Micheál Carrigy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome two students and their teacher from my old school, St. Mel's in Longford. We have with us a couple of transition year students, Jamie and Joshua, and their teacher, Mr. Clyne. They are spending the day in Leinster House and getting a feel for some of the work that goes on behind the scenes here. I welcome them and wish them well in their studies. I got a great education at St. Mel's. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. It is a fantastic school. I have always advocated on its behalf and will continue to do so. In particular, the school is seeking a modular build for its special classes before the upgrade of the old college building, where I got most of my education, which has not been used for some years. I want to highlight that to the Minister of State with responsibility for special education whenever we have a discussion on the matter.

I also welcome Ciara Daleiden. She has been working in the Houses on an internship. She is from Luxembourg and came to spend a year in college in Ireland. She is spending a term in the Houses. She has been a fantastic resource for me on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I wish her well in her future career, whatever it may be.

We have had an announcement from the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage on the housing adaptation grants. In reality, there is only a 2.3% increase on the initial funding from 2022. That will not get work done in houses. People have told me and Michelle, who works in my office, that they have found it difficult to get builders to do jobs for the amount of money they have available. Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures show that construction costs increased by 16.2% last year. The maximum levels of the grants need to be increased in line with the CSO figures so we need at least 15%.