Let us start where we can agree in a rare moment of unity in this House.
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Which is working well?
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It is kind of bringing us together.
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I might lean into that, to start in a moment of harmony. I genuinely join all Members in this House and people right across the country in supporting the Irish national soccer team tonight as they take on Czechia. At a time of real challenge in our country and our world, of turmoil and uncertainty, the Irish team have really lifted our spirits. There is a real sense of belief, from the youngest to the oldest person in this country, that Ireland can do this. I wish the best to our manager, Heimir, the entire team, the many thousands of fans who have travelled to Czechia to be there and the many millions who will tune in tonight. We are all behind our team and in the truest possible sense of the phrase, come on you boys in green. This week we brought in one of the largest interventions of any EU member state, based on population, to help people in the here and now, at the petrol pump, with the price of diesel, to help our hauliers, our coach operators and to help those at most risk of fuel poverty, including those most at risk when it comes to the cost of things like their home heating oil. Deputy Doherty knows that as well. He knows that from as soon as next week, nearly 500,000 households in this country will benefit from the decision we took to increase the fuel allowance. I want to provide clarity in this House. I do not know about the Deputy's office, but I certainly got queries from people wondering whether, if they had opted in to the lump sum payment for the fuel allowance, they have that opportunity to receive the four-week extension in the same format and the same lump sum. They do, and that can be paid from next week too. We have taken real, practical measures. There is €70 million worth of additional fuel allowance, which I think everybody in this House supports. It is a measure that is targeted and helps those most in need. It helps many working families, by the way, because we have extended it to the working family payment. It helps many pensioners and older people, many people with a disability and many carers. It factually helps those most in need of assistance with the cost of fuel. Extending that into the summer period, considering the level of volatility around fuel, is the right thing to do. We also took practical and more universal measures to help everybody in the area of excise. There was general and widespread support for that too in this House. Sinn Féin did not vote for it in the end. It had a different set of proposals. When push came to shove pretty much, every other political party in the Opposition, while they might have different ideas and might have wanted a different package, still pressed the "Tá" button in favour of cutting excise on petrol and diesel. Sinn Féin were too partisan and too involved in performative politics. So much for the united Opposition. They were left on their own when the rest of the Opposition decided that, maybe on this one occasion, they would take off their party jersey and vote with the Government because this package of measures will help people in some way. I thank people who constructively engaged on that. There clearly is a constructive Opposition in this House, and then there is Sinn Féin. On carbon tax, there was a document published on budget day on the use of carbon tax funds. Deputy Doherty is at this a long time - 16 years, in fact. He is the longest serving Opposition spokesperson on finance in the history of our State. The carbon tax allocation clearly goes to those most in need and it clearly shows it is helping people most at risk. It is helping people when it comes to the fuel allowance, it is helping people with the living alone allowance, it is helping people in our farming communities, it is helping with the transition in the form of EV grants and infrastructure, it is helping with the peatland rehabilitation and it is progressive and helps those most in need as well. Sinn Féin opposes it. I think it is nearly on its own. It might have a few others but of the main Opposition parties I think it is on its own in opposing carbon tax. It is no longer Opposition versus Government but most parties in this House versus Sinn Féin when it comes to the policy rationale here. It party cannot resist this populist tendency to just oppose everything for the sake of opposing everything.
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There are real challenges and we may well need to intervene again, but the package we put in place was the right package for the right moment and we will remain nimble and agile on any further interventions that are needed.
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I hope that when the Deputy meets somebody at risk of fuel poverty and brings their case into the Dáil, as well as just reading them out in here, he helps them get the financial assistance our system provides in terms of the fuel allowance. I would like to see the data, and please send it to me, showing that the majority of people in the country at risk of fuel poverty do not receive any assistance from the State with fuel costs. The fuel allowance-----
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He does not need your help.
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The fuel allowance is paid to almost 500,000 households. There are people-----
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-----who do not qualify for the fuel allowance-----
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-----and I say to people who do not qualify for fuel allowance that this Government is making a number of interventions to help, not just with the NORA levy but also through petrol and diesel measures. I also say to those people that we stand ready to intervene further but we must remain nimble and agile. Did the Deputy hear the Central Bank this morning? Has he read the Central Bank's report? If this conflict goes on for a prolonged period, we may need to intervene further. The Deputy talked about mistakes. He has made three this week. First, he said the State was taking in €38 million a week extra in taxes-----
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-----but we are not.
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After 16 years of being Opposition spokesperson on finance-----
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-----presumably you do not just take------
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Presumably-----
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-----you actually know the facts. We have not taken in €38 million. That is your first mistake.
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Second, you have called on us to remove excise on home heating oil but there is no excise on home heating oil.
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There is not. Third, you said your proposals-----
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-----would cost €100 million a month but they would not. One week, three mistakes. We need to actually engage constructively.
