David Maxwell

Seanad Éireann has passed the Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (Prohibition of Importation of Goods) Bill 2026 without amendment.

I will ask about home support services, which are raised in my constituency office time and again by families across Cavan and Monaghan. Many people who have been approved for home support hours are still experiencing delays in receiving the care they have been assessed as needing. This creates understandable worry for older people who wish to remain living independently at home and places additio…

Hear, hear. Well said.

What legislation is the Government bringing forward to support our homegrown indigenous companies to grow, scale and compete internationally? For example, in my constituency one company, Combilift, is providing key employment. It is owned by two local businessmen. They are supporting jobs in the region and stimulating our local economy. This one company has a workforce of over 800 direct jobs with…

Sorry, Deputies, allow the Tánaiste.

Deputy, allow the Tánaiste.

Deputy Doherty, please.

Thank you, Deputy.

Thank you, Deputy.

Thank you, Deputy.

Tánaiste.

Thank you, Deputy.

Thank you, Deputy.

We only have a few minutes left, but I will let Deputy Murphy ask his question and the Tánaiste reply.

Deputy McAuliffe has the next four questions in a row. We are on Question No. 5.

Is Deputy Murphy taking this question on behalf of Deputy Boyd Barrett?

There is no request in front of me, but that is okay. Away you go, Deputy Murphy.

We are nearly out of time. I will allow Deputy O'Reilly to ask the next question, with one response from the Minister.

Will the Government consider amending the incremental tenant purchase scheme 2016 to allow houses acquired under Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to be made eligible for purchase under this scheme? I want to highlight today the unfairness for some tenants with the ongoing injustice within our local authority housing system. The incremental tenant purchase scheme was launched to give…

I thank the Tánaiste for his response. As I said, this affects a number of families around the country. The people who have come to my office only want to have security in the knowledge that they can own their own home. A number did get a chance before 2016 but their financial circumstances at the time did not allow them to take up that offer to secure a home loan, so they had to decline it. After…

Deputy Farrell to respond.

Thank you, Minister.

I welcome the students and teachers from Tonragee National School all the way from Achill in County Mayo. We hope they enjoy their day in the Dáil. They are here with the Minister of State, Deputy Alan Dillon.

We will now go back to Parliamentary Question No. 86 from Deputy Ó Muirí.

"This Budget builds up our resilience and will help us to adapt at a time of historic challenge for our economy." That was what the then Minister for Finance, Pascal Donohoe, told the House last October. That budget still raised day-to-day spending in 2026 by over 6%. That is lower than the 8% to 9% increase in the past few years, with a slower increase intended to protect the foreign investment-f…