Mary Lou McDonald
Ceist:9. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the rational reform programme for the European semester recently published by his Department. [22486/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 13 June 2023
Ceisteanna (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
Ivana Bacik
Ceist:10. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the national reform programme for the European semester recently published by his Department. [25767/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Cian O'Callaghan
Ceist:11. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the national reform programme for the European semester recently published by his Department. [25961/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Rose Conway-Walsh
Ceist:12. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the national reform programme for the European semester, recently published by his Department. [25965/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Neasa Hourigan
Ceist:13. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the national reform programme for the European semester. [25951/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Richard Boyd Barrett
Ceist:14. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the national reform programme for the European semester recently published by his Department. [26164/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Paul Murphy
Ceist:15. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the national reform programme for the European semester recently published by his Department. [26167/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Brendan Smith
Ceist:16. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the national reform programme for the European semester recently published by his Department. [26402/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Christopher O'Sullivan
Ceist:17. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the national reform programme for the European semester recently published by his Department. [28079/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Joe Flaherty
Ceist:18. Deputy Joe Flaherty asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the national reform programme for the European semester recently published by his Department. [28110/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraRose Conway-Walsh
Ceist:19. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the national reform programme for the European semester recently published by his Department. [28361/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (12 píosaí cainte)
I propose to take Questions Nos. 9 to 19, inclusive, together.
Ireland submitted its national reform programme, NRP, for 2023 to the European Commission on 4 May. The NRP was also laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas. The NRP is an element of the European semester, the annual cycle of economic and social policy co-ordination among EU member states. As part of the semester, Ireland, along with all other member states, is required to prepare and submit an NRP to the European Commission each year. The NRP provides an overview of economic reforms and policy actions under way in Ireland, including responses to country-specific recommendations received from the Commission. Since 2022, the NRP also reports on implementation of the recovery and resilience facility.
Challenges outlined in Ireland's NRP for 2023 include: housing; climate action and the environment; encouraging participation in the labour market; promoting balanced, fair and inclusive development; and planning for the future and long-term fiscal sustainability. Development of the NRP was co-ordinated by the Department of the Taoiseach, with input from relevant Departments and agencies, drawing on Government strategies such as the national development plan, Project Ireland 2040, Housing for All and the climate action plan. During the programme's preparation, stakeholders were invited to make submissions on the main challenges to be included.
The Taoiseach stated at the national economic dialogue yesterday that shovel-ready projects need to be started now and cited the lack of capacity to spend the money available for capital projects. The western rail corridor is a shovel-ready project. I was really glad to hear the Taoiseach say that, but, yet again, there are only vague commitments to increasing regional connectivity in the NRP. The Taoiseach mentioned the five "d's" in his speech yesterday. There were four originally, and then one was added a bit later on. The first two were related to demographics. Since the rail line to which the project in question was closed in the 1970s, the population of Connacht and of the towns located along its length have increased by 220%. In terms of decarbonisation, transport is the only sector in Europe that is experiencing net increases in emissions. We have significant opportunities for growth potential in the green economy along the western seaboard if only we had the necessary infrastructure. The western rail corridor has become a byword for regional development and investment in the west.
What I am really concerned about - maybe the Taoiseach can clear this up - is that there are mixed messages coming from the Government. The relevant Green Party Minister is going to the west and making declarations that part of the line to Sligo could be used for something else. It is important that the Taoiseach stand over his words that shovel-ready projects that can be started immediately are commenced and that we fulfil all of the "d's" that were outlined as priorities yesterday.
On reform, I want to ask about a 2008 report from the Law Reform Commission. The report in question took the form of a consultation paper and it contains a number of recommendations in respect of expert witnesses. In 2016, a report was published by the commission in which it reiterated the need for reform and clarity in the use of expert witnesses. There is serious concern about the role of expert witnesses in cases where children who allege abuse are moved into the custody of their alleged abusers. Surely the time has long since passed for the recommendations of the Law Reform Commission on expert witnesses to be implemented. When will they be implemented?
The NRP acknowledges the problems with assessments of need but has less to say, when one has obtained an assessment, about the resources that are made available. I will give the Taoiseach an example. The case involving Theo, who is 13, and his parents, is quite urgent. Theo has severe autism and intellectual disability. He is in residential care but he has not been in a school environment for a year now. Since 2019, when he was in school, Theo was being sent home because the school did not have the resources to provide for his needs. The educational welfare officer and the special educational needs organiser, SENO, have said that they can find no placement for him at all. He has nowhere to go to school. All that is being offered is home tuition, which means he would be robbed of the opportunity to interact socially. His parents do not want that for him, but he is being told there is nothing else. Essentially, that is robbing Theo, a young man, of the possibility of socialisation and a proper education, which he is entitled to. That is unacceptable. I ask the Taoiseach to look into the case. Indeed, it is not only about Theo, as nobody should be put in a position whereby he or she cannot have the education he or she is entitled to.
