The new Nenagh community nursing unit was taken over by the HSE last year to be used as a step-down facility for UHL. A private company, Bartra Healthcare, was contracted to run this facility for one year. That is now due to end at the end of this month. Bartra wrote to its 74 employees on 3 July of this year informing them that their contracts of employment and status as employees would transfer over to the HSE under the Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment), TUPE, Regulations 2003. However, 41 of th…

I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy John Connolly. The issue of wastewater treatment plants in our rural towns and villages is one I have raised with the Taoiseach before. I refer in particular, however, to Ballycommon in Cloughjordan in north County Tipperary, which I know he will be aware of from previous discussions here in this Chamber. With the quite large level of investment coming from the national development plan into Irish Water, I appreciate that cities and large towns will have to take a certa…

I would like to raise a number of cases that have arisen in Nenagh recently regarding school transportation for special classes. A number of new classes opened this year at second level. Three families are in contact with me who, two or three years ago, enrolled their children in the closest available school at the time, which is now their most appropriate school place. However, they are being told by the school transportation section that they are not entitled to school transport because there is a vacancy in a cl…

I will touch on the inability of so many Irish people to converse in our national language on leaving secondary school after 14 years of education. This is obviously something a lot of people talk about but I am concerned about whether we are actually addressing it and enhancing the ability of all of us to communicate as Gaeilge. Will the Minister consider introducing a three-week mandatory Gaeltacht course for every leaving certificate student studying Gaeilge?

After 14 years of education, it seems like the whole purpose is to get to the leaving certificate exam and to get as many points as possible out of it. That is the sense among a lot of students when they leave school. The instant the oral is over and the paper is written, they feel they are finished with Irish and stop practising it. The love of it and the whole point of why they are studying it have not been introduced. I am concerned about the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment proposal to reduce the …

The Minister has lined up my final point perfectly in terms of immersive experiences. Gaeltacht courses for student teachers are free for primary teachers but are costing post-primary teachers about €2,000 when they have to do them. It has been raised with me numerous times in Mary Immaculate College in Thurles by the staff and particularly by the students there. It is an obstacle for students when they are looking at a course or considering what subjects they would like to teach at the end of their college educati…

I would like to discuss the first home scheme price ceiling, particularly for County Tipperary. As a young Member, I will highlight yet again that housing is the number one issue affecting my generation. In Tipperary, we are really struggling with privately built housing, particularly affordable housing. The first home scheme is in place to help those of us who could get a mortgage but where the purchase price of the house is higher than our mortgage to bridge the gap. However, the price ceiling in Tipperary is bec…

The last point I will make on this concerns the second paragraph of the Minister of State's reply, which states: "I am advised that the board takes into account a range of factors as part of these reviews, including the median price and volume of new builds purchased by first-time buyers in each local authority area." The key message I hope the Minister of State brings back to the Minister and the board overseeing this scheme is that it is very hard to calculate the median price or the average price of new builds i…

I raise the planning guidelines for anaerobic digesters, ADs, and the regulations of these plants. I acknowledge the need for AD plants to reach our emission reduction targets and improve water quality, particularly in light of the conversation we will have today on the nitrates derogation. However, given the ambition for AD plants to be built across the country under the national biomethane strategy, I am concerned about the preparedness of our local authorities to process such complex planning permission applicat…

I would like to raise the Limerick to Ballybrophy regional line with the Minister of State. Before coming in here, I told one of my colleagues what I was going to speak on and the response was, "Oh, do you have a railway line in north Tipperary?" This railway line is probably one of Iarnród Éireann's best-kept secrets. It services Birdhill, Nenagh, Cloughjordan and Roscrea but it is a regional line within infrequent services that sees a lot of cancellations. To be fair to Irish Rail, it has seen significant investm…

I am sure the Taoiseach is aware of the teacher fee refund scheme. In 2025, it is aimed at assisting teachers with upskilling and paying for some of their course fees or examination fees. The Department of education has informed me that courses that fall under that with regard to professional development for teachers include tackling disadvantage, discrimination and equality and promoting well-being. I am aware of a career guidance counsellor in a secondary school who has done a counselling course and is not qualif…

It does not fall under the teacher fee refund scheme.

I welcome this timely Bill, which has some very reasonable measures, and the clear action that has been taken by this Government to protect planning permissions currently in the system as we strive to increase the number of houses delivered in this country. From my point of view, as a younger Member of the House, it is an absolute priority for me to see the number of houses being delivered by this Government increasing, especially across north Tipperary and north-west Kilkenny, which I represent, but also nationall…

Both Cloughjordan and Silvermines in my constituency need playground facilities for young children. Both of these local villages have dedicated, skilled and ambitious voluntary committees that have been working on this for a number of years. Both have secured lands, namely, the Thomas MacDonagh Memorial Garden in Cloughjordan and the parish field in Silvermines. Both have considerable sums of money fundraised, both have acquired planning permission and both have detailed designs published. The Silvermines committee…

I say again that housing is the number one issue affecting my generation. It was the biggest issue by far and away for me on the doors, whether I was speaking to people my own age; getting messages from people on social media saying they would love to be able to come home and afford a home; parents who said when I knocked on doors that their adult children were still living at home, as I am also; or grandparents worried about their grandchildren's future in this country and how they will be able to afford to live h…

Housing is the single greatest issue facing my generation. I start with an issue I have raised in this Chamber a number of times, and will continue to raise, which is modern methods of construction, modular homes, log cabins or whatever we want to call them. I recognise the Minister of State's position on it. I welcome the work done to date by Government on planning exemptions relating to backyard development, but we need to go further. I have said repeatedly and say it again that there is a place for these types o…

I strongly condemn in the most certain terms the brutality Israel is inflicting upon the innocent people of Gaza. Equally, I strongly condemn in the most certain terms the atrocious acts committed by Hamas, particularly those of 7 October 2023. The murder, maiming and unjustifiable terror being waged on innocent people on both sides of this conflict have no place in our world yet they continue, to the horror of the world looking in. The continuing Israeli military operations which have brought fresh and unwavering …

I would like to start by recognising the young Tipperary schoolgirl outside the gates of Leinster House this evening in the pouring rain. We are discussing this incredibly important issue because of her. Cara Darmody is an inspiration for the work she has done. She is not doing it for praise or recognition but rather for the love she bears for her brothers and family and the empathy and understanding she has for thousands of children and families waiting on lists for far too long for an assessment of need. I am min…

I have said before that housing is the number one issue affecting my generation. Whether we call them modular units, modular methods of construction or log cabins, we know what we are talking about. I am aware of many in rural Ireland up laneways or in yards, and planning permission is a major issue. We need to address that. In a rural area, if it is in keeping with the environment, which so many of these houses are, if the owner is from the area and has a housing need, which all of them have, planning permission s…

I acknowledge the work done by the Minister of State on that matter to date, particularly regarding backyard dwellings or the equivalent of the 40 sq. m extension planning exemption. We need to go beyond that and allow a wider scale. I am not saying it is the entire solution; it is part of the solution. There is a real place for these dwellings at the moment. I will highlight the example of a site in Nenagh, my home town. It is a serviced site owned by the county council. For many years, the council has failed to g…