Duncan Smith
Dublin Fingal East · Labour Party · Ireland
“That is three separate roads that are all in one network and are all closed or heavily restricted because of these works happening at the same time. This is impacting thousands of existing residents, and will do so for a significant period. The works are happening and the homes are being built.”
“We have a very small wastewater treatment plant that has been there for 40 or 50 years and which serviced a much smaller town. It is currently being retrofitted and upgraded, but those works are being delayed.”
“I thank Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, for taking this debate late on a Thursday evening, on the last sitting day of this term. I would like to talk about the town of Swords in north County Dublin.”
“We do not have enough schools and we have a wastewater treatment plant that is absolutely buckling under the pressure. We welcome the houses. There were no mass protests about housing development in Swords. The majority of people who live there moved there, like myself, in the past 20 years and love living there.”
“I know you cannot make an omelette without cracking a few eggs, but there is a disconnect in the planning of these projects that is causing havoc in Swords. We have a massive issue with our bus network, from bus stops to bus services, and again, we do not have a rail link yet.”
“I thank the Minister of State for her response, which speaks to the issue I am raising. Again, she will sense the tone in which I am raising it. There is an awful lot happening and being built, but it is the co-ordination of these works that is the problem.”
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“In the long history of this Dáil there have only been two debates on football. This is the second, and the first was in 2023, put forward by the Labour Party. This debate is only happening because of a request from the Labour Party to put football front and centre in terms of much-needed funding. Our colleague, Deputy Ged Nash, is convening a cross-party group on football in the coming weeks, which we hope will have input from Members on all sides, to push the agenda of grassroots League of Ireland men’s and women’s football throughout this country. That is how important the Labour Party believes football to be. When these statements were originally scheduled a couple of weeks ago, the Ireland men’s team was two games away from the type of summer that many young people have never experienced and would never forget.”
“It is unacceptable, after three weeks, that the Taoiseach is not having Leaders' Questions, Taoiseach's Questions or Questions on Policy or Legislation when we need scrutiny more than ever, given what we have had over the past week. It is utterly unacceptable. It is absolutely unprecedented that all we are going to have today is a proper spectacle when we should be having accountability.”
“I am aghast that the Government is opposing this Bill on Second Stage and not allowing it to go through for further discussion. There is a constituency out there listening to the debate on this Bill about this potential entitlement who will be disappointed and will make that known to their local Government representatives. I am disappointed the Minister of State did not respond to Deputy Sheehan's question about whether it could be done through the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023. I thank Deputies Guirke and Sheehan for contributing to this debate. I am disappointed with the Government's response to this. While it is not unexpected for the Government to oppose Opposition legislation, I am surprised - and not just because it is my legislation - that the Government is opposing this Bill.”
“It is an evidence-based approach. I referred to the Sophie Mulcahy Symmons research which we are basing this on. We are talking about workers in retail, service workers and workers in insecure low-paid employment. This legislation is not for self-employed people. It is not for retired people. It is for workers in low-paid and insecure employment. If it were applied, it would have a marginal to low impact, but it would have an impact. It would increase the number of people availing of screening. Through word of mouth, it would create a culture of doing so among workers where there is a low density of trade union representation. This word of mouth element would ensure workers know their entitlements in terms of being able to take a few hours off to take part in these screening programmes.”
“I am deeply disappointed by the response. We believe the Organisation of Working Time Act is the correct legislative mechanism for this. What makes this different from carer's leave, maternity leave or paternity leave is that this is a short period of leave of no more than a day, sometimes a morning. This is not extended leave. This is not leave for weeks or months. The Minister of State feels differently. That is very disappointing. We all agree with the Minister of State "increasing access into the national screening service can be done more sustainably". We have acknowledged the need for an improvement in this regard. Everyone is supportive of that across the House in terms of access to these programmes. We define within this legislation that it is the HSE national screening programmes. There are four of them. They are tightly defined.”
“This Bill, either in its current form or through an amendment, would be a win for the Government. I will work with the Ministers for Health and enterprise, and with the Minister of State currently in the Chamber, to get this through. In 12 months, on Daffodil Day 2027, perhaps this Bill or the core principles of it will be something we can celebrate going into Government.”
