2026-06-25

Today, the ESRI warned that food prices will go up again this autumn. Ordinary families are under real pressure. They are working hard but are still struggling to pay their bills. They are getting crucified by rent, childcare and insurance. Now they read that the basics in their presses are going to go up. It will not just be them. The ESRI also said that those on fixed incomes, such as pensioners, those on disability payments and low-paid workers will be hit the hardest. It is chipping away at people's quality of life. Does the Tánaiste accept that the delays and half-measures from the Government on fuel prices have made the situation worse? What action will he take to protect working families from another cost-of-living shock and ensure that there is real accountability and transparency in supermarket pricing and profits?

I thank Deputy Clarke for raising the issue of the cost of living. I am slightly surprised she did because I was wondering cá bhfuil Mary Lou this week. I happened to see online that she is over in the United States at a Friends of Sinn Féin talk tonight. You can pay $250 at 6 p.m. to be a champion for change and she will throw in a free T-shirt-----

Is the Tánaiste following all the female TDs around or is it just Mary Lou?

Pardon me?

Is the Tánaiste tracking the movements of all the female TDs or just Mary Lou?

No, I was just wondering where the Leader of the Opposition was.

Sinn Féin is the only party raising money in America.

Can we stick to the question, please?

From their Provo supporters.

What a peculiar answer.

I was wondering where the Leader of the Opposition was this week-----

The ESRI.

----- to find out that when Sinn Féin is lecturing us in here in relation to the cost of living, it is charging $250 and throwing in a free T-shirt at a fundraiser.

Food prices, Tánaiste.

The leader of Sinn Féin should be in this House doing her job.

Supermarkets here. Fuel prices here.

That is not the purpose of the question. We will move to the next question.

The leader of Sinn Féin should be in this House instead of charging $250. This Government has a proud track record when it comes to supporting people. The package we put in place, which Sinn Féin voted against, reduced the cost of diesel and petrol and-----

Which will go up again on 1 August.

-----reduced inflation by 0.6%. We expanded the fuel allowance-----

To families who do not earn enough.

-----with the largest or second largest package in the European Union, while Mary Lou is over charging people $250 and-----

Who else's diary does the Tánaiste follow?

----- giving out free T-shirts.

The Dublin Simon Community's report this week showed a 20% increase in the number of women accessing its homeless services. We are in the midst of an unprecedented human catastrophe, with mass evictions taking place across this country. Families, children and the elderly are being evicted from their homes. A total of 30,000 households have been issued a notice to quit just in the last 18 months. One case I want to highlight is from the Tánaiste's own constituency. We were contacted by May Kelly and her husband, Michael, who have been renting in Wicklow for 20 years. They paid their rent on time every month. They are an elderly couple. Michael, who is 67, has been hospitalised and undergone three amputations. They have to vacate their home by December. They have applied to the council but it has said they are over the limit. He is retired and now the council needs discretion to address their issue. What kind of society are we becoming when a 67-year-old double amputee is being evicted and facing homelessness? Will the Tánaiste correct his statement from last week when he said the majority of tenants are covered by a no-fault evictions ban? That is not true. The majority of 250,000 rental households who are not covered by the new measures are still at risk of eviction into homelessness.

As Deputy Hearne knows, because we discussed this at length when Sinn Féin raised this last week, my comments related to the new measures that were brought in and it is true that under the new measures new tenancies, the majority of people are covered on no-fault evictions.

Not the majority of existing tenants.

Obviously, measures you bring in are prospective. We brought in a whole package of measures in terms of longer tenancies, making sure the RPZ was nationalised and bringing in an effective no-fault eviction ban for the majority of new tenants as well. I take very seriously the case the Deputy raised. I do not feel too comfortable about speaking about an individual case in the Dáil but if the Deputy wants to sent me the details, or send them to my constituency office directly, I will work with Deputy Whitmore on this. We need to do better on that and I am happy to engage on it.

The Tánaiste will recall a couple of weeks ago I raised the issue of the Glenmore static camera where 35,099 fines have been issued in 11 months. There are about 80 cameras across the country which are exactly the same. I have the results for the other ones and it makes for interesting reading: Carlow - 15,880; Mayo - 11,476; Cork - 3,369; Donegal - 2,925; Limerick - 1,051; Gorey - 1,150; and Galway - 397. Bear in mind 30,599 fines were issued from Glenmore, which raised €4.9 million. This is grossly unfair. The staggering and unexplained disparity in fines issued from one camera to the next makes enforcement look inconsistent and deeply unfair. People have lost their licences, their insurance is up and they are receiving multiple penalty points because of the appalling signage. These are welcome and much-needed cameras. Nobody is arguing against that but people must be fairly treated. With 30,599 from one camera in south Kilkenny, something is wrong. People must be treated fairly. These fines must be rescinded and the penalty points rescinded also.

