Albert Dolan

516. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of early intervention preschool classes for autistic children in mainstream schools and special schools that are being redesignated as primary autism classes-other special classes for the 2026-27 school year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14381/26]

686. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the way in which the effectiveness of the Land Acquisition Fund is assessed in terms of its contribution to housing delivery; the number of housing units enabled on lands acquired through the fund; and whether any review of the Fund’s impact or design is planned. [14927/26]

418. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department has identified any structural, legal, financial, or administrative constraints that limit the effective use of the Land Acquisition Fund by local authorities, including issues related to site viability, timing, valuation, or co-funding requirements; and if he will outline any steps taken to address such constraints. [13903/26]

419. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether consideration has been given to introducing greater flexibility into the Land Acquisition Fund, including but not limited to staged acquisitions, advance purchase, or earlier intervention in the land market, in order to accelerate housing delivery; and if not, the reasons for same. [13904/26]

28. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Taoiseach his response to the recent NESC report, Building A Virtuous Demographic Cycle. [3796/26]

32. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Taoiseach his assessment of and response to the NESC report, Connecting People to the Energy Transition. [7899/26]

566. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 243 of 23 September 2025, 149 of 7 May 2025 and 156 of 7 October 2025, and noting that his Department published consolidated “Government Departments Prompt Payment Returns” for over a decade up to Q1 2025 which included both the number and value in euro of payments made within prescribed timeframes, to outline a series of matters (details supplied). [12219/26]

567. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment whether any artificial intelligence tools or systems were used at any stage in the drafting, analysis, consultation, or preparation of the general scheme of the Regulation of Artificial Intelligence Bill 2026 (details supplied); if so, the nature of those tools, the purposes for which they were used and the safeguards in place to ensure accuracy, accountability and human oversight; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12220/26]

791. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the current operation of the Land Acquisition Fund, including its objectives, eligibility criteria, governance arrangements; and the process by which local authorities may apply for and draw down funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11920/26]

792. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of applications which have been made to the Land Acquisition Fund by local authorities in each year since its establishment; the number which have been approved; the average time taken from application to decision; and whether any applications were refused or withdrawn; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11921/26]

24. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation whether he has considered the approach set out in the UK’s recent Guidance on Contract Payment Information, which requires contracting authorities to publish contract payment information that links individual payments to the specific public contracts under which those costs were incurred (details supplied); whether a similar policy approach is under consideration in Ireland to align procurement and financial data so that the full cycle from tender, to contract award, to payment is visible; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10993/26]

87. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation further to the launch of the National Development Finance Agency’s new centralised expert assistance service for major capital projects under Action 24 of the ‘Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan’, whether his Department considers the absence of a unique, universal supplier identifier across all public procurement bodies to be a constraint on achieving the stated objectives of cost reduction, standardisation and value-for-money; whether the introduction of such an identifier would support improved visibility of total State expenditure on suppliers involved in major infrastructure and capital projects supported by the NDFA; and whether his Department has assessed the potential for extending centralised supplier tracking to inform procurement and cost-control decisions at sub-national or local authority level. [10995/26]

166. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the status of school building projects that were not included in the recently announced list of schools prioritised for delivery under the National Development Plan Sectoral Investment Plan; where such schools now stand within her Department's capital appraisal and prioritisation process; the criteria used to determine progression outside the published priority list; and when schools not listed can expect clarity or progress in respect of much-needed building works. [9916/26]

204. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the arrangements currently in place for the payment of architects, consultants and design teams engaged in the design of new school building projects; the average time taken by her Department to process and issue such payments; if her attention has been drawn to delays being experienced by design teams in receiving prompt payment for completed work; the reasons for any such delays; and the steps being taken to ensure timely payment in line with public sector prompt payment obligations. [9917/26]

194. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the contingency plans he has in place in the event of a downturn in tax revenues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9538/26]

251. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the recommendations of the Draghi Report on EU Competitiveness which fall within her remit; to specify which of those recommendations have been implemented to date, including concrete examples of actions taken; and the further measures planned or under consideration by her Department to advance competitiveness in line with the report. [9616/26]

449. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if no central monitoring or enforcement mechanism exists to ensure consistent publication of procurement-related payment data in machine-readable formats across the public service; his views that this results in uneven transparency standards between Departments and agencies; and whether he will consider issuing updated guidance or a circular to standardise publication formats in the interest of transparency, re-use and public accountability. [9605/26]

488. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment further to Parliamentary Question No’s 149 of 7 May 2025 and 156 of 7 October 2025, and having regard to confirmation (details supplied), whether his Department continues to receive, for Q2 2025, Q3 2025 and future quarters , the full completed reporting templates from each Government Department including the value in euros fields for payments within 15 days and within 16–30 days; and if so, to further confirm whether those value fields are held by his Department in a spreadsheet, database or other structured dataset used to compile the consolidated “Government Departments Prompt Payment Returns. [9606/26]

489. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the number of regulations his Department plans to reduce, streamline or repeal in order to improve competitiveness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9632/26]

494. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment if his Department supports the creation of a new EU-wide legal statute, the "Innovative European Company" (as per the Draghi report on EU Competitiveness) to allow Irish start-ups to operate across the single market under harmonised corporate and insolvency rules; and if so, when he plans to introduce this.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10064/26]

495. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment his position on the creation of a Vice-President for simplification at the EU level; if he plans to commit to a single methodology to quantify the cumulative cost of new regulation on Irish businesses, as per the Draghi report on EU Competitiveness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10065/26]

565. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 670 of 4 November 2025, if the independent assessment into the feasibility of removing the exclusion of drivers aged over 70 years-of-age from the school transport scheme has been concluded; and if so, what conclusion was reached; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9420/26]

1249. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the measures currently in place and any plans under consideration to reduce the financial burden on parents of students undertaking postgraduate education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9683/26]

48. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht when the next round of the community centres investment fund and community and halls investments scheme will be launched; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8342/26]

86. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade her assessment of the EU-India trade agreement; the way in which it will benefit Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8353/26]