I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 to 23, inclusive, together.

The Department of the Taoiseach's statement of strategy 2025-28 was approved by the Government on 7 October 2025 and laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas on 10 December 2025. The statement of strategy outlines the Department’s vision, mission, values, core responsibilities, key activities and policy priorities over the period from 2025 to 2028. The Department's mission is to support the Taoiseach and the Government, including in the implementation of the programme for Government, through principled leadership and joined-up governance; by co-ordinating Government activity to ensure effective, inclusive and timely decision-making; by providing impartial, high-quality policy advice in the national interest; by upholding democratic integrity, Civil Service values and public trust at the centre of government; and by promoting a strategic, sustainable and long-term perspective that safeguards Ireland’s future prosperity, cohesion and resilience. The core responsibilities and key activities of the Department encompass executive leadership and Government co-ordination; legislative, parliamentary and constitutional duties; policy coherence and whole-of-government perspective; State protocol and commemorations; public communications and information, emergency management and civic engagement; and Civil Service and public service leadership and renewal.

Supporting implementation of the programme for Government is at the core of the Department's mission. The policy priorities outlined in the statement of strategy, which align with the commitments contained in the programme for Government, include housing; infrastructure; disability; children and education; economy, trade and competitiveness; climate action, environment and energy; health; justice, migration and social affairs; EU and international affairs; Northern Ireland; national security; and water quality. In 2025, the Department provided the secretariat for 46 Government meetings, which dealt with 1,233 memos to the Government. It supported me as Taoiseach with nine meetings of the European Council, ten meetings of the coalition of the willing on Ukraine and a significant programme of inward and outward visits, including the AI summit in February, the EU-Africa summit in Angola in November and the visit of President Zelenskyy in December 2025. The strategy sets out how the Department will progress work in all the areas I have mentioned, including through the Cabinet committee structure and its related senior officials' groups. The Department's annual reports over the period from 2025 to 2028 provide a mechanism to report progress made on the policy priorities outlined in the statement of strategy. The statement of strategy is published as Gaeilge agus as Béarla.

Last November, I brought the Taoiseach to the University of Limerick, where he visited the centre for robotic and intelligence systems, better known as CRIS. The CRIS laboratory is led by Professor Dan Toal. When we were there, he saw the huge array of cutting-edge and cost-effective technology, including submersibles, drones and all sorts of equipment. On the day we were there, from that laboratory in the University of Limerick, they were monitoring with a robotically powered undersea vehicle a wind turbine off the Portuguese coast. There is huge potential here. This potential transcends many Departments. There is the potential to monitor shadow fleets, subsea cables, gas lines and offshore wind energy; to survey ecological and habitat areas; and to tackle the trade of illicit drugs. That is only the start of it. This is a very cost-effective way to operate. I think it is strategically important for Ireland. I hope the Taoiseach might be able to accede to the request for him to convene the various Departments to lead out a group that could look at this. Unfortunately, we are currently the outliers in Europe as the only EU country without a national laboratory for robotics. This is strategically important to Ireland Inc., to the Department of the Taoiseach and to many other Departments. I ask the Taoiseach to work with Professor Toal's group and co-ordinate a cross-party interdepartmental group to lead this forward.

A constituent sent me a letter. It states:

I am writing to you to highlight the serious and immediate impact that rising fuel prices are having on community nurses and their ability to provide essential healthcare services.

Community nurses depend heavily on travel to reach patients in their homes, often covering large rural areas every day. Unfortunately, the current travel and mileage allowances no longer reflect the true cost of fuel. As prices continue to increase, the reimbursement provided does not cover the actual expenses incurred while carrying out our duties ...

Ultimately, it may also affect the continuity and quality of care that patients receive in their own homes.

I urge you to raise this issue with the Minister for Health and the Government and to support an urgent review of mileage and travel allowances for community healthcare staff so that they accurately reflect the real cost of fuel and travel.

Community nurses play a critical role in keeping people out of hospital and supporting patients in their homes. It is essential that they are not financially penalised for carrying out this vital work.

I restate what was said earlier, which was that an insufficient offering is on the table in relation to the reduction in the cost of fuel. This needs to be addressed. I get that the Government cannot do everything, but I am saying that there needs to be further action in relation to the cost of home heating oil because people are under severe pressure. That is before we talk about the cost-of-disability issues and the wider cost-of-living crisis.

