Dara Calleary

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta Ó Cearúil agus leis an Teachta Connolly. Aithníonn an Rialtas go bhfuil fáil ar mheascán oiriúnach de thithe cuí ríthábhachtach chun inmharthanacht pobail rathúla Gaeltachta a chinntiú. Dá réir, foilseofar ár ráiteas náisiúnta pleanála do thithíocht sa Ghaeltacht chun soiléireacht agus leanúnachas a chur ar fáil den chóras pleanála maidir le cosaint na Gaeilge. Gea…

Aontaím leis an Teachta agus táimid ag iarraidh é sin a phlé. Ar mhiste leis an Teachta McGuinness na sonraí sin a chur chugam go díreach agus déanfaidh mé iarracht breathnú orthu? Is é sin an saghas ruda go gcaithfimid obair air; áiteanna a bhfuil talaimh agus sites cosúil leis sin ann. Pléifidh mé an píosa le príomhfheidhmeannach an údaráis nuair a bhuailim leis. Tá sé tábhachtach go mbainfear ú…

Táimid ag obair leis an údarás ach tá sé tábhachtach go bhfuil na húdaráis áitiúla ag obair freisin agus go bhfuil siad ag cur béime ar chúrsaí pleanála sa Ghaeltacht agus ag obair leis an Roinn tithíochta. Beidh mé ag obair leis an Aire tithíochta ar an bhfadhb seo agus ar an dúshlán. Tá sé tábhachtach go bhfuil cinnteacht againn faoi stádas na talún sin agus faoi stádas na sites atá ag an údarás…

I thank Deputy Scanlon. He is constantly putting pressure on. He will be pleased to know that since 2020, Sligo has been allocated in the region of €57 million and Leitrim nearly €66 million in funding from various schemes and programmes administered by my Department, which includes €7.5 million for Sligo and €8.5 million for Leitrim in 2025 alone. Sligo and Leitrim have secured significant fundi…

Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí as na leasuithe agus as an seans an Bille tábhachtach seo a phlé. I gcomhthéacs na leasaithe ón Teachta Hayes, ní bheidh mé ag glacadh leis an leasú seo. I will not be accepting the amendment. I absolutely reject the Deputy's assertion that we are not prepared for the launch of My Future Fund. In respect of the amendment, section 10 of the auto-enrolment Act rela…

I would draw the Deputy's attention to section 74 of the Act, which requires the investment managers to invest participants' contributions - the same people we are talking about - in the best long-term interests of the participants. We share the same thing. The function of NAERSA includes arranging for the investment of contributions. The board of NAERSA will have an oversight role in ensuring tha…

With the permission of the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach, I would like to thank the officials in the Department for their work on this social welfare Bill, in particular the officials who are implementing it as we speak across the country in terms of investing €28.9 billion next year in our social welfare funds. I want to put on record my thanks to every one of those officials both at Department headqua…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire agus an Roinn as ucht an Bhille seo a fhoilsiú. I welcome the publication of the Bill. I agree with everyone else. Deputy Conway-Walsh and I have worked with families on this issue. It has caused huge distress, and that does not only apply in the past tense because it is still causing massive distress. This process is being accentuated. I want to make a number of sug…

Gabhaim buíochas as an gceist. The auto-enrolment savings system, known as My Future Fund, will commence on 1 January 2026. My Department has had extensive engagement with employers, including those in the community and voluntary sector, and with Government Departments, since the release of the automatic enrolment strawman public consultation in 2018. Its impending implementation has been well fla…

The position is that automatic enrolment is a legal requirement. Therefore, the employers will have to give access to My Future Fund to employees aged between 23 and 60 and earning over €20,000 who do not have an existing payroll-connected pension. We have made it very clear in the Department that this is happening. The point has been made at official level, including to the Department of public …

All employers have had seven years to get ready for and get used to this. We listened to their feedback on stepping the contributions and not introducing big contributions from the beginning. I confirm that in the Department of Social Protection, the Estimates in respect of payments to the organisations do include costs for, say, community employment and Tús where they arise. We have engaged at s…

