His father was not able to receive the pension after the mother of Michael McNeela died.

It is with the Tánaiste at the minute. He seems supportive-----

I would like to think the Taoiseach would also be and that this could be delivered.

I pay tribute to 15-year-old Kofi Owusu from Dundalk, County Louth, who lost his life after getting into difficulty swimming in Laytown, County Meath, last Friday. Our condolences go to his family, his friends and to the wider community. We have all heard the tributes from Redeemer Celtic and Tomás Sharkey in Coláiste Chú Chulainn, the school he attended. We have heard of his diligence, his leadership qualities and his friendship. A huge hole has been left by this. We are talking about somebody who was a spectacula…

We might continue, Chair. The Taoiseach has signalled a willingness to continue.

We all know that there have been very significant issues with copyright and making sure that artists have a framework within which to work. We know of the initiative during the Covid pandemic and beyond to ensure some element of payment. There is a significant lobby in that regard. It is about artists in general having a sustainable framework for their work. That needs to be offered if we are to ensure that people can express themselves culturally, which is vital. We are talking specifically about copyright. We wil…

I thank the Minister of State for coming to the House. The question concerns budgetary issues facing SOLAS and the ETBs and the detrimental impact this may have on the delivery of apprenticeships. We all know the importance of apprenticeships. I submitted this on the basis that myself, Deputy Cullinane and a number of our colleagues heard word on the grapevine about individual ETBs saying their finances and budget had been slashed. How it was put to me is that in 2025 the budget is possibly more than €40 million le…

I welcome the statement by the Minister that no apprenticeship class will be cancelled. I assume that also means none will be paused. I would like to think there will not be any major cuts across the service in the further education area. The Minister said the situation has just arisen. Could he explain how this was not foreseen at an earlier stage? I welcome the fact that he is addressing it. Could he give us a timeline for when this will be settled because the reason we have all heard this, both officially and un…

I would like to take this opportunity to follow up on Deputy Crowe's point. Many of us attended that briefing in the audiovisual room on those suffering from Duchenne muscular dystrophy. As Deputy Crowe said, we are talking about it impacting children and young boys at a very early stage. He made the most significant point of all, which is that there is very little time, as all these families know. In one case, we met with a family who had two boys, one of whom gets the givinostat, because he was on a previous pilo…

I have been contacted by Saint John of God Community Services regarding its approved housing body. It states that it has been privately renting a house in Meath since 2022. Four residents lived in the house, supported by staff. The owner of the property is selling the house and the Saint John of God Housing Association was in the process of purchasing the house and intended to use CAS funding to do so. This would give permanent tenure to the four residents. However, due to changes, it cannot use CAS funding. There …

We saw the rent pressure zones as limited and imperfect, but the idea was that it was better to have some element of defence rather than none whatsoever. We have seen that they are incapable of holding back the tide of rent increases. While we might not oppose this legislation, we are utterly opposed to what is being proposed by the Government. We have all spoken about the issues in the House. The issue is that rents are through the roof and are constantly going up. The only thing that we see in regard to what is b…

I want to speak to amendment No. 206. It is straightforward. We probably spent an awful lot of time the last day going over and back. There is probably an element, at times, when dealing with the reality out there, that sometimes what is lacking is a code of practice. It would ensure communication. It is an absolute necessity to make sure that this is happening within the service. It makes absolute sense with regard to capacity assessments and care plans. It is important that we have straightforward guidelines and …

Regarding the amendments, what we have said and why we have tabled them is straightforward. I accept what the Minister of State said regarding amendment No. 206. The big thing is reiterating the point about codes of practice and guidelines and making sure that we have internal communications where they need to be. It is always frightening to hear the figures that Deputy Clarke spoke about. The Minister of State referred to the 4,500 on the waiting list and the 763 who have been waiting over a year. We are dealing w…

We were nearly there.

We all know the enormous work that needs to be done on flood protection and flood mitigation. In my county, there have been many promises regarding the CFRAM. Even in the part of Dundalk that I live in, there is a significant flood risk. Accepting these works are going to be done, there is still an issue with insurance and insurance companies in terms of flood protection and people attaining mortgages. At one stage, Louth County Council and others were willing to provide the information that the area no longer suff…

It has now been 239 days since the recommendations of the Dublin city task force were published and 145 days since the programme for Government, which included a commitment to these recommendations, was agreed. The recommendations are aimed at rejuvenating Dublin city centre, focusing on the public realm, safety and overall experience. Such is the lack of tangible progress in initiatives such as revitalising O'Connell Street, increasing residential density and improving public safety that the task force's ten big m…

We have had the disgraceful action by the genocidal entity, Israel, with its escalation of attacks on Iran. This draws into question the EU-Israel association agreement and we need to see movement on that, post-haste. We already knew that. The occupied territories Bill obviously has to be delivered and apply to services. Beyond that, what is the plan? The Taoiseach might not agree with the Sinn Féin legislation to stop the State and the Central Bank from facilitating the sale of Israel's war bonds, which are used t…

Sinn Féin has always opposed the local property tax. We saw it for what it was. It was imposed at a time of austerity. It was not about services or fulfilling the needs of local authorities. It was literally about ensuring money was brought in because of the dreadful circumstances the State found itself in. It was about us following through on the edicts of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, and others. When we talk about taxing wealth, we cannot think or talk about the family home. It must fall into a different…

Will the Minister of State provide an update on the current unfilled positions within CDNTs across the State and outline the plans to deliver on assessments and therapies for children with autism? We are all shocked with the assessment of need situation. Some 15,000 children at this point are being failed when it comes to the delivery of those assessments. Basically, the Government is in breach of the law. This figure could rise to 25,000. I will repeat what Cara and Mark Darmody said. Not only are they utterly dis…

There are 414.5 whole-time equivalents. I thank the Minister of State. As she said, while this is a welcome increase a huge number of posts still need to be filled. I fear we are still talking about another four or five years, based on that growth, to deal with the number of unfilled positions. I have asked this before but does the Minister of State believe that if we fill all these positions, given how long that will take, we will have a fit for purpose service? There are issues in the delivery of the assessment o…