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583. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the current status of an application for remediation under the interim remediation scheme for fire safety defects in eligible apartments and duplexes 2023 (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21592/26]

584. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the progress to date in the publishing of planning regulations to exempt detached modular homes and log cabins in back gardens from planning permission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21606/26]

585. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of UDZ designation requests received by his Department since he invited applications in June 2025; to provide a list of each request including location and size of the land in question; and to provide an update on each request. [21619/26]

586. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there are any circumstances in which the vacant property refurbishment grant can be paid out to a successful applicant prior to the completion of the overall refurbishment of the property; for example, whether the grant can be used to cover initial portion of refurbishment works with the owner funding the rem…

587. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide copies of records detailing total ticket sales, including volume and revenue, for each site (details supplied) managed by Clare County Council in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21703/26]

588. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide documentation showing the average visitor spend per ticket at each site (details supplied) in 2024, including breakdowns for entry fees, retail purchases, catering, and other services; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21704/26]

589. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the analysis or records demonstrating the way in which changes in visitor dwell-time and local mobility plans have impacted ticket sales and site revenues (details supplied) in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21705/26]

590. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he can provide financial records outlining the percentage of total site revenue derived from outsourced operations (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21706/26]

591. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will supply records or internal assessments evaluating the financial impact of branding (details supplied) on cross-site ticketing, bundled offers, or visitor numbers to include income/overall Revenue (rephrased requests); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21707/26]

592. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide consolidated income statements or revenue summaries for 2024 for all Shannon Heritage and Clare Tourism East sites under Clare County Council’s management; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21708/26]

593. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the ceilings for the first homes scheme will be raised and if he will raise the ceiling for Limerick city as it currently stands at €425,000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21709/26]

594. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the income breakdowns from banquet and overnight accommodation bookings at sites (details supplied), especially following the outsourcing arrangements and refurbishment initiatives; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21710/26]

595. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the financial records showing revenue generated by a site (details supplied) since its transfer to Clare County Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21711/26]

596. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the seasonal income data comparing revenues, expenditure and operating costs from the summer high season versus the shoulder off-peak seasons in 2024 across sites (details suppled); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21712/26]

597. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide documentation outlining operating costs and expenditures for all tourism sites (details supplied) in 2024, including staffing, maintenance, capital works, and outsourced service contracts; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21713/26]

598. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide budgetary documents and forecasts related to the Clare Tourism Directorate’s planned capital investments for 2024–2026, including site-specific project expenditures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21715/26]

599. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide copies of revenue budgets for 2024 and 2025 for tourism operations, specifically highlighting any allocations or projections related to new developments (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21716/26]

600. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on a matter (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21717/26]

601. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will expedite the legislative review of the Directly Elected Mayor of Limerick legislation; to provide a clear timeline for when the review will be commenced; when the review will conclude; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21722/26]

602. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he plans to increase the property price ceiling for the first home scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21728/26]

603. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of vacancies that exist for qualified planning staff in each local authority, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21740/26]

604. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of sanctioned posts for qualified planning staff in each local authority, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21741/26]

605. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of vacancies that exist for qualified planning staff in each regional assembly, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21742/26]

606. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps being taken, including a list of open competitions and future planned competitions to fill the vacancies in qualified planning staff in local authorities and regional assemblies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21743/26]

607. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of qualified planners that have resigned from local authorities between 2020 and 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21744/26]

I will go back for a minute to the town and village renewal scheme. I know Deputy Currie is talking about certain towns or villages being too big and others being too small. I say again that funding has been allocated under the town and village scheme to Fingal County Council to support projects in the county. I mentioned Rush but I can also mention Skerries, St. Margaret's and Donabate. This fund…

I take the Minister’s reply. I acknowledge the fact that the fuel allowance has been extended to working family payment recipients, because they are in low-income families who need all the help they can get in what are housing and cost-of-living crises. I hope that if I can give the Minister three or four examples of what has been happening over the past two weeks in Kildare South, he will examine…

I know the Minister’s ambition is to abolish the means test. I am not disputing that but if he cannot tell me how he is going to do it, he will forgive for being somewhat sceptical about the commitment. It is a little bit like the however many thousand houses the Government was going to build. That was an ambition as well. Ambition is not going to put money in the bank account of carers or bring t…

Bhí an tAire ag rá rud éigin ansin faoi bheith ag caint faoi dhaoine le míchumais, or people with disabilities. One of the things we could definitely do in this House would be to allow the wage subsidy scheme to be taken on by Deputies and Senators, in a sense that it would give people with disabilities easier access to policymakers. My parliamentary assistant, Michael Reynolds, has a disability. …

In his reply, the Tánaiste did not address any of the specific questions I asked. The fact of the matter is that there are elements in this plan that I welcome. Some of those elements are things that we already proposed, such as amending the law to ensure the best interests of children are taken into account by local authorities when families become homeless. Former Deputy Jan O'Sullivan had that …

Some of them are, and some are better than others. I do not think it is uniform across the country. I have got to be very honest. I have a league table that the Minister for housing has published, which shows some local authorities well exceeding their council targets for social housing, including the county of Wicklow that I represent, and others making a paltry contribution. When national target…

Fine Gael promised 40,000 homes in the last election campaign. That was a complete and utter fabrication and now it is making its annual housing target disappear because it cannot stand over its record and it does not want accountability on it. Since Fine Gael took office, rents and house prices have soared to record levels, home ownership levels have collapsed and now more than 5,200 children are…

The Tánaiste. Surely, you know where your Minister for housing is on the day he launched the housing plan.

