I too want to welcome our union representatives in the Gallery and commend them for the work they do, day in and day out, representing workers across the country. Workers are tired. They are tired of hearing that the economy is thriving while they struggle from week to week. The Government boasts about growth in exports and record employment, but workers cannot pay sky-high bills or meet the rising fuel costs with GDP figures, and nor can they buy groceries with headlines about surpluses. The reality is that for th…

Reading through some of the messages and emails that I got before this motion, I was struck with the very real thought, namely, what exactly does the State have against children who require additional support? The fact that the Taoiseach called the Save our SNAs campaign flawed has done nothing but make that thought concrete in my mind. These are children who are denied school places and bused out of their own communities past their local schools for hours because the Government failed to plan. In Longford-Westmeat…

You underfund them.

No. It is caused by you.

They cannot pay their bills.

I raise with the Tánaiste the decision of Government to reintroduce the leaving certificate and junior certificate fees at a time when families are under such immense financial pressure, between energy arrears and struggling with the rising cost of food and fuel. This is also the week when the annual direct debit for the local property tax came out of many people's bank accounts. One parent put it to me that the last thing her family needs is another bill coming through the door and that they simply cannot get bloo…

Not all will. What about the others?

There is no childcare.

The Tánaiste knows that is not true.

The decision to grant planning permission for a residential development on the site of the former Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork is deeply wrong. It is deeply troubling and profoundly disrespectful to the women and children who lived there, who suffered there and who died there. Bessborough is not just another development site; it is a place of trauma, loss and gross injustice. It is a place where women were confined, where children died and where families are still searching for the truth. We cannot disc…

I wish to raise with the Minister of State the situation of Cloontagh National School in County Longford. This is a rural DEIS school between Ballymahon and Longford town where the children and the staff are being asked to learn and work in conditions that are simply not acceptable in 2026. I visited this school recently and I was struck by the artwork on the walls, the colour, the kids out in the yard having the craic as all kids should be, and the passion that the teachers and the staff brought. However, that cou…

I thank the Minister of State for his response, which is very similar to a response to a parliamentary question I received. He emphasised special educational needs. The school in question has a child waiting to start in the special class promised in 2022. The class has not materialised and the child is still waiting. The Minister of State also referred to cost capacities and value for money. Department officials came to the school and told it what should be built, which was far in excess of what the school itself h…

My constituency is split across two separate Garda divisions. If I look at the numbers on a spreadsheet, I can tell the House that the number of gardaí in Meath–Westmeath is 551. That area is 4,200 sq. km. Roscommon–Longford has 581 gardaí and that area is over 9,000 sq. km. I do not need a spreadsheet to tell me that we do not have enough gardaí in our towns, villages and rural communities. I will give a very good example. There was recently a meeting in Rochfortbridge, Westmeath, on road safety and roads policing…

Today marks World Hearing Day with the World Health Organization focusing on prevention of hearing loss and ear care for children. Almost 14,000 children are waiting on HSE hearing loss assessments alongside more than 13,000 adults, some of whom have been waiting for over a year. One deaf working couple, James and Ruth, have spoken about having to pay €10,000 for essential hearing aids every five to seven years. Their income makes them ineligible for a medical card. In 2024, the Government established a working gro…

That is not a point of order.

Can I make a suggestion in the interest-----

But it is not a point of order.

Can I make a suggestion?

It is in the interests of getting the Deputy an answer.

I suggest the Deputy write to the Ceann Comhairle.