I know but-----

Come on, lads. Get-----

Every year, year in, year out, we are at this, where parents scramble for places for their children with special educational needs, and every year it becomes clearer and clearer that this State is abjectly failing in its duty to these children. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have repeatedly failed children with additional educational needs, their families and the professionals who support them. The Government says it is spending more. Of course it is; our population is growing. An appropriate school place for children w…

I support the intentions and objectives of the Bill. Clean air was one of the first issues I brought up under Questions on Policy or Legislation so it is extremely important. As my colleague An Teachta Daly said, air does not know any borders. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, as a strong united-Irelander, knows that too. It is absolutely pivotal to our health and our well-being. It is something that many of us might not think about on a day-to-day basis but it is absolutely essential to our way of li…

Forty per cent of it was not.

Keep up, like.

I will give the Minister of State the truth. The truth is that people are at breaking point and this Government is standing idly by, completely failing them. After a disastrous, stingy budget, families have been hit with soaring fuel prices. Filling the car or heating the home is simply unaffordable. This is not just pressure any more. We are at a crisis point now. When people took to the streets to say enough was enough, what did this Government do? It ignored them, it refused to listen to them and it looked down …

We have a chronic lack of infrastructure in our country. The basics, such as housing, transport, school places, hospitals, grid capacity and an effective high-quality water supply, are all completely lacking in the second richest country in all of Europe. Where does the money go? It is the people's money, the tax that people pay for their work, the solidarity contributions they make to their fellow citizens in the running of the State. A graphic made by Sinéad O'Sullivan went viral over the weekend. It showed Irela…

It took four weeks into this global crisis created by a warmonger in Israel and his boor in the US for this Government to take some action. The reduction in excise duty was a welcome step but it did not go far enough. People will still be paying more for petrol and diesel than they did before the start of this war. On top of that, the carbon tax increase is going to offset every measure the Government is bringing forward. We already know that carbon tax cannot change behaviour unless there is an alternative. The Co…

I raise the issue of St. Patrick’s School in Celbridge. It is closed today because of safety concerns. I raised this a couple of weeks ago and over the past few years. I mentioned it is held together with duct tape. We managed to speak to the Minister, Deputy Naughton, last night, and she said members of the Department are going out to inspect the school today. I asked would she issue us with the safety report and hopefully the school could open again. The parents need to know that for transparency. She told us the…

Molaim mo chomrádaí, an Teachta Ó Snodaigh, as an mBille seo a thabhairt os comhair na Dála. Is Bille tábhachtach é seo maidir le cearta teanga, scríofa go hiomlán i nGaeilge. This is an important Bill, recognising the importance of Irish in everyday life. Countless people are forced to alter their name or home address because so many systems in this country do not respect the language of the country in which they operate. Aer Lingus and Bank of Ireland tell us we are invalid characters. Whatever about being a char…

Ba mhaith liom mo chomrádaithe, na Teachtaí Daly, O’Rourke agus O’Hara, a mholadh as ucht an Bhille seo a thabhairt os comhair na Dála. We have two Bills which are both very important and will explicitly tackle Ireland's energy rip-off and price-gouging once and for all. They are the Electricity Regulation (Amendment) Bill 2026 and the Electricity Regulation (Amendment) (Standing Charges) Bill 2026. We in Sinn Féin have been calling on the Government to tackle price-gouging and empower the regulator to deal with th…

Tá áthas orm labhairt sna ráitis maidir le Seachtain na Gaeilge inniu. Tá fáinne airgid agam anois. Gach bhliain, tugann an Rialtas a shuntas don Ghaeilge i rith Seachtain na Gaeilge. Deir sé go bhfuil an Ghaeilge tábhachtach mar chuid dár bhféiniúlacht, dár stair agus dár gcultúr. Tá níos mó daoine ag cur suime sa Ghaeilge agus ag éisteacht le Gaeilge sa cheol, i scannáin agus ar an raidió, ach níl an Rialtas ag tacú leis an teanga nó lena fás. Déanann an Rialtas damáiste bliain i ndiaidh bliana. Tá sé sin le feic…

Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí Ní Raghallaigh agus O’Rourke as an rún seo a chur chun cinn. Cuirim fáilte roimh na SNAs agus gabhaim buíochas leo as an obair atá ar siúl acu. The past two weeks have been a truly worrying time for many parents, SNAs and teachers across the State. The uncertainty of the SNA allocations for September has shown that the Government does not value the work that SNAs do to support students with additional needs. Individual TDs might, but, collectively, the Government does not. That is …

It is getting harder and harder to own a home every year this Fianna Fáil-Fine Gael coalition is in power. Government is continuously missing housing targets. The prices of houses are soaring. Rents have also reached new highs nationally and are only set to get worse from 1 March, following the Government's disastrous legislation last week. Sinn Féin has continuously and repeatedly offered a solution to help with home ownership. Many will remember a particularly nasty, grim episode from my own constituency of Kilda…

I understand that the Minister of State is taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Naughton. I appreciate him being here. I am disappointed that the Minister is not here. This matter relates to waiting lists for post-primary school places in north Kildare. This has been a persistent and growing issue in my constituency of Kildare North, which is one of the fastest growing constituencies in the State. Housing estates have been built across Maynooth, Naas, Leixlip, Celbridge, Prosperous and Clane over th…

While I appreciate that the Minister is not here, I hope the Minister of State will come back to me on this because it is really frustrating. As a member of the infrastructure committee, it feels as if we criticise every week how upside down the system is. We have so many infrastructural deficits up and down the country. Next week, the committee will have officials from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, in to discuss the use of the census to forecast population and the need for infrastructure. Time and again, I g…

Mo bhuíochas leis na Teachtaí Devine agus Carthy as ucht an Bhille seo a thabhairt os comhair na Dála. Cuirim fáilte roimh na daoine atá sa Ghailearaí. There is an urgent need to update Coco's Law. Coco's Law was and still is an important piece of legislation that rightly prosecutes those who share intimate images online or otherwise. Technology moves very quickly. The recent explosion of deep fake sexual images being created on social media platforms, such as X, has shocked many. Elsewhere in Europe, they have bee…

This truly is one of the most bizarre Bills I have seen come before the House. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, at a time when families are pinned to their collar by the highest electricity and energy bills and the highest rents in Europe, the Government thinks it a good time to bring forward a Bill that seeks to increase rents even further. Is the Minister aware we are not in a competition here? This is not a race to the bottom. How can anyone see the Bill for anything other than what it is, which is a lo…

St. Patrick's national school in Celbridge is at crisis point. It has been promised a new school for 18 years. Parents and teachers have been in touch with me about leaks, rodents and even parts of the school being held together with duct tape. Despite the Minister, Deputy Naughton, visiting the school two weeks ago, it did not make the priority list published the other day. It is completely unfit for anyone to teach or learn in. The Celbridge three school campus has been at planning stage for the past ten years. I…