Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as an gceist. On behalf of myself and the Government parties, I would also like to wish Julie Lyons all the best in her retirement. I thank her for the excellent service she has provided to Members over 34 years. There is an expression in politics: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." That certainly never applied to Julie. She served us loyally and I have been instructed by colleagues to say they will very much miss her Christmas puddings once she departs. I thank her for her service. I want to express concern for my former constituency colleague, Senator Andrews. Deputy McDonald mentioned how the flotilla of people lawfully protesting the slaughter in Gaza was attacked last night by Israeli forces. This seems to show the Israeli Government is prepared to attack non-combatants whether they are in Gaza or in international waters. On behalf of the Irish Government, I condemn the actions of the Israeli Government in unlawfully attacking a lawful flotilla that is seeking to engage in peaceful activity on international waters. I was not being flippant yesterday when I responded to the issues Deputy McDonald raised. I assure her the Government takes extremely seriously the issues concerning the cost of living and the pressures they put on families. The Deputy recounted a series of increases that will take place. The Government is well aware of those increases and the pressures they will put on families, whether the increases are in energy costs or in the area of health insurance. However, it is important to note the reason the energy credits were introduced a number of years ago was the extraordinary rate of inflation in the country and throughout the world in the immediate aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In this country, inflation was in the region of 10% but since then because of measures taken by Government, for which no credit is given by the Deputy, inflation has been brought under control and is at reasonable levels. When it comes to the budget that will be announced in 13 days by the Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Chambers, I assure Deputy McDonald that concern for the cost of living and hard-pressed families will be at the centre. The Deputy mentioned a number of items she highlighted yesterday. Similarly, I want to remind her of the protections provided by the Government in the last budget. She will be aware that there was an increased payment in respect of the rent tax credit for 2024 from €1,000 to €2,000. She will be aware that there was the extension of the 9% reduced VAT rate for gas and electricity. That is a very real measure that was introduced and maintained by the Government for the purpose of trying to protect consumers from increasing costs in the energy sector. She will also be aware of the extension of the mortgage interest relief until the end of 2025 and a €300 lump sum payment in respect of the fuel allowance. That is leaving aside other social welfare protections that were introduced in the previous budget and that I know will also be introduced in this budget. I ask the Deputy to await the outcome of the budget. She seems fixated on the fact that the Government has announced that it is not going reintroduce the energy credits that it introduced over the past number of years. They were measures that were not met with favour by Sinn Féin when they were introduced here.
Sentiment score: 0.20
They were part of a Government proposal that was sneered at by Sinn Féin at the time. Let us wait to see what the Ministers, Deputies Chambers and Donohoe, and the rest of the Government come up with. I assure the Deputy that the cost-of-living issue will be at the forefront of their consideration and Government consideration.
Sentiment score: 0.11
Every Government TD, and indeed every TD who is not in Sinn Féin, is aware of the pressures that people are under when it comes to the cost of living. The Deputy does not have a monopoly in terms of understanding that. We are fully aware of it. We have introduced measures in the past that the Deputy has acknowledged have ameliorated the cost-of-living pressures on people. She is acknowledging that by giving us credit for the energy credits that were introduced in the past. The fact that we have done this in the past is indicative that it will be done again in the future. Measures will be available to ensure that-----
Sentiment score: 0.08
-----families are at the centre of the budget package that will be introduced 13 days from now. The Deputy spoke about the cost of energy. She also has to be aware of the other measures that have been introduced by the Government to alleviate costs on families. For instance, if we look at the retrofitting that is going on, over €558 million has been allocated for residential and community energy schemes in 2025. A total of €280 million has been specifically allocated to the warmer homes scheme, which provides free retrofits to households in energy poverty.
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A lot has been done and the Deputy should not ignore it.