I thank the Deputy. The criteria for the fuel allowance are framed in order to direct the limited resources that are available to my Department in as targeted a manner as possible. To qualify for the fuel allowance payment, a person must satisfy all of the qualifying criteria, including a household composition test. This ensures that the payment is targeted at those who are more vulnerable to fue…

I will be raising the issue the Deputy raised last night. I do not believe there is any targeting of any group. There will always be controlled measures, but I do not believe there is any specific targeting. Once again, I point out that in relation to any particular case, additional supports are available, particularly where there is an illness or disability. We have extended fuel allowance eligi…

I will certainly engage with the Deputy in that regard. We also have a commitment in the programme for Government to examine key benefits such as the fuel allowance, households benefits and the living alone allowance. That is an ongoing activity to make sure they are as relevant and targeted as possible. The household benefits package is specifically targeted at older people. It is paid at a rate…

The programme for Government, as the Deputy knows, commits to increasing the carer’s allowance disregard, with a view to phasing it out over the lifetime of the Government, which is another four years. Removing the means test is a significant shift in policy direction and, therefore, this is a prudent and sustainable approach for us to take. I announced further improvements in budget 2026 to the …

I cannot give the Deputy that breakdown immediately but I will try to get it to her. I think she is just looking for a breakdown. It is hard to know because many people, who are not currently in receipt of carer’s allowance and never submitted an application because they did not qualify, will now apply. As I said, expanding the threshold to include couples with an income of €104,000 means there wi…

I will engage with the Deputy in that regard. I want to abolish the means test over the course of this Government and during my time in this Department. I am also focused on those existing payments and ensuring those who are existing carers are properly rewarded for their extraordinary work. I am trying to reach a balance. If I have four years in this Department, I will abolish it, but I am also t…

This is not just words and ambition. There was a 60% increase in the budget for the carer’s allowance income disregard. That has never been seen before. That means that households with an income of €110,000, and up to €138,000, become eligible for a social protection payment. That is actually happening. It will happen from 1 July next year. That is real and I want to continue with those kinds of l…

I thank the Deputy. I take this opportunity to wish him well. I look forward to working with him. This is his first time attending parliamentary questions as his party's spokesperson for social protection. We will introduce automatic enrolment, My Future Fund, from 1 January 2026. The aim is to address the pension coverage gap that exists in our country and to provide workers with greater comfor…

Ireland is the last country in the OECD to introduce auto-enrolment. This is not a good thing. The only good thing about it is we can learn from other products and countries and look at what we need to change here to make sure we do not end up with their problems. We have looked closely at NEST, given its proximity to us. We will observe it and ensure, through NAERSA, which will be independent of …

That is exactly why we have established the structure of NAERSA, which is independent of the Department, with a very successful and experienced team of staff that we are building up now. It has an independent board that represents the interests of workers, employers and the public. Those kinds of operational decisions will be made by NAERSA. In relation to people exiting the scheme, it will be som…

I thank the Deputy. As he said, the programme for Government commits to introducing a permanent annual cost-of-disability support payment. We will introduce and incrementally increase this payment. These commitments will be advanced over the lifetime of the Government, having regard to the policy and budgetary context. In budget 2026, I provided for a €1.15 billion package of new social protectio…

What we have already done and what we are going to do over the course of Government is turn those one-off payments into permanent supports in a way that people can plan on a year-to-year basis. This year, as I have said, as a result of the weekly increase in the rate of payment relating to the domiciliary care allowance and the fuel allowance and other changes, there will be an extra €250 million …

That is happening. As I said, from next year, €4 million per week extra will be going into permanent payments in various support and payment schemes for those with disabilities. The means test for the disability allowance has one of the highest capital disregards. A recipient can have up to €50,000 in savings and still receive the full rate of payment. During the debate on the social protection B…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. Is tuairim shuimiúil é sin agus b’fhéidir go mbeimis in ann é a phlé. That is certainly an interesting idea. I commend the Ceann Comhairle's predecessor, Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl, who did a huge amount of work to introduce people with disabilities into employment roles within the Oireachtas. On the question the Deputy asked, the Government recognises the challenge…