I return to the Government's housing tsar and the proposal to pay this individual €430,000. Paying somebody a salary of almost €500,000 to take up the responsibilities of the housing Minister is cracked, to tell the God's honest truth. Most people who jobshare take home half a wage. The Government wants this individual to take home almost €500,000. I do not know if the Taoiseach is on a solo run in respect of this matter. His friends in Fine Gael seem to think he is. I raised the issue with him yesterday and asked him to confirm the salary of €430,000. More importantly, I asked him to justify that salary for people who are struggling hard and many of whom cannot afford housing or rent. He failed to do that. Having had the night to sleep on it, I ask the Taoiseach to come to his senses and put a stop to this.
Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Thank you, Deputy, your time is now up.
If he wishes to pursue it-----
Thank you, Deputy. I ask you to comply.
-----I ask him to set out clearly the salary level and his justification for it.
Deputy McDonald, can you not see the clock or hear me? Thank you.
I dealt comprehensively with that issue earlier. The Deputy chose not to raise it during Leaders' Questions, which is fair enough. The housing activation office has been established. It is in the programme for Government. I made the point yesterday that no decision has been made as to the person who will head up that office. I said that to the Deputy yesterday. I also said to her yesterday that within the public service, there can be secondment. There are people in public service, working in State agencies-----
Are there people earning €430,000? How many?
There are people earning substantially above that. The Deputy knows that well.
How many are there?
Has the Deputy heard of the National Treasury Management Agency, NTMA? It is has been in existence since its establishment in 1989. The Deputy knows that but comes in here and feigns not to. Of course she knows the NTMA has been there for 30 years. No decision has been made to appoint any individual. The Government will decide and the Minister will progress that in the time ahead.
Almost €500,000 on a job share. That is shocking.
I raise with the Taoiseach the ongoing issue of policing levels in our communities. Across the country, we all hear from communities who have immense concerns about the shortage of gardaí on the streets, a lack of community gardaí and problems of low morale within the Garda. In my constituency of Dublin Bay South, this week alone we have seen an appalling incidence of antisocial behaviour and quite serious criminality, with gangs congregating around the City Quay and Pearse Street areas. There is a shortage of Garda resources to deal with such matters.
My colleague Deputy Kelly is attending the Garda Representative Association, GRA, conference today. It is unfortunate that the Minister for Justice, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan, will not be there. Deputy Kelly told me about the stories he heard from gardaí at the conference. They told him about rock-bottom morale, a lack of resourcing and the collapse in the numbers of gardaí. The Government is failing to recruit the numbers of gardaí that are so badly needed-----
Thank you, Deputy Bacik. Taoiseach to respond.
-----to ensure we have visible and effective policing of our streets.
Thank you, Deputy. I call the Taoiseach.
Garda numbers are increasing in terms of the numbers being trained through Templemore. People have commented on the increased number of gardaí on the streets of Dublin. In more recent times, people have commented positively about that. I have been talking to the Minister for Justice and we need to ensure that as people are coming through Templemore, we spread them out across the country. That is the agenda and that is what we are going to do. We are making progress. Covid-19 had a big impact because we lost a vital two years in the context of getting a proper throughput from Templemore. Now the number of applications is high and a great deal of progress is being made. We need to do far more and we will.
Yesterday, the solicitor representing the disabled woman known as Grace released a shocking statement on the Farrelly commission report. Ms Marie-Claire Butler said her "considered and extensive submissions" to the commission were not included or referred to in any way in the report and that she felt the need to bring this to light. Grace is the person at the centre of years of many reports into her neglect and prolonged exposure to risk of abuse in a foster home in County Waterford. She has been tragically failed over and over. She has been at the mercy of years of concealment, deflection and neglect by the HSE and successive Governments. There has been no accountability for any of this. There were already so many questions about the Farrelly commission before this statement was released yesterday. Does the Taoiseach agree that we urgently need to see Ms Farrelly SC and the Minister, Deputy Foley, appear before the Joint Committee on Disability Matters to answer questions on this issue?
The Minister is not responsible for the inquiry or how it was conducted. Let us not try to politicise this. Let us look at the fact that the commission of investigation was established. The statement by the General Solicitor for Minors and Wards of Court is very serious. There are limitations around the Commissions of Investigation Act. I have made the general point that commissions of investigation sometimes do not give the closure or outcomes that people correctly expect, notwithstanding the spending of millions. This is worrying.
