Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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The Order of Business is No. 1, statements on the diaspora, to be taken at 1.30 p.m. and to be brought to a conclusion at 3 p.m., if not previously concluded, with time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed ten minutes, all other Senators not to exceed five minutes, time may be shared and the Minister to be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; No. 2, statements on women’s health to mark International Women’s Day 2025, to be taken at 3 p.m. and to be brought to a conclusion at 4.30 p.m., if not previously concluded, with the time allocated to the opening remarks of the Minister not to exceed ten minutes, group spokespersons not to exceed ten minutes, all other Senators not to exceed five minutes, time may be shared and the Minister is to be given no less than ten minutes to reply to the debate; and No. 28.1 - Private Members' business, motion regarding care, supports and enhanced provision of services for older people, to be taken at 4.45 p.m. with the time allocated to this debate not to exceed two hours.

Fiona O'Loughlin (Fianna Fail)
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This time two years ago I hosted the Network Ireland national executive here in Leinster House. It was a really good opportunity to engage with them about their vision and plans. It is an excellent networking group for women. At the time, the then president, Emma Early Murphy, spoke about her plans for developing an all-island programme of events for women in business and culture and the arts. On International Women's Day this coming Saturday, the first all-island business women's network day will take place in Croke Park. I wish them well. The current president, Amy O'Sullivan, is spearheading this. Women are coming from the Thirty-two Counties of the island of Ireland. I wish them well in this endeavour and have no doubt we will hear lots more from them. They are supporting Debra Ireland as their charity.

The drama festival season is starting now. As a young person growing up in a town that valued drama, I had the opportunity to go to local drama groups and those that had travelled from all over Ireland to the towns of Rathangan and Kildare. It was always a wonderful time to learn about culture and drama and to be able to step into another home, another country and so on. The Rathangan and Kildare drama festivals are both starting in the next two weeks. I wish them well. The national secretary, Mairead Broderick, is a resident of Rathangan and does tremendous work at national level as well as at local level.

At the moment there is no national policy on solar farms in terms of planning and so on. While we want to see the growth of sustainable energy options, it is important that there be balance. At the moment in Kildare we seem to have approximately 25% of the solar farms that have been given planning permission. There is also planning for another 600 acres just outside Clane, which is two square miles. The issue here is that it is using good farmland. Given all the farm buildings we have around the country, stables, sheds and so on, we should be able to incentivise people to put solar on the actual buildings as opposed to using good farmland. Italy has banned solar on agricultural land to try to preserve its productive agricultural land. We need to a debate in this House and I would appreciate if the Leader would ask the Minister for agriculture to oblige us.

Manus Boyle (Fine Gael)
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I wish to raise Dunkineely national school, which is situated on the N56, a very busy road with cars and heavy goods vehicles going through the town. The school has had a few near misses due to vehicles going through the red lights as children attempt to cross. Thankfully, nobody has been hurt or injured so far. This issue has been ongoing for more than a year. We were told by Transport Infrastructure Ireland a year ago that it was doing a report. Where is the report? TII was to publish a report and show the people where the traffic calming measures would be placed in the town. I urge TII to publish the report and get funding as a matter of urgency. This main road needs to be secured for our children going to and coming from school. It is a matter of urgency. This issue has to be dealt with before something really serious happens. We were lucky in the past. Mothers and fathers who were at the crossing at the time got the children to a safe place. We need something done urgently, before something really bad happens.

Sharon Keogan (Independent)
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On Ash Wednesday, Catholics throughout the world prepare for Lent, our season of fasting and prayer. Our ashes represent our faith, a time for penance and our mortality. Today I remind the House that Christians are still persecuted and discriminated against throughout the world. On 13 February, 70 Christians were killed in the Congo. Practising our faith is not something we should take for granted in a fast-changing world. We heard last week from Senator Mullen that Ireland needs a Department of government efficiency. I would like to reiterate this call. There is a debate in the Dáil about it this morning. Senator Mullen cited some of the more prominent examples that have been in the news lately, such as the scanner, the bike shed and so on. Some people are willing to wave these stories as one-off incidents that are being exploited for cheap tabloid headlines. The reason these stories cause such an uproar is that everybody feels they embody the systemic problem of waste which the Irish Government is. The people are angry, not because these examples are just a few bad apples but because they are most of the barrel. Ireland needs its own DOGE because Ireland has its own US Aid problem. This to say we have a problem with pouring obscene amounts of taxpayers' money into an obscure and unaccountable NGO sector to which the Irish Government outsources its policymaking. In fact, we had an Irish DOGE - Benefacts. From 2015 onwards, Benefacts ensured that the source of every cent NGOs received was accounted for, as was their destination. Then, inexplicably, in 2022 the entire operation was defunded. To this end, the Government has yet to provide a satisfactory explanation as to why it did so. While the Government claims that Benefacts was not worth the money, I struggle to find this an acceptable answer. Let us compare Benefacts to the Transgender Equality Network Ireland, TENI. For several years in a row, TENI outright failed to return completed financial accounts to the Government, eventually prompting the HSE to suspend its connection with TENI in 2022 over the severity of the issue. How did the Government respond? It increased funding to TENI the following year, giving it more than €250,000 in 2023. In respect of 2024, we do not know yet. Benefacts is gone.In the meantime, the Government has yet to create the in-house counterpart of Benefacts. I call on the Minister for Finance to give a real explanation for that. It is high time that Irish people learned what is being done with their money.

