I thank the Minister for her response, in particular on the process change. If possible, will the Minister tell us if there are particular processes the HSE has identified which it thinks could be changed to speed this up? I am always reluctant to say we need to throw more staff at a problem, especially when it is administrative, because, as the Minister said, more often than not a system change is needed or there are unnecessary barriers in processing which cause delays. I fully accept the Minister's point that th…

For the last few months, in this House and at the transport committee, I have been raising the need for increased regulation and enforcement in the area of e-scooters. I welcome the statement this week by the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, that he will look at registration and insurance requirements. These are things that need to happen. We heard from the Road Safety Authority, RSA, in the Oireachtas joint committee this morning that it believes the structures exist to roll that out efficiently. Safety is also s…

Is mór agam an deis labhairt ar an mBille seo a bhaineann le seirbhís atá thar a bheith tábhachtach do dhaoine i mo Dháilcheantar agus timpeall na tíre, is é sin an tseirbhís poist. Cuirim fáilte ar leith roimh an infheistíocht sa bhreis atá anois á cur ar fáil ag an Rialtas tríd an mBille seo le tacú le gréasán na n-oifigí poist timpeall na tíre agus a chinntiú go gcuireann siad seirbhís ar fáil do na daoine atá ag brath orthu. Ag an am céanna, áfach, táthar ag moladh do An Post dul i ngleic leis an nuálaíocht, cu…

Táim ag glacadh leis an gceist seo thar ceann an Teachta Moynihan. Will the Minister outline the progress made to date under NSO No. 6 of the national development plan to 2030?

I thank the Minister for his very comprehensive response. I am glad to see progress is being made on a number of fronts, including aviation, port policy and digital connectivity. The first part of this question asks how confident we are that these projects are now future-proofed in terms of the next 30- or 40-year cycle. The Minister has spoken at length about some of the bottlenecks that exist in the economy arising out of the massive growth we have seen in our population over time. With the continued success of t…

I accept the role of the State with regard to global subsea connectivity. I have a two-part question on aviation and port capacity. Are all the NSO No. 6 projects the Minister expects to be completed by 2030 on track? Second, what sort of thinking is there in terms of future-proofing for Dublin Airport and Dublin Port? Is the Minister confident there is sufficient headroom for both to grow if we continue to see the amount of connectivity and the volume of trade and passengers coming into the country that we are see…

This question is on the progress to date on delivering NSO No. 4, which relates to sustainable transport and mobility.

I thank the Minister. It is right to say that huge progress is being seen on delivery of transport infrastructure across the country. The Liffey Valley to city centre bus corridor that he mentioned is the route I cycle to Leinster House most days. I see the active progress there. I am hopeful that it will be delivered on time, if not ahead of schedule. Like the Minister, I am a TD for a Dublin constituency where population density is increasing at a rapid pace, and rightly so and it is important that we provide hou…

That is right. We are on the same page regarding the need to put these public transport systems in place as the houses are being built so that the private car is not the default option for a lot of these people moving into these homes. That is why I am keen to continue to lobby the NTA. I am pleased that it has opened a consultation on new bus routes for Clonburris and Adamstown. Those developments were not built at the design of the original BusConnects phase. That is somewhere we need to address. There are many o…

Is mór agam é labhairt anseo oíche anocht ar chás Scoil Chrónáin. Is Gaelscoil í i Rathcoole i mo Dháilcheantar. Tá sí 50 bliain ar an bhfód agus tá sí ag tabhairt aghaidh ar a céad 50 bliain eile. This evening, I am speaking on behalf of the school community of Scoil Chrónáin in Rathcoole who have asked their Oireachtas representatives to bring the school’s case to the floor of the Dáil on a number of points. Scoil Chrónáin is at the heart of Rathcoole village. It has a proud tradition of providing Gaelscolaíocht …

I acknowledge this is not the Minister of State’s brief and I appreciate her taking the time to go through this. I welcome the indication from the Department that it is aware of the need to extend planning permission. Without being flippant, the central point still holds here in that these parents and the school community were promised the school would go to construction during this two-year period. If we are talking about extending planning permission, there is a gap there in terms of the school building needing t…

I associate myself with the Taoiseach's remarks about Prime Minister Starmer and I wish him and his family well. One of the great things about our relationship with UK is the fact that we can still take advantage of the cross-border directive. However, constituents have been contacting me in recent weeks about significant delays in reimbursement under that directive. Some applicants are waiting five or six months despite indicative timelines of three months. In many cases, this is causing financial strain for patie…

It was in reference to health procedures and reimbursements.

Tá áthas orm bheith in ann labhairt ar an mBille seo trathnóna. Ba mhaith liom moladh a thabhairt don Aire Stáit, an Teachta Smyth, agus an Teachta Ó Cearúil as ucht a gcuid oibre leis an mBille seo a chur le chéile. I welcome the establishment of oifig intleachta shaorga na hÉireann, which will be a very important piece of the architecture to ensure the overall enforcement and monitoring of this legislation. My plea at this stage, as we establish that office, is that we staff it appropriately, get the appropriate …

Is iomaí duine atá i mo Dháilcheantar a théann amach ag obair go dian gach lá. Like in the Taoiseach's constituency and many others around the country, people in my constituency go out and work hard every day and they need to understand that the Government has their back in ensuring work continues to pay. We need to continue making progress on tax and ensuring low- and middle-income workers in particular see that work pays and they get the worthwhile results and desserts of the hard effort they engage in every day.…

I welcome the conclusions of the recent European Council meetings about the need for a focus on competitiveness because that is a vindication of the view that the economy and jobs are not things that just happen; they are the result of policy and of a deliberate effort to grow our economy and jobs. Will the Taoiseach speak about the priorities the Presidency has for improving competitiveness in Europe, especially the opportunities for Irish companies that want to scale up, and for creating and deepening a Single Ma…

Is mór agam an deis seo a thapú labhairt ar cheist atá tar éis teacht faoi mo bhráid le cúpla mí anuas. Baineann sé le cúrsaí súile. Issues and concerns that have been raised with me by constituents about our eye care model in Ireland. We know, for example, that public eye care services are under significant pressure. National Treatment Purchase Fund, NTPF, data shows that over 42,000 people are waiting for eye care appointments, with approximately 33% of those waiting longer than one year. While much attention is …

I thank the Minister of State for that very comprehensive response. Core to a lot of the emerging healthcare needs we have in Ireland are training and skills, so I am very pleased to see that one of the planks of the Minister of State's answer was making sure we have enough trained professionals. I think that needs to be at the core of how we future-proof our public services and make sure we are able to address demand in the future. I also welcome the steps that are being taken towards embedding this into a communi…

We have raised on the floor of the House previously the importance attached to DART+ South West for my constituency. I am pleased that in the interactions I have had with the Minister for Transport on the floor of the Dáil that he has indicated a willingness to try to bring this forward for delivery ahead of the expected timeframe. I ask again for the Taoiseach's support in ensuring that does happen. It is pivotal that it happens for my constituency and the rapidly growing communities in Lucan, Clondalkin, Adamstow…

Ba mhaith liom ceist a chur maidir leis na deontais tithíochta athchóirithe. The housing adaptation grants are a game-changer for many people who are older or who have a disability and need to get alterations done to their houses. However, many constituents have raised with me the delays they have in accessing the public occupational therapy lists to get the sort of reports and certifications for the modifications they need. I am asking whether guidelines can be put in place. We know that in many cases the report f…