Peter 'Chap' Cleere

157. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if the sports capital and equipment fund will open for applications in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16745/26]

166. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if the community sports facilities fund will open for applications in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16744/26]

When the 2014 circular from the Department of education is updated, I hope it will clearly recognise something that every teacher and every parent already knows: that every school in Ireland has students with additional needs and, therefore, every school should be entitled to at least one special needs assistant. I welcome the recent news from the Minister that there will be no reduction in the al…

Today, five brave young people - David McInerney and Emily Felix from Kilkenny, Eric Fitzgerald from Mayo, Niamh Ní Hoireabhaird from Kildare and Oisín Pollard from Carlow - and their families attended the AV room to raise awareness around the rare disease, Friedreich's Ataxia. These five young people all suffer from Friedreich's Ataxia and they need the Government's help with regard to approving …

5. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [11881/26]

The oncology unit for St. Luke's Hospital is currently offsite at UPMC, and has been for almost six years. Since the Covid pandemic, it moved there and never moved back. Providing a safe and efficient service to the oncology patients is the most important part of the work in the oncology day ward. St. Luke's Hospital in Kilkenny treats patients from Carlow, Kilkenny and parts of Laois and Tipperar…

We have to wait for it to come back onsite.

We are waiting for the Dolmen Wing as well, which will free up other space.

Is that an apology?

I want to raise St. Luke's General Hospital in Kilkenny. It is a level 3 hospital with over 1,200 staff and is the seventh biggest medical centre in Ireland serving a catchment area of around 200,000 people. I am looking for an update on the new CT machine, which is vital to support patient flow. A second CT for St. Luke's will result in no downtime and allow specialised tests to be completed on-s…

I welcome the statements. I empathise with the many individuals, men, women, children, families and business owners who have been left absolutely devastated once again by the horrific impact of flooding. My constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny was hit badly again. I thank the local authorities in the area and roads crew in both Carlow and Kilkenny and the fire service for the incredible work that they …

14. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Taoiseach for an update on the first progress report of the climate action plan. [11880/26]

I welcome the announcement today of the national regional roads funding and over €40 million for my constituency of Carlow-Kilkenny. Some of these projects have been ongoing for quite some time. In particular, I want to pay tribute to the N25 committee in south Kilkenny, a voluntary organisation that has prioritised and highlighted this issue so strongly. Investment of €1 million to allow this sch…

33. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Taoiseach his assessment of and response to the NESC report, Connecting People to the Energy Transition. [7900/26]

1. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee that oversees agriculture will next meet. [67675/25]

A huge number of rural roads in Carlow-Kilkenny have been absolutely destroyed in the past couple of weeks due to the torrential rainfall and serious flooding in the area. This has resulted in serious potholes and, in many cases, complete disintegration of road surfaces, making them impassable. In some cases, there are potholes so big you could lose a small child in them. I am asking the Taoiseach…

36. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on children and education will next meet. [9959/26]

I want to talk about Tullow, Callan and Borris. I want to talk about all of those schools.

20. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Taoiseach for an update on the programme for Government. [7692/26]

Management, staff, students and parents and the whole school community are extremely disappointed and dismayed at the decision last week by the Minister, Deputy Naughton, not to release long-promised funding for the Kilkenny school campus. Both Kilkenny City Vocational School and Coláiste Pobail Osraí are now at capacity. Kilkenny City Vocational School is the only DEIS post-primary school in Kilk…

I raise the issue of the new Kilkenny college of the future. In October 2024, the Department announced the purchase of a stand-alone 15 acre site that would become the new home of the college of the future in Kilkenny. Government funding worth tens of millions of euro will be required to drive the development of the site at Joinersfolly, south of Kilkenny city. This site will create a new state-of…

I particularly welcome the last words of the Minister of State on delivery because that is what we want. I really welcome the fact we are getting so close to the appointment of a design team this year for this project. It is not only the staff of Kilkenny and Carlow ETB that will benefit from this. There are 5,000 full-time and part-time students in Kilkenny who can benefit from the service. We ar…

I thank the Deputy.

I will move on to the next speaker.

I call Deputy Newsome Drennan. Deputy Bennett is eating into the time of her own party members.