Cé atá ag dul le glacadh an cheist, an Aire nó an Aire Stáit?
Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate
Road Network
Tá mise.
Is ceist fhíorthábhachtach í seo. Níl mé róshásta ach caithfear glacadh leis an Aire atá agamsa anseo anocht. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a chur in iúl as ucht an deis atá agamsa chun an cheist seo faoin A5 a phlé anseo sa Teach mar aon leis an chinneadh a rinne an Breitheamh McAlinden i gcúirt i mBéal Feirste ag tús na seachtaine agus an tionchar atá ag an chinneadh sin ar an togra A5, an bóthar idir Achadh na Cloiche agus an Srath Bán. Ceanglaíonn an bóthar 88 km sin an iarthuaisceart agus Contae Mhuineacháin ag dul ar aghaidh go dtí an M1 go dtí Baile Átha Cliath. Ceanglaíonn sé Doire, Dún na nGall, Tír Eoghain agus Muineacháin. Cuireann an cinneadh a rinneadh an cinneadh a rinne Stormont ar ceal.
I would prefer not to be here tonight raising this issue regarding the A5. The issue is the decision of Mr. Justice McAlinden in a Belfast court to quash a decision of the Northern Ireland Executive to proceed to construction with the A5. That is, proceeding to construction subject to the agreement of terms with contractors and the conclusion of the ongoing legal battle. Why was the approval overturned? From our understanding of it and the judgment, it was overturned because the A5 was not meeting a Stormont draft climate action plan that was published only last week. We are also told there was difficulty staying within Stormont's first carbon budget and the environmental impact of the new road was not properly assessed. It is not good enough that was not done. Challenges came from farmers in the area. There was also the question of the impact on homes and farms and a breach of the commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
This decision shows a glaring disconnect between the legal process and the urgent realities facing communities along this stretch of road and the general public. I came into this House about 44 years ago. I have been travelling this road all my life. Through the difficult days of the 1970s and 1980s, I always came down the A5. In those early days, we were of the view that the best stretch of the route was the A5. That was only because it had a smooth surface. The bends were the same. They are still the same today. With all the developments that have taken place on other parts of that route, though, it is now the worst stretch of road from the north west or, indeed, in the whole country.
The proposed cost of this road project is £1.2 billion or €1.6 billion. The Irish taxpayers have committed €600 million from the shared island initiative. The whole purpose of that is to fulfil the Good Friday Agreement. I appreciate there are regular meetings between the Executives North and South. I will have another opportunity, but I am calling on the Taoiseach, the Northern Ireland First Minister, the Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, and the Northern Ireland Minister for Infrastructure to meet shortly to decide on a way forward.
Ar an gcéad dul síos, déanaim comhghairdeas leis an Teachta as ucht an rúin seo a chur os ár gcomhair. Tuigim an díomá atá air agus ar a lán daoine de bharr an chinnidh a rinneadh san Ardchúirt i mBéal Feirste. Tá an ceart ag an Teachta. Is bóthar tábhachtach agus an-chontúirteach an A5. Thug an Rialtas tacaíocht don bhóthar agus táimid ag leanúint leis an tacaíocht sin. Beimid ag obair leis an gCéad-Aire i mBéal Feirste.
I thank the Deputy for raising the matter. He is right, in that it is a very important road. I am not going to read the full script setting out the history of the project because it is well known to all of us in the House. We recognise the importance of the A5. Suffice it to say, the public inquiry into the scheme by the Planning Appeals Commission concluded in 2023. In October 2024, the Northern Ireland Executive gave approval for the first phase of the project to proceed. In preparation for the main construction contracts, advance works over its 55 km length in the form of site clearance, fencing and the setting up of compounds commenced in January. This work is now well advanced. However, contracts for the main construction works were not entered into, pending the outcome of the court hearing. The Department for Infrastructure received a formal legal challenge to the project, with a date fixed for a court hearing on 18 March 2025. On 23 June 2025, the High Court in Belfast ruled in favour of the legal challenge.
The Minister for Infrastructure will now consider this judgment. While this further delay is clearly not desirable, it is hoped that the issues raised by the judgment will be addressed by the relevant Northern Ireland authorities in a timely fashion. While the timeline for delivery of the A5 project is still uncertain, particularly after this judgment, the provision of £25 million made by the Department of Transport in 2025 for funding the scheme remains, should it be required. Furthermore, as part of Government funding commitments for shared island projects, €600 million was committed to the progression of the A5 project in February 2024. The Government is still committed to that.
Transport Infrastructure Ireland continues to progress related schemes, such as the N2 Clontibret road to the Border and the Donegal TEN-T projects. The N2 project secured connecting Europe facility funding in 2023, allowing the design and environmental phase to recommence. This is expected to be completed later this year. The project was allocated €3 million in 2025. The TEN-T project was allocated just over €2 million, and the finalising of the design and evaluation phase deliverables is ongoing.
I reiterate our disappointment with the outcome. As the Deputy rightly said, the aim of the A5 western transport corridor, with the Northern Ireland Executive, is about improving the dual carriageway and links between the urban centres in Tyrone and Derry. It is a transport link for private and public transport between Dublin and the north west. The Deputy has used it at many key times.
The Department for Infrastructure in the North estimates the total scheme will cost €1.6 billion and in this capital project, the A5 upgrade scheme is subject to planning, assessment and approval processes in the North. There have been ongoing legal challenges during the period from 2012 until now, which have led to unavoidable and disappointing delays in the project.
