The Deputy says "no oversight, no accountability", but is that not exactly the role of the public accounts committee and is that not exactly why that information is in the public domain? It is because we have oversight.
Sentiment score: -0.15
We have accountability. We have oversight as well. When the Deputy quotes selectively, it leads us to one view. When you look at the thing in the round, we see that many projects come in on time and on budget. Many come in under budget as well. We must continue to call out and highlight those areas where they do not and continue to ensure that they do better. The Deputy likes to create the view that every bit of investment in cycling or somewhere to park a bike is waste.
Sentiment score: 0.23
It is a little bit more complicated than that. It might not work for the old TikTok videos but it deserves a more considered response than Deputy Doherty ever gives here in this House.
Sentiment score: 0.00
If the Deputy wants to talk about wastage, he should get a mirror.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I thank the Deputy. I believe that a proper publicly supported childcare system that works and has enough places, access and affordability is key, not just as an equality issue or a social issue - though it is both - but as an economic issue. It is an important issue. There is a consensus in this House, at least on the destination we want to get to. We have made progress. Any parent who uses the national childcare subsidy scheme knows that scheme provides more funding and support now than it used to. People know that core funding has increased. People know we are now investing more. For the first time, the State is now investing directly in publicly funded State facilities as well. I believe that with four budget left to go for this Government, the next budget needs to deliver a roadmap to get us from A to B and show how we will make that progress. I want childcare to be a major priority in the forthcoming budget.
Sentiment score: 0.25
I do not accept that at all. What I accept is that we are seeing more tenancies in this country now than we did last year. We are seeing more landlords in the market now than we did last year. Yes, we did see a spike in notices of termination. That is a statement of fact. There are other statements of fact in the report the Deputy has not mentioned, including the very significant-----
Sentiment score: 0.08
I absolutely accept that when we live in a housing emergency people experience trauma. I also accept that we need to get private investment in to build houses and that not every house will be built by the taxpayer in this country. Private investment is a really important part of any sustainable housing market. We have a difference of view on that.
Sentiment score: 0.07
As the Deputy knows, the setting of rents is a matter for each local authority, quite rightly. We either believe in local democracy or we do not. We fund it well enough. We have set it up well enough. We have councillors elected right across the country and there are chief executives. It is up to each local authority to decide their situation. There is also a need for fairness in relation to rent. We provide a lot of social housing in this country and there is a need to make sure people are paying a fair rent as well. That is an important part of the social contract. There are many people looking for a home and trying to buy a home. There are many people in private rental accommodation. There are many people who have scraped and saved to buy their own home too. There is a need for fairness and if there are some rents local authorities do not believe meet that fairness test, there is a case to make sure they are set at an appropriate rate.
Sentiment score: 0.18
I have been at this long enough to know I never instruct my MEPs. They will each consider and scrutinise these issues well, but the Deputy highlights an important issue I will not pretend to be across all the details of. I will make myself familiar with it now on foot of the Deputy raising this and will engage with my own party MEPs in advance of that vote on Monday. I am happy to come back to the Deputy on this.
Sentiment score: 0.42
Yes.
Sentiment score: 0.40
I thank Deputy Brabazon. I am a bit frustrated to hear they have not made progress more speedily on those Uisce Éireann works. I really appeal to Uisce Éireann, when Members of the Oireachtas, Government or Opposition, raise issues in this House to please take them seriously. Please, just take them seriously. Uisce Éireann is a State body and TDs raise issues here in good faith. When they raise them on the floor of the national Parliament, if Deputies could receive a comprehensive and meaningful response I would appreciate that. In regard to DART works more generally, it is a statement of the obvious that upgrade works and the likes cause a level of inconvenience. I accept and acknowledge that. I know that traditionally Iarnród Éireann has chosen bank holiday weekends to undertake projects of significant scale because the extra weekend day allows it to achieve more progress more efficiently, rather than doing it over multiple weekends or inconveniencing weekday passengers and people who are going to work. Iarnród Éireann tells me it is standard international railway practice for bank holiday weekends to be used for works. I will ask the National Transport Agency, NTA, to work closely with Iarnród Éireann and Dublin Bus to see if any measures could be put in place to help mitigate that, including maybe increased capacity on bus routes. I will follow up with the Minister for Transport on that.
