16. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if the €1.2 billion provided in budget 2027 is adequate to meet the pay commitments in the public sector; if this will account for inflationary pressures over the course of 2027; and the steps he is taking to engage fully in resolving issues and ensuring pay is prioritised. [74422/26]
TDs / Brian Stanley
Brian Stanley
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532
questions asked
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141,603
words spoken in the chamber
Across 449 contributions
403
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156
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| Month | Questions | Contributions |
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- constituency Laois 29 November 2024 to now
- party Independent 29 November 2024 to now
My question to the Minister relates to what is budgeted for public sector pay increases over the next couple of years. Is the €1.2 billion in budget 2027 sufficient when the inflationary pressures that are out there are taken into account? Does the Minister believe it is adequate to reach a sustainable settlement with the public sector unions?
Regarding the €1.2 billion, the feeling is that it is not sufficient. Will the Minister outline what headroom there is? I do not expect him to give details or figures from the negotiations because obviously, they have to be confidential. However, there are substantial pressures out there due to rising costs. Public transport, rent, fuel, home energy and mortgages have all seen double-digit increases. We no longer hav…
I thank the Minister for his reply. I recognise some public servants do not have any more to give, particularly ones who are working on the front line. I am not saying it is in every Department but I have certainly had that experience and I have heard from Members on all sides of the House about delays in getting a response. I recognise that a lot of the front-line staff do not have anymore to give. The key point I w…
There needs to be a level of honesty about what is being put forward here. The Government is not being honest about what is happening here. It is doing away with multilateralism and having UN approval so that Ireland can participate in what the Bill refers to as other regional arrangements and relevant international forces. Who defines that?
The fact is this Bill is not a small change or a modification to our defence and foreign policy and it is misleading spin to say otherwise. It is a complete change of our position as a State and how we deal with international relations and the UN. It is not reform of the triple lock; it is the abolition of it. It is yet another move, on top of what Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have been doing for the last 20 years or so…
Across urban and rural Ireland, in all counties, drug barons are using extortion, blackmail and intimidation. It is happening in every parish in Laois, the county I represent. Drug barons are trapping often vulnerable young people into drug use, drug dealing and criminal activity. It is the case that middle-class people use drugs for recreational purposes, but vulnerable young people are also using them. Those people…
The Government’s target for housing growth in Laois is 11,200 over a period of nine years. That is a population growth of 33,000, or 33%, in a nine-year period. That creates a demand on services. One of the most pressing issues is bed capacity in hospitals and nursing homes. Currently, we have capacity for a population of about 65,000 in those services. Portlaoise hospital has been provided with a new accident and em…
I thank the Minister for her reply on behalf of the Taoiseach. Certainly, I will be one of the last people to argue about the overall budget for health. The more that goes into it, the better. However, what comes out the other end – the Minister for Health will be interested in this too - in terms of productivity and how the health service is run is important in order to get value for money. There is no doubt that th…
-----she should visit St. Anne's ward and give the okay for the day care centre in Abbeyleix.
Yesterday, public sector unions took the only course of action open to them. Thousands of their members went on strike. In County Laois, there were not just pickets; there were crowds on the picket lines, from the council to the hospitals, the prison and the Departments. I was proud to stand with workers from the three health unions. Workers expressed total frustration at the Government's failure to fully implement p…
Middle- and low-income households are under pressure like never before. General inflation, according to the most recent ESRI figures, has jumped even higher than we realised over the past month. It is at an all-time high. Overall inflation does not show the full picture, of course, because the items going up are disproportionately hitting middle- and low-income households the hardest. This is due to the sharp rise in…
Hear, hear.
Despite providing for expenditure of €126 billion, €20 billion of which is capital, the Government's budget fails to address the key issues affecting workers and householders. Nowhere is the failure in Government policy more clear than in the area of housing, as evidenced by the €2.2 billion allocated for rent supports, the housing assistance payment and rental assistance scheme, and to pay for homeless accommodation…
This budget has failed workers and householders. I call it a €4.80 budget and I will tell the House why. There is the 15% increase in public transport fares that the Government intends to plough ahead with in January. The Government has failed to address the cost of living. There is no reduction in electricity costs despite the fact that we have 9% VAT and high standing charges. Of course, households are taking up th…
101. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures being considered to increase the number of affordable-to-buy housing units provided by local councils. [69263/26]
102. Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the plans to increase the number of cost-rental units that will be provided in schemes by local authorities. [69265/26]
The question I have for the Minister is about increasing the number of affordable housing units that can be bought and provided by local authorities. We need that affordable housing scheme. Deputies have referred to people who are working hard. I have them coming to me; I suppose all TDs and councillors have people coming to them. We need to get housing solutions for these people who cannot get on a local authority h…
I submitted two separate questions. There are significant differences between the affordable-to-buy homes and the cost-rental homes. I ask that we take them separately.
The median price of a house in Laois has gone up. According to the property price register, it has gone up 16.8% in one year. The Minister gave out a lot of figures, but the reality is that the target given by his Department, which I have here, is 38 affordable-to-buy and cost-rental homes to be done in Laois over a five-year period. It is minuscule and would not even make a dent in the numbers that we need. The dema…
The Minister saw the good-quality houses in Dargan Woods. The council exceeded the Government's target by nearly 250%. The Government needs to increase its targets for both affordable and cost-rental housing. There have been a huge number of inquiries. Cost rental is the only option for a lot of workers and households. People aged in their 40s, 50s and 60s may have broken relationships or be separated. They cannot ge…
The budget is coming next week and the family resource centres provide very essential services at 136 locations. The family resource centres in Portlaoise and Mountmellick are doing excellent work that is making a real difference in local communities with services such as childcare, counselling, health and well-being programmes, adult learning, social inclusion and much more. They are right where it matters and I can…
It is a good day to do it.
I ask for time to be put aside to discuss the events of the weekend on the Garvaghy Road and the response of this House to it. The march was banned for 28 years. The only reason it was given the go-ahead and that the Orange Order wanted to go ahead with it was to demonstrate supremacy and dominance over the nationalist community there. The Government is the co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement.
The Parades Commission that shot this through has lost credibility. We need to discuss it here-----