The Minister is most welcome and I thank him for being here
Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters
Community Development Projects
I thank the Minister for attending the Seanad to hear this important message from the people of Drogheda and south Louth more widely. The Moneymore Townland Community Hub is set to become a vital space for families, children and young people, a safe, secure and purpose-built facility where the community can come together and access essential front-line services, which are currently being provided by the Connect Family Resource Centre and CABLE youth diversion project. However, to make this vision a reality, support is needed to reinstate the community centre investment fund, commonly known as the CCIF, for new community centre builds, allowing the community hub to apply for crucial capital funding.
The project is estimated to cost €6 million in total and the group gratefully received €80,000 for preparatory work, with the community needing to raise €300,000 in matched funding to progress the project. I am going to take part in the first Drogheda 5 km, which is the Easter 5 km on Easter Monday, to help raise funds. I encourage anybody who has not signed up yet to do that. It will be a drop in the ocean but certainly every little bit helps.
The team, under the guidance of Cliodhna Cunningham and Valerie Atherton, has secured land for the hub in Roaches Lane, The Twenties, which is close to the port area northern cross route, PANCR, and has received funding from the Department of Justice for the design and the Department of Rural and Community Development for the planning permission. Having achieved these successes, the team members are now trying to raise the required matched funding before they can apply for the capital grant scheme, now available from the Department of Rural and Community Development.
The hub is planned for north Drogheda, an area going through a massive urban expansion, and will receive a rapidly growing community. There are 7,500 new households in development. The local population, which is currently over 18,000, is expected to rise by an additional 21,000 residents. However, much of this growth is happening in areas facing significant social and economic challenges.
The new community hub will have four anchor tenants: Moneymore Community House; Connect Family Resource Centre; the Foróige CABLE youth diversion project; and the Moneymore after-school project. They are currently all shoehorned into little houses in the community. They are in dire need of this new hub. There is no room for expansion. I worked with these groups for years in my former role as a journalist. They do incredible work providing invaluable services. Their weekly food bank is always well attended and well supported by the community, and they pioneered a local period poverty scheme so no young girl or woman would ever go without. Tina Kearney has been a mammy to thousands of children in the community crèche over the years, giving local parents an important chance to either work or go back to education or training in order to get jobs.
Moneymore estate is home to the existing front-line service. It is classified as one of the most disadvantaged areas in the country. Recent data has identified three additional areas in the north Drogheda area where this hub will be based as falling within deprivation index. While public funding has significantly expanded the front-line service's staffing, securing capital funding for premises remains critical.
The fundraising efforts continue, but timely reinstatement of the CCIF for new community centres is essential. A successful funding application would not just build a much-needed facility, but transform lives, offering families and children in the area a much brighter future.
I thank Senator Comyn for raising this issue. I wish her well with her 5 km on Easter Monday.
We agree on the importance of community centres. They are where we go for community activities, events, social supports such as she referred to, and social interaction. They are home to many of our cultural, sporting and social support clubs. They are also where communities come together in times of difficulty and times of celebration, as we saw around the country during Storm Éowyn.
Over the past four years in particular, my Department has prioritised the development and enhancement of community centres across the country through a new dedicated funding stream for community centres. The community centre investment fund, CCIF, was introduced to respond to the funding needs of community centres in rural and urban areas so that we can continue to support the provision of high-quality and accessible community spaces. Since 2022, the CCIF has provided more than €109 million for the enhancement or refurbishment of existing community centres and the construction of new centres. Under the first fund launched in 2022, over €45 million was committed for improvement and refurbishment works in over 860 existing community centres across Ireland, which included 21 projects in County Louth with funding of over €900,000. I am particularly pleased to note that the majority of these projects are now complete and benefiting communities all over Ireland.
The latest iteration of the community centre investment fund in 2024 also supported the enhancement and refurbishment of community centres. Through that round of funding, more than €33 million has now been approved for more than 770 projects nationwide, including funding of up to €100,000 each that I announced for community centres only last month. A number of successful projects in Louth include the €67,000 for St. Nicholas Gaelic Football Club and €100,000 for the Drogheda Community Services Trust.
