Jen Cummins
Dublin South-Central · Social Democrats · Ireland
“However, there is an advantage if their family can buy them one and they can continue their school work at home. It is not good enough to say that schools can make up their minds about that. The Department needs to actually decide and give guidance like it does for other things.”
“Circular 0032/2017 has been in existence for almost ten years and in most parts is not enforced. There is no point in issuing a circular if nothing is going to be done about it. I am delighted the Minister has said there will be a working group to review and hopefully strengthen that.”
“I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this motion. It is very timely. These are the summer months when parents start to think about how we will we stretch our finances to autumn, get everything that we need to ready and then still maybe take a holiday, organise summer camps, etc. The motion is, as stated, very timely.”
“I see it as an absolute disgrace that such a number of people need that support. I welcome that that funding and support is there for those families but I am still shocked that this affects 233,000 children, which is a lot of children, aged between two and 18. I think it goes up to 22 in some cases. There is a digital divide.”
“When parents were told, they had six weeks to pay but most people do not have such a flexible budget to allow them to pay the €160 or however much it is. When things are being reintroduced time needs to be factored in for that. There was an increase in the cost of school transport for families.”
“I will go through a few of the things that I think still present challenges. The capitation grant for schools was increased last year but has still not reached a level which will mean that schools are fully funded. It has not reached the level where it needs to be. In addition, it does not take into consideration the level of inflation.”
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“We need to ensure that young people are cared for and helped to transition into adulthood in the way that would happen if they were at home. I commend anybody who works with children in care, be they foster carers, those who work in residential care or those who help families to have meetings, if it is possible to have meetings. It is hard and it is heartbreaking, but we have to do better. We have to do the best we can to make sure that those young people are loved, nourished and cared for. The word "care" extends not just to the family but also to us, as a society, when those young people are taken away from their families, whether temporarily or permanently, and placed in care.”
“They have different needs. They are entering into a time of independence, and things can be uncertain. There is rapid growth in their development from their social lives, things they might be learning and their jobs, and they need us. That is the same for children who are in care but they do not get that often, especially if they are in residential care because there is shift work and people are on and off. This is the challenge. How do we make sure we care for the children who are in care, especially those who are going into aftercare? In youth work, young people are seen as individuals up to the age of 24 or 25. That is true not only in Ireland but also in other countries. When it comes to our aftercare system, that is a very vulnerable time for children.”
“The priority is giving them somewhere to sleep, bringing them to different things and telling them about things. It is a very functional relationship. However, being in loco parentis means you are replacing who is not there. In such circumstances, where is the emotional and psychological support that comes from with being a human being? We all need to be nurtured, we all need to be loved and we all need to feel we are part of a family and a community, but children in care often do not feel that. They particularly do not feel it when they are coming towards the age of 18 and are going to be moving into aftercare, which can be a harsh and cruel place where there is a lack of love. It is a scary time for them. Many us here may be parents. The 18-year-olds we have need us as much at that age as they when they were 14 or even younger.”
“The number of placements a child may have in care also affects the education outcomes for them. If there is only one placement, early school leaving stands at about 20%. If there is more than one placement, it rises to 38%. It increases each time because the environment for the child is more unstable. I have worked with children who have moved from school to school because of placements. How are they supposed to be able to progress? We really need at all times to be preventing it, though I am aware that does not always work out. We cannot prevent every child from going into care, unfortunately. In my remaining time, I wish to look at the care needs of young people in Ireland, particularly their emotional and psychological needs. Over the time I worked with young people I have found these needs are often not the top priority.”
“We need to do everything possible to make sure a child does not need to go into care by ensuring their caregivers – their parents – are supported to do everything to make sure they stay there, provided it remains safe. That is why the early identification and prevention are of utmost importance. As education spokesperson, it would be remiss of me to not mention the detrimental effect being in care has or may have on a child who is in care. In January of last year, the CSO indicated that 7% of school-age children in care repeat at least one year in primary or post-primary school and 29% of young people in care leave school early. That proportion for young people who are not in care is 8%, so that is a whopping number of young people in care who do not complete the leaving certificate or equivalent.”
“As the Minister knows, our paths crossed when she was Minister for Education and I was working with the school completion programme. I worked with children and young people over a couple of decades, lots of whom have gone into care. As we all know, children and young people who go into care do so for a variety of reasons. Unfortunately, the resources to prevent young people from going into care are not always there. We need an increase in family support workers, youth workers, social workers and public health nurses. It starts with there not being enough public health nurses, especially in my constituency of Dublin South Central. That leads to knock-on effects such as young people missing milestones and maybe indicators that things may not be right being missed.”
