Cormac Devlin
Dún Laoghaire · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“That brings me to the fiscal implications. Members will have noticed that the estimates vary enormously. In 2025, researchers at Dublin City University and Ulster University published the first peer-reviewed study of the cost of unity over its first ten years. They put the cost in year one at approximately €3 billion.”
“There are also gaps that we can start closing now through greater co-operation and engagement. Second, we should build prosperity in the meantime. The Government has announced €377 million in new shared island investment across 12 cross-Border projects.”
“It benefits communities North and South today, irrespective of the constitutional future people choose tomorrow. It is important that we recognise the success of that co-operation today. The third point is that we must keep asking the right questions.”
“I welcome the debate and the contributions from all Members of the House, as well as the varying views. As Cathaoirleach of the Joint Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, I believe this is exactly the type of debate and discussion that we should be having in this House.”
“The studies make different assumptions about pensions and the UK national debt, and very different assumptions about how quickly the Northern economy could grow and converge with our own. That is the honest position. The true scale of the cost is yet unknown. Anyone who claims certainty on the figure is not being straight with anybody.”
“We should certainly do what we can now, and I am suggesting three things. First, we should build an evidence base. Much reference has been made today to the shared island unit in the Department of the Taoiseach, which has published extensive research on two economies, two labour markets, education, health and other areas.”
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“However, we should be honest about the challenges, some of which have been alluded to. Other countries are constantly reshaping their incentive regimes. The economics of streaming and distribution are shifting rapidly. Smaller companies and freelancers can be vulnerable to international disruption, as we saw during recent global strikes. If we want to keep our talent here, and avoid a drain to London, Budapest or Vancouver, we need to plan ahead and provide stability. That is exactly what this Bill does. By increasing the capital ceiling to €840 million, we are giving Screen Ireland the certainty it needs to deliver on its strategy for 2025 to 2029 to support both indigenous creativity and internationally mobile projects, and also to maintain a strong skills pipeline across the regions.”
“This will support high-end factual and documentary formats, representing an area where Irish producers are well placed to excel. All of this forms part of a coherent audiovisual strategy. This entails backing local talent, attracting global productions, expanding skills and ensuring Ireland remains competitive in a fast-moving international environment. The benefits are broad. A strong screen industry enhances our reputation, supports tourism and showcases Ireland's culture and landscapes to global audiences. It creates high-quality jobs across rural and urban areas. It sustains Irish-language production, children's programming and diverse storytelling that reflects modern Ireland. It also supports regional development, particularly where studio facilities and crew bases are emerging outside Dublin.”
“The 8% Scéal uplift, introduced in 2025, strengthens the economics of live-action and animated features with budgets under €20 million, a zone where Irish and European co-productions thrive. A further 8% uplift for VFX in budget 2026 recognises the importance of post-production and visual effects to competitiveness and to high-value employment, especially as international demand for VFX capacity continues to rise. The Government has improved the digital games tax credit, which is helping to develop a connected creative-tech ecosystem alongside film and television. We have increased the overall cap for section 481 productions to €125 million, and work is under way to introduce a new 20% unscripted programmes tax credit.”
“The Minister of State referred to the regional crew academies in Galway, Limerick and Wicklow. These are helping to deepen the skills base outside Dublin and ensure the growth is genuinely nationwide. This whole-of-pipeline approach is essential if we want a sustainable industry in the long term. The Bill sits alongside the substantial Government support delivered through recent budgets. Through budget 2026, for example, funding for Screen Ireland will rise to €42.96 million, an increase of over 5%. This is a clear signal of the Government's commitment to building a competitive, future-focused screen sector. On the taxation side, there have been important enhancements to section 481.”
“The agency pursues a dual strategy: backing indigenous Irish stories and attracting incoming, internationally mobile productions. Both matter. Irish stories preserve and amplify our cultural voice. International productions bring investment, skills development and global visibility. Ireland can compete successfully for these productions due to the consistent quality of our crews, our location and our policy environment. Skills development is central to this. Screen Ireland's training and talent initiatives have expanded significantly in recent years. The National Talent Academies network, covering film and television drama, animation and visual effects, VFX, ensures that emerging talent across the regions can access structured development pathways.”
