Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 26 Mar 2026

Vol. 1083 No. 3

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Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Tonight at 7.45 p.m. the country will come to a standstill to cheer on the boys in green in Prague. It is wrong that so many people in the North who share the same passion and identity may be unable to watch their national team free to air because it is geoblocked. This is something the Government urgently needs to address. I was a young lad when Donegal's famous son Packie Bonner made that save to set Ireland up for victory in Italia '90, and that memory stays with me. Let us hope the lads can do the business tonight and take us a step closer to our first World Cup in 24 years. The nation believes and the nation is right behind them.

I lár ghéarchéim breosla as cuimse, tá an Rialtas i ndiaidh teaghlaigh atá ag brath ar ola teasa tí a fhágáil ar lár. Ní fhaigheann formhór acu an liúntas fuinnimh go fóill. Caithfidh siad dul i ngleic le costais ag dul in airde agus in airde agus roghanna dodhéanta á ndéanamh acu. Níl faoiseamh ar bith ón dá cent atá ceadaithe. Teastaíonn fíorthacaíocht ó na teaghlaigh seo agus teastaíonn sé anois. Rud a dhéanfadh difríocht láithreach ná chun a fháil réidh leis an gcáin charbóin ar ola teasa tí.

Let us talk about fairness because the Tánaiste spoke about fairness yesterday. Where is the fairness for the 750,000 households relying on home heating oil? The vast majority of them do not get any fuel allowance. They have seen their costs to fill soar to eye-watering levels and the Government's response is a reduction of 2 cent per litre and €20 in the cost of a fill. Incredibly, the Government is going to take back this measly €20 in a couple of weeks when it jacks up the prices by increasing carbon tax. That is not fairness. It is insulting and people know it.

Let me tell the Tánaiste what this actually looks like. A support worker who contacted me is working constant overtime trying to keep two children in college and one in school. She told me she is exhausted and burned out and still cannot get ahead. Electricity is up, food is up and fuel is up. She is now sitting with no heat on, asking what the point is. Another women who contacted me in the past day is 67 years of age. She is still working. She told me she only turns on the heat when her grandchildren visit. She is saving the last little oil she has for them. Think about that for a second. People are denying themselves basic heat in their own homes. That is the reality of the Tánaiste’s decisions, whether he likes it or not.

Sinn Féin put a clear proposal to the Tánaiste this week to remove excise duty and strip out carbon tax from home heating oil - real, immediate relief - but he refused and dug in. I again ask why. Why, when he knew that these measures are not enough, did he choose to leave people short? The Tánaiste should be bringing a financial resolution before the House today. We should be reducing excise duty on home heating oil tonight and giving the maximum reduction possible on diesel and petrol. He needs to recognise he has made a serious mistake, because from today this place will not sit for 20 days and families will be left high and dry to fend for themselves, trying to stretch whatever is left in the tank and making impossible choices.

Again, my question is simple. Will the Tánaiste act now to do the right thing? Will he recognise the mistakes he has made and stop abandoning the 750,000 households that rely on home heating oil to heat their homes? Will he bring the resolution and cut excise duty on that fuel, or is he going to continue to abandon those households and leave people to struggle knowing full well that his measures do not come close to cutting it?

The Tánaiste

Let us start where we can agree in a rare moment of unity in this House.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

It seems to be working well.

The Tánaiste

Which is working well?

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

The football team.

Deputy Noel Grealish

We hope they work well tonight.

The Tánaiste

It is kind of bringing us together.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

It has started off that way anyway.

The Tánaiste

I might lean into that, to start in a moment of harmony. I genuinely join all Members in this House and people right across the country in supporting the Irish national soccer team tonight as they take on Czechia. At a time of real challenge in our country and our world, of turmoil and uncertainty, the Irish team have really lifted our spirits. There is a real sense of belief, from the youngest to the oldest person in this country, that Ireland can do this. I wish the best to our manager, Heimir, the entire team, the many thousands of fans who have travelled to Czechia to be there and the many millions who will tune in tonight. We are all behind our team and in the truest possible sense of the phrase, come on you boys in green.

