In accordance with Standing Order 35, I call on the Chief Whip, Deputy Butler, to move the arrangements for this week's business.

I move:

Tuesday's business shall be:

- Motion re Statement of Estimates for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission (without debate)

- Motion re Sittings and Business of the Dáil (without debate)

- Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation Bill 2026 (Second Stage) (to conclude at the end of the first speaking round; not to exceed 3 hours and 34 minutes)

Tuesday's private members' business shall be the Motion re Public Transport and Fare Increases, selected by Sinn Féin.

Wednesday's business shall be:

- Statements on Migration and Citizenship (not to exceed 2 hours and 25 minutes)

- Industrial Development (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2026 (Report and Final Stages) (to commence no earlier than 4.37 p.m. and to conclude within 90 minutes)

- Motion re Proposed approval by Dáil Éireann on the conclusion of Readmission Agreements between European Union and Nigeria*

- Motion re Proposed approval by Dáil Éireann on the signing of Readmission Agreements between European Union and Nigeria*

*Two separate motions to be debated together and brought to a conclusion within 60 minutes, with questions to be put on each motion separately; and any divisions claimed to be taken immediately

Wednesday's private members' business shall be the Motion re Introduce a Windfall Tax on the Excess Profits of Energy Companies, selected by Social Democrats.

Thursday's business shall be:

- Railway Safety Bill 2026 (Second Stage) (to conclude at the end of the first speaking round; not to exceed 3 hours and 34 minutes) (Dept of Transport)

Thursday evening business shall be the Second Stage of the Forty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Housing) Bill 2026, sponsored by Deputy Rory Hearne.

Proposed Arrangements for this week’s business:

In relation to Tuesday’s business, it is proposed that:

1. notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders:

(a) the time allocated to Government business shall be extended in accordance with the arrangements for that business and the Dáil may sit later than 10.48 p.m.; and

(b) private members’ business shall be taken following proceedings on the Second Stage of the Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation Bill 2026 with consequential effect on the commencement times for the items following in the ordinary routine of business;

2. the proceedings on the Motion re Statement of Estimates for the Houses of the Oireachtas Commission shall be taken without debate;

3. the proceedings on the Motion re Sittings and Business of the Dáil shall be taken without debate; and

4. the proceedings on the Second Stage of the Strategic Lawsuits against Public Participation Bill 2026 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at the end of the first speaking round and the following arrangements shall apply:

(a) the first-round speeches shall be in accordance with the table below (to be read across);

(b) on conclusion of the first speaking round or where speeches conclude before the 3 hours and 24 minutes have elapsed and no other member is offering, a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a speech in reply which shall not exceed 10 minutes; and

(c) members may share time.

Total: 3 hours 24 minutes

In relation to Wednesday's business, it is proposed that:

1. notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders:

(a) the weekly division time may be taken earlier than 8.45 p.m. and shall, in any event, be taken on the conclusion of Government Business; and

(b) in the event the Statements on Migration and Citizenship conclude before 4.37 p.m., the siting shall stand suspended until 4.37 p.m. when the order of business shall resume with the Industrial Development (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2026

2. the Statements on Migration and Citizenship shall not exceed 2 hours and 25 minutes and the following arrangements shall apply:

(a) the statements, not including the Ministerial response, shall be in accordance with the sequence contained in the table immediately below (to be read across);

(b) following the statements, a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a statement in reply which shall not exceed 10 minutes; and

(c) members may share time;

Total: 2 hours 15 minutes

3. the proceedings on Report and Final Stages of the Industrial Development (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2026 shall commence no earlier than 4.37 p.m. and shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 90 minutes by one question, which shall be put from the Chair, and which shall, in relation to amendments, include only those set down or accepted by the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment; and

4. the proceedings on the Motions on Proposed approval by Dáil Éireann on the conclusion of, and the signing of, Readmission Agreements between the European Union and Nigeria shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion after 60 minutes and the following arrangements shall apply thereto:

(a) the two motions shall be debated together, with separate questions put on all proceedings thereon;

(b) the order of speaking and allocation of time shall be in accordance with the table below;

(c) members may share time; and

(d) any divisions claimed thereon shall be taken immediately.

