I welcome the establishment of this commission of investigation into historical child sexual abuse in all schools. The scoping inquiry received 2,395 allegations involving 884 alleged abusers across 308 schools nationwide. That is 2,395 allegations; 2,395 cases of children abused by monsters, and 2,395 cases of our nation's children being failed by our schools, 308 schools, and by our State. Survivors have shown immense courage in coming forward about their suffering. For too long, survivors have carried their trau…

Community childcare not-for-profit operations led by the community for the community stand out in a sector dominated by private provision as an alternative, often part of a wider network of early intervention and family support services. Availability varies wildly across the country, from over 60% of services in Monaghan and Leitrim to just 6% or less in my own county of Fingal. It is 13% in Wicklow. In Dublin 15, two community childcare services in two years have take the really difficult decision to shut their do…

I appreciate the recent steps to improve transport security, including the increased budget of over €11 million for a security presence through the Department of Transport, Operation Saul and the new public transport hubs. However, we have to keep moving on the commitment to establish a transport security force. In 2024 alone, over 4,200 complaints were received reporting incidents of drug use, violence and sexual assault. Reports of antisocial behaviour on Dublin Bus have almost doubled since the pandemic and ther…

I want to raise the issue of Garda numbers in Dublin West. Some 120 new recruits were attested overall in June and 74 were allocated to Dublin. According to local gardaí in my area, only four came to the Garda's K district. Of 150 new recruits in March, 98 were sent to the city centre and four to the K district. The K district consists of Blanchardstown, Cabra and Finglas and is one of the busiest districts in the country. Last year, in one 24-hour period, it had more calls than all of the other Dublin districts co…

I thank the Minister for bringing the regulations into effect for the local community safety partnerships so they can get up and running. This new approach will involve residents, social workers, youth workers, businesses, education representatives as well as An Garda Síochána and State agencies. The initiative is important to us in Fine Gael and I commend the Minister, Deputy McEntee, on developing this vision. Can the Minister provide an update on the roll-out of local community safety partnerships in Dublin West…

The Minister was very keen.

Community partnerships have the potential to truly impact community safety because intervention and prevention are not only the remit of the Garda. We have to bring local stakeholders to the table to tackle local problems with local solutions. I am wondering how the Minister will ensure residents know about this initiative. Will there be a local campaign or a local awareness drive? I believe €5.5 million has been provided to set the partnerships up. How does the Minister envisage these funds being spent? Will there…

I thank the Minister for the update. I will circle back to the matter of Garda numbers because community safety also depends on that. There should not be inconsistency across the districts in the Dublin metropolitan region. The K district might be losing out to the city centre at the moment but, historically, there have been inconsistencies with other Dublin districts as well. There is potentially one Garda for every 531 people in the K versus one Garda for every 397 people in a neighbouring district that has signi…

I held a public meeting about the EPSEN Act in 2023 as part of the review. Like anything involving parents with children who have additional needs, it was an eye-opening experience. I thank all the parents who have reached out to me over the years. The most important question we need to ask is whether children are given equal access to education by the system which supports their development. We have come a long way, especially in recent years. The answer is that we still have a long way to go. I will speak about s…

Since the Minister took office, he has placed a significant focus on increased Garda visibility in Dublin city centre, part of which he represents as a constituency TD. His prioritisation of the city centre seems to be working, and I say "well done" on that, but there is the rest of the country and what about the rest of Dublin? It is not the first time I have raised this issue. Communities outside Dublin city centre like mine, the K district, are crying out for more gardaí to tackle low-level crime and antisocial …

My question is whether the Minister will publish the national policy framework for unmanned aircraft systems, UAS, that is, drones, before the summer recess. As part of that, will he implement U-space regulations that have been applicable in EU states since 2023? U-space provides for the creation of a new, dedicated airspace for drones. It is essentially a traffic management system that could play a critical role when it comes to the proliferation and impact of drones flying over residential areas.

I thank the Minister. It is good to see a bit of a move away from the gobbledegook that has dominated the answers I have had so far on drones. The indecipherable regulation-speak reflects the paralysis and powerlessness large sections of my community feel when they are in their homes and gardens listening to the drones above them. Dublin West is being used as a test ground for commercial drones making food deliveries. There have been 170,000 flights in the past 12 to 18 months and that figure is set to soar. There …

I am aware that there are polarised views and I am also aware of the benefits. My concern is also timing. A corporate entity operating in a space without sufficient regulation will not have the duty of care to communities that is required, and we are seeing that already. A commercial operator in our area is claiming it has received 77 complaints about 170,000 flights, but I would have had that number of complaints in the past seven weeks. Companies are operating within the regulations but that does not make it righ…

My question is to ask the Minister for Transport to provide a breakdown of the investment made in enhancing existing bus services in Dublin West from 2020 to date. A handful of routes – four in total – have been introduced under BusConnects, mainly to replace existing services, and one new route called the W4. While we await the full implementation of BusConnects in 2026–27, our existing services are really struggling with demand.

I thank the Minister. His numbers are the same as the ones I got through a parliamentary question dealing with capacity issues in each of the years 2020 to 2024. Seventeen million euro in that time had been invested in launching new bus routes in Dublin West, but, as the Minister said, just €1.6 million has been spent on enhancing existing bus services. That discrepancy tells its own story. The €1.6 million that has been spent on enhancement has been patchy. According to the NTA, nothing was spent on enhancements t…

I would appreciate the Minister's intervention because I find those figures shocking. We cannot wait until BusConnects is implemented in Dublin West, which could be 2027. The Minister mentioned services for Hollywoodrath, including the 37 and 38. I have fought for those enhanced services. Underinvesting in existing services ignores the commuters in established communities who want to shift to public transport. We have seen more than 2,000 new homes built in the Blanchardstown-Mulhuddart local electoral area over th…

There were no new bus services and limited enhancement of the existing ones. Last week, the Green Party had a motion calling on the Government not to put the brakes on progress, but under a Green Party Minister, our community saw a decline in the reliability of its services. I am depending on the Minister to take the opportunity to change that. While BusConnects is promoted as a transformative project, and it will be, we have to properly invest in expanding and improving the services that people currently rely on i…

The programme for Government commits to a policy framework for drones to guide high-level strategic planning and development, supporting innovation and addressing other concerns. While that is necessary, it omits a fundamental issue: the impact of commercial drone operations on local communities. Some say there are no regulations at all, which is not true, but it is air and ground risk-based, with model specifications for safety, privacy and noise. We are severely lacking in common-sense rules and regulation for wh…

Yes, and more coming - up to a million in a year.

I am not sure if the Minister is aware but we have planning guidelines from 2001 where for every 75 dwellings that are built, 20 childcare places are also to be provided. If it was happening, I do not think we would have the problems we have regarding childcare. Sometimes it works. I am sure the Minister has seen that in his own constituency. However, sometimes the builders are exempt or facilities are built but are never opened. I am looking for some realistic and affordable supports for the likes of community crè…