Martin Conway (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am most disappointed that the issue of special needs education seems to have fallen down the pecking order again in terms of priority. It is great that some classes are coming back in a week's time but no classes should be coming back ahead of those containing special needs students. Every student with special needs should be back at least at the same time as the first classes that return. We need to get the Minister for Education back into the House to get an update on exactly what is happening in that regard.

I raise the issue of Ulster Bank. The Ulster Bank network, particularly in County Clare, has been quite successful. I feel sorry for the dozens of people working in the Ulster Bank branch in Ennis and its customers in County Clare. Many of those customers live in rural parts of the county and have benefited from a mobile Ulster Bank service for many years. It has traversed the length and breadth of the county to provide banking services in areas where such services would not otherwise have been provided. We need an urgent debate on the matter. We also need Government intervention to deal with the Ulster Bank issue.

The appointment of a chairman of the board of Shannon Airport was made last Tuesday but was revoked six hours later, for good reason. I now believe that business people in the mid-west, the tourism sector and various stakeholders should have an input into the appointment of the board chairman because it is such a critical appointment for Clare, the mid-west and Shannon Airport and also for our recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. Aviation is the lifeblood of Clare because it generates tourism and we need to deal with that matter.

I know the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy O'Gorman, will come before the House to discuss the mother and baby homes this afternoon. Like others, I am perplexed and disappointed that we have not made quicker progress on the issue. Where have we been on this issue for the past month? We have not made the progress that we urgently need. We have let these people down since the day they were born and we need to deal with the matter immediately.