Total: 60 minutes

In relation to Thursday's business, it is proposed that:

1. notwithstanding anything in Standing Orders, topical issues may be taken earlier than 7.24 p.m. with consequential effect on the commencement time for Second Stage of the Forty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Housing) Bill 2026, and on the time for the adjournment of the Dáil; and

2. the proceedings on the Second Stage of the Railway Safety Bill 2026 shall, if not previously concluded, be brought to a conclusion at the end of the first speaking round and the following arrangements shall apply:

(a) the first-round speeches shall be in accordance with the table below (to be read across);

(b) on conclusion of the first speaking round or where speeches conclude before the 3 hours and 24 minutes have elapsed and no other member is offering, a Minister or Minister of State shall be called upon to make a speech in reply which shall not exceed 10 minutes; and

(c) members may share time.

Total: 3 hours 24 minutes

Is that agreed?

Not agreed.

A report has been published into a coping exercise on an inquiry into failures in Children's Health Ireland. The House knows that in 2017, the then Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, made a promise to children with scoliosis and their parents that no child would wait longer than four months for treatment. Bizarrely, the recommendation in this report is that the look-back would start on 1 January 2019 and all of the failures before then will not be examined. Individual cases will also not be examined. Very real concerns have been identified by parents and advocate groups. I spoke to them over the course of the weekend.

We cannot have an inquiry that does not have the confidence of parents of children and advocacy groups. They have to be front and centre. There can be no hiding place when it comes to failures or accountability. First, I ask the Taoiseach that we have statements this week on that report. It is really important. Second, I ask that the Taoiseach and Tánaiste engage with those groups and families because they are very concerned about what is in this report.

In light of the Virgin Meida investigation last night, there is an urgent need for a debate on special education and additional educational needs. We had this Government announcing places at the start of an academic and school year and weeks into it, those places are not filled by children and families we know personally are not getting those places. That is just the tip of this crisis. We need an urgent debate on it.

We need to discuss the proposed public inquiry into Children's Health Ireland, CHI. The families of children with scoliosis and spina bifida have expressed real concerns about what is proposed in Remy Farrell report. They will not accept a behind closed doors public inquiry. The Minister must sit down with these families and campaign groups immediately. The Government has one chance to get this right. We need truth, accountability and transparency. We need questions and answers with the Minister this week.

This day last week I asked for an urgent debate before the situation on the Garvaghy Road escalated on behalf of the residents, who I had met the previous day on the Garvaghy Road about the situation that was looming in Drumcree. That request for an urgent debate was completely ignored. The residents particularly asked me to ask the Government about its responsibility under the Good Friday Agreement, and the British Government's responsibility, to make sure communities are free from sectarian intimidation. That was ignored, and we saw the escalation last week. That is still not resolved. The Irish and British Governments have a responsibility to make sure that community is not traumatised and dragged back to the days of sectarian violence and conflict. Can we have an urgent discussion to make sure this Government and this Oireachtas discharges its responsibility in that regard?

I attended a meeting in Moate in County Westmeath last weekend with up to 2,000 people. Hauliers, farmers, families and fishermen told us they are in a crisis situation. We have a week before the budget. We need to firmly debate the issues they put before us and asked us to bring to the Dáil to relay the concerns of the crisis they are in. We need to set aside time this week to debate that to make sure we get the budget right next week and make sure the families can survive and people can pay their electricity bills and mortgages. We urgently need that debate this week.

I ask for time to be put aside to discuss the events of the weekend on the Garvaghy Road and the response of this House to it. The march was banned for 28 years. The only reason it was given the go-ahead and that the Orange Order wanted to go ahead with it was to demonstrate supremacy and dominance over the nationalist community there. The Government is the co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement.

Deputy-----

The Parades Commission that shot this through has lost credibility. We need to discuss it here-----

Deputy Stanley should conclude.

-----and our response to that to make sure this does not happen again.

The Minister of State to respond.

