Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Inniu, táthar ag dréim go n-ardóidh an Banc Ceannais Eorpach rátaí úis don seachtú huair ó bhí mí Iúil ann. Tiocfaidh sé seo mar bhuille eile do na mílte teaghlaigh. Is é anois an t-am chun faoiseamh úis mhorgáiste a thabhairt isteach chun tacú leis na teaghlaigh seo. Today the European Central Bank is widely expected to increase interest rates again. This would be the seventh time it has done so since July. This will come as a hammer blow to hundreds of thousands of families. It will immediately affect those 250,000 families and households with a mortgage on a tracker rate and it will hit the pockets of tens of thousands of households whose mortgages have been sold to vulture funds. Many of these households are being charged interest rates as high as 8%. They are now set to receive the seventh letter through the post informing them of a further rate hike and a further increase in their monthly mortgage repayments. This all comes at a time of great financial pressure for these families who are already being squeezed and whose finances are being stretched by a cost-of-living crisis, with the rise in food prices, transport costs and energy bills all bearing down heavily on them.

Last week, we heard from the Central Bank that one in five households are seeing their mortgage repayments increase by €400 per month. This is €5,000 per year. A borrower who recently reached out to me told me that her mortgage repayments had increased by €523 per month. This is an increase of more than €6,000 per year. Another person reached out to me to voice her desperation. Her loan was sold a number of years ago to a vulture fund. She has seen her interest rate increase time and time again. She said "I'm so stressed by this. My mental health is suffering. I have young children and I'm trapped in this cycle."

Last week, Sinn Féin brought a motion before this House calling for the introduction of targeted and temporary mortgage interest relief to support struggling families with rising mortgage costs. The proposal we put forward was a scheme that would absorb 30% of the rise in mortgage costs with a maximum benefit for households of up to €1,500. It was a sensible proposal that would make a real difference to countless families out there and take the sharp edge off the sudden and significant spike in interest rates these workers and families are facing.

It was a mistake for the Government to reject this proposal. The Government has claimed that it cannot act until the budget in October. Can I remind the Tánaiste that in the past number of weeks, his Government has announced tax changes on petrol, diesel and solar panels and tax changes for the hospitality and tourism sector and has removed levies for developers? All of this is outside the normal budget cycle at a cost of hundreds of millions of euro. Therefore, the argument that nothing can be done to support these families in the here and now with rising mortgage costs before October is simply a nonsense. As mortgage costs soar for hundreds of thousands of struggling households, the State can and should step in to support them and give them that type of relief. Now is not the time for excuses. Now is the time for action. Now is the time to be on the side of mortgage holders and to give them relief. As we see the cost to mortgage holders to keep a roof over their heads increase, people paying 8% - a figure that will increase after today's decision - and people being charged thousands of euro more than this time last year, will the Government finally introduce temporary and targeted mortgage interest relief, as Sinn Féin has proposed, to provide much-needed support for them? If it does not do so, what will it say to those families? What is it going to do? What type of relief will it offer, or will it just wash its hands and abandon them?

Admhaím go bhfuil brú agus go mbeidh brú faoi leith ar dhaoine le morgáistí as ucht ardú rátaí. Níl aon amhras faoi sin. Is éard atá i gcroílár pholasaí an Rialtais ná an brú sin a ísliú go forleathan ó thaobh an chostais mhaireachtála. Ó thosaigh an bhliain seo caite, is léir go bhfuil an-chuid déanta ag an Rialtas chun an brú sin a laghdú agus a ísliú, ní hamháin i gcomhthéacs morgáistí ach i gcomhthéacs cáin a ísliú freisin. Maidir le caiteachas ar sheirbhísí poiblí agus ar chúrsaí oideachais agus sláinte, táimid i gcónaí ag ísliú an bhrú ar dhaoine. There is no doubt that pressure is increasing on families with mortgages but I always say that we must be mindful not to rush into the Sinn Féin knee-jerk response to issues that emerge from time to time. The most notorious knee-jerk proposal Sinn Féin came forward with involved the energy crisis. It is rare in economics that the economic proposals that parties put forward get tested so soon afterwards, but Sinn Féin's proposal about energy was tested about a month later in Great Britain and it was a disaster leading to the demise of a prime minister and her government.