It is important to reaffirm to Deputy Gallagher that the Government is committed to the project. In the coming days, I assume we will sit down and discuss the matter with our counterparts in the North and I hope to see the project recommence. I take the Deputy's points and will bring back his comments about the need for the meetings between the relevant Departments here and in Stormont. I concur with the Deputy that the disappointment is felt on both sides of the Border because this is a project the Government is committed to. We want to see it advanced and that is ongoing.
I thank the Minister of State for his response. I hope it will not be too long before a meeting is convened between the Tánaiste, the First Minister and respective Ministers. There is only one positive I can take from the judgment, which is that "The shortcomings and shortcuts in the decision making highlighted in this judgment are capable of being remedied". I hope that can be done but this never should have happened and there should have been much more attention to detail.
We can be critical of what has happened there but we must also begin the consideration - the Minister of State referred to this - south of the Border. The €2 million or €3 million provided by the TII over the past year or so is not sufficient. There are major works to be carried out between Ardee and the Border and that should be going on concurrently with the works to be carried out in Northern Ireland. It will take some time and the more quickly this is kick-started, the better.
The Minister of State may not be aware of the answer but was this matter discussed at the North-South Ministerial Council last week? Of all the projects that had to be discussed, I presume this one would have been. Irrespective of what the view of either side would have been, there cannot be interference with the court. An urgent meeting is absolutely necessary and I repeat my call for that. In thinking of the general public, I must state that 55 deaths in 18 years is too many. We cannot and should not compare that with climate action plans. Along with the 55 deaths, hundreds of people have been maimed and their whole life experiences have changed.
I cannot give an answer about last week's meeting because I do not have that information but I will bring the Deputy's comments back.
Regarding the N2 Ardee to Castleblayney route, as Deputy Gallagher is aware, the proposed project is an important one. It is about ensuring road safety is improved. The upgrade will enhance that road safety by reducing the number of direct access points and turning movements and by providing passing opportunities. It is currently suspended at the design and environmental phase of the TII project management guidelines subject to the ongoing NDP review. It is hoped the project will be allocated funding this year and next year.
Regarding the overarching matter raised by Deputy Gallagher, preliminary discussions have taken place on the establishment of the agreed cross-Border working group in relation to the continued development of the N2 from Clontibret to the Border and phase 3 of the M5. The A5 project has made significant progress over the past 12 months. According to the departmental statement, which is the Department for Infrastructure's formal and public response to the Planning Appeals Commission report, the latest public inquiry on the project was finalised in the summer of last year. Both jurisdictions are working collaboratively to address the key recommendations of the Planning Appeals Commission. Officials are working in the interim on a response in terms of a budgeting profile, while assisted by the €600 million from the Shared Island Fund. There is a second project, the delivery of phase 3 in a separate cross-Border link to provide a seamless connection between both projects. Notwithstanding the decision of the High Court in Belfast on 23 June to quash the decision to approve construction of the first phase of the project, the Government is committed and remains strong in its support in contributing to the successful delivery of the A5 project. The Government is also committed to developing the projects listed in the NDP that connect to the A5 including the Donegal TEN-T and N2 projects. I thank Deputy Gallagher for raising this matter.
An Garda Síochána
The next Topical Issue is shared by Deputies Quinlivan and Sheehan.
Both of us are united in our concern about the volatility of the situation in Limerick as it pertains to serious crime and the absence of an adequate and visible policing presence to tackle this.
Limerick is a wonderful place and a city that has come far since the dark days of 20 years ago, yet the lack of an active and visible policing presence has become a defining feature of our city. In a recent reply to a parliamentary question, it was revealed that of the 120 gardaí who attested from Templemore this month, only two were assigned to Limerick. That is 1.6% of the total number. Seventy-four gardaí from the same cohort were assigned to Dublin.
Limerick and the mid-west are consistently overlooked when it comes to the assignment of gardaí. The model for assigning gardaí is failing Limerick. It does not consider the actual level of need in the city. Limerick has nine of the 17 economic blackspots in the city. It is the home of St. Mary's Park, which is a wonderful community but also the most deprived community in the State. The residents of this community do not deserve to live in the shadow of a minority of drug-dealing vultures who peddle crack cocaine, an evil insidious drug.
Gardaí had relatively successful operations - Operation Copóg and Operation Feabhsaigh - to tackle this but these have ceased as Garda resources have been diverted to the south side of the city in order to tackle a wave of violence in Ballinacurra Weston. Make no mistake, we have a feud again in Limerick. We have had shootings, pipe bomb attacks and fire bombings. It is a miracle nobody has been killed. The Commissioner's restrictions on overtime are a complete disgrace. He does not have a clue what is going on in Limerick. This is not something minor that involves antisocial behaviour. We need at least ten additional gardaí in the next passing out from Templemore. I ask the Minister to intervene directly before someone is killed.
I also raise the need for funding approval for the CCTV system in Moyross. This is vital. An ask and a business case has gone to the Department of justice and I plead with the Minister to push for the approval of this as a matter of urgency. An application for a CCTV scheme for the community of Garryowen has been with the Commissioner for over two months and a sign-off is urgently needed on that.
