As this is my first time to speak in the House, I express my sincere gratitude to the people of Dublin West who have given me the honour of representing them - I will work every day to show them it was the right decision - to my supporters, who showed up for me day in and day out, and to my family: daddy, who is watching from his armchair in heaven surrounded by newspapers, my mum, the most tolerant politician's wife and now politician's mother in the world, and my husband and daughters, who are quickly following i…

I thank the Minister of State for taking this on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Foley. I believe I understand the parameters by which the fee adjustment has been operated but I still feel there is a difference between using the subsidies to mitigate fee increases and reducing the impact on individual families and the real cost of their childcare. A 25% reduction in childcare fees in the household budget in 2023 was meaningful but the 50% reduction last September was significant. We should still honour this. We shou…

I warmly welcome the mayor, the ambassador and the delegation. I look forward to spending time with them this afternoon. I wish them a very warm welcome as a member of the Japan-Irish friendship group, as a sister-in-law of a Japanese woman, Hiroko Kawachi Currie and an aunt of my niece and nephew Keiko Currie and Cillian Currie. It is a huge honour for me to have you in the Seanad today. Konnichiwa. Today is a special day, mayor, as it was our collective hope 18 months ago as we stood on the top floor of one of Hi…

We woke up to the news in yesterday's edition of The Irish Times that parents of children in commuter belt areas like Castleknock and Carpenterstown are being written to and advised by education authorities to apply to multiple secondary schools because of the level of oversubscription to schools in areas of high enrolment pressure. Almost half of all secondary schools across the State are set to be oversubscribed in the coming year. The authorities have also said there is excess capacity in the system, but particu…

I thank the Minister of State. The Department improved the central post-primary online database IT system that was in place last year but did not deal with the issue. It is writing to parents to encourage them to write to multiple schools and requesting parents to take steps to avoid holding multiple places. That is a request, whereas a common applications process would solve that issue. The Department is saying there were successful data-sharing arrangements implemented for last year which will be used again this …

I welcome the Minister of State. First, I want to recognise the work of Ms Patricia McPhillips who retired as principal on Friday after 39 years in Coolmine Community School, Blanchardstown. She told us that she came for only one year and it is a testament to the ethos and culture of Coolmine Community School that she stayed for so long. I know how special that culture and ethos is because my mum also taught in the school. Ms McPhillips was a principal who put her heart and soul into Coolmine Community School and h…

I thank the Minister of State. This is an example of why schools are so frustrated with the workings of the Department of Education. The school in question applied for this a year ago. An emergency is deemed to be "a situation which poses an immediate risk to health, life, property or the environment, that happens in sudden, unforeseen circumstances and requires immediate action". I am saying that the presence of buckets in the busiest thoroughfare of the school for the past two years represents a risk to health an…

I also want to convey my deepest sympathies to the O'Rourke and Naughten families. Mary O'Rourke had a long and established career while John Naughten had so much more to give. It is an incredibly sad time. I also raise national dyslexia week, which gives us an opportunity to shine a light on the barriers that still exist for dyslexic students in the classroom. One in ten students has dyslexia and may have difficulty with reading, spelling and writing as well as having longer cognitive processing times. That needs …

The Minister of State is welcome. I congratulate him on today's budget and the hard work that has obviously been done in recent months. When I look at the budget in terms of priorities, I feel more money in people's pockets is very important at the end of the month. As the Minister of State said, there are many families out there who feel they are doing everything right but do not have enough to show for it at the end of the month or are struggling. We want public services that work and we need support for families…

I raise the unmitigated disaster that has been the change in Irish Rail timetables for Dublin. There has been a lot of focus on the northern routes and not so much on the western routes. We on those routes have been very affected. Yesterday, I put up a post on social media stating that I wanted to raise the issue in the Seanad. I got 93 responses in 24 hours. We know that if one gets five responses or five emails on an issue, it is big. The issue is affecting our train stations, including those at Hansfield, Clonsi…

The Minister of State is very welcome. I am only going to speak to one amendment, Government amendment No. 46. I am looking for clarity about the implications of this amendment and I feel optimistic. It states: In page 58, between lines 34 and 35, to insert the following: “(b) Applicants for licences under this section for appliances, apparatuses or structures of such class or classes as may be prescribed shall give notice of such applications to the public in such manner and form as may be prescribed.”. The Minist…

Amendment No. 190 is in relation to public rights of way. Public rights of way, permissive rights, are topical at present. They have really come to the fore since Covid. We encouraged people to enjoy what was right under their nose and they could. They were able to appreciate, in their 5 km and their 2 km, the outdoors. I am a big believer in ensuring people can appreciate the natural beauty of their community and access mountains, rivers and lakes. In my area, for instance, we have the Liffey Valley which is a pro…

I move: "That Seanad Éireann: welcomes: - the extensive commitments by the Government to address long-standing challenges in the early learning and childcare sector and to improve access, affordability, and quality of provision; - the increase to over €1 billion per annum in State funding for the sector this year, including Core Funding, a new model which aims to improve pay and conditions for staff, capacity for parents and stability for operators, and which requires ongoing partnership and dialogue with providers…

It does.

It is open to both.

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive response. You always leave something out whenever you make your initial contribution. I should have been clearer that when I spoke about leasing back to providers, I was not saying this should involve only private providers, but I do feel they are under financial pressure and this would alleviate that. Core funding is working to increase stability and capacity, but there are lots of trusted, experienced providers that want to expand their services into new buildings and un…

I move amendment No. 49: In page 58, to delete line 38, and in page 59, to delete lines 1 to 14 and substitute the following: “(5) A planning authority shall, in relation to an application in respect of— (a) overground electronic communications infrastructure, (b) any associated physical infrastructure under this section, (c) require the applicant concerned: (i) to publish a public notice; (ii) to erect on the land on which the development concerned is situated, or affix to any structure on such land, a site notice…

I thank the Minister of State very much. Knowing that he is going to examine the spirit of the amendment, I am happy to withdraw it. I thank everyone for their support. I do not believe there were any dissenting voices. However, I want to be upfront with people and to say that, in the case of telecommunications masts, proximity to schools and impacts on health have been removed from the guidelines as considerations. Leaving that development and what people feel about it aside, there should be transparency and publi…

I welcome the Minister of State. We have a very strong track record with regard to the youth justice strategy and youth diversion projects. They make absolute sense. It is proven that people are more likely to take risks when they are younger and more likely to want to please their peers. Neurologically that is proven. When they get older that likelihood drops steeply. We want to avoid detention as much as possible. However, the figures show that those between 18 and 24 years are disproportionately represented in p…

I thank the Minister of State and appreciate him agreeing with me that these figures are worrying. They are startling. I completely support youth diversion programmes, the work of expanding them and measures on the ground in terms of access at the weekends, the strategies with hard-to-reach children and the widening of the age eligibility. We have a question to answer around how that funding is being used. Based on my figures in Dublin, it has gone from €4,700 per participant in 2019 to over €10,000 in 2023. It can…