“Trust has been hard won and it is a credit to organisations like the Irish Cancer Society, the clinicians, the practitioners and the people who run these schemes that we are trending in the right direction after so much hardship and tragedy. We do, however, have an opportunity to progress more. We must do everything we can to reduce every barrier in people's way to ensure they can take up these screening programmes. We believe this is a truly common-sense measure. It is a pro-health measure and the type of measure the Government often claims the Opposition does not offer. We believe it is constructive. We have just had this year's Daffodil Day where the right to be forgotten was supported by this Government in what is a really good piece of legislation. It is the Government taking a really positive step.”
“It sends the right message that as a State we are placing positive health policy front and centre and that we support people to take part in these programmes to safeguard their health and their ability to be able to continue in the workforce and with their lives. The Irish Cancer Society estimates that approximately 40,000 people get cancer in Ireland each year and approximately 30% of all deaths per year are from cancer. We know through our own history of screening programmes, and unfortunately the scandals that have brought screening programmes to the fore of people's minds, that the earlier people get checked the greater their chance of survival. We are now in a situation where we have increased trust in our screening programmes and the trajectory of these programmes and their take up is going in the right direction.”
“This should be seen as an investment for each employer to ensure their employees are getting checked through the national programmes as early as possible. If there is an anomaly or, God forbid, someone does receive a cancer diagnosis through the screening, we know that early detection means earlier treatment and the earlier the treatment the less invasive it is and the healthier people can remain. This means they can remain in work for longer and continue to be able to engage in other parts of their lives. We believe this makes sense. It is something that would not have too much of a cost impact on employers or on the Exchequer. In fact, it would be an investment. We also believe that morally, and from a leadership point of view, it is the right thing to do.”
“As the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, will know, on a purely financial level it is more cost effective for the State if a cancer diagnosis is caught early and if treatment can be administered as early as possible. It is important to acknowledge in the financial costings for businesses, in that people are not going to be going to a screening every year. This is a facilitator for the year when someone does go to a screening. As the Minister of State can appreciate from representations in his own constituency, some screening checks involve a geographic distance. For those of us in Dublin or in major centres, the distance can be quite short and workers may only need a short period off in a morning or afternoon. People who live in more remote parts of the country may need to take a full day off work to take part in a screening programme.”
“The research indicated, among other things, that people and workers in lower socioeconomic groups are less likely to take up a national screening programme appointment. The majority of people in lower socioeconomic groups are likely to be in vulnerable, insecure or low-paid work. We know that these types of jobs come with fewer safeguards, fewer entitlements and fewer protections. The take up of trade union membership and trade union cover in these areas is also lower. With this Bill we believe there are no losers. There would be no way to take advantage of the day's leave without having to take part in a screening programme. Safeguards and protections would be included. We do not believe this type of leave would be manipulated or used for any other reasons.”
“This is not to say that we are failing in terms of take up. BreastCheck, for example, exceeds the 70% take-up target, which is the standard for screening programmes. There has also been a 36% increase in the number of women who will be completing mammograms this year, and an 18% increase in the number of women who will have cervical screening tests. These are all massively positive and this Bill is not about criticising the Government about the take up of the screening schemes, it is just an opportunity to work together, to work better and to continue to strive for improved take up. As we know, we can always do more. Important research was conducted for the HSE by Sophie Mulcahy Symmons at the end of 2023 on the take up of national screening programmes.”
“Better still, it would encourage those workers particularly who are in insecure or low-paid employment, giving them protections to take part in and take up national cancer screening programmes. It would be a Bill for people who cannot afford to take a day or some time off, whether that be due to insecure work or fear of missing out on any part of their much-needed pay cheque. Ultimately, it is about equity for people so that nobody suffers from developing cancer just because they could not afford to take some time off to catch and detect it early. There are four national screening programmes: BreastCheck; CervicalCheck; BowelScreen; and Diabetic RetinaScreen. BowelScreen is a home check so the practicalities of this Bill would not apply to it but it would apply to the other three.”
“I move: “That the Bill be now read a Second Time.” I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Alan Dillon. I acknowledge his endurance this afternoon after taking eight Topical Issue matters in advance of this debate. I also thank Edel O'Shea, a constituent of mine, who worked with me on this Bill. I thank the Irish Cancer Society, which as many of us in this Chamber will know has always been fantastic with providing data and detail on all things related to cancer services, cancer treatment and cancer screening in this country. This Bill is simple. It would stop workers having to take annual leave for hospital appointments for national screening programmes.”
“The UN Security Council is paralysed. Our voice has always been powerful in the UN. We need to bring it, as loudly as we can, to the UN General Assembly. I believe that although it is in a weakened position, it is the best avenue towards some kind of resolution.”
