Gareth Scahill
Nominated by the Taoiseach · Fine Gael · Ireland
“Before we finish up I call for a debate on home care services when we come back in September. We all know the value of carers in our society but an awful lot of the HSE support service staff going into houses are private agency staff and when the person they are looking after goes into hospital or into respite the support they are getting…”
“Can we reset the clock? I will start by mentioning the "parents notify" portal on the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, website for special classes and special places, which has a deadline of 1 September.”
“Like previous speakers, the Leas-Chathaoirleach might allow me to thank the staff of the House, including the ushers and all the catering staff and, reluctantly, all of my colleagues in the House. We do not always get on or agree but there is great respect in the House.”
“I welcome the Minister to the House. Like so many of the previous speakers, it would be disingenuous of me not to concede I agree with some of the points in the motion.”
“The whole country has these facilities now, meaning that should we ever experience something like Storm Éowyn in 2025 again, we will have supports to allow people to continue to work remotely, provide for their families and live where they want to.”
“I do not believe one size fits all in Ireland. The Minister's county, my county and Longford are all in one big district and we have not benefited from additional Garda numbers in quite some time.”
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“Some 57% of people who report these crimes get their money back, but we are still looking at a very high percentage of people not reporting it and not getting their money back. That is something we really need to target. Last Friday, 193 new gardaí were attested from the Garda College in Templemore. A further class of over 200 Garda recruits is commencing this week in Templemore and will be out in the next 11 or 12 weeks. However, once again, for what I think is the 24th month, the Longford-Roscommon division has received no additional gardaí, and this goes back to my original point about online fraud. I have been told that instances of fraud in Longford and Roscommon have increased significantly. We do not have enough gardaí on the street, never mind enough to deal with the online fraud.”
“First, I want to acknowledge former Deputy and Senator, Paudie Coffey, who is in the Gallery. Last week, I received a text message that was supposedly from my daughter, telling me about a new phone number that she has. As my nine-year-old and ten-year-old daughters were sitting beside me when I received this message, I immediately knew it was a scam. However, text scams, WhatsApp messages and emails are things we are all experiencing every day of the week now. One in three of the population, or 35% of adults in Ireland, have experienced fraud through these particular mechanisms. According to a report a last week, a third of those affected never reported it. I was interested to see that €160 million is the proposed value of fraud in Ireland at the moment, and that is supposed to be underestimated.”
“That would be a great way of trying to make sure that those 1,900 potential houses can be targeted at those who need this most.”
“I welcome that 1,900 homes will be included this year. It would be interesting to see how many vulnerable users there are and what percentage we are covering there. One of the people who contacted me about this said it would be great and would reduce their anxiety if they were able to get onto this scheme. In contacting their energy provider to inquire about the scheme, they were told there was nobody internally they could speak to, that it was done on a lottery system and that if they were ever picked, the provider would get in contact with them then. I would like to see if there were some sort of contact that public representatives could make on this with providers because it is very vague and there does not seem to be anybody taking responsibility in any of the providers for engaging with public representatives.”
“One of the things I saw when I was looking up the scheme is that the majority of providers have online applications but, historically, vulnerable users are more limited in doing this particular job. I hope that through the Minister of State and the Department we can simplify the scheme and roll it out to an awful lot more people. I believe there is an appetite out there and the time is right to do it. Since Storm Éowyn last year my area has had ten or 12 power outages. I have spoken to people with ventilators and oxygen at home, and this is a real worry and stress point for them. It is great to see that a scheme is in place but I want the opportunity to highlight it and try to push it forward.”
“It was good to see that the scheme was extended last October. At the time, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, said 470 homes benefited from the scheme, and it was being extended to include eligible homeowners who are registered under the life support category of the priority services register. This is not a scheme that is very well known about. When we do a search we see that all the onus is on the electricity providers to engage with people on the register and find out about their eligibility, and then put them in contact with a solar provider to see whether the scheme will work for them. We have an opportunity to scale this up an awful lot further than this. We should be bringing it to the vulnerable users rather than putting the onus on them and the providers to do this.”
“Priority is given to people on life-protecting devices, assistive technology supporting independent living and medical devices. In trying to support these people, and ensure they are better prepared for future events, I came across the solar PV scheme for medically vulnerable customers. It is to include all homeowners who register with the energy suppliers under the life support category of the priority services register. These homes have dependence on electrically supplied equipment, including medical equipment, life-protecting devices and assistive technologies. The solar PV scheme for medically vulnerable customers is a targeted initiative designed to support the installation of solar photovoltaic panels in households registered under the life support category of the priority services register.”
