I thank the Ceann Comhairle. The Taoiseach will be familiar with the Baggot Street hospital. It is an iconic building in the middle of Baggot Street that, scandalously, has been left vacant for a number of years by the HSE. The HSE told us and local residents that it had been placed on the OPW disposal register, which, as it was explained to me, means every Government Department and State body would be offered an opportunity to put that building into reuse. TheJournal.ie reported yesterday that the Department of ho…

The Taoiseach might just follow up with the Minister for housing to clarify where we are at.

It was the Department of housing that said it had never been offered it. It is just to get clarity on that point.

At a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts at the end of June, the then Garda Commissioner confirmed he had reported to the Minister on the controlled delivery operation that related to the late Evan Fitzgerald and the shocking incident in Carlow. The then Commissioner went on to say that he took note of the comments made by Senator Michael McDowell on 24 June in the Seanad about what was or was not said in the currency of a live bail application, and that he had referred those comments to the Garda ombudsman…

I thank the Minister for being in attendance. He will be aware the greater Dublin drainage project was granted planning permission in July and a judicial review was subsequently initiated. This is an absolutely essential project for the existing half a million homes in this country and tens of thousands more homes that will not be built unless this project is continued. I do not need to tell the Minister, as a Dublin Bay South TD, about the impact the absence of the drainage project is having on the Ringsend wastew…

I thank the Minister for the reply. It seems to me that we have put the laws in place in the planning Act in relation to trying to reduce the number of judicial reviews. We have not yet commenced the relevant provision as it relates to fixed costs. The Minister has a statutory role in relation to that, although I acknowledge it is the Minister for housing who has to discuss it with him. I wonder when we are going to make an actual decision on this and send a very clear signal of what the State's approach is in gett…

Seven years ago, a planning application was submitted for the greater Dublin drainage project, which went through swings and roundabouts and through the courts. A new planning application was put in, which was finally approved. It is going to impact over half a million homes, with tens of thousands of other homes awaiting delivery on foot of this, and yet it is being judicially reviewed. The applicant has a right to a judicial review, but I think what most of the public would be aghast at is that they do so at risk…

In relation to the SPV structure for the Dublin city task force, I want to ask when will that be established. Is legislation necessary, and, if so, when will that legislation come? Obviously, all of that relates to the Dublin city task force and a key part of that is getting over-the-shop living in Dublin city centre. Some of that work is under way on a piloted basis on Middle Abbey Street by the Dublin City Council teams but what we need to see is a wholesale approach of getting people living in the city and a mix…

The AI summit hosted by President Macron in February was a big moment for Europe, demonstrating innovation and a change of approach at a European level. I put it to the chair of the AI council at the AI committee that Ireland could host a similar AI summit during the hosting of the EU Presidency. That is something that has been taken up by the Minister of State with responsibility for AI, who also appeared before the committee. She indicated that she would prepare a report for the Taoiseach on the AI summit, which …

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to provide for the assessment of compensation payable on account of the compulsory acquisition of land; to provide for the acquisition of land by vesting order; to provide for the making of advance payments to owners, lessees and occupiers on account of compensation owed to them as a consequence of the compulsory acquisition of land; to provide for the transfer of functions relating to the assessment of compensation for compulsorily acquired land to …

You have upgraded me there, too. Thanks, a Cheann Comhairle. Under this Bill, vesting orders will be served within one week of being made, compensation must be determined within six months by an independent valuation tribunal rather than a non-transparent panel of arbitrators, and once compensation is awarded, it must be paid within two months. Second, the Bill establishes the right to an advance payment. Up to 90% of estimated or agreed compensation will be paid up front. This helps landowners plan and move to a n…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

Both of the previous speakers mentioned allies. That is how I come to this debate also. One of the big decisions I made when I was elected as a city councillor in 2019 was that, where possible, I would attend, at the very least, Dublin Pride every single year. To my eternal shame, I never attended Pride before I became a councillor. As a public representative, I felt it important to continue to show allyship. That is why I am here today contributing to this debate. When I was Lord Mayor of Dublin, I had the enormou…

At last Thursday's meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts, the Garda Commissioner confirmed that he had reported to the Minister for justice on the controlled delivery operation that related to the late Evan Fitzgerald. The Commissioner went on to say that he took note of the comments made in the Seanad by Senator McDowell with regard to what was or was not said in the currency of a live bail application, and that he had referred those comments to the ombudsman for consideration. On Sunday's "This Week" progra…

On 6 April last year, Simon Harris, then the Taoiseach in waiting, made a clear commitment to convene a Dublin city centre task force bringing together the council, retailers, business, community groups and An Garda Síochána to chart a path towards a safer and more vibrant Dublin. He delivered on that commitment. The city task force was established, chaired by David McRedmond, and one of its most important proposals was to make the redevelopment of the GPO the centrepiece of revitalising O'Connell Street and the su…

Like many Members of this House, I speak not only as a public representative but as a former councillor and as a parent of three young children. I regularly meet parents of children with disabilities. What they tell me is clear; the system is not working for them. The programme for Government commits to progressively increasing the domiciliary care allowance, DCA, and to phasing out the means test for carer's allowance. As the Taoiseach knows, the DCA is a non-means-tested payment of €360 per month for children und…

I thank the Taoiseach for his reply. Fundamentally though, there is a problem here in that I cannot think of any other allowance in the State where many people who apply for it are refused. It has been one in three applications over the past four years. I do not believe that those families are applying because they think that a little bit of extra money would be of assistance. They are applying because they absolutely need the money to support the needs of their child. They may be spending the money on occupational…

The access and inclusion model, AIM, has proven to be a successful model of supporting children of every need to be present in a mainstream setting, which is its primary aim. How it works is straightforward. Where either a parent or somebody working in a preschool setting has identified a child with a need, and following consultation with that parent, an application can be made to the Department to increase the ratio of staff that might exist in that preschool setting so that there is an appropriate ratio of staff …

I thank the Minister of State, in particular for the remarks he made off script, which are welcome. I acknowledge that a commitment to examine and expand the AIM programme to make it available to younger children is contained in the programme for Government. I have concerns, however, with some of the language the Department used in the reply that was prepared for the Minister of State, whereby it needs to examine the evidence. Ultimately, why is a child aged two years and ten months, two years and nine months or tw…

The Government has made clear that a focus on capital investment is a key and central priority of this Government. The Taoiseach will have seen the report today from KPMG identifying that a €70 billion investment in Dublin will be needed. That is in the area of housing and wastewater, but investment that always produces returns is investment in sport. The Federation of Irish Sport held a well-attended briefing this morning in the AV room where it emphasised the need for multiannual funding in sport to support the m…