I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I note he is raising it in conjunction with his two colleagues, who, unfortunately, are not here to partake. I recall that my Fianna Fáil colleague, the other TD in the area, Tom Brabazon, raised this issue at a Fianna Fáil party meeting recently when we were discussing the whole area of sustainable communities. In the first instance it should be noted that the provision of amenities and services is a core element of the statutory plan-making process by local authorities and is key to promoting the development of balanced and sustainable communities. Section 10 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 requires planning authorities to include objectives in their development plan to integrate social, community and cultural objectives with planning for residential and other development. The section further provides that objectives must also be included for the preservation, improvement and extension of amenities and recreational amenities. In practice, planning authorities comply with these requirements through the inclusion in their plans of relevant objectives, policy support and development management standards for such amenities and services, including within new residential developments, as well as identifying suitable locations for such facilities on a stand-alone basis through the zoning of land for recreation, social and community uses. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has provided formal guidance to planning authorities on the preparation of development plans, including on the provision of accompanying amenities for new communities, through the Development Plans - Guidelines for Planning Authorities 2022. These guidelines were issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 and planning authorities are required to have regard to them in the performance of their functions. As noted in these guidelines, the implementation of the development plan is a key strategic focus for the relevant local authorities, Dublin City Council and Fingal County Council in this instance, and they must use their wide range of functions in housing, transport, amenities development and infrastructural delivery to achieve the objectives of the plan, including in relation to the provision of amenities. The making of a development plan is a reserved function of the elected members of each planning authority. A planning authority or An Coimisiún Pleanála may also attach a condition to a grant of planning permission requiring the payment of a contribution in respect of public infrastructure and facilities that it is intended will be provided by or on behalf of a local authority. This may include open spaces and recreational and community facilities. The basis for such contributions is set out in a development contribution scheme as adopted by the elected members. In addition, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage provides funding to local authorities through the €2 billion urban regeneration and development fund which is supporting a programme of significant transformational capital projects that will contribute to the regeneration and rejuvenation of Ireland's cities and other large towns, in line with the objectives of the national planning framework and the national development plan. The Belmayne and Clongriffin areas were provided with funding through the Department's local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, for improved local road access, pedestrian facilities and access to public transport in the area, including Clongriffin train station. It is noted that, under section 213 of the Planning Act, a local authority is empowered, for the purposes of performing any of its functions, including giving effect to, or facilitating the implementation of, its development plan, to acquire land, permanently or temporarily, by agreement or compulsorily. In accordance with section 63(3) of the Local Government Act 2001, local authorities are independent in the performance of their functions and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has no role in relation to the planning or provision of amenities and services in individual local authority areas.

Sentiment score: 0.23

As I stated at the outset, the provision of amenities and services is a core element of the plan-making process and is key to promoting the development of balanced and sustainable communities. Section 10 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 sets out mandatory objectives which must be addressed by local authorities in their development plan, including objectives for the integration of the planning and sustainable development of the area with the social, community and cultural requirements of the area and its population. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has supported the local communities in this planning function through the publication of ministerial guidelines, including Development Plans - Guidelines for Planning Authorities in 2022, providing for a strategic approach to the implementation of new development with a wide range of amenities and supporting community and social infrastructure critical to planning and sustainable communities. Implementation and delivery of the provision of necessary amenities for new residential areas is a key responsibility of local authorities working in tandem with developers, infrastructure providers, Government agencies and others to ensure the sustainable development and quality of environment of such areas for new residents. I will take on board the factual inaccuracies the Deputy said were presented and I will communicate them back.