“Deputy Malcolm Byrne - To discuss actions taken by Government in relation to ongoing human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party against the Uyghurs. The matters raised by Deputies Barry Heneghan, Jennifer Whitmore, Louis O'Hara and James Geoghegan have been selected for discussion.”
“Deputy Barry Ward - To discuss the shortfall of SEN primary school places in Shankill, County Dublin. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness - To discuss commercial rates bills for Waterford childcare providers participating in the ECCE scheme. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí - To discuss ongoing issues with the 15 bus in north Dublin. Deputy Maurice Quinlivan - To discuss the ongoing use and misuse of e-scooter vehicles in urban areas. Deputy James Geoghegan - To discuss Dublin hosting the World Economic Forum. Deputy Louise O'Reilly - To discuss prepay customers facing involuntarily disconnection over winter. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore - To discuss special education places in Wicklow. Deputy Louis O'Hara - To discuss the dangerous condition of a derelict hotel (details supplied) in County Galway.”
“I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 39 and the name of the Member in each case: Deputy Peter Roche - To discuss access the supports for persons with an end-of-life medical card. Deputy Jen Cummins - To discuss core funding for Ballyfermot youth service. Deputy Michael Cahill - To discuss allowing allow for modular housing and low-cost sites. Deputy Barry Heneghan - To discuss the NTA proposed merger of the 130 Dublin Bus with the 80 bus. Deputy Erin McGreehan - To discuss the delivery of level 2 general palliative care services in County Louth. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú - To discuss the Organised Crime Bureau's statement about the response to drug debt intimidation and violence.”
“Digital Rights Ireland has now written to the Department of Education and Youth querying why it continues to post pictures of children on X and says that posting images of individuals to the platform constitutes a "high risk" to those individuals and especially to children. I have stopped using X myself and I would prefer all State bodies and Government Departments to stop using it. Could the Tánaiste at least give a guarantee that Government Departments and Ministers will stop posting pictures of children and young people to that platform?”
“The Minister for education, Deputy Naughton, has said that the use of Grok to create sexualised images of women and child sex abuse material is "very concerning". She went on to say that we need to make sure that we tackle it and keep our young people safe. I wholeheartedly agree with her and I am sure the Tánaiste does too. Can the Tánaiste explain why the Department of Education and Youth is still posting images of children on X? Given what we know about what is happening on that platform, how can we possibly justify using it? Ironically, the Department is in the process of reviewing social media use guidance for schools in the wake of this scandal.”
“I am looking forward to the conversation because it is saying it wants to discuss the use of AI and other technologies in children's lives. It is calling for stronger regulation enforcement, embedding critical digital literacy into school curriculums and equipping parents to assist their children in their online lives. I encourage all TDs and Senators to attend because the organisation has a lot to say and we have a lot to learn.”
“Part of the conversation was about the fact that educators needed to be enabled to support young people who were using generative AI instead of doing the work themselves for coursework or exams. Of course, we also discussed the use of AI as an excellent way of assisting young people and, actually, everybody in terms of learning. It is a tool, like books and the Internet, to help students learn. However, if they are not able to use it as a tool in a way that helps them learn instead of just generating the work itself, that is where the difficulty lies because they are not learning the stuff themselves. Again, educators need to be supported in understanding AI. It is moving at a pace that far exceeds our training and CPD provision for educators now. In two weeks, I will be hosting the CyberSafeKids charity in the audiovisual room.”
“AI has the ability to be useful and harmful. In the last couple of weeks, we have not been able to open newspapers without seeing the negative impacts of AI. As a result of the disgrace of Grok on the X platform, I will no longer be using it. I was a Twitter user for about ten years. I have to say that since its current owner took over, I will not be using it because of the misogyny, the meanness and the racism. I have to say the step too far for me is the generation of child sexual abuse material. It is a step too far for humanity and there is no benefit to this tool whatsoever. It needs to be banned and legal steps need to be taken to prosecute the platform. At the education committee before Christmas, we discussed leaving certificate reform and the use of AI and examinations formed part of it.”
“I do not want to see professionals coming in to tell teachers how to do it. Teachers are teachers; they are not therapists. We need to make sure that professional therapists are in there who can support those children at the worst times of their lives, when they are dealing with things going on for them. I will also say, and this is not talked about quite a lot, that I want to see an opportunity for the arts, as part of social inclusion, to be brought back into schools. This was removed a number of years ago, but it is so important. I know it is something that is being worked on by Professor Paul Downes and people in DCU. Professor Downes is part of that working strategy.”
