Seán Canney

I am taking this matter on the behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy McEntee. I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to outline to the House the position in respect of St Mary’s Boys National School, Blackrock, County Dublin. The Department is committed to offering all available and appropriate supports to schools. As the Deputy rightly pointed out, budget 2026 includes …

I feel the Deputy's frustration. I will repeat what is contained in the reply. For the specific school mentioned the ancillary grant has now been reduced to nil because the salary the school was previously paying its secretaries before they moved to the Department's payroll is now higher than the ancillary grant available to the school prior to the reductions being applied. A full review of the gr…

I thank my colleagues in government for giving us the opportunity to participate in the formulation of budget 2026. I remember back in January, when my fellow TDs from the regional group took the courage to support the establishment of a Government, we did so on the basis of an agreed programme for Government, a blueprint for change, to be delivered over the course of five years. While in oppositi…

The first thing I want to do is wish Kerry and Meath the best of luck next weekend. I thank all the Deputies for their contributions during this afternoon's debate and also last week's debate. They can see from my record and my opening statement that there is a continued commitment in investment in public transport with the significant progress that has been made over the last few years in our rai…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and Deputies. I welcome the opportunity to address the House this afternoon to update Members on the all-island strategic rail review. Rail represents a particularly enduring form of infrastructure. Rail lines built in the 1800s are still carrying passengers today. The decisions and investments we make for rail in this decade will similarly benefit the Irish peopl…

I thank Deputy Cahill for raising this matter. The new programme for Government acknowledges "that good connectivity within the country ... is essential to foster continued economic growth, for communities, and our tourism industry". We have committed to investing in all road projects in the current national development plan, NDP, and to work on improving infrastructure to key tourism spots, makin…

I have been to Killarney as well, like most people in Ireland, on a number of occasions and had good memories coming away from it. The N22 project is included in the national development plan, NDP, and has received a significant funding allocation for 2025. As I said, approximately €502 million of Exchequer capital funds was provided to TII for national roads this year. In line with the NDP and G…

First of all, I am shocked to hear that girls and boys have to change their clothes out in the open. It is fairly archaic and dangerous. The Government recognises the important role that community centres play in community life in Ireland, particularly in bringing people together and engaging with those who may be marginalised or disadvantaged. Over the past four years, the Department of Rural an…

I know Deputy Mitchell said I had two or three lines in relation to Kilmore. Deputy Ellis has hit the nail on the head. If an application comes in to a Department, it will be dealt with. Deputy Heneghan, who is present, has spoken to me about this before. The Department cannot provide funding until an application comes in. Two application processes have been gone through and there will be further …

The Deputy has spoken to me before about this issue. I really appreciate his bringing it to light. From the outset, I would like to clarify that the Minister for Transport has responsibility for policy and overall funding in relation to public transport. However, neither the Minister nor his officials are involved in the day-to-day operation of public transport services. The statutory responsibil…

I assure the Deputy the Government is strongly committed to providing all citizens with reliable and realistic sustainable mobility options and public transport plays a key role in the delivery of this goal. To support this objective, in budget 2025 the Department of Transport secured €658 million in funding, an increase from €613 million for 2024. This funding supports the continuation of the 20…

I thank Deputies Ó Muirí and Heneghan for raising this important issue regarding the staffing of primary schools, particularly the teacher allocation to Belgrove infant girls' school and Scoil Mhuire in Howth. The key factor for determining the level of staffing resources provided at individual school level is the staffing schedule for the relevant school year and pupil enrolments on the previous…

The Minister for Education and Youth is considering how best to make further progress as part of the annual budgetary process in reducing the primary pupil-teacher ratio in the context of the programme for Government. With regard to the appeal for Belgrove, the primary staffing appeals board operates independently of the Department and its decision is final. I do not know if there is an appeals pr…

I thank the Deputy for the question. As she may be aware, my Department provides public service obligation, PSO, funding for socially beneficial but financially unviable public transport services across the country. In 2023, Iarnród Éireann was allocated €187 million in PSO funding by the Department, increasing to €215 million in 2024. This is expected to further rise to €265 million this year. Al…

The all-island strategic rail review undertaken by the Department of Transport in co-operation with the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland informs the development of rail on the island of Ireland in the coming decades up to 2050, in line with net zero targets for both jurisdictions. The review's final report was published in 2024 and sets out 32 strategic recommendations to enhance…

I agree with the Deputy. The important point is that the all-Ireland rail review is exactly that; it is about regional development, the cities, connecting the cities and connecting rural Ireland by public transport. When we are realising the recommendations of the review we need to ensure passengers are at the heart of it and have a good experience, so that when they take a train they will be happ…

I thank the Deputy very much for the question. The Government is fully committed to tackling climate action with practical, innovative solutions that support our economy, communities and future generations. Promoting EVs is a central pillar of our strategy to reduce transport emissions, along with proposals to increase the use of active travel and public transport, reduce overall car usage and inc…

I agree that the time it takes to put these things in place is not what we would like. The EU JTF EV charging scheme provides funding to support EV infrastructure at community facilities in the just transition area in the midlands. These include community centres, public libraries, public health centres, recreational facilities and enterprise centres in counties Laois, Longford, Offaly, Westmeath …

I agree with the Deputy that it is not all being done as quickly as we would like. We need to expedite the process to give confidence to people who are considering buying an EV that the infrastructure will be in place and that they will be able to rely on it to get from A to B. Many things have been happening and we are coming to a point where we will see things happening on the ground. We will be…

On behalf of the Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, who will deliver the closing remarks, and the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer, I thank Deputy O'Gorman of the Independent and Parties Technical Group for the opportunity to speak in the Dáil on the public transport experience and our plans to deliver on the programme for Government commitments. I am confident we can all agree it is essent…

I welcome the opportunity to address the House on the national driver test service. I will share time with the Minister of State, Deputy Buttimer. By way of background, the Road Safety Authority, RSA, has statutory responsibility for the national driver test service under the Road Safety Authority Act 2006. The service has a target average wait time of ten weeks between when someone applies to si…

That is in the past.

As Minister of State with responsibility for international and road transport, logistics, rail and ports, I welcome the opportunity to participate in this debate on the new Coast Guard aviation service. The Irish Coast Guard search and rescue, SAR, aviation services are provided under a contract that is currently transitioning to Bristow Ireland Limited, BIL. The previous contractor, CHCI, had ope…

Following an engagement process with both contractors, the dates of transfer for the remaining three bases have been revised, as follows: Weston, 1 July 2025; Sligo, 15 December 2025; and Waterford, 31 January 2026. I reiterate that the Department of Transport is prioritising the safe and effective transition of this aviation contract without interruption of service and is ensuring that the two c…

I doubt it.