Mary Lou McDonald

Anois.

They are not wrong.

This is not about me; it is about the children in Gaza.

What will students and their families be asked to pay for college in September? Will it be €2,000 or €3,000? The Minister for higher education last night claimed that he believes in giving straight answers to a straight question, and then delivered a ten-minute speech in which he gaslit students and failed to answer that question at all. We have now had ten days of Government Ministers, including …

That is in October.

The most recent meeting of the European Council placed a heavy focus on the ramping-up of EU defence readiness. Of course, under the Commission Presidency of Ursula von der Leyen, the term "defence readiness" is simply code for the acceleration of a militarisation agenda, an agenda that pushes Europe into a new arms race, an agenda that will see the European Union spend an unprecedented €800 billi…

Indeed, the Tánaiste's plan to align Ireland with the von der Leyen Commission's new EU militarisation instrument, security action for Europe, shows exactly why our neutrality must be defended to the hilt. We are talking about a proposal that would raid the coffers of EU social funds for €150 billion and redirect that money to military purposes.

The ordinary people of Ireland will not surrender our neutrality just so Micheál Martin or Simon Harris can get a pat on the head from the high and mighty at the European Commission. The mothers and fathers of Ireland did not raise their sons and daughters to be sent off and die-----

-----in imperialist wars of aggression, in conflicts that have nothing to do with this country because, make no mistake, that is where the plan of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to demolish our neutrality leads us. That is where von der Leyen's turbo-charged militarisation leads us. So, with everything we have got, we are going to stand up and defend out neutrality and in doing so, we will safeguard th…

Cuirim fáilte roimh Bridie McNally, who is here with us today. It is her birthday and she is here with a group of very lively women from County Monaghan. Fáilte agus breithlá shona duit, Bridie. She is also Deputy Bennett's mother - I should probably have said that. Can the Taoiseach be straight with students and their parents? Can he tell them when they get their bill for their college fees in S…

It is nine days since the Taoiseach's Minister took to the national airwaves to announce that there would be a hike in student fees. He did that. He took that initiative.

Those very families the Taoiseach describes - working families and families on middle incomes - are now left in a situation where the Taoiseach cannot answer a straightforward question. It is a question they need an answer to now because they have to plan their finances for their young people going to university and college and accessing the places he has described. It is incredible that he cannot…

They want to know what fees they are going to pay.

Do something about it.

Can I take the opportunity to say, "Up Tipp"?

I knew that would be a bit of a crowd pleaser. More than 15,000 children with autism and disabilities are overdue their assessments of need and that number is expected to increase beyond 25,000 by year's end. In each one of these cases, the Government is breaking the law. The Taoiseach's excuse for this is that capacity has been reached in terms of psychologists and therapists but a 14-year-old c…

-----and her assessment has been accepted by Mr. Gloster. She wants to know very simply-----

-----what the Government will do about this.

That is because of the PPPs the Government has championed.

This is outrageous.

When your developer buddies went-----

When your developer buddies went bust in-----

11. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on children and education will next meet. [33779/25]

I raise again the critical shortage of special needs assistants and the devastating consequences of that in our schools. I will offer two examples from my constituency. Max Ryan is a nine-year-old student at St. Vincent's National School, Glasnevin. He has autism, global development delay, sensory issues, speech and language delay and separation anxiety. When Max entered junior infants, there was …

Not at St. Vincent's.