I move: (1) THAT for the purposes of stamp duty charged by virtue of the Stamp Duties Consolidation Act 1999 (No. 31 of 1999), that Act be amended— (a) in section 83DB(1), in the definition of “relevant instrument”, by the deletion of “, where the instrument was chargeable, in respect of the whole or part of the consideration under the instrument, to stamp duty at a rate of 10 per cent”, and (b) in Schedule 1 – (i) in the Heading “CONVEYANCE or TRANSFER on sale of any property other than stocks or marketable securi…

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. We share a common interest in changing the market here and this is why we are raising the stamp duty. There were already significant reductions in the instances of bulk buying of apartments on the market and this will further reduce that. Any ones that are going are probably an example of legacy developments. This motion will, I believe, have the support of this House because it looks to put the power back in the hands of small-time or individual buyers. I ask the House…

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. We share a common interest in changing the market here and this is why we are raising the stamp duty. There were already significant reductions in the instances of bulk buying of apartments on the market and this will further reduce that. Any ones that are going are probably an example of legacy developments. This motion will, I believe, have the support of this House because it looks to put the power back in the hands of small-time or individual buyers. I ask the House…

I move: THAT it is expedient to amend the law relating to inland revenue (including value-added tax and excise) and to make further provision in connection with finance.

Antisocial behaviour is a societal issue to which public transport is, unfortunately, not immune. Those who regularly use and work in our public transport system are most directly impacted by any incident that occurs on the network. I assure the Deputy that all public transport operators are expending significant resources introducing measures to counter the impact of antisocial behaviour and ensuring the safety and security of passengers and staff. For example, the entire Dublin Bus, Iarnród Éireann, Luas, Go-Ahea…

The Government, with the transport operators, will protect passengers and staff. The Deputy is right that SIPTU has done very good work in highlighting the concern. I had a meeting with SIPTU officials and some of the drivers who have experienced what is more than antisocial behaviour. It can be terrifying when people are subject to assault or intimidation. No one in the Government wants this to continue. The question is what is the most effective policing deterrent. While some may feel the establishment of a separ…

I accept the Deputy's point. As he said, he is speaking about a division within An Garda Síochána. Again, in regular communication with An Garda Síochána on the matter we have asked for advice on what is the best structure. We have to take the advice from the Garda Commissioner. In this case he is best placed to assess how we might want to deploy. We do have special traffic police. There is nothing stopping us if An Garda Síochána believes the current structures are not serving the protection of the peace on our pu…

-----with An Garda Síochána deciding to manage or operate in a different way.

We can never completely eradicate it but we do have to take action in every instance to try to stop it. One of the things that to my mind really does work, and it is more on the bus service than on rail or light rail services, is engagement with the community. It is often about community policing. A lot of the time with the bus drivers I have met it is often about an isolated bus driver being in an area where they do not feel safe. In such an instance it is not just the policing end with An Garda Síochána but it is…

I thank the Deputy for his question. Approximately €411 million of Exchequer capital funds have been provided for national roads through TII to local authorities in 2024. These allocations were announced by the Department of Transport and TII on 22 February 2024. With regard to the N24 Cahir to Limerick Junction scheme, I am pleased to confirm that €650,000 was allocated to this project in 2024, which will enable it to progress through the design and environmental evaluation phase. This will enable the preparation …

I am very much in favour of this project, especially of the section bypassing Tipperary town, which will advance faster than any other element of the project. We want the through-traffic out of Tipperary town straightaway. I recall meeting representatives of the local chamber of commerce. Some 30% of local shop fronts are not in operation, in the main, because there are so many trucks going through the centre of the town. I therefore want to see this built. This is good news. As I said, it will come to the Governme…

Those ancestors helped on the first Bianconi coach route from Clonmel to Limerick, which went through Tipperary town. It did not go through Bansha; it went further south. In honour of those ancestors, I look forward to seeing this happen.

As I said in my response to Deputy McGrath, I can confirm that approximately €411 million of Exchequer capital funds were provided for national roads through TII to local authorities in 2024. These allocations were announced by the Department of Transport and TII on 22 February 2024. The N17 Knock to Collooney scheme has been identified in the national development plan, NDP. This section of the N17 covers approximately 55 km in length and has a number of towns and villages on the route, most notably Tobercurry and …

I will not have those figures until we get the business case, as is the case with what I said in respect of the Cahir to Limerick Junction road. It is at the business case phase that we start to get an indicative outline of the potential costs. I agree with the Deputy that road safety is our key first objective.

We provided specific funding to TII to examine whether we can improve our existing national road network, even if we are not doing the full motorway or new project appraisal or development, and whether we can improve safety measures on all carriageways, particularly national roads, through a variety of measures, such as investment in junctions, speed measurement measures and other road improvements. I agree that safety has to come first. The second priority is to try to improve our towns, such as Tobercurry and Cha…

I will look at that. I hear what the Deputy is saying about the need for strategic corridors to the north west. That will involve a variety of projects, not just roads but also investment in rail and bus services. That is why we have a difficult budget allocation process. The rolling out of further Connecting Ireland rural bus services requires a great deal of funding. On the Deputy's first point, I agree that there are many instances where small- or medium-scale investment in road safety improvements should be con…

I thank Deputy Murphy for her kind words. I am eager to see improved rail services rolled out across the network. We know that when people are provided with higher frequencies and reliable timetables, they will make the switch to public transport. We all know there are a number of constraints on the Dublin to Wexford line. The all-island strategic rail review highlighted issues such as its single-track character; poor rail alignment; significant conflicts with high-frequency DART services; and significant geographi…

Speed and frequency are the issues. More frequency gives better speeds. As the Deputy said, if someone has to wait from 7.30 a.m. until midday or 1.30 p.m. for the next train, that is very slow and a long time. There is a real case for looking at this proposal, which has been mentioned in public, to run shuttle services to Wicklow and then, with an extension of the DART to Wicklow, to run very frequent DART services from Wicklow into the city. That would lead to significant improvement in the frequency and, therefo…

The strategic rail review is very ambitious and involves about €30 billion over the next 30 years. We have to spend €1 billion a year and it has set out the various priorities.

We are assessing the timelines now for the spending.