I reiterate that Deputies should stick to their allocated times. If they do not do so, it will have an impact on later speakers.
Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Does the Tánaiste accept that the Government and, indeed, the Government of which he was in charge during the previous term has a serious problem with the waste of public money? Those in government are serial wasters. That is what we are seeing over and over again. The Tánaiste talks about accountability. Name the person who was held accountable for the overspend on the national children's hospital. Name the person who was held accountable for the bike shed, the security hut or the wall that cost and arm and a leg. That is the reality. It just moves on. The question is how could this have happened? This project was initially approved by the Department of public expenditure. I do not know if it was Deputy Donohoe or Michael McGrath who was there at the time. In its annual statement, the Arts Council states:
In July 2021 the project moved to a standing item on the Council’s Plenary Agenda. The Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media have been updated and informed throughout the project.
Does the Tánaiste believe that is a false statement by the board in its annual statement? Does he believe that the Department was informed and that the Minister just did not inform him?
The Deputy is over time.
There is a serious issue here. We cannot go through another RTÉ phase 2. We need all the information and Ministers need to tell us what the Department knew, who knew, whether the Department of public expenditure knew and whether the Department of the Environment knew.
One of the Deputy's colleagues will miss out because he went 20 seconds over his time. It is a minute and a minute.
I have already said that I believe this issue is very serious. I believe we need to get to the bottom of it. I believe people in well-paid positions in public bodies should be expected to deliver and to be cognisant of the public sector spending code. I believe the arts community has been let down.
I also believe that as we have an external review, there are legitimate questions about the level of oversight and engagement between the Department, its officials and the Arts Council. That is clear. It is also clear from a summary of the findings of the initial review. The external review-----
I thank the Tánaiste. I call Deputy Sherlock on behalf of the Labour Party.
When will the Government publish its response to the Dublin city task force report? Last October, the Tánaiste said that the interdepartmental working group would report back before the end of the year and would provide timelines for the plan's recommendations. What is that timeline? Is the Government committed to all ten of the big ideas, as the previous Government was? Recommendation No. 6 called for a move towards a single waste management provider in the city centre via the tender process. The Tánaiste wrote about the desperate need for a change in how we address waste in this city. Last week, it was announced that the only State-run waste management company in the country is about to be sold off by Bord na Móna. We need to know the Government's plans for waste management in this country because it is not clear from the programme for Government. There is a bigger need with regard to the task force for housing-----
I thank the Deputy. I call on the Tánaiste.
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I do not wish her to think that my inability to reply today is in any way disrespectful. I just want to get her an accurate answer. There have been a number of meetings of the interdepartmental group, which is based in the Department of the Taoiseach. I think, from memory, it met as recently as last week. We eagerly await the implementation plan coming to Cabinet. I will get the Deputy a definitive timeline. I am extraordinarily committed to all the major recommendations of that report.
As a Dublin TD, the Deputy will be aware that we have seen a significant increase in Dublin City Council's investment in cleanliness across our capital city. We need to build on that. I will write directly to the Deputy on the issue.
It is truly mind-boggling that the Arts Council could spend nearly €7 million on an IT system and have nothing to show for it. What is worse is that the previous two Governments allowed the council to get away with it. At the outset in 2018, the full cost of the project was not included in the business case. This was a major breach of the public spending code. As the project spiralled out of control, with the budget ballooning from €2.87 million to nearly €7 million, the Department was kept fully informed but no one shouted, "Stop". A review of this fiasco has found that the Arts Council board did not have sufficient expertise to manage the project. Any gaps in expertise are the fault of the Minister who appoints people to the board. As recently as 29 October 2024, a month before the election, former Green Party Minister, Catherine Martin, was making appointments to the board. Why did she not mention anything about this then? Was it because all of her efforts were focused on burying this scandal until after the election?
The new Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, has ordered an external review of governance and culture at the Arts Council, which is a nice way to kick to touch for a while. What about governance and culture in the Government and the Department? When will we see an external review of them and an end to the appalling litany of wasted public money over which the Government has presided?
I thank the Deputy. This is my first time interacting with him so I offer my congratulations on his election. If the Minister had done anything other than what he did yesterday, it would have been irresponsible. Establishing an external review is exactly how to achieve what the Deputy wishes to achieve in terms of clarity in the roles of the Department and the Arts Council, and the timelines and interactions between the two. I am conscious that former Minister, Catherine Martin is no longer a Member of this House. I knew her to be an honourable and diligent colleague.
