Questions on Policy or Legislation

Earlier, we welcomed some of the residents from the Garvaghy Road. It is a very difficult time for them. People are shocked at the prospect of an Orange Order march being forced down the Garvaghy Road this Sunday. I was a teenager when the Orange Order attempted to force marches down the Garvaghy Road many years ago. I remember the images of the fear that was created in that community - the stand-off, the riots and the violence that happened afterwards. Things have moved on so much and thank God they have but it is utter madness that anyone would try to drag us back there. For 28 years, this community has lived in peace, free from unwanted Orange Order marches being forced through their community. That progress must be protected. Can the Tánaiste tell the Dáil today what engagement the Government will have with the British Government? Will he join with me in expressing support for the Garvaghy Road community and the right to live free from fear and intimidation?

Hear, hear.

I thank the Deputy. I spoke with his party leader on this issue yesterday. I am very much aware of the concerns of residents in the area. I too remember the scenes on our television screens and the likes of the real, painful, traumatic and extraordinarily upsetting and divisive scenes that community lived through and experienced. I am also conscious that we are all working for a better future for this island and a shared island and shared future and, I hope, ultimately, a unified island as well. I need to be mindful in the position I occupy of the independence of the work and role of the Parades Commission and the need for it to be allowed to do its work. I assure the Deputy and the residents that Government officials here are monitoring the situation closely. We have asked our joint secretariat in Belfast to keep us informed of developments. I am pleased the residents of the Garvaghy Road are here with us today.

On Monday, Virgin Media will show a documentary about special education in this country. The sneak previews I have seen show there are still children without an appropriate school place. However, equally shocking is that those who do get a place in school are being educated in cleaners' rooms with no windows or natural light, or they are being educated under staircases in classrooms. On top of that, a regulation room in one of the schools shown has been put in a disabled bathroom. Thankfully, the caretaker blocked off the toilet, but this is the state of our education system. The school I saw is Stapolin Educate Together National School, which is trying its best. When the Minister of State visited it before the end of the previous academic year, he told the school to use all available space, and it is. The school is oversubscribed and could fill two classes. What will this Government do to make sure this is not happening in 2026?

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and acknowledge her ongoing work on this. I obviously have not seen the programme but I have seen the promotional clips for the programme and I will of course watch the programme and also discuss the matter with the Minister for education and Minister of State with responsibility for special education. Objectively, we have seen a very significant increase in special classes, with 587 new classes sanctioned for the year. We have seen new classes established in every county. We have seen an increase in the number of special classes by 130% since 2020 and the special education budget is now over €3 billion. That does not take away from the point the Deputy makes, and I am not endeavouring for it to do that either, in terms of the need for capital to catch up, and the spaces, supports and facilities that our schools need as well. We will have an opportunity to reflect on this further in the budget in 12 days' time but I will watch the programme closely and engage with the Minister on the issues.

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of the need for additional train carriage capacity serving his hometown of Athy on that Waterford to Dublin line. I thank Eimear for contacting Deputy Wall and providing that live lived experience from a train service this morning. I will certainly speak with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and ask that he engage with Irish Rail on the matter and come back to the Deputy directly.

The Israeli genocide in Gaza involves scholasticide, that is, the intentional destruction of the Palestinian education system. Israel University, the last remaining university in Gaza was demolished by the Israeli military. Some 80% of schools have either been damaged or destroyed. Tens of thousands of students, teachers, lecturers and university academics have been murdered. The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has raised what it says is very serious alarm over the systemic destruction of the Palestinian education system. Against that background, is it not shocking that the Government is refusing visas to Palestinian students to study at Irish universities? Surely, on the basis of the Israeli genocide in Gaza and the destruction of the Palestinian education system, visas should be granted to these students, who, against all the odds, have qualified for and have been offered places in Irish Universities.

I hope he will reverse that decision.

