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their communities. For this to work, housing bodies need access to affordable long-term loans. The Housing Finance Agency is the best source for that kind of funding. In 2024, housing bodies delivered over 40% of social housing and more than half of all cost-rental homes. That … sign of success. It means they are building more homes and helping more people. In County Clare alone last year, approved housing bodies received €36.1 million in funding from the HFA from which it delivered 146 homes. In County Clare, approved housing bodies are making a real difference

targeted delivery for 2026 builds on the very significant progress already achieved in delivering social, affordable and cost-rental homes. This has made a huge difference in the lives of individuals and families, providing good-quality homes and contributing to sustainable communities across the country. The HFA continues

rural communities, low-income households and small businesses. What supports are offered in return? None. There is no fuel rebate. There is little rural transport expansion. There is no meaningful relief for those who have no choice but to drive. This budget also fails to deliver on housing … continues to scar our towns. We need direct build programmes, not just schemes and subsidies. There are over 16,000 people homeless and more than 5,000 of these are children. This budget does not help them get a home. During the election, this Government promised that

make real and lasting change in their communities. The Deputy referenced local authorities. Many local authorities have specific vacant homes and properties teams operating. Substantial progress is being made on delivering on the town centre first approach and the vacant homes action plan through the provision of dedicated … dereliction and vacancy issues I referenced. These are being complemented by the financial supports for planning reforms aimed at converting underutilised buildings to new homes in our towns and urban areas. The range of measures being taken by the Government to address vacancy and dereliction are having

such a rapidly growing population each year, is not left behind in terms of implementing key infrastructure and building communities and not just housing. In my home town of Leixlip a housing development with 900 new houses was recently built around the appropriately named Wonderful Barn. This development … capacity as Vice Chair of the infrastructure committee I know that big projects need to be delivered. I want to be the one to ensure that, parallel to this, communities such as the towns in my constituency are not left to fend for themselves with projects left waiting

recognising applications that ensure increased applications by those with a disability or by those who are neurodivergent. It is important within all our communities that sport be inclusive. It is essential as well that we find mechanisms that will allow clubs and organisations that do not have traditional … Coral indoor sports hall and the facilities around the building. What is critical there is the need for a new running track for St. Benedict's athletics club. As the Minister of State might know, Arklow is the home of Ronnie Delany, who was Ireland's gold-medal

payment threshold from €75,000 to €87,500 to support smaller research and development projects. Building on the action plans on competitiveness and productivity and market diversification, this budget will also deliver on tax simplification for businesses. We will see an expansion in supports for the visual effects … this point by accident. The budget announced yesterday, which will be delivered in the time ahead, will enable us to keep this country safe. It will enable us to build more homes, deliver better public services, lift more children out of poverty and support those in need

building homes as Ireland is. Homelessness remains a very significant challenge. Last month, the Government announced the prioritisation of €50 million for housing acquisitions to support large families with children and housing first clients to exit long-term homeless emergency accommodation into safe, secure and permanent homes. Building … community bed capacity, home support hours, staffing, nursing home places, enhanced community care and expansion of mental health services. In the area of justice, €6.17 billion is being allocated. We are committed to getting more gardaí on our streets through increased recruitment and civilianisation, building safe and secure

permanent home and is building that new clubhouse, which will cater for not only the rugby club but many other groups too. The value of these bricks-and-mortar homes for our clubs cannot be understated. This really hit home for me when I attended an event celebrating … have infrastructure of that nature so we must carefully plan for it to ensure our sports communities are adequately resourced. The large-scale sport infrastructure fund has started to deliver for our communities. The multisport campus on the Tibradden Road, which Dundrum South Dublin Athletics Club enjoys

proposal for the scheme. The needs of the children and young people drove the development work. The group includes school principals, home school community liaison officers, and school completion programme co-ordinators. These are professionals who work directly with children experiencing high intergenerational disadvantage. The Department has also … develop the DEIS plus scheme and aims to integrate and build on existing whole-of-government supports. The culmination of all this work will see the achievement of the programme for Government commitment to deliver a new DEIS plus scheme, to provide targeted support for schools with

with around 6,500 private assessments funded to reduce delays. More than 150,000 hours of home support and personal assistance will help people to live independently in their own homes. Some 10,000 overnight and 15,000 day respite sessions will be provided. To drive reform … improve pay for educators and school-age childcare practitioners with the implementation of new employment regulation orders. The building blocks infrastructure programme will fund extensions of existing community centres and schools to deliver approximately 2,300 additional childcare places. Investment in our child welfare services is also

Relations Commission, so the issue can be resolved and a fair arrangement can be found to address workers' concerns. Many workers within our community and society are really concerned that this budget did not impact on them but did impact on certain others, as my colleague, Deputy Pearse … ridiculous policy that does nothing more than line the pockets of developers. This string of changes is only creating one kind of home, namely build to rent apartment blocks with flats that are smaller, darker and, increasingly, more expensive. For the next two years, this will have

improved public services and more capacity in our hospitals and nursing homes, as well as a significant increase in home support hours which will enable more people to live for longer and more independently in their homes. I particularly welcome the significant increases to the carer's allowance … that while we also support infrastructure. This budget supports the delivery of thousands of new build social homes and supports second-hand acquisition programmes as well as delivering for key investments. Housing and infrastructure are key goals in this budget. It strengthens our economic resilience through investment