Chris Andrews (Sinn Fein)
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Pearse House flats, which are located just off Pearse Street, are due to be regenerated as part of the flat regeneration scheme. This regeneration is taking place at a snail's pace. The conditions residents have to live in are absolutely unacceptable. In the past week, two residents have had to be moved out of their homes; both of their flats were completely flooded by raw sewage which came up through the floors. They have had to move out and have had almost no support from Dublin City Council. Effectively, the flats are unlivable for many people. What I have described is a regular occurrence.

The stairwells in the flats consistently smell of urine and are filthy. This is the case not just in Pearse House but in all of the flats complexes across the city. There is little sign of Dublin City Council maintaining these complexes. The bin storage areas are absolutely disgusting in many cases. There is so little maintenance by Dublin City Council. There are people coming in from all around the city who are just dumping bags of rubbish. Rats, pigeons and seagulls then rip these apart. Living in a flats complex is another world compared with what we have here. The conditions are completely unacceptable.

What the residents of Pearse House have to put up with is something residents in all the flats complexes have to put up with. The Government talks about regeneration and the insulation of homes, but the people who live in the flats do not have that luxury. The doors are all old. People have been paying rent for years and they have to put up with doors that are completely unacceptable. Never mind insulating homes; you could stick a pen through the doors of these flats. All these insulation schemes are available if you are well-off. If you live in a flats complex, you do not have that luxury and you are treated like a second-class citizen.

It is unacceptable that this Government, like that which preceded it, is continuing to regenerate flats complexes at a snail's pace. There is no sense of urgency. There needs to be a genuine commitment to improving the lives of those living in the inner city and those living in flats complexes because what they have had to put up with for decades is unacceptable.

Laura Harmon (Labour)
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I want to raise the issue of student accommodation. I attended a briefing in the audiovisual room this morning by the University of Galway Students Union, which recently published a report to which 1,700 students at the university responded. The report contains some stark findings. It found that 78% of respondents had struggled to find accommodation, and one in 20 was living in temporary or emergency accommodation while trying to find somewhere permanent to live. Nearly one third of respondents said their experience trying to find housing had impacted on their studies.

Going to college should be an exciting time for students. It should be about making new friends and furthering their educational attainment rather than worrying about housing. I am very worried that the student housing situation is impacting access to education. Of course, this is a symptom and consequences of the wider housing crisis in Ireland. It certainly has not been a priority for successive Governments. I was president of the Union of Students in Ireland, USI, ten years ago. Accommodation was also an issue then. The situation has gone from bad to worse. The Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science has committed to publishing a dedicated student housing strategy in quarter 2. We await that strategy. I hope it will contain clear targets and will support technological universities to be able to borrow more in terms of acquiring more purpose-built student accommodation.

The University College Cork Students Union also carried out research recently which showed that a very worrying 28% of respondents said they had gone to lectures hungry and that 57% said they would not be able to pay any sort of unexpected bill that might arise. The situation with the cost of living and housing is greatly impacting students and our higher education sector. Of course, it often takes a family to put somebody through college. This affects more than just individual students; it also affects the wider family. I call for a debate on this issue with the Minister, in respect of which I have tabled a Commencement matter. Hopefully, we can engage in a debate on it.

Frances Black (Independent)
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It is vital to raise the issue of Ireland's policy of military neutrality, which is now under clear threat from this Government. I am deeply concerned by reports that the Tánaiste, Deputy Harris, has begun preparations for the purchase of a fleet of fighter jets at a cost to the Exchequer of between €60 million and €100 million per year. In light of yesterday's formal approval by Cabinet of the dismantling of the triple lock, this is extremely alarming. Ireland's long and proud tradition of military neutrality is under existential threat. The speed and intensity with which this new Government is moving has to be condemned. Military neutrality is a policy that has enjoyed the overwhelming support of the Irish people in successive opinion polls. Public outrage about this matter in recent weeks has been tangible and clear. They have a right to be consulted on this massive change to our foreign relations.

