There is a change to the running order. I understand that the Minister of State, Deputy Brophy, will lead off for us today, with the first Commencement matter being taken by Senator Joe Conway.

I ask the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to urgently address the cancellation on only two days' notice of citizenship ceremonies scheduled to take place in Killarney this week and to explain why a remote declaration-based process, already proven and used during Covid-19, could not be immediately reinstated. This was not a routine administrative appointment for those affected. It was the culmination of years of waiting, vetting and uncertainty. I know this personally.

Two close friends of my daughter, young men who are settled, working and contributing members of society, were due to attend this ceremony like many others and had organised their lives around it. They booked and paid for accommodation in Kerry. They arranged flights, trains and annual leave from work. They informed their families that the day had finally come for them. They navigated disruption, including ongoing protests in the week that was because this was to be their day. It was meant to be the moment they formally became Irish citizens. Instead, it was taken from them, with 48 hours' notice and with a mere priority in June ceremonies assigned to them.

There are also real economic consequences. Hotels and local businesses in Kerry lost income at the last minute at a time the hospitality sector is under pressure.

The emotional impact should not be underestimated. Citizenship is not just paperwork; it is belonging, recognition and security.

One of the men I mentioned requires travel for work. As part of the naturalisation process, applicants were required to submit their original passports. Because the ceremony was cancelled, those documents remain unavailable and there is no timetable for when the passport will return. This uncertainty is already affecting work performance and, indeed, their state of ease with their work position.

The situation raises very basic questions. Why were no contingency plans in place? Crucially, we can we not use the remote declaration process, exactly as it was used so successfully during the Covid-19 period?

During the pandemic, the State demonstrated great flexibility, pragmatism and compassion by allowing applicants to complete citizenship declarations remotely. That system worked. It cleared backlogs, reduced stress and upheld the dignity of applicants while maintaining the integrity of the process.

Public reaction to this cancellation has been strong. On Irish citizenship forums and community platforms, applicants report similar experiences - ceremonies cancelled with little notice, costs unrecoverable, employers frustrated, families distressed and no clear communication from the Department. There is widespread concern that this cancellation will simply add to an overburdened system creating further delays in a process that is already far too slow. This really is not acceptable. People who have complied with every requirement asked of them and who have lived, worked and paid tax here for years deserve better than an automated email and uncertainty at the final hurdle.

I am, therefore, asking the Minister of State to confirm what immediate steps are being taken to support those affected, outline when citizenship documentation will be returned or alternative travel arrangements facilitated, and commit to reinstating a remove declaration-based citizenship process as an urgent temporary measure to prevent further harm and backlog. Citizenship should be a moment of welcome and pride in our country, not disappointment and stress. Of course, we all look forward to his response.

I thank the Senator very much. I will commence by referring to the line he used to conclude his contribution. Citizenship should be a moment of great pride. It should be a great moment in life for the people who go through the process. I have had the privilege and the honour of being a Minister of State at these processes for the past year and a half. It is an absolutely great moment. Therefore, it is incredibly regrettable that thousands of people were affected because of the circumstances taking place in our country last week. There were about 5,000 applicants but, as the Senator correctly alluded to in his contribution, there was at least probably the same number again in terms of friends and family. It is great moment, particularly down in Killarney where there is a wonderful atmosphere, and it is an absolutely wonderful day. It was shattering for them. It is also incredibly disappointing for me as a Minister of State who would have been involved, and incredibly disappointing for all the staff in the Department who worked so hard to create this really wonderful and memorable day. None of us wanted to do it. Unfortunately, we had to do it because we had to be conscious of the circumstances prevailing to ensure that people would be able to safely travel there but also to get back.

In the time allowed I want to very quickly answer a couple of the points the Senator made. We have already offered a place in June to everybody who was involved in the citizenship ceremony. We look forward to meeting them in June to share with them that joy. I fully take his point about co-ordination and putting people in place. We will work with people on passport documentation to ensure we facilitate them if an issue arises in the intervening period in regard to travel or anything else.

