2026-01-15

I want to return to the issue of the fact that ten ministers have not paid back money owed to the public funds, in some cases tens of thousands of euro, seven months after it was requested. When I questioned Deputy Chambers, who is the Minister responsible for the NSSO, the body which will deal with these repayments, he said he is not privy to the interactions between Ministers and the NSSO and that he does not know the identity of the ten. The Minister has made a stout defence of the fact that those ten have not yet paid back the money. I want to put a number of questions and I expect direct answers. Does the Minister know who the ten Ministers are who have so far not paid back the thousands of euro they owe the public purse? How many of them are Fine Gael Ministers? From where was the information the Minister put on the record of the Dáil today in their defence elicited, if it was not from the individual Ministers? Crucially, when are the Ministers going to cough up and pay back the money they owe the taxpayer? I ask for direct answers please.

This is questions on promised legislation but I will respond directly to Deputy Doherty, as I have been very clear in relation to the NSSO. This is an error by the NSSO and Ministers are engaging with the NSSO. I do not know, nor should I know, the identity of anyone's payroll matters in the State. I do know from dealing with the NSSO because, as I said, between underpayment and overpayment everyone who served and gave a salary sacrifice in government, with regard to the decision to reduce salaries by 10%, was affected. This is why it is critical-----

Where did you get the information on the ten?

Let me finish. In relation to the ten the engagement is ongoing. My point was-----

Who told you?

Because I dealt with it myself. I know exactly how-----

How do you know what the other ten are doing?

This is promised legislation.

Who said that no Minister is willing to pay this back? Who said that? That is the reverse of Deputy Doherty's question.

Jack Chambers said they have not paid it back and they should pay it back.

He did not say that no one is willing to pay it back. We are very clear that anyone who does not take action will not get their pension.

Do you know who the ten are? How many of them are Fine Gael Ministers?

We will continue on. I call Deputy Duncan Smith.

In the week when special school classes were announced for 2026, I need to raise with the Minister the case of River Valley Community National School in Swords. It is not looking for a class in 2026; it is looking for a class now. This is in agreement with the NCSE. The school is a developing school in good but interim accommodation. It is being refused by the Department of education the provision of an autism class right now only because it is in temporary accommodation, even though it has the space. I ask, please, because I will continue to bring this up, will the Department meet the patron body and the principal on site to get this matter over the line? Autistic children are being let down, as are mainstream children and the staff. This can be resolved, please, Minister.

I know there is record level of investment in places for those with special and additional educational needs for 2026. My colleague, the Minister, Deputy Naughton, is working very hard on improving it and ensuring everyone has a place. I will raise the specific issue in Deputy Smith's constituency with the Minister for education and report back to him.

Compliance with the law is not a gift for X to give to this State but this is the benevolent tone in which it announced this morning that it will indeed comply with law in jurisdictions where that law exists. This belated assurance for geo-blocking, which in itself is hugely problematic because it can be so easily circumnavigated, is too little, too late. It is not surprising that we are hearing this tone from this tech company because kid gloves is the approach that this Government and this State has taken to dealing with big tech and the harms it is wielding on society. The response over the last two weeks has been chaotic and it has taken a Minister of State in the Minister, Deputy Burke's Department to actually cajole this Government into action. I want to hear an update on what is happening with the Attorney General and his analysis of the law. I want to know if the Garda investigation, which we heard about yesterday in committee, has finally reached the doors of X on Fenian Street, and I want to hear what further Government action is going to happen so that we can take off those kid gloves and wrestle back control from big tech on the absolute havoc it is wreaking on society.

I thank Deputy Gibney for her question. I really want to stress that the primary concern of the Government is our people and our children. Irrespective of any revenue that ever comes into this State, that is our main objective to protect. We have independent institutions that administer justice in our country.

But they are not doing-----

An Garda Síochána is investigating this matter. It has confirmed this week at the committee that it is investigating breaches in this matter.

It has not got to X yet.

I cannot instruct the Garda where to go. It is independent. It conducts its investigation and we must let that take its course.

There are regulatory bodies supposed to deal with it.

Under the Digital Services Act, DSA, it is very clear. Coimisiún na Meán and its chief executive were out stating that they were examining this issue. They will take action with our European authorities in the Commission. The Government is being very hard on this issue.

The UK is threatening to block. The Irish Government could be much stronger.

We will protect our people. We will protect our children and that will always be the case on behalf of the Irish Government.

Hear, hear.