I thank the Opposition Members for their requests. In relation to the situation in Drumcree in the North, we all understand how sensitive a time this is. The Taoiseach addressed looking for a pathway forward under Leaders' Questions. It is important that everyone involved from the Minister for foreign affairs to the UK Secretary of State and, importantly, the communities are allowed to continue. Statements in relation to CHI will be scheduled in the next couple of weeks. I heard the other requests but we have significant business to get through this week as the budget is next week, so the Order of Business stands.

There is loads of time.

Is the Order of Business agreed to?

Not agreed.

The Every Child Matters campaign, which started in Meath, has now expanded to nearly every county in Ireland. It is calling out Government failure, the constant battle for services and supports, and the long wait for assessments of need, vital therapies, behavioural and psychological supports, mental health services, school places and transport. Last night, the heartbreaking impact of all of this was in full view on Virgin Media, with SNAs working under intolerable pressure and children being taught in the most appalling conditions. Parents are done with their children being left behind, and they are at the Dáil today to protest. Their message is that the Taoiseach and his Government are failing their children.

I fully appreciate the work that the Every Child Matters campaign is doing. I support advocacy for children with additional needs. I have made the point that the Government has allocated an additional €646 million on top of the €3 billion already provided for special education. That has resulted in 34,000 students enrolling in special classes and special schools this year, an increase of 86%. Right across education, the increases have been quite staggering in meeting the demands. We then have the new in-school therapy programme that is under way, 16 new special schools and significant capital investment. About 70% of all special schools have either had work carried out, or it is currently being carried out, or it is under way in terms of the planning and design of that. Therefore, I do not think anyone can objectively say that every single effort is not being made. It is being made in respect of special education and other services also.

The Taoiseach will have seen, in the last 72 hours, how the FAI has handled the Ireland-Israel game, and how shambolic and shameful that was. We have no doubt that it will be a dark stain on Irish football and a dark stain on our country. They have talked about protecting their players, but they have done everything but. I think it is safe to say that we all know it was handled very poorly. We will discuss that tomorrow at the Oireachtas committee directly with the FAI. We saw the Taoiseach's UN General Assembly address. I must credit him there. His words were very strong, but that now has to be matched with action. I am asking the Taoiseach this, plain and simple. We have seen no statement from the Government throughout this shambolic mess the FAI has put us in. The overall responsibility has been on the players. Can the Taoiseach say to us, the FAI and the players that if they decide not to play the next game against Israel, he will support the FAI and the players? To date, there has been no comment from the Government on the shambolic nature of what we have seen.

There has been comment from the Government. The Government has been very clear, and the Minister for sport has been very clear from day one, that it was a matter for the footballing community and for the FAI, who had to work within the UEFA rules and frameworks. The Government has always been of the position that the Irish soccer team should not be a casualty of this and should not suffer, rather than Israel. The outcome of Ireland not playing, by the way, was that Israel would gain and Ireland would not in the footballing sense. I made the point earlier that the Irish Government has provided about €192 million in total capital and current funding to the FAI, and we are constantly supporting the FAI, for example, with the new League of Ireland academies. That is no more than in other sports and other disciplines, by the way, and in the case of other countries that people have played against, the Government has taken that position.

The Government's overall view is that politically, diplomatically and humanitarianly, it has to take the lead on these issues to try to change Israel's outrageous positions, the assertion of their military supremacy-----

If they do not play, will the Taoiseach support them?

The Taoiseach to conclude.

-----the undermining of the West Bank and so on.

If they do not play, will the Taoiseach support them? It is that simple. Yes or no.

Deputy, order please. Deputy Bacik is next.

I again welcome those from Every Child Matters who are in the Public Gallery. I commend presenter Eric Roberts for bringing the reality of Ireland's special education crisis home to us all with his television programme this week. He has put a human face on what families, teachers and SNAs experience every day in our special education crisis.

I pay tribute to those families and parents who participated in the programme, including Labour Councillor Alison Field, whose experience is featured. Ali has fought for years to secure a school place and appropriate supports for her son James. She had to apply to 19 schools before securing a place. This week is her son James's birthday, so I wish him a happy birthday. Ali and James's family should never have had to fight this battle, and no one else should either. Every child has a right to an education. Yet families like those in the Gallery, those on Eric Roberts's programme and those like Ali's family still face the same agonising uncertainty, despite years of assurances. What we have seen is provision for children with additional needs falling far behind what is needed.