“This activity translates directly into opportunity for writers, directors and performers but also for the crews and craftspeople who make up the backbone of the industry. The industry means work for carpenters, costume designers, editors, caterers and post-production teams. That diversity of employment is one of the sector's great strengths. Irish work has also made a decisive impact internationally. Recent years have brought a record number of Oscar nominations and global acclaim for films like "An Cailín Ciúin" and "The Banshees of Inisherin", as well as Irish-based television series that travel well, from "The Young Offenders" to "Hidden Assets", to name but a few. These achievements are grounded in talent but also in the strategic support Screen Ireland provides.”
“Sustained investment has driven creative output, talent development and economic returns. That remains true to this day. Screen Ireland, formerly the Irish Film Board, is the national development agency for film, television, animation, documentary and digital production. Its mandate spans development and production finance, distribution and festival support, promotion, and, crucially, skills and talent development. It sits on a lineage that has helped to transform Ireland from a location for other people's productions into a country with a rich, self-confident screen culture of its own. Since 2018 alone, the agency has supported the development of more than 100 feature films, dozens of TV dramas and documentaries and a constant stream of animation and short films.”
“In effect, it ensures the agency can continue to fund development and production without hitting a legal wall in 2026. This is necessary as, under the current legislation, the €500 million limit will be exhausted once the full 2025 allocation is drawn down. By the end of 2024, the aggregate figure already stood at over €467 million, meaning that without this Bill the 2026 programme would breach the limit. The sector is growing and the demand for Irish content is also growing. Screen Ireland has demonstrated its capacity to deploy funding effectively. This legislation gives the agency the headroom to continue this good work. The Oireachtas has had to adjust the ceiling several times over the past decade as the screen sector has expanded. The increases reflect the success of the industry.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Irish Film Board (Amendment) Bill 2025. Before I do so, however, and since we are discussing Irish screen production, I would like to formally express my condolences on the sad, sudden passing of Hugh Wallace, who was not originally a television presenter but certainly endeared himself to the Irish public on the many shows he presented. I express my condolences to his husband, family, friends and colleagues. This is a short, technical Bill, as the Minister of State has highlighted, but it carries real significance for jobs, creative talent and the stories we tell about Ireland. Its core purpose is straightforward: it raises the statutory ceiling on Screen Ireland's cumulative capital outlay and commitments from €500 million to €840 million.”
“If we do that, then this plan will not just deliver units on a spreadsheet, it will build new communities in Dún Laoghaire and across the State.”
“That is how we should be doing public housing everywhere, at scale, where mixed tenure and long-term affordability is built in. Alongside that, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown has sharply increased allocations from its own stock and AHB homes in recent years, and has used voids funding to bring long-time vacant units back into use. Those are the quiet but important wins for families on waiting lists and for people exiting emergency accommodation. However, nobody in Dún Laoghaire believes the job is done. Rents are still some of the highest in the State, and we see the human reality of homelessness every week. This plan will be judged on whether it speeds up approvals, gets more Shanganagh-type schemes on the ground, turns vacant properties into homes and gives local authorities the staffing and flexibility to deliver.”
“I welcome these statements on the Government’s updated housing plan, which rightly sets a minimum target of 300,000 homes, including 72,000 social and 90,000 affordable homes. The plan is backed by €9 billion in housing capital for next year alone. It focuses on activating land, clearing blockages and expanding housing first and family homelessness measures. This is essential if we are serious about meeting needs rather than chasing yearly targets. In my area of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, we can clearly see what works when the State, the county council, the LDA and approved housing bodies pull in the same direction. Shanganagh Castle in Shankill is the largest social and affordable housing scheme in the country, with 597 new homes, including hundreds of social, cost-rental and affordable purchase homes in one integrated community.”
