I thank the Senator. The Minister, Deputy Norma Foley has asked me to answer this on her behalf. I will give an update on the timelines for the delivery of additional classrooms at Ardscoil Phádraig, Granard. Ardscoil Phádraig, Granard is a coeducational secondary school and enrolment for the school in September 2023 was 345 pupils. I am pleased to advise the House that Ardscoil Phádraig was approved to enter the Department’s pipeline of school buildings under the additional school accommodation scheme. The project…

Senator Carrigy clearly has a close, direct understanding of this particular school as he is on the school board and one of his children is attending the school. He understands what is involved. He is telling me that the school applied three years ago for its expansion, and that it is waiting for the Department to approve the stage 1 architectural plans. He cannot see why the project is taking longer than other schools to complete. What the Department says is that its prioritisation is directly related to how much …

The Department of Foreign Affairs is responsible for processing applications for citizenship by descent through the foreign births register under the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. As the Senator will be aware, people born abroad may apply for citizenship through foreign birth registration if one of their grandparents was born in Ireland or if one of their parents acquired citizenship through foreign birth registration, naturalisation or post-nuptial citizenship before their birth. Once a p…

I absolutely agree with the Senator's final point. The Passport Office has shown it is capable of resolving a backlog and delivering a wonderful digitised service. I am responsible for the digitisation of Government public services and that is one of the jewels in the crown. A constituent has reported to me that they went to renew a passport at lunchtime and it arrived in the post the next morning. That level of service is what people expect to see. Having to wait two years to prove that your grandmother is Irish a…

This is very much a budget for families and for parents. There is the new payment of €420 for newborn babies and the two double child benefit payments to be paid before Christmas. Childcare fees have been brought down twice and are now half what they were thanks to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman. Hot school meals for all children in primary education are being provided for. There is free public transport for children up to the age of eight, free GP care for children up to the age of seven and free schoolbooks not ju…

I am pleased to have the opportunity to appear before the Seanad to contribute to the debate on budget 2025, which was presented to the Dáil by the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform earlier today. As the Minister reflected, over the lifetime of this Government, we have faced extraordinary change, uncertainty and challenge. Despite all this, our budget strategy has delivered lasting improvements for the people of Ireland. Budget 2025 is set against a backdrop of full empl…

Today's allocation will provide for a net increase of 400 in the number of Defence Forces members in 2025. Budget 2025 provides immediate support to those who need it most and provides for the long-term investment in Ireland's infrastructure and public services. It is a budget that invests in our people and climate and demonstrates a responsible and balanced approach to managing Ireland's finances. I commend the budget to the House and look forward to engaging with colleagues on these important matters.

I thank Senators for their comments on the budget, all of which I have listened to carefully. Senator Garvey called out, for example, the payments for HRT and IVF. She also worries that there is not enough money for small businesses, which was also a theme in Senator Keogan's comments. Senator Craughwell is interested in the Defence Forces and welcomes the 400 new members. He is worried, however, that the pay for higher ranks in the Defence Forces is out of line and that the pay is balanced towards the lower ranks,…

I will go back to the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, and discuss that with him. I am happy to engage with Senator Ward on that. Senator Clonan said that the budget did not really speak to the fundamental human rights of people with a disability. A budget is an allocation of financial resources. We just get this long list of amounts of money that are being paid in different ways but there is that saying that a budget reveals one's values. There are large increases in disability supports, as I mentioned, for example, in s…

I move: That, notwithstanding anything in the Order of the Dáil of 29th March, 2023, setting out the rota in which Questions to members of the Government are to be asked, Questions for oral answer, following those set down to the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science shall be set down to Ministers in the following temporary sequence: Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Minister for Rural and Community Development whereupon the sequence established by the Order of 29th Mar…

It was a pleasure to meet the Deputy in Killarney at the Black Valley last week when fibre broadband was being connected to the Black Valley. This is a sign of the Government's commitment to bring good infrastructure all around the country, including Kerry and Killarney. I thank the Deputy for giving a very detailed geography of the issues facing people using the existing road and the need for upgrades. This is all useful information. The Minister for Transport has asked me to answer the question on his behalf. He …

The proof that road projects are proceeding and being completed in Kerry is shown by the Listowel bypass, which was completed this summer. This year, €4.7 million was allocated for the construction of new national roads in Kerry and another €9.7 million was allocated for the improvement of the existing network. This is in addition to approximately €119 million in Exchequer capital funding which was allocated for the national road network in County Kerry between 2020 and 2023. The Deputy is right that TII is respons…

Due to the funding constraints for national roads this year, a prioritisation exercise was necessary. In line with the NDP and Government policy, the Minister for Transport has allocated national roads funding for 2024 in a manner which seeks to achieve the following outcomes: protection and renewal of the existing national road network; progressing major projects in or near construction; progressing major projects which are at pre-construction but well advanced in the development pipeline; and prioritising any rem…

This is a much larger project that is more than 20 km long and which goes past Farranfore, as well as Killarney. It is a much more ambitious and larger project.

The Minister for housing has asked me to take this question on his behalf. I am glad to have the opportunity to update the Members of the Dáil on the regulation of large-scale solar energy developments from a planning perspective. With regard to this specific issue, it is the case that, as with the large majority of development types, there are currently no specific planning guidelines in place in respect of solar energy developments. Proposals for individual solar energy developments are subject to the statutory r…

I thank the Deputy. The answer indicates the Department of housing has no plans to introduce more specific guidelines on how solar farms should be developed. The Deputy asked about that. The Department is saying it is bringing in regional capacity allocations. In other words, these are projections for the amount of solar power we have produced in each region of Ireland. Those are to be used to flow down to county development plans and so on. There is a path for predicting how much solar energy will be generated and…

I thank Senator Gallagher and the Seanad for giving me the opportunity to address this issue on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly. For eligible public health sector employees suffering from long Covid, a temporary 12-month special scheme of paid leave was introduced in July 2022. This was on the foot of the withdrawal of access to the then Department of Public Expenditure and Reform's special leave with pay for those with long Covid. At the request of the Minister for Health, the special scheme has no…

I thank the Senator. The Minister for Health has secured supports for eligible employees suffering from long Covid by way of the health sector-specific special scheme, which follows on from the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform's special leave with pay and that is for up to four years to date. I would also remind the Senator that this scheme has just been extended for a further 12 month period at the Minister's request. The public service sick leave scheme provides exte…

I thank Senator Byrne for raising this topic. Ireland has attracted the best data centre and tech companies in the world. It is a really important relationship, and the Government continues to work with the sector towards a secure and decarbonised energy future which will enable the twin transitions of digitisation and decarbonisation of our economy and our society. However, data centres, like all energy users, have to exist within the boundaries of our climate targets. Additionally, the electricity system is under…

Data centres are obviously critical to our economy, they bring in huge amounts of money and giant amounts of employment. Ireland is storing about one thrid of European data, it is clearly an engine of our economy. We had a policy on data centres in 2018 that came from the Department of trade and did not refer to security of supply, the risk of blackouts in our electricity system or climate change. We updated that in 2022 with the new Government statement. The Commission for the Regulation of Utilities is now carryi…