Marian Harkin

I thank the Deputy for his comments. I agree with everything he said because I understand the local circumstances. I am responding on behalf of the Minister for Transport. The Deputy will recognise that this Government recognises that transport connectivity is hugely important for people who live and work in rural Ireland. As recently as yesterday, the enhanced 563 service between Sligo and Druma…

I welcome the opportunity to address the House, on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, on the Deputy's request for information on the Wexford patient transport service and the difficulties his constituents have encountered in contacting Wexford General Hospital's patient transport office. By way of general background, the Minister is informed by the HSE that the patient tr…

I hear what the Deputy is saying and I can understand the concerns of many people. All I can do is update the Deputy on patient transport services in the south-east region. As I set out a few minutes ago, Wexford General Hospital continues to make significant efforts to ensure non-emergency services are provided for qualifying patients in the south east who require transport assistance to attend t…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I am pleased, on behalf of the Minister for agriculture, to have the opportunity to address the challenges currently being experienced by tillage farmers across the country. To be fair, coming on the back of two extremely difficult years weatherwise, thankfully, conditions for harvest 2025 were much more favourable. It allowed fieldwork to be un…

I reiterate that the Government wants to grow and develop the tillage sector in the years ahead. It was for this reason that the Food Vision tillage group was established in 2023, to provide a clear roadmap for the sustainable growth and development of the sector, while improving its environmental footprint. I heard what Deputy Ó Súilleabháin said. I am well aware of the challenges that farmers f…

I thank Deputy Hayes for raising this matter as it gives me an opportunity on behalf of the Minister for Education and Youth to provide an update on the support provided by the Department to schools in south Dublin. I acknowledge the strong support provided by the Government, including by way of supplementary capital funding, which has brought the total capital allocation for 2025 for the Departme…

The Department of Education and Youth remains firmly committed to providing continued support and resourcing for south Dublin and across the school system nationwide. The Deputy mentioned a specific case in Ringsend. I do not know the details but, if he wants to send them to me, I will make sure they are passed on to the Minister and the Department. I agree that education is a silver bullet. Inso…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I am taking it on behalf of the Department of housing and the Minister, Deputy James Browne. On 10 June 2025, the Government approved policy measures, including modifications to rent controls, to come into effect on 1 March 2026, as the Deputy has outlined. The purpose is to boost investment in the supply of homes available for rent and, at the…

On the basis of the response I have here, it seems that the Government is trying to ensure a fair balance. The Government is focused on growing the supply of much-needed rental accommodation by keeping existing landlords in the market but also by attracting new landlords. I hear what the Deputy is saying, however. By doing this, we must ensure strong and balanced tenancy protections for tenants an…

I am happy to welcome budget 2026. It takes meaningful steps to delivering many of the commitments contained in the programme for Government. It is important to say that a programme for Government is a five-year commitment, and we have made a reasonable start in many areas. Looking at my Department, we are providing an additional €79 million in funding for apprenticeships, bringing the total inves…

Yes we can.

I am looking at you.

No, we are not. You are a disgrace.

I welcome the students to the Gallery and assure them that, despite what has been said, I and my Government colleagues do not live in an ivory tower. Our feet are firmly on the ground despite one of my colleagues having accused us a few minutes ago of having our heads down. In fact, I took notes on what he said so that I could respond to him. What we hear is this kind of bluster. What is being sai…

I thank the Deputy. I appreciate her question, but I will make it very clear that SOLAS has not reduced funding to Tipperary ETB. In fact, Tipperary ETB has been allocated €35.5 million by SOLAS in 2025, which is an increase of €1.1 million on the 2024 allocation. There are no cuts and there is no reduction. As the Deputy knows, SOLAS allocates funding to ETBs to deliver their programmes within a …

I will say again that the Cashel LTI was fully funded by Tipperary ETB in 2024-25. I have been advised that following a comprehensive review to align services with its annual budget, Tipperary ETB made the very difficult decision not to continue funding four of its LTIs due to high costs and low learner numbers. At present, Tipperary ETB is actively exploring alternative provisions to support the …

I thank the Deputy. I recognise she really cares about this, as I do, but Tipperary ETB is in charge of its own decisions when it comes to what courses it will provide. It has looked at what happened last year, what the student intake was and how it can best provide for all of the students in Tipperary, who are being supported. It is important to say that Tipperary ETB has requested contact detail…

I thank the Deputy. I really appreciate the question because it is something that is very important to me. Ensuring Ireland's apprenticeship population reflects the diversity in our society is a cornerstone in implementing the Action Plan on Apprenticeships 2021-2025. A key objective of this is improving gender balance across all apprenticeship programmes. In implementing the action plan in Janua…

I thank the Deputy. The main area we are looking at there is the area of hairdressing. It is the one area where that would have increased. Gender balance in craft apprenticeships has increased significantly since the launch of the action plan, with the number of female craft apprenticeships more than doubling from 260 to 533, an increase of exactly 105%. I will be honest with the Deputy. When you …

As I explained, the increase in craft apprenticeships is quite significant. We also have another campaign, the faces, facts, futures campaign, which was launched in 2023 and connects all-girls schools in the country with the National Apprentice Office, which publicised this campaign. Looking at registration figures for apprenticeships, they have increased significantly since the launch of this cam…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Deputy will recognise that I am taking this on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and I hope she will recognise that I cannot answer on a specific individual. It is not because it is not important. It is. It is absolutely crucial and I would never say in response that it is tough. However, it is a specific case and will have to be dealt with in …

I thank the Deputy, and I can hear that this is an issue of real concern for her and the people involved. I thank her for raising the matter. I wish to assure the Deputy that the supplementary welfare allowance scheme is kept under review. The issue is to ensure it continues to support those most in need of assistance. The delivery of crucial community welfare services to meet the challenges and …

I thank Deputy Kelly, and I am happy to respond on behalf of the Minister. I am sure the Deputy, as a former Minister, will know the calls on Ministers and in some cases they cannot be here. In that context, I am happy to be here. What the Deputy said is right. Biomethane will play a crucial role in Ireland reaching its decarbonisation targets and security of energy supply, and Ireland is uniquel…

Ireland is recognised as having one of the greatest potentials for biomethane in Europe per capita due to our substantial agricultural sector. The Government's target of producing 5.7 TWh of indigenous biomethane by 2030, which is a little over 10% of our current natural gas use, will remain a Government commitment. The Deputy will know that an Irish anaerobic digestion and methane sector will bri…

I thank the Deputies for raising the issue. I had a positive meeting yesterday with representatives of Tipperary ETB. I was encouraged to hear about the good work ongoing. We had a good conversation and agreed that there are challenges. We are trying to work to manage those challenges in the best way possible. To come to the issue raised by the Deputies, ETBs, as they know, support community-base…