I thank the Acting Chair for letting me contribute on this very important question. In County Mayo we see lots of delays in projects that were promised, especially schools and hospitals. We have the likes of Davitt College and Ballinrobe school, on which I hope there will be announcements soon. In addition, there are outstanding projects like the Educate Together school in Castlebar and Holy Trinity school in Westport. What is happening is that the schools have to refuse places to children. We have had an increase …

I thank the Minister for his response. It is very important that the projects that are promised and announced are delivered because there is an expectation in that regard.

Will the Minister provide detail on the non-core spending allocation of approximately €4.5 billion for each year from 2025 to 2027 that is outlined in the stability programme update? Will he make particular reference to the use of the contingency reserve?

I appreciate that response. I am trying to get greater detail and confirmation of whether the contingency reserve is now within core rather than non-core expenditure. Is the contingency reserve intended to be a long-term feature in our budgets?

I look forward to seeing greater detail in the Estimates so that we can do further scrutiny of where things are at and what the plans are for the future.

Sinn Féin believes that Ireland can better create a fair, efficient and enforced immigration system by exercising its rights to opt out of a majority of the EU pact's proposals. Sinn Féin opposed the migration and asylum pact for very good reasons. First, it undermines human rights. At the justice committee yesterday, several human rights organisations outlined a number of provisions in this pact that would infringe on human rights. Second, it will make no practical difference to the number of asylum seekers arrivi…

I spoke to the Taoiseach last week about the defective concrete blocks situation and what needed to be done there. Today, I raise with him a similar issue. His Government promised to introduce a redress scheme for homeowners living with Celtic tiger-era building defects. Legislation was published last year and emergency funding was to be made available for fire safety works. I am making this contribution on behalf of Deputy Mary Lou McDonald, my party president. I visited homeowners across the country, including in…

As the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, knows, I come from a rural constituency in County Mayo. We do not have the transport options of those living in urban areas. How many times do we have to say that we are reliant on cars to get where we need to go? The nearest train station to me is an hour away. It is a six-hour round trip to University Hospital Galway, which many patients have to attend on a regular basis. Before 1 April, the price of petrol and diesel was already weighing heavily on household budgets. We…

I thank Deputy McGuinness for his work on this as Chair of the finance committee. As the committee’s work was done before I rejoined it, I cannot claim credit. However, it is really good work. It is ironic, as Deputy Connolly said, that banks are scrutinising us although we do not know what information is held, not only on us but also on our family members. I think everybody agrees with that.

Yes. That is not going to achieve what we need to achieve here. As was said, the report contains five recommendations. It is an assessment of the system that is currently in place. This system stems from the EU directive. As can sometimes be the case with EU directives, it is quite burdensome legislation. The intention is good but the application absolutely needs to be assessed. Is it really achieving what was set out to be achieved? Politically exposed persons are individuals with prominent public functions and ar…

I wish the Minister of State well in her new job. It is a really important role, particularly when it comes to carers. She knows that carers, and family carers in particular, comprise one of the most neglected groups of people in the State. They save us hundreds of millions of euro, and we pay lip service to their efforts. There are many things we can do. There is not a TD in this House who, at any given time, will not have lists of carers, applications for appeals, etc., that need to be sorted out. We are all well…

I welcome this opportunity to discuss some of the issues impacting on farming. I thank the Minister for his statement. In particular, I welcome his remarks around the well-being of farmers. There is not much we can do about the weather in the short term, but there are many actions we can take to serve the financial stability and viability of farms and to alleviate the financial stress that causes so much anxiety and impacts on the well-being of farmers. The ACRES 1 payments that were due to be paid to applicants la…

I have raised the issue of capital expenditure with the Minister on many occasions. The NDP in 2021 set a target of 5% of GNI* to be invested in capital projects. The NDP states "the Government has decided to maintain the average level of investment in the new NDP at approximately 5 per cent of GNI* over the period 2021-2030". This has not happened in a single year since the NDP was published. On that basis, what is the cumulative underspend since 2021?

The NDP set the target of expenditure as a share of GNI to properly account for inflation, especially when we are talking about a multi-annual plan and indeed a multibillion euro plan like the NDP. Since 2021 we have seen the high levels of inflation, particularly in construction, yet the funding was never adjusted to account for it. Budget after budget, the Government has acted like inflation did not exist. Does the Minister really expect people to believe that the ambition set out in the national development plan…

What I am really concerned about is the deficit that is already there in terms of infrastructure, particularly in the region I come from, and the underinvestment in the west and the north west. Having not accounted for inflation in the way we do, I am concerned about the hole that is there and the cumulative impact it would have. That was my question. I see now in my own constituency projects being delayed, such as school projects that were promised and that people thought were already over the line. Now, suddenly …

Under this Government we have seen the expanded use of controversial public private partnership, PPP, contracts in housing, in health, education and other areas. I have previously raised my concern about value for money on these contracts. Today I will focus on the privatisation of services that comes with such contracts. Will the Minister outline the typical services that are privatised or delivered by a private company for 25 years under these contracts?

I thank the Minister. I know what PPPs are. The average PPP contract is procured by the National Development Finance Agency. One third of the cost of the contract is to pay for services that would normally be delivered by the public sector. That could be cleaners in schools, security in technological universities or maintenance of public housing that should be managed by the local authority. These services are privatised into the hands of a single company for 25 years. This is the real area of interest to the compa…

There is no transparency around these contracts, even long after the deals have been signed, so we have to ask where the oversight and accountability are. When the Minister had this portfolio in 2017, the IMF recommended Ireland reduce the sums Departments could spend on PPP contracts. Departments are not supposed to spend more than 10% of the capital budget, as the Minister knows, on annual PPP contract payments. This level has stayed the same and has not reduced. The IMF recommended the Minister restrict the area…

I wish the Minister of State well in his new job. I am really pleased to hear him talk about the Crossmolina flood relief scheme. He will know that the town of Crossmolina has been waiting for that for almost ten years now. Could he give me an update as to its exact status and when it is going to start?

The infrastructure guidelines replace the public spending code. Changes to the public sector spending code were announced early last year. It took until the end of the year before the infrastructure guidelines were published. How long will it be before we see the reforms adopted by the Departments? Most importantly, how will the Minister's Department measure the effectiveness of this change?