Eoghan Kenny

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate that. When I offered my sympathy to the family, including the parent, the parent told me directly she did not want it. I appreciated that because, from a public representative's point of view, it was quite difficult for me that a parliamentary question did not outline specifically whether the child would be provided with the necessary incontinence produ…

I second the motion. I thank my Labour Party colleagues, particularly Deputies Wall and Sherlock, for their work on it. I do not for a minute doubt the Minister of State's personal view on this issue but what we saw in the "RTÉ Investigates" programme proved there absolutely are systemic issues within HIQA. The fact HIQA took more than four months to investigate issues identified by RTÉ is beyond…

I want to raise an important issue with the Minister. Cork City Council has sent a business case to the Government regarding the establishment of an integrated services hub. Across our towns and cities we are seeing more and more needs arising for individuals, particularly adults who are homeless. Across Cork we have charitable organisations offering beds for people to sleep, groups providing foo…

I am unsure who it has been sent to.

Most importantly, following the review, these recommendations must be implemented in a timely manner and continue to be reviewed by the Department. I compliment all stakeholders involved in the review, particularly those affected on the front line. I acknowledge the work done by schools, staff, parents and children. When it comes to additional educational needs, a large cohort of students through…

First, although I did not bring the group in, I welcome the group from Cork North-West, I presume, and some from my home town of Mallow. This is an extremely important debate. It is very important that we have our courts system and laws in place but ultimately the main focus of my speech is on the issue of Garda numbers and-or Garda stations, in particular across my own county of Cork. The issues…

Answer the question, Taoiseach

Answer the question, Taoiseach

86. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Education and Youth to outline her engagement with stakeholders, including trade unions representing teachers, regarding the proposed reforms for the leaving certificate, as of June 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30862/25]

I would appreciate if the Minister would outline her engagement with stakeholders, including trade unions representing teachers, regarding the proposed reforms to the leaving certificate, as of June 2025, given that last Friday the largest post-primary teacher union in Ireland voted strongly in favour of industrial action over the reforms proposed for September.

I absolutely agree and the Labour Party agrees that reform of the leaving certificate curriculum is necessary. I say that also as a secondary school teacher whose subject, namely, business, will be rolled out in September. It has been just under a week since the vote. Has the Minister spoken to the general secretary of the ASTI since the vote last Friday? There has been an overwhelming majority fr…

The Minister referred to the TUI. There is a complete divide between post-primary teachers throughout the country on whether or not they have the correct training and whether schools are fully resourced to roll out leaving certificate reform in a mere couple of months' time. I understand packages have been put forward to resource our schools, but we are talking about 100-year-old infrastructure. T…

The Minister is asking teachers to sign off on that.

There is no indemnity for teachers.

The integrity of the exams will be lost.

I welcome the fact Ireland will become an associate member of CERN, and my colleagues in the Labour Party will be happy to support this motion. Scientific and academic research are significant assets to Ireland. This membership has been pushed for a long time by many in the academic community in Ireland, so I congratulate the Minister on having got it over the line. It will serve scientific resear…

Today The Guardian newspaper reported on the up to 13,000 survivors of mother and baby homes living in Britain who risk losing access to essential means-tested benefits if they accept compensation. A campaign led by our British Labour Party colleague, Liam Conlon MP, shows that if the compensation is taken up by survivors it is considered to be savings and therefore disqualifies them from the mean…

I second the motion and commend my colleague Deputy Smith and all in the Labour Party for drafting and bringing it before the House. The Labour Party has provided as many options as it can to Government to take further action against Israel and its campaign of genocide. With more than 50,000 Palestinians murdered and their infrastructure and society being wiped out around them, I struggle to imagi…

First, I welcome to the Gallery today Diarmaid Dulohery from Blarney, Louise Ahern, Pat Egan and my brother, Marc Kenny. This is the first time most of them have been in Leinster House and I wish them a fantastic day. I welcome this debate. It is seriously important but with this debate, I would appreciate that we would take these issues on board and work with them. I will begin in relation to le…

If the headline stated that 14,000 Irish, British or American babies would starve to death without aid in the next 48 hours, would we stay completely silent? If the answer is "No", ask yourself why and speak up now. We are witnessing a genocide being livestreamed on our handheld devices. Every day, people across the world are seeing images and videos of innocent civilians and children being slaugh…

I commend Cara Darmody and her father, Mark. I was delighted to meet them this morning with my party leader, Deputy Ivana Bacik, at the gates of Leinster House. I commend Cara on the wonderful work she is doing. I want to read an email I received from a parent: I am just touching base to see if anything can be done to try and progress an Autism Assessment. I have 3 year old twins who both need A…

The Government is literally using support measures for senior cycle reform as a negotiating tool. These are essential for any reform. There will be a significant impact on students' experiences of senior cycle reform. As someone who has experience in the field, I am of the view that this senior cycle reform is absolutely destined to fail. The package includes fast-tracking permanent contracts for …

As regards the Minister of State who has just left the House, Kieran O'Donnell, it would be remiss of me when speaking on an issue like this not to commend his father, Martin, one of the founding members of St. Joseph's Foundation, and his commitment to disability services in north Cork. This morning I raise a serious issue regarding residential placements for adults with disabilities. I want to …

I appreciate that. As regards the 2021 disability capacity review to which the Minister of State referred and the projected need for a minimum of 1,900 residential placements by 2032, which we want to get to, and if we continue in the same vein of the previous four years, which is not mentioned in the response, with 140 placements opening each year, give or take, there will be 400 fewer than the f…

As the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, will be well aware, a car is an absolute necessity in any rural part of Ireland now. In a number of parts of my constituency of Cork North-Central, a car is an absolute necessity because public transport is not available. The Minister of State will be just as inundated as I am by the number of people contacting us looking for representations to get their dr…