Leaders' Questions

Inniu, beidh altraí agus mná glúine taobh amuigh dá gcuid ospidéil fud fad an Stáit ag agóid, ag lorg pá cothrom. Níl an dara rogha ag oibrithe san earnáil phoiblí ach dul ar stailc de bharr an Rialtais. Ag an am céanna, tá an Taoiseach ag rá go bhfuil fonn orthu dul ar stailc. Is mór an drochmheas é sin. An ndéanfaidh an Rialtas beart anois leis na stailceanna seo a stopadh, nó an leanfaidh sé ar aghaidh ag léiriú dímheas ar na daoine a mbraitheann ár n-ospidéil agus scoltacha orthu? Today, nurses and midwives, as part of an ongoing work to rule, will protest outside hospitals over delays in agreeing a new public service pay deal, a deal that must address skyrocketing living and the erosion of wages. The Government dismisses their concerns. It portrays them as determined to strike, presumably for the fun of it. That is sheer disrespect. The Government parties have form in this regard. In 2019, the Tánaiste threatened financial penalties against nurses who were seeking better pay and staffing levels. Yesterday, the Taoiseach said that people wanted industrial action, irrespective of what happens. What an arrogant dismissal of workers struggling to pay bills. Nurses keep our hospitals running under intolerable pressure. They deserve a Taoiseach who listens and not one who paints them as spoiling for a fight. Nurses do not consider lightly leaving the ward. Neither do teachers consider lightly leaving the classroom to go onto the picket line. The Minister, Deputy Burke, has form. At his election launch, we saw a disgraceful attack on teachers. To rapturous applause and jeering from the assembled Fine Gael faithful, we heard Michael O'Leary say, "I wouldn't generally employ a lot of teachers to ... get things done." That was the Minister's launch and his invited speaker. Teachers were made the butt of the joke. The Minister cannot shrug off responsibility for that contempt because that runs deep within Fine Gael. Irish people understand the value of our nurses and teachers. They remember the nurse beside their frightened parent. They remember the midwife who delivered their child. They remember that teacher who gave that student the confidence they needed to thrive. They know that these workers hold our communities together. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael praise them when they want a photo shoot but speak down to them when they seek a fair pay deal. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, says he wants talks, but the unions tell us that he refuses to address pay and living costs at the outset. How dare he lecture workers about entering talks while refusing to confront the hardship that is driving them towards the picket lines? What the Government announced in the budget this week was an insult to workers. It locked in industrial action by leaving workers facing falling incomes. Bills are swallowing up their wages. I ask the Minister, just for a minute, to put himself in the shoes of one of the people who has to take to the picket lines today. He should think about the nurse returning from a night shift to that rented room. She wants a home and family. She wants a future here, but instead the Government is driving her to the picket line. Instead, she is looking at emigrating to Australia or Dubai. Leaving means missing opportunities. It means watching your nieces and nephews grow up from a distance. We train these workers and need them here. The Government should be doing everything possible to keep them here. Instead, too many of them feel disrespected and unwanted by the Government. Will the Minister stop disrespecting nurses and teachers and take responsibility for the Government's failure to agree a new pay deal? Will he ensure that these negotiations address the reality of the skyrocketing prices that we are all living through? Will the Government act to avert these strikes or is it going to continue to do what it has done, which is to disrespect the very people who keep our hospitals and schools together and whom we all depend on?

