Mortgage holders are facing interest rates of more than 7%. Some households pay thousands of euro more in interest to the banks and the vulture funds. For more than a year, Sinn Féin has been calling for the introduction of mortgage interest relief to support them. The mortgage interest tax credit the Government introduced is simply not working. Of the 700,000 mortgage holders in the State, fewer than 15,000 households have received the credit. So far, 90% of the money allocated has not been drawn down and hundreds of families have been rejected from receiving the support because their incomes are too low. I spoke to a single mother with two children whose application was rejected by Revenue because her income was too low. Her mortgage costs have risen by €5,500 in the space of a year. The Ministers, Deputies Donohoe and Humphreys, promised that such families would be able to access support through the Department of Social Protection but when this single mother contacted the Department of Social Protection she was told to go to MABS. This is simply unacceptable. Earlier, I asked the Tánaiste where the 50,000 affordable houses were that he promised the electorate four years ago. He was not able to answer that. Maybe he can answer this question. Where is the scheme the two Ministers in the Government promised that nobody can find and which is supposed to help mortgage holders who do not have an income?
Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
As Deputy Doherty knows, budget 2024 introduced a series of cost-of-living measures, including income tax, energy credits, increases in social protection payments as well as an increase in the bank levy to €200 million. It also provided for a mortgage interest relief measure to help some borrowers with the increase in interest rates. That took place. It did not cover every situation but it has provided some relief and the Minister for Finance was very anxious to bring it in.
I also welcome the announcement this week by PTSB that the bank will cut mortgage interest rates for new and existing customers by up to 1.05%. These rate reductions mark the third set of cuts to fixed-rate mortgages at PTSB since last December.
Answer the question.
Markets expect the ECB to cut policy interest rates several times this year, with the first cuts-----
What is the point of me turning up here? What is the point of turning up if the Tánaiste is not going to answer the questions?
Generally, our cost-of-living measures-----
I am asking about the Department of Social Protection.
Let me be clear on something.
What is the point?
I have no power or authority to direct the Taoiseach to give Deputy Doherty, or any other Member for that matter, any particular answer. The question has been posed and the Tánaiste has given an answer and that is the end of it.
I raise again the issue of DEIS plus. The proposal for DEIS plus comes from a number of school principals in Ballymun, Tallaght and Dublin 17 which is in my constituency. They suggest that we need extra trauma-based supports for the most acutely disadvantaged schools in the country. Approximately 100 such schools have been identified nationwide. I know the Government often says to me that not every disadvantaged child goes to a DEIS school, and that is fine and correct. However, these are the most profoundly disadvantaged children in the most profoundly disadvantaged schools. The Minister for Education has said there is an OECD review into the DEIS scheme and she is waiting for that. I would like some commitment from the Tánaiste, as somebody with a background in education, as he has already alluded to. Can we again front-load supports for these most disadvantaged children? They were already disadvantaged before Covid and Covid has had a profound damaging and negative effect on them and their communities. If we could prioritise this as an educational priority, it would mean a great deal to these children and the schools in question.
I thank Deputy Ó Ríordáin. I know of his long-term commitment to this area. I have looked at the north-east area where there is a multidisciplinary team of psychologists, occupational therapists, speech and language across ten primary schools.
Yes, that is the idea.
I am a passionate believer in multidisciplinary teams in education. Things have happened over the past decade which, in my view, have gone against that with regard to progressing disability services. I will speak to the Minister in respect of this, particularly with regard to children who have been subject to significant background trauma. They need a variety of engagements and supports. I will raise the matter with the Minister for Education and revert to Deputy Ó Ríordáin.
Through hanging posters and knocking on doors, we have a very intimate relationship with our electorate as part of our democracy. Over recent weeks, I have watched local election candidates who simply want to hang their posters and knock on doors receive a level of vitriol that I have not witnessed during my time in politics. It is having a chilling effect. In my constituency, I have seen two women, one on my party's team, being threatened with a box blade to take down the posters. Yesterday, a local election candidate was physically abused. I welcome the Ceann Comhairle's report on safe participation in public life, which he launched yesterday. I simply want to ask the Tánaiste whether he is aware of this increasing danger, particularly for those candidates who simply want to knock on doors and engage in the democratic process. It is becoming an increasing threat. I want to know that the Tánaiste is aware of it and there are actions to be followed.
