Fiona O'Loughlin
Administrative Panel · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“Some 400 remote working hubs were also put in place, particularly following the Covid-19 pandemic, when we all had the realisation that some work - not all work - can be done remotely. The local enterprise boards are doing an incredible job in rural areas. I am speaking from experience.”
“I join the Cathaoirleach in welcoming both the Belgian ambassador and my friends Joeleen and James. Anyone who has visited Chat N' Chew in Newbridge will have met Joeleen. I certainly hope her lunch today will be up to the usual standard at Chat N' Chew. It was lovely to meet with our former colleague Catherine Martin last night.”
“Continuing the theme of Kildare connections, she is a grand-niece of the late Rathangan author Maura Laverty, who wrote many books and wrote the very first soap opera for RTÉ, "Tolka Row". We wish Áine well on her retirement. I wish to talk about a serious issue relating to the blueway.”
“I thank the Minister of State for her positive response. In terms of premises, I had meetings with Jigsaw over the years in Newbridge and we did look at various premises. No later than yesterday, I spoke to the chief executive of Kildare County Council in relation to this.”
“We know young people are showing signs of stress or anxiety and that it is a very stressful and anxious world. Interventions can be made at this stage. The reason I have tabled this Commencement matter is that I have been advocating for a long time for Newbridge to have a Jigsaw service.”
“I always hate talking about these figures, but in terms of the rate of youth suicide, Kildare has the highest rate in Leinster. According to CSO figures, 14 people died by suicide in Kildare in 2023, in 2022 the figure was 26 and in 2021 it was 27. Demand is rising sharply for services.”
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“I thank the Minister of State. His response is certainly more positive than I had anticipated in terms of my conversations with those in the sector. I acknowledge that the Minister, Deputy Lawless, said to me that under his stewardship no apprenticeship programme would be cut. That is why I was concerned when I learned about this. I am very happy that the programme is not being discontinued but is operating on a two-year schedule. I also appreciate that the ETBs have an independent function. The programmes need to be supported in a sustainable way. My concern is in respect of the 43 applicants for next September. If they have decided this is the course they want to do, I would hope there will be some type of accommodation for them somewhere. In the immediate future, that is my main concern.”
“The uilleann pipes and Irish harp are recognised by UNESCO as our indigenous instruments. I honestly believe that a stay should be put on the cancellation of the course at least until an evaluation is carried out. I appreciate that the Minister of State is stepping in for the Minister, Deputy Lawless, under whose remit this falls. He contacted me to give his apologies; he had other important commitments this morning. He wanted to be here to respond to the matter and he shares my concerns. The bottom line is that we need to do everything we can to preserve our culture. I understand that the amount of money involved is not very significant. We should be doing everything to preserve our traditions and culture, including our wonderful musical tradition. From last year's class, we already have the possibility of ten instrument makers.”
“Any correspondence that comes from the Government or Departments has a harp on it. As a symbol of Ireland, the harp dates back over 1,000 years. In the past, it has also been a symbol of nationalism. I was fortunate that a near neighbour of mine, Ms Mary Keenan, was a wonderful harpist. Growing up, I had the opportunity to listen to the beautiful instrument that the harp is. We should be doing everything to preserve the harp and the making of it. I got to see one of the samples that Niall Crehan brought to a meeting place. It was an absolutely beautiful piece of art, let alone a beautiful musical instrument. A total of 23 people applied for the 15 places available on the course to start in September. The sad news, however, is that, as of last Friday, the course has ceased to exist. It has been cancelled. This is incredibly wrong.”
“I thank the Minister of State for being here. It is always good to see him. I raise an issue that I also raised last week. I decided to submit a Commencement matter on it. It relates to a course in the Ballyfermot College of Music, which does excellent work. It has a specific course, a two-year higher national diploma in traditional Irish music performance and traineeship in instrument making, repair and maintenance. It is an excellent course. I understand from one of the tutors, Mr. Niall Crehan, that among last year's graduates are two career harp makers, five career flute makers and two uilleann pipe makers. The harp, as we know, is our national symbol. All we need to do is to look at the seats we in this Chamber are happy to sit on to see our national symbol.”