Sentiment score: 0.31
I thank Deputy Roche for raising this issue. It is an interesting point. The primary focus of investments in the regional local road network is on the protection and renewal of them, which obviously plays a crucial role for communities, local economies and the likes. We have very significantly increased our funding on that. There is a discretionary grant under the regional and local road grant that can be used by councils for a wide range of works, including footpaths. Local authorities have that discretion from that grant allocation. I know some local authorities decide to do footpath programmes from that grant. The broader point the Deputy is making, when we are trying to encourage people to be active and the safety issues in rural Ireland in particular, is a valid one. I will certainly work with our colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and others on this to see if there is more we can pursue. I will come back to the Deputy on it.
Sentiment score: 0.42
I thank the Deputy for her contribution and for acknowledging the additional gardaí, who are badly needed. We need to continue to increase the number of gardaí through Templemore. The Deputy is right that as we increase the number of gardaí, we need to make sure we have modern fit-for-purpose stations. The population of Swords is now much closer to the population of a city than that of a village. I welcome the fact that the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, said that he will visit. I certainly follow up with him on that.
Sentiment score: 0.27
I fully do and I thank Deputy Currie for raising this issue. People who work hard should be able to get ahead and not just get by. Work must always pay. There are far too many people in this country who feel they play by the rules, do everything they possibly can, spend long times commuting, have childcare costs and the like and at the end of the month, they say "Is that it?" when they look at their payslip. We need to do better on that. We have a proud record on this. In 2015, you paid the higher rate of tax at just over €33,000. It is now €44,000. I want to see a personal income tax package in the next budget and in the next four budgets.
Sentiment score: 0.18
I certainly will. It is a very important issue. The National Ambulance Service plays a literally life-saving role right across our communities. I am proud of the work that we have done together in Government where we increased overall funding for the National Ambulance Service by 41% between 2022 and 2025. We increased staff, with 588 more staff to a total number of 2,655, and we invested €126 million in the ambulance fleet in those years as well. I will raise the ambulance service in Youghal and the commitment to the new ambulance training college there with the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, and ask that she come back to the Deputy directly.
Sentiment score: 0.40
The Minister for justice is not accountable in terms of where gardaí are deployed, which is only my best guess as to why that question would have been ruled out of order but, of course, the Government has an active interest in policing, Garda numbers and working with communities. I am very conscious that the community in Saggart - good decent people in Saggart - have asked Government for a number of investments in differences in their community, with high-visibility policing being just one. I will certainly follow that up with the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and ask him to come back directly to the Deputy.
Sentiment score: 0.58
I remember that day well. I think the Deputy was at the launch with me. It might be the day the Deputy suggested the date of the general election. I remember it was a busy day but I am very pleased we launched that report and that we have taken a number of decisions recently in terms of resourcing the Dublin city centre task force, including the appointment of Robert Watt to oversee the office to deliver that as part of Dublin City Council. He is a very experienced public and civil servant. The plan has been fully endorsed by the Government and by Dublin City Council. We are seeing Garda numbers increasing in Dublin. We are not allowed to mention the "B" word but I am sure as he is out and about in Dublin, the Deputy is seeing recognition from the community in Dublin around high-visibility policing and more Garda numbers. We need to continue to drive that forward. It is factually true that Garda numbers in Dublin city are increasing again and we remain committed to the target of 1,000 gardaí.