I welcome the large contingent of members of Independent Ireland from Cork North Central to the Gallery. Mallow swimming pool is closing on 1 March for nine months for upgrades. While that is a welcome decision, it causes a big problem for the community in which I live. Mallow is a large town and many people use the pool. It is important to clubs, schools and older people. For example, the Mallow Swans Swimming Club has 225 members aged seven to 19 who use the pool every day. These young people are learning to swim and training for competitions. Some of them hope to compete as Irish Olympians in the future. The problem now is that the nearest swimming pool is 30 km away. We have a nine-month delay. The pools that are available in Cork are taken up with their own clubs in they city. The only other options are hotel pools. If you go to the hotel pools, the cost of running the club will go from €6,500 to €16,000 per month. Will the Government make additional moneys available to Cork County Council to facilitate these clubs before they close down? They will have no other option but to do so.
I thank the Deputy and welcome his colleagues from Cork North Central to the Dáil. The Government is proud to be in a position to invest significantly more money in sports infrastructure for all the reasons outlined by him, including the importance of health and well-being of our people, and the great progress we are seeing in competing in international events such as the Olympics. I am not across the detail of the Mallow swimming pool but will inquire with the Minister for sport and ask him to write directly to the Deputy.
Lest anyone thinks that Deputy O'Flynn has swapped grouping, he has not; I made a mistake. It is now the turn of the Independent and Parties Technical Group and Deputy Brian Stanley.
They only join us.
The proposed sale of Bord na Móna's recycling and waste management businesses, including the facility at Kyletalesha, Portlaoise, to a private company must be halted. If it goes ahead, it will mean the transfer of a large recycling and waste recovery business, which will go from public ownership into the hands of a private investor. That will create a whole new situation for the workforce and customers. The workforce is supposed to be receiving guarantees but the Tánaiste and I both know that terms and conditions cannot be maintained a year, two years or three years into the future by a private company. The proposed sale is to KWD Recycling, an unlimited company that does not have to publish annual accounts. SIPTU has called for a halt because the sale would be counter to economic and environmental best practice. The workers will be balloted for strike action if the sale goes ahead. I am asking the Tánaiste to intervene and to speak directly with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, who is the sole shareholder on behalf of the public who own it, to intervene and halt the sale of this strategic State asset.
I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I have heard of the concern the issue is causing in his community and in County Offaly.
In County Laois, too.
It is causing concern in Laois and Offaly. I will ask the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, as the Minister with responsibility for this area, to engage directly with the Deputy.
The programme for Government states that a statutory home care scheme will be designed to allow people to stay in their homes for as long as possible. In my home county of Longford, numerous families are struggling to look after family members. Based on medical need, they are being allocated hours but the reality is that there are no staff employed by the HSE to provide the hours. Families are now considering applying for the fair deal scheme to allow for nursing home care for their relatives. That will ultimately cost the State more money. When will see a home care scheme in place to look after those elderly people in Longford and in communities throughout the country?
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue and for his persistent work on the matter on behalf of the people of counties Longford and Westmeath. Last year in Longford and Westmeath, more than 660,000 hours of home help were delivered. That was more than 51,000 hours ahead of target. Funding has been provided for this year to at least maintain that level of service. I am pleased to tell the Deputy that a recruitment campaign is under way in Longford and Westmeath for healthcare support assistants. So often, as the Deputy knows, this is not just a funding issue but a staffing issue.
The Deputy is right. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, who has responsibility for older people, is present. We want to introduce a statutory home care scheme. It is not right that the only statutory scheme in respect of how we care for older people is the nursing home scheme. We need to provide a statutory scheme for people to get care in their homes. That is in the programme for Government and will be progressed by the Minister of State.
Not for the first time, I raise the issue of Irish unity and the necessity for preparatory work. We need a forum to deal with the question of what a new Ireland would look like. I have spoken previously to the Tánaiste about cross-Border issues and he has spoken about the need for a hub to deal with these sorts of issues. Is there any movement in that regard? I have spoken about the taxation issues for remote workers. I recently spoke to the Minister for transport about taxi tour services working cross-Border and hauliers, around whom there is an issue in respect of the derogation for the generation 2, version 2 tachograph retrofit.
A considerable amount of shared island funding has gone into Magee College. I know a parent whose child is doing a healthcare course in that college but cannot get access to the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grant because they are just above the threshold. They tried to get tax relief on accommodation but because the kid in question is going to college in the North, this is an issue. It is an anomaly. We are talking about a shared island and the issue needs to be looked at.
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. This Government is determined to work on an all-island basis on many issues.
It makes sense to do that. I have already been to Belfast and met the First Minister, Deputy First Minister and other political leaders. The programme for Government specifically commits very substantial additional funding to grow shared island projects in the years ahead.