The point is that we need to look at this more broadly than the Deputy is doing. Even his proposal is discriminatory against those on fixed-rate mortgages who have the same loans and the same repayments. The average repayment across fixed, tracker and variable-rate mortgages is roughly the same but Sinn Féin is proposing to exclude nearly 50% of mortgage holders from its proposal and thereby discriminate against them.

This points to the need to look at this more broadly in terms of the cost-of-living pressures that people undoubtedly face. The Government has intervened. The Deputy has already outlined some of our interventions, which were part of a more comprehensive package of measures totalling €12 billion to reduce pressures on people and families in respect of childcare, education costs, healthcare costs and transport costs. We have reduced the cost of public services across the board. That is evident even in the most recent CSO figures in respect of education where inflation is down by 6.2%. In health, inflation is 1.6%, which relative to healthcare is quite a significant change from the norm in terms of increases of 5% or 6% because health costs always go ahead of the norm. Food prices are up significantly because of the feed-through from the energy crisis. Increasing costs for farmers and food producers are feeding into grocery prices across the board. That is acknowledged. There is a 20% increase across the EU on average. It was about 13% in March in the Republic of Ireland.

There is far more merit in the kind of interventions we have been doing such as free schoolbooks for every pupil in primary school and special schools next September, a significant reduction in school transport costs and a waiver of exam fees. The hot school meals programme will be extended to all DEIS primary schools from September, benefiting 64,500 children. There will be a one-off €100 increase in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance this summer, benefiting 273,000 children. Some 640,000 households in receipt of child benefit will receive a €100 lump sum per child in June. The fourth €200 electricity credit appeared in people's accounts last month.

The reductions in excise on petrol and diesel will continue until 1 June and about 1.3 million pensioners and so on are also benefiting in terms of additional social welfare payments. Our cost-of-living programme through the first half of this year has been designed by us in a comprehensive way. I think it is a better approach than just picking out things sector-by-sector every month, which is the knee-jerk response of the Opposition.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Hundreds of thousands of families will hear in the next hour or so that their mortgages are going up. They have just listened to the Tánaiste and have heard nothing on direct supports from him. His backbenchers will brief the media that the Government is considering this and so on but the leader of the party is still not saying that the Government is willing to intervene and provide direct supports for mortgage holders. That is a crazy situation.

People are already paying 8% interest rates. It will go up after today and is likely to go up further but we have a Government that is washing its hands and abandoning these mortgage holders. The Tánaiste’s party championed the idea of mortgage interest relief at a time when mortgage interest rates were a fraction of what they are now. Families are paying €5,000 and €6,000 more. Listen to the testimony. These people are locked in a cycle affecting their mental health. The Central Bank is telling us that more families are going to drop into arrears. What is the Government offering? Free childcare and free schoolbooks. We are asking for direct intervention for mortgage holders. We are asking for a response that is time limited and targeted. We have put our proposals on the table as far back as last year; the Government is coming up with nothing. People are pleading for action. Is the Government considering any direct support for mortgage holders as a result of this cost-of-living crisis, which has seen interest rates increase seven times in the last seven or eight months?

By the time of the budget last autumn, the European Central Bank had already increased interest rates twice. Despite that, Sinn Féin chose not to provide at all for mortgage holders in its budget submission. There was zero. Not a mention. That was Sinn Féin’s response to it. What I said earlier represents a very comprehensive and strategic approach by the Government to reduce costs generally for households, including those with mortgages. Essentially, we reduced tax in the budget. We have reduced the cost of public services in health, in terms of admission charges to hospitals and inpatient charges, and in education, not only with the free book scheme, which the Deputy seems to dismiss. It is a very significant intervention for many families with mortgages that they will not face the cost of books next September.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Is there any direct intervention?

