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reassured drone bases do constitute "development" and existing planning legislation already applies to them. We have seen a specific example of that working through in Fingal County Council. We need to allow some time for further policy development and implementation. The proposed amendment of the Environmental Protection Agency … think that needs to be looked at within the framework itself. In many jurisdictions, including Ireland, existing environmental protection legislation specifically exempts aircraft noise from local authority regulation. A drone at the moment comes within the definition of "aircraft". Nuisance law often relies on individual complaints and legal

support critical development of our electricity and grid over the next five years, as committed to in the updated national development plan. This investment will be crucial, as many Deputies said, in modernising, building that resilience and reinforcing our electricity network infrastructure. It will also support the Government … homes a year, up to 1 million electric vehicles and currently contracted data centre demand. The programme for Government commits to developing a comprehensive plan to accelerate energy generation connectivity and the planning process. That plan will be guided on the approach around data centres, which provide huge

framework for microgeneration. Government policy went even further in encouraging those households. When in government the Green Party encouraged another initiative, the tax exemption for microgeneration of electricity, which is currently valued at €400 per year. Any change to the rules after people have made this investment would … plans to wind down the clean export guarantee payment in the coming months and years and that the Government will retain its commitment to it going forward. To provide greater clarity and reassurance to households that undertake microgeneration, can the Minister of State confirm that the tax exemption

done. Belfast has a backlog of free bookings for its ORE for another country. Why cannot we have more ports that can develop ORE? Onshore wind facilities are much easier to build but it is not as efficient. It has a longer lifespan, though. We are still … approve projects whether they make sense without the unnecessary barriers or certain exemptions, because we see how that happens. We need a single regulator as the decision maker. We have seen it across planning, for example. When there are too many people making decisions not in parallel

rental equity loan scheme, with more than 1,350 cost-rental homes expected to be delivered by the end of 2027. The Land Development Agency is also progressing key projects in Dublin on State land in partnership with local authorities and through its market engagement initiative, Project Tosaigh … yesterday's budget by the announcement of the VAT reduction on new apartment delivery and exemption from corporation tax of cost-rental housing delivery. We will further advance our affordable home delivery plans to Dublin as we implement a new starter home programme to remote home ownership

will write to every local authority to request that it massively increase the amount of land to be zoned. We are addressing planning exemptions. We will take a whole raft of work off our planners. We have a shortage of planners and it will take time to increase … planning. People sometimes like to take enforcement proceedings away from the planners, but we will allow people to work quickly in those areas. We can get planners to focus on the big decisions they need to make in terms of delivering homes. We are reforming the Land Development

back to the Minister. It was a good point. I do no know where we are on it in terms of the national development plan but there is no question that Galway city is facing enormous congestion, including all the areas feeding into Galway city … have asked the Minister, James Browne, to accelerate the work on the guidelines. The unit in his Department is also working on planning exemptions. There is a lot of work there. The Department is also working on rural guidelines for housing and one-off housing. There

Working Time Act is now applied to members of the Defence Forces; concluded a public consultation on extending the late working hours exemption for young persons to unlicensed premises - feedback from the consultation will guide our understanding of current working conditions for young people in both licensed … workplaces; and advanced legislation to protect older workers with a contractual retirement age below the State pension age. We have also seen further developments across government, including the implementation of the EU pay transparency directive and the introduction of a pensions auto-enrolment system, which is also

means getting a vacant property up and running and getting people living in, it is worth doing. We also need to consider planning exemptions for that and not letting people get caught up too long in the planning process. For example, over an old shop … tank or they have connection to a mains supply, and if other services are in place, then in circumstances that deserve planning, we should consider planning permission for those log cabins. There is scope in this regard that would at least give young people a start in life

hope that future Ministers will understand that an obligation is not a choice. An obligation is something that we must do, and to exempt what is proposed from the provisions of section 15 of the climate Act is quite preposterous. Last week, I raised with the Minister … have bodies in place that are statutorily responsible for land use the planning of infrastructure in Ireland. The Minister does not need me to tell him about how abject a failure the strategic housing development policy was in that it bypassed local authorities and went straight

villages are really welcome. Countless villages in County Galway have not seen homes built for 15 years because they would have been refused planning if anyone went for a small scheme of ten or 15 homes. Those small schemes provide people for those villages, for the GAA clubs … spec on those shared wastewater treatment systems not be overkill and that when Uisce Éireann works with the developer, it can take them over swiftly and efficiently so that developers are not waiting for the ESB or Uisce Éireann but have collaborative partners that want to see them

grant and the newly launched vacant above the shop grant and expert advice grant. These grants, coupled with the repair and leasing scheme, planning exemptions for the conversion of vacant commercial properties and the compulsory purchase order, CPO, activation programme, are all working to get as many vacant … town regeneration officers are now established within local authorities, working with vacant homes officers and other local authority staff, to tackle dereliction and develop regeneration initiatives. The vacant property refurbishment grant, introduced in July 2022, is making a huge difference across the country. The grant provides