I am pleased the Deputy referred to Magee College. It will be an incredible investment in education and third level education in Derry. The Deputy is right. As we come across these issues and anomalies, which I thank him for raising, we will reflect on them. I am happy to engage on a North-South basis through the ministerial council. I will ask the relevant Ministers to look at the specific questions the Deputy raised.
In the Cork-Kerry region, 2,619 people are waiting for the audiology service appointments and it takes 117 weeks from referral by a GP or health specialist until someone gets an appointment. I am very concerned that there are only 14.2 audiologists working in the region. It is no longer adequate.
There is also a strong link between hearing loss and the early onset of dementia. What action will be taken to deal with this waiting list? Someone who is aged 82 will be 85 by the time they get an appointment. That is the type of problem we face. I ask that immediate action be taken on the matter.
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue of audiology services in Cork. I am informed there are two factors particularly impacting the waiting lists in Cork. One is demand in our ageing population. That is something we should be able to plan for. The second is a specific issue regarding recruitment pressures. The Department of Health and the HSE are working together to remedy this with a new national hearing care plan. The Minister for Health established a working group to develop that last August. It is jointly chaired by the Department of Health and the HSE. Membership of the working group is drawn from relevant stakeholders, including the Irish Society of Hearing Aid Audiologists, the Irish Academy of Audiology and the Department of Social Protection. I will ask the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill to directly link with the Deputy on that work and how we can make progress in Cork.
My question relates to today’s announcement that Avant Money and An Post will join the Government-backed scheme for home energy upgrades. While this is most welcome and people will be able to get their loans upfront and commence their work at the start, I would like the Government to review the fact that often people have to replace their entire heating system and cannot avail of stoves and so on. This is something we need to reflect on to possibly get it included in the scheme. There are many elderly people especially who would not have access to the type of money that would be required to replace the full heating system in some cases. Will this be looked at?
The Deputy made a very good point. We need to reflect on some of this again. Stoves would have been very helpful in many houses during the recent storm. We have to show more flexibility rather than ideology when it comes to delivering these initiatives. We have a climate emergency. We are deadly serious about making progress on it but when people are willing to do their part to help with their homes, we have to meet them halfway. It is a very big upheaval in someone’s home, particularly at an older stage of life, and for them to try to find that sum of money. We have all appreciated the stoves in recent weeks.
I raise Blanchardstown Centre for Independent Living. There are many laudable references to disability services in the programme for Government. In 2018, Blanchardstown Centre for Independent Living provided a home support service for 36 people and in 2024, the number had increased to 150. A total of 33 people availed of its transport services in 2018 but number has increased to 302. In maintenance, 21 people availed of its services in 2018 and in 2024, it was 40 people. In 2018, the HSE provided €72,208 in funding and in 2024, it provided €74,232. There has been a massive increase in the numbers of people availing of the service - in fact, they are being referred by the HSE itself to this service in Dublin 15 – yet there has only been an increase in funding of €2,000 in those six years. This must examined. These people need that service and the centre needs the funding to be able to provide that service.
I congratulate and thank Blanchardstown Centre for Independent Living for the excellent work it is doing, which is demonstrated by what Deputy outlined in the huge increase of the numbers of people using the service as well as the huge increase in the services provided including transport. I take the point about the need for the State to follow that up with an appropriate level of investment. I will ask the Minister of State with responsibility for disability and the Minister for Health to come back to the Deputy directly.
On Tuesday morning last, I was contacted by a very distressed parent. This mother, Tina Barrett has given me permission to raise this issue with the Tánaiste. Tina is the mother of Michael Joseph Barrett, aged five. Michael Joseph has a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder level 2. He had been waiting on an assessment of need list for more than two years, which in itself is a breach of the law. As a result, Tina has to take her child for a private assessment, which she could ill afford. Michael Joseph attends playschool for a number of reduced hours and is doing well. Tina’s next hurdle is to find an appropriate school place for her son for next September. On Tuesday morning, when she contacted me, she was at her wits' end and totally frustrated. She had just received a fifth rejection letter, refusing Michael Joseph a school place for next September. Tina says her son is a person and not a number and is entitled to a school place. Her question to the Tánaiste this afternoon is: will he make sure that her son, Michael Joseph will have an appropriate school place next September?
I thank the Deputy and I thank Tina for raising the case of her son, Michael Joseph. While I am pleased to hear he is doing well in playschool and so on based on what the Deputy said, he rightly used the word “hurdle”. As a mother she has got over one hurdle in the assessment of need and now there is the worry of the next thing. We need to do much better at breaking down silos for people with disabilities, particularly children. It will be an absolute priority in the coming time. With regard to Michael Joseph’s specific situation about his school place, I will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Moynihan who has responsibility for special needs education to link directly with the Deputy’s office and with Tina as well.