On balance, while during Covid it was a necessary evil, as it were, to have the ceremony online, we should not take from the moment that will be with somebody for their entire life - that really wonderful moment where they stand up in a hall surrounded by so many other people, with their family looking on, and they pledge their loyalty and fidelity to the Irish State, and they become a citizen of it. That makes it worth the while. I appreciate that there is an inconvenience for people in it, but I think it makes it worth the while and that the better solution is to have an in-person ceremony rather than reverting to an online one, which we did during Covid.

I hope that helps the Senator to understand why that decision was taken. We will work with any applicant if there is a particular issue around documentation or anything like that. The last thing we want to see is people discommoded because, unfortunately, due to the actions of others, they were very much discommoded and upended in the wonderful plans that they had for the ceremony which we had to cancel.

I thank the Minister of State for going off-script and giving such a personalised response.

I am very warmed by what the Minister of State had to say. A couple of things struck me about this. There are people in society who would have rejoiced in a victory in thwarting that ceremony last week. On balance, it was reasonable to compromise and put it back to June. What I am really asking the Minister to commit to is to have in reserve a system where we can go back and use the online declarations, if such an occasion were to arise again. The blueprint is there. It should not be too hard to organise. I am very happy to hear that the Minister is going to work with those people who are discommoded by a lack of documents. That is very uplifting as well. What the Minister of State said is that the day is very important. I also worry that those people are going to be shoehorned into the June presentations and celebrations and unfortunately the people who were earmarked in the queue for June will, necessarily, be put back into the autumn. It is just an unfortunate situation that has happened, but we should be taking definite steps to make sure it does not happen again.

To reassure the Senator, the only word that I do not like is "shoehorned". We are not shoehorning anybody; we are making sure that the experience that will be available to people in June is the exact experience that they would have got at the original ceremony. We intend to make it a memorable day.

I hear what he said about the online ceremonies. God forbid, if there were such a thing as a return of the pandemic or anything else like that again, I would certainly see the validity of that. In principle though, I refer him to the earlier point that I was making: that the importance of the ceremony in itself and the actual event - the day, and everything from the judge presiding, the Minister present, the Army band playing and people's friends and family around them - the totality of that in itself is as important in so many ways to the people participating as the process they are going through because it gives a significance to the day. I would be very loath to try and take that away. I do hear what the Senator says about looking at an online ceremony in extreme circumstances but, on balance, we should work towards making sure - as we have done - that people get an opportunity to experience that wonderful ceremony.

I again thank the Minister of State for giving such an empathetic response.

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Troy, to the Chamber. He is a regular visitor here. I want to raise the need for the Minister for education to make a statement on the volume of documentation required for families to access SUSI grants; the time it takes, and how that time could be reduced, taking into account the additional paperwork self-employed people are asked to provide.

This is an issue that has been raised with me by a number of families in Galway city and throughout the county. As the Minister of State will appreciate, it is an important support for these families, particularly with the cost-of-living challenges in recent months and over the past year, of which we are all aware. I would like to read an extract from one email on this matter into the record sent to me by one parent. The lady stated:

I've gone through the process twice myself, as I have two students in university, and it has been extremely frustrating. As my husband is self-employed, it becomes even more complicated. SUSI repeatedly came back looking for additional documentation, and to be honest, it reaches a point where people simply give up, I have, twice.

I can verify that this has happened that lady on two occasions. Of course we must have safeguards in place, as the Minister of State will bs aware. We have to ensure the supports are being distributed properly and not open to abuse but, at the same time, it should not be so complicated and so time consuming that families who are entitled to the grant end up giving up on the process. There is an issue here that needs to be addressed. It must be looked at by the Minister, Deputy James Lawless, and within the Department of education. A more suitable middle ground must be found.

The experience I outlined has been repeated to me a number of times at this stage. Hard-working families across Galway city and county with limited time have to spend so much of it to access a grant to which they are fully entitled. It seems that there must be a better way. One constituent who was in touch with me on this raised the option of linking SUSI assessments directly with Revenue data, which would seem to be an option. I appreciate that there may be GDPR considerations to be worked out in that regard but it would seem feasible, at least in theory. I fully appreciate that there need to be safeguards but, equally, it should be possible to implement a system that is more time-friendly for families than the current structure, and makes the system more efficient.