“The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, is very welcome back to the Chamber. Today I want to talk about vulnerable customers and the solar PV scheme for medically vulnerable customers. In January and February 2025 Storm Éowyn hit our country. I do not know whether too many people in the Chamber know that my area was very badly hit. My house was out of power for 13 nights. We have a very old demographic in our part of the country and a lot of these people were on a vulnerable user list. From engaging with these people, they do not feel they benefited any extra by being on this list. Vulnerable customers are defined as people who may be put at risk due to interruption of their electricity supply or gas supply, particularly those relying on electricity to operate life-supporting machines.”
“In the next couple of months, Cork Port will introduce additional infrastructure and capacity but it will only be able to deal with one project at a time. The ports cannot invest in any of the offshore projects or in their own expansion until planning is approved. I would love to hear the Minister of State's thoughts on the offshore and ports investment.”
“It was suggested earlier that approximately 13% to 15% of our electricity capacity is being lost annually through lack of capacity to take from wind energy at the moment. I welcome that the Minister said he has provided €3.5 billion in equity for offshore and onshore grid capacity. That is the priority. It is not going to be possible to do a whole lot with all these other schemes unless we fast track the grid capacity and that investment. I welcome the Tonn Nua campaign down in the south-east. There is 900 MW of capacity going to be generated offshore there. There are four other sites off the south-east coast that will be contracted out at a later stage. If we are hell-bent on offshore and generating our offshore capacity, the only port in Ireland at the moment capable of dealing with that is Belfast.”
“I thank the Minister of State for coming in. Energy security is something we heard all the previous speakers talk about. We generated 33% of our electricity demand last year from wind energy, which is welcome. It shows that some of these schemes are working at the moment. We are familiar with travelling around the country and seeing a lot of windfarms with propellers not moving at any given time. The reason for that is the lack of capacity in our grid. This country spent a lot of money in the 1970s and 1980s investing in our grid. We had a very good grid infrastructure in the 1990s for the development of our country. However, the grid infrastructure is creaking at the moment.”
“Last year, 316 rescues were recorded by lifeguards in this country. The year before that, in 2024, 2,002 rescues were recorded, so the instances are increasing year by year. Young people now are getting a little braver. They are taking potentially more chances and do not have a full awareness of some of the conditions they are experiencing out there. It would be very worthwhile and very timely to have that discussion in this House. I think it is the weekend of 22 May, which is Whit weekend, which the Leader will be familiar with. Traditionally, we were all encouraged not to swim in Ireland until after Whit weekend for safety reasons. I would welcome a discussion on this before then.”
“I will raise the issue of water safety. We are coming to that time of year when we want the public using all our amenities, our coast and all our lakes, but there is an awareness issue in terms of water safety. There have been 16 drownings in Ireland already this year. Between 2018 and 2022 there was an average of 116 drownings per year. During the previous five-year period, between 2013 and 2017, there were 132 drownings per year. There is a massive issue in terms of people's self-awareness and the awareness of the dangers of our waterways. We need a discussion in this House on water safety, on what more can potentially be done on the education side of things and what more we can do with students in schools, but also in terms of more opportunities for training people up in life-saving and lifeguarding skills. I looked at figures.”
“The Minister is welcome once again to the Chamber. As my colleague has said, any motion or arrangement that can promote and enhance the relationship between the police in both jurisdictions must be welcomed. We share the Border and the ferry ports and we must support anything that can enhance the respective police forces' ability to do their jobs. I also note the window for this is 30 April, which is next week, so it is important we deliver this. I am fully supportive of it.”
“Plastering is just one area but the skills gap is there for many other apprenticeship needs at the moment. We are creating and funding policy that is creating this demand. We need to look at that and ensure the apprenticeships are there to deliver on it.”
“Currently, there are 25 plastering apprentices training in the country. About 12 graduates per year are being produced. We are talking about externally wrapping houses, either in the warmer homes scheme or with the energy upgrades, but how will we ever meet the demand if we are not producing the skilled craftspeople? This is something I have regularly raised in this House and called for. The reason for delays in the warmer homes scheme is there is not the manpower on the ground to do the work. The money is there for all these houses and for the local authorities to draw down. In the recent public consultation committee in this House, I called for Ireland's apprenticeships to address regional skills gaps and future workforce needs. We need to ramp that up and press it forward and that is something we can do within this House.”
