Pauline Tully
Cultural and Educational Panel · Sinn Féin · Ireland
“I acknowledge that there have been huge improvements on what is available for women, compared with a few years ago when there was nothing, but still far too often conditions affecting women are seen as a specialty or mystery when there is a range of supports and advice that women could receive through primary and community care services.”
“Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire chuig an Seanad. I welcome the Bill. We will be fully supporting it. It makes sense. It will reduce barriers for women and make access to contraception easier, which is always going to be welcome. It will also ease pressure on primary care.”
“We need to look at a better public transport system, especially looking after our older people in isolated communities. Even to support our rural pub, we need to look at some sort of incentive for a taxi service that is affordable for people, so we can maintain our rural pubs and look after our older people.”
“Community and voluntary services on the ground, which are vital for providing supports and services to many sectors of the community, including older people and younger people, are not seeing sufficient funding to help them to keep running, to recruit and retain staff within the youth sector, for example, to maintain buildings if they hav…”
“The motion that we have put forward is very broad and covers many aspects that affect us in rural life. I too am astounded by the amendment tabled by the Government because it does not call for anything, which gives the impression that everything that is needed is there, yet many colleagues across the room here ask for more gardaí in thei…”
“Sláintecare is being rolled out too slowly, so we need to see proper resourcing of community healthcare. It avoids people ending up in acute healthcare settings, which are overcrowded. I see a dangerous trend where many people are being referred from areas such as Cavan and Monaghan to Dublin for acute care.”
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“Sepsis is the biggest killer in the world, with more people dying from it than from heart attacks, AIDS, lung cancer, breast cancer, Covid-19 and car crashes combined. One in five people who contract sepsis will die from it, of whom 20% are children. It affects people of all ages. Death from the disease is totally preventable if people know what the symptoms are and can request treatment. Two women from Cavan, Caitriona Flanagan and Hannah Tormey, have established North East Sepsis Awareness. The campaign covers counties Cavan, Monaghan, Louth and Meath, with public meetings to create awareness of the symptoms of sepsis. Both women have been personally affected within their families by sepsis, which prompted them to reach out to inform people of the symptoms and get the message out that death is preventable.”
“If someone is applying for a mortgage, it is not taken into account as income for that mortgage. They are being penalised both ways. It is pushing them over the threshold for social housing, but penalising them when it comes to being accepted for a mortgage. I know it is not that long since those rates were reviewed. In view of increases in rents, however, they need to be reviewed again. We should contact the Minister for housing to ask if he will look at the rates again to bring them level across the country, or at least for the areas outside the cities.”
“They are distraught because while they might be renting somewhere they can afford at the moment, if they are evicted or get a notice of eviction, they are not going to get anywhere to rent that is affordable for them going forward into a new tenancy. The average new tenancy rental rate in Cavan is now over €1,100. Yesterday, a person told me it was €1,400 for a one-bedroom apartment that she was looking at for herself and her two children. It is not even sufficient for her needs, but that is all she was going to be able to afford. Frequently, the increase is due to somebody who is working in a low-paid or part-time job, and also getting the working family payment. The latter pushes them over the threshold, but they need that payment to meet the cost of living. I have previously pointed to an unfair aspect of the working family payment.”
“I want to raise the income criteria relating to people being accepted for the social housing list. At the moment, in Cavan and seven other counties, someone can earn €30,000 as a single person, with marginal increases for another adult or for children in the household. It is €35,000 in 12 other counties and €40,000 in our cities and in areas within the commuter belt. What is happening is that people are applying for social housing and they are accepted onto the list, but it is refused the following year or a year later. The next thing, they are told they no longer qualify for social housing because their income has gone above the threshold.”
“Another manager said people are absolutely allowed to take mobility scooters on the bus. To be given that information and for someone to be refused access is discrimination. She has used buses loads of times. She could not understand one driver and one manager who were extremely awkward. We need to ensure that services for children are timely and that adults are able to access whatever supports and services they need to live their best independent lives. They are citizens of our country, they are human beings and that is what they deserve.”
