Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Carers do extraordinary work all across Ireland. They show incredible dedication to vulnerable loved ones they care for: parents who care for children and young adults with complex needs, those who look after their elderly parents and those who care for family members with disabilities. Caring is work done with love, but it is work. It is 24-7 every day and every night non-stop. Carers do not get to clock out; they keep going. The work they do saves the State billions, yet there is very little recognition from the State and for many there is no recognition at all.

It is wrong carer's allowance is means-tested. That means test must be abolished. In the Government's budget last week it allocated just €11 million to relax the means test. As a first step towards scrapping the means test, we in Sinn Féin proposed an allocation of €100 million, which is ten times higher than what the Government has done. Our proposal would have increased the income threshold to €730 or €1,460 for a couple. That compares to only €625 or €1,250 for a couple under the Government's measure. The Government's increase is a modest improvement, but it is making carers wait until next July for this to kick in. Why is that? Why is the Government making carers wait?

The very real pressure on carers was laid bare on RTÉ's "Liveline" last week. One caller, Angela, told her story. She was getting half carer's allowance to care for her 24-year-old daughter, Shannon. Shannon has spastic cerebral palsy, chronic lung disease and scoliosis. She is blind and she is PEG-fed. She is on multiple medications and she requires round-the-clock care. Angela was means-tested in May. She was informed her allowance would be cut by €40 per week because her husband earned above the threshold. Her husband, we should bear in mind, is a man who comes home from work and begins his second job of caring for his beloved daughter. Angela expects her half carer’s allowance will be restored following the budget, but she has to wait until July for this. Somebody in Angela’s situation should not be means-tested at all.

Lisa also rang in. She cares for two adult children with autism. She says she will care for them for the rest of her life. In February, Lisa and her husband were means-tested. Her carer’s allowance was slashed by a third because her husband earns slightly over the limit. Lisa’s workload did not change, her bills did not go down, but Lisa’s support was cut. When the threshold was increased last summer the payment was restored, but the whole experience has robbed her of certainty. She said the means test process was incredibly disrespectful. She was asked to submit bank statements even for the card her daughter uses to buy chocolate when she is out for a walk. She said the process made her feel like a cheat and she was queried as though she were money laundering. Those were her words.

Níl sé ceart go bhfuil dearmad déanta ar chúramóirí arís agus arís eile agus go bhfuil siad curtha ar chúl na scuaine. Níl sé ceart go bhfuil orthu fanacht sé mhí le haghaidh feabhsuithe beaga. As the Taoiseach well knows, Angela and Lisa are not alone in how they were treated and it should not be this way. Carers must have respect, fairness and certainty, so instead of making carers wait until July will the Taoiseach ensure the Social Welfare Bill delivers the threshold increases for carer's allowance from January?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. I begin by recognising, as she did, the very important role carers play in society. We all know it from our families and communities and there are widespread views across the House and society about the need to continue to do all we can to support our carers.

I note the likes of Family Carers Ireland, a representative group for family carers, spoke in acknowledging a number of the positive steps in this budget for carers. I accept there is always more to do, but I take seriously their positive comments towards budget 2025, which we just delivered last week, and towards the cost-of-living measures in that budget, many of which will have a real and meaningful impact for carers much more quickly than next year.

At the end of August, 97,407 people were in receipt of carer's allowance and the estimated cost of this scheme this year is expected to be more than €1.1 billion. Of course, the Deputy is right that it should not be seen as a cost as it is saving the State such a significant sum of money. We have seen very significant steps by the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, in terms of increasing the income disregard for carer's allowance, and I know the Deputy acknowledged that and, certainly, representative groups I have met along with the Minister have acknowledged that in my presence. It was €332.50 and has gone €625 for a single carer and from €665 to €1,250 for a carer who is part of a couple. It is also worth noting that, in the budget, we took a number of other steps at the request of carers and their representative organisations, including increasing the capital disregard. We increased this as part of the budget and a carer with a spouse or a partner can now have capital of up to €100,000. Again, this was something we directly heard from carers in out pre-budget meetings and engagements, some of which I also attended.