“Surprisingly, I was going to raise the same issue as Senator Murphy O'Mahony. Yesterday there was an announcement of a 96% increase of households applying for home energy upgrades compared with the first three months of 2025. That is 29,000 applicants for home energy upgrades. This is on the back of a €640 million investment in budget 2026, €558 million of which is coming from the carbon tax. We have a target of 73,000 houses to be upgraded this year and we are well on our way to hitting that target. There is a clear and obvious upward trend and demand for this. At the same time, as was pointed out, we all know the delays with the warmer homes scheme and a study has just been published by the south east regional skills forum. This identified that plastering apprenticeships are facing a severe shortage now.”
“Addressing dental health early can reduce some of the financial pressures on other areas within the health service, as can having that conversation about dental check-ups for primary school children because we all know the waiting list extends to that as well. I would welcome the opportunity to have that conversation.”
“It was great to see that the report pointed out the need for more dentists and dental places, but it also pointed out there was an opportunity to give dental hygienists more responsibilities to alleviate some of the pressure on our dentists. I would like us to have a debate on dentistry, maybe get someone in from the Department of Health, and see whether we can have a good wholesome conversation and try to address some of these issues. It is not only affecting my area or Senator Duffy's area; it is affecting everybody's area. It is a topic that we need to have a discussion about. Dental health has a lasting impact on overall health.”
“Recently, Senator Boyle gave me one of the reports from the health committee, which did a recent report on dental services. They constitute an issue that I have raised in this House numerous times. We know that we have not been producing enough dentists historically and that we do not have enough dentistry places. Last September, we welcomed the addition of 20 new places, but there is still a lack of places. Only something like 8% to 10% of applicants are getting places on dental courses in Ireland. This is not meeting demand. That resonates throughout the country. We are seeing three-, four- and five-month waiting lists to get into dentistry. We all receive calls in our offices every day of the week. Medical card holders are unable to find a dentist who will accept them. Dentists are not accepting new medical card holders.”
“Farmers and agricultural contractors do not currently have viable alternatives to fossil fuels when it comes to powering machinery. Tractors, harvesters and other essential equipment depend on green diesel. There is no widely available affordable alternative to meet their demands. I welcome the postponement of the increase, but I would like to see a discussion had about postponing that further until there is a viable and suitable alternative to green diesel.”
“Hopefully, something like that can be looked at because they do not operate private milk collection or food transport schemes themselves. As well as that my colleague has mentioned carbon tax, which is a tax I agree with in principle. It is bringing €1 billion into the Irish economy at the moment. That money is ringfenced for our SEAI grants. Even the ACRES scheme is supported by it I believe. However, the tax was introduced with a clear purpose, which was to discourage the use of fossil fuels and drive a transition towards cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. In principle, I am sure that is a goal we all support in this Chamber. Reducing emissions and protecting our environment is essential for future generations, but the policy must reflect the practical realities.”
“These collective businesses make a substantial contribution to the rural and national economy and to exports. Their members operate significant road transport fleets involved in milk collection and animal feed deliveries. While they welcome the package of supports in response to the escalating energy costs, they reiterate the need to see strong supports for farmers and the businesses they rely on such as co-ops. ICOS members are carrying dramatically increased energy costs at the moment. Their concern with the road transport support scheme is that it will cause inequality in the haulage of agri-goods and produce because the eligibility requires them to be a licensed haulier rather than their own transport.”
“He hopes there can be some exceptions for individuals like that because they are still experiencing the same high costs and are still extensively leveraged for the machinery they have bought. Hopefully something can be done about that. As well as that, Senator Duffy and I have been contacted by the Irish Co-operative Organisation Society, ICOS, which has engaged with the Minister and was involved in the negotiations. The schemes that have been introduced are based on extensive engagement he has had with all of these organisations. ICOS represents a range of rural co-operative businesses involved in milk processing, feed milling, livestock markets and agri-trading. These are businesses like Aurivo in Ballaghaderreen, County Roscommon, which is an extensive employer in my area.”
“As my colleague has already pointed out, €750 million was either the largest or second largest measure enacted across Europe. We have to be appreciative of that. On the farm subsidy support scheme, I welcome the measure. It was a measure that was further down the page when it was announced, and a lot of people did not see it initially as up to 20 cent off green diesel for those providers. However, I met some constituents at the weekend. I met a young fellow who is a new agricultural contractor. He worked for the past couple of years with other providers. He set up his own business last September and between September and December he does not have enough receipts to justify himself going into this new agricultural season where he expects to be quite busy.”