Sentiment score: 0.25

I thank Deputy Quinlivan for giving me the opportunity to address the House on capacity at University Hospital Limerick and provide an update on measures that are being taken to alleviate overcrowding. Reducing emergency department overcrowding and reducing waiting lists is a priority for this Government. Many patients are still waiting too long for hospital appointments and treatments. UHL has one of the busiest emergency departments in Ireland. Presentations totalled 87,194 in 2024. Between January and June this year, emergency department attendances at UHL were 9% higher than in the same period last year. Despite this, the daily average of patients counted on trolleys at 8 a.m. during this period is down 3% on the same period in 2024. However, too many patients are being treated on trolleys at UHL. More capacity is required but this must be supported by a range of reforms across health services in the region. There has been ongoing investment in additional capacity at UHL in recent years. UHL’s annual budget spend has increased from €265 million in 2019 to €507 million in 2024. A package of wide-ranging reform measures is also being implemented. These measures are aimed at capacity and reform of the health system in the region, including increased staffing levels. Staffing at UHL has grown by 48%, an increase of 1,337 whole-time-equivalent staff, from 2019 to May 2025. More beds are needed in the hospital and across the mid-west region. Through Government investment, 140 new beds have opened in UHL since 2020. This includes the successful delivery of two fast-tracked 16-bed inpatient blocks which opened in December 2024 and June this year. More new bed blocks are being developed, which will provide up to 292 additional beds by 2028. This includes two 96-bed blocks, the first of which is expected to open in September 2025. Bed capacity is being further expanded throughout the region through the acute hospital inpatient bed capacity expansion plan. This will deliver 572 new inpatient beds in the region by 2031, including 24 new beds at Nenagh Hospital, 48 new beds at Ennis Hospital and 42 new beds at St. John’s Hospital in Limerick. In addition, 25 virtual ward beds are operating at UHL. In May 2024, the Health and Information Quality Authority, HIQA, was requested to conduct a review of urgent and emergency care in the mid-west region. The primary objective of this work is to ensure safe, quality acute care in the region. As part of this review, HIQA was requested to consider the case for a second emergency department in the context of the population changes in recent years and the ongoing pressures at UHL. HIQA published the terms of reference for this review in August 2024. A preliminary briefing was received at the end of February. This preliminary briefing was published in March by the Minister for Health. A final report is expected in September 2025. The Minister will then consider the findings of the report to ensure that the appropriate actions are taken to ensure safe urgent and emergency care that is both safe and of high quality. I would like to reassure the Deputy, and all patients and people in the mid-west, that this Government is fully committed to improving health services in the region.

Sentiment score: 0.11

There is no doubt that when people get through the emergency department at UHL, the care and treatment they receive up the house and in their journey through UHL in the main is very good and very high quality.

Sentiment score: 0.02

That needs to be acknowledged and put on the record. Very often, the political narrative around UHL dismisses the very fine work that is going on there at all levels by porters, nurses, doctors, senior house officers, consultants and those at administration level. Of course, there have been some very unfortunate high-profile individual cases which have been in the news. They should never have happened but unfortunately they did happen. However, in the main people get great treatment and care at UHL. I do not agree with Deputy Quinlivan when he says there has been no progress.

Sentiment score: -0.01

I have outlined the significant investment and the significant progress that the Government has made over recent years, particularly since Fianna Fáil returned to government in 2020, by almost doubling the operational budget, increasing the workforce by well over 1,000 and increasing bed capacity. There has been a robust response. The Deputy said there has not been a robust response. I would argue that he is wrong. When Sinn Féin people discuss UHL, I never hear what their proposals are. The Deputy has not outlined here today and I have never heard him outline previously what Sinn Féin would do in government about UHL.

Sentiment score: 0.03

Sorry, I have the floor. Sinn Féin describes the problem and provides a commentary on the problem, which is fine and we are all well able to do that. What would Sinn Féin do differently? How would it resource it differently?

Sentiment score: -0.11

Sinn Féin has never outlined a detailed proposal.

Sentiment score: 0.00

It will not take An Coimisiún Pleanála two years to reach a decision on the second 96-unit block.

Sentiment score: -0.42

The delivery time for decisions through An Coimisiún Pleanála has drastically fallen, thankfully.