I deplore the ongoing genocidal activities that we are seeing in Palestine. I am conscious, in making these comments, that it is the UN General Assembly's high-level week and that the Taoiseach, the Minister for foreign affairs, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, and a number of other representatives of the Government are present at the United Nations. The Taoiseach, the Minister for foreign affairs and others are prioritising engagements on issues relating to Palestine. On the specific issue regarding visas for Palestinian students, the Department of Justice is working with the Department of foreign affairs to assist Irish citizens and their families who are affected from an immigration perspective. The Department is also continuing to work with the Department of Health on the Gaza medevac programme. We have responded to humanitarian crises before by establishing programmes to allow people in the State to bring relatives here if they can prove that they can independently support them. The Afghan admissions programme was the most recent of these. There is no special arrangement in place for Palestinian students. No one is proposing the establishment of such a scheme, but we continue to support the Palestinian people in many ways.

The Tánaiste has said that people want certainty around the new investment accounts and that he wants more young people to get into saving. That includes the tens of thousands of ordinary people who get up early in the morning to go to work. Some of them, luckily enough, have been able to put savings into vehicles like exchange-traded funds. At present, those people are taxed on eight years of those savings, even if they have not sold a thing. They are taxed on something they have not sold as a capital gain. The Department of Finance refers to this as a deemed disposal. The people to whom I refer want two straight answers. First, will they be able to move their savings into these new accounts without paying exit tax? Second, will the Tánaiste and the Department finally scrap the concept of deemed disposals or are they going to continue to kick the can down the road? Deemed disposal is an unfair and uncertain tax. It should not be there at all.

I will make two points. First, in the context of the final detail of the scheme, we will have an opportunity to thrash all of that out in the debate on the Finance Bill post the budget, including how the new accounts will interact with other investment opportunities. I will be happy to consider all of the issues the Deputy raises then. On deemed disposal, I am on record in this House - I am certainly on the record in lots of places - as stating we need to move beyond deemed disposal. It was of a different time. It was an anti-avoidance measure, so it would be important to replace it. Obviously, we need to still have anti-avoidance measures. How much we can do in this budget will depend on the overall tax package and competing priorities, but I do expect to make some progress on it. The retail investment roadmap I published this summer shows the clear direction of travel in terms of moving beyond deemed disposal.

Farmers and fishers in County Louth and across the country are being squeezed by rising fuel, fertiliser and fodder costs. These are essential costs, as the Tánaiste knows. A fishing boat cannot go to sea without fuel. A farmer cannot simply skip the buying of winter feed. Rural families depend on their cars, so they feel pressure at work and at home. How is the Government going to continue to support rural communities, farmers and fishers?

I thank Deputy McGreehan for raising this really important and timely issue. The Government is very conscious, as the Deputy is, of the pressure on farmers and fishers and is determined to provide supports. Today, the Ministers, Deputies Heydon and Chambers, will meet. The Taoiseach, the Deputy and I were all at the ploughing last week. We heard very clearly three issues, namely fuel, fodder and fertiliser. I call them the three Fs. There will be support for farmers with fodder and fertiliser. I am pleased to inform the House that we are working to extend the fuel supports scheme for farmers. I expect the details of that to be finalised in a couple of days.

If the Tánaiste or I want to get a Bus Éireann bus or an Iarnród Éireann train, including a DART, we just turn up at the station, buy a ticket and get on. Wheelchair users cannot do that. There is an expectation that they should give up to 24 hours notice to use an ordinary transport system that is provided and subsidised by the taxpayers of this country. Surely it is not beyond us to provide a better facility for wheelchair users. I acknowledge that there are new DART carriages coming, but they are up to two years away. They will facilitate ease of access, but wheelchair users who are using Bus Éireann or Iarnród Éireann will still have difficultly getting on and off transport and will still have to give notice in the meantime. They should not have to give notice in this day and age and we should be making sure it is easier for them to use public transport.

I fully agree with Deputy Ward. I thank him for raising what is an incredibly important issue. I see it in my community and, of course, he also sees it in his, probably most particularly on the DART line. Not to justify it, but this has certainly arisen as a result of a huge disparity in facilities at stations and access points across the country, particularly in the context of the many stations that were designed and built in the Victorian era. We are absolutely committed to improving accessibility. There has been some clear and tangible progress. Last year, Irish Rail reduced the advanced notice requirement to just one hour at 15 of the busiest stations across the network, covering almost all terminus stations and the majority of assistance requests. There is a specific action in the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People 2025-2030. Irish Rail is set to introduce a new passenger assistance management system across the rail network for customers requiring assistance, including those with disabilities, by the end of this year. Briefly, another good example is the new infrastructure, as the Deputy rightly referenced, namely the DART+ fleet, which will arrive next year. Each carriage will have an automatic sliding doorstep that will deploy every time the doors open. This will reduce the platform gap. The Deputy is so right to highlight this, and we should pursue it until it is fully resolved.