No disrespect to the Minister of State but I am really disappointed that nobody from the Department of justice is present. This is a really important issue as my colleague has outlined. I will preface my comments by saying the Government really needs to intervene here. It needs to commit to a fully resourced Garda operation targeting drug dealing and feuding in order that hardworking people in Limerick feel safe and secure in their homes, which some of them do not feel at the moment. Many people are extremely frightened and need to be reassured and made safe in their homes and communities.
The scale of drug dealing in parts of Limerick city is worse than ever. It is off the scale. It is a miracle nobody has been killed in the gang feud that is going on across our city. Gardaí have said that, not me. Too many Limerick communities feel abandoned. In recent weeks we have had shootings and petrol bomb attacks in the Ballinacurra Weston, Southill, Garryowen, Thomondgate and King's Island areas of our great city. Recently, I wrote to both the Garda Commissioner and the Minister for justice seeking additional resources for the Garda in Limerick. These resources are needed to combat the ongoing sale of drugs, especially crack cocaine, and gang feuding across Limerick. Hardworking families, pensioners and children living in these communities deserve to live securely in their homes without the presence of drug gangs operating openly and arrogantly. The sale of crack cocaine is pure evil. It has a devastating impact not only on the drug users but on their families and the wider community. Crack cocaine, one of the most destructive and addictive drugs, is peddled to the most desperate of our citizens. There are reports of children selling crack cocaine and I am on the public record as saying that previously. There are several criminal gangs in our city that cause mayhem and destroy lives. They often act like they own the areas. They think they do.
Previous Garda operations in Limerick such as Operation Copóg and others, when resourced, have been successful but when the resources are removed, the criminality returns even worse. We cannot allow crime to spread and we cannot allow these gangs to drag more young people into this. Often, the communities I have talked about have been plagued by criminal gangs who seem to operate without sanction. They feel they are untouchable. These communities see little or no Garda response across Limerick. Many communities have long been left without a community Garda. We must enhance community safety by implementing a comprehensive method to address crime and support local policing efforts. The gardaí in Limerick are well led and when they have sufficient Garda numbers and adequate resources, they can keep all of our communities safe. That is a task of Government and it needs to deliver the resources our gardaí need.
I thank both Deputies for raising this cross-party Topical Issue which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan.
I thank them for raising this issue. I was in Limerick city only earlier this week with Senator Maria Byrne and the issue of crime was raised with me by Limerick Chamber of Commerce. Like all decent citizens, I strongly condemn gangland criminality and, in particular, intimidation and threats using firearms and other lethal weapons. People have a right to live safely and feel safe in their homes and communities, and this Government is committed to the principle that everyone, wherever they live in Ireland, should be safe and feel safe. An Garda Síochána has advised the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, that it is carrying out a range of high-visibility and covert operations on an ongoing basis to support public safety in Limerick. Operation Croí has been in place in Limerick city centre, targeting antisocial behaviour and associated offences, including drug-related and traffic-related offences. This Garda operation assists in targeting criminals and the sale and supply of drugs in Limerick city centre. Operation Feabhsaigh was initiated in September 2023 and it has two key priorities, the first of which is law enforcement and crime prevention at King's Island historic quarter, which includes city centre locations. The second priority is dealing with the sale and supply of drugs, open drug use, chronic antisocial behaviour, aggressive begging and crime in St. Mary's Park. Limerick is one of three pilot sites for An Garda Síochána’s front-line deployment of body-worn cameras. The use of body-worn cameras is intended to increase public confidence in policing responses by enabling Gardaí to record incidents as they occur and provide evidence of how a particular incident unfolded, thereby providing greater transparency, promoting accountability and deterring criminal activity.
We know we cannot solely police our way out of these situations. The best way to tackle the safety issues communities are facing is through An Garda Síochána and other State services partnering with the community to implement tailored solutions. The local community safety partnerships, LCSPs, which will operate at each local authority level, are building upon the good work undertaken through the joint policing committees; JPCs, as we would have known them. The objective of the partnerships is to bring the relevant bodies, including An Garda Síochána, together with communities in a collaborative manner by focusing on the concerns identified and prioritised by local people. Each newly established LCSP will be required to develop and implement its own tailored community safety plan and will take a strategic approach to its work so that issues arising can be dealt with in a co-ordinated manner and addressed collectively by relevant service providers in partnership with the local community.
The Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024, which was commenced on 2 April 2025, also provides for area-based neighbourhood community safety forums to facilitate a tailored, targeted and time-limited approach where issues of concern are arising in a more localised format. The Government’s commitment to An Garda Síochána and tackling crime is clear from the allocation of the highest Garda Vote in history, €2.48 billion, in budget 2025. This Government will continue to provide An Garda Síochána with the resources it needs to ensure communities across Limerick and around Ireland are safe and feel safe.
I thank the Minister of State for her reply. First, regarding the LCSP, I sat on the joint policing committee. The joint policing committee has not sat since I was a member of it, which was in May 2024. It is simply not acceptable. What I am looking for is a commitment that the Minister of State will take up the substance of the issues I raised with the Commissioner. We need at least ten additional gardaí. It is not me saying that; it is the chief superintendent. When the Minister of State talks about not being able to police our way out of this, I agree with her. That is why we need to see a commitment that the money in the social intervention fund through regeneration will be maintained for the next number of years. The fact of the matter is this situation is akin to the way it was in the early 2000s and we need a similar level of urgency as there was between 2008 and 2010 when we stamped this out. We are going backwards and I am literally terrified that somebody is going to be murdered in Limerick again soon.