Sentiment score: 0.24
I can quote a lot of statistics but that is not going to fix the challenge. We are increasing the number of people working in CDNTs. We are funding more posts and training more people but there are clearly real challenges in terms of fully staffing some of these teams. The Deputy mentioned specific issues with regard to the four teams in County Wexford and the inability - perhaps for very good reasons, I do not know - to cross cover. On foot of the Deputy raising this issue, I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Emer Higgins, to take a look at that to get an update from the HSE and to come back to the Deputy directly.
Sentiment score: 0.19
I thank Deputy Whitmore for raising the issue. I have heard the annoyance, to put it mildly, of our constituents regarding this issue. On foot of the Deputy raising it today, perhaps we could convene all the Wicklow TDs with the Department and the NTA to try to get some facts on this. I will certainly play any supportive role I can, and I will link in with the Deputy's office to set that up.
Sentiment score: 0.19
Again, I am annoyed and irked to hear about this. I am not annoyed with the Deputy or Deputy Whitmore. State bodies have to be accountable to the Oireachtas and the democratically elected people. That does not mean they are always going to give us all the answers - I get that - but you have to at least feel as an Oireachtas Member of the Government or the Opposition that you are getting a proper flow of information. I will certainly take that away. Uisce Éireann was raised a few minutes ago, and we have the NTA now. I do not work for the NTA or Uisce Éireann and I do my very best to answer questions but the fact people are having to come into this House and raise these issues because they cannot get those answers from a State body is not acceptable. I will personally pursue this at every opportunity. I thank Deputy Ó Muirí for raising the issue. He is right; there are good, international railway practices as to why they bank holiday upgrades. He gets that, as do I, but there is also that important thing called joined-up thinking and the NTA, Dublin Bus and others need to work together to make sure that if one service is going to be down, another service is ramped up. It is not rocket science. It is not splitting the atom but it needs to happen. I will follow up directly with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, on foot of the Deputy raising this today.
Sentiment score: 0.17
I thank Deputy Burke for raising the matter. I know the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, is committed to working with him on this issue, as am I. Significant investment has been made at the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital in recent years. The annual budget has increased significantly and staffing has grown significantly, with the former by more than a third and the budget by more than 64%. We have seen several significant capital projects completed with the relocation of the ophthalmology outpatient department from CUH to South Infirmary in 2022. However, there is clearly a need for those new developments and projects that were expected. On foot of Deputy Burke raising this today, I will engage with the Minister who will work with him closely on this.
Sentiment score: 0.30
I thank Deputy Collins. We are now on the third example of an elected Member of the Oireachtas being frustrated by their inability to get answers from those who are accountable to the democratically elected Members of the Oireachtas. I thank him for raising the issue. The staff in SouthDoc in Clonakilty do fantastic work but I am aware of the issues the Deputy has raised in this House. I will speak directly with the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, and ask that she inquire with the HSE and come back to the Deputy directly.
Sentiment score: 0.06
I thank Deputy Moynihan for raising this issue. First, as the Deputy knows, we have worked hard to try to support the haulage section and I praise the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, for his leadership on that and the engagement we have had with the Irish Road Haulage Association and others, which is right and proper. However, the Deputy's question is also quite important because it is harder for some industry sectors to transition, and what they do not need from us in this House is a lecture and attitude they get sometimes from the left and far left who are not here to hear this. They are a crucial part of our supply chain and economy. We need them to work and we need them to function. Our policies need to get more sophisticated in recognising that, whether that is incentivising people to be able to make that transition or better support. People are good and decent; they want to work with us. We need to challenge ourselves as to how we can help them make that transition, and HVO is an important part of that conversation. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, is familiar with that, and we have had some conversations with the sector on that too. On foot of the Deputy raising it, I will ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy directly.
Sentiment score: 0.34
I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I hope the agencies have looked in on today's proceedings. He does his very best to chair these proceedings, and I do my very best to answer as best I can the questions put. It is fair to say there is clear concern across this House about the lack of responsiveness of several unelected heads of agencies, which needs to be reflected on. Both this Oireachtas and the Government should consider how to ensure that because this is not about us; it is about the people we serve.
Sentiment score: 0.50