Dáil debates
Tuesday, 4 November 2025
Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
2:00 am
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Déanaim comhghairdeas ó chroí lenár gcara, an iarTheachta Catherine Connolly. It is a truly historic achievement. Our warmest congratulations go to our Uachtarán-elect, Catherine Connolly.
I would like also to pay tribute to Sr. Stanislaus Kennedy, who passed away yesterday. Sr. Stan championed social justice, advocated for the homeless and spent her entire life standing on the side of those in need. She gave gentle yet powerful voice to the voiceless. She never stopped working for a fair and equal society. She leaves an incredible legacy of compassion, activism and hope. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam.
The Government's energy task force published its interim report yesterday, confirming people's worst fears. Households will be hit with massive electricity bills this winter, with average yearly bills approaching €2,000. The barrage of electricity price hikes from big energy companies puts people under huge pressure in the run-up to Christmas.
Three hundred thousand households are unable to pay their electricity bills. Household energy arrears have almost doubled in the last four years. Many more will now be pushed into this awful situation. The Government's decision to strip away energy credits was a terrible call in a terrible budget - a budget of €9.4 billion that has left working people worse off. That is some going.
While people are so brazenly ripped off, what is the Government's big idea? It is a promise to make an announcement of a plan sometime next year, with action to follow God knows when, if at all. Households are being fleeced, right here and right now. These huge bills are already landing and yet the Government pretends like it is not happening.
Government failure to tackle energy rip-offs leaves people in desperate situations, with families using prepay meters going days without electricity and households relying on organisations such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul to keep the lights on. The Government sits back and allows big energy companies to rip people off at every opportunity. Now, as the days get darker, families will be forced to cut back on necessary electricity use, counting the cost every time they use the washing machine and feeling pressure every time they flick on the light switch because they know it is costing them a fortune. Is that an acceptable way for people to live?
The big question for me is this: how many wake-up calls does the Government need before it acts? Four energy companies announce big electricity price hikes but the Government does nothing. The International Energy Agency reports that energy companies are fleecing Irish households but the Government does nothing. The CSO releases figures proving that people are being ripped off but the Government still does nothing. Now the Government's own task force confirms that households will be hit with massive electricity bills over the coming weeks but the Government still does nothing. Worse still, the Government actually has the neck to tell people to wait until next year for some pie-in-the-sky plan. Not alone is this Government inaction woefully out of touch, it is downright lazy.
This is a lazy do-nothing Government incapable of understanding how these huge bills impact on people's lives so it does not even muster up the effort to do anything about it. That is not good enough. The Government's job is to stand up to those companies, to end this energy rip-off and to support households mar tá geimhreadh lán de bhillí leictreachais ródhaor in ann do theaghlaigh. Caithfidh an Rialtas seasamh suas in aghaidh na comhlachtaí móra fuinnimh agus tacú le teaghlaigh. Given the scale of this crisis, will the Government now act to reinstate energy credits to help households and what action will the Government take to reign in energy companies and to put an end to the scandalous rip-off?
2:05 am
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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On behalf of the entire Government, I sincerely congratulate and offer my best wishes to President-elect Catherine Connolly following her election victory. It is an enormous victory for her, her family, all of her supporters and many people across County Galway and beyond. Catherine commanded a huge vote following a really successful campaign.
President-elect Connolly served with distinction in these Houses as Leas-Cheann Comhairle. In all her contributions, she demonstrated enormous integrity and professionalism. When I previously held the brief as Minister of State with responsibility for the Gaeltacht, she was someone who was always constructive in her contributions. She will be a President that we can all unite behind and I wish her well as she commences her new role in the coming days.
I will speak to the loss of Sr. Stan, who had such a positive impact on so many people for so long. Sr. Stan dedicated her life to working with care and compassion on behalf of the poor and the vulnerable across the country. She showed that innate desire and unflinching determination to support those who needed the most help. Hers was a voice of charity, of care, of compassion and of devoted service to people and our thoughts are with her family on her loss today.