“They grow so quickly and we are missing out on giving them the supports they need to progress in life, participate in education and go on to further education, apprenticeships and the workforce. They cannot do that unless they are provided with an assessment of need and the services they need as a child with progression into adulthood making the transition easier for them. The Equal Status Act is also from 2000. Again, it needs to be reviewed on a regular basis and updated. All our public services should be accessible to all people. I spoke to a woman last week who was refused admission to a bus because she had a mobility scooter. She was told it was not their policy to accept mobility scooters. The mobility scooter was no bigger than a wheelchair. She was given false information.”
“Unfortunately, while it might be done in many cases, I still encounter families who find it difficult to get their children assessed - different barriers are put in their way - and when the assessment has been carried out, they still do not receive the services they require. Children who do not get the services and supports they require end up becoming dependent adults and that is not fair. All our citizens, whether they are born with a disability or acquire one through an accident or illness, are entitled to live independent lives and to be given the supports to ensure that can happen so that they will progress in life as children. A year is a short time in a child's life. In fact, six months is short.”
“First, well done to Senator Clonan. It is an excellent Bill. It was co-signed by the former Senators Warfield and Gavan from my party and we fully support this Bill. I sat with Senator Clonan and the Minister of State. I congratulate the Minister of State on her appointment to take on responsibility for disability. She has a good understanding of the issues facing disabled people from her time on the disability committee. The Disability Act is 20 years old this year and it is time it was renewed, updated and reviewed. It was important that guarantees of an assessment of need within six months and a service statement within a month were inserted in that Bill.”
“They walk to school. Some of them do not have transport to go to different schools if the supports are not offered in this school. I am hoping that the NCSE and the Minister can put the supports that are required in place as a matter of urgency, but also put a plan in place for an additional special class next September.”
“I am aware the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, visited the school about six months ago. There is a specific issue now regarding the SNAs. The allocation has been appealed. Hopefully, the result of that appeal will go the way of the school. There is also the issue of the additional classroom. It makes sense in one way to prioritise larger schools because they will probably have a larger proportion of students with additional needs, but we should not forget about the smaller schools that parents have their children attend. It is important that children can attend their local school and have access to appropriate support there. It is also important that they can attend the schools their siblings are attending. That is the case with this issue. Many of the families whose children attend the school live in the Cavan town area.”
“Some of those schools are not willing to do this, but the school in question is willing to do it. It feels it is being penalised because of its Church of Ireland ethos. I am sure that is not the case, but I would like that clarified. It is also because the school is small. Some parents choose to send their child to a smaller school because it is more intimate, they know the staff better and the students, especially those who are autistic, are not overwhelmed by a large number of other students. It would be an awful pity if this school has to turn away students who want to attend because it is not being given the necessary supports.”
“The school has been inquiring about the latter for the past six months. The urgent need in this case relates to additional SNA support in the school in order that the principal and the EAL teacher can perform the duties they are assigned to and that all of the students can be in attendance for the full day each day. Hopefully, the school will get a special class in September in order that it would be in a position to accommodate all of its students who are autistic in the same classroom and provide them with an appropriate education. Cavan No. 1 National School is one of four schools in Cavan town. It is the only school that does not have DEIS status. It is also the only school that does not have a special class. It has heard about other schools being contacted about the establishment of special classes.”
“As a result, the SNAs are not able to provide support to them. They are under pressure to do as much as they can. The school applied for additional SNA provision since September but this was refused. It was more or less told to make better use of its SNAs. That is just not possible at the moment. The school is concerned that if its appeal is turned down, it would have no option but to tell the students in junior infants that they cannot be accommodated. The school has already had to let one student who has siblings in the school go. That student travels 30 km to another school to get an appropriate education. The school would love to have that student back and the parents want the student back in the school. As a result, everyone involved wants a special class in the school, hopefully from September.”
