Brian Stanley

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. Yes, the education situation has improved over the last two and a half decades. I accept that. We have more to do there but we were starting from zero where we had nothing. However, in the HSE overall, there is a great problem between budget and services. No one will dispute that a considerable budget is going in. Certainly, I will not argue with it. There is a…

The issue I wish to raise with the Taoiseach is the need for special needs places, and specifically the case of St. Francis School in Portlaoise. There is a big commitment in the programme for Government regarding special schools and increasing places. We all welcome this but it must be more than aspirations. St. Francis School is a relatively new facility but it was too small the day it was built…

St. Francis School in Portlaoise. The Taoiseach might take it up with the Minister to really push this on. It is very important.

Anseo.

I welcome this Bill. I want to be positive about it as it is only right. We have a situation where when people reach 65 years of age, most jobs say, "That is it, you are finished". There is the indignity of having to go to the local dole office. We need to end that and give people the option, if they so wish, to continue working. This Bill seeks to address this and while there are a few things I w…

I heard the Minister's words on this Bill. Words are one thing, but action is another. There is an opportunity here to nail this issue once and for all and ensure domestic water charges will not be introduced. I campaigned against domestic water charges and I will do so again. There was major opposition to them in all counties, including in County Laois where communities rallied all over, and we d…

I ask the Minister of State to address the situation of Mountmellick, which has been promised a relief road for a long number of years. It still has not happened and it is very important we get it. Mountmellick town has been neglected badly over the years in terms of infrastructure. This has been talked about and promised for about 30 years. Various options have been looked at for the route to ta…

I thank the Minister of State. She mentioned the billions of euro that will be there between 2026 and 2030. The bypass did not make it into the 2025 period. We have come to the end of that now. The new funding announced a number of weeks ago did not include it either. I know some of those on the list, such as the Adare bypass, are badly needed, but there is a long list of other ones there as well.…

I thank you, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, and congratulate you on your elevation to high office. It is well deserved. The starting point, which the Minister of State will have to accept, is that house prices, rents and homelessness have skyrocketed. He cannot argue with that. A total of 51 people were homeless in County Laois in February. House prices have gone up 11.6%. The number of new homes is do…

Some of those towns have the capacity to add on small schemes. If builders got low-interest finance they could use for that, it could be done. Why has the State not implemented the recommendations of the Kenny report from 1973, published 52 years ago? If I recall, it was actually commissioned by a Fine Gael-Labour Government and Mr. Justice Kenny set out very clearly how to keep land prices down …

That would be helpful.

I wish to ask about the commitment in the budget last October to provide free hormone replacement therapy, HRT, for women. We are told that pharmacies and the State are in deadlock over the provision of HRT. Pharmacies have indicated that they were not consulted about this. Women still have to pay for HRT despite the commitment given by the Government last October. Brigid is a widow who has no med…

I welcome the opportunity to address this issue. It makes sense to amalgamate the Policing Authority and the Garda Síochána Inspectorate, provided that there is strong oversight. Some of the flaws have been highlighted by previous speakers and I am not going to go over them, but it is important that, by and large, the Garda get policing in this State right. Since police forces need to have many po…

The programme for Government contains a commitment to improve the school transport scheme, but again this year we face a shortage of drivers. We have had a shortage of drivers for the past two years but it is going to be worse this year because more pupils are coming on stream. Bus operators cannot get extra drivers. In approximately 19 or 20 weeks we will again face a crisis in school transport. …

It is no good raising it if nothing happens. It is like playing handball against a haystack. We need to get it sorted. We must sort this issue. There is a solution.

The RSA, Bus Éireann, the National Transport Authority and the Department must fix this.

117. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Justice the progress regarding the term of review on the use of concurrent and consecutive sentencing guidelines for judges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12368/25]

My question is about the progress being made on the review of concurrent and consecutive sentencing. I have discussed the need for movement on this with the Minister outside the Dáil Chamber previously. It is not about locking people up and throwing away the key, but we need some common sense in the sentencing guidelines.

I thank the Minister for his reply. He outlined that there is provision in law for consecutive sentencing and that he is of the opinion that should happen for serious offences. However, in the recent case of Joe Drennan - a young man from near Mountrath in County Laois, where I come from, who was mowed down at a bus stop coming home from work - the driver of the car had 46 previous convictions. He…

I thank the Minister for his reply. When we discussed this previously, he indicated that a review was under way or getting under way. While I accept that it is there in law and welcome the clarification regarding the 1984 Act, the Minister, who was until recently a practising barrister, will know from the courts that it is clear there is a consistency problem. He used the word himself and that is …

I welcome this motion from the Labour Party. The proposals in it are very sensible and should be implemented. I also acknowledge the work of Family Carers Ireland and the young carers, some of whom are here, as well as the Laois-Offaly family carers association. The means test needs to be abolished. Carers are on call 24-7. It is not like any other job. They live on small incomes and it is import…

I am raising the issue of the need for a new fire station in Rathdowney. This has been sought for a number of years now. The current station was built to house a jeep and the small mobile pump they used to pull behind them. I do not know if the Minister of State would remember them, the old Land Rovers. Smaller towns had them and that is what the station housed. There are three vehicles there now,…

I thank the Minister of State for that response. I welcome the news on the Stradbally station. I raised it with his predecessor on a number of occasions in the Dáil. That is very welcome; it was badly needed. I would say to the Minister of State by way of being helpful that there is a design for Stradbally. The plan is done. It is a similar size town and a similar size area. The Minister of State …

It is good news.

The housing targets were missed last year by a country mile. The leaders of the Government promised before the election that up to 40,000 units would be delivered, but when we got through the election, we discovered that we just about built 30,000. The signs this year for social housing in particular, and indeed for housing delivery overall, are not very promising. Two areas that are really being …