Notwithstanding those improvements, let me agree with the Deputy on this point. There is more work to do on this and on eligibility for carer's allowance and supports more broadly. That is why my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, established a working group to look exactly at the whole area of means-tested payments to family carers. That group will report by the end of the year, and I know that will be an important moment and something, again, carers' representative organisations have looked for.

There are a variety of costs related to what it would cost to abolish the means test. I acknowledge the Deputy has had her work done on this issue, we have some work done, and we await the work of the working group. A conservative estimate is an additional cost of approximately €600 million per annum based on current claim numbers. However, looking at census 2022, the number of carers and the potential inflow to the system the cost could be €2 billion per annum. We are aware of that but I just want to put that out there for the record.

We have taken a number of measures in the here and now while we wait for that working group to conclude this year, including increasing the annual carer's support grant by €150 to €2,000. The rate of this grant has increased by €300 since 2021. The social insurance-based carer's benefit has been extended to the self-employed for the first time. We had a bizarre situation where the self-employed could not qualify for that benefit, so we have rectified that. There are a number of practical measures to help carers with the cost of living, including a €400 cost-of-living lump sum payment in November for carers who are eligible for the carer's support grant. In October, we will see the cost-of-living bonus being paid to all people who receive weekly long-term social welfare payments, including carers. The Christmas bonus will be paid to in excess of 1.3 million long-term recipients, including carers. We have increased weekly rate of carer's allowance and carer's benefit by €12 per week, the fourth successive rise in weekly rates under this Government. Rates have increased by €41 per week during the lifetime of this Government. There have also been a range of other measures.

The Deputy asked a specific question about July and the answer I have been given is we increased that in July last year so we will increase it each 12 months. We last increased it last July and the next level of increase will kick in next July. To carers, we are very clear on this. We have taken a number of measures to help in the here and now. We have received positive feedback from their representative organisations on that. There is a recognition of an important piece of work that is under way with the working group that is looking at the whole issue of the means testing for family carers. We look forward to acting on its recommendations later this year.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I visited Crumlin yesterday, as it happens, and spoke to a number of families who have children and young people with autism. We spoke about lots of things such as school places and so on. The one issue that came up with them and that I hear again and again - it is not recent; it is a long-standing issue - is the means test for the carer's allowance.

I spoke to one woman yesterday who recounted how her husband has forgone three different pay increases because it would tip them over the edge in terms of the carer's allowance. They are not a well-off family. They are struggling to make ends meet. I put it to the Taoiseach, notwithstanding the work of the group he has set up to investigate the matter, that we need to accept as a matter of fact and principle that the means test has to be abolished. It is the smartest investment we will make as a State in our carers and in home caring.

I come back to the issue of July versus January.

We will move amendments to the Social Welfare Bill to move this back to January. I do not think it is a fair or reasonable explanation to tell people who are struggling as it is that they will have to wait for an additional six months because of some Government timetabling issue. When we move those amendments, I appeal to the Government to accept them.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We often have an argy-bargy in this House, but on this issue, there is a broad consensus that we need to do more to support our carers. I acknowledge that, and it is why I have outlined a number of the steps the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, has taken and that I am proud of those steps because I know they have made a real difference because I have met the people who are benefiting from them. There is recognition that changes to the means test are required. That is why, under Heather Humphreys as Minister, we have seen the amount a single person can earn go from €332.50 to €625 and the amount a family can earn rise from €625 to €1,250. As the Deputy rightly said, we introduced in the measures in the budget announced only last week to move those amounts again.

Carers have also told us they are not only getting caught on the means tests in terms of their weekly income but are also because they are self-employed. They have asked us to do something in that regard and we have acted. Carers have said they can also get caught if they have a bit of capital, a bit of money set aside for their children for college or for their future or whatever else, as families can do. We have also acted in that regard. We will act on the findings of the working group and will engage in good faith on these issues during the Social Welfare Bill.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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Instead of investing in long-term sustainable supports in the budget, the Government splashed cash on temporary measures. Today we learned the dates that those ten payments will be made. Most of them will be made before 22 November and the remainder will be made by early December. The Government parties are cock-a-hoop with that schedule because it is right around when most of us expect to be going to the polls. Their glee will be short-lived because bribery is a bad look. Has there ever been a more blatant attempt to buy an election? While these payments will certainly be welcome, they will not last very long, and by the new year, they will be long gone.