“That student then goes home and the EAL teacher comes into the classroom to stay with the other student who only arrives at that time. What we have are two members of staff who do not have the ability to perform their own duties because they are in a classroom for a number of hours each day providing assistance to students who require it. This also means that the two students are not being given the benefit of a full day in school at any time. Parents are questioning why this is the situation. There is another pupil in second class who is autistic and who has no SNA access. There is also a student in third class who is a wheelchair user, and there are times when she will need two SNAs in respect of toileting or other care needs. There are two SNAs employed in the school, but all of these students are in different classes.”
“This matter relates to Cavan No. 1 National School on Farnham Street in Cavan. The school has an enrolment of 106 pupils - the number is increasing - and its ethos is Church of Ireland. It is an excellent school that has a very caring attitude. The school is in crisis, however, because a number of students who require special needs assistants, SNAs, do not have them. Two students have just joined junior infants. One has been diagnosed as autistic and is non-verbal. The other has quite complex needs and is awaiting an assessment by the children's disability network team. Neither has access to an SNA. As a result, the principal and the English as an additional language, EAL, teacher are providing the assistance required at the moment. The principal is in the classroom with one of the students until 11 a.m.”
“If we were to take all the immigrants out of this country, we would still have a housing problem and a problem in our health service because successive Governments have failed to address those problems. The Government is happy to sit back and let people blame immigrants for the problems. The people coming into this country are not causing any of the problems. They are helping our country. They are building our country and making it a better place. They need to be welcomed. We must take every measure we can to ensure that is happening. We must stamp out racism and unfair practices.”
“They are all here trying to better their own lives and the lives of their families. The same is true of the Irish people who left this country and went elsewhere. Some people left Ireland for political reasons. Some were exiled. Many left after the Famine or the genocide that was created here in the 1840s. The vast majority of people who left here over the last century did so for economic reasons. They did not always go to other countries in the right way. Some went as illegal immigrants, and some are still illegal immigrants in other countries, and yet contributed to those countries in their own way. They went there to better their lives and those of their families.”
“Not even all of them have been. We saw a situation in England where there were riots and they were clamped down on straight away. Individuals were arrested and processed. There is a lot of false and misleading information floating around and that needs to be addressed. I hear from people that Ireland has changed. That is rubbish. We need to let people know. Some 85% of the people in this country were born here. Only 15% of the population have come here from other countries. The vast majority of them are coming here to work in our health services, the hospitality sector and our IT services. A proportion also come here to study. I meet people of different nationalities and colours in my office all the time. They come in to talk to me. They are all human beings.”
“The apartments those four families were living in were of good quality but where families or individuals seeking asylum are housed is determined by the private sector, and has been for the past number of years. It is not about the area, whether it can accommodate people or whether good housing, health systems or school places are available. It is based on whether a private operator has space and is willing to offer it. We have heard of some very dodgy people making millions of euro in taxpayers' money by housing IPAS and Ukrainian applicants. Some of the accommodation is less than good. That is not good enough. We also need to address racism. We can never condone racism in any shape or form. We have been far too slow to act. We had riots in this city two years ago and people are only now being brought to court.”
“These families have been waiting for at least 18 months. I am not sure if they were in another location in Ireland and have been here even longer than that, but they have been here for at least 18 months. They should have an indication now as to whether they have leave to remain or not. If they do not, I understand they must be deported. What is happening now is that people are not being told, sometimes for years on end, whether they have leave to remain. They then get a deportation order when they have already integrated into a community where they are working and where their children are attending school. It is not fair. It is not humane. That is not the way we should treat people. It lacks humanity in every way.”
“The school, the employers and everyone else are devastated. They spent 18 months living in that village. They have become well integrated. Suddenly, they are uprooted with, for some reason, only a week's notice I was informed last June that a contract was going to finish with that centre. I found out while inquiring about something else. These families were not informed. Some of them, possibly all of them, are Muslim but the children took part in the nativity play in the school last year. The families went to see it. This is an indication of how welcoming the people are in our town and local area. It is also an indication of what is wrong with the system. It highlights what is wrong with the system. There is an international right to claim asylum, but we need a fast and efficient system for people when they come into the country.”
