I have checked that out and have been informed that is not the case. I am continuing to seek full information. I also had a multiagency meeting on the issue yesterday and my understanding is that there is currently a small amount of spare capacity in some of the facilities. To be very honest, the big thing we are working on in the short term is bringing a State-owned site that has been much discussed into use. At that site, we will be able to provide a decent form of shelter and sanitation while moving towards the …

I thank Deputy McDonald for raising this important issue. It is important because parents of children with special educational needs do rely on the summer provision. It provides excellent support to children during the summer period. The programme also provides excellent support to families. I assure parents who are watching in today that I intend to prioritise special educational needs every day that I am Taoiseach. This was why, on becoming Taoiseach, I established a new Cabinet sub-committee on disability, which…

What I invite the Deputy to do is to not mislead people. What the Deputy has conveniently suggested is that the change in the capitation rate has resulted in a reduction in service, when, actually, more schools are providing it this year than last year. The number in that regard is up to 1,700 from 1,400. Those are additional schools - we can all do the maths. The reality of the situation is that for Jack and for every other child, this Government is ensuring that more schools will be taking part in summer provisio…

-----because those are the schools attended by the children with the most complex needs. They rely on the provision of the service.

The Deputy should not come in here with her one setting of performative outrage. Let us actually engage on the substance of the issue, namely the fact that more schools are availing of the programme and that a Minister of State with responsibility for special educational needs is, for the first time ever, sitting at the Cabinet table.

We also have a Cabinet sub-committee to break down silos and end bureaucracy. That is what people want. They do not just want us to define the problems; they want us to come up with solutions.

I would have thought Deputy McDonald had learnt that this weekend.

I thought Deputy McDonald would be trying humility today.

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

I congratulate Deputy Cairns on the election of the councillors from her party. I wish everybody who was elected well. Lots of people voted for my party as well, and for my coalition party colleagues in Fianna Fáil and the Green Party. Her view of how people view the political situation is not always in line with what the people actually decided to do at the ballot box on Friday. More than 53% of council seats went to councillors from Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party. The Deputy should be aware of that. H…

In your view.

I did not say we are doing a report. We do not need any more reports. I said that between now and budget day, we will review the means test. When I talk to carers-----

I referred to the respite investment plan. There are two different issues involved. Let us take them sequentially. In regard to the means test, when I go around the country, there are too many people who find it a bit mean. We want to make the means test more generous and understanding in order that more carers can benefit. That is why this week - Deputy Cairns can shake her head all she wants; she asks questions and sometimes does not like when I answer them - we are making changes to the income disregard so that …

Be careful, so.

I am not really sure where to start there. There will be a general election in due course. I am really looking forward to it because there will definitely be alternative political views on offer. I am not sure who is in this left coalition or whether Sinn Féin is in it. Maybe its members are not sure themselves either, but they will work it out after they have the review. Every single week this Government will bring forward new policies, ideas and plans to make progress on some of the issues that are often intracta…

It is always interesting when the Dáil reconvenes after an election and people decide to present the election results in whatever way suits them. All I know is that more people went out and voted for my party than any other party. More people went out and gave Fianna Fáil seats in the local elections than any other party. Many people voted for the Green Party. The people on this side of the House receive many mandates in urban and rural Ireland in big towns and villages. As for this idea of reject, mass, mobilise a…

You cannot just erect a tent wherever you want and start blockading streets. You cannot do it. I know that is the Deputy's politics.

It is not what this Government will stand over. We will provide people with shelter and sanitation. As a result of our work-----

-----the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has provided hundreds more people with access to safe accommodation.