I wish to speak to amendments Nos. 33 and 34. Government amendment No. 33 adds sections 117 and 118(4) of the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 to the Schedule 1, Part 2 functions of the director general. This Act has just recently come into being so the amendment was not possible at an earlier Stage. The functions under section 117 relate to appointing staff and the function under section 118(4) relates to data sharing, both of which are within the functions of the director general. Government amend…

I wish to acknowledge the phenomenal work of the officials. There are two present but there is a larger team. They have done extraordinary work on this Bill. It is ground-breaking, historic and a new dawn for Limerick in terms of local politics. I acknowledge the major positive contribution from the elected members and the executive of Limerick City and County Council. Change is never easy. I refer to the business community and the wider community in Limerick. The people in Limerick voted by plebiscite. Senator Mar…

I am taking this debate on behalf of the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris. The employees of higher education institutions are protected by the provisions of employment law. This includes, but is not limited to, the provisions contained in the Employment Equality Acts and Equal Status Acts. As employers, relevant HEIs are also bound by the same provisions in their capacity as employers of academic staff. In the case of any staff member believing that they are…

I thank the Senator. I will take these matters back to the Minister. I note the point being raised by the Senator. Higher education institutions participating in the charter sign up to the Athena SWAN Ireland principles. In signing up to the principles, participants recognise that each institution, department and professional unit has different equality challenges and development priorities, and that these priorities should be developed based on an understanding of the local evidence base and the national and globa…

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley. I thank the Senator for raising the matter as it allows me an opportunity to update the House on the current position in respect of the provision of a new school building for Drogheda Educate Together Secondary School, ETSS. Drogheda ETSS is a coeducational post-primary school under the patronage of Educate Together. It was established in September 2019 as a start-up second level school as a regional solution to serve the combined Droghe…

I thank Senator Keogan for raising this important matter. The Department will continue to keep the patron and school updated as the project progresses and on interim accommodation, pending delivery of the permanent project for the school. I have no doubt this is a matter Senator Keogan will take up directly with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, but I will also draw it to her attention. There is ongoing communication between the Department and the patron of the school on both the planning application and th…

I am taking this important matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and I thank Senator Byrne for raising it. This Government takes the issue of climate change very seriously and has put in place a number of initiatives to address the changes that we, as a nation, need to make to address the climate crisis. These include amendments made in 2021 to the climate Act, the requirement for an annually updated climate action plan with sectoral emissions ceilings, and the publication of the national energy and climat…

Senator Byrne made very cogent points. There is a whole-of-government approach to this issue. Changes to the climate system as a result of human activity have already resulted in an observed global average temperature increase of more than 1°C since pre-industrial times. That goes without saying. Further increases in global average temperatures are projected to cause significant impacts in Ireland and globally, especially in countries more exposed and less able than we are to withstand these impacts. The Government…

I am taking this matter on behalf of my colleague, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys. I thank my local colleague, Senator Conway from County Clare, for raising this important matter. The LIS, which we all know as the local road improvement scheme, is a programme for improvement works on small private or non-public roads in rural areas that are not normally maintained by local authorities but which represent a vital piece of infrastructure for rural residents. The scheme is funded by the Department of Rural and Communi…

Given the value of the scheme for people living in rural areas, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, was pleased to be in a position to increase the allocation for the LIS in 2023 alone to almost €30 million. This is a record investment that signifies her commitment to the scheme. More than €120 million has been invested in the LIS since 2017. The figure I have for the allocation to Clare in 2023 is €1.33 million. That was used on 22 schemes. The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, will announce the 2024 allocations shortly. He…

I once again thank Senator Conway for raising this important matter. I note the point he raises about the funding, and it is one I will take back to the Minister, Deputy Humphreys. She is aware of the importance of LIS funding to rural communities, which provides access not just to people’s homes and farms but also to outdoor amenities such as lakes, rivers or beaches. She remains fully committed to funding LIS into the future. As Senator Conway will be aware, there was no dedicated funding for the scheme for a num…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 66, 84, 86, 96, 109 and 122 together, and obviously Carlow is top of the list. The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, implementation of a planned maintenance programme and carrying out of responsive repairs, are matters for each individual local authority under section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Since 2014, Exchequer funding has also been provided through my Department's voids programme to supplement the …

I thank Deputies Murnane O'Connor and McAuliffe. We will certainly take up that question about the URDF funding on Barrack Street. We very much want to see the centres of places like Carlow coming back into use for people to live in. By way of being of assistance to the Deputies, we can look at 2023 itself and getting to that plan-led maintenance approach. Taking Carlow, Deputy Murnane O'Connor is correct that 33 units were brought back into use. The overall allocation there was €732,000. That was a large additiona…

Taking the Deputies in order, as Deputy Murnane O'Connor is probably aware, we increased the HAP rates in the last period. There is 30% discretion and we keep it under constant review. An area to point to is the tenant in situ scheme. We want people coming off HAP and on to tenant in situ . We set a target of 1,500 last year. We have exceeded that target to reach 1,700. As regards the scheme, we want local authorities to purchase homes for people who are on HAP and where the landlord intends to sell the home. We ar…

Cork City Council last year got an initial allocation of €1.8 million. It received an additional allocation of €800,000, making a total of €2.56 million.

The point is that this is about a partnership model. Ultimately, we have to have a system. We want councillors to move to a situation whereby they bring properties back into use as quickly as possible as they become vacant. We do not want to see void properties.

Under the climate action plan, the retrofit target for local authority owned homes is to retrofit 36,500 to BER B2 or cost optimal equivalent by 2030. As part of this new scheme over the period 2021 to 2023, 5,766 local authority homes have been retrofitted to B2 cost optimal equivalent. Furthermore, retrofit works were completed on over 74,000 local authority-owned dwelling since 2013 to the end of 2021 under the previous scheme. As a result of the advanced performance requirements of building regulations, it is e…

We note the last point the Deputy has made. If he looks at the funding for this particular programme, in 2023, €76.9 million was provided. There were 2,445, which was the target. Next year, the target is 3,500 social homes. We have an increased allocation in that area. We are looking at this as a programme we want to work. It is a programme we are committed to, and we are looking at the target of 36,500. It does not go without saying that by 2030, we are looking to have 70% of social housing stock with a BER rating…

It is something we are looking at. We have received correspondence from the Deputy and others, and it is something that the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and I are considering as we speak.

I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee. I thank Deputy Gannon for raising it. In fairness to the Deputy, he has raised it on many occasions. As the Deputy may be aware, the Government's approach to the misuse of drugs is set out in Ireland's national drug strategy, Reducing Harm, Supporting Recovery. This is a health-led approach to drug and alcohol use in Ireland and it represents a whole-of-government response to reduce demand and associated harm. The Government is also comm…