I think it is far better that we do this strategically to reduce costs for families on a sustainable basis, particularly childcare costs, which have come down very significantly.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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So there is no direct support for mortgage holders.

That is not something to be sniffed at or dismissed like the Deputy did earlier.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Time is up.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Government Ministers are briefing the media.

I beg the Deputy’s pardon. We are doing anything but.

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

Our measures and interventions have been far more excessive, comprehensive, strategic and sustainable than anything the Deputy has proposed in the last 12 months.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Nonsense. The Government is abandoning the mortgage holders.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Please. I call Deputy Cairns.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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What started as a cost-of-living crisis has now become a cost-of-greed crisis. Entire industries are taking advantage of this crisis by inflating their prices to unsustainable levels. Corporate profits were up 30% at the end of last year while domestic companies saw profits surge by 17%. The ECB has now warned that profiteering by companies is the main driver of inflation. This is greedflation, plain and simple, and people are suffering as a result. While companies make bumper profits, ordinary consumers are unable to afford basics like food and heat. Already this year, calls to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul have increased by 20%. With no end in sight to record price increases, an increasing number of workers and families are on the brink. We know energy companies are engaged in obscene profiteering. Wholesale energy prices fell 41% in the last three months of 2022 and have continued to fall this year. Despite this, prices for residential customers have yet to fall.

The Government claims it wants to see energy companies reduce prices but the Minister seems incapable of doing more than wagging his finger at the companies. We are now told his long-promised windfall tax will not be operable until the autumn. Food inflation has been surging for two years and is now running at nearly 17%. Annual grocery bills have increased by more than €1,200 in the past 12 months. How are people on fixed incomes like pensioners and disabled people expected to cope with these enormous price increases? Many are being forced to either cut down or cut out meals. Our most vulnerable citizens are going without.

It is also increasingly difficult for struggling parents on low and middle incomes to ensure there is food on the table for their children. The biggest price increases have not been to luxury products. They have been to basics like butter, bread and pasta. Now, the supermarkets have decided en masseto decrease the prices of milk and butter. This so-called supermarket war looks more like a phoney battle of convenience. They want to give the illusion of action while continuing to clean up.

A big problem is there is no transparency about prices. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission repeatedly tells us it has no role in even monitoring price levels. The Government is now planning to introduce a food regulator that will be similarly toothless. Farmers will continue to be at the mercy of processors and retailers, as will consumers. The Government should be able to do more than merely describe a problem. It has the power to act.

What is the Government going to do to counteract spiralling greedflation and out-of-control costs? Will it give the proposed new food regulator the powers it needs to investigate what is really happening in supply chains?

There are fundamental factors. Inflation has been multifactorial. It is not just greed inflation although there is an element of that, without doubt. That is why we have a windfall tax in respect of energy companies to pull back excessive profits built on the back of the crisis. It has been multifactorial. The initial wave of inflation came with the rebound from Covid, with consequential impacts on supply chains. There were real challenges around supply and demand which increased prices and inflation. Then the energy crisis was real. It was created by Russia which pulled back supply and that led to further inflationary pressures which have fed into costs for food producers and for producers and manufacturing more generally. Then there is retail and there are other sectors. Agencies like the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission are there. The new food ombudsman and regulator is not toothless and will be there to create transparency around the issue of food prices more generally.

The Government has responded to this inflationary cycle with an unprecedented intervention of about €12 billion. Last week alone, as a result of those measures, 1.3 million pensioners - and the Deputy mentioned pensioners – as well as carers, people with disabilities, lone parents and working families received an additional €200 on top of their normal weekly social welfare payments. The reduced VAT rate of 9% on electricity and gas will continue until the end of October. The fourth €200 electricity credit appeared in people’s accounts last month. In education, we are introducing free schoolbooks for every pupil in primary schools and special schools. That will greatly help hard-pressed families. School transport charges for the 2023-24 school year will be reduced to €50 or €75 per student, with a cap per family of €125. There is a waiver for this year's State examination fees for students. The hot school meals programme will be extended to all DEIS primary schools from September. That will benefit 64,000 children. There are very targeted measures to deal with those most in need in respect of food, heating, energy and other supports. We have introduced about eight separate cost-of-living lump-sum payments over the last 12 months. There has been a 25% reduction in childcare, which is significant for families and particularly hard-pressed families. There are additional core payments of €12 a week for pensioners. We need to do more. We have extended the fuel allowance to a further 80,000 elderly people.