“This morning, I was contacted by a school in Kilnaleck, a small village in my locality in County Cavan. Four families have been living there for the past 18 months. All four families have applied for international protection. They have been living in apartments in that village. Their children attend the local school. The parents are on the parents association. They support the school in everything it does. The children play football with the local GAA club and the parents go to matches. They are from all different countries in Africa and different parts. They work locally. Each of the families was yesterday hand-delivered a letter and told they would be moved from that accommodation next Wednesday. The letter was dated 4 November. They were only handed it yesterday. They are devastated. The children's friends in the school are devastated.”
“There will be no road left. I am looking at road disintegrating as we speak. The weather has been incredibly wet and is wearing away roads. The engineers tell me when they go out to repair a road for tarring, they have to replace all the culverts. They are very badly damaged because they have been left so long without repair. I am calling for immediate action to be taken to increase the allocation to the repair of local roads in our country. We depend on them in rural areas. The funding is much too low. I am calling for a debate with the Minister for Transport on this issue.”
“I want to express my sympathy and condolences to the families and friends of the five young people who were tragically killed in County Louth, and indeed, to the communities of Carrickmacross, Drumconrath and Ardee. They have all been rocked by this. At the same time, I know that those communities will be a strength to those families and relations in getting through all of this. I want to raise an issue that affects Cavan. I am from a rural area in County Cavan. There are approximately 3,000 km of local roads in the county. There are three municipal areas. The engineers have told me that they have received funding to repair approximately 15 km of road out of 1,000 km in each municipal area. That amounts to about 1% to 1.5% of the road network per year. At that rate, the road repaired this year will not be repaired again for 100 years.”
“There is less awareness of dyscalculia. There is no assessment in our schools or in NEPS for this condition. It might be opportune to consider a working group in the Department on dyscalculia to see how it can be assessed and what supports are needed. Since Project Maths was introduced at second level, the language used in the exam papers can be quite wordy. It can cause problems for people with literacy issues. Will the Department and the State Examinations Commission review the papers and ensure they are appropriate for students who may have dyslexia so that they can read and understand it in language that is easily understood and enables them to answer the questions?”
“I am often asked about special reading schools and special classes, of which there are some but not enough. There are very long waiting lists. There is an unequal geographical spread. Some children who really need those supports will never have the opportunity to avail of them. Can that be looked at? For students studying Irish, I know a change is being implemented in how Irish is taught, which is welcome, but there are lots of students with dyslexia who would love to be able to speak the language and can speak the language. Sive O'Brien went to a Gaelscoil in primary school and could speak Irish but then found it very difficult to learn the grammar in school. There should be additional supports for students to keep up Irish and not just look for the exemption from studying it. We need to see more students studying it.”
“She just felt she was not good at reading and writing. She did not understand what this condition was or what it meant for her. It is important that we try to diagnose earlier. The fact that one in ten students is deemed to be dyslexic means most classrooms will have students who have dyslexia. Teachers need to be able to identify and support those students. It needs to mandatory in teacher training that they recognise what dyslexia is and are able to identify it and support students. Perhaps an additional qualification in special educational needs or dyslexia is required. Schools have reported that sometimes they look for advice on dyslexia and get different advice from different agencies. We need to look at what dyslexia is and what supports should be available and ensure there is common ground across NEPS, the NCSE and so on.”
“Then, when they get in, they do not get the opportunity to display what they have learned. None of them have enough time to finish their exams. It is very unfair. When Dyslexia Ireland saw the terms of reference the State Examinations Commission was using for the review of reasonable accommodations, it indicated that there was no representation from people with dyslexia. That is quite concerning. We have the UNCRPD, which says nothing about us without us. People with different additional needs should have been involved in that process. Sive O'Brien appeared at the education committee. When I asked her when she was diagnosed as dyslexic, she told me it was when she was 12. We need a process where children are diagnosed much earlier and students are helped to understand what dyslexia is as well as getting supports.”