“In return, though, the State must be willing to defend the common good against the narrow and vested interests that try to block every project. If every project is blocked, nothing changes. Like some other unnecessary interventions I have highlighted in this House before, this ultimately undermines public support for the transition away from fossil fuels and is deeply counterproductive. If we get this right, Ireland can move from being a price-taker at the end of a gas pipeline to being a clean energy powerhouse, cutting bills and emissions and strengthening our energy sovereignty. I thank the Minister of State and acknowledge his work since taking office. I encourage him and his colleagues to accelerate efforts to take the necessary action in the common good to deliver clean, abundant and cheap energy for Irish consumers and businesses.”
“The breathing space brought by the rounds of energy credits was not used effectively, in my opinion, to deliver the necessary structural change. However, the opportunity now is to move from a politics of scarcity to the politics of abundance. As a nation, we must embrace this change. Off the west coast, for example, we have the potential for almost limitless clean power if we can get the planning, the grid and investment prices right. Cheap, abundant renewable energy is the single best industrial policy, climate policy and cost-of-living policy we can pursue as a country. That means acting in the common good. Communities that host wind farms or live beside data centres, especially large ones, must see tangible benefits, from district heating schemes to local amenities and community dividends.”
“It is now putting significant resources behind long-term solutions, such as record funding for retrofitting, a major expansion of the warmer homes scheme and billions in planned investment in the grid and offshore renewables. We have to be honest about the structural problems. For far too long, we relied on cheap imported gas and assumed the market would always deliver. At European level, the marginal pricing system meant that when gas prices went crazy, everything did. Here at home, political choices in recent years, especially by the last Minister, did not give security of supply the priority it deserved. There was a failure to deliver properly on storage, on flexible backup and on planning the grid we actually need.”
“I welcome today's statements. Households and businesses have been through a brutal energy shock. Russia's invasion of Ukraine weaponised gas, drove up wholesale prices and exposed how dependent Europe had become on imported fossil fuels. Prices have come down from the 2022 peak but nobody at home feels as if the crisis is over. Prices are still too high and people are anxious opening their emails or the envelope with the latest bill. To be fair, the Government did not stand idly by and this must be acknowledged. It put in place four rounds of electricity credits, worth €3.3 billion, cut VAT on energy and gas to 9%, expanded and increased the fuel allowance and targeted extra protections for vulnerable customers, including the disconnection moratorium over winter months.”
“Above all, though, we must ensure that the people of Sudan and the millions displaced across its borders are not forgotten. Their survival, and their hope for peace, depend on sustained international action. Ireland has been a strong voice on this issue. We should continue to be so.”
“At EU level, we must continue to back programmes that strengthen school safety, community protection and early-warning systems for violence in Nigeria and the wider region. It is only by supporting stability, from Sudan across the Sahel and into West Africa, that we can prevent these kinds of horrors from recurring. Sudan is a crisis of unimaginable scale. If the world turns away now, famine will take hold, atrocities will continue and the conflict will spill further across a fragile region. Ireland must continue to play its part by pressing for a humanitarian ceasefire, demanding accountability for those committing violations, supporting UN and African Union efforts to secure access for aid and urging our EU partners to match the ambition and leadership that Ireland has shown.”
“This debate comes in the same week that we learned of another appalling incident in Africa, namely, the mass abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Niger State in Nigeria. Over 300 people were taken and while many escaped, more than 260 children remain missing. I raised this issue on Tuesday with the Taoiseach, who expressed his concern for the safety of the children and their teachers. I would welcome confirmation from the Minister that her officials are raising the issue at the EU and UN and, indeed, will raise the issue of religious persecution generally. This issue reminds us that insecurity in one region of Africa can quickly have consequences for its neighbours. Ireland should support efforts to secure the safe release of those children.”
“The EU must, therefore, intensify its work to enforce the UN arms embargo, curb illicit financing and press regional actors, particularly in the Gulf and across the Red Sea, to end support that enables further violence. This is also important for Sudan’s neighbours because this conflict is not contained within its borders alone. South Sudan, Chad, the Central African Republic and Egypt are all under immense strain as refugees flee the fighting. Supporting those states is not an optional extra; it is central to preventing further destabilisation. The EU should front-load assistance for food, shelter, education and local infrastructure in host communities so that the arrival of large numbers of refugees does not spark new crises.”
