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when parents, particularly those in the low- and middle-income brackets, face the annual challenge of covering back-to-school costs. Families are facing a stack of fees and expenses in respect of uniforms, increased school transport costs, school stationery, so-called voluntary contributions, and laptops … cost per school year can accumulate to €1,700 for primary school children and up to €2,900 for secondary school children. For families with a number of school-going children, this can be a major headache. While I acknowledge that the free schoolbooks scheme and the book

proceed to statements of apology to the family of the late Brian Stack. Before calling on the Taoiseach I wish, on behalf of the House, to acknowledge the presence of Sheila, Brian's wife, and Austin, Kieran and Oliver, his three sons, in the Distinguished Visitors Gallery. Today … proceedings mark an important milestone and a significant moment of recognition. I extend a sincere welcome to the family and express our appreciation for their attendance on this solemn occasion. They are very welcome

play the hands we are dealt." It was utterly galling and incredibly tone deaf; a member of Government actively stacking the deck against students and families, essentially telling them to suck it up - that is what he said - and play the bum hand they have been dealt. Elaine

Donegal many times with my good friend Mary T. Sweeney in relation to this particular crisis. I visited many families in many homes who have shown me chimney stacks falling down and massive gaps in the walls of their houses. We have the incredible situation of children sleeping … money that is necessary to do the work and the money that is being offered by the Government. This scheme is leaving many families with increased mortgages and debts. It is so difficult to operate that it is impossible for many people to use. I have no doubt

source of considerable pain for the O'Farrell family. To suggest that Shane was somehow at fault for his own death was plainly wrong and the supposed evidence on which that suggestion was made does not stack up. The first three pages of the Haughton report are dedicated

barrier to progress. The same disconnect applies when we talk about solar energy. Families are being told and encouraged to install solar panel and want to do so but the numbers simply do not stack up. For a typical household to install a system that would truly meet … Europe, the UK and Scotland. That is not an incentive. It is nowhere near enough. It does not bridge the gap for ordinary families. Again, the issue is not willingness. The issue is that supports do not match reality. If we had invested properly in grid infrastructure

work is vital for addressing social exclusion, poverty, assisting marginalised groups and providing equal opportunities to all. Their work underlines the need for family resource centres and other community sector organisations to be protected and adequately resourced in order that they can continue to provide these invaluable services … example of this can be seen in the €166,400 the centre received in core funding in 2024, which pales into insignificance when stacked against the average of €6,388 per week or €332,000 it costs the State annually to keep a child in care. The centre

boosting supply but supply alone will not solve this crisis. The Government will belatedly find that out in years to come. Ordinary families and ordinary working people should not be pitched against sprawling investment funds and German pension funds when trying to purchase their first home … homeownership but what it is doing here does stack up? We need to see further action on this, we need to go further and we need to be explicit. Investment funds should not be competing with families for family homes and this is another way that Government

commend Deputy Ó Snodaigh, who has not just introduced this proposal but over the years has done great work, as has his family, to make sure the cultural and historical heritage of Ireland and this city is maintained and enhanced. In the course of this debate we think … They knew the odds were stacked against them before they went in there, but they knew what they were doing. They were prepared to put their lives on the line, with all of the disruption and heartache that caused for their families and everything else

with a stack height the size of Croke Park, a fossil fuel giant dropped into the heart of a rural community. If all these projects get the green light, our county will be unrecognisable. We will no longer be a place of villages, farms and families; we will

stacked in favour of the developers to give them the break, without considering the people who are trying to accommodate themselves. I am shocked by what I have heard about the new design guidelines for smaller apartments. If we are to build sustainable families and communities, they have

they believe in it should step up matters a couple of gears. We need to build a republic where workers and families have their fair share and good public services. The most recent opinion polls show that an increasing number of people North and South see the merits … afford it but can we afford not to reunify the national territory. More and more, the economics of it stack up and make sense. As a small country of just over 7 million people on the north-western flank of Europe, it makes absolutely no economic, social

speakers, people who go to mass, people who do not, people who play GAA and people who never did. It includes people whose families have lived in the same parish for generations and people who have made their homes there more recently. No one owns rural Ireland … look or sound like. I grew up down a bóithrín between two small villages. I spent a fair part of my summers stacking bales of hay and drawing them in on tractors. I also listened to The Smiths and read Sylvia Plath in my more anguished adolescent moments

adult children want to come home but they are competing with these vulture funds. They are working hard but the odds are stacked against them because of Government policy. Rents in my constituency are on average €2,300 per month. Her kids cannot come home to rent because … rents that are now Government policy. They cannot come home to buy because they cannot compete with vulture funds. Investment funds are buying family homes. Our young people do not have a chance. When the Government says it wants to ban a practice, it sometimes forgets that

