The National Bus and Rail Union has described the Cork to Dublin train as a hotspot of antisocial behaviour in recent years. There have been 120 complaints of antisocial behaviour on trains to and from Cork in the last 12 months. I thank The Echo newspaper in Cork and Amy Campbell for her work in highlighting this. These incidents include times where people feel unsafe, intimidated and scared. There is no way to exit a train once it is moving. Volatile behaviour can be particularly scary for people travelling by tr…

The First Dáil declared that it was the first duty of the Government of Ireland to ensure that no child suffered from a lack of clothing, food or shelter. This Government is failing in that duty. There are currently 17,885 people homeless. That was the August figure. It is actually higher now. Some 5,830 of those are children. I asked the Minister's predecessor how many children must become homeless before Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and this Government admit they are wrong and admit the crisis is at a stage where they …

Can the Minister of State imagine a person's husband or partner being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in their late 50s, then having to search for a nursing home with an Alzheimer's-specific dementia unit when they are 65, and just when they have settled into their new home, they are being evicted? Can the Minister of State imagine that? Can he imagine a person whose mother had passed away over the summer then being told their father has to find a new home after eight years of living in the Sarsfield Court demen…

I want to be clear about what the Minister of State said. He said that nothing will happen until the families are satisfied and the situation has been worked through. I have met the families privately and there has been a public meeting. The families do not want their loved ones to be moved out of the unit. They fear for the health of their loved ones if they are moved. They were given a list of places in Cork and Kerry where they were advised to take their loved ones. Why would someone leave a place where they are…

Just two months after the State-owned ESB raised its prices for over 1 million customers, it posted profits of €636 million and gave its chief executive a 29% increase, raising his salary from €318,000 to €410,000. That is €92,000 of an increase. The Sinn Féin MEP Lynn Boylan has published research that shows that ordinary households are paying the price for data centre connections. We have seen a surge in connections to the grid that are the equivalent of 160,000 homes. Record numbers of people are in arrears with…

Is the Minister of State aware that two services relating to BusConnects had to be rerouted because buses cannot traverse Church Hill in Glanmire despite numerous public consultations and millions of euro being spent on it?

Some €85 million has been spent on BusConnects in Cork since 2021. That includes €11 million this year alone. What have we got for it? People in Cork and people I represent will tell the Minister of State we have got nothing for it. Then, after all the consultation - five rounds of consultation - we were told on 27 August that the bus will not be able to serve Church Hill in Glanmire and that there would be no bus stop for people living in Crawford Woods. People are buying houses, moving into communities and rentin…

I wish to update the Minister of State. This route was supposed to be in place in 2024. We are in 2026 and we are told the route is not feasible. Millions of euro have been spent. Some €85 million has been spent in five years and now we are finding out things cannot be done. How many other routes will this also affect? There are people there at the moment who are experiencing the cost-of-living crisis and are struggling. They are looking at this Government and the NTA burning money. That is what they are doing. The…

I am for it.

I met with it. I put in submissions.

Just to let the Minister of State know, the fare hike came into Cork in July. What that means for adults going to work, college or hospital appointments is an extra €240 a year. On top of that now we will see the price go up for the train. If you get the train or the bus you are going to see your fares going up. Has the Minister of State conducted any tests to see if people can afford to absorb these fare hikes? People are telling me they are being priced out. He talks about the 90-minute fare but we have people wh…

We were told in Cork the fair increases were to pay for the 90-minute fares that were to come in. This is nonsense. It was done when the schools and the colleges were on holidays. It was snuck in over the summer with the thought that people would not spot it, but I spotted it. People who get the bus contacted me because they spotted it and could feel the difference. We are now being told more hardware will be needed for contactless payments. Will fares go up again when that comes in? People are struggling. There is…

It is unbelievable that we have to come in here every year to talk about the issues with services for children with additional needs and children awaiting an assessment of need. The average waiting time in Cork at the moment is 27 months, notwithstanding the legal requirement that all children should receive their assessments of need within six months. I spoke to a woman yesterday who had received a letter stating that her child would be waiting 36 months for assessment, which is six times longer than the legally p…

I was speaking to a taxi driver today in Cork. He said that it recently cost him €74 to fill his taxi. This morning, it cost him €110. He asked me how they can survive. They cannot keep putting up the prices of taxis because it will price them out of the market but what will they do if they do not get help from this Government? Our Bill is here. We are trying to be constructive and help ordinary, hard-working people and families. I was down in Little Island recently and I met a man who was so angry. He has a couple…

The budget is the budget. That is no good if you do not have the money in your budget to put food on the table, pay the gas bill or pay the electricity bill. The Government has its budget but what about ordinary working families? What about their budget? What do they do next? People are looking for hope. That man down in Little Island said to me that he would be better off on the dole. He is working seven days a week. He has his own vans and his own workers but he said every time he breaks his melt he has nothing l…

Will the Minister make a statement on the amount of money spent on litigating judicial reviews in Cork for failure to complete assessments of need in the necessary time since 2020?

I want to confirm something. Did the Minister of State say the amount spent in Cork was €4,980? I find that figure unbelievable. I ask her not only to check that figure but also to include the amount that is paid by this State for families to bring these cases. I will tell the Minister why I find the figure unbelievable. Last year, nationally, the State spent €10.5 million defending approximately 1,000 cases of assessment of need that were overdue. This Government is therefore spending more money fighting families …

The Minister of State says the HSE is not contesting these cases, but 1,000 families had to bring cases against the State last year, and the State spent €10.5 million then. What was it spending the money on? Why was that €10.5 million not put into assessments of need? To give the Minister of State figures from Cork, there are supposed to be 14.5 assessment of need posts in Cork; there are only eight. In August, 2,000 assessments of need were overdue. The average waiting time is 27 months. It is supposed to be six m…

I raise an issue related to journalism, in particular local journalists in my area, in The Echo and Cork Independent , who I have worked with over the years. They deliver local, relevant and topical issues and news in Cork city. I have worked with them on confidential sources and people who come forward at the risk of their livelihoods because they believe the public has a right to know. I hope this Bill will not damage the relationship journalists have confidential sources. We have to be able to protect journalist…

There is some irony in the debate tonight. This week President Donald Trump visited Ireland. Uachtarán na hÉireann, Catherine Connolly, made it clear the Irish people reject the normalisation of war and genocide. Our President is brave. She is a believer in peace and she stands up for what is right. A short while later, our Taoiseach met with President Trump and never used the word "genocide" for what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, but still the Government wants to send Irish men and women to fig…