This week we brought in one of the largest interventions of any EU member state, based on population, to help people in the here and now, at the petrol pump, with the price of diesel, to help our hauliers, our coach operators and to help those at most risk of fuel poverty, including those most at risk when it comes to the cost of things like their home heating oil. Deputy Doherty knows that as well. He knows that from as soon as next week, nearly 500,000 households in this country will benefit from the decision we took to increase the fuel allowance. I want to provide clarity in this House. I do not know about the Deputy's office, but I certainly got queries from people wondering whether, if they had opted in to the lump sum payment for the fuel allowance, they have that opportunity to receive the four-week extension in the same format and the same lump sum. They do, and that can be paid from next week too.

We have taken real, practical measures. There is €70 million worth of additional fuel allowance, which I think everybody in this House supports. It is a measure that is targeted and helps those most in need. It helps many working families, by the way, because we have extended it to the working family payment. It helps many pensioners and older people, many people with a disability and many carers. It factually helps those most in need of assistance with the cost of fuel. Extending that into the summer period, considering the level of volatility around fuel, is the right thing to do.

We also took practical and more universal measures to help everybody in the area of excise. There was general and widespread support for that too in this House. Sinn Féin did not vote for it in the end. It had a different set of proposals. When push came to shove pretty much, every other political party in the Opposition, while they might have different ideas and might have wanted a different package, still pressed the "Tá" button in favour of cutting excise on petrol and diesel. Sinn Féin were too partisan and too involved in performative politics. So much for the united Opposition. They were left on their own when the rest of the Opposition decided that, maybe on this one occasion, they would take off their party jersey and vote with the Government because this package of measures will help people in some way. I thank people who constructively engaged on that.

There clearly is a constructive Opposition in this House, and then there is Sinn Féin.

On carbon tax, there was a document published on budget day on the use of carbon tax funds. Deputy Doherty is at this a long time - 16 years, in fact. He is the longest serving Opposition spokesperson on finance in the history of our State. The carbon tax allocation clearly goes to those most in need and it clearly shows it is helping people most at risk. It is helping people when it comes to the fuel allowance, it is helping people with the living alone allowance, it is helping people in our farming communities, it is helping with the transition in the form of EV grants and infrastructure, it is helping with the peatland rehabilitation and it is progressive and helps those most in need as well. Sinn Féin opposes it. I think it is nearly on its own. It might have a few others but of the main Opposition parties I think it is on its own in opposing carbon tax. It is no longer Opposition versus Government but most parties in this House versus Sinn Féin when it comes to the policy rationale here. It party cannot resist this populist tendency to just oppose everything for the sake of opposing everything.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Thanks, Tánaiste.

The Tánaiste

There are real challenges and we may well need to intervene again, but the package we put in place was the right package for the right moment and we will remain nimble and agile on any further interventions that are needed.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

More spin and more deflection from the Minister. What he says is nonsense. Everybody knows what happened. We have led on this issue. We put forward an amendment that would have seen the maximum reduction in the price of diesel for people and the same reduction for petrol and would have seen excise duty completely removed from home heating oil, the cost of which has nearly doubled in four weeks. What did the Tánaiste do? What did his colleagues in Fine Gael do? What did Fianna Fáil and the Independent lackeys who support the Government do? They voted it down. They left 750,000 families in the lurch. That is what they did. They abandoned them. I put it to the Tánaiste directly, what does he say to people, the majority of whom do not get fuel allowance? What does he say to that woman who was talking to me, who is sitting in her home and cannot put on the heating? What does he say to her? What does he say to the woman I spoke about last night in the Dáil, who was wrapped in a blanket with a disabled son and is afraid to turn on the heating? The Tánaiste abandoned those people and I am telling him we can do the right thing now. He can recognise he has made a mistake and bring a financial resolution forward, as Sinn Féin have proposed, to cut excise duty to the maximum amount on home heating oil and give people real support at this time of crisis. That is what the Tánaiste should be doing.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Tánaiste.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

That is leadership and that is what we will continue to fight for on behalf of hundreds of thousands of people right across this State.

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Thank you, Deputy Doherty.