“That is what I want. What is the Irish Government's position on the Board of Peace? Are we in favour of it? Are we backing this board or are we remaining silent and seeing what, if anything, it manages to achieve? It seems we are paralysed in terms of calling it out. The Government needs to support Resolution 377 A at the UN. We need to pass the occupied territories Bill in full. Deputy Ó Laoghaire articulated that clearly and eloquently a few moments ago. We must pressure the Israeli authorities to enable full, safe, sustainable humanitarian access and movement into Gaza and the West Bank with the complete opening of all border crossings. We must pressure the Israeli authorities to reverse the annexation and end the unlawful occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, with the dismantlement of settlements.”
“I know the General Assembly has been in emergency session but it is not pushing hard enough to provide some kind of alternative to Trump's Board of Peace.”
“I thank the Minister. I am fully aware of the limits and obligations of the uniting for peace resolution. However, we are in a desperate situation. The ceasefire is Gaza is a ceasefire only in name. Bombardments continue. People continue to be killed daily. Aid continues to be blocked. Earlier this week, three planned UN convoys to collect supplies from the crossing had to be cancelled after the Israeli authorities informed the UN that only fuel would be let in that day. Most crossings into Gaza remain closed. Only Karem Abu Salem, Karem Shalom, is opened with some regularity. That presents a major bottleneck. Close to 20,000 patients are in dire need of medical care outside Gaza and cannot get out. Settler violence in the West Bank continues apace. We are in a desperate situation. The UN is paralysed. The Security Council is paralysed.”
“Staying with the issue of Gaza, I accept the Minister's point that we all want to work together and make progress towards peace but what we have now is Trump's odious, so-called Board of Peace, which is anything but that. Would the Minister and the Irish State support the calls from the Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, for states to invoke UN Resolution 377, the UN's uniting for peace mechanism in relation to Gaza? If we are to work together, the UN remains the best place to do that.”
“Despite all the things that are becoming more familiar, and the impact they are having on home heating oil, fuel pumps, congestion and climate, we are still reacting as if it was 30 years ago and not as if it is the 2020s. We need to look at how we are shaping our State to react to the actions of the disastrous leaders of the most powerful states who are tearing the world apart at present.”
“There are many articles about a show currently on Netflix that is set in the 1990s that are about how it seems like a much calmer time. Compared to where we are now, it was like another world. We are now in the 2020s, when fossil fuels are being fought over. We have a klepto-fascist in the White House who is engaging in what seems to be, among his many crimes, the manipulation of the markets for profit and the use of the office of the United States President for personal and familial gain. We are in a territory we never thought we would be in, but I think we are still playing by 1990s rules, almost. We are not adapting and we are not flexible, despite all these shock events, conflicts and wars.”
“Obviously, we have proposed legislation that would empower people to work from home and give them real rights and protections. Given that the Government seems intent on not supporting that legislation, when shock events happen the Government should impose work from home orders to enable people who can work from home to do so at a moment's notice without fear of repercussions from their bosses. The suite of measures that are being announced in other European countries, such as Spain, Greece and the UK, go further and deeper. They have reacted a little more quickly than we have. Nobody is perfect and no government or State is reacting perfectly to these shock events, but we have to adapt our responses to the reality of the world as it exists now.”
“Three and a half weeks later, as my colleagues Deputy Ahern and Deputy Nash and the Opposition more generally have said, a suite of measures is being brought in which, quite frankly, does not go far enough. We are not preparing. We know that work practices in this country are over-reliant on fossil fuels. Too many people have to get into their cars in the morning to go to work because we have not invested enough in public transport. There are improvements and exciting projects on the way, including DART+ and MetroLink in my constituency, but there are still too many people getting into their cars in the morning who do not have to do so. They could stay at home and work productively, efficiently, effectively and happily in the public or private sector. We need to look at the rules in this State.”
“There are commonalities emerging in these shock events in terms of how they impact our people and communities. We need to prepare for these events better. We are still overly reliant on fossil fuels, so we are going to have to be able to react quicker to these events. We do not need new legislation to facilitate a maximum price order, for example, because it is something that the Government, along with a price freeze at the fuel pump, can implement overnight with the stroke of a pen. That can be done based on current legislation, without introducing new legislation, when America, Russia or another power starts a war or escalates continuing conflicts. The Minister's Government has not chosen to do this.”