The CCIF also supports community groups that are striving to build their own new community centres to service local needs. The 2023 CCIF was opened specifically for applications for this purpose. The 2023 new-build schemes supported communities with shovel-ready projects in greenfield and brownfield sites for the construction of new community centres. Capital grants of between €1 million and €6 million were available to build multifunctional centres in areas that lacked community facilities. Through that iteration of the fund, my Department approved funding of €30 million for the construction of 12 new community centres covering nine counties.
The Moneymore Townland Community Hub was not at a sufficiently advanced stage to be able to apply. However, my Department allocated funding on an exceptional basis, as acknowledged by the Senator, of €80,000 to Louth County Council to facilitate the architectural and engineering services required to bring the project to that shovel-ready stage. The funding was provided in recognition of the need identified in the Drogheda implementation plan. I hope it is bringing the project to the stage where it will be shovel ready for investment.
Our immediate priority is to facilitate the delivery of the 770 projects that have recently been announced, but I am committed to delivering further iterations of the scheme in coming years. This is in line with the commitment in the programme for Government and it has been identified to me as a priority by the Taoiseach for the CCIF to become a permanent rolling fund. Over the coming months, I will give consideration to what the next round of the CCIF will involve and the types of facility that will be targeted. I guarantee that the fund will continue to play a central role in supporting strong and resilient communities.
I thank the Minister for attending and responding. We are at a very advanced stage and the plans are ready to be submitted. I would like to invite the Minister to come down at some stage to see those plans and to see just how vital this will be to the community. I thank the Minister for his further consideration on that.
I would certainly be delighted to take up the Senator's invitation. We had a very good visit in October. I am happy to go back and meet the Moneymore committee. It sounds like a fantastic committee. Once again, I wish the Senator every success on Easter Monday.
I welcome the guests of Deputy Tony McCormack from the Sacred Heart School, Tullamore, County Offaly. We hope you enjoy your visit.
We will suspend for the duration of a vote in the Dáil.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 2.44 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 3 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 2.44 p.m. and resumed at 3 p.m.
Gambling Sector
Prior to the last election, both the Minister of State's party and its coalition partners made firm commitments in their manifestos to increase the betting tax from 2% to 3% and to use this funding for investment in sport. This commitment strangely vanished from the programme for Government with no mention of the betting tax or additional capital investment in sport infrastructure and academies for Irish football. A 1% increase in this levy would have raised approximately €50 million in desperately needed funding for Irish sport. This modest increase is a common-sense move that would help to address the chronic underfunding of Irish sport over recent decades. It would also enable investment in facilities and academies vital for participation and success in sport.
Ireland's betting levy is already the lowest in the EU at 2%, a clear indicator of the privileged position the gambling industry enjoys in Ireland. In contrast, Portugal has a 3.5% betting levy. The revenue is distributed directly to sport. This has generated more than €182 million for the Portuguese football association over a six-year period, accounting for 30% of its annual revenue and enabling investment in every level of football in that country. Ireland is simply not matching this level of investment and is falling further and further behind as a result. If Ireland has the ambition to compete at the same level as Portugal internationally, we have to commit to building a football industry from the grassroots up.
This is not about Irish football receiving State handouts. It is about investing in local and national infrastructure that will deliver long-term benefits for our society, economy and national team. We need to invest in facilities and academies at a community level and ensure the League of Ireland is supported and pushed to achieve its potential. A modest increase in the betting tax is a simple first step towards achieving this goal. Practically the only opponent of this move has been the gambling industry and its army of lobbyists, profiting off the misfortunes of others.
Prior to the election, increasing the betting tax from 2% to 3% had the support of practically every party in the Oireachtas. Once the votes were counted, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael decided to renege on this promise. This has the gambling industry's fingerprints all over it. It is just another example of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael putting corporate interests over communities, families and society at large. I have a specific question for the Minister of State. Why did Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael promise to increase the betting tax for the benefit of sport only to abandon this promise once their hold on power was secured?
I thank the Senator for raising this issue. It is important to note that the use of funds arising from betting duty accrues to the Exchequer and there is no hypothecation or ring-fencing of betting duty receipts to any sport or sporting body. Such funding matters are for the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform to consider as part of the annual Estimates process.
