The school transport system is simply not up to standard. As previous speakers said, every year in the first week or second week back after the summer recess we are dealing with the same issues. In fact, all of our constituency offices are inundated in the months of July and August, but particularly August, with parents who are frustrated with the eligibility criteria, the concessionary criteria, the fact their child has not got a place or the fact they have not got the ticket, or they are waiting for their ticket …

I have lost count of how many times Waterford Airport has been raised over the last number of years in the Dáil Chamber. I have certainly raised it dozens of times. A meeting took place between Government representatives, the Minister for Transport and members of the board of Waterford Airport a number of months ago. There was a lot of frustration in Waterford following that meeting because, after years of business cases, more information being sought, further information and clarification, the people of Waterford …

The Minister of State might be familiar with the phrases "Build it and they will come" and "Show us the money". He stated that it is up to the airport "to demonstrate that sufficient demand and industry commitment [should] exist to facilitate regular scheduled passenger services". That can only be determined when there is a runway. If there is no runway, no airline will come in. At the moment, jets cannot take off from Waterford Airport. It is turboprop planes only. That is the difficulty. If we get a runway extens…

I was at an event about mental health a number of years ago where a presentation was given by an expert in the field who works on the ground. The person put up a photograph of a car that was held up, not by four wheels, but by plans and policy documents. She was illustrating the point that policy documents and plans are not in short supply. We have any number of them in mental health and the same goes for disability. We had a disability strategy that was never properly funded. Her point was that the car will not go…

Earlier this year, Deputy Conor McGuinness and I met with parents of children with disabilities from Waterford city and county. At the time, those parents were heartbroken because they had no idea if their child would have an appropriate class place. Many of them were sent on a wild goose chase, as they were told they had to contact schools themselves. In some instances, they had to contact 14, 15 and 16 schools only to be told each and every time they made a phone call that there was no special class and no place …

Hear, hear.

On a point of order, will copies of the speech be circulated?

The official notes given by the Minister can be read back to the Minister because those are the notes that are circulated.

That is a different matter.

It is a bit petty that the Minister does not share the-----

I do not need to be corrected. I know how the Dáil works. Accountability and good governance have always been at the fore of any debate about the health service. There is much great work is done by our front-line workers who strive every day to do their best. The efficiency with which many in the health service work, particularly in overcrowded emergency departments and under-staffed wards, is genuinely never credited. Unfortunately, that good work is often overshadowed by colossal waste and mismanagement across th…

Over the last number of days, the South East Economic Monitor published its report, which showed a stagnant economy across the south east. There are very worrying figures in that report, which comes from a group of academics in the South East Technological University. One of the issues they cite is a lack of public investment in infrastructure. It is not that difficult to understand when there is no funding for the N24 this year and no funding for the N25 Waterford to Glenmore road, which should have got funding. T…

It was a hole in the ground for ten years because of the Government's failure.

Read the monitor report.

I will send the Taoiseach the replies to the parliamentary questions I got on capital funding-----

-----for the hospital and the university.

The Taoiseach will see that we are at the bottom, unfortunately.

Sinn Féin held nine public meetings on the issue of endometriosis over the past number of months. I attended some of those meetings. I was shocked when I heard a lot of the stories told by women. I listened carefully and watched as many of them cried in the presence of family members. The collective trauma in the room caught me by surprise. The message from these women of feeling ignored and dismissed and being offered substandard care was truly shocking. Also shocking was the number of women who told me they had t…

Never have I seen a debate where the Ministers' speeches were so far removed from the reality of women and their experiences. I watched as women in the Public Gallery got very angry when they listened to the Ministers' speeches. Many of them were in tears, and rightly so. For so long, these women have felt ignored and dismissed. I wager that they feel ignored and dismissed by the Minister's responses this evening. The Minister said in her opening statement that women are cared for at the most appropriate level of i…

I do not know any woman who would choose to go abroad for invasive treatment by choice. The reason they go abroad is that the specialist treatment the Minister spoke about simply does not exist. What we are calling for in our motion is a centre of excellence supported by regional centres where women can get gold standard treatment. Women travel because the gold standard is not available. The Minister was accused earlier of gaslighting women. I have to say I stand over that because that is how those women will feel.