I did a fair bit of it in your own constituency. It was good to be in Donegal. The Deputy persists in trying to misrepresent the budget. Week in week out, he comes in here and says that €9.4 billion more is being spent etc. and then he tries to pivot to suggest it is all being spent in a certain direction. He ignores the fact and does not tell people at home that the bulk of that money went to increasing public services. I presume he agrees with the very significant increase - hundreds of millions of euro extra - in funding for disability services that came out of that pot to which he referred. I presume he agrees with the very significant increase in the education budget, including for capitation fees and special education, all the extra funding to our health service and the largest ever social protection budget, including measures for carers and a major expansion in fuel allowance increases for pensioners. To be honest, I am not sure any more whether he agrees with measures we took to try to help the hospitality sectors in towns and villages in Donegal and across this country. They said to us that their cost base was too high and that was having a real impact on them in keeping the doors open, in servicing the tourism sector, which is such an important part of our economy, and in keeping people in employment. That is a whistle-stop tour of where a lot of the money went in this budget. The Deputy is making a constant effort to misrepresent and mislead the Irish people on the measures we took in relation to housing supply, but they are the right measures. We took a decision to reduce the cost of building an apartment to help to make sure more apartments are built. This week, there was an Oireachtas housing committee meeting. I am not sure if the Deputy has seen it. If he has not, I am sure Deputy Ó Broin will fill him in. Person after person who has responsibility for building apartments came in and said this will make a real difference and will mean we can build more homes for young people to buy and rent.
Sentiment score: 0.19
You would have heard directly from Cairn Homes, which said in The Irish Times, "The better news is that the recent VAT cut gets passed on directly to the end user here." He would also have heard from Fitzpatrick and Heavey Homes which said, "Apartments are now viable again" and it will lead to a building boom.
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You are not yet the leader.
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You would have heard from Glenveagh-----
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You would have heard from Glenveagh which said the accelerating infrastructure task force is going to make a real difference and the innovations are working. Castlethorn, which builds homes, welcomed the budgetary measure.
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At the end of the day, the people you describe-----
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No. The people you like to describe as elites and everything else are the people we rely on to build homes in this country. The measures we have taken are making a real difference. I do not think when you, Eoin Ó Broin and others meet these lads, you use the same sort of language towards them as you use in this Dáil. The lobbying register shows you are meeting most of them. I do not think when you meet them you describe them in the way you do in this House. You have also come in today, and you tried this at the finance committee yesterday, to try to suggest the measures we have taken to assist small landlords are somehow disproportionate to the measures we have taken for renters. Lest there be any doubt, the budget package we have in place to help renters, the renters' tax credit, is three times the cost to the Exchequer as the tax credit for landlords to try to keep people in the rental market. You cannot have homes to rent if you do not have people who are willing to rent their home. Please do not continue to misrepresent the steps this Government is taking to deliver infrastructure, to deliver homes, to support jobs and, crucially, to invest more in our public services. That is what budgets are about too; making sure when somebody needs to access healthcare, education or a disability service, that we are properly and adequately resourcing it. When people look back at this budget, which is one of five in a five-year term, they will see we have taken decisions that will make a fundamental difference to housing supply, to jobs and employment, and to protecting our country. That is what many of the people on the doors I knock on want to see from a Government too.
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I never said that.
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Nope.
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They told you.
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It is kind of a single, transferable speech from you. The reality is we went to the electorate. This Government won a mandate to govern and you did not.
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We went to the electorate-----
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Am I allowed to speak or do I get shouted down in this House?
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They waste the time shouting you down. I would like my time to be protected to respond to the questions because people at home do not want this pantomime. They want to know what is happening, not you sitting at the back shouting and roaring at me every time I try to speak. The reality is we ran an election and we told the people of Ireland what we were going to do over the course of five years.
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We came together as two parties-----
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We came together-----
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Am I allowed to speak or is bully boy Pearse just back?
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Mr. Angry. Bully boy Pearse.