The Tánaiste

I hope that when the Deputy meets somebody at risk of fuel poverty and brings their case into the Dáil, as well as just reading them out in here, he helps them get the financial assistance our system provides in terms of the fuel allowance. I would like to see the data, and please send it to me, showing that the majority of people in the country at risk of fuel poverty do not receive any assistance from the State with fuel costs. The fuel allowance-----

Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh

He did not say that.

The Tánaiste

He does not need your help.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

I did not say that.

The Tánaiste

The fuel allowance is paid to almost 500,000 households. There are people-----

Deputy Pearse Doherty

What do you say to that woman who does not get it?

The Tánaiste

-----who do not qualify for the fuel allowance-----

Deputy Pearse Doherty

What do you say to that woman who does not get it?

The Tánaiste

-----and I say to people who do not qualify for fuel allowance that this Government is making a number of interventions to help, not just with the NORA levy but also through petrol and diesel measures. I also say to those people that we stand ready to intervene further but we must remain nimble and agile. Did the Deputy hear the Central Bank this morning? Has he read the Central Bank's report? If this conflict goes on for a prolonged period, we may need to intervene further.

The Deputy talked about mistakes. He has made three this week. First, he said the State was taking in €38 million a week extra in taxes-----

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Business Post authors said that.

The Tánaiste

-----but we are not.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

The Business Post -----

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Deputy Doherty.

The Tánaiste

After 16 years of being Opposition spokesperson on finance-----

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Are you calling out the three journalists in the Business Post?

The Tánaiste

-----presumably you do not just take------

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Is that what you are doing?

The Tánaiste

Presumably-----

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Is that what you are doing?

The Tánaiste

-----you actually know the facts. We have not taken in €38 million. That is your first mistake.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

It is not.

The Tánaiste

Second, you have called on us to remove excise on home heating oil but there is no excise on home heating oil.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

There is. Do not be stupid.

The Tánaiste

There is not. Third, you said your proposals-----

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Will I show you the manual?

The Tánaiste

-----would cost €100 million a month but they would not. One week, three mistakes. We need to actually engage constructively.

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Do you not know that mineral oil tax is excise?

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Thank you, Tánaiste.

The Tánaiste

Many people across here are trying to operate constructively-----

Deputy Pearse Doherty

Are you serious?

The Tánaiste

-----but what has happened this week is Sinn Féin has been left isolated not just by the Government parties-----

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

You should conclude, please.

The Tánaiste

-----but also by the Opposition parties because it is engaging in populist, performative politics-----

An Leas-Cheann Comhairle

Deputy Sheehan.

The Tánaiste

-----at a time of serious national challenge. Please grow up.

Deputy Conor Sheehan

Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I might try to go back to football-----

The Tánaiste

We started well.

Deputy Conor Sheehan

-----to wish Troy Parrott and our boys in green all the best of luck tonight in Prague. We are all hoping for a hat-trick.

Tá cruachás na gcostas maireachtála ag éirí níos measa, go háirithe ó thaobh tionóntaí de. The cost-of-living emergency is getting worse. The measures the Government announced mean the cost of living will remain stubbornly high for workers and families who cannot make ends meet. Renters are not immune from this crisis and are in fact the worst hit as they face double-digit rent increases under the Government’s rent hike Bill and sky-high energy and grocery bills. We are also seeing a growing wave of evictions - in fact, the highest rate of evictions since the Famine. There was a 41% increase in evictions in the last quarter of 2025. Today we learn house prices are up again, this time by nearly 4% in the year to March, which pushes home ownership further out of reach. This rolling series of mass evictions is the result of the housing policies of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil. We have had 20 families in Limerick, 14 families in an apartment complex in Ballybane in Galway and six incredibly vulnerable households in a retirement village in Sligo, including Frank, an 88-year-old wheelchair user with dementia, and his wife Elizabeth, aged 84, who has been his carer. Is the eviction of an elderly couple with dementia from a retirement home the housing policy the Tánaiste stands over?