I am further deeply concerned by the arguments the Tánaiste has used in recent weeks. He claims that under the triple lock, each permanent member of the Security Council holds a veto over the deployment of Irish peacekeepers abroad. This is simply not true. The Defence (Amendment) Act 2006 specifically defines UN authorisation under the triple lock as including resolutions passed by the UN General Assembly. As we all know, there are no permanent members or vetoes in play at the General Assembly. Decisions are made by all UN member states, including Ireland. Under the 1950 uniting for peace resolution, the General Assembly is specifically empowered to act where the Security Council fails due to a permanent member veto, including in the context of potential military deployment. Furthermore, in 2015, the assembly acted to authorise a war crimes investigation in Syria despite the threat of a Russian veto at the Security Council. The Tánaiste's claims that Ireland's hands are tied by a Russian veto at the Security Council are contradicted by the very text of the legislation that he is seeking to overturn, which is very worrying. Once overturned, Ireland's role as a peaceful, militarily non-aligned country will be forever diminished and damaged.

The work of UN diplomacy in this international context is, of course,challenging and painstaking. Nonetheless, I urge the Tánaiste to reverse course. We must stay committed to military neutrality and a proud tradition of multilateral approval for the work of Irish soldiers who deploy to serve on peacekeeping missions around the world. I ask for the Tánaiste to come before the House. I call for a debate on this absolutely vital issue. The Irish people need to know about what is proposed. I hope all of the those in opposition are on board with my request.

Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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I am also going to ask that Ministers come to the House. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing shenanigans in the Lower House, the committees are not up and running. We are not a functioning Oireachtas. I would normally bring the issue I wish to raise to the agriculture committee or the finance committee, or I would get a party colleague to do so on my behalf. I refer to the ongoing negotiations in respect of the EU's multi-annual financial framework for the period 2028 to 2034. The Common Agricultural Policy, CAP, comes under this framework. We need to be involved at the coalface when it comes to protecting the CAP funding available under the framework.I strongly request that the Minister for agriculture and-or the Minister for Finance come in and brief us as to the state of those negotiations at the moment.

CAP funding represented 73% of the EU budget back in 1980. Last year, it was down to 24%. All the talk at the moment, rightly so to an extent, is about rearmament and investment in defence and security, immigration and climate action. We are expediting the entry of Ukraine into the EU, which I warmly welcome and hope happens. However, as an agricultural country, Ukraine would then be drawing up to 20% of the CAP funding, again rightly so. However, are we allowing for that or will we end up robbing Peter to pay Paul? When that framework is put together, the money needs to be divvied out to the different sectors. I would be terribly fearful that CAP will get cut once again.

We have gone way beyond the commencement of the debate on food security. We can talk about all the other geopolitical issues that there are, but, as Napoleon said, a war was never won on an empty stomach. We need to feed the people first and foremost. It is vital that we know where those negotiations stand. Because I cannot go to a committee, I am asking the Leader to bring the Ministers to the House to brief us on where that is at the moment.

PJ Murphy (Fine Gael)
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I raise the issue of funding or lack thereof for traditional music festivals in our towns and villages which will take place from now and throughout the summer and into the autumn. I include in this the county Comhaltas competitions, for example, the Galway County Comhaltas which will be held in my local town of Gort in May. Approximately 6,000 people will attend and perform over the weekend and the cost of hosting the weekend is estimated to be approximately €25,000. Despite having made applications for funding through a number of grants and schemes, including the Creative Ireland grant, the arts grant, the economic grant, the community support scheme and the Creative Ireland open call, to date our local Comhaltas has secured no State assistance. In a changing Ireland, where the preservation of our traditions is more important than ever, I call on the Minister with responsibility for arts and culture to look at a new funding stream for traditional festivals and the Comhaltas.

Victor Boyhan (Independent)
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I raise the issue of house planning in Gaeltacht communities and rural communities. I call on the Minister for housing and planning to take practical steps to allow native Irish speakers to be allowed to submit a planning application but, more importantly, to be granted planning permission to build a single home on their lands. We need to be mindful of Government policy on the Gaeltacht areas. If we have no Irish speakers, we will have no Gaeltacht areas. If we have no Gaeltacht areas, we will not have the provision and supports for Irish speakers, so it goes hand in hand.

