I am pleased to introduce the Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2025. This Bill was initiated in the Seanad on 14 November. I look forward to hearing the contributions of Senators here and I hope they will support this important Bill. Officials from the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport are here with me today and are available to any Senator who wants to have a detailed briefing on the technical aspects of this legislation before us. This is a short technical Bill. The Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bil…

I acknowledge the very strong interest that has been shown in this short technical piece of legislation. It has given us the opportunity to have a wider discussion about the importance of the screen and audiovisual sectors, and the wider arts sector. It is an area that I place a strong value on myself. I have worked in the arts sector in the past, both in the Theatre Royal in Waterford and in the concert hall in Limerick. I have been involved in some productions as well. Senator Scahill referenced the breadth of in…

It is not. It is true.

I thank Senator Costello for raising this important matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Calleary. Partial capacity benefit is a social welfare scheme that is open to people who are in receipt of invalidity pension or illness benefit for more than six months, and who have a reduced work capacity. The scheme allows them to work or return to employment or self-employment while retaining a portion of their previous payment. The personal rate of payment of partial capacity benefit is based on a m…

It is an important matter. I am aware of people in my constituency of Waterford who avail of partial capacity benefit. It is there to support people who are looking to return to the work environment even though they have had or continue to have significant challenges. It is an appropriate scheme. I will feed back the points the Senator made about three-week window, but I again stress that the Department will look at any individual case on an exceptional basis. The purpose of it being front-loaded is to try to ensur…

I thank Senator Boyhan for raising what is an important matter. The programme for Government, as he rightly pointed out, commits to introducing a new programme to support the effective and speedy turnaround of vacated local authority social homes. My Department has been working on this matter and I expect a new programme that will further support the transition to a planned maintenance approach and the quicker turnaround of casual vacancies, to be rolled out early in the new year. The new programme will build on th…

I thank the Senator for his remarks. I appreciate them. As he knows, it is an area I know well from my 11 years having served on local authorities and the five years I sat on the Oireachtas joint committee with the Senator. I am being honest here. The performance by some local authorities in this space is unacceptable to me as Minister of State. I have had the honest and frank conversations. I have called out the best and worst performers in that NOAC report, but there are plenty in the middle as well that also nee…

Yes.

I thank the Senator very much for raising this important matter. At the outset, I acknowledge the fantastic work that is done by fire service personnel across this country day in, day out. When there are emergencies that most people run away from, they run towards them. I put on record my thanks to them for their fantastic work. Obviously, ensuring firefighters have the appropriate facilities is a priority of Government. I will add a few pieces later but, to give context to my response, the provision of a fire serv…

The Senator has rightly pointed out the limitations of the existing facility in Rathdowney, such as its poor layout and the additional requirements from a welfare perspective for staff given the additional crewing elements. Laois County Council has now indicated this is its priority one project for the capital programme that will run from 2026 to 2030. It has the site the Senator identified, which will be a better site to allow for tenders to navigate the streets. I can assure the Senator my officials will work wit…

I thank Deputy O’Hara for raising this important matter, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, and the Minister, Deputy Browne. The bogs at Ardgraigue, Barroughter and Cloonmoylan are special areas of conservation in the Deputy's county of Galway. I reaffirm the Government's commitment to protecting Ireland’s valuable peatlands and to working with all stakeholders. As the Deputy will be aware, peatlands are of cultural, economic and ecological importance to Ireland and are profoun…

All I can do is take back what the Deputy has said to the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, and the Minister, Deputy Browne. I cannot give an indication of whether an application, if made, would be accepted. That would have to go through, I assume, an assessment process. It is not within my remit so I am not fully au fait with the process that would be involved. I re-emphasise that we are trying to progress the 118 applications still in the system and that €7.3 million has been paid out to 329 families under th…

I thank Senator Conway. Unfortunately, I have to oppose the amendment he has tabled as local authorities are subject to an annual borrowing cap of €118 million, which is set by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and reserving €300 million, or 20% of the proposed €1.5 billion as is set out for in this legislation, for smaller authorities would exceed this cap and create a misalignment of existing financial controls. Demand from local authorities for HFA lending does not reach the level suggest…

I thank Senators for their attention to this albeit short but important Bill over the past couple of days to ensure that we have an increase in the statutory borrowing limit from €12 billion to €13.5 billion, which I am advised will facilitate the construction of an additional 5,500 homes by approved housing bodies across the country. It is a very significant albeit short piece of legislation. I thank the House for its consideration.

I thank colleagues for their important contributions here today. I echo many of the comments made by the Minister, Deputy Browne, when he emphasised this Government's commitment and determination to tackle the challenges faced by homeowners living with the scourge of defective concrete blocks. I cannot imagine what it must be like for people to see the home they have built, and all the memories that go with that, continuing to weaken over time. The trauma which many Deputies have described in their statements is re…

I have known Simon Harris since we were both approximately 19 years of age. Even then, before he entered politics, you could tell he was someone different, someone with a genuine desire to make a difference. It has always been obvious that Simon got involved in public life because he cared and was committed to helping others. As Minister for Health, Simon Harris took on one of the toughest jobs in politics, progressing the likes of free GP care, expanding the HPV vaccination programme and securing access to life-ch…

Yes, we do.

The Deputy's time is up.

Settle down, settle down.

Half a billion is not billions.