NEWS

The Minister states: School secretaries and caretakers are at the heart of the school and are the key interface between students, parents, school leaders and other staff. They play a pivotal role and should be treated with the same respect as is afforded to all other members of a school's staff. Without them, our schools would be unsustainable. In supporting these vital school staff members, we also support the school community as a whole. The Department is committed to ensur

The Minister states: The Programme for Government includes a commitment to reviewing the public procurement process to make it more transparent and encourage greater participation from SMES. Working towards this aim, and to set out the strategic direction of public procurement for the next five years, my Department is developing a first national public procurement strategy. The strategy has been subject to an extensive consultation process, which has been critical to understa

The Minister states: My Department has responsibility for the National Minimum Wage Act. The Act prescribes the minimum hourly rate of pay for the majority of employees in Ireland, subject to a small number of exemptions. Apprentices are excluded from the Act and from the right to receive the National Minimum Wage. When the National Minimum Wage was introduced in 2000, it was determined that apprentices would be excluded from the Act. There is good reason for this exemption.

The Minister states: The Government recognises that the cost of doing business has been an issue for firms in recent years, arising from both the wider inflationary trends and Government mandated changes in the form of improvements to working conditions across a range of areas. It is important to note that costs for firms, as measured through the CSO's Wholesale Price Index, are declining, and are down 2.6% in the 12 months to September 2025. Most recently the Government has

The Minister states: The implementation of My Future Fund from 1 January 2026 fulfils a key Programme for Government commitment which will bring more than 750,000 workers into a retirement savings scheme for the first time, giving theses workers more security in their retirement. There has been extensive engagement with employers and their representative organisations from the very outset including during the design phase of My Future Fund. The phasing of the rollout and the

The Minister states: In line with the Government's commitment under the Programme for Government, I will officially launch Ireland's new National Tourism Policy Statement in early December. This policy statement will reflect tourism's repositioning within the enterprise and economic agenda and will set out a clear strategic direction for the sector to 2030, with a particular focus on the next five years. This Government has already taken decisive steps to support the sector i

The Minister states: The National Council for Special Education (NCSE) is the statutory agency with responsibility for the provision of special education places. The NCSE has sanctioned 407 new special classes for the coming school year of which 398 are autism special classes while 3 are autism early intervention classes. This brings to 3,742 the number of special classes in our schools. The NCSE has advised my department that an updated list of these classes is available on

The Minister States: It is my department's policy, in accordance with the principles of inclusiveeducation, that students with additional learning needs to the greatest extent possible, attend mainstream classes along with their siblings, neighbours and peers, with additional supports provided as necessary. My department provides over 15,000 special education teachers to support schools to achieve this objective. This means schools get a substantial additional teaching alloc

The Minister states: The School Transport Scheme is a significant operation managed by Bus Éireann on behalf of the Department of Education and Youth. In the current school year over 173,000 children are transported daily in approximately 8,200 vehicles across 10,600 routes to primary and post-primary schools throughout the country. In relation to the number of children who applied and paid on time, and were unsuccessful in obtaining a seat in the 2024/2025 school year, Bus É

The need for this Primary Care Centre in Graignamanagh has been identified as part of the Health Service Executive's (HSE's) overall primary care centre development programme. This PCC is to be delivered via the HSE operational lease mechanism. The HSE has advertised and identified a preferred developer for this new centre. I am pleased to advise that an application for planning permission was lodged by the preferred developer in July 2025. In response to this application Kil

The minister states: At the outset, I wish to recognise the outstanding contribution made to the State by our ex-service personnel. In this regard, the Defence Forces will be hosting Veterans Day in McKee Barracks on 29th September and I hope to be able to attend in person. I also recently visited ONE in Brú na bhFiann in Smithfield and I was very impressed with their facilities and the work that they do there. In addition to the payment of over €300 million on pensions to ov

The Minister states: The Home Energy Upgrade Loan Scheme ( HEULS ), which launched in  April 2024 , is intended to play a crucial role in helping homeowners invest in energy upgrades to make their homes warmer, healthier and more comfortable, with lower emissions and lower bills. It was developed by my Department, in conjunction with the  Department of Finance , the  Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland (SBCI) , the  Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI)  and the

The Minister states: The Warmer Homes Scheme aims to improve the energy efficiency and warmth of homes owned by people at risk of energy poverty by providing fully funded retrofits. The scheme is operated by the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) on behalf of my Department and is funded through carbon tax receipts and the European Regional Development Fund. Last year saw a record spend of almost €230 million under the scheme. As reported by the SEAI, this resulted

The Minister states: The Government recognises that the cost of doing business has been an issue for firms in recent years, arising from the wider inflationary trends - including energy costs. It is important to note that costs for firms, as measured through the CSO's Wholesale Price Index, are declining, and are down 3% in the 12 months to August 2025. Most recently the Government has taken action to address business costs through the publication of the Action Plan on Compet

The Minister states: The recently published Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity commitment in the Programme for Government - is a whole-of-government strategic response to the challenges that Ireland is facing. A key focus of the Action Plan is improving Ireland's regulatory environment under the theme "Regulating for Growth and Controlling Costs". Measures under this theme include introducing a 'Red Tape Challenge' across Government to reduce regulation for SMEs,

The Minister states: It is a central priority for me, as Minister for State with responsibility for migration, that our immigrations laws are fair and efficient. Legal migration plays an essential and very positive role in Ireland's society and economy. Such legal pathways are vital to addressing labour shortages across the economy. I have been working closely with the Minister of Enterprise, Trade Tourism and Employment to ensure that Ireland's legal employment pathways are

The Minister states: The tillage sector is an integral part of Irish farming and makes a significant contribution to overall agricultural output. This Government recognises the importance of the sector and wants to grow the area under tillage crops in the years ahead. The report of the Food Vision Tillage Group, which was set up set out a roadmap for the growth and development of the sector, identifies opportunities to grow the sector and to further improve its environmental

The Minister states: The Agri-Climate Rural Environment Scheme or ACRES is the flagship environmental scheme provided under the 2023-2027 CAP Strategic Plan, with €1.5 billion in Exchequer and EU funding allocated over the course of the scheme. There are currently just under 54,000 participants in ACRES. Payments in respect of ACRES continue to issue on a weekly basis as cases pass all required validation checks. A total of €512.2 million has now issued since ACRES payments c

The Minister states: Bovine TB is a challenging disease to control and eradicate. In recent years, bovine TB (bTB) levels have continued to deteriorate. Herd incidence has increased from 4.31% in 2022 to 6.04% in 2024, resulting in a 36% increase in the number of herds restricted between 2022 and 2024. As of 22nd June 2025, over a 12 month period we had a herd incidence of 6.43 % with over 43,455 reactors. This disease is having an impact on our farmers and their families bot

The Minister states: The Programme for Government has committed to introducing planning guidelines for solar farms and to provide certainty in the development of solar energy. Issues regarding planning fall under the remit of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. The rights of farmers and other landowners are, of course, subject to the usual Constitutional protections. As Minister for Agriculture Food and the Marine, I am committed to driving sustainable ag