The Taoiseach's reply highlighted a number of priorities. One area of key focus is disability. The Cabinet committee on disability is going to try to push forward with the national rights strategy for disabled people 2025-30. One key area the Government needs to focus on is accessibility in our towns, particularly towns like Athenry, Tuam, Gort and Loughrea. These are towns in Galway East where, in the last year, we have seen progress toward greater accessibility, but we need to see more. What is the Department going to do to focus on accessibility around our towns so that everyone has an equal opportunity to experience our lived spaces?

The Taoiseach said today that the proposed LNG plant is necessary from an energy security perspective. I have spent many hours going through the documentation for that argument, and I cannot see how this plant is required from an energy security perspective. There are alternative ways of dealing with energy security. This plant will lock us into fossil fuel infrastructure and it will be an incredibly costly exercise, with a cost of €1 billion over ten years. If an alternative and evidence for that alternative are provided to the Taoiseach, will he give it serious consideration? There is another way of dealing with this energy security issue.

The mental health strategy, A Vision for Change, is now 20 years old, but the State is still nowhere near providing the specialist multidisciplinary teams it promised for older people in that document. There are large parts of the country, including Dublin south-west, Limerick city-Tipperary north, Cork north and east, and Cork south and west, where the HSE has approved no occupational therapy posts at all for older adult mental health services. There are no approved psychology posts in Kildare-west Wicklow or Donegal. These are essential therapies to help to support older people and their families as they face mental health challenges in the context of ageing. What makes this even more serious is the lengths to which the HSE went to obscure these shortfalls. In January, I was told that the HSE did not maintain data on approved posts for these services, which is frankly farcical. The HSE's 2019 model of care for older persons, which contained clear staffing targets, disappeared offline shortly after I submitted my first parliamentary question, only to reappear immediately after the media queried its absence. What commitment can the Taoiseach give to the funding of multidisciplinary posts for older adult mental health teams?

The Taoiseach mentioned that there is a focus in the strategy on housing and on the delivery of affordable housing. In my area, the average house price is now €680,000. The limit for the first home scheme for affordable housing is €500,000. In other words, if it is a new build, it cannot be more than €500,000. The Government's affordable housing schemes simply do not apply in Dún Laoghaire. Ordinary workers in Dún Laoghaire do not earn more because they earn in Dún Laoghaire. If you are a nurse, a teacher, a bank worker or a council worker, you do not earn more because you live in Dún Laoghaire. The Government's schemes are completely non-applicable. That is true in many parts of Dublin, by the way, where house prices are way in excess. What is the Taoiseach going to do? The local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, funding, which was given out in the millions to developers, was supposed to be conditional on giving back houses of €300,000 or less when it originally came out.

That was abandoned. In places like Cherrywood, where €15 million in LIHAF funding was given out on the condition that there was supposed to be some affordable housing, we got no affordable housing and the houses are coming in at €600,000 and €700,000. How are ordinary workers supposed to pay for houses at that price? What is the Taoiseach going to do to deliver them some affordable housing because his schemes do not apply in huge swathes of Dublin?

On the policy priorities in the Government’s statement of strategy and the priority of children in education, the Taoiseach has told us repeatedly that he is doing everything he can to ensure there is an appropriate school place for every child. Why then does a school that comes forward because it wants to provide additional classes face so many road blocks? I have raised Stapolin Educate Together National School with the Taoiseach before. It is doing its absolute best to provide two badly needed new and additional autism classes but the Department of education has not sanctioned them. There are 50 children on a waiting list who need these additional classes to be provided. These children need the Taoiseach and his Government to step forward and act on this. Why has the Taoiseach not given the go-ahead? Will he ensure the go-ahead is given for these two new additional classes?

On 5 March a large public meeting was held in Dunshaughlin, County Meath on the shortage of mainstream junior infants classes for September 2026. I was there with my colleague Fionnan Blake. The Taoiseach’s party was represented by a local councillor, as was the Minister's party. An Independent TD was there. There is a commitment from the Department in written responses to me that families can be assured that all children who require a school place will be provided with one but, three weeks on, despite repeated correspondence and repeated requests, there is no indication at all when that plan will be in place or what the detail of it will be. A number of clear proposals were put forward by local principals and the local community at the Gaelscoil and the community national school. Will the Taoiseach contact the Department and the Minister for education to ensure a response issues to this local community?