I was really disappointed with the Minister of State's response. There was nothing new that we did not know about before we came in here tonight. It pains me when I talk about these issues in the city of Limerick that I love but it pains me more to see ordinary working families being abandoned by the State. In 2008, Limerick had 92 community gardaí; we now have 30. In 2008, John Fitzgerald commissioned a report which dealt with the policing regeneration programme. He said we needed 100 extra gardaí and a new superintendent. We got 100 gardaí and 99 retired so we got one. We got one garda - that is what we got. About a week ago there was a petrol bomb attack in an area of the city. It took two hours for a Garda response to come to that, even though it was on social media for an hour before the gardaí came out to it. We never got the gardaí we were promised and communities have been left abandoned. As I have said, crack cocaine did not just appear in Limerick; organised gangs brought it to Limerick. I have raised this in the Dáil for the last three or four years. They targeting the most vulnerable people in the State. I agree with the Minister of State that we need a co-ordinated response to this and that is what Operation Copóg was. We need a version of that again. We need to put the resources in. When the Minister sees the new recruits coming out of Templemore, Limerick has to be to looked at. We cannot go by the size of the population. We have to look at the problems we have in north inner city Dublin and parts of Cork city but Limerick city in particular needs to make sure we get a fair share of those gardaí. It cannot just be based on population because that is simply not going to work. Communities are abandoned and it is not good enough.
I thank the Deputies for raising all of those issues. Regarding the joint policing committees - I too sat on my JPC - as the Deputies will be aware, they are being replaced by the LCSPs. We will get further information on that-----
They still have not started.
They are not there yet.
-----but that is the latest information we have in relation to that.
Deputy Quinlivan raised community gardaí and the need to invest in them. I absolutely hear him and will certainly bring that back to the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, on whose behalf I am taking this Topical Issue. At the end of April this year, there were 585 Garda members of all ranks assigned to the Limerick division. I am told that is an increase of almost 6% since the end of the previous decade.
That is not true. It is down 5% in the last five years.
Let the Minister of State respond please.
It is wrong.
According to the figures that have been provided to me by the Department of Justice, there was a 6% increase in the ten years previous to 2025. In addition to the specific measures I mentioned which are taking place in Limerick - I have gone through the different Garda operations - a number of key actions have been taken as part of our plan to tackle organised crime and the crime groups behind those types of acts. They include legislation that has been brought through this House, for example to increase the maximum sentence for conspiracy to murder from ten years to life in prison; to tackle those who are directly engaged in gangland and drug-related crime; to enact the Criminal Justice (Engagement of Children in Criminal Activity) Act to criminalise the grooming of children into a life of crime; to draft new laws which will provide for the use of biometric technologies, including facial recognition technology; to investigate certain drug offences; and to roll out a support programme to break the link between gangs and the children they recruit. Earlier this year, the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, and the Department of Justice launched a new merged and expanded youth diversion project in Rathkeale and west Limerick, along with the opening of two new projects in nearby east Clare and north Tipperary. We will achieve the target set out in the youth justice strategy of full national coverage of youth diversion projects. These are also an important part of what the Deputy spoke about earlier in relation to the social aspects of this and the need to invest not just in policing strategies but also in services underneath them. From the perspective of criminal assets, there is legislation to strengthen the State's ability to seize criminal assets and to target the proceeds of crime as well and this will also benefit Limerick.
General Practitioner Services
Freedom of information documents I received in May show that on 18 March, the head of primary care services in the HSE South-West asked who approved the amalgamation of services that led to the closure of SouthDoc in Blackpool, but she got no response. I have asked the same question multiple times and I have got no response. A decision was made to close SouthDoc Blackpool and no one knows who made it and no one is willing to admit it. SouthDoc is being paid millions of euros every year to provide an out-of-hours service in the Kinsale Road and in Blackpool but Blackpool has been closed. I will provide some statistics so that the Minister of State knows I know what I am talking about. In January 2019, SouthDoc in Blackpool saw 2,180 patients. Does the Minister of State know how many it saw in January 2025? Zero. I have the HSE telling me it is not closed. The figures prove it is closed. I asked a question.
In 2021, the HSE advised that SouthDoc Blackpool needed to stay open to prevent people from going to accident and emergency because they could not make it out to the Kinsale Road. They would go to the Mercy Hospital or CUH, which are overcrowded already. When did the HSE change its policy? Who authorised that? The Minister of State is probably going to read out a speech. I do not want to hear any untruths or deception. I am looking for the facts. Who closed SouthDoc in Blackpool and when will it be reopened?
There is a service level agreement in place for millions of euro. Has an audit been done? Who has looked into the service being provided? Are the people getting the service they pay for? This is being paid for. Children are travelling in taxis through the night right across the city, passing the door of Blackpool. A lady from Ballyvolane contacted me to say that she came down Dublin Hill. One minute out the road was Blackpool but instead of going there, she had to cross the whole city. I met a taxi driver from Gurranabraher. He said he met a family, a mother with two sick kids, who had got a taxi out that cost her €40. To be fair to the taxi driver, he brought her home because he knew the woman did not have it. That is not good enough.
