Maria McCormack (Sinn Fein)

I thank the Minister of State and appreciate his in-depth response. Rathdowney would have been the number one priority and then things changed and Stradbally became our priority. Stradbally is very much a done deal now, as the Minister of State said, with approvals having been granted in 2022 and 2023. We are very much waiting for that process to happen. In the meantime, however, Rathdowney has remained a health and safety risk for the workers there and for the women in the station, which has one changing area of 3 sq. m for the four women and the men. As one can imagine, they are emergency services and there is not a lot of time when they are getting changed and going out.

I ask the Minister of State to put extra consideration into the urgency of this matter. I understand all the processes he has talked about there - I do not understand all the different processes - but he might look at it a little bit further to see how we can push things along with regard to the 2026-30 plan and the proposal Laois County Council submitted last year. As far as the council is concerned, it is not sure there is going to be funding there in the next cycle.I would love to see a commitment that these firefighters in Rathdowney are not going to be left behind this time round.