Daniel Tatlow-Devally has been in prison in Ulm in Germany since September. He is incarcerated for 23 hours a day, effectively in solitary confinement, in pretty shocking conditions in prison. He was not allowed to hug his family until there was intervention by myself and other TDs with the German ambassador several months into Daniel's incarceration. He was not allowed to get books of his own choice. Generally he is kept in pretty awful conditions. The circumstances are that his trial was due to begin yesterday in Stuttgart. He is imprisoned because he engaged in a direct action protest against Elbit Systems, which produces 80% of the weapons for Israel which they have used to commit a genocidal massacre against the Palestinians in Gaza. The protest was attempting to uphold the obligations of all states to act to prevent the committing of genocide and which they failed to fulfil under the Genocide Convention. It was a direct action protest but it was not one where anybody was physically threatened or harmed. The people did not run away and they did not resist arrest. Indeed, they waited for the police to come and arrest them and they represented no physical threat to anybody. The German authorities have, however, decided to try to convict them under legislation that is reserved for organised crime and are trying them now in a court that is normally reserved for terrorists and for organised criminals. In the trial that began yesterday, the lawyers defending Daniel and the four other members of the Ulm Five who were involved in the direct action protest against Israel's genocide and the complicity of Germany and Elbit Systems in that genocide, described what happened in the courtroom as completely unprecedented. The lawyers had never seen anything like it. For example, in any normal trial in Germany the person who is on trial, even if they are a terrorist or a neo-Nazi murderer, can sit with their lawyers. They can sit in between their lawyers but in an unprecedented move this is not being allowed to the Irish citizen or to the other members of the Ulm Five. They are put in behind a high-security glass cage, essentially, so they cannot communicate properly with their lawyers. They are being tried as organised criminals when they represented no physical threat to anybody but were actually acting to protest against genocide. I was talking to an MP from the German Parliament who was going down to monitor the trial and he was not physically allowed into the court. He was told that it was full, but Daniel's mother was in there and she said it was not full at all. The legal team on behalf of the defence is saying they have never seen anything like this. They have called for the judge to recuse herself such is the level of obvious bias. There were riot police in the court physically threatening members of the family and people who were in there, suggesting violence and so on against them. It is a show trial. They are asking that the Irish Government would send monitors to look over this trial, which will be spread over multiple days across May, June and July. We call on the German Government to stop treating these people as if they are organised criminals when actually they are people upholding international law in protesting against the genocidal horror that Israel has inflicted on the Palestinian people, for which Elbit Systems provides the means for Israel to commit that crime.

I am responding on behalf of my ministerial colleagues in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade who are unavailable due to their ministerial duties this evening. Providing consular assistance to Irish citizens who find themselves in difficulty abroad, including in cases of arrest or detention, is a cornerstone of the work of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and its embassies and consulates around the world. Each year the Department provides support to a significant number of Irish citizens arrested or detained overseas. Our ethos has always been to place a strong emphasis on ensuring that Irish citizens receive timely and empathetic consular assistance. We are aware of the case referred to by the Deputy. Consular assistance has been provided to the citizen referred to since September 2025, soon after their detention. I can confirm that a dedicated consular officer in the Consulate General of Ireland in Munich has been assigned to support the citizen and their family and has provided support and advice in accordance with the Department's consular assistance charter. I can further confirm that staff in the Consulate General in Munich, including the consul general and deputy consul general, have undertaken four consular visits to the citizen in prison, most recently on 10 April. We are in regular contact with the citizen and with family members. Consular visits are an opportunity to check on the welfare of a citizen, ascertain if there are any medical issues that require attention, offer pastoral support, and assess the conditions of detention. Our consular officers can also act as conduits, helping to share information from and to loved ones in Ireland if that is required by the citizen. I understand that the conditions of detention in the case referred to by the Deputy are the same as those of any other person in their situation, which includes access to video calls and in-person visits. Prisoners at the facility in question also have access to a social worker. I understand that court proceedings in this case started yesterday. As laid out in the consular assistance charter, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and its embassies and consulates abroad are precluded from intervening in the judicial and legal processes of another country. Therefore, it would not be appropriate to comment on the ongoing legal case. The Deputy asked that we send monitors to the trial. I will bring this back to the Minister. I assure the Deputy that the Department will continue to provide all necessary and appropriate consular assistance to the citizen and their family.

The Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, is not the senior minister and he is just reading off the script, which is a bit frustrating given that there is somebody facing very serious charges in a court in Germany and is being treated in an absolutely disgraceful way for protesting against genocide. This is about genocide. Ireland and Germany and 153 other countries are signatories to the Genocide Convention. In case the Minister of State does not know what is in that convention, I will outline what we signed up to. What we signed up to and what every signatory did, after the Holocaust, was to prevent even a suspicion of a possible genocide taking place, and to act to prevent it and to do all in our power. States have failed to do this, self-evidently. This is why Ireland eventually joined South Africa's case against the genocide. People have not prevented it because, of course, the genocide continues in Gaza. Daniel, an Irish citizen, and other people acted to do what states have failed to do, to try to disrupt the ability of Elbit Systems in Germany to provide Israel with the weapons to commit a genocide. For this, the German Government is prosecuting them as if they were organised criminals. This is not just for property damage, protesting or public order offences but as organised criminals. It has brought them to a courthouse normally reserved for terrorists and people involved in organised crime. There are riot police all over the place. Restrictions are being imposed which their legal team says are completely abnormal. The judge will not even talk to the defence legal team about the conditions in the court and the conditions under which Daniel is being detained. This is not normal. To simply say we do not interfere is not good enough when an Irish citizen is being treated like this for protesting against a genocide, which the Irish Government even thinks may be a genocide and why it has joined the case. We are asking the Government to send monitors to the trial, to make a public statement in support of Daniel, and to say the way he is being treated by the German legal system is an absolute disgrace. That pressure can impact on the German Government.

I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett. As I mentioned, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is fully aware of this case and has provided all appropriate consular assistance to the citizen and their family since September 2025 and will continue to do so. The Department, through its consulate general in Munich, has been in regular contact with the citizen since their detention began, and a series of consular visits has been possible to verify that the conditions of their detention are in line with those of other detainees.

They are not. I am telling you they are not.

Our embassies and consulates overseas play a vital role in providing support to Irish citizens who have been arrested or detained, and this is a core part of our consular assistance mandate. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is precluded from intervening in the judicial and legal processes of another country in the provision of consular assistance. I will bring Deputy Boyd Barrett's views back to the Department.

I acknowledge that the Minister is here tonight to take this Topical Issue. I am sure she will agree that last week's "RTÉ Investigates" was appalling. It gave us just a glimpse into the experience of some children in care and what they experience. I certainly felt, having watched it, that somebody needs to be held accountable for what we saw in the programme and it cannot just be Tusla. I have said before that the Government is in charge. The Minister and the Department have a responsibility for children who are in care, our most vulnerable children in the State. Far too often it is easy for all of us to point the finger at Tusla. It has been too much of an easy out and the time for that is over. The system we saw last week on our television screens is one that is causing harm to children. We saw children who are being neglected. It is a system that consists of children who go hungry and children who run away because they cannot bear to be where they are put. It has actively led to children being exploited and being assaulted. It has brought vulnerable children into a world of drugs and crime. It has led to severe mental health issues and it has led to homelessness. These operators are being paid for this service and they are being paid in the millions. It is, frankly, disgusting that this is what they are being paid for. The use of unregulated profit-driven residential settings has to be banned. There should be no room for profit making when it comes to looking after the most vulnerable children in our State. It is not just about a ban but about building capacity in the State system. This is there in terms of the voluntary residential services. They are ready, willing and able. They want to grow and they want to do more. Why can they not do so? It is because the funding they receive cannot and does not operate the services they have today. They are fundraising for their services. We need to give them funding that is adequate to do the job they do and we need more of them.

I thank the Minister for being here. We dealt with this to some degree last week but, as Deputy Kerrane has said, it is utterly shocking and harrowing. There are no terms to describe the story of Max, which we all saw on "RTÉ Investigates". We are talking about special emergency arrangements or accommodations that are not in any way suitable. He was missing for two and a half hours before anybody noticed and before the child was abused, and this is only part of it. Unfortunately, this is a representation of many children who are in these inappropriate settings. It is all we can call them. They are inappropriate settings for which we are paying huge money. We heard it was €2,000 per child per week. This is utterly frightening. I raised this with the Minister last week and she told me that last year there were 170 special emergency accommodations and now there are 70. She said she is talking about reducing the number by 50%. We need to see special emergency accommodation gone. My fear is that the pressure is on, rightly, following "RTÉ Investigates" and the shock that everybody got. We also understand the complexity of the issues, the lack of addiction services and the lack of mental health services and early interventions for families. We are still talking about Tusla, which is dealing with these issues, probably a lot later because of the size of the caseloads. It is dealing with them a lot later when the issues have become a lot more complex. While we would prefer to see special care facilities funded, if special emergency accommodation is not being utilised, what is happening with the kids who have to be presenting at this time? My fear is that even if we are avoiding using special emergency accommodation, which we should long term, we are talking about inappropriate care, inappropriate supports and inappropriate accommodation.

