Parliamentary questions

School Enrolments

Richard Bruton

256. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Education the school catchment area in which Clonshaugh, Dublin 17, is located; the primary and secondary schools in the catchment area; the nature of each school; if a location such as this directly adjoining and integrated with other urban school catchments can be accommodated in getting access to schools in neighbouring catchments in cases in which they would otherwise be considered as of lower priority. [46972/22]

School Transport

Richard Bruton

271. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Education if she has considered supports for schools that are not in the school transport scheme that seek to organise public transport to the school to improve the safety and sustainability of the journeys made by pupils to the school, which are now threatened by the rising fuel costs of coaches used. [47143/22]

State Examinations

Richard Bruton

275. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Education if she has plans to move the average points awarded in the leaving certificate back to the type of normal distribution which prevailed before Covid; and if so, the way that this will be accomplished. [47271/22]

Covid-19 Pandemic Supports

Richard Bruton

455. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Health if paramedics and firefighters in the Dublin ambulance service qualify for the pandemic bonus payment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46700/22]

School Transport

Richard Bruton

13. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Transport the progress to date with the safe-routes-to-school initiative, the best exemplars which have emerged; and if there shall be a new call for participation. [45647/22]

Electric Vehicles

Richard Bruton

78. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Transport if he has identified the barriers to adoption of electric modes of travel; and if he is developing measures to address them. [45648/22]

Fiscal Policy

Richard Bruton

99. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Finance if he will indicate the relaxed European Union rules that are now available to member states' taxation and public finance ministers in order to assist in confronting the present crisis and if he will indicate the possibilities they open up. [46332/22]

Fiscal Policy

Richard Bruton

150. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Finance the scale of the impact that rising energy prices will have on the balance of international payments in European Union Member States; the implication that this will have on public policy; the strategies that are being debated by the Euro-Group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46331/22]

Grant Payments

Richard Bruton

176. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the grant supports that are available for the installation of solar energy features to a home or to a business, indicating the support with or without battery storage; and if the level of support increases if it is part of a wider energy upgrade. [46492/22]

Tax Reliefs

Richard Bruton

213. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Finance the present tax reliefs that are available to employees and to employers to support remote working; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46498/22]

Housing Policy

Richard Bruton

254. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there are plans to alter the rate at which money is lent by the Housing Finance Agency to the local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46493/22]

Housing Schemes

Richard Bruton

255. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the way that the income threshold for eligibility for housing aid, mobility aid and grants to support the adaptation of a home for a person with a disability are set; when they have last been updated; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46494/22]

Social Welfare Code

Richard Bruton

284. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Social Protection if income of no more than €14,000 earned from renting a room in a home is now excluded from all means tests applied by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46495/22]

Social Welfare Eligibility

Richard Bruton

285. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Social Protection if persons who do not have a social welfare pension can qualify for the household benefit under a means test; when the additional amount allowed over and above the corresponding rate of contributory old age pension was last adjusted; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46496/22]

Home Help Service

Richard Bruton

331. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Health the further work to develop a new national home care support scheme that has been undertaken; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46497/22]

Childcare Services

Richard Bruton

97. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will take fresh initiatives to support the opening of new services in areas where there is a proven lack of adequate supply, confirmed by the local childcare committee. [46133/22]

Childcare Services

Richard Bruton

98. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will consider steps to simplify the registration of childminders delivering service from a home; and if he will consider ways of supporting such provision where there is a shortage of registered childcare services delivering under the various national childcare supports. [46134/22]

Broadband Infrastructure

Richard Bruton

71. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if his Department has developed a vision for the way in which broadband connectivity can transform lives, particularly in Ireland’s regions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45645/22]

Energy Conservation

Richard Bruton

82. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he plans to bring measures forward to make energy-saving easier for people to achieve over the coming year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45646/22]

Renewable Energy Generation

Richard Bruton

160. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the level of current activity in installing small scale solar capacity with battery backup; and if he will consider introducing greater incentives towards this activity as a cost-effective means of supplementing the national generation capacity. [45923/22]

Community Employment Schemes

Richard Bruton

377. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Social Protection if the remuneration for supervisors of community employment schemes has been linked to any grade in the public service; and the progress in negotiations to recognise such people in terms of pay and conditions, and pension rights. [45755/22]

Citizens Information Services

Richard Bruton

383. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Social Protection if she is aware of the possibility of some closures of physical Citizen Information Centres, and her assessment of the impact this may have on those who have weak digital literacy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45848/22]

Post Office Network

Richard Bruton

603. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if a hub service is to be provided through the post-office network for persons who have difficulty with accessing online public services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45644/22]

Enterprise Policy

Richard Bruton

21. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment the work that is underway to develop a circular economy strategy in key sectors. [45050/22]

Energy Prices

Richard Bruton

43. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he has assessed the position of the sectors most-exposed to the surge in energy costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45049/22]

Broadband Infrastructure

Richard Bruton

105. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she will consider commissioning a study on the potential broadband and other infrastructures of the future to transform the quality of life in rural communities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45044/22]