I thank the Deputy for his question about the public sector pay deal and its successor. I have huge respect for all who deliver our public services. I can see so many men and women throughout the country who are doing just that. My late mother was a nurse and I am familiar with the health service. It is her two-year anniversary today. I am proud of our nursing community throughout the country who go beyond the call of duty. That is why this Government, through the Minister, Deputy Chambers, last week wrote to all the union leaders, asking them to come to negotiate. I and the Government are clear that the negotiating table is open. I ask them to come and take their seats. We know that those in our public services deserve fair pay but taxpayers also deserve a sustainable agreement. Over the past number of years, particularly since 2020, we have seen a 55% increase in pay in our public service. The cost has gone from €12 billion to €34 billion. We have 78,000 more people working in our public service since 2020. They are delivering our public services. Fórsa celebrated its 100,000th member in May this year, demonstrating the work that the Government is doing in increasing investment in our public services. If we look at the rate of the growth in pay, over the most recent public service agreement, there was a 9.6% cumulative increase, running ahead of inflation, which was at 6.6%. That demonstrates that in the economy, there is real wage growth. Wages are growing ahead of inflation. That provides an additional support to workers throughout the country. We know at a time when we face significant challenges in the cost of living, the lowest paid civil servants in our economy have seen a 36% pay increase over the past five years. That is critical. That is running significantly ahead of inflation and protecting the most vulnerable in our economy. That is the point the Government wants to come from to deliver fair pay at a sustainable price for our country and to deliver better and more efficient public services. As numbers rise and our population experiences a significant increase over the next decade, with 1 million people reaching the age of 65 by 2030, we are clear that we need public services that are invested in and deliver, and that those who work in them are valued and paid a fair price. That is exactly what this Government wants. I do not want to see any negotiation through ultimatums. I want to see a negotiation around the table where decisions are made and where we can get sustainable progress for members throughout the country. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, has made it clear that is what he wants and he has issued that invitation to the union leaders. The Deputy is facing his 16th budget in opposition. He is the longest serving finance spokesperson of any Opposition party in the history of the State. I was looking at his alternative budget. I will ask him a question. How much did he put into his alternative budget for the public service pay deal? He lumped in a figure with the NDP review and with demographics and other changes. How much has he put on the table? This Government has put €1.2 million-----

€1.2 billion.

-----to commence negotiations. Where is Sinn Féin's money? I ask it to put its money where it mouth is.

With respect, Minister, €1.2 million will not go very far. Perhaps he needs to look at the numbers again. I will get to the reality here. As we speak, nurses are leaving wards and going on strike on the picket line. That is happening under the Government's watch. Nurses do not want to leave wards. They want to care for their patients. Right across the public sector next week, we will see teachers, staff within this House and all our public sector workers going on strike because the Government has failed to deliver a meaningful pay deal. It is not lost on any of them, whether they are a nurse, teacher, special needs assistant, SNA, or any other public sector worker, that they will once again have to take to the picket line and demand that the Government takes action. It is not lost on them that the people at the very top are never seen on the picket line. Where was the CEO of Uisce Éireann on the picket line when he got his €118,000 pay increase? Where was the CEO of ESB when the Government handed out €92,000 of a pay increase to him, bringing his salary to €400,000?

By God, when it comes to the poor nurse who is trying to keep up with her bills and pay her rent, he or she has to go to the picket line under this Government.

It is a disgrace.

What was delivered for workers was an insult. I ask the Government again-----

-----to enter meaningful negotiations and make it clear that the wages of our public sector workers in the cost-of-living crisis will be protected. That is their demand.

That is what Sinn Féin stands with. That is what the Government should be delivering.