The Leader will be aware that this week, RTÉ featured a native Irish speaker born in Connemara, the Leader's area, who is seeking to build a three-bedroom house. That person made multiple applications and was refused on each one. People cannot afford to buy a house in the Gaeltacht area within the price range that is being asked and therefore cannot provide a home. This is replicated throughout rural parts of Ireland and is unacceptable. For the past ten years, the Government has continually talked about new rural housing guidelines. Today, I reissue that call and ask the Government to publish the rural housing guidelines and subject them to a public consultation. No one wants one-off rural housing that is not properly and sensitively integrated into the landscape and does not adhere to planning conditions.

In many rural parts of Ireland active farmers are also prevented from building a home on land representing their main place of work. These active farmers cannot build a home there and cannot live there. That is unfair and unacceptable. It is incompatible with stated Government policy and I am asking that something be done about it. I am asking for the Minister to come to the House for a debate specifically on rural housing and building houses in Gaeltacht communities because they need our support. We need to stop talking about gestures and put in place practical supports for people who want to build homes in rural parts of Ireland such as the Gaeltacht area where the Leader lives.

Alison Comyn (Fianna Fail)
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I think we all agree that we are living in very turbulent, worrying and anxious times. It has never been more important to have somebody on the end of a phone to help us with our mental health and to listen. I speak today in favour of the organisation Save Our Sons and Daughters, SOSAD, a suicide prevention helpline. Unfortunately, yesterday it had to cut its messaging service which costs €4,000 per month but has saved countless lives. SOSAD has 187 volunteers and was started in my home town of Drogheda almost 20 years ago by Peter Moroney who lost his son Simon to suicide. It now has six offices in the north east, in Navan, Cavan, Dundalk, Monaghan, Drogheda and Laois, saving thousands of lives. It is subject to applying for a service level agreement, SLA, but it needs interim funding to keep it going in that time. Its total cost is €59,000 per month, which is not very much when compared with some other major charities and suicide prevention helplines. I am asking for the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to come to the House to debate the status of the SOSAD application for funding and how we can assist it. While the messaging service may have gone, the helpline is still available on 1800-901999 to anybody who needs to talk.

Gareth Scahill (Fine Gael)
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I want to discuss something that I imagine affects everyone in the Chamber, namely, school bus routes. It was brought to my attention again this morning. I am looking for Bus Éireann to review bus routes and change them to accommodate the increasing populations of areas like Ballymoe and the townlands surrounding it. At the moment, two buses travel the same route for large parts of their journeys. The village of Ballymoe and its townlands are no longer being serviced. Bus Éireann has agreed to this and has come up with an alternative solution whereby students meet the buses on the side of the roads, quite often in dangerous places or at entrances to places like quarries. The parents affected by this decision have made a proposal which would be more efficient. The buses would not be travelling the same road and the collection points would not be at dangerous positions. Can we consider allowing parents associations to make cases like this one and have them considered in a timely manner?

Nessa Cosgrove (Labour)
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I wish to raise the regeneration scheme in Sligo. Cranmore is the biggest public housing estate in Sligo. A really successful regeneration project has been happening since the money was granted in 2016. It is the biggest retrofitting and regeneration of any area in the north west. To date, over 350 houses have been retrofitted. This has completely changed the whole landscape of the estate. Morale has improved and the whole area feels safer.

Part of the original plan was for a community centre to form part of the centre block, as it is called locally. The community centre would be made up of the different organisations working in the community in Cranmore. At present there are three different community groups working there. Sligo Springboard Family Support Service works with small children and young people. It is Tusla funded and its work is targeted to the most marginalised young people. Another group, called the Cranmore Abbeyquarter Community Centre, is run by a community employment scheme. Another one is Cranmore Community Co-operative which was set up as part of the regeneration programme.

They all work together in tandem. They all have particular skill sets. There are professional community development workers, early years workers and family support workers but the budget for the centre block is falling short. Sligo Springboard Family Support Service wrote a letter to the Minister for housing on 26 January to see if the budget for the centre block could be increased to ensure these three organisations are housed in it. It is really important that this happens. The response we received was that it was not the responsibility of the Minister for housing, even though regeneration comes under the housing brief, and we were redirected to the community centres investment fund at the Department of community development.I urge the Minister for housing to look at this. We all know that, throughout this scheme, the cost of building materials has increased, which was adjusted accordingly for the regeneration of the houses. I ask that it be adjusted to ensure that these three essential services are housed within the centre block and that this wonderful initiative does not fall at the final hurdle.

