Paul Lawless

555. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of applications on the social housing waiting list for County Mayo, in November 2025, by towns, in tabular form. [71572/25]

556. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of housing applicants in County Mayo requesting one-bedroom, two-bedroom, three-bedroom and four-bedroom accommodation, as of November 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71573/25]

719. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of prisoners who were granted temporary release in each of the past five years; of those, the number who committed a criminal offence while on temporary release; the breakdown of such offences by category for example, violent, property and drug-related; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71952/25]

742. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number and percentage of persons who have been prosecuted for the offence of illegal entry to the State, in each of the past five years. [72212/25]

743. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of persons currently in custody who are non-Irish nationals; the length of sentence being served by each; the offence category for which they were convicted; and the length of time each individual had been a resident in the State prior to committing the offence, for each of the past 5 years, in tabular form. [72213/25]

785. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department holds, or has sought from an organisation (details supplied) or any market-monitoring source, data on the price differential paid for four and five star rams that meet Sheep Improvement Scheme eligibility criteria compared with two and three star rams in the years 2023, 2024 and 2025; and if so, to provide those average price differentials for pedigree sales and commercial market sales; and if not, to confirm whether claims of increased breeder profitability arising from four and five star-rated rams are being made in the absence of verifiable market evidence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71875/25]

786. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he has assessed whether the standard service contract and terms and conditions used by an organisation which assign all intellectual-property and data rights to the organisation, allows the restriction on breeders’ access to performance data and genetic-evaluation results for their own animals, allow unilateral termination of evaluation services, and lack an effective opt-out or purpose-limitation clause for data-originators, comply with regulations (details supplied); if he considers the current contracts incompatible; the amendments or regulatory measures which will be required to secure breeders’ access to evaluation results and preserve their data rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71876/25]

787. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine further to Question No. 714 of 25 November 2025, if his Department has examined an organisations genomic services terms and conditions (October 2025) specifically Clauses 6.1 to 6.4 (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71877/25]

788. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if any breeder or breed society wishing to operate their own recognised breeding programme in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/1012 is required, in practice, to enrol in an organisations - national breeding programme (details supplied) and to comply with contractual terms and operational rules set by the organisation which are not contained in, nor approved as part of the stated rules of procedure and breeding programme of that breeder or breed society; and if so, whether this requirement is compatible with the autonomy of breeders and breed societies guaranteed under Article 13/14 of the regulation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71878/25]

789. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the designated third parties operating performance recording and genetic evaluation in Ireland for organisations (details supplied) provide breeders and breed societies with the ability, as required under Article 14 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1012 and Recitals (1), (2) and (10), to autonomously define the objectives and structure of their breeding programmes; if the current reliance on a single centrally-designed terminal index and replacement index, with fixed trait weightings applied uniformly across all breeds, restricts the ability of individual breeds to pursue diverse breeding goals and safeguard hereditary characteristics essential for the preservation of breed identity and genetic diversity; particularly where CAP-funded schemes financially reward the use of animals ranked on these national Herdplus/Lambplus indices, thereby influencing breeding and market decisions toward uniform trait priorities; and, if so, the mechanisms which exist to support breed-specific customisation of breeding objectives and trait emphasis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71879/25]

790. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he considers that, prior to approving or designating a third party under Article 27 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1012 to operate performance recording and genetic evaluation services on behalf of breeders, there should be a clear demonstration that such a body can provide the full range of services necessary to ensure breeders and breed societies retain genuine freedom of choice and autonomy over the objectives, structure and operation of their breeding programmes, as protected under article 14 of that regulation; and whether he is satisfied that the currently designated bodies provide sufficient options to respect this autonomy in practice, including where breeders seek alternative trait priorities or breed-specific selection strategies outside the national centrally-designed indices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71880/25]

791. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if he is satisfied that, in circumstances where breed societies in Ireland effectively have only a single designated third-party provider of performance recording and genetic-evaluation services, those societies many with limited legal and financial resources are not placed at a disadvantage that could compel them to accept contractual terms or data-use conditions that may not be in the best interests of their breeders, their breed, or their breeding-programme objectives; the steps he will take to ensure that such contractual arrangements remain fair, proportionate, and fully aligned with the rights set out in regulation (EU) 2016/1012; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71881/25]

792. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the Livestock Breeding, Production and Trade Division (LBPTD) of his Department is the designated section responsible for the oversight and approval functions set out in regulation (EU) 2016/1012, including the approval and ongoing monitoring of breeding bodies and breeding programmes in accordance with articles four, eight and 12 of the regulation; the approval, designation and supervision of third parties carrying out performance recording, genetic evaluations or breeding-related activities under Article 27; ensuring compliance with the autonomy and non-discrimination requirements contained in article 14; if not, which section of his Department is responsible for these statutory functions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71882/25]

793. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the way in which officials from his Department who are appointed to governance roles within designated third-party breeding organisations such as organisations (details supplied) are able to fulfil their fiduciary duties of independence, impartiality, loyalty to the State, accountability, due care and transparency; the way these officials can remain fully compliant with Article 41(b) of Regulation (EU) 2016/1012, which requires that officials performing official controls must be free from conflicts of interest, particularly where they may exercise both regulatory oversight and governance authority over the same organisations; if he will provide details of the structural safeguards, recusal mechanisms, audit trails and reassignment procedures in place to ensure that conflicts of interest cannot arise in the first instance, rather than relying solely on self-declarations after such conflicts have materialised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71883/25]

794. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if organisations (details supplied) are legally structured as non-State, independent entities that is, as a co-operative, company limited by guarantee or similar, rather than as public bodies or State-controlled organisations; whether this legal status is the reason that under the domestic transposition of Regulation (EU) 2016/1012 he has stated that responsibility for ensuring compliance with the regulation’s requirements rests with individual breed societies or breeding operations rather than his Department or State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71884/25]

9. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the specific legal and regulatory reforms being implemented under the recently published Accelerating Infrastructure Action Plan; the timeline for when these measures, such as changes to judicial review processes and planning exemptions will take effect to reduce delays in housing, energy, and transport projects. [70377/25]

56. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the steps his Department is taking to address the critical shortage of skilled labour and project management expertise identified as a major constraint on delivering the National Development Plan; and whether additional funding or incentives will be provided to accelerate recruitment and training in the construction sector. [70378/25]

127. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will publish a list of schools that have been sanctioned to open special education classes for the 2025-2026 academic year but have not yet enrolled students; and the enforcement measures being taken to ensure these classes open without further delay. [70379/25]

147. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of sanctioned special classes that are delayed due to incomplete modular accommodation or refurbishment works; and the contingency plans in place to prevent children from being left without a school place in September. [70380/25]

155. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will review her Department’s policy of prioritising new special classes in larger population centres, given evidence that children in rural areas are being bussed long distances and denied local placements; and if she will commit to a rural inclusion strategy for special education. [70381/25]

187. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will commit to publishing annual regional forecasts of demand for special class places, alongside timelines for sanctioning and opening, to ensure parents have clarity and to avoid last-minute crises in securing placements. [70382/25]

217. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the actions being taken to strengthen mental health supports in higher education institutions, given the increasing demand for counselling services and the implementation of the National Student Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Framework; and if he will provide details of funding allocations and timelines for full rollout across all campuses. [67841/25]

218. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the measures being taken to address the severe shortage of affordable student accommodation, given that demand for beds is projected to reach 90,000 this year while supply remains at approximately 50,000, and only 116 of the 3,700 promised beds have been delivered since 2022; and if he will commit to a timeline for delivering the remaining units and consider alternative models such as co-operative housing to alleviate the crisis. [67838/25]

223. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the way in which the €750 million INSPIRE programme for research infrastructure will be distributed across universities; and if additional measures will be introduced to expand postgraduate scholarship opportunities under the Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship Programme, given its current success rate of only 18%. [67842/25]

242. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he will maintain the recent reduction in the student contribution fee; his plans to reduce costs for students, including postgraduate supports given rising living expenses and accommodation costs; and if additional funding will be allocated to the student assistance fund to meet growing demand. [67840/25]