I have made it clear to the Deputy that the negotiating table is open. The invitation has gone out. We want union leaders to take their seats and negotiate for fair pay for all their members and a sustainable deal for our country. Again, the Deputy has not answered how much Sinn Féin has in its alternative budget for the public sector pay deal. I have made it clear that the Government has €1.2 billion to commence negotiations. How much does Sinn Féin have? It has not answered. It has no figure put aside for the public sector pay deal yet it talks about low-paid workers as if it was their champion. It is not providing for them because Sinn Fein does this every single budget. It taxes more, spends more and promises more. That has been its trajectory every single time it has stood up over the past 16 years and that would drive our country off the cliff. We want to ensure that workers get fair pay, better conditions and real wage growth and that is why we have brought forward a budget that supports hard work in our economy, puts more of people's hard-earned money back in their pockets and supports better public services. I am asking unions to get around the table and negotiate. We are ready. They should stand up and be counted. Sinn Féin should put money by for them or not bother coming in here with a budget that is built on a house of cards.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport, Deputy O'Donovan, said he was not afraid to "step on toes" to get the job done but it seems more like he enjoys stepping on rakes because he cannot quite seem to get his story straight on why funding for RTÉ is being summarily cut. On the one hand, he says that RTÉ is being punished because of the slow pace of reform within the organisation but in the next breath, he blames budgetary constraints within his own Department for the shortfall so which is it? What we have at the moment are Schrodinger's cuts with the Minister publicly contradicting his own rationale for blowing up RTÉ's budget. The Minister is not the only one who is confused about what is going on. RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said he is shocked. He received just three hours notice of this bombshell before the budget was announced on Tuesday and the first he heard of any connection to a slow pace of reform was when the Minister made his comments yesterday. This is despite the fact that the Department meets regularly with RTÉ where surely these issues should have been raised. Coimisiún na Meán has expressed its disappointment with this move and experts are now questioning whether this has placed Ireland in breach of obligations under the European Media Freedom Act. Meanwhile on "Morning Ireland" earlier, the Minister of State, Deputy Canney blamed RTÉ for the row before he was blindsided with news that the Minister had written to the Minister for public expenditure last week warning that the Government's deal with RTÉ would be "reneged on" if his Department did not get more cash. That letter resulted in €21 million in additional funding being allocated to his Department. The Irish Times has reported that the Taoiseach, the Tánaiste and the Minister for public expenditure all believed that the additional funding would resolve issues with RTÉ but its budget was still slashed. As Cabinet Ministers scramble to get their story straight, these cuts are already causing utter chaos. The Irish Examiner reports that plans to purchase a site for a new studio in Cork are in jeopardy while staff are worried that the Government will demand compulsory redundancies. Pulling agreed funding with no warning and no coherent explanation suggests that what we have here is a spurned Minister who is once again throwing his toys out of the pram. He did not get what he wanted from the budget allocation and is now deflecting by lashing out at RTÉ. I find the Government's relentless bashing of RTÉ to be incredibly disturbing. Given that the Government holds the purse strings, it raises serious questions for RTÉ's editorial independence and I have seen no evidence to suggest that the reform programme is not being implemented. If anything, I have major concerns about the level of outsourcing that is now taking place. Put simply, we have a Government that seems to want to strip RTÉ for parts with no concern for the impact this will have on its ability to deliver quality public service broadcasting and all of this at a time of sprawling misinformation in an online Wild West run by big tech, which the Government refuses to hold to account. That is what makes this such a short-sighted and damaging strategy. Can the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment tell me whether the Government has got its story straight about these cuts or was this a deflection from the Minister for misdirection? Where did the additional €21 million go if not to RTÉ? How many compulsory redundancies in RTÉ will the Government now seek?

I thank the Deputy for this very important question. I reaffirm the Government's commitment to RTÉ. It is very important in a free democracy that we have public sector broadcasting no more can that be seen than in the Government's commitment from the increased supports over the past number of years that RTÉ has received, particularly in 2025 at €225 million. This year, €240 million has been committed. Over the budgetary process, we have been very clear for budget 2027 that as funds flow into any entity, we must see reform taking place. We have seen that RTÉ has made significant reform in many areas but in relation to some of its headcount, we have seen it struggle in relation to the commitments it made for 380 voluntary redundancies as well as 60 retirements over a five-year period. The Government is very clear that additional staff will need to be taken on by the national broadcaster in areas such as technology as practices evolve. In 2025, I understand about 97 voluntary redundancy applications were received. The target for next year is to achieve less than half its own established set out. That is a huge concern for the Government in relation to reducing the budget and reforming the broadcaster. The Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport is meeting with the chief executive officer, the chairperson of the board and the board of RTÉ today to try to work this out. We need to ensure that reforms in the national broadcaster take apace but also that we keep cool heads and ensure that the Government really responds by supporting the national broadcaster but also that we see the reforms. We can see that the licence fee yield has reduced in terms of the number of licences paid for. It was about 768,000 back in 2025 and is projected to go under 660,000 this year, which is big challenge. The Government is stepping up to the mark subventing that with Exchequer funds. That must not be forgotten because it is coming out of taxpayers' money. We need to ensure that we have the national broadcaster on a sustainable footing and that it continues the programme of reform on which it has embarked. I support the work done by the chief executive officer, Kevin Bakhurst; the chairperson of the board, Terence O'Rourke; and the board of RTÉ. Working together, we can ensure that we have the national broadcaster on a sustainable footing and that we can work out this short-term issue in a budgetary context with RTÉ over the next number of weeks.

The Minister talked around the issue, talked down the clock and did not answer any of my questions. We still do not know what the truth is. Is the Government going to demand compulsory redundancies from RTÉ? That seems to be the obvious direction of travel. Where did the €21 million from the Minister for public expenditure go, if not to RTÉ? Is there a coherent Government line on this or is the Minister for enterprise just as blindsided as RTÉ was yesterday in that press conference? He talked about cool heads from us but I really believe that the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport who is responsible for media is showing anything but a cool head and he has form in this space. He lashes out - be it at the Arts Council, An Post or RTÉ. What is the truth? If RTÉ was not fulfilling its commitments, why was it not raised until three hours before the budget? Why was the reason not given to RTÉ or indeed anybody until the press conference a day later? If the Government is pulling back on the funding of RTÉ, what is it that it wants it to do? The Minister has given the figures for last year but he failed to acknowledge that it is an overall figure of 400 by 2029 so again if the pace of reform is too slow for the Government, why was this not raised previously? If it was actually dealing in good faith with the director general, Kevin Bakhurst, why was that not communicated to him?