On Deputy McDonald's question, this Government did take action in the budget when it came to the issue of energy. That is why the work the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, did in keeping the 9% VAT rate on gas and electricity is a significant part of our overall tax package.
The fuel allowance being increased by €5, and expanded for those in receipt of the working family payment, made it a targeted approach to those who are feeling the pressure of energy prices across our economy. As a result of another Government intervention, an additional 50,000 households will be eligible for fuel allowance, which will mean that 460,000 households, or 26% of all households, are now eligible for fuel allowance. We have made wider interventions in supporting children and families, including the increase in the child support payment, and there are other measures in the context of the Department of Social Protection. Next year, that Department will have an overall allocation of over €28 billion. On our overall broader spending across our economy, this Government made a €2 billion package in social protection in budget 2026 to respond to the pressure many households face and target it to those most in need. That is the context in which we set about trying to help to mitigate the impact of energy prices.
The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has done extensive work as part of the national energy affordability task force. That has set out a number of recommendations in the context of the programme for Government, where we have set out changes in assessment of the overall regulatory model for energy prices in our economy. That is work he will undertake. In the national development plan, there is our continued investment in the warmer homes scheme, with hundreds of millions of euro to support families, and many other interventions to support low-income households.
We made significant interventions in the budget as part of our social protection package, including the retention of the 9% VAT rate on gas and electricity. We made a decision not to continue one-off temporary payments because we have to be honest about managing the overall budgetary parameters and the need to manage expenditure policy out to the medium term. We want every decision we make to be sustainable, affordable and permanent. It is not sustainable to continue one-off payments over the existing allocations. That is why we made specific and targeted interventions in the context of our social protection package.
2:10 am
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I will tell the Minister what is not sustainable. It is not sustainable to tell families that are struggling so badly now that his only response is to refer them to the national development plan, budgetary parameters and whatever other political jargon he has got written down and has placed on the record of the Dáil. Does he understand how widespread this experience is? He keeps talking about targeted measures. Does he understand how widespread the experience is now for households that cannot make their bills? I have told him already, and he knows, that 300,000 households are already in arrears. I have told him that energy companies have hiked their prices upwards and upwards with no real substantive challenge from anyone in the Government. They can do what they want. I have told him that in the run-in to Christmas, families now - not next year but now, in November and December - cannot make it and the Government simply sings dumb. I find it astonishing that the Government is so out of touch. We need action now. We need the energy credits as an immediate response, but the Government needs to take on these energy companies and face them down.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I fully understand the issues and pressures families face. I reject the Deputy's assertion of jargon and waffle talk she mentioned. We absolutely understand the pressure. That is why the social protection package was significant in this budget when it came to fuel allowance, the changes in rates we made and the changes the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, made when it came to the 9% VAT rate on gas and electricity. I will not take lectures from the Deputy on the economy. A magic money tree-----
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I am talking to you about families.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I am talking to you about families.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy's alternative budget amounted to nearly €16 billion. Her party's economic approach would wreck our economy, lose jobs-----
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is your answer. Wow.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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-----and deplete our country of resources. Its false promises and its reckless approach to economic management would not provide any future for any family and would seriously exacerbate poverty for many people.
2:15 am
John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister is not representing part of his party when it comes to taxes.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I will not take any lectures from Deputy McDonald on economic management.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister should take the lecture from someone.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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We make changes that are progressive, fair and targeted at the lowest income households and the social protection package reflects that.
Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is lamentably out of touch.
Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I extand a comhghairdeas mór to our new Uachtarán na hÉireann, Catherine Connolly, on her historic landslide win. I know as President she will do us proud just as Michael D. Higgins has done.
I also want to acknowledge the loss of the great Sr. Stan. She did the State immense service through her work on social justice and she leaves a truly remarkable legacy. May she rest in peace.
I condemn in the strongest possible terms the attack on an IPAS centre in Drogheda on Friday. The lives of children were seriously endangered in the setting of a deliberate fire. Two babies, including one who is only 20 days old, were hospitalised in what was a hideous criminal attack. I know my colleagues in Drogheda, Deputy Ged Nash and Councillors Michelle Hall and Pio Smith, are working to support all those affected. I pay tribute to the courage of the firefighters who saved lives on Friday night.