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Many people across here are trying to operate constructively-----
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-----but what has happened this week is Sinn Féin has been left isolated not just by the Government parties-----
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-----but also by the Opposition parties because it is engaging in populist, performative politics-----
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-----at a time of serious national challenge. Please grow up.
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We started well.
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I thank Deputy Sheehan for raising the matter and the impact of the real cost-of-living pressures, the current conflict and how, for the purposes of his question, they are having a particular impact on those renting as well. I will make a couple of points. One of the reasons the Government this week provided a package of €250 million for a time-bound period was a recognition that the economic medicine we are endeavouring to administer now may need a different type of prescription in the time ahead. I say that genuinely with humility because I cannot predict - respectfully, no one in this House can, and I am not sure there are many people in the world who can - where the scale of economic challenge will go and where the key areas of pressure may be in the time ahead. The Deputy has not done this, but I certainly would not want the Government's position to be misrepresented to suggest we are talking about the end of May and then we will see an end to this moment of economic challenge. That is not looking likely, based on what we see now. We may well have to come back to the House at future moments and indeed in budgets in the time ahead and have conversations about further assistance and interventions to support our economy and our people, should this conflict go on for a prolonged period. I know we all hope it de-escalates and ends because the quickest way to provide economic stability and move through this period of economic challenge is, of course, for this awful conflict to stop. That is before we even get to the humanitarian impact of war, which we should never be numb to in this House. I disagree with the Deputy on how investors are presented. Even the Housing Commission report recognised that while the Government has to continue to invest more in housing, private investment will also be required. We need people to come to this country and invest privately in building and providing homes too. That is good and I think all parts of this island, and the Administrations in both parts of this island, were represented in trying to attract investment at the event in Cannes. On short-term lets, the Deputy makes a fair point that this has been going on for quite a while. It is important we get it right and we are moving towards legislating on this. I have had very good meetings with the Ministers, Deputies Burke and Browne, in recent days on it. We want to make sure we can provide additional housing stock but also protect housing stock for the tourism industry, particularly in rural Ireland. We almost have a way forward on that. We have a different view when it comes to protections for renters. I genuinely believe the Bill we brought forward does bring in a suite of measures to protect tenants, the likes of which we have not seen in this country before. There will be six-year tenancies for the first time ever. The RPZs will be done on a nationwide basis for the first time ever. I recall when this Dáil was first convened many in the Opposition thought the Government was going to get rid of the RPZs. Not only did we not get rid of the RPZs, we made them nationwide. As well as that we brought in what are effectively bans on no fault evictions for future tenancies. I am concerned about what the Deputy said about the case in County Sligo. There are clear rules but there is also basic compassion and decency. If the Deputy sends me further details, I would be very happy to look into it.
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We brought in measures this week that benefit everybody in terms of the cost of fuel at the pump. That was the important and right thing to do. What the Deputy is highlighting in this House today concerns renters. I say this respectfully; I hear other people highlighting different aspects in media and newspaper commentary. We have to be very careful with the economic interventions we make. There is an annual budgetary process. We will have an annual budget. We have a rent tax credit in place and have funded that tax credit for the years ahead. We will no doubt have a debate and discussion, and there are commitments in the programme for Government on the scale of the renter's tax credit as well. I have to be very honest with the Deputy. We need to have a comprehensive understanding of the depth and duration of this economic challenge. Tomorrow, I will attend a special Eurogroup meeting on this specifically, because we also need to continue to engage and see what other countries are doing too. On the issue of the short-term lets, I do not accept there is a watering down. There is a change but it is not a watering down. We have to get the balance right here. I do not think anybody intended, or certainly I did not - I not sure the Deputy did - that there would be a situation where crucial rental properties in small rural communities would be taken out of the tourism sector so we have to get that proposal right and arrive at a balanced way forward, and we will. Renters, people who own homes and all people in the country will benefit from the €250 million intervention and the Government will remain nimble, agile and willing to act further should this economic crisis globally deepen in the time ahead.