I thank Senator Crowe for raising this important issue. It is a matter that has been brought to the attention of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science on a number of occasions over the past few years, but Senator Crowe makes valid points in his contribution. The main financial support available to students is the student grant scheme. The scheme is administered by Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, on behalf of the Department. In order to qualify for a grant, all applicants must fulfil eligibility criteria which include income, residency, nationality and progression. This process will often involve documentation being submitted in support of an application. Under Article 36 of the grant scheme, an applicant must submit the required information upon request from SUSI. However, it is worth noting that SUSI has a number of significant data-sharing agreements with public bodies in place already that reduce the documentation burden on applicants. Examples of these include information feeds from the Department of Social Protection, the Revenue Commissioners and the CAO. Through these feeds, SUSI can receive the relevant information on income or social welfare payments directly from source. This reduces the need for an applicant to submit documentation with their application and improves efficiency for SUSI. It is acknowledged that for self-employed households there may be more documentation required during the application process. That is why SUSI, in collaboration with the Department, is constantly looking at ways to make the process more efficient for the applicant, be it through additional data-sharing agreements or examining internal processes.

The SUSI support team also works closely with all applicants to support them. In addition to the current supports in place to help applicants, City of Dublin Education and Training Board is currently undertaking a significant ICT and business transformation project relating to the modernisation of the student grant application scheme. This aligns with Government policy on providing digital services to our citizens. SUSI is continuously improving in processing applications. It has consistently met and exceeded the key performance indicators within the management framework agreement with the Department of further and higher education. For example, in the academic year 2025-26, the mean period of time for the initial assessment of an application was just over two weeks, and just over one week for the assessment of returned documentation. It is important to also outline the significant enhancements to the student grant scheme the Department has made in recent years. For example, all income thresholds increased by 15% this academic year, bringing the overall threshold up to €115,000. For the upcoming academic year, the grant threshold has been widened further to €120,000 and the non-adjacent maintenance rates have been increased by between €200 and €430. In addition to strengthening the student grant scheme, the student contribution fee has been permanently reduced by €500. This means that eligible undergraduate students from households earning up to €120,000 will pay no more than €2,000 towards the student contribution charge from 2026-27.

I thank the Minister of State for his detailed response. As I noted, we all understand that there must be precautions in place to ensure the system is not open to abuse. At the same time, there is huge frustration among the self-employed in particular. Families have told me how about difficult it is to access the support they are currently fully entitled to. I welcome the Minister of State's announcement that it will be updated, and an online digital system is going to be put in place. To that extent, some families have previously given up because it seemed to be never ending. With some closer co-operation between Departments, this should be something we can make quick progress on. If we could do that, it would make an immediate and significant difference to hundreds of families across the country, particularly in Galway city and Galway West. I would be grateful if the Minister of State would raise this with the Minister, Deputy Lawless, and request that his Department examine the issue in the short term if possible. I appreciate that applications for the 2027 academic year are already open so it may not be possible to make progress for this year. However, in my view it should be something we can fully resolve when applications open for 2028. I welcome the Minister of State's response.

SUSI processes more than 100,000 grants annually. Some 110,000 students applied for support in this academic year with the Government investing €350 million to support students. A significant number of people are availing of Government support. I think we all agree that the Minister, Deputy Lawless, is engaged with the student unions, the bodies, students and their families, and is continuously looking at ways to challenge the costs of college. He is conscious of that, and we will see positive changes in the upcoming academic year. I will bring the specific points to the Minister because I know he is determined to improve the efficiency and experience for students applying for the SUSI grant. We have already seen data sharing between Revenue and social protection. It is about looking at how we can share more data to alleviate the pressures on self-employed people so they can feel the benefits of data sharing equally to the PAYE worker. I will bring back the message raised forcibly today to the Minister.

