I hear what the Minister is saying but that is going to ring hollow with many people who want to come and work as teachers here and who have qualified in England. My understanding is that some of the work currently ongoing is actually in regard to teachers who may go to the Middle East for a number of years before coming back, although that too is a welcome step. At the moment, we have an unparalleled recruitment and retention crisis in the education system that we need to get to grips with. There are 2,000 long-te…

This is a Covid amendment regulation. In the more than four years since Covid sadly landed on these shores, as it did across the rest of the world, what engagement has the Department had on an ongoing basis with the Teaching Council in this regard? Clearly, an issue was identified and addressed at that point in time and that regulation was put in place, but the Minister spoke of a statutory instrument. Has the Department engaged with the Teaching Council on an ongoing basis with regard to this query? As I said rega…

The latest Daft report shows that rents in Longford have risen by a whopping 20% to an average of just under €1,350 per month. This represents the highest percentage rental cost increase in the entire country. It is an increase of close to 80% since just before the pandemic four years ago. Today, there are only 11 properties to rent in a county with a population of more than 45,000 people. A three-bedroom property would cost around €1,400 a month to rent. Even if they can get viewings, working families simply canno…

This is happening on your watch, Minister.

They say it is a rarity but let us prove them wrong, a Cheann Comhairle. I will start by saying something that will make me and everyone else here sound like an old fogey. The world we knew as children and young people is extremely different from the world that our children and young people are growing up and living in. It is up to us to support them when they need it, to build resilience and to ensure that they have the strength when they need to call upon it. It is also important that a safety net is there to cat…

It is collective.

I welcome the opportunity for statements on this issue. Given the time I have available to me, I will not be able to touch on everything I wish to address. It is a topic we should be discussing more. I am somewhat taken aback that the Minister of State managed to go through a seven-page speech but not once mention the report from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Autism or the projections for the full-time enrolment figures as updated in March. These figures indicate it is likely that by 2030 the rate of children w…

What is the Taoiseach delivering? There is no use in him talking down the clock.

I want to acknowledge and be associated with the sentiments expressed by the Minister about the level of abuse and the impact of that abuse, not only on the survivors at the time but in the decades that have passed since. Some of them still carry very deep scars today. When the Residential Institutions Redress Board was established the scheme was limited to 139 institutions. We know that exclusion caused further trauma and distress to some of the survivors. I know, for example, that people who were in Westbank Orph…

I will follow up on a comment the Taoiseach made earlier about the supposed good news and the clinical lead of the paediatric diabetes service in Mullingar. With the greatest respect, the information the Taoiseach put on the record of the Dáil is not entirely correct, because that letter was not seen by the clinical lead, Professor O'Grady, until after it had been issued to parents. The proposed solution that has been put forward today is to move the paediatric diabetes nurse from Portlaoise to Mullingar for a peri…

Their GPs will tell them they do not have the expertise-----

-----to be able to read the rates and that they need the service to be properly resourced.

Again, this is not the first time this matter has been raised.

This service was in exactly the same position three years ago, almost to the day.

There is nobody in this country who has not been affected by cancer in some shape or form. It is a devastating disease, not only for those who are fighting it but for their loved ones too. Around 42,000 people a year will get a cancer diagnosis. Each and every one of them deserves the best possible chance of not only surviving the disease but of enjoying a good quality of life afterwards. That will only happen if we have a properly resourced national cancer strategy. That same strategy has not received adequate fun…

I ask the Minister to address the concerns raised in the report presented to her Department and the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, NCCA, in response to the 2023 draft specification in leaving certificate biology, chemistry and physics.

I thank the Minister for her reply. While my question did not directly relate to examination components, they are a specific part of the concerns that have been raised and on which I want to focus. In the course of any new development process, there really should be a moment where people pause and are big enough to ask whether they have got the process right or if there are things that need to be changed. ISTA's document states: Of the 101 learning outcomes in the "contextual" ... strands ... a total of 69 learning…

With the greatest of respect, ISTA did more than cast its eye over the draft proposals. It has produced a 212-page document that is incredibly detailed in places. The part I referred to is only to do with the actual physics content. The Minister mentioned the components aspect. Some numbers that caught my attention are that the research investigations will account for 40% of marks in fifth year, with 20 hours to be done in a laboratory and the entire course to be delivered over 180 hours. On the subject of laborato…

Could the Minister outline to the House her plans to tackle the oversubscription of secondary schools across the country?

The question I have for the Minister is quite straightforward. She speaks of the demographic analyses of her Department to project enrolment but I do not believe the basis of the calculations is correct. It needs to be adjusted. The Minister spoke about child benefit. This will still be paid regardless of whether a child lives in Wexford and then moves to Sligo. Therefore, it does not serve as the basis for something that can stand up to very much scrutiny. The reason parents are duplicating applications is that th…