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clear that students and parents will not be fooled by the Government's spin, because they will feel it in their pockets. Budget 2026 should have abolished student fees for good. The Government should be on a pathway to that. That is what it should have done … people. Homelessness is at a level we thought we would never see. More than 5,000 children went to sleep last night in emergency accommodation with nowhere to call home. It is shameful. In the election campaign last year, the Government deliberately misled the public about housing delivery

would think that with his record, the Rigsby of the Dail would have been best served keeping his thoughts to himself. This budget contains little or nothing that will radically increase supply. The Government is simply all over the place on housing. You know you are in trouble … around vacant and derelict sites was proposed, the Labour Party would be prepared to take a considered view of it, such is the emergency in our country. However, a VAT cut is just bananas. It will feather the nests and bottom lines of developers. I am looking forward

been allocated for youth services and capital expenditure, which represents an increase in funding of €7 million, or almost 9% on the 2024 budget. Over the period from 2021 to 2025, the level of current Exchequer funding for youth services and programmes will have increased by more than … identifies both strategic objectives and individual actions to guide the delivery and development of youth work services. Challenges to the youth work workforce emerged strongly as a key theme across the consultations. In response to the consultations with youth workers, action 7 of Opportunities for Youth aims

centres in 2025 was €53.5 million. The total cost in respect of privately run centres was just over €131 million, while for special emergency arrangements, SEAs, the total cost was just under €38 million. Both Tusla and I share a common aim to meet the needs … year costs of residential places opened in 2025, in addition to 30 new residential places over the course of 2026. Tusla’s capital budget has also been expanded to €35 million in 2026, which represents 100% growth since 2024. It is a significant uplift for Tusla in terms

Aughrim, Arklow, Enniscorthy and Bunclody, where repeated flooding has damaged homes, businesses and vital infrastructure. Years of cuts to local authority road budgets since 2008 by successive Governments of which the Tánaiste was a member have left roads in a dreadful state. Flooding and heavy rain … ensure permanent flood relief is finally delivered? Will he set out clear decisions, timelines and funding commitments today for flood defences and emergency road repairs? Will these communities be asked to accept this and wait another ten years - another decade - and for another series of broken promises, clearing

will not deliberately drive up petrol and diesel costs while international prices remain so high, not now and not in November. Beyond these emergency measures, the Government of course must make practical progress towards clean, affordable energy and fuel sources. That is what will protect people from volatile … that simply moves those increases to November, December, January and February. These taxes have to be kept off while fuel prices remain high. Budget 2027 must deliver meaningful cost-of-living relief for workers and families. People deserve that certainty too. They deserve a break and they deserve

October budget, which was worth €9.4 billion, left disabled people €1,400 worse off in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. For months, disabled people and their advocates have told their stories of choices between heating and eating. They have appealed to the Government again … five years. It knows what the additional cost of disability is. Disabled people cannot wait. The Government refused to give them an emergency cost-of-living payment and now it is asking them to wait for a permanent payment. That is not acceptable. They are under pressure

Ministers, including the Minister for housing. Institutional Property Ireland is the puppet master pulling the housing policy strings. What is needed is an emergency response from the Government, including a three-year freeze on all rents, an immediate halt to the ongoing tsunami of evictions and security … need by means of a new direction and new policies. There is €150 billion sitting in Irish bank accounts and billions in budget surpluses. The question is: why is the Government restricting the funding we have available in the country to be invested into housing

those after-school services. This all comes back to funding our schools. All too often, despite the much publicised overspend in the education budget, schools still have to fight tooth and nail to get the resources they need. I never predicted that so much of my time … hall. Ballyroan BNS is looking for a new school building. Abacas Special School needs a new school building. Saplings Special School needs an emergency works grant

emphasis in the budget on capital investment in infrastructure and housing. There is a full allocation of €19.1 billion for infrastructure in budget 2026, which is an increase of more than €2 billion on the 2025 figure. I very much welcome this. When we have such quantities … infrastructure task force and planning system. As I have said, it is a first phase, following which will be development of the new emergency department, the maternity section, the paediatric section and cancer services. I hope we will see the quick development of these using the new infrastructure

fully supported by everyone in the Government and, I think, by everyone in the Opposition in making that progress. We have increased the budget of UHL very significantly, from €265 million in 2019 to €507 million last year. We have increased the number of staff and are putting … prepare procurement. Processes need to move in parallel. You can save a significant amount of time. We will also need to see emergency legislation in this House on the delivery of critical infrastructure. If the Government and the Opposition really want to get things moving, we should work

Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputies Browne and Cummins and others, €169 million for housing application grants. These are record budgets and they represent substantial investment across homes, communities and residential care for older people. Looking at a couple of items related to health, delivery … with people's housing requirements. There is €600,000 to support day centres. A sum of €610,000 for family carer supports and emergency respite. Family Carers Ireland will have €800,000 in terms of respite and we will see that grow. Then we have €2 million

refers to the defective concrete crisis just twice. It does not even bother to give this humanitarian crisis its own section or detailed budget allocation. It is lumped in with a list of other housing supports and programmes. That shows an absolute lack of respect. When we discuss … with a financial liability. In recent years, affected homeowners have repeatedly been told that the problem is limited, manageable and contained, yet evidence emerging in affected counties continues to suggest that the scale of this issue is such that it affects areas all over Ireland. Research discussed this

debate them and we will continue to do so. However, I suggest that some of the policies that we adopted in the budget we have yet to even see the full potential of because they were obviously introduced later in the year. During the course this year … December and November. More first-time mortgages were approved in the first 11 months of 2025 than every before. There is a housing emergency in this country,. It is an emergency if you do not have a roof over your head or are trying to move

west. Investment in the hospitals in the region has increased from €370 million in 2019 to €763 million in 2025. The budget for UHL has increased from €265 million to €569 million in the same period. Staffing at the university hospital has grown … safe staffing framework has been funded in UHL. The framework was implemented on a phased basis between 2022 and 2024 in the emergency department and all 22 medical and surgical wards. More must and will be done. The Government is fully committed to delivering the highest quality care

arts and culture budget received an actual cut in budget 2026. It went from just above €300 million to under €300 million. There was a lot of fanfare about the basic income for the arts and that expansion is welcome. However, that fanfare has masked what is happening … expenditure funding, the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, and the Government are intent on punishing the Arts Council because of the IT crisis that emerged earlier this year. I want to hear from the Tánaiste what assurances he can provide to artists that Arts Council funding will

battery storage. We cannot have an energy policy that simply waits until every winter to write another check. That is not how a budget works. We need to permanently reduce people’s bills. My private wires Bill hopes to do this. I look forward to working with … Deputy Chambers, brought in the Critical Infrastructure Act. Efficiency should mean fewer delays with housing. Second, the taxpayer should not be paying premium emergency rates indefinitely because the immigration system of previous Governments is too slow. This needs to be changed. Based on conversations with refugees and asylum

strategy, and there have been sustained increases in investments in services. The Minister of State funds the National Office for Suicide Prevention, the budget of which has tripled from €5 million in 2012 to almost €15 million in 2025. Across Ireland, a wide range of HSE-funded organisations … Butler, is working with the Department of Health and the HSE to expand alternative care pathways and therapeutic environments for people presenting to emergency departments in mental health crisis because she believes emergency departments are not an appropriate environment for people in a mental health crisis

tied to treatment, particularly in relation to orphan medicines. These are often newly developed, high-tech and high-cost treatments, with limited or emerging evidence. These are treatments that give people hope where it might not otherwise be found. Specific treatments have only been developed for a small … expenditure on medicines is now approaching €4 billion, which is an extraordinarily sizeable sum and a very significant investment by the State. Recent budgets have provided dedicated funding for new medicines, supporting the HSE in approving reimbursement for a substantial number of new medicines, including many medicines

there is no mitigation. If there was going to be proper drainage put in place, all of that could be encompassed within a budget to not just drain the roads but also improve the quality of the roads and recognise the damage. Every single time there is flooding … going to flood and it happens every time. This time when it happened, it was particularly bad and there were people, including emergency service workers, who were stuck in their homes, which has a knock-on consequence. What I want to say to the Minister of State today

aware, this Government has a consistent track record of investment in the National Ambulance Service, NAS, with significant increases in funding since 2019. Budget 2025 confirmed this Government’s commitment to continued investment in NAS, with an additional allocation of €8 million for new service developments … there are 18 active community first responder, CFR, groups in County Galway. CFRs are volunteers who are trained to attend certain types of emergency calls in the area where they live or work. Galway also benefits from the emergency aeromedical service provided by NAS in conjunction with

huge pressure from energy with 298,000 families in arrears on their electricity bills and 185,000 in arrears on gas bills. After budget 2026, the annual income of the poorest 20% of households will fall by 4.15%. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul, SVP, sees … that campaign is on Saturday, 28 February, here in Dublin with a national protest. That protest will focus on the demand for an emergency winter payment and a cost-of-disability payment. I fully support the campaign and I call on all organisations, political parties, and the trade

agreed 2% pension increase for An Post and Eircom pensioners. Deputy John Connolly - To discuss the HSE's refined scope and budget for the planned elective hospitals. Deputy Mark Wall - To discuss the Moone to Timolin cycle path. Deputy Malcolm Byrne - To discuss the review of the Garda … Lochlainn - To discuss the impact of the signing of the PSO contract for flights between Donegal and Dublin. Deputy James Geoghegan - To discuss emergency works at CBS Westland Row in Dublin 2. Deputy Tom Brabazon - To discuss the principle of pay parity in Irish law. Deputy Réada Cronin

dedicated restorative justice programmes. In Budget 2025, the Probation Service received an additional €4 million aimed at expanding crime diversion programmes. Its total budget is now over €60 million. This money supports step-down facilities, restorative justice and community-based alternatives to imprisonment. These are all part … vision of youth justice. The Youth Justice Strategy 2021-2027 provides a framework to address key ongoing challenges as well as new and emerging issues in the youth justice area. The focus of the strategy is very much on children in contact with the justice system

want to concentrate too much on the figures, and the critical issues that were there as that economy grew and emerged were around social cohesion, cultural recognition and acceptance of institutional legitimacy. Those debates also have to be part of the discussion around the economy. There are crucial … Ireland, for example, for its work to market the island of Ireland quite successfully. In terms of practical measures, we could increase its budget to allow it to do more of that. When tourists come, they travel all over the island and do not tend