Will the Taoiseach advise me of any supports for ferry operators in light of the increased operating costs due to the fuel crisis? I am thinking of the ferry operators operating ferries to Clare Island, Inishturk and our other islands. As we know, ferries are vital to get islanders to their healthcare appointments, education and other things. I welcome the packages for farmers, hauliers, contractors and so on, but we also must look at ferry operators. Government policy recognises the importance of sustaining island…

Go raibh maith agat, Deputy.

In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time on Wednesday, 15 April 2026.

Deputy Whitmore outlined many examples. Last week, when International Women's Day was on, we could see so many jokes around why we needed an International Women's Day and if there was an international men's day. Deputy Whitmore has just pointed out exactly why we still need this day, when so many of us are still putting on our live locations when we are getting into a taxi or walking home. International Women's Day is a celebration around the world and in Ireland. It is also a warning that we should not be complace…

For years the local post office has been far more than a place at which to post a letter or collect a pension. In towns and villages up and down the country, the post office is essential to communities. It is a trusted service, a provider of employment and for many who are isolated, an important point of human contact. However, we are continuing to watch local post offices come under pressure, reduce services and shorten opening hours, and there is a constant fear of further closures in communities. This fear is no…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Bill. I want to acknowledge the work undertaken by the Department and the Courts Service to brief members of the disability matters committee on this legislation. We were provided with two detailed briefings to help us understand both the operational process involved in discharging wards of court and the urgency of the legislative amendment before us, with the 26 April deadline looming. Those briefings were helpful in outlining the scale of work under way and the practical …

We are ahead of time and those were very positive exchanges. I hope we will continue in this manner.

Deputy, you have had your time.

Deputy, you have had your time.

I want to discuss the additional accommodation scheme, especially as it relates to schools in County Mayo. So far, 16 schools at various stages of this scheme have reached out to me. They all stress the need for timely and adequate additional accommodation. Mayo has a wide network of schools that has a vast mix. Some are rural, some are urban. We have some island schools, some Gaeltacht schools and some DEIS schools. No doubt they are all doing excellent work but in many cases they are tasked with carrying out this…

The Minister of State should absolutely send my list to the Department, but he can be guaranteed that it already has my list. I thank him for the details he outlined. In his reply, he said that details of all live and completed projects are available on the website, but my big issue is that a school might be at stage 2a for 18 months. One school said it had no contact since April last year, another has had no contact in ten months, another said it was nine months and another said six months. St. Brid's Special Scho…

Circular 0030/2014 states that an SNA facilitates attendance, minimises disruption to class and attends to primary care needs like feeding, toileting, medicine and mobility. On page 8, it says the role of an SNA is not to provide additional tuition. Show me an SNA in any special, autism or mainstream class around the country who is not providing additional tuition, especially if you go into a special class. You will see them providing one-to-one tuition. This circular is outdated and that is the crux of this proble…

Can I confirm that Deputy Lahart and I are sharing ten minutes?

I start by extending my sympathies to the family of Grace Lynch and also to the family of the deceased from today's bus accident and those recovering in hospital, as well as the 183 families from last year, nine of them in Mayo. It is important to remember those people because that is why we are here. Even though in my county there were 19 deaths in 2024, which reduced to nine last year, every single life lost is one too many. The RSA is to be commended on the good work that it is doing. Representatives from the RS…

I ask the Minister of State to cast his mind back six years to 2020 and imagine a constituent of my predecessor, former Deputy, Michael Ring, walking into his office at the age of 18. The constituent needed a primary medical certificate to access the disabled driver's and disabled passenger's scheme, DDS. They were refused. They appealed and lost the appeal. This was not because they can walk unaided because they cannot. It was not because they can safely drive a standard vehicle, because they cannot. They were ref…

I thank the Minister of State and I respect his decision to move away from the prepared script. My concern is that in 2020, nobody saw Covid coming down the line and this led to the working group being paused. We have had different reports over the years from different Departments. We now know the Department of Transport is putting the scheme out for public consultation. I am pleased to hear that the Minister of State is going to talk with others about the fact that we do not need a consultation. I am not confident…

Many communities and individuals across Mayo continue to face significant challenges in accessing essential services like employment opportunities and social activities, as well as doctor's appointments, due to limited public transport options. Will the Department consider introducing additional Local Link routes and, more importantly, additional increased frequency to better connect communities in Mayo?

I was at the launch of TFI Anseo and I welcome it, along with all of the increases in spending. When we look at the map of Local Link in Mayo, it looks like we are really connected, but I am thinking of a lady in Fahy outside Westport who is in her 60s. Her mind is super active and she is a fantastic woman, but she has arthritis and cannot drive. She has one option to go to Westport on a Friday morning at 12.10 p.m, but she has three hours and 20 minutes in town before she has to be back on the bus for 3.30 p.m. It…

We need to box clever when we are looking at it. For example, Knockrooskey is an area that does not have footpaths or lighting, so we cannot put an extra bus stop in yet for the Bus Éireann route that moves through it. A Local Link would be really welcome there where the nearest bus stop is Coill an Bhaile and it is too dangerous to walk to. I think of Louisburgh, where the bus service finishes around 6.30 p.m. and the residents are cut off from the nearest swimming pool where kids want to attend lessons, the theat…

The EU AI Act aims for AI to be transformative, trusted and transparent. I think we can all agree that, in recent days and weeks, we have seen how swiftly AI can move to put dangerous tools in the hands of millions of people all across the globe. Make no mistake, though, Grok might have put the ability to nudify into the public domain and it might have opened the eyes of people and governments who were not already aware of the huge dangers of these tools, but these tools, especially the nudify apps, are not a new p…