I wish to look at one example in the same special school in Tallaght and the broader shift in the model of what we expect an SNA’s role to be, and the struggles that the school and staff go through on a daily basis. This school has a student with type 1 diabetes and epilepsy. The child has increasingly complex needs and seizures approximately every fortnight. The school is dealing with all of this. The student cannot wear a glucose monitor or an insulin pump as his needs are so complex. He is non-verbal. He has no …

I thank the Minister of State for his engagement tonight. We would be delighted to meet. Regarding this particular medical issue, there are concerns around a lack of training for SNAs in dealing with issues like this. My colleague, Deputy Eoghan Kenny, has brought in a Bill on emergency medical care training for SNAs but this is an ongoing issue. This is an emergency and something they have to deal with on an almost daily basis. There are concerns around liability if something goes wrong, and things will inevitably…

I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. I commend Deputy Gibney on introducing it to the House. I thank Senator Higgins for introducing it and shepherding it through the Seanad. I know a huge amount of work was done in the background on this. Senator Higgins obviously had extensive engagement over the years with businesses, representative groups, trade unions and broader civil society. This Bill received cross-party support. I believe it received unanimous support in the Seanad, which …

I thank Deputies Tóibín and Lawless for tabling this motion. The Labour Party has submitted an amendment which, we hope, will be an effort to strengthen the motion. As Deputy Lawlor said, however, this is something we all need to work together on. Like Deputy Lawlor's constituency, my constituency of Dublin South-West was hit really hard by the floods that happened in the wake of Storm Chandra, particularly Rathfarnham and parts of the Ballycullen area. I thank the Minister of State for coming to visit the parts of…

I express my sympathies and that of the Labour Party to the pedestrian who died and the three other people who have been injured in Dublin city centre this afternoon in a terrible crash. Where do we start on road safety? A total of 190 lives were lost on our roads last year, the highest since 2014. We need to get a grip on this. I am not sure that the Minister of State has the political will or the courage to do so. We do not need new laws that we have heard trumpeted in the past few days. We have loads of existing…

I thank Deputy O'Gorman for bringing forward this really important Bill. In relation to naming companies in this Chamber, I was given out to about that recently. These companies are not individuals. They are not private individuals. They are big enough and bold enough to defend themselves, so I do not know whether we need to look at our rules on that. We should, in this House, be able to call out companies who are already-----

As Deputy Coppinger said, they are before the committees, they are in the papers, and they are big and bold enough to defend themselves.

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. I was not having a go at the Chair.

I am the first speaker this evening from outside of Dublin 15 and it has been noted that there are a couple of us here from outside the area. This is coming for us all. That is why I am here, and I am sure it is why Deputy Gibney is here. We have seen plans for Dundrum and elsewhere around Dublin. There should be a certain urgency to getting this right so that we nip the issues in the bud that we have seen arise in Dublin 15 and west Dublin and that we get it right quickly. As Deputy Gorman and others have set out …

Every week we come into this Chamber and we discuss infrastructure. It might always be the title of the debate but Ireland's infrastructural deficit lies behind so many of the problems we discus every day. Whether we are talking about flooding, commuter chaos or housing, what is really under discussion is the consistent failure of the Government to build and sustain the infrastructure that Ireland needs. The International Monetary Fund, IMF, has said that we are lagging 32% behind our peers when it comes to infrast…

Over the course of this Government’s time in office, we have seen a disappointing pattern of irresponsible grandstanding by Ministers trying to play tough on immigration. This Bill is the latest example. It goes further than is required under the EU migration pact in restricting the rights of migrants and leaves gaping holes when it comes to protecting those rights. There were real issues with the pact, which were raised in debates at the time, but now the Government wants to go further still in constraining migran…

A total of 190 people died tragically on our roads last year, the highest level in ten years. There have been a few events in recent weeks that undermine people's faith in this Government's and this State's commitment to road safety at an institutional level. The Minister for Transport stated in a response to me last week that there is only so much the State can do and that driver behaviour is a big issue. I agree that driver behaviour is a huge issue but that is no surprise because we have little to no enforcement…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — employees in Ireland have no right to flexible and remote work, only a right to request it from their employer; — more workers are being forced back to the office, with some large employers, including in the public sector, moving to increase the number of days per week that must be spent in the workplace; — in a recent study by INRIX, Dublin ranked as the 11th most congested city in the world, and the third worst in Europe; — commuters and drivers now experience significant …

Last week was a dark week for road safety in this country. A judge made derogatory comments about cyclists. A Government TD was convicted of speeding, going 190 km/h to a constituency event.

What does this say about this Government's attitude and our country's attitude to road safety? I am calling urgently for a debate on road safety in this House.

I am glad to hear the Minister's comments on DART+ South West. We will keep pressure on him there. This question relates to road safety. The brightness and intensity of the new style LED car headlights is a cause of concern for a lot of people. Is the Minister aware of a survey commissioned by the RAC in the UK into the safety of LED headlights in modern vehicles? It found four in five drivers were concerned about dazzling headlights. Has the Minister, his Department or the RSA considered the independent research s…

Many constituents, friends and family of mine who perhaps were travelling a little bit more on country roads over the Christmas period have come to me saying this is not a comfort issue and that it is a serious road safety issue. Depending on the direction or the angle of these lights coming at the driver, which is often from new higher cars and higher positions, they can temporarily blind the driver. Unfortunately, I am raising this in the context of a record of 190 people dying on our roads last year which is the…

It would be interesting to get the statistics on collisions and fatalities in order to understand what the contributing factors are. I appreciate this is a European competency but I want to ensure we are feeding into the European agenda and, to the extent we have any data, providing it in support of any changes needed. Acknowledging the European competency, there are some things from an enforcement perspective we could focus on as part of the NCT. I understand the illegal retrofit of certain LED lights is an issue.…

I wish the Minister a happy new year. What a glamorous topic we have to kick off the new year here. We have lost our audience in the Gallery already. We might forgive our friends on the Sinn Féin benches for veering off topic slightly. This is a very technical Bill but we are talking about safety and this legislation deserves careful consideration and examination by all of us in the House. The changes contained in this Bill are important. The Labour Party is broadly supportive of them. The vital work of the Commiss…

In the spirit of this being the last sitting day before Christmas, I want to say happy Christmas and thank you to the Ceann Comhairle and my colleagues in opposition and in government. It is a privilege to have served my first year as a TD for Dublin South-West and to work with Deputies on all sides of the House in trying to bring about a better Ireland. I know everyone here is doing it in good faith. It is a privilege to be a part of it. Happy Christmas to everyone. We in the Labour Party have a proud record of su…