I thank the Minister of State for being here to respond to my Commencement matter. I am looking for an update from Government on the proposal to give powers to local authorities to raise revenues. The Minister of State is a great friend of local authorities and all 31 of them do invaluable work in all of our communities across the country. However, local authorities are highly dependent on centralised Government funding. While they have powers to raise revenues through the LPT and rates, they struggle to meet all of their financial commitments. There has been discussion for many years about giving more powers to local government. I commend the Minister of State and the Government on the undertaking it has given in the local democracy task force. It recently completed its report, and we look forward to Government's response to that.

Today I would specifically like to address the proposal coming from Dublin city councillors. Councillor Daryl Barron is the Fianna Fáil group leader on Dublin City Council. Daryl, the Fianna Fáil group and other councillors on Dublin City Council have been proposing and working with the executive functions to develop a visitor tax. The reason a visitor tax is required is because Dublin city has a population of between 500,000 and 600,000 based on the most recent census, but we get millions of visitors. What happens in Dublin city is repeated in towns all over the country like Killarney, Westport, Cork, Carrick-on-Shannon and in counties like Sligo and Leitrim. Of course, acting chair, there is also Carlow and Kilkenny. All of our local authorities not only provide for their residents but for all the visitors. Last year, Ireland had approximately 6.7 million visitors to our beautiful island. That is great and we welcome them, but with all of those visitors comes a lot of extra wear and tear. If you have a private house with three or five people living in it but that is having visitors all of the time, the wear and tear is significant. There is extra litter, extra traffic and extra noise. There are all of the extras that are required. The Fianna Fáil group on Dublin City Council has been proposing a visitor tax. It is common internationally. If you go to stay in Madrid, Rome or Amsterdam, when you pay for your accommodation you will pay a nominal charge. Dublin City Council has examined this levy. It has looked at it with the executive functions but also with independent experts. What they are proposing is a small per-night charge or percentage of the accommodation cost.

For local authorities to introduce such a visitor tax would require legislation. My Commencement is seeking an update from the Minister of State, the Department of Finance and the Department of local government on where Government stands on that proposal.

Will the Government bring forward legislation that will empower and enable local authorities in their own right, in their own areas, to introduce a visitor tax?

I thank the Senator. We get visitors in Mullingar and Athlone as well. When she was going through all the regional towns, she forgot to mention some of mine.

I thank her for once again giving me the opportunity to update the House today on behalf of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on local authorities’ powers to raise revenues annually. I know this is an issue on which the Senator has been extremely active and vocal.

The system of funding local government in Ireland is a complex one, as local authorities derive their income from a range of local sources including commercial rates, charges for goods and services provided and local property tax as well as grants from various Government Departments and State agencies. On average, in 2024, nearly 50% of local authorities’ revenue income was generated locally. This locally raised income is crucial as it funds the operation of local authorities and their core service provision. A fundamental prerequisite for effective local democracy is that elected councils have a strong measure of financial power and discretion and corresponding responsibility.

In line with commitments in the programme for Government, a local democracy task force was established with the local government sector to finalise a programme for the reform and strengthening of local government. The terms of reference for the task force, agreed by the Government, set out an ambitious and detailed work programme relating to structure, finance, functions and the governance and accountability of all local authorities. The task force was specifically asked to consider ways for local authorities to increase fiscal autonomy through the number of own resources by reviewing existing revenue-raising and debt management options and new or alternative revenue-raising powers. The task force examined ways in which local authorities can better leverage existing sources of income, local authority borrowing, decision-making with regard to local property tax and potential new sources of income for local authorities. The task force has submitted its report to the Ministers in the Department, who are considering the range of recommendations and intend to bring it to the Government for consideration along with a high-level implementation plan shortly.

