I would like to ask the Minister about the delays relating to probate. What is the current waiting time? How many cases have been on the waiting list in recent years and to date in 2024? What has been the average wait time in recent years and to date in 2024? What measures does the Minister plan to take to address this? Are there plans to reopen the office to the public? Will she make a statement on the matter?

I thank the Minister of State. There is a significant problem here and it is reflected in many quarters. According to the 2024 Lisney property outlook, sales of second-hand homes will continue to be affected by lengthy delays in probate and this will impact on the supply of properties to the market. This is creating uncertainty. We see from the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland that these delays have frustrated the sale of homes. We know that some grants of probate are now taking up to 22 weeks. We can see - I…

It is welcome that the office will open even for some limited hours because its closure has contributed significantly to delays. Is it the case, with regard to the work on the eProbate service, that it will be early 2025 when that will be launched? There is a need for a significant effort in the meantime to address the delays. Regarding staffing, is there an update or timeline on indicative numbers in terms of workforce planning to address the delays and backlog? It is having an impact on processing house sales in …

This week the Climate Change Advisory Council said it is unlikely that the first carbon budget will be met. Nowhere is this Government's failure clearer than in its national retrofitting plan. That plan is unfair and regressive. This week Irish Rural Link joined a long list of organisations, including St. Vincent de Paul, Social Justice Ireland, Friends of the Earth, the Irish Heart Foundation, and Sinn Féin, that have highlighted the need for a fundamental reorientation of the national retrofit plan to ensure thos…

We have a plan here.

It is in our plan.

Tax wealth; the Government should tax wealth.

That is not hot air.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this important issue for the debate. There are many who will make the case for their local school building project to be progressed. That is understandable but it comes with the risk that all cases are heard at the same time and all cases are treated the same. I am here to make the case that all cases are not the same. I believe the case of Lismullen National School is such that it deserves immediate and urgent attention and action. Due to substandard, wholly inadequate acc…

I must say there will be real disappointment. The Minister of State’s contribution is a saga, from the perspective of the students, parents and staff. This school was first accepted onto the list of new school builds in 2007. Parents whom I met last night could point to other school buildings that went on at the same time or even eight years later and have progressed to completion or almost completion at this stage. There is huge frustration at the rate of progress here. The school population want to hear from the …

Can the Minister of State report on the decarbonisation of the social housing stock? What progress has been made to retrofit the social housing stock? Are there plans to establish a dedicated programme to install solar PV on the social housing stock? What engagement has the Department had with industry in order to decarbonise the social housing stock most quickly and effectively?

I will take one supplementary. I want to say that there is a significant need to expand this programme, to increase investment in it, and to expand the eligibility criteria. If I can digress, an important role that local councillors have will be overseeing the implementation of these schemes. I have a concern, as the Minister and Minister of State are aware, with regard to the eligibility criteria of people who might want to be members of local authorities, specifically retained firefighters. The application of SI …

On the retained firefighters, is the Minister of State going to work on that with the Department, and can retained firefighters expect to be treated fairly in the application of that circular?

Anthony Allen is from Kells, County Meath. He has advanced motor neurone disease and has been an inpatient in the ICU in Cavan General Hospital since St. Valentine's Day 2023, one year tomorrow. Since March of last year, 11 months ago, his medical team have supported the plan to discharge Mr. Allen home but because of his high level of need this will require a specialised home care package. They have not been able to secure this. In the meantime, Mr. Allen continues to occupy a much-needed ICU bed and he and his lo…

I was very sorry to hear of the death of John Bruton and I send my condolences on behalf of myself and the Sinn Féin Party in Meath to John's wife Finola, his son Matthew, his daughters Juliana, Emily and Mary-Elizabeth, his grandchildren, his sons-in-law, his brother Richard, his sister Mary and the extended family. We are of different generations but I can say as a TD for Meath, as a political activist and as a fellow Meath man that John Bruton was very widely respected in his community in Dunboyne and right acro…

Iarnród Éireann was before the transport committee last week and it is clear it is ambitious to deliver the project in the timeline the Minister outlined, right through from design to completion. The issue is funding. This project is in the greater Dublin area transport strategy for delivery between 2031 and 2036. That is in black and white. The issue is funding. The Minister is on record saying the national development plan transport projects in the period between now and 2030 are underfunded to the tune of €30 bi…

Construction.

You cannot construct without funding.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this report. I commend the committee on its work on it and commend the Cathaoirleach, the members and all the witnesses who presented. It is probably an exercise that could be replicated by other committees. The Sustainable Development Goals, significantly, are the only universally agreed framework with the aim of meeting everyone's needs without overshooting planetary boundaries. They are a roadmap to a better and more sustainable future in which no one is left behind. They re…

The headline in my local newspaper today reads "Water Outage Outrage", reflecting huge frustration in County Meath related to all-too-regular unscheduled and prolonged water outages. Areas worst affected include Ratoath in particular and Ashbourne and surrounding areas. There have been at least 20 water outages in the past 12 months in Ratoath, for example, with tens of thousands of people, households and businesses, including many people with additional needs, affected. The response from Uisce Éireann has been not…