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Under the 2018 round of the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, a total of €124 million was awarded to 33 projects between initial allocations in early 2020 and subsequent top-ups to projects in 2023. Kilkenny Local Authorities Leisure Complex Limited received an allocation of €2.17 million … under LSSIF 2018 between initial allocation and top-up funding. In early 2025, the local authority undertook a value-engineering exercise to address project cost increases. The allocation was subsequently withdrawn after the grantee advised that it could no longer proceed with the project in the absence

were delighted to announce a departmental budget package of €628 million for 2027, including a total of €208 million for the rural development programme. Budget 2027 demonstrates the Government’s ongoing commitment to support communities across the country, including Gaeltacht and island communities. Communities will benefit from … main elements from budget 2027 include the €60 million for the rural regeneration and development fund, RRDF, to support large-scale, ambitious capital projects that can achieve sustainable economic and social development in rural areas. The focus of RRDF is on rural towns and villages with populations

dúshláin mhóra na linne seo. This is a budget that provides substantial support for people at a challenging time. It expands vital public programmes and it invests in Ireland's future with both urgency and ambition. It is a balanced budget. It is a budget that is both … risk of poverty and contribute to our wider target of reducing child poverty, particularly when taken with actions in other areas. The programme for Government that our parties agreed has marked a decisive move towards aiding people on low pay and low incomes, especially people on fixed incomes

businesses on employers PRSI of between €650 and €700 per employee below the new threshold, over the course of a year. The programme for Government committed to changing the tax bands to prevent an increase in the real burden of income tax over time. That is the path … will continue to lower inflation, reduce the cost of doing business and keep more money in people’s pockets. In line with the programme for Government commitment, my Department is also engaging with the European Commission to establish an even more favourable tax treatment for hydrotreated vegetable

later today on its work as well. I meet EirGrid and ESB Networks together every month, specifically on PR 6 and the work programme. In July, I was very pleased to open ESB Networks' new Bracklone 110 kV substation in Laois. That was the first one of those … delivered under the PR 6 programme. There was really good work done. There was also the North-South interconnector, the Moneypoint 400 kV series capacitor and the Letterkenny 100 kV line redevelopment, which are covered under the Critical Infrastructure Act. We saw Moneypoint come through pretty much straight

sends our best wishes. On the Deputy's question, substantial progress has been made in the State-led early learning and childcare capital programme, which was launched at the end of January. The full business cases are being developed for a number of projects in preparation for final … approval, with some of these close to completion now. Projects are developed into full business cases following the approval of a preliminary business case in line with the framework set out in the infrastructure guidelines. The nature and the development of the work required to prepare the full

with the funding provided through the national development plan. The level of investment will ramp up over the lifetime of the Government. The programme was launched earlier this year and has eight objectives, including the delivery of additional supply in suitable locations, cost-effectiveness and timeliness, and supporting … improved public management of the sector. A range of tools have been developed to assess projects’ alignment with the programme objectives, including a forward planning model to analyse early learning and childcare supply and demand. The Department has received project proposals from a number of sources since

Department is committed to ensuring appropriate accommodation is available for all school pupils and will, in the wider context outlined, ensure each school project on the schools building programme is subject to the due diligence required under the infrastructure guidelines. The Department is required to manage the timing … scope and cost of individual projects in order to remain within budgetary parameters for the overall programme. This involves constant review throughout the project life cycle. The Department remains committed to providing ongoing guidance and practical support for the delivery of this project. As I outlined previously, WWETB

part, the Government is committed to improving services and supports for people with dementia. We included specific commitments on dementia in the 2025 programme for Government to improve access to dementia diagnosis and care. We have also committed to improving data on dementia. That is something everyone agrees … plan and deliver high-quality, equitable dementia diagnosis and post-diagnosis support services. In line with a commitment in the programme for Government, last May I announced the establishment of an Irish dementia registry. Full funding has been provided to develop the registry, and I am pleased