“I will pick up on what my colleague, Deputy Ahern, was speaking about. We are living in an era in which shock events are becoming more regular due to irrational, unpredictable and, quite frankly, dangerous leadership among the big powers. The world's reliance on fossil fuels has become the source of global conflict. The ultimate impact of this is not only that it causes deaths in those regions where the wars are taking place, but also that it has an economic shock on ordinary workers and ordinary households elsewhere in the world. In this country, we have reacted to the Russia-Ukraine war, to this current conflict and to the Covid crisis by introducing a suite or basket of emergency measures which are then subject to debate, controversy and discussion across this House.”
“They are ones that come to mind. I drove between Monaghan and Cavan once and to Kinsale and in the first three or four years I was driving, it was not uncommon to bump into a checkpoint. I have not been breathalysed at a random checkpoint in years. Why is that? It is because we are 40% down in road traffic policing. It is no coincidence. There is a correlation between that and the deaths on our roads, of that I have absolutely no doubt. It is another failure of investment and strategy from this Government. This is an absolute crisis. This motion speaks to the collapse in morale within our gardaí. Our gardaí have not been supported by senior management and that is having an impact on the policing levels on our streets, and it has to end. I commend this motion.”
“We had gardaí investigating delicate and sensitive murder cases and having people in custody without hot water and heating. The conference room where neighbourhood watch meetings take place suffered a leak and has been out of commission for weeks. Gardaí will not transfer to that station because of the working conditions. Donabate, a town that has gone up to 20,000 people, is a huge town, yet there are no plans to deliver a Garda station there. There is nothing in the Garda Commissioner's plans to deliver there. On road traffic policing, we continue to have an absolute epidemic and a disaster in deaths on our roads. I am 22 years driving this year. In my first couple of years driving, I remember running into static breathalyse checkpoints. They were not uncommon on Collins Avenue, Glen Ellen Road and Holywell.”
“I thank Deputy Kelly for bringing this motion forward today. It is very important. One of the biggest failures of successive governments has been the failure to invest in our gardaí, Garda resources and Garda stations. It is an absolute scandal and it is vitally important we are talking about this today. Our Garda numbers are very far down. I will talk about road traffic gardaí in a few moments but if we look at the resources and the places where gardaí are working, I live in the third largest town in Ireland by population, Swords, and our Garda station is not fit for purpose. For one month during the winter, it was without heating and hot water. Imagine if they turned the hot water taps off in this building for ten minutes. There would be absolute uproar.”
“It is the only community pool available in Fingal and it needs to be repaired at the earliest possible opportunity. I ask the Taoiseach to engage with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, me and the board of Portmarnock Sports and Leisure Centre to ensure that this can be repaired.”
“The Taoiseach, like me and probably many people in this Chamber, probably learned to swim in a local authority or community pool. Fingal has no local authority pool. The closest we have to one is the not-for-profit pool provided by Portmarnock Sports and Leisure Centre. Due to extensive works needed for the pool roof, the pool is closed indefinitely. This is not only threatening jobs and the viability of the leisure centre but also removing a vital resource, that is, the ability to learn to swim, from people in Portmarnock, Malahide, Swords and all over the Fingal area. The Minister, Darragh O'Brien, is aware of this. We need funding to repair the roof for this pool. There is no local authority funding stream any more for pools from the Government, but there needs to be an investment in the repair of the roof.”
“I register my utter dissatisfaction with how business is being operated. Eight minutes before we were due to sit today, we got a new agenda that will give us just an hour to discuss the financial resolutions on the only thing that people have been talking about over the past couple of weeks. It is utterly unsatisfactory and we register huge objection.”
“Our thoughts are with all the victims who are living under intense bombardment and facing death on a minute-by-minute basis in Iran and throughout the Gulf region. We should do everything we can to articulate a true path to peace.”
“We know what real peace looks like. We know how difficult it can be. We know how long it takes. We know the hard yards. We can bring a bit of our experience, even in the darkest of times. I ask the Minister to look at the invitations on her desk and to meet with the people who can make a difference to the future of Iran. We should not be sharing shamrock in a couple of weeks’ time. It feels almost trite to say it because in the overall scheme of things it is not that important, but the symbolism is. No one in Ireland at the moment feels that Donald Trump is a friend of ours or a friend of global peace. In fact, he is not. I ask that at this stage we reassess our approach to that St. Patrick's Day visit.”