I will begin by expressing my thanks to Deputies Kerrane and Ó Murchú for raising this important issue and for offering me the opportunity to respond. I acknowledge, as I have previously, how upsetting it was to watch and listen to the experiences of the young people interviewed as part of last week's programme, and I commend and thank each one of them on speaking out. It is vital that we have the opportunity to hear from young people with experience of the care system and it is important that we listen to them. For the information of the House, I would like to share that the vast majority of children in State care, 96% in fact, are in foster care or residential care. In comparison with our international peers, we are doing well on this front. Nine out of ten young people in foster or residential care are engaged in education, and three in every four young people leaving care and entering aftercare services are now participating in education and training, according to the CSO. However, Tusla also deals with children and young people in care who are often coming from highly traumatic situations through no fault of their own, and in some instances foster care and residential care settings can break down. Last year Tusla received 106,444 child protection and welfare referrals, up 10% on 2024. I was pleased to secure a 14% increase in funding for Tusla in the most recent budget, bringing its overall budget to €1.4 billion in 2026. Tusla had approximately 5,661 whole-time staff at end of 2025, 343 more than at the same time in the previous year, including a 3.15% rise in social workers. As regards special emergency accommodation, Tusla has experienced a 500% increase in the number of separated children seeking international protection being referred to the agency since 2022, along with an increasing number of children with more complex needs. This challenge is not unique to Ireland. The Department, along with Tusla, recognises that the use of special emergency arrangements is far from ideal. The Department is proactively supporting Tusla to improve the availability of placements and to expand capacity across its network. Significantly, the use of special emergency arrangements to provide placement for separated children seeking international protection has reduced significantly over the last year, dropping from 105 at the end of 2024 to three as of last week. As I mentioned last week, these three are, in fact, cases of disputed age and as a result are being placed in special emergency accommodation until the issues that have arisen are resolved. The reduction in numbers being facilitated in special emergency accommodation has been achieved by opening 79 additional registered residential centres to support the large number of unaccompanied minors in the State. The Department is also proactively supporting Tusla to improve the availability of further placements and expand capacity across its network. It is important to note the number of unregistered special emergency arrangements has significantly reduced this year. Some 19 centres are now categorised in line with legislation as emergency placements under the governance of Tusla and subject to inspection and monitoring by HIQA; 35 centres are in the process of registration; and 19 centres have completed registration and will be subject to Tusla's inspection and monitoring service in line with all private residential placements. This means that by the start of May this year, Tusla will have reduced the number of emergency placements that are not registered by almost 50%. The work to move that to a zero point continues this year.

I thank the Minister. In her closing remarks, she might let us know the action that has been taken. Has she met Tusla since that programme was aired last week, for example? Why are we not looking at the 13 voluntary residential services that have agreements in place with Tusla? Staff in them have experience of 25, 30 and more years' experience. We should be looking at those providers. There should not be any room for profit-making when it comes to children in the care of the State. Again, I make the point that we have residential services in the voluntary sector that are regulated to the hilt. They have to account for every single red cent. They are fundraising to keep their doors open to stand still. We are throwing money then at private providers, some of which are providing what we saw last week on the television. Can the Minister come back to us specifically on those voluntary residential services?

I will also follow up. The Minister stated that "by the start of May this year, Tusla will have reduced the number of emergency placements that are not registered by almost 50%". When are we taking that from? Are we talking about the 70 there at the moment becoming 35? We are literally talking about the end of this week. I am going to put that question again. There are obviously complex cases. We get the idea of the huge issue in respect of separated children seeking international protection. The Minister spoke about the issue of the age discrepancy, which needs to be dealt with, particularly from a safeguarding point of view. However, what happens with a complex child if we do not have a special care facility and we do not have the residential care that Deputy Kerrane is speaking about and which is underfunded? What happens in this day and age? As much as I want to see the end of SEAs, and it needs to happen as soon as possible and I ask for a date, I have a fear of what happens at present with one of those children to avoid them being placed in an SEA. Where do we put them if we do not have the appropriate residential care facility? I am very worried. I will also go back to that point that we are missing the early intervention piece that could avoid an awful lot of this nuclear action and we would not be failing children to the degree we are.

