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take place, at a cost to the State, to get an updated payment for the care of their son. There has to be a better way. We know what that better way is, and it is in the gift of the Minister for justice. When I asked

State secured a Supreme Court appeal against the judge's ruling that it breached the Constitution when it refused a spouse's pension to a man who had lived with his late partner. There are anomalies in the current taxation system. Where a partner makes a gift … partner, this will give rise to both capital gains tax and a gift tax. If they were married, however, there would be no tax. The tax rate bands for married couples differ from those for partners living together. This needs to be urgently addressed

State, Deputy O'Donnell, provided a comprehensive solution. I accept the argument is won with regard to the necessity of this legislation. What are we talking about? We are talking about making it mandatory for pharmaceutical companies and medical equipment suppliers to declare payments, gifts, donations … pill mills and all the rest of it. We are aware of the issue we have with prescribed drugs and narcotics in this State. We need to make sure we are playing on a level playing field and have a system that works. The biggest problem

that she is less Irish than she or I because of where she was born and raised? I am sure the Minister of State would not do so. Yet, in a legal and democratic sense, we do exactly that to well over 700,000 passport holders … gift. If there is a wrong in relation to people not being given the right to vote in the North of Ireland, that wrong lies on the shoulders of the people here. It is over 100 years since the Irish Boundary Commission. If the Minister of State knows

have a natural gift of 540 GW of renewable energy in offshore wind. We can achieve energy independence if we have the requisite motivation and we can return to the days when we had the lowest electricity prices in Europe, if there is State investment and development. However

supported to the tune of a couple of thousand euro per year, and rightly so. That is a huge saving to the State. However, if you are the mother and full-time carer of one of the 16 children getting home dialysis and you do not have … better than nothing. You could introduce a scheme that allowed for these types of support to be refundable, which is within the gift of Revenue, which is an excellent organisation and refunds taxes all the time. I did my tax returns recently, and I encourage people

gift of another Department. This is just an additional support we are providing through the family resource centres. It is important that we recognise that and there is clarity around that. Mental health services fall within the remit of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler

thank the Minister of State for the update. I understand that the review is ongoing. I urge him to ensure that this is progressed as quickly as possible and that there is engagement with the local organisations like Ability West around the potential for equine therapy there … schools do not have these facilities. There is a wider need for a communal sports area that the whole community could use. Gifting the site to a section 39 organisation would ensure the potential for greater flexibility to co-locate other facilities at the site

gift to agree a budget, so why not do that and provide that certainty to our citizens and businesses and to those who wish to invest when there is so much uncertainty in the world? Ireland's job will be to intensively engage with member states

State at that time. There were four in that year. For a decade, nearly a generation, Governments stopped building public houses in this State. We believe strongly a bird cannot fly on one wing. The solution needs to involve both delivering public housing and fixing the broken private … matter is that there is a number of significant barriers to young couples buying homes. Most of those barriers are in the gift of the Government. It is not rocket science. These barriers can be overcome. There is incompetence in the Government in terms of overcoming them

love of football supporters - League of Ireland supporters, crucially - have for their teams was manifested in infrastructure, we would have more than 20 state-of-the-art stadiums around the country, an adequate academy structure and enough community football pitches for the hundreds of grassroots teams … still in his social media today. It was all fun and games until it was not. Is it any wonder he is a gift to Waterford Whispers News? Regrettably, the new pitch was damaged by significant scorch marks caused by a small minority of fans throwing flares onto

betrayal of the Palestinian people. Let us be clear. The cradle of Israel's apartheid system and genocide in Gaza is the impunity gifted to it by the international community for decades. It has been given carte blanche to commit war crimes and human rights violations at will … accountability. Worse still, the words of support and common cause to the genocidal Netanyahu regime and the arming of Israel by the United States, Britain and others in Europe is an obscenity