“The notorious GAA catfishing case that was related on "The 2 Johnnies Podcast" showed how fake profiles can manipulate, defame and impersonate. It is beyond time for us to take strong action on this.”
“Brian Dowling, a fellow Rathangan person, is among those who have shared about how Tattle Life posted really intrusive and harmful content about him and his family. Ireland plays a crucial role in EU online safety because it hosts the European headquarters of many large online platforms. This makes the country a key enforcement point for EU regulations like the Digital Services Act. It is important that we use this. We need to have a debate in the House on it. I also want to mention the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person (Amendment) Bill 2024, which I introduced and which has gone through Committee Stage. It seeks to make catfishing illegal. This will go hand in hand with Coco's law to make life safer for everybody online. I would appreciate a debate in relation to that.”
“I want to raise an issue that struck us all over the weekend when we read newspaper reports about Tattle Life. I have to confess that I did not know much about it beforehand. This is a gossip forum that draws about 12 million visits per month. It had been hosting anonymous threads full of speculation, harassment, lies and doxxing, especially targeting public figures. A landmark defamation case was successful last week. Neil and Donna Sands were awarded a sizeable amount of money after they proved that Tattle Life defamed them. The case showed the operator of the site to be a tech entrepreneur, Sebastian Bond. It is a big breakthrough, not because of the amount of money, but because of the fact that somebody could be found guilty of something like this. It is really important.”
“I take this opportunity to wish the organisers of the Kildare Derby Festival well. On Sunday, the 160th Irish Derby will be held. Many will be travelling to the Curragh for the festival. Indeed, many will be travelling to Kildare town as the week progresses. A lot of really good activities are planned, including a Jack L concert in the cathedral tomorrow night. Unfortunately, with possible voting here, I doubt I will make it. I wish everyone involved the best. Racing has a very special place in Kildare. In saying that, it is ironic that this morning, the legendary trainer, Kevin Prendergast, was laid to rest. He was synonymous with the Curragh, with the Irish Derby and with racing. My deepest sympathies go to Kevin's family and the racing fraternity.”
“The Curragh Community College, which has been in existence for some time, is pushing the boat out to accommodate the extra numbers, but it is causing problems with transport and for those who have to move away from their town. Could the Minister of State bring back the message to the Minister that we need surety?”
“I thank the Minister of State. It is welcome news indeed that a number of tenders have been received and are currently being reviewed, and that the report of the review team will then be submitted to the Department. What is sadly lacking in the response is a commitment to the end date and to enabling students to start in August 2026. I appreciate that a number of steps must be gone through. We had a horrific situation in St. Paul's Secondary School in Monasterevin where a contractor who was not awarded the tender took the Department to court, which unfortunately pushed that project out. I seek some level of surety that if things go according to plan - none of us can ever plan for unintended consequences - the school will be ready to open on schedule.”
“That is the reason for my question. I have been raising the issue on a continual basis and I will continue to seek updates.”
“It took a year to get planning permission. An appeal to An Bord Pleanála was granted in January 2025. To be fair, the board dealt with the matter quite quickly. The issue mainly concerned the traffic management plan. I am aware the NTA had signed off on a 115-page plan from Kildare County Council in regard to that. This project is being managed under the accelerated delivery of architectural planning and tendering, ADAPT, programme. It is currently at stage 2b. It had been agreed that the school would be open for August 2026. We still have enough time for that to happen, but I am concerned because we are only at the tender stage of the process. Every commitment I have been given, once we had the initial delays, was for a date of August 2026. We must have this school open and functioning, even if it is just in phase 1 at that point.”
“The agreement was that the Curragh Community College would be given temporary accommodation by the Department of Defence to try to fill the gap. It has done an incredible job in difficult circumstances. In fact, I had a Commencement matter in the House not too long ago on providing proper transport from Newbridge and Kildare town, which is not happening. I understand from the Minister, however, that we should hopefully have something in place in September. This is now a crisis. Our schools in Newbridge and Kildare town are full. The school proposed for the site of the former Magee Barracks is to provide badly needed capacity in a modern building with four SEN units. This is to be welcomed. It took some time for the contract to be signed with the vendor. The planning application was lodged in October 2023.”
