You cannot describe my views. I will describe my own views.

There are two very important lessons that we have learnt from the SNA debacle over the past couple of weeks. The first is that the Government does not care about the most vulnerable and, left to its own devices, will abandon them. The second is that people power works because the Government is now promising an extra €19 million for SNAs. The Government is also saying that no school will lose SNAs next year. The only reason that happened was because of a groundswell of protest on the part of parents, SNAs and teache…

These are the words of Mary Dunlevy Greene, one of the hunger strikers who fought for redress from the Government for the State's part in their abuse: We were child slaves. We got very little portions of food. We were deprived of every human right. A capitation grant was paid by the State to the religious orders to keep us there. They gagged us. We weren't allowed to speak afterwards or name an institution or a perpetrator. The horrors cannot be overstated. I remember going out to meet with them when they were brav…

Over the summer, I met with Kirsty and Barry, who told me a heartbreaking and deeply troubling story about how their son Brody had been treated at Children's Health Ireland, CHI. He was diagnosed with diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, DIPG, in May 2024. This is a very aggressive brain tumour that is inoperable. Children are treated as palliative once they are diagnosed. He then had a very invasive and dangerous procedure of a biopsy. As a result of the biopsy, he had a massive brain haemorrhage. His brain swelled t…

-----than other countries with no medical benefit in doing them. Will the Taoiseach examine this?

Yes.

It was not in this case apparently, because it was a bank holiday. The MD team was skipped, apparently.

Can we take the reply as read?

I presume the Taoiseach saw the news ten or so days ago about the UK High Court's ruling to the effect that the proscription and banning of Palestine Action as a terror group is unlawful and disproportionate. The court also directed that it should be overturned. It was heartening to see the scenes of many protestors being released from prison. They are heroes. They are not criminals. They are people who have put their bodies on the line to try to stop the war machine responsible for a genocide in Palestine, but the…

This Government is probably one of the most pro-AI in the world. The Taoiseach has compared AI to the invention of the printing press. The Government has swallowed the Kool-Aid of big tech seemingly with no assessment of the impact it will have on our ability to achieve our climate targets. I know the Minister has said we are not going to achieve them anyway even though they are supposed to be legally binding. Has the Department carried out an assessment of the climate impacts of AI?

The new digital and AI strategy is not about climate change. I think there are five references to climate in the entire document. It is not about protecting children or artists. It is not about any of those things. It is about a commitment to "strengthening Ireland’s position as a digital leader", seemingly without regard to the negative impacts AI is having in our society. The Minister of State has confirmed the Department has not even done an assessment. The Government's approach is to go full steam ahead with AI…

I find it remarkable that Ministers and Ministers of State are still answering questions about climate inaction by saying "Oh, don't worry, we've got legally binding targets." The Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, is sitting beside the Minister who said we are not going to meet these targets, so how can it still be an excuse to say that when we raise inaction by the Government or action in the wrong direction? His senior Minister has literally said we are not going to meet those legally binding targets. He is makin…

The truth is that the expansion of data centres has deepened our dependence on fossil fuels. They have outpaced the renewable deployment. They have strained the grid. They have hoarded power connections. They have built gas generators on site. More and more are burning fossil fuels directly. They have stalled decarbonisation and deepened their dependence on fossil fuels. Sometimes we see greenwashing statements by the likes of Google and others claiming that AI is going to be a net climate benefit and that we shoul…

People power has forced the Government into a retreat on SNAs. That is extremely welcome. However, the underlying problem of the basis allocation of SNAs and the insufficient number of SNAs remains. This special school in Tallaght illustrates the problem precisely. It received a letter on 11 February saying its allocation would be reduced from the 2025-26 academic year. It was withdrawn on the same day, but the rationale presented is quite telling. It is based on primary care needs. That is the basis. In other word…

I thank the Minister of State and I would very much welcome the idea of a meeting. I also invite him to come and visit the school and meet with the principal, teachers, SNAs and so on. On the bottom-line point, what happened in the 40 minutes between the letter removing the SNAs and the letter saying that no SNAs would be removed was that the principal contacted the NCSE to say that all the parents' questionnaires that the NCSE had asked the school to fill out, that the parents had gone to fill out, as explained, a…

I will ask the Tánaiste about Connor Green, the surgeon responsible for inserting non-medical springs into children at Temple Street. He is also the subject of the Nayagam report, which recommended that two thirds of the children it looked at have a follow-up clinical review. I understand that he is seeking an injunction to prevent the publication of the Nayagam report. Is the State contesting that and seeking to publish the report? Why is the look-back review, which flows from the Nayagam report, excluding adult p…

Has the HSE contacted its counterparts in Maryland to warn them about this surgeon and to explain he is currently under investigation by the Medical Council?

Our Bill is simple. It would make social housing universally available. It is the opposite to what the Government has been doing. The Government has effectively, for decades, been copying Maggie Thatcher by cutting the amount of social housing being built and then ensuring they shrink the pool of people who are eligible to apply for it. It has done that by refusing to increase the income limits in line with average wages. The result is that only the poorest and lowest paid households, those that are on social welfa…

The protest organised by parents for next Wednesday at 5 p.m. outside the Dáil is going ahead because they do not just want a pause; they want the cuts to stop. They want proper support for their kids. The other point I want to make is that this matter is being treated as if the cuts have come out of nowhere. The Government is shocked to hear that all of these SNAs are being cut, but this is the outworking of the policy. Ms Ciara Reilly has written really excellent pieces on her Substack outlining that effectively …

It is a funny sort of pause because the cuts were not going to come into place until September anyway. The Minister of State said it is a review of suspending it but it is not like there were going to be cuts and now they are paused. Some of these schools may still face the same cuts come September. The Minister of State is not giving any guarantee that will not happen. Can the schools that went through the wringer in this very difficult environment and were granted an extra SNA now plan on the basis that they will…