February, we tabled a motion that contained a suite of measures to tackle the huge backlog, including matching resources - as the Minister of State said, there is currently a mismatch - expediting the recruitment of driving test instructors, the number of testers has since declined, and plugging the gaps … Group were highly critical of these delays when in opposition. They made it clear that they believed it was within the Government's gift to resolve the issues of resourcing with political will and ambition. Now that they are in government and standing with the Government, supporting

that has been stripped from people with disabilities. These costs are affecting everyone but this is the most vulnerable population in the State. They were vulnerable before the cost-of-living crisis. They will be vulnerable after the cost-of-living crisis. Importantly, I reject this question … introduce a cost-of-disability payment, a payment in lieu of it through the Supplementary Estimates process would absolutely be within his gift and within the gift of Fianna Fáil

project, there is a view locally that other options should be considered in progressing this project. One such option could be the potential gifting of the land to a section 39 organisation to allow it to progress this project. That organisation could also engage with local sports clubs … would need to engage with any such organisation and, to date, this meaningful engagement has not happened. Will the Minister of State provide an update on this issue and on the review into the future of the Toghermore site

some cases it was while same-sex activity was still a crime. They created families together, they did it ethically and the State has never recognised them jointly as parents. These are people who brought these kids up together in loving, stable relationships, raised beautiful children … already passed and the rules are in place. What she could do now is sign the Commencement Order and give these families the gift of those protections before Christmas for this small cohort of families so that they would have that joint parental right. It would

congratulate the Minister of State. They say love is blind and marriage is an eye-opener. We in Sinn Féin believe in a tax system that is fair. As part of this, inheritance tax is an important tool to tackle inequality and invest in public services to deliver … discriminatory towards beneficiaries of estates left by people with no children. The capital acquisitions tax, CAT, regime applies a rate of 33% on gifts or inheritances above a certain tax-free threshold that depends on the beneficiary’s relationship to the person who gives them the gift

unnecessary. One family contacted me recently and their case illustrates the problem clearly. They own a second property and they want to gift it to their adult child, so that it will become their home. Before they can make the transfer, they face a capital gains tax bill … rent is being collected. This is not an isolated case. This is a hardworking family who have never asked for anything from the State. They work, they pay their taxes, they cover college fees and they contribute to their community. They are not opposed to capital gains

election commitments and promises, disabled people and their families continue to be failed. Every day they must battle with a State that is supposed to be there to help them just to get the bare minimum. Every day they learn that is too much to ask. The Taoiseach … been so vocal on the serious issues these schools and their pupils are grappling with, even though it is in the Government's gift to resolve them. These schools need proper staffing levels, proper resources and multi-disciplinary teams. I know some families watching this have children

costs down in the long term. Instead, this and previous Governments have focused on once-off and short-term measures. In fact, it gifted approximately €115 million through energy credits to second homes and holiday homes, which is a complete and absolute waste of public money. I welcome … please tell me how he will target those measures, and how he will hold those energy companies to account as he previously stated

need to stop because they are affecting all our communities. In response to a parliamentary question of mine, the Minister for the environment stated that over €27 million is given to local authorities for anti-dumping initiatives. In 2025, South Dublin County Council alone, in my own area … again until October. We have youth health issues and environmental issues with nitrous oxide. The Government really needs to take this seriously. I gift-wrapped the solution but the Government kicked it down the road. Sinn Féin is happy to support this Bill. The process of returning waste

thank the Minister of State for her response. I am pointing out that where there is a gain somebody is definitely entitled to pay capital gains tax but, unfortunately, the parent who hands over that property has no gain, gets no money and has to pay out maybe … capital gains tax, despite the fact they do not get any funds whatsoever. They are gifting the house to one of their family members. In these times with such pressure on young people and young families to try to get a home for themselves, it is something that

actions. Lowry does not like the findings of the tribunal being reported and discussed. He personally sued journalist Sam Smyth for defamation for stating that Lowry had been "caught with his hand in the till". This action was notable because Lowry declined to sue the media organisations that … first manifestation of this was the election of the Ceann Comhairle on 18 December. The office of Ceann Comhairle should never have been gifted as part of this deal. It undermined years of Dáil reform and opened up the office to charges of bias. The introduction

respect for all those who have brought us to this point. Their determination to see these horrific injustices acknowledged and redressed is a gift to Irish society. It is a huge service to us all and it comes at enormous personal cost. Openness and transparency are so important … only look to the Carrigan report affair in 1931 to see the DNA of denial that blighted child protection in Ireland from the State’s foundation. The Carrigan committee, appointed in 1930, held 17 sittings and one of its witnesses was the police commissioner of the time

workers’ pockets and reduce their take-home pay. Instead of investing this money through the NTMA in things like green energy, which the State and wider society and communities could benefit from, private industry has to get its cut. Perhaps it is the Government’s plan that Irish … Auto-enrolment is a good idea. The compulsory removal from ordinary workers’ pockets today is not. Allowing Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to gift these funds to the private pension industry rather than investing them for the good of workers and the benefit of Irish citizens