“When the G20 speaks with one voice it strengthens the hand of the UN, the African Union and mediators who are trying to secure a humanitarian ceasefire. A ceasefire is urgently needed. It is clear that the primary responsibility for ending this conflict rests with the leaders of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces. External actors have influence, however, and influence must be used to bring pressure to bear. We know that foreign arms and money have sustained both sides in this war. We know that Russian-linked networks, including successors to the Wagner Group, have profited from Sudanese gold and helped fuel instability. We also know that without co-ordinated diplomacy, outside powers will continue to hedge their bets, prolonging the conflict rather than helping to resolve it.”
“This year alone, we have provided significant humanitarian funding to Sudan and to neighbouring states hosting large refugee populations. Our diplomats, particularly in Geneva and New York, have worked tirelessly in pressing for humanitarian access and a sustained international response. It is clear, however, that other EU member states and global partners must scale up their contributions too. UN appeals for Sudan remain critically underfunded. Until the gap is closed, conditions will worsen. That is why the commitment made at the recent G20 Summit in South Africa is so important. I welcome the Taoiseach’s engagement at that summit, at which he highlighted Sudan directly and joined leaders in calling for a just and lasting peace. International political focus is essential.”
“We have also supported the EU's targeted sanctions regime, including the recent restrictive measures on senior Rapid Support Forces leaders. That is a necessary step; those fuelling atrocities, whether through command responsibilities, illicit finance or arms flows must face consequences. However, while accountability matters, it will not in itself feed a starving population. The humanitarian situation in Sudan is catastrophic. Over 20 million people face crisis levels of hunger and aid agencies are warning of famine in several regions. Access for the UN and NGOs remains dangerously restricted. Bureaucratic obstacles, insecurity and deliberate interference continue to choke off life-saving assistance. Ireland has responded, however.”
“Entire regions have been devastated, most starkly in Darfur, and there are credible reports of ethnically targeted killings, sexual violence and deliberate obstruction of humanitarian aid. The images and testimonies emerging from El Fasher and surrounding areas are harrowing. They point to widespread breaches of international humanitarian and human rights laws, including acts which, if verified, amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ireland has played an important role in ensuring these crimes do not go unnoticed. As part of the Sudan core group, we helped secure a human rights council resolution establishing an urgent fact-finding mission for El Fasher and expanding the international investigation of violations. That work must continue because without documentation and accountability, the cycle of violence will persist.”
“I offer comhghairdeas to the Minister of State, Deputy Feighan, formally on the record of the House. I welcome the opportunity to speak on Sudan. It is very important and my colleague, Deputy Shane Moynihan, and others have raised it several times. It is very important that this discussion happens. The ongoing situation in Sudan is one of the gravest humanitarian emergencies in the world. It is a conflict defined by mass displacement, famine conditions and systematic attacks on civilians. It is a crisis that demands far more international attention and co-ordinated action than it has received to date. Sudan is now the largest displacement crisis in the world, with millions of people forced from their homes and millions more living in conditions of acute hunger.”
“I thank the Taoiseach for the update on the work of the Cabinet subcommittee. As Cathaoirleach of the Committee on the Implementation of the Good Friday Agreement, we have had good engagements North and South. That is continuing next week with visiting MPs from Westminster. Dialogue is important in terms of the Government's good relationship with London as well as Belfast. May I also raise the case of the 265 students and teachers who were kidnapped in Niger state in Nigeria? It is a very serious case and I would like to know what is happening there.”
“With the busy Christmas season almost upon us, will the Taoiseach ask the NTA to confirm the arrangements for late-night DART, bus and Luas services? More generally, the new 24-hour services are extremely welcome, such as the E1 and E2 along the N11. However, I have received several complaints about insufficient, overcrowded and delayed services, phantom buses and full buses passing by at peak times and on the late-night services. Will the Taoiseach ask the NTA to review frequency and capacity to ensure the public can depend on these services?”