I thank the Deputies for raising this important issue. In order to overcome the challenges within the care system that were highlighted on the programme and which have been raised by the Deputies, which I acknowledge, the Department secured an overall increase of €177 million for Tusla in the most recent budget. That is representing a 14% increase in Tusla's budget over 2025. This brings Tusla's total budget to over €1.4 billion. Additionally, Tusla plans to invest a total of €286 million in expanding mainstream residential care in 2026; an additional €53 million of current funding compared with 2025. As I mentioned previously this evening, 96% of all children in State care are placed in foster care or residential care. In this regard, in addition to building on the capacity of mainstream residential placements for children, prioritisation has also been given to building on supports with respect to foster care, which resulted in a 21% increase to the foster care allowance in 2024, a new initial placement payment to foster carers, improved travel allowances and greater access to therapeutic and peer supports. I want to assure the Deputes that officials within the Department are proactively engaging with their counterparts in Tusla to continue to build on the supports that foster carers can avail of. The Department also expanded Tusla's capital budget to €35 million in 2026, which represents growth of 100% since 2024. That refers to the provision of additional residential places. This investment will support Tusla to expand its residential care, as has been outlined by the Deputies, including the provision of step-down units for children leaving special care. Three new step-down units are scheduled to come on stream. Two will become available in December of this year and one in January of next year. This will, in turn, add to capacity in special care going forward. As I said, significant work has also been undertaken to reduce the number of unregistered special emergency arrangements. Last year, there were 170 such facilities and we now have reduced this number to 70. We will continue to do more in this space going forward. I would also like to confirm to the House that the Department has also engaged with children and young people on a consistent basis in the past year both through the care experiences project and through the significant consultation that has been undertaken as part of the development of a new national policy framework for alternative care. Combined, this research and policy development will allow us, as a State, for the very first time, to take a strategic approach towards the future of the care system, guided by the lived experience of the young people who have first-hand experience of the care system.

I thank the Minister of State for being here this evening to take this question. I appreciate that. The Minister of State will not need me to tell him that the people of Kildare and the eastern region are sincerely sick and tired of waking up to dry taps. In Kildare, in particular, we have had such consistent outages over the past number of weeks and months in many different areas that frustration is really at boiling pint at this stage. For context, we saw in the census very recently that Kildare's population 100 years ago was 50,000-odd people. Fast-forward 100 years and it is nearly over 250,000 at this stage. It is the fastest growing county in the country. That population has doubled in 30 years. We have had huge population growth, but I cannot understate the impact that has had on the services, most specifically when it comes to water. It is really having an enormous impact on people's lives. We had a nice few days last week with a bit of sunshine. People woke up on Sunday morning to hear that in 24 hours, with no notice, Allenwood reservoir had run dry. A lot of pockets of these same communities only four, six and eight weeks ago were told there is a risk of planned flooding because the reservoirs were too high. It seems that we cannot deal with too much water and we cannot deal with too little water. My worry and my analysis keep bringing me to this point: where is the political accountability or oversight here? My concern is that without direct involvement at ministerial level, the utility is missing some sort of accountability. We have had it before the Committee of Public Accounts. We have had really thorough and robust engagement with the representatives. However, that is a very rare opportunity for political questioning. As a TD, as any Member of this House will know, if we put a question to the Minister for housing who has ultimate responsibility, the first line of every parliamentary reply is that water is not his responsibility. The Minister of State has been here as a councillor. He knows all too well the number of queries or contacts a county councillor will get about water, whether it is planned outages, unplanned outages or capital works. People go to the authority or the local authority and they say it is not their problem either. TDs cannot get answers from a Minister and councillors cannot get answers from the local authority and so people go to the rep desk. I am sure it will be part of the Minister of State's response that the rep desk is there but if he has used it, he will know that you will wait weeks upon weeks for an answer that ultimately does not ask. Really, it goes beyond what is acceptable in terms of any sort of real, thorough engagement. I am asking with great sincerity tonight, not just for Kildare at all, although it is significantly felt in Kildare, but right across the region. Is there an appetite within the Minister of State, the Department or with Government colleagues to further increase political accountability and oversight here? I accept that many bodies are established to allow a set of professionals, in this instance, Uisce Éireann, to get on with the work and to escape any sort of political influence. That is laudable. However, the Comptroller and Auditor General and many others have noted that Uisce Éireann is quite specific in its set-up. We know the origins of that. My worry is there is a lack of strategy here, a lack of oversight and a lack of transparency within which political representatives, whether they be councillors, Senators or TDs, can get access to timely information. I look forward to the Minister of State's reply. I sincerely emphasise that piece with regard to Kildare.

