The level of domestic and gender-based violence is a tremendous stain on our society. There has been a step change in Government responses in the past number of years. Funding is now at about €80 million under the last budget. The establishment of Cuan has been an important step change in terms of dedicated, focused provision of services and the representation of the zero-tolerance strategy. There has been a €12 million increase year on year so the financial resources have been significantly step-changed in respect of this issue. The acceleration of additional refuge spaces and safe accommodation is an important aspect of that. The target is to provide about 282 safe spaces by the end of 2026.
Sentiment score: 0.27
There is a whole range of other measures as well that we have outlined.
Sentiment score: 0.27
The Deputy seems very confused in her presentations on the rental market. On one level, she is complaining about evictions she suggests are caused by recent reforms of the rental market, which were all about protecting tenants and the six-year term. Which is it?
Sentiment score: -0.19
If the Deputy banned evictions, she would cause greater churn and a greater loss of landlords. The facts do not bear out what she said. The latest RTB data shows continued growth in quarter 4 of last year with 243,598 tenancies, the highest on record. There were 104,687 private landlords, broadly unchanged year on year. Churn is normal but overall numbers are stable and, actually, rising. A total of 17,342 new tenancies were registered in quarter 4 of 2025. The residential tenancies Act of 2006 ends no-fault evictions, essentially-----
Sentiment score: 0.10
-----for larger landlords, places stronger restrictions on tenancy termination and caps rent increases at inflation.
Sentiment score: 0.38
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission is there to ensure fair play in the marketplace. The Government certainly will be keeping a very watchful eye on this issue. If there is not pass-through, that will have implications for any potential future measures we might take in the energy market itself. We will be keeping a weathervane eye on this in the coming days. I take the Deputy's point that prices went up very quickly and they need to come down once the excise duty change works its way through.
Sentiment score: 0.27
I will check with the Minister of State with responsibility for special education in respect of that report and timelines for its publication. There is forward planning now. We brought forward the date by which parents and students apply for places in our schools. That has happened this year, as the Deputy must be aware. The establishment of a central database has to happen but I acknowledge it is not there yet. There have been substantial capital funding increases for education, particularly special education, which takes up a huge portion of the education capital budget. That provision for special education will continue this year. Special education is growing exponentially in terms of resources, whether they be special needs assistants, teachers or buildings. That is the story of where we are in terms of special education and it will continue to be the case.
Sentiment score: 0.33
I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue. I will talk to the Ministers for health and enterprise and others who can have an impact. It is a very serious issue because fake drugs can do real harm to people and damage their health. It is an area that perhaps needs a higher profile focus. I will certainly take away the fact the Deputy has highlighted the issue. I will come back to him with the views of the authority and others.
Sentiment score: 0.01
The Government has welcomed the agreement and will be supporting it at EU level. Ireland's agrifood exports will benefit under the deal through easier access to the large Australian market. We believe this will give us more opportunities to sell our products due to tariff elimination. Tariffs will go down to zero on key EU export products such as cheese over three years. There will be recognition for iconic Irish geographical indications, such as Irish whiskey, Irish cream and poitín. There will be preferential rules of origin for Irish whiskey. Exports of prepared foodstuffs and Irish dairy products, including cheese, will also see tariff reductions. European Union dairy exports to Australia are estimated to have the potential to grow by 48% under the deal. There are issues with the importation of beef; that will be over a ten-year period. However, mechanisms have been put in place to deal with an unacceptable impact on markets where the EU can intervene. The figure is much less than what the Australian side was seeking. It will be phased in over a ten-year period. It represents about 0.5% of European Union domestic consumption of beef.
Sentiment score: 0.13
I do not have the background to the specific case. Core funding now exceeds €436 million, up 62% since 2022, with 93%, or 4,590, of providers signed up, which keeps fees at 2021 levels. I will speak to the Minister on this. It is a matter that is kept under constant review. As the Deputy said, we do not want to lose anybody from the core funding framework. People may feel they can do better outside it, but it is not great for parents in terms of costs when that happens. I will let the Minister know that the Deputy raised this. We keep it under constant review to make sure it is accessible and that it makes sense for people to be participants in the core funding programme. The increase in numbers in the system over the past four years has been pretty impressive.
Sentiment score: 0.10
Again, I do not have the full background to the case here. Obviously, the Government has funded the building very well. The hot school meals programme has been rolled out very quickly and effectively on many fronts. There is a lot of debate around improving nutrition. However, fundamentally over the last three years, it has been rolled out at considerable pace across the length and breadth of the country. I will talk to the Minister, Deputy Calleary, in respect of the issue the Deputy has raised. The Departments of education and Social Protection can reflect on whether there is flexibility in how the allocation, which every school gets, is spent and I will come back to the Deputy.