While the Minister and his Department roll out the red carpet for institutional investors in Cannes with the promise of higher rents and higher returns, 41% of renters are at risk of poverty and a growing number spend 50% of their income on rent. Tomorrow the homeless figures will set another shameful record and there has been nearly a decade of foot-dragging on the regulation of short-term lets. The housing crisis is being paid for by renters, who have nowhere to go when evicted, and Fianna Fáil told us six years ago it would solve the housing crisis and Fine Gael said the same thing a decade ago. We are still waiting and the problem is getting worse. In Spain, as part of its response to the crisis, the Sánchez Government has extended rental agreements by two years, which will stop evictions and freeze rents, while here in Ireland, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are facilitating a wave of mass evictions and allowing landlords to hike the rent to the market rate in between tenancies.

As rents surge and a tsunami of evictions gets under way, will the Government intervene to protect renters? Will it freeze rent increases like Spain has and will it put a moratorium on evictions? What new cost-of-living measures will this Government bring forward for renters? Will it at the very least double the renter’s tax credit, as Labour has called for?

The Tánaiste

I thank Deputy Sheehan for raising the matter and the impact of the real cost-of-living pressures, the current conflict and how, for the purposes of his question, they are having a particular impact on those renting as well. I will make a couple of points. One of the reasons the Government this week provided a package of €250 million for a time-bound period was a recognition that the economic medicine we are endeavouring to administer now may need a different type of prescription in the time ahead. I say that genuinely with humility because I cannot predict - respectfully, no one in this House can, and I am not sure there are many people in the world who can - where the scale of economic challenge will go and where the key areas of pressure may be in the time ahead. The Deputy has not done this, but I certainly would not want the Government's position to be misrepresented to suggest we are talking about the end of May and then we will see an end to this moment of economic challenge. That is not looking likely, based on what we see now. We may well have to come back to the House at future moments and indeed in budgets in the time ahead and have conversations about further assistance and interventions to support our economy and our people, should this conflict go on for a prolonged period. I know we all hope it de-escalates and ends because the quickest way to provide economic stability and move through this period of economic challenge is, of course, for this awful conflict to stop. That is before we even get to the humanitarian impact of war, which we should never be numb to in this House.

I disagree with the Deputy on how investors are presented. Even the Housing Commission report recognised that while the Government has to continue to invest more in housing, private investment will also be required. We need people to come to this country and invest privately in building and providing homes too. That is good and I think all parts of this island, and the Administrations in both parts of this island, were represented in trying to attract investment at the event in Cannes.

On short-term lets, the Deputy makes a fair point that this has been going on for quite a while. It is important we get it right and we are moving towards legislating on this. I have had very good meetings with the Ministers, Deputies Burke and Browne, in recent days on it.

We want to make sure we can provide additional housing stock but also protect housing stock for the tourism industry, particularly in rural Ireland. We almost have a way forward on that.

We have a different view when it comes to protections for renters. I genuinely believe the Bill we brought forward does bring in a suite of measures to protect tenants, the likes of which we have not seen in this country before. There will be six-year tenancies for the first time ever. The RPZs will be done on a nationwide basis for the first time ever. I recall when this Dáil was first convened many in the Opposition thought the Government was going to get rid of the RPZs. Not only did we not get rid of the RPZs, we made them nationwide. As well as that we brought in what are effectively bans on no fault evictions for future tenancies.

I am concerned about what the Deputy said about the case in County Sligo. There are clear rules but there is also basic compassion and decency. If the Deputy sends me further details, I would be very happy to look into it.

Deputy Conor Sheehan

The Tánaiste selectively quoted from a number of sources, including the Housing Commission. The fact of the matter in regard to short-term lets is the Government is already talking about weakening the legislation by increasing the population cap and putting in exemptions that were not there when the original legislation was mooted.

The housing crisis has become so severe that an 88-year-old with dementia is being evicted in County Sligo as we speak. That is how bad it has become under the watch of this Government. In his response, the Tánaiste did not actually address the question I asked, which was: what new cost-of-living measures will the Government bring forward to protect renters? Will the Government look at increasing the renter's tax credit? At the very least it is something the Government could, and should, do because this cost-of-living crisis is impacting renters the most. They are the most vulnerable people in the housing system at the moment.

