I thank Deputy Doherty very much for raising this issue. I had the opportunity to visit Donegal in the not-too-distant past and I met some of the fishing organisations and fishers in Killybegs. I know what a worrying time this is for people, as do the Minister, Deputy Heydon, and the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, who has specific responsibility for the area. There is no doubt that the proposals are deeply concerning. They will significantly impact on the Irish seafood sector. Ireland has repeatedly raised the overfishing of key stocks by some coastal states outside the EU. The Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, will continue to highlight this critical issue for our fishers and engage intently with the European Commission and other member states on possible actions we could take to protect our stocks. The Minister of State met with concerned fishers in Killybegs last Sunday. I have not had an opportunity to speak to him since but he was also to meet relevant stakeholder groups yesterday to gather input so that we could see how best to approach this together. I will ask that he keep in touch with Deputy Doherty and other interested Members of the House.
Sentiment score: 0.16
That is disgraceful to hear. I am not going to endeavour to justify it. It is not acceptable. These sorts of things drive any right-thinking person absolutely berserk. That is appalling. I suggest that anybody who thinks there is not a clinical need should go spend an evening with Josh, as his family does in caring for him. I will ask the relevant Minister to follow up with Deputy Lawlor and the HSE immediately to see if we can make progress in this regard. I am very sorry to hear about this.
Sentiment score: 0.02
Deputy Hearne is captured by an ideology that believes private investment in the housing market is bad.
Sentiment score: -0.54
Yes.
Sentiment score: 0.40
What the Deputy said about me was completely untrue. It is not pleasant, is it?
Sentiment score: -0.20
We are taking every step we possibly can to endeavour to increase housing supply. There is a viability issue when it comes to apartment construction. Anything that can assist in the construction and sale of apartments is a good thing. Of course, this is only one of the many things we are doing to try to help.
Sentiment score: 0.29
I do not know why the Deputy keeps saying "billions" when the total cost of the measure is-----
Sentiment score: 0.00
You cannot just say a million here and a million there comes to a billion.
Sentiment score: 0.00
Half a billion is not the same as a billion.
Sentiment score: 0.00
The Deputy came in here and said that we were giving billions for completed apartments.
Sentiment score: 0.34
We are not. That is misinformation.
Sentiment score: -0.16
The total package is millions. The proportion that will go to completed apartments is presumably a very small fraction of that.
Sentiment score: 0.00
It is nowhere near billions. Accuracy matters when one is talking about taxpayers' money.
Sentiment score: 0.01
After disagreeing with Deputy Healy earlier, I find myself more in agreement with him in relation to this matter. As the Deputy knows and has alluded to, we have allocated extra money for the disabled person's grant in the budget. The question he is asking is a fair one, namely, whether we can do anything between now and the end of the year in relation to Tipperary. We always keep these issues under review. We obviously want to see these works continue. I will ask the Minister to engage with Tipperary County Council to see if progress can be made because there is now certainty and a line of sight as regards funding as a result of the budget. On the broader point, the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, is overseeing the new human rights strategy for disabled people. This is a real example of where we need to see good co-ordination across the country and across our local authorities. Perhaps we can take that away as an action. Specifically on the period from here to the end of the year, I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, and the Minister, Deputy Browne, to engage with Tipperary County Council.
Sentiment score: 0.26
I thank Deputy O'Flynn very much. I heard the Minister for justice comment on the issue regarding podcasters recently and he expressed his surprise and, perhaps, displeasure in that regard. I will ask him to come back to the Deputy on each specific issue he has raised. The Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, is putting a real focus on increasing prison capacity and has worked very hard to secure additional funding for prison capacity. We need that going into the delivery of prisons. Value for money is going to be very important in that regard. I will ask the Minister to reflect further on the issues the Deputy has highlighted. Our plan for the years ahead is to drive forward with increasing prison capacity. I take the point on value for money being important.
Sentiment score: 0.10
I sincerely thank Deputy O’Sullivan for having put this issue in the spotlight so many times. It really is important. He is right that I am familiar with it as a result of the advocacy of an incredible person I know, a constituent of mine, in County Wicklow. This advocacy has really helped to move the dial. The Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, is also very committed to addressing this issue. She would have met and engaged with the Deputy on it. We have the rare diseases strategy, which, as the Deputy said, is very clear on the expansion of newborn screening. It is a cause of collective frustration that we still have not seen this expansion. To say the screening is transformational and life-altering is quite an understatement. I do not have an answer to the direct question, but let me talk to the Minister to see if we can get a specific timeline for delivery. I will ask the Minister to revert to the Deputy directly.
