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715. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether planning permission can be extended where the construction company needs a short period of extension to complete projects, where the project is underway but planning permission may be due to expire before completion; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39903/26]

716. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total amount currently outstanding nationally in unpaid derelict sites levy arrears; the amount outstanding by local authority, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39904/26]

717. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of derelict sites levy imposed, collected and outstanding in each year from 2020 to 2025, broken down by local authority, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39905/26]

718. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of sites on each local authority derelict sites register in each year from 2020 to 2025; the number added and removed annually; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39906/26]

719. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of derelict sites levy debt written off by local authorities in each year since 2020, broken down by local authority and reason for write-off; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39907/26]

720. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department has assessed the accuracy and legal robustness of local authority derelict sites registers following reports of inaccurate records leading to levy write-offs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39908/26]

721. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total funding allocated to Tipperary County Council under the tenant in situ scheme in each of the years 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 and to date in 2026; the number of homes acquired by Tipperary County Council under the scheme in each year; the number of applications or cases considered but not progressed in…

722. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of properties in County Tipperary in respect of which the vacant homes tax has been applied; the number of properties in Tipperary currently recorded as vacant or derelict by Tipperary County Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39927/26]

723. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the progress of Ireland’s transposition of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive as the transposition date of 29 May 2026 approaches; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39935/26]

724. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the rationale for restricting the vacant above-the-shop grant and the broader vacant property refurbishment grant to individual applicants only, explicitly excluding registered micro-companies; if he acknowledges that advising property owners to undertake complex and costly corporate restructuring to transfer a…

725. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he plans to introduce interim measures, exemptions, or a phased pilot scheme to allow micro-companies to access the vacant above-the-shop grant where planning, funding, and construction readiness are already established; the timeline for reviewing these eligibility criteria; and if he will make a statement o…

726. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the first and full-cost of the social units purchased on the Glass Bottle Site on the Poolbeg west SDZ. [40008/26]

727. Deputy Keira Keogh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of people in each county who are availing of the rent-a-room scheme, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40021/26]

729. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the current status of the review of the memorandum of understanding between the NARCG and NPWS; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40052/26]

730. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when it is proposed to reinstate the Sustainable Hunting of Wild Birds Forum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40053/26]

731. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the North-West Quarter regeneration, in Cork, by phase status, in tabular form. [40106/26]

732. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will examine the potential for supporting domestic reed harvesting for thatching, given that Ireland has abundant natural reed beds, yet thatchers are forced to import reed due to lack of capacity and support; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40173/26]

743. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Social Protection the total expenditure on rent supplements and housing assistance payments for non-Irish nationals in 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38974/26]

774. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration whether the forthcoming National Migration and Integration Strategy will include specific housing supply, homelessness prevention, or emergency accommodation forecasting mechanisms. [38874/26]

834. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the average annual cost of housing an inmate in an Irish prison for 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39976/26]

835. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the average annual cost of housing an inmate in an Irish prison for 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39977/26]

836. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the average annual cost of housing an inmate in an Irish prison for 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39978/26]

837. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the average annual cost of housing an inmate in an Irish prison for 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39979/26]

838. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the average annual cost of housing an inmate in an Irish prison for 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39980/26]

839. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the average cost of housing an inmate in an Irish prison, broken down by category including the costs related to food, transport, staffing, education, utilities, accommodation and any other significant costing. [39981/26]

That is a very fair way to put it. As housing supply begins to rise in Cavan, Monaghan and across the country, should we then go back and ask, "Hang on, do the balances we had in place at a time of more constrained supply merit being looked at again?". That is a logical thing to do. I thank the Deputy for his words in relation to the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, who has been a r…

It is welcome that the issue of rare diseases is on the political agenda. It has been neglected for far too long. In a large part, it is thanks to the advocacy of parents and families as well as political allies within the system here. Members of the health committee, including Deputy O'Sullivan and Senator Teresa Costello, have raised this issue consistently. One of the things I find quite diffic…

If I picked the Minister up right, I understand the HSE leadership has signed off on that. We want to know when drugs will be in the hands of patients. For those boys, every day without treatment means further loss of muscle functions. Some boys who were able to walk a year ago have since lost that ability. It is heartbreaking for parents to watch as their children's symptoms progress, losing thei…

Fourteen years ago in June 2012, the first meeting was held with the then Minister for Health, James Reilly, in Farmleigh House, when a whole lot of people involved in the area of rare diseases, including parents and different lobby groups, were brought together. That was the first that a serious effort was made to get everyone together in order to see how we could plan forward to deal with the ma…

First, I want to pay tribute to the parents and families of young boys with Duchenne muscular dystrophy who have campaigned for access to givinostat. I commend them for their work, and I also acknowledge the work of colleagues in this House, such as Senators Teresa Costello and Anne Rabbitte, and Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan, for their work in driving this from a parliamentary perspective. I also ack…

To take the last point first before I go into it. Not to take it in isolation, that is a completely separate issue. Reducing child poverty is a key aspect of Government policy. The Government has been working on this and understands it. In September 2025, the Government agreed a new target to reduce the child consistent poverty rate to 3% or less by 2030. While an ambitious target, in setting this…

I thank the Members for their contributions. A number of issues were raised. It was remiss of me at the start not to talk about the education therapy services. We made a decision at Government back in March or April of 2025. Some people said we would not be able to do it. This involves the whole of Government. It was a decision made at the Cabinet disability committee. The housing committee is th…