I welcome that Government MEPs and Senators are finally starting to speak out about the dangers and harms of nitrous oxide. I hope Government will start supporting my legislation. My Bill is due to undergo pre-legislative scrutiny in November, following a nine-month delay imposed by the Government. In those nine months, we have had 14 cases of spinal cord damage in Beaumont Hospital and €3 million spent on storage of nitrous oxide canisters seized by customs, a matter which I raised with the Tánaiste at the finance committee. Dublin City Council reports a 490% increase in the number of canisters collected. Some 160,000 canisters end up in waste facilities. Veolia recycled 120,000 canisters last year. There has been 130% increase in the number of people accessing addiction treatment for nitrous oxide and a 900% increase in the number of people discharged from acute hospital services because of nitrous oxide. These figures are stark. They are not mine; they are contained in independent reports. In the absence of any solutions from Government, I ask that it work with me in a tangible way to progress my Bill through the Houses.

We will work with the Deputy on this. I acknowledge his sincerity and his work on this, as I have said before. This is a serious issue. I would characterise the Government's position slightly differently in the sense that there was some work that was ongoing in relevant Departments. However, the Deputy's legislation will now obviously go to pre-legislative scrutiny. That is an opportunity to put all of this information and evidence together to look at the Bill in the round. Certainly, we have very much an open mind in working with the Deputy constructively on what is a very important issue.

Longford has untapped potential in terms of tourism. A number of projects have been developed to address this. I have been a director of Longford Tourism for the past 14 years. We have established our tourism network and a new strategy website aimed at increasing the awareness of what our county has to offer. Its rich and often untold story forms a backbone of this vision. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy 'Boxer' Moran, who was here earlier, for his support over the years with the formation of the Hidden Heartlands brand name and the work he is doing in the OPW. The Corlea Trackway Visitor Centre and the Corlea Bog Amenity Walk constitute a unique and untapped tourism and heritage site in Longford. We are working hard to promote the world of our heritage and the activities we have to offer, but we need further investment in order to bring to fruition the various projects that have been identified around the country, particularly for this, as I said, unique historical site and amenity that has so much potential in what is already a fantastic place to visit and enjoy. I attended a directors' meeting 10.30 a.m. for Longford Tourism, and we will be holding our annual general meeting at 3 p.m. When will we seen further investment in this sector and particularly for Corlea bog and trackway as there is a timeline for this to be delivered.

I thank Deputy Carrigy for raising this issue. I must say that Longford is really making big progress in the tourism sector. So many people are now heading to Longford and there are a number of tourism facilities there as well. I thank the Deputy for his work and passion around Corlea and the bog and trackway centre. It is a remarkable piece of our heritage. I share the view that there is real potential to make it a visitor attraction for Longford but also for the wider midlands. I know the Deputy knows through his work that Fáilte Ireland has invested €262,000 into a study on the centre's future development through the just transition fund. I am informed that the work is now nearly complete on that, and this will give the OPW a clear basis for considering the next steps while protecting the Iron Age trackway that makes it such a special area. I am glad the Deputy is keeping a focus on it. I will be very interested to see the options the study comes up with, and the Government will work with the Deputy to advance them.

I was contacted by a woman whose husband has multiple myeloma. It is a type of blood cancer, and it develops in the plasma cells. She stated that her husband is cold throughout the whole winter. He needs help with the either fuel allowance, which he does not get, or lower fuel prices. Another man contacted me and said that they need two cars to get to work. They have to commute huge distances in extreme traffic every day. His wife is considering staying at home to save the costs on the cars and childcare. They have had no holidays in the past two years. They have good salaries but they are paying everything out. Hardworking people in this country are saying that it is no longer worth it. I want to invite the Tánaiste to the fuel protest meeting in Moate on Sunday at 5.30 p.m. That meeting is being organised by ordinary hardworking people whose backs are against the wall. In April, this Government made the catastrophic mistake of refusing to talk to these people. Will the Tánaiste learn from that mistake and join us on Sunday?