Sentiment score: 0.29
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. The haulage industry is a key industry whose role in our modern economy has been underestimated in terms of getting goods from ports to shelves and from manufacturing facilities to the ships for our export markets. I am very interested in making sure that we have a sustainable haulage industry into the future. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has engaged with the industry over the last number of weeks and today's measures reflect part of that engagement and will provide some ease of the pressure. I acknowledge the pressures on the industry are still very significant. More generally, the Deputy is correct about the need to drive forward with the retrofitting programme and energy efficiency programmes. Through front-loading solar energy and insulation, we will continue to do everything we can to support businesses and households in terms of any energy efficiency measures they can take to help in the short term.
Sentiment score: 0.41
The Minister has sought submissions from local authorities across the length and breadth of the country in respect of damage done in recent storms and flooding that occurred. The Minister is assessing those submissions now with a view to allocations to try to help the county councils concerned.
Sentiment score: 0.19
First, I did not decline to answer any question, and it is wrong of the Deputy to suggest that I did. She knows full well that questions about hospital sites go to the Minister for Health.
Sentiment score: -0.10
I am sorry, no, I am not responsible for every individual Minister's decision-making. It is a well-known practice in the Dáil and the Oireachtas that questions go to the Minister who is accountable to the House in respect of the matter. Of course, I was aware of the decision, and the Minister would have informed me very early on, along with the Tánaiste, the Minister of State, Seán Canney, and other Ministers as to what, overall, is a positive decision, given the congestion in UHL. Now there is a pathway forward in terms of health facilities in Limerick and in the mid-west, to be complemented by further services for Ennis and Nenagh. It is a positive development overall. The Deputy is obviously against it but-----
Sentiment score: 0.18
Yes, but it is positive overall for healthcare, I would have thought.
Sentiment score: 0.78
I am responding to the issue. I met with the Before We Die group some weeks ago. This is on the agenda of the next Cabinet subcommittee on disability. I have spoken to the Minister for housing, the Minister for disability and the Minister for Health. What is needed here is a concerted, collective approach. I acknowledge that the current situation is not sustainable or satisfactory and creates undue pressure on parents, particularly parents of citizens and people who are of senior age and who need independence. The idea that some of the section 39 organisations would just say, "Go and apply to the local authority, and it's up to yourself", is not on, and I have made that very clear to the system. The bottom line is that we need people joined up together and we need to have supports if someone gets housing. There is a varying continuum of need, so some will need less support, some will need substantive supports and so forth. This is an issue I am seized of. It is a very serious issue for the families concerned and society more generally.
Sentiment score: 0.04
I do not have the background to this. I learned to swim in the sea, actually, down in west Cork, or maybe Robert's Cove or somewhere like that, but we had a baths long ago. We used to call it the baths, the swimming pool-----
Sentiment score: 0.06
-----next to City Hall, and the craic was good. I passionately believe in swimming opportunities for young people and children in particular to learn how to swim, as Deputy Smith says, because water safety is essential and it can be a very joyous and healthy discipline for the rest of your life.
Sentiment score: 0.69
I will talk to the Minister, Deputy O'Brien. He is fairly innovative when it comes to projects in Fingal. I will see what can be done. I take the Deputy's point. The Minister of State with responsibility for sport is here. We will see what can be done in respect of the roof on the swimming pool in Portmarnock.
Sentiment score: 0.15
There has been a HSE review of the insourcing programme and practice. There has been huge investment since 2025. The Minister undertook a detailed survey of all insourcing activities within the HSE in light of concerns about an over-reliance in the system on supplementary capacity. That report was submitted and published by the Minister in July of last year. That led to a number of measures being taken, stricter control measures, to reduce reliance on inappropriate third-party insourcing while maintaining all options for the provision of care to patients. Those controls are now in place to restrict the use of third-party insourcing. We are moving away from our dependence on the model to fully use the internal under-utilised capacity we have within our core health service.
Sentiment score: 0.07
I will talk to the Minister about it. What the Deputy has said sometimes illustrates - I will not say the futility of asking parliamentary questions, but you do tend to get standard replies from time to time. That was last February. The Minister has a huge capital budget. I am not saying capital is required here. I will talk to the Minister about this. I would be favourably disposed to it. Anything that can accelerate people getting familiar with the utilisation of renewables and solar is good. One of the complaints about the existing grant schemes we have is their inaccessibility to people on low incomes, for example. I will talk to the Minister about this.
Sentiment score: 0.04