What supports will be available to people as prices continue to rise? Very few. That is why the analysis of the budget by the ESRI was so scathing. It stated the budget will push older and disabled people into poverty. I doubt we will see that damning verdict on any Fine Gael election posters but it is the reality. The ESRI has also stated the Government's budget will not reduce the child poverty rate, despite the Taoiseach and his predecessor stating this was a priority.

We all know that, for this Government, talk is cheap. The truth is other priorities took precedence, namely, spraying money around indiscriminately in the hope of buying an election. Where was the vision in this budget? Where was the ambition to fix the really big problems we are facing as a country? The Government had a record surplus at its disposal and all it managed to do was to tinker around the edges. Where was the plan to deliver thousands of affordable homes or a public model of childcare that is accessible and affordable for parents? Where are the quality disability services that children can access when they need them? The Government did nothing to tackle the huge waiting lists in our health service. All of that was absent. The failure to target resources and spend money wisely is why people are so outraged by the €9 million for phone pouches. It has become a lightning rod for public anger because it is emblematic of this Government's default approach of spin over substance. The Taoiseach says that he cares about mental health and yet he has provided almost four times as much money for phone pouches than for additional staffing for child and adolescent mental health teams.

Does the Taoiseach agree with the ESRI that vulnerable people will be worse off because of the budget? How can he defend a budget that lacked any real ambition to make lasting improvements to the country?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I would love to know which of the cost-of-living payments that will be paid to people in all of our constituencies between now and Christmas the Deputy would like us to cancel. If he would let me know, I would like to hear those proposals. Does he want me to stop the double child benefit payment in the first week of November? Does he want me to stop the double child benefit payment in the first week of December? Does he want me to stop the €300 fuel allowance payment? Does he want me to stop the double payment to carers in October, which we have just discussed? There will be another double payment at Christmas. Does he want me to stop the living along allowance payment? Does he want me to cancel the energy credits? It is easy to come into the House in a large way and make statements. Perhaps he could tell me, when he rises to his feet, which of the cost-of-living payments this Government is providing with taxpayers' money to his constituents that the Deputy's constituents do not want.

We will be very happy to reflect on that. From travelling around this country, my experience has been that while inflation is falling and the economy is going well, but right around the dinner table tonight, people in the here and now are saying, "I am sick and tired of people on the radio telling me the economy is going well. I am still struggling to pay my bills. When I take the trolley around the supermarket, the cost is still large." I make no apology for giving people a little bit of their own money back in the here and now. If people do not like that - Deputy Shortall can scoff if she wants. She, too, can tell me which ones she is against because I am fed up of this sneering and scoffing.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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Your cynicism knows no bounds.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Tell me which of the payments you do not want, please, and let me know. Any other Opposition parties can email me at simon.harris@oireachtas.ie and let me know me what payments they do not want. I would really like to hear from them in relation to that.

I stand by every single decision we made in the budget last week. This was a budget that did a number of things. It provided a cost-of-living package in the here and now – more than €2 billion of people's own money – quite rightly. It is not bribery. It is called listening to people and delivering. It is called acting on what they said: "Give us a little bit of help, Simon. Help us now." That is what we did.

It also sets aside money for infrastructure - €1.2 billion more for the Land Development Agency. Some parties want to abolish that. We are putting more money into building houses. There is €1 billion more for water. That will certainly help water schemes in my constituency, and in many constituencies throughout the country. There is €750 million more for the grid.

There will be a number of initiatives in 2025, including extra funding for disability and mental health. The budget was also a record one for justice, health and education. Holiday hunger was also included in the budget. There is a recognition from the Government that the kids who get school meals might also be hungry when the school is closed during the summer. We extended the free schoolbooks scheme so the Deputy's constituents will never again have to pay for schoolbooks from when their child starts in junior infants until they finish the leaving certificate.