Sentiment score: 0.08

I passed UHL recently; it is a massive building site.

Sentiment score: 0.00

There is huge investment going on there.

Sentiment score: 0.32

A lot has been done and I accept that more needs to be done. It is incumbent on everybody to point out the positives of it as well.

Sentiment score: 0.53

There are challenges there, but there are plenty of positives.

Sentiment score: 0.70

On behalf of the Minister for Health, I thank Deputy McAuliffe for raising this important matter. Addressing waiting lists is a high priority for the Government and substantial investment has been made to address waiting lists across a range of acute and community health services. A previous review of audiology services, published by the Health Service Executive in 2011 as the national audiology review group report, identified shortcomings including access issues, poor information flow, inadequate staffing and unacceptable waiting times. The report made recommendations to address these concerns. Most of these recommendations have been implemented, including the roll-out of a national audiology clinical management system for community services, which is facilitating improved waiting list management. The national audiology clinical management system clearly indicates that the demand on HSE audiology services is increasing year on year, especially with the ageing demographic of the population as Ireland ages. The system also provides information to improve the prioritisation of patients according to clinical need. However, there is still much work to do in relation to the community audiology waiting lists. The World Health Organization’s World Report on Hearing, published in March 2021, recommended that governments develop a comprehensive people-centred hearing care plan within their national healthcare plan. The Minister for Health established the national hearing care plan working group in August 2024. The group is tasked with making recommendations around developing a holistic model of hearing care in Ireland. The group is jointly chaired by the Department of Health and the HSE and membership is drawn from relevant stakeholders, including the Irish Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists, the Irish Academy of Audiology and the Department of Social Protection. The group has developed a workstream, including subgroups to progress important matters. The group is considering the current level of hearing care provision in Ireland, current capacity constraints and opportunities within the HSE and the appropriate linkage between public and private provision of care to maximise positive outcomes for patients, including reductions in waiting times. While the work of the group progresses, funding has been allocated in 2025 to address children’s waiting lists as part of the waiting list action plan by using suitable external providers. The HSE advises that the appropriate tender documents have been finalised. The HSE will soon complete the identification of suitable external providers. Once a list of such providers is finalised, the funding will be allocated to each regional executive officer on a pro rata basis to ensure that the longest waiting children aged four and over are seen as a matter of priority. Importantly, this will increase capacity within the HSE to prioritise the assessment of adults waiting for community audiology services. This is especially important for older adults as appropriate hearing care is a vital factor in them remaining connected to their families and local communities.

Sentiment score: 0.30

If the Deputy passes on the details to me, I will absolutely convey them to the Minister for Health and the HSE. I will also be conveying to the Minister and the HSE the urgency the Deputy has articulated. As I outlined in my initial contribution, the HSE has partaken in a process as to how it intends to address this issue. It is at a cross-roads now in terms of coming out of a tender process and appointing providers who will deal with the demand within our community. It is very important, particularly for younger children who are at such a young, vulnerable developmental age where being challenged with their hearing is a huge burden they have to bear. We have to give them every opportunity.