“Basically, we have a major capacity issue in Kildare town and Newbridge. Kildare town only has one secondary school. For the past six or seven years, there has not been enough space for all the children from Kildare town, let alone those who come from places near at hand that do not have secondary schools, including Milltown, Suncroft, Cut Bush and the Curragh. The secondary schools in Newbridge and Kildare town are the feeder schools for these areas, even though some of these schools are not official feeder schools. This causes a huge problem when it comes to sixth class. The stress the students, parents and families are undergoing is huge. Every year, from October and November on, many calls are made to me and other public representatives in this regard.”
“I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this Commencement matter. I know she has a particular interest in County Kildare because she told me previously that her mam is from Ballymore Eustace in south Kildare. I am sure all the Minister of State's relatives there are very proud of her success. Fair play to her. I am raising the issue of a proposed secondary school that will for up to 1,000 students. It has been agreed it will be delivered in two phases. Phase 1 will have 16 classes for 425 pupils and phase 2 will have an additional 21 classrooms, including provision for special educational needs, as well as PE facilities, a library, etc. This school is going to be on a shared campus with two primary schools, Gaelscoil Mhic Aodha and the Kildare Town Educate Together national school. Why is it that this school is so urgent?”
“I am sad to say that, as of yesterday, the course has been cancelled. The harp and uilleann pipes have been recognised by and received funding from UNESCO. We need to pause the cancellation of the course. At the very least, we need an evaluation. I would like to see it continue. I understand many wish to continue with that and there is always a waiting list. I ask that the Seanad make a point in this regard and bring the Minister to the House to discuss it. Many of my colleagues have raised the issue of those working in Oireachtas broadcasting. Yet again, they seem to be pushed back. It is important that we all make a stand and say that we want this issue to be raised with the commission by all of those who represent us.”
“We know it became a symbol when Eoghan Rua Ó Néill went into battle against the English in 1642. It then became a part of the Leinster arms, which it still is. It was used by the United Irishmen. Since 1922, it has come to represent Ireland. It is used on passports, coins and official documents and seals. It is part of the coat of arms of Ireland. We are all, of course familiar with O'Carolan being a much renowned and revered harpist. The presence of the harp in Ireland dates back over a thousand years. Ballyfermot College of Music runs an excellent two-year course which awards a higher national diploma in traditional Irish music performance and a traineeship in instrument making, repair and maintenance. The course includes not just tuition and workshops, but also provides opportunities to perform and record and accepts 15 people a year.”
“I add my voice of welcome to the ambassador. It was lovely to meet her earlier. We had an opportunity to discuss the collaboration between the University of Limerick and Luxembourg. My nephew, Joe O'Loughlin, participated in that last year and spent six wonderful months in Luxembourg. What really got his attention was the free public transport. When he returned he asked why we could not do that in Ireland. Today is world music day. In honour of that, and in an ironic way, I will speak about the harp, our national instrument and emblem. As we know, the harp is a symbol of Ireland because it was always held in such high regard. Harpists were also held in high regard. In ancient times, the chieftains of tribes and clans would travel, bringing their own harpists with them.”
“The unit should help but the cost of business advisory forum is also very important. It would be great to have updates in the House on the efficient running of both of these elements. We want to see real change. We want to see fewer forms. We want to make a difference, in terms of cutting the cost of business and the simplification of information and grants. Our business are struggling to survive. We want them to thrive. They make up who we are and who we represent. I thank the Minister of State for her time; I really appreciate it. I look forward to working with her on this.”
“We need a simplification of the information going from the Department to support our small local businesses. We need simplification of the access to grants also. From speaking to local businesses, and I know we all do so in the areas we represent, we know that sometimes they may receive notification only seven or 14 days before an application is due. We know this means time is taken away from doing work at the shop counter and front-facing work and that somebody else must be employed to do it. People have to take valuable time to attend chamber of commerce meetings or fill out forms. As legislators we need to be able to ensure we are not onerous in taking up that time. There is no doubt SMEs are being stretched to their very limit in terms of the cost of doing business, the administrative burden and the regulatory overload.”