“I look forward to working with the Minister of State to ensure our policies are aligned, strategies are implemented and the cost of moving goods in Ireland remains as competitive as possible.”
“We should make sure the diesel rebate scheme is fully taken up and ensure alternative fuel grants are sized so that small, family-run hauliers can access them, not just the big fleets. The third step is to keep a close eye on the labour side. Adjustments to the employment permit quotas and expansions of apprenticeships and traineeships are welcome but we must also ensure the profession's long hours and tough work are compatible with a decent family life. Retaining skilled drivers is one of the cheapest ways to keep costs lower. Haulage is the bloodstream of the SME economy. If we want lower costs for small businesses and households, we need a system that moves goods efficiently, safely and cleanly and one that does not leave generators stranded in ports or SMEs picking up the tab for avoidable bureaucracy.”
“Ireland’s Road Haulage Strategy 2022–2031, work on alternative fuels including HVO, hydrogen and biomethane, the zero-emission heavy duty vehicle, HDV, grant scheme and new HDV charging infrastructure are all essential if we are to meet our 2030 and 2050 climate targets. SMEs will judge us not on the number of strategies we publish but on whether the new options are affordable and usable in the real world. I propose three practical steps. The first is to use the road freight forum to identify and fix pinch points that drive unnecessary cost, delays in abnormal-load permitting, unclear data on bridge capacities and duplication of paperwork across agencies. A single reliable database can remove friction from every single job. The second step is to design climate measures in a way that helps rather than penalises smaller operators.”
“However, when our permitting and infrastructure systems are so complex and fragmented they can strand such equipment for over a year, we should be honest these costs will end up on the bills of households and small businesses and on the haulage invoices SMEs are paying. That case underlines the need for more joined-up thinking between transport, energy and climate policy. We cannot have one part of the system encouraging new backup plant and grid investment and another part making it practically impossible, or prohibitively expensive, to move a transformer or generator from port to site. The same applies to decarbonisation.”
“One example shows how decisions up the line can land on small operators or small business customers, namely, the emergency generators stuck in Dublin Port for over a year. Last year I tabled parliamentary questions about these generators, which were parked in the port because they are too heavy to cross the M50 toll bridge. I raised it again this week seeking a report. These units were purchased to protect our security of electricity supply, yet tens of millions of euro worth of equipment sat idle, with storage costs, delay costs and uncertainty throughout the supply chain. These generators are not SME assets but big-ticket items owned by major utilities.”
“Above €1.43 per litre, hauliers can receive up to 7.5 cent per litre back. However, only 45% of operators claim it. That tells me two things, the of first of which is we need a stronger information push, especially for smaller operators without a back-office team, and the second of which is that if the scheme is not attractive or accessible enough for SMEs, we should be open to tweaking it. Fuel is only one part of the picture though. Hauliers are being hit by a wide range of cost drivers, including insurance, the price of new trucks, labour shortages, the UK HGV road user levy and the cost of meeting new standards. Some of these are necessary, such as better training, higher safety standards and decarbonisation, but we owe it to SMEs to take cost out of the system wherever we can.”
“I welcome the opportunity to speak on haulage costs for SMEs. If you run a small business in this country, nothing reaches your customer without a truck somewhere along the line. Every pallet into a supermarket, every consignment into a chemist and every online order delivered to a home in Dún Laoghaire depends on a haulier who is watching diesel, tolls, insurance and wages every day. When their costs rise, everyone’s costs rise. We acknowledge the Government stepped in when the shock of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine sent fuel prices soaring. Two temporary haulage support schemes in 2022 and 2023 provided €15.6 million each year and reached roughly three quarters of licensed operators. That helped keep doors open and kept people in work at a vulnerable moment. We also have the diesel rebate scheme.”
“Will the Taoiseach set out how these shared island allocations and DKIT-Queen's partnership will be aligned as part of a cohort plan for the Dublin-Belfast corridor? Will the Taoiseach confirm that the necessary policy and legislative frameworks will be brought to Government early in 2026 so that students, staff and local communities can see these benefits on the ground as quickly as possible?”
