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enforcement regime. The high staff turnover rate creates a damaging cycle that compromises the quality of care that people receive and this alone demands urgent attention. Care for older people must be reframed as an essential part of our social infrastructure, on a par with education, health … lack of appropriate alternatives. The priority should be on delivering care in the community, allowing older people to thrive and live with dignity and independence in their own homes for as long as possible. Just yesterday, a journalist outside asked how much this was going to cost. That

social protection envelope, one can find the answer to the questions asked of every Government. What is the floor through which we will allow no one to fall? What social contracts do we hold between us? The Government's proposals today represent a further degradation of that contract … well that there are too many in our country who face incredible hardships. There are double-digit poverty rates among older people living alone, disabled people, carers and lone-parent families and a gargantuan 200,000 children living in consistent poverty, according to the ESRI. It should

significant than that, at the core of this Bill, is nothing short of a vicious financial assault on private renters who are already living in the most expensive and insecure form of housing in the State. The consequence of this legislation over a relatively short period of time … bigger effect outside Dublin, the impact in the first year alone will be an extra €3,500 in rent. In Galway city, where the gap is the largest, the Minister is proposing to allow landlords to charge up to an additional €4,500 in rent a year

huge inroads tackling vacancy and dereliction, with a particular focus on providing town centre older persons' housing to facilitate the 339 older persons living alone in two- and three-bedroom council houses in Carlow so that these family homes are accessible to families. Carlow County Council has already … build-ready position due to the nature of its previous use. If costs like this were borne by central government, it would allow Carlow County Council to more quickly fulfil its ambition to bring Carlow town centre back to life and increase housing supply for the people

regulate? How on earth could this be allowed to happen? The documentary showed how some children with additional needs, their families and schools are being comprehensively failed by this Government. It showed how they must spend their lives in a constant fight for services, equipment, resources … anyone other than the children and the families themselves. There are no inquiries or investigations, just children and families who are left feeling alone, marginalised and isolated, trying to pick up the pieces. One of the schools that featured last night was Stapolin Educate Together National School

energy regulator since 2021; — the record-breaking profits that electricity generating companies have made in recent years which they have been allowed to keep in full, combined with ESB's refusal to make appropriate use of their €898 million profit last year in response to this national crisis … safe. Presenters kept going throughout the night with updates, warnings and the outages. That was apart from the company they provided for people living alone, in fear of the worst storm ever. What is the Government going to do to acknowledge the vital role played by local, regional

published last Wednesday. It is a significant milestone in our shared work to create a more inclusive and equitable education system. The report allows for a moment of reflection - a moment to honour the hopes that inspired this landmark legislation introduced over two decades ago and to take … also been brought forward. This will ensure that the NCSE has an earlier picture of demand that exists to allow for new special classes to be sanctioned sooner, allowing more time for these classes to be prepared, children enrolled, giving more certainty to parents and families. That

eaten up by the cost of living, renters left handing over more and more of their pay cheques in rent, people on fuel allowance actually getting less this winter than they got last winter, the tiny reduction in the cost of home heating oil that was already wiped … lives. When the Government decides to prioritise the very top over ordinary, decent Irish workers and families, people suffer. Listen to the words of the 60-year-old who reached out to me recently. She works part time and she said: I am 60 ... I live alone

where it has become acceptable and is becoming more acceptable the deeper we come into this. Right now, families in this country are living in misery, afraid to switch on their electricity. Dealing with this, I have seen first hand households impacted by defective concrete that are significantly … County Donegal alone, the cost of heating oil is 50% dearer than it was last year. Equally, the cost of electricity in one year in this country has gone up by nearly 76.9% compared with what it was last year. Energy companies are being allowed to profit from

energy credit for low-to-middle income households. These are households that are being squeezed the hardest by the cost-of-living crisis that we are all experiencing. They are hit with price increase after price increase right across the board, while energy companies continue to record these … carries the burden when those prices rise. Allowing households to absorb those higher bills while extraordinary profits go untouched is not inevitable; it is a political choice made by the Government. The energy crisis and the wider cost-of-living crisis are squeezing families from every direction

income support payments for disabled people, including disability allowance, partial capacity benefit and invalidity pension. There are approximately 231,000 recipients of disability income support payments and 170,000 recipients of caring payments, including domiciliary care allowance. Expenditure across illness, disability and carer’s schemes combined … This month, the fuel allowance payment increased by €5 to €38 per week. This represents an increase of 15%, providing recipients with an additional €140 during the annual fuel allowance season. Both the increases to personal rates of payment and the fuel allowance are ahead of the general

have had to carry the consequences of that abuse through your lives ever since. The damage did not end when the abuse ended. It has followed survivors into their relationships, their family lives, their working lives and their mental and, no doubt, physical health. It affected confidence, trust … darkest and most painful experiences of your lives. Today's apology would not be happening without your courage and determination, and it is important to acknowledge that survivors did not travel this long and difficult road entirely alone. Their families and friends stood beside them through extraordinarily difficult

