I commend all the people who gathered in Ballina on Sunday. It was not lost on those in attendance that it is the ancestral home of Joe Biden. The response of European leaders to the onslaught on Gaza and to the indiscriminate killing of Palestinians is a failure they will have to explain to future generations. It makes a mockery of the much-claimed European values. When I look at the European response, I see a colonial outlook and values. Ireland has, so far, been a light in the very, very dark sky. This is not th…

We were told that the transition to the new pyrite/mica scheme would be seamless. Eight home owners in Mayo are still in phase one and have fully completed remediation works. They were told that they would not be penalised for getting in early but now, four months later, they are still waiting. The shortfalls in the scheme are staggering because of construction inflation. People are being refused due to the damage threshold and the accommodation shortage is atrocious, with extortionate rents being sought. I ask the…

In Gaza, we are not witnessing a war on Hamas, we are witnessing the indiscriminate slaughter of Palestinians, what the Minister of State has rightly described as collective punishment. The EU refusal to condemn Israel's actions is a failure of historic importance. The Taoiseach said yesterday that trade issues are a European competency. This is true, but as a member state we can and, morally, must have a very clear position. I call on the Government to state that the EU should suspend the Israel-EU trade relations…

Let me tell the Minister of State why the people of County Mayo know that the longer the Government is in office, the worse things will get for them. The total number of eviction notices issued this year was 15,006. In Mayo, 80 people were issued a notice to quit in the past 12 weeks alone, with a total of 274 since the start of the year. We know that a number of those people will end up homeless. The number of adults, children, families, single people, and pensioners living in Department of Housing, Local Governme…

I would like the Minister to outline the necessary funding to maintain ELS to the assigned Departments, how it is determined and how much is needed for standstill costs, namely, those relating to demographics, inflation and other pressures. This is particularly important following the Government's decision to allocate far less to health to meet standstill costs than what seems was necessary.

ELS are extremely important. Let us be clear, we are talking here about the amount of money a Department needs to continue to provide services at the same level. If a Department is given the correct amount of money, it can stand still. Services will be maintained. If, however, a Department is not given enough money, one of two things will happen- either there will be cuts or the Department will run a deficit. Budget 2024 provided only €708 million to maintain ELS in the health budget. The Minister and I both know t…

The summer economic statement outlined €3.2 billion in what are known as the budget decisions. Essentially, money was set aside to meet ELS and other existing commitments. On budget day, that had been reduced by €500 million. We have been given no explanation as to how this was possible or what was done. This is no way to manage a budget process. The level of transparency is simply not good enough, especially when we see Departments, such as the Department of Health, not being given enough money to meet the standst…

Could the Minister outline the level of engagement between the Office of Government Procurement and the CCPC regarding public procurement bid-rigging? The CCPC is the State body responsible for the enforcement of competition law. One of the areas most at risk from anti-competitive behaviour is public procurement, particularly with regard to large construction contracts that involve significant amounts of money and where only a few companies bid. We need to ensure that public money is being adequately protected and …

In July 2022, six Spanish construction firms were fined €200 million by the Spanish regulator for colluding on bids for public construction contracts. The Spanish state has banned these companies from participating in the public procurement process. Five of those Spanish companies have won public construction contracts in Ireland. What they did was essentially was agree who would win in advance of the bid, in other words, "It's your turn next". Three bids would be submitted and then two would later pull out leaving…

I have. I will not read out the names here today. I will raise it with the CCPC because I have been looking at some patterns involving contracts that have been awarded here that warrant further investigation and explanation. I will not identify the companies, even though I have the details here. I cannot see how companies that were involved in bid-rigging in Spain and were fined for doing so would then come here and the same concerns would not arise. There have been a number of very well-known projects where a numb…

Will the Minister outline the estimated level of capital expenditure as a percentage of GNI* for 2023 and 2024 respectively and how this compares with estimates in the national development plan, NDP? The latter is a multi-annual plan and, as such, the Minister will agree that inflation, economic growth and GDP should be taken into account. It is important that we have effective and transparent measures in respect of capital investment, particularly during times of high inflation.

As the Minister has said, the NDP was reviewed and the targets for capital investment as a percentage of GNI* were set in 2021. The revised NDP also set out departmental capital ceilings for 2025. In budget 2024, we saw the Government stay within those NDP ceilings. The 2021 targets set for 2023 and 2024 were 4.9% and 5.1% respectively, as the Minister has said. The Department now estimates that the rates will be 4.1% and 4.3% so there is a 0.8% shortfall in both years, 15% behind profile for both years. By my calc…

I thank the Minister and I understand that. We had issues earlier this year, however, with capital projects in education where the Government was forced to row back on the initial plans and to scrap a number of projects because the expenditure ceiling had been reached in inflation. This caused very significant distress to schools and to their communities who in many instances had been waiting years and had gone through multiple hoops to get projects to go ahead. This highlighted the shortcomings of the Government c…

I wanted to come in on that because there seems some kind of a miscommunication. As was rightly said by Deputy Stanton, there was an underspend in the Department of Transport, and yet projects like the N17 have been put on hold. They are absolutely vital to the economic development of the areas they serve. What is going on there? There are mixed messages coming, that in one sense they are committed to it but then they are being stalled or withdrawn. It is causing great concern across these areas.

I appreciate that. There was a bit of a mix-up in the questions. We have talked about flooding all morning. I am looking for an update on the Crossmolina flood relief scheme and when it will commence. I am worried because what I have received from the Department states the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform will give statutory consent to the scheme allowing the project team to bring Crossmolina flood relief forward. The people of Crossmolina are still waiting. There is s…

I must respond. The Minister of State knows that is an updating of the 1945 Act. There is too much messing going on here. Crossmolina has waited since 2015 when it was flooded out. The people of that town are now being told in 2023 that it will be 2027 before there is flood relief.

It is completely disingenuous of the Minister of State to deflect from that.

The Minister of State knows that is not the case.

The people have been waiting since 2012 and will be waiting until 2027.

The people have been waiting since 2012 and will be waiting until 2027.