I thank the Deputy for raising what is obviously an important matter. It is an issue of concern both locally and nationally. I appreciate the impact and challenges that shortages and outages of water have on communities around the country where they occur. As the Deputy will be aware, since 1 January 2014, Uisce Éireann has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at a national, regional and local level, including investment in wastewater treatment plants, returning wastewater safely to the environment in an efficient and sustainable manner and supplying drinking water to the population across the country. That being said, the Government is equally concerned with ensuring citizens receive adequate water services and as such is delivering significant investment in our water infrastructure. In response to the complex challenges facing the water sector, we have developed strategic objectives and supporting actions that will help us address our most critical needs and ensure that we continue to deliver sustainable water and wastewater services for the long term. These key objectives are highlighted in Uisce Éireann's water services strategic plan, which was approved by Government last year. The water services strategic plan presents Uisce Éireann's objectives for the next 25 years and the means by which they will be achieved. It aligns to requirements set out in the Water Services Act 2013. The first water services strategic plan was published in 2015. This was then replaced by the strategic service plan 2050, which was approved by the Minister, Deputy Browne, as I said, last year. Since 2014, Uisce Éireann's capital investment has grown from €300 million to €1.4 billion under budget 2026. This sustained investment will support the delivery of key strategic programmes and projects in our cities and regions to deliver the additional water service capacity required for new housing targets, while prioritising public health and safeguarding the environment. Uisce Éireann is also committed to improving water supply by reducing leakage and carrying out upgrades to the infrastructure to ensure it can obtain maximum output. Much of Ireland's drinking water is lost to leaks before it reaches our taps. To conserve this precious resource, Uisce Éireann has invested €2 billion to upgrade the underground water network across the country through the delivery of a leakage reduction programme. It is continuing this work with over €1 billion in further investment up to the end of 2029 to fix leaks and replace pipes to improve service and provide a more reliable water supply. The revised national development plan, which was launched last July by Government, provides record funding of €12.2 billion for the water sector, of which €11.7 billion will be allocated to Uisce Éireann to support the delivery of large projects and critical infrastructure required to deliver 300,000 new dwellings by 2030. Uisce Éireann has said it is committed to delivering a multibillion euro capital investment programme under the revised national development plan. Major projects in every part of the country are being progressed, including two generational investments in the water infrastructure - the greater Dublin drainage project and the water supply project for the eastern and midlands region. Under the NDP, €2.5 billion has been specifically allocated for these projects. This overall investment will deliver significant improvements in our public water and wastewater services, not only meeting the Government's commitments in the programme for Government but also meeting Ireland's obligations under UN goals. These are very serious issues. Of course, I accept the Deputy's bona fides in raising these matters. Other Deputies have concerns around the country as well. The response times are something that the Minister, Deputy Browne, has raised directly with Uisce Éireann.

I thank the Minister of State for that response. Even in Kildare, you can see the impact of that funding. You can see the works happening from a capital perspective, whether it is roadworks or significant works that are happening to unlock that residential development within the county. The problem is we are midway through that in Kildare and I wonder whether the capacity is increasing at reservoir level. That is a concern for me as a wider piece. The Minister of State might come back in on that. The bit that irks me a little, if I am honest, is that I am genuinely curious as to the nature of the relationship between the Department and the body itself. How involved is the Minister or how involved can he be, when we heard at the Committee of Public Accounts that nearly 94% of Uisce Éireann staff got their full bonuses in 2024? That smacks in the face people in Leixlip, for example, who have been noting, in 2026, unplanned outages in February and twice in April; and in 2025, in January, March, twice in May, twice in July and December. When these outages happen, the staff on the ground are phenomenal at trying to minimise the impact on communities but there is something wrong at the core if this is continuously going to happen. As I said, the news a couple of months ago was that they might have to flood our community because the reservoir levels were too high and then, a couple of weeks later with a little sunshine, that water is gone and they have to turn our taps off. At this point, I offer my full support for greater oversight and greater communication networks between public representatives, the body and the Department. I welcome the billions of euro for infrastructure, which is more than needed, but what happens after that if the capacity remains a problem?

The Deputy raised valid points, particularly around the reservoir levels. Obviously, I cannot answer to that specific case in the Deputy's constituency, but he is correct in pointing out that the significant investment of taxpayer's money we are allocating to Uisce Éireann as a utility company to be able to deliver those generational projects, and also to deliver those smaller projects right across the country, is critical to ensuring we are able to develop the quantum of housing required for our people. Only two weeks ago, in Dungarvan, County Waterford, I turned the sod on a water facility, which is a €29.5 million investment. It is being replicated right across the country to build that resilience into the network, as in the wider Dungarvan area, not only for the existing population but for what will be projected going forward. In the context of the €12 billion we are allocating to water in the national development plan, every cent of that will be put to good use because we need to build that resilience into the network right across the country. It is true to say that there has been underinvestment in water over many years and catch-up is required. It is also true to say that Uisce Éireann needs to streamline its processes to ensure that infrastructure is delivered in a quicker manner. It is also true to say, and it has been raised by other Deputies, that communication needs to be better. That has been raised with Uisce Éireann by the Minister, Deputy Browne. For my own part, I have regular engagements with Uisce Éireann, particularly around connection times in relation to the developer-led infrastructure initiative and other matters, as the Minister has too. I assure the Deputy that while Uisce Éireann is there as a body, certainly the political involvement does occur.