Noel O'Donovan (Fine Gael)
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I wish to discuss the issue of housing, and more specifically a wastewater treatment plant in Dunmanway, west Cork. Dunmanway, my home town, is famous for being the home of Sam Maguire, even though we do not win the cup too often. For the past number of years, people have been unable to build houses in the town. Similar to the issue my colleague, Senator Murphy, raised about an area in Galway, the wastewater treatment plant is at capacity. It was built in 2013 but no longer conforms to EU discharge limits. It is a real heartbreak for the people of Dunmanway that houses cannot be built there. I have friends and family who are leaving the town because of this.

We are at a ceiling nationally of 30,000 houses and this country has great schemes, such as the help-to-buy scheme and other supports, but an infrastructural deficit is causing real issues. I welcome comments made recently by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste on the matter and that they will engage with Uisce Éireann. I ask the Leader to raise the issue of increased funding for Uisce Éireann with senior Government officials, which I have always asked for during my debates in the House.

With increased funding, the mechanism of delivery of these capital projects needs to be looked at again. There are strategic business analyses and planning assessments but the five-to-seven-year completion rate for these projects needs to be looked at. It is not just a case of giving more money to Uisce Éireann; we need to look at these processes again. I want to put the House on notice that I would like to raise a Commencement matter on this subject next week. For the people of Dunmanway in the area I represent, it is destroying our rural towns and villages. Some 50,000 people live within 30 minutes of Dunmanway, and that population could be much greater if we got the infrastructure projects right.

Sarah O'Reilly (Aontú)
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I welcome the recent announcement from the Department of Transport that there will be an increase in funding to improve rural and regional roads in Cavan and Monaghan. While this is an encouraging step in the right direction, it does not allow for the overall shortfall that we saw in funding between 2008 and 2023. Over that 15-year period, there was a shortfall of €105 million in the funding for road improvements and maintenance in Cavan alone. The drop in spending is reflected in the condition of the roads around Cavan and Monaghan today. There are massive issues and serious road depreciation. The current rate of funding will never get our roads to an acceptable standard for the people who work hard, pay taxes and already have to spend an extortionate amount of money to run their vehicles. In my area, there is a significant dependence on non-national route networks for many households, farmers and businesses. People deserve to have the roads brought up to a proper and respectable standard, with the assurance that this standard will be maintained.

The previous Government used the previous Minister for Transport, Eamon Ryan, almost as a fall guy when it came to issues of road maintenance and funding. I ask that the current Minister, Darragh O'Brien, be invited to address this shortfall in funding. If we do not, then the people of Cavan and Monaghan will face years of endless patchwork repairs and substandard roads.

Mark Duffy (Fine Gael)
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I want to raise a matter that is close to the heart of the community in my home constituency of Ballina. It is now more than a year since a tragedy occurred at a pedestrian crossing on the Crossmolina road. There was a fatality but a life was also saved thanks to the heroism of James Moyles, who protected his niece from tragedy. This has been raised continuously by councillors at a local council level. We have been pleading with TII for an assessment to be carried out and for the junction to be made safe. This also ties in with a neighbourhood that has been identified for a safe routes to school project. We have had consultant after consultant, plan after plan and talk after talk but zero action on the road to improve safety. One life has already been lost at a really dangerous junction. We have been begging and pleading for something to be done. What more needs to be done too move to the stage of actual action? I ask that we invite the Minister for Transport to discuss this issue. It is another example of centralised systems within TII, in that a tragedy has happened but it takes years for action even thought there is full agreement among councillors, engineers and staff on the ground on the urgent need to improve safety at this junction. I ask that there be urgent action taken on this and that, in general, we have more functions devolved from TII to local authorities to allow them to improve safety for communities and neighbourhoods across the country.

I will take this opportunity to thank the Moyles family for working with me on raising this issue in memory of James.

Alice-Mary Higgins (Independent)
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Many have spoken about how we will next week see Ministers travelling across the world for St. Patrick's Day. There has been a lot of focus on, and many have spoken about, the visit of Micheál Martin to the President of the United States. There is hope that he would speak against some of the language of raw colonialism and that he would stand up for the importance of climate action. There is hope that he might advocate for the importance of a genuinely just peace, not only in Ukraine but also in Gaza for the Palestinians. One of the key things we can hope for is that he does not come back with contracts for arms or having given inappropriate guarantees on the importation of liquefied natural gas, LNG, something that is literally setting fire to our children's future.