“There is nothing in this motion I could not support. It is something we discussed in the committee on education and youth just over a month ago. At that committee meeting, Dyslexia Ireland and the State Examinations Commission were present. The State Examinations Commission indicated it is not a question of if but when. It is very frustrating that it is such a slow pace of change. Dyslexia Ireland has been calling for years for additional time for students with dyslexia. It is the norm in many other countries, where the average is 25% extra time. Some countries give 33% or up to 50% extra. Students are stressed enough going in to sit the junior or leaving certificate as it is. If they have dyslexia, they have had to put in a lot of additional time and effort to learn because it is much more difficult for them.”
“I was contacted by a mother who was due to go back to work in mid-June. When she was four months' pregnant, she put down the name of her unborn child for a place in the local crèche but there was still no availability when it came to her time to go back to work. She could not go back to work until the end of September. She managed to find a childminder, who, she says, is excellent, but this childminder is now talking about getting out of this line of work because of the new system. The Minister needs to sit down with Childminding Ireland and other elements that represent the sector and discuss how we can avoid a catastrophe in childcare provision.”
“I raise the issue of childminding as well because we are looking at an inevitable crisis in childminding if the Minister, Deputy Foley, does not act quickly. The Minister needs to engage with the childminding sector to discuss and rapidly adjust a new Government system for childminding. Up to 80% of childminders are going to cease operation within 12 months if action is not taken immediately because the new system will increase the paperwork, and the subsidies and grants are insufficient. There is no longer support for the access and inclusion model, AIM. There is also a possibility of rates being imposed on childminders' homes. We have a shortage of childcare provision as it is. If we lose 80% of our childminders, we will be in dire straits. It will force parents out of work.”
“I call for an urgent debate on this issue. There has been an increase in the number of call-outs, but that is to be expected with the increase in population. We need to increase recruitment and ensure retention within the service.”
“It means that an ambulance from Finglas must come into Cavan to cover, but if the service receives a call-out in Finglas, the ambulance will not make it to Cavan to ensure it can cover any call-outs there. The newspaper also reports that ambulances in Cavan are sometimes called into Mullingar. In one case, the crew drove past Mullingar hospital to get to someone and by the time they got there, the person had got so fed up waiting they had made their own way to the hospital, so the whole journey was wasted. Why was that incident not serviced by the ambulance service in Westmeath? As well as the rostering issue, there is also a recruitment and retention issue. The situation in Monaghan is similar, with paramedics in Drogheda having to answer calls in Monaghan and ambulances from Swords having to travel to Monaghan.”
“I call for an urgent debate on the National Ambulance Service. In an article today in my local newspaper, The Anglo-Celt , a whistleblower from the National Ambulance Service contacted the newspaper to express concern about ambulance cover in Cavan, which is at an unsafe level. The newspaper also reports that morale among staff is at an all-time low. There are also obvious recruitment and retention issues. It states that Cavan is regularly left with reduced numbers of ambulances. If the roster is left as it is for the week beginning 17 November, it is going to be very unsafe. There is only one ambulance rostered for that night at the Cavan ambulance station. This happened a couple of times in October as well when there were days when there should have been four ambulances on and there were only three.”
“The HSE is paying for these facilities, so it is taxpayers' money going into the facilities, yet they are not being properly managed or run for the residents in them. Children sometimes require residential accommodation because the family reaches crisis point because they are not being given the supports to manage the children at home. It is a much preferable and cheaper option to put those supports into the family home so that the child can stay there and not end up in a residential setting, with everybody upset by it. There are many other issues I would love to address but I have unfortunately run out of time.”
