Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

My first question is one I raised last week. Can the Taoiseach clarify when the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government will issue regulations under subsection 20(6) of the Local Government (Charges) Act 2009? These are the regulations that will allow local authorities to vary local property tax rates by a factor of 15%. As the Taoiseach knows, local authorities do not sit in August and the Revenue Commissioners would have to be notified of changes in this regard in September. Unless the regulations issue soon, attempts by local authorities to adjust the rates will be frustrated.

Regarding the legislative programme for his session, there are Bills that were committed which have not been published thus far. Will the Taoiseach indicate when this session will end and the House will rise for the summer?

My final question concerns the case last week where two sets of parents of children with Down's syndrome successfully took on the Department of Education and Skills in the High Court to have maximum resource hours allocated to their child. This legal process could have been avoided if legislation before the House had been allowed to go through Committee, Report and Final Stages. Is it the intention of Government to legislate to allow for resource hours for children such as those whose parents were obliged to go to the High Court to assert their rights? Or does the Taoiseach intend to facilitate other parents having to take that lonely walk from Donegal and elsewhere to the Four Courts to assert their rights against the Government?

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