The HSE has bottled it. It has buckled and is allowing SouthDoc to make millions of euro and not do its job. I want the truth tonight. I do not want false claims from the HSE. I am sick and tired of the people of the northside being treated like this. Why can we not have a proper health service like everyone else? Why is the northside always being cut? The ambulance service and the orthopaedic service were taken out of the St. Mary's campus. The new hospital for Glanmire has been delayed for years. The primary care centres in Glanmire, Mayfield and Blarney are all delayed and we do not know when they are coming. The one piece of the health service we have on the northside is closed and the HSE is trying to tell me that it is not.
I am asking for answers. I am looking for the truth. I have to go back to Cork and tell the people why the Government is not delivering the out-of-hours care the people of the northside deserve.
I thank the Deputy. I understand that this issue is very important. The provision of out-of-hours GP services is an important part of healthcare and it is essential that people have access to out-of-hours GP services when needed. It is worrying that the Deputy spoke about children travelling in a taxi during the night to the hospital. That is a concern and is definitely something we need to address.
As the Deputy knows, for Cork and Kerry, out-of-hours urgent GP care is provided by the SouthDoc co-operative. It provides a medical service to a population of approximately 736,000, in addition to the visitors to the area, and it dealt with over 200,000 patient contacts in 2024. While they are private organisations, the HSE provides substantial funding to support out-of-hours co-operatives through individual service level arrangements. To ensure its continued viability, SouthDoc continually reviews its service provision formally with the HSE and on an ongoing basis internally. The Department of Health has engaged with the HSE on the Deputy’s concerns regarding the Blackpool treatment centre. SouthDoc has assured that there is no intention of closing any SouthDoc treatment centre.
SouthDoc provides services on an appointment basis across all treatment centres. When an individual contacts SouthDoc, all relevant information is taken. The nature and the clinical condition of the patient then determines the service provided. If it is determined that a consultation with the duty doctor is appropriate, depending on the circumstances, the consultation may be provided remotely, in person at a suitable treatment centre or through a home visit.
SouthDoc has advised that, since September 2023, routine appointments for patients in Cork city are scheduled at the primary treatment centre on Kinsale Road. In the event that a patient is unable to attend Kinsale Road, they may require a home visit or need to be seen in the Blackpool facility. The location of the appointment is a clinical decision made by the doctor on duty. This operational adjustment was implemented as part of an organisation-wide service review aimed at optimising resources and service delivery while maintaining patient care standards within the available budget.
The HSE has confirmed the Blackpool treatment centre remains available for urgent appointments, where necessary. Patients unable to attend the Kinsale Road centre continue to be seen at the Blackpool centre. In addition, home visits continue in the Blackpool area, supporting patients who meet the clinical criteria and are unable to travel for their appointment. The provision of this service will continue to be evaluated by SouthDoc and the HSE on an ongoing basis. That is what I have been informed by the Department.
I thank the Minister of State. I accept that she has been given this information and, in all honesty, she has come here and presented it to the Dáil tonight. However, I have to say that information has gone into the Dáil record tonight that is not true. I ask the Minister of State sincerely to go back to the Department and the HSE and ask them why they gave her false information. She is here as a Minister of this country and she was sent in with false, untrue information. The figures I gave her show that, in January 2019, there were 2,180 patients, and in January 2025, there were zero. How in the name of God could Blackpool be open?
Unfortunately, in the last couple of months, my family and I had to use it, and every time we were sent to Kinsale Road. I and my wife have a car so we are able to look after ourselves, but what about vulnerable people, older people, people with young families and people who do not have access? There is no bus link out to the Kinsale Road. How are people going to get a bus at 12 midnight when even at 9 p.m. they cannot get out to the Kinsale Road? The HSE has sent the Minister of State in here tonight with what I hardly dare to say is lies, but it is very close to it. It is manipulating the words. It is twisting it and turning it.
The Government, the Department of Health and the HSE pay SouthDoc millions, and I am not talking about €1 million or €2 million but millions, and it closed down the SouthDoc Blackpool service. I am looking for an investigation. Who made that decision? Is the tail wagging the dog here? Is SouthDoc telling the Government what it will do? Is that the way it is? The Government is paying it. If it does not want to do its job, can we offer it out for tender to another service provider?
We have a situation here. The Minister of State made a statement about the primary treatment centre at Kinsale Road. When did that happen? I have freedom of information replies, loads of them, and that was never confirmed. Does the Minister of State know who made that decision? It was SouthDoc, which is making millions off the SouthDoc service. I want an investigation and I want Blackpool opened.
I understand the Deputy’s concerns. It is something I will go back to the Department to clarify. I have been informed that, as of 5 June last, 22 patients have been seen at the Blackpool clinic in 2025 and approximately 410 home visits were carried out in the Blackpool area in the same period. SouthDoc has confirmed that the Blackpool treatment centre remains operational on an appointment basis. Alternative care may be provided to patients in the area via a home visit. This change to operational arrangements is necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of the out-of-hours service in Cork city. The provision of this service is evaluated by SouthDoc and the HSE on an ongoing basis.
As an Oireachtas Member, a TD and a Minister of State, I understand the Deputy’s concerns. He represents the people and he needs to get answers. I will go back to the Department to get this clarified for him. I know that, in the programme for Government, primary care clinics or injury clinics are part of what we are looking at going forward. It is in the programme for Government and it is something I will definitely be looking at. I will definitely go back to the Department and then come back to the Deputy. I understand how passionate the Deputy is and I see his concerns.
Thank you. An important question the Minister of State might ask is how it can go from 2,200 down to 22, and they are the Minister of State's figures. I respect that the Minister of State is doing her best tonight.