While there has been a lot of focus on what should happen on the visit to the United States, there has not been enough focus on all of the other Ministers and Ministers of State who are travelling right across Europe. This is my Minister of State and Minister challenge: will those representing Ireland across Europe in the next week or two speak about peace and about Gaza? When the discussions come up on the questions of rights and sovereignty, will they speak about the importance of genuinely moving forward? Why is there an absence of pressure to move forward on phase two of the negotiations? People are protesting on the streets of Tel Aviv, calling for phase two, which is the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the release of all hostages. Why the silence from Europe on that? Will they highlight that the cutting off of water, electricity and food is a war crime and must be protested as it occurs right now? Will they highlight the fact that this is an illegal occupation? Europe needs to decide what position it will take and what it will move forward, for example, reviewing the continuation of the association agreement between Europe and Israel, something the Irish Government has called for. Will our Ministers make that case across Europe during their St. Patrick's Day visits?

Cathal Byrne (Fine Gael)
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Recently, I was very honoured to be appointed recently as the Fine Gael Seanad spokesperson on public expenditure and infrastructure. It is on this theme I will speak. When I was first elected to Wexford County Council in 2019, one of my first events was the official opening of the extension of the M11 motorway between Gorey and Enniscorthy. Six years on, we are being told by the officials in TII that we are looking at approximately another six years before works might start on the final stage of that motorway from the village of Oilgate to Rosslare Europort.Over the past number of years, there has been a significant expansion of the Europort, which has resulted in vastly higher numbers of trucks and passengers coming through the port and making their way through Wexford.

I call on the Minister for Transport to discuss in this Chamber how we balance the need for key infrastructure delivery on our motorways with our climate commitments. I saw the issues with the ring road in Galway, where An Bord Pleanála granted planning permission for the ring road but the High Court overturned it on the basis that, among other issues, the active travel measures for cycling and walking did not fully balance with our climate commitments. In Wexford, we are being told there is a need for something similar to take place. We need a debate in this Chamber with the Minister for Transport on this issue.

Nikki Bradley (Fine Gael)
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I will try to keep the story quick. I was approached last week by the daughter-in-law of an elderly man who lives in Donegal who has been an amputee since the eighties. To briefly share how he lost his leg, it was in a farming accident. When I heard what he did straight away after the accident, I could not believe it. He picked up the leg that was severed in a tractor accident, hopped up the field, got into his car, drove to his house and then said he needed to go get help.

Aside from the fact he is a living legend, I was disgusted to hear what had happened to him since. I found out last week that he had been trying to get around on a prosthetic leg that is more than 15 years old. I obviously know what it is like to get around on a prosthetic. Mine is only three years old and it is already on the way out. I asked his daughter-in-law to send me pictures of the leg because I wanted to see what it looked like, and I could not believe that is being held together with duct tape.

As this patient is a farm owner, he is not eligible for a medical card. He has been encouraged to appeal if he feels the need to. Prosthetic legs cost anywhere in the range from about €10,000 to €20,000, depending on what type they are. He does not have the money for that, but he is in dire need of a new leg. He fell to the ground recently and dislocated his shoulder because the leg was so unfit for purpose that it completely fell off. Ever since, because his balance is off, he has fallen at least three times.

This is just one case of many. In fairness, I have already approached the Minister about this and her team are doing everything they can to try to help this gentleman, but we need to realise that people with prosthetics should be given access to medical cards. It should not be means tested. I would invite the Minister to come to the House to discuss this further.

Aidan Davitt (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Noel Grealish, and Fr. Des Walsh, who was very good to accommodate us with mass earlier this morning. I thank Fr. Walsh.

I raise the topic of the proposed slashing of night-time flights into Dublin Airport. There is a proposal with An Bord Pleanála to slash night-time flights by 30%, which is contrary to what is in our programme for Government. Approximately €19 billion worth of imports and exports each year are coming and going this way. Some 12% of our total imports and about 6% of our exports are based on flights. If this cut goes ahead, it could have an impact on approximately €10 billion’s worth of Irish imports and exports. It is very important. I ask the Leader to talk to the Minister for Transport, Darragh O’Brien, and see if he would come to the House to discuss same.

Regarding something else that was briefly touched on earlier, there was a report out last week. This topic has been in the House quite a while. The Minister for trade and enterprise, Peter Burke, should come to the House to discuss all the figures involved with the occupied territories Bill. It is time we had a deeper look at the Bill.

Evanne Ní Chuilinn (Fine Gael)
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I raise something that is of importance and is quite worrying in my constituency of Dublin South-Central and, more specifically, in Crumlin where I live. There is a complete lack of developmental checks for babies and toddlers in my area. I had my third child three years ago. There was a difference between the developmental checks that child has not had at all compared with my older children, and even compared with my sister who had a baby at the same time in Kilkenny.