I am very much aware of it. I heard the Ceann Comhairle this morning on "Morning Ireland" very articulately and trenchantly putting the case and saying society as a whole must address this issue in the interests of democracy. Some of the cases we have heard about and read about recently are shocking. The very negative misogynistic focus in particular is a worry and for women who wish to get into politics, it is a significant deterrent in itself. In no way do I want to understate the significance of what Deputy Gannon is saying but we should also say the vast majority of people are courteous, warm and hospitable. I was in Virginia in Cavan last night with Philip Brady. We had a very warm reception and engagement. People may not all agree with what we articulate-----
That is always the case.
I just want to say it because I am passionate about democracy and I do not want people to say we cannot knock on doors. We can. We do need to address it, and collectively the House should look at supports we can provide to public representatives in terms of protection, particularly at their homes.
We are over time, sorry. We cannot go into the detail of it.
What will it take for the Government to recognise that inviting in big tech to set up as many data centres as they want, to use huge amounts of electricity and water, is simply not a sustainable policy? The Government is now being warned by officials in the Department of enterprise that this is not sustainable. Colm McCarthy has said the data centre boom is using up the entire bonus to emission reductions that would otherwise be under way as wind and solar renewables are deployed. The Minister has been warned there will not be enough renewable energy to meet demand from data centres. We have more data centres per capita than anywhere else in the world. We have 82 at present and we will head towards having more than 100. They provide very few jobs and use up one fifth of all our electricity. If we continue to add more and more electricity demand in the form of these data centres, we will not achieve a shift to renewable energy. When will the Government recognise this?
In terms of focusing on just one aspect of this challenge, we should focus on the broader picture. There are two fundamental challenges, digitalisation and decarbonisation, which we must try to reconcile.
Whether we like it or not, data centres are a necessary infrastructure for many of the services we now take for granted, including technological advances such as cloud computing, quantum computing and artificial intelligence, and the rapid growth of the use of Internet services by enterprises, consumers and political parties, by the way, which are increasingly driven by data, data analytics and so on. However, we have to do it within the context of the climate challenge. In terms of the construction of data centres, that means a very strong focus on energy usage, corporate purchase power agreements, on-site renewables, demand flexibility, battery storage and other sustainable solutions to reduce the burden on the grid.
Based on a recommendation of the report of the child maintenance review group, child maintenance payments were due to be disregarded from the means test for social welfare payments from 1 May under the Social Welfare (Liable Relatives and Child Maintenance) Bill 2023. This means that many lone parents on reduced rates of payment will see their payments increase and others will qualify for a payment. However, one of my constituents recently contacted me regarding this and she is still being means tested. On querying this with her local welfare office, the advice was that the office had not received word from the Department to change the payment. This new initiative will benefit over 16,000 lone parents. This change is overdue. Perhaps the Tánaiste can investigate the situation as maintenance is still being involved in the means test.
I thank the Deputy. It is yet another example of the detailed issues he brings. I will follow it up and will talk to the Minister about the status of that recommendation. I will revert to the Deputy.
Going back to Clonmel again, this is a situation with water. We are in a very perilous situation as I said earlier, with outages on a daily or definitely on a weekly basis. Businesses have no certainty and nor do householders. We have a lovely supply in Poulavanogue in rural Clonmel, with rivers supplying from the mountain. Irish Water is hellbent on disconnecting and decommissioning that reservoir. It will not listen to its caretakers. I salute Eugene Dargan and his colleagues and indeed the plumbers who are contracted to make the water repairs. The county council has a role, as do some private contractors. We have a huge problem. Glenary is a wonderful supply but we also have Poulavanogue which supplies the centre of the town. Irish Water will not listen to anyone. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, told me here that he has written to Irish Water. It will not listen to public representatives or business people; it will not talk or engage. The Irish Water people do not know about the system and they cause more interference in the system when they go at it, rather than fixing it. They will not listen to the people who have the knowledge - the council staff, some retired and some existing - who know the situation. We need this resolved. We need Irish Water to listen to the people.