Can we have an urgent debate on this and when will every child in Ireland who needs a special place and special supports get that?

I did not see the programme last evening but have made the point that the expansion in the number of teachers, SNAs, special classes and special schools has been exponential in the past five years. I do not know whether the programme acknowledged that or not but those are the realities. There has been a dramatic expansion in the past two years alone as well as in the past five years and that has created problems in terms of the physical capacities of individual schools. I did not know that a particular school was referenced earlier but that school had an opportunity five or six years ago to have a completely new building on a new site next to a therapeutic centre but it refused it. In some cases, there is a background as to why certain facilities are as they are.

Stapolin is a new school. Clearly it is doing great work in terms of accommodating and facilitating children with additional needs who are coming in. Again, significant investment went into that new school only three years ago.

Students continue to be hugely impacted by the cost-of-living increases and the very specific accommodation crisis that leaves so many of them stuck in their childhood bedrooms. The Green Party believes budget 2027 needs to show this generation of young adults they still have some stake in our State. In our pre-budget submission, drafted by our higher education spokesperson, Councillor Eva Dowling, the Green Party is calling on the Government to raise the household income ceiling for free fees from its current rate of €64,000 to €120,000. This significant rise in the free fee eligibility would mean thousands of students in that squeezed middle would become exempt from the need to pay the €2,500 student contribution charge.

As the Taoiseach makes the final decisions about next week's budget, will he consider this proposal or others that will make a meaningful difference to students in 2027?

The Government has made a lot of progress in helping students. Undoubtedly, accommodation is probably the greatest difficulty many students face in terms of attending third level education. We have expanded places. We have created new special places for particular disciplines and so on and expanded them. We have substantially improved and enhanced the student support schemes and reduced the fees to €2,500 permanently. The Minister for higher education is in discussions with the Minister for public expenditure in respect of his Estimates and he is anxious, in particular, to try to help larger families who might have two or three students in third level education at the same time. He is endeavouring to try to see what he can do with the variety of support schemes that are there to help, particularly young people with disabilities and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

The decision to allow the Orange Order to march down Garvaghy Road was the most destabilising decision that has been made in the North of Ireland since the Good Friday Agreement. Twenty eight years of improved community relations are now in jeopardy. The people in the North are in real fear. It is hard maybe for people in the South to understand that and the stress that has been created. There were 21 Catholics murdered in crimes related to the Drumcree stand-off in the nineties. The most horrific of those was the burning to death of three Quinn children in their own home. Orange marches have been the fuse for violence for 300 years. The start of the Troubles can be traced back to Orange marches. The Taoiseach rightly said this decision is wrong and incomprehensible but the logic of that is that it should be reversed. The Government is a co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement. What influence is the Taoiseach bringing to bear on the British Prime Minister to reverse this decision?

There are two things. As the Deputy knows, the Parades Commission is independent so the Irish Government does not have influence over it in that sense.

The British do.

Neither does the British Government because it is meant to be independent of everybody.

The Secretary of State can change it.

I know but let me answer the question to give context to it. The courts are independent so they have reached various adjudications. I have made my comments on the original decision of the Parades Commission. The Minister for foreign affairs has been in regular contact with the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Not everybody sees it the way we see it. We need to put that on the table as well. Therefore, we have to try to work collectively to build on the platform of good community relations that developed over the years and seek a pathway forward through mediation so that we do not have a return to the trauma of the past and can avoid a situation like this ever unfolding again.

As the Taoiseach heard, Every Child Matters is a group formed in Trim, County Meath. They were here with us today. They undertook a protest outside and we had a heartbreaking briefing in the audiovisual room this afternoon. That group quickly spread nationwide and the group represents a lot of parents who are fighting for services for their kids. They spoke to us about understaffed CDNTs, not being able to access therapies, the long waiting lists for the assessments of need and inadequate access to education. I acknowledge there has been a lot of work done here. There has been a lot done in reducing the AON list and increased budgets for special education. One of their questions on education was around the AON and medical report process. It is putting our young children in a box. It is predetermining the education the child will get, whether it be in a special class or in a special school. We should be taking a more rounded and flexible approach to avoid segregation, keeping them where possible with their peers. What is the Department of education doing?