“I am glad that the Minister of State mentioned the school completion programme. As I have said several times in here, I was a school completion co-ordinator for 18 years before I became a TD. I am very proud of that role. I would not like to see it eroded. I look forward to the Department finalising the employment and governance structure of the school completion programme, but that is for a different day. DEIS plus should not only be about the funding it will bring. The funding is vitally important, but it is about the services that are provided to children. The pupil-teacher ratio being reduced in DEIS schools, particularly in DEIS plus schools, is really important, as are multidisciplinary teams, which are able to go in to address specifically, not generally, the needs of children and young people and see where they are at.”
“I am glad to see that we are on the same page with regard to following the child. To clarify, I do think DEIS has been extremely positive. However, it is not as positive as people thought it was going to be. When DEIS was brought in, people thought that schools would automatically become able to answer all the questions over time. They cannot because, as the Minister of State has rightly said, his Department is also responsible for intergenerational disadvantage. We cannot just pigeonhole this in the Department of Education and Youth. It has to be seen throughout Departments because, to deal with intergenerational disadvantage, we need to deal with intergenerational trauma. That is a very large thing. We in this country are only starting to understand how much it affects young people.”
“If you are living in a fancy housing estate but are on the housing assistant payment, HAP, because you happened to get a landlord who would rent there, that is not counted. That is a big disadvantage when trying to identify those families who need additional support. DEIS needs to follow the child and not only the school.”
“The reply continued: It will target a cohort of schools with high concentrations of children and young people experiencing intergenerational disadvantage where there is a significant gap in outcomes and there are barriers to those children and young people achieving their potential. Intergenerational disadvantage needs to be taken together with intergenerational trauma. The reality on the ground in schools is that young people are not succeeding to the best of their ability because of intergenerational trauma and disadvantage. You cannot separate them out. You also cannot find that data on the HP deprivation index. That is one way of looking at it but you have to be able to see what is going on in a family. If they are living in private rented accommodation, that is not taken into consideration.”
“You can get data from the census, the HP deprivation index and things like that but unless you know what is going on in schools, you do not know what is going on in schools. That is one of the difficulties. The reply to my question in November stated: The DEIS Plus scheme will provide additional support to schools with the highest levels of need, in line with the Government’s commitment. I keep saying the word "schools" for a reason. We are trying to support children and young people. It is not about schools. Schools are the conduit but we need to use the terms "children" and "young people", which the reply does go on to do.”
“I am a little bit worried that this strategy will only tickle the wicked problem of educational disadvantage and that it will not actually be able to address it fully. From the answers I have received in writing about this and from watching other debates that happened in November 2025, I see that schools will not be required to apply. Schools were asked to apply the very first time DEIS was implemented. There were advantages to that because schools were able to say exactly what the issues were. The second time DEIS was looked at, schools did not have to apply because metrics were put in place. There were difficulties with that because you did not get the on-the-ground knowledge.”
“I am happy that the Department has answered calls for DEIS plus, which a number of school communities, particularly around this city but also throughout the country, have asked for. It addresses the fact that the original DEIS model has not been the panacea people thought it would be in addressing educational disadvantage. While it does have positives, there have been gaps in services and it has not achieved what it set out to in the depth that it was thought it would. It is really important that the new strategy being implemented is rigorous and methodical and that it is evaluated and monitored appropriately. The way in which it is evaluated must be much better than those for the previous schemes so that we can learn what is and is not working early on.”
“I see that the Minister for education is not here. I believe she has an engagement this morning. It is very rare for me to get the opportunity to raise a Topical Issue so it is very difficult to not have the Minister here. I am not questioning the Minister of State's ability to answer the question. I am sure he is very well prepared. However, it is very difficult when you go to the bother and do a lot of research into an area only for the Minister not to be here. I find that a little bit frustrating. Now that I have given out, I thank the Minister of State very much for being here to answer my question, which is about the plans for the inclusion of schools in the DEIS plus scheme.”
“Why did it leave it to the last minute to challenge the deal, leaving it now scrambling at the end? Forward planning is important from an environmental and animal welfare point of view, but also for our homegrown farmers and how we support them. Let this be a lesson to the Government that when it has to make decisions it is not faffing around trying to figure out what is going on. I was very interested to hear what my colleague Deputy Whitmore said. We need clarity and leadership on issues such as this. I thank the Minister of State very much. Hello to everybody in the Gallery.”