The NRP deals with climate action and the environment. I want to ask the Taoiseach what would it take for this Government to reverse its disastrous course on data centres and reject the policy of consciously seeking to attract what is the digital toxic waste of the 21st century. We have an incredible situation, unparalleled anywhere else in the world, whereby data centres are using up more electricity than all of our urban homes combined. Will it stop when we reach 30%? Will it stop when we have more brownouts? Will it stop when we have blackouts? In circumstances where these data centres provide very few jobs and where they use inordinate amounts of electricity and substantial amounts of water, what will it take to stop what is going on? This is all happening in a context where we have to change how our economy operates. The things that are currently run directly on the basis of fossil fuels have to be shifted to electric, and we need to move rapidly to renewable energy. If we keep expanding energy usage on unnecessary things such as these big companies running algorithms to target people with advertisements, which is a big part of what is happening in these data centres, we will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to get to 100% renewables.
The NRP refers to investment in infrastructure. One of the most basic infrastructural needs of any town or village is adequate wastewater treatment. I want to bring to the Taoiseach's attention the village of Shannonvale. The park in Shannonvale, which was used by children and families to play, now is unsafe because of excrement essentially coming up through the surface. There is a need to invest in the wastewater infrastructure there. The Government announced two programmes that local authorities can apply to. One involves development-led infrastructure, where that would be replaced, which can be sourced by local authorities. The other relates to villages that do not currently have access to adequate wastewater. Cork County Council had an opportunity to apply for funding from both of these programmes. In the case of Shannonvale, it did not apply. That beggars belief in view of the scenes that I have described. Will the Taoiseach investigate why Cork County Council did not include Shannonvale on its list for either of these schemes in order to resolve the problem to which I refer?
Can we get brief contributions from Deputies Bríd Smith and Ó Murchú?
I also want to ask the Taoiseach about data centres and comment on the astonishing speed and insistence of the Ministers, Deputies Eamon Ryan and Coveney, to protect the data centre sector in light of the statistics showing a substantial increase in the amount of electricity - up 9% in the past five years - that is being used by these centres. As previous speakers indicated, the sector's usage accounts for the equivalent of all urban household use. What I would like to see is an honest open debate and discussion about what data centres are good for. Some might say that they are good for absolutely nothing, but we know that we use Twitter and all sorts of other social media platforms. To criticise somebody for using social media in order to be critical of the Government's policy on this is nonsense. The Government needs to be much more honest with the population. It also needs to facilitate a real discussion in this House about what data centres do for society. If they are going to gobble up 30% of the power on offer from the national grid by 2030, that raises a serious question.
The NRP deals with housing and Housing for All. I again want to raise the issue of housing adaptation grants. The fact is that Louth County Council is not accepting applications for these grants at present because it does not have the funding it needs. The Minister of State at the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O'Donnell, has spoken of a review. From the point of view of people with disabilities, particularly those who are older and who have mobility issues, such a review needs to look at how we ensure there is sufficient funding and that we do not have cases like that to which I refer where there is not enough money in the fund and where Louth County Council and other local authorities are not accepting applications and are working through a backlog.
None of this is fit to deliver for people.
Deputy Conway-Walsh raised the issue of the western rail corridor. I am not sure it is classified as a shovel-ready project. A new railway requires a railway order. Perhaps that is not the case because it is an old railway, but I am not sure it is as simple as saying it is shovel ready. I would say a lot would have to be done before it went to tender, let alone put a shovel in the ground. It is a project that has merit, whether to get people from Tuam to Galway and other places by train or for rail freight, and it is being examined by the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, in the context of the all-island rail review.
Deputy O'Callaghan raised an issue in respect of Law Reform Commission recommendations. I will have to come back to him in writing on that. I do not have the information to hand.
Similarly, Deputy Boyd Barrett raised an individual case - I believe the young man's name was Theo - but it is not really possible for me to comment on any individual case here without knowing the facts or having permission to look into it from the person involved. I will certainly ask my office or that of the Minister of State with responsibility for special education to engage with the Deputy on it.
In respect of data centres and electricity, to clarify and correct something Deputy Murphy said, we have never had brownouts. We have had amber alerts. We have not had a red alert and we have certainly never had a brownout or a blackout. There has been a fair bit of scaremongering in that regard, and for the Deputy to say we have had brownouts is just not correct. There have been amber alerts but not red alerts, and there have been no brownouts or blackouts.
In regard to data centres generally, as I said earlier today, over 100,000 people work in the tech sector in Ireland. They might not work in data centres but their jobs are dependent on data centres, and the companies that require them pay billions of euro in tax in Ireland, which we use to pay for healthcare, housing, education and other things. We have to make sure that is part of the debate. As I said earlier as well, EirGrid has not issued any new connections for data centres since July 2020, nearly three years ago, and new applications are assessed on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the Government's policy statement on data centres.
Deputy Smith linked data centres to social media and I think that is a bit facile, but I do agree we should have an open and honest debate about these things. If we had an open and honest debate about data centres, we would know, for example, that Zoom and Webex, technologies that enable remote working, which is so good for family life, require data centres. We would know, for example, that financial information, making electronic payments, Internet banking and other services we use every day require digitisation. We would know, for example, that increasingly, we are going to need data for medicine because more and more often, scans are done digitally and samples taken go to the path lab and are examined individually-----
Would we know how much goes onto the algorithm? Can we open the black box?
All those things are requirements and I am sure there will be a growing requirement for all those things.
In respect of wastewater in Shannon Vale, I am not sure why Cork County Council did not apply for funding but I will make inquiries in that regard. Those funds are in place precisely to solve the kinds of problems Deputy O'Sullivan articulated so well. There may be good reasons the council did not apply, so I do not want to jump to any conclusions, but we will certainly make inquiries with it.