“Our comments on Lebanon and our history with Lebanon have been strong and we need to push back to support the UNIFIL mission, which is unfortunately on the wind-down again because of US and Israel pressure. People are now fleeing Beirut in mass numbers because Israel is on the march. Ireland has a big voice. We do not have military power and nor should we. We are a militarily neutral country, but we have a political voice and we are not politically neutral. We should be calling out breaches of international law when we see them, and we are seeing them with the United States and Israel. We should be a voice. We have expertise on this island that can engage with people on the ground. Even in countries such as Iran that are shut down, we can be proper pro-democracy voices, not agents of what the United States may view as regime change.”
“I hope the UAE, which has positioned itself internationally as one of the safest places in the world but has continued to support violence in Sudan, will now look at its own foreign policy and realise it is not the safest place in the world and can be subject to attacks like anyone else. I hope it will ask itself what it is doing around the world. They need to look at themselves and pull back and help bring peace to Sudan, which they are destabilising and where they are participating in the killing of so many thousands of people. This has and will continue to overshadow what is going on in Palestine and the killings that continue in Gaza and the spread by Israel into the occupied territories. We cannot allow that to fall off the agenda.”
“If we are to be productive, proactive and positive in some way and if Donald Trump will not listen to us when we call a halt and want a ceasefire, we can engage with these groups as a country that is militarily neutral, but not politically neutral. We do take sides, and we will take sides with those who believe in peace and those who believe in democracy. They are there. They are buried on the fringes of Iranian society, but they are there and they need a voice in our part of the world. We have to be that voice. It is a very dark time. We are in the midst of the intensity of missile fire and continued attacks. Iran has now thrown its missiles out, causing further destabilisation in the region, such as in the Emirates, where we have so many citizens and where people are living is under attack.”
“We cannot believe that the answer to this war will be whoever is left from the revolutionary guard that Trump will want to cut a deal with. We cannot believe it will be Reza Pahlavi, the son of the Shah, who presided over a decades-long corrupt regime and is now a poster man for the far right and is being endorsed by people like Tommy Robinson and Nigel Farage. Real democracy will come from the grassroots, from the new political groups in civil society and from the women and feminist networks that are operating under the most appalling oppression to try to provide some hope for the people of Iran. They have nobody articulating support for them in our part of the world.”
“This President, with Israel, has begun a war for which there will be no end and no peace negotiations that we can see. That he is going to continue to rain missiles such as those that, on day one, killed over 160 girls in a school in Minab brings a sense of despair to all of us that there is no concept of how this can be ended in any possible way. I commend Pedro Sánchez on providing leadership within the European Union and calling this war what it is, an illegal war. We should be following that leadership. We in Ireland should be using our experience of bringing peace to our own island. We should be the voices, the amplifiers and the accommodators of what could bring peace to Iran. I know the Minister has invitations to meet credible groups of democracy grassroots networks in Iran.”
“The international anti-nuclear weapons regime has been successful in keeping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon through negotiations, the IAEA, the United Nations and sanctions. It is not easy, and Iran has been pushing and pushing towards developing a nuclear weapon, but negotiations have kept that at bay to this point. Negotiations were taking place and agreements were in place and Trump, being the tin-pot hard man that he is, ripped them up, and look where he is now. He has begun a war that has no strategy or concept of what victory would look like, such as victory in any war can be. He is taking on a country that is unconquerable. It may be next to Iraq but it is not Iraq. Iran is a country of huge mountain ranges and high plateaus. It is absolutely unconquerable.”
“The Minister's opening comments were the strongest she has made in terms of condemning the Unites States and Israel and saying they have no mandate or authorisation from the UN, which is de facto saying the attacks and the war are illegal without actually using those words. It is important we use those words. One of the most important things the Minister said in her contribution was, "Ultimately, the future of Iran must be determined by the people of Iran and in a way that creates stability in the region." In the first instance, it should be about creating stability, democracy and peace in Iran, which would then have further positive impacts for the region, but I will return to that. We are where we are in this horrific place because of the actions, predominantly, of Donald Trump and the Israeli Government.”
“Deputy Ahern and I will have 15 minutes between ourselves to try to put our words to this crisis and situation in the Middle East, but we have never before been faced with this kind of conflict or war that is being exercised in the first instance by the United States and Israel upon Iran. There are no angels or good guys in this war. Iran's tyrannical regime is just that. It is an abhorrent regime with extrajudicial killings and the systematic oppression of women, the LGBTQ community, dissent and political opposition - the list goes on. It is an horrific regime. What Israel and the US are doing is the breaking of international law.”
