Frankie Feighan

On a point of order, the Minister is gone to the infrastructure committee.

I thank Members for their constructive and insightful contribution to the debate, which affirms the importance of public investment in the delivery of capital projects and programmes and the urgent need to remove the barriers to infrastructure development. What has been made very clear is that, collectively, we know what the challenges we face are and that infrastructure deficits remain in certain…

I thank all the Members for their very helpful and informative ideas and contributions. We will certainly take many of them on board. The Appropriation Bill 2025 sets an amount that we appropriate for supply of services of €91.5 billion. This reflects the Estimates voted by the Dáil over the course of this year, including Revised, Further Revised and Supplementary Estimates. In gross terms and ta…

The programme for Government includes a commitment to reviewing the public procurement process to make it more transparent and encourage greater participation from SMEs. Working towards this aim, and to set out the strategic direction of public procurement for the next five years, my Department is developing a first national public procurement strategy. The strategy has been subject to an extensi…

I am very conscious of the critical role that public procurement can play in maintaining and building public trust in government. Billions of euro are spent on public contracts every year and the public needs to be confident that its money is being spent in a judicious and fair manner. Likewise, suppliers need to be able to trust the integrity of the procurement system if we are to drive participa…

It would not be appropriate for me to speculate about and predetermine the outcome of the current cross-governmental engagements, but my officials are engaging with discussions with colleagues across Government and other key stakeholders to agree desired outcomes and actions to support the delivery of strategic, innovative, sustainable and transparent public procurement that promotes competition a…

I am.

I thank Deputy Mac Lochlainn for raising this matter. It gives me an opportunity, on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy Naughton, to outline to the Dáil the current position in relation to the school project for St. Eunan’s College in Letterkenny. This project is included in the Department of Education and Youth’s construction programme, which will be delivered under the nation…

I will bring the Deputy's concerns back to the Minister and ask her, if she is in Donegal, to put in a tour of St. Eunan's College. Since 2020, the Department has invested over €6 billion in schools throughout the country under the national development plan, involving the completion of 1,300 school building projects. In addition, repurposing and optimising existing accommodation capacity across th…

I thank Deputy Moynihan. The Government has committed to deliver up to 5.7 TWh of indigenously produced biomethane per annum by 2030. Delivery of this target and the use of biomethane within our energy system will have multiple cross-sectoral benefits for Ireland’s economy, energy security and emissions profile. In response to this ambitious target, the Department, in partnership with the Departme…

I thank the Deputy for raising very valid and informed concerns. The Deputy talks about the absence of guidelines. The Government remains committed to the production of up to 5.7 TWh of biomethane, which is a little over 10% of our current natural gas, and the development of Ireland's anaerobic digestion of biomethane on an industrial scale. This will serve to diversify our sources of gas, improve…

I thank the Deputy very much. I thank her also for raising this very important Topical Issue on the need for schools in the Kilternan school planning area. I am pleased to have the opportunity to describe, on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy Naughton, how the Department keeps the requirement for school places under review. In order to plan for school provision and analyse th…

I will pass that on to the Minister as well. I thank the Deputy.

Again, many thanks to the Deputy for her best wishes in my new role as a Minister of State. She has made some very important interventions regarding her area. I am familiar with that area and new schools are only established in areas of demographic growth as the resources available for school infrastructure have to be prioritised to meet the needs of areas of significant population increase to en…

I thank the Deputy for raising this very harrowing and distressing matter, which I am answering on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth, Deputy Naughton. Child safeguarding in Scouting Ireland is a matter that is taken extremely seriously by the Department. As the Deputy is aware, Scouting Ireland is a voluntary organisation and a registered charity governed by an independent board of d…

As previously outlined, child safeguarding in Scouting Ireland and all funded organisations working with children and young people is a matter that is taken extremely seriously by the Department. Departmental officials are satisfied that safeguarding is a priority for Scouting Ireland and that the organisation has appropriate safeguarding structures in place. There continues to be ongoing engageme…

The Deputy is a prophet.

To reiterate, the Minister for Transport has no regulatory oversight of the contracted services provided by the Irish Coast Guard aviation service. The Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, is the competent regulatory authority and it is tasked, for the purpose of this lifesaving aviation service, with ensuring oversight, compliance and enforcement of all relevant national, EU and European Union Aviation…

We are not opposing it.

I thank all Members for the informative and constructive debate on protected disclosures legislation. I welcome and thank the whistleblowers in the Public Gallery for their great work and service. I also thank the members of the Independent Technical Group for the proposals they have put forward for this debate. Having reviewed the proposals, I would like to reiterate the issues regarding the fla…

Local government budgets will be challenging for many councils across Ireland this autumn. I am particularly concerned that the local authorities in both Sligo and Leitrim are awaiting payment from the Department of housing for the damage caused last January due to Storm Éowyn. I understand the figure is up to €1.5 million. The same local authorities have raised the local property tax, LPT, by 15%…

Chair, on a point of order-----

-----you cannot name a candidate for the presidential election.

I am just pointing it out.

Do not fall for it.