“We need the neurological teams that were promised in the programme for Government to be properly staffed in each area. I am concerned about the number of young adults who have been put into residential settings, which can be poorly managed, in particular those that are privately owned. We often see untrained staff in those. There was a situation recently where two male carers were with one female resident. I do not think that is appropriate whatsoever. There seems to be the use of chemical restraint - the use of drugs to restrain someone - and a lack of activities being provided for the people in residential care. Many of these are private operators. Their main concern is profit. They have a high staff turnover, which is not good especially if many of these people are autistic. They like routine.”
“I am not talking about a carer, but rather someone who works for a disabled person and does whatever is required by that person to help them live, work and move around. The practice of putting young people in nursing homes has to end. They are put there without their consent and are often left for years without the proper supports. The lack of support in the community for people who are survivors of stroke or those who have acquired neurological conditions impacts their ability to live independently. I have heard from people who have been in car accidents and who went to the National Rehabilitation Hospital where they got wonderful support. When they came home, however, there was absolutely nothing. It was as if they fell off a cliff edge. As a result, they regress.”
“The support they require very different to those employees. We need to encourage entrepreneurship among disabled people. Regarding independent living, houses need to be constructed to a universal design standard. Houses are currently required only to be wheelchair visitable under Part M of the building regulations. This is something that needs to be reviewed and updated. Disabled people are often the longest on social housing waiting lists because there is a lack of accessible houses being built. We need to build accessible houses because they will benefit older people who may develop mobility issues. We also need the right to personal assistants. Depending on the nature of a disability, anybody who requires a personal assistant to allow them to live independently cannot be truly independent without one.”
“We have the highest level of unemployment among disabled people in the EU. That needs to be addressed head-on. The wage subsidy scheme does not increase in line with the minimum wage, which is something that needs to happen. I recently spoke to a man with a visual impairment who is employed in the Civil Service. He has nothing to do at work because he has not been provided with the adequate and necessary supports to do his job. He goes to his job and wants to work, but feels useless because he is left doing nothing. That is ridiculous. We want disabled people in the workplace, but we want them to be able do their jobs and to be given the supports they require. We do not want them left sitting with nothing to do. Disabled entrepreneurs are a group of people that are often forgotten about.”
“The school in question would be willing to use one. It commissioned an extension four years ago but this has still not been developed. It now needs more space than the extension would provide. It will have to cap its numbers, including in the context of those with additional needs. There is a lack of ambition for many of our disabled children, especially those who attend special schools or are in special classes. There is always an assumption that many of these children are incapable of learning. We need to be more open to accepting different methods of learning and we need to open up opportunities for our children and young adults. Communication is a major issue and leads to extreme frustration in many cases. We need to be open to considering new technologies to help young people.”
“It had to convert an existing classroom and a couple of office spaces in order to make the space appropriate. It was happy to do that, but the school knows it will require a second class. It is willing to open one next September, but it does not have the physical space. The school has been told by the Department that it will not provide a modular building for this or any other purpose. The Department is no longer providing modular units. I am concerned about that. The Minister for education needs to clarify the position. This matter does not fall under the remit of the Minister present, but I want to know whether the Department of education is no longer providing modular builds to schools. If it is not, I want to know why that is the case. Some of these modular units are very high quality.”
“We must recognise that this is something that is lifelong in nature. It starts as soon as a child is born. I am concerned about the lack of public health nurses in certain areas, particularly as this means that children about whom there are concerns are not identified early enough. That needs to be addressed in order that early intervention can be implemented, something every parent says is key. The lack of early intervention hampers educational attainment. Many children are not in appropriate school settings or are not in school settings at all and are not receiving therapies in the community to help them to thrive. All of those issues need to be addressed. I visited St. Aidan's Comprehensive School in Cootehill, County Cavan, yesterday. It opened a class for autistic children this year.”
“There has been no cost of disability payment or one-off payments of the type we saw over the past few years, but the cost of living continues to increase. That does not auger well. People hoped there would be something in the budget that would address the cost of disability. A number of pillars have been identified and, as the Minister said, they are across many Departments. I was a member of the disability matters committee during the term of the previous Government. People from different Departments and public bodies regularly came before us and claimed that disability was an issue for the Department of children and disability. It is not; it is an issue for every Department and public body. Obviously, they are all interlinked, and one impacts the other. The first matter is education.”