The Tánaiste visited Clonmel some months ago when he met with Nora O’Dwyer and Andrea Crowe regarding Dundrum House Hotel and its use as a refuge for hundreds of people from Ukraine. They have been settled in and integrated into the community. Many work in the community. The Tánaiste made commitments that day to get back to them but they have not heard a peep since. Now we understand that this refuge has been changed over to the International Protection Accommodation Service, IPAS. There has been no engagement with the community. I spoke to the engagement team this morning who are expecting an announcement. There is angst, fear and upset because they had worked so hard on integration and the various services for the Ukrainians. They got on very well but now there is change without any engagement. There is a 24-hour vigil at the gate of the hotel. People there are very upset and that is why they continue that. They deserve to be consulted. I thought when we had a change of Minister or the Department, when immigration services went into the Department of Justice, that we might see some change in this situation and I still hope that we will. Money is being wasted. We were talking about money this morning.
Thank you, Deputy. You are in another Member’s time.
People need to be consulted.
I was very grateful to have an opportunity to meet those people in Clonmel. The sincerity of their feelings was very clear to me and I fully accept their bona fides.
A pause needs to be placed by the Department on the situation regarding Ukrainian accommodation. I made this very clear. What I mean is the idea of uprooting children in the middle of the school year is not acceptable. Second, the idea of their having a conversation about the conversion of the Ukrainian facilities into IPAS facilities without having a discussion with the Government is not acceptable. We need to be humane to children and parents during the school year who have fled a war and who have been welcomed into our communities. That is the approach we need to take and I will articulate that at the highest levels in Government.
I am asking that the Tánaiste make himself available to the House to answer questions regarding his party’s investigation into Senator Martin Conway for inappropriate behaviour towards a female staff member. We wrote to the Tánaiste and the Ceann Comhairle requesting that time be set aside and we also raised this at the Business Committee but this has been declined.
We know there was an investigation by Fine Gael but what we do not know is what the Tánaiste knew or when he knew it. We also know that a payment of €10,000 was made -----
These allegations were made yesterday and I addressed them.
----- but we do not know by whom.
The Deputy cannot make an allegation against a Member of either House. It is to protect the Deputy as well as everybody.
It is legitimate.
This is not a playground.
It is not an allegation.
I addressed this yesterday.
I-----
As the Chair, I am asking the Deputy not to make those allegations again. We addressed this yesterday.
It is being dealt with in writing to the Deputy's Whip. The Deputy can withdraw the question, but withdraw the allegations.
I will ask a direct question to the Tánaiste then.
You can withdraw the allegations now, Deputy.
Okay. I withdraw the allegations. Rather than there be allegations or anything like this-----
Now the Deputy's time is up.
-----I would ask the Tánaiste to-----
Deputy Farrell's time is now up and she is in another Member's time. I call the Tánaiste to respond.
------make time next week to speak on this.
I addressed this matter yesterday. I also note what the Ceann Comhairle has said in recent days and very much respect that.
What I want to say, to be helpful to the House, is a disciplinary process will commence. I do not want to say anything that in any way cuts across that or, indeed, impedes on people's privacy and the need to respect the person's privacy in terms of the woman here as well, but I expect the highest standards to be upheld and I expect all of these issues to be considered as part of that process. We are talking about an incident that occurred and was addressed by my party some years prior to my leadership but there is a disciplinary process and I do not want to say anything that cuts across that due process.
The cyberattack cost this State €100 million. That is expected to grow by a further €600 million. It has been reported in the Irish Independent today that 500 people are suing the State in respect of breaches relating to the attack. An incredible 32,000 people had their data stolen. Following the attack, an international criminal gang set up 57 bank accounts in the names of HSE and Tusla staff and fraudulently claimed PUP Covid payments worth up to €183,000 from this State. During that time-----
In relation to criminal investigations, I caution that the Deputy does not jeopardise anything.
During that time, the national cybersecurity agency had a budget of €5 million. In contrast, the Department of the Taoiseach had a public relations budget of €15 million. What is the total estimated cost of the cyberattack to this State?
I will try to get the Deputy some specific information on the cost of that attack to Ireland from an economic point of view. The issue of cybersecurity is taken extraordinarily seriously. The Deputy will note in the programme for Government our plans to relocate cybersecurity to the heart of the Department of Justice, which, I think, is appropriate, and also for the Government to produce a national security strategy for Ireland within the first six months in office and establish a new national security committee. Cyber threats and cyberattacks are very real and pose very real risks to the country and, indeed, to business in the country. We will take this very seriously.
