I thank the Deputy for addressing this. She has certainly outlined a hardship case. It is hard to disagree with her description of it as a gap in the system that needs to be addressed. I will just outline the current situation and then perhaps from there we can bring this back to the Minister for Social Protection to ensure he is aware of anomalies. I will first provide an overview of the supports available to widows, widowers, surviving civil partners and qualified cohabitants, and the illness benefit scheme. The …

As I referred to in my opening statement, the social system operates on the general principle of one person, one payment. This approach is a standard feature of social security systems throughout the world. It means that, generally, the bereaved partner's pension cannot be received at the same time as illness benefit. I know it is probably no comfort, but my earlier contribution also referred to the option of the supplementary welfare allowance. If an individual is struggling to make mortgage repayments or if the c…

I thank Deputy Wall for raising this issue. I have taken a couple of Topical Issue matters from him and Athy seems to feature fairly prominently. Fair play. He is representing the place well. It is interesting that he is providing a bit of a taxi service for anybody who misses a train. That is the right thing to do. Fair play to him. Funding and policymaking for public transport is down to the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Canney, but as the Deputy knows, the day-to-day operation is for the NTA, in conjunction wit…

That is a point well made. Athy is obviously a growing town. It is an important commuter town, not just for people to work and commute but also for people to study and commute, so it is important that we facilitate that, take cars off the road and provide as much public transport as possible. The investment in the extra carriages, as outlined, on the Drogheda line will free up carriages. Deputy Wall has made the case well that much of that should be put on the Waterford to Heuston line, thereby enabling greater cap…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know the LauraLynn foundation is something he has always advocated for and fought for. I agree with him 100%. The merit and support provided by organisations and foundations like the LauraLynn children's hospice represent unbelievable value for money. The service they provide is incredible. I liken it to Cancer Connect or ARC house, which are organisations we should really be supporting financially. Children’s palliative care is provided through a shared care approach in…

We will get clarity on whether it will be a review or a brand-new policy. The Deputy mentioned some good examples. He has been an advocate for all of the organisations he mentioned. We know he has been championing the highlighting of rare diseases, especially among children, over this term and the previous term. I refer again to Cancer Connect. A number of years ago it received no funding from the State, and now it does. He mentioned Marymount, which is now completely funded by the State. All of these are going in …

The Government will oppose this Bill, but I welcome the opportunity to speak about the role of Government measures to support access to affordable housing and assist those aspiring to buy their own home. We continue to deliver the first affordable homes in a generation and are supporting increasing supply in this area. Quarter 1 of 2025 has seen the continued strong performance of the various affordable housing pathways, with affordable delivery increasing by over 49% over levels achieved in the same quarter of 202…

I also welcome Deputy Hearne's family to the Public Gallery, although I am not sure if they are still up there. I had a sense that he was a lot more measured in his approach today. He was a lot more tempered. Usually, he does not hold back and gives it both barrels. He is clearly on his best behaviour, although I had better not speak too soon. I appreciate that this is his first time introducing legislation in the House. It is an important day for him in that regard. I welcome everyone who is in the Gallery. I than…

I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for raising this issue. I imagine that he experienced frustration during the summer and has probably waiting for an opportunity to highlight this matter in the Dáil. Perhaps he could provide some feedback on whether this malodour was at a heightened level during the summer months. We had a pretty dry June and July, with high temperatures and low rainfall. There probably was not much flow in the system, if that makes sense. I am not an engineering expert, but my understanding is that this …

The Minister, Deputy Browne, apologised that he could not make it here to deal with this question personally, but we work collaboratively within the Department anyway. I will absolutely undertake to try to get more detail and a timeline. Regarding the cause of the issue, septicity is the cause of the odour. The untreated sewage at this point remains stagnant en route to the treatment plant, so it is not necessarily a situation where the treatment plant is not working. I am sorry to keep harping back to my own examp…

Before we move on to Leaders' Questions, it has to be noted that I sat next to the Minister, Deputy Burke, during the debate. He offered full respect to each and every one of the Opposition speakers without interrupting once, yet in the single ten-minute slot in which he had to speak, he was interrupted and heckled. That is absolutely ridiculous. This is an ongoing trend and it has to be stopped because it is completely disrespectful.

I thank the Senator for raising the general issue of fraudulent voting. He will understand and will not be surprised to hear that I cannot comment on individual cases, but I will make some general comments because I agree with him that fraudulent behaviour in the voting process strikes at the core of democracy. There are other issues as well. We all, as the Senator said, have put ourselves up for election. It is a stressful time, including for our families and our friends, and one does so in the hope that we can tr…

I agree with the Senator about the impact of fraudulent voting. It strikes to the core of our democracy, has a serious impact on the candidates who put themselves forward and adds to the stresses associated with election time. We all understand that. There has to be trust in the process, and there is. If there is not, it undermines everything. I disagree, however, in that I do not think it is happening as widely and at the scale the Senator asserted. I commend polling clerks and officers at polling stations who giv…

The Minister of State, Deputy John Cummins, already outlined in great detail why these amendments cannot be accepted. I am satisfied with the existing requirements in Part 3 of the Act of 2024 that relate to zoning and the requirements in Part 7 of the Act of 2024 that relate to the housing strategy. The matter raised is adequately covered in the Act of 2024 and therefore I cannot accept the amendments.

I will address amendments Nos. 17, 19, 44 and 46 Amendments Nos. 17 and 19 seek to provide for a third-party observation as part of the suspension of duration due to judicial review provisions in section 13. Amendments Nos. 44 and 46 seek to make similar provisions for third-party observations as part of the extension of duration provisions in section 16. The criteria for the suspension of a duration and the extension of a duration are set out in the legislation and do not involve a decision of the planning authori…

These amendments sought to add public participation requirements to the suspension of duration and extension of duration provisions. I am satisfied that the provisions as drafted are appropriate. The Act of 2024 includes procedures, including public participation for extensions of duration where an EIA or AA is required. The Act of 2000 does not allow extensions to duration where an EIA or AA is required. Many of the Senators referred to compliance with the Aarhus Convention. I assure them this legislation is in co…

This was a three-year painstaking process where there was extensive public consultation. We are satisfied that it is compliant with the Aarhus Convention. In relation to where an extension of duration would require an appropriate assessment or environmental impact assessment, these would be screened. If it is deemed that a development requires either of those, the extension of duration will not be granted. As Minister with responsibility for nature, heritage and biodiversity, I am satisfied that these areas are saf…

Amendments Nos: 18, 22, 23, 33, 35, 45, 54 and 55 are all minor amendments to change the language used in the Bill for consistency. They change references to the Bill's commencement and the coming into operation of the Bill.

I was dealing with Governments amendments Nos. 18, 22, 23, 33, 45, 54 and 55. While this is an Opposition amendment I can speak to it if-----

Amendment No.35 seeks to provide that an extension shall only be granted where the authority is satisfied there were considerations of a commercial, economic or technical nature beyond the control of the applicant that substantially militated against the commencement of a development. I cannot accept these amendments as there are already regulations associated with section 42 of the 2000 Act which deal with some of these issues. Article 42 of the Planning and Development Regulations 2001 provides that applications …