The Tánaiste

We brought in measures this week that benefit everybody in terms of the cost of fuel at the pump. That was the important and right thing to do. What the Deputy is highlighting in this House today concerns renters. I say this respectfully; I hear other people highlighting different aspects in media and newspaper commentary. We have to be very careful with the economic interventions we make. There is an annual budgetary process. We will have an annual budget. We have a rent tax credit in place and have funded that tax credit for the years ahead. We will no doubt have a debate and discussion, and there are commitments in the programme for Government on the scale of the renter's tax credit as well. I have to be very honest with the Deputy. We need to have a comprehensive understanding of the depth and duration of this economic challenge. Tomorrow, I will attend a special Eurogroup meeting on this specifically, because we also need to continue to engage and see what other countries are doing too.

On the issue of the short-term lets, I do not accept there is a watering down. There is a change but it is not a watering down. We have to get the balance right here. I do not think anybody intended, or certainly I did not - I not sure the Deputy did - that there would be a situation where crucial rental properties in small rural communities would be taken out of the tourism sector so we have to get that proposal right and arrive at a balanced way forward, and we will. Renters, people who own homes and all people in the country will benefit from the €250 million intervention and the Government will remain nimble, agile and willing to act further should this economic crisis globally deepen in the time ahead.

Deputy Gary Gannon

I will start on football by wishing our lads the very best of luck tonight. I will also stay on the issue of sport more generally because in that welcome, we see a disparity between those who have and those who have not in this country. One of the players carrying the hopes of the nation on his back tonight is Troy Parrott. Troy comes from Portland Place in the heart of Dublin's north inner city, a community that has produced extraordinary supporting talent, not because of what the State has provided but in spite of what it has not. We are very good in this country at celebrating our sporting heroes with the jerseys, the flags and even, I hope, the open top buses soon. What we are less good at is being honest about the gap between how loudly we celebrate these athletes and how we little we invested in the communities that produced them.

There is not a single full-sized football pitch available to children in Dublin's inner city, north or south. That is something I have raised on numerous occasions in the House. The only full-sized pitch in the locality at all is Croke Park and that very much remains behind closed doors for most people in this Chamber. That is a predictable result of a funding model that was never designed to reach communities like Dublin's north inner city. The ESRI identified nearly 20 years ago that sport funding in Ireland is structurally regressive, flowing to clubs that already have facilities in communities that already participate at scale.

Today, the Irish Sports Monitor shows a 19-point gap in participation between higher and lower socioeconomic groups. The main Government parties have invested over €1 billion in sport since 2018 and that gap has not changed in two years. Where is the money going? The Parliamentary Budget Office has answered that question clearly. Dublin received €26.50 per person under the sports capital programme. The national average is €54. County Leitrim received over €100 per head. This is not about urban versus rural; it is about fairness. The most densely populated county in the State with the highest concentration of disadvantaged communities gets less than half the national average per head and we know exactly why.

To access the sports capital programme for capital work, communities need to own their land outright or hold a lease of at least 21 years' duration. The communities that already have facilities get more and the communities that have nothing remain locked out. That is exactly why golf clubs in this State apply at for this funding exactly three times the rate of boxing clubs, not because golf matters more but because golf clubs and the like have the cultural capital to access the system.

The Pobal deprivation index was designed to weight applications towards disadvantaged areas but an application that has not been submitted cannot be weighted. A community with no land, no lease and no 21-year title cannot be prioritised. Tonight we will cheer on Troy Parrott and the rest of the team and tomorrow morning the Government will return to a funding model that makes the next Troy Parrot less likely, not more likely. When will the Government will commit to direct State investment in public sporting infrastructure in disadvantaged urban communities? A situation where Dublin's inner city, north and south, does not have an 11-a-side pitch is not sustainable.

The Tánaiste

I thank the Deputy. I acknowledge his community and constituency have done more than its fair share for moments of incredible national sporting pride, no more so than Troy currently. I acknowledge that it is some community he represents in terms of the scale of national heroes it is producing. If I can be slightly parochial, in terms of a Bray woman, I hope that Katie Taylor might get that retirement fight in the large Croke Park facility in the Deputy's constituency as well, but maybe that is for another day.

