Five phase 1 offshore projects are currently in planning, as the Deputy will be aware, off our east coast, with planned capacity of 3.8 GW. All five have submitted planning applications and first determinations from An Coimisiún Pleanála are anticipated on at least two of these by the end of this year, with the others to follow in 2027. The reason for that is they received detailed requests for further information, particularly around bird surveys. Subject to planning approval, I anticipate that some of these proje…

To be fair, on the Deputy's first point, that is acknowledged by what was then An Bord Pleanála and is now An Coimisiún Pleanála. Certainly, those were the first type of projects that they ever had to deal with. I agree there are learnings and they have learnt from them. Second, the planning environment is different now. New applications will come under the Planning and Development Act 2024, which sets strict timelines on planning decisions and sets timelines around requests for further information and how often fu…

Ports will be critical. In the coming couple of weeks, certainly before the recess, we will be bringing the new national ports policy to Cabinet. A lot of work has gone into it, and fed in by stakeholders as well. The east coast will be very important on that. That will come to Cabinet and then we will publish it. That will go out for consultation and every party and all stakeholders will get to see it. Right now, Belfast is the only port that one could say will be able to carry out both. Belfast will be important …

We have discussed a number of measures this morning, including directly funded retrofitting for families and the grants we can provide to reduce energy usage. Those measures are good for our climate because they reduce emissions and they reduce costs for households. We have been able to retrofit approximately 264,000 homes so far. Earlier this year, the Minister of State and I, along with our team, looked at the grants that were available and broke them down to make them more accessible, particularly for middle-inc…

On the warmer homes scheme, and I listened to the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach's intervention on that, approximately 34,000 homes have been fully retrofitted with 100% grants. It is a great scheme, but waiting times are too long. To be fair to the SEAI, as Deputy Murphy said, it has submitted an action plan. I have a meeting later this afternoon in that regard to see how we can speed that up. We have made two specific changes for people on the warmer homes waiting list who can now access certain grants, which will not a…

The meat of that report will feed into our budget considerations and deliberations. I expect to have that by the end of July this year. We have done a lot of work on it. It looks at some potential structural changes and short-, medium- and longer-term measures, as well as further improving measures that are in place. We know we are not in the position we want to be in with regard to energy costs. That is why it is so important that we accelerate delivery of renewables across the board and reduce our dependence on w…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport pursuant to Standing Orders 103 and 188.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to introduce the Dublin Transport Authority (Amendment) Bill 2026 for the consideration of the House. As Deputies will be aware, the Dublin Transport Authority Act 2008, as originally enacted, provided for the establishment of the Dublin Transport Authority, DTA, and set out its role and functions to ensure the provision of an integrated transport system in the greater Dublin area, GDA, including the procurement of public transport infrastructure and s…

It is not. I answered the Deputy in a parliamentary question recently.

That is not the case.

It is done.

The secondary legislation was signed last week.

Just read my press releases.

The Deputy could have saved himself three and a half minutes.

No.

They never do.

Never.

I am speaking on behalf of the Government on the Bill. I thank Deputy Daly for tabling it. I will speak to the legislation and explain the rationale as to why we are opposing it, which we are doing on the basis that the CRU already holds significant existing powers to monitor, report and regulate gas and electricity suppliers. Additionally, as the Deputies will be aware, a review of the comprehensive suite of legislation underpinning the work of the CRU has already been commenced by Government. This is in line with…

I thank the Deputy for raising this really important matter. Any death on our roads is one too many. I am always conscious when talking about numbers that behind these numbers are people and families. We have to continue working to improve road safety. One element of it is the continued investment in our roads. Physical infrastructure is critical, as is the safety framework. The current framework for road safety is set out in the Government’s fifth road safety strategy, which has the target of reducing road deaths …

Undoubtedly, we have seen an increase over the last number of years from a lower base. When you compare Ireland to the rest of Europe, the statistics - this is not to mean the road fatalities themselves - compare favourably and we are still in the upper quartile in relation to prevention of road deaths and the number of road deaths. Again, I say this on the basis that I do not like talking about numbers because there are people behind them. On safety cameras, 390 new safety camera zones became operational from 1 Ja…