Simon Harris

Yes. Neither Ged nor I were born so we cannot be held responsible for that one.

There are a couple of serious points there. This is the first time I have ever been in this House while somebody seems to be bemoaning so many Ministers coming to Laois. Deputy Stanley obviously has not met Deputy Willie Aird. It is easier to go to Laois and try to deliver. We intend to continue to visit. Deputy Stanley is right that there is no election for quite a number of years, be assured of …

I thank Deputy Maxwell for raising this issue on behalf of people in Cavan and Monaghan where he sees it as an issue on the ground, and it has been brought to his attention. The programme for Government and the Government's new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, commit to maintaining the right of social housing tenants to purchase their home. The aim of the tenant incremental pu…

That is a very fair way to put it. As housing supply begins to rise in Cavan, Monaghan and across the country, should we then go back and ask, "Hang on, do the balances we had in place at a time of more constrained supply merit being looked at again?". That is a logical thing to do. I thank the Deputy for his words in relation to the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, who has been a r…

It is not that crude at all. I thought that we were going through a Thursday where the Deputy was not going to call on me to abolish a tax or a charge or spend loads more money but I should have known that it is Thursday, and it happens every Thursday. The reality of the situation is that public service broadcasting matters. Public service broadcasting needs to be funded. I encourage the Deputy to…

I thank Deputy Cummins for raising the issue, and I respect and accept the sincerity in which she does so. The first thing I suggest is that in general we should be having earlier engagements and conversations in this House, in committees and, of course, with the school communities. I take that point. I suggest that perhaps at an earlier time post this summer, we have the conversation about next s…

No, I do not. I thank Deputy Nash for raising this issue. I accept the importance of it. I will follow up on the matter with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, and the HSE and will ask that they engage with Deputy Nash today on it in the context of seeing what more can be done. I take the point that it is an expansion of capacity that we need. Let me engage further on this with the Deputy to…

I thank Deputy O'Gorman for raising this issue. I acknowledge the very good work that has been done by the Oireachtas committee, which is chaired by my colleague Deputy Michael Murphy, who continually keeps me apprised of this work. I very much look forward to the report of the committee. My message to everybody on the committee is that we should not rule anything out in relation to steps that may…

I truthfully do not know the answer, so I will not pretend I do. However, I will endeavour to find information and ask the relevant Minister to respond to the Deputy. All information and books should always be age appropriate. I think that is something we all believe is important in both our libraries and education system. I will ask the Minister of State with responsibility for our libraries, Dep…

That is a really good idea. I think of my local beach in Greystones, where tracks were put in place relatively recently that allow people to walk, push buggies, use wheelchairs, etc. This has been transformational in terms of improving accessibility to the beach. The Deputy's point about accessing bathing water in and of itself is an important one. We are back to this issue again. We do not have t…

I thank Deputy Roche for raising this important matter. Of course, we all want to make sure that new parents, mums and dads, are able to spend time with their babies. There are currently two weeks of paternity leave available in Ireland. It is also important to say there are also nine weeks of parent's leave and benefit available to both parents. Parent's benefit is currently paid at a rate of €29…

I thank Deputy Gould for raising this issue. I met with Grace Lynch's parents last week and was really struck not only their advocacy but also - I do not wish to speak for them - by the very clear views they have on what more that can and should be done in this space. I am very happy that we would engage with Deputy Gould on this as well. There is definitely an issue. I had a good conversation wi…

I thank Deputy Currie for raising this project. She has worked with Coolmine Community School and the board of management to get an application for a new building into the Department, which was submitted a couple of weeks ago. I can confirm that the Department received the application from Coolmine Community School on 5 May for that large-scale capital funding to provide a new school building. The…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. On foot of his raising it, I will specifically ask the Minister, Deputy Foley, to engage with him on the particular and immediate issue he is highlighting in Kildare. I take that point. When I talk about what we are going to do more broadly, he is highlighting an issue that is a factor in the here and now for people. We are significantly increasing our in…

Of course, the Ministers are not doing that at all. Let us be clear. This is a decision the FAI has to take. If we start making decisions on the floor of the Dáil in relation to running Irish soccer, God knows where we will end up. The reality is there are very clear rules that UEFA and FIFA have. Those rules specifically exclude and preclude parliaments from making decisions in relation to the go…

In fairness, that statement says that the Palestinian Football Association expresses its appreciation. There should always be engagement between governing bodies that the taxpayer funds.

We definitely needed to see more progress and the Minister, Deputy Foley, is ambitious about making that progress. Under the new maximum fee caps, we have seen the highest possible upfront cost for a typical full-day place of 45 hours per week drop. The Deputy is correct that that is still too high. However, the cost has dropped from €198 per week to €183.70 per week. The commitment is very clear.…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. As he knows, I know the roads in Wicklow and Wexford well. He is correct that like many counties in the country they saw a significant impact from that storm. Work has been underway. I spoke to Wicklow County Council about submitting documentation to the Government, which I am sure also applies to Wexford. That has happened, in fairness. I would like to se…

I thank Deputy Kenny for raising this issue, which is quite a serious one. The summer programme is fully funded by the Department of Education and Youth and schools are supposed to run the programme within the budget provided by the Department. I am not unfairly having a go. Of course small costs above and beyond might arise and a decision may be made to do something outside the programme. I get t…

I thank Deputy Bennett. While we do not have plans to open new emergency departments, we do have plans to continue to drive investment into hospitals at levels 2 and 3, including Monaghan hospital. I remember visiting it a number of years ago. It is a very good hospital and it is ambitious about doing more. On foot of the Deputy raising this issue, I will ask the Minister for Health to come back t…

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I will bring it to the attention of the Minister for Health and ask that she engage with the Deputy directly on the women and infants health programme and the HSE on the need for that consultant post for complex conditions during pregnancy.

I thank Deputy McGrath for raising this issue. It is not the first time he has raised it. He raised the application process window on a previous occasion and I was pleased that we were in a position to reopen it. I will now speak with Ministers Naughton and Moynihan on clarity and staff requirements for schools, in particular the issue the Deputy highlighted around home-based provision and the nee…

Yes, we will. I thank Deputy Doherty and Deputies across the House, including on the Government benches, for raising this issue. We will reopen the portal. The Deputy is right; on occasions we can agree in this House. This is a vital programme that plays a very important part in the lives of children with additional needs, be they special educational needs or children from areas of economic disadv…

I do not want to mislead the House. On the last issue, I need to talk to the Minister for education and ask that she comes back to the Deputy, as I am sure she will. I take the seriousness of the point he makes. Schools will be contacted today because the Deputy is right that they need that clarity. My understanding is that, while the schools will be contacted today, the portal will open next week…

I believe in honest politics as well, and I think everyone in this House engages in good faith on behalf of the people they represent, as the Deputy does too. I reject the assertion that this is in any manner of means a cut because that would suggest that the budget of one Department will be lower than it currently is. The budgets of all Departments are growing. I do not need to remind the Labour…