I welcome the establishment of the clearing house. We need to develop our offshore energy generation capability as quickly as possible. The only offshore turbines we have are in the territorial waters off the coast of my constituency. They were producing more energy 20 years ago than they are today. They are currently producing none. We know we will not reach our 2030 target, and I am worried about our level of commitment to building energy infrastructure. I was stunned two weeks ago during oral questions when I as…

Welcome changes are happening in Hungary, and the EU's release of funds to Hungary is positive. We need to continue to show our solidarity with Hungary at this time of great change. In the same way, that is obviously related to the importance of showing our solidarity with Ukraine. I have two related questions. First, we need to spell out more clearly why we are continuing to support Ukraine, and why there is the risk that if Ukraine falls to Russia, there is a huge threat to peace in Europe, but there is also the …

I welcome the Bill. I have raised the issue with the Minister of State on a number of occasions. I was in Arklow this morning. I met with the student councils of three second level school: Arklow CBS, Glenart College and St. Mary's. I allowed the students to ask any questions they wanted to ask. One of the early questions that was asked was what the Government was doing to protect young people against tobacco and vaping credits. This is not the first time I have been asked this by a young person. Young people have …

The reality is that we are already using nuclear energy in this country, as the Minister of State knows, because we have to import through the interconnector. The level of that import has grown in the past few years from 10% of our energy in 2023, to 15% in 2024, and to 17% in 2025. Of what we are taking already, a lot of the energy is provided through nuclear energy. I know the Minister of State is a strong supporter of the Celtic interconnector with France, and we know the majority of energy that is produced in F…

Our transition to renewables is critical. The Minister of State knows that I strongly support all of the investment that we are seeing in wind and solar, and I want it to happen much more quickly. The question is around future capacity, when we are looking to 2040 and beyond, and whether enough will be generated even at that stage by renewables. Given what we have seen with the types of models we are talking about, I specifically asked about small modular nuclear reactors with regard to being able to fuel our futur…

We are also renewable.

I am rather concerned. This has been described by EirGrid and others as the biggest infrastructure project this decade, which it is. The timeframe has already slipped, with commissioning meant to happen in 2026 but now happening in 2028. I am kind of concerned that the Minister of State says that he does not know on the floor of the Dáil and that he will have to get EirGrid to let us know. This is a critical piece of infrastructure for the State, as he says. It is important that we know the timeframe as to when it …

I am sorry but I have a problem with that. Yes, there is a reason EirGrid, in terms of operational activity, is independent, but EirGrid is responsible to the State. Deputy Dooley is a Minister of State responsible for energy with regard to a critical piece of infrastructure. We should know in this House about progress on this critical piece of infrastructure. I say respectfully that it is not good enough to say that EirGrid will tell us when it will have this critical piece of infrastructure finished. It is not fo…

I want to raise the case of Gorey Hill school in Gorey, County Wexford. This is a school for learners with complex learning needs aged between four and 18. It was officially opened only at the beginning of 2025, although it had been in operation from late 2024. Part of the reason the school was opened was that there was so much pressure on St. Patrick's Special School in Enniscorthy that there was a need for additional places in counties Wexford and Wicklow for young people with complex learning needs. In fairness,…

I thank the Minister of State. I appreciate that he is taking this on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, who has indeed visited Gorey Hill School. There is an acknowledgment in here that the school is already at capacity and that there is greater demand. The concern I have in regard to the answer that has been provided is whether regard has been had to the potential impact the proposed modular construction will have on the play area, car parking and ancillary services that exist on the site already, …

I am sure the Taoiseach agrees with me that the men and women of our fire services, defence services and the Garda provide vital services to the State and to all our communities. In a welcome move two years ago, the retirement age for people in those services was increased from 60 to 62 years. I know from responses to parliamentary questions that 122 personnel in the Defence Forces and 112 gardaí have since remained in the force beyond the age of 60. Can we look at extending this further? It is a particular issue. …

-----at allowing continuing past that age limit?

And for the fire services.

I welcome this debate on support for football throughout the country. I welcome the Minister of State's commitment to invest in football. I also welcome the investment in academies that was announced for this year. We have seen new leadership within the FAI. The vision those people have for our national teams, the League of Ireland and grassroots football is critical. As others have said, the investment we will see as part of the next round of the sports capital fund is very important in that regard. Clubs that wor…

This is a global energy crisis we are facing and we need to see it in those terms. Showing solidarity to those who are victims of war right now is a good thing. While I support these measures, the challenge has been that many of those who are out on the protest - and I know a lot of them - are hard-working and decent people and this was seen in many ways as being the last straw. I genuinely feel that in the last budget we did not do enough for workers. We did not index link the tax bands, though that is something w…

I certainly welcome the measures that have been brought forward, which are quite comprehensive and are targeted at the most vulnerable. I wish to highlight two issues that have been raised by others. One is the case of those who are involved in agriculture. Given the costs our farmers are facing, particularly with regard to fuel and the increasing cost of fertiliser, we need to find a package somewhat similar to that which we rightly found for those in the haulage sector and, indeed, in coach travel. The other area…

I welcome the fact that Ireland will continue to contribute in whatever way we can to addressing Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. We need to co-operate in a number of specific areas. One such area I want to instance is cybersecurity. Like many other European countries, Ireland is regularly on the receiving end of cyberattacks emanating from Russia. At our meeting of the Committee on Artificial Intelligence today, the Courts Service highlighted the fact that Russia is the source of many of the cyberattacks on t…

Hear, hear.

The Minister of State articulated very well the purposes of this Bill particularly in implementing elements of the European Media Freedom Act. It is important to note that Ireland has always performed well on press freedom indices. Reporters Without Borders, RSF, which is journalists making their own assessment, has placed Ireland’s ranking over the past number of years as "good", which is the top placing, when it comes to media freedom. It is worth noting Ireland is one of only six countries, along with Sweden, Fi…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to enable the state to accede to the Antarctic Treaty done at Washington on 1 December 1959 and to certain related instruments, including the protocol on environmental protection to the Antarctic Treaty done at Madrid on 4 October 1991; and to provide for related matters. The Antarctic Treaty (Accession and Implementation) Bill proposes that Ireland become the 59th country to accede to the Antarctic Treaty System. As a country, we have always been de…