I want to bring to the Taoiseach’s attention the condition of Gaelscoil Riada in Athenry, which is a fantastic school. It is the only Irish-medium primary school in Athenry but the school building is totally inappropriate. There are a number of issues, including toilets frequently blocking and overflowing due to ongoing sewage drainage problems. Raw sewage is overflowing and spilling onto the school yard. The sewage is flooding at the main entrance to the school, and the entrance was inaccessible in recent weeks as a result. These deplorable conditions pose a real and serious health and safety risk to the entire school community. They have been waiting since 2006 for a new school campus alongside Coláiste an Eachréidh. They have been included on the NDP list for 2026-27 but still have not received clarity on a likely timeline and start date for construction. In light of the circumstances, will the Taoiseach engage with the Minister to ensure clarity is provided as soon as possible in order that the project can be accelerated and support can be provided to the school in the meantime to deal with these issues?

The effectiveness of our national security framework depends not only on the capabilities of our security services but also on maintaining the trust and confidence of the public. That trust must be grounded in transparency, accountability and proper democratic oversight. At present, the mechanisms available to this House to scrutinise national security policy remain limited in scope and visibility. Strengthening the oversight role of the Oireachtas while at the same time fully respecting the need to protect sensitive and operational information would bring Ireland more closely in line with international best practices. This issue takes an added importance as we prepare to take over the EU Presidency in July. Our EU partners are looking to us for reassurances that their officials will be safe while visiting Ireland. Will the Taoiseach commit to expanding democratic oversight of our national security within the Oireachtas in order to strengthen public confidence and trust in this area? I also want to ask about the investigation into the drone incident during President Zelenskyy’s visit. When will it be completed and reported on?

I thank all the Deputies who raised questions. Deputy Cathal Crowe raised the CRIS centre in University of Limerick, which I have visited. I saw at first hand the excellent technology in respect of underwater remotely controlled drones which can observe critical undersea infrastructure, such as subsea cables, gas interconnectors and eventually offshore windmills. Such key infrastructure is vital to our economy and society. When I came away, I said that we need to build on this. I think we need a national centre that can develop this technology. We can see all over the world how advanced drone technology has become and how effective it is in many different manifestations and uses. The entire area of monitoring subsea cables with others and monitoring gas infrastructure or indeed other interconnectors – we will shortly have one with France which will be live next year – is very critical for our economy. I have spoken to the Minister, Deputy Lawless, about it, as well as other Ministers. I have alerted them to the potential of this centre. We will do some more work on that. Part of the role of An Taoiseach is to co-ordinate and drive certain initiatives. I commend the Deputy for visiting it and raising the issue. It is one I intend to pursue with colleagues to see how we can advance the investment in that centre. The buildings and so on are fairly rudimentary, if I may say so. As the Deputy said, there is huge potential there and a cross-government approach is required to support it.

Deputy Ó Murchú raised a specific case in highlighting the role of community nurses in the context of rising fuel prices. Community nurses have an essential role in community-based healthcare and providing services to people on the ground. We are three weeks into this war and we are continuing to keep everything under review, in particular the cost issues for people. We have announced a package of measures which is probably larger than most other packages of measures across Europe but it is very much targeted and temporary. We will keep monitoring the situation to see how this unfolds. We need to keep resources in reserve for any potential worsening of this situation. We need to keep an eye on impacts on the economy. It is now March and we have some distance to go to the end of the year, so we are being cautious and retaining flexibility. We are very conscious of the pressures many people are under. I hope the package will help to alleviate some of those pressures for people across the board.

Deputy Dolan raised accessibility and he referenced Athenry, Gort, Tuam and Loughrea. I agree 100%. I have set up a disability unit within the Department to make sure every single Department is seized of the importance of disability services and in particular the implementation of the human rights-based disabled persons strategy, which we launched last year. We had a very good meeting with many of the groups on the action plan and its implementation. We need to work with local authorities, TII, the NTA and others to ensure comprehensive accessibility for people with disabilities along with other measures we are contemplating, particularly the replacement of the existing mobility transport schemes in a way that will benefit people and make them more flexible and accessible as grant schemes for people who want to adjust their cars. Maybe it will not be at the same level as the older scheme, but there will be a tiered approach. I hope we will be in a position to launch it next year. We will bring proposals to the Government shortly on it and then get it worked up.

