If the Minister of State needs an example as to why this amendment is crucially important, he should talk to any of the nearly 50,000 people who live in my hometown of Drogheda. Overnight, and at the stroke of a pen, the only hotel in the town was taken away without any consultation with the local authority or without any consultation or communication with the elected representatives in the area. As my colleague pointed out, we got an email the night before to say that the contract had been signed. There was no con…

I hope that after this matter being raised with the Department by myself and members of all parties and none over recent weeks and months, through umpteen parliamentary questions, on Leader's Questions and in various Topical Issues debates, that the Minister of State has some better news today for the Eir and An Post pensioners. I hope that he listened to the retired workers from Eir and An Post who were outside the Dáil yesterday demanding immediate action on pension increases already agreed and unjustifiably with…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. The requested 6% increase for An Post pensioners and 2.1% increase for Eir pensioners are minuscule in the greater scheme of things. We are in a cost-of-living crisis. The cost of absolutely everything has gone up and while it is pennies to the Government, it is massive to these people who served this State for decades. I note in the Minister of State's response that the Department has acknowledged that the waiting time for approval is frustrating for both workers and…

This Government treats flood prevention schemes like something that is topical or seasonal. Every year when there is flooding, as there always is, the Government parties make statements on how they are doing everything they can and make positive statements about how they are definitely tackling the flooding problem this time but, unfortunately, it does not accelerate works, it does not cut down on the bureaucracy and it does not cut down on the timelines for delivery. Its members will be making the same speeches th…

It would; that is the point.

I welcome this Bill. I commend my colleagues on bringing it forward. Until the latest social media controversy arose, I and many others would have thought that we had sufficient legislation to tackle social media companies propagating nudification AI. The Government has been too slow to act. That is why this Bill is necessary and welcome. Last week, TikTok, Meta and Google were before the media committee to discuss the regulation of online platforms and supports to improve online safety and participation. X was inv…

Each time I have the opportunity to speak on housing, I say this. I have to start by reiterating that for the common good, I want every Government housing and homelessness policy to be effective. For every person on the housing list, the hidden homeless, every family in a homeless hub and all of those in emergency accommodation, I want the Government's policies to work. The fact is, however, they are not working. Rent controls have not worked. Now we have this Bill, the latest Government intervention in the rental …

Budget 2026 outlined that a new DEIS plan would be published in late 2025. A key action in the plan will be the creation of a DEIS+ scheme, providing additional targeted resources to schools or students most at risk of educational disadvantage. I recently met with a principal of a DEIS school in Drogheda which is providing an incredibly supportive environment for local children to thrive in, despite the ongoing social and economic challenges in the area. For decades, St. Paul's National School has been at the heart…

It is.

I said that the community has been ignored.

I commend my colleague Deputy Mark Ward on his relentless work on this Bill. Throughout the length and breadth of the country, we are seeing that what were once small silver bullet containers of nitrous oxide are now huge canisters littering our parks, streets and shopping areas. This is no longer a small-scale issue. I have been sent photos by my constituents of an entire shopping area in my hometown covered by empty boxes of canisters and huge canisters lying around in plain sight. In one residential area alone, …

Hear, hear.

I am delighted for all the successful applicants and I know the funding will be put to good use. All of these grants are vital to our counties and local communities' sporting infrastructure. Many of our sporting bodies, from national governing bodies to local clubs, have put out reports and press statements on the need for new infrastructure and the upgrading of existing facilities. These funding streams are crucial to that. In the last round of the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, there were 96 applications,…

It is important to note that national governing bodies are finding difficulties with the application process. I have been around the country, as has the Minister of State, meeting these organisations. There is a general agreement any time we talk about the grant application processes that they are overly bureaucratic. It is all right for large organisations that have the funds to hire in companies to assist them with their applications, but it is still a drain on limited resources. Smaller organisations simply do n…

I am a member of the public accounts committee. I am glad the Minister mentioned the report we published in November. The highlights of that were the capital underspend in 2023; the National Gallery's X-ray equipment; the Art Council's failed IT project; departmental oversight and governance failures; decline in the RTÉ licence fee income and emergency funding; performance measurement deficiencies; the Art Council's grant funding; and strategic funding transparency. It is a laundry list of failures of oversight and…

That is a heartening response. I will point out that there are 149 recommendations in the report dealing with one entity. We sincerely hope we will not have to have reports on all these bodies with similar recommendations. If we are learning from that going forward, that is warmly welcomed.

I am supporting a local family in Drogheda in dire straits because of a mind-boggling decision made by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to bring forward an arbitrary deadline of 1 October for parents seeking special class or special school placement for their child in the upcoming academic year. Eight-year-old Alfie has a diagnosis of developmental language disorder and global delay sensory overload which means he cannot deal with change, has issues eating and drinking, needs help with toileting, w…

As well as that, I ask for urgent intervention from the Government with the NCSE to ensure Alfie and his mam get the eligibility letter they need for tomorrow and Alfie gets the education and care he deserves.

Storm Éowyn was the first test for this Government in the new Dáil term. It took almost three weeks for power and connectivity to be restored to all homes, farms, schools, businesses and clubs. The Government failed its first test. Lessons have to be learned. Ministers cannot just sit in meetings or berate Internet providers, because we will have another storm like Storm Éowyn. Power and connectivity will be lost again, especially in rural Ireland, and we must do everything to mitigate the risks. We must take proac…

There are clear, proactive actions that can be taken by the Government. The Government can review the tree-cutting capabilities each local authority has so that it can respond adequately when we have another storm event and tackle trees on public land. The Government can ensure landowners are complying with the Roads Act 1993 to remove diseased or damaged roadside trees throughout the State. The Department should, and must, engage with pendant providers to identify who the vulnerable users are and what type of netw…