I say all that because it gets dismissed in the House. It is mistakenly believed that all of this did not happen or there was no intervention by the Government. There is. The windfall is there. Fundamentally, quite a range of factors are responsible for the inflationary cycle. Food prices went up by approximately 13% in March. We acknowledge that, but-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Tánaiste.

-----that is compared to approximately an average cost of 19% across Europe. In the areas of education, health and transport-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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We are way over time.

-----it is a different story because of Government intervention.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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I recognise the different factors that have an impact on it, but I was highlighting the fact that wholesale energy prices fell by 41%-----

Yes.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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-----but they have yet to fall for residential customers. We are only seeing a windfall tax in the autumn and now there are similar issues with the cost of food. The European Central Bank, ECB, is clear that corporate profits are now the main driver of that inflation and not the other factors. The pain that is being inflicted by the ECB to control inflation interest rate hikes is not being felt by corporations, it is being felt by ordinary workers and families whose mortgages are going up.

We are due another interest rate hike today. That will be the seventh interest rate hike in less than a year. All the pain of the crisis is being visited on ordinary workers and families. On one side, supermarkets and energy companies are among those who are price gouging with wild abandon. On the other hand, the ECB is tightening the screw even further with incessant increases in interest rates. None of what the Tánaiste said addresses that. It is just giving out different payments to try to make it less painful for people, but it is not addressing the cause of the problem. The pressure on people is too much to bear. Those payments are not addressing it anymore. A tiny decrease in the price of butter and milk is not the answer to this.

The Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill will be on Report and Final Stages in the Dáil next week and-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Deputy.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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-----I am asking the Tánaiste please to revisit this. Now is the chance to address the issues in relation to food prices. There can be some management of this going forward, because it is not the primary producers, such as farmers, who benefit, and it is not the consumers.

The whole purpose of that legislation is to help the primary producer. That was its origin. That is why Fianna Fáil argued for this when we were in opposition. In government, the three parties agreed-----

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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We need a food regulator with teeth, not an ombudsman.

The Deputy has not come forward with any amendments or suggested any amendments today-----

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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I have.

-----but in any event-----

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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I have tabled amendments to the legislation.

I did not interrupt the Deputy. I just want to make the point that the legislation on food pricing is the first of its kind. It will bring about far greater transparency and it is designed to help the primary producer. The ECB is increasing interest rates in order to bring down inflation more generally. They were at historically low levels. Every economist will acknowledge that. The Government has to intervene to reduce the pain, as the Deputy has said. That is the right thing to do in the exceptional circumstances we have experienced, namely, the war in Ukraine and coming out of the first pandemic in 100 years. These have had huge implications for supply chains more generally. We have to get inflation down.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I thank the Tánaiste.

We have to make sure - there are agencies in place - that we deal with the behaviour of companies etc.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Pringle on behalf of the Independent Group.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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We all remember the shocking images from November 2020 of a bog slide at Meenbog in Donegal. The sight of trees slipping down the hill while they were still standing was truly shocking. Now, two and a half years later, there is no word of the investigation into the cause of the slide, as if we did not know what it was. Meenbog is the site of a significant wind farm development, a development that appears to be progressing, regardless of the investigation. People knew that the site was not suitable even for trees, never mind for a wind farm development. As usual, the planning process is skewed against local people and their often genuine concerns.

I ask about this because it is relevant to current wind farm applications in the Gweebarra area of west Donegal. The Tánaiste will probably reply that it is up to Donegal County Council or an Bord Pleanála to decide and not for him or the Government. Yet, I, and many people in Donegal and around the country, believe that the Government has to take a view on this issue.