The Housing Agency is finding new ways to exclude people from the remediation scheme. We have already seen the system fail when pyrrhotite in concrete was ignored. The agency has now introduced a new method to refuse access, stretching IS 465 and selectively presenting facts. The approach will not withstand scrutiny and must be addressed. The decision has been independently reviewed by engineers and a legal expert, both concluding it is wrong. Reliance on an appeals process to correct such decision is reactive, costly and causes harm to homeowners. The Minister has the authority and responsibility to act proactively and treat the decisions as a test case and set a fair, consistent standard before people are affected. This matter goes beyond a single property. Now that this has been brought to the Government's attention, will the Minister intervene to stop this and review the test case or will it be allowed to continue? I want a simple "Yes" or "No".

Obviously, I am not the Minister for housing, but I will take this issue up with him. I would point out that the Government has been very proactive in protecting homeowners in Donegal. I acknowledge all those homeowners who have applied for the current scheme, which was enhanced, and the work done throughout our communities to ensure people and families are protected, because that is a primary concern of the Government for all those families that are affected in Donegal. I will raise the specific issue Deputy Ward brought up with the Minister for housing.

In Ireland, we use over 200 million single-use tea and coffee cups a year. That equates to at least 20,000 cups an hour. That is a staggering figure. Coffee cups are, according to Irish Business Against Litter, among the top five most littered items in the country according to a recent survey. Most of these cups cannot go into recycling bins because of the polyethylene lining used in the paper, making them non-recyclable. The Government had proposed a 20 cent levy as well as other measures. As the Minister knows, the litter issue is one thing, but the long-term environmental damage is another. When is the Government going to use or amend the Circular Economy and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2022 to bring in a refundable deposit? Along with other products that I have referred to before such as the vaping material and nitrous oxide canisters, they are littering our country and we need to have something with a behavioural impact as well as increased fines.

The Government has made significant progress in this area, particularly with the deposit return scheme, which we can see has had a very significant impact in our country. I will raise the Deputy's specific issue with the Minister in relation to the circular economy. A lot of retailers are taking action themselves. That is one area where customers can choose a more sustainable model. I will raise the Deputy's concerns with the Minister.

In County Offaly, renewable energy developments are mainly located on peatlands around Rhode, Croghan, Edenderry, Banagher and Cloghan. These projects require abnormal load vehicles of up to 135 tonnes on 16-axle trailers. The damage caused by one trip of one of these vehicles is equivalent to one year of normal traffic. As a result, these peat-based roads now require annual maintenance, placing major pressure on our local authority roads budget and taking funding away from other roads that also need work. Offaly has historically carried the heaviest load in providing power to this country and we are doing so again through renewable energy. We are simply asking for a fair crack of the whip and that separate, dedicated funding be provided to Offaly County Council for these road projects.

I thank Deputy McCormack for his important intervention relating to Offaly. I will raise it with the Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, in connection with the request for additional funding that Deputy McCormack has placed on the House. Our road network, particularly in rural counties, is of significant importance to the community.

I am very proud to come from a small village called Kinnitty where we have benefited significantly from multimillion euro investment in the public realm, public services and the development of the Slieve Bloom mountain bike trails. However, in the last 12 months, we have lost our post office and our last shop, which had served the community for decades. Thankfully, a 68-year-old man, Mr. Jodie Flaherty, has stepped into the breach to open a new shop. However, it is a reflection of the challenges in the market conditions and trading environment for micro-businesses in small villages right across the country. I appreciate the measures the Minister has introduced through, for example, the local enterprise office in terms of supports, but there is a concern around viability. I ask the Minister and the wider Government to ensure there are further measures to make sure the viability of our micro-businesses in the best interests of our public good, our economic good and our social good.

I acknowledge the huge work Deputy Clendennen is doing in being a firm advocate for our small family businesses. I know, as Minister for enterprise, that they employ two thirds of people right across our community. We have taken a number of initiatives this year around viability and worked to ensure that they are more viable, including setting up our small business unit and working with our cost of doing business advisory forum, which is looking at the interoperability of regulators that are currently on our landscape and ensuring we are doing things faster and being agile as an economy. We also have a huge amount of work to do, as is outlined in the programme for Government, related to other viability measures. We will work with Deputy Clendennen to ensure our small businesses continue to grow. As I pointed out in my earlier contribution, all 13 sectors of the economy are in a strong growth phase right now.

Yesterday, the Irish Wheelchair Association and other disability organisations had a session in the audiovisual room. They gave some stark facts and figures to us. Sometimes, we all get lost in statistics and figures. The reality for people with disabilities is that they are affected far more by the high cost of living - approximately 16% more. They are in need of some form of a one-off payment now. This winter and the next few months can be severe and extremely cold. At present, they are receiving huge electricity and gas bills, some up to €500. They told us they were in a position where they had to give up a few meals a week to heat their homes and stop their home dialysis treatment and go to their local hospital to save on their electricity bills. There are a few cases where they stopped recharging their mobile wheelchairs. I ask that the Government consider a one-off targeted payment of €400, with an estimated cost of €145 million. Considering the surplus billions of euro that is in the coffers at the moment, it is a very modest ask for the most vulnerable people in the country. As they say themselves, they are 22% of the invisible minority.

