Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2025-12-18
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I thank the Deputy for making the effort today with his Christmas jumper and for injecting a degree of Christmas cheer into this place. I wish him, his family, colleagues and staff a very happy Christmas too.
The factual answer in relation to a Dublin allowance is that all of these issues are matters for pay agreements. It is for the unions and the Government side to bring proposals to the table. While I tend not to comment on public pay policy outside of those agreements, I would just say, as a Wicklow TD, that one of the reasons that I often hear pushback is that if one lives on the border of where an allowance is in place, it all of a sudden becomes a lot more attractive to be a teacher in Dublin than in Kildare, for example, represented by the Minister, Deputy James Lawless, or Wicklow. That is just a detail in terms of how we grapple with these things but what we are considering, and what we are committing to, is helping to provide housing for key staff, starting in Dublin. Some work has been done on that. For example, hospitals have land banks and partnering with the likes of the LDA could provide opportunities to assist with housing pressures for key workers, starting with our capital city. Any allowances are a matter for public sector pay talks.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-12-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:29+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-12-18