Betting duty is chargeable on all bets placed by a person with a licensed bookmaker at a bookmaker’s registered premises irrespective of the means by which the bet is placed. Licensed remote betting intermediaries are liable for betting intermediary duty on commission charged by them to persons in the State. The rate of duty depends on the type of betting activity and how the bet is placed. The rate of betting duty for bets place with a licensed bookmaker within the State either over the counter or via remote means is 2%. The rate of betting intermediary duty on the commission is 25%. Betting duty is reviewed annually as part of the annual budget process. Options regarding rates are presented to the tax strategy group, TSG, in the TSG general excise paper published on the website of the Department of Finance. Any decision on rates will be taken in the context of budget 2026.
The Senator should be aware that considerable financial support has been provided by the State for the development of football in Ireland, particularly through the 2020-23 memorandum of understanding, MOU, between the Government and the FAI. The MOU provided for a package of funding of €5.8 million per annum to the FAI during that four-year period for football development.
In return, and it is important to recognise this, the FAI has made significant progress regarding governance reform, with 159 of the 163 MOU recommendations and conditions either completed or having phase 1 completed. A new MOU was signed on 17 December 2024, which will increase State funding to the FAI to €6 million per annum for the period 2024 to 2027.
With regard to State support for the development of facilities, more than €100 million in capital funding was allocated to Irish football in the second half of 2024. Under the large-scale sport infrastructure fund, €54.4 million was allocated to football stadia in November 2024 for projects at Finn Harps, Dalymount Park, Sligo Rovers and Wexford Football Club. The programme for Government includes a commitment to exploring new mechanisms for the creation of football academies with the FAI and the League of Ireland. An important piece of work in this context is supported by the additional grant fund of €1 million to the FAI in 2024. This funding will enable the FAI to produce a detailed report on the development of football academies, building on a submission to the Department of sport in autumn 2024. The report will include a deep baseline audit of existing structures and needs, which will inform the development plan.
The Minister of State with responsibility for sport, Deputy McConalogue, will engage with the FAI on this topic further to receiving the report for which the Department has provided funding. That report will be a key input into considering the next steps to be taken, while noting that decisions in this regard are preliminarily a matter for the FAI as an independent sports body.
It seems that the Government has bowed at the altar of the gambling industry, while sport and Irish football have to pick up the tab. I find it hard to take that the discredited and abusive greyhound industry gets €19 million a year, and Irish football and other sports get hardly a fraction of that figure. Governments will talk about sports capital and individual funding projects, as the Minister of State has done, but what is needed is sustained and reliable long-term funding, not once-off payments. That would be helped by increasing the betting levy by 1%.
The Minister of State also mentioned that as it is the Exchequer, there is no ring-fencing of betting levy receipts to any sport or sporting body, but we all know that is not true because the horse and greyhound lobby has got funding that equates to the sums gambled. The Government needs to commit to a new approach to sports funding that places communities, not corporate interests, at the forefront.
I reiterate that the Government is committed to supporting the development of Ireland's sporting ecosystem and the support that continues to be provided for football is a key example of that commitment in action. This is evidenced by the significant funding provided to the FAI, including capital investment for sports infrastructure and funding for training facilities. As I referred to earlier, the programme for Government includes a commitment to exploring new mechanisms for the creation of football academies with the FAI and the League of Ireland. My colleague the Minister of State with responsibility for sport, Deputy McConalogue, will review the report on the development of football academies, which will feed into the development of a future training development plan.
A key point is that betting duty accrues to the Exchequer and, therefore, betting duty receipts are not ring-fenced for any sport or any sporting body. It is acknowledged that there is a regular source of confusion in that from 2001 to 2008, the horse and greyhound racing fund received a guaranteed level of funding each year, which was based on betting duty receipts for the preceding year, subject to a minimum level based on the year 2000 amount. However, in 2009, a policy change was made whereby the annual payments to the fund were no longer automatically calculated by reference to the previous year's betting duty. This policy change was outlined in the budget 2009 summary of budget measures.
I thank the Minister of State.
Dental Services
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Grealish.