In the context of that horrific attack and the awful riot in City West, I want to raise two matters today. The first is how we stamp out racist violence and the second is the way in which Government policy and rhetoric emanating from Members of this House can stoke anti-immigrant sentiments that form the thin end of what is a wicked, violent wedge.
More than 300 IPAS and Ukraine accommodation centres operate across the country. They are people’s homes. Dozens of times in recent years, residents have faced attacks and violence in what are modern-day pogroms. In my own constituency, I work with volunteers who are dealing with knife attacks on men who are forced to sleep in tents due to the Government's failure to house them. The State must step in. The Government must now undertake an urgent security review of all centres where refugees or people seeking asylum are living. Completing this work in advance of the second anniversary of the Dublin riots would be an appropriate deadline.
We also need a reflection on and a review of the language used and policies implemented by the Government. The conflation of immigration with criminality in rhetoric can contribute to an environment where violence can develop. So too can irresponsible rhetoric that blames the housing crisis or the lack of public services on immigrants.
Regrettably the three largest parties in this House, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Sinn Féin, have recently issued communications that have leant into anti-migrant sentiment. These are not comments from rogue Government Members, in the case of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, either. This week, the Tánaiste said that our migration numbers are too high. He implied that people facing deportation make up a significant proportion of Ireland’s inward migration. Of course, this is wrong. However, it was not a slip of the tongue. His Fine Gael colleagues have since repeated it, and the Minister's party leader, the Taoiseach, has backed him.
Minister, you are in Government. Any flaws in the asylum system are your responsibility. Your party colleague holds the justice and migration brief. Any blame for the failure to provide fair and effective procedures lies not at the feet of people seeking asylum but with your Government and previous governments. Will you undertake a safety audit of accommodation? Will you now advance a public information campaign on the benefits to this country of inward migration and the facts about immigration?
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The shocking and disgraceful recent attacks, including in Drogheda over the weekend and in City West before that, should serve as a stark reminder to everyone in this House how careful and responsible we must be when discussing and debating immigration policy. These disgraceful attacks are not reflective of the views of the overwhelming majority of our people whose first instinct is one of compassion for those people being subjected to intimidation and of revulsion towards those carrying out these attacks. People across our country are proud that Ireland is a tolerant multicultural and diverse country. They recognise how reliant our economy, our public services and our communities are on the contribution of those from migrant backgrounds. I see it in my constituency, which is one of the most diverse constituencies in the country. I thank the many people who have come here for the enormous contribution they make to our economy, our communities and our society. We need to be clear on that in all of our discussions when it comes to migration.
Today the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, is publishing the Future Forty report, which speaks to the huge contribution that many people from the migrant community make to our economic growth. Our continued success as an economy is dependent on attracting the talent and the people who make that contribution.
It is also important to be clear that everybody in this House should be able to have a broader debate on what system of migration we have. Everyone on this side of the House shares the Deputy's view that we should have a compassionate, caring approach to anyone who comes here and treat them with humanity and dignity. We should be clear that many of them come places where they would be vulnerable. In his remarks, the Tánaiste said migration is a good thing, but he was just making broader remarks on the system we have. We should be able to have a mature debate about the type of system we have. We are clear that it should be a rules-based system with enforcement. It is important that we have that in the context of managing a complex issue globally. That is why there is constant evaluation of the various factors that are contributing to overall migration into our country. The Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, is being proactive across a number of measures he has introduced, while also sending a strong message on the contribution that many people who have come here make to our economy.
On the Deputy’s question, there is a security review, and that is part of the wider work that goes on with any centre that becomes applicable under IPAS. To be clear, this Government shares the Deputy’s perspective on how we treat people, but it is important that we can also have a debate on how we can have a balanced approach that is fair and also manages the consequences for those who are not given status. There need to be consequences for those who are not given status. If they have appealed and are not allowed to stay, they need to be managed in the context of a functioning migration system. That is the broader context in which this debate should be had.