We have also seen the Government dragging its heels on publishing the wind energy guidelines. A draft was published in 2019 and there has not been a word about it since. A process started in 2013, which is now ten years ago. This is about protecting concerned local people, so there is no urgency on it. The place where the wind farm developments are taking place in the Gweebarra is covered in blanket bog which, apart from anything else, scientists believe that it is the best possible carbon sink. The risk of further bog slides cannot be underestimated and, like in Meenbog, the Gweebarra Estuary is a significant salmon river and the risks of ecological damage are immense.

We have seen many bog slides over the last few years around the country. While not all are associated with wind farm developments, they show that the risk is real. Given that we still do not know the outcome of the damage to the River Finn and its tributaries, does the Tánaiste believe that An Bord Pleanála should adjudicate on any applications that may come from similar landscape areas in the county or indeed the country? Will he or the Department of Environment, Climate and Communications take an interest and protect the sensitive environment of the Gweebarra by ensuring they have an interest in the applications in the area and not leave it to the inadequately prepared An Bord Pleanála at the very least at the present time?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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It is very unusual to raise individual planning applications.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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It is not individual. There is a whole raft of planning applications. It is not about those. It is about the blanket bog.

First, I cannot speak about the specifics of any particular planning application. Obviously, however, when an event such as what happened in Gweebarra happens, it does merit an examination. The Deputy is saying that the investigation is on the way but it has not concluded.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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Three years.

Yet, it is still on the way, is it not?

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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Yes, but it has been three years.

I know, but I am not doing the investigation. I cannot interfere, and nor should the Government interfere in any investigation of that kind. The investigation into that bog slide should be without fear or favour, because it is important. I acknowledge that.

Wind energy and renewables, both onshore and offshore, are key to the country's future. There will be a stronger emphasis on offshore over the next decade. However, a significant degree of onshore wind will still come on stream. There are quite a number of planning applications with An Bord Pleanála.

I do not accept the Deputy's basic premise. I am not quite clear about whether this is what the Deputy was saying, but he seemed to be strongly implying that the Government should intervene in this planning application or that the Government should intervene in planning applications now and then on particular issues. If that were to happen, where would it leave our planning system? First, from a legal framework, that position cannot be taken. At the moment, the Government cannot intervene in a planning decision or a planning application. We cannot adjudicate on it over the heads of the county council or An Bord Pleanála. That is what the Deputy is suggesting to me. The Government cannot do that and I think the Deputy knows that too. It may play well to a particular audience to say, "I called on the Government to interfere here and to stop the planning". I have heard that before on different issues. Those who advocate for that know damn well that the Government cannot interfere with the planning application or with the specifics of a planning case.

I will ask the Minister to check the timeframe in respect of the conclusions of the investigation. One would presume that the conclusion of the investigation would inform any future planning policy in the area. The county council has to take cognisance of any issues in the area. It should do so in respect of any zoning of the area for renewables or any future proposals. That is normally what would happen in a given area if something untoward happened, such as a slide, a collapse etc. They would check if the topography of the terrain or the geology was suitable for a particular development. However, that is fundamentally a matter for the local authority and the established State agencies to arbitrate on.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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I understand exactly what the Tánaiste is saying in relation to individual planning applications. In this case we are looking at applications for very sensitive landscape areas. Still to this day, we have not received any report on what happened in November 2020. Despite the fact that a number of State agencies have been involved in it and that it is a cross-Border issue, we have not seen the report that will impact other applications right across the board. There is the possibility of a repeat performance. We have seen a number of incidences across the country. While they are not all related to wind farm developments, bog slides have taken place in Galway, Leitrim and Donegal. Therefore, this is a national issue.

This is an issue that the Government should be aware of and informed about. The Government should be taking action on this. The Tánaiste said that the Government does not have a responsibility in relation to planning, but the Government does have a responsibility to provide guidelines for wind farms. Yet, it has sat on it for ten years and has not provided those guidelines. This is a very serious incident that could be repeated in the future. The Government is sitting and not making sure these reports come forward and have an impact by making sure developments are actually safe for the environment and for the communities they are foisted on. That is vitally important.