“I find it hard to believe that four weeks on from the initial measures people are still wondering why such a small amount was taken off the green diesel. Some 15 cent was taken off petrol and 20 cent was taken off diesel, but it was from the excise duty and there is only 11 cent of excise duty on green diesel. That is the reason why there was such a small amount. However, that has been addressed, and we always knew it was going to be addressed and monitored as the situation developed. I also refer to Senator Noonan, who spoke about protecting our butchers and abattoirs. I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. In some situations, I believe we are regulating these abattoirs out of existence, and it is something we should be wholeheartedly embracing and trying to retain.”
“I do not think it is helpful for former Members of any of the Houses in Leinster House to make off-the-cuff comments about one element of society supporting others when we all know that is not the case. It is our job to fight for better services, better supports and better utilities like this for the people in our areas. We will continue to do that.”
“The facility is very inclusive and ticks every box we are looking for community groups to tick in order to access funding at the moment. The facility in Lisnamult is one of the few facilities around the country that has an accessible toilet with a hoist in there, should people visit. It is something I encourage any member of this House to go down and visit at some stage to see how inclusive it is and how it has made a place for itself within the community. I look at other parts of the country and I wonder why would people try to pit one element of society against the other - urban against rural and those who have against those who have not. We are all constantly coming into this Chamber on a daily basis, fighting for our corner and fighting to have the same services delivered in rural areas that are delivered in urban areas.”
“I acknowledge Roscommon Community Sports Park and the wonderful young people from Roscommon Athletics Club who were interviewed and spoke of how it was inhibiting them from reaching their full potential in athletics. It is a privilege and advantage all the other counties that have these facilities have over them. The fact is they are able to run, sprint and to do hurdles but they are not able to do jumps or throw practice in this facility. Sports capital funding has benefited them down there but they are currently on a €1.5 million fundraising drive to support the new facility's development in Lisnamult. Over the last three years, I have had the privilege of participating in the Roscommon community challenge. It is a night-time run the group runs every year to support that facility but also to support the Special Olympics.”
“On my way to Dublin this morning, I was listening to RTÉ Radio 1. Darren Freehill aired a piece on the Roscommon Community Sports Park group. It was highlighted on the radio that Roscommon is one of only three counties - the other two being Leitrim and Longford - that do not currently have an athletics track. Darren made a recording from a sand track or a sandpit, which I am familiar with because we used to play soccer there 30 years ago. We used to have blitzes there on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the summer. After all the investment and all the progress that has happened down through the years, we are still expecting athletes to train on this sandpit without having proper facilities in Roscommon.”
“For the price of one or two of these, we could have quick measures introduced now that we know would have an impact on reducing speed.”
“I thank the Minister of State for his response. I believe in the scheme. I welcomed when Ballyfarnon was brought to the design stage recently following an intervention from us in relation to an accident that had happened earlier last year. When it comes to road safety, doing something now is better than waiting years for perfection. Children's safety must come first and while I welcome there are schools that have been introduced, councillors in Roscommon and I are still looking at three national schools on a main road. Lisacul National School, Taughmaconnell National School, Castlesampson National School, Ballybay Central National school, Frenchpark, Killina, Clooneyquinn and Kingsland are all schools that need these measures now.”
“Surely the priority must be ensuring that every child in every school has at least a baseline level of protection when they arrive at the school gate. I know I am short on time. Essentially, for the cost of one of these schemes, we could see interventions and safety measures introduced at multiple schools. A basic speed bump costs about €5,000, so we are looking at €10,000 for one on each approach, and a few thousand more to erect signs at either side of each school. That would ensure that all schools benefit from the core elements of the safe routes to school scheme, giving students safe access to their schools.”
“Speed remains a major factor in collisions. Rural roads in particular pose a serious risk, with many schools located along high-speed routes where children are most vulnerable. Perhaps it is time to rethink our approach to this issue. Instead of focusing solely on comprehensive high-cost upgrades for a limited number of schools, should we not also prioritise basic, life-saving interventions for all schools? Measures such as speed reduction zones, speed ramps, flashing warning lights and speed indicator signs can be delivered for around €50,000 per school. These are proven, practical solutions that can significantly reduce risk. For the cost of one major project, we could introduce essential safety measures at multiple schools.”