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You are a bully and you shout down people in this House. You are a bully boy and your bully boy tactics will not work on me. We formed a government with a five-year programme.
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You have let the mask slip again today that you do not believe there are measures needed to make house-building more viable in terms of apartments.
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We are taking those decisions. You will not support the decisions we are taking to make a real difference in housing supply.
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When we see those extra homes built in the years ahead, young people right across this country will benefit from that. This is budget one of five.
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It will make a real and sustainable difference.
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We will be delivering on our programme for Government while you will continue to shout, roar and offer nothing constructive to this country-----
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-----because that is what bully boys do.
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You are a bully.
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You are a bully, shout and roar, online trolling.
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First, I join the Deputy in agreeing that what we saw happen in Drogheda at the IPAS centre is the most despicable crime. It is attempted murder. It has nothing to do with a migration debate in this country - absolutely nothing. It is a horrific, almost unspeakable act where babies and young children were sleeping upstairs. Everybody in this country, regardless of their political perspective, is utterly horrified. We are all united on that. I also join the Deputy in reiterating what I already said and what I say every time I speak about migration: migration is a good thing and migrants make a positive contribution to this country. I do not in any way doubt that. I often say that our health service would fall over if it was not for people coming in. I take the Deputy's point that they are in many other parts of our economy and our society. When you go into our schools and see the diversity, that is a good thing. I do not have any disagreement with the Deputy or anybody else on that. I also know this: we have to have a clear migration policy. It is a statement of fact that our population has grown at a very fast rate. It is a statement of fact that for every 10,000 people who come into our country, roughly 3,000 more homes are needed. I believe it is a statement of fact that we need to look at migration in the round, we need to plan for it and we need to have a mature discussion about what is an appropriate level of migration. We need to do exactly what the Deputy has suggested, which is to go through our economy sector by sector and identify the work needs there. The Future Forty document that has been published this week by my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is very useful in terms of analysing around 2,000 potential different scenarios regarding how our country might develop and grow in our demographics. We need to have an evidence-based debate. The Deputy has not said it but some of the comments from his party this week were disappointing. Accusing someone of dog whistling and at the same time calling them Nigel Farage, which I think is a dog whistle, is not a mature debate. People from other political parties immediately just call me names for stating the fact that, in my view, migration has risen at too high a rate, but it actually is not just my view. I have here a graph that uses Eurostat data. The green line shows Ireland's net migration and the blue line is the equivalent Europe and the grey line is the equivalent for the eurozone. It can be seen objectively that over the last several years our population, in terms of net migration, has risen way faster than the European average and way faster than the eurozone average, and that is a challenge. The extremes in politics, which neither the Deputy nor I is a part of, on the far left and the far right are the ones that fester when politicians of whatever stripe in the centre do not stand up and show willingness to engage, discuss and debate. The Government intends to do two things. It intends to bring forward new legislation for international protection and there are legitimate issues that need to be addressed, including the fact that the majority of applications are refused. The Government also intends to produce a national migration strategy in 2026 to have an evidence-based, data-driven, informed discussion. I would invite people across the House to engage with that in a calm and responsible manner.
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Twenty nine per cent of our total immigration figures last year came from international protection, or 18,561. The Deputy has not done so today, but I reject the argument made by some in recent days that international protection is an incidental part of this conversation. I reject that; it is not. When we consider that there were 18,561 applications for international protection in 2004 and that more than 80% of applications so far this year have been rejected in the first instance, we have a challenge there. We can debate the statistics and-----
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I am answering the question.
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Last year, 18,561 people came here through international protection and a majority of those applications were rejected. They were found not to qualify for international protection. That needs to be addressed.
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On the next issue, yes, we continue to need people to come. Nobody is proposing a migration policy that would see us not issuing work visas or work permits, but it has to be looked at in a balanced manner and sector by sector. I am sure that the Deputy will accept the facts from the ESRI that for every 10,000 people who come into our country, 3,000 more homes are needed.