Sentiment score: 0.01

I thank Deputy O'Sullivan for raising this matter with respect to dog-breeding establishments and the number of exports internationally. The Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has asked me to take this matter on his behalf. The Dog Breeding Establishments Act provides a regulatory framework for the licensing, monitoring and inspection of dog-breeding establishments by local authorities and where a serious and immediate threat exists to public health or animal health and welfare for the closure of such establishments. Local authorities are responsible for the enforcement of the Act. Section 9 of the Act states that each local authority shall cause to be established and maintained a register of dog-breeding establishments situated in its functional area. Therefore, the legal responsibility to maintain a register of dog-breeding establishments is a matter for each local authority. However, recommendation 11 of the Report of the Working Group on Control of Dogs recommended that a centralised national database of dog-breeding establishments should be created. In 2023, the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht reached out to local authorities to collate their registers. The Dog Breeding Establishment National Register was then published on gov.ie. Data on the number of pups bred in dog-breeding establishments was not requested at that time. In March 2025, information was requested from local authorities to update the register, to include the number of female dogs in each dog-breeding establishment, but the number of pups bred was not requested as part of these returns. The updated register will be published on gov.ie in the coming weeks once all the returns have been collated, based on the information that was provided by the local authorities. Regarding the number of dogs exported internationally, these are facilitated through commercial movements. Commercial movement of pets is defined where a pet, or pets, are either travelling unaccompanied, or are travelling for the use of trading, or for shows, sporting events or where an owner has more than five pets travelling. All commercial movements of dogs require certification. The type of certification is dependent on whether the destination is to other EU countries or non-EU countries. The number of dogs exported commercially from Ireland in the past five years are as follows: in 2020, 8,993; in 2021, 10,581; in 2022, 7,089; in 2023, 9,440; and in 2024, 8,768. Certification must be signed off by a veterinary inspector in the regional veterinary office of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. An exporter must contact their local regional veterinary office to have an inspection of the shipment of dogs completed prior to travel. The regional veterinary office inspection includes relevant paperwork, vaccines, microchips, health certificates, animal welfare and confirmation that the exporter is registered with the Department. As part of the programme for Government, this Government is addressing the disjointed approach to dog control issues and ensuring all legislation and policy related to the control of dogs, dog welfare, and dog-breeding establishments will rest with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. As the Deputy knows, there is a mechanism by which transfers of functions happen when new Governments take up office and when new Departments are established. Policy and legislative responsibility for the Dog Breeding Establishments Act 2020 is due to transfer to the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine from the Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht imminently. Both Departments are working closely together to ensure the smooth transfer of functions.

Sentiment score: 0.09

I absolutely agree with the Deputy that more needs to be done in this area. The whole area of dog breeding is a huge industry at the moment. The 2019 Act was a very progressive start but we must revisit it and probably update it. I have always been a huge advocate for animal welfare. We must always strive to continue to do more to promote a better culture of animal welfare, whether it is for dogs, cats, horses or whatever. I want to acknowledge the hundreds of animal welfare groups around the country. They do receive funding from the Department of agriculture but it is not enough. They need more. Unfortunately, they have to rely on their own fundraising mechanisms too much and we need to resource them a little bit better. I want give a particular shout out to the DEEL Sighthound Rescue organisation in Limerick, Star Rescue and Limerick Animal Welfare. I have first-hand knowledge of the very fine work they do. I want to refer to the 2010 Act. I remember, because I was here, when the then Minister, John Gormley, brought in the Dog Breeding Establishments Bill. The Opposition at the time cynically used it as a ploy or political tactic to try to wind up everyone involved in outdoor pursuits, whether they were gun clubs, hunting clubs or fishing clubs, that this was going to be the thin end of the wedge and that the Government had a covert agenda of trying to shut down outdoor activities. It was brilliant legislation at the time. It needs to be updated now and it needs to be better resourced, but at the time, it brought in a regulatory regime around puppy farms and breeding establishments which had got out of control. The ironic thing about it was that John Gormley brought it in in 2010. There was an election in 2011. Parties swapped over and one of the first things then Minister, Phil Hogan, did was commence the legislation when the Opposition of the time was cynical. I remember when I was canvassing for the 2016 election, I went into a farmyard and met a fella who said he had had strong, robust words with me back in 2010 about the Dog Breeding Establishments Act. He said I told him what it was about, but he did not agree with me and did not believe me at the time. He wanted to compliment me because what I had said was right. A few years later, people saw the good in it. Unfortunately, a lot of groups were misled at the time. That legislation needs to be updated because 2010 was 15 years ago at this point. A lot of people do a lot of good work on animal welfare.

Sentiment score: 0.17