“They are the people who provide employment and who pay rates to all of our local authorities. They contribute billions of euro to our national economy. They provide many services that may not be written into their job spec or that they would have thought of. It is very important that we do everything we can to help and support these businesses. This is why it is very good news that the dedicated small business unit opened last month. I thank the Minister of State for this because I know it is something she was very clear about in the programme for Government. It is something Fianna Fáil felt strongly about and she has taken up the mantle on this. The unit will focus on rigorously applying and implementing the SME test. This is very important because everything needs to be looked at through this lens.”
“The post offices are doing a lot of that work for older people and it needs to be recognised. Post offices can be a hub for digital transformation for some of the individuals who do not feel comfortable and may not have a family member to do this work for them. It would be great to have a formal agreement with them. In terms of the motion at hand, we know that small and medium enterprises represent more than 99% of our active enterprises and provide 70% of all the employment opportunities in the private sector. This is significant but, of course, they are not just business entities. In many ways they provide the heart and soul of communities, they are job creators, they are innovators, and they are neighbours of local development. They are the people who provide local sponsorship for all the local community clubs.”
“It would be great to see Ireland being the next one to do so. It is a very interesting and exciting area. One must have an open mind, as I know Minister of State has, and look at it through a number of different lenses. The Minister of State is a creative soul. We will see lots of adventures relating to all of that. With regard to digital transformation, bringing everybody along with us is so important, in terms of both the consumer, the person on the street, and those in business. We absolutely need change but we cannot forget those who could be left behind by digital transformation. For example, I was in a post office yesterday in Rathangan, County Kildare, speaking to the postmaster and Connie, who works there. During Covid, older people had to make an appointment by email.”
“We know we have great products to sell here. The role of the Minister of State as an ambassador for Ireland’s excellent products is really important. I wish her well on that. Artificial intelligence has been around for a long time but it has only been taken really seriously over the past few years. At the fourth summit of the Council of Europe - there have been only four summits in 75 years - it was agreed that artificial intelligence was one of the areas we needed to look at from an ethical point of view and with regard to human rights. While artificial intelligence can bring so much good and do so much more, we must have concerns about it being abused for disinformation, etc. The Council of Europe produced a convention protecting human rights in the context of artificial intelligence and 12 countries have signed up to that convention.”
“The Minister of State is very welcome to the Chamber. I am delighted to have the opportunity to formally congratulate her on her position. I do not know how she does all that she does in being an excellent public representative for the people of Cavan-Monaghan - constituency politics is demanding in itself - while also being able to take on a very challenging portfolio with such gusto and enthusiasm. She has totally embraced the three really important areas within her Department. I will mention each of those areas before we move on to the context of the motion. Regarding the geopolitical situation in which we now find ourselves, with the emergence of US tariffs and possibly more in respect of pharma, etc., the whole area of trade promotion is so much more important than it ever was before in terms attracting new business and new markets.”
“They all do absolutely tremendous work despite the county's very rapid growth. We have a population of 247,000 and experienced an 11.4% growth rate from 2016 to 2022, which is well above the national average of 8.1%. In contrast, counties with much smaller populations like Wexford, Mayo, Kerry and Donegal have significantly more family resource centres, so there is a clear imbalance here. There is a particular need in north-west Kildare. By that I mean Rathangan to Allenwood, Derrinturn, Carbury and Clogharinka. We have the lowest rate of community childcare in the country. It is only 5%, as opposed to 24% nationally. I want to make a very clear case and would like us to ask the Minister to come to the House to discuss family resource centres, which give an absolutely fantastic service to the people.”
“While it is great to win an award, volunteers throughout the country do tremendous work for Tidy Towns. They may not get awards or recognition but it is important to say their work is every bit as vital. We need to look at ways to reward this type of volunteerism. After the Covid pandemic, it was difficult to get volunteers. It would be good to have a debate in the House on how to support, reward and attract people to become volunteers at different stages in their lives. Another issue I want to bring up is that of family resource centres. I am glad that the Minister, Deputy Foley, has said there will be additional family resource centres right across the country. To make the case for my own county of Kildare, we currently have only four such centres. These are in Newbridge, the Curragh, Kildare town and Athy.”