We would agree with that, actually, and that is why we are amending the legislation pertaining to assessments of need and are also making sure an assessment of need is not a prerequisite for a school placement, either in a special class or in a different context in the school. That flexibility should be there. Our aim is to try to get the therapies and the therapists providing the services. At the moment, because of High Court decisions and so on in the past, the pendulum has swung to assessment and not enough to delivering the services for children who require them. Most parents want services as quickly as possible for their child.

There has been progress made on CDNTs but not enough, and that is a structure that was historically challenging. We have an in-school therapy service in place now. If I am correct, 61 schools will see that in-school therapy service initially. Recruitment is under way and that will build up over time, so that every special school will have a therapy service. Then we will expand that service to the mainstream.

Ten women have now died violently in Ireland this year. That is ten women whose families, friends and communities have been left devastated. Under the Minister, Deputy McEntee, there was real momentum in tackling the scourge of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence with the zero tolerance strategy and the establishment of Cuan. We cannot allow that urgency to diminish. We need to accelerate delivery with more refuge spaces, stronger supports for victims, investment in prevention and education and a relentless focus across Government on tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. That is why tomorrow I will support the walkout for women led by Monica Murphy.

It is a national call for solidarity. Will the Taoiseach commit to renewed urgency across Government and ensure that every Minister treats this with the urgency it deserves? Will he and his Ministers join us for the walkout tomorrow at 11 a.m?

First, one of the biggest issues facing modern Ireland and the island of Ireland is domestic violence and violence against women. The Deputy mentioned ten murders. This is a real stain on our society. There is no loss of momentum. The Government is absolutely committed to this agenda in terms of accelerating refuge places. In addition to the work of the previous Government we have enhanced supports for women fleeing domestic violence, in particular. We will be supporting the walkout tomorrow, organised by Ms Murphy.

Skyclarys was approved for reimbursement on 25 August. It has been a very challenging period for our patients with Friedreich’s ataxia, FA, and their families. If services in Tallaght University Hospital remain unchanged, some FA patients could have to wait until June 2028 to get the Skyclarys prescribed. This is simply unacceptable. Services have been underfunded for years. Patients should be seen yearly but some are waiting two and a half years. What work has been done since 25 August to ensure there is a timely rollout of the drug, Skyclarys? How many patients with FA will have the medication, Skyclarys, in their hands on Thursday, 1 October? There seems to be a lack of information forthcoming from the HSE and the Department of Health and this is simply a bit of a shitshow.

What?

The drug was approved-----

That is not appropriate language, by the way.

I am sorry for that but we are a little bit frustrated.

I was in Tallaght on Friday and the CEO confirmed that services will begin on 2 October now that the drug is physically in the country. We will get more of it as time goes by. Services begin on 2 October, which is the earliest possible time we could do. I spoke with the CEO on Friday and this will impact on and disrupt other neurology services but they are moving heaven and earth to make sure patients can get it as quickly as possible.

How many patients will have it on 2 October?

Teachers, nurses, council workers, workers who work in this building and public and civil servants have voted overwhelmingly - more than 90% in most cases - for industrial action. Some of the work to rules will begin this week because the Government has not offered them a pay increase that will actually make up for the loss of earnings as a result of the inflation and cost-of-living crisis or been willing to discuss pay upfront in negotiations as their union representatives have asked it to do. Is the Government going to sit down and make a proper, decent offer to the workers, including in this building, who keep our public service and Civil Service going to compensate them for the loss of earnings in real terms because of inflation in recent years and give them a decent pay increase to keep pace with inflation over the coming years? Is the Government going to do that to avoid them having to take this action?

The last pay agreement not only kept up with but exceeded inflation, particularly for low-paid workers. Of course the Government is anxious to enter into public service pay negotiations. We have made it very clear we want to engage in public service pay negotiations with the unions. I do not believe there is any need for balloting or work to rule. Negotiations without preconditions should commence with the objective of achieving a public service pay agreement for all public service workers, just like on previous occasions. That is entirely doable and is what should happen.