Eleven years ago, a reply was given by a Minister of State in this Chamber that the works at Rattoo Round Tower in Ballyduff in north Kerry, which were being undertaken at that time, included conservation and repair, working on the exterior and then moving on to the interior. The works are continuing to this day and great work is being carried out by the national monuments depot works section, which is based in Killarney and in general does excellent work. However, the pace of the work is incredible and there is deep frustration in the Ballyduff area that this magnificent round tower, which has an unbelievable history going back 1,000 years, has remained closed for the past 15 years. Back in 2015, there were a few jobs to be done. The lightening conductor was being reinstalled and there were some other minor projects and it was promised at that time that some new interpretation would be made available on the site. I am not sure that the Office of Public Works, the Department or the Government realise the significance of this former ecclesiastical site. I met some German tourists there last year who came to Ireland to see two sites. One was Clonmacnoise and the other was Rattoo Round Tower, so on an international archeological basis, this is of huge significance. At one stage, the site contained the 1,000-year-old round tower, which is probably the best preserved in Ireland and the only round tower remaining in Kerry, an abbey and a hospital and, according to a local schoolteacher, a harp school of music operated there going back to the 1600s. As I said, the site has been closed for 15 year while these works are being carried out. Internal works have been completed and I am told there was a promise going back to the 1980s to reopen the site with an interpretative centre. In an area like Ballyduff, which some people feel has been neglected - there is a totally inadequate wastewater system there, for example - there is all the more reason for them to feel that the untapped tourism and historical potential is not being addressed. People are frustrated. The round tower could be the centre of a tourism project that would boost the village because it is just off the Wild Atlantic Way and employment, including secondary employment, could be created there. However, because of the scaffolding that surrounds the bottom of the round tower, it is a building site. People are not even allowed to go in and walk around the base of the structure. I am asking that the Government do one of two things, either build a platform so the inside can be accessed or, if it will not do that, remove the scaffolding so people can be allowed access around the base of the tower so it can be viewed properly. In the meantime - and this is an easy request; going back to the 1980s, as I said, there was to be extra interpretation - will the Government put some information signage with QR codes so the history, which is unknown to many people, can be explained? Will it link in with local people to source the local history? I suggest that the site be opened either for the Ballyduff Summer Festival, which will take place in June, or for Heritage Week, which will take place in August. The time for delaying this is over. It has gone on long enough and I ask the Minister of State to make it a priority.

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Rattoo Round Tower, national monument No. 55, is a national monument in the ownership of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage and is maintained by the Office of Public Works. In recent years, as the Deputy outlined, an ongoing programme of repairs has been undertaken, which included the regrouting and repointing of stonework and the installation of a platform to facilitate safe height access for future maintenance. The substantial works on Rattoo Round Tower are now complete and it is envisaged internal lime-washing will be done in the coming weeks when the walls have sufficiently dried out after the winter. Upon completion of the repairs, as previously advised, the OPW will issue a full report to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, as required under the terms of ministerial consent. The OPW intends to introduce a new interpretation service at Rattoo Round Tower that will explain its history and context in Ireland's early Christian heritage. The OPW would welcome community stakeholder engagement during this process. That is what the Deputy called for - information signage to be put up and that will be helpful. It also hopes to be in a position to facilitate internal access to the tower for Heritage Week 2026. The logistics are currently being considered and the main factors contributing to this will be an appropriate outside access structure and the form it will take. That is the platform the Deputy is looking for. I think it will be delivered as well. As the Deputy is aware, there are challenges with access to the tower given the tall, slender structure with its confined internal spaces and steep vertical climbs. For the future, it will be necessary to undertake a safety audit of how visitors can access the areas within the tower, given the limitations of its upper floors. The Deputy also said that 15 years sounds like an incredibly long time and I suppose the locals in Ballyduff are anxious that the tower open as quickly as possible. It is interesting to hear it is of international archeological importance. The more we can do to open these facilities and heritage areas, which are much treasured, the better.

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I am glad minds have been concentrated and I hope they will remain concentrated after today. I hope the Minister of State will go back to the Department. I asked a parliamentary question about this matter a year ago and the reply indicated that a reassessment of risk and public safety access would be prepared. I understand from the Minister of State's reply, which I thank him for, that the OPW will issue a full report following the completion of the works, which should be soon. It is all a question of priorities at this stage. Given the length of time we have been dealing with this - the works have gone on for 15 years, but the OPW and Department have been looking at this and considering various interpretative centres around the area for 40 years probably - the least the people of Ballyduff deserve is that the report be prioritised and expedited as quickly as possible so the tower can be opened. The report will allow the access structure or whatever alternatives there are, to facilitate the reopening as soon as possible. It is not a lot to ask. The internal works have been completed. There is a platform inside. The door is 9 ft off the ground so when people go in they are on a platform. I think the lime-washing has been completed. If it is just a question of preparing a report regarding safety and the completion of the works, can that be done? Then, perhaps the centre could be open in time for the June bank holiday weekend, when the Ballyduff summer festival is on, or as the Minister of State hinted, it could be open for Heritage Week in August. That would be greatly appreciated after all this time.