“On behalf of the Fianna Fáil Party, I extend our sympathies to the family of Carmencita Hederman. I remember being fascinated by her as a young child. She was one of the first women in politics that young girls could identify with. She was very much herself. She had a very strong voice and she used it in all of the areas she was concerned and passionate about. I also add my voice of welcome to Councillor Coleman and his family. I hope he has an interesting day here in Leinster House. I will raise a few issues today. First, I congratulate my near neighbour of Naas on being crowned Ireland's best kept town and its cleanest town by IBAL, both in the same week. It is great to see a Kildare town recognised. I will give a big shout-out to all of the volunteers in Tidy Towns who make sure this happens.”
“I appreciate that the Department's decisions will have priority in this area. It is really good that the water tower and fire station are being considered for engineering space. There has been talk about the possibility of using the post office as a medical centre. I assume that, in the planning, there will be an opportunity to make proposals. I am pleased that the buildings will not be left to rot, because there is enough dereliction around the Curragh Camp. It is important that we do everything to preserve the two buildings and go further with others.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his response. I know he has a sense of the historical, social, cultural and architectural importance of both buildings. I am pleased about this and that he recognises the buildings' significance. I acknowledge that the Department of Defence was not involved in the decision to discontinue the use of the post office. The decision on the fire station was a military one also. Nevertheless, because the two iconic buildings are in the Curragh Camp, in respect of which the Department of Defence works closely with the military authorities, it is important that we have a plan in place. The response I have just been given about the plan to develop a series of master plans for each installation to future-proof for 20 to 30 years is very welcome. It would be helpful to get a timeline on that down the line.”
“That was a military decision, taken due to the working time directive. I do not propose to get into that issue now but I think that the decision was an absolute shame. Fire services do continue to be operated by Kildare County Council as a replacement but are not based at the Curragh Camp fire station. These are two very fine buildings, and people who live in the Curragh now and also those who come from families who originally lived there are very concerned about these two iconic buildings. Is there a plan for them?”
“Kildare County Council had to take enforcement action to ensure some of the building was boarded up. It is very important that a plan be put in place for this iconic building, which is in the heart of the Curragh Camp. The fire station was built not long after the post office. It was erected around the year 1900. It is a five-storey red-brick fire station with a very prominent, six-storey water tower. It was among the very first of Ireland's purpose-built fire stations and was built extremely well. It has a very imposing tower that makes it a centrepiece of the Curragh Camp civic square. Local people talk about being born under the shadow of the tower. It was a very important building, both in terms of the service it provided and the structure itself. Sadly, the fire services are no longer based there, as of only last month.”
“The post office itself is of considerable social and historic importance because it was the first purpose-built post office completed in Ireland after Dublin's GPO. It was constructed in 1899 and there is a preservation order on the building. It became a template for numerous other Irish post offices and served not just the Curragh Camp community but the surrounding villages like Brownstown, Suncroft, Gormanstown, etc., until July 2019, when the then postmaster retired. Facilities were moved to a modern facility so, thankfully, the service itself was not lost to the Curragh Camp and surrounding areas. It is an absolutely beautiful building and has been unused since 2019, after 119 years of service. Since the building closed, it has suffered vandalism and deterioration, which we see all too often with vacant buildings.”
“The Curragh Camp is a very special place in County Kildare and nationally. It was a thriving community but is not so much now, sadly, because a lot of facilities have been moved from there and a lot of the accommodation for married people and families is no longer available. At the same time, many families were reared in the Curragh Camp. There is still a military community and two schools are still operating from there. My Commencement matter relates to two iconic buildings. The camp dates back to around 1855 and was used during the Crimean War by the Royal Engineers. It was later expanded with a permanent barracks, a post office, a fire station, churches, a water tower and a courthouse.”
“I would again be happy to show the Minister around all these lovely parts. The revitalisation of town centres, which I know the Minister is passionate about, is key to many of us and the areas we represent. Covid brought home to us that we all have places of beauty and great pride in where we live. The opportunity to revitalise our town centres is badly needed. People in other European cities are living over shops. We see communities gathering on the main streets of those cities in the evening time for social reasons. We do not have that, and it is something we need to put in place. I thank the Minister for his work to date and wish him well. I know he will make a difference within his portfolio.”