The Minister is meeting the General Solicitor for Minors and Wards of Court on behalf of Grace. I will get a report of the outcome of that meeting. We are in very challenging territory because of the legal framework governing the establishment of the commission. A commission is independent. Everything that transpires within it is within the legal framework, including in respect of confidentiality and so forth.
The move to renewable energy should be centred on allowing consumers to benefit from lower electricity prices. That is why, as part of the previous Government, the Green Party legislated to give customers a legal right to dynamic pricing whereby they can benefit from changes to electricity prices and only use electricity at the cheapest rate. That right of consumers to benefit from the low price of renewables is being undermined by the regulator, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, CRU. It has bowed to pressure from electricity suppliers and given them over a year longer to bring in a scheme from which consumers could benefit. When the cost of living is still so high for so many, does the Taoiseach agree with the Climate Change Advisory Council, which stated earlier that the Government and regulator must ensure that electricity suppliers offer customers price plans that allow them to save money? Will he ask the Minister to engage with CRU and make it clear that the regulator needs to protect consumer rights over the profits of suppliers?
The fundamental review of the regulatory framework governing energy prices did not happen. The Deputy knows that as well as I do. It relates to the user pays principles, be that user a commercial entity or a household. On investment in the grid, price review 5 fell on the user of energy. The Minister has established a group to look at the regulatory framework. There will be enormous investment in the grid. In the time ahead, we will need to more than double what was invested over the past five years. If we want to achieve what the Deputy suggests on a sustainable basis, it will require an amendment to the regulatory framework. That is how I see it. That will take some time to bring about, but it is an issue we must deal with because Ireland has high energy prices and is likely to continue to have them, given the level of investment that will have to be made in respect of the grid.
Representatives of the national Meals on Wheels programme are across the way in Buswell's Hotel. They are looking for more funding. Some 2.8 million meals were provided in 2024. There were 228,000 users of the service.
When the service provides a meal and delivers it to someone, the cost of the meal is €7, and the service charges the person €7. The service does not have funding for the running cost of its vehicles. If anyone goes to any restaurant anywhere, even to get a sandwich, it costs a serious amount. We have people delivering a valuable service, meeting people in their own homes twice a week every week and giving them good nourishing meals, but they are underfunded. We need something to enable them to get extra funding, deliver more services and not do it at a loss.
The Meals on Wheels service is outstanding for a number of reasons in terms of the food and nutrition made available and the contact and engagement in the neighbourhood or community. The Minister of State, Mary Butler, has done exceptional work in substantially increasing the funding to Meals on Wheels. The funding allocation for the service has increased by close to 80% in the past three years. It is difficult to think of any other service where there has been an increase of that scale. Back in 2022, it was €3.5 million but it has gone up 80% since then.
The number of users has gone up.
The amount of users and also the costs I accept have gone up, but 80% is a fairly significant increase. The programme for Government commits to further increased funding for the national Meals on Wheels network and to developing a plan to ensure that we support providers in every town in the country. Then, €10 million was made available in capital funding for community capital funding initiatives.
The Land Development Agency claims it is committed to meeting the need for affordable homes for purchase and rent across the country. In Dundalk, we have had no workable affordable housing scheme available to the people of Louth as yet. We have three sites identified at which the LDA says it can build up to 1,000 homes. To date, we have seen no real action on making this a reality. Dundalk is a thriving town and a home of very important economic growth for the country. Housing is key to unlocking more growth in the area. I want the Government to make Dundalk and towns like Dundalk a priority by ensuring that they have affordable housing schemes.
If the Deputy is saying the LDA has identified the sites, I will talk to the LDA about where current plans and progress are in terms of advancing housing on those particular sites. The whole idea of the housing activation office is, if there are issues with the sites in terms of water, grid or whatever, to unblock those at a local level. I will certainly pursue that. Existing cities and towns are the obvious places where we can make progress.
Serious questions surround an IPAS contract recently signed with Dundrum House Hotel, putting 277 IPAS applicants into a village with a population of only 200. There are four real concerns. First, there are ownership disputes currently before the High Court. Second, the contract was signed with a company that was only incorporated in January this year and has no Irish shareholders or directors. Third, the section 5 is currently the subject of judicial review. Fourth, the site is under investigation by Tipperary County Council for significant unauthorised development. In my view, the process is completely flawed. There is a lack of transparency and, apparently, due diligence. The programme for Government is clear that we need to reduce the number of hotels providing IPAS accommodation. I want to speak on behalf of the people of Dundrum and of the taxpayer. I know the Minister for Justice is taking responsibility tomorrow. Will the Taoiseach ask him to review this contract urgently, please?