I reiterate that the OPW remains committed to the conservation and protection of Rattoo Round Tower. Repair works will ensure the long-term preservation of the monument and provide the foundation for a careful reassessment of the extent to which internal public access may be possible. The OPW looks forward to the completion of this project and welcoming the Deputy and the local community to view the interior of Rattoo Round Tower in the not-too-distant future. The Deputy is absolutely right that this is an area of conservation. We also have heritage sites all around the country and sometimes we take them for granted. We probably did so. The Deputy outlined that German tourists came especially to see Rattoo Round Tower and Clonmacnoise. We have others. In our area, we have Moygara Castle, Carrowkeel, Sligo Abbey and Carrowmore and it is amazing to see people come who say they are there for the megalithic tombs or whatever. We sometimes take them for granted so I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I will discuss it with the Minister again tomorrow.

This has been an ongoing for a long time. Back in 2014 when the compulsory purchase order, CPO, was being mooted and talked about, the management in Kerry County Council at the time were insisting on the CPO process to all the members of the council. Both myself and Councillor Johnny Healy-Rae were totally and absolutely against the CPO process because it encapsulates and gives fierce powers. I have always believed in ownership. If somebody owns land or owns a house, I believe it is theirs and that to deal with them, we have to buy it or make a deal in some way or other. The idea that someone can come on to someone's land and take as much as they want or need without any clarity for the owners to build a road or a cycleway that will be finished and opened to the public, but the owners are not yet paid, is very hurtful to many people, and indeed it is hurtful to me. Where accommodation works are needed, they have to be agreed with the owners. If a road is put through a field and that field was always open for cattle, sheep, silage, hay or whatever, to get from one side to cross the greenway as easy as you can for cattle and for tractors or whatever, accommodation works are needed and have to be provided. For greenways going forward, CPO is not the way to go because we need to have the goodwill of the people. People are entitled to and can have a different value on different properties, for example, a site for a child, for themselves, or for whatever other use they have which might place a significant value on the land over what the people dealing with them might think. Greenways sometimes finish up close to dwellings or outbuildings. This is the case in this instance and many families feel that their privacy is compromised. They feel very exposed to the public view. There is no doubt that local businesses in Glenbeigh, Rossbeigh and all of the other business down to and including Cahersiveen badly need the perk and the boost to the economy that this very scenic greenway will bring. I had to pay for any property I ever purchased before I entered it or began working it. I cannot understand why a greenway or piece of land that is to be used as an amenity is not paid for in the same way. Surely a contract should have been drawn up detailing what the land take would be and the accommodation works needed, that the farmer would be paid before any work started, with evidence provided of insurance to cover the farmer, the workers, any visitors and everyone involved.

