Search the record

appreciate the Deputy's advocacy and input on the DART+ and DART+ South West programmes. We want to deliver many of these projects over the next number of years. That is why the continued uplift of transport investment is essential. On a positive note, we are seeing many … these projects move out of the planning system now to allow us to move to procurement for BusConnects and DART+. The Deputy referenced the importance of delivering this low-carbon transport in terms of housing supply and ensuring that a lot of the homes that are planned

Deputy for raising this. The Department will continue to build on the progress made over recent years with continued roll-out of projects on a priority basis to meet the most urgent needs in terms of provision of additional capacity and modernisation of existing facilities. In this regard … Department published a list of 105 school building projects in the first tranche to proceed to construction or tender over 2026–27, totalling €1.6 billion in investment. These projects will deliver 27,000 additional modernised school places. I will definitely go back to the Minister as the Deputy

doing. My Department has provided extensive funding and support to aid the TUs that are undergoing extensive and complex transformation programmes. Most recently, I announced allocations of up to €65.8 million under the targeted enhancement fund, TEF, to support the continued transformation and strategic development of higher education … funded specialist colleges. That TEF funding is to enhance that offering in terms of capabilities and everything from information technology, IT, systems to project management and human resources management, and make sure they are fully strengthened and given the capacity-building supports they require. At this point, legacy

high-quality learning opportunities. Skillnet Ireland plays a big part in that in terms of enterprise-led upskilling. Springboard+ and MicroCreds are two programmes I have for learning in the workforce and learning while one earns. The skills to advance programme provides further as well. I recently committed … while in work. They control those now so there are subsidised voucher schemes for short-cycle courses that are provided through the Springboard+ programme. We then have the new aiready.ie website, which I launched about six weeks ago. As of this morning, 7,500 users had signed

conditions of contracts are scrutinised, that NewERA, a body we set up to make sure we derive value in the delivery of projects, is doing its jobs and that Oireachtas committees are doing their job as well. We should allow that process to work its way through. That … saying. I am also making the point that the Deputy's categorisation of Government spending on public projects is not borne out by the facts. He asked about €50 million. Would he get as exercised if it were £140 million? In the Department his party runs in Northern

role it is playing in the provision of special education. I will certainly speak with the Minister, Deputy Naughton, about the school building project. What I would say all Members of this House, including Deputy O'Flynn, is that while we have announced a significant increase in capital … funding for schools, it is not the final word on the matter. There will be a requirement for additional capital funding for school projects. There are quite a number at stage 2b. The Government has additional capital to allocate as part of our medium-term fiscal plan

thankfully, so too is our stadium. We have a valid application under the large-scale infrastructure fund for phase 2 of our project. Phase 1 is being built and is nearly finished. We are ready and we need to keep this funding going. Where projects elsewhere … position to draw down their allocation, will the Department consider reprioritising funding towards projects that are ready to proceed? There is little point in having money sitting idle when communities are ready to deliver. Our stadium is becoming a field of dreams for all of us Gaelic lovers

There are some good things in the Bill. Of course, there have been concerns about judicial reviews. We cannot have a situation where project after project is delayed unnecessarily, particularly by people who are not affected and who may be objecting for other reasons. However, I defend … particularly, it is about those who live in the area. I support tightening this up and ensuring that it does not unduly delay projects that are badly needed. The concept of having key towns is good and makes common sense. Obviously, we do not want to see smaller

increase housing supply and improve legal certainty. Those are worthwhile goals. However, the real test will be whether more homes are built, infrastructure projects are delivered faster, and whether the public continues to have confidence in the planning process. Independent Ireland will engage constructively with this Bill … afford a house being entitled to get social housing. Why cannot the people of those islands at least included in a social housing programme the same as every other community? The living life has been squeezed out of islands. As public representatives, we meet the islanders. They want

move it on. I saw the condition of the school in Shanbally. Something needs to be done in the Department. We have project managers and others in place for this project. From what I have heard from Deputy McGrath today, the transfer of the site is progressing through … through this. I have seen for myself the situation and I will certainly do what we can in the Department to move the project