During Leaders' Questions, I raised quite clearly what the Government was doing for people who were most vulnerable, particularly the 15% increase in our fuel allowance, of which one in four households is now in receipt of, to reflect the challenges related to the cost of living. I also mentioned the social welfare increase for carers, those with disabilities and those on the margins of society of €10 per week. There are further interventions that assist people through the social welfare code. I always point out that the community welfare office is ready to assist people if they have any one-off shocks or meet a liability they are unable to discharge. I assure people that the Government will continue to work to support people with disabilities. In 2026, we have a record budget for disability services - this is a fact - and the Government wants to continue to support that sector.

The importance of public transport and connectivity in rural areas cannot be emphasised strongly enough. In that regard, I acknowledge the tremendous work of Alan O'Connell, manager of Kerry Local Link, and his staff. As a councillor, I called a number of years ago for a hop-on, hop-off bus service on the Ring of Kerry. Today, thankfully, there are several buses going in both directions but there is a great need for additional routes. The tender process for the Killarney to Mallow route is complete and we await funding. I will raise three other important routes: Beaufort to Killorglin via Whitefield; Kate Kearney's Cottage at the world-famous tourist attraction, the Gap of Dunloe, to Beaufort village and on to Killarney town; and from Dooks in Glenbeigh to Cromane and on to Killorglin town. Will the Minister ask the Minister for Transport to allocate the necessary funding to the NTA for the Connecting Ireland mobility scheme to allow these important routes to proceed?

Deputy Cahill gave us a good tour of the kingdom. I join him in articulating how important Local Link is and the agility it provides for communities across the age spectrum. It is striking to see in my locality the varying age groups that use it weekly to help them socialise or go to hospital appointments. It is a key asset to our community and another way of thinking. I absolutely support the Deputy's call and will raise it with the Minister.

The Minister for Health and the HSE agreed to provide funding for the first floor of Mallow General Hospital to be developed so 24 beds could be put in place. Work is ongoing. What progress has been made on bringing forward the opening of the development? There is huge pressure on Cork University Hospital and on Mallow as regards extra beds. I understand day beds are being used in Mallow to accommodate inpatients. Can the opening of the 24 beds be brought forward to alleviate the pressure on the hospitals?

The Deputy is right to highlight the opportunity Mallow presents and has presented for some time to HSE south west to provide step-down facilities and other healthcare facilities, particularly to help with the discharge from Mercy and Cork University Hospital. There have been beds there that have been available. I am having a full seminar with HSE south west on 5 February, when I will go through all of that in detail, including making sure all the beds funded are opened on time and in a timely way, as well as making sure all discharge pathways that currently exist are being fully utilised by all model 3 and model 4 hospitals there.

I am supporting a local family in Drogheda in dire straits because of a mind-boggling decision made by the National Council for Special Education, NCSE, to bring forward an arbitrary deadline of 1 October for parents seeking special class or special school placement for their child in the upcoming academic year. Eight-year-old Alfie has a diagnosis of developmental language disorder and global delay sensory overload which means he cannot deal with change, has issues eating and drinking, needs help with toileting, wets and soils himself regularly and has severe anxiety and stress along with no sense of danger. He has been hospitalised owing to stress responses and mental health difficulties. The challenges he faces have increased since moving to mainstream education and his mam advises that only following hospital admissions in early October did she begin pushing for special class placement and learned of this deadline. They have secured a place in a special class in a different school that would meet Alfie's needs but the application could not be completed without a letter of eligibility from the NCSE. The school closes to applications tomorrow. I do not like raising individual issues on the floor of the House but, having contacted the local SENO and the NCSE to plead for flexibility in the deadline, I have been told the facility to issue the letter of eligibility has ended. It is completely unacceptable the NCSE's refusal to issue a letter of eligibility will mean Alfie or any other child could not complete an application for a special school placement. For the sake of these vulnerable children, this arbitrary deadline needs to be scrapped.

You should conclude, Deputy.

As well as that, I ask for urgent intervention from the Government with the NCSE to ensure Alfie and his mam get the eligibility letter they need for tomorrow and Alfie gets the education and care he deserves.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. It seems a very genuine case in connection with Alfie. The date was brought forward to give greater certainty but the Minister is working with the NCSE. If the Deputy raises that with the Minister on a case-by-case basis, I hope we will get a satisfactory resolution.