There is clearly a real policy difference between us on this. I do not believe at all, despite the manufactured efforts at faux outrage, that the people have bought into this thing about the pouches at all, in terms of how the Deputy is putting it. We delivered a budget of more than €105 billion. As part of that, we are giving every kid €20 for a phone pouch, if they want it. If they do not want it, they do not have to have it.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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I want the Taoiseach to put in place long-term supports and changes, not temporary measures. Let us be very clear about that. The Government's failure to invest where it is needed most has real consequences for people. I will give the Taoiseach just one example. Gaelcholáiste Reachrann is on the northside of Dublin in my constituency. It is a great school with very dedicated staff. However, while new school buildings have been promised for more than 20 years, the students are still being taught in prefabs. Some of the prefabs do not even have heating, so on cold winter days the staff and students have to wear their jackets and coats. After waiting for 20 years, there is still no sign of the buildings and facilities they urgently need. At the same time, this Government throws money away on bike shelters, security huts and phone pouches. What does the Taoiseach say to the pupils being taught in prefabs, without heating, when there is no shortage of money being splashed around by his Government?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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What I say to them is this Government is delivering a record number of new schools and new school extensions. The Department of Education has a record budget for capital. Throughout the country people can see new schools being built. I will ask the Minister for Education to engage directly with Deputy O'Callaghan on the specific Gaelcholáiste he referenced in his constituency.

It is overly simplistic – in fact, it is misleading – to suggest that by providing some money in the here and now, we are stopping an ability to do some of those projects. As the Deputy well knows, the cost-of-living measures are all funded from part of the surplus in 2024 and the projects he talks about in regard to long-term investment are funded from 2025. This country has an ability to do more than one thing at the same time. Providing people with a little bit of help to assist them and their family through the winter period is a good thing. In regard to the phone pouches, some of the faux outrage in this House has been utterly disingenuous. I do not know if any Members heard some of the schoolchildren, because I listened to them-----

Deputies:

It is from the ESRI.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Excuse me. Deputy O'Callaghan does not need any help. I listened to them talk on the radio about the benefits of the pouches. The school principals have seen a big transformation. The schools in Northern Ireland have benefited from such a scheme as well.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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Does the Taoiseach disagree with the ESRI?

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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In recent hours, the online news publication, The Ditch, has revealed further controversy surrounding the Government's failing defective blocks scheme. It has emerged that in more than 20 cases, a Donegal County Council-operated portal had altered the recommendations of the homeowners' engineers. What I find interesting, or perhaps more appropriately described as disturbing, is that in each case the alteration, which Donegal County Council claims is a minor technical glitch, resulted in the original engineering recommendation aligning with a downgraded option recommended by the Housing Agency-appointed engineers' desktop appraisals. It would be naive to attribute this to a mere coincidence.

There is also the statement from Engineers Ireland at the Joint Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach on the issue of IS 465 earlier this year, that it is "the view of many engineers that the existing standard is no longer fit-for-purpose where the mechanism of deterioration remains uncertain and developments in the scientific understanding of this issue must be appropriately considered." Further, they said:

A survey conducted in March 2024 of members of Engineers Ireland's IS 465 register has shown that 75% of engineers employed by homeowners have experienced having a recommendation for option 1 revised to another option by a framework engineer employed by the Housing Agency with respect to the same property.

The Taoiseach can see how this is leading to frustration among residents of County Donegal, who have had to engage with the scheme despite its many other flaws. I will not list them here again on the record if the Taoiseach promises to reciprocate and not recite again the standard reply so often delivered unthinkingly, without reference to the particular question, by his predecessors in that seat and by the Minister since the announcement of a so-called enhanced scheme.

The science now confirms the primary problem is internal sulphate attack, yet three years on from the trumpeted scheme announcement, we do not have a date for the review of IS 465. These instances, together with a litany of others such as a lack of proper engagement with homeowners' representatives on the unresolved issue of mortgageability, have contributed to confidence being undermined in the whole scheme in the eyes of those affected homeowners. Taoiseach, can you acknowledge that you are hearing the frustrations of my constituents in Donegal and accept that confidence has been eroded to a significant extent? Will you commit to giving a definitive date for when a revised and-or replaced IS 465 will be published so they can have some clarity?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Pringle for raising this matter. Yes, I do acknowledge that I hear the frustrations of your constituents as articulated by you. You have made specific reference to claims or information in respect of Donegal County Council which I have yet to see. I will certainly ask the Minister for housing to pursue them with the local authority and to revert to you directly. I would like clarity on the matter myself.