“Before I discuss the issue of the Middle East, I preface my comments with reference to the consular response to our citizens who have been stuck, indeed trapped, in the Middle East. Our consular response has been really good. We need to remember our missions are not set up or orientated towards the mass evacuation of citizens or people stuck in transit. There will be difficulties and we hope people will remain safe. We will continue to work and keep pressure on to ensure we have flights out of there but the evacuation of people is a very difficult situation. The setting-up of the crisis group here centrally has been a good thing and the lines of communication, at least for us, to the Minister's office at the Department of foreign affairs have been good. It is a situation that is almost beyond words and description.”
“The Department needs to re-examine how it determines where resources need to go and how school planning areas are constructed. There are two main primary schools in Portmarnock, with a third, St. Nicholas of Myra National School, just outside the village. They are the schools for Portmarnock. They need investment. Pupils can walk and cycle to them safely, which is everything we want for local schooling as regards how pupils travel to school. I ask the Minister of State and the Minister, Deputy Naughton, to put in place a proper solution for this issue. If we start pushing out enrolment dates to require that students be five years old at enrolment and put at risk the ability of siblings to enrol, we really are in a bad place, and it is a place we could avoid with some better planning.”
“It is difficult to find some comfort in the Minister of State's response for my constituents in Portmarnock. The current school year was bad because some students missed out and had to travel awkward distances to other schools for placement. Based on projections, it seems very likely that some siblings will not get into St. Marnock's National School in the coming year. That information is from good sources and the situation is only going to be compounded. The issue with Portmarnock is not just that it has new estates, but that the traditional part of the village has also seen major regeneration. A lot of younger families are moving into the houses that have been there for a long time. Pressures are increasing and we need a temporary or quick solution for the upcoming academic year.”
“The Fingal county average for the number of children per family is 1.42, which is a conservative value based on anecdotal evidence in the Portmarnock area. Therefore, using these conservative estimates and the 982 units, it would be expected that there will be 962 children in that estate alone.”
“However, since the previous census, several large housing developments have been built in the area, namely, Dún Sí, Skylark and Drumnigh Manor, which have increased the population greatly. The housing developments are, of course, welcome. However, they need to be paired with increased infrastructure and school places. To illustrate that point, I have worked out examples for the developments and the estimated expected number of children needing primary school placements for these estates alone. The Skylark development has 982 units proposed for development in the area, providing mainly three- and four-bedroom family units. Nationally, based on 2022 figures, 69% of households in Ireland are families.”
“Despite this, construction of the new Malahide Portmarnock educate together national school was not selected to go to tender this year and has been delayed for at least four years. Eight months ago when Deputy McEntee was Minister for Education, I shared figures with her and it is important to do so again. In 2022, the census captured the under-five population in the area as numbering 602 children. These children would have been in the area by April 2022, which is the time of the previous census. Taking an even division of the ages from birth to four years, that would equal approximately 120 children requiring a junior infant place and a subsequent primary school place in each year from September 2022 to September 2026.”
“The reality on the ground is very different. Last year primary schools only took children until a November birthday in first round offers and December birthdays in second round offers. This year children will need to be born in September 2021 or earlier to secure a place in their local school. This means children will have to be five before they start school in Portmarnock. We know the rules on the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme and provision for two years. We know the impact it has on parents having to stay in work, which predominantly falls on the mother. Ensuring children have to start at the age of five is disgraceful. According to the Department's demographic projections, peak demand in Portmarnock has not been reached.”
“I have had the same response from the Department to parliamentary questions and Topical Issues, which is that the Department is aware of enrolment pressures in Portmarnock and has put in place a number of measures to support the schools. Unfortunately, these have not manifested or worked and children this year were unable to secure places in local schools. This will only be compounded next year. I have real concerns about how the data the Department has is being examined. I have heard a number of times through parliamentary questions that first year enrolments nationally were expected to peak in the 2023-24 school year. However, this national level data does not apply to an area such as Fingal accurately because it is a growth area where houses have been built in recent years and continue to be built.”
“I welcome the fact the Minister of State from the Department of Education and Youth is here to take this Topical Issue. As the Minister of State knows, I represent Dublin Fingal East. It is a rapidly growing area, with house building in east Fingal, and all towns are growing rapidly. This is good and we need houses. With this come a lot of young families and pressure on local infrastructure. This is not a new issue that I am raising. I raised this in advance of the previous academic year and I have to raise it again now in advance of the next academic year. The issue is the lack of school places in junior infant classes in St. Marnock's National School, Portmarnock.”