“It has not yet been formally launched and there are still some works to be done, including a pedestrian bridge that has just started construction in Rathangan. The blueway is a catalyst for a lot of investment in the area. It is for the local people as well as attracting visitors to our region. When we talk about tourism, the Curragh of Kildare absolutely needs to be a heritage park. It is a very special place that is, of course, home to the Army, the horse industry and lots of sheep. It was home to the legendary Fionn mac Cumhaill and to St. Brigid. Kildare County Council and the Department of Defence have brought forward an excellent plan to attract people to the Curragh. It needs investment and another agency to be charged with looking after it, which will be subject to legislation coming down the line.”
“There is a need for a cohesive community to come together around further education and employment. That area could contribute. While the apprenticeship area is not directly within the Minister's Department, there is a strong link with it. In terms of connected hubs and driving job creation, that is where we need to be expanding some of the excellent apprenticeship programmes we have but doing so in the community. Tourism is also a part. When you look at it, you have a little bit of everything, which is difficult because there are a lot of different homes. Tourism is a part of how we can regenerate areas. The blueway is a big part of Kildare and I look forward to bringing the Minister to the area and showing him what we have done.”
“In Kildare, we have both an urban and a rural population. The Minister saw at first hand a small area in north-west Kildare, including Rathanagan, Allenwood, Derrinturn and Carbery, where there is not a lot of industry. I believe it is ripe for a good apprenticeship school. Many years ago, when Bord na Móna was the largest employer in the area, people travelled from all over the country to do apprenticeships, and many of those small towns and villages grew up around that. Now we have a dearth of those types of training facilities and apprenticeships. I am not going to say there is no connectivity because there is some, and we were thrilled that two weeks ago, the 888 bus commenced, linking Allenwood, Rathangan, Monasterevin and Athy. However, we need to look at areas where there is unemployment.”
“The Minister is welcome to the Chamber. I was delighted when I saw his name beside this Department and portfolio because I believe he has a unique and innate understanding of the different regions of Ireland, and a great passion for the people of Ireland. He can relate to all of them. I saw that at first hand when he had his previous portfolio. He was traversing Ireland when I had the good fortune to escort him around south Kildare to see some of our local small family businesses, and he was able to respond to them. To a person, I know they appreciated his support and that he got where they were at. There is no doubt but that we, as a country, are facing challenges but there are also strong opportunities out there. When we talk about balanced development, we are talking about rural and urban development in different parts of the country.”
“We must look at other areas that can be introduced, such as peace commissioner duties or post offices becoming the local points for tourism. Perhaps we could do more banking duties through our post offices. I know we all support and endorse the work that is done in our local post offices. We need the Government to do more and the Minister to come to the House for a debate.”
“Sadly, the number of transactions in our post offices is going down in the modern world but they provide such an incredible service. In many ways, they are the heartbeat of our communities. Certainly in my experience, with respect to Brendan Kelly, Marie Butler and John Normile in Newbridge post office and Shane and Connie Dunne in Rathangan, those who work in post offices provide photocopying services, fill in forms, send emails, etc., particularly for our older population. It is important that we ask the Minister to come into this House to discuss the situation. I know we have all had meetings. I want to mention postmaster Tom O'Callaghan from Clare. Subventions are needed. We need a whole new way of looking at and funding our post office system.”
“It is important for this House to mark that and to say that we absolutely abhor any type of violence against anyone. There is something about one of our own being murdered. We saw that when two politicians in the UK were very sadly assassinated within a short period. Our deepest sympathies to all those affected, including family members and all they represented. This morning, I was at Rathangan post office in County Kildare with Mr. Shane Dunne, the local postmaster, and Ms Sandra Tormey, the general secretary of the Irish Postmasters' Union. We discussed again the situation that local post offices find themselves in. It is generally not known that postmasters are not actually paid a salary; they are paid per transaction, and it is quite a minimal payment at that.”