You specifically raised the issue of IS 465. The NSAI is Ireland's official standards body. It is an autonomous body under the responsibility of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. My understanding is that the NSAI recently, I think on 13 September, provided an update on the status of the review of IS 465. The review will initially take the form of an extensive amendment to the testing protocol. I am informed that the drafting of this amendment is nearing conclusion. The NSAI/TC63 has considered the interim output from the Geological Survey of Ireland managed research regarding internal sulphate attack, and testing to identify that as well as other highly reactive forms of iron sulphide will be included in the amended IS 465. Changes will also include updates to the building condition assessment and sampling protocols, taking account of the information currently available, including the learnings from the application of the current standard. The amendment will be published by the NSAI for a period of public engagement and stakeholders will be able to engage with this process using the Your Standard, Your Say platform which can be accessed via the NSAI website. All comments in respect of these protocols received during the consultation will then be fed in by the technical committee as part of its final recommendation.

I will specifically see if I can find a more precise timeline for the Deputy but that is the update I have today. I will also put it in writing to him as I am conscious there is quite a lot of technical information. What they are telling me here is that the current drafting process for the amendment has been progressing well with substantial commitment and input from the voluntary members. I thank them for that. Every effort has been made to complete committee deliberations and produce a public consultation draft amendment in quarter 3 of this year. However, it is now expected that the draft amendment will be published by the NSAI in quarter 4 for public consultation. Following the publication of any revised standard, the DCB grant scheme will be reviewed at that point in the event of such amendments being required. The Government also made a number of other amendments which the Deputy may be aware of and which I am happy to come back to in my further reply.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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The Taoiseach outlined the process whereby IS 465 is going to be amended. No doubt it is going to be extremely slow. Already in his response, he outlined that it was to be published in quarter 3 but now it is quarter 4. Who is to say it is not going to be quarter 1 or 2 of next year? Homeowners are going to be suffering on under this existing scheme for a long time and for the foreseeable future. We have no clarity on when this is actually going to happen. In the meantime, Donegal County Council has altered the results that have come through from the Housing Agency on the website as well, which is not on and should not be happening.

This is further undermining people's confidence in this scheme. We have also seen over the past couple months that the Attorney General has written to the Minister for housing advising him that the purpose of the scheme was to save the State money, rather than deal with defective blocks and defective households. The purpose of the whole scheme seems to be to save the State money, whereas it is the State that caused this problem in the first place. By its lax oversight of the building and construction industry, the State caused this problem by allowing defective blocks to go into the process.

The State needs to step up quickly. I urge the Taoiseach to ensure the amendments will be put through straightaway, rather than wait for months and months to begin that as well.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In respect of Donegal County Council and the specific issue the Deputy raised, which has just come into the public domain, I will ask the Minister to revert to him and to engage with the local authority. I take the point about not wishing to see any further slippage and the importance of adhering to timelines, and I will certainly keep a very close eye on that.

I think we have a bit of balance in regard to this. I can only imagine the frustration, the stress, the sheer trauma that people must be living with if their own home is crumbling in front of their eyes, and the concerns they would have for their children, their parents and the well-being of their family. I get that, but it is important to acknowledge that the State has put in place a massive level of financial resource to try to respond to this. We are, in real time, continuing to engage and make improvements where we can. The Deputy raised the issue of childcare, for example, previously and I gave him the position of the Government in respect of line Departments trying to respond to that.

