The question I have for the Minister is about increasing the number of affordable housing units that can be bought and provided by local authorities. We need that affordable housing scheme. Deputies have referred to people who are working hard. I have them coming to me; I suppose all TDs and councillors have people coming to them. We need to get housing solutions for these people who cannot get on a local authority housing waiting list because of the income threshold, and who cannot obtain a loan from a private len…

I submitted two separate questions. There are significant differences between the affordable-to-buy homes and the cost-rental homes. I ask that we take them separately.

The median price of a house in Laois has gone up. According to the property price register, it has gone up 16.8% in one year. The Minister gave out a lot of figures, but the reality is that the target given by his Department, which I have here, is 38 affordable-to-buy and cost-rental homes to be done in Laois over a five-year period. It is minuscule and would not even make a dent in the numbers that we need. The demand is massive. Laois County Council directly delivered over 90 homes. The Minister was down at the l…

The Minister saw the good-quality houses in Dargan Woods. The council exceeded the Government's target by nearly 250%. The Government needs to increase its targets for both affordable and cost-rental housing. There have been a huge number of inquiries. Cost rental is the only option for a lot of workers and households. People aged in their 40s, 50s and 60s may have broken relationships or be separated. They cannot get a loan due to their age and do not qualify for a council house because of their income. Low-paid w…

The budget is coming next week and the family resource centres provide very essential services at 136 locations. The family resource centres in Portlaoise and Mountmellick are doing excellent work that is making a real difference in local communities with services such as childcare, counselling, health and well-being programmes, adult learning, social inclusion and much more. They are right where it matters and I can see the evidence on the ground in towns like Portlaoise and Mountmellick. The budget is next week a…

It is a good day to do it.

I ask for time to be put aside to discuss the events of the weekend on the Garvaghy Road and the response of this House to it. The march was banned for 28 years. The only reason it was given the go-ahead and that the Orange Order wanted to go ahead with it was to demonstrate supremacy and dominance over the nationalist community there. The Government is the co-guarantor of the Good Friday Agreement.

The Parades Commission that shot this through has lost credibility. We need to discuss it here-----

-----and our response to that to make sure this does not happen again.

The 15% average increase that has been proposed is over the top and defies logic. It is a retrograde step. We are supposed to be getting people onto public transport to reduce our carbon emissions and reduce congestion but this is putting our transport system in reverse. Inflation is only running at a fraction of that. This could not come at a worse time when there is cost-of-living crisis due to the sky-high cost of rents, mortgages, home heating, electricity and groceries. The Government will discourage many peop…

I am interested in the proportion of funding given for active travel versus the proportion given for rural and local roads. I am in favour of funding active travel but the specifications being given to councils are completely off the wall and are making it more expensive to deliver infrastructure projects of short duration. I have raised this issue previously and the officials have come back with standard answers. This matter needs to be looked at by the Minister or a Minister of State.

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. He is correct regarding the allocation to the council but my point is that €3.5 million was given for active travel. I do not have a problem with that allocation; the problem is how it is being spent. He mentioned the departmental guidelines, which is where the issue arises. The specifications and stipulations set out in those guidelines are completely off the wall. To give one example, I was calling for action from the council on Triogue Way 25 or 26 years ago. One sect…

On the overall funding, if the Minister of State has more millions of euro, he should send them down to Laois, because they are needed. The cost of repairing roads has been increasing by 15% per annum. I do not have a problem with the €3.5 million for active travel; if he has another €3.5 million, I would welcome it. The problem is the specifications and what we are getting for the money. That is the point I am making. Does a footpath really need to be 13 ft wide? Ten-wheeler wagons were drawing in concrete at Trio…

While there have been some moves in regard to e-bikes in the context people being obliged to wear high-vis vests and helmets and a bans for under-18s, all of which are welcome, the number of serious injuries and fatalities continues to increase. In 2021, there were 173 hospital presentations and 309 in 2025. The signs are that it will be worse this year. Existing laws, including the new ones, are not being enforced. People continue to ride on footpaths and are not wearing helmets or high-vis vests. Those under 18 a…

They have to be able to pursue them.

The current situation regarding assessments of need cannot be allowed to continue. It is a national scandal. Children with special needs who are vulnerable cannot even get assessed to get proper services. Some 23,000 assessments of need are overdue, having exceeded the statutory timeline. The average duration it takes to get an assessment of need is 27 months. That is the average. Some people wait up to three years. That is not acceptable. In Laois-Offaly, the figure averages in the region of 900 overdue assessment…

Households were never under pressure like this before. Middle and low-income households that coped in the past are under increasing pressure. Domestic home heating oil's sky-high cost is a huge contributory factor. In Laois, 41% of households are totally dependent on kerosene home heating oil and do not have an option. We have tracked prices, which have skyrocketed by 79% or more since last autumn. One political party claims that they went up 50%. I am not too sure where the data is coming from but the hard facts a…

My question relates to the impact of electricity demand from data centres on the public network. What studies have been carried out by the Department to determine the impact on householders and any additional costs to the public in general? It is not a case of arguing against all data centres. There will be data centres, but the proliferation of them in this country is high and they are having a significant impact on the grid and on costs.

Significant work is going on to upgrade the network and it is badly needed, but there is a cost to it. The Minister outlined the 190,000 jobs, but very few of them are in data centres. The point I am making is that almost a quarter of the available supply is being used by data centres and there are reports it could grow to more than one third and more. That puts huge pressure on the network. It puts a huge amount of pressure on EirGrid and ESB Networks to upgrade the grid and put significant investment into it. I a…

There are a number of issues. We are trying to construct 50,000 homes per year and there were reports again this week that the supply of housing is being hampered by the supply of water and electricity connections. There is clearly a pull factor and the Government has to take into consideration that there have to be jobs in other sectors and homes have to be built. There is pressure here every day with people talking about it. We are putting pressure on the Government about it. The Government is under pressure and …