Student unions tell me this all the time. We are going to standardise the design. You can build whatever student accommodation you want, but if we are investing in it, it will have to fit into one, two or three types of design. Students are inputting into that process, and we will have the output of that early next year. Once we invest, we have a right to have conversations about affordability in return for that investment.

The Minister has been doing a lot of extra work in County Louth. I very much appreciate it in all capacities. I ask the Minister to outline the progress made to date on Dundalk Institute of Technology, DkIT, becoming a technological university under the Technological Universities Act 2018 and if he will make a statement on the matter. It is hugely important. It has not happened up to now, despite all the excellent efforts the Minister and other people in the education field are putting into it.

Yes.

I thank the Minister for his reply. I will say that it is time that progress was made. I agree with him that we must give a practical period of time to the new president to get the work under way. It is really important that he is given the space to do that, with the knowledge and expectation that the Department will be ready to step in as and when required, and to keep a watching brief and give encouragement. It is unfortunate, but we will not go into a history lesson. The past is the past and the future is for th…

One issue is the compatibility of the two institutions and the range of subjects that they might offer, as well as the challenges involved. If I remember my history right, Maynooth has very good scientific and academic powers and abilities. It would be an interesting mix, and we could have an entirely new type of course in DkIT as well that would be different from what it would traditionally have had. This synergy and the exciting future for the north east rests now in the hands of the new president, Maynooth and o…

Benefit-in-kind is a non-cash benefit given to an employee by an employer. It has a monetary value and is deemed to be a taxable income. There are approximately 150,000 company cars in the country and if those drivers have a benefit-in-kind, the vast majority pay the amount due themselves. In the case of the CEO of Bord na Móna, because the original market value of his car is €130,000, the benefit-in-kind is €22,000. The benefit-in-kind for his health insurance is €9,000. I have no issue with company cars or health…

Like others, I very much welcome the Bill. It is appropriate and timely, however, that I address issues of which Ministers are aware, particularly in the Department of the Minister of State, Deputy Ossian Smyth, but on which they have not acted. The most obvious injustice and inequality is that full-time residents of mobile homes are locked out from the excellent €600 to €800 of electricity credits. That support is being denied to those who are most vulnerable and in need. Everybody in this House and all the fat ca…

I welcome the Bill and the Minister of State's contribution. It is an opportunity for fundamental and real change in local government not just in Limerick. If it is effective and works very well, it could transform communities around the country. The golden opportunity is for the mayoral programme. When a person stands for election, and I presume there will be lots of different candidates, each person will have his or her own programme, supporters and opposition. It will lead to a new dynamic. I presume it is the s…

There are almost 2,000 wards of court. These are people who the court has decided are unable to look after their own financial and other affairs. The court oversees investment of approximately €1.5 billion to look after their needs but there have been significant losses. My colleague, Senator Seery Kearney, has called for an inquiry into an audit into these funds. Because they are under the jurisdiction of the courts, I ask that the Government make up any of the significant losses these vulnerable people have suffe…

In view of the significant increase in the population of County Louth, by 10,000 since the previous census, and also in east Meath, where a district electoral division area has increased from 22,000 to 28,000 citizens, a huge demand for SNAs and SEN units in primary and post-primary schools is coming. I welcome the money that has been spent so far this year on special education, amounting to €2.6 billion. What is the expectation in this regard and what might the Government be able to provide?

I thank the Minister of State for her response and welcome the increased provision. Indeed, I welcome her personal involvement in Tullydonnell national school, where the principal, Anne-Marie Ford, was especially active and successful in working with the Minister of State to get increased provision. I await a response to a letter sent in April to the Department regarding a special education unit for Ballapousta, just outside Ardee, where a new school is being built. It will provide a special education unit, but it …

Bring in Deputy Durkan.

The Government's promise in the programme for Government of an end-of-life hospice unit in Drogheda was welcomed, as were the allocation of €1 million and the identification of a site at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. The people of Drogheda have been waiting for developments since then and I have been waiting ten weeks for a reply from the Minister for Health setting out the progress to date. Will the Taoiseach ask the Minister to send me that reply urgently, given that we need significant progress on the site?

I welcome this debate. It is timely and important. I am speaking primarily as Chair of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement and also as a Deputy from a Border constituency who lived through all of the Troubles. If anything is absolutely true, it is that the Good Friday Agreement has worked and the violence has ended. Notwithstanding the fact that more than 3,500 people died as a direct result of violence by the IRA, Protestant paramilitaries, the British army, the RUC and others, p…

I welcome this legislation. I welcome that the energy companies will be returning significant amounts of money to the Government, the taxpayer and indeed the people who pay for the electricity. I agree it is very late in the day, but at least it is here. No Deputy in this House would say we should not proceed with the legislation as quickly as possible now that we have it. Of course, there are questions over the policy and the organisation of companies like the ESB and EirGrid, which are State companies. As I under…

The appalling rape of a number of women in a HSE-run nursing home has shocked the nation. Why is the Government failing to protect people? A total of 978 incidents were reported to HIQA in 2022 in relation to the care and welfare of older people in nursing homes and other institutions but HIQA has no regulatory remit to investigate or manage any of those individual complaints. The Minister is well aware of this but to date, he has refused to introduce legislation to protect our older people. In this particular case…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and acknowledge her interest in care of older people. My criticisms are not of the Minister of State personally but of the Government, Government policy, the lack of delivery and the lack of hope for people. At 3 a.m. on 3 April 2020, a most appalling and evil act was perpetrated upon an elderly lady who was a full-time resident in a nursing home. On 30 July 2020, a court case took place and I welcome the fact that it was speedy and that an appropriate 11-year sentenc…

I thank the Minister of State and acknowledge, as I stated at the outset, her absolute commitment to her work. I support her and believe she is doing her best, but the Government is not doing enough. I wish to make that clear. Where is the commission on care that was promised in 2020? There is no sign of it. Where is the commissioner for older people? There is no sign of him or her. I know these are rhetorical questions. Where is our care and concern? There is no justice or closure here. I refer to a lady whose hus…

The Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, report states Ireland will fall well short of its climate change targets. The expected reduction was 51% by 2030; it is now expected to be 29%. Significant new efforts need to be made. When does the Minister intend to introduce a new low-interest loan to help owners of domestic dwellings or people residing in them who do not qualify for free retrofit to be able to retrofit their homes and reduce their energy costs, which are rising appallingly high?

It might well be but I am getting complaints from people who have installed heat pumps and cannot pay the electricity costs. That is why the Minister has to look at other solutions as well. I welcome his commitment to low-interest loans. Perhaps he could accelerate the process in order that households that are being crucified by energy bills will be able to meet or reduce them, at the very least.