Even today, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, brought a memo to the Government to increase the current scheme cap for remediation options and ancillary grants by the maximum allowed. The memo also requested an increase in the grant rates under the scheme. Extending these increases to wider groups of relevant owners requires amending the 2022 Act, and the Minister will bring a separate proposal to the Government to give effect to this policy intention in order that the increases can apply retrospectively. Even today, therefore, we are seeing more proposals at Government to try to make further improvements to respond to the issues we are hearing from people in the Deputy’s constituency.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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Many businesses and people in Killarney and elsewhere in Kerry are very disappointed that VAT was not reduced in the budget. The failure to do this has traumatised a lot of people. Indeed, in College Street, Killarney, last Saturday morning, a man came over to the door of my car in the pouring rain to highlight his disappointment. Many businesses were clinging on and hoping they would get this boost in the budget but they did not. Restaurants, bars, sweet shops, souvenir shops, hairdressers - many of these are under pressure, combined with the recent rules and regulations and the reduction in footfall caused by an influx of thousands of Ukrainians and other immigrants into our hotels, guesthouses and other places.

The Government cannot have it both ways. It can either support our tourism product or fill the hotels with immigrants. It is one or the other. Many businesses are struggling to pay the rates and also cope with increased wage costs, electricity costs and many other rules and regulations. Many doors will close, and every one that does will have a knock-on effect. There is also unemployment benefit and redundancy payments. We will see in two or three years that whatever Government is in office will spend a lot of money to entice people to open their doors again.

For carers, the means test is very unfair. We had a motion about this a few weeks ago and the Government did not oppose it. The assumption was that it would lift the means test. We have a lack of GPs and the Government knows what is causing it. Thousands of immigrants have come into our county-----

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Will you stop blaming everything on immigrants? It is disgraceful. He is blaming immigrants for everything.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy, will you please let the speaker continue?

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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We are on the back foot all the time trying to get funding for roads. The Killarney bypass has been going on for over 24 years. I am asking the Taoiseach to put money into this next year. People are parked in their cars on all the roads into Killarney.

The Blackwater Bridge Road from Blackwater Bridge to Sneem was built for horses and carts 200 years ago. What was done? A cycleway was built for 1 km in the middle of the Ring of Kerry, coming from nowhere. There is no cycle path coming to it or going out of it. That is where the money has been squandered.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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That is a matter for Kerry County Council.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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The squandering of billions of euro on migrants, bicycle sheds, huts, phone pouches-----

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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This is unacceptable.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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The endless anti-immigrant talk is unacceptable.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputies, please.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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Millions of euro is given to RTÉ and no funding at all for independent radio.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy, your time is up. Leaders' Questions are to focus on one issue, not a range of issues.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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Yes, and not scapegoating particular groups.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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Many working people have been-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The time is up, Deputy, please.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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They will not let me talk, a Cheann Comhairle. I do not interrupt them people, but you know something, I will from now on.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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You have got a good bit in.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I will have something to say to Deputy Bacik as well.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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Bring it on.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Please, Deputy, do not say anymore.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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She was the person who said she would build 1 million homes. Now she is proposing adding another bicycle shed.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Will you resume your seat, please?

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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Since when did she become McAlpine?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy, please.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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She wants a bicycle shed outside the door while people in Kerry are suffering trying to keep going.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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That does not even merit a response. It is outrageous.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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It is the truth.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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It is ridiculous nonsense.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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Ivana McAlpine.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I will suspend the House if people do not have a bit of manners. The Taoiseach to respond.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We are up to seven or eight issues. In the limited time available to me, I will do my best to help the Deputy. First, the challenges he outlined have nothing whatsoever to do with immigration, including the shortage of GPs and the like. That does not stand up to scrutiny. The same is true of the issues in the hospitality sector and the like. In fact, many parts of the hospitality sector significantly benefit from people coming to our country and working in those facilities. It is important we are factual in our comments here.

We very much value small businesses. We very much value the hospitality sector.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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You do not show it.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Sorry, Deputy, the way this works is you ask seven questions in one and then I try to answer them.