I do not have the specifics of the case the Deputy raised in respect of the water supply issues within Clonmel. I understand Irish Water holds clinics for Deputies and to engage with local public representatives. I will investigate the matter, talk to the Minister and get an update.
On 28 November 2022, Judge Geoffrey Shannon informed survivors of child sexual abuse that he had submitted his report to the board of St. John Ambulance Ireland. In February, I raised the fact that it had been nearly a year since the publication of the damning report but that survivors were still waiting on St. John Ambulance to implement the recommendations. Today, survivors are still waiting for these recommendations to be implemented. It is completely unacceptable that this has been allowed to continue. Survivors have already been through so much. They had to fight to ensure the report was carried out in the first place. Then they had to fight to ensure it was published. It is disgraceful that they now have to fight even further to ensure those recommendations are implemented. The Minister with responsibility for children retains oversight of the report and its implementation so there is a role for Government in this. Will the Government ensure that the recommendations of the Shannon report into the management of historical child sex abuse within St. John Ambulance are implemented?
I will talk to the Minister for children about this very serious issue. I would be somewhat surprised if the recommendations were not being followed through. I will get a report back from the Department of children in respect of this and forward it to the Deputy.
Some 72 people have lost their lives on Irish roads so far this year. That is more than three people every week who have not arrived home safely to their families. This is a crisis. If we were losing three people a week on our rail or bus network, they would be shut down immediately until we had investigated why it was happening. We have a Road Safety Authority that has not shared crash location data for eight years. We had traffic light cameras that were working and we switched them off. We have just two average speed camera systems in operation across the whole country. We have asked gardaí to do half an hour of road safety enforcement every day when at the same time hundreds of citizens have nowhere to upload footage of such violations. The Minister with responsibility is working really hard on this but he has to engage with the Road Safety Authority, An Garda Síochána, two Government Departments, and Transport Infrastructure Ireland. Will the Tánaiste and his colleagues in government please consider the appointment of a road safety commissioner with appropriate resources and powers and a singular focus of saving lives on Irish roads?
I thank the Deputy. I fundamentally agree. We have all been shocked by the recent loss of life on our roads and concerned by the worrying increase in road fatalities after many years of progress in making our roads safer. I have always given great credit to the former Minister, Noel Dempsey, who took on a lot of opposition in the House when he brought in some fundamental measures recommended by the Road Safety Authority, which ultimately led to a substantial decline in road fatalities and injuries. Part of that was the whole drunk driving law phenomenon. People may look surprised but at the time there was a lot of opposition to all that. People are very taken aback post-Covid that there has been an increase in road fatalities and injuries. I would like to understand the Deputy's proposal in terms of a road safety commissioner vis-à-vis the Road Safety Authority and the relationship between the two, before I would commit to it.
The Tánaiste and Deputy Cannon might correspond with each other.
I also raise the issue of St. John Ambulance and the failure to implement the report. Deputy Pringle has laid out the facts. All I would add is that the Government is now funding a safeguarding officer for St. John Ambulance, partly because of the organisation's inability to fund it itself and partly because of the absolute necessity for such a role. When similar concerns about child sexual abuse emerged in respect of Scouting Ireland, the then Minister, Katherine Zappone, cut off its funding until it implemented changes. This funding of the safeguarding officer gives the Government leverage over St. John Ambulance. Along with Deputy Pringle, I think it is time we used this. Many survivors in my constituency have been in touch with me. I support what Deputy Pringle said and implore the Government to use the leverage it has to get this report from Geoffrey Shannon implemented.
