Thomas Gould

With respect, I just have one question. It relates to Cork.

Okay.

I thank Solidarity and People before Profit for introducing this Bill. I am sure Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett is watching this debate closely today. I wish him all the best. I know everyone else feels the same. I am a proud Irish republican and also a proud union member, which I have been all my working life. Republicans and workers right across this island – workers are republicans – are building…

I apologise.

I apologise, Johnny.

Members go in and out of the Chamber turning their mobile phones on and off. These things happen and I apologise. I commend my colleagues, especially Deputy O'Rourke, on the work they have done on this Bill. Deputy O'Rourke saw a problem and is putting forward solutions. When the Government created Uisce Éireann, it built a company that was so allergic to transparency and accountability it is lik…

The Minister outlined earlier some of the things this Government is doing but he did not outline the Government's plan to fund critical infrastructure. There is no plan to fund it or to deliver the minimum of 50,000 homes a year we need. There is no commitment to implement the radical strategic reset of housing policy the Government needs to deliver. That was the recommendation of the Housing Comm…

The Minister of State has outlined a lot of figures, but from the human point of view, I know a lady who had her own business and who had to work part time to look after her mother. She was sanctioned, she was passed for the hours and they had hours Monday to Friday, but on Saturday and Sunday and in the evening, she had to go in. This is a woman with her own family, and she is travelling to look …

I sincerely wish the Minister every success. The elective hospital in Cork is supposed to be ready next year. It is now at design stage and will go to planning next year. It is years behind schedule. We were promised an elective hospital 20 years ago. The Minister is new in her role and I cannot land this on her shoulders, but I can land it on the shoulders of the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael members…

Sinn Féin policy-----

Answer the question.

104. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Social Protection for details of the review into the hot school meals programme. [21369/25]

I ask the Minister for details of and a review into the hot school meals programme.

Perhaps the Minister will elaborate on this but from my understanding is that of the 2,220 schools participating in the programme, only 14 will be assessed this year. That is fewer than one in five schools. The review has been announced but we need to know the terms of reference as well. Will the Minister come back on that? How long will the review take? He said he hopes to have the review on his …

I agree with the Minister that we need the highest standards of nutrition, especially when dealing with young children so I support that. I have a couple of concerns. The same funding of €3.20 per meal and portion size is given to children ranging from junior infants to sixth class, that i,s from children as young as four to the age of 12. I am not sure if the Minister has kids but I have two girl…

I have no doubt about that. I am not saying it is, either.

On Tuesday, the Taoiseach said in this Chamber that he could not understand how €20 million had already been allocated for Cork City Council for the tenant in situ scheme. He could not understand where the money was. He did not doubt its sincerity, but he could not understand what had happened. That is a shocking admission from a Taoiseach. Let us lay out the facts here today. Cork City Council p…

The Minister of State is wrong. It is not continuing. We have a letter from Cork City Council from 4 April, stating that the tenant in situ scheme has stopped in Cork City Council. We have tenants who went into the council, looking for the forms to apply, and the council would not even give them the forms. It said that it has no money left. I read out where all the money has gone. The Minister of …

It is closed in Cork. I have it in writing here that it is closed in Cork.

Is that a yes or a no?

Will the Minister of State have an answer by next week? That is all I am looking for. These people have families. They have children and jobs. They want an answer by next week.

Parents in Cork were promised in 2022 that a new special school would be delivered in Carrignavar. Three years later, and only because of the campaign led by parents whose children will have no school place this August, and those parents campaigning and sleeping outside the doors of the Dáil, has the Government finally acted. Now there is work being done. Does the Minister know what was not done? …

Yesterday, the Taoiseach made a statement in the Dáil that he could not understand, regarding the €20 million that Cork City Council got for the tenant in situ scheme, where it was gone. I have a report that the chief executive gave to Cork City Council last night at a special meeting called by Sinn Féin. It got unanimous support to write to the Minister for housing to give the money for the 33 fa…

Sorry. The Taoiseach did not understand.

Those 33 families-----