In the budget, we did our best to respond to and support those businesses. I know how important tourism and hospitality are to Killarney and County Kerry. Even as recently as today, the Cabinet considered the detail of the €170 million power up scheme. Under this scheme, all retail and hospitality businesses that previously received an increased cost of business, ICOB, grant will receive a flat energy grant payment of €4,000 this year. I have no doubt the Deputy will actively help people in County Kerry to apply for that. He will be going into the shops, cafes and hotels and telling them to apply for it. It will be very easy to do so. If people already got the ICOB grant, they will be sent an email with a link they can click on to declare they are still in business and still paying rates. They will get the €4,000 before Christmas. That will make a big difference.

In addition to that grant, over the past six month, the ICOB scheme has paid out over €242 million to almost 75,000 small and medium businesses, including a double payment to 39,000 businesses that are either in hospitality or retail. By any objective and fair measure, this is an unprecedented level of intervention in the sector. It is the right thing to do, because these businesses are the backbone of our economy, but it is an unprecedented level of intervention.

I fully accept that there are real issues in regard to the cost base for hospitality businesses and small businesses in Ireland. The Minister, Deputy Burke, is considering how best we can review the impact of the range of costs that have, admittedly, come at small businesses at a very fast pace. On top of that, we announced a plan in the budget, under the Minister, Deputy O'Donovan, for a national training fund. This will see up to €20 million available for businesses to upskill their staff, with €8 million targeted at small and medium businesses. I know there are small businesses in Kerry that will benefit directly from that in terms of not having to pay the training costs for their staff. We are able to do that to assist them.

On the issue of carers, I have already outlined a number of the measures we have taken. We intend to take more. The record of the Government is one of year-on-year increasing the financial supports available to carers and the number of carers who can access those supports. I accept there is more to do. That is the work of the working group, which will conclude this year.

On roads, our work continues. Indeed, I was with the Deputy very recently at the opening of the Listowel bypass.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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Many businesses have already closed, and many others were waiting and hoping the Government would reduce the VAT to 9%. It did not do that. The Taoiseach talks about the €4,000. What about the people whose rates went up from €20,000 to €80,000 or from €5,000 to €20,000? How will the €4,000 help them? The Government is trying to fool the people but, like the man who came out in the pouring rain to me last Saturday, they are waiting for the Government on the doorstep.

Speaking of the carers, the Government has been desperately unfair to those people, given the great work they and the home helps do.

Then there are the beds that are closed in the Kerry hospitals. What did the Government do to help them in this budget? Because-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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You have to focus on one issue, Deputy, not two or three.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I was never told that. I am talking about the budget. How many issues is that? There are a lot of problems for the people I am representing. You must write out your rules. I thought I was talking about the budget. What else am I talking about? It is all connected to the budget. There are people interrupting me over here and over there, and the Ceann Comhairle is stuck in me now. What hope have I or the people of Kerry if we cannot highlight their issues?

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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You are talking shite.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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The Government let them down. It had the opportunity. It has more money spent under Members' noses and eyes on huts and bicycle sheds-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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All right. Thank you, Deputy.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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It ordained them and paid for them.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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At the same time, as regards the OPW, there are so many more rivers. It happened in Bunane this week. They could not go up the road because the Government will not let anyone clear out the river. It has gone-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I do not think there is anything in the budget about that-----

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Time?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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-----so can we please leave it at that?

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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There is nothing for it in the budget.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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All right. Thank you.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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It is just Deputy Healy-Rae who gets an extra minute.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The point is made. The Taoiseach, please.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I do not know where to start there other than to say I hear Deputy Healy-Rae's passion for the people of Kerry, one that we share here. There are a number of things we have done in the budget that I know will make a real and meaningful difference to people in County Kerry. I can list a number of projects we have worked on, many of which the Deputy has been at the openings of, whether it is the delivery of a university for Tralee - Kerry is now a university county and Tralee is a university town - or whether it is the road infrastructure, the likes of the Listowel bypass, which, by the way, came in on budget and on time-----

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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After about ten years.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Do not shout at me; you had a good run.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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The Killarney bypass has been waiting for 24 years, and you are talking about-----

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am doing my best. On top of that-----

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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You had nothing to do with the ordaining of it anyway - not one bit in the world. It was ten years ago.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am not sure the Deputy wants to hear my answer.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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There was no account of you.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you. That concludes a colourful Leaders' Questions.