Minister summed up the project very well. There was a time when I came into the House seeking to explain the project to people and extoll its virtues. The point the Minister has made is that the case for Luas Finglas has been won. The funding is there … reality is that we have to get on with the job putting the project out to tender and having it built. This will be a transformative project. Only last week, the Land Development Agency purchased a significant piece of land adjacent to that relating to the Luas project

published in December. Following the allocation of each ministerial expenditure ceiling, it is a matter for Ministers to assign funding as appropriate at programme and subhead level for their Departments and for the agencies and bodies under their remit. They must account for the demands for services … spatial strategy for the next 20 years, along with the national development plan, NDP. Each Minister is responsible for deciding on the priority programmes and projects that will be delivered under his or her remit within the NDP and for setting out the timelines for delivery. Since Project

thank Deputy Cooney. Allowing the Government to designate certain projects or programmes as critical infrastructure is the core of the Critical Infrastructure Bill. By establishing a clear legal basis for prioritisation, the legislation will reduce ambiguity and ensure that critical projects and programmes receive focused and co-ordinated … unacceptable delays in our infrastructure approval processes by mandating whole-of-State co-operation and creating a fast-track pathway for critical projects and programmes without skipping any steps in the approval process or weakening safeguards. I have consistently stated in the Oireachtas that the designation process will

however, is how, two years on from that announcement, there has not been an iota of movement in expenditure with regard to the project. We know the project is being led by the local authority. It has recently finished a wonderful project in Kerdiffstown where the old refuse … believe it. It is marvellous. The council has the authority and competency to be able to deliver this project but the Department has asked for more information over and over again and another business case. It talks about gateways 1, 2 and 3 and it has tied

time, on 1 July 2026, Ireland will take on the Presidency of the Council of the EU for the eighth time. The European project was not built for easy times. It was built precisely for moments like this, and it is delivering for Europe and for the people … will chair the Council's work, across all its formations. We will set agendas, build consensus, broker compromise and move forward a legislative programme of enormous breadth and consequence. We will do this in the interests of all 27 member states. That impartiality is precisely what

ahead of Europe Day, on 9 May, to reflect on contemporary historical and future issues facing the European Union and the wider European project. I will address three points in the Chamber today. I will go into a little bit of detail about our upcoming Presidency … that level of protection from the European Union in budgetary purpose for development and humanitarian activity. When you remove funding from development programmes and remove support from humanitarianism, you merely fuel the issues that fall at our doorsteps and into our constituency clinics on a daily basis. This

capital investment has grown from €300 million to €1.4 billion under budget 2026. This sustained investment will support the delivery of key strategic programmes and projects in our cities and regions to deliver the additional water service capacity required for new housing targets, while prioritising public health … resource, Uisce Éireann has invested €2 billion to upgrade the underground water network across the country through the delivery of a leakage reduction programme. It is continuing this work with over €1 billion in further investment up to the end of 2029 to fix leaks and replace pipes

school building projects for Dunboyne junior and senior national schools will deliver a new 24-classroom primary school for the senior school and an eight-classroom extension and refurbishment project for the junior school. Both school projects will also include classrooms for children with additional needs … aware that there have previously been procurement difficulties with this project and that an opportunity was taken to request the design team to do an element of redesign to include in the scope of works decarbonisation measures for both schools, and a fabric upgrade for the primary school

peatland habitats, as well as undermining our vital carbon sinks. The committee has investigated the EU's proposal to eliminate the LIFE programme, the only dedicated fund in Europe for nature restoration and a scheme that has major positive impacts on biodiversity and nature restoration projects across Ireland … this Government. Let us take the removal of the 2:1 spending ratio on public transport to new roads in the programme for Government, for example. Clearly, this is a very regressive move, particularly given the positive steps that had been taken by the previous Government

pillar of the Government’s broader infrastructure acceleration agenda. The need for a Bill to fast track a limited number of strategically important projects through approval processes was identified in a report and action plan published last December. The Bill has been drafted and introduced on a priority … basis. Its primary aim is to allow the Government to designate certain projects or programmes as critical. This then requires all public bodies that may have an authorisation function for these projects or programmes to prioritise consideration of them within their approval processes. In practical terms, this means