What people should do is slow down.

There is problem.

I try to be constructive in this House.

There were 397 in Galway.

Allow the Tánaiste to answer.

The problem is lots of people are dying on our roads. I am serious about this. If the assertion is the camera is wrong-----

Yes.

If the assertion is the camera is broken, then I would ask someone to please look into the broken camera. If the assertion is that people are speeding and should not be getting a fine, that is not it.

Signage.

Can someone please check this? I am not responsible for the operation of cameras but if the camera is not working, it should be fixed. I presume the Department of Transport can look into that, or the gardaí. The broader issue here of these static cameras making sure our roads are safer is a really important one. If our cameras are catching people speeding, and penalty points or fines are being administered, that is Government road safety policy.

Last week a UK report showed that girls who receive the HPV vaccine in their early teens have an almost zero risk of dying from cervical cancer but at a time when the research shows there is a chance of actually eliminating cervical cancer, uptake rates of the vaccine in schools is actually falling all over the country. It is down to 63% of girls taking it up in the Dublin North West region. In January, the Minister for Health announced a HPV vaccine catch-up programme for fifth and sixth year students. This was a really positive step, which I warmly welcomed as chair of the cross-party group on cancer. However, there is still a gap. There is no new catch-up scheme for young adults who missed the vaccine in schools. It costs €200 a dose for them. The national immunisation advisory committee, NIAC, recommends the vaccine for those up to the age of 24 years. When will the Government bring forward a new HPV catch-up campaign for young adults, so they can benefit from this protection as well?

I acknowledge genuinely Deputy O’Gorman’s long-standing commitment in relation to this. It is quite incredible that we have a vaccine in this country that can effectively eradicate a cancer that disproportionately impacts and kills young women in this country. Unfortunately, there have been campaigns, misinformation and disinformation. At times, not every Member of this House has supported the vaccine. I hope we have moved beyond those times because this is a vaccine that is highly safe and highly effective and everybody should support it. I welcome the Deputy's thanks to the Minister for Health and the work she is doing on the catch-up programme. I know the priority here is to target the vaccine in the first instance at the age group where it is most effective - I think that is close to the age of 13 year - but we certainly do not rule out taking further actions; far from it. The Minister will continue to monitor this closely and I will keep in close contact with the Deputy on it.

I want to raise a very serious concern coming directly from front-line healthcare staff, particularly our advanced nurse practitioners. There is growing alarm at a proposal within the Department of Health to break the long-established pay link between advanced nurse practitioners, ANPs, and assistant directors of nursing, ADON. This is a link grounded in a Labour Court recommendation and one that recognises the level of responsibility involved. ANPs are highly trained masters-level technicians. They diagnose, prescribe and manage complex patient care every single day. In many areas, especially across rural Ireland, they are absolutely critical to keeping people out of overcrowded emergency departments and helping to reduce waiting lists. Yet, at a time when we desperately need more of these professionals, the Government is considering a move that would devalue the role and discourage experienced nurse from progressing into advanced practice. What kind of signal does this send to the profession? Will the Government now step back from the proposal and commit to protecting an established ANP-ADON pay link, so we can retain and grow this vital workforce?

The Deputy will be glad to know the Minister for Health thinks he is entirely right and, therefore, I do too. I know the Minister spoke to this at the INMO conference because the work being done by the ANPs is as the Deputy describes. It is a key part of the delivery of healthcare. It is keeping people out of our hospitals as well. It is a very valued role in the health service. We have a piece of work under way in the Government across a variety of Departments, liaising with our colleagues in the Department of public expenditure and reform. The Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, is fully committed to this as are we. We will keep the Deputy updated.

Another Thursday and another question on rare diseases. The Minister might want to answer this. Last Sunday, I was on my way to the Cork-Offaly match and I heard an interview between Paul Cunningham and a member of the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, NCPE. To say I was very disappointed with what I heard would be an understatement. I raised it at the health committee yesterday with Department of Health officials and the HSE. The programme for Government is explicit. It contains a provision for an early access scheme. The Minister has said it is something she is going to progress over the lifetime of the Government. The political class has endorsed it, as has the Department of Health, but for some reason somebody on the NCPE thinks they can have a contrarian opinion. The last time I checked that person was a civil servant. He is supposed to serve the State and implement the policies this Government decides are worthy of implementation. If the Minister heard the interview, what is her opinion on it? If she has not, I encourage her to listen to it. Does she think it is appropriate that somebody would express an opinion contrary to what the Government has decided to do?

