I want to ask the Minister about the criteria for prioritising school capital projects and about delays. It appears that a significant number of projects have been delayed. Can the Minister outline how many capital project delays there are across the country and the primary reasons therefor?

I appreciate there is a significant amount of money - hundreds of millions of euro - spent on capital projects. Of course, there must be prioritisation and so on and, obviously, the need for expanding schools and special education should be an important prioritisation. However, I would appreciate it if the Minister could consider nuanced issues in schools as well. For example, Claremorris is a wonderful town with two single-sex schools. They had a consultation over several years, which the Department of education i…

I appreciate that in terms of need, the budget and so on, but the point is that there is such a demand for the amalgamation of the two schools. It appears there is a one-size-fits-all, arbitrary metric when it comes to the capital infrastructure project. Will the Minister consider meeting me and the school principals to hear some of the issues that the schools are experiencing outlined for her and consider some funding for the schools to amalgamate? There is a significant need for it to happen in terms of education…

The motion is rooted in three simple, democratic principles, namely, that every Irish citizen should have the right to vote for the President, that the Office of the President should be transparent and accountable and the process for standing for election should be fair and open to all citizens, not just the politically connected, and that voting rights for Irish citizens should be extended to the North of Ireland. Close to 2 million people live in the North of Ireland. Thousands of them are proud Irish citizens by…

I raise a very serious issue that is happening in my constituency in Mayo. That is the proposed closure of the Cong hatchery. This facility is one of the most important pieces of infrastructure in Mayo. It is fundamentally important. It is the jewel in the crown of the tourism sector in south Mayo. Cong, Ballinrobe, much of south Mayo and Galway rely on this important angling and tourism sector. The IFI is proposing to close this hatchery. Why is this important? It is important that the Minister of State understand…

This budget has very little to do with ordinary families across Ireland. It is to do with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil and where they are in the election cycle. After the budget, I picked up some Fine Gael election material. So many promises have been broken. The Deputy is right that the Minister believes he can hold the Government together. There will not be an election for a couple of years and the promises can wait. As it was just before the last election, the sweets will follow and the Government will hope the peo…

-----of the most egregious nature, of a young girl who was raped-----

-----by an alleged asylum seeker-----

-----who had received a deportation order.

We have raised this on so many occasions.

I am speaking about the mismanagement of the budget funds in terms of IPAS centres.

It is budget-----

-----overspend in relation to this.

I commend the motion before the House and commend Deputy Charles Ward on tabling it. The work of Mary T. Sweeney in Donegal with him must also be commended. I am very proud to speak on behalf of the people and families of Mayo, who have been so desperately affected by the defective blocks scheme. It is a travesty that it has been allowed to drag on for so long. It is really shocking we are still in this situation; despite the fact this was no fault of the families. This was the fault of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael be…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute. I recently met Irish Grain Growers and Tillage Industry Ireland. As Deputy Fitzmaurice mentioned, the tillage sector is fundamentally important for every part of the country. For example, the beef and sheep farmers across Mayo rely on it for bedding, foodstuff and so on. If we lose this sector, we will have to rely on international markets and we have seen how volatile they have been in recent years. That is why it is fundamentally important that we protect the tillage secto…

I welcome the Housing Finance Agency (Amendment) Bill. The increases it will provide to local authorities and approved housing bodies are very welcome and we will support the Bill. While the HFA funding is a powerful tool in the housing crisis, I want to be clear that it is only as important as the hand which wields it. Unfortunately, I think this Government is a continuation of the previous one when it comes to housing. The budget was an indication of that. It has really done nothing in housing. It had an opportun…

I welcome this motion before the House. There is a significant cost to having a disability and for families with a person with disabilities. Indeed, the Indecon report clearly outlines that cost being in the region of €10,000 per year. In that context, I welcome the motion calling for the introduction of a cost-of-disability lump-sum payment and an increase to the disability allowance. There is no question but that the Government is leaving out families and people with disabilities. I want to speak on behalf of fam…

Is it the Minister's intention to reintroduce the hate speech legislation brought forward by his predecessor in the previous Dáil that was a such dramatic failure?

I welcome the Minister's response and the sea change in the Government's approach to the hate speech legislation. His predecessor, Deputy McEntee, was a big proponent and driver of this hate speech legislation, so I commend the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, on what he is doing. This House should always protect freedom of speech. We saw in Germany recently that pro-Palestinian protesters were treated in the harshest way possible. In this country, people's views of and sympathies towards the Palestinian people are ve…

We abhor hate and I firmly believe that we should all speak respectfully. However, the previous Government set out essentially to define what hate would be. That is obviously a dangerous road to go down. There is movement throughout the European Union to push hate speech laws. Is the Minister saying today that is not going to happen and we are in compliance and we are going to say "No" to Europe on this matter?