I welcome the Minister of State to the Chamber today to answer questions on behalf of the Government. First and foremost, I congratulate him on his appointment. I also congratulate him on Galway’s win over New York at the weekend. Thankfully, he is here today and not in two weeks’ time, when Roscommon and Galway will be playing in the semi-final, or he might not be as accommodating to me.
I also acknowledge the Minister, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, with this Commencement matter, as well as for meeting with me recently with regard to the university hospital in Roscommon and the provision for the rehabilitation unit and for the refurbishment of the radiology unit. I hope that my opinion and the opinions I reflect of the people of Roscommon will be reflected in future planning by her Department.
The issue I raise today is with regard to the lack of available dentists accepting medical cards nationwide. While I was a member of the regional health forum in the west, I raised this issue and the answer I received was not sufficient, considering the number of people nationwide affected by it. The question I asked of the regional health forum was whether the HSE could confirm which dentists in Roscommon were taking medical card patients and what the accepted waiting period for an appointment was. I was referred to the fact that four dentists in County Roscommon are accepting medical card patients. However, the note also stated that some dental practices are advising that they are at capacity and are unable to take new patients. This is leading to these people being referred to dentists in other counties and is adding considerable time to the journeys of those patients.
Many years of neglect transformed what was a poor service into a state of crisis within that sector. We are dealing with an emergency where patients simply cannot be seen or patients have to travel half the length of the country to get another dentist to see them. A total of 810 dentists are signed up to the dental treatment service scheme but, according to the media, only about 600 of those are active. The lack of availability has had a dramatic effect on people’s treatment. It means they cannot access routine treatments and they are presenting very late. They are often in a lot of pain with swelling and, inevitably, teeth are having to be extracted. Dentists, in turn, are frustrated by the limited care they can provide to medical card holders because they are limited on the number of fillings they can provide under the scheme. It is a disincentive to dentists who do not want to have to resort to extractions that that is the only treatment open to them in the end. It would be like patients going to a GP and the only option for treatment they were given was amputation.
We need more dentists and we need to be able to provide more services to patients. The dental treatment scheme should be a demand-led scheme, not a budget-led scheme. Nobody can have good general health if they do not have good oral health. People are paying the price. The most vulnerable, the people who need help from the State the most, are the ones being ignored.
When will the next dental strategy be formulated to ensure we have enough dentists to meet the demand nationally for medical card holders? Can the Minister prioritise this issue for the large number of people affected by this in the Roscommon-Galway constituency, the west of Ireland and nationally?
This is my first day as Minister of State in this Chamber. I thank the Senator for his warm welcome and also for the congratulations on the Galway win. I congratulate him on a great win in London also. It is leading up to a great challenge on Sunday week. I am sure I will see him in Pearse Stadium.
I am taking this debate on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill. I thank the Senator for the opportunity to address the issue of dental services and recruitment of dentists for medical card holders. The dental treatment services scheme, DTSS, provides dental care free of charge to medical card holders aged 16 and over. Services are provided by private dentists and clinical dental technicians who hold a contract with the HSE to operate the DTSS. Services available annually and on demand include an examination, two fillings, emergency extractions and a scale and polish. More complex care, such as dentures, and a broader range of treatments for patients with additional needs and high-risk patients are available subject to the approval of the local HSE principal dental surgeon.
To support contractors to provide care under the scheme, an additional €10 million was made available in budget 2022 to increase the preventative care available and increase the fees paid to contractors for most treatment items by between 40% and 60% from May 2022. The introduction of these measures has improved access to care for patients. In 2024, 227,691 additional treatments were provided nationally under the DTSS, with 44,208 extra patients treated when compared with 2022. The Minister acknowledges, however, that access issues remain and that complete modernisation of care, the service model and, subsequently, contractual arrangements for adult medical card holders is required.
The vision for substantial service reform is set out in the national oral health policy. Budget 2025 allocated €2 million for 2025, increasing to €4 million in 2026, to continue the implementation of the national oral health policy. The investment will also provide an additional 15 HSE dental staff to deliver oral healthcare in the community, including medical card holders. In addition to this, the HSE has sanctioned filling the existing 34.7 whole-time equivalent vacancies in the oral healthcare service and has advised that the recruitment process has commenced. This will further assist the provision of oral healthcare services by HSE dental staff to provide the care it is tasked to provide.
