Parliamentary questions

Artists' Remuneration

Gary Gannon

30. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the plans for the universal basic income pilot scheme for artists after it is due to end in 2025. [17059/24]

Sports Funding

Gary Gannon

45. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if she is aware of the campaign by an organisation (details supplied) and its push for sporting facilities for the young people of the south inner city on the site on Marrowbone Lane. [17058/24]

Sports Facilities

Gary Gannon

46. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if there are plans to upgrade public sports pitches with suitable disability infrastructure to accommodate people of all abilities, allowing community sports clubs to achieve the status of fully inclusive organisations. [17057/24]

School Staff

Gary Gannon

57. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education her current and future actions to tackle the recruitment and retention crisis in primary and secondary schools in the wake of Ireland’s annual teacher conferences which took place recently. [16490/24]

Special Educational Needs

Gary Gannon

65. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education the reason funding for students in special classes for Summer Programmes has been reduced from €60 per student in 2022, to €45 in 2023 and €30 in 2024; and the reasons for and evidence used to inform this 50% cut. [16494/24]

Pupil-Teacher Ratio

Gary Gannon

89. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education how her Department plans to address teacher workload and class sizes following statements from an organisation (details supplied) that our education service is ‘delivering second-class services in a first-world country’. [16492/24]

School Curriculum

Gary Gannon

109. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education to provide an update on considerations regarding potential reforms to the Leaving Certificate, given the concerns raised by teachers at this year's annual teachers conferences. [16491/24]

Special Educational Needs

Gary Gannon

121. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education to explain the adaptation of standardised testing to dictate the assignment of SET hours, which prevents early intervention as testing does not begin until second class. [16495/24]

Homeless Persons Supports

Gary Gannon

124. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education the actions her Department is taking to provide supports for primary school students experiencing homelessness in Dublin's north inner city, where a large percentage of pupils are homeless. [16493/24]

Teacher Training

Gary Gannon

337. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education to outline the work of her Department in relation to attracting prospective students to studying teaching, given Ireland's crippling teacher shortages. [9091/24]

Defence Forces

Gary Gannon

4. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if the training of at least four members of the Israeli Defence Forces by the Irish Military College since 2017 has, in his opinion, compromised Irish neutrality; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13291/24]

Defence Forces

Gary Gannon

10. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence how many legal cases have been taken against the Defence Forces since the beginning of 2024; and if that figure is higher or lower than the same period in 2023. [13287/24]

Defence Forces

Gary Gannon

21. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the purpose of nominating the head of the Irish Defence Forces for election to the position of Chair of the European Union Military Committee; and how much their nomination and subsequent campaign will cost the State. [13289/24]

Defence Forces

Gary Gannon

45. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence if he will instruct the Defence Forces to award the veterans of the Siege of Jadotville with medals to recognise their bravery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13290/24]

Transport Infrastructure Ireland

Gary Gannon

161. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Transport how Transport Infrastructure Ireland's current practice of negotiating with groups and organisations outside of An Bord Pleanála oral hearings, not disclosing any details of subsequent agreements to An Bord Pleanála, and citing non-disclosure agreements as the reason (NDAs), is appropriate in the planning of publicly-funded projects such as MetroLink. [13359/24]

International Relations

Gary Gannon

4. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the reason the Israeli ambassador has not been summoned by his Department after the killing of a person (details supplied) despite the Russian ambassador rightfully being summoned in the wake of another death in Russia; and the reason the same standards are not applied to both. [11135/24]

Middle East

Gary Gannon

7. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if the Government has made a decision on if and when Ireland will support South Africa's case against Israel in the ICJ, which alleges that the latter is committing genocide in Palestine. [11134/24]

Foreign Policy

Gary Gannon

22. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs to provide details on the interactions between the State and the Polisario Front of Western Sahara, and if his Department intends on recognising Western Sahara as a sovereign state. [11133/24]

Student Visas

Gary Gannon

4. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if he and his Department will consider removing the eligibility criteria exclusion of the category of parents of an Irish citizen for SUSI applications in relation to persons with permission to remain under a stamp 4 visa. [9088/24]

Student Accommodation

Gary Gannon

27. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science the way in which he has engaged with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in relation to restrictive 51-week tenancies for the 2024-25 academic year announced by some operators of student accommodation in Dublin. [9090/24]

Third Level Staff

Gary Gannon

35. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science what actions he and his Department are taking to reduce staff-to-student ratios in higher education, given Ireland was decreed to have one of the worst ratios in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. [9089/24]

Fuel Poverty

Gary Gannon

62. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Social Protection for an update on her Department's work on combating energy poverty. [7892/24]

Pension Provisions

Gary Gannon

64. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Social Protection the work that remains in the process of introducing the auto-enrolment pension scheme. [7893/24]

Social Welfare Rates

Gary Gannon

66. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Social Protection her views on whether the domiciliary care allowance payment of €340 per month is sufficient to care for a child with a severe disability that requires full time care and attention. [7889/24]

Poverty Data

Gary Gannon

98. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Social Protection what measures will be taken to respond adequately to the report carried out by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, and presented to the United Nations, which found that the State was failing to address the root causes of poverty through its ''short-term, emergency and temporary measures". [7890/24]

