Surprise, surprise.

Mine too.

I move amendment No. 1: In page 5, to delete lines 30 and 31, and in page 6, to delete lines 1 and 2 and substitute the following: “(2) Within three months of the passing of this Act the Minister shall lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas a report setting out the impact of the “market rent reset” provision contained in section 8 on rental inflation in the private rental sector.”. I have genuine concerns about this Bill, where it is going and what it will do for renters in this country. I am already concerned abo…

It is on the record.

The Minister of State said this Bill will bring security of tenure to tenants. However, security of tenure is no use to any tenant if they cannot afford the rent. The Bill is confusing because it will create different categories of tenants. There will be those in new tenancies that start after 1 March, there will be existing tenancies and then there will be students. There are different groups of tenants and some are going to be afforded protections while others are not. That is highly unfair. All tenants deserve s…

On behalf of the Sinn Féin group, I support this Bill wholeheartedly. I commend Senator Harmon on all the work she has done on this extremely important issue. As a former teacher, I witnessed at first hand the dedication that special education teachers and SNAs have to their students with additional needs or those with disabilities. In fact, without the support of SNAs in particular within our mainstream schools we would not be able to include these children in education. It is not that long ago that any student wi…

The recent letters announcing cuts in special needs assistants, SNAs, in schools have caused much concern and distress to students, parents, school staff and especially SNAs. The announcement today by the Minister for education that the review is to be paused does not go far enough. It needs to be reversed immediately. The Minister referred to engagement over the coming weeks on this issue with the Taoiseach and Tánaiste. It is not clear who else she intends to engage with. I hope it is the wider sector. It would h…

A bus operator in Cavan is set to lose three drivers this year for his school run due to the ridiculous rule of Bus Éireann whereby people cannot drive a bus once they reach 70 years of age. This is one operator in one county, so if we look at all of the operators in all of the counties, there will be many more. The ridiculous thing is that the same driver could arrive on a bus an hour after school has begun and bring those children on a tour, to a sports event or to another event. I have heard many Members raise t…

I am a member of the Joint Committee on Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, which is quite a long name. Quite a number of us in this House are members. We have been focusing on apprenticeships for the past few months and we are in the process of publishing a report. It should be published very soon. We were examining what we could do to improve the lives of our apprentices and the apprenticeship model in Ireland. In that process we met with a lot of different people. We met with employer…

I raise a concern about the high number of disabled citizens, especially those with autism or an intellectual disability, who are often waiting the longest on our social housing lists. There are significant delays in providing suitable housing options for people. Some are still living at home with elderly parents who are no longer capable of caring for the individual. Others are still living in congregated settings, which were supposed to be phased out years ago. Others are still being inappropriately placed in nur…

Last night, I attended a public meeting in Ballintemple Community Centre, Bruskey, County Cavan. It was a meeting organised by and very well attended by local people, as well as three county councillors from the locality along with me. The reason for the meeting was concern about the deterioration of the local road structure. I acknowledge this meeting could have taken place in many other places in Cavan and in many other counties throughout the country, as we are hearing, but there is a genuine concern about the l…

Is the Minister of State, Deputy Byrne, taking this as well?

I was not informed that there would not be a Minister from the Department of Education and Youth.

It is a little disappointing. I was not aware of a rule that applies to special schools only, which is that students must complete their education in the year that they turn 18, until I was contacted by the parents of a young lad who is 17 at the moment. He is in a special school. He attended a mainstream primary school until he was 12 or 13. He had been diagnosed with moderate to severe autism and it was felt that his education needs would be better served in a special school. He started special school in Septembe…

I thank the Minister of State for his response. It still does not deal with the point that students are treated differently in special school settings from how they are treated in mainstream school settings. The notice this family were given was poor. They were not aware of this rule. All parents should be made aware of the rule much earlier than going into the final year of school. They have been left in a state of limbo in which they are not sure whether their son will stay in school for another year or will have…

Yesterday, many Senators stood up and welcomed the publication by the Minister, Deputy Naughton, of the national development sectoral investment plan for the 2026 to 2030 period. However, looking in detail at the document, the figures outlined have a striking lack of ambition for youth services. Of the €7.5 billion allocated to the Department of Education and Youth, only €20 million, which is 0.265%, is designated for youth affairs. This means youth services will receive well under 1% of the overall national develo…

I wish to raise capacity issues concerning the 109 bus service from Cavan to Dublin. I have raised it here before and in the Dáil. I have also raised it with the National Transport Authority, NTA, and Bus Éireann, as have passengers who use the service and bus drivers who drive for the service. I refer to issues around capacity, especially at rush hour in the evening when these buses leave Dublin. There are a number of other issues but capacity is the main one. Following communications, nothing has changed. We cont…

I wish the Minister a good afternoon. I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the discussion on the nitrates derogation. First and foremost, it is important to acknowledge and welcome the granting of the derogation. For farmers operating within it, the decision provides a degree of certainty at a time when there is already enormous pressure on farms and farm families. That certainly matters. It allows farmers time to plan, to invest and to make decisions with some confidence about the future of their farms and t…

I too want to be associated with the condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Brian Crowley. While I did not know him personally, I certainly knew of him and I was a great admirer of him. I actually thought about him in recent weeks for some reason. I had not heard anything about him and I was very sorry to hear of his passing. I want to raise family resource centres and the work they do. I think we would all agree that they are vital to our communities throughout the country. I refer in particular to T…

RTÉ reported this morning that nearly 1,000 early year childcare services have closed since 2019. I know that 579 have opened, but there is still a deficit of 400. There are 40,000 children on waiting lists for childcare places. There is an absolute need for investment in this sector. Providers are saying that their costs are increasing. We know inflation is increasing and that the cost of everything is going up. Yet, Government funding is not going up by anything near what is needed. Staff are receiving improved p…