The Deputy made a serious point. I will not say I agree or disagree with it but I do take the point about needing to ensure the funding is getting to those most in need. The Deputy was not intending to do this but disadvantage can be both rural and urban and in fairness, the Deputy acknowledged that. Indeed the cost sometimes of providing facilities in more sparsely populated communities can also be greater. While the figures produced by the Deputy are validated and I do not disagree with them, it is not always comparing apples for apples and oranges for oranges. However, the broader point the Deputy makes about the lack of a full-sized pitch for the use of children in the inner city, north or south, is a very valid and real one and one I will commit the Government to working constructively with the Deputy's community, constituency and Dublin City Council on.

We are planning on opening a new sports capital round of funding shortly. I do not have the exact date but I expect it to open in the coming weeks. I will speak with the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, and the Minister of State, Deputy McConalogue, about the points the Deputy made on that. We are increasing the level of funding for sport in a very real way. Part of the Deputy's question to us is whether we can make progress in bridging some of that funding gap. I am certainly up for that challenge and I know Government colleagues are as well.

The Deputy mentioned golf. I am not suggesting the Deputy is, but sometimes these debates can become zero-sum games. There is an opportunity to get the model right for everybody. Golf has brought great success to this country also. We will host the Ryder Cup. There are communities and young people I hope that will inspire. There are young people I hope soccer will inspire. We had the Olympics recently and the inspiration Kellie Harrington in the Deputy's community provided. If the question is whether we can do more through our sports funding to target disadvantage, urban and rural, and specifically the issues in relation to a full-sized pitch in the Deputy's own community, the answer is, "Yes". I will genuinely work in good faith with the Deputy and with colleagues to make progress on the matter.

Deputy Gary Gannon

The heart of this issue for me is not about the success. Very few children will ever reach the scale of Troy Parrott or Kellie Harrington. All too often I have to take a phone call from a coach who is dealing with kids who are oftentimes coming from overcrowded and disadvantaged backgrounds, to tell me that their pitch booking has been cancelled or they do not have playing facilities.

The inability to play on a pitch has an impact on their ability to be inspired tonight by somebody like Troy Parrott and take up a ball and head out on a Saturday morning. There is a disparity in simply being able to access sport. That impacts in a way that will not only be felt in medals, trophies, buses or jerseys but in the way that kids will not have access to a role model, to be just able to go out and release the energy kids get to do in sport. This is not just about medals or world cups. It is actually about giving the capacity to young people in disadvantaged communities to play at a scale experienced by other kids in more affluent areas. That is why the sports capital programme needs to involve direct State investment into infrastructure. Anything else is a failure of the same people we will be celebrating tonight and those who will come after them.

The Tánaiste

I agree fully with what the Deputy said. I used to play underage soccer for Greystones United; I think I let seven goals in in one game. I was never allowed in goals again. I knew soccer was not going to work out for me. The Deputy's broader point is right because it is about the sense of community, providing our children and young people with focus, purpose, a sense of belonging and place and health and well-being. The return on investment is manifold. I say this in good faith; I would like to understand more why there is that situation with the lack of a full-size pitch. I am not making excuses but there may be lack of green space. I do not know. I am happy to engage with the Deputy, the city council and the relevant Ministers. Let us see if some good can come from this discussion. Some things are political and some things just make sense to work on together and I am happy to do that.

Deputy Charles Ward

This issue I raise remains unresolved and it is distressing people across Donegal. We have acknowledged the defective concrete crisis is in private homes but even that scheme is deeply flawed and continues to leave many families struggling to get onto it. At the same time there is still no dedicated scheme for social housing, which we are waiting on. Critically, there is no scheme at all for public buildings such as schools and crèches affected. In Donegal alone, we know of 25 crèches and a number of schools impacted. In communities like Raphoe, Ardara, Letterkenny and across Inishowen, this is the daily lived reality for these families. They are living in houses with cracks and damp and mould. Their children are going into creches and classrooms facing the very same structural issues. It is an unsafe teaching environment. Where their schools were once safe, steady buildings, they are crumbling down around them. There is no scheme in place and no clarity on when there will be a timeline for a scheme for public buildings, schools and crèches. This has created a two-tier response to the crisis relating to defective concrete blocks. Where it is unacceptable in a home, it should certainly be unacceptable in a building where children go to learn. That is the reality they face. The State has a duty of care. It cannot stop at the front door. I have raised this countless times and I raise it again because the situation is getting worse, not better. The reality for children in Donegal is they are being asked to learn in buildings that are not fit for purpose. Eventually, they will be dangerous. At what point does this move from failure to act to failure in the State's duty of care to these children? Will the Government act to put in place a dedicated scheme for public buildings affected by defective concrete and address the gaps that continue to exist for social housing in the affected communities?