The task force specifically considered if local authorities should be able to introduce a charge on overnight stays in their areas, noting the Government’s previous agreement to same. In June 2025, the Government noted the report of the interdepartmental group on the Dublin city centre task force and approved the overall approach set out in that proposed roadmap for delivery of the Dublin city task force report. The interdepartmental group recommends that a detailed proposal for an accommodation tax at a national level, applicable to all local authorities on an opt-in basis, be developed by the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment and the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. Work on the proposal is being progressed by both Departments in conjunction with the oversight board that is in place to oversee delivery of the roadmap for Dublin city.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Minister of State. I welcome the confirmation from the Government of its commitment to give powers to local authorities to introduce, if they so choose, a visitor charge. It is very welcome that the Government is supporting this initiative from local authorities. Each local authority is an independent authority and will determine in its own good time and based on its own circumstances the appropriateness or not of a visitor tax. It is the Government's job to support our local authorities to operate to their maximum capacity. In committing to introducing legislation and supporting the local authorities by giving them those powers, the Government is doing a good job for local authorities. The Minister of State might bring back to the Department that I would be keen to get a clearer visibility on the timelines. Obviously, there will be a budget in October. Each local authority makes its annual budget towards the end of the year. It will be really important for local authorities to know in advance of making their annual budget when they will have these powers available to them because it will potentially be of huge benefit to them.

I thank Senator Fitzpatrick very much. While it is fair that we acknowledge that the Government's funding to local authorities has increased considerably over the last number of years, it is also important to recognise that local authorities need the power and autonomy to be able to raise their own money to invest in the provision of services and to build out and develop the offering that each local authority has. The Senator makes very valid points. There is agreement in terms of the line of direction we are going in this area. The only uncertainty is maybe the timeframe.

Yes.

We, as a Government, across all our Departments, need to be much clearer when we commission a report on the timeframe for when that report will be published and, more importantly, the implementation of recommendations. We need to be much more efficient as a Government in doing that. I will take on board what the Senator said today and relay it back, in the first instance, to the two Departments that are working on this, namely, Department of enterprise and tourism and the Department of local government.

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit, Deputy Moynihan.

I thank the Minister of State for coming in and taking this important Commencement matter. There is an increasing problem whereby schools are facing serious structural issues and they are not being allocated the resources to get things right and function properly. I raised in this House a couple of weeks ago the issues that CBS Westland Row has. As I am sure the Minister of State knows, that is not too far from here; it is a short walk. In that school, there is a defective downpipe and it has caused mayhem. It has closed the boys' toilets. It has also made many of the classrooms unsafe and unhealthy for teachers and students alike. That, understandably, is affecting the morale within the school. This is a school that is working with some of the most disadvantaged and diverse communities in the country. There was money allocated to the school to do some remedial work on the downpipe. There was a certain amount provided, so the immediate job will be done. However, the school is a very old building. It is naturally showing, like the rest of us when we get old, signs of ageing and creaking and it requires a lot of work just to make it safe and hygienic to work in. The school was assigned funds for other works previously and not all of that was spent. The money is there, and it needs to be reassigned to fix the serious works that are required. We need to see some common sense around this. The money was allocated for maintenance work. Some of that was spent. There was some left over. Why is that money not reallocated to the school to do the really important emergency works that are required there? I am sure there is somebody in the Department who is just ticking boxes. The Minister needs to intervene and show some common sense to get this resolved and get the school up to the proper standard.

Just down the road from CBS Westland Row is Ringsend boys' and girls' school. This school is going to be amalgamated, so certain works need to be carried out to facilitate the amalgamation. In January, representatives from the building section of the Department visited the school and saw for themselves the dire state of the toilets. "Grim" was the word used to describe them. They are grim. The school principal in Ringsend was told that the toilets issue would be addressed during the summer to allow for the schools to be amalgamated in September as planned. Without the work on the toilets being carried out, amalgamation will not be able to go ahead. If this school was in Foxrock or one of the affluent areas, I doubt these really important works would have been refused. However, pupils in Ringsend are required to tolerate Dickensian conditions. We need to know why it took so long to reply to the original application.

The application was sent in July 2025 and the school did not get a reply until February 2026. That is pretty extraordinary. The school is upset by that as well as the work not being done. Why was it not flagged months ago that it should have been a summer works application? That should have been flagged ages ago. The school is of the belief now - I was speaking to the principal yesterday - that the work will be done which is welcome but I am not convinced. We will have to see that this work is done and that the amalgamation will go ahead. It has other issues that also need to be addressed which include teacher allocation and the fact that Ringsend boys' and girls' school has not received DEIS plus designation. That has to be addressed as well.