section 15 of the Climate Action and Low Carbon Development Act 2015 in specific cases. Simply put, this means now that large infrastructure projects carried out in transport, energy, water and wastewater will no longer have to comply with section 15 of the climate Act. This … prioritise climate concerns while carrying out their functions, so the Critical Infrastructure Bill will exempt transport infrastructure, energy systems and water and wastewater projects from climate obligations. It will disapply climate law from some of the biggest potential sources of long-term emissions and the most emission-intensive

marked the 35th anniversary of LEADER just last weekend. It was introduced by the EU under the then Commissioner Ray MacSharry. The programme has evolved through successive programming periods and in 2007 it was mainstreamed into the Common Agricultural Policy and became a key intervention within Ireland … rural development programme. Since 2007 the total amount of EU and Exchequer funding allocated to LEADER on a national level has been over €876 million. Of this, the local action group in Offaly has received a total allocation of approximately €27.5 million. This total allocation is broken down

school planning area and has an enrolment of 445 pupils. The Department of Education and Youth is delivering a large-scale major project to provide adjoining new permanent accommodation for both Gaelscoil Chluain Dolcáin and another primary school on the same site. Construction on this project is well … area. The Department examined various options for how best to meet this need including the feasibility of expanding the current scale of the project. However, due to the availability of spare classrooms in the current overall school project and the projected falling mainstream demographics at primary level

Within the programme for Government 2025, Securing Ireland's Future, a commitment was specifically made to continue to accelerate social housing regeneration schemes in Dublin. This commitment is reiterated in the new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities. Where local authorities propose the complete redevelopment of flat complexes … making a number of funding channels available to local authorities and approved housing bodies for such regeneration, including the social housing investment programme, the affordable housing fund, the capital advance leasing facility and cost-rental equity loans. For flat complexes proposed for refurbishment and remedial works, my Department

Athenry relief road in County Galway. As Deputy O’Hara is aware, and as outlined in the 2026 regional and local roads programme, the Government is strongly committed to protecting the existing road network. This network is fundamental in connecting people and places across the country. It facilitates … pressures on the regional and local road network mean that the primary focus for capital investment under the regional and local road grant programme is on the maintenance and renewal of the network; the implementation of the strategic regional and local road projects identified for development, subject

Special Committee on the Future of Healthcare Sláintecare Report, published in 2017, was universal GP coverage by year five of implementation; — the 2016 Programme for Government committed to extending free GP care to under 18s, which never happened; — free GP care for children aged under six was rolled … took another eight years before free GP care for children under eight was authorised in 2023; and — the 2025 Programme for Government commits to extending free GP care to children up to at least 12 years; further notes that: — the 2017 Sláintecare Report stated that the current

Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Transport whether the independent review of the National Train Control Centre and Traffic Management System Project is examining the adequacy of Iarnród Éireann's internal technical expertise and project leadership, its reliance on external consultants, the documentation and transfer of existing … network knowledge, the involvement of operational end users, and the governance, oversight and challenge exercised by the National Transport Authority throughout the project. [65423/26

Deputy Peter Roche asked the Minister for Transport for an update on the Claregalway relief road project; the current stage of development of the project; the work completed to date; the next steps required to advance the project; and the anticipated timeline for progression through the remaining planning

Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Education and Youth for an update on the stage 2A review of a school accommodation project at a school (details supplied); if she will include the project for priority consideration in the next tranche of the school building programme; to provide

Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Education and Youth for an update on the stage 2A review of a school accommodation project (details supplied); whether she will include the project for priority consideration in the next tranche of the schools building programme; to provide a clear

Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment to list each project funded or operated by his Department since 2015 in which members of the public participated directly in structured litter monitoring or scientific knowledge production (details supplied); the operator, expenditure, participant number, resulting … dataset or research output and publication location, in tabular form; if there were no such projects, to confirm that position; if the Department cannot determine whether such projects existed, the records and bodies consulted in preparing previous replies and to confirm that position; and if he will make

asked the Minister for Transport the expenditure on the N2 Ardee to Castleblayney road scheme in each year since 2020; the reason the project was suspended; the stages which remain to be completed before the project can proceed to statutory planning; the indicative overall project cost