“That beef was sent over here, then up to Northern Ireland and then down here. That is an issue. We are very strict in Ireland about what can be used with regard to hormones, growth hormones and antibiotics. Is that going to slip now because of this deal? That is not good enough. It is not good enough for the animals. We have strict measures on farms here. Those cost producers and farmers a lot of money and if they are being undermined, it is not acceptable. The constituents who contact me are asking why the Government could not make a decision on this deal and if there was a commitment in the programme for Government, why the Government wasted time. Why did the Government not build alliances with EU partner countries that objected to the deal, such as Poland, France and others?”
“The concern is for the farmers. It is about beef farmers and the 900,000 tonnes of beef that will be allowed to come in to the EU from Mercosur. It is about the 180,000 tonnes of poultry that will be sent to the EU over the next five years. Given that poultry is not heavy, that is a lot of poultry. It is about how this will affect farmers who already struggle. That is a concern my constituents have. My constituents are also worried about animal welfare. They are particularly worried about the use of antibiotics and hormones, all those things that, for the most part, are banned over here. I read in an RTÉ report last week that the Department of agriculture was notified by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in December that there was an issue with 128 kg of beef, basically because it had a growth hormone.”
“Is mian liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil le Sinn Féin as an rún a chur os comhair an Tí. I also voice my dismay at the delay by the Government in reaching this decision. This is not the first time this coalition has struggled to make decisions in a timely manner. Unfortunately, there are many issues facing this country that need to be sorted out and this is one example. I am a TD for Dublin South-Central, which I know is not the farming centre of this country. However, I too want to use my voice because many of my constituents have contacted me and asked me to use my voice to show opposition to this deal. They have a number of concerns around protecting farmers. I believe there are farmers in the Gallery. They probably passed through Dublin South-Central on the way. They are all very welcome. We really want to support them.”
“I look forward to the day we do not have to worry about young people having access to vapes, when they are not attracted to them and when we have restrictions in place on people who sell these products. Before I finish, there is also the issue of nicotine pouches that are being used by young people and that are hugely problematic for their health. We are not talking about that specifically today, but we need to talk about it. Big nicotine companies are profiting from the ill-health of our young people and other citizens.”
“I would love to see us get to a situation where we do not have to continue to talk about it and we are able to make sure all those things are implemented for people not to be reliant on vapes. When vapes came out, I had family members who used them to try to come off cigarettes. However, that was years ago and they are still using vapes. They could perhaps stop using cigarettes, but they are using vapes. I was happy to hear the Government was looking at legislation to ban the use of vapes in pubs, restaurants and so forth. Happy days. I cannot stand the smell, as I am sure lots of people cannot. If we cannot smoke in there, we should not be able to vape there either.”
“There is a lot of research on health issues and schools are doing great work to try to let young people know that it is as detrimental to their health as smoking a packet of cigarettes. I am delighted to see that and I commend schools that are doing that and supporting parents to make sure they understand the situation as well. As the previous speaker said, single-use vapes are a challenge environmentally - they are just used and then dumped - but as Deputy Sheehan said, those that can be charged, which are just a notch up from being disposable, are a challenge as well. All the wires have to be disposed of. It is detrimental to our environment. This conversation is timely.”
“I was not that fashion conscious to be honest at that age, but I probably would have been looking to be part of that marketing thing. It is clever and we are behind, in that we are not challenging these companies and this business in the way we can. In September, I spoke about the fact that under-18s were being sold vapes even though it was not allowed. At the time, I asked whether anyone was ever prosecuted. I heard over Christmas that people had been prosecuted. I am delighted about that. Can we have more of that, please? I certainly do not want young people going to buy a substance that is bad for them that they are not supposed to be able to get. I am delighted there were prosecutions of that. Schools have had to fit particular smoke alarms to detect vapes and that is an additional cost for schools that they should not have.”
“I am talking specifically about young people for the reason that I am a mother of four and vaping comes up quite a lot. It comes up with my friends and constituents that young people are really affecting their health and there is not a widespread understanding of how bad vapes are for people. It is an addictive substance that damages lungs and people. I spoke to a beautician who mentioned the number of young people she saw who had poor skin because of vaping. There are all these things that do not get talked about and the challenge is something I talked about in September. I was quoted in the newspaper. I was not being flippant at the time, but people can get vapes to match their outfits and people who use vapes do that because they are being marketed to a certain cohort. As I said in September, if I were that age, I possibly would vape.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on vapes again. I spoke about it in September and said vapes are the bane of many parents and their children. I have been contacted since then, and was contacted prior to that, about how vapes cause so many arguments in families. As parents, we thought children do not smoke anymore and young people do not smoke but now we have vapes. When I was sitting here I wondered how much a vape costs. A vape is about €10 but a packet of cigarettes is about €23, so it is significantly cheaper to buy vapes and you can get your nicotine hit much more cheaply. Part of the difficulty is every year we put up the price of cigarettes but maybe we need to think about that for vapes as well to make it prohibitive for people to buy them.”