As is often the case, I agree with the Deputy on some things and disagree with him on others. I will try to take him through that. Rents in this country are too high. That is why we have taken a number of measures to try to increase supply. I am of the view that when you increase the supply of housing, there is a demand-and-supply effect. I also believe that we need to do other things in the here …

I am not saying that we are there, but the position is much better than it was. I am putting the House on notice that this Government intends to bring forward legislation in respect of the delivery of critical infrastructure in an emergency manner. I remind people at home that we did that before. We did it in relation to Brexit in the context of port infrastructure. We did it in Rosslare and at Du…

I really appreciate that because this united Opposition thing gets presented a lot, but there are different voices and different perspectives. The Deputy is the first Member of the Opposition who has critiqued the Government for not going further with our VAT reduction measure. The rest of them have slated us for doing anything at all in respect of it. That is a point of difference. When you are i…

In the week when the two-week COP30 summit started without, regrettably, the involvement of the USA, it is vital that we remain steadfast and committed and that we redouble our efforts to hit our climate targets. The Joint Committee on Climate, the Environment and Energy has been looking at this topic. In that context, I want to raise the issue of decarbonising home heating. Perhaps the most chal…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on Science Week and the importance of the sciences to our country and to humanity. I first qualified as a chemical engineer, seeking that course because of my love of the sciences and mathematics. That education gave me much understanding of our world. Interestingly, it is helping me to analyse our wastewater treatment and energy systems in my work as a TD and I …

It is welcome to hear the Aire Stáit's passion and interest in this area. I have something in common with him, in that I spent a lot of time having discussions with my poor dad. He did not agree with me on anything. Perhaps if we had done an exchange at that stage, there might have been more in common. I welcome the leadership that my colleague Aidan Farrelly has shown on raising this issue. I al…

Fáilte to everybody in the Gallery. I am delighted to see them here today. I thank the Social Democrats for tabling the Bill. We remember the Electoral (Amendment) (Voting at 16) Bill 2016. We restored it to the Order Paper in the Seanad in 2021 and it was seconded by Senator Ruane. We are a long time at this; we are too long at it. The Minister of State knows from his contribution that we are too…

I welcome the young people to the Gallery. It is great to have so many people in the gallery on a Thursday afternoon. I give a special mention to Paul Minnock and Charlotte Minnock, who are with me on work experience. Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis na Daonlathaithe Sóisialta as ucht an rún seo a chur os comhair na Dála inniu. Tá sé tábhachtach go bhfuil guth ag daoine óga sa lá atá in…

Ar dtús báire, gabhaim buíochas leis na Daonlathaithe Sóisialta agus an Teachta Farrelly as ucht an Bille seo a thabhairt faoi bhráid na Dála. Cuirim fáilte roimh na cuairteoirí go léir atá anseo. Is Bille tábhachtach simplí é seo. I mo thuairim, caithfidh muid é seo a thabhairt isteach, because I believe, and the Labour Party believes, that the voting age should be lowered to 16. This is somethin…

I thank the Social Democrats and Deputy Farrelly in particular for bringing this forward. It is a really important Bill and it is great they have used their Private Members' time for it. I do not think we need to debate this; it is the most obvious thing in the world that 16 and 17-year-olds should be able to vote. It is their future and them who are going to live in the barbarous world we are cur…

I too welcome this Private Members' Bill put forward by Deputy Farrelly. I look forward to supporting it. The concept of reducing the voting age to include 16 and 17-year-olds is one the Green Party has supported for a long time. When we first used to advocate for this change it was seen as radical, out there and unusual. That is not the case anymore because this movement is happening. It is earl…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Farrelly for tabling this. I am in full support of it. One of the main reasons is taxation without representation. If we are not going to give young people the chance to vote, are we going to make them exempt from taxes at the age of 15, 16 or 17? When I started work, I was on €6.06 an hour at the age of 15, but I was not able to vote until the age of 21. The thing…

I thank Deputies for their contributions this afternoon. I echo the comments of the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, and his thanks to Deputy Farrelly for tabling this Bill and raising an important issue. The debate has presented a useful opportunity to discuss the age at which people would be entitled to vote in elections and referendums in Ireland and provided much to consider as we move forwar…

I thank both Ministers of State for their contributions to the debate, which I appreciate. I thank Deputies from all sides of the House for their important and meaningful contributions. There are a couple of things I would like to say in wrapping up. First, it is that my heart is full that we have had a chance to talk about young people for such an expansive amount of time - two hours - and what …

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. The urban regeneration and development fund, URDF, was launched in 2018 as one of the flagship elements of Project Ireland 2040. URDF is the responsibility of my colleague, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Browne. It provides up to 75% funding for applicant-led projects to support a programme of significant transformational…

I thank the Deputy for raising this very serious issue. I have offered my condolences to Harvey Morrison Sherratt's family, to Gillian and Stephen, on previous occasions, as has Deputy McDonald. I respect the Deputy's commitment to the issue. As I have said in this House before, no words of condolence or consolation to Harvey's parents are enough. It is an enormous trauma for any parent to go thro…

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue. The Minister for housing and the Minister of State in that Department are examining that issue of the guidelines for rural planning. Obviously, it can make a contribution to the housing issue - there is no question about that. There are issues that have to be resolved, but I know the Minister is actively working on the matter.