Joe Neville

I wish the Ceann Comhairle a happy Christmas. I want to raise targeted tax credit adjustments. The budget was significant, with an extra €9.4 billion spent. We got a lot of criticism and many questions were asked. It was suggested that, potentially, we had spent too much. There was a real focus on the part of this Government on supporting the most vulnerable, which is exactly what we did. We put a…

It is great to have the opportunity on Questions on Policy or Legislation to ask about the swimming pools we need all around Ireland. The swimming pool gap analysis report recently came out, which showed us that there are significant gaps around. The Minister is well aware of the swimming pool gap in north Kildare. As a councillor, I ensured a significant amount of funding was put in place for a p…

I welcome the opportunity to discuss this issue. It is something that impacts us all in many different ways. To some degree, all of us are online. The days of a parent or grandparent not being online are probably over at this stage because everyone has access to a local Facebook group or whatever may be the case. Obviously, it is not just about being online and covering social media. We can see th…

I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach for allowing me in. The Tánaiste would be surprised if I heard about the liveable cities and towns and potential economic benefits going to other areas and I did not take the opportunity to mention north Kildare and the need for regeneration of the towns in the context of the liveable cities. I am talking about liveable towns and how we can widen the scope of th…

11. Deputy Joe Neville asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance if his Department has considered increasing the domestic excise duty threshold for Irish brewers from the current 30,000 hl previously set at 20,000 hl prior to 2019; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64556/25]

I welcome the Tánaiste here in his position as Minister for Finance and extend best wishes to him in his term ahead. My question is to ask the Minister for Finance if his Department has considered increasing the domestic excise duty threshold for Irish brewers from the current 30,000 hl, previously set at 20,000 hl prior to 2019, and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Like every other market, it is evolving continually. Microbreweries is an industry that really took off over the past number of years. It has grown really well but at the same has its own difficulties and considerations. There has been some contraction in the industry. There have been a lot of increases in costs which has caused difficulty for some of those breweries. The Tánaiste referenced brewe…

I welcome the Tánaiste's response especially his view that we have to keep monitoring this. Like every industry, we need to support it as best we can. It can be a fundamentally Irish product and industry. We want to protect it, look after it and enable it to grow considering it has its own difficulties. We all know the difficulties these sort of industries face. We spoke about it earlier with the …

Deputy Ó Cearúil's reference to drudgery and repetitive tasks brought me back to my days in PricewaterhouseCoopers, where I started as an auditor. There were many repetitive tasks. Specifically on Future Forty, the Tánaiste's predecessor as Minister, Deputy Donohoe, put a very sensible budget in place. He was very anxious to ensure we would be left on safe ground for the future. Future Forty refe…

Today I welcome our new infrastructure plan, which will shape the future of Ireland. Our many goals include fast-tracking planning for critical projects and reforming judicial reviews to stop endless delays. I want to highlight one project that has not been subject to a judicial review but seems to have come off the rails and has been delayed now for four years. The DART+ South West project seems …

It is important that we discuss this and that we do so thoroughly. At this time of the year we are more conscious than ever of this issue. Many of us are homeowners and we live in our homes. A lot of us here also rent. We have bills during the summer but as we face the winter a different set of costs often come onstream from a gas perspective, and this puts it back on homeowners. In recent years w…

I want to take the opportunity to discuss my experience from a housing perspective. As someone who has been a councillor in County Kildare for a number of years and, indeed, a town councillor before that, I have seen the different tranches. I have seen a housing boom and a housing bust, and now I have seen continuing price increases in housing. We have seen that a lot of those houses have become o…

How we treat Irish investors does not make sense from a tax perspective. In the past, the primary way Irish people built wealth in Ireland was to buy additional properties, but for the vast majority this is currently out of reach. All the statistics tell us that Ireland has never been richer and, indeed, personal savings are at an all-time high. However, the scourge of personal savings is obviousl…

The issue I wish to raise today is the whole issue of ownership of IPAS centres and, indeed, who exactly the beneficial owners of those centres are. In the public accounts committee recently, it was highlighted that €1 billion was spent on commercial providers, of which €230 million was given to seven providers, with one of those receiving close to €50 million. As one of my following questions, I …

I want to raise the issue of childcare and the Government's long-terms goals but I will focus maybe on the short-term goals. Our main goal coming into government was to reduce the cost of childcare to €200 per month and to increase accessibility through investment in key locations, which required it. In north Kildare, families in Maynooth, Kilcock, Leixlip, Celbridge and Naas are struggling to get…

My question is to ask the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the position regarding a departmental review into the way in which the OPW manages projects to ensure value for money for the taxpayer and if he will make a statement on the matter.

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I raise this in the context of the OPW being an organisation that has its hands on many properties around the country and manages a huge portfolio of different properties. One that is closest to my heart is Castletown House, which has been a key amenity in the Leixlip-Celbridge area for a number of years, and has been a key focal point for the island. I…

I thank the Minister of State for his response and the way he spoke regarding his work in the Department since he came in. I know the questions and issues I raised were well before the time of his role with the OPW. It was in that context I raised this. One of the key issues that Fine Gael brought forward and raised ahead of the previous election was the view that we needed to look at the OPW to e…

I must say I am very disappointed listening to what previous speakers have said and how they are characterising this. I think they are using it as an attempt to bring down an issue and to talk about it in a way that is not helpful and essentially disengages a vast number of the people who have a right to ask questions. Two weeks ago at the Committee of Public Accounts, we talked about the signific…

I welcome Freddie Wasson from Leixlip, a transition year student who is working with me this week. He lost the county final last week and is very disappointed. I hope that working here in the Dáil will improve his mood before he heads back to school next week. I welcome what we are discussing and I welcome this Bill. As a TD and someone who was elected as a councillor numerous times, I have alway…

First of all, I want to reference Danny Hanley and the Movember Ireland team that are here today. They represent many of the issues that we talk about. For too long in this State, men's health, and I suppose health in general, has not always been the topic that it should have been and it has been underdiscussed. I welcome the fact that I am able to speak on it today. I think it is the first time i…

Last week, I spoke about the need for infrastructure in north Kildare. Today I am speaking specifically about the need for more school infrastructure. Earlier this year, I visited St. Patrick's National School in Celbridge, which has been operating out of temporary prefabs for the past 18 years. It is planned that the school will be part of a new three-school campus along with St. Raphael's Specia…

Although I am a TD for Kildare North, I do not profess to have the same knowledge of the tillage sector or indeed the agrisector as the previous speaker, Deputy William Aird, who is from my neighbouring county of Laois. At the same time, I can speak to our unity in regard to the farmers of Ireland and the work they do. Four weeks ago I attended a public meeting in Killashee House. Deputy Aird was …

The Deputy is fine. It is good to see Kilkenny lads looking after each other. They are two close colleagues.

Exactly. Senior hurling. I am sure you are well able to play it down below in Kilkenny. Someone has to keep Deputy Cleere in check. This is my opportunity to speak about the budget. I have put together many budgets in my time. I have been doing budgets, in some shape or form, for the past 20 years as an accountant. It was nice to have the opportunity to be involved in some step in the process of …