The Government will not talk pay upfront.

What does the Deputy mean? The bottom line is we want to enter into a public service pay agreement. We are putting substantial funding aside in the budget towards a public service pay agreement. The unions know this deep down, or the leadership certainly knows it.

It is horrible to see people who are sick endure financial hardship. It is right that we have mechanisms such as the medical card, discretionary emergency medical card and GP visitor card. However, a callous oversight by the Government has been a failure to increase related income thresholds for those under the age of 69 for more than two decades. For two decades, almost one in three people was covered. Today, the same number of people have medical cards as did at that stage, despite a population increase of more than 26%. Can the Taoiseach tell me the reason for that? Despite inflation running at 28% since 2006, eligibility limits for medical cards have not increased. I ask that the Taoiseach consider this in next week’s budget.

Some 52% of people in Ireland have either a medical or GP access card. An extraordinary number of people have access to those services. Demand on the primary care reimbursement service, PCRS, which includes medical cards in the drugs budget, is increasing every year. Our budget is increasing every year and that is to provide services to the people who need them.

What about the threshold? That has not increased. People cannot qualify for medical cards.

Some 52% of people qualify.

Look at your stats. Go back and look.

A GP practice in Westport is closing. The landlord is selling the building and the doctor has nowhere to go. The GP is effectively working her notice period for the HSE. The HSE has said there is no room in primary care. However, what the people of Westport need to know is what room will be found? The Government should be taking notice. The reality is that Government parties can find €2 million to furbish a meeting room to give councillors an extravagant chamber in Mayo County Council in which to discuss public services, yet the HSE cannot find a single room for a GP practice in Westport. The chamber in Mayo County Council gets a refurbishment and 600 public patients get a farewell letter in Westport. This is landing at the moment and I am very concerned that many of these patients may end up in the emergency department in Castlebar. What is the Minister going to do?

I take it the Deputy has already spoken to local HSE services and exhausted all of the local integrated healthcare areas, IHA, and regional options before raising this in the Dáil with myself and the Taoiseach, who have no knowledge as to the circumstances of this and cannot possibly respond to him?

I have.

I will follow up with the HSE but I assume he has taken it through those local channels before raising it here. I thank him.

Tommy is an elderly gentleman in my constituency. He is in arrears on his electricity bills like 328,000 other people. He is currently really scared because despite being on the vulnerable customer register, and making lump sum payments to try to pay off the bill and get on top of it, he is still receiving letters from his supplier, Electric Ireland, telling him things like his account is now at a critical stage and it will consider his supply for disconnection. This is just not fair. When I rang Electric Ireland on his behalf, I was told to tell him it was fine and it would not disconnect him. He does not know that. The purpose of the letter is to scare him, and it is working. There is a problem with how these entities are engaging with vulnerable people.

On a broader point, there are so many people like Tommy who are not able to get their heads above water, and there needs to be a targeted energy support. These people will never recover from the bills we have seen over the past couple of years.

Is Tommy in receipt of a free fuel allowance?

Yes.

He is. That could be organised. Surely if we take the totality of the fuel allowance and the increases, it is approximately €1,000. I have often thought social protection could connect the fuel allowance to arrears and to the companies to clear arrears, or to go through Money Advice and Budgeting Services, MABS, or some facility to help people like Tommy deal with arrears and get rid of them once and for all. If he is a vulnerable customer, as the Deputy has said, and I have no doubt he is, he will not be cut off. At the same time, we can see where Electric Ireland has to have some balance in terms of how it communicates. I can see what is happening here. At least the Deputy has made the call in relation to Tommy.

There is an issue there too. We are providing additional supports, particularly to lower income groups. Really, it is to deal in a targeted way with arrears and the high cost of fuel and energy for people in that situation.

I want to raise the case of Roman Slater, a six-year-old boy in my constituency who is still at home. He has no school place. I have spoken to his mother regularly over the past few weeks and she is broken. She has applied to numerous schools but he still has no school place. He has autism and a developmental delay. I spoke to her again today and asked if there was any update. She said it is so draining, that she thought she would have a place for Roman by now and that knowing a school is willing to take him but will not be given the resources is very frustrating. I raised it with the Minister last week and I wrote to the Minister three and a half weeks ago in relation to it. There is a local school that says it will take him but it needs to be guaranteed by the NCSE that it will be given the resources to do that. Will the Taoiseach guarantee Roman will not spend a sixth week out of school?