Childcare Services
It is not news that families with young children require childcare and early years education. Why, then, are these families continuously failed by the State in the provision of those services?
In Dublin Rathdown, I am contacted regularly about childcare and early years education. Indeed, it is one of the foremost issues within my constituency. There is a shortage of available places and, rather than seeing new providers coming on stream, we are seeing more and more closures. Costs are too high for parents and providers in the sector are in real difficulty.
Young families are desperately struggling to find childcare for their children. I have been contacted by so many parents who are at their wits' end with this. Last week, a mother contacted me who, despite having her child registered before birth, struggled for months before finding childcare to allow her to return to work. Another constituent said to me: "It is not a surprise that families with young children need childcare. How is this still occurring? Young families are being failed at the very first hurdle."
The providers of childcare and early years services are also struggling in Dublin Rathdown. We have seen many of them forced to close their doors, with Mountainside Montessori in Leopardstown and Naíonra Seomra Mary in Stepaside being just two of the most recent examples. Another small provider in my constituency told me she has major concerns about the viability of her business in the coming years. She does not want to opt in to the core funding model because it does not work for her specific set-up. That means it is hard for her to see herself operating beyond another couple of years.
When childcare places can be obtained, the cost is often so high, it puts a real strain on families, with some parents being forced out of the workplace. Workers in the sector are without a pay scale or security, with retention of staff remaining a real problem for providers.
We need a public model of childcare that will address the multitude of issues being encountered. My colleague Deputy Farrelly has proposed the establishment of a cross-party committee on childcare. This would establish a short-, medium- and long-term plan for the provision of childcare in Ireland. The Government has promised to reduce childcare costs to €200 a month but it is nowhere near meeting that commitment. Families are being forced to pay hundreds of euro more than that every month. Parents all over the country find it almost impossible even to secure a place. The commitment to roll out a public model of childcare and reduce costs to €200 per month has to be more than electioneering. It must become a reality.
As someone who raised a daughter alone, I acknowledge the specific challenges faced by single parents trying to access childcare in my constituency. Both financially and logistically, it is a unique barrier to employment and, indeed, to participation in society when we provide so little support to families headed up by people parenting alone. The single biggest measure we could take to advance gender equality in the State is to provide high-quality and affordable childcare. Women still take on far more of the care role in the household than men do. When we make it hard to source external care, we penalise women and force them to decide between career and home.
What is being done to support providers in the sector? How is the deficit in childcare and early years places being addressed? Will the Government commit to establishing a cross-party committee on childcare?
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue and for sharing her own experience. It is really important that we, as female parliamentarians, share our experience. It is inspiring for others who may follow in her footsteps that the Deputy has done so.
The challenge of providing accessible childcare is very much real. The Deputy outlined the issues many of her constituents face. Many of my constituents, and some of my friends, are in the same boat, having to put down the names of children who are not yet born or named for childcare places. This is not ideal and the Government is committed to addressing it.
Early learning and childcare capacity is increasing. That is a fact. Data from the annual early years sector profile for 2023-24 shows the estimated number of enrolments increased by 19% from two years previously. The Tusla register of services demonstrates a net increase of 226 in the numbers of registered early learning and childcare services last year. That is really positive because it shows it is a growing sector that is ambitious to, and is designed to, meet the forward demands.
A forward planning model is in development by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality. It will be central to building an affordable, high-quality and accessible early learning and childcare system, with State-led facilities adding capacity to what already exists. As the Deputy rightly said, that is something many of the parties campaigned for during the most recent election. The Government continues to support the ongoing development and resourcing of core funding, which has given rise to a significant expansion of places since the scheme was first introduced. It provides stability to services and reduces the risk associated with opening a new service or expanding an existing one. We must do this to support childcare providers.
The Government is also supporting the expansion of capacity through capital funding. The building blocks extension grant scheme is designed to increase capacity in the one- to three-year-old cohort, the pre—early childhood care and education category and in the age range for full daycare. The Minister has approved 50 applications to progress to the next stage of the building blocks extension grant scheme. When completed, these projects will deliver 1,500 additional full-time childcare places for one- to three-year-olds.
The Deputy is absolutely right in her comments on the impact of access to high-quality, affordable childcare on gender equality in the workplace. That is why we need to support parents, providers and those working to build their career in the sector. When I was Minister of State in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, I got the opportunity to work with some of the organisations that represent our childcare workers. I was delighted to sign some of the new statutory instruments into effect relating to their wages. It is really important that we continue to invest in the sector, whether in the physical buildings, through core funding for service providers or by way of funding for childcare workers. That is the best way to support parents and children and to deliver better gender equality in workplaces.
While I appreciate the Minister of State's response, it is disappointing there is nobody here from the Department of children. I welcome the statistics she shared that show an increase in provision of places and the work being done to address the problems. However, as she knows, that increase is not keeping pace with the needs of families across the country, including in my constituency of Dublin Rathdown.
We have seen tweaks in the childcare system, with attempts to address one shortfall here opening up another elsewhere. It is not working. We need radical reform. My colleague Deputy Farrelly's proposal, páistecare, is a plan for childcare that is like what Sláintecare was supposed to be for the healthcare system. It is a transformational approach that will supersede shifts and changes of policy and approach under successive governments. It will lock in cross-party support to transform childcare provision in the State. I urge the Government to consider it.
