Patrick O'Donovan
Limerick County · Fine Gael · Ireland
“I agree with the Deputy. If anyone who has experienced any difficulties and has contacted the Deputy, I encourage him to pass any specifics on to me. We want to try to make it work.”
“To go back to a previous question, Coimisiún na Meán is self-financed in terms of the regulation. Regulation costs money and that is why levies are imposed. People do not like that, and the previous Deputy said she did not like it. That is a separate issue, however.”
“Failure by a platform to comply can also lead to significant sanctions. However, the developing nature of digital services requires continuing vigilance. The protection of children and young people in the online world remains of the utmost importance to the Government.”
“Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht an ábhair tábhachtaigh seo a chur os comhair na Dála ar maidin. Ireland's online safety framework includes the Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, the EU Digital Services Act and the online safety code.”
“I do not disagree with the Deputy at all. He gave a good synopsis there as to why the investment in rural broadband is so important. I do not know whether any political party bar my own at the time actually advocated for it, but it has been transformative.”
“It is expected shortly. As I said in my reply, I will bring the report to the Government and then publish it. I do not disagree with anything the Deputy has said. Restitution cannot be a one-way street. We need to see if there is anything in Irish institutions that is connected to, funded by or associated with colonial plundering.”
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“I will refer the Deputy's queries directly to ComReg and get a more comprehensive reply with regard to the specific geographical area. I do not know whether operators have, for instance, sought planning permission for masts or other infrastructure in the area or whether, if they have, these have been looked upon favourably by Galway County Council. Anecdotally, all of us in this House know of situations where mobile phone coverage is poor. This is always linked back to the lack of mobile phone infrastructure. We have all been at meetings where people are present who do not want mobile phone masts but who also probably will contact our constituency offices to state they have poor mobile phone coverage.”
“To assist consumers to choose the network provider that best meets their needs, ComReg continually updates and enhances its online national outdoor mobile coverage map at coveragemap.comreg.ie , which provides information on mobile network providers for 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G mobile networks.”
“Those obligations will come into effect on an incremental basis three, five and seven years after the licences were first awarded in 2023. As such,it is expected that ComReg will assess operators’compliance with their three-year obligations under the licence this year. Operators continue to add new capacity to their networks using their newly acquired radio spectrum. The timing of the improvements delivered by mobile operators are influenced in part by their ability to acquire and build new sites for increased coverage. While the Department has no role in developing site-specific strategies for mobile coverage improvements, its digital connectivity strategy, which was published in 2022, sets ambitious targets for fixed and mobile connectivity.”
“It should be noted that ComReg completed a multi-band spectrum award, MBSA, in January 2023 to assign long-term rights of use in four spectrum bands to enable operators to provide improved services to meet increasing consumer demand for mobile services. This award represented a 46% increase in the harmonised spectrum assigned for the provision of wireless broadband services, including 4G and 5G, in Ireland and included significant coverage obligations for operators. Those MBSA2 licence obligations place a key focus on delivering improved coverage to population centres, such as places where people work and live, rather than solely focusing on geographical coverage. They also focus on improving network coverage of the national primary road network.”
“Mobile network operators are continuously enhancing and improving their networks across rural and urban areas. However, I am aware that the quality of network coverage is not uniform across the country. While the availability of mobile phone coverage is primarily a matter for mobile network operators, operating on a commercial basis in a liberalised market, they are regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation, ComReg. In the first instance, where customers are not receiving the coverage, they should contact the customer care team of their mobile phone operator to make a complaint regarding poor coverage and follow their official complaint procedure. Complaints, if not resolved to the consumer's satisfaction, can then be escalated to ComReg.”
“In relation to what we have done, it is important to point out that the House has taken significant steps with regard to issues around child sex abuse, pornography and pornographic images of children. The State has acted in that context. It has also acted very clearly in respect of the sharing of images in a non-consensual fashion. It is illegal to do that in this country. We had a meeting the other night, convened by the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, in respect of this issue. I will be bringing a memorandum to the Government on this matter shortly in order to update it on what exactly the current situation is vis-à-vis the law. If there are further changes that I or the Minister of Justice or both of us together need to do in this space, we will make them. Ideally, this should be done by the European Commission.”