“I welcome the national human rights strategy for disabled people. I welcome, in particular, the fact that disabled people were consulted and that their views shaped the document. A number of DPOs claim not to have been consulted. A promise was made some years ago to draw up a register of DPOs. This has not been done. That is a pity. I would like to see it done in order that we can identify the DPOs made up of disabled persons. They should be consulted by Departments and public bodies, and properly resourced. A strategy, no matter how good, is of no use if it is not implemented. We need action plans and resources provided to ensure that strategies are implemented. The cost of disability was identified in the consultation process, which the Minister acknowledged. Yet, as a result of budget 2026, disabled people have been left poorer.”
“The school in question has also been told that the Department is no longer sanctioning modular builds. I want to know if that is true and, if so, why that is the case. Some of them are very high quality and are much better than the old prefabs we used to have in schools. The school would be quite happy to accept a modular unit, which would alleviate the situation with student numbers.”
“It has been waiting four years for an extension. The extension was sanctioned in 2021 but not a block has been laid, and the population of the school continues to grow. It has got to the stage where the school as had to cap numbers and cannot take in any more students. It opened a class for autistic children this year, but that is going to be oversubscribed by next year. It is quite willing to open an additional class but does not have the space to do so. It has used one of its existing classrooms to convert it to a room that is suitable for a class this year. As a result, however, it is down a classroom and cannot accommodate all the students who want to attend the school. It is not the only school facing this dilemma. I ask that we have a debate on the extraordinary length of time the school building programme takes.”
“I wish her well in the next phase of her life. I also acknowledge President Michael D. Higgins and his wonderful contribution as the President of Ireland for the last 14 years. I wish him and his wife, Sabina, good health and happiness in their retirement. I also congratulate the Cavan Centre, which won the youth award at this year's national lottery Good Causes Awards. It was established in 1977 and has helped over 127,000 young people and their families through outdoor education, hands-on learning and helping young people to develop life skills. In particular, those in the centre work with young people from disadvantaged areas. I congratulate them and all of the winners of the awards. I call for a debate on the school building programme. Yesterday, I visited St. Aidan's Comprehensive School in Cootehill, County Cavan.”
“I too want to be associated with the expressions of sympathy on the sad passing of Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy. She was a truly inspirational figure, dedicated to helping those who were less fortunate and in need. She was compassionate and had great vision and organisational skills, as we see through Focus Ireland and the Immigrant Council of Ireland, for example. She was tireless in her quest to improve lives. She inspired many and, hopefully, her legacy will live on in others. I also congratulate Catherine Connolly, our Oireachtas colleague, on being elected Uachtarán na hÉireann. We wish her well in her role, which I have no doubt she will carry out to an exceptionally high standard. I also commiserate with my former constituency colleague, Heather Humphreys. No election is easy, but the presidential election is particularly difficult.”
“We do not have enough community creches. They are wonderful and operate as part of the social enterprise model. They are not based on profit. They are providing a service. Many of our private operators are only interested in profit and we need to get away from that model. We need our public model of childcare. For too long, childcare in Ireland has been treated as a private market issue rather than a public good, and that needs to change. I am disappointed with the amendment put forward by the Government and we will not be accepting it.”
“I recently heard of a couple who came over from India to take up paid positions. They came on work visas for highly qualified positions. They were settled here and starting work. They went to look for childcare and could not access it. They said they moved here from India to take up positions but they have no childcare. It was ridiculous. Parents constantly say they find it difficult to find a place for a baby under one year of age, or even under two. We need to seriously look at extending parental leave. If you take paternity leave, maternity leave and parental leave together, it is not much short of a year. Why not extend it so at least the whole year is covered between the two parents so they can take the full year to care for the child at home and not lose money or wages? My children attended a community creche when they were young.”