To be very direct in response, the Government does not expect compulsory redundancies. RTÉ put forward its own plan on how to deliver reductions in staff within the national broadcaster and we are holding it to account on that plan, as every government should. It is RTÉ's plan. We got €725 million of a budget over three years for the national broadcaster. This year, the national broadcaster has been budgeted on a multi-annual level to receive €260 million but that is contingent on reforms taking place.

Answer the question

The Minister is working with the board of RTÉ and the chief executive officer trying to work out how we can reinvigorate those reforms and ensure that we can deliver genuine public service broadcasting right across the economy at a time of significant challenge.

Why now? Why did the Minister not tell him before?

We need that and RTÉ's independence should not be challenged in any way. That is why we have Coimisiún na Meán to do that good work. I have answered the Deputy's questions.

Where did the €21 million go?

We are not expecting and do not want compulsory redundancies. We want to ensure that we have planned phased implementation of the reforms. Money has continued under the reforms. That is the key here. I am explaining where the money is.

The Minister did not say where the €21 million went.

It key in terms of the reforms that have to happen in the organisation.

Yesterday was a good day to bury bad news. As the hapless culture Minister cut funding for RTÉ to save face after the culture card chaos, it emerged that there would be no living wage in one of the richest countries in the world. The Government deigned to allow the 79 cent an hour increase to go ahead on the minimum wage but once again it has been shaken down by the hospitality sector and other sectors addicted to low pay. The lobbyists have earned their crust again. Abandoning the Government goal of a living wage by 2029 will be a massive stain on the Minister’s party and on Fianna Fáil. This hits one in ten workers - the lowest paid people in the country – directly in the pocket. While the Government spends over €200 million to cut capital gains tax for the wealthiest in our society this week, there is no end to this Government’s gaslighting of working people. Insult is laid on top of injury just days away from the first nationwide strike in a generation. What is the Government going to do about this in the next few days? Workers are paying attention. They do not forget and they will not forget. They know what the Government did last year. They live every single day with the consequences. Instead of providing indexation of wages in line with inflation, it took the guts of €1 billion from them in stealth tax increases and gave that to the burger barons and the big builders in the form of VAT cuts. Workers paid for the profits enjoyed by the developers and diners and they are wise to the Government. The income tax moves this year still leaves them behind where they should be. They also know what the Government did when fuel protestors brought the country to a standstill. Another sector got a special deal. Good for them, but it lay down a marker. It set a precedent. The Government’s message is clear: threaten the authority of the State and people get what you want; play by the rules and not only will the Government ignore people, but Jack Chambers and Micheál martin will patronise and disrespect them, too. Since budget day, we have had the Minister and the Taoiseach taunting public sector workers. There is no basis for a strike, they say, but the record says different. Public sector workers know that the Government has been foot dragging on existing sectoral bargaining awards. They know from the exploratory talks earlier this year that the Government is not and was not serious about addressing the rising cost of living and the budget has confirmed that. They know that inflation is now at nearly 4% and rising. They know that their bills are out of control. They also know that it is economically and fiscally reckless in the current uncertain global environment for the Government to allow the last pay deal to elapse without a successor, but it did it anyway. It is absolutely on brand for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. I will say this, too. The Labour Party will not be passing any pickets here in Leinster House next Wednesday-----

Hear, hear.

-----and I call on other colleagues to join us in doing the same in solidarity with the workers here. Will the Government drop the arbitrary preconditions and commit to engaging in good faith with public sector trade unions on pay? Will it confirm that future pay increases for public sector workers will, at a very minimum, protect their wages against inflation?

Hear, hear.