Again, I said I would check with the relevant Ministers about where the investigation is. However, very often, the opposite of that story can also happen.

The Deputy would be the very first to stand up here if the Government had got involved in the investigation, and the Government of the day would then be accused of cover-up and of influencing the investigation to get the right result that has now facilitated further planning permissions. That is exactly what would happen. If the Government started speaking to the various independent investigators to tell them to hurry up and sort it out quickly because we needed to get a clear landscape in terms of what was to happen, people would start accusing the Government of interfering in an impartial investigation that should be without fear or favour. It should just find out what happened here.

I take the Deputy's point. He made a fair point about the timeliness of the investigation. I accept that point but we are at the mercy - the entire House always is - of any kind of investigation that is external and conducted by an agency or a group of agencies into matters such as this. Once the investigation starts, I do not believe the Government can get involved or interfere in it, but I will come back to the Deputy on the timelines in respect of it.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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The rural regeneration and development fund is a “commitment of €1 billion by government to be invested in rural Ireland over the period 2019 to 2027”. Those are the Government's words. The fund was set up to develop infrastructure that may be needed to support town centre housing and commercial development. With what? There is no investment in basic infrastructure for any of this development to happen. This eliminates any hope of increasing the population in our towns and villages - no equality there. Urban areas always get a larger share of Government funding, which leads to huge discrepancies in basic infrastructure in health, transport and broadband between urban and rural - again, no equality there. I, as an elected Deputy, want similar access to resources and opportunities for the constituents of rural Ireland - again, no equality there. Is this just plain discrimination by Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party and a city-based Cabinet?

From where I am standing, we in rural Ireland are not on a level playing field. The Government is anti-rural, anti-small town and village, anti-farmer-----

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Ah, Richard, come off it.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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-----and anti-afforestation. Licensing in afforestation has dropped by 100%. The Government is anti-transport, delaying the ability of persons to get a driving test by up to six months in rural Ireland. Driving is our only form of transport. I cannot stress enough the importance of this for our population. To get to schools, colleges, sport and work in rural Ireland, we need basic infrastructure.

I got an update from Uisce Éireann on infrastructure in which loose statements were made. In regard to Kilbeheny, Uisce Éireann stated it did not even know there was a sewerage system there, even though there was one there 50 years ago and even though the agency had upgraded the road and storm water drain and connected it to the existing sewer. It did not even know it had it, but it said there is a sewerage system for three houses in Kilbeheny. It said it did not know the infrastructure was there.

In regard to Askeaton, Uisce Éireann stated it is going to appoint a service engineer from 2025 to 2029. For 38 years, Askeaton has been looking for a sewerage system. One of the Tánaiste's own Fianna Fáil councillors has been announcing it all the time. He is now about to retire and it still has not been done, and now the agency is saying it will be in 2029.

As for Oola, Uisce Éireann stated it will issue a contractor in 2024 but will not increase capacity. That means there will be no extra population in these areas, which means I cannot help the schools, the businesses and everything else I want to do there. Hospital continues to experience the same situation. There are 20 new houses in Hospital. It had to install five on-site sewerage systems in the area to serve those houses. Raw sewage is going into the rivers. The Government itself is the biggest polluter in Ireland and it will fine everyone else.

First, I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. Ní aontaím leis. Ní dóigh liom go bhfuil an ceart ag an Teachta nó go bhfuil fírinne an scéil ráite aige. Tá an-chuid infheistíochta ag dul isteach in áiteanna tuaithe na tíre seo. Tá an-chuid infheistíochta á dhéanamh i ngach aon áit sa Stáit.