entrusted me to serve in the Thirty-fourth Dáil. I thank all the canvassers, all the office staff, all my family and all my friends who entrusted me to represent them in Limerick and the rest of the country. I am a numbers person and looked … next Government would include Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Independents, yet when you look at the numbers today you see they do not stack up. Eighty-nine voted for the Ceann Comhairle, who was backed by the former Government parties, but if you take out the vote

position on this matter, or the positions of those of us who might describe ourselves as being on the left. This does not stack up. Hearing comments like that from somebody who has the largest forum in the country from which to pronounce is quite extraordinary … words of the Labour justice spokesperson, Deputy Kelly, "cruel". We all deal day in and day out with applications from family members of people who are here working in our health service, in our financial services system and across the economy who want and require their families here

that is not because the Opposition is standing our ground. It is because of his underhanded manoeuvres to rig the Dáil and stack the Opposition in his favour. That is the threat faced here, which certainly has some resonance with events elsewhere in the world. If people ever … roof over their heads, our hospitals are overcrowded and overwhelmed, children with special needs are locked out of services and education, and families struggle to make ends meet. These deals preserve the status quo and ensure that workers and families are pushed to the back of the queue

find the Kathleen Lynn children's hospital while at the same time they could find the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital. That does not stack up, to be honest. I do not think it is a sufficient explanation as to why there is such a reluctance on the part … great work here in Dublin city. As a child, I was a patient in St. Ultan's for a while. My family had great regard for that hospital and for the work it did, specifically with children. Dr. Lynn is very much cherished by people in Dublin city

horrifying ways. The removal of Harvey from surgical waiting lists to be treated as a palliative care patient without any discussion with his family is the most recent, shocking piece of information to come to light. What else remains hidden? What other cover-up is there … shameful chapter in this State and it is not over. How could this ever have happened? How could failure get stacked on failure without any accountability or action? The HSE was set up in 2005. It was billed as some type of innovation at the time. However

this size in context, it is the equivalent of four Croke Park stadiums stacked on top of each other. Four Croke Parks stacked on top of each other. These are absolutely massive, monstrous structures. It does not make sense to me that the Department is applying rules from … constituency, the people of those communities are all seriously worried and concerned. My view is simple: the guidelines must protect families and communities, first, through strictly increased setback distances; second, through noise regulation; and third, through the flicker regulation. Only then can we provide the renewables. We cannot

cost-of-living crisis that is putting enormous pressure on households across the country. Pensioners are making difficult choices every week. Families are stretching every single euro. Workers are watching their wages disappear into rent, childcare, energy bills and, more and more, into food costs. When every euro … allows people to make informed choices. The cost-of-living crisis is out of control and people often feel that the system is stacked against ordinary consumers. This Bill is just one small, practical step we can take to address that. Consumers should not need a magnifying glass

Government still refuses to cut it by a single cent in excise. Record numbers cannot pay their electricity bills. Some 320,000 families, one in four, cannot pay their gas bills. Yet we have a Government that plans to increase taxes on gas, home eating oil and coal … this year and use it to take the pressure off people right now. We have had report after report, more and more evidence stacking up, all of it just telling us what people already know: that life is unaffordable, that it is a struggle and that something needs

criteria for the development of these large-scale windfarms. There are problems with these issues in Kilkenny, Carlow and into Laois. Families were here with us in the audiovisual room setting out their positions. They told us some distressing stories and yet there is no regulation. I asked … windmills in front of them too. No consideration is being given to their difficulties. In fact, I would say the system is stacked against them because the big companies involved have no problem paying for submissions. However, communities have to pay for the submissions that have been forced

know all of us would say that one fatality on our roads is one too many. It is a tragedy for the family and community. That drives us to do whatever we can to improve road safety. The four main causes of fatalities are speeding, distraction, not wearing … vehicle maintenance standards across the range of penalty point offences, and ensure there is no benefit to drivers from, so to speak, stacking up offences. A key commitment under the new programme for Government is continued support for the consolidation of the Road Traffic Acts. I am pleased

force the Government to finally act and put an end to the insurance rip-off. Right now, people are being fleeced. Families are under pressure. Businesses are being squeezed. Sports clubs, community clubs, charities, you name it - they are all being hit hard. Until this Government decides … premiums are getting higher and higher. Pushed by unaffordable house prices, people are paying far more or being left underinsured. One Government failure stacks up on top of another. Health insurance costs are almost €2,000 now and even higher for people over the age of 65. This