My understanding is a lot of work happened during the time of the last Government. It would have been, I think, the Department of children at the time. I will ask the Minister for Justice to examine the issues the Deputy has raised. I presume he or other people have written to the Minister.
Yes, and to the PAC.
If the Deputy is suggesting there are irregularities or whatever, I am not familiar with those and I cannot comment on that. I will raise the issue with the Minister.
I do not normally talk about my personal life in the House but today I will. I am one of over 10,000 people in this country with multiple sclerosis, MS. I was diagnosed with MS 18 years ago. The past two years have probably been the most challenging of those 18 years but right now I am probably in the best physical and mental condition I have been in for a long time. I have been critical in the past of how to get into the system for treatment but I want to commend the neurology team in Tallaght hospital on the record because, once I managed to get into the system, their care was excellent.
The reason I am speaking about this today is that tomorrow begins MS awareness month. I will do 150 km throughout May for MS Ireland to raise awareness and support for people like me living with MS. Will the Government complete the national roll-out of community neurorehabilitation teams as committed to in the programme for Government?
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue in the frank and honest way he did. I wish him personally the very best as he responds to the condition of MS. It is very important that we create national awareness around this issue and related conditions. Is it 150 km the Deputy is going to do?
Yes.
That is fair going. The best of luck on that. I will talk to the Minister for Health. I think it is her ambition to complete all the neurorehabilitation units. This is very important. Neurology has been a challenging area for quite a while in terms of neurologists. We have made a lot of progress in the past couple of years compared to where we were. Neurology and neurological conditions cover a wide spectrum. We are learning an awful lot more about it. The greater awareness and the greater funding we can allocate to the research, the better the outcomes will be.
Regarding Irish tourism, I am concerned about the figures that have come out for March. The number of inbound travellers is down and I would like to know what plan is in place to reverse this downward trend. The programme for Government clearly states a commitment to growing the tourism industry and I ask for strong action to support this growth. It is imperative that, as a Government, we continue to develop the offering of Ireland as an international tourism destination.
Last week, an individual went on worldwide media and claimed many things, including a ridiculous and untrue statement that County Wexford had no hotel beds available. This type of misinformation is damaging to our tourism industry and, in turn, could impact employment. I have no interest in this individual but my concern is the vast audience he is speaking to. I would like to put on the record that County Wexford has 1,000 hotel bedrooms available nightly and Wexford is open for business.
Wexford has always been open for business and has many high-quality hotels across the spectrum of accommodation. One of the great marketing steals of the century was the "sunny south east" logo, if I can call it a steal. It has stuck.
It is interesting. There seems to be some dispute between the industry and the CSO, which is unusual, in terms of the figures. Nonetheless, the Government has transferred tourism from the parent Department it was in and moved it into enterprise to perhaps have a greater coherence and complementarity in terms of the business end of it and also to try to create additional resources at an administrative level in terms of tourism policy. Fáilte Ireland is there and so on, so it has been a success story for quite a long time. We have to drill down into the figures and understand what is happening in the industry, and then respond with appropriate measures.
Kilkenny is also open for business. Last year, we got great news in the sunny south east region with the announcement of a new veterinary medicine programme to be established in the campus of Kildalton agricultural college in Piltown, County Kilkenny, a venue the Taoiseach visited with me last year. It brings with it a multimillion euro capital expenditure for Kildalton, which will be a huge boost to south Kilkenny, including Kilkenny's agri and education sectors, and a game-changer for veterinary students who no longer have to leave the region, and in many cases their country, to study veterinary medicine. There is a large shortage of qualified vets for farm animals and pets and a high demand for existing veterinary courses. As a Government, we need to prioritise the acceleration of accreditation by the Veterinary Council of Ireland through the inclusion of the new programme in the CAO listing in the 2025-26 year to provide for an annual intake of 40 students, commencing in September of next year.
Absolutely. It was a very impactful visit, if I say so myself, and very worthwhile.