As a State, we are missing a trick when it comes to artificial intelligence, AI. At a meeting today of the AI committee, of which I am a member, we spoke about the labour displacement we all know is coming down the tracks as a result of AI. Childcare is one of the sectors that is untouchable by AI. None of the caring professions, including teaching and childcare, can be automated. However, we need to value the childcare profession. Right now, we do not pay workers enough. The sector offers only precarious employment, mostly to women, including migrant women. We do not value it enough as a society to capitalise on the labour displacement we will see elsewhere.
I ask again that the Government commit to a cross-party committee that will bring together everyone across the political spectrum to put forward a short-, medium- and long-term vision for the transformation to a public model of childcare provision in this country.
I thank the Deputy and her colleague for the work they are doing on this issue. The Government is committed to building an affordable, high-quality and accessible early learning and childcare system. I will take her recommendation for a cross-party committee to the Minister, Deputy Foley.
The programme for Government commits, for the first time ever, to provide capital investment to build or purchase State-owned early learning and childcare facilities. This will create additional capacity in areas where unmet need exists. That is the trajectory we are on and we are very clear about it.
State ownership of facilities is a very substantial and significant development. It offers the potential for much greater scope to influence the nature and volume of provision and to ensure better alignment with estimated demand, projected demand and current demand. The programme for Government also commits to planning the development of State-led facilities in tandem with the school building programme. Some early scoping work has already been carried out to explore options to introduce a segment of public provision, which I know is something the Deputy is particularly interested in. More detailed and extensive policy development and design is ongoing to progress to the next stage, the implementation stage, having regard to the wider emerging policy context as set out in the programme for Government.
As I am sure the Deputy is aware, the Department also funds 30 city and county childcare committees. These provide support and assistance to families and early learning and childcare providers. That network can assist in identifying vacant places in services for the children and families who need them and in engaging proactively with services to explore possibilities for expansion among services that already exist, especially where there is unmet need locally. Parents experiencing difficulty with regard to their early learning and childcare needs should contact their local city or county childcare committee for assistance.
On the Deputy's wider point and páistecare, I was in the Chamber when her colleague raised it with the Tánaiste. He expressed an interest in learning more about it. I am sure the Minister, Deputy Foley, will be as well.
School Management
As we approach the end of the school year in many primary schools, I acknowledge the hard work of many school principals and teachers but I also highlight an issue, the overloading of principals, particularly teaching principals. I met with many school principals in my own county of Offaly and they have told me that their workload is excessive, that it is continues to be extremely bureaucratic and that it is leading to burnout. Many principals cannot focus on teaching and learning because they are pulled in so many different directions with administration. Principals have pointed out to me that their management does not just extend to the school team, that is, the mainstream teachers and pupils, because they also have EAL teachers, SNAs and many ancillary staff coming in and out of the school. This is an issue we really need to get grips with or we are going to see an exodus of principals, especially teaching principals, from our schools.
I will focus on research that has been done and, at the end of my contribution, on solutions. In April, the Irish National Teachers Organisation, INTO, passed a motion at its annual congress regarding the unsustainable workload facing school principals. The resolution found that the current demands and expectations placed upon principals are unreasonably high, raising serious concerns about burnout and long-term sustainability in leadership roles.
There have been ongoing calls made for an immediate review of the special education allocation model. That is causing great frustration. I have raised it in this House before. It is putting serious pressure on primary school principals, who are often left scrambling for resources to meet the needs of students with complex needs. I have engaged regularly with the National Principals Forum, which I thank for its great work in highlighting the many issues facing teaching principals. With regard to the bureaucratic burden, the NPF recently conducted a survey on the impact of the SET allocation model I have just referred to. This survey was conducted among more than 550 primary school leaders. It concluded that 71% of respondents believed their SET allocations for the 2025-26 academic year are inadequate to meet their schools' needs, but the important piece is that the majority of principals and school leaders describe the process as chaotic, stressful, ridiculous and frustrating. We really need to take on board what school leadership are telling us. Another recent survey, this one conducted by the TUI, found that the ever-increasing workload, especially that of a bureaucratic nature, continues to be a demoralising factor. That forces many teachers out of the profession.
We really need to get to grips with this. I have a document here in my hand entitled Primary School Leadership: The Case for Urgent Action - A Roadmap to Sustainability. It was published by the IPPN. The report is extremely revealing. It highlights that there is an inordinate and disproportionate focus on managing the organisation and that this disproportionate increase in focus on managing the organisation without a corresponding increase in management supports and resources undermines the capacity of school principals to deliver greater focus on leading teaching and learning.
The chief inspector also contributes to this debate. A report from him dated between 2016 and 2020 also concludes that there is a disproportionate focus on management and administrative tasks that diverts principals from their key leadership responsibilities and undermines their effectiveness as institutional leaders in the school communities.
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue, which is raised with many of us in this House by principals up and down the country whose jobs are constantly evolving and constantly getting more challenging. I really appreciate the Deputy raising this here today.
The role of schools within communities is crucial and the Minister for Education and Youth, on whose behalf I am taking this Topical Issue, acknowledges the contribution made daily by all school leaders in the operation of our schools. International evidence is clear on the vital impact school leaders have on student outcomes and on leading teaching and learning in our schools. To ensure our school leaders are supported in an increasingly complex environment both now and into the future, Department officials are examining how best to support school leaders. A review of leadership supports is currently in development, as committed to in the programme for Government. I hope that is welcome news for the Deputy given that it was the thrust of what she asked for this evening. This review will examine current resourcing, distributed leadership, administrative and advisory supports, and professional learning supports for school leaders. Extensive consultation with stakeholders will inform this work.
