I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Railway Safety Bill, which seeks to strengthen our railway safety framework, place the railway accident investigation unit on a clear statutory footing and modernise aspects of railway safety legislation, particularly in relation to safety-critical workers and accident investigations. These are sensible, practical and necessary measures and I am very pleased to see them included in the Bill. I particularly welcome the provisions relating to safety-critical workers, includin…

I know the school very well. It is where I started my own schooldays. I share my constituency colleague's concerns. It is simply unacceptable to have a class size of 33. Will the Minister of State engage very proactively with the school? There are huge additional needs in this particular year, but as he knows, in all years we have very challenging needs. That puts undue pressure on pupils, students and SNAs. First, a class size of 33 is simply unacceptable. Second, will the Minister of State go back and look at the…

I have only just received the Minister of State's answer, but I was trying to follow him. He says the school had 249 pupils and it needed an additional 23 on the previous September's enrolment, which it has. It has exceeded that. I am not sure what the threshold figure is but there has to be some flexibility here. The school has exceeded its enrolment by 23 pupils. Pressures are going to be placed on the students in the classroom, in particular with all of the additional needs. The Minister of State is the Minister…

Ten women have now died violently in Ireland this year. That is ten women whose families, friends and communities have been left devastated. Under the Minister, Deputy McEntee, there was real momentum in tackling the scourge of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence with the zero tolerance strategy and the establishment of Cuan. We cannot allow that urgency to diminish. We need to accelerate delivery with more refuge spaces, stronger supports for victims, investment in prevention and education and a relentless …

I did not think I was going to get in there at all with Deputy Doherty overrunning. Ireland's strong finances are the result of years of careful economic management and responsible decision-making by successive Fine Gael Governments. Due to that stewardship we are in a position to invest in the future while also supporting households with the pressures they face today. However, as the Tánaiste knows, many working families are feeling under pressure due to the rising cost of groceries, childcare and energy. He might…

I very much welcome the income tax package. It is really important that work pays and as the Tánaiste know, our working families are really the backbone of the economy. Childcare is not only essential for equality, it is also essential for our economy. Childcare is actually essential infrastructure and I very much welcome the investment in childcare not only in affordability but also accessibility. Fingal is one of the youngest areas in the country and Balbriggan is the youngest large town. It is essential that we …

I very much welcome the Tánaiste's comments about childcare. It is not just affecting parents. We have nearly full employment but instead of being able to participate on a part-time or even full-time basis in our economy, many grandparents are actually providing childcare because there is absolutely no choice in areas like mine in Skerries and Balbriggan, where there really is no accessible childcare. I know that the Tánaiste is working closely with the Minister for children but it is really important that we see t…

I am very supportive of this Government's ambition to grow our indigenous enterprise base. The programme for Government places a very strong emphasis on backing small businesses, scaling indigenous firms and increasing Ireland's export capacity. Will the Minister of State update us as to progress on expanding the mandate of Enterprise Ireland to better support our small businesses?

I very much welcome the target of 2,000 new exporters. The Minister of State might update us on how much of that might be made up of SMEs or even microbusinesses. I have worked as an SME and I supported SMEs in my own business. Many report a gap between the supports provided by the LEOs and Enterprise Ireland. They are often seen as too small for Enterprise Ireland. We really need to make sure we are supporting all of our businesses right across the sector. For example, an agrifood business in Fingal needs to get s…

I thank the Minister of State. I have two quick questions. Are there any plans to develop tailored, specific supports for certain sectors? I think of sectors like food innovation, new methods of construction technology or even medical devices, as we have many medical device companies in Ireland and it is a growing area. In terms of market diversification, with global uncertainty, it is really important that we support our businesses and in particular our SMEs to diversify. What is the plan for diversifying in Europ…

Earlier this year, the Minister wrote to the SEAI expressing concern that it had left €120 million in capital unspent. Since then, he has highlighted the rising numbers of applications for retrofitting. There is a recognition among the public that, to be as energy secure as possible, they need to retrofit. The Government has fantastic ambition in this space but is the SEAI set up for success? Does it have sufficient resources and capacity and the correct skill sets? What are we doing to make sure it delivers on the…

I agree with the Minister that it is absolutely essential that the money Government is providing to the SEAI is actually used and given to people for retrofits. I also very much welcome the improvements the Minister has made in the scheme this year. They have made it much easier and more financially viable for people to put in new windows, doors and so on. I appreciate that. In terms of the warmer homes schemes the Minister mentioned earlier, the issue has been raised that there are people who are in serious danger…

I welcome that. I had not heard about the 15 months. When I looked at the SEAI's website yesterday, it was still telling me that turnaround time was 26 months. It is important that be updated, notwithstanding whatever we can do to reduce the times. On actually getting this work done, the SEAI appoints a contractor from its approved list. Is there a sufficient number of contractors on the SEAI's approved list? What can we do to increase the number? We really need to do whatever we can to make sure that people are wa…

Every one of us knows families and communities who have been affected by serious road traffic collisions and behind every statistic is a person, family and community whose lives have been changed forever. That is why we have a responsibility to ensure our laws, enforcement systems and road infrastructure are as effective as possible in preventing collisions and reducing harm. That is why I welcome the Bill. While much of it is technical in nature, its purpose is straightforward. It is about making our roads safer, …

I thank the Social Democrats for affording us the opportunity to speak on this important issue. It is one I have raised several times with the Minister of State. I know she is, as I am, committed to delivering homes for adults with intellectual disabilities in their own communities. I thank her for coming to Balbriggan to meet the amazing Remember Us, which is a parent-led organisation that supports not only children and adults with intellectual disabilities but also their families. It has built a wonderful communi…

AI has enormous potential to reduce administrative burdens, improve productivity and free up public servants to focus on delivery. Will the Minister outline what measurable progress has been made to date in adopting AI across Departments and Government agencies, what gains have already been achieved and when we will see further gains?

While I heard about a framework and a lot of training, I did not quite hear that we are actually measuring what cost savings, efficiencies and benefits there are, not only for the public service and Civil Service but to the people, our constituents and the public at large. Will the Minister confirm he will be measuring the real gains made in those terms?

I am more encouraged by the Minister's most recent response. It is important that the public, as well as people working in the Civil Service and public service, sees the benefits of AI. It is important the Minister's Department makes sure there are measurable key performance indicators, KPIs, measurable deliverables and that the benefits and gains are clearly articulated to people. One of my concerns is that in using AI for efficiency, and we absolutely need to do that, we need to be careful not to leave people beh…

We know we have environmental targets. We know we want families to live in warm, fully insulated homes. That has never been more important, when we look at the geopolitical climate we are living in. However, there are real concerns as to whether we have the workforce to deliver warm, insulated homes - both new builds and retrofittings. How many do we currently have in training in the industry? What steps is the Minister taking to increase that to make sure that we not only meet our climate targets but help families…

It is good to hear that work is under way. What I did not hear is whether we know the numbers we need to get to. As the Minister said, a broad range of skill sets are required to deliver these homes. Is there co-ordination between the Minister's Department and the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment? We know the targets we want to get to for 2030. Do we know the numbers of skilled workers we will need across the broad range to get there? Is the Department supporting that to ensure that there are suffi…