My office has been inundated with telephone calls from worried carers in receipt of carer's benefit and carer's allowance. A number of them received letters from the Revenue this week and last week telling them they are liable for tax. Does the Minister accept many of these carers were unaware there was a tax payment due or a burden upon them? Will his Department consider exemptions and thresholds for transition and protection of carers affected to ensure they are not penalised. Carers are among the most vulnerable people in our community. The Minister mentioned how big our welfare system is and how big the budget is. I find it entirely unfair people who are giving up and sacrificing and are getting out of the house to get a break for a couple of hours while caring for and committing to their families are receiving worrying letters from Revenue saying they are being audited, owe tax and will be paying tax on their carer's benefit or carer's allowance.

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. I am a firm advocate for carers. We in society owe a huge debt for the work they do. That is why the Government is responding through supports and is on a trajectory to abolishing the means test for carer's allowance to demonstrate our support for the sector. The taxation is based on other income people may have received. The Taoiseach has sought a briefing on this. It was raised in the House earlier this week. We can revert to the Deputy in due course.

In December the IDA published its annual results for 2025, stating it has secured a record 323 investment proposals, representing a 38% increase on the previous year, and expected to deliver over 15,000 new jobs. In Wexford last year, Bank of New York Mellon disposed of 310 highly skilled jobs. The workers lost their jobs and the offices are on the market in an IDA business park in Wexford town. This is an ideal opportunity to acquire a really good suite of offices in a building that an IDA company could move into. I urge the Minister to impress upon the IDA to purchase this building and secure employment - perhaps replacement employment for the 310 workers of BNY Mellon who lost their jobs in Wexford.

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important matter. I assure him the IDA is liaising with BNY on the building and a future occupant for it. That will be to the forefront for any building that becomes vacant because of a change in operations, like BNY had in terms of its consolidation. We will do everything we can to get a replacement tenant in it. One of the things I am really driving the IDA on is the dispersement of jobs. We need to see a strong proportion going to regional areas. It has hit 56% or 57% and we hope that will continue throughout the remaining four years of the current strategy.

I raise the horrific case of a peaceful working family in Finglas who suffered the terrible trauma of being petrol bombed out of their home. Their house was destroyed in the arson attack and they just made it out alive because of the brave actions of one of the children, Amanda Uwase, who is in the Gallery today. She went back into the burning home and rescued her younger brothers and sister. Her mother works as a carer and was rescued by the fire services. However, the response from the Government and the State to this terrible attack on peaceful working people in Finglas has been absolutely outrageous in its silence. The family has been left homeless. This is not good enough. Where is the response from the Minister for justice to find the perpetrators, bring them to justice and be tough on such a heinous crime? Is the lack of response because these are disadvantaged communities?

This is disgraceful.

This is scandalous.

Is it because this attack could have been racially motivated? Members could give me the respect of letting me finish.

Thank you, Deputy Hearne.

Give the gardaí some respect.

Is it because some people's lives are worth more than others?

I have asked you to conclude, Deputy Hearne.

A child was murdered in an arson attack in Edenderry.

That is appalling.

An entire family was almost murdered in Finglas. Will the Minister meet with Amanda and her family-----

Deputy Hearne, you should conclude, please.

-----and do everything possible to ensure they are moved to appropriate housing and the gardaí find the perpetrators? These are reasonable questions and this is a reasonable ask.

You are politicising gardaí.

The family is homeless.

Deputy Hearne should be ashamed of himself. He really should be.

Deputy Brophy should be ashamed of himself. The family is homeless.

Where is the response?

Where is the response? Where is your press release?

Can we have some order, please, Deputies?

If it was a deportation flight, you would be out. The family has been made homeless and nobody has talked to them. There has been nothing in this Chamber about it.

If the Minister resumes his seat, we will just move on. Do the Deputies want to listen to the reply?

I want to acknowledge Amanda's presence and say how proud of her I am. I saw her report on the news. The work she has done in tertiary education has been exemplary. As an Irish Government Minister, I want to say that she and her family are really welcome in our country. My heart goes out to her on what she has had to experience. I will say to Amanda that we have an independent justice system in our country. I absolutely assure her that An Garda Síochána will investigate this heinous crime in full and ensure that someone is brought to justice for it. I also acknowledge the huge contribution that people who come from many different countries make in ours. I am very proud of the one in five people working in our economy right now who were not born in Ireland. They make a contribution to our healthcare and hospitality sectors. Many of them keep the cornerstones of our economy together. Amanda, you are very brave. Keep the faith. This country will have your back.