Fantastic work is going on at Kildalton college. As the Deputy knows, Kildalton college will split the delivery of the programme with the Waterford campus of South East Technological University. Its engagement with the Veterinary Council of Ireland is currently ongoing in regard to the professional accreditation of these new programmes. This is a very significant programme for the south east region and nationally. There is a demand for veterinary places and many students are travelling abroad to study these courses. We want to get this up and running. There are issues around regulatory and curricular approval, staffing, equipment and lab facilities. All of them have to be open, so there is a tight timeline. I can assure the Deputy that I will speak to the Minister for higher education with a view to progressing this as quickly and effectively as possible.
I respectfully ask the Taoiseach to look at the decision to stop elderly people from getting a grant to replace a stove, range or oil burner that has broken down. Since 1 December last, this grant has no longer been available to elderly people, the people who worked to put this country on its feet through the decades of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. These people are being denied a grant. Councillor Johnny Healy-Rae, a councillor of 14 years' standing, raised this at Kerry County Council last week and he was told the Department had stopped this grant since 1 December 2024. I am asking the Taoiseach respectfully to restore that grant to these people. What difference is it going to make to have a little fire?
Thank you, Deputy. You have asked the question of the Taoiseach.
What difference is that going to make to the climate, when we have bombs going off all around us in Gaza and Ukraine, and satellites and vehicles going to the moon?
I ask you to be fair to your colleagues.
I am sorry but I am very exercised about this. We have planes in the sky and all kinds of emissions but we want to stop little old people from having a fire to heat themselves.
Deputy, you have taken almost double your time. Be fair to your colleagues.
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I understand from a certain perspective why the Deputy is concerned about it. My understanding is that it stems from an EU directive in respect of grants for fossil fuels essentially, for installations that have a fossil fuel dimension. However, I will examine it. I understand there is some leeway in terms of purchasing second-hand boilers and so forth, but that is not responding to the totality of what the Deputy has said. I will have it examined to see what can be done, if anything can be done, but there is an EU directive, which governs all of this.
In December 2015, Aoife Winterlich, who was 14 years of age, went on a trip organised by Scouting Ireland. They went to Hook Head, where there was no assessment of the risks although it was a very stormy day. There was no guidance, no warning and nobody watching. Aoife was swept out to sea and died. It took eight years and the bringing of a court case for Scouting Ireland to finally acknowledge liability in this circumstance, but the scouts have failed to offer an apology for their failure in their duty of care to Anne Winterlich’s daughter. They have offered an apology for the tragic loss of her daughter but not for their role in the tragic loss of her daughter. I have been in correspondence with the scouts on this. The last response I have says that they want to confirm that an apology has already been offered, which it has not been, and, therefore, they do not anticipate further correspondence. Will the Taoiseach will join me in asking the scouts to apologise and does he agree that we need to have an independent investigation into the circumstances of the death?
It is a very sad and shocking situation for the family of Aoife Winterlich. I believe a full and comprehensive apology should be given in respect of this. My understanding is that this has been in the courts as well.
They have acknowledged that.
There would have been a full assessment of this during the court process. In my view, when something like this happens, the response should be fulsome and it should be without conditions.
We know that domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is an epidemic in this country. The research bears this out, the reports from the Garda bear it out and I have no doubt that we have all listened to the experiences of constituents. It is still a great taboo in this country. It is not spoken about openly but it is something we urgently need to address. My colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, made great strides in this area in her previous role as Minister for Justice and we need to continue that work. Does the Taoiseach agree that the Government needs to continue the Minister's work, urgently deliver on the programme for Government commitments to appoint specialised judges for domestic, sexual and gender-based violence and deliver enhanced training for gardaí and those working in the DPP’s office so that we can better support victims? The Taoiseach might give me an update on this work and a timeline to deliver on these commitments.
Very significant work was undertaken by the last Government and the Minister, Deputy McEntee, in respect of gender-based violence. Indeed, I would have launched the first strategy as Taoiseach with the Minister, Deputy McEntee. The Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, is absolutely committed to continuing to progress this agenda in government. The programme for Government is very clear in respect of the prioritisation of this issue, particularly in terms of refuge services and centres, which I think we need to accelerate progress on.
Before the general election, the Department of Finance was in the process of drafting legislation to wind down IBRC and a discussion was held at the finance committee regarding the Butler family, who had difficulties with their particular loan and circumstances. I note that the draft legislation suggests that the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman, and the complaints that that office has, will be transferred to a resolution office. Will the Taoiseach ensure that the outstanding cases before the FSPO or the Central Bank are included for consideration before the IBRC special liquidator is wound down? It is essential that those who are claiming fraud and misconduct are heard and the Central Bank is aware of that particular case.