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I should have pointed out when I was responding to Deputy McDonald that my understanding is that Deputy Barry Heneghan is on that flotilla as well. I extend my best wishes to him. I express my concern and the concern of the wider Government for his safety as well as that of Senator Andrews. Deputy Bacik is being unfair. It is inappropriate to compare the response of the Irish Government to climate change to that of the response of the current American Government. That is inappropriate and it is not based among any factual understanding. It is not a fair assessment of the work that is being done by this Government since it came into office. There is no doubt but that this Government recognises that climate change is probably the most pressing challenge for our society. There is full recognition within the Government that the impacts of climate change are still to be seen on a continuous basis. If we look at the excessive temperatures we are experiencing, not just in Ireland but throughout Europe, and if we look at the extreme weather events that seem to be more frequent now, that is the evidence of what is happening as a result of climate change. I know the Minister, Darragh O'Brien, takes his role extremely seriously when it comes to combating climate change. If we look at what has happened from the data, we can see that the 2024 data from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, shows that Ireland's emissions continue to fall for the third year in a row and are at their lowest level in three decades compared with 1990 levels. Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 2% in 2024 compared with 2023 and decreased by 10.6% from 2021 to 2024 while the economy grew strongly. It is important to note that there has been considerable success achieved in the area of climate change. It is a demanding target to meet our emissions, but they are targets that the Government is committed to meeting and is making its best endeavours to ensure that we do meet them. Ireland is in a slightly different position to many European countries where they have not seen the same level of economic expansion and growth that we have. We have been able to combine that expansion while at the same time ensuring that we take our climate obligations seriously. The Deputy highlighted data centres. It is important that we do not start targeting one aspect of our economy for the purpose of presenting it as being the villain in terms of the cause of climate change. We need to recognise that climate change and the response to it will only be achieved through a co-ordinated agreed response from the Government in which society takes its part in and business plays its part as well. The Deputy also mentioned the issue of retrofitting. In my answer to Deputy McDonald, I highlighted the money that is available for retrofitting. That is a scheme that needs to be availed of by members of the public. The Government is backing it with money to ensure we can save on energy consumption.
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The Deputy is ignoring the great work being done on securing renewable energy in this country. As of last February, 48% of Ireland's power was powered by onshore wind. They are facts the Deputy simply cannot ignore. The Deputy also talked about how we need to ensure there is no LNG plant. We have to provide people in this country with energy security.
Sentiment score: 0.32
It is absolutely essential we have a secure form of energy for them. The Deputy is aware of what is happening as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the consequence of that from a European perspective. We cannot continue to fund President Putin and Europe cannot continue to fund President Putin by purchasing his fossil oil. A huge amount is being done. Minister O'Brien takes it extremely seriously. In terms of retrofitting, last year we hit an average of 1,000 retrofits per week. It is a huge achievement. In terms of greenways, there are many fine greenways around the country and more will be developed by Minister O'Brien. We are responding to the energy crisis. We are taking it extremely seriously and the fruits of our work are becoming apparent to the Irish public.
Sentiment score: 0.04
I thank the Deputy for her question. Her statement that the Government is doing nothing is not in fact correct. The Minister of State who has responsibility for this area and who has been engaging with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, CCPC, is Minister Dillon, and he met representatives of the CCPC in June and has asked it to conduct an analysis of the Irish grocery retail sector with a view to determining whether there is evidence of excessive pricing. The CCPC is expected to report back in the coming weeks. This week, we saw another example of the work of the CCPC in protecting consumers. A warning letter was issued to the motor industry. We feel the powers of the CCPC should be strengthened further. If the Deputy knows the programme for Government she will see that we committed in it to giving more powers to the CCPC. I know this has been prioritised in the Department of enterprise by Minister Burke and Ministers of State Dillon and Troy. The measures the Government is taking are designed to reduce the cost of groceries in Ireland. However, I have to say we have a very competitive grocery sector in Ireland. We will try to ensure through Government interaction with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission that prices are brought down and that the most competitive prices are available. We also need to recognise that people can get cheaper prices elsewhere and I urge people to engage in a competitive assessment of the prices that are available. In terms of the proposals the Deputy puts forward, she said the Social Democrats have been advocating that we require the grocery sector to publish profits. Bring forward legislation and the Government will examine it. Obviously, there are reasons certain companies are not required to publish profits, predominantly because they are private companies that are not required to publish information such as that. If the Social Democrats believe that should be changed, bring forward legislation in terms of what should be set out in the Companies Act and the Government will give consideration to it. It is obviously a complicated issue in terms of trying to intervene and impose obligations on certain companies that are involved in the grocery business as opposed to other companies that are involved elsewhere. It is obviously and necessarily going to be the case that whatever company their legislative proposal would engage with would have to apply across the board to all private companies. I will speak again to the relevant Ministers in respect of this. I am aware of the profits being made in the grocery sector but the Government is working on it issue and has engaged with the CCPC and will continue to do so. If the Deputy wants a legislative change I urge her and the Social Democrats to put forward amending legislation and the Government will give consideration to it.