“I do think it is a mistake. To be quite honest, X should send representatives. The company is operating in the jurisdiction. The last time I was asked about people attending the committee in question was when the FAI said that it was not going to send representatives. I was asked on the radio whether I thought its representatives should appear and I said that they should. I also stated that a letter should be issued on the afternoon of that day. A letter was issued. I think X's representatives should go in. Representatives from all the platforms should do so. Failure to engage with the people's representatives in Dáil Éireann says an awful lot. I do not think other social media platforms take that view. They have engaged with the committee and I know that Coimisiún na Meán has done so as well.”
“In the context of my interaction with X, I met with its representatives prior to Christmas. I met them along with representatives from a number of other platforms, including Google, TikTok, Meta and LinkedIn. In respect of the latest controversy, given the fact I am the Minister with responsibility for the regulator and ensuring that the regulator fulfils its role, I do not think, to be quite honest, that it would be appropriate for me to meet somebody who would potentially be under investigation, no more than it would be appropriate for the Minister for Justice to meet them if it was a Garda-related matter.”
“I will take the last question first. I do not know if the number has increased. That is because it is a Garda matter. It is not for the Government to interfere in the operations of the Garda Síochána, nor is it the role of the Minister to interfere where there is an independent regulator. In this case, there are two independent regulators, namely Coimisiún na Meán and the European Commission. Due to the very large nature of the online platform under scrutiny in this instance, X, this is a matter for the Commission in the first instance. As the Deputy probably heard me say, I am expecting a statement imminently from the European Commission on this matter. I thought it would have come today or yesterday but it did not. I expect that, hopefully, it will come before the end of the week. The sooner it comes the better, to be quite honest.”
“I support the European Commission, as the lead regulator, in taking all possible and necessary steps to ensure that X is brought into compliance with its regulatory obligations. As Minister, it would be wrong to seek to interfere with the process of investigation but I am committed, along with my Government colleagues, to doing all that is required to ensure that people, in particular women, children and young people, are protected online. Ireland has strong laws in place and the Attorney General is continuing to examine whether these can be further strengthened. I will bring a memorandum to Government in the coming weeks to set out our next steps.”
“Under the Digital Services Act, the European Commission has lead responsibility for the oversight of very large online platforms, including X. The European Commission has been very clear in warning X that it must remedy this matter and X has claimed it has taken certain steps to do so. However, the European Commission is taking investigative steps and an announcement on further action is expected imminently. This may include interim measures such as requiring a change to a service. Coimisiún na Meán is Ireland's digital services co-ordinator under the Digital Services Act and in this role it is continuing to work with the European Commission on this serious matter.”
“Such reports and complaints are important for An Garda Síochána in its investigations of suspected criminality, and it is the responsibility of the Director of Public Prosecutions to direct prosecution of any individual or company for alleged offences. People should also report this type of content to Hotline.ie , the national reporting centre, which will also pursue the removal of that content. Finally, under our online safety framework, there is an obligation on platforms to act on reports of illegal content. This is why I would encourage any user to report illegal content to the online platform where they saw it and to Coimisiún na Meán. An coimisiún utilises complaints to help assess compliance by platforms with the online safety framework so reporting illegal content helps an coimisiún in its work.”
“I want to put on the record my disgust at the type of material that is being created and shared on social media. It is abhorrent. My first concern is with those affected, in particular women, young children and young people in general. The sharing of non-consensual intimate images is illegal under the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020, also known as Coco's Law; and the generation or distribution of any child sexual abuse material is illegal under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998. If a member of the public is concerned about images shared online, they should report it immediately to An Garda Síochána.”
“On whether the Arts Council will get a new IT system, there is a board and executive and it may be that they may feel it is worthy to come back to the Department and revisit this whole thing from the start. There was a suggestion of an off-the-shelf version that could be acquired. I will consider anything but at the moment the most important thing is that the report is there, the recommendations need to be implemented, there is a schedule of timeframes before the implementation, there is engagement with the committee and there is the Arts Council getting back to the daily business of what it is best at.”