I thank the Deputy. He is right. Not only is an early access programme a commitment in the programme for Government but my officials are already working on designing it and it will be implemented by the HSE. I also acknowledge the role of the NCPE and the independence that is important to preserve and protect. I appreciate radio interviews are one thing but we will strike a balance between protecting the independence and integrity of scientists and listening to them and ploughing on with Government policy that is well endorsed by this House.

With between 4,500 and 5,000 Irish teachers now teaching abroad, it is really important that we facilitate any teachers who would like to return home to do so. I was recently contacted by a constituent who is teaching abroad and wants to return home but has raised serious concerns about how teaching experience is recognised on return which has a direct impact on their salary scales. There seems a clear inconsistency between primary teachers who often have their experience recognised while post-primary teachers do not. Likewise, experience is accepted by some schools but not in high-quality international schools that teach programmes like the international Baccalaureate. That means two teachers working side-by-side abroad can be treated very differently on their return with many forced to start again at the bottom of the salary scale despite their significant experience. This runs the risk of discouraging teachers who want to come home from coming home. Will the Tánaiste commit to reviewing this system to ensure a fair and consistent approach to the recognition of teaching experience?

As the Deputy said, there is an incremental credit scheme that does allow teachers to claim credit for other years of relevant service, whether within the EU or outside it. However, there are some issues the Deputy is right to raise in relation to schools which may not necessarily satisfy the current required criteria and then the service of the school cannot be considered towards that incremental credit. The service of the school cannot then be considered toward that incremental credit. I think that is the nub of the issue we hear time and again. Through the Teachers Conciliation Council there is a subcommittee that looks at incremental credit. The teacher unions have now lodged a claim concerning the recognition of private post-primary teaching service outside the EU as well. The Department is examining this as part of the budgetary cycle. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to engage with the Deputy directly.

I raise the commitment in the programme for Government to reach a 19:1 student-teacher ratio in our primary schools. In my area, Scoil Maelruain national school was stripped of a teacher because the school was one student short for the coming year. This resulted in four classes being turned into three, with numbers of 29 and 30 students. This flies in the face of the commitment and pushes the class size to the limit. The Tánaiste knows that society and schools have changed. Children and pupils are more transient and not fixed to an area because of the housing crisis, through no fault of their own. This is placing stress on schools as regards class sizes because teachers are allocated for the year based on the rolls on a set day. Another school in my area lost out because Ukrainian families were moved to the west in the middle of September. This is practical stuff. Will the Government consider introducing flexibility in the allocation of teachers beyond the current cut-off of 30 September?

The Government is committed to continuing to reduce class sizes. We have seen a significant reduction in pupil-teacher ratios over the past several years. However, the Deputy is right to say it is not an exact science, and I will not pretend it is. It has to be at a point in time. There are opportunities for schools to appeal, put forward information with regard to special circumstances or show they expect that numbers will grow again in the following year. I am not sure it is entirely as blunt an instrument as might be suggested. However, I will ask the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to give consideration to the point the Deputy has made. On the point about Ukrainians, we have tried to minimise the movement of Ukrainian students during the school year. It has not always been possible, but we are conscious of the fact that when kids are settled in a school it is important to try to minimise that disruption. I will ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy.

Family resource centres around the State do fantastic work but are under significant pressure due to rising costs and increasing demands on their services. The level of core funding is simply not keeping pace with their escalating overheads. Portlaoise and Mountmellick family resource centres are providing vital services to families that are making a real difference with services, including parenting support, youth intervention, early-year preschool services, counselling and a whole lot more. The centre in Harper's Lane in Portlaoise is providing 114 preschool places alone. However, without an increase in the forthcoming budget, family resource centres will be limited to crisis-driven reactive responses instead of more effective early interventions. The core operational budget for these centres is €180,000 per annum. It is simply not enough to pay three full-time staff. While I know there will be a lot of asks in the forthcoming budget, without these centres there will be a lot more costs. I ask the Tánaiste to ensure they receive a substantial increase in core funding.

