I probably allowed more flexibility than I ever will again. I call an Teachta Carthy.

Anois an Grúpa Teichniciúil Neamhspleách agus Páirtithe, naoi bomaite, Teachta Connolly ar dtús.

Anois, tá Baill an Rialtais ag roinnt deich bomaite. Tá an Teachta Ward ar dtús.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Healy-Rae.

I almost feel that we are on a hamster wheel having these discussions on disability. I get that everyone across the board is aware from the issues that are raised in their constituency offices, from canvassing doors and even from familial connections, of the huge want and need that is out there and the huge amount of frustration we are addressing with families, even if we only deal with the issue regarding autism services. I have heard a number of the speeches that have been made and they are very similar to speech…

There seems to a fair amount of time if the Deputy wants to leave it until the end.

Lean ar aghaidh.

I congratulate the Minister and Minister of State on their new positions. There are major issues in the disability sector, whether we are speaking about recruitment or retention. All has to be brought to bear. We hope there will be success at the talks. The workers want to see delivery of the WRC pay agreement of October 2023. A large number of section 39 workers in the disability sector have contacted me. They are very worried about the pay and numbers strategy being implemented. They have seen it in organisations…

No, I have asked a supplementary question to Question No. 119.

I generally add confusion anyway.

I would like to ask the Minister of State if she will provide updated figures from the CDNT workforce report carried out in October 2024. Will she outline the strategy - some of this has been dealt with - regarding the current vacancy rate in the CDNTs and what can be done to rectify that, assuming we can provide the best result across the board to the children and families who are in need?

Go raibh maith agat. I would appreciate if we could get that full report as soon as possible when the Minister of State has an actual deadline. My last parliamentary question contains the same detail in relation to this issue. My understanding is that almost 530 whole-time equivalent positions were still missing or not filled at October last year in the children’s disability network teams. I would like some information in that regard because we are still talking about a very big hole. I remember a particular meetin…

Obviously everything that can be done from a recruitment and retention point of view should be done. On workforce planning, we must ensure that have not only the best possible work conditions and pay but that we have enough students training. That all needs to be done. I am going back to two particular issues. I would be grateful for an update on how many whole-time equivalent positions are still missing from the CDNTs. The Minister of State may not have the figures with her now. The other issue is whether we are g…

We had an extensive conversation concerning the obvious dangers of AI but more so the positives, the innovation and productivity of the technology and its absolute necessity from an enterprise point of view. We also spoke about the fact that digital literacy is an issue. I agree with the last two speakers. It is very important that the advisory council is fit for purpose and the Government has in-house AI capacity. Beyond that, would the Minister of State also support having a special Oireachtas committee to deal w…

We are way over time. Quickly.

Questions Nos. 72 and 73 are grouped, but I thought there used to be a protection on priority questions.

Outside the initial 30 seconds to ask a question, you are all given the same amount of added time. It is 18.5 minutes altogether.

It has happened a couple of times in the past while but did not previously.

Unfortunately, it sounds like we have the correct weather for the sort of question I am going to ask. A huge number of people were impacted by the recent Storm Éowyn. Huge damage was done. I get that the Minister could not mitigate against all of that but we were all talking about resilience. What engagement has there been between by the Minister, the Department and the Government - I know it is beyond ESB in that regard - about building in resilience? As regards the threats to the consumer in dealing with this cos…

I think everyone would welcome engagement, and some would wish this engagement had happened previously, particularly on issues relating to forestry, corridors and the very infrastructure. We know the other failures regarding the grid. I would like to think those engagements were also happening with Uisce Éireann and other bodies. We have seen the issues caused for a huge number of people. Some constituencies were hit a hell of a lot worse than mine but even at that we had particular issues. One example in the Hackb…