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I thank the Deputy. I acknowledge his community and constituency have done more than its fair share for moments of incredible national sporting pride, no more so than Troy currently. I acknowledge that it is some community he represents in terms of the scale of national heroes it is producing. If I can be slightly parochial, in terms of a Bray woman, I hope that Katie Taylor might get that retirement fight in the large Croke Park facility in the Deputy's constituency as well, but maybe that is for another day. The Deputy made a serious point. I will not say I agree or disagree with it but I do take the point about needing to ensure the funding is getting to those most in need. The Deputy was not intending to do this but disadvantage can be both rural and urban and in fairness, the Deputy acknowledged that. Indeed the cost sometimes of providing facilities in more sparsely populated communities can also be greater. While the figures produced by the Deputy are validated and I do not disagree with them, it is not always comparing apples for apples and oranges for oranges. However, the broader point the Deputy makes about the lack of a full-sized pitch for the use of children in the inner city, north or south, is a very valid and real one and one I will commit the Government to working constructively with the Deputy's community, constituency and Dublin City Council on. We are planning on opening a new sports capital round of funding shortly. I do not have the exact date but I expect it to open in the coming weeks. I will speak with the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, and the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, about the points the Deputy made on that. We are increasing the level of funding for sport in a very real way. Part of the Deputy's question to us is whether we can make progress in bridging some of that funding gap. I am certainly up for that challenge and I know Government colleagues are as well. The Deputy mentioned golf. I am not suggesting the Deputy is, but sometimes these debates can become zero-sum games. There is an opportunity to get the model right for everybody. Golf has brought great success to this country also. We will host the Ryder Cup. There are communities and young people I hope that will inspire. There are young people I hope soccer will inspire. We had the Olympics recently and the inspiration Kellie Harrington in the Deputy's community provided. If the question is whether we can do more through our sports funding to target disadvantage, urban and rural, and specifically the issues in relation to a full-sized pitch in the Deputy's own community, the answer is, "Yes". I will genuinely work in good faith with the Deputy and with colleagues to make progress on the matter.
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I agree fully with what the Deputy said. I used to play underage soccer for Greystones United; I think I let seven goals in in one game. I was never allowed in goals again. I knew soccer was not going to work out for me. The Deputy's broader point is right because it is about the sense of community, providing our children and young people with focus, purpose, a sense of belonging and place and health and well-being. The return on investment is manifold. I say this in good faith; I would like to understand more why there is that situation with the lack of a full-size pitch. I am not making excuses but there may be lack of green space. I do not know. I am happy to engage with the Deputy, the city council and the relevant Ministers. Let us see if some good can come from this discussion. Some things are political and some things just make sense to work on together and I am happy to do that.
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue; in fairness to him, he raises it on an ongoing and, quite rightly, intense basis. The pace at which the defective concrete blocks scheme is operating has clearly accelerated over the past two years. More than €155 million was spent in 2025. This compares to just under €60 million in 2024. As the scheme ramps up, additional funding will be provided as required. The overall cost of the scheme is expected to be in excess of €2.2 billion. That excludes inflation, which has become a very topical issue. We are working to make sure the scheme is designed and delivered in a manner that meets the real needs of homeowners in an efficient and effective way. That work is ongoing. The Deputy raised quite a few issues so I will go through them. I am being honest - the Deputy represents Donegal but from any of my visits to Donegal I always leave with the clear impression that there are going to be issues outside of the scheme that need to be addressed. That is just a statement of fact. Specifically in relation to schools, the Department of Education and Youth has said it will work with schools impacted by mica. My understanding is it is aware of 16 schools all based in County Donegal, which have submitted emergency works applications for funding related to testing for the presence of mica. The Deputy might have better information than me but that is what I have been told. The Department is working through a mica strategy for schools, which it will develop this year. This will involve adopting a programme approach to the issue but will provide a pathway for schools currently waiting on remediation of mica issues and any schools affected into the future. I am told it is doing this in partnership with Donegal Education and Training Board. As part of this programme approach, an assessment will be done on overall accommodation requirements in each of the relevant areas to determine what scale of accommodation is required over the medium to long term to cater for local demographics. The Department will undertake site visits during the current school year to further inform that remediation approach. More broadly the Department has provided €225.65 million in capital funding for Donegal schools since 2020. On childcare which the Deputy has raised with me in the House before, as it relates to mica, Letterkenny Community Childcare was approved for a building blocks grant of €750,000 in May last year. I am familiar with Raphoe Community Playgroup. I accept collective responsibility for this but I am irked we have not found a way forward yet. It received funding in 2025 to procure an external expert to assess relocation options. It was approved for further sustainability funding to cover rental costs for a temporary premises for 2025 and 2026. I know it applied for the building blocks grant scheme. I think those criteria need to be looked at. It engaged in good faith and the criteria did not allow that application to progress. I was told very recently that it is now through the County Donegal childcare committee in contact about the State-led childcare programme. Perhaps that could be a way of making an intervention. TDs and Senators in Donegal work on this together. The State-led programme might be an area worth having an engagement with the Department of children and the Minister on. It might be an opportunity to try to rectify some of these issues.
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I will get the very best information I can and write to the Deputy. The information I have here tells me the NSAI, as the Deputy correctly said, is carrying out the review of IS 465. It carried out a consultation last year, which closed on 11 July. There were over 640 submissions and the technical committee is reviewing them. That is at an advanced stage. I am advised the review will be completed in the month of April. The NSAI will then publish an update on its website when the review has been completed. The month of April is what I have been told.
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Based on this, it will just nudge into quarter 2 in that it will be in April instead of March. The Deputy raised a very specific number of days; I will see if his information is even more detailed than mine but the most important point is the review is almost complete. It will be completed by the month of April and published swiftly thereafter.
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