Ceisteanna ó na Comhaltaí Eile - Other Members’ Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-05-07
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Helen McEntee (FG), Meath East

The Deputy will appreciate he covered a lot of areas there, so I will try as best I can to touch on all of them. When it comes to our capital city, we all want to make sure we are investing in a vibrant and growing capital city. It is not just about tourism but that people are able to live and work here and that we are investing in our schools and infrastructure while at the same time making sure the offer is a big as it can be. Obviously, the airport plays a huge role in that and that we open it up to as many people as possible. The programme for Government includes a commitment to work with stakeholders with the objective of lifting the passenger cap at Dublin Airport. This means working with local communities, not just in Dublin but in my county of Meath and the surrounding areas as well. The commitment the Minister for Transport made is to progress legislation that would empower him to make an order to amend or revoke the passenger cap. In advance of making such an order, he has to engage with An Coimisiún Pleanála, which will screen for, and if necessary, undertake a full assessment in line with overall environmental law. Pre-legislative scrutiny of the general scheme is nearing completion, with the report of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Transport expected later this week. In parallel, drafting of the Bill has been progressed and is at an advanced stage. A lot of things are happening at different stages that need to progress. In that regard, the Minister for Transport intends to finalise the Bill this month and at that stage will be bringing it to Government for agreement to publish. The commitment is to enact that as soon as possible, so it is very clear that actions are happening and progress is being made in that regard.
More broadly, the Deputy mentioned education and specific schools and investment in our sports facilities and complexes. While I do not have the timeline exactly, we do know that in the coming period we will have a new sports capital grant. This grant was introduced by a previous Fine Gael Government to specifically and directly invest in sporting facilities across our communities, in particular, but not limited to our cities, towns and villages. In Dublin, we have seen a huge investment in our sports campuses and I have no doubt that when that opens up again, appropriate funding will be provided for Dublin.
We have also seen significant investment in education. In the past number of years alone, over €6 billion has been invested directly in our schools. Of course there is a plan to do much more than that as well. When it comes to investment overall in Dublin city centre, of course, a huge amount of property tax is taken in but a huge amount is also being reinvested, whether through the national programmes or directly by Dublin City Council. Of course, we want to work with the Deputy to make sure all our priorities and all these important projects can progress at various different stages.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-05-07/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:46+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-07