I thank the Minister of State for taking this question. I would like to know what plans the OPW has for drainage, flood protection and coastal erosion defences in County Clare this year.

I thank the Minister of State. There is a lot of positive stuff happening in the county. I will bring the Minister of State back a bit to the Arterial Drainage Act 1945. Neither of us was around at that time but some guru decided that different watercourses would be divvied up between the Board of Works, now the OPW, and local authorities. The River Inagh in north Clare comes under the jurisdiction of Clare County Council. Its budget for managing that watercourse and river is minuscule. It does not have the diggers…

Before the Minister of State was appointed, his name was synonymous with communities fighting back against flooding. He has done stellar work in and out of politics on that. For many people in these areas, insurance is still impossible to get. The term "risk equalisation" is used when applying for health insurance. It means that all people of all ages pay a little bit of a premium so that risk is balanced across older and younger people. The same principle is now being applied by the insurance industry to homes. Be…

I echo the points made by Deputy McGrath. The EU procurement rules are rather outdated. A lot of the regulation that is stifling what this country is able to do is not domestic but comes from an EU treaty. The time has come for us to be able to procure beyond the EU 27 bloc for very large projects, such as hospitals, large road projects and rail. It has repeatedly happened that projects we pitch a certain amount of money for have cost twice as much by the time they have gone through all the gateways. We need to pro…

I thank the Taoiseach for taking this question. In the last few days of the school year, Gareth Heagney, the principal of Sixmilebridge national school in County Clare sent a letter out to parents. The school has around 400 pupils, so is quite a large school, and for the last few years it has only had three SNAs even though the children in the school have needs that far exceed that allocation. Indeed, children who will enrol in junior infants in September will also have additional needs. The school applied for an e…

I also wish to speak in support of this Bill. I will take up from where Deputy Roche left off. We all acknowledge the huge efforts of our front-line workers in every part of the country, and the Deputy is right to pay tribute to them. They work damn hard. Conditions for them all are not great. I have been in hospital myself in the past as a patient and visiting people. One would often see nurses having their lunch at the end of a trolley or a counter and running down the corridor to deal with patients. We need to k…

It is not just the Department of Health; it is also the Department of Transport. If we table parliamentary questions to that Department, they are forwarded to the National Transport Authority or Transport Infrastructure Ireland. A large number of agencies have been set up over many decades. The all-important stuff we try to do as TDs gets siphoned off in different directions, and it can sometimes take months to receive replies. I had a reply to a parliamentary question come back recently in respect of someone who h…

Sorry, it is not on the Minister’s desk yet. I apologise. The report to the Minister is imminent and the Cabinet will have to consider it. The report is on emergency healthcare access in the mid-west region. From replies to parliamentary questions that I and others have tabled, I know that initially HIQA was supposed to report to the Minister and then to Cabinet. Now, however, she has rightly asked it to factor in the recent ESRI report into its report. The report from the ESRI suggests that we need 40% more acute …

I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate. Fianna Fáil is very supportive of the LGBTQ+ community. Back in 1993, it was then Minister for Justice, Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, who led the decriminalisation of homosexuality. It is hard to believe that at that time, it was still illegal. I was someone born in 1982 and throughout my secondary school years, the standard insult in primary and secondary schoolyard was to call someone gay or insult people about their sexuality. It was not until years later, in 2015, whe…

Tá Roghchoiste na Gaeilge, na Gaeltachta agus Phobal Labhartha na Gaeilge tar éis a bhreithniú a chríochnú ar na Meastacháin Athbhreithnithe seo a leanas i gcomhair seirbhísí poiblí le haghaidh sheirbhís na bliana dar críoch an 31 Nollaig 2025: Vóta 42 - An Roinn Forbartha Tuaithe agus Pobail, agus Gaeltachta, clár D - an Ghaeltacht.

I travelled with the Deputy on the train recently and we had a good sing-song. It was a very memorable trip. We will finish this segment with a statement from the Minister. Deich nóiméad le do thoil.

I thank the Minister of State very much. I thank Members.

The Select Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science has completed its consideration of the following Revised Estimate for public services for the service of the year ending on 31 December 2025: Vote 45 - Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. The Select Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, and Taoiseach has completed its consideration of the following Revised Estimates for public services for the service of th…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. Amendment No. 1 in the names of Deputies Clarke, Cullinane and Ó Murchú has been ruled out of order. It was previously rejected in a committee of the whole Dáil.

Amendment No. 2 in the names Deputies Clarke, Cullinane and Ó Murchú arises out of committee proceedings. Amendments Nos. 2, 3, 5, 34, 39, 49, and 121 to 133, inclusive, are related and will be discussed together. Does Deputy Clarke wish to speak to these amendments?

Amendment No. 4 has been ruled out of order. It was previously rejected in a committee of the whole Dáil.

Amendments Nos. 6 and 7 have been ruled out of order. They were previously rejected in a committee of the whole Dáil.

Amendments Nos. 8, 26, 33, 50, 53, 72, 74 to 86, inclusive, 89, 90, 92 to 96, inclusive, 105 to 109, inclusive, and 118 to 120, inclusive, are related and may be discussed together.

The Select Committee on Transport has completed its consideration of the following Revised Estimate for Public Services for the service of the year ending on 31 December 2025: Vote 31. The Select Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade has completed its consideration of the following Revised Estimates for Public Services for the service of the year ending on 31 December 2025: Votes 27 and 28.

Amendments Nos. 278 to 298, inclusive, are related and may be taken together.