I do not agree with the Deputy's central premise. The preliminary census results for 2022 show population growth in all counties, in rural and urban Ireland. It is the first time ever that this has happened. The number of people in employment has increased across all parts of the country. We as a Government are investing more money than ever before to support rural projects in rural communities, and I think the Deputy knows this as well. The rural regeneration and development fund, which is quite unprecedented in its scale, the town and village renewal scheme, CLÁR, the communities centre investment fund, LEADER, the outdoor recreation infrastructure scheme and the sports capital programme have all reached deep into rural Ireland and will suffice to underpin Limerick's supremacy for many years to come, or maybe not supremacy but strength.

We also have full employment now, with remote and blended working. As the Deputy knows, for years people in local communities found it very difficult to get work and many had to commute, but there is now blended working and hubs and so on are being developed. More people are living in rural Ireland than ever before and more people are working in rural Ireland than ever before. These are the facts, and more money is being invested in rural Ireland than ever before. Approximately €600 million has been invested since 2020 by the Department of Rural and Community Development in projects in rural communities under the rural development investment programme and, in 2023, €390 million has been provided for the Department. The Deputy mentioned the €1 billion himself.

The majority of jobs are now created outside Dublin. Approximately 430,000 jobs have been created since the Government took office, with 70% of them created outside Dublin. On towns and villages, one of the most imaginative schemes has been Croí Cónaithe and that is being expanded again by the Government through the grants of €50,000 and €70,000. This will deal with dereliction in towns and villages across Ireland and help couples create homes with substantial State support, and that will support the wider rural infrastructure as well. Last November, more than €115 million was announced for 23 landmark rural regeneration projects nationwide, the largest ever allocation under the fund. I could go on. In regard to housing as well, a substantial number of houses have been built in rural Ireland in the past year.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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The Tánaiste is now talking about the number of houses being built in rural Ireland. The Government is allowing raw sewage from Askeaton to go into the River Shannon, from Dromcolliher into the River Deel and from Kilbeheny into the River Funshion. It is the biggest polluter environmentally in Ireland. It fines farmers, businesses and householders for any small pollution, but it is the biggest polluter because it has not upgraded these sewerage systems for 40 years.

The Tánaiste can talk about where the Government is building. The Land Development Agency, LDA, which has an office 15 minutes from Limerick city, does not cover up to two thirds of County Limerick. These infrastructure projects have been on Governments' table for up to 40 years and the Government is allowing raw sewage to go into the waterways of Ireland. It is the biggest polluter in Ireland. We might have good employment at the moment, but we cannot have raw sewage going into the waterways and affecting people's health. We cannot increase the population of our towns and villages because of the raw sewage. The statistics and all the other information are there. I ask the Tánaiste to stay on Limerick when he responds.

I will stay on Limerick but, in fairness, the Deputy started his question nationally and, after my initial reply, he jumped back to his constituency-----

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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Kilbeheny. Oola.

I know Kilbeheny well. I spend many of my happiest childhood years in Mitchelstown, down around Ballykearney, so I know the terrain-----

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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Go down and drink the water there now.

On sewage treatment, the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Expenditure have both allocated unprecedented money to Irish Water for sewage treatment plants-----

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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It did not know the sewerage system was there.

It does know it is there.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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It did not.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy, will you let the Tánaiste answer?

There is a significant investment programme in sewage treatment plants and we need to do more. It is an issue of capacity now. The money has been allocated.

The reason we are doing it-----

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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Forty years.

The reason we are doing it is it tied into the housing programme as well.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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Forty years.

I am dealing with this Government now because this Government is responsible for what is there and to make sure we can improve upon water quality, in particular. That is a key priority of Government.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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Forty years of raw sewage.

There are many factors that go into the pollution of our waterways, etc.-----

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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Forty years of raw sewage.

-----but the Deputy should be in no doubt that work is under way on a range of the projects that he has listed.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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Forty years.

The Deputy knows that as well and he has not quite said that. Many schemes take time to bring to fruition.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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Uisce Éireann, non-Uisce Éireann places.

The Deputy would be the first there when some of these schemes are opened.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent)
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I will.

Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy would be the first to the Ryder Cup as well, in Limerick, in his constituency.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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There is the Munster final first.

Meath will not be in the Munster final.