ceremony. As Members will be aware, the specific objectives we will pursue in our Presidency are set out in detail in the policy programme we published last month. In order to deliver a secure economic future, one that meets the needs and expectations of its people, Europe must … simultaneously prioritising support for our traditional competitive farming and fishing industries. The Irish Presidency will continue to advance educational mobility through the Erasmus+ programme, ensuring our workforce is highly skilled and adaptable. Healthy societies are fundamentally productive and competitive. Health innovation is not a secondary concern

will start with the logistical side of things. I acknowledge that this is a project which many hundreds if not thousands of people in the Department of foreign affairs and other Departments will work very hard on. I am always very aware of the professionalism of the Department … away from their track record. There will be people, especially in Africa, who will suffer because of cuts to medical and public health programmes. We need to keep that matter on the agenda. Last of all, fair play for farmers and fishers in the context of the Common

play. It currently provides 19 addiction counsellors, with one vacancy in Cork Prison. In addition, Merchants Quay Ireland has recently introduced six project workers and two prison recovery educators. To support rehabilitation, reduce reoffending and facilitate successful reintegration into society, people in custody have access to a broad … range of clinical and rehabilitative interventions. These include opioid substitution treatment, counselling, harm reduction initiatives, peer-support programmes and psycho-educational services delivered through prison education units and the prison television channel. Merchants Quay Ireland also delivers the national treatment and rehabilitation programme, which is based

people coming to Ireland to live and work. Currently, employment permits, visas and residency permits are processed separately. This is a significant technical project involving the integration of two IT systems. In the short term, we are streamlining the existing process by removing duplication, aligning online information … productive meeting with the Minister of State with responsibility for employment, small business and retail, Deputy Alan Dillon, and his officials on this project. The project is progressing through a phased development and scoping process, with ongoing cross-departmental engagement to support the design and testing

hear the Minister of State's passion for this area. The problem is that in 2017 or 2018 the Greentown project, in its first national survey, found that at any one time over 1,000 children in the State were being coerced into crime. Between … every metric has got worse. I have to assume the coercion of children into crime has got worse. The Greentown project has good outcomes but it is very small and geographically based. I would like to see a national programme that is funded, seeks to prioritise prevention

youth justice strategy and we will have a new strategy as of the end of 2027. The Greentown project has been extended. The extension of the programme has reduced the influence of criminal networks on children at risk of involvement in crime and improved the likelihood … social outcomes for children who are already involved in criminal networks. We know that investment in these programmes does work, albeit in pilot and smaller models. I agree with the Deputy that this will have to be rolled out across the country, especially across large urban areas

electricity generated through renewable resources, which is good. We want to see that accelerate further. This legislation is in line with a programme for Government priority. It builds on what was the Energy Security in Ireland to 2030: Energy Security Package report. That genuinely cannot be ignored. That … European Union, behind only Germany and Italy. We have 1.3 GW of installed long-duration battery storage, with a major pipeline of projects to come through. On the amendments in the grouping, this legislation deals with the consenting process. It does not deal with the operation

redistribution of income and the reduction of income inequality. In 2016, my Department worked with the ESRI to conduct a research project into the distribution of wealth in Ireland and the potential implications of a wealth tax. Recognising the passage of time that has elapsed since this research … project was undertaken, the ESRI is currently conducting analysis under its joint research programme. This will include scenario and distributional analysis under a range of wealth tax scenarios. A draft paper will be completed before the end of the year and I will consider the analysis

with a record allocation of €11.7 billion in funding out to 2030. This funding will support the delivery of the wide range of projects in our cities, towns and regions required for housing delivery, safeguarding public health and the environment and, crucially, providing the capacity required to address … significant improvements in our public water and wastewater services and support improved water supplies right across Ireland, as well as a range of programmes delivering improved water quality in our rivers, lakes and marine areas, thereby making a significant contribution to addressing Ireland's needs. Uisce Éireann