Sentiment score: 0.33
We also need to recognise that every time people come into the country, there is increased pressure on public services. We have to consider this in a balanced fashion. This is not a radical concept. This is something that happens in most mature democracies, in most European countries. We are late to this because migration numbers have only become a larger issue of public debate in recent years after the war in Ukraine and other things. This is what mature democracies and responsible politicians do. They put in place a migration policy and make sure the rules are applied. If a person has a right to be here, great, they should be allowed to make their contribution and be integrated and supported and we will thank them for doing so. However, if someone does not have a right to be here, we have to address that as well.
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I thank Deputy Ward for raising this matter. Before I address the specific issues he raised, I want to say the Government is acting in good faith on the complex issue of defective concrete blocks. However, this is nothing compared with the stress and trauma being experienced by people in the Deputy's county and others. I have visited them. Over the summer months, I met some of the people and sat with them in their kitchen. I cannot even comprehend the level of stress they are dealing with. We are contributing a very significant amount of public money to the scheme. It is expected to be in excess of €2.2 billion. We are working with communities and Oireachtas Members to try to get this right. I thank the Deputy for the constructive contribution he is making to the debate. As the Deputy said, on 31 March 2025, the National Standards Authority of Ireland, NSAI, commenced a public consultation period of the revised draft of IS 465. As the Deputy knows, but for the benefit of others, this is the testing standard used to evaluate the impact on homes. More than 600 submissions were received. The NSAI is now in the process of finalising the review. The review is being informed by a number of pieces of scientific research. The task of the NSAI review group is to assess the implications of the entire body of research. We are endeavouring to inform this on the basis of scientific research. In November 2024, the Department of housing made changes to the way the grant scheme works for certain homeowners, as the Deputy is aware. This followed receipt of the preliminary results from scientific research done on damaged dwellings in County Donegal, which claimed that the underlying mechanism of damage is as a result of an internal sulphate attack due to the presence of excessive amounts of chemical. From 6 November, all homeowners who have been given an non-demolition option will be offered a choice of continuing with the work on their dwelling under the option determined or the option of a full technical review of their application by the Housing Agency. This review will be informed by the current research, once the full review of IS 465 is complete. If homeowners choose to continue with the works, they will continue to avail of the 40-year Government guarantee. Homeowners who receive an option 1 demolition are unaffected by the changes. This is complex. It is an important matter and it potentially has serious implications for homeowners and also for the Exchequer. I need to be truthful about that. The Department will review the contents over the consultation period and consider the advice received from the expert group. I do not want to make any inappropriate or pre-emptive comments on the draft standard or the potential changes that it might bring to the grant scheme, but the point about additional training is well made. Yes, training will have to be provided should there be changes, and it will have to be certified or overseen by Government. I will ask the Minister, Deptuy Browne, to continue to engage with the Deputy and other Oireachtas Members in affected counties on this quite technical but very practical measure for homeowners.
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The point I am making, and the reason I used the word "technical", is since 6 November we are offering all homeowners who have been given that non-demolition option the choice of continuing as was or having that full technical review. I am making the point that review will be informed by the current research, that is, the latest available scientific information. We are genuinely trying to follow the science here. I am also saying to the Deputy I cannot imagine a scenario where training does not arise as a result of that. I cannot imagine a scenario where, on such a sensitive and important issue, the quality of that training is not somewhat overseen or approved by government or government agencies, so I am not endeavouring to be disagreeable on this. I have heard on my recent visits to Donegal that there are also a number of tweaks, though that is completely the wrong word, on how the scheme is being applied and homeowners have made some sensible suggestions to me. A group of homeowners feel they are falling between stools in terms of being able to access and draw down a scheme that has quite a large quantum of money. I intend to engage directly with colleagues across the House on this in the coming weeks.