The plan for the first phase of policy implementation, to end in 2027, is being finalised by the Department of Health and the HSE, following targeted consultation in quarter 3 of last year. The policy highlights the need for strategic workforce planning to ensure a sufficient number of appropriately trained oral healthcare professionals, including dentists, dental hygienists, dental nurses and other auxiliary grades. It is heartening to note that, currently, we have more registered dentists in Ireland than ever before - 3,823 as of April 2025, which is an additional 171 registered dentists since April 2024. To increase this number further, the Minister for Health supports the creation of additional capacity in higher education, including in oral healthcare. Substantial modernisation of the service and contractual model, in tandem with increasing workforce capacity, will train and enable more dentists to take contracts to care for medical card holders.
The Senator asked how many dentists are in Roscommon. I will ask the Minister to reply directly to him on that.
Before the Senator replies, I welcome students of Coláiste Ghobnatan from Ballyvourney, County Cork. They are most welcome to the Upper House this afternoon. We hope they enjoy their trip.
I thank the Minister of State for his detailed response. I appreciate this is not his Department. I welcome the fact the HSE has sanctioned the filling of the 34.7 positions and I look forward to those being filled. The year 2027 is still two years away. I will therefore work with the Minister and see whether anything can be fast-tracked with regard to delivering the services in our rural counties. I thank the Minister of State for coming today.
I thank the Senator for raising the issue. I am sure the Minister for Health will be agreeable to meeting with the Senator and to discuss the matter further. As TDs and Senators, parents always come to us regarding the oral hygiene of students, particularly those going to the national schools and secondary schools and those who use medical cards. It is important we can try to progress and move that forward. I am sure that the Minister will be open to discussing this matter further with the Senator.
School Funding
I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, to the House.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit, an Teachta Ó Múineacháin, as teacht chuig an Teach inniu chun an t-ábhar tábhachtach seo a phlé.
As the Minister of State is aware, Scoil Eoin in Ballincollig is the oldest primary school in our rapidly expanding town and can trace its roots back to the establishment of a school on Station Road in 1862. It is a primary school that caters for the educational and developmental needs of boys in our community, and the school's principal and management team work in close co-operation with their counterparts in Scoil Mhuire Girls' National School, which is directly across the road from Scoil Eoin. The National Council for Special Education, NCSE, has long highlighted the lack of special education places available for both primary and secondary school pupils in the greater Ballincollig area, which now has a population exceeding 25,000 people.
One of the unfortunate results of this is that local children often have to travel far from their homes to locations such as Cork city centre, Berrings, Farran, Kerry Pike or Macroom to attend school, often involving long bus or taxi journeys of up to 45 minutes. This is a significant additional burden on top of the difficulties and challenges being faced by these pupils each day. On two occasions, in 2013 and 2017, the school explored the possibility of providing autism spectrum disorder, ASD, classrooms but on both occasions felt it was not in a position to do so due to a lack of accommodation and space. In 2020, the NCSE, through its local special educational needs organiser, SENO, met the school principal and vice principal to discuss the possibility of providing ASD and special education classes. On that occasion, heartened by the positive and supportive stance of the NCSE and the SENO, the school's board of management decided that it did wish to express interest in providing the much-needed ASD classrooms.
In February 2021, the SENO informed school management that three ASD or special classes had been sanctioned by the NCSE. This was confirmed in correspondence from the Department of Education in April 2021. However, in September of the same year, the school received a follow-up email from the Department of Education stating that the Department’s technical team had completed an in-depth review of the site and had, unfortunately, determined it would not be possible to provide the requited accommodation on-site unless vast amounts of existing single-storey accommodation was demolished and replaced with two-storey accommodation. Further, the email stated the Department was not in a position to provide funding for the significant demolition of the school building.
Notwithstanding this setback, the NCSE reiterated its stance. An email dated January 2024 stated that the original sanction for the three autism classes, dated 2 February 2021, still stood due to the demand for the opening of special classes in the Ballincollig area. The knock-and-rebuild proposal remains the only viable option for Scoil Eoin to provide the much-needed ASD classroom spaces for the school and our community. The school has been frustrated by the lack of progress or information from the Department of Education since its meeting with the then Minister for Education in May 2024.