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I should point out that in order for this to happen, the law in the country has to change. The law can be changed-----
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The entity that changes the law is the Oireachtas. Government proposes laws and has the advantage of the majority in the Houses of the Oireachtas but there is nothing stopping Opposition parties from bringing forward legislation that they believe will change the law. Motions are-----
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-----easy to bring forward and they get covered-----
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------but the hard work is done when it comes to drafting legislation.
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If a Member believes legislation should be introduced to change the law, they should come forward with that legislation. We need to be careful about vilifying grocers. There are a lot of grocers in Ireland that provide a lot of employment to people. Of course, they make profits. It is our job to ensure that their profits are not excessive and that we curtail them. The best way to do that is through the CCPC and engagement with the consumer protection entity. The more competition there is in the business, the more prices come down. Prices coming down benefits the consumer.
Sentiment score: 0.31
I thank Deputy O'Flynn for his question. As the budget approaches, many sectors in society will be anxious to ensure their sector gets taken care of in the budget. As I am sure the Deputy will appreciate, the Government has a limited cake and that amount has to be spread out equitably across the different sectors. Regarding school funding and capitation, since 2020 schools have benefited from significant increases in capitation funding, additional teaching and SNA posts and enhanced school leadership supports. I know the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is doing her best to ensure the capitation improvement will increase. The Minister is doing a review of costs in schools to see whether we can bring them down. It is important to point out that a huge amount has been done to date and over previous budgets. Budget 2025 delivered a permanent €30 million increase in capitation funding, which was a 12% rise on current standard and enhanced rates. That was on top of the 9.2% increase secured the previous year and the Minister is anxious to see that further supports are provided in this budget. From this September, this has brought capitation to €224 per primary pupil, as the Deputy said. Of course, there are secondary pupils as well. The capitation is €386 per post-primary student, with enhanced rates for pupils with special education needs and Traveller pupils. Schools received a €45 million cost-of-living payment in November 2024 to tackle rising energy and day-to-day running costs. The Department of education works very closely with schools that are in financial difficulty. If a school is in financial difficulty, it should contact the Department of education. The financial support services unit within the Department will play a critical role in guiding schools through any financial difficulties. We have to take into account that the Government has in recent years provided free schoolbooks for children in primary schools and, indeed, in secondary schools now. That has been an extraordinary game-changer, if I can use a word that has been used with some frequency recently.
Sentiment score: 0.29
It has been a game-changer for parents of schoolchildren. It has had a considerable role in reducing the pressures on them. I am conscious, as I know the Minister, Deputy McEntee is, that schools can face financial difficulties and that there are further financial burdens placed upon them. The capitation grant has increased, and we hope it will increase again. There are mechanisms through which schools in financial difficulty can get support by engaging with the financial support services unit within the Department. If schools in the Deputy's constituency of Cork North-Central have issues in terms of financial difficulty, I am sure they have already been in contact. If they have not, they should be in contact with the Department of education.
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That constitutional obligation on the State is being complied with.
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It is being complied with-----
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What about the other resources that the Deputy has not mentioned?
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The Government has put €200 million into ICT in schools. The minor works programme can be availed of for the purposes of works in schools. The summer works programme, which is very popular, ensures works can be done over a short period of time while schools are out on holiday.
Sentiment score: 0.23
As I stated, the free books scheme has not been mentioned by him. There is the hot meals scheme as well in schools.
Sentiment score: 0.39
There are huge advantages that have been introduced into the education sector in schools by this Government and its predecessor and they need to be acknowledged by the Deputy. We acknowledge that there are schools that are under financial pressures but there is a mechanism for them to engage with the Department in respect of that. If there are schools that need to engage with the Department, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, and the unit in the Department will engage with them. They will provide schools with advice and support, if that support is available, to ensure the schools get through it.
Sentiment score: 0.68