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 …
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 official…
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 ha…
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 tr…
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 trainin…
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]
Paul Lawless
Written
11 Dec 2025 · to Further and Higher Education
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 timeline…
Paul Lawless
Written
11 Dec 2025 · to Further and Higher Education
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 timel…
Paul Lawless
Written
11 Dec 2025 · to Further and Higher Education
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…
Paul Lawless
Written
11 Dec 2025 · to Further and Higher Education
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]
Paul Lawless
Written
11 Dec 2025 · to Further and Higher Education
255. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he will review the impact of increasing number of international students on the availability of places for Irish students, given that universities are under pressure to accept higher-paying non-EU students to offset chronic underfunding; the steps that will be taken to ensure Irish students are not disadv…
11. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the national security strategy. [67916/25]
23. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on infrastructure will next meet. [67917/25]
250. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the total number of prisoners currently in custody across the State; the number of prisoners serving short-term sentences (under 18 months); and for a breakdown of the number of prisoners serving sentences under 18 months, for each of the past five years, in tabular form. [70390/25]
251. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the average monthly cost to the State of housing a prisoner. [70391/25]
252. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the current level of overcrowding in prisons; the percentage occupancy rate for each prison; and the measures being taken to address overcrowding. [70392/25]
254. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the current status of the electronic tagging programme; whether the procurement process has been completed and a contract awarded; the expected timeline for implementation and operational rollout; the estimated annual cost of introducing and maintaining electronic tagging; and the number of offenders expected to be subject to electron…
23. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if he is satisfied that the governance structures of the National Treasury Management Agency are sufficient to ensure that contributions to the Future Ireland Fund are not needed to cover significant and recurring overruns in core departments; and the financial governance reforms he will introduce specifically to prevent the misuse of public funds, s…
51. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if his Department has concluded its review into the efficacy of the rent tax credit; if the data shows that the credit has primarily been absorbed by landlords in the form of higher rents rather than offering meaningful, sustained relief to tenants; and if he will commit to increasing the minimum threshold for tax bands to keep pace with the real rat…
86. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if he will acknowledge that salmon stocks have not recovered in the twenty years since the compulsory drift net buyout, despite assurances given to fishermen in Cong, County Mayo and nationally that rivers would become abundant with fish; if he will commission an independent review into the reason those promises have failed and whether…
87. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the reason that twenty years after the compulsory drift net buyout in Mayo and nationally, salmon stocks have not recovered to the levels promised by Inland Fisheries Ireland and Government scientific advisers at the time; and if he will account for the economic and social damage caused to fishing families and local shops in communitie…
162. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment the reason traditional fishermen have been excluded from conservation planning while international trawlers continue to overfish with impunity, despite UN FAO warnings that 35% of global marine stocks are exploited unsustainably. [70979/25]