“I thank the Taoiseach for the reply and in particular the announcement of €50 million for the new projects, which is very welcome. We need to see more of the practical people-focused projects like those. The Taoiseach mentioned the Dublin-Derry link among other initiatives. The Enterprise rail link between Dublin and Belfast has proven very popular. I ask that it be considered to extend that further to support the night-time economy of both cities. That would be a very important move. In the same spirit, the announcement by Minister for higher education, Deputy Lawless, of a major new partnership between Dundalk IT and Queen's University, establishing DKIT as a University College of Queen's University is a landmark development for higher education and for the Dublin-Belfast corridor.”
“Peace will come when Russia ends its aggression and when Ukraine can live in security as a free European democracy, within the family of nations and, we hope, within the European Union.”
“Ireland has already committed significant humanitarian, development and non-lethal military support and our institutions have frozen large sums linked to the Russian regime under the EU’s sanctions regime. Finally, I welcome the intention of President Zelenskyy to visit the Oireachtas in December. That visit will be an important moment to reaffirm Ireland’s support, to hear directly from Ukraine's leadership about their needs and to demonstrate that the Oireachtas and the Irish people continue to stand with the people of Ukraine in their time of crisis. Our message should be clear and united that there can be no lasting peace built on fear, occupation or eroded rights.”
“As a country that has benefited enormously from EU membership, we strongly support Ukraine’s path to the European Union and we want to see accession negotiations unblocked and accelerated. EU membership must form part of a broader set of security guarantees for Ukraine, alongside military, economic and political support. Russia cannot be allowed a veto over Ukraine’s European future. A critical question for Europe now is how we finance Ukraine’s long-term reconstruction and security needs. The European Union is examining how the profits and cash balances from immobilised Russian sovereign assets can be used to back a substantial reparation loan for Ukraine, alongside grants and other instruments. This principle is simple: Russia should pay for the destruction it has caused.”
“If we allow this to succeed, we send a message that borders can be changed by brute force and that smaller states are fair game. That is why Ireland’s role, though militarily non-aligned, is not as a bystander. We are firmly on the side of international law. We are contributing to Ukraine’s defence in a way that is consistent with our traditional policy of military neutrality - through non-lethal military assistance, humanitarian and development funding and training initiatives that help Ukraine to clear mines, protect civilians and keep basic services running. We have supported practical measures, such as bomb shelters for schools, so that education can continue under the threat of air raids. This is done in partnership with Lithuania.”
“That is a message to every household that has opened its doors, to every school that has taken in Ukrainian children and to every community that has made space for new neighbours. I also acknowledge the work of colleagues beyond this House. Dublin MEP Barry Andrews was in Ukraine this week, seeing the situation on the ground and reinforcing Ireland’s position at a European level. His visit underlines that this is a cross-party, all-institution effort to keep Ukraine high on the agenda when other crises risk crowding it out. Russia’s war is not just an attack on Ukraine. It is a direct challenge to European security and to the rules-based international order. We have seen drones and missiles crossing into the airspace of EU and NATO states and hybrid attacks on critical infrastructure here and elsewhere.”
“In August 2022, I travelled to Kyiv as part of a parliamentary delegation from across Europe. I saw ruined homes, schools, crèches, community centres and businesses that had been deliberately targeted by Russian forces. Since then, missiles and drones have continued to strike apartment blocks, energy networks and water systems, designed to break civilian morale and to weaponise winter. Against that brutality, what has struck me most in my dealings with Ukrainians, be it in Kyiv, my own constituency of Dún Laoghaire or here in Leinster House, is their resilience and their gratitude to Ireland. Earlier this year at a rally for Ukraine in Dublin, the chant of “Thank you, Ireland. Thank you, Ireland” rang out again and again.”
