid class D and class C PRSI contributions. Can this cohort be considered for reassessment of their PRSI contributions? Those on the 1951 pension scheme were not afforded the opportunity to pay full PRSI contributions but those who joined post 1995 were allowed to pay full contributions. Those latter staff now have an entitlement to full State contributory pensions whereas those under the 1951 pension scheme do not. I feel this anomaly, which a…

How many craft apprentices are waiting for off-the-job training and what steps have been taken to address the backlogs in the system? I ask the Minister of State to make a statement on the matter.

The 34% increase in craft training capacity is welcome. The Minister of State said the number of people waiting six months or longer for craft apprenticeships has now halved. SOLAS appeared before the education committee on a number of occasions. At the most recent meeting, SOLAS stated it hoped the backlogs would be caught up with by 2025. Will the Minister of State clarify if that is still the case? How are we trending going into 2025 in terms of dealing with the backlog specifically?

Does the Minister of State have any information on the average completion time for craft traineeships? If not, perhaps he could follow up with a written answer. As he said, there are delays from time to time for people who are waiting for their placement or block release. Typically, a course or traineeship may take four years, as the Minister of State stated. Is there any analysis of how long it is taking to train a carpenter, an electrician or whatever craft it may be? Averaged out, do the delays in block release …

The Minister of State and I are here again. A number of colleagues from Cork North Central and I raised a joint Topical Issue two weeks ago on a very similar issue. I wish to put on record that I appreciate the Minister of State being here again. She has been a great advocate for reintroducing the pilot scheme and trying to get therapists back into schools. We were here two weeks ago and I do not expect that the answer the Minister of State will give me tonight will be remarkably different from the one she gave me …

As I said at the outset, I appreciate the Minister of State's genuine interest in this and it is appreciated by us all in CHO 4. One thing I need to reiterate is that six schools were identified, four of which are in Cork, and to my knowledge, and I have spoken with two principals today, not one of them has received a single therapy in the six weeks during which the scheme has been live. I believe the only reason the HSE touched base with those schools at that times was that we highlighted it here and that the HSE …

One in ten learners have dyslexia. Next Tuesday, 8 October, is World Dyslexia Day. There is a campaign for the provision of extra time during State exams for students with dyslexia, dyscalculia and other learning difficulties. The lack of extra time is a barrier and disadvantage for dyslexic students. Additional time is the norm already in many European countries and even here we make provision at third level. To be fair to the State Examinations Commission it has promised a review but unfortunately it estimates th…

I would like to be associated with the Ceann Comhairle's expression of sympathy on the death of former Minister, Ms Mary O'Rourke. I have been listening to the debate for the past while with interest. Not too many of us, on both sides of the House, disagree about what we would like to get done. A lot of it is about how we get there. Many of us would like to get to the destination a lot quicker than we feel we are travelling. I believe that incrementally, this budget will gradually improve the lives of people. I wil…

Earlier, the Tánaiste acknowledged that PDS is continuing to fail as a policy in terms of providing for the needs of children, particularly in special schools. I want to raise the pilot scheme that the Tánaiste referenced as well earlier in relation to the reintroduction of therapists into special schools. The Tánaiste referenced that there were considerable roadblocks to this pilot being reintroduced. It took the HSE nearly four weeks from the return of schools to touch base with the schools that were chosen as pa…

I ask the Minister for an update on the sports capital grants and the number of clubs in Cork city and county that have applied, and when an announcement will be made.

A total of €250 million is a phenomenal amount of money, and many clubs across Cork city and county eagerly await it. As the Minister of State mentioned, there have been 262 applications from County Cork. I know he is familiar with a number of them. His predecessor visited a number as well. To mention just a few, there is Leeside AFC, Rockmount, Riverstown, Castleview, Ballincollig Basketball Club, which other Deputies here might have an interest in as well, and Ballincollig Rugby Club. Will the Minister of State t…

I will be brief. I have just three short supplementary questions for the Minister of State. The first is about the LSSIF, which he spoke about in his statement. Could he give us the detail of the number of applications for the LSSIF in Cork city and county, now if he has the figures with him or later? Could he give us the number of drawdowns to date since the 2020 allocation, just so we can see what is outstanding? My third question - again, the response to this can be provided in writing afterwards - is to ask the…

I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy Devlin. I ask the Minister about the report on the temporary increase in the maximum number of ordinary members that may be appointed to the board and if he will provide a statement on the matter.

I thank the Minister. There is no need to go through the reasons why the Minister had to make that intervention. They are well documented in the media. By way of supplementary, if I could just ask in relation to the time limit. Is there a constraint on the January deadline? Can the January deadline be extended? Is there a minimum or maximum period for further extensions if they are required? Second, with regard to An Bord Pleanála and the way it deliberates on cases, is there any internal prioritisation of cases? F…

On the backlogs, has the Minister any figures or trends regarding the work that has been done? I acknowledge the beefed-up board is only in its inception and those figures may not be available, but could the Minister provide us with any trend at the moment? Second, I want to follow up on the question regarding prioritisation. Whether it is a matter of policy at the moment or going forward, it should be the case that larger schemes are prioritised going forward, particularly in the case of housing, as the Minister i…

I will raise my favourite hobby horse, namely, Uisce Éireann. It was raised previously by other colleagues. The Minister is obviously familiar with the situation in Cork city, where there is discoloured and contaminated water on a continual basis. TDs in the Cork constituencies attended a meeting two weeks ago with Uisce Éireann. It became clear that Uisce Éireann is trying to divert resources into solving the city's ongoing issues. The replacement of cast-iron pipes there is going to take decades. Let us be straig…

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Topical Issue. I know this is an issue she has worked on in recent years. I know it is something she wants to bring to a resolution. I also acknowledge that without her intervention, I do not think we would even have the pilot scheme that is in place. That needs to be put on the record. As outlined by Deputy Barry, St. Killian's is a very progressive school. It has more than 100 children with a huge, complex range of needs and there is a diverse range of needs in the sc…

I seek one point of clarification from the script the Minister of State read. It surrounds the provision of private therapies. Towards the end of the Minister of State's script it states that she remains supportive of the use of available private capacity, and the funding of same. Obviously, that is attached to the proviso that those schools which have the chance of getting private therapists would need to be in the pilot. That goes back to the fundamental point in my opening remarks where I asked whether we can br…

Last month, data from the latest European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations report showed that just 14% of orphan medicines licensed by the European Medicines Agency since 2019 are available to patients in Ireland. This places us 26th of 36 European countries. One such treatment, ravulizumab, remains unavailable in Ireland since its application in 2019, despite it being available in most other European countries. Separate rare disease pathways are now in place in several EU countries of simil…

Following on from Deputy Troy's question, last month, data from the latest EFPIA WAIT indicator survey showed that just 14% of orphan medicines licensed by the European Medicines Agency since 2019 are available to patients in Ireland. This places us 26th out of the 36 European countries analysed. Treatments such as ravulizumab, which treats several forms of rare debilitating disease, have remained unavailable to patients in Ireland. In the case of the latter, it has been since its initial application in 2019, despi…