Rural Schemes

Richard Bruton

131. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she has considered the constraints on building community infrastructure and community involvement in the new rapidly developing areas on the fringe of cities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45043/22]

Energy Conservation

Richard Bruton

93. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications if he is considering changing the administration in relation the 80% grant for certain retrofit measures as suggested by the Climate Action Council; if he is considering an extension towards other actions delivering swift energy savings; and if solar panels with battery storage, heat controls or other measures warrant similar levels of support. [44552/22]

Renewable Energy Generation

Richard Bruton

95. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the potential to support battery storage alone in residences, separate from solar generation; if he has received advice on the potential for residential scale wind generation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44645/22]

Energy Policy

Richard Bruton

101. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the way that restrictions on replacement oil or gas boilers as early as 2025 will impact on families that cannot easily switch to a heat pump replacement, which requires a great deal of ancillary works to the home; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44850/22]

Covid-19 Pandemic

Richard Bruton

601. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Health if he has received an update from the HSE on the roll-out of the pandemic bonus payment; and the arrangements in particular that have been made for contract workers [44953/22]

Departmental Schemes

Richard Bruton

111. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the supports which his Department makes available to support the learning of digital skills for adults who do not have any. [43656/22]

Tax Reliefs

Richard Bruton

419. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Finance the amount that a worker can put into a pension savings plan with relief from income tax; the amount which their employer can put in on their behalf with relief from tax on business income; and if this varies with different types of pension plan. [44203/22]

Tax Exemptions

Richard Bruton

420. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Finance the current status of the age exemption limit in the income tax code; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44204/22]

Public Services Provision

Richard Bruton

465. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform if there is a general requirement across the public service that there must be a fallback paper-based option for access to public services for those who are not computer literate. [43653/22]

Housing Schemes

Richard Bruton

506. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the current interest rate charged on a local authority home loan; the way that it is adjusted as European Central Bank-sanctioned interest rates changes; and the equivalent monthly charges per €1,000 borrowed on a 30-year loan. [44205/22]

Housing Schemes

Richard Bruton

507. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the extra charge on a local authority loan to cover mortgage protection; if this is subject to change; and the equivalent monthly charge per €1,000 borrowed on a 30-year loan. [44206/22]

Local Authorities

Richard Bruton

593. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his attention has been drawn to the fact that executive planners and assistant town planners cannot carry increments from previous public service posts, unlike other positions in local government; and if he will indicate whether there are plans to change this arrangement. [43302/22]

Housing Provision

Richard Bruton

674. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the affordable homes developed by the Land Development Agency either on delayed sites contracted the private sector or on its own sites, will be sold with the option to participate in the local authority affordable purchase scheme or the first homes scheme; and if so, the proportion of those offered for sale that will be under these options. [44207/22]

Housing Policy

Richard Bruton

675. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the way that the quota of 10% affordable homes in new private developments will be made available to eligible applicants; the way that prices for this quota shall be set; and if buyers can use the first homes scheme to assist purchase. [44208/22]

Social Welfare Eligibility

Richard Bruton

1189. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Social Protection the eligibility conditions for a person who does not have a social welfare pension to qualify for the household benefit package; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44211/22]

Early Childhood Care and Education

Richard Bruton

1279. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if the core funding scheme applies only to hours not covered by ECCE; and if it applies to hours delivered for children who have completed ECCE. [44209/22]

Further and Higher Education

Richard Bruton

1357. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the supports that his Department makes available to support the learning of digital skills for adults who do not have any. [44037/22]

Residency Permits

Richard Bruton

1434. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Justice if she has considered changing the requirement that the spouse of an Irish citizen has to fulfil Irish residency requirements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43456/22]

Visa Applications

Richard Bruton

1451. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Justice if the wait time for a joint family visa has been lengthened to 12 months; if she has assessed the difficulty that this is causing for some families; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43631/22]

Medical Cards

Richard Bruton

1501. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Health if he will consider extending the free medical card to those over 80 years (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42010/22]

Mental Health Services

Richard Bruton

1755. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Health the progress that has been made to in reduce waiting times in the Children and Adolescent Mental Health Service service in each of the CHO areas; if new approaches are deemed necessary; the progress that has been made to date in the audit of CAMHS following the Maskey Report, the progress of the review being undertaken by the Mental Health Commission; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42933/22]

Medical Cards

Richard Bruton

1786. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Health if he has considered the need to index the means test for the medical card or to make other improvements to assist access-to-need care and appliances for those currently not eligible but who are significantly affected by the rising cost of living. [43024/22]

Dental Services

Richard Bruton

1844. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Health if he will consider a scheme to address the long waiting times for children listed for orthodontic treatment in order that they can access private treatment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43261/22]

Medical Cards

Richard Bruton

2049. Deputy Richard Bruton asked the Minister for Health his plans to increase medical card limits for persons over the age of 70 years or to make it easier for such persons to qualify for medical appliances needed in older age. [44210/22]