I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Perhaps he can send me a note on it. I presume the Minister for Finance is aware of the case. I will speak to the Minister for Finance in respect of the content of the Bill and in terms of the inclusion in the resolution office of all outstanding issues to which the Deputy has alluded.
Yesterday, the Taoiseach made a statement in the Dáil that he could not understand, regarding the €20 million that Cork City Council got for the tenant in situ scheme, where it was gone. I have a report that the chief executive gave to Cork City Council last night at a special meeting called by Sinn Féin. It got unanimous support to write to the Minister for housing to give the money for the 33 families who were sale agreed but are now facing homelessness. Deputy Martin is a Cork Taoiseach. I know a lady in Gurranabraher, Annette Hawkins, who has to be out of the house next week. She has been living in the house for 21 years and she is going to be at risk of homelessness next week. Jason Cashman, who the office of the Taoiseach is dealing with, is another person who was sale agreed. There are 33 families. The council wants to buy the houses, the landlords want to sell it the houses and the people want to stay there. The only people blocking this are those in the Government. Will the Taoiseach commit to Annette, Jason and the other 31 families that that funding will be given to Cork City Council to save them from homelessness?
First of all, I never used the phrase "where it was gone". I never used that phrase.
Sorry. The Taoiseach did not understand.
Deputy, please.
I made the point that it was now April, €20 million had been allocated to Cork City Council and the city council was saying the €20 million was all gone. My view is that there have been issues around the operation of the tenant in situ scheme nationally and they have to be dealt with. Fundamentally, we have to target it at those who are in danger of homelessness because of eviction, an owner selling the house or whatever.
Those 33 families-----
Deputy, please.
There is an issue here and it is not just in Cork. The scheme was brought in in 2023 and it has been very successful and very effective.
We want to continue to ensure it is effective.
Can we get a commitment for those 33 families? They are watching the telly now.
The driving test situation is appalling. There are 81,000 people on a waiting list. Many of them are in my county of Tipperary. There is only one tester in the town of Clonmel, which is a large town with a huge hinterland. This is causing enormous strain for families who now have to accompany drivers with L plates. Those drivers cannot get apprenticeships. I know many young people who have got jobs but must have a licence. There is one tester. We were told last year that 75 new testers were being appointed. I want to know where they are. I want more appointed in rural areas because we do not have the DART, Luas or other forms of public transport. People are hindered. The RSA has made a pure hames of this. It should be taken out of the hands of the RSA, which should just look after road safety and not driver testing or the issuing of licences. It is in it for the money, I think. It is miserable to have one tester in a town the size of Clonmel. People are doing their lessons, paying that expense and doing their best to get on the road to get to work, college and everything else, but there is no light at the end of the tunnel.
The Deputy raised a very legitimate issue in terms of the testing backlog, which has been there for quite some time. I will speak to the Minister again in terms of talking to the Road Safety Authority. Decisions have been taken on reform of the driver testing aspect and responsibility for that. I will talk to the Minister again, given the urgency of this.
We are set to see the roll-out of the free HRT programme on 1 June. I commend the work of the Government on trying to progress this. However, I must represent the significant concerns raised with me about the feasibility of the implementation of the programme as it currently stands. Independent pharmacies are not seeking to profit from implementing this programme, but the Taoiseach must admit that they should be able to break even when doing so. The Irish Pharmacy Union has published independent research that suggests that €6.50 is the appropriate service fee that should be available to pharmacists when implementing this programme. As it currently stands, the fee is set to be €5. Will the Taoiseach commit to listening to independent pharmacies and review a programme that, potentially, will not be implementable, according to many pharmacists?
We come to the House and we talk about value for money for taxpayers and everything else. I respect the IPU. It has a job to do, which is to advocate for pharmacists, but just because it says a certain figure, do we all just say that is the figure?
I have it. I have the breakdown of it.
I know all of that.
It is a loss.
The HRT product was offered free to people. The IPU said it wanted a dispensing fee. There has always been a dispensing fee for other medicines and so on. It falls to negotiation between the Minister for Health and the IPU. The Minister for Health has offered €5, plus €1,000 for signing up. In my view, it is not a bad deal at all.
The Department of Health said it was €6.50.
If we are going to arbitrate every negotiation in the House, it will be no basis for negotiating with professional bodies or businesses and so on. Pharmacies have a key role to play. We need to roll out the service for women. I have concerns about how this is being arbitrated.