Thomas Gould

Can we get a commitment for those 33 families? They are watching the telly now.

This is not a revision of the national planning framework; it is just a tweaking around the edges. It is very disappointing that no analysis has been provided on why the objectives of the original national planning framework have not yet been reached or on how this plan will operate differently. In the Dublin area, €19,000 is spent per capita on the NDP. This compares to just €10,000 in the Cork m…

The Taoiseach will have seen the campaign run by parents to get special school places for their children both nationally and in Cork. They have fought a Trojan campaign. There was an announcement last week that there would be additional places but it is an absolute scandal that parents must go out and fight for their children's right to an education. In 2022, there was an announcement for the new …

Yes.

Taoiseach, it was Irish Water-----

It is Irish Water that cannot facilitate this. There is no capacity in Carrignavar.

Gabhaim buíochas. Officials from Uisce Éireann met with Cork City Council last night. They refused to attend the meeting if it was in public and failed to answer many of the legitimate questions posed by councillors. I met them in February and I was told I would receive responses to my questions that evening. It took a full month before I got a response back. Uisce Éireann is a law unto itself. I…

The Minister of State made a point about school places in Cork and Kerry. We have schools that are looking to put in ASD classes. They are crying out for ASD classes. Scoil Eoin in Ballincollig is looking to put them in, but it cannot. It has no room. It is waiting on a rebuild. It looks like Scoil Barra in Ballincollig will be offered prefabs. It has land it wants to build on to put in ASD classe…

The Minister spoke about school completions, the number of people working on them and the work that is being done. My eldest daughter will be 19 in less than two weeks. She attended Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers when she was five. I was on the board of management. A new school is going to be built, probably in two or three years. It has been sanctioned and is going through design. Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers…

Can we have a few seconds?

If he did, I did not hear it. There are 97 children in Cork with no place for September-----

Carrignavar is only over the road. Irish Water has not been able to get a drop of water out there since-----

That is not me saying it; that is the EPA saying it. There is no way that school is going to be open.

The Minister of State is coming in here telling people a school will be open but it will not be.

There are ten houses built in Carrignavar that cannot be connected to the water-----

-----and you are talking about opening a school.

We need to treat the housing emergency in the same way we treated Covid. The whole of Government needs to get behind this, as does the Opposition, to come up with solutions. I do not want to see 4,653 children in emergency accommodation. I asked the Minister's predecessor how many children must become homeless before the Government finally accepts its policies are wrong. I will ask the current Min…

We sincerely want to work with the Minister on this. We will support positive initiatives but in the austerity years, funding for youth clubs, youth projects and education were all slashed, whether these were for diverse communities, the Travelling community or working-class areas. We need that funding restored. That is the first thing I ask for. Second, we need investment in more community polici…

You are doing it.

You are doing it.

There are 5,000 children homeless.

There are 5,000-----

You have your finger in the pie.

Shocking behaviour. Disgraceful.

In 2024, the ESB made €706 million in profit. At the same time the ESB and the Government have failed to put the proper infrastructure in place to prevent the loss of electricity that carried on for weeks in some areas because of Storm Éowyn. While the ESB decides what to do with €706 million in profit, some people are struggling to keep the light and heat on, and to pay their bills in the middle …