I accept that the return on investment in family resource centres is extremely good. I met with the one in Greystones recently and the national organisation came to see me also. It is due to come to see me for a pre-budget meeting in the autumn as well. Being truthful, over the past number of years, we have been trying to balance core funding for existing centres with trying to fill in the map because there are quite a number of communities where there have not been family resource centres. My colleague, Deputy Carrigy, has been making the case for Longford for a significant period. There has been that balance between new centres and making sure we are adequately funding existing centres. We have to check we get that balance right. I look forward to meeting the national group and if the Deputy sends me details on Portlaoise and Mountmellick I will engage with him on it.

This weekend, tens of thousands of people will march through the streets of Dublin for Dublin Pride. Dublin Pride is a really good party, but it is also a protest and a call for progress. Sadly, under the Tánaiste's leadership, we have not seen any progress. We are now consistently ranked 14th in Europe in terms of LGBT human rights and policy protections year after year. I will give one example, namely, the commitment to ban conversion therapy and conversion practices. It was included in the programme for Government in 2020 and recommitted to in 2025, but we have not seen progress. Research commissioned by the Government describes conversion therapy as traumatising, horrendous and anxiety provoking. One person said, "It left me with trauma, from which I am still attempting to heal, it destroyed my self worth … and my health." The College of Psychiatry describes it as unethical, harmful and not supported by evidence. Eight other EU states have already legislated and six years after a commitment, we are still waiting. When are we going to get this legislation?

I thank Deputy Rice. As he said, Pride is a celebration and a protest, but it is also a public statement of intent about the importance of quality and inclusion. When I was Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade I met all of our diplomats in Dublin Castle and made the point that we have to live up to our own values test, and our values test is simple. If you are whispering something that you used to say loudly and proudly, you are not passing the Irish values test. There is a chilling effect at the moment. There are people who want us to shut up and be quiet about equality issues. We should not do that. Yesterday, I and the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, the Taoiseach, several other Government Ministers, including the Minister for equality, Deputy Foley, met with LGBTQI+ organisations in the Sycamore Room. We had a good conversation about the progress that had been made, particularly with section 232 of the assisted human reproduction Act, commenced by the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill in recent weeks. I share the Deputy's view and his description of conversion therapy. I am sorry I do not now have a direct answer to the question as to when that action will be taken, but I will engage with relevant Government colleagues and come back to him directly. We should seek to do this quickly together.

The Tánaiste will be well aware of the case of Carrabane National School in east Galway. I have no doubt that multiple representations have been made to him about it. While I do not expect him to have an answer today as to what the case is, I want to highlight the frustration that exists among the school community. Two months ago, I and all of the other public representatives in east Galway attended a public meeting at Carrabane National School. On the night, Councillor Moegie Maher had a letter from the Minister, Deputy Naughton, confirming that this project would break ground in 2026. We have now reached the summer and still have not heard the outcome of the tender process. All I ask is that the Tánaiste engage with the Minister, if possible, and revert to the Galway East representatives as to the status of Carrabane National School. I would be grateful for that.

I thank Deputy Dolan. I will certainly do that and speak with the Minister, Deputy Naughton, about that issue today and come back to Deputy Dolan and the Galway East representatives. I know Councillor Moegie Maher well and I will be in trouble if I do not go back to him too. As the Deputy knows, we have made the decision to significantly increase the funding for the Department of education. We also made a significant capital allocation and may make more in the time ahead because a lot of schools are stuck in stage 2B and we want to move them on. I will certainly make sure we see progress on Carrabane National School, and I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Naughton, today.

A childcare facility in Knocklyon in my constituency was recently taken over a by a new provider, which was recently bought by a UK group in a deal worth €75 million. Since the facility was taken over, there have been numerous room closures. Parents have effectively been stranded without childcare with no notice. The services have taken away flexibility in terms of reduced hours over the summer or attending part time in after-school care. The services are getting worse because they are now being run in the interests of the owners' pockets, and parents are afraid that this facility will withdraw from core funding. Obviously, the fee freeze announced in June will not apply to providers that have withdrawn. Parents have no option but to pay because childcare spaces are so scarce in the area. What is the Government going to do for those parents who are genuinely suffering because of a commercialised and for-profit childcare model?