I thank Deputy Nash for his very important question. I will address lower paid workers in the economy. We came forward with a 5.6% increase in the national minimum wage, which is growing significantly ahead of inflation. Wage growth in our economy for next year is projected to be at 4.1%, which means that lower paid workers are getting increases that are ahead of inflation. This has been the case over the last four years where we have seen an increase of approximately 67% in minimum wage workers’ pay, running significantly ahead of inflation. This Government has been at the very forefront of introducing additional protections for the lower paid. We banned zero-hour contracts when I was here in the Dáil. We brought forward tips legislation to protect the most vulnerable. The Minister, Dara Calleary, has brought in auto-enrolment for the first time to protect the future of workers. As we embark on an era where people are living longer and there will be 1 million people over the age of 65 years by 2030, that is protecting their future. We have also brought forward support for remote working, which supports a more agile approach to working. We brought in a sick leave scheme so that now there is a safety net whereby someone can go directly onto illness benefit. This supports workers in our economy. That is the key thing that we have to do. However, I also have to ensure that employment keeps strong. I have a dual obligation in that regard. Looking at the increased costs that businesses have faced, I put it on the record of the House yesterday - I never hide from anyone – that I was annulling the 2029 deadline in respect of the living wage. We are also saying that we will track prevailing conditions. I want to be very clear to lower paid workers. I always want to see them getting an increase in line with wage growth, one that supports them and keeps them ahead of inflation. That is what this Government has been about. On a public service pay deal, I have made it abundantly clear that the invitations are out there. We want the unions to come and take their seats at the negotiation table. That is how you get a sustainable agreement that delivers fair pay in the years ahead for those workers, who hold up the valuable public services in our economy and whom this Government really appreciates, from our teachers, nurses, front-line workers and council workers to our outdoor staff, all of whom do huge work in our economy every day. We are asking their leaders to step up, come to the negotiation table and work a sustainable agreement for the taxpayer while also giving workers fair pay like its predecessors did. I pointed out to Deputy Doherty that the increases over the last number of years were ahead of inflation and, critically, protected the lowest paid in our economy. That is what budget 2027 was about – giving increases over inflation, the public service, and helping the most vulnerable, those with disabilities and our older people through additional increases.

Let us be honest. If Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil had their way without the bulwark against low pay that we introduced in the Low Pay Commission, there is absolutely no way that the minimum wage would have increased year on year in recent years. The Minister and others have shown their true colours in that regard before. We know that working people are not a priority. This week’s budget was an opportunity to help move the dial, where a last chance effort could have been made in the budget to avert next week’s action. However, that chance was blown. Public sector workers across the country have made their assessment on the budget. The Government has had the chutzpah to say this was a workers’ budget at the same time as it cut wealth taxes for the wealthiest across this country. The cognitive dissonance is absolutely extraordinary. It is breathtaking. The arrogance of the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Chambers, with the comments they made this week are quite extraordinary and only serve to inflame a situation. I will ask the Minister again. The clue is in the title: they are pay talks. Does the Minister not think it is reasonable of trade unions to expect that pay would be prioritised at the outset of pay talks?

That is why the Government has put together a figure to commence negotiations. It has put €1.2 billion on the table to commence negotiations and has asked our union leaders to negotiate and work a sustainable agreement. I am very clear that it has to protect those who deliver our public services, whose most important work we appreciate, and give them increases that support their families. The Deputy said that the budget did not reward work and that it rewarded higher paid workers. He could talk about the garda or the nurse getting €1,386 back a year.

Those are asset rich-----

Those are the people who keep our economy going. Many middle-income earners do not qualify for benefits in our society but are doing everything they can to support their families and working hard. We supported the lower paid workers with an increase of 5.6%. We have increased indexation of tax credits by 6.25%. We increased the entry point to the top rate of tax by 5.6%. We are ensuring that we are rewarding work and that those who are working hard in our economy get the rewards and create the resources to protect the most vulnerable, look after those with disabilities, protect our pensioners with increases and ensure that we can run efficient public services. That is what we want to do in the context of public sector pay deals. We say: the negotiation table is open - please take your seats.

