Sorca Clarke

You underfund them.

No. It is caused by you.

They cannot pay their bills.

I raise with the Tánaiste the decision of Government to reintroduce the leaving certificate and junior certificate fees at a time when families are under such immense financial pressure, between energy arrears and struggling with the rising cost of food and fuel. This is also the week when the annual direct debit for the local property tax came out of many people's bank accounts. One parent put it…

Not all will. What about the others?

There is no childcare.

The Tánaiste knows that is not true.

The decision to grant planning permission for a residential development on the site of the former Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork is deeply wrong. It is deeply troubling and profoundly disrespectful to the women and children who lived there, who suffered there and who died there. Bessborough is not just another development site; it is a place of trauma, loss and gross injustice. It is a p…

I wish to raise with the Minister of State the situation of Cloontagh National School in County Longford. This is a rural DEIS school between Ballymahon and Longford town where the children and the staff are being asked to learn and work in conditions that are simply not acceptable in 2026. I visited this school recently and I was struck by the artwork on the walls, the colour, the kids out in the…

I thank the Minister of State for his response, which is very similar to a response to a parliamentary question I received. He emphasised special educational needs. The school in question has a child waiting to start in the special class promised in 2022. The class has not materialised and the child is still waiting. The Minister of State also referred to cost capacities and value for money. Depa…

My constituency is split across two separate Garda divisions. If I look at the numbers on a spreadsheet, I can tell the House that the number of gardaí in Meath–Westmeath is 551. That area is 4,200 sq. km. Roscommon–Longford has 581 gardaí and that area is over 9,000 sq. km. I do not need a spreadsheet to tell me that we do not have enough gardaí in our towns, villages and rural communities. I wil…

Today marks World Hearing Day with the World Health Organization focusing on prevention of hearing loss and ear care for children. Almost 14,000 children are waiting on HSE hearing loss assessments alongside more than 13,000 adults, some of whom have been waiting for over a year. One deaf working couple, James and Ruth, have spoken about having to pay €10,000 for essential hearing aids every five …

That is not a point of order.

Can I make a suggestion in the interest-----

But it is not a point of order.

Can I make a suggestion?

It is in the interests of getting the Deputy an answer.

I suggest the Deputy write to the Ceann Comhairle.

I suggest you seek-----

Deputy-----

I suggest, in the Deputy's interest and that of the House, that he put it in writing to the Ceann Comhairle.

I did not indicate that it was a complaint but it is also not a point of order.

I did not say it was a complaint.

Could the Minister include a reply in his closing statement?

Right, folks, I am going to draw-----