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I thank Deputy O'Donoghue for raising this matter. I must say I find myself in agreement with a lot of what he says, if not almost all of it. Let me tease through it. The Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, was away on Government business yesterday-----
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-----but he intends to work with everybody on this. What the Deputy said and the tone in which he said it are really important. There are some things that are just more important that party politics and shouting and roaring at each other in here. Healthcare and making sure the people of the mid-west have a proper, fit for purpose health service is our priority, the priority of the Minister for Health and the priority of everybody I know across this House. Let us proceed on that basis. Deputy O'Donoghue and other mid-west TDs have been very vocal advocates for the improvement of services at UHL for a sustained period and there is a need for a comprehensive approach to the provision of services in the short and long term, because people cannot wait forever and a day. They need stuff now and then they need to know where this is going in the time ahead. We are fully committed to improving services in the mid-west region. I welcome the Deputy's comments about the new 96-bed block at UHL. I hope that is seen as a sign of the Government's commitment. The Deputy was at the opening and I want to acknowledge that. I am glad to say that while nobody wants to see anybody on a trolley, we are beginning to see the benefit of that extra capacity. I too know the new management team the Deputy mentioned to be good people, based on my past postings. I am glad to report the average number of people waiting on trolleys at UHL has halved in the three weeks since the new 96-bed block opened compared with the three weeks prior to that. It is still too high, but it shows the benefit. If you put in extra beds and put in the right management you can begin to see improvements. Importantly, there are now enabling works under way for a second 96-bed block. A further 84 inpatient beds are planned at UHL through the acute hospital inpatient bed capacity expansion plan. These projects include 32 rapid build beds. With the first 96-bed block, when you add that up we will increase bed capacity through this variety of initiatives by 308 beds by 2028, with 572 new beds across the region by 2031. Let us get back to the HIQA review. We have a roadmap. The HIQA review gave us three options, but the Deputy is kind of right; it did not necessarily gave us three options. Did it give us a menu to work through? The Minister briefed the Government on 30 September. Option A of the review was "Expand Capacity at UHL on the Dooradoyle site". Let us all agree we have started that, we need to do more of that and the quicker the better. On the point about infrastructure delivery and cutting through red tape, we are going to have proposals from the Minister, Deputy Chambers, and his Department very shortly, probably this month, on how we speed up infrastructure delivery. The second option was to "Extend the UHL hospital campus to comprise the existing Dooradoyle site and another site...". The third option talked about the potential to develop a model 3 hospital in the HSE mid-west. Alongside these options, HIQA has also presented an extensive number of additional considerations, including system-wide work - reforms, I suppose - that need to be progressed in parallel. I am clear that all options remain on the table. The Government has not ruled out doing any or all of these. That has not happened. The extensive findings and considerations presented by HIQA are being considered fully by the Minister and her officials and in terms of this not dragging on, the Minister has committed to reporting back to Government on next steps by Christmas.
Sentiment score: 0.20
We are fully committed to UHL. We are fully committed to the mid-west. Let us hope this term of this Dáil signals a new dawn in terms of moving forward on the HIQA report. The last Dáil was about commissioning HIQA reports but that is all done now. I agree with the Deputy. We do not need a whole load of palaver around next steps. We need the Minister to do her job, which she is doing extremely well, and to report back to Government by Christmas. That is her intention and she is fully supported by everyone in the Government and, I think, by everyone in the Opposition in making that progress. We have increased the budget of UHL very significantly, from €265 million in 2019 to €507 million last year. We have increased the number of staff and are putting in the bed capacity. I do not want to overly agree with the Deputy in case I kill his street cred but his overall point about infrastructure delivery is right. Things are taking far too long. There are simple things we can do and intend to do. There will be proposals from Government on this by the end of the month. One is to move processes in parallel. We do not need to wait for full planning permission to prepare procurement. Processes need to move in parallel. You can save a significant amount of time. We will also need to see emergency legislation in this House on the delivery of critical infrastructure. If the Government and the Opposition really want to get things moving, we should work together on that in the time ahead.
Sentiment score: 0.15