Minister, Deputy Donohoe, will make a difference in the delivery of housing across our country but, to build these homes, we need to provide the critical building blocks of water and energy. Water and Energy In the national development plan, I have committed to providing €12.2 billion … renewable energy. Building on this, I am allocating €1.1 billion to the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment in 2026. This includes: €558 million in carbon tax revenue for residential and community energy upgrade schemes; continued investment in the retrofit of public buildings to support the delivery

going to have to face reality. Its housing policies have failed. We need new thinking. The State needs to step up and deliver affordable homes. The State needs to radically change course, as its own Housing Commission recommended, because the fact of the matter is the Government … policy proposals that could make a real difference, such as the homes for Ireland saving plan to use some of the €160 billion just sitting in deposit accounts earning no interest and our plan to build a modular homes factory to turbo charge the delivery of affordable homes

rely on HAP as a substitute for building real social homes. Families and individuals have been on the housing list for ten years or more in some cases and there has been zero delivery of affordable or cost-rental homes in Dungarvan. In Ardmore, not a million miles … want to live and work there cannot afford to buy or build. More than half of the homes in the area are holiday lets or second homes, many of them owned by investment funds. A community-led plan for affordable homes was sidelined a couple of years

elderly, ill or disabled family members. Their hard work saves the State billions and allows their loved ones to remain in their homes or communities. Make no mistake that this is work and all carers should be paid properly. The means testing of carer's allowance based … fall. This should involve fully implementing Sláintecare - a single-tier, free-at-the-point-of-use healthcare system - building a public model of childcare, building a sustainable home care service and ending the current postcode lottery, more direct State involvement in the building of affordable homes for rent

opinion, but it is shared by a lot of people out there, that budget 2026 failed to deliver any real hope or pathway for the families and individuals left behind by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments. Every week, new families or individuals who are homeless … builds remains inadequate to meet the demands. The housing waiting list continues to grow and the affordability crisis continues to worsen, especially for low- and middle-income families. Rising rents and house prices continue to push working-class families further away from home ownership. After almost 15 years

planning framework, which also aims to tackle vacancy and dereliction. Town centre first also seeks to achieve balanced regional development and support local communities. We have aligned major funding streams with town centre first, including the rural regeneration and development fund, the town and village renewal scheme … development fund and the THRIVE scheme. The rural regeneration and development scheme is a major capital investment programme supporting large-scale, ambitious projects delivering sustainable economic and social development in rural areas. The town and village renewal scheme, introduced by my Department in 2016, is designed to rejuvenate

Department builds directly on that purpose, investing in people, powering enterprise and preparing Ireland for the challenges of tomorrow. I have listened intently to what my stakeholders have said and I am responding. In this budget, I am delivering for students, for families, for communities and for economic … part of their courses. Moving on from higher education to look at the apprenticeship system and the skills we need, every home we build, wind turbine we construct and hospital or data centre we open depend on skills and skilled people. That is why I have secured

credit of €1,000 for three years and an increase in funding to our local authorities to support them in building more homes for our citizens. The Opposition has suggested that there have been no cost-of-living benefits for the public. This is untrue and disingenuous … aside in a contingency reserve that will be held centrally. Since my election to this House, I have been visiting schools across my community and meeting principals, teachers and parents to see how the State can best support our education system. Time and again, personnel in schools told

last year’s general election. There has been no mention of that today, however, and the Government has squandered the opportunity to deliver it. The Government has done very little to increase capacity at a time when tens of thousands of children have no childcare place. It could … opportunity to build a good, secure life in their own country. The Government has forced a generation to choose between living with their parents well into adulthood or moving abroad and leaving their families, friends - although a lot of their friends are abroad - and communities behind. This

capital allocated to the community sports facility fund for the year ahead. This will support approved projects coming on stream under existing rounds of the fund. Over the year ahead, I also intend to open applications for a new round of the community sports facility fund … lives of local communities across the country. As I stated before, An Post is central to providing invaluable support for some of the most vulnerable in our society through the provision of social welfare payments, free postage to care homes, community focal points and many other valuable services

about men’s health, we are speaking about fathers, sons, brothers, grandsons, partners and friends. We are speaking about the people who build our homes, teach our children, run our businesses and serve in our Defence Forces. Yet, too often, men’s health, especially men’s mental health … also have additional suicide crisis assessment nurses, SCANs, to support people in crisis who present to GPs in their communities. We have increased funding for the suicide prevention community and voluntary organisations, including Pieta, and there is €1 million in funding to start the implementation of the next

constituency is home to some communities that have been left behind for far too long by the powers that be. One of those communities in Ringsend has a national school that is badly in need of capital investment works to upgrade its old 1960s building. I toured … electrical wiring and other structural works required for the new merger between the girls' school and the boys' school, which share a building but are not connected, up and running. It is a major priority for me to see this school and its students supported by the Department