Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)

On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party, I extend our sympathies to the family of Carmencita Hederman. I remember being fascinated by her as a young child. She was one of the first women in politics that young girls could identify with. She was very much herself. She had a very strong voice and she used it in all of the areas she was concerned and passionate about. I also add my voice of welcome to Councillor Coleman and his family. I hope he has an interesting day here in Leinster House.

I will raise a few issues today. First, I congratulate my near neighbour of Naas on being crowned Ireland's best kept town and its cleanest town by IBAL, both in the same week. It is great to see a Kildare town recognised. I will give a big shout-out to all of the volunteers in Tidy Towns who make sure this happens. While it is great to win an award, volunteers throughout the country do tremendous work for Tidy Towns. They may not get awards or recognition but it is important to say their work is every bit as vital. We need to look at ways to reward this type of volunteerism. After the Covid pandemic, it was difficult to get volunteers. It would be good to have a debate in the House on how to support, reward and attract people to become volunteers at different stages in their lives.

Another issue I want to bring up is that of family resource centres. I am glad that the Minister, Deputy Foley, has said there will be additional family resource centres right across the country. To make the case for my own county of Kildare, we currently have only four such centres. These are in Newbridge, the Curragh, Kildare town and Athy. They all do absolutely tremendous work despite the county's very rapid growth.We have a population of 247,000 and experienced an 11.4% growth rate from 2016 to 2022, which is well above the national average of 8.1%. In contrast, counties with much smaller populations like Wexford, Mayo, Kerry and Donegal have significantly more family resource centres, so there is a clear imbalance here. There is a particular need in north-west Kildare. By that I mean Rathangan to Allenwood, Derrinturn, Carbury and Clogharinka. We have the lowest rate of community childcare in the country. It is only 5%, as opposed to 24% nationally. I want to make a very clear case and would like us to ask the Minister to come to the House to discuss family resource centres, which give an absolutely fantastic service to the people.