Why is the Government demonising them every day?

Families in Kildare North are still reporting that their children do not have confirmed secondary school places for September. This is despite the apply to school pilot programme the Minister for education introduced in Celbridge and other locations around the country to provide earlier clarity and reduce duplicate applications. The overlap between towns in Kildare North is delaying offers and leaving parents and, more importantly, sixth class children in complete uncertainty. If this pilot is genuinely producing more robust data, then that information needs to be used to identify where additional capacity is required. This is particularly pertinent to Maynooth Community College, Maynooth Post Primary School and Salesian College Celbridge. I ask the Minister to ask the Department of education and the Minister how the data from the apply to school pilot is being used to ensure that the children still awaiting places in Kildare North receive timely offers and how it will inform capacity planning moving forward.

I thank the Deputy for raising those very important issues on behalf of his constituency. I will raise them with the Minister for education and ask her to revert to him on the policy position directly.

What specific measures are the Minister's Department and Enterprise Ireland undertaking to ensure that SMEs in Ireland stay up to date with advancements in AI and digital technologies as they grow at a rapid rate? Local enterprise offices, LEOs, have been very good at giving grants to small companies but what I am talking about are mid-range SMEs that would like to get involved with Enterprise Ireland but sometimes struggle to do so. What steps can we take this calendar year and next year as we look forward? These changes in our society are huge. Rapid improvements are being made and we need to get them into our companies to ensure that we stay in touch with technologies and companies from outside Ireland.

I thank Deputy Neville for raising this very important issue and for the work he is doing for the enterprise sector to ensure rewards for enterprise are very much embedded in our economy. A number of offers are currently going through Enterprise Ireland. We have doubled the value of the innovation voucher, which is a huge assistance with tertiary education. It provides for a great deal of the commercialisation of research that can be seen taking place in our economy. The grow digital voucher offers up to €5,000 for smaller businesses. To support them, we also have bespoke schemes offered by Enterprise Ireland for cybersecurity, business consultancy and process innovation. These allow businesses to see how bringing in artificial intelligence can result in greater productivity and, critically, allow workers to work on other areas, focusing on growing business and bringing more revenue streams into the economy. We have seen record growth among Enterprise Ireland companies this year. Exports were worth €36 billion, which is something never heard of before. We want to continue that growth, add 75,000 additional jobs over the next five years and see growth in research, development and innovation, where the tax credit will help. We are aiming to bring approximately €2 billion into the economy through Enterprise Ireland high-value jobs and continued exports. I will work with the Deputy to help companies to start growing in scale through the schemes we have over the coming years.

I call Deputy Coppinger.

Did the Leas-Cheann Comhairle call on me?

I did.

I am sorry.

Do not be shy.

I will try not to be. How does the Government justify ploughing ahead next Thursday with a Bill that still allows the counselling notes of victims of sexual assault, rape and child sexual abuse to be accessed in trials despite all it has been told in recent months and years about how damaging and traumatising that is? I refer to the Criminal Law and Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026. This provision should never have been contained in this Bill because it is such an important issue. It has been thrown in with pepper spray, street furniture and a million other things in order to get it passed. On 22 December, the Minister said that he was going to look at further amendments but the Bill has appeared with no further amendments. People are still going to have to choose between therapy and trial. The only change is that, instead of the person waiving their right, it will now be passed over to a judge for a disclosure hearing on whether the counselling notes should be allowed. This does not take away the chilling effect of your notes being accessed. It forces the victim to choose between proceeding with a trial or proceeding with therapy. It is absolutely disgusting that any law that allows this exists. The Government has had ample opportunity to outlaw it completely.

I thank Deputy Coppinger for raising this very important issue. I understand that the Bill was published on 9 January and that it is down for Second Stage in the House. It is important to raise those issues. I will raise the Deputy's specific concerns with the Minister for justice during the week.

They have been raised with him already.

It emerged this morning at the meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts that there had been a significant overspend on an IT system for SUSI grants, which has now cost almost three times the originally budgeted figure of €2.2 million. The Comptroller and Auditor General drew attention to this at this morning's meeting. The project, titled "My SUSI", began in 2015 and by 2024 it had run to €6.4 million, although it is still only at the pre-project phase. What does the Government know about this? What oversight is the Department providing?

I understand this is an historical issue. As far as I am aware, there was a write-down on the project in 2021. Value for taxpayers' money is paramount. The project should deliver. As the Deputy has said, the project is ongoing. It is an important and fundamental system but it must be delivered efficiently in a cost-effective manner. I have asked for a full inquiry and will update the Deputy and the House as that goes on.