they carry with them every single day. Sometimes the scale of loss is so overwhelming that it risks becoming abstract. We must never allow that to happen. I will name just a few of the victims of that day. Alan Radford died helping his mother … Mary Grimes's 66th birthday that day. Avril was 33 years old and heavily pregnant with twins, Eimear and Evelyn, whose lives never even got a chance to begin. Avril's daughter Aoibheann put it more powerfully than any of us ever could when she said: The pictures

this country? In the past year alone, 69,000 people have left Ireland to go overseas for a better future. This is not because they cannot find jobs here - they have jobs - but because they cannot afford or find anywhere to live. When the Minister of State sits … here? It is clear it is the investment funds. They are raking in the profits while ordinary people are left behind. The Government allows these funds to avoid paying taxes and to bulk purchase homes that should be available for families to buy. The Government allows them

tell a pensioner living on the side of the hill in the likes of Carrignavar or Mourneabbey who will not be helped by this Government because they have to rely on home heating oil? Along with this, there is €5 extra for fuel allowance. Five bloody euro. What … just be shoved into the general budget of the Department of Transport or Transport Infrastructure Ireland. They should have been recognised as stand-alone projects by the Government. On education, there have been improvements. I will accept that but they in no way go far enough

gone up €100,000 in four years alone. In the past year, they have gone up €32,000. Is the Government listening to young people? Is it listening to young people who are telling me or my colleagues that their lives are being put on hold and that … policies of the Government, such as the policy it voted for last night - it had promised it would not do so - to allow vulture funds to bid against these same people who want to purchase their homes, are doing one thing only, and that is pushing up house

forced to emigrate in the hope of a better life, opportunities and a bit of independence. Young people cannot be expected to live in their families homes well into adulthood. It is stunning that the independence of our young people is being severely damaged, along with family relationships … meet the housing demand. We cannot continue to allow this crisis to wreak havoc on the county. The failure to enforce regulation means there is no guarantee that new builds or rebuilt homes are free from defective materials, allowing the vicious cycle to continue and leaving homeowners vulnerable

same means test to those of its own citizens. The Czech Republic limits free accommodation to 90 days and has set modest monthly allowances. Poland has withdrawn its cash payments to private hosts. Slovakia has reduced its accommodation support by half. Ireland, one of the few states that … spent on medical cards alone, consisting of €14.15 million in 2022, €24.2 million in 2023, €28.96 million in 2024 and €25.03 million in the first nine months of 2025. At the same time, more than 16,600 Irish citizens, including 5,200 children, live in emergency accommodation

allows people and families to plan, to access supports sooner, and to maintain independence for as long as possible. Community supports are particularly important in rural counties such as Laois. Transport accessibility and proximity to services can have a major impact on whether people can continue to live … people living with dementia want to remain connected to their communities and families want to know what else is available when they need it. Government must continue to invest in dementia services through the whole-of-government approach. Dementia policy must be about supporting people to live with

housing and ramping up housing supply is real and acute, but these are also real statistics that are having real benefits in the lives of people across our country. The Deputy said today, as I expected him to say, no matter what was in the plan - I could … developers to deliver new stand-alone wastewater treatment plants in rural Ireland. Across my constituency and the country I have heard of parts of our country where it has not been possible to build any homes because of the inability to allow a developer to deliver a wastewater

many for no reason and without consent. The families deserve justice there. The banks are allowed to enjoy corporation tax relief while boasting a combined profit of €5 billion last year alone and despite never fully repaying the Irish people for bailing them out. This is an opportunity … after the first all-clear from a doctor should be more than enough. People need to be able to move on with their lives, especially with lives they felt had been threatened. We have to think about why we are only talking about cancer. There are many serious

five children, over 225,000, live in families below the poverty line when housing costs are accounted for. How can this Government justify spending over €630 million a year to reduce VAT on food and catering hospitality while the number of children living in consistent poverty and homelessness … also means we need courage that we will not allow the famous market forces to solve this because we all know that will never happen. We see it daily. We need the courage to say that charity alone is not enough, and to legislate boldly to fund generously

health Ministers and were raised many times at the very highest level and were raised here in the Dáil. Government stood back and allowed this disaster for children's healthcare to happen and to go unchecked. Caibidil cháinteach eile atá sa tuarascáil seo i dteip leanúnach an Rialtais … long for surgery that he now needs two operations. He lives with pain so severe and chronic, he is forced to sleep upright and cannot lie on the flat of his back. Daniel is not alone. Despite a litany of promises, there are 233 children still waiting

Government has abandoned them. The Government has chosen deliberately to ignore the needs of workers in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. It could have done alternatives as we and others have shown but what it did was spend big feathering the nests of developers, landlords … carer's allowance or a worker handing over half their income in rent and seeing this kind of shameless handout to the rich and well connected. How does the Minister explain that to workers who are getting absolutely hammered by the cost-of-living crisis? These

thinking worst-case scenario, you know, that you might end up in a wheelchair if something goes wrong. It's not fair to live [in fear] like that when there is a treatment for it. She also referred to a meeting with a consultant who told her there … risks of those used for implantation. These springs should never have even made it into the surgical theatre, let alone the bodies of children. How was this allowed to happen? Where are the ethical safeguards? It is clear these children have been utterly failed. HIQA found the arrangements