It is the same message; it does not matter.

Wexford has been rocked over recent days by the announcement of the closure of the Ford Counselling and Psychotherapy Centre. It is to close its doors after 30 years of providing individuals and families in Wexford with access to affordable counselling and therapy. The closure will be an immense loss for the community. The Ford centre provided services the State failed to provide. The loss of another vital service reflects a complete lack of comprehension by the HSE and the Department of Health of the valuable and …

In County Wexford, Acquired Brain Injury Ireland provides crucial services to brain injury survivors in the community, such as the home and community rehabilitation and assisted living services, alongside a clubhouse service in Wexford, which I have had the great pleasure of visiting and had a tour of. The clubhouse provides peer support and group rehabilitation. This week, thousands of homes in Wexford are receiving an appeal form. Acquired Brain Injury Ireland is asking for financial supports by way of donation. …

I would be the first person to say efficiencies can be made not just in health but in all Departments and county councils across the country. However, this discussion concerns investment in healthcare. The health budget has been cut and the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform has given no indication as to where the savings can be made. I ask the line Minister and all Ministers to ask that Department to provide a line-by-line account of where the spending must be cut and t…

Out of courtesy to all colleagues, I ask that phones be put on silent, if not switched off. One Deputy in particular knows what I am talking about.

It beggars belief that at a point when we have so many serious road accidents, we have not addressed the RSA. We need to reprimand it. The Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, stated earlier that representatives from the RSA had appeared before the Joint Committee on Transport and Communications. I endorse Deputy Nolan's request that they be brought back before the committee. We are discussing driver testing but we should be discussing all the road safety issues and all the deaths that are occurring on the road, whi…

I hope the Taoiseach had the opportunity to read David McWilliams's article in Saturday's edition of The Irish Times giving his opinion on the budget with regard to housing. If the Taoiseach did not get a chance to read it, let me put some of the main points to him. He starts off by highlighting the folly of awarding a tax break on mortgages, which sounds nice in theory but in practice only helps to ensure that house prices remain higher than they need to be, a move, he argues, that will not lead to a single extra …

I cannot say I agree with the Taoiseach on many of those points. When the Taoiseach says demand-led measures, the demand he is aiming for is a target of 30,000. That is half of what the Housing Commission says we should be aiming for. For the past ten years, we have incurred a deficit of 250,000 homes. That is 25,000 a year less than we should have been building. If the Taoiseach continues with his attitude, we will end up with another 250,000 deficit on top of the deficit we already have. The Government’s targets …

This is my 50th time since being elected to stand here and discuss the disability sector. Section 39 organisations, as the Minister of State is only too well aware, are very close to my heart. I also welcome the service providers and some of their clients who are with them today in the Gallery. The Minister of State has been to the section 39 organisations in my constituency. Wexford probably has the highest concentration of service providers as well as service users in the country, from Windmill Therapeutic, Cumas…

Budget 2024 brings another very positive set of announcements but seriously that is all they are - positive announcements. Nobody listening to the Minister today would think that we are in the worst housing crisis in living memory. We had backbenchers applauding one another when they do not even understand the problem. The Government is clapping itself on the back when people are facing into a winter of discontent under very harsh cost-of-living circumstances. It is congratulating itself on building 30,000 homes a …

Let us go back to where this all started. The confidence the Minister expressed in the Commissioner may be somewhat misguided but that will be determined by her. Go back to 2018. The Commissioner, Drew Harris, decided he did not need 800 recruits a year. He said he would do with 600, going against what was Government policy and the Department. It was endorsed and signed off by the then Minister, Deputy Flanagan. We now see, five years later, how we are paying the price for that. Strike one: we do not need 800 new g…

Earlier, the Taoiseach said An Bord Pleanála will help to resolve the housing crisis. Let me tell him that An Bord Pleanála is actually making people homeless. Only 27% of its cases in the first eight months of the year were decided within the statutory 18-week period. I refer to one family out of several in a similar situation who appealed a decision of the board in September 2022. This family was told there would be a decision in January, which was then moved to April. They are now on notice that they will be evi…

Only 27% were decided in that timeframe.

This is my fourth year as a Deputy and my fourth year debating school transport. As bad as the school transport scheme was, last year's decision to give free seats on school buses to everyone in the audience backfired badly. Private operators were left without any students on their buses and having to charge double to those who were left using them. Ultimately, their mantra now is, "Any route but a school route." They can only provide a driver, if contracted to the school transport scheme, under 70 years of age. Th…

I thank the Deputy. To follow on from my colleague, Deputy Tóibín, we have already debated school transport in this Chamber today. I am afraid it was the Department's failure and that of the lead Minister to plan for such a situation whereby we have eroded and depleted the operators' sustainable and viable operations through poor planning. We no longer have bus operators. For years they have been told about these problems, but we now find ourselves unable to provide buses to get children to school. I am very concer…

In the beautiful village of Newbawn, in the heart of County Wexford, one will find the Sacred Heart National School, which has two special classes for severe-to-profoundly-deaf children. Fourteen pupils are currently enrolled in these special classes. To the best of my knowledge, it is the only school outside of Dublin to provide such classrooms. The National Council for Special Education announced in October last year that it was rolling out an Irish Sign Language, ISL, specialist to provide classroom support so t…

If I send them on-----

It is the only one outside Dublin.

In March of this year, the Taoiseach visited Wexford General Hospital after the disastrous fire that occurred there. At the same time, he promised that the 96-bed unit would be forthcoming. The people of Wexford are facing a winter of discontent because we are no further along with the 96-bed unit. I note that the Minister for Health is present, so could we have an update on when we will see the delivery of the 96-bed unit? We are going to face overcrowding. The hospital has faced considerable turmoil this year. Th…

I ask the Minister to detail the projected allocation of capital funding that will be made available for the SETU Wexford campus development, and the plan to ensure the development of new buildings, the delivery of additional courses and new disciplines, while also ensuring the provision of adequate student accommodation at the new campus in Wexford.