The Department is working on this. As the Deputy said, the key recommendation of Judge Dr. Geoffrey Shannon's independent review report on the handling of past complaints of abuse in St. John Ambulance was the appointment of a national safeguarding officer by the St. John Ambulance Ireland organisation. The national safeguarding lead is to work with the organisation for an agreed, specified time to ensure it is fully compliant with the safeguarding regime in operation. The safeguarding officer's role is essential in terms of ensuring a robust review and oversight and governance of child protection and safeguarding.
On 4 January this year, officials from the Department of children met with the commissioner and interim chair of the board of St. John Ambulance Ireland to discuss the November update in respect of implementation of recommendations made by Dr. Shannon in his independent review. During that meeting with Department officials, St. John Ambulance Ireland made the Department aware of the need for financial support in order to fund the post of safeguarding lead. The Minister has made a commitment to assist with the funding of this critical role. Three separate progress reports or response documents were published by the organisation during 2023 in respect of the progress of the implementation of Dr. Shannon's recommendations. These documents were published by St. John Ambulance Ireland in March, July and November 2023. That is just to correct an impression that nothing was done at all in terms of the recommendations. I just want to put that on the record of the House.
When the Tánaiste was Taoiseach in 2022, he gave a commitment that he would phase out long-term leasing. Since then, leases have been signed for 182 social housing units in Cork city. That is at a cost of €3 million per year that the Government is spending, with an average cost of €400,000 for these homes after 25 years. The council and the Government will not own these homes but the developers will have a home plus €400,000. At the end of the 25 years, where are these families to go? This is in the Tánaiste's own city. Millions of euro are being wasted after he committed to phase this out. Is it another false, broken promise by him and the Government? Can he show me where the plan is for these families in 20 years' time?
These developers are getting away scot-free and out the door with hundreds, if not millions, of euro and families will be left with nowhere to go.
I thank the Deputy.
Sinn Féin is all over the place these days. Some 38,000 social homes have been added to the social housing stock, up to Q4 of 2023, since this Government came into office.
I am talking about long-term leasing. Long-term leasing-----
I know. Some 12,000 social homes were delivered. Of these, 8,110 were built in 2023, while, yes, others were leased. Why was this? It was because the Deputy, and others, have come into the House and spoken, rightly, about homelessness and everything else. If we did not lease some of these houses, then we would have more homelessness. The Deputy is talking about 25 years' time. I think the families concerned, however, are happy to be in a social house funded by the State in the interim.
The developers are happy.
It is evidence of us doing everything we possibly can to try to house people-----
To try to give money to the landlords.
-----who are homeless or are in significant difficulties.
I thank the Tánaiste. The time is up.
It is not going away.
We will get more houses built.
I would like to raise the issue of special school places, not just in County Cork but across the country. The Irish Independent earlier this month published a report where it was estimated that hundreds of children are potentially facing a lack of school places this September. I say this being fully cognisant of the fact that in the term of this Government, we have delivered seven new special schools and 1,300 special classes have been sanctioned up to now. Unfortunately, in the report published by the Irish Independent, several principals described on the public record the worst levels of oversubscription in school places that they have seen to date. In Mayfield, in my constituency, St. Killian's school had one or two places available but there have been 25 applications. The list goes on. I ask that the Tánaiste give this matter his utmost attention and-----
I thank the Deputy.
-----that he will liaise with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, to ensure that this September every child with special needs education requirements will be facilitated with a school place.
For 2024, about €2.7 billion is being spent on special education. This will allow for the opening of 400 new special classes and 300 additional special school places. We had a meeting last week of the Cabinet subcommittee on education and special needs education. The Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State with special responsibility for special education, Deputy Naughton, have been very clear that they will meet all the needs and will provide an adequacy of places for all children requiring a place by next September.
All right, I thank the Tánaiste.
That work is under way.