For those who are not aware, babies are supposed to get developmental checks immediately when they are born, within two weeks, within six weeks, quite regularly in the first six months and then all the way up until the age of three. I have a three-year-old who has never been looked at or checked. While I am not worried about anything myself, there is a whole community of people in the Crumlin, Kimmage and Walkinstown area who have never had developmental checks for their children.

Developmental checks check everything from dental, speech and language, gross motor skills, fine motor skills and movement. I mentioned early intervention for many other things like autism and additional needs that crop up in children a little bit older to the Minister of State, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, yesterday. Much of that stuff can be checked and spotted by experts, and public health nurses are experts in that area. That is being missed in my area in Crumlin and in the wider south-central area in Dublin. We got a letter last year to say that, for the moment, it was suspended in the area and that, because there was an ageing population, the public health nurses had to focus on the older people. Obviously, these services should not be taken from older people to be given to young people, but we and the HSE need to look at the issue and try to reinstate, where possible, public health checks for under-threes and even as far as under-fives.

Eileen Flynn (Independent)
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I call for a debate on special places in education. There are still hundreds of children who have no access to special education. Every child should have a right to education but what we are seeing is that, if a child has special needs or severe autism, that right is no longer accessible to that child or the child's family. I am working with a family from rural Donegal who cannot get their child a space in the school for September. It is a serious discussion we need to have in this House. I would welcome a debate on special additional education in this country with the Minister, Deputy Foley, as soon as possible. Cherish all the children of the nation equally, but when it comes to special and additional needs, we do not do that. A child not having equal access to education should be against the law in 2025 Ireland. We should be serious about it in this House, and there is something the Minister can do about it.

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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I thank all Senators for their contributions. Today started with Senator O’Loughlin, who spoke of Network Ireland’s all-Ireland business programme as well as her local drama festival. She called for a debate on solar farms as part of a wider programme on energy, for which I will ask the Minister, Darragh O’Brien, to come to the House.

Senator Boyle talked about Dunkineely National School on a national road. The TII funding should be due. I am not sure whether an application has been made, via the county council's engagement with Transport Infrastructure Ireland, regarding safety works. If not, the matter could be progressed within Donegal County Council with the director of services in respect of applications for a national road.

Senator Keogan raised issues related to persecution of Christians. Of course, all persecutions are to be condemned. Unfortunately, there are very evident cases in different parts of the world. She also talked about the NGO sector and called for a debate with the Minister for public expenditure on waste. Unfortunately, there are examples, which she and others have highlighted over the past number of years, relating to specific issues. I will invite the Minister for public expenditure to a debate on that matter.

Senator Andrews raised Pearse House and the flat regeneration programme. He talked about the conditions within Pearse House and other areas. There are ongoing issues of retrofitting within local authorities. I do not have an update on that particular project but he can table a Commencement matter and he might get a more direct response about it.We want to see all council accommodation retrofitted and insulated over the coming years.

Senator Harmon spoke about student accommodation. As a former president of the USI, she is obviously well briefed on these issues. I did not get a chance to meet the students from Galway - maybe it was the full USI - but there has probably been more progress on student accommodation in Galway than other parts of the country. A total of 674 beds were opened in the Dunlin facility, 429 in Goldcrest and 394 off-site in the Westwood. That is progress but we would like to see a situation where we can maximise the amount of student accommodation. We recently changed the rules regarding technological universities, which should assist. We want to see projects across all technological universities. More on-site student accommodation will free up the market elsewhere in our cities and towns. That is important, too.

Senator Black raised the issue of military neutrality and called for a debate. I will ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence to come to the House.

Senator Paul Daly raised the EU budget and CAP funding. He is right that we do not have the committee set up, which is important because these things would be teased out, the work programme would be dealt with and agreed, and the Chair and secretariat would invite in different Ministers and officials to raise issues like this. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Heydon, to come in to talk about the preliminary work on the CAP budget.

Senator P. J. Murphy raised the issue of funding for traditional music festivals and the county ceoltas competitions. I know the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, launched the small-scale local festivals and summer schools schemes this week or last week. That might be an avenue. The maximum there is €5,000. The Senator has made a reasonable request. Perhaps he could table a Commencement matter to see if the Minister could look at something larger regarding ceoltas festivals.

Senator Boyhan raised the matter of Irish speakers, planning permission and the rural housing guidelines. It is a valid point. For two hours on Sunday night, I was at a meeting in Indreabhán about rural planning and housing, organised by Bánú, which has set up committees around Gaeltacht areas relating to the provision of housing for Irish speakers. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Browne, or the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, to come into the House to talk about the rural planning guidelines.

