2026-04-16

Cosúil le Contae Chill Mhantáin, tá a lán fadhbanna á réiteach againn i gContae na Mí. Prior planning prevents poor performance. You cannot manage what you cannot measure. We are snowed under with data sets. Yet in Meath East, parents are alternating between commuting to work and campaigning alongside public representatives for childcare and school places. Students switch from study to work to keeping social connections trying to navigate disconnected, under resourced modes of transport. Examples include the 103 bus service. It is full leaving Ratoath before it gets to Ashbourne. The 109A has a reduced service to and from DCU. The M3 Dunboyne to Navan rail line is without a timeline or ring-fenced funding. Water supplies in Dunshaughlin and Dunboyne are at their limits in advance of much-needed home building. There is a scarcity or a complete lack of social infrastructure, such as parks in Ashbourne and Ratoath. Currently, there is anxiety, fear and frustration among parents and school teams in Duleek, Dunboyne and Dunshauglin. All are awaiting childcare places, school places, classrooms and appropriate resources not diluted in special education, but provided in line with will and preference. All of these issues have been compounded by numerous escalating costs of living. I try to be solution focused. I cannot see why these issues - similar to Deputy Gogarty, they are not just in my constituency, but in any rapidly growing area - are not anticipated and planned for. I have questions for the Tánaiste that are in adherence with the programme for Government. What intergovernmental State or semi-State communication and collaboration has taken place? What plans have been or are being prepared for County Meath, which is in the programme for Government, to "ensure accurate estimates of the demand for essential services", including but not limited to school places, public transport, water supply and social infrastructure? What is the current status of the unit for future planning?

I thank the Deputy very much for her questions. I know from our engagement to date on a variety of issues and her own professional background that she is data driven in terms of the questions that puts down in this House and, indeed, in the discussions that we had around the programme for Government. I thank her for that because what she is raising today, as she rightly said, is a commitment in the programme for Government. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Chamber, as the Minister with responsibility in this area regarding the unit for future planning, because it will be based in the Department of public expenditure and reform, to engage directly with the Deputy to make sure that we get her the most up-to-date information about where that unit is and when it will be established. I am told that the work is now ongoing through a unit for future planning. There is a unit there across a number of key areas. The purpose of the unit is to look at how we can integrate long-term strategic planning more systemically into policy-making in line with the policy document - better public services. So far, the work has not got to the point that the Deputy is rightly raising here. It would be useful if it could in terms of that county-by-county basis because it is not. Even in a country the size of Ireland, some of the issues are common but there can also be very significant differentials. The housing example Deputy Gogarty gave us is an example of that too. In some parts of the country, we are seeing a very significant number of new homes and in others, not nearly the levels that we need. We are engaging now on work to try to strengthen long-term planning right across the Government. The unit for future planning with the Minister, Deputy Chambers, is an example of that. There are also other examples. The decision that we took to publish a medium-term expenditure framework to effectively outline what levels of spending we have, not just for today or tomorrow, this year or the next budget, but out for five years on capital and current is quite important. That framework is based on analysis of past trends. The piece of work I am most proud of - it gets a bit of talk in here but not enough - is Future Forty. It is a really good piece of work done by officials in the Department of Finance. It looks ahead at demographic, technological, social and environmental trends. It basically says that if Ireland did not do anything in terms of policy and we were operating on a no change policy basis, what would our country look like by 2040? It is the antidote to short-termism. We are having a Cabinet committee on this very shortly. It will be discussed at the National Economic Dialogue. How we embed that treasure trove of information systemically in public policy, not just for the Government but everyone in the Oireachtas, agencies and State agencies is an important point. The national development plan has €275.4 billion set out in public capital investment until 2035. This is beyond the lifetime of this Dáil. This again gives agencies an ability to respond beyond the short term. I did not get a chance to come back on childcare and school places but I will in my next contribution.

I welcome the update that the Minister, Deputy Chambers, will be in contact with me. Another point that is related is the different Cabinet committees across those key areas I mentioned. I ask for an update in due course. It is interdepartmental and intergovernmental communication. Are there changes taking place from the perspective of team training? Knowledge, skills and attitude are one part of running a business. I consider running the country is effectively the most important business to be run. Taking people on that journey is also critical. I appreciate I am asking this now and had not given advanced notice. I would appreciate an update of the type of team training that is taking place. It is about working towards improvements. I do not particularly like the word "change" for change’s sake but it is about working to improve situations. That is why I came in here. That is why I am collaborating and signed up to the programme for Government. Regardless of who the Government is or was at the time in December 2024, that is the commitment that I made. We have a lot of problems but I have solutions.

I appreciate that. That has always been my experience in dealing with the Deputy. Politics is about a number of things. One of them is that we are here representing our constituents and bringing forward the issues and what we hear. Second, we are obligated to do a bit more than just diagnosing the problem as the Deputy has gone further in her questions to begin to explore what the solutions look like and how can we constructively engage across political backgrounds. On childcare, we have recognised as a Government that relying entirely on the market is not a viable option. It is not going to work. That is why we have now taken a decision and already an allocation for the very first time to have publicly-funded childcare facilities in terms of a call. That needs to be the start. On the big issue around how we reduce the cost of childcare, we are fully committed to delivering that commitment over the lifetime of Government. However, we have to build a system to make sure that we got the places. Similarly on school places, there are a number of school projects under way in County Meath. Meath's population is not too dissimilar to my county's population in Wicklow is growing at a very fast rate. We will continue to engage on this. On the issue of training, I truthfully do not have the answer but it is an important point in making sure we have that continuous professional development within the public service and support our public servants. I will ask the Minister, Deputy Chambers, to engage with the Deputy on it.