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important matter, which I am dealing with on behalf of Minister for Transport. On a personal level, I do not disagree with a lot of what the Deputy said. He is absolutely right and I will come back to that in a minute. The Minister for Transport has responsibility for the overall policy and Exchequer funding in relation to greenways. The planning, design and construction of individual greenways is a matter for Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TIl, as the approving authority and the relevant local authority, which in the case of this project is Kerry County Council. The delivery of the south Kerry greenway is a key priority within the greenways programme. It is a significant project that will link Glenbeigh and Cahersiveen, with the 24 km route primarily following the old railway line. Over €9 million has been allocated to fund this project in 2026 alone, while a further €7 million, approximately, was allocated to fund this scheme in 2025. This significant investment underlines the Government's commitment to the project. I hear the Deputy's point about the economic lift the greenway will give the areas he mentioned. I understand that two sections of the greenway route have opened in recent months and that another section will be opened over the summer. This is a positive development and signals Kerry County Council’s commitment to progressing this project to delivery. It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the challenges involved in delivering this scheme, which range from complex engineering issues involving topography and remediation works on historical structures to inflationary pressures and, of course, land acquisition. The preferred approach to land acquisition for greenways is to procure required land by voluntary land agreements, VLAs. All reasonable efforts should be made to acquire land on a voluntary basis. It is only as a last resort that a CPO will be pursued by a local authority and it should only ever be a last resort. Even then, where a CPO process commence,s there should be further ongoing engagement throughout the process to try and reach a voluntary land agreement. That may not happen in some cases. I have heard that this is not the situation in some cases, which disappoints me. CPOs are a long-standing statutory mechanism available to local authorities for public infrastructure projects and their use is subject to strict legal processes and oversight. I hear very clearly the Deputy's remarks about the use of CPOs and he is right. It must be by the will of the people. There must be engagement, constructive and meaningful talks and conversations with landowners and others. That is the only way to proceed. I see this in my own constituency and in Cork South West, with the Cork to Kinsale greenway. I fully agree with the Deputy that we must bring people together, not divide and conquer. Kerry County Council has advised that land is being acquired from 138 landowners for the south Kerry greenway. As of early April 2026, compensation has been agreed and paid to 36 landowners. Compensation has been agreed with a further 54 landowners and these claims are at various stage of the conveyancing process. The average time between finalising conveyancing details with a landowner’s solicitor and making payment is five to six months. I have been advised that it is expected that all of these 54 claims will be paid in 2026, barring any unforeseen circumstances or issues. I would like to confirm to the Deputy that funding is available to pay these claims in 2026 on completion of the relevant legal documentation. When completed, 65% of all impacted landowners will have been fully compensated for their land. In 16 cases, no statement of claim has been received from the landowner or the landowner’s agent, which is resulting in delays to the process. There are other cases where agreement of landowners’ agent's fees is also delaying the process. Three cases have been referred to arbitration and are engaging with the formal process to help bring matters toward a fair and timely resolution. I have been assured that Kerry County Council officials are working closely with remaining local landowners and their agents to finalise accommodation works and land acquisition payments. As the Deputy will appreciate, it is critical that there is a working relationship between the local authority and all landowners to ensure that all claims can be settled. I encourage all landowners to engage with the project team if they have not done so.

I thank the Minister of State for his detailed reply. Before work starts on any man's land or woman's land, it should be paid for first, and not afterwards. It is not right that they may be paid at a later time. The Minister of State is telling me that some of them will be paid this year. What I am saying is do not go into any other man's land without paying first and agreeing the accommodation works. That is my view on it anyway. To go back to when the CPO process was put in place, I was there and involved in the council meetings before Christmas. The officials came back and said they could not agree with six or seven. I begged the manager to send down more help with him, and that I would go myself, if needed, to talk to the landowners and see how those six or seven could be brought around. When the compulsory purchase order was being mooted first, I thought it was only for those six or seven. I appreciated that all the rest of them were willing to talk and to agree. As a last resort, it should have been only the ones they had trouble with and not all of them. When we see the powers that were given and that people are not paid until the works are completed, it is very wrong. I am asking the Minister of State not to allow this to happen in any other part of the country - our country. I am talking about Kerry. It is vital that the landowners are brought on board where these walkways and cycleways are going through. You will always need their goodwill and to show goodwill to the people who are coming to visit our county. That is important. I am asking the Minister of State not to let this happen in any other part of the country. These people have not been paid and their accommodation is up in the air. They need to be talked to. There is a lot of work to sort it out. I am begging the Minister of State to do so and to ensure that we bring back the goodwill of the people whose lands we are going through because it is vital to have their goodwill on our side. The greenway will help everyone. It is making life difficult for the landowners, but they have to be compensated and seen after.

The first point I will make is that greenways will have significant benefit to the local areas, as the Deputy said, in terms of significant benefits beyond the transport sector in areas such as regional economic development, public health, climate resilience and economic activity. The point the Deputy made is that it is important that three sections of the Kerry greenway will be open to the public by the summer. I will restate that it is, and should be, as the Deputy said, the primary objective across all proposed greenway schemes to acquire land voluntarily. In the transport committee in November, TII committed to reviewing the code this year. In tandem, the Government will review the parent greenway document strategy. I will come back to that again another day with the Deputy. It is important that best practice for regional and national greenways is that we do not enter into CPOs as a first resort, that it is the last resort, that there is engagement, connection and conversation, and that it is voluntary land acquisition. I ask Deputy Healy-Rae to be that conduit. I believe, and will make the point, that Kerry County Council has said it is a priority for it that it will settle land acquisition arrangements. I hope it will because they are landowners. As the Deputy said, they are people who have worked hard for the land that they have. Equally, it is important that all lines of communication are open and that there is an opportunity to be taken to resolve the matter to ensure we see a positive solution that can be achieved for all the people living and working in south Kerry. I hope we will see progress. We need to see that done. The Deputy is right; there is no point in driving and dividing people. It is about bringing people together, and we all benefit from that. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter on behalf of the people of south Kerry. I have it my own constituency. I am fully aware of the issues he has raised. It is one that we need to see common sense in as well, because it is about people. People in these cases are not looking to cause trouble. They are looking to protect themselves and do what is best for their communities. I am sorry to the staff for running over time.