“Deputy Boland's supplementary question will be allowed. Not Deputy Neville's, that is enough. He has gotten me into trouble once already. We will move to Question No. 174 which will be grouped with Question No. 184.”
“They are trying to get back on their feet but they are living in a situation where they are so crammed together, they of course have to go outside. Can anything be done to ensure that when buildings are being repurposed, we are protecting people's privacy and a right to dignity to not live in an absolutely overcrowded situation in bunk beds? When people are trying to get back on their feet, it is very difficult. That has a knock-on effect, not only for them but also for the people who work in that hostel and the people who live in that area.”
“I wish everybody here and throughout the House a very happy Christmas and thank them for what has been my first year and how welcoming they have been. I have been very delighted to see the Taoiseach has given clearance for Santa Claus to come. I wish to raise an issue on the South Circular Road in my constituency, where a number of people are housed in a homeless hostel. Unfortunately, there seems to be an issue with overcrowding there which is spilling out onto the streets and causing antisocial behaviour. That is not welcoming for anybody. My concern and the concern of the people living on that road is because there are so many people living there, it is a fire hazard. A total of 75% of the people who live there are working.”
“In those two parts of life, rural and suburban, we loved our animals. That was true of people on both sides. It has nothing to do with where you live. It is about loving and respecting animals. The Minister said earlier that foxes are not a protected species. That does not mean they can be treated the way they are treated in a fox hunt. They have feelings. They are animals. They have feelings and are, therefore, capable of feeling fear and dread caused by being chased by humans, horses and hounds. Fox hunting is banned in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. It really is time that Ireland evolved and stopped this cruel and barbaric activity.”
“I thank Deputy Coppinger for bringing forward this Bill to ban fox hunting. It might seem unlikely that a city TD such as me from Dublin South-Central would have any interest in what is constantly being said affects rural areas and communities. If you bear with me for a minute, I will explain my position. When I was a child, I split my time between suburban Dublin, in Deputy Coppinger's constituency, and rural Cavan, where my granny and her people are from. My mother lived there for the last part of her life. I spent many weekends in Cavan with my grand-uncle, driving a tractor, going to fields, feeding cattle, helping on the farm and moving cattle from field to field. As a suburban young person, I also spent my weeks going to school, youth theatre, friends' houses and hanging out on the estate.”
“Of all the things the Minister could have charged people in this country for, this is the thing she chooses. I am literally flabbergasted that she would chose this. It is so mean and so unfair. The reality is that this is an important thing for people being cared for in their homes. I am getting emails from family members who are really worried about this. I will stop talking now but I thank Sinn Féin for bringing this motion forward.”
“James's Hospital is a massive hospital, as I am sure the Minister is aware. It is my constituency. It services not only the people of Dublin South-Central but also people from around this country with acute care needs. It does an excellent job. What people who go into hospital want is to go home. Everybody wants to be at home, especially when they are unwell. The last place they want to be is in a hospital in unfamiliar surroundings. Therefore, to be at home really is of utmost importance and these blister packs are what allow people to be cared for in their homes for as long as that might be needed. If they cannot afford to do that, that pushes people out of the possibility of being able to stay in their home being cared for. It is just such an unnecessary cost.”
“I also support the motion. I have received a number of emails from constituents in Dublin South-Central who are absolutely flabbergasted by this mean-spirted decision to charge vulnerable and elderly people for a pack that is life-saving to them. This is the antithesis of how this country should be supporting vulnerable people. The story of Scrooge will never be dead as long as things like this are decided, and so close to Christmas. The worry that elderly and vulnerable people and their families have now is how they are going to be able to afford this. I am not joking when I say this - I am not making this up at all - but there are people in my constituency in Dublin South-Central where this amount of money that they will have to pay is really going to put them in such a bad way. St.”
“I look forward to meeting the NTA in the next couple of days. I am thankful that it finally agreed to meet Deputy Gary Gannon and me; we are going to meet it next week. I will be bringing this issue up again because there is still frustration. I am not sure the solution the NTA has provided is going to be acceptable to the community. In fact, I know it will not be because they are out protesting again on Saturday.”