I watched the programme last night and it was shocking. Samantha, the SNA in it, made the point that children with additional needs are being left in situations that children without additional needs would not be left in. It would not be tolerated that a child would be at home for five weeks without a school place. Children with additional needs should not be left like that.

I do not have the background to the case. I presume the NCSE is working with the school on this.

I think they could be working more.

But you see you-----

They are clearly not doing it sufficiently if he is still at home.

Could we just have the response, please?

I do not have the full background. The Deputy has not said it or not, but it seems to me the NCSE is engaging with the school. Is it about teaching resources? How many times do I have to say it? We have expanded resources. We have put €746 million into this.

They are not willing to commit the resources.

We are willing to commit the resources.

No, they are not - the NCSE are not.

Address your remarks through the Chair, Deputy Hearne.

I do not think that is a fair assessment of it. I do not know the specifics of it. The NCSE is of course prepared to support the placement of a child in a school with whatever SNA or teaching supports are required, or what the physical capacity of the school needs. It could be the case the school would not get the physical thing straight away in terms of a new class or whatever, but at least if the provision was made in terms of teachers and SNAs-----

On 15 July I raised the public sector pay agreement with the Taoiseach in this House. He assured me talks would begin at pace in September. September is ending and there is no agreement. Tomorrow thousands of public servants commence industrial action with co-ordinated strikes planned for 14 and 21 October. Last week the Minister, Deputy Chambers, claimed his Department was ready to negotiate, yet unions say they have repeatedly sought meaningful engagement without success. I anticipate the Taoiseach will tell me negotiations cannot begin with preconditions but nobody is asking him to agree the outcome before negotiations begin; they are asking for a credible framework within which meaningful negotiations can take place. The expiry of the agreement was no surprise to anybody in this House, particularly the Government. Will the Taoiseach personally intervene today, establish that framework and prevent our schools, hospitals and public services from being brought to a standstill?

I regret there is a work-to-rule commencing tomorrow. I do not believe there is a need for a work-to-rule to agree on this. I have serious questions about the entire process in terms of the balloting and so on like that of members, if I am honest. The Government is very clear, as it has been in recent years since I became Taoiseach and before. Public service pay agreements have been agreed by successive governments, negotiations have always ensued and, rearticulating what I said earlier, the Government is open to concluding a public service pay agreement with the public service unions. We will be putting substantial funding aside to provide for that. The last agreement exceeded inflation, particularly for low-paid workers. We want to engage in negotiations. It is regrettable that in advance of the opening of negotiations, ballots are taking place.

The Taoiseach will well know from his earlier stint that investment in early years education is hugely important and also has a net economic benefit. We have seen recent reports stating reading and mathematical results for Ireland have gone down. Maybe we are still higher than a lot of countries but it is no consolation that if everyone is getting dumber, we are getting less dumb. The reality is there is a whole load of impacts there. In many developing areas, class sizes are still increasing, and some more settled areas that are down one or two pupils suddenly lose a teacher. Have there been serious discussions in the context of the upcoming budget on investment in education and trying to bring class sizes down? It is hugely important, especially with that literacy and numeracy element.

We are probably less brilliant than we were, as opposed to dumber and dumber. We are very high-up there. One wonders is that related to the advent of social media in terms of reading, literacy skills and numeracy. It is extremely important that AI and all of that, while very important, does not take away the capacity to reason, be creative and be original in one's thinking and analysing of the world and of issues and so on like that. There will be continued investment in education. The primacy of maths, English and so on is still very important at primary level in the overall curriculum. Class sizes have come way down but are variable, depending on location or on how the school allocates numbers and teachers.

I will not go into the age-old argument of whether the pupil-teacher ratio influences outcomes. A whole lot of other factors influence outcomes as well. The demographics are going down. The big issue we will have in the next decade is redeployment of existing resources to maximise outcomes of the kind the Deputy has identified.