“We in the Fianna Fáil Party would like to express our sympathies to the family of former Oireachtas Member, Liam Fitzgerald. He was a very kind, affable and effective public representative. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam. I also think it would be appropriate that the Seanad would extend its sympathies with regard to the Air India crash. Thankfully, it is not too often that we see aeroplane crashes of that magnitude but it was shocking to see 241 passengers killed, and also those who were in the nursing home on the ground. Very sadly over the weekend, we were all shocked to hear the news that Minnesota state senator John Hoffman and his wife had been badly injured, and worse again, Minnesota state representative Melissa Hortman and her husband had been savagely killed in a very targeted and politically motivated assassination.”
“That was passed in the Seanad in 2019. There was pre-legislative scrutiny in the education committee at that point but that has never progressed in the Dáil. I see that as something that is very important for the whole-school community and it gives students and parents buy-in to decisions that are made and an ability to address grievance procedures collectively and not in a defensive way. There is much I could say but supporting the extra capitation grants is really important because schools are finding it difficult to subsist at the moment. I ask the Minister of State to keep up his own excellent work on special education. There are so many relying on him to do that and I know he will deliver.”
“I ask the Minister of State to work with the Minister, Deputy McEntee, to ensure that does not happen, and I have no doubt he will. We need to support the whole school community. That is what makes a school strong. This is something I have written to the Minister for education about and I will give an example here of supporting schools. St. Brigid's primary school in Kildare has 1,020 students, yet it only has one administrative principal and one deputy administrative principal because there is no provision after 573 pupils. However, once they hit 900 students in secondary schools, they have three administrative deputy principals. In terms of the workload principals and staff have, I would really like to see that being addressed. Another issue I would like to see progress on is the parent-student school charter.”
“In fact, only two weeks ago the Sunday Independent had a really good article by Gabriel Byrne addressing this. He spoke about working with Leish Burke and Griese Youth Theatre, who I actually had in the audiovisual room approximately four weeks ago to talk about young people, how they interpreted climate change and what we needed to do. The work being done to help young people express their feelings and their emotions and work through these issues is certainly very important and I would like to see the Department of education doing more in this area. It is particularly important that we support the whole school community. While supporting teachers and the excellent teachers we have is vital, we are aware of the issue at the moment with school secretaries and caretakers. They have balloted for a strike, starting 28 August.”
“There is a very ambitious programme for Government in relation to education and I certainly welcome the commitments made there, especially on special education, the review of the DEIS scheme and investment. It is very important we also look at transversal education and the bridge between formal education, non-formal and informal. I learned quite a lot about that many years ago from Peter Hussey, who established a youth theatre called Crooked House in Newbridge. Through that and through working with young people dealing with all of the different things that are happening in society that impact on them and how to help them navigate all of the challenges and issues through drama and improvisation certainly empowered the young people I got to know through that.”
“We have one of the strongest education systems in the world and that is evidenced by our high ranking in all different forms of student achievement. This has been confirmed by the OECD and the EU. Two of my colleagues have mentioned that Ireland is way down the list of expenditure on education but I beg to differ. Ireland actually spends 12.6% of all Government expenditure on education. That is far more than most nations. The average spend across OECD countries is 10.7% and, in the EU member states, it is 9.5%. Of course, expenditure is not everything. It is the outcomes that are really important for that and, in relation to outcomes, Ireland does very well. There are a few extra points I would like to make.”
“The Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, is very welcome. It is great to have the opportunity to say a few words about this really important subject. I am very proud of the record of my party, Fianna Fáil, on education. It is fair to say we are the party of education and, throughout our history, we have established an unmatched record of commitment to education because it is a great leveller and a great enabler. Indeed, it is the bedrock of Ireland's continued social and economic progress. In terms of all of the significant developments and expansions in Irish education, Fianna Fáil has been at the forefront, from the establishment of free secondary schooling and the creation of special education supports to broadening access to university education and, most recently, the free schoolbooks scheme.”
“There have to be concerns about HIQA and how long it has taken to act on this. We will have statements in the House next Tuesday with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, who is the relevant Minister of State, on the nursing homes issue. I support the Senator's call about the adult safeguarding legislation and I have raised it myself. It absolutely needs to be implemented. The Senator spoke about the fact that money had run out in Cavan County Council, but there was money allocated last week to all local authorities to help support older people and those with disabilities. There was top-up funding awarded last week.”