“There are currently no plans, as far as I know, to reopen the scheme until the remaining 406 schools from the original cohort have been included. At the current pace, and factoring in inflation, significantly more than €50 million will be invested in this initiative, given that projects outside schools cost €200,000 and more. Meanwhile, countless other schools, many in desperate need of basic safety measures, are left waiting, not just for delivery but even for the opportunity to apply to the programme. We have to ask ourselves if there is a more effective way to protect our children. While the full suite of interventions is welcome - the bells and whistles of colourful pencils sticking up outside the school and anti-grip speed bumps - we are facing ongoing and very real road safety concerns and challenges.”
“The scheme aims to improve safety at school gates, upgrade walking and cycling routes and encourage active travel among students throughout the country. We are now seeing tangible improvements in that area, with wider footpaths and safer crossings. We have all seen the colourful school zones and traffic calming measures that make a real difference to families. Since the scheme was introduced in 2021, 526 schools are at various stages of either completion, design or development towards benefiting from this programme. Investment in the scheme amounts to around €50 million. We cannot ignore the bigger picture. When the scheme opened initially 932 schools applied, accounting for about 20% of the eligible primary schools. That tells us that this is an important scheme that is in very high demand. A safety scheme outside schools is urgent.”
“I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber once again. The Commencement matter I present today is in regard to the safe routes to school scheme and it follows discussions with Fine Gael councillors in Roscommon: Councillors Liam Callaghan, Valerie Duffy, Ruth Conboy and Dominick Connolly, about their frustration at the introduction of safety schemes around their national schools throughout County Roscommon. The safe routes to school scheme is one of the most positive and forward-thinking initiatives we have seen in recent years. It was developed in 2020 with a simple but powerful goal - to make it safer and easier for children across Ireland to get to school. In many ways it has delivered, where it has delivered.”
“I would like a further debate in this Chamber on the ambulance service because there is a disparity with the dynamic distribution model of the ambulance service, specifically for counties that do not have emergency departments, such as Monaghan, Carlow, Laois, Leitrim and Roscommon, to name but a few. Ambulance calls are assigned to ambulances rather than ambulance bases and we are leaving a certain cohort of our society at a slight disadvantage when ambulances are called to emergency departments or are dropping people off to emergency departments. People in those counties are left with reduced numbers of units serving their communities when situations like that arise. I would welcome a debate on that matter.”
“Last week, while I was using public transport, a train I was travelling on between Dublin and Roscommon had a small fire on board and had to stop. Too often we come in here and talk about a service not having done its job, but I want to compliment Irish Rail, the fire service, An Garda Síochána and our ambulance service on their quick response. They came to a remote part of east Roscommon where the train had to stop. We all had to disembark from the train and were transported to the nearest train station but it was reassuring to know that if the incident had been an awful lot worse, the resources and plan would have been in place to address it in a timely and reassuring way. On a related note, I had a meeting with some representatives of the ambulance service over the Easter break.”
“He should be probably less involved in Roscommon in future. I visited some of the events on Youth Night. Students from lots of different demographic backgrounds were putting on performances that they would not have had the opportunity to put on if we were not investing in programmes like Youth Night. A lot has been done. The fact the Minister is increasing the funding in all these areas is welcome. The sky is the limit in what we can do in this area. As the fact that we are all supporting this motion shows, it is going to take cross-party and cross-House engagement. I think we should all look at ourselves to see what we can do from there. I thank the Minister.”
“Following that, as we heard already, Youth Work Ireland had a briefing in the Freemasons' Hall. It was great to see the number of representatives who went to that meeting because each of us has our own individual issues in our own areas. Who better to give us that information than the youth services working in those areas? I commend Youth Work Ireland, Foróige and the National Youth Council of Ireland on all the work they are doing on the ground. One of the schemes I love to see invested in is Youth Night. It is one of these publicity nights, but it is also a way of bringing in people from all types of cultures, showing them the opportunities and what can be done when their kids are given the chance. Senator Curley mentioned the ETBs and how he was involved in the Galway-Roscommon ETB previously.”
“It is a listening and support service undertaken by youth workers dedicating specific hours to specific students weekly. The cost of the pilot programme being proposed was about €170,000, and that was to deal with all the students in Roscommon alone. It is something we will come back to the Minister on at a later stage. I have the group’s Listen Link promotional book for her to have a look at some time. Additionally, Senator Cosgrove had a briefing from ATU Sligo student union concerning the lack of student accommodation. This is an issue causing stress and mental health issues for younger people before they even go to third level institutes. There was a good attendance at that meeting too. It is about us as public representatives going in, listening to these issues and seeing how we can address them.”
