I welcome the Minister of State. County Limerick's main county town is Newcastle West. It is a tier 2 town under the national development plan. Irish Water has advised that there has been no connection to sewerage or water as of a couple of weeks ago, when I received an email, because of construction going ahead on a site with 93 houses. Some of them had been earmarked as social and affordable houses. The site received planning permission at the end of 2023. At the beginning of 2024, 81 of the 93 houses had been co…

I thank the Minister of State for outlining all that. He can remove the seven four-bedroom homes from his list because that is the development I am speaking about. Those are seven affordable and social homes that will not be in Newcastle West. What the Minister of State outlined is great and it is great that the Government is trying to make a dent in housing but, like he said, 2031 is the year stated for the Newcastle West treatment plant. It is now 2025, so it will be six years before another development can be ho…

I raise an issue that has been coming across my desk the past couple of weeks. It concerns parents of foster children and the back to school allowance, which is going to means tested. They have made the argument to me that they do not just put a roof over these children's heads. They give them love and stability and make them a part of their family. A lot of these children end up in State care through no fault of their own. A lot of them could be born into addiction or in houses where there is domestic abuse. There…

I second the amendment.

I second the amendment.

I want to raise today an issue in County Limerick. County Limerick has one tier 2 town, which is Newcastle West. We all know the situation with housing at present and the lack of it in the country. Planning permission was granted in 2023 for 93 houses to be built in Newcastle West and they were commenced in 2024. Work had commenced on a total of 81 of the 93 houses, but several weeks ago all of the tools were put down, the gates were put up and notices were taken off. The advertisement for affordable homes has been…

I am pleased to contribute to this debate that goes directly to the future of our agricultural industry, family farms and rural communities. The agri sector, the agrifood sector in particular, is Ireland's largest and most important indigenous industry. It directly supports more than 170,000 jobs across 135,000 farms, 2,000 fishing vessels and more than 2,200 food enterprises. It is a sector that underpins not just the economic prosperity but the very fabric of rural Ireland - our small villages and market towns, k…

I raise an issue that might not be to the fore in everybody's mind, especially those who have had a child and it has been a single birth. This relates to multiple births when it comes to maternity, paternity and parental leave. It is great to see paternity and parental leave added to maternity leave. It is fantastic for parents to have those options after a child is born. Somebody who has had a multiple birth, such as twins or triplets, just gets the same as the parent of a single birth. They have double or triple …

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on balanced regional development, but the very idea of balanced regional development is at odds with our current national development plan. The plan seeks to put half of Ireland's population in the Dublin region. That means half of us will live, work and commute in a tiny corner of the country, while the rest of the country is left underinvested, neglected and stranded on the margins. How will we provide water services and infrastructure for this massive growth in a s…

I raise the issue of school transport and this crazy rule of Bus Éireann that its drivers have to retire at the age of 70. I had a phone call from the wife of a gentleman over the weekend. He turned 70 last Thursday and, on Friday, his wife had to drive the school bus to take the children to school and collect them. The school itself can contract him to come down a half an hour after the children finish school and take them on their school tour, take them swimming or take them for whatever they are going out for, b…

I welcome the Minister of State. While I welcome any debate which highlights the pressing issues of insurance costs and accessibility, we must move beyond words and deliver tangible solutions for our citizens. This motion, like many before it, rightly identifies the challenges but the question remains: does this Government's action match the urgency of the problem? I want to focus on two critical areas where the current system is failing: the existential threat facing homeowners of our unique thatched homes, and th…

I highlight a deeply concerning gap in supports for children with disabilities, particularly around the availability of summer services and structured activities during school holidays. I am not speaking about July provision or anything within schools. In recent years, Enable Ireland and other service providers secured places within private summer camps to enable children with special and additional needs to join and have a chance to attend. These are not just social outings; they are crucial developmental and supp…

That all sounds amazing. The funding is desperately needed. I get the staffing issue. Would there be a way to alleviate that issue through special needs assistants that are qualifying and need to do a placement? Would it be an option to try to get their placement as a summer camp? Similarly, special education teachers who are qualified and vetted need to do some training or placement. Could we look at giving something like that to this service so they are not just going into a classroom and are not just doing their…

I wish to raise an incident that happened in Newcastle West in County Limerick last weekend. Vile videos were sent to me of fighting on the streets between two different groups. They were absolutely disgusting to watch. People were being kicked in the face while they were on the ground. One person was knocked out, jumped on and punched about 20 times while he was knocked out. This happened on the street parallel to the Garda station. I do not know if it is a lack of gardaí. The gardaí in Newcastle West are phenomen…

Yes.

I welcome the Minister of State. I welcome the progress towards the local democracy task force. My party has long called for more power to be given back to our local elected members. Ireland has the most centralised system of local government in Europe, with limited democratic decision-making powers and insufficient funding and resources for local authorities. While the EU average for tax revenue spent at local level is 23%, in Ireland it is just 8%. Our overly centralised system means far too many decisions are be…

I second the amendment. Every day that action is delayed more lives are lost in Gaza. More than 50,000 people - mostly women and children - have been killed. This is not a war; this is a slaughter. The deliberate campaign of destruction is playing out before the eyes of the world. We in this House have expressed solidarity many times with the Palestinian people. The Irish public have marched in their thousands demanding real and meaningful action, yet we hear credible allegations that weapons destined for Israel pa…

I welcome the Minister of State back to the House. I will speak about the delay in driving tests, which is an issue that has spiralled completely out of control. At the end of April, the national backlog had grown to a staggering 83,486 applicants, a number mentioned across the floor this evening. It has increased by 10,000 since the start of the year and by 20,000 in the past six months. The average waiting time is now 27.3 weeks or nearly seven months. In some areas, learners must wait anything up to ten months f…

I want to raise the issue of the sheer lack of home help supports, which, I am sure, is the case throughout the State, but I am going to concentrate on County Limerick. A case that stood out to me among the many I come across involves a family living in County Limerick. The father, who was once a fiercely independent man, is now living with advanced dementia. He needs 24-hour care. For mobility reasons, he needs two people just to move around his house. His elderly wife, who is a healthcare assistant, and their gro…

I welcome the Minister of State. Today, during biodiversity week, I want to speak about the urgent need to protect and restore biodiversity, especially through a better approach to forestry. I also want to reflect on what that means for my county, Limerick. Ireland is in the grip of a biodiversity disaster and crisis. One in five rare species is at risk of extinction. Our native woodlands, once thriving, are now scarce, reduced to just over 1% of our land area. In County Limerick, we are fortunate to have pockets o…