I thank the Deputy very much for the invitation but I will be working here on the budget in relation to fuel and energy, so I do not need to attend a protest meeting. What I need to do is make sure that people in this country do not feel the need the protest because they feel that we are making policy decisions that will help them. By the way, I have also spoken to a number of the people who were involved in the fuel protests. I met many of them at the ploughing. I met many people at the ploughing and at the Longford show with Deputy Carrigy as well, including people who were involved in those protests. I met all the farmer representative organisations, the hauliers as recently as yesterday and the trade unions. Fuel and energy is a real issue but what I am saying to people, and I hope they are hearing it, is that we are going to provide clarity in relation to excise. We are looking at carbon tax on both home heating oil and gas. I have just given Deputy McGreehan a view in relation to the extension of the farm support scheme as well. The Government will bring forward a package in the round in relation to the energy situation in the budget in just 12 days' time.

The Tánaiste is probably well aware that there are thousands of council tenants across this country living in absolutely scandalous conditions with mould and damp. In my constituency, I have been working with a number of harrowing cases. I visited homes and have seen mould and damp on windows and in bedrooms, and the impact on children and babies. How is it right and fair that council tenants living in mouldy and damp conditions in houses that the State is responsible for are now being charged higher rents in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis because the Government has failed to fund councils sufficiently? Some 40% of council tenants are in poverty after they pay their rent. That is five times the rate of homeowners. How can they afford more? Is it fair that children are left living in mouldy and damp conditions with devastating impacts on their health? Will the Tánaiste make a real move on the cost-of-living crisis for these people, and will he give councils the funding required for maintenance so they do not have to increase rents on these people?

I see the Deputy linked two issues. I see them as somewhat separate. The idea that anyone is living in a home owned by the State that has mould and damp and that children and the likes are there is not an acceptable situation. I fully agree with that. If the Deputy wants to provide me with the information, which I know he will, I am happy to pursue that with the Minister for housing and with the local authority too. Local authorities have a duty of care to their tenants too and just like governments at a national level have to manage their budgets, so too do local governments as well. In relation to the budget in general, there will be a focus on child poverty. I acknowledge the Deputy was at the child poverty and well-being summit in his constituency in recent weeks. There are a number of targeted measures that we need to take to help families and children most at risk of poverty. The fuel allowance, which opens on Monday, is one such payment but there will be a number of other measures in the budget in 12 days' time.

Bradley is a 15-year-old boy from my constituency of Meath who is waiting for an urgent orthodontist appointment in Navan, and he is not the only one. Bradley suffers from a severe jawbone condition that requires urgent uninterrupted orthodontic care. For over two years he has endured immense pain, endless procedural cycles and days where he could not even eat solid food. Last October was a milestone when his top brace went on but then the HSE system failed him. His orthodontist went out on unexpected leave and no replacement was provided. When a critical appliance broke in his mouth in July, it took two weeks just to get a cursory glance, only to be told no one else would touch his case. Bradley has now gone seven months without treatment. He is sitting right now with loose braces and useless blocks in his mouth. If his treatment backtracks, he faces a traumatic, preventable operation to break both of his jawbones. Can the Tánaiste give me a cast-iron guarantee that Bradley and other children in Meath will urgently be provided with the orthodontist services they badly need? Both the Tánaiste and I know this is not right.

I thank Deputy Guirke for raising this issue. I am sorry to hear what Bradley and his family are enduring. I am not going to comment into the record of the Dáil on an individual case on which I do not have all of the information but the Deputy is entirely right to highlight the issue in relation to the orthodontic system and care in his constituency. On foot of him raising it, I will send a transcript of what he said, plus a broader query, to the Minister for Health and to the HSE and ask that they come back to the Deputy directly.

There are families in east Galway right now who are really worried because they cannot afford the cost of putting a fill of oil in the tank this winter. The reality is that the Government reduced the price on diesel and petrol but it is fair to say that it has not done anything yet to help families with the cost of home heating oil. In this budget there needs to be a serious measure put in place to support the families that I represent in Galway to get through this winter because the price has completely ballooned. I ask that serious consideration be given to that and that supports be put in place. Also, there are families who have paid huge sums of money in the past month or so to fill a tank. Consideration needs to be given to backdating any payment or any support that goes in place for home heating oil because families cannot decide when the tank becomes empty and they have to fill it.