I wish to raise the issue of Garda numbers in Drogheda, Ireland's largest town. It was promised a special focus and increased and bolstered Garda resources following the brutal feud that took place there. There was nothing that the Government was not promising in the aftermath of it. However, an internal Garda submission late last year outlined that regular uniformed policing numbers had been slashed by 21, from 59 down to 38. It was also stated that, on a daily basis, it is now accepted that there will not be a garda on the beat. These were the Garda's own words. On the "Michael Reade Show" on LMFM recently, the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, said that she does not actually accept that there are no gardaí on the beat. In fact, she said that it is absolutely not true to say that there were no gardaí on the beat. Which is it? Is the Minister saying the Garda authorities are not being truthful? Is she saying that they do not know what they are talking about? Is she saying that she has her finger on the pulse and that she knows more than they do in their own district?
I thank the Deputy.
Is it the case that the Government has no intention of bolstering Garda resources in Drogheda as it said it would?
I thank the Deputy. The time is up.
Is it just another broken promise conning people?
Deputy, please, the time is up.
Which is it?
The Government is very committed to expanding Garda numbers all over the country, including in Drogheda. During Covid-19, with the closure of Templemore training college, there was a reduction in the number of gardaí coming through. The most recent Garda recruitment campaign, though, which ran in January and February of this year, has received a very strong response, with over 6,300 people applying to become a garda. This is a significant increase on the 5,000 people who applied last year.
We are down 21 gardaí in Drogheda.
It is great to see so many people wanting to join An Garda Síochána, especially among people aged 35 to 50. We are determined to ensure that An Garda Síochána will grow to 15,000 members.
The question was whether the Government has broken its promise.
That complement will then enable us to increase the numbers of gardaí in towns like Drogheda. That is the commitment. We are going to increase the number of gardaí but we have to recruit them and get them trained first.
I have already sent the Tánaiste the details of this matter and I wish to make the strongest possible case to him for the OPW to purchase a piece of land that is for sale at Carns Hill in County Sligo on which is situated in the Carns Hill west passage tomb, which is one of the three biggest passage tombs in the country and the only one that is not a national monument in State care. At the end of 2021, I stated in this House that that piece of land was for sale and that Sligo County Council and I were asking the OPW to purchase the site. We were asked not to raise this issue publicly as it might inflate prices. Unfortunately, I listened to this request. The OPW was late to the table and the site was sold privately. It is now up for sale again. I am saying that the OPW must buy this site as it is an integral part of the UNESCO World Heritage site application for the passage tombs in County Sligo. This is a golden opportunity and we cannot miss it a second time.
I thank the Deputy.
I am asking the Tánaiste to use his best influence in this regard.
I studied archaeology in my first year in college and I have always had a strong affection for it ever since.
Well, then the Tánaiste will know what I am talking about.
I studied under the late Professor O'Kelly who was involved in Maynooth and discoveries in Lough Gur. I will talk to the OPW.
I thank the Tánaiste.
In fairness, when people say they do not discuss sites publicly, this is meant in good faith because it can inflate prices if somebody thinks the State is going to roll in.
I understand.
It seems very exciting in terms of what the Deputy is suggesting-----
Yes.
-----and I will talk to the OPW about it.
Over the past two years, the waiting list for children's audiology services in CHO 7 at the Russell Centre in Tallaght has been allowed to double. There are now 5,800 children on the waiting list. The response I received from the HSE specifically states that staff vacancies left unfilled due to the HSE recruitment freeze have led to these high numbers. Does the Tánaiste agree that the HSE recruitment freeze is only making the waiting list longer? Does he have any date for when this ban will be lifted? In respect of positions like this, we are talking about vulnerable children in need of audiology services. This issue affects so much of their lives. The waiting list is out of control and this is clearly a problem. Can the Tánaiste look into it?
I do not accept that the current embargo, as it is called, has caused this issue because 28,000 extra people have been recruited into the health service since 2020. One has to wonder why specific healthcare professional categories were not recruited with the same success as other categories have been. I have recently asked for data on audiologists because, as the Deputy knows, there are now significant increases in the number of places in third-level colleges to increase the training places for a whole range of therapists.
I thank the Tánaiste.
I will refer this matter to the Minister for Health, Deputy Donnelly-----
Some children have been waiting for two years.
