Results 1-20 of 7,097 for speaker:Darren O'Rourke

Review of Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act 2004: Statements (1 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I welcome the review and the review process. I welcome the publication of the report and the comments of the Minister and Minister of State. I have to say the proof of the pudding will be in the eating and I come to this with something of a jaundiced and critical eye. I accept there is evolution in thinking, in processes and in language but it has fundamentally always been obvious what is...

Ceisteanna - Questions: Census of Population (1 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: It is really important that when we have CSO information, we use it to plan for services in areas. I look at my own county of Meath, which has the lowest number of mental health beds, the lowest number of GPs and the lowest number of gardaí per population; has some of the largest class sizes in the State; and has the lowest number of playgrounds per population. The issue of GPs has...

An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business (1 Jul 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: It is scandalous that, every year, schools are forced to rely on so-called voluntary contributions from parents to plug funding gaps due to the Government's failure to provide proper investment. Parents already pay €54 million in contributions and now, as the funding crisis in schools escalates, it looks like they will be asked to pay even more. The Catholic Primary School Management...

Written Answers — Department of Health: Hospital Procedures (26 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 57. To ask the Minister for Health for an update on the follow-up for hip dysplasia patients at CHI arising out of the recently published review; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33556/25]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Mental Health Services (26 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 71. To ask the Minister for Health the measures she is taking to increase in-patient bed capacity in Louth Meath mental health services in view of the fact that the area has the lowest number of beds per head of population; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33557/25]

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the Minister of State for being here. Last week and the week before, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, indicated that 92% of the 3,275 children who notified the NCSE had an offer. Does the Minister of State have an updated figure, either in numbers or percentage terms? I personally know children who have had offers in the past number of days.

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: The Minister of State is not giving me figures and we had the same experience the last time. He made a specific statement and the Minister pointed to it as well, so will he give some indication? Dublin seems to be a particular issue. What does that mean?

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: Is Dublin 80%, or 50%, or 20% of the remainder? Will the Minister of State give us some indication?

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I have that now. There is language about there being a pathway. For the overall, or the 92% who are accommodated, is there an indication as to how many of those children will have a place on the last week in August or the first week in September? I think in terms of new builds and SET and SNA allocations. How many will have a physical place? Has that number been identified? The Minister...

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the Minister of State, but I am conscious of the clock. Picking up on the point about SNA allocations, I want to reflect on some of the experience, and I raised this with the Minister last week and am not entirely satisfied the response she gave me was accurate. A number of principals have contacted me to say that the appeals mechanism has been removed from the NCSE website. I can...

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I presume a lot of those appeals are on allocations that have been sanctioned but have not materialised. We have a number of cases-----

Committee on Education and Youth: Education for Children with Special Educational Needs: Minister of State at the Department of Education and Youth (25 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I encourage the Minister of State to engage with the school community. I know we are running to the end of the year, but it was a disappointing move to withdraw that appeal mechanism at short notice just as schools were coming towards the end of the year. There is a lot of uncertainty for schools as they head into the new year. I encourage the Minister of State to continue engaging on that...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Detention Centres (25 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: 178. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality what measures she is taking to support workers at Oberstown Detention Centre in light of recent incidents (details supplied); the measures she is taking to prevent similar incidents; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34922/25]

Ceisteanna - Questions: Cabinet Committees (24 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: Last week, Children's Health Ireland confirmed just 105 appointments have been offered so far to the children potentially affected by the scandal of unnecessary hip surgeries. Only 60 people have been seen so far out of a total of 2,259 children who had hip surgery since 2010 at Children's Health Ireland or the National Orthopaedic Hospital, Cappagh. At this rate it will take more than 20...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank the witnesses for their contributions. I confirm to the Chair that I am on the Leinster House campus. Following on with a similar theme, in terms of what was said earlier and the statement to the effect that we face two distinct sets of risks that must be balanced simultaneously and not ranked. I am of the view that we have to rank them. There is an idea that there is potential...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I thank Dr. Scanlon and Professor Smeaton. On the education piece, I refer to that comparison with what they are doing in Finland - I take on board the earlier point that that is already outdated - in terms of the potential for Ireland to do better.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I am probably out of time.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: I again thank the witnesses. I want to ask about the role of the AI advisory council and where the witnesses would like to see it go. Is it based on a model elsewhere? I have some experience of the Climate Change Advisory Council, as I was on the climate committee in the previous Dáil term. It has a very important advisory role and it has a certain structure and relationship with the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: Does anyone else want to come in on that? No. Does the advisory council have an input with the Government in terms of the AI Act? It strikes me that it has an important contribution to make in that regard. The sense from this meeting is that different folks are looking at one another wondering who is going to pick up the ball but all wanting to play a positive role. Does the council...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Artificial Intelligence: Introduction to Artificial Intelligence: Discussion (Resumed) (24 Jun 2025)

Darren O'Rourke: The advisory council is not a notifiable body or a body that is consulted-----