I thank Deputy Dolan for raising the issue. He is right on the broader issue. When you look at the cost of energy, it has risen across the board, of that there is no doubt. However, when you look at the cost to fill a home heating oil tank, it has risen in quite an alarming manner. Roughly speaking, it was €950 to fill the tank last winter. It is anywhere between €1,500, €1,600, €1,700 and rising to fill the tank this winter. This is an extraordinary rise for families. We are working through this as a Government together. The details will be published on budget day but the Tax Strategy Group paper does identify that we can treat carbon differently on different products. Regarding kerosene, there may be something we can do in that space. What we cannot do is do anything that risks our derogation in relation to the emissions trading system, ETS, because we do not want to end up paying billions more to Europe as a consequence of this too. There obviously will be some people who will be disproportionately more at risk of fuel poverty, and the fuel allowance system is part of that. We need to look at all of this in the round but we will endeavour to respond.

I have attended meetings with local residents, councillors and TDs from every party about the world famous Dunsink Observatory. The Dunsink urban plan will see a new town built that will have a bigger population than Longford and there are serious concerns. Even though every person we met wants to see housing on the site, there are serious concerns. Promises of new bus and Luas services are met with deep scepticism and concern, even from the National Transport Authority, NTA. Irish Water stated that there is no chance of phase 1 or 2 being completed without the Shannon pipeline at a cost of over €7.5 billion. Dunsink Observatory is currently working towards UNESCO world heritage status. This will have serious implications for the density and heights adjacent to the observatory. We cannot have a massive development like this being developer-led. It must be State led. Would the Government support a local authority, cross-departmental and inter-agency team to oversee this development to ensure we do not make the mistakes of the past and that we see the environment and biodiversity protected, as well as public transport, water, schools, etc., put in place as the homes are being developed?

I thank Deputy Donnelly for highlighting this issue in relation to the Dunsink Observatory and the views of the community there as well. My understanding is that the public consultation process has concluded. The local authority is duty bound to consider all of that feedback. From what the Deputy says, it sounds like it has received quite a lot. It will then be for the local authority to come forward with the next steps. The Government stands ready to assist in any kind of modality or with suggestions the local authority might make as to how best to consider these matters. We await the next decision from the local authority.

We have a serious issue in the north west in regard to transport infrastructure. The issue of infrastructure has been raised by many Members and the Tánaiste has given commitments in regard to critical infrastructure. The western rail corridor is a particularly critical piece of infrastructure for the centres of population from Sligo right down along the western seaboard. It is welcome that the part from Athenry to Claremorris is now going to be developed. Work is progressing on that. However, in the context of the next leg, which goes right the way up to Sligo and past the international airport at Knock, it is being proposed at the moment that a cycleway be put in place. Transport infrastructure is vital. A cycleway is nice to have and nobody has a problem with it if is adjacent to the rail line, but it certainly should not block progress in regard to building a rail corridor which will provide essential transport for people from Sligo all the way down to Galway and further afield. People have to go for cancer treatment to Galway because the cancer services in Sligo were closed down. In fairness, people are saying that they cannot go for treatment on bicycles. They need proper transport, and we need to have a commitment from Government that what I am referring to will be done.

I thank Deputy Kenny for raising this issue. I am familiar with the greenway issue from my engagement with the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, and various TDs, including the Deputy, in relation to Sligo. This should not be an either-or situation. Any decision in relation to the greenway needs to preserve the railway. My understanding, from local discussions, is that the greenway will be done in such a way as to preserve the railway line. We have, as the Deputy said, already started on the western rail corridor with the decision on the Athenry to Claremorris leg. We are still committed to the further expansion but in the interim - in the here and now - the greenway can be delivered in a way that preserves the railway line. I am also conscious of the point the Deputy makes more generally about transport in the north west. I welcome the progress that we intend to make on the N17, which will be very much welcomed by the Deputy's constituents too.

