The problem with some of the schemes that have been introduced is that they are not working. Some of them are deeply regressive and inequitable. Most low to middle income households have significant barriers if they have any hope of reaching a B2 standard. What about the solid fuel homes which are mostly rural and are mostly home to elderly people? They are punished by the Government rather than being helped, through hikes in the carbon tax, which are now supported by the Healy-Rae brothers, where there is no acces…

The last time I raised this issue the Minister said he would look at network charges. What has he done since then to restructure them to make sure that data centres, for example, pay their fair share and take the pressure off households? In the next few months there will be a significant opportunity to bring about fundamental reforms to the energy market that could help households. A meeting is taking place in March. Ireland will hold the Presidency from July. This has to be the Minister's priority. The price of el…

This question has come up in the past. Will the Minister consider bringing forward a prioritisation framework for grid connections, particularly as we have a crisis in the context of housing and the cost of living? We have all heard about the problems with the MetroLink, for example, and the energy that will be needed for it. There is a reckless attitude towards data centre expansion. Even the Minister's officials agree on that. The Minister knows that he needs to bring forward legislation to deal with the prioriti…

A grids package was announced on 10 December. It gives the Government the green light to move away from the first-come, first-served model that gives rise to rampant data centre expansion that has displaced the delivery of housing and transport and led to the hiking up of energy prices for households. The Commission stated, "In areas with long waiting times for grid connection, the first-come, first-served principle should be abandoned". We will bring forward legislation on that in the coming months. The current mo…

The Minister recently met the ESB and EirGrid to discuss house connections. There was a story in The Irish Times about that matter over the Christmas period. The Minister knows that under the current regulation, it is first-come, first-served model. He also knows that for this to change, he must empower the regulator by means of new legislation. He knows in light of the grids package and the new guidance for connections, there is nothing standing in his way in this regard. In the interview, which was published on 3…

This question relates to private wires. Will the Minister outline the new methodology that will be implemented? Will there be safeguards to ensure that all of the costs of providing original grid connections will be recovered by ESB Networks? Will action be taken to ensure that these costs will not be passed on to customers? Under current proposals, any user taking all their energy capacity from a private wire will not be required to pay network charges to the system operator despite relying on the public grid for …

We will be discussing that tomorrow. The concern of many members of the committee is that the proposals will exacerbate the regressive and inequitable way that network costs are currently distributed. According to Eurostat, Irish households have the highest electricity bills in Europe. As a result of the proposals being brought forward, households could be landed with a rake of new charges on their bills in addition to what they already pay. The Minister mentioned about PR6 in reply to earlier questions. There is a…

Is the Minister going to ensure that the North-South interconnector will be underground? That is the fundamental issue for people who live in Border communities. On the basis of what he said, is the Minister guaranteeing that there will be no new costs passed on to consumers as a result of the private wires legislation? Consumers cannot afford any new costs. There is a concern to the effect that the private wires legislation will undermine climate obligations by diverting energy. We have seen in the past few years …

I ask the Minister about nature-based solutions to mitigate and provide resilience to the impacts of climate change. We all know what has happened recently with warmer and wetter winters bringing more flooding, with a cost of billions and more than 100,000 properties in the State at risk of flooding. We know this will continue. Drainage systems will be exceeded, and we need to slow the water down and use the land as a sponge to ensure the surface can have more involvement in resilience to flooding.

What are the Minister of State's views on Ireland's resilience to extreme weather events? Is consideration being given to nature-based solutions to provide resilience to the impacts of climate change?

I hope that in his next answer, the Minister of State actually tells us what type of nature-based solutions will be foreseen or utilised by Government. I refer to the area in Kerry between Knocknagoshel and Brosna. The older people there tell me that up to 20 to 30 years ago, when heavy rain came, it would be soaked up by the bogs and released slowly. That does not happen anymore, partly due to afforestation and vertical drainage, so huge volumes of water are coming into the basins there and causing the flooding do…

My question similarly relates to vulnerable children. Following the Halpin report into CAMHS in north Kerry which showed deficiencies in care and a departure from standard operating practice, can the Minister confirm that the compensation scheme will be widened to include people who have had an apology already from the HSE and that the review will be widened to a much broader category of children who have been dealt with in the north Kerry area?

Ba mhaith liom ceist a chur ar an Tánaiste mar gheall ar chártaí leighis agus cártaí leighis saorthoilteanacha. Tá bean i gCiarraí agus fuair a fear céile bás, agus i ndiaidh sin, fuair sí ailse. Bhí uirthi rud éigin a dhéanamh mar gheall air san ospidéal. There is a woman in Kerry who applied for a discretionary medical card because she had been refused one. Her husband had died in tragic circumstances. She herself then developed cancer and needed 16 or 17 rounds of radiotherapy at the last count. We applied for t…

I might cc the Tánaiste.

Tá a fhios ag gach duine atá anseo ó Ghaelcholáiste Chiarraí an tacaíocht agus an chabhair a thugann SNAs do dhaltaí agus don phobal iomlán sna scoileanna. I have been contacted by many schools, in particular, Fossa National School outside Killarney, which has lost four SNAs in that one school in the analysis provided to date. A review is coming up, but there seems to be an overly strict application of the meaning of "significant needs". I have also been contacted about this issue by schools in Glenflesk, Listowel …

I, too, welcome the school community from the convent in Listowel. It is entirely appropriate that there is a school delegation here from the town of Listowel because anyone in this House will remember the flooding that took place two or three weeks before the election of November 2024. Unfortunately, while work has been done in Listowel, which the Minister visited recently, where banks have put in, we remember what happened in Killacrim and off the Bridge Road. However, the long-term plan, which we recently met wi…

At the outset, I wish to sympathise with the family of Grace Lynch and also with anyone who was affected by the collision on North Earl Street this morning. In the light of all of this, and the increase in the roads deaths in 2025 - 190 people died on our roads last year, that is, 190 families shattered, 190 chairs empty at kitchen tables and 190 sets of hopes and dreams suddenly cut short - I want to pick the Minister of State up on what he said about whether the powers An Garda Síochána has are being used. Is he …

What is at stake here is fundamental, and that is trust. It is trust that our food is safe, that our high standards are upheld and that those at the top are bound by the same rules as those at the bottom. This trust and leadership is earned. We need to know that the State's own agency to promote and develop the Irish food industry has the best interests of the Irish people at heart, is 100% beside Irish farmers and stands with them, and will not throw Irish farmers under the bus as soon as there is extra profit to …

I take this opportunity to acknowledge the 60th anniversary of the death of Mike Quill, the great union leader in New York who worked in that city's subway system for many years. He always preached an anti-racist message. He was involved in the struggle for the country of his birth, fighting in the War of Independence, and the struggle for his fellow workers in New York. Everywhere we turn, we see infrastructure that is undersupplied, overloaded and crumbling. Our creaking infrastructure, a deepening housing crisis…

I spoke to the Minister of State last week about the passing of Stephen McCarthy who took his own life in August 2024. Over the weekend, I received a text from his brother Shane who lives in London. He said that: If you have a family member yourself and people that you care about, no matter what community you're from, as everyone probably knows I'm from the Traveller community, my brother Stephen was also but at the end of the day, it doesn't matter where you're from or who you are, nobody deserves to die through s…