Around the country and down through the years, mothers and fathers, many now in their 70s and 80s, have cared for loved ones with intellectual disabilities. They have looked after them without any help from the State. There are 2,300 people with intellectual disabilities whose parents are over 70 years of age. There are 500 whose parents are over 80 years of age. In County Galway, there are 125 and there are 36 in County Roscommon. In the case of an 85-year-old woman who is trying to look after a 54-year-old son, the State said four years ago that it was looking at making a business case. However, to this day, it is still looking at making the business case. There is a harrowing case in Roscommon of two brothers. One of them had go to hospital recently. The mother heard that she had to go to hospital. The father was to go to mind the youngster who was in hospital as well because they have really complex needs. They are on oxygen and are peg fed but there was no respite for the other adult child. At the same time as private operators get about €540 million or €550 million a year, we do not seem to have a plan for those people. All we hear from the different organisations is that they will make a business case. What is the point of a business case to a mother or father who has looked after their loved one right through to their 80s in many cases because they loved their children and they want to see them looked after when they are gone? The response this morning to a parliamentary question asked by Deputy O'Flynn refers to 225 places. When that is broken down, only something like 124 of those places are set aside as permanent. There will be 100 others in an emergency, whatever that definition means. Taking the figure of 2,300 and even if we put the emergency in on top of it, it will only cover a maximum of a tenth of what we know. Ironically enough, a lot of people with intellectual disabilities, whose parents have looked after them all their lives, are not even in the system. That is the reality. What will the Government do for those two brothers in Roscommon, for the two the cases I have in Galway and for the rest of the people around the country?

Those two brothers in Roscommon are peg fed and on oxygen, and there is no respite. Will the Minister or the Tánaiste get involved to give their parents some bit of relief?

I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice for raising a very important issue and one that would be so stressful for any family to respond to and deal with, especially when they are looking for those additional services, which they deserve. The State needs to step up and ensure that parents do not have that worry carrying through to their older years. The Before We Die campaign has done incredible advocacy in this area. I know Deputy Fitzmaurice has been working closely with them. The Tánaiste, the Taoiseach, the Minister, Deputy Foley, the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, and the Minister, Deputy Browne, recently met the group to discuss its campaign and heard at first hand the real-life testimony and frustration its members had in trying to secure a future for their families. The Deputy mentioned the two brothers in Roscommon who had very profound difficulties their parents were dealing with. My heart obviously goes out to them in the first place but I absolutely know that that is not good enough. I will raise that particular case with the Ministers and the Tánaiste on the Deputy's behalf. I know that facts and figures mean very little when talking about some of these very difficult cases. Notwithstanding that, the work we are trying to do in government right now is to move away from a crisis management approach to residential care to a more planned one, involving a planned model of care that we are currently working on. The HSE is now a recruiting residential planning teams in each of its regions. This should be available in the Deputy's area shortly to support families. The Department of housing will shortly set out a target for the delivery of homes in this sector. I am very mindful that quoting figures in this area is of no help right now to the brothers the Deputy referenced. However, we have made about 1,000 new residential places available since 2020. Between January and August, there have been about 142. In budget 2027, we have got €108.4 million for residential services and about €62.5 million for new developments. That will deliver in the region of 489 residential properties and about 212 new placements but we need to do more. I am absolutely appreciative of that. I will bring the particular case the Deputy has raised, which seems very profound, to the attention of the Government leaders and ask them to contact him directly on it to see what we can do. I am very clear that I do not want to make any promises but no family should have to endure that stress.

I welcome the new HSE planning forum or whatever it is. However, this should not be being set up only now. The stats should be there and the forum should know who needs services. Basically, it needs to be done in a managed system. The Minister mentioned 489 places in the budget. I am talking about residential places. I know a new place has been built in Tuam. The people there are being looked after fierce well; it is a credit to it. I will give another example. In Roscommon hospital today, there is a 32-year-old lady with intellectual disabilities who can go nowhere. There is no place to take that person. This is what we are facing. I saw it a few years ago. This is not getting better. I brought up the case of a father here in the Dáil. In fairness, the Tánaiste and his people in the background did everything they could. This is a hard thing for a politician to say. Once someone gets in and is being looked after on respite, the parents have to abandon them. It is an awful thing for a politician to say to someone that they have to abandon their child to residential care.

That is some damnation for a politician to say in 2026 in this country.

I share the Deputy's concern. In my clinic, I have met many families who are facing very difficult circumstances, particularly parents in their 50s who can see their children getting older and getting more dependent. They are trying to get a line of sight of what the future will hold. I assure the Deputy that we will do more, and we have to do more. We can further flesh out the 489 new residential units in the budget. Obviously, some are for the Deputy's own locality. The additional €108.4 million is for residential services in the context of the budget and also for additional respite hours, which provide part of the solution for some families in relation to the capacity that is needed in the system. We are also working on that across government. I assure the Deputy that I will raise it with the Government leaders. I am absolutely clear that the Government is committed to doing more in this regard to support families who face very significant challenges like those the Deputy has articulated.