Before I call on the Acting Leader to outline the business for today, I welcome H.E. Florence Ensch, ambassador of Luxembourg, who is in the Public Gallery. It is a wonderful opportunity for us to commemorate, celebrate and congratulate the people of Luxembourg on their national day, which is being celebrated on Sunday. It is the celebration of the Grand Duke's birthday. The ambassador has been a wonderful ambassador and friend of Ireland. I had the pleasure of meeting her before she came into the Chamber and got a wonderful presentation. It is very apt that Senator Mullen is with us because every Easter, he has his Easter eggs with the chickens. The ambassador gave me a gift of a péckvillchen, a wonderful miniature hen that is a typical product of Luxembourg. It commemorates the excellent diplomatic relations between Ireland and Luxembourg for over 60 years. It was produced by a social enterprise unit. I thank the ambassador for her generosity but also for her significant engagement with us in the Oireachtas. I hope she enjoys the celebrations on Sunday.

I also welcome the ambassador to the Chamber. Ireland and Luxembourg have had a fantastic relationship for many decades and I wish the ambassador and all people from Luxembourg living in Ireland a wonderful day on Sunday. It is their national day and a day we all celebrate with them.

The Order of Business is No. 1, motion regarding arrangements for the sittings of the House on 25, 26 and 27 June 2024, without debate, to be taken on conclusion of the Order of Business; and No. 2, Health (Assisted Human Reproduction) Bill 2022 - Committee and Remaining Stages, to be taken at 11.45 a.m. and to adjourn at 4 p.m., if not previously concluded.

I add my voice of welcome for the ambassador. My nephew did an internship in Luxembourg last year for six months and loved it, particularly the fact that there is free travel. He could not get over that. It is something we would certainly love to have here.

A gentleman called Myles Wickham from Newbridge was in the Public Gallery yesterday. Myles was here because I had arranged a meeting with the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, about Newbridge Volleyball Club, which has been in existence for 22 years but does not have any facilities. It only gets an hour and a half in a local school. It is very appreciative of that but coming into the summer time, it no longer has that. Newbridge is very much a growing town and has a number of clubs that do not have their own home. They include clubs like Kildare Gliders Basketball Club, Newbridge Athletic Track and Newbridge Hockey Club. For a town of its increasing size, Newbridge needs a sports campus. The Newbridge development plan will be starting very soon and it is the opportune time to rezone land but, equally, there is the issue of buying it. While the sports capital grants are really good, we need a system where local authorities are helped by national funding in terms of buying appropriate sites. We should have a debate in this House on that to be able to support the fantastic volunteers we have like Myles Wickham. I am working very closely with Councillor Noel Heavey and Councillor Robert Power on that issue in Newbridge.

The Irish Women's Parliamentary Caucus workshop on reproductive health for young girls was held last Friday. I was to chair it but, unfortunately, I had Covid, so I could not do that and I thank former Deputy and former Minister of State, Marcella Corcoran Kennedy, who stepped into the breach. The reason we are looking at this is because a lot of young girls can have issues with their menstrual cycle and might not realise that it might be something like endometriosis. Sometimes a missed diagnosis can lead to fertility problems at a later stage. We have chosen this as a topic of work and I am really looking forward to working with members of the caucus on developing a paper. Would you believe it that last night, I got a message from a mother I know telling me about her daughter in her very early twenties who is now wearing a stoma. This girl had sepsis in November and nearly died, all because of undiagnosed endometriosis. The work we are doing is really important.

The interim remediation scheme to tackle serious fire safety issues in apartment blocks is really good news. A lot of money will be going into owners' management companies, OMCs, to address this shoddy building work. Most OMCs are very good but, unfortunately, some of them are not fit for purpose from a governance perspective. It is really important that we put a register in place to be able to support them.

As a matter of urgency the State needs to establish an OMC regulator on a non-statutory basis, with its operations funded by a levy on the OMCs. This would fall within the remit of the Minister, Deputy McEntee. I ask the Acting Leader to raise this issue. I would like to have a debate in this House on the establishment of such a regulator.

I join in welcoming the ambassador of Luxembourg. If she is around next Easter, I will be delighted to sell her some of those knitted chickens with eggs in support of the apostolic works of the Elphin diocese and the wonderful humanitarian work being done by various missionaries from our parishes abroad. I did not hear whether it is a Fabergé egg she is distributing, but if she has any spare, I am always ready to receive and then declare in accordance with the rules.

All joking aside, nobody quite knows when the next general election is going to take place but of course we know there will be a budget. It will be an important pre-election budget. Many of us attended a comprehensive briefing by the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, in recent days. I thank Eoin Fenton from Killimor National School in County Galway and, indeed, the president of the INTO, Carmel Browne, and its general secretary, John Boyle. Their asks are reasonable. They rightly highlight the importance of primary school education and the need to invest in it and the continuing inequities. Their asks come down to three issues. They want us to invest in smaller classes. They point out that if we could bring down the class size by an average of two or so per class, we would get to the EU average of 20. That reduction of two would align us closely with our European neighbours. That would be timely when we consider that the projections for school enrolments suggest a decrease in primary school enrolments over the next few years. It would, therefore, be a very manageable cost and investment. They also point out quite rightly the need to strengthen school leadership. It is good that 500 assistant principal positions were restored in the 2024 budget but a significant shortfall remains of about 1,700 middle management roles yet to be reinstated to bring schools to the level that they were at 15 years ago. We have to remember the role that middle management leadership plays in our primary schools, indeed in all schools. It ranges from enhancing teaching and learning to supporting pupil well-being, literacy, numeracy, digital STEM initiatives, the Cineáltas action plan on bullying and so on. We must also remember that when we want to encourage people into school leadership, it is vital they get the experience that middle management positions offer. The issue of career progression is so important. The third issue the INTO has been pressing is the need for a 20% increase in the two core grants paid annually to primary and special schools, the capitation and minor works grants and the higher ancillary services grant. It points out that there is still a pronounced discrepancy of €145 per student in the capitation grant between primary school pupils in comparison with post-primary school students.

All those important concerns were echoed at another briefing from school principals we met yesterday, led by Ms Angela Dunne of Loughmore National School in Tipperary. They stressed the importance of extra administration time for teaching principals and also the chronic under-resourcing of special education needs supports and provision. We often talk about this in the House and it needs to be addressed, considering the number of children with special needs in primary schools increased by 56% between 2017 and 2021. This is a very important issue that needs to be addressed on a continuing basis in the budget. I thank the education professionals for briefing us on their needs.

I welcome to the Public Gallery members of staff from the Department of Health. I thank them for being here and for their service to the State and the work they do in the Department of Health. Míle buíochas for your work and endeavour.