Ruairí Ó Murchú

-----with personal assistants and that needs to be delivered on.

It has already been straightforwardly put to the Minister by my colleagues that if he has no intention whatsoever of introducing water charges, then it would make sense for him just to agree with us. We should agree the Bill and then create a scenario where there is absolutely no doubt with regard to introducing water charges and it becomes an impossibility to do so. We all know it was of serious …

I raise the issue of Scoil Bhríde, Sheelagh. It relates to an application it made at the end of 2023 for additional school accommodation, which was submitted to the planning and building unit. This was put in mothballs. It was sanctioned for two ASD classes and is afraid it will not be able to deliver on the second class. There seems to be a communication issue with the Department as a whole. It i…

There is absolute logic for school-based therapies. That is where the need is. It is about providing the service and assessment where the need is. I am aware the Minister has had engagement with the parents of Senan Maguire. That child is out of school at the moment. We need to ensure there is a solution for primary school-----

------and also a solution for secondary school. I will also bring up the issue of Tallanstown National School, which is facing the fact-----

Very briefly, the school could be dealing with one class that might have 37 children, including one with Down's syndrome, next year because it will lose-----

First and foremost, on the tariffs, we all understand there is no win here. Deputy Moynihan spoke about the discrepancy between North and South now and obviously there will be ongoing issues in relation to partition. However, be it 10% or 20%, neither is beneficial. There has been a lot of conversation on future engagement. First and foremost, it has to be about negotiation. I expect a significan…

97. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform to provide an update on the recent meeting of a group (details supplied); if there is a work plan for this group for 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16112/25]

I seek an update on the recent meeting of the construction sector group, whether there is a work plan for this group for 2025 and if the Minister will make a statement on the matter. This takes in all the construction stakeholders. We could have an over-and-back discussion concerning the 40,000 houses last year, but the fact is there was a failure to deliver that number. We are where we are, so ho…

Can more detail be provided on those discussions? We have all heard about the issues that exist in this area. The Minister mentioned the need to ensure we have an adequate workforce pipeline. We know there are constraints now. Additionally, how much conversation was there concerning new methods of construction? We have recently seen 3-D concrete printing and several such houses have been built in …

It would be very useful to have a greater level of detail regarding the issues they put out there with the planning system and infrastructural obstacles and the workforce piece, and then if there is a timeline and even projections. While I accept that some of this will involve public works and we will also have works that happen in the private sector, it is what we are looking at even percentage-w…

101. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the engagement there have been between his Department and other Departments in 2025 on the delivery of necessary flood protection schemes in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16111/25]

I wish to ask the Minister about the Department's engagements on the delivery of necessary flood protection schemes in the State. This is a follow-up to the two parliamentary questions I asked him previously to which I received written answers. It is that whole idea of everything from the minor flood mitigations, the works that are being done regarding coastal protections and the interdepartmental…

I would appreciate that. The interdepartmental group has responsibility for delivering on policy and we saying we cannot have enough protections and mitigations. We know we are dealing with rising sea levels. When we talk about the likes of Dundalk, we are talking about a significant amount of redeemed land. Therefore, we were under pressure from the beginning. There are many houses under sea leve…

It is necessary to make these interventions. All these schemes are very important because we have seen the huge issue with flooding in the last while. We are talking about better preparations for extreme weather conditions. It is absolutely vital we see delivery of these particular projects. I did not expect the Minister of State to come back with specifics. The Dundalk-Blackrock south relief sche…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, for being present to respond to this issue. This is World Autism Awareness Day. I want to specifically discuss autistic children who require supports provided by mental health services, including CAMHS. The Minister of State was in the Chamber when I raised with the Taoiseach the case of Senan Maguire, a 13-year-old autistic boy from Grange on the Cool…

I understand. This is in the public domain. It was put there by the family itself.

That is fair enough.

We need an absolute focus on this issue. We have all seen the silo operations. On the particular issue around Senan, we need the multidisciplinary team to be set up as soon as possible. Will the Minister of State respond with a timeline for that? I hope the pay and numbers strategy will not negatively affect the delivery of it as this would be unacceptable. We are talking about a family who has be…

Some of us were very lucky to play football, very badly, in Mountjoy Prison recently. I would probably hate to see rap sheets of the guys we played against. I also hate to point out that we lost very badly - twice. The fact is we were probably dealing with people who are very different from when they were charged and when they were involved in criminality probably many years beforehand. What we ne…

8. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach the engagements he had with the National Emergency Co-ordination Group in the days before, during and after storm Éowyn. [13484/25]

There have been question marks as to how prepared we were for a storm that we realised was coming. What we do into the future is about ensuring we have not only a plan but the capacity built into the system to deal with these sorts of circumstances, of which we will see more. Has there been a review by the NECG as to how the storm was dealt with and what we can do as regards ensuring we deal with …

18. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach the way he plans to increase the co-ordination role of his Department in relation to national security; and when the new national security committee will be established. [13485/25]

Members of Mothers Against Genocide were protesting against the utterly despicable ongoing genocide. A number of serious allegations have been made. I ask that the Taoiseach look into this incredibly serious matter. Everybody believes this could have been dealt with better. We all accept that in this State, like many others, there are huge issues with regard to hybrid and cyber threats, whether w…

Good training video.