I thank Senator Andrews for raising the issues in relation to the schools in Westland Row and Ringsend. In the overall sense, the Department has a number of funding streams in emergency funding and summer works funding to deal with ongoing maintenance issues. The Senator outlined the issues in relation to downpipes and toilets. I understand the challenges when you are working in a building that is old and needs constant upgrading. That can dampen the spirit not alone of the teams teaching and working there, the SNAs and all the other teams, but also of the students. There was engagement with CBS Westland Row over the past while and there is continuing engagement on it. The summer works scheme was developed a number of years ago to try to ensure there would be a funding stream for remedial work to schools. The emergency works fund is available throughout the school year. Schools can apply for emergency works needed to ensure the smooth running of the school. I pay tribute to the school communities in the schools in Ringsend and Westland Row. The Senator mentioned his conversation with the principal. I am happy to take that further if the Senator provides me with further details. There is engagement. There are always issues with amalgamations to ensure they take place and there are practical issues the Department has to streamline. The Senator also mentioned letters from July and February, some seven months apart. I will ensure that is speeded up. If the Senator wants to give me further details on the outstanding issues there, I will take them up, and in Westland Row as well.

There is a huge budget for capital investment in schools. We are aware of the challenges to make sure school communities are working properly particularly in disadvantaged areas. The Senator raised the issue regarding DEIS plus. I do not have the brief this morning on that but I am happy to engage further with him. I know all of the school communities he raised with me are working in challenging circumstances, delivering an education to vulnerable people and a diverse group. One has to compliment that. As I have done over the past year, when you go into schools particularly in the city here, you see the challenges they face and how the school community, leadership, teachers, SNAs and entire school team are working. Specifically in relation to the schools the Senator raised, I am willing to work with him on the outstanding issues. We have seen over many decades that when school amalgamations are done very well with a great foundation, it leads to better outcomes for the children and the entire community. Amalgamations are not something the State or the Department have taken lightly over many years. When founded on very good principles and co-operation, it can work well. I will take that up. We will try to get information back to the Senator on DEIS as well. On downpipes, simple problems with roofing or otherwise can lead to huge challenges across the system. The Senator mentioned concerning Ringsend that officials used the word "grim". It is really worrying to me when you see that. I will take up the two school communities and work to make sure we meet any challenges we can meet in the Department. The Department does not have an infinite amount of money but we have money to make sure we are working to have school communities up and running. If he has any further information he wishes to give me, I will be only too happy to go back to the Department and get a response.

I thank the Minister of State for that very helpful response and offer to follow up. Ringsend boys' and girls' school is fighting on and working on another issue at the moment. The Department of education looked at its student enrolment for 30 September 2025 as two separate schools rather than one. They had 280 pupils combined on 30 September and its retention figure is 279. Even though they are amalgamating and there will be one school for all of these pupils, the Department of education looked at them as two schools for the purpose of allocating teachers, resulting in the loss of a teacher as the girls' school was just short of the retention figure. That is far from ideal. It would be okay if they were not amalgamating but they are. They were counted as two separate schools when they should have been counted as one. I ask that the Department look at the combined number rather than at two separate schools.

They are amalgamating and becoming one school from 1 September 2026. The roll numbers were taken. In my experience of amalgamations, where everything has been worked out very well and to allocate resources afterwards, even last year, in a number of schools in which we were involved and they were allocating resources for SNA or teachers, the two old roll numbers stayed in place until the end of the school year. To allocate the resources, we had to wait for the new school number. We just have to push through these technical issues because they are structural issues. It may well be that there is an issue. I will with a heart and a half take up that issue. As I said, if we are to do amalgamations well - amalgamations will serve the school community not just now but into future generations - and if we do them right at the very start, they can be very effective. In some instances there have been difficulties setting it up which can lead to further challenges down the line. I will take that up. If the Senator would share the Ringsend roll number for both schools we can have a look at that and respond.