Maeve O'Connell

I thank the Minister. Will he detail the update on supports to help to achieve a better gender balance in apprenticeships?

I thank the Minister of State. There have been some notable successes. For example, with aircraft mechanics, women's participation has gone from 11% to 18%. That is possibly an area from where we could take some learnings on it. One of the other things I wanted to follow up on is the fact the targets for female participation are quite ambitious. From 2023 to 2025, we are looking for an increase of…

I thank the Minister of State. I will come back to the bursary again. Are there specific sectors where the uptake was more than others? Is there thus an opportunity to target other sectors with low representation, particularly of women? I agree and assumed hairdressing was the one area where there might be a balance to be struck. Are there learnings from sectors which may have been more successful…

I welcome the opportunity to make a statement on housing, which every representative in the House knows is the most important issue facing families in our country today. I was delighted with the news last week in my constituency, Dublin Rathdown, that an agreement had been reached with the Land Development Agency for the transfer of 17 acres, giving the Government the ability to develop 800 new ho…

14. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to report on the work of officials within his Department on the new further education and training strategy in collaboration with SOLAS following the conclusion of its public consultation earlier this year. [25568/25]

This morning I wish to ask the Minister about the work of the officials in his Department on the new further education and training strategy in collaboration with SOLAS, particularly following the completions of its public consultation earlier this year.

I welcome the clarity that the Minister of State provided regarding the 800 individual meetings and 70 submissions to the public consultation. I look forward to hearing more details about that over the coming weeks as that is progressed. One reason I am raising this issue is the importance of the apprenticeship sector, which this public consultation is dealing with. We have done quite well in rai…

I welcome the approach of a collaborative strategy. It is worthwhile. All the actors and relevant stakeholders in our third level and further education sector are critical to make this work and create consistencies across the sector. I especially appreciate and welcome the focus on lifelong learning. I also welcome the focus on workforce transformation because we are operating in a transformative …

I welcome the opportunity to discuss the transformative effect further and higher education can have. Having worked as a lecturer for many years in what is now Technological University Dublin, which the Minister visited last week, I have seen at first hand how education, particularly third level education, can open up opportunities for everyone. However, I must express my dissatisfaction with the …

1. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Taoiseach to report on any ongoing or planned negotiations for the introduction of a new NACE code, designed for classifying businesses and used for statistical purposes, a subset of NACE 0149 breeding of other animals, to uniquely identify dog breeding in Ireland. [15834/25]

This question is to ask the Taoiseach to report on any ongoing or planned negotiations for the introduction of a new NACE code, designed for classifying businesses and used for statistical purposes, a subset of NACE 0149 on breeding of other animals, to uniquely identify dog breeding in Ireland.

I thank the Minister of State for her comprehensive reply on this matter. I am raising this subject because we have serious concerns with regard to the management and monitoring of dog breeding in Ireland. We are all well aware of the terrible instances of dog attacks that occurred last year and the specific breeds that then had to be dealt with quite summarily. We need a greater understanding of …

I am delighted to hear that an update to the regulations on dog breeding, dog control and the breeds of animals included in that list will be looked at. I ask for the list of dogs currently on the dog control list to be reviewed as well. With some breeds, there have been concerns over the years as to the appropriateness of their inclusion on the list. I look forward to that legislation coming forw…

I appreciate the clarity on that. I thank the Minister for giving us time to have this debate today on this very important issue. I also offer my sympathies to her. On the publication of the Grace report, I began to read the nearly 2,000-page document. Like many others, I found it difficult and upsetting to read the details of Grace's life. As the discourse on the report began, I was interested…

109. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Education to report on the progress of the capital build project of a school (details supplied). [17155/25]

I ask the Minister for an update on the progress on the capital build project for St. Brigids Girls School, Cabinteely. I recently met the school principal. After a conversation with her about their building project, I followed up with the Department. Following this, the school received a very positive update from the Department. I would like to get the latest update. This is a significant project…

I thank the Minister for her comprehensive reply. I can tell from it that it is quite a complex project. It started and then it had to be amended, and we are now at the redesign stage. The school authorities informed me that they have the design sketched out and they will be able to follow up with that. I appreciate that the Department is dealing with a significant number of projects. Some 1,300 s…

I thank the Minister for acknowledging the issue about the transparency and the communication pieces between the Department and the schools. School principals are very busy and it is beyond the job description to also be a building project manager. I draw another issue to the Minister's attention. As we are engaging on building projects, one of the issues that is coming up is the lack of play spa…

I welcome the opportunity that has been given to us today to make statements for International Women's Day, although I know for many of us it has actually been quite a busy week attending many events both here in the House and in our constituencies. I myself just an hour ago was attending an event in my constituency which was hosted by Sandyford Business District, celebrating and supporting women'…

117. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the work ongoing within her Department toward the reduction of childcare costs and making childcare more accessible; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7540/25]

I want to ask the Minister about her ongoing work in the Department focusing on the reduction of childcare costs and making childcare more accessible. What are the plans to get to the commitment in the programme for Government to reduce childcare costs to €200 per child per month?

I appreciate the investment that has been made in early childcare. It has increased by about 40% in recent years, so it is quite a substantial investment. Unfortunately, as the Minister is well aware, we still have some of the highest childcare costs in Europe and we are second in the OECD countries. It is quite substantial and it is still quite a challenge for parents to try to meet. A recent Dub…

I acknowledge the Minister's comments on the investment and the work she is doing to try to address the issues in the system. However, there is one area I am not picking up on. The survey of parents is being done and that is very worthwhile, but I am particularly interested in the Minister's measures to try to engage with the existing providers about moving to a different model of childcare provis…

I was delighted to see in the programme for Government a commitment to develop a long-term strategy to address gender inequality in sport. In particular, we have an issue with retention rates among young people once they get to those teenage years. This is particularly acute among young women. What specific measures is the Taoiseach planning to take to address gender inequality and increase retent…

I thank the Minister of State for giving us time to discuss this very important issue. AI is something that is constantly talked about but I always find when I discuss it with constituents, there tends to be a mix of attitudes. Some people think it will be great and we will be able to save lots of time, while among others there is a mixture of fear and mostly uncertainty about how it will impact t…