Senator Comyn raised issues of mental health. She has talked about Save Our Sons and Daughters, SOSAD, and the interim funding required. Senator Tully raised this during the week. Perhaps both Senators could table a Commencement matter. It might be picked. I will certainly ask the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, to come into the House to speak on the important issue of mental health. It is a valid point. It is important that the helpline led by the SOSAD volunteers remains active.

Senator Scahill talked about school bus routes and input by parents associations. I suggest that the first port of call might be the local inspector. Engage with him or her and see what is needed. I know from time to time that inspectors look at different options and perhaps change to accommodate the maximum number of students by changing the route. You can never please everybody but you can please the maximum number and ensure that the local route suits them.

Senator Cosgrove spoke about the regeneration in Sligo and the Cranmore development. It is good to hear the good news that the Senator mentioned. She also talked about the funding for a local community centre. Perhaps she could table a Commencement matter to get a more direct response.

Senator O'Donovan spoke about wastewater funding and the Dunmanway scheme. It is regrettable to think that there are issues with the capacity or standards of something that was built in 2013. We will try to get Ministers in to address housing. Wastewater is a significant part of the jigsaw that is in increasing our supply of housing and allowing for private, affordable and social housing.

Senator O'Reilly talked about the rural regeneration programme and the shortfall of funding. I know the figure in Cavan was up by 11% this year, which was certainly welcome news. On that point, I am pleased to say that my local road in Clydagh is being resurfaced this week, which was great news locally. There is some 800 m of blacktop surfacing, which was great news for the locals.

Paul Daly (Fianna Fail)
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Through the Fianna Fáil representatives in the area?

Seán Kyne (Fine Gael)
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No, we got rid of them all. They left you. I will take responsibility as best I can for that.

Senator Duffy raised the tragic fatality of James Moyles. We remember him and his family. He talked about safety on our national routes. I know he has engaged on that. TII funding is due. I am not sure if an application has been made for that project. Funding is available through low-cost accident schemes and Transport Infrastructure Ireland. I ask the Senator to continue to engage through the local authority and the directors of services to see what can be done there. We will try to get the Minister for Transport in at some stage to talk about overall projects and roads funding.

Senator Alice-Mary Higgins talked about the trip to Washington. I do not know what will be raised or said. I am not sure the Taoiseach knows what will be raised or said at this stage. It depends on how it will go. We all hope it is not a repeat of what we saw recently. It is a ceremony, a tradition and a time to raise issues. I know a previous Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, raised the issue of migration when he was there for the first time. I am not sure how that is going to play out. Regarding other Ministers and what they may or may not say, I remember when I did St. Patrick's Day trips in my time that a booklet was issued by the Department regarding messages, as it were. I am not sure exactly what will be raised. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, will be here later for statements on the diaspora. Perhaps he might wish to comment on this matter.

Senator Byrne talked about the Oilgate to Rosslare road project. I know it is something his predecessor, former Minister of State, Paul Kehoe, worked hard on. A Commencement debate might be in order. We will get the Minister in to talk about road funding.

Senator Bradley talked about the courageous man who suffered a tragic accident and became an amputee. It is quite astounding that prosthetics would cost that much. I know the Senator is engaging with the Minister on it. Perhaps we can wait and see what she comes up with. I know these things can be looked at in the context of a future finance Bill or changes to eligibility under the social welfare code. As well as dealing with the Minister for Health, I suggest that the Senator deal with the Minister for Social Protection.

Senator Davitt welcomed the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish, and Fr. Des Walsh. He talked about night-time flights and the impact on the economy. He called for the Minister, Peter Burke, to come in to speak on his brief. I will request that.

Senator Ní Chuilinn raised the lack of development checks, which is quite worrying. When I was in school, there were development checks for youngsters at different stages. I know they go on routinely. It is unusual and not right that they would be missed in her area. I ask that she engage directly with the Minister. We will try to get statements or a debate on the matter in this House.

Senator Flynn raised special school places. We will try to get a debate with the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, on this matter in the coming period. I know there were announcements about special classes recently and think there are to be further announcements too. No child should be left behind. It is always a concern for parents when they cannot get that class. I sometimes wonder if you are better to ensure that your child is enrolled in the school before declaring that the child has a disability. That seems counterintuitive, but I sometimes wonder whether there are schools that give the cold shoulder to the most vulnerable because it is easier not to accommodate them than to accommodate them. It is a concern. I will call for a debate on that matter.