Sports Funding

Gary Gannon

3. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media for an update on the delay and suspension of Sport Ireland funding to an organisation (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6879/24]

Arts Policy

Gary Gannon

26. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if any of her Department's funds will be allocated to opening new spaces for artists and creatives in Dublin; and if so, if she will outline these planned developments. [6876/24]

Middle East

Gary Gannon

35. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media her views on an organisation (details supplied) playing Israel in a EuroBasket qualifier, despite the ongoing genocide committed by Israel in Palestine. [6878/24]

Regeneration Projects

Gary Gannon

154. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the development of the Parnell Square Cultural Quarter; and if he is aware of the decay and degeneration of the currently vacant Ambassador Theatre in Dublin 1. [6880/24]

Special Educational Needs

Gary Gannon

151. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education if there is a role for her Department in providing devices (details supplied) pursuant to Circular 0010/2013. [6835/24]

Special Educational Needs

Gary Gannon

152. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education whether, if a child is in receipt of assistive technology, this technology typically stays with the school; the procedure required for reapplication for such devices where the device does not follow the individual to the next setting, i.e., secondary school or new school; if parents have to provide a new professional report; if individuals automatically qualify and, if so, what this will look like in practice; and if a device does not follow a student, how long on average a student is waiting. [6836/24]

Special Educational Needs

Gary Gannon

68. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education how the contents of her Department’s Circular 0002/2024 provides for additional therapeutic, behavioural and psychological supports for schools, given the current lack thereof, which remains a major barrier to fully inclusive education; and to provide an explanation for the reduction of allocated SET hours for schools around the country. [6343/24]

Education Policy

Gary Gannon

83. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education if she will consider the addition of young carers as a target group for educational supports, such as Tusla’s school completion programme, given the ESRI’s findings that young people who care for a relative are less likely to move on to higher education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6342/24]

National Educational Psychological Service

Gary Gannon

95. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education to outline the work conducted by the National Education Psychological Service (NEPS) in schools in Dublin 1 since November 2023; the number of therapy sessions provided by NEPS by each school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6345/24]

School Facilities

Gary Gannon

102. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education is she and her Department will commit to an enhanced safety audit of schools in vulnerable and high traffic areas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6346/24]

School Staff

Gary Gannon

111. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education the reason Departmental information is regularly communicated to school staff after 5pm, given their right to disconnect; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6344/24]

Departmental Policies

Gary Gannon

230. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Finance the measures he and his Department are taking to ensure that no products from illegal Israeli settlements in Palestine are imported into Ireland; if he and his Department are taking measures to prevent Irish goods being exported to Israeli companies which are complicit in the illegal settlement of Palestinian land; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6204/24]

Business Supports

Gary Gannon

55. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if he has liaised with the Garda Commissioner regarding safety measures for businesses employing members of the migrant community in the city centre following rioting in Dublin. [53624/23]

Foreign Policy

Gary Gannon

24. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he is aware that on 7 January 2024, in an interview with RTÉ radio, that the Taoiseach made explicit mention to the Armenian genocide, and if this reference marks a change of course by Ireland in officially recognising that the Armenian people suffered a genocide during the First World War. [5722/24]

Tax Credits

Gary Gannon

118. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Finance when the rent tax credit of €750 will be paid out to those who have listed the tax credit on their Revenue Commissioner's account on or before 1 January; and the length of time a person will have to wait to receive their payment if they were to list their rent tax credit now or on any given day. [5724/24]

Departmental Expenditure

Gary Gannon

216. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Education the amount the actors/ “edinfluencers” were paid to take part in a campaign (details supplied); and the amount that was spent to promote the campaign in general. [5723/24]

Climate Change Policy

Gary Gannon

142. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications the Government’s plan to develop Ireland’s nationally determined contributions (details supplied); if a consultative and participatory process is to take place, and which stakeholders are proposed to be included. [3725/24]

Departmental Contracts

Gary Gannon

392. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice to list the current top ten earners who are contracted as a case processing panellist in the International Protection Office.
[3721/24]

Departmental Contracts

Gary Gannon

393. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice how many case processing panellists are currently contracted to the International Protection Office.
[3722/24]

Departmental Contracts

Gary Gannon

394. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice how much money a case processing panellist is paid per case in the International Protection Office. [3723/24]

Departmental Schemes

Gary Gannon

589. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development if she and her Department will consider the purchase of Rawlton House, Sherrard Street Lower, Dublin 1, as part of the community recognition fund to be repurposed as a community centre. [3724/24]

Departmental Expenditure

Gary Gannon

27. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs to provide a breakdown of the cost of facilitating Chinese Premier Li Qiang's visit to Ireland earlier this month. [3067/24]

Middle East

Gary Gannon

76. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs at what stage and in which conditions he would deem it appropriate to define Israel's killing of Palestinians as genocide. [3068/24]

Middle East

Gary Gannon

79. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs to outline explicitly his reasons for not being in favour of backing South Africa's case accusing Israel of the genocide of Palestinians in the International Court of Justice. [3069/24]

Foreign Conflicts

Gary Gannon

81. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs if he or his Department is taking part in any form of diplomacy in relation to the conflict in the Red Sea. [3070/24]