I thank the Deputy for the opportunity to update the House on the position of the James Weir nurses home on Cork Street in Dublin 8. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. The Health Service Executive is responsible for the management of the public healthcare property estate. The HSE has a significant property portfolio extending to circa 4,300 buildings across circa 2,300 locations throughout the country. The health estate is varied and complex and the HSE actively manages its evolving property portfolio. Decisions in respect of vacant properties are informed by HSE service management and based on an understanding of current or future healthcare service needs in the relevant area. A building may be vacated by one service with a view to refurbishment for an alternative use or a property may be maintained for future service expansion at a specific location for demographic or service requirements. Following extensive review, the property known as the James Weir nurses home, or Weir Home, on Cork Street in Dublin 8 was identified by the HSE a number of years ago as surplus to its requirements and it was decided to dispose of the property. The disposal of Weir Home is being carried out in line with statutory obligations, including the Land Development Agency Act 2021, Department of public expenditure Circular 11/2015, the protocols for the transfer and sharing of State property assets and Department of public expenditure Circular 17/2016 on the policy for property transactions by State bodies. The Department of public expenditure circulars require all State bodies to update the State Property Register with details of all properties that are surplus to their requirements and available for occupation or disposal. The HSE offered this property to all State stakeholders through the property mapping register viewer site of the Office of Public Works. The HSE engaged with all expressions of interest from State bodies in relation to the property. However, after this engagement process, no other State body chose to acquire Weir Home from the HSE. While one State stakeholder expressed interest, this transaction did not proceed. The HSE will now progress to disposal of this property on the open market in line with Department of public expenditure circulars and the HSE's property protocol. The HSE continues to engage with the Department of Health, the Department of housing, the Land Development Agency, local authorities, the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration and the Department of An Taoiseach in relation to its surplus assets as part of an all-of-government approach to increasing housing stock. I note the comments Deputy Cummins made earlier and I have no doubt she will develop them a bit more in her response.

Sentiment score: 0.27

As I said earlier, following extensive review the property known as Weir Home on Cork Street in Dublin 8 was identified by the HSE a number of years ago as surplus to its requirements and it was decided to dispose of the property. Disposal of Weir Home is being carried out in line with the statutory obligations, including the Land Development Agency Act 2021 and the relevant circulars from the Department of public expenditure. The HSE engaged with all expressions of interest from State bodies in relation to the property. However, no other State body chose to acquire Weir Home from the HSE. While interest was expressed by one State stakeholder, as I said earlier, this transaction did not proceed. The HSE will now progress to dispose of the property on the open market in line with the circulars from the Department of public expenditure and the HSE property protocol. The point the Deputy raised will be brought to the attention of the HSE and I have no doubt she will follow up directly with the HSE herself on this particular matter.

Sentiment score: 0.11

I thank Deputy Conway-Walsh for raising this important issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy James Browne. As the Deputy will be aware, the programme for Government reaffirms Ireland's commitment to 80% of electricity demand being met in the near term and there are plans to move to net zero by 2050. The deployment of renewable electricity, including wind energy, is vital to Ireland meeting its ambitious domestic targets and international commitments. The commencement of Chapters 1 to 4, inclusive, of Part 3 of the Planning and Development Act 2024 provides the statutory basis for the national planning framework and regional spatial and economic strategies and introduces provisions for what are known as national planning statements. These national planning statements have been introduced to replace ministerial guidelines issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. All existing section 28 guidelines will, over time, be revoked and replaced with new national planning statements. Any current section 28 guidelines will, however, remain in force until revoked or replaced by a corresponding national planning statement. Subsequently, this means new guidance on wind energy development will issue as a national planning statement following review of the existing 2006 wind energy development guidelines. While this has been ongoing for some time, progress has been made towards concluding the review process. In light of the evolving policy and legislative framework, there is a need to ensure the national planning statement will be fit for purpose, while having appropriate regard to the impacts of wind energy development. In respect of sectoral national planning statements in particular, such as onshore wind energy development, there is also an important role for the relevant policy Department collaborating with my Department on the development of these national planning statements. In that context, my Department is working closely with the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment as the Department with responsibility for this area of Government policy in order to identify the factors relevant to the preparation of the national planning statement. It will address key matters, including noise, setback distance, shadow flicker, community obligation, community dividend and grid connection. The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, in the context of its environmental noise, climate and renewable energy policies remit, has been working to advance guidance on the noise aspect of the national planning statement, which is highly technical in nature. With regard to the impact of development on communities, the upcoming national planning statement will aim to strike an appropriate balance between addressing the concerns of local communities by ensuring there is greater and earlier community engagement by wind energy developers, while maintaining Ireland's ability to deliver on its binding climate and renewable energy obligations. Public participation is the key element of substantive decision-making processes under the Planning and Development Act 2024. It is open to members of the public to make an observation or submission on the draft development plan to the local authority. Any member of the public may make an observation or submission on a planning application, including in relation to wind energy developments. Planning authorities are statutorily obliged to consider such submissions before making a decision on the application. Further to this, the draft national planning statement on wind energy will be subject to strategic environmental assessment and a public consultation will be held as part of the process, whereby individual stakeholders, including community groups, will have an opportunity to make observations on the draft national planning statement.