Why is the Government using its Presidency of the European Council to propose a massive undermining of the right of privacy of European citizens? The Irish Presidency has a proposal for the digital omnibus, which is a deregulation agenda in the interests of big tech. What it proposes is that, effectively, GDPR be disapplied when it comes to AI. As a result, the use of personal data will be presumed to be lawful as long as it is being used in terms of AI. This means that what currently would be illegal, which is collecting personal data for advertising, would become legal as long as it is being done under the guise of AI. Why is the Government pushing this deregulation agenda? Why is it pushing a massive giveaway of European citizens' personal data to big-tech corporations? Will the Government stop this and will it defend the right of privacy?

I happened to see some of the news coverage of the committee discussion in relation to this yesterday. I say this very respectfully, but sometimes there is a misrepresentation of the role of the Presidency of the Council of the European Union. It is not an executive function; it is a role to act as an honest broker in terms of bringing forward the various views raised by the 27 member states at meetings, often of officials through Coreper structures and the likes, as well. It is not a position of the Irish Presidency; it is a bringing forward of the feedback from the member states, fulfilling the honest broker role. From an Irish perspective, we take very seriously the need to live in an innovative European Union and an innovative Irish economy in the context of the benefits of AI that are there. We certainly are not in favour of a free-for-all. Far from it. Our view is quite the opposite when it comes to making sure that there are guardrails in place and that there is respect for citizens' rights. Some of the strengths of the European Union have been around having robust structures in place versus what happens in other parts of the world.

The ESRI recently published a report which highlighted the number of children living in households below the poverty line rose to 200,000 in 2024. All the while, this Government boasts about tax surpluses. We are told that the money is being kept aside for a rainy day. For those families and children, it is raining and it is pouring. In my constituency, we see billions running through the IFSC while right next door on Sheriff Street, where my family still lives, there are people who cannot even afford to put food on the table. These levels of widening inequality are not inevitable. They are a choice, and they are a choice being made by the Government. The Government reported a budget surplus of €23.2 billion in 2024. When we have 200,000 children living below the poverty line, we do not have a budget surplus; we have a bad accountant. What real, targeted and meaningful measures will the Government take in budget 2027 to reduce the scandalous rate of child poverty in this country?

I thank Deputy Ennis for raising the issue of child poverty and for raising it in a very real way in relation to his community and his constituency, including Sheriff Street and the area he represents in Dáil Éireann. What I am not going to do is get into a back-and-forth on statistics and reports, etc. The point is that child poverty is still too high. I agree with that. It is true that the ESRI data probably has not yet seen the benefit of some Government measures that we took, most particularly in the previous budget, but that is not the point. No matter what figure one wants to land on, it is too high. I accept that. What measures are we going to take? We will have to take quite a number of them, but the working family payment and child support payments have been a useful way of targeting resources at those most in need. Continued investment in youth services, education and early years education is also really important. There is a child poverty unit in the Department of An Taoiseach. I must say, in a completely non-political way, that officials and experts now working on child poverty are providing advice to Government which is useful and informed. The child poverty and well-being summit, which will also produce a report, will hopefully give good guidance to this House.

I am sure the Tánaiste is aware that a recent poll in The Irish Times is showing that nearly 90% of people are finding it hard to manage financially. I am hearing directly from families and parents across my constituency that go leor daoine are struggling with bills at home. Many of them are also being asked for voluntary contributions or to hold fundraisers just to keep the local school that their kids are attending afloat in the context of paying for heating, electricity and cleaning. I have introduced legislation on private wires that could help to unlock community energy sharing, as is done in Denmark and Germany. I am also pushing plug-in solar, but that is all I can do. Will the Tánaiste, as the Minister for Finance, ahead of the budget, increase the school capitation grant in order that parents who are already struggling are not forced to go into their own pockets so that their schools can stay afloat?

First, I will not jump over the constructive contributions the Deputy has been making on private wires legislation and the likes. I thank him for that and for his expertise and interest in that, which is valuable to Government. We look forward to working with him on that. The Deputy will understand that frustrating thing I am going to say about not being able to get into every specific of the budget, other than to say that we did increase capitation last year. That was important and was welcomed. We are listening and engaging with the school communities in relation to their funding base. The Minister for education is in talks with the Minister for public expenditure. We will finalise the package which will be revealed here as part of the national budget on 6 October.