“As the Minister of State has outlined, we had a meeting with the NTA. I asked whether there was something wrong with the route 130 that meant it had to be fixed. I did not get an answer to that. However, if a bus route is working, why not leave it? Why do we have to link things up? I disagree that going to Merrion Square would be a difficulty. I do not understand what the difficulty would be. It could go down Hawkins Street. I appreciate that the Minister of State's expertise will come into play when BusConnects starts in Cork but there is a possibility of getting to Merrion Square through Hawkins Street. There are ways around this. The NTA may be experts on buses but I would argue that the people who have to use them every single day are experts, too. The NTA should be listening.”
“It is very positive that the bus is not going to go up Bridge Street because it can take so long to get up that hill. People are just waiting there and it is a complete and utter waste of time. However, the issue is that there was no public consultation about changing the route to include the 130. Part of the overall difficulty is the time at which consultations for BusConnects were held. Not many people engaged because they did not know how difficult the change was going to be. Consultations happened during the Covid pandemic and it was very difficult to imagine a bus route when you were not exactly sure how that was going to go. I am very glad that the NTA is monitoring things and has admitted that this has not been what it expected and hoped it would be. That is also the experience of the people living in the area.”
“They have a lovely community there and that is where their energies should be going. What is are the NTA and the Minister for Transport going to do to reinstate the 26 bus route?”
“It is 9% or 10% on a good day. When buses are not turning up and are not reliable, it affects people's lives. The previous contributor spoke about volunteers. All of these people have their busy, normal days and then they are in a situation where they have to spend their evenings and weekends protesting for a very simple public service that they pay for. It is not even that it is free; they are paying for it. They are so frustrated. I pay tribute to them because they have come out on dark, cold, rainy nights to public meetings and to protests. They have been mobilising and they should not have to do that. They had their Christmas tree lighting ceremony recently and the atmosphere was not as jolly as it could have been because their energies are going into the wrong things.”
“Quite frankly, they could walk from town to Chapelizod in less time if they were able to but the footpaths and cycle path are also a disgrace. My son goes to sports out in that direction and I had reason to cycle there to the protest recently and the footpaths and cycle paths are not fit for purpose and very dark. However, that is a side issue for today. This is the Christmas period and I was speaking to a person earlier this week who told me that a number of people are missing out on Christmas activities and festivities because they just cannot get the bus back and forth. People with disabilities are being let down. It is an unmitigated disaster. The NTA told us at that recent meeting that the 80 route is still within the 2% margin for buses that do not turn up or are late but that is not the data that we have collected.”
“They had a huge protest a couple of Saturdays ago and are having another one this Saturday because they want the 26 back. They want it back because it worked although, as I said, it was not perfect. I want to give the Minister of State an idea of what is happening for the people of Chapelizod. Mothers have been waiting for over an hour. One woman with a new baby and a toddler waited for an hour in lashing rain and then missed her GP appointment. There are children going in the opposite direction, out of town, who are getting detention because they are late for school so now parents are back in their cars, bringing them to school. There are people going to work who used to take 45 minutes to get in or to get home but it is now taking them over two hours.”
“The bus used to go in all the way along the quays. I do not know whether the Minister of State is familiar with the area, but the bus used to go all the way along the quays to Bachelor's Walk and then cross over to Merrion Square. The route was changed and the bus now goes over to Palmerstown Park. As one person said, people do not want to go to Palmerstown Park because they live beside the Phoenix Park. Why would they want to go over there? There was so much pressure put on the NTA that there was a meeting with all public representatives in the area. The NTA said it would move the 130 service that comes from Clontarf and it could go out that way but people in Chapelizod, Islandbridge and Palmerstown do not want to go to Clontarf either. They want the route that they had that was working, albeit not perfectly, and meeting their needs.”
“I am not sure if the Minister of State is aware of the issues with BusConnects in Chapelizod but that is what I want to raise today. It has made up a huge amount of my work over the last number of weeks. People in Chapelizod, Palmerstown and Islandbridge are absolutely at their wits' end with the 80 bus route that came into being in the middle of October. I have held two very large public meetings in that time. In fact, the first one was so large that I had to divide it into two groups. I took one group of people first while the other group waited outside and then I had the other meeting. There was a protest a few weeks later and then another meeting that was attended by over 100 people. This issue is affecting people's lives to a huge extent. The former 26 bus service was the only bus route from Chapelizod into town.”