The Tánaiste

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue; in fairness to him, he raises it on an ongoing and, quite rightly, intense basis. The pace at which the defective concrete blocks scheme is operating has clearly accelerated over the past two years. More than €155 million was spent in 2025. This compares to just under €60 million in 2024. As the scheme ramps up, additional funding will be provided as required. The overall cost of the scheme is expected to be in excess of €2.2 billion. That excludes inflation, which has become a very topical issue. We are working to make sure the scheme is designed and delivered in a manner that meets the real needs of homeowners in an efficient and effective way. That work is ongoing.

The Deputy raised quite a few issues so I will go through them. I am being honest - the Deputy represents Donegal but from any of my visits to Donegal I always leave with the clear impression that there are going to be issues outside of the scheme that need to be addressed. That is just a statement of fact. Specifically in relation to schools, the Department of Education and Youth has said it will work with schools impacted by mica. My understanding is it is aware of 16 schools all based in County Donegal, which have submitted emergency works applications for funding related to testing for the presence of mica. The Deputy might have better information than me but that is what I have been told. The Department is working through a mica strategy for schools, which it will develop this year. This will involve adopting a programme approach to the issue but will provide a pathway for schools currently waiting on remediation of mica issues and any schools affected into the future. I am told it is doing this in partnership with Donegal Education and Training Board. As part of this programme approach, an assessment will be done on overall accommodation requirements in each of the relevant areas to determine what scale of accommodation is required over the medium to long term to cater for local demographics. The Department will undertake site visits during the current school year to further inform that remediation approach. More broadly the Department has provided €225.65 million in capital funding for Donegal schools since 2020.

On childcare which the Deputy has raised with me in the House before, as it relates to mica, Letterkenny Community Childcare was approved for a building blocks grant of €750,000 in May last year. I am familiar with Raphoe Community Playgroup. I accept collective responsibility for this but I am irked we have not found a way forward yet. It received funding in 2025 to procure an external expert to assess relocation options. It was approved for further sustainability funding to cover rental costs for a temporary premises for 2025 and 2026. I know it applied for the building blocks grant scheme. I think those criteria need to be looked at. It engaged in good faith and the criteria did not allow that application to progress. I was told very recently that it is now through the County Donegal childcare committee in contact about the State-led childcare programme. Perhaps that could be a way of making an intervention. TDs and Senators in Donegal work on this together. The State-led programme might be an area worth having an engagement with the Department of children and the Minister on. It might be an opportunity to try to rectify some of these issues.

Deputy Charles Ward

A defining feature of the defective concrete crisis has been the delay process. It is delay, delay, delay. We are currently waiting on the revision of IS 465 due this quarter, which is up on either Friday or Tuesday. This is the biggest scheme in the State so one would think the NSAI would make the Tánaiste aware if it is going to be published this quarter. Will it be published this quarter?

The Tánaiste

I will get the very best information I can and write to the Deputy. The information I have here tells me the NSAI, as the Deputy correctly said, is carrying out the review of IS 465. It carried out a consultation last year, which closed on 11 July. There were over 640 submissions and the technical committee is reviewing them. That is at an advanced stage. I am advised the review will be completed in the month of April. The NSAI will then publish an update on its website when the review has been completed. The month of April is what I have been told.

Deputy Charles Ward

It will be quarter 2.

The Tánaiste

Based on this, it will just nudge into quarter 2 in that it will be in April instead of March. The Deputy raised a very specific number of days; I will see if his information is even more detailed than mine but the most important point is the review is almost complete. It will be completed by the month of April and published swiftly thereafter.

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