“A total of 3,200 students have been supported through that scheme. The Minister has increased the funding from €500,000 to €600,000. The programme is working, we are going to get more students through it and it is going to make an impact. We have to be happy any time we can engage with more young people. The budget for UBU centres is just under €55 million and the initiative reaches just under 92,000 young people annually. We are addressing disadvantaged, marginalised and the most at-risk young people. It is not like we are not listening to these people regularly. Today alone, we had briefings from the Comhairle na nÓg in Roscommon on a scheme for early intervention in mental health issues. It is a scheme where the students came up with the solution themselves.”
“As Senator Curley mentioned, more than €90 million has been invested, which is a €4.5 million increase on last year. Capital funding has increased by €3.5 million, bringing it to a total of €4 million. We are, therefore, investing in this area. We have identified the problem. We on the education and youth committee are probably not giving the youth element as much time as we should, and maybe that is something that we as representatives on that committee should probably focus on. I had the privilege last summer of visiting one of the UBU centres in Athlone with the Minister's predecessor. It was concerned with the summer meals programme. While it is still in a pilot phase, it was making an impact on the community in Athlone. I welcome that the pilot programme has been extended and further invested in.”
“The Minister is very welcome back to the Chamber. I also welcome Mary O’Reilly who has strong Roscommon links. I know she is the backbone to Senator O’Reilly. I welcome the motion from my Sinn Féin colleagues. We all know the importance of youth work. We know how it is preventative and how early intervention is very important in reducing long-term costs in health, justice and social protection. We also have to acknowledge that about 450,000 young people engage with youth services nationally every year. The work is important in terms of mental health support, social inclusion, equality, preventing early school leaving and supporting vulnerable and marginalised individuals. Since the Minister has taken over this portfolio, she has increased funding in this sector.”
“Attracta's National School in Ballaghaderreen was included in the programme and I commend Noel Loftus, the principal there, and all his staff on the work they have been doing. I hope they will be able to continue to do it in a better way with this support. I also want to recognise Roscommon Community College, which recently won six drama awards at the all-Ireland finals for schools, including for best director, best actor and best supporting actor. It performed an adaptation of "Eclipsed", a powerful play set in 1960s Ireland exploring the experiences of women in Magdalen laundries. It is great that students are able to experience this. It is a better way for learning in our schools and must be encouraged.”
“The funding will be used to balance the whole system to ensure that all students have access to the education that they deserve, and will support the teachers and staff in these schools. The programme will provide additional supports in relation to the home-school community liaison scheme. It will strengthen well-being, community and inclusion. It will also give schools access to capital funding, and provide funding for breakfast clubs and free period products. Today's announcement must be welcomed and the Minister must be commended. It was only Monday last when I met Councillors Liam Callaghan and Michéal Frain in Ballaghaderreen in County Roscommon. We have been working together on addressing inequalities in the town. It was great to see that St.”
“I want to highlight the announcement this morning by the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy Hildegarde Naughton, of €48 million annually for the new DEIS plus scheme and the DEIS strategy to 2035. It is a significant step up in addressing educational inequality across the country. As part of the announcement, it was confirmed that 121 schools will receive funding and the plan will deliver 400 additional roles, of which 350 will be teaching places. I want to mention that Scoil an Chroí Naofa in Ballinasloe has recently been included in the schools building programme, which has been complemented by the announcement this morning. The programme will address where we see inequalities and where public representatives have highlighted inequalities.”
“Many people know the "Boys Town" movie as well. This is another step in Fr. Flanagan being recognised as a saint. That brings me on to the driving lesson delays we are starting to see creep up again. Last September, the Minister of State committed to a ten-week lead-in time for driving tests. At one stage in recent months, Roscommon was down to six weeks. I now see we are at eight and a half weeks, but many other counties are still well above the ten weeks. I hope it is not going to need the sainthood of Fr. Flanagan to address that issue. I hope it is something that we can address before the summer. I would love if we could have a further debate on that.”
“I agree with Senator Flynn. Senator Tully and I, among other Members of this House, have done an awful lot of work in the education committee around dyslexia and dyspraxia, and we have met young people and seen the opportunities for them. Their disabilities, as some people might call them, are actually their superpowers and we have to give them the opportunity to realise that power. I raise today the venerable status of Fr. Flanagan from Ballymoe in County Galway, conferred yesterday. He was born in 1886 in the diocese of Elphin, my home diocese. After completing his secondary education in Sligo, he emigrated to the United States and became a priest in the diocese of Omaha. In 1917, he founded Boys Town, a non-profit Nebraskan centre dedicated to offering children, particularly the neediest and most helpless, a new start in life.”