Sentiment score: 0.15
I thank Deputy Feighan for raising this issue. I am very conscious that he represents a part of the country impacted by Storm Amy and that is still very much living with the fallout from Storm Éowyn and, to put it mildly, the absolute chaos it caused. People in Sligo, Leitrim and Donegal were particularly affected by Storm Amy, as were those in Mayo, Roscommon and Galway. I extend the sympathies of everybody in this House to the family of Mr. Connors from Letterkenny, who died due to a weather-related incident in Donegal. All our thoughts are with his family. Preparations were put in place for Storm Amy. The ESB put crews in position in advance. At the peak of the storm, over 184,000 premises were affected by power outages. The Deputy is right about the ESB, which as taken a number of measures. It has taken on additional contractors to manage forested areas where there are damaged or weakened trees. Forestry-harvesting machines have been acquired and the ESB has sourced stocks of material to underpin repair capacity during the winter season. However, I will ask the relevant Minister to do exactly what the Deputy suggests, namely interact with the regulator of utility companies. The latter is the prudent thing to do at this stage.
Sentiment score: -0.12
And I have the right to reply.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I was genuinely rising to my feet to try to give a constructive reply, because I doubt there is a family, and certainly not a political party in this Oireachtas, that has not been impacted by addiction. I can tell the Deputy that there are many people in my party, his and all others, who have lived with addiction, have loved ones with addiction or go home to addiction. Therefore, let us not be-----
Sentiment score: 0.14
I will deal with that constructively. I will even work with the Deputy on it, but I will not stand for the suggestion that only the people he represents are affected by addiction. It is a scourge in so many parts of society, causing pain for so many who deal with it in family life. Addiction is not a party issue at all. The Deputy did raise a legitimate issue, however, which is what I wanted to start by saying. The drug and alcohol addiction task forces do excellent work. I am aware of the work they do in my constituency - right across Wicklow. I will speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Murnane O’Connor, about this to see what can be done to support the task forces in the context of what is a massive budget for the health service overall. I will ask her to meet the Deputy specifically on this issue. Also, I will be happy to engage with him directly.
Sentiment score: 0.07
I am happy to try to help.
Sentiment score: 0.75
Deputy Ó Muirí is right. I thank him for highlighting this. It is an issue I have been raising personally for a while. We all want to do our bit for the climate – of course we do, and we are living through a climate emergency – but we also have to recognise that while quite a few people in this country would like to retrofit some element of their homes, they may not be in a position to do everything at once. We have to show flexibility in the context of the grants, particularly for those who are older and do not necessarily want the whole house uprooted but who are happy to take some measures that will help to keep them warm in their own homes and reduce their energy bills, and also allow them to do their bit for the planet. As the Deputy rightly said, we have increased the budget for retrofitting and climate measures. We will be working through all the detail of what that will mean in terms of numbers of home-energy upgrades, and the relevant announcement will be made as part of the REV later this year. As the Deputy knows, we reduced the VAT rate for heat pumps to 9% from 1 January, which has helped somewhat when it comes to affordability for people switching to efficient electric heating. The Department and SEAI keep their grant schemes, including the terms and conditions, eligibility criteria and rates, under review. I will ask that they reflect on what the Deputy has suggested.
Sentiment score: 0.28
I thank Deputy McAuliffe very much for raising this issue. We took an important step forward in this budget in moving towards the abolition of the means test with the increases in the thresholds to €1,000 for a single person and €2,000 for a couple. This is to show intent. We have not reached the destination yet. That destination is to abolish the means test. That is what we intend to do, working with colleagues, during the lifetime of this Government.
Sentiment score: 0.08
I thank Deputy Mythen very much for raising this issue. There is, as there should be, constant engagement with all stakeholders in respect of special education. I am pleased that the budget has provided significant additional funding that will allow for 860 extra teaching posts in the area of special education needs and 1,717 extra SNA posts. Also, we will be providing funding of €16 million to roll out the national therapy service in education to special needs schools. I will ask the Minister to respond directly to the Deputy on this matter.
