There is currently a very serious shortage of autism school places for local children. I’ve worked in the past with a number of local primary and post-primary schools to establish specialist classes to meet the needs of local students, rather than forcing them to travel long distances to avail of an education. The ASD issue has been highlighted …
Children being abandoned on waiting lists in Roscommon & Galway
Last week I raised the appalling waiting list for local children in the Dáil. This is what I said: There are 436 children awaiting physiotherapy appointments in County Galway, some of whom have been waiting 176 weeks for such appointments. There are 95 children awaiting these appointments in County Roscommon. On speech and language waiting lists, 971 children were awaiting …
Government has to stop families being charged for data centre electricity
Our electricity prices are among the most expensive in Europe, with Irish families paying, on average, €180 extra for electricity annually. This is partly as a result of Irish families being forced to subsidise the cost of electricity, grid connections and backup supplies for existing and already planned speculative data centres. The Government decided in 2018 to stop the …
Minister considering proposal to prevent sex offenders changing name – Naughten
Denis Naughten TD has welcomed confirmation from the Minister for Justice that she is considering the need for new legislation following his call for sex offenders to be refused the right to change their name by deed poll. Speaking in the Dáil previously Denis Naughten warned that the key weakness in the Sex Offenders Amendment Bill was that it failed …
People with a disability coping with a 9 year lockdown – Naughten
Local TD Denis Naughten has told the Dáil that people with a disability have effectively been coping with a 9-year lockdown because of the failure by successive Governments to put transport supports in place to allow them to access work and other community activities. “Nine years ago in 2013 the Government suspended the Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant for …
Trinity must engage with Government & public on future science gallery – Naughten
Denis Naughten TD has called on Trinity College to actively engage with both the Government and the public on its proposed new science gallery model following the gallery’s closure at the end of last month. “Earlier this week the Minister for Further and Higher Education; Research; Innovation and Science, Simon Harris TD, told me that not only is public funding …
Record €4m allocated to 54 local sports projects – Naughten
Local TD Denis Naughten has welcomed the allocation of €4,050,393 to 54 local sporting organisations across County Roscommon & East Galway stating “this investment will improve local sports facilities and ensure far greater levels of participation in sport”. “This is a historic allocation of funding under the Sports Capital Programme to Roscommon and East Galway and comes on top of …
Credit Union Update
I recently attended a meeting of local Credit Unions to explore ways that they could help support local economic growth. I firmly believe that the Credit Union movement has a key roll to play when it comes to providing community banking across many parts of Ireland, now that the main banks have left. The basic independent banking infrastructure already exists …
Families could save €1,000 on utility bills – Naughten
Denis Naughten has urged families to shop around for the best offers available for electricity, phone, broadband, TV and health insurance — which could save them up to €1,000 per year. “Shopping around and switching provider could not be easier with approved comparison sites such as switcher.ie or bonkers.ie. Not only will they identify the best deal for your family …
Government plan to bring people back into our towns welcomed – Naughten
Local TD Denis Naughten has welcomed the publication of the Government’s Town Centre First strategy, which will build on work already taking place to bring families and businesses back into towns across County Roscommon and East Galway. “There is no doubt there must be a focus on bringing families back into vacant houses, particularly when we have 45,000 vacant homes …