2:25 am
Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the Minister for his careful and responsible words in his response. He is absolutely right that people must of course be able to debate migration policy, but let us do so in a fact-based manner. Let us use careful and responsible language. I certainly do not think the Tánaiste’s conflation of all migrants with a tiny number of people facing deportation orders was responsible. The Minister has acknowledged the reality that the vast majority of people who have migrated to Ireland are here to work and that our schools and hospitals are staffed by people who have come here to provide an essential service – people who are propping up our creaking healthcare, education and nursing-home systems. That is what we all know to be the case, so why is there a focus in Government rhetoric on scapegoating those who come here seeking asylum and somehow conflating them with the vast majority of migrants, who come by different means entirely?
Just this week, the Cabinet has agreed a mean-spirited rent payment for people who have been fleeing Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine. It is not a revenue-raising measure; rather, Fine Gael sources have admitted, it is designed to disincentivise people fleeing war from coming here. Could we have a fact-based information campaign to provide an evidence basis for the debate on migration, please?
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is conflating lots of different things-----
Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I am not conflating them.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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-----unfairly and inappropriately.
Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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The Tánaiste was inappropriate.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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It is important that everyone in this House be able to have an honest, open debate about migration policy.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Government needs to examine incentives, disincentives and push and pull factors in the context of migration policy in Europe and internationally. Every policy should be evaluated and recalibrated to manage the various factors that contribute to the overall level of migration to an economy, while also acknowledging the huge contribution people continue to make to our economy and communities. It is just unfair to take a particular sentence and try to conflate what has happened, in a shocking manner, in certain instances.
Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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He knew what he was doing.
Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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The rest of them were.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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That is why the Minister, Deputy O’Callaghan, is correct in continuing to evaluate our migration policy and examine the wider factors contributing to significant increases. Those who are working and in centres should make a contribution. That is fair and proportionate, and that is the right policy approach. Anyone in this House would agree that if you have income and the means to make a contribution, you should make a contribution. Most people across the country would support that.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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For decades, Sr. Stan was a campaigner and advocate for the most marginalised in our society. We could all learn from her. Our thoughts are with her family today.
I congratulate President-elect Catherine Connolly. She will be a President for all and will be missed in this House, but we know she will serve with the same integrity, diligence and compassion she served with here.
“The house is on fire ... Please answer". This is what a terrified 12-year-old child texted to her mum on Friday after an arson attack on her home, an IPAS centre in Drogheda. In total, 28 people lived in that IPAS centre, the majority of them women and children. Four children, including a two-week-old baby, had to be rescued from the top floor of the building. Little children who came to this country seeking sanctuary are now terrified, traumatised and living in fear. This is where anti-immigrant and racist rhetoric has led us - a violent attack on vulnerable people that could easily have led to children being killed.
I commend the emergency services in Drogheda for their quick action. I also acknowledge that the majority of people in Drogheda and across the country are disgusted by what happened, because this attack is a new low, but is anyone surprised it has come to this? There have been 30 arson attacks on IPAS centres, or proposed centres, in recent years. We have witnessed rioting on our streets and there have been numerous public order incidents and protests outside IPAS centres.
What has the Government's response been to this increasingly volatile atmosphere? It has been to ratchet up its use of inflammatory language and stoke further fears. Mere days after rioting broke out in Citywest, Simon Harris suggested migration numbers, including the number of people here on work permits, were too high. Then, after the despicable arson attack on Friday night, the Government moved immediately to talk about charging those in direct provision for accommodation. You could not make it up. That is not to mention that a callous proposal to reduce accommodation entitlements for people from Ukraine to just 30 days has also just been signed off. Where is the emergency stand-alone meeting on safety concerns for people in international protection? Where is the emergency meeting about increasing levels of violent hate in our communities? Where is the emergency meeting to discuss how to counter the dangerous lies being peddled by far-right agitators online?
