Jack Chambers

I do not have the facts or background on the particular matter relating to forensic psychiatrists but I will ask the Taoiseach and his office to respond comprehensively to the Deputy. I know he raised the importance of this matter and the comments of the judge in the past month with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, in the context of forensic psychiatry. There is a Department of justice contex…

I appreciate the huge frustration in the Cork community with this commuter service. People should expect, with a properly funded service, that it is punctual, reliable and frequent. The National Transport Authority has clear oversight responsibilities for bus operators to ensure that happens. There are various penalties and fines that can be imposed if a particular service does not run properly. I…

I acknowledge for particular individuals there is a high threshold or bar for the primary medical certifcate. It can be extraordinarily difficult. I think we all, as constituency TDs, deal with that frequently. I will ask the Minister for Health to respond to the Deputy on the feedback he has given and any changes that will come of it. It is important to have a framework and parameters. I know tha…

What I agreed with the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, was that there would be record capital funding for healthcare overall over the next five years. That is to underpin significant investment and development for women's' health, maternity healthcare and much more across the system. I am sure the Deputy is referencing the HSE capital plan. I do not have the specific feedback relatin…

I acknowledge the contribution so many members of our health system made during Covid. The special scheme for long Covid which was established in July 2022 and extended on a number of occasions. As the Deputy knows, this entered into a Labour Court process which the Government accepted at the time. Following several extensions, the final extension in June last year meant the scheme concluded on 31…

I regret that the 50 students have not had their school transport provided for despite sanction to do so. This is a performance and management issue between the Department of education with Bus Éireann and whoever the particular operator is. I will ask the Minister for education to engage on that matter. Where a service has been provided for, it should be delivered. I do not know the background as…

There are two primary ways in which we are trying to accelerate the development of water infrastructure. The first is to fully fund Irish Water over the next five years by providing it with €12 billion. This is a record level of investment to unlock and deliver a lot of the wastewater treatment plants that have been on lists for too many years. The second way is to cut a lot of the process out of …

The Deputy will know that the Minister, Deputy Calleary, has set up a consultation process on a cost-of-disability payment and how that would be structured. We have not had a permanent payment of that sort in the past. We are trying to structure it in the context of negotiations for next year's budget. However, it is not only about direct income support; it is also about improved services. That is…

I do not have the individual taxpayer information, nor should I comment on any company's individual tax information in the Houses of Oireachtas. We have very clear legislation that sets out the tax arrangements for corporations, businesses and individuals.

If the Deputy has a particular question, both the Revenue Commissioners and the tax division of the Department of Finance can clarify any interpretation of general policy. Individual taxpayer information is a matter of either personal or corporate confidentiality. It is important that we uphold that principle.

I do not have the specific breakdown relating to the various counties in front of me. The Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has secured a record level of capital investment in transport-----

-----of €24 billion over the next five years. He has also sought to reprofile some of that funding towards investment in local, regional and national roads in order that we can build out our road network further. There is contingency in some of the funding allocations to ensure that some of the issues relating to storm damage will also be addressed. We are trying to have a wider assessment of rece…

-----additional funding from the overall contingency for road infrastructure that has been badly damaged. Obviously, councils have to be supported in remedying that damage. I will ask the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to come back to the Deputy on the annualised figures. I do not have them here.

On the latter point, I support more autonomy, as we have discussed at the infrastructure committee, and cutting out some of the process. If there are any suggestions from the Deputy's local authority as to how we can improve the turnaround time for decisions, I am more than open to hearing them. An overall assessment of the storm damage done to roads is taking place. We will obviously have to exam…

I signed off on the An Post one on Monday, so it should be concluding.

I appreciate the Deputy raising this. I know the devastation that has been caused all across the south east, both to community infrastructure and to many people's homes. Significant work is ongoing across Government, led by the Taoiseach's office and the Cabinet committee on coastal erosion, to provide better support for areas affected by coastal erosion. We are working with the OPW. The Deputy wi…

As Deputy O'Gorman knows, the pricing system is decided by the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, which sets the pricing parameters for individual consumers and for large energy users, including data centres. We need to move away from this polarising argument regarding households and digital infrastructure. Ultimately, we need to support households more. That is the work of the energy afforda…

In drafting the accelerating infrastructure report, there was extensive engagement with ministerial and official level colleagues to ensure clear ownership of actions and the expectations for delivery of these actions. On publication, Departments were required to set out how they will implement the series of actions under their remit and ensure individuals know what they are accountable for. My D…

The task force is continuing to ensure we have challenge meetings and continued oversight of delivery. We have a Cabinet committee on infrastructure and the critical infrastructure Bill, and we will bring the scheme to the Government in the coming weeks. That will place clear obligations around the prioritisation of infrastructure across regulatory bodies and agencies when it comes to trying to sp…

There are variety of mechanisms in that regard. It is about trying to drive compliance. There are obviously sanctions and requests received relating to staffing. For example, if a particular agency is not delivering in line with what we have set out in the infrastructure report, a request for additional staffing might be a consideration or how we restructure or reform a particular agency if it is …

Each year the expenditure report seeks to improve on previous iterations to refine and improve the approach used to present budget day figures. The expenditure report for 2026 provides a more detailed description of the budget package components than in previous years, in the table set out on page 12. There have been many alternative approaches in the past and work on the best way to present each …

To take the Deputy's business model analogy, businesses do not do ELS as he has sought in his question. Businesses look at the totality of expenditure and to drive better delivery, better outputs and better efficiency in terms of the totality of spend. That is exactly what we are seeking to do in how we framed and delivered budget 2026. That is where the weaknesses of existing levels of service ar…

That is obviously a separate issue to the existing levels of service in the Deputy's question. What we have set out is a new national development plan and a new way of delivering infrastructure in the economy. We have a series of reforms we are advancing through 2026 which are about accelerating wider delivery but also responding to the evidence, which is there, that too many of the systems are cu…

As part of the budgetary process each year, my Department sets overall expenditure ceilings for each ministerial Vote group. These are laid out in the budget day expenditure report, with further detail provided in the Revised Estimates published in December. Following the allocation of each expenditure ceiling, each Minister designs the programmes and subhead level across Departments and the agen…

I acknowledge the particular issue that exists. I meet with many constituents from both Tyrrelstown and Hollystown, where the bus service does need to be much improved. There has been a significant increase in housing supply in Tyrrelstown and Hollystown, but there is a need to improve the service for the sake of many of the existing residents. Part of the BusConnects plan is to deliver that, whic…