I was delighted, as was the school community, to hear the Minister of State's recent commitment, in response to a question put forward in the Dáil, to engaging with the school, for which the school is very grateful. Will he clarify the Department of Education's position so that Scoil Eoin can plan for its future with the certainty and support it deserves?
I thank the Senator. First, I welcome the students from Ballyvourney, in my constituency of Cork North-West, to the Gallery. I hope they will have a very enjoyable trip around Leinster House and see how things go here. It is always a great day when students come to Leinster House. Sometimes, people remember it forever.
I congratulate Senator Kelleher and wish him well in his role. I thank him for giving me the opportunity to outline in Seanad Éireann the issue related to Scoil Eoin in Ballincollig. To give a brief outline, the NCSE actively encourages expressions of interest from all schools to open special classes. I appreciate and commend the efforts taken by the board of management in expressing its interest. However, it is not always possible to open special classes in every school that expresses an interest. When assessing the needs in the local area, the NCSE identifies schools in the neighbouring vicinity with available special class vacancies or capacity and assesses their capacity with consideration to the demographics and data it has.
The National Council for Special Education acknowledges that circumstances may change, and these schools will remain as potential options for future classes. I compliment the SENO team right across the country, but in County Cork in particular, on the work it has done over the last while. The local SENO team remains available to assist and advise parents of children with special educational needs.
In respect of Scoil Eoin, the Department of Education received an application in 2021 under the additional school accommodation scheme. The application was for funding for the provision of three special education classrooms. The Department of Education's school building technical team carried out an in-depth review of the school site in 2021, as alluded to by the Senator. The review confirmed that the school and site were at maximum capacity and it would not be possible to provide the required accommodation on site unless a vast amount of the existing accommodation were demolished and replaced with two-storey accommodation. Considering all the relevant implications for delivery of the brief of accommodation and the site constraints, the project was not deemed viable.
The Department of Education continues to engage with the NCSE regarding the provision of special classes at primary schools in the Ballincollig area. School building projects in my Department's pipeline will deliver 11 additional and replacement special classrooms at primary school level in Ballincollig this year. While the priority in the first instance will be to use existing available accommodation capacity within Ballincollig, the Department is also engaging with schools on a potential requirement for modular accommodation to meet the near-term needs for special classes.
I spoke in the Dáil and to a number of colleagues on this matter. I will liaise with the school authorities. I have spoken to some of the school leadership on this. I will continue to liaise with them to find a suitable solution because I understand Scoil Eoin is eager to deliver special classes, for which it is to be complimented. I commend the work it is doing. I will endeavour to liaise with the school to see if we can get a resolution.
I thank the Minister of State for his response. I emphasise the importance of direct engagement with the school on the issue of available funding. Much of the school's current accommodation is outdated and not fit for purpose. For example, the building that currently accommodates fourth, fifth and sixth classes does not have a wheelchair-accessible toilet, which has meant these classrooms cannot accommodate the needs of some pupils in the school. Of the school's junior infants intake for the coming 2025-26 school year, a number of pupils have already been diagnosed with autism. Without a suitable alternative plan, these pupils will be taught in mainstream classes without access to a special class and the additional supports it would provide.
The school community is grateful for the Minister of State's recent commitment to engage with them. I ask him to revert at the earliest possible opportunity to clarify the exact position and to help the school to plot a path forward in its funding request for the ASD classrooms it is looking to provide.
There are a number of issues involved, including site constraints and the building itself. Notwithstanding the commitment of the board of management and the school community to additional special classrooms, it is important that we commend anybody who raises a hand looking for these. Not everybody does that. We have to acknowledge that.
This year alone, 53 additional classrooms are being made available in County Cork - 35 at primary and 18 at post-primary. I will continue to liaise with the school authorities to look at the issues, take the report that has come back from the technical team in the Department and work with the school community to try to find a resolution of the issue the Senator raised, but that will be in the long term rather than short term.
Cuireadh an Seanad ar fionraí ar 3.28 p.m. agus cuireadh tús leis arís ar 3.32 p.m.
Sitting suspended at 3.28 p.m. and resumed at 3.32 p.m.