This Government has failed miserably to deliver on its own commitments on housing and critical public services. Instead of taking responsibility for that, however, it is now pointing fingers at immigrants-----
2:35 am
Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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That is not true.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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-----State agencies and the latest fall guy, EU red tape. This is straight out of the Farage playbook and it is deeply concerning the Government is taking this approach.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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The reality is the numbers seeking international protection are way down this year-----
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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The Minister to respond.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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-----and people remain trapped in the system for too long because of the Government's mismanagement of it. Is the Government reflecting on its communication-----
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Deputy, you are way over time.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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-----around this? Has the security audit of IPAS centres started?
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I think Deputy Cairns heard me respond to Deputy Bacik in the context of the shocking and disgraceful attacks that have happened in Drogheda and Citywest. I am very clear to anyone listening about the positive contribution that many members of the migrant community make to our country, economy, society and communities. That is the position of this Government, and all members of this Government, in terms of wider integration and migration policy.
To the Deputy's question, the Cabinet committee considers wider matters. That is why, and this goes to the point I raised to Deputy Bacik, we should be able to assess overall migration policy continuously and evaluate it to look at European norms. The Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, is constantly doing that in his engagement with colleagues across the European Union to look at the wider incentives and disincentives and the push and pull factors. That is a normal part of migration policy across Europe. We should be able to have a separate, honest evaluation of that continuously so that we are able to manage the overall numbers that are coming into our country. That is not dismissing the need for migrants and their ongoing contribution to our economy, but we need to be able to have an honest debate about that.
I am clear in my absolute condemnation of what has happened. The Garda did an excellent job. There is constant community engagement happening on the ground across many of these centres.
If you take the response in Citywest and in Drogheda, the gardaí did an excellent job. The Taoiseach, the Tánaiste, the Minister for justice and others were universal in their condemnation with what happened in these recent attacks. Deputy Cairns did not say that in her opening remarks. She ignored that in her opening remarks and sought to cloud this issue-----
2:40 am
Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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The Tánaiste said nothing.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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-----trying to conflate two separate-----
Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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The Tánaiste said nothing about Drogheda.
Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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He was on Instagram all weekend and said nothing about Drogheda. He did not condemn it.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Everybody in government condemns what happened in Drogheda.
Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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The man with no thought that goes untweeted said nothing. It is my hometown.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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That is very unfair.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Everyone in this Government and in this Parliament should be able to have an overall assessment of migration policy. That is what I am saying. We need an honest debate about that continuously because there are various factors which contribute to a surge in applications and we need to be able to evaluate that.
I reject what the Deputy has said in trying to conflate these issues. It is unfair. The work the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, is doing is as focused on community engagement through An Garda Síochána and the various supports that we have on the ground as it is the wider issues in terms of migration policy. The attacks have been disgraceful. I reiterate my view and acknowledge the ongoing contribution that many people continue to make in communities across our country. We value their contribution and their continued work and presence in our country. They need to feel safe and welcomed. We will be doing everything we can to protect that.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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The Government cannot stoke fear in one breath, then condemn attacks in another and come into the House and seek credit for doing that.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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The Social Democrats have been pleading with the Government for weeks to moderate its language, to ensure what it is saying is accurate and that tensions are not further enflamed. Instead, the inflammatory language from the Government has increased. Shamefully, the Tánaiste chose to amplify half-truths to paint migrants in a negative light. He made those comments fully conscious of the volatile atmosphere that is out there. It is not just irresponsible; it is reprehensible. Now we see where rising hate naturally leads - a man pouring petrol on the stairs of an IPAS centre in the hopes of burning women and children alive. If this horrific event is not enough to prompt the Government to engage in some reflection, then I do not know what is. The Government now has a deliberate strategy of depicting international protection applicants as scammers gaming a lax system-----
Malcolm Byrne (Wicklow-Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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That is not true.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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This is not leadership; this is leaning into a toxic far-right narrative.
Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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Withdraw that.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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People have a right to come here and to make an application for international protection.
Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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Withdraw that.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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The Government has a duty to assess those claims fairly.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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The Minister to respond.