The programme for Government contains a solid and welcome commitment to active travel in the form of cycling and walking. How does this square with the disappointing 2025 active travel funding allocation for the city of Dublin, which the NTA has cut, from an initial allocation of €48 million in 2024 to €39.9 million in 2025? There is a 340 km active travel network coming for Dublin, with 35 km built so far and 80 km in design. Now is not the time to pull back on active travel investment if we want to continue to decarbonise transport and meet emission targets. I ask the Tánaiste to engage with the NTA with a view to restoring that funding so that the programme can continue to deliver for Dubliners.
I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I am aware of his passion in the area of active travel on behalf of his constituents and, indeed, the benefits that it brings in terms of the climate and the capital city.
I have looked into this matter. What I have basically been told is that one of the reasons for the larger budget in 2024 than in 2025 related to a specific scheme called the Fairview to Amiens Street cycle route, which is part of the Clontarf to city centre active travel scheme. That project alone accounted for €20 million of Dublin City Council's 2024 allocation.
However, I take the point that we need to continue to spend more in this area. Dublin City Council has received the highest proportion of sustainable transport funding over the past five years. This continues to be the case in 2025 and I will work with the Deputy to drive it up even further.
A long time ago, the Digital Hub was set up in Dublin. It has been shown over those years to be a hub to attract a lot of small businesses, incubator units, etc., that operate in the digital field. It has also linked in with the community and has quite good links in terms of teaching children and helping children in a deprived area to get to grips with computers and create jobs for them in the future. Over the years, different Governments have said that they were going to close it down, shift it or whatever. The last iteration of that was that it was transferred to the Land Development Agency. Before that, it was to be transferred to Dublin City Council. Where exactly does the Digital Hub lie at this stage? Will it be wound up, will it be transferred away from the Land Development Agency or will it be transferred to Dublin City Council because there is a doubt in the community about it?
I thank the Deputy Ó Snodaigh. I myself visited the Digital Hub in recent years and I am aware of the excellent work it does in the community in the city and the positive impact it has had on job creation over a long number of years. I will get the Deputy an accurate answer to the question as to where its future lies in terms of the various organisations involved and I will ask the relevant Minister to come back to him directly.
Gaelscoil Phádraig in Loughlinstown in my area has had a lot to put up with. School authorities have been waiting 20 years in temporary accommodation to get into their new and permanent location, which is bad enough. From talking to them this week, my colleagues in my office were saying their big problem now is just getting teachers. While they have sanction for additional full-time posts, they cannot get anybody because of the accommodation crisis, etc., but they are prohibited, it appears, from getting on an interim basis substitute teachers or retired teachers to try to fill the gaps while they try and recruit for full-time posts. The Department will not let them do this. That seems lacking basic common sense. They should be allowed fill the gaps in order to provide teachers until they get full-time people who are willing to take on jobs.
I am pleased that Gaelscoil Phádraig is making progress in its building needs but I take the point that a school needs teachers, which is a vital component of any school. I can imagine the stress that it is causing for the principal and others there trying to fill those vacancies. I will ask the Minister, Deputy McEntee, to look directly at the issue the Deputy has raised on behalf of the school in terms of whether there is a temporary solution to allow the hiring of substitutes and retired teachers and she will revert to the Deputy directly.
Last but not least, I call Deputy O'Connor.
I want to ask the Tánaiste about housing data that came out in recent days. It is, to some degree, worrying. Twice in the State's history in the past 15 years, we had two comprehensive national plans - the national economic recovery plan in 2011 and the State's response to Covid - where everything came in under one roof to try to solve the issue. Is this something that could be looked at in the new programme for Government, under the guise of infrastructure or through the Department of the Taoiseach, to try to get responsibility in one area because we know in government that when it is the responsibility of everybody, it is the responsibility of nobody? Is this a way in which this could be fixed or improved upon?
I thank the Deputy for the constructive suggestion. It is what many people right across the country are asking, namely: can we pull everybody together and get all the levers that are necessary to address what is still a housing emergency in Ireland? The new Cabinet committee on housing will meet for the first time under this Government next week, I think, on Monday. We are also committed to publishing a revised Housing for All plan as part of that and we can take that suggestion on board.
The Deputy is correct. Whoever the Minister for housing is and whatever the Department, there are other levers that need to be pulled. The lack of wastewater treatment plants is a real constraint on delivery in rural Ireland and smaller towns. That is an area we want to make progress on.
There are enablers, as the Deputy pointed out, in the delivery of housing. I will certainly discuss the Deputy's suggestion with the Taoiseach.