We will publish a roadmap on how we create the childcare system I think everybody in this House wants. We had a good meeting of the Cabinet committee on this in recent weeks. Fees are one element, and we have a commitment to get to €200 per child per month in the lifetime of the Government. However, fees without access will only frustrate parents. We have increased the childcare budget to the largest ever, at €1.5 billion, which is up by 12% on last year. That is the highest ever level of State investment. I take the Deputy's point about private for-profit, but we are now seeing for the first time public money being used to deliver public facilities. The Deputy can expect to see that roadmap from the Government around budget time, where we need to move a number of things in parallel. The one that often gets attention is when are we getting to the €200. We are committed to getting to that in the lifetime of the Government, but we have to move the other streams alongside that, which I think is at the core of the Deputy's question. If he sends me the details of the Knocklyon case, I will have the Minister, Deputy Foley, come back to him.

St. Vincent's special school in Lisnagry, County Limerick, has been without a routine dental service for months. It has been the bones of a year. The specialist dental post is still vacant. These are students who cannot tolerate routine dental examinations. There is a student who cannot attend school at the moment because she has large cavities in her back teeth, and she has to get these teeth removed. The waiting list for Nenagh is over a year. A lot of these children are on restricted diets. I have been in contact with the Minister's office about this. If this situation is not resolved, the child could miss up to 18 months at school. She is not the only child at St. Vincent's who currently has these issues. Children with additional needs are being failed in many ways, but to see a child unable to attend school for up to 18 months due to a lack of dentistry is beyond comprehension.

I have not seen that individual representation. The Deputy might give me the name on my way out of the House, and I will take care of it this afternoon. The Deputy is right. We have a programme for a two-year intervention in HSE dental services to make sure that the broad child catch-up programme is happening in schools. Of equal importance is the specialist dental service, particularly for children with disabilities, and we will have a programme of additional surgeries to focus on that. I will be announcing that in the coming weeks. I have a little work to do yet with the Irish Dental Association, but I am very aware of that. If the Deputy gives me the details of the individual case, I will have it sorted.

I raise the issue of the new community nursing unit in Youghal, a 60-bed unit comprising two 25-bed blocks and, in addition, a ten-bedroom dementia care unit. This is very much needed in Youghal as part of the renewal of our infrastructure, particularly the replacement of the Cois Abhainn building and also Youghal Community Hospital. I would like to ask about the business case. The Tánaiste and the Minister for Health are here representing the Government. Can they find out whether this is being completed? We were told it would go to tender for the award of a construction contract in the first half of 2026. As we are at the turn of the month, I would appreciate an update on the position for the coming months. I thank the Minister for her exceptional work and support regarding the local projects that have been advanced in recent months.

We are trying to focus on stepdown facilities and community nursing units, and we will be opening units in Letterkenny and Sligo later in the year. I would push back on the situation in the south west at the moment. I notice there were people on trolleys in Cork University Hospital in recent days while there were vacant beds in Mallow. We have made a very significant investment to increase that from 37 beds to 96 beds, yet there were still vacant beds in Mallow while there were people on trolleys in Cork University Hospital. The Deputy will forgive me if I am not racing to advance additional infrastructure in the south west until they make sure they manage the resources they have more effectively.

The first meeting of the board of trustees of the new family resource centre in Longford takes place next Monday. I put on record my thanks to Veronica Brennan, the chair, and the rest of my fellow members of the steering committee who worked on this project for the last couple of years. The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Drugs Use recently published its final report containing a wide-ranging series of recommendations on how Ireland should respond to drug use and addiction recovery, including proposals on decriminalisation, treatment services, prevention, family supports and community safety. Understandably, there will be different views on some of these recommendations. Will the Tánaiste outline how the Government intends to respond to the committee report?

I am delighted to hear of the progress with the family resource centre. We need to be very careful here. Everybody wants to see people who have a drug addiction get access to healthcare - 100%. We are all very clear on that, and it has been the clear direction of travel in the Department of Health for many years. Everybody wants to see anybody who is involved in criminality and gangland criminality banged up, taken off our streets and met with the full rigour of the law. However, there is a group in the middle that we are not talking nearly enough about, and it is really annoying me. There is a group of people who are not addicted to drugs and not involved in gangland crime, but they are facilitating it by snorting coke, popping pills and smoking drugs. They are often in middle Ireland, or whatever we want to call middle Ireland. I do not support any idea that we would suggest that behaviour is appropriate. In my constituency or somewhere else, people might buy illegal drugs and not realise or care that they are funding absolute misery, criminality, threats to children's lives and everything else in other communities. We need to be very careful here. We need to listen to the Garda and the Irish Medical Organisation. There are a number of complex issues. We will absolutely help people in relation to drug addiction, 100%, and absolutely lock up the gangland criminals. However, the gangland criminals exist because people are going around, taking illegal drugs and thinking it is a consequence-free activity, when it is bringing misery to many parts of society.