House, and I will take care of it this afternoon. The Deputy is right. We have a programme for a two-year intervention in HSE dental services to make sure that the broad child catch-up programme is happening in schools. Of equal importance is the specialist dental … service, particularly for children with disabilities, and we will have a programme of additional surgeries to focus on that. I will be announcing that in the coming weeks. I have a little work to do yet with the Irish Dental Association, but I am very aware of that

Government is trying to ram through approval of a hugely damaging piece of infrastructure by creating a bespoke planning route unavailable to other projects and certainly not ones that would benefit us from a climate and decarbonisation perspective. Like the passenger cap Bill, this is a significant departure … 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 of a Minister, it has a duty to demonstrate such extraordinary

been decommissioned but may well come back into service in due course, with further applications and all the rest. I am aware of projects off the coast of my constituency. I welcome those and look forward to their operation but we are years away from seeing those generate … there is a long lead-in to that, which is far too long, in my opinion. The blocking and delays of offshore wind projects, which are even less problematic than onshore wind projects, are unacceptable. That is the kind of thing that we should target

talk about speaking rights, to see a lot of Opposition not turning up to speak. This is a giant infrastructure project. I am not here to wreck this Bill - energy has always been a priority for me, having studied it before I had the honour of being elected … people who really need it would lose access to power. That needs to be addressed. A more accurate cost-benefit analysis of this project should be carried out and compared with the option of decentralising our grid with more distribution system operators, DSOs, energy sharing and battery storage

moment. We were ahead of others, and we have fallen behind for sure. However, the plans we have in place and the projects at different stages of permissions were not mentioned at all. We have to work them through, and we expect by 2031 or 2032 to have … Some 900 MW of electricity has been procured and that is now working its way through the planning system. The State has derisked projects like that by capturing the subsea data and providing it to the bidders. There was a caustic comment about the number of conferences

thank the Minister of State for his comments. The project has been at stage 2B for a considerable period, for the last year in fact, and the school is just waiting to hear back from the Department. We know that another tranche of projects is going … approved. As the Minister of State said, there will be new projects approved in early 2027. The school wants to know what it needs to do to ensure it is on the list for early 2027. If the Minister of State could arrange a meeting with the Department

Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Health to provide an update on the HSE social prescribing programme which helps combat social isolation, if she will outline if this programme is still fully operational in the Dublin Bay North constituency; and if she will make a statement

ground floor east; the number of beds the renovation works on ground floor east planned to deliver; the cost of this project; the value-for-money assessments or reports that may have been carried out; the name of the primary contractor for these works; her views on whether … details of the structural surveys that were carried out prior to the commencement of the works; her further views on whether the project delivered the number of beds promised; if additional inspections and surveys were carried out during and after the process; if so, the reason

Deputy Martin Daly asked the Minister for Health the capital works projects currently ongoing at Roscommon University Hospital; when each of those projects will be completed, in tabular form.; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27168/25

Connell asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the name and details of each of the 50 major projects in the higher education sector receiving Exchequer funding; the name and details of the 65 projects in the FET sector receiving Exchequer funding

Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if he will outline projects underway in counties Cavan and Monaghan that are receiving funding under different schemes with financial support from his Department; if he will also outline other projects that his Department has committed funding

Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if he will outline Peace Plus projects that his Department has committed funding to; the projects underway to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26300/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26651/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26649/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26646/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Transport if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26660/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Finance if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26650/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26656/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26648/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Education and Youth if her Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26647/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26659/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26654/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Social Protection if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26658/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Justice if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26655/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26644/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26645/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Health if her Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26653/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26652/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if his Department currently uses a software programme (details supplied); if so, the version of the programme that is used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26657/25

Deputy William Aird asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development the status of each individual project approved under the town and village renewal scheme in County Laois in 2024, the grant approved for each project, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine will he clarify that the Forestry Programme 2023-2027 and any future programme will not include afforestation on deep peatlands; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25623/25