Ireland is at a crossroads. Dublin is bursting at the seams, housing is scarce, costs are out of control, infrastructure cannot cope and commuters spend hours of their lives on packed roads every day but two hours west of this Chamber, we have an asset of great national potential, Shannon and the wider region. Developing Shannon as Ireland's second economic engine is not just good for County Clare…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — climate change resulted in Irish temperatures in excess of 30°C in May, breaking a 29-year-old record by more than two degrees; — a United Nations report has described Ireland as a cautionary tale on the environmental impact of data centres; — the Government is implementing policies that will increase fossil fuel use, by facilitating further new data c…

I congratulate the Minister of State on her appointment, and that is probably where the good news ends. I am very disappointed with the Government's amendment. In fact, I found parts of it quite laughable. "Sustainable data centre development" almost sounds like someone coming along 30 or 40 years ago and saying that we need to move sustainable smoking, and that if a person smokes a packet of Mar…

I too would like to wish the Minister of State the best in her new post. A single data centre uses as much energy as the entire city of Kilkenny. In the middle of a housing crisis, this Government has prioritised powering data centres faster than powering new homes across Carlow and Kilkenny. Homes are in urgent need but due to lack of infrastructure they cannot proceed. Nearly one quarter of our …

There is one point in this motion that nobody in this House can dispute. Irish families and small businesses are being crippled by electricity costs and if anyone doubts the scale of that crisis, they only need to look at the figures. At the end of last year, nearly 320,000 households in this country were behind on their electricity bills. That is roughly one in seven homes struggling to keep up. …

I want to be clear from the outset that I agree with the sentiment of what the Labour Party is trying to do and I believe the frustration is real. The Minister is well aware that energy is one of my key priorities. Irish families pay too much and it is very clear that data centres are consuming an ever-increasing share of our electricity. These are facts and they do deserve to be addressed. Howeve…

Today, the families of those killed or injured at Creeslough will bring their fight for answers to the Dáil. They will be here to speak to Members later this afternoon and we will make them most welcome. Every one of us remembers that fateful Friday afternoon in October 2022. We remember the reports of an explosion at an Applegreen service station and apartments in the small Donegal village and ho…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 10, between lines 33 and 34, to insert the following: "8. The Minister, having consulted with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, may by regulation direct that the Director suspend cooperation, in part or in full, with a state in breach of— (a) the Rule of Law Conditionality Regulation, or (b) Article 6 of the Treaty on European Union, or whereby cooper…

In relation to the annual report, Deputy Carthy was curious as to whether it would be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. Section 20(4) provides that it would be presented to the Houses of the Oireachtas. As to what the contents of the report would be and what would form part of the report, that would be at the discretion of the Minister. Under section 20(3), the annual report "shall be in s…

Like my colleagues, I too welcome Mr. David French to the Gallery. I commend him on his perseverance and the encouragement he has provided, not only to me in terms of trying to ensure the legislation could be introduced to the Houses of the Oireachtas but also in terms of the encouragement and support to other Members of the House. It is unusual to have legislation that is universally supported. …

I spoke about some of the additional supports we have been able to implement as a result of the introduction of the carbon tax. I am not sure whether the Deputy was in the Chamber at the time or if he was taking a telephone call outside it. I made the point that carbon tax has a role to play in terms of changing behaviour and helping people who can change to do so. As a representative of a rural c…

One basic point people fail to acknowledge and recognise is that the huge increase in energy prices is not as a consequence of decisions taken by the Government but as a consequence of an issue happening in the Middle East. That is not of the Government’s making. I think we can all agree on that. This is what has been the biggest driver in the increase in the cost of energy since the crisis began.…

The Deputy has had the vote, so he can go back and claim he has taken that position. The House has had to vote on his amendment. It was comprehensively beaten, not just by the Government Members but by other Members in the Dáil who support the model that has been implemented because they can see the benefit of it in terms of the money being reinvested. I will just give the Deputy a flavour. In bu…

The Government is failing to tackle the scourge of dereliction. Every day, people pass homes, buildings and derelict sites in their communities. Houses are left to rot while land hoarders and speculators get off scot-free. I cannot tell you how angry and demoralised people seeking a home feel when they see all of this, not to mention the impact on our cities, towns and villages, with rows of derel…

Irish Water is entirely publicly owned and will remain so. Recently, the Government, in the context of the national development plan, NDP, allocated unprecedented funding to Irish Water for the development of water infrastructure across the length and breadth of the country. The urgency and imperative right now is to fundamentally improve the water supply infrastructure. It is a key utility, and …

There is significant concern in relation to the new workforce development plan proposed for special needs assistants, SNAs, right across this country. A significant amount of SNAs have contacted TDs in this House on the wording and the extra responsibilities they will have to undertake because of this plan. I understand there was stakeholder engagement on the plan. That is to be welcomed but that …

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I recognise that this is a very sensitive issue. There are a range of opinions and perspectives in this House and, indeed, among the public. The people voted to repeal the eighth amendment in 2018 and to provide free, safe and legal access to termination services. We have made a lot of progress since then on the implementation of the Act. I am aware of the…

Cork alone has 1,788 derelict properties. Nationally, nearly 19,000 homes sit idle while people sleep on sofas or in their cars, working adults are in their parents' box rooms and there will be over 17,000 people in homeless services tonight. The Government has a derelict levy which is obviously not working. The Government has watched some of the local authorities fail to collect a single cent. Th…