Deputy Whitmore did not outline, or even whisper, what the alternative is to the LNG floating reserve infrastructure we have decided to provide. The advice is very strong. There is enormous vulnerability to our energy security if anything was to happen to the interconnectors. We know that the Yantar and other parts of the Russian shadow fleet have traversed over those pipelines. Our own undersea divers had to go down with British undersea divers to check and make sure there was nothing untoward happening. These are very real threats. In other seas there has been disruption of pipelines.

I am very worried about it. It is a significant vulnerability and hence the decision to proceed with the LNG floating infrastructure reserve. It would never in itself have a sufficiency in terms of meeting the wider economic needs. It is not going to in any way stop us from driving forward with the renewable agenda. I outlined earlier in the House the degree to which we have made a lot of progress in terms onshore in this country and the degree of electricity generation that is caused by renewables now. If the Deputy has an alternative, we are always open to alternatives and ideas. Certainly, we look forward to the Deputy submitting that to us.

Deputy Quaide raised specialist multidisciplinary posts in respect of senior citizens. Again, we are in favour of providing multidisciplinary supports across the board. It is the most optimal way of providing healthcare at all levels, be it primary, community, or indeed, inpatient services. I will talk to the Minister for Health and the Minister of State with responsibility for mental health in relation to these issues. There has been a lot of progress made on some fronts, such as dementia on a range of community-based supports that were not there five years ago that are there now. That said, however, the need is there. We will certainly see how we can progress that even further.

Deputy Boyd Barrett raised the very high house prices in Dún Laoghaire in his constituency. I acknowledge that. It is a very significant issue. In an unprecedented way, we have provided a lot of State investment in housing, particularly in certain schemes not just in the first home scheme but in terms of the help-to-buy scheme, which has helped a lot of people to be able to buy homes, and cost rental. We need to do more. Shanganagh was the first major development by the Land Development Agency, LDA, which had a broad mix of housing from social to affordable. The LDA is accelerating its work. Only yesterday it was announced that 550-odd houses will be provided on the Naas Road. Again, it is a mix of housing which will be affordable to people and involves cost rental also. However, the most important way to deal with housing overall is to get supply up. That means both public sector investment at unprecedented levels, which we are doing, but it also means substantial private sector investment to get to the levels of house building that are required to deal with population growth and the needs of the young people to be able to get houses they can afford.

Deputy O'Callaghan raised school places. I do not have the answer to every specific request at every specific location in respect of special classes. The allocation to special education will be significantly up on last year. The Minister will be responding to requests for special classes. The numbers are way ahead of last year because of the early date. It seems to have opened up a level of applications that was not anticipated. There is a lot of work needed and required to drill into that to make sure we have appropriate placements for children. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, and the Minister of State, Deputy Moynihan, will be doing everything they possibly can to secure places for all children. They have the resources to do that.

Deputy O'Rourke raised the shortage of mainstream junior infant classes. I did not get the location.

Again, I will speak to the Minister in respect of that. There was a commitment there to provide school places. I am sure that will be realised and fulfilled. Particularly in areas of high population growth, there is a need to have interim measures to make sure children get access to the places that they are entitled to and that they need.

Deputy O'Hara raised Gaelscoil Riada. Admhaím go bhfuil deacrachtaí agus dúshláin an-mhór ann ó thaobh bhainistíocht na scoile. Níl an struchtúr oiriúnach agus tá an-chuid le déanamh. There is sewage and flooding and there are a lot of issues with the building. Again, I will talk to the Minister in terms of clarity around that particular project.

Deputy Conway-Walsh raised the national security framework. This was the first Dáil where we have a committee covering security and national security. I want to see democratic oversight. It has to protect sensitive information. If we are honest, there is a big question mark over the capacity of the Oireachtas to do that. Most committees can be fairly loose with documents but that is the nature of modern democracy. Some of the forces and services can let information out as well. There is a review on the way about the committee's remit.

Yes, there is. Obviously, we are constrained.

There is a review of the-----

It is not happening for another six months.

I have discussed it with the Chief Whip.

It is happening in the summer.

We will come back to the Deputy. I accept the basic principle of democratic oversight of national security measures.