Sentiment score: 0.49
I will try not to do what the Deputy asked me not to do. We obviously need to look at the housing situation nationally but we also need to work locally, county by county, in relation to housing. That is what we are trying to do. It is what the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, and the Minister, Deputy Browne, are trying to do. The Taoiseach and I will be interacting with a number of local authority chief executives. I will see if we can engage with the chief executive of Mayo County Council as well. Even in a country as geographically small as Ireland, there can be certain ways that local authorities and national government can work together to try to advance a response to the housing challenges. I would point out, though, that we are seeing in Mayo, for example, one of the largest drawdowns in the country of the vacant property refurbishment grant. The latter is a practical measure that is helping. On the viability issue, we have to try to get the balance right. We felt it was a prudent use of taxpayers' money for apartments. We thought the need in that regard was more acute in terms of the viability issue and a better use of money as opposed to a wider tax measure on housing. Such wider measures have not always worked in the past. I will mention schemes, but they will be the only ones. The first home and help to buy schemes have a lot of relevance in County Mayo, and perhaps even greater relevance there or in some counties that are even further away from Dublin. I will be happy to have a proper conversation with the Deputy on the matter.
Sentiment score: 0.21
The Minister of State reminds us of a good point.
Sentiment score: 0.44
I thank the Deputy very much for raising this very important issue during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The Minister for Health engaged with the national cancer screening service recently and has engaged with cancer advocacy groups too. I am not satisfied if people are experiencing those waiting times. The Deputy is quite right. As well as the clinical importance of quick diagnosis, there is also – as she very eloquently put it – the hugely stressful and worrying time that it is for women and for their families. I will ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy on the actions she and the HSE believe we can take since there is clarity regarding funding for the health service in budget 2026. We will try to make progress on the matter.
Sentiment score: -0.11
I thank Deputy Dempsey for raising this case. In many ways, it reminds us of why we need to abolish the means test. We are all hearing too many stories of carers not qualifying because of the income of the people they are married to or in a relationship with. As the Deputy said, there are also cases where people finally get the allowance and then find that if their spouse or partner does a few hours of extra work or gets a promotion, which are good things that happen in family life, they lose out.. These are kinds of traps and anomalies. I do hope, without knowing the particulars of that person's situation, the budget might have helped. It is one of the reasons why we have significantly increased the income disregard for single people and couples in this budget. We want to build on that in the years ahead to deliver on the programme for Government commitment to abolish the means test. In the interim, I will ask the Minister, Deputy Calleary, to reflect on the point the Deputy made regarding the reviews.
Sentiment score: 0.14
I am always open to engaging on a cross-party basis on this. I was with the First Minister for Northern Ireland in Hillsborough last night with representatives from western Balkan countries. We had a conversation about our peace process and the learnings from it for other parts of the world. It was a brief opportunity to talk to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland in relation to legacy matters. We have a framework. It needs to be implemented and translated faithfully into legislation in the House of Commons. We will then need to do our corresponding piece of work here. I am happy to have a further or longer conversation about this with the Deputy and his party. What I will say now, however, is that we are already proposing to do two things in this jurisdiction. First is the establishment of a legacy unit within An Garda Síochána by the end of the year. Second, going back to Stormont House proposals, we have, from memory, committed to establishing that cross-Border information retrieval body to operate on a pilot basis for two years. I am interested in the Venn diagram as to where there may or may not be gaps, but I am very happy to have a conversation with the Deputy.
Sentiment score: 0.30
The first thing I will do is read that EU report. Deputy Kelly was right to bring it to the attention of the House. We want to be leaders in terms of the structures we have here. We certainly do not want to be laggards. This matter sounds concerning from what he tells me, which I am not doubting. We have taken a number of measures in recent years in trying to establish the new structures for protected disclosures, greater clarity around what is meant to happen when disclosures come in and greater understanding across the system. This is a responsibility in the first instance for the Minister for public expenditure and reform. I will reflect on what the Deputy has said and ask that the relevant Minister reverts to him. Without commenting on any specific case, all whistleblowers are, under law, expected to have all of the protections that are right in the context of whistleblowing. Bringing information into the public domain is a very important part of our democracy.
Sentiment score: 0.18