I accept the Deputy's overall point. It is not good enough. This is a very serious discipline.
I wish to raise the issue of the atrocious state of the rural road network in County Cavan. I know County Cavan is not alone in experiencing this situation. Roads nationwide are in need of investment. Counties like Cavan and Monaghan, however, do not have a rail network and are dependent on the roads. One of the engineers in the county informed me that he had only received sufficient funding to repair 13 km of a network of 1,000 km of local roads. To maintain the roads, 80 km to 100 km of road should be repaired each year so that the network can be addressed every ten years. The roads are disintegrating in places and have gone beyond patching. We need an increase in funding this year immediately and we also need a guarantee of sustained funding over a number of years so the local authorities can invest in staff and in contractors to carry out this work.
I am wondering if this is the same engineer who spoke to Deputies Brendan Smith and Niamh Smyth as well. I take the point. The constituency of Cavan-Monaghan has been very strong in advocating for increased supports in terms of road maintenance. The point has been well made that inflation has eaten into the cost of repairs. We have raised this issue. We are hoping to be able to secure some additional resources to try to help local authorities deal with the issue of the maintenance of rural roads because it is a significant issue.
I wish to raise the rising cost of home insurance. Several people in County Kerry contacted me recently about soaring premiums. This is happening at a time when insurance companies are reporting soaring profits as well.
I accept there is inflation in terms of construction and the cost of replacing damaged properties. However, from what I have seen and the evidence that has been presented to me by people in County Kerry who are renewing their premiums, the rises far outweigh any inflationary pressures that would be on the insurance companies. Can this be addressed by the Government? It is putting undue hardship on householders.
I take the Deputy's point and his concerns in regard to the rising cost of house insurance. The Government has implemented a whole suite of reforms in relation to the insurance industry which is reducing the costs and the scale of rewards. It is time the insurance industry responded with keener pricing and reductions in some of the premia. We also need more competition in the market. Even though I am from Cork, I do not know the specifics of the Kerry market which can sometimes be unique in itself. However, I will revert to the Minister for Finance, particularly the Minister who has responsibility for insurance reform. This is an issue for us. Many reforms have happened and the guidelines have issued yet people do not get a sense that we are getting a consequential reduction in prices. They certainly should not be going up anyway.
The Revenue Commissioners appeared as witnesses before the agriculture committee last week on the subject of the VAT rebate for farmers who are unregistered for VAT. A good deal of progress has been made on this issue. The Revenue Commissioners have committed to having meetings with the stakeholders to produce guidelines as to what is VAT refundable for unregistered farmers. The Tánaiste should use his good offices to ensure this happens as quickly as possible in order that the status quo can be restored as regards the infrastructure items on which VAT can be reclaimed.
I thank Deputy Cahill for raising the issue. I am aware that he has been very focused on raising this issue on a consistent basis and I am glad that progress has been achieved as a result of his advocacy in respect to the VAT rebate question for those in agriculture, and farming in particular. I will again speak to the Minister for Finance to ensure the meetings happen with the Revenue Commissioners and that progress ensues.
I wish to raise the issue of a local community organisation that deals with suicide ideation, addictions and mental health. It is called It's Good 2 Talk. It provides high-quality service and is responsible and accountable for its work. I have it on good authority it recently applied to the HSE for funding to the tune of €40,000 but was flatly refused.
Over a three-year period it professionally provided more than 7,800 hours of psychotherapy and addiction counselling to its clients. Will the Tánaiste please make sure the funding is made available to It's Good 2 Talk because two other organisations of a similar nature have already closed their doors? What is needed is a small amount of funding to give security and continuity to this worthwhile community service that enables better mental health and well-being outcomes for so many people in County Wexford.
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I will talk to the Minister for Health. I obviously do not have the specific details of the individual organisation but psychotherapy, and even the title It's Good 2 Talk, reflects well. I do not know the specifics as to why the HSE was not in a position to fund the organisation this year. However, I will raise the matter with the Minister.