advisory services, and enhancing engagement with employers and employees to develop greater awareness of employment rights and responsibilities. The strategic knowledge information and advisory service will form an integral part of the WRC's next strategic plan, whereby the commission will increase its emphasis and focus on promoting … public consultation to obtain the views of interested stakeholders across the wider enterprise and employment sectors on the content of the action plan. It is intended that this consultation process will help guide us on the proposals that may be included. I hope there will be a strong

savings and investments union strategy will build on the progress made by the CMU action plan. Ireland is a strong supporter of this initiative and is actively involved in its development, including measures specifically designed to promote companies seeking to access funding through initial public offerings. At national … support Irish businesses to grow and scale, in the coming year my Department will, subject to state aid considerations, introduce a stamp duty exemption. This measure would enable Irish SMEs to access equity via financial trading platforms designed to support their funding needs. This position is reflected

piece of infrastructure would take place within the framework of decarbonising our society. To do otherwise would create a situation where we develop a reserve which locks us in to further fossil fuel dependency well past its sale-by date. That, in my view, is what this proposal … burden onto households, small businesses and other parts of the economy. We are exempting this liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminal but for every other public body in Ireland, the commitment to national mitigation plans and to the adaptation frameworks and the transition objectives all are legally binding. They

April, the Defence Forces will have submitted to me, and I will publish, a workforce plan that shows how we get to where we need to be in terms of personnel by 2028. That will require a number of pinch points to be addressed. We are now seeing … extended private secondary healthcare to all personnel. The application of the provisions of the working time directive, subject to certain exemptions, has been a very welcome development. We have brought about increases to the patrol duty allowance payable to Naval Service personnel. We have extended the Naval Service

providing another opportunity for landowners to avail of an exemption in 2027 if they seek to have their land rezoned to reflect the genuine economic activity being carried out and that exemption will be considered by local authorities. Local Authority Borrowing Local authorities are the key stakeholders … preliminary tax purposes. Knowledge Development Box Recognising the importance of creating intellectual property in Ireland, I am also extending the knowledge development box, KDB, regime by a further five years. There have been significant changes in the international tax environment since the knowledge development box was first introduced

current position, where people can wait up to two years. We welcome that and we see that there has to be development, much more speed and much more urgency put into this. There are concerns, however, with such transparency and public consultation around all this, that we need … balance brought into all this. That is critical to it. When it comes to environmental impact assessment exemptions, we need to know what those exemptions are, what an exemption means and what the definition of that is. We also need to understand, where these decisions are going

exemptions, which will clear their decks to deal with what they should be dealing with, which is applications from people who are seeking to build, particularly on their own family farms. These are people who want to provide a house for themselves and hope to secure planning permission … object to anything and are able to carry out their lives that way. However, some people use their political platform to stop development. How can people stand up in Dáil Éireann and say they want housing to be provided while at the same time, when somebody comes along

green energy, especially offshore wind. Renewable energy has the potential to be a vital source of revenue and energy for our market. The development of offshore energy is our chance to eventually become energy independent. We can harness this energy and export the excess energy that Ireland will … people both directly and in associated companies. Thankfully, for now we are fortunate that 75% of our exports to the US fall within exemption categories and this may mitigate the damage caused to our economy by these tariffs, although last night's comments might scupper the hope

permanent provision of social housing. The good news is that up to 23,000 more are in different stages of design and development. That is one aspect. The others are affordable and cost rental. Yesterday I was at a sod-turning for 800 new units, not cabins … since records began and up 20% on 2024. Some 170,000 houses have been built since 2020, with 50,000 apartments built. On planning momentum, 8,000 permissions were granted in quarter 4 of 2025, up 19%. Permission was granted for 20,000 houses in 2025, the highest

that the lights will stay on. Now we are in a position where the Government intends to spend €1 billion to facilitate the development of a liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminal, as a so-called strategic gas reserve in County Clare, where I am based. That is wrong … zero. Instead of harnessing that massive natural resource, the Government is rolling out the red carpet for commercial LNG, disapplying the planning Acts, carving out exemptions from normal conditions and, as we have seen in County Clare, failing to properly engage with local communities. That is not democratic

existing planning exemptions. In this case, a planning application was required. The planning application is to facilitate the provision of both special education and mainstream classrooms under the Department’s SEN reconfiguration and modular accommodation programme. There is provision for one special class within the planned modular accommodation … grant funding to support these requirements for repurposing work. The local authority has made a request for further information in respect of the planning application for the required modular accommodation and a response to this is currently being finalised. Project management supports have been appointed to support

designated development carried out under an approval granted under section 29, which itself concentrates decision-making power in the hands of the Minister. Planning consent processes under those Acts would ordinarily require consideration of national planning policy, including the national planning framework and any climate-related material considerations … climate committee. Nobody is claiming our planning system is perfect - far from it - but public confidence depends on decisions being made through transparent and independent processes. When Government proposes to remove a project from the ordinary planning framework and place final authority directly in the hands

model and the co-location of Irish Embassies and State enterprise agencies to support Irish business globally; and — in addition, the development of a new action plan on trade diversification for consideration by Government by end-May 2025.". As everybody appreciates, the events of last week have fundamentally … alike. Inflation is now going to be driven. Consumers will be hurt by these tariffs on all sides. Nobody is going to be exempt from this. It is also important to note that the tariffs do not affect the UK in the same manner, and they will