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Transport the timetable of the 266 high-power recharging hubs announced under the national EV charging programme; the projected commissioning dates for each phase of the programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55922/26

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Transport for the up-to-date status of the N/M20 Cork to Limerick project; to confirm the project phase; the amount spent to date; the 2026 allocation; the projected annual allocations for 2027 and 2028; the expected timeline for planning submission

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Transport whether his Department has assessed the road safety benefits of the N/M20 Cork to Limerick project; including projected reductions in fatal and serious collisions; if his Department will publish the analysis underpinning those projections; and if he will make

Ward asked the Minister for Transport for an update on the Lucan Luas; the amount of money that has been spent on the project to date; to provide a breakdown of these costs; the estimated cost of the project to complete; if a route has been chosen … project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57086/26

Minister for Transport the funding that has been allocated, or is planned to be allocated, for Active Travel, greenway and cycling infrastructure projects in Ballincollig, Cork City, over the next five years; to provide a breakdown of projects that are funded, at design stage or under consideration … current status and expected delivery timeline for each project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59383/26

Moynihan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the methodologies used in cost-benefit analysis for major capital projects; to provide examples of projected versus realised economic benefits in Cork county projects; the lessons learned to improve value for money

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the funding allocated for flood relief projects in County Cork from 2020 to 2026, including projects in Cork north-west prioritised under the CFRAM programme; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation to provide a schedule of all AI related projects funded through the Public Service Innovation Fund and Digital Transformation Fund since 2022, including for each project the sponsoring organisation, funding allocated, funding drawn … down, project objective, implementation status and expected benefits, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55308/26

Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation to provide the current projected timeframe for each flood relief scheme intended to protect settlements in east Cork affected by Storm Babet in October 2023, including the projected dates for completion of design … construction and completion of works; the current stage of each scheme; and the reasons for any delay or change in the previously projected timeframe. [55895/26

Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Youth the number of school building projects that have been completed, by county, since 2020; the funding allocated for same, by county, since 2020; the breakdown of the total number of projects currently under construction, per county; the breakdown … total number of projects currently in planning and design, per county, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54550/26

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of projects that have been approved in principle nationally under the State-led Early Learning and Childcare Capital Programme; the number of persons that remain under assessment, by county and project

Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the current status of a project (details supplied); if she will ensure that this project moves to the next stage at the earliest possible date in view of the urgent need for the project

Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Youth the current status of the major capital project for a school (details supplied); the stage the project has reached under her Department's Capital Appraisal Process; the timeframe within which it is expected to progress to the next … stage; whether it is being considered for inclusion in the next tranche of school building projects advancing to construction; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50939/26

Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to list each funding instrument, PhD programme, fellowship, award, public engagement programme or research infrastructure programme under his Department or Research Ireland, that has supported citizen science, citizen-generated data, public participation

total cost of phase one of the development at The Grove, Castlerea Prison, including all associated planning, construction, consultancy, and related project costs; the total projected cost of phase two of the Grove development, including all associated planning, construction, consultancy, and related project costs; and if he will

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to list each funding instrument, PhD programme, fellowship, award, public engagement programme or research infrastructure programme under his Department or Research Ireland that has supported citizen science, citizen generated data, public participation

Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing; Local Government and Heritage the number of wind energy projects that have received planning permission but have not yet commenced construction; the total generating capacity in MW represented by these projects; the length of time elapsed since permission was granted … each case; to provide a breakdown by county, project size, and stated reasons for delay where available, including grid connection, financing, or regulatory factors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49344/26

Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing; Local Government and Heritage the number of solar energy projects that have received planning permission but have not yet commenced construction; the total generating capacity in MW represented by these projects; the length of time elapsed since permission was granted … each case; and if he will provide a breakdown by county, project size, and stated reasons for delay where available, including grid connection, financing, or regulatory factors; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49347/26

Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of additional childcare places her Department projected would be created nationally and in County Waterford through core funding, capital investment programmes and childcare expansion schemes since 2022; the number actually created to date, according … information available to her Department; if she is satisfied that projected outcomes have been achieved; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49794/26