Albert Dolan

175. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the supports available to Defence Forces personnel who are being discharged on medical grounds, particularly in cases involving long-term illnesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56896/25]

36. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he will consider establishing a unified and modern framework to close the transparency loop in public procurement, linking tenders, contract awards, purchase orders and payments in a single, machine-readable, publicly accessible system, in order that the full cycle from tender to payment to performance can be viewed by citizens; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59829/25]

49. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he plans to provide greater level of detail to the public on the way in which public moneys are spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59828/25]

459. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider extending the recent VAT reduction applied to the hospitality sector to include the beauty industry, given that beauty salons were classified under hospitality during the Covid-19 closures but are not currently recognised under any defined VAT category; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58103/25]

588. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the timelines for the publication of the forthcoming Life Sciences Strategy; if it is intended that the strategy will be published in advance of Ireland's EU Presidency in 2026; and given the strong connection between innovation and funding, whether the strategy will examine how innovation is valued through new pricing and reimbursement structures. [58127/25]

618. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment whether the Government’s 15-day prompt payment requirement applies to all payments made by Departments and agencies, including reimbursements or grant payments to community, voluntary and non-profit organisations; if not, to identify the categories of payments excluded; and to explain the rationale for this distinction. [59595/25]

645. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will clarify whether the “above-SERC SNA” review process remains in operation under the new SNA allocation guidelines; if schools with autism classes will continue to be able to apply for above-SERC reviews throughout the school year in cases where a child’s needs cannot be met within the standard staffing allocation; and if she will confirm whether principals will be required to redeploy staff from their mainstream SNA allocation to meet above-SERC needs in special classes, given the already limited mainstream SNA ratios in many schools. [57880/25]

670. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the status of the review into the upper age limit for school transport drivers contracted by Bus Éireann; when changes to allow drivers over 70 years-of-age to continue transporting children to and from school are expected to take effect; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58102/25]

1052. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will review the income assessment criteria for social housing eligibility, with particular reference to the including of the working family payment (WFP) in the calculation of assessable income; to consider introducing an income disregard for the WFP on the basis that it is a social welfare support for low-income working families rather than earned income; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58805/25]

1053. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to increase the social housing eligibility thresholds nationally, particularly in light of recent increases in the working family payment and the ongoing cost-of-living pressures; if consideration is being given to introducing an annual review mechanism to ensure thresholds keep pace with inflation and wage adjustments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58806/25]

1469. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will provide details on the 700 additional childcare places announced in Budget 2026; where these places will be located; how they will be located; the timeline for their delivery; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57838/25]

1651. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health the progress of the working group on the National Hearing Care Plan; if she has received the report from the working group that was due by end of Q2 as per the terms of reference; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57885/25]

1718. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health the way in which the €9 million in full-year funding allocated in budget 2025 to support vital cardiovascular initiatives has impacted the cardiac services reform strategy; the way in which this investment has contributed to the development of a new national cardiovascular strategy; and when the implementation plan for this strategy will be published. [58125/25]

1719. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health the way in which her Department will be involved in the preparation of the forthcoming Life Sciences Strategy; and whether her Department will have a leadership role in the delivery and implementation of that strategy. [58126/25]

1956. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health if consideration has been given to expanding the range of services offered in primary care centres to include minor procedures and additional clinical services, with a view to alleviating pressure on hospital accident and emergency departments; and if she will consider the development of a pilot initiative to assess the feasibility and impact of such an expansion. [59371/25]

1995. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 766 of 21 October 2025, if she will provide a detailed update on the progress of the best value medicines programme in achieving its stated target of at least 80% of individuals being in receipt of the best value medicine; if she will provide a breakdown of uptake levels by each target area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59592/25]

1996. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health if there are any policy proposals or changes planned that will assist how the best value medicines programme contributes to reducing the financial burden on the HSE’s medicines budget and assists in securing access for patients to new and innovative treatments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59593/25]

1997. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health to outline the expected policy changes planned to achieve the Programme for Government commitment to “ensuring that patients have access to new innovative new medicines and treatments as quickly as possible”; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59594/25]

2148. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to outline the statutory, policy or administrative basis under which his Department publishes its consultancy spending reports (details supplied); whether this publication is required under the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies, or undertaken as a voluntary transparency initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59596/25]

335. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the way in which Ireland has implemented the requirements of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138 on High-Value Datasets; the Department, unit, or official responsible for coordinating national compliance; and if the June 2024 availability deadline and the February 2025 reporting obligations under Articles 5 and 6 have been fully met. [56753/25]

336. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the way in which progress on high-value datasets will be monitored and reported to the European Commission from 2025 onwards; to list the datasets included in Ireland’s initial submission; and the criteria being used to assess completeness, technical quality, and accessibility of the data published. [56754/25]

337. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the technical and operational standards adopted nationally to ensure high-value datasets (HVD) are published in full compliance with Article 4 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138, including requirements for open licensing (CC0 or CC BY 4.0), machine-readable formats, API access, bulk download, and comprehensive metadata; and if all designated HVDs are now listed and accessible on data.gov.ie. [56755/25]

338. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the coordination arrangements in place across Departments, local authorities and State agencies to ensure consistent implementation of the High-Value Datasets Regulation; and if technical or training supports have been provided through the Technical Services Framework for Open Data and Data Management. [56756/25]

339. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he will consider designating public procurement and contracting data as a high-value dataset-equivalent category for domestic purposes; and if he will introduce a circular or statutory instrument requiring that procurement data, including tenders, contract awards, supplier identifiers, contract values, and links to eTenders notices, be published in open, machine-readable formats (e.g. OCDS-compliant CSV or JSON) with stable identifiers and public APIs. [56757/25]

340. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he will consider using Ireland’s forthcoming 2026 EU Council Presidency to advance the inclusion of Public Procurement and Contracting Data within the European Commission’s list of high-value datasets; and to outline any preparatory work under way to position Ireland as a leading example of open, structured procurement transparency. [56758/25]