Everyone in the House agrees it is important for commuters and people using public transport to feel safe. That is why I welcome the commitment in the programme for Government to the creation of a transport security force under the NTA. I am also aware this will require a legislative basis and funding. Could the Minister give us some indication of when this will be rolled out? When will we see the first officers of the force on our buses and trains?

I am a strong advocate and daily user of our public transport system, but the perception and reality on public transport is that people are feeling unsafe. The NTA's security survey shows 40% of people feeling unsafe on public transport. The "Prime Time" programme on RTÉ earlier this year revealed that reported incidents of antisocial behaviour on Dublin Bus specifically rose from 494 in 2019 to just over 1,000 last year. There are real issues there, and this is making public transport less attractive, and especial…

Will the existing private security go completely when the new transport police force comes in or is there a plan to run it concurrently? I am aware that the creation of something new like this requires legislation and a dedicated budgetary line. Nevertheless, the Minister took office in January 2025, and he is now talking about this service being operational in early 2027. That is a fair time but I do not think much beyond that would be. This is a doable proposition and something the Minister has been advocating fo…

I raised a number of local school transport issues in the Dublin West constituency on Tuesday. They were Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg, Catherine McAuley National School and St. Peter's College, Dunboyne. I acknowledge that the Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg issue has been resolved and the bus has been put in place. I appreciate that. On St. Peter's College, Dunboyne, we do not have a resolution there yet. We have children travelling from the Hollystown area to that school. It is in a different county and there is an issue be…

I welcome the focus the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach have placed on child poverty in their public comments in the run-up to the budget. However, will they take steps to address child poverty among that cohort of children who are most vulnerable, the 9,000 children in the international protection system? Children in the international protection system get €29.80 per week; that is it. This figure was last increased in 2018. The Tánaiste knows the child poverty unit in the Department of the Taoiseach drafted proposals t…

It is important we are addressing this issue on the first week back, especially after the summer we have had, which saw communities, particularly the Indian and southeast Asian communities, targeted for both verbal and physical assaults in a number of locations across the country. I represent Dublin West, which is an extremely vibrant, extremely diverse part of Dublin and one where we have communities from many different countries. Over the course of the summer I had the opportunity through canvassing and local eve…

In February of this year, at my request, the first debate on drones in this Dáil was held. In that debate I made the point that I am not against drones. The vast majority people are not against drones. They do play an important role in society but commercial drone activity must be regulated. It must be regulated on issues to do with noise pollution and privacy. These drones have cameras. There are also issues to do with the planning status of drone bases and issues to do with safety. At the time, the Minister of St…

We have never had a conversation about how much of the traffic that currently is on our roads we want to move up into the sky because that is literally what is happening in Dublin 15 right now. Thousands of journeys that took place on our roads are now going over our roofs and going over our gardens. This represents a massive societal change. A change like that has to be done through a rules-based system. It cannot be done as an experiment as is actually proposed in the framework document the Government has put out…

It is now four weeks since the school term started back. Like Deputy Sherlock, far too many primary and secondary school students in my constituency still do not have access to a school bus even though they meet the criteria. Students attending St. Peter's College in Dunboyne, the Catherine McAuley National School and Gaelscoil Thulach na nÓg are still left hanging. Why is that every single August, the Department of Education cannot get this right? When will those kids get the school bus place they are entitled to …

Two weeks ago, parents of children who attend St. Mochta's National School in Clonsilla who have diagnoses and who have been approved for a place in an autism class were shocked to find out that, even though the school is opening two autism classes, none of their children was being offered a place. I have met the parents and the school leadership, as have other Deputies. A lot of work has gone on in the background on this matter. I hope the Minister of State has some good news for the school, the parents, the schoo…

The Minister of State knows how to build the tension. He has given us some general points but we are still on tenterhooks as to what is happening in this particular school. I believe the Minister of State has a little bit more to say, so I will allow him to complete his answer.

I thank the Minister of State. I welcome that clarification. He spoke about intensive work having taken place around the country to support the opening of new classes. I know very intensive work took place between parents, the school leadership team, the principal, the deputy principal and the chair of the board of management over the last two weeks. I have met parents, as have other Deputies. I thank the Minister of State because I know he made an intervention as well. I want to acknowledge that. It is important t…

Last Thursday Deputy Ahern raised the issue of climate with the Tánaiste. In response the Tánaiste said: The climate emergency has not gone away; far from it. We need to look at how we can accelerate the pace of change that needs to take place. I agree with the Tánaiste. One thing we should not be doing is appointing a climate denier to lead out on the new EU 2040 climate targets but that is exactly what Fine Gael MEPs voted to do last Wednesday. Last week the European Parliament was considering the process for the…

There was a vote in the European Parliament last week and three Fine Gael MEPs voted for Ondej Knotek as rapporteur on climate policy. During his term in the European Parliament, he said: [The] policies of climate activists, as you are, are not leading to saving the climate. You are lying to people about that if they will be ambitious, that there will be no floods and so on.... But that's not true. You have no data, you have no science base, you have no impact assessments: you are just lying. No science, no data - …

I have asked when the Government will rerun the Laura Brennan human papillomavirus, HPV, vaccine catch-up campaign on a number of occasions. This morning, I spoke to Lucy, a 20-year-old student who missed the HPV vaccine when she was at school and who wants to take it up now. She has been quoted up to €600 to get the vaccine. The cost of the initial appointment with a practice nurse, multiple shots and multiple GP visits to get those shots totals €600. She is a third level student. She does not have that level of d…

Lucy will not benefit from that.

I thank Deputy Stanley for tabling this important motion, thus giving us the opportunity to place a particular focus on oral health and oral healthcare in the Dáil during the final week of this term. I am really pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the motion. We all know the importance of oral health. It affects everything including how we eat and speak. It can even affect our self-confidence, but, for far too long, it has been considered and treated as an optional extra in our health system. Dental healthc…

I am grateful to be able to wake up every morning beside the man I love, a man I am able to call my husband because of a decision of the Irish people, and we are able to enjoy wide-ranging protections across a whole raft of law and policy in our own country. I am grateful but I do not take it for granted because even though we have seen protections extended, gays and lesbians around the world have seen the erosion of their rights too. We have seen progress reversed. That reversal of progress has happened in countri…

I begin by recognising the survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence present in the House today and the many who will watch this debate over the course of the afternoon. I know many TDs have spoken eloquently on this issue today but we know that words must be followed by action. I draw the attention of the House and the Minister to one particular action, the Domestic Violence (Amendment) Bill 2024. My colleague, Senator Malcolm Noonan, along with the Social Democrats and the Labour Party, has reintrod…

We are now on day nine of this fiasco. Time and again last week and even this afternoon in the Dáil, the mantra “the normal budgetary process” has been trotted out by the Taoiseach, Tánaiste, and the Ministers for Finance, public expenditure and further and higher education. Yes, there is a normal budgetary process but we are far outside that process on the single issue of what the student contribution will be next year. The blame for that lies with the Minister, Deputy Lawless. Nobody made him drop his bombshell l…