The numbers employed in our schools will reach their highest ever level in this current school year. There are over 42,900 teaching posts allocated across the primary school system. This represents an increase of just over 5,000 teachers when compared with 2019-20. In three of the recent budgets, priority was given to reducing the pupil-teacher ratios in primary school by one point each year. This has brought the teacher allocation ratio to an average of one classroom teacher to every 23 pupils in all primary schools. That is the lowest level ever seen at primary level. In addition, the threshold at which a teaching principal becomes an administrative principal has been reduced from an enrolment of 176 pupils to 169 pupils. That is something the Deputy will be particularly interested in given that she queried the role and workload of teaching principals in particular. Budget 2022 ensured that each teaching principal having a minimum of one release day per week became a permanent feature in all schools. Schools with one special class received four additional release days while schools with two special classes have administrative principal status.
As well as general teaching post improvements, a new leadership framework, introduced back in 2017, allows for flexibility in identifying and prioritising the evolving leadership and management needs of a school. This shared leadership model supports school leaders in the overall management and operation of schools. It provides for the assignment and reassignment of post holders to specific roles and responsibilities to meet a school's evolving needs.
Today, one in three primary school teachers holds a management position. Budget 2024 provided for an additional 500 additional assistant principal II posts for the current school year while budget 2025 provided for the equivalent of 500 assistant principal II posts, being distributed as 110 assistant principal I posts and 251 assistant principal II posts for the purposes of fully restoring all posts of responsibility in primary schools. A revised post of responsibility schedule issued to schools in April to reflect the increase in posts of responsibility available to schools for the coming school year.
In examining leadership, the Department of Education and Youth is acutely aware that we need to protect what works well in our school systems and what serves so many of our young people so well. We want to build on the strengths of the system, to address challenges that will support our school communities and to be responsive to the needs of students in an increasingly complex world.
The programme for Government commits to a trial of new administrative support for principals and boards of management to assist with demands faced and to support school leaders in rebalancing some of their time towards leading teaching and learning. Planning for this trial is now at an advanced stage.
I welcome the improvements the Minister of State has just listed, but in order to tackle the current bureaucratic nightmare, there are decisive solutions that could be taken. For example, there is a pilot of the small schools scheme. I completely welcome that. That is certainly one solution. If that were to be rolled out nationally where schools form clusters and support one another with admin, and if the threshold, which stipulates that the scheme is for schools of four teachers or fewer, were increased, I think it would capture and support more schools.
To give the Minister of State an idea of how bureaucratic this is becoming, since 2006 an average of 44 circulars have been issued to schools. That is a huge workload to land on any principal's desk, and that is just one layer of the workload that exists. As I said, we should look at the small schools scheme, roll it out nationally, extend it to more schools and support teachers. Teachers are managing a huge number of people. It is not just mainstream teachers, as I said; this has extended to SNAs and ancillary staff. We need to look at all that and tackle the bureaucratic nightmare quickly, efficiently and effectively before we have, unfortunately, more principals leaving their posts. It is time we put more solutions in place and allowed teachers do what they do best and what they signed up to do, which is to teach. That is what they are passionate about. I know this myself from being a former school principal. We had to do revenue returns and we had so much landing on the desk and, unfortunately, that situation has only got worse in recent years.
As I said, there are clusters of this pilot in Galway, Donegal and Mayo. I think its extension nationally would be one way of helping principals.
I thank the Deputy for sharing her own experience, which is so relevant. Ultimately, the existing models of leadership and governance in our schools place a burden on school principals as well as boards of management and the sector as a whole. It is a very difficult balance to strike to get the appropriate level of checks and balances which are critical for both our students and the industry and to make sure we are not overburdening principals, in particular, and school leaders.
Recognising these challenges, the Department of Education and Youth is now putting an increased focus on leadership and governance at school level and across the sector nationally. Department officials, in conjunction and in consultation with education partners, are examining the current policies and practices to see what elements are serving school communities well and what elements can be improved on. The Deputy put it very well herself when she said we want teachers to be able to do what they do best, that is, to teach, which is what they are passionate about. We want to empower them to be able to do that.
The Deputy mentioned the small schools project. To give her an update on that, the feedback from the 26 small schools has been really positive. That is reflected in the interim evaluation report, which is due to be published by the Department shortly. The independent review identifies potential areas for closer collaboration and an analysis of the scalability of actions already undertaken. There will be evaluations as this continues. I reassure the Deputy that it will form a strong basis that will inform future policy as regards the direction for all small schools. That feeds into the delivery of this important programme for Government commitment we have.
As regards the new administrative supports, there are currently trial roles being actively recruited in two of the six clusters, which is really interesting. We will be able to evaluate that. It will look at things like leadership and governance, at both primary and post-primary level, and will all be about supporting school leaders and the school communities better. As the Deputy said, the small schools pilot will be really interesting for us to learn from and, hopefully, to be able to get learnings that we can roll out right throughout Ireland.
Cuireadh an Dáil ar athló ar 10.34 p.m. go dtí 9 a.m., Dé Céadaoin, an 25 Meitheamh 2025.
The Dáil adjourned at 10.34 p.m. until 9 a.m. on Wednesday, 25 June 2025.