Sentiment score: 0.33

Progress has been made in this regard. The Department is working towards the publication of a wind energy national planning statement as a matter of priority. The programme for Government commits to prioritising publication and review of the guidelines, which will form a national planning statement. The Department is working towards meeting this commitment to finalise a national planning statement having regard to evolving policy, public consultations and technical contexts while having appropriate regard to the impact of wind energy developments. It is imperative that a robust up-to-date policy is provided that will take account of the evolved policy and legislative context of the technological progress of recent decades, the need for Ireland to meet its ambitious targets of 9 GW of onshore wind energy capacity and the informed decisions of stakeholders and the public. The Minister is satisfied that in the short to medium term the existing evolving planning system alongside the 2006 guidelines supported by Government policy more generally provide a sufficiently robust policy and legislative framework to facilitate the role of renewable energy development in a sustainable manner and to assist with meeting our renewable electricity requirements while balancing the perspectives of the local community and public and stakeholder engagement. The 2006 wind energy development guidelines remain in force pending the finalisation of the review.

Sentiment score: 0.48

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Housing.Local Government and Heritage. The operation of the public wastewater treatment systems together with operational issues locally are matters for Uisce Éireann which has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local level. Contracts and payments are matters for Uisce Éireann and I have no function. However, the Minister has made inquiries with Uisce Éireann on the Deputy’s behalf and has been informed that Uisce Éireann has contracts in place with its contractors for all works and services provided. These contracts set out the applicable payment terms and processes to be followed. Where a contractor raises a concern regarding payment, Uisce Éireann will engage directly with the contractor to understand the circumstances and to address the matter in accordance with the relevant contractual arrangements. Responsibility for the payment of subcontractors rests with the principal contractor in line with the terms and conditions of the relevant contract. Where there are delays with some payments, there can be a number of reasons. Where such matters arise, Uisce Éireann endeavours to resolve them as quickly as possible once identified. Uisce Éireann is aware of isolated challenges in the timeliness of purchase requisitions and purchase order receipting. These issues have been escalated and are being dealt with as a priority. It should also be noted that the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, CRU, was assigned water regulatory functions under section 27 of the Water Services Act 2013. In performing its functions under the Act, CRU has regard to the need to ensure that customers of Uisce Éireann are provided with the quality of service provided for in its code of practice, water services are provided by Uisce Éireann in an economical and efficient manner, Uisce Éireann operates in a commercially viable manner, Uisce Éireann can meet all reasonable demands for water both current and foreseeable; Uisce Éireann performs its functions in a manner that will enable the achievement by the State of the environmental objectives of the EU directive, and that Uisce Éireann performs its functions in an open and transparent manner. The matters the Deputy raised have been brought to the Minister. He has followed up with inquiries to Uisce Éireann. I have no doubt the Deputy will elaborate on the point he raised in his supplementary contribution.

Sentiment score: 0.06

As I said earlier about specific points the Deputy raised, the operation of the public wastewater treatment systems, together with operational issues locally, are matters for Uisce Éireann, which has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. Contracts and payments are matters for Uisce Éireann and the Minister has no function in this area. However, he has made inquiries with Uisce Éireann on the Deputy's behalf and was informed that Uisce Éireann has contracts in place with its contractors for all works and services provided. These contracts set out the applicable payment terms and the processes to be followed. Where a contractor raises a concern regarding payment, Uisce Éireann will engage directly with the contractor to understand the circumstances and to address the matter in accordance with the relevant contractual arrangements. Responsibility for the payment of subcontractors rests with the principal contractor, in line with the terms and conditions of the relevant contract. Where there are delays with some payments, there can be a number of reasons for these. Where such matters arise, Uisce Éireann endeavours to resolve them as quickly as possible, once identified. As I said, Uisce Éireann is aware of isolated challenges in relation to the timeliness of purchase requisitions and purchase order receipting. These issues have been escalated and are being dealt with as a priority. I have no doubt the Deputy has raised the matter directly with the Minister and will raise it further. His Topical issue will have drawn the attention of the Minister and no doubt will be seen by Uisce Éireann. The Deputy is representing his constituents on the ground. Furthermore, the CRU was assigned the water regulatory functions under section 27 of the Water Services Act 2013. In performing those, it has regard to a number of factors including that water services are provided by Uisce Éireann; that it operates in a commercially viable manner; that it can meet all reasonable demands for water; that it performs its functions in a manner that will enable the achievement by the State of the environmental objectives of that directive; and that it performs its functions in an open and transparent manner. I expect it is a matter the Deputy will bring up directly with the Minister as well.

Sentiment score: -0.03