Holly Cairns (Cork South-West, Social Democrats)
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Will the Government show leadership on this issue and deliver that clear and unambiguous message?
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I reject that completely. If the Deputy listened to what I have said, I have rejected the politics of the far-right, of Farage-----
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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----- and of anyone who gives an inflammatory response or weaponises this issue to divide people. Our focus is on community, on building harmony between people and on supporting and investing in communities while also ensuring that we have a migration system and policy which works. That is why we should have an ongoing evaluation of it. It is unfair to continue to conflate this, as the Deputy has. The experience of the women and children in that house and the threat that was brought on them is shocking and is universally condemned by this Government. That is why the work the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, is doing in terms of the Garda's security reviews, which happen for IPAS centres, is really important. It is why community engagement is centrally important. I am disgusted, as everyone is, with what has happened.
Even over the summer, there were some the attacks on certain members of the Indian community as well. In my community in west Dublin, there was fear among many of the migrant members of our community. We need to reinforce the need to support them and promote safety in all aspects of our response. Community is at the centre of that.
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Ba mhaith liom ar dtús mo chomhghairdeas ollmhór a ghabháil le Catherine Connolly ar an mbua iontach a bhí aici an tseachtain seo caite. Guím gach rath uirthi. Déanaim comhbhrón le Sr. Stan. Laoch ab ea í a d'oibrigh go díograiseach ar son iad siúd a bhí gan dídean sa tír seo. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a hanam dílis. Déanaim cáineadh orthu siúd a chur an teach IPAS i nDroichead Átha trí thine. Ba bheag nár bhfuair páistí agus tuismitheoirí bás sa teach sin ar an oíche.
This morning, commuter traffic on the M3 going to Dublin was backed up well into County Meath. The journey for tens of thousands of people took two hours. Meath is the biggest commuter county in the country. It is the only county in the country where the majority of workers leave the county to go to work every single day. Some 90,000 people in Meath commute to work on a daily basis and 60,000 of those are forced to use cars due to the lack of a rail line. Navan is the biggest town in the country without a rail line at the moment. In 1994, Fianna Fáil's Noel Dempsey promised to build a rail line between Navan and Dublin. The delivery date slipped and slipped. We were promised to have it in 2015 but it was never built.
I am the chair of the Meath on Track campaign and the people of Meath have campaigned strongly for this over the years and yet we still do not have that rail line. In 2021, it was promised to us again. We were told that the building of the rail line would start by 2030 and it would be built by 2036. This promise was met with derision in County Meath, to be honest. It is typical horizon politics - so far in the distance that it never gets done. In 2036, it will be 42 years since the rail line was first promised by Fianna Fáil.
In 1862, the original Navan to Dublin rail line was built in three years with picks and shovels. Despite all the technology we have now, the wait for the project is now heading towards 42 years. It is incredibly glacial in its delivery.
The economic cost of congestion in the greater Dublin area is incredible. Some €336 million was the cost of it in 2024, according to the Department of Transport, and it is estimated that by 2040, congestion in the greater Dublin area will cost €1.5 billion. Studies have been done on congestion in European cities and Dublin is the worst in terms of time and cost. There have also been studies of the speed of traffic in Dublin at the moment. The average speed eight years ago was 12 km/h. The average speed of horse-drawn carriages in Dublin in the 19th century was 16 km/h. We currently in an incredible crisis in terms of infrastructure in the Dublin area.
Why is that this Government cannot deliver infrastructure on time? Why is it that we have the slowest planning, permits, judicial reviews and tendering in the whole of the European Union in terms of such projects? When will the Navan to Dublin rail line be built? What will the Government do to change the glacial pace of infrastructure in this country?
2:50 am
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy. What I would say about transport specifically is that there has been a big uplift in the transport allocation for the next five years. Some €22 billion of the over €100 billion being invested in the next five years will be in transport, specifically to build more roads and ensure our public transport objectives are delivered. There is going to be a serious transformation of transport investment over the next five years.