“I welcome the opportunity to contribute to these statements on Ukraine as we approach the fourth winter since Russia launched its full-scale illegal invasion. I again acknowledge the Ukrainian ambassador, H. E. Larysa Gerasko, and community representatives, who are very engaged with all of us in the House. I put on record our solidarity with them, rooted in the principles of the UN Charter and in our own history as a small State whose independence was hard won. In this Chamber in February, I said there can be no agreement on Ukraine without Ukraine. This principle is even more important today. Any peace must be just and sustainable, and must uphold Ukraine's sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity within internationally recognised borders.”
“If we remain focused on that over the next four budgets, and if we continue to make progress on issues like the means testing of carers, we can look back on this period as one in which social protection did what it was supposed to do: protect people, enable participation and give all families a fair chance. Tá áthas orm tacú leis an mBille.”
“The amendments here are mainly technical ones and follow on from feedback on the original Act. They will help ensure that automatic enrolment works in practice, not just in theory. To conclude, this is a good and necessary Bill. It delivers on budget 2026 in a way that will put extra money in the pockets of pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, jobseekers and low-income families. It strengthens supports for children, especially teenagers in lower income households. It improves incentives for people with disabilities to take up work and it clears the way for automatic enrolment to get fully up and running. I want to acknowledge the work of the Minister, Deputy Calleary, and his officials in securing a strong allocation for his Department in the budget of 2026 and in targeting those resources where they are most needed.”
“The big increases in income disregards are very welcome and I strongly support them, but my view is that, over the next four budgets, we should move further away from strict means testing for full-time family carers. Long-term caring is also a contribution to the State, not just a private matter for the household, and our system should increasingly reflect that. The second part of the Bill deals with the automatic enrolment retirement savings system. The original Act was a landmark reform designed to bring hundreds of thousands of workers automatically into a pension, with employers contributing and State top-ups. That is essential if we want today’s younger and lower paid workers to have a decent income in retirement. It has been spoken about time and again in this Chamber, and this is actual practical action.”
“The wage subsidy scheme is being simplified and strengthened so that employers are better supported to hire and retain workers with disabilities. There are serious, practical measures too. They will not resolve every case that comes through a constituency office or at a clinic, but they are a clear statement that this Government sees carers and people with disabilities and is prepared to back that recognition with resources. I do want to say, however, that I believe we have further to go. Carers still face a heavy means test regime and a lot of paperwork at exactly the time when their energy should be focused on the person for whom they are caring.”
“From January, the maximum rates of carer’s allowance and carer’s benefit will rise by €10 per week. From July 2026, we will see the largest ever increase in the carer’s allowance income disregard, up to €1,000 per week for a single person and €2,000 for a couple. The income limit for carer’s benefit will rise to €1,000 per week. That is a major recognition of the fact that many carers also work outside the home, and the State should not punish a family in those circumstances. For children with significant additional needs, the domiciliary care allowance will increase by €20 per month to €380. People on disability allowance or the blind pension who move into work will keep their fuel allowance for five years and will qualify for the back to work family dividend.”
“The child support payment is being increased to €78 per week for children aged 12 and over and €58 per week for younger children. We all know that adolescence is expensive. Families with teenagers in lower income households are also under pressure, and this is a very direct way of recognising that reality. Working families are being supported through higher working family payment thresholds, up by €60 per week for all family sizes, and by allowing families on the working family payment to qualify for fuel allowance, which is backdated to January. That rewards work, supports families and targets help to those who most need assistance with their energy bills. A particularly important part of this Bill is the package for carers and people with disabilities.”
“He has secured a substantial envelope for his Department so that we can support pensioners, carers, people with disabilities, families and jobseekers in a sustainable way. At the centre of this Bill is the €10 per week increase in core social welfare rates from January 2026. That means higher payments for State pensioners, people with disabilities, carers, jobseekers and one-parent families, with proportionate increases for qualified adults and those on reduced rates. Maternity, adoptive, paternity and parent’s benefit will also increase from €289 to €299 per week. For households that are stretched, that is not an abstract figure. It is the difference between keeping the lights on, covering the weekly shop or managing school costs without slipping into arrears. The Bill underpins a very significant child poverty package.”