I welcome the opportunity to contribute to today’s statements on scoliosis and the inquiries announced by the Minister. I welcome the Minister’s appointment yesterday of Mr. Remy Farrell SC as the independent facilitator on the scoping exercise. I also welcome the appointment of Mr. Lorcan Staines SC in relation to the Shine report. Both appointments are long overdue and much needed. The terms of reference and structure of the statutory public inquiry into spina bifida and complex scoliosis services is an important…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate on the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2026. I thank the Minister of State and her officials for their efforts to update this largely technical but important legislation which impacts many of the most vulnerable in our society. This is a targeted, necessary measure to provide legal certainty for people who remain in wardship arrangements as we approach the statutory deadline of 26 April 2026. The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015,…

I welcome the Government's record investment in special education, which now stands at €3 billion, up 58% since 2020. The additional SNAs coming into our schools and the extra capacity is making a real and positive difference for many children and their families. However, over the last few days the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has proposed significant cuts in some schools, like Our Lady of Good Counsel Boys National School in Johnstown in my constituency. The school has been notified of a reduction…

I welcome the statements on road safety this afternoon. I am conscious of the dreadful accident in the city centre today that many Deputies have mentioned. I know everyone's thoughts and prayers in the House are with those affected, their families and indeed the emergency services that have responded. I welcome the series of decisive actions taken by the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, in response to the death of Grace Lynch. I put on the record my own condolences to the Lynch family. The danger posed by scramblers i…

I support the Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026. This legislation is about two things that renters and would-be renters need more than anything else, which are security and certainty. It strengthens tenants' protection in a way we have not seen before while creating clearer and more stable conditions for investment so we can grow our rental supply. Put bluntly, a rental system is nothing without the supply. It is not a system. It is a queue. We all know the reality. Too many people are payi…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I will be supporting the Bill. In response to previous comments, I suggest we should not conflate inward migration with international protection. I agree with Deputy Kelly that racism should have no place in this debate, this House or public commentary. The right to claim asylum is at the core of international law and Irish values. That said, we owe the public, and applicants themselves, a system that is clear, rules-based and workable. When a process drags on…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on Second Stage of the Gas Safety (Amendment) Bill 2026, which I support. While essentially a technical bill, it is important. At its core are public safety, consumer protection and ensuring confidence in our energy system. When it comes to gas, we only notice the rules when they are missing. This Bill matters because it strengthens and modernises the legal framework for both natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas, and does so in a practical way. It amends the Electricity Re…

I welcome the opportunity to speak in support of the Public Health (Single-Use Vapes) Bill 2025 and the Minister of State’s comments on tackling what has become a serious public health and environmental issue. The Minister of State will know that I have raised in the House previously concerns in regard to the rapid growth of single-use vapes, particularly their impact on younger people. These products are cheap, colourful, very easy to use and heavily marketed. They may look harmless but the evidence tells a differ…

I welcome the opportunity to speak to online safety, an important and pressing issue, and I thank the Minister for being here. For most of us in the House, the Internet arrived in adulthood. For today's children, it has been there since before they could even read or write. That brings extraordinary opportunities for learning, creativity and connection but also very real risks. We have made important progress in recent years. The establishment of Coimisiún na Meán and the online safety code has ended the era of pur…

I am pleased to speak in support of the Arbitration (Amendment) Bill 2025. I thank the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and her officials for bring it forward. It has long been debated in this House. This Bill is a direct and careful response to the Supreme Court’s judgment in the Costello case, which held that, legislative change would be necessary before the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic Trade Agreement could be fully ratified. The core issue identified by the court was the automatic enforcement in Ireland of awards …

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2025. Before I do so, however, and since we are discussing Irish screen production, I would like to formally express my condolences on the sad, sudden passing of Hugh Wallace, who was not originally a television presenter but certainly endeared himself to the Irish public on the many shows he presented. I express my condolences to his husband, family, friends and colleagues. This is a short, technical Bill, as the Minister of State has high…

I welcome today's statements. Households and businesses have been through a brutal energy shock. Russia's invasion of Ukraine weaponised gas, drove up wholesale prices and exposed how dependent Europe had become on imported fossil fuels. Prices have come down from the 2022 peak but nobody at home feels as if the crisis is over. Prices are still too high and people are anxious opening their emails or the envelope with the latest bill. To be fair, the Government did not stand idly by and this must be acknowledged. It…

I welcome these statements on the Government’s updated housing plan, which rightly sets a minimum target of 300,000 homes, including 72,000 social and 90,000 affordable homes. The plan is backed by €9 billion in housing capital for next year alone. It focuses on activating land, clearing blockages and expanding housing first and family homelessness measures. This is essential if we are serious about meeting needs rather than chasing yearly targets. In my area of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, we can clearly see what works…

I offer comhghairdeas to the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, formally on the record of the House. I welcome the opportunity to speak on Sudan. It is very important and my colleague, Deputy Shane Moynihan, and others have raised it several times. It is very important that this discussion happens. The ongoing situation in Sudan is one of the gravest humanitarian emergencies in the world. It is a conflict defined by mass displacement, famine conditions and systematic attacks on civilians. It is a crisis that demand…

With the busy Christmas season almost upon us, will the Taoiseach ask the NTA to confirm the arrangements for late-night DART, bus and Luas services? More generally, the new 24-hour services are extremely welcome, such as the E1 and E2 along the N11. However, I have received several complaints about insufficient, overcrowded and delayed services, phantom buses and full buses passing by at peak times and on the late-night services. Will the Taoiseach ask the NTA to review frequency and capacity to ensure the public …

I thank the Taoiseach for the update on the work of the Cabinet subcommittee. As Cathaoirleach of the Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, we have had good engagements North and South. That is continuing next week with visiting MPs from Westminster. Dialogue is important in terms of the Government's good relationship with London as well as Belfast. May I also raise the case of the 265 students and teachers who were kidnapped in Niger state in Nigeria? It is a very serious case and I would l…

No, he did not.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on haulage costs for SMEs. If you run a small business in this country, nothing reaches your customer without a truck somewhere along the line. Every pallet into a supermarket, every consignment into a chemist and every online order delivered to a home in Dún Laoghaire depends on a haulier who is watching diesel, tolls, insurance and wages every day. When their costs rise, everyone’s costs rise. We acknowledge the Government stepped in when the shock of Russia’s full-scale invasio…

I thank the Taoiseach for the reply and in particular the announcement of €50 million for the new projects, which is very welcome. We need to see more of the practical people-focused projects like those. The Taoiseach mentioned the Dublin-Derry link among other initiatives. The Enterprise rail link between Dublin and Belfast has proven very popular. I ask that it be considered to extend that further to support the night-time economy of both cities. That would be a very important move. In the same spirit, the announ…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to these statements on Ukraine as we approach the fourth winter since Russia launched its full-scale illegal invasion. I again acknowledge the Ukrainian ambassador, H. E. Larysa Gerasko, and community representatives, who are very engaged with all of us in the House. I put on record our solidarity with them, rooted in the principles of the UN Charter and in our own history as a small State whose independence was hard won. In this Chamber in February, I said there can be no ag…