I can certainly see the point the Senator is making on derelict properties. We have introduced a whole host of schemes to incentivise bringing properties back into productive use. Not only is there the refurbishment grant of €70,000, but also the repair and lease scheme and the buy and renew scheme. Some local authorities have used these schemes to great effect, while some have not used them at all. Some 50% of all repair and lease units in the entire country have been delivered in County Waterford. Applications to…

I might slightly segue here, so I ask the Minister of State to give me a little leeway in that respect. Under the Finance Act 2022, relief from natural gas carbon tax was provided for in respect of the horticultural industry but it has not been commenced. I understand this has been debated inside out and upside down but it is very important for that sector and it has not yet been commenced. The Minister of State might touch on that in her response.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I will not require the full ten minutes. This is very straightforward legislation. As the Minister of State said in his concluding comments, it is essentially about establishing the new constituencies for elections to Dáil Éireann and for the European Parliament elections which will take place in June of next year. We have a tradition of implementing those independent commission recommendations in full and without amendment and I am certain that will be the case in this…

Next Tuesday.

I thank the Minister of State for taking this Commencement matter this morning. The need to expand cardiac services at University Hospital Waterford is a topic that we are both very passionate about. Along with Oireachtas colleagues past and present, we have both campaigned long and hard for it over many years. On the majority of items which affect Waterford and the wider south-east region, we all work collectively cross-party to advance these projects. I know the Minister of State and I would not have it any other…

It is important to reiterate some of those points. I do not think it is known by many people that 22 additional staff are already in place of the 24. These are additional staff over and above, as have been committed to in the 2,068 whole-time equivalent positions secured in budget 2024. I ask that an early decision be made on that. Notwithstanding the 22 positions already in place, which will facilitate the quicker staffing of the seven-day week service, those additional positions will need to be backfilled. That t…

Come on.

That is fine. Ladies first.

I support the comments of my colleague Senator Lombard on the issues around the knackeries dispute. It is a big challenge throughout rural Ireland at the moment. It urgently needs to be addressed. I have raised the large-scale sports infrastructure fund on the Order of Business and during a debate with the Minister of State, Deputy Thomas Byrne, a couple of weeks ago in this Chamber. This morning's announcement that €3.3 million is being allocated from the fund to the Waterford GAA county board for the redevelopmen…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I commend our colleagues on introducing this motion because it gives us the opportunity to address local government. As someone who was in 2009, at the age of 21, elected to Waterford City Council, now Waterford City and County Council, I agree with Senator Fitzpatrick that it is an absolute honour to be a local authority member and be elected by a local community. I would like to think I have plenty of experience given that I served for 11 years before my election to t…

I support the points Senator Casey made about this. I made the case to the Ministers, Deputies Darragh O'Brien and Donohoe, about the changes we implemented this year relating to the interaction with the local authority affordable purchase scheme. Thankfully, those changes have now been made. To echo Senator Casey's point, the people we are talking about are a different cohort. You can differentiate between a cohort just using the help-to-buy scheme and a mortgage, and those who are using the help-to-buy scheme and…

I move recommendation No. 5: In page 14, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following: “7. The Minister shall, within 3 months of the passing of this Act, prepare and lay before the Houses of the Oireachtas a report on the operation of the Help-to-Buy Scheme since its introduction in 2017 and since its expansion in 2020.”. We have touched on the help-to-buy scheme. It was introduced in 2017. When I think back to that time, one of the issues raised with us as Fine Gael representatives, as I am sure it was with o…

I intend to speak to both recommendations Nos. 6 and 7. We have made progress, as Senator Kyne has said. Only a couple of years ago, €36,800 was the standard cut-off point. We are now at €42,000 in budget 2024, which is to be greatly welcomed. However, the number of people paying that higher tax rate has increased, notwithstanding the fact we have more people in employment. We believe we need to continue to examine the burden on the middle and to improve upon it to ultimately reach a €50,000 level. On recommendatio…

I wish to speak about both recommendations. Recommendation No. 8 is on the rent freeze. This sounds great in theory but in practice, where it was implemented by the left-wing government in Berlin, it was struck down by the supreme court within 12 months and it resulted in a 50% reduction in rental supply. Does Sinn Féin think that is somehow going to be different in Ireland as opposed to Germany? I do not quite understand the assertion they are making on the rent freeze, apart from the fact that it sounds good in a…

There are some who like to pretend that you could have a properly functioning private rental market without landlords, but as the Minister well knows, that is impossible. The Government always strives to strike a balance in keeping landlords in the market. I do not accept that we should just throw our hands up in the air and say of those landlords who are leaving, “So be it”. There is a place for the Government to encourage landlords to remain in the market, as we need a strong private rental market. The IPOA and t…

As the Leader knows, in recognition of stubbornly high energy costs, the Government last year introduced three universal energy credits of €200. In this year's budget, three further universal energy credits of €150 each, which automatically come off every householder's bill, were announced. This was welcomed across the board in my county of Waterford and across the country. It is an important measure. I raise the issue on the Order of Business because I received a text this morning purporting to represent the Gover…

I acknowledge the lump sum payments that are commencing this week as part of budget 2024. As the Leader knows, that budget was aimed at putting money back in people's pockets. It contained a whole host of universal measures as well as targeted supports for the most vulnerable. This week, there will be a €400 payment to anyone in receipt of the working family payment, which will support lower-income families who are out there working hard across our economy. We will also have a €300 lump sum for those in receipt of …

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I envy him the job he has as I am a former physical education, PE, teacher who has been involved in sport all of my life. His portfolio is certainly a desirable one and his Department is obviously on many occasions a good news Department. I firmly believe that there is a sport or activity for everyone and it is just a case of finding that sport. That is why our schools and our sports partnerships are so important for younger people to sample a whole range of sports and,…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell and I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan for also being here for the motion. This is an area about which I am very passionate. I have been involved in countless projects in County Waterford with the goal of bringing vacant and derelict properties back into productive use for housing purposes. As Senator Fitzpatrick said, the joint committee has spent a lot of time discussing this issue and coming up with proposals. Many of these have been implemented in rece…

I welcome the Minister to the House for this Commencement debate on two critically important projects for South East Technological University, SETU, namely, the acquisition of the former Waterford Crystal site, and the completion of the public private partnership, PPP, process for bundle 2, which will see a 12,000 sq. m engineering computing and general teaching building built on the Cork Road campus. When I submitted this Commencement matter, I did not know that the Minister was going to formally write to me yeste…