The Deputy is correct in saying that additional allocations in themselves will do very little to change how we deliver infrastructure across our economy. That is why over the coming weeks we will publish a series of actions, to be implemented in 2026, which will accelerate the delivery of infrastructure across our economy. It means rebalancing regulation in our economy and reassessing a lot of the rules, processes and structures that are not working and are delaying decision-making and adding cost, rather than value, to the cost of projects when they come to be delivered and procured. We will introduce reforms from a legislative perspective on critical infrastructure and on trying to advance that in a greater and quicker way.
We will also be examining the roles of our regulators and ensuring there is a duty to co-operate across many of our regulators, which at the moment are a part of the sequencing of delays that undermine the delivery of infrastructure across our economy. I will, in the coming weeks, be able to show the difference that will make to the delivery of infrastructure.
The Deputy referenced the Navan rail line. There was a reduction in capital expenditure when the economy contracted and that contributed to delays for many of the projects, which the Deputy referenced. That was a part of the previous national development plan. Part of what we are trying to do now is to match sectoral investment plans in transport and other areas with new short timelines so we can better deliver transport infrastructure. The Minister for Transport, Deputy O'Brien, is working with the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, on a sectoral investment plan for transport in our economy. That will seek to match this very serious allocation. Nearly €1 of every €4 we will spend on capital over the next five years will be spent on transport, which is one of the biggest investments in public transport and our road network for many years.
Part of that is to try to match that with a credible pipeline of projects which we can deliver over a period of years while also trying to set out a new delivery mechanism into the early 2030s for projects that needs to go through planning and procurement. He will be able to set out further detail in terms of the transport sectoral investment plan. This new approach to infrastructural delivery is about rebalancing risk. The Deputy is often in here attacking public servants, politicians and others. People have a role in ensuring accountability where there is excessive spend on particular projects but it is also important we rebalance the risk appetite so that we address risk aversion in decision-making. That means we have to take extra-----
3:00 am
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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-----risks when it comes to delivery of infrastructure and other projects across our economy.
Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Minister. Deputy Tóibín to respond.
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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The problem is that if one takes the future tense out of the Minister's statement there is very little the Government can say. The Minister has been in government for so long at this stage and these particular problems in planning, judicial reviews and tendering have not appeared out of nothing. They have been as a result of the Government's implementation.
One of the big frustrations that exists among commuters in this country is that, on one level, they are getting the stick of extra costs. Last year, commuters paid €1.9 billion in motor tax and VRT and they contributed €4.1 billion in fuel taxes. Just last week the Government put up the cost of tolls again on an M50 that commuters have paid €2.2 billion for already. Mind you, those two bridges cost €53 million to build in the first place. Those commuters have paid for those bridges over and over again and yet the Government is using this stick on those commuters by putting up that price again instead of using the carrot of providing the necessary public transport they want to be able to use. That is where the major frustration is. On one level, the Government cannot introduce and cannot develop infrastructure because the systems are grinding to a halt with bureaucracy and red tape-----
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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-----while on another level the Government is using a stick to try to get people out of cars and that stick is impoverishing many people.
Jack Chambers (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I acknowledge that in some instances there is excessive bureaucracy and red tape and we need to cut it, remove it and reform it. That is central to my work beyond what is happening in the national development plan. The Deputy is correct that we do need to radically reduce the timelines it takes to deliver critical projects and housing across our economy. There are too many layers and too many barriers to the delivery of that, and I acknowledge that in many of the commuter counties. I work with my colleague, Deputy Dempsey, on this, when it comes to the Navan rail line, and work on other priorities in Meath, Kildare, Wicklow, Louth and other commuter belt regions where many people have a long commute to work. Part of the transformation of our transport system in the next five years will be to ensure the project pipeline gets delivered more quickly because we have put a record level of allocation beside transport when it comes to the prioritisation we have given it.
When it comes to tolls, the contribution tolls make is to the maintenance of our national road network. Our national road network needs to be maintained to a standard and there is a cost to doing that. That is part of the position when it comes to the toll rates TII sets every year.