I raise the situation of Kilrossanty National School in County Waterford. It is a rural DEIS school that is set to lose a teacher in September based on an enrolment snapshot taken at the end of last September that no longer reflects reality. The school had 102 pupils on that day in September 2025, but several more pupils joined the school after that snapshot. It has 111 enrolled for the coming year, well above the threshold, yet it is still losing a teacher based on that snapshot. This will mean class sizes of up to 31 in multigrade groupings, including three classes in one room with one teacher, and that includes children with additional educational needs. The school has appealed. This points to a wider problem. Across Waterford and the State, schools are under pressure, and rural schools are at risk. One has closed in County Waterford, others are overcrowded and many lack staff. Does the Tánaiste accept that relying on that one snapshot is not a good way to do business or make an assessment, and that the fixed reference date is no longer fit for purpose?

I accept that there can be rigidity, but I also balance that with the fact that there has to be some system in place. Is there a better way of doing it? I am open to considering that. I believe there are appeals mechanisms, and an understanding is meant to exist in the system. If the Deputy sends me the details of the school in his constituency, I will ask the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to come back to him.

I speak today on behalf of the pupils, teachers and parents of Carrigtwohill school campus in east Cork. The three new school buildings, Carrigtwohill Community College, Scoil Chlíodhna and Scoil Mhuire Naofa, were opened in 2023. These schools have the most modern facilities but, unfortunately, do not have a green area for recreation. However, there is a green area immediately adjacent to the schools and owned by the Department of education. Planning permission has been granted by Cork County Council for an entrance and access way, but no works have yet taken place. While the scope of works and costs have been provided, the Department has recommended that a more cost-effective solution be considered. I am unsure why this could possibly be. As such, it cannot be guaranteed that the area will be made available by September, almost three years after the schools opened. I ask the Tánaiste to engage directly with the Minister and her Department to ensure this green area is made available as soon as possible for the September back-to-school period. These are great facilities. The issue is there to be resolved.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know it is one he has been working on for some time. The Carrigtwohill school campus project is the largest single school building project ever undertaken by the Department of education, and it will serve a school community of about 2,400 pupils. The Department tells me that it has had a positive and productive engagement with the three schools and the patrons through all stages of the project, and it will continue to support the schools on the new school campus. The project was completed towards the end of 2023, with a 1,000-pupil post-primary school, Carrigtwohill Community School, and two 24-classroom primary schools, Carrigtwohill Community National School and Scoil Mhuire Naofa. It includes 14 classes and three projects for children with special educational needs, three general purpose, GP, areas, a PE hall and 13 ball courts in total. I am aware of this issue of the lack of a green space, given that Deputy McCarthy has told me about it. I understand the school has now sought to use a green area that forms part of the site. It is not suitable as a formal playing pitch because it is an attenuation basin under the flood management system, but the Department wants to work with the schools to see if they can get it as an informal recreation space. I undertake to work intensively with Deputy McCarthy and the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to try to get that in place for the new school year.

Like previous speakers, I raise the issue of teacher losses. I am asking for the intervention of the Tánaiste regarding Our Lady of Lourdes National School in Slieverue, County Kilkenny, where the incoming junior infants class for September 2026 is expected to consist of 34 children taught by a single teacher following the loss of a teaching post. The school has successfully operated smaller junior infants classes in recent years. As the Tánaiste knows, research consistently shows that the greatest benefits of smaller classes come in the very early years of education. Despite these concerns, the school's appeal to retain the teaching post was, unfortunately, unsuccessful. I ask the Tánaiste to urgently engage with the Department of education to review this decision and explore any available mechanism to retain or restore the teaching resource needed to support these children. Every reasonable effort should be made to ensure that 34 junior infants are not required to spend their first year of school in a single class. It is obviously a national issue because I am the third and fourth speaker to raise a similar issue today. The intervention and help of the Tánaiste would be much appreciated.

The Deputy is right. I always learn a lot, when I come in here on a Thursday, if a multitude of colleagues across the House are bringing up the same issue. I have to be blunt. We are increasing the number of teachers and SNAs working in our schools, we are increasing the number of schools that we have and we have a redeployment scheme in place. Obviously, we have to have criteria for the teaching allocations. That is all just true. We have seen the need to provide additional funding to the Department of education to meet a number of financial pressures that it has had. In relation to Our Lady of Lourdes National School, I will ask the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to provide guidance to the Deputy as to whether there are any other options or avenues open to that school. I will also ask her to come back to the Deputy directly.