“I think Deputy Ó Snodaigh would agree with me that the Arts Council has gone through a fairly tumultuous period of change in the recent past, and I acknowledge the role that Dr. Moling Ryan has played as an interim director. I have no plans in the immediate future to do any further chopping and changing. I want to leave things bed down and get a genuine schedule and timetable for the change management that is now required to go through. There will also be legislative requirements and Professor Niamh Brennan referred to this also. Deputy Ó Snodaigh and I have discussed possible changes to the existing Arts Act. There will obviously be consultation and engagement with the committee that we will have to do. I do not want to see any other major change. There is a sufficient amount there.”
“I will have a quarterly review from my management board which I will also report to the Government. There is an awful lot here for other Departments, State bodies and semi-State bodies to examine to see whether there are recommendations that cross over and to see how they could be implemented to improve the operation of these bodies.”
“Deputy Ó Snodaigh has raised a very important issue. The formulation, compilation and completion of the report was done independently but prior to the conclusion of the report the chapters relating to each individual entity were circulated to those entities for their observations. I did not receive the final report until 5 January and I published it today. I have accepted Professor Brennan's recommendations together with the committee in full and I thank the committee for the work it has done. As they say, it has done the State some service here. There is an opportunity as well for the committee of which Deputy Ó Snodaigh is a member to peruse the report, go through the recommendations and see. I will bring forward a timetable for implementation from the Arts Council which I will take back to the Government.”
“The recommendations that relate to my Department have been accepted and will be implemented in full, under the oversight of the management board. Progress will be measured through a quarterly report with a view to ensuring that the Department has a robust, comprehensive and effective governance oversight framework in place, not just in respect of the Arts Council but for all of the bodies under our responsibility.”
“The Department will now engage directly with the interim director and the chair of the Arts Council to ensure that the organisation is supported during this interim period, ahead of what will be a time of significant change. This will be important for the wider arts sector and I want to assure it that the council will continue its day-to-day operation of supporting artists. The Arts Council will have six weeks from today to submit a plan to me that sets out the actions it will take to implement the committee's recommendations, along with timelines for delivery. I have also instructed officials in the Department to establish a monitoring group to measure the Arts Council's progress and to ensure that it delivers on its implementation plan.”
“The review includes 149 recommendations, as Deputy Ó Snodaigh has said, of which 100 are addressed to the Arts Council. The remainder are to the Department, the Department of public expenditure and reform and other Departments. It includes proposals for legislative changes, on which I intend to revert to Government. As I have mentioned, there are also a number of recommendations directed at my Department and more widely for the Government. It is vital that we put in place structures to prevent future governance failures and I intend to implement in full the recommendations which are addressed to my Department and to the Arts Council.”
“In February 2025, I ordered an external review of the governance and organisational culture in the Arts Council, following the disclosure of a loss on a failed €6.675 million IT project in the Arts Council's annual report for 2023. With the agreement of the Government, I established an expert advisory committee comprising Professor Niamh Brennan, Dr. Margaret Cullen and John McCarthy to deliver the review. The committee has concluded its work and today I brought its review to Government, which approved its publication and it is now publicly available. The committee was fully independent in its approach and has ensured that the review process was robust, fair and transparent, leading to practical, actionable recommendations to improve the Arts Council's governance.”
“I hope the Deputy had a chance to look at the report. It took me from 5 January until today to get in under the bonnet of it. Not all 149 recommendations are necessarily attributable to the Arts Council alone. There is an awful lot in the report from which other agencies can learn as well. Similar issues have arisen in other bodies, as I know from my time on the public accounts committee. One of the greatest learnings of the report is that small bodies such as the Arts Council sometimes expect to deliver once-in-a-lifetime projects and they do not have the experience to do so. The failings were laid bare in this case. The report will make important reading, not only for the Arts Council but for other State agencies and Government Departments.”
“We have to go through a difficult and protracted procurement system. If we did not do so, we would be accused of jumping the gun and not obeying procurement rules or adhering to the public spending code. Based on the changes we have made in 2025, we will see a far better outcome regarding capital output in 2026.”
“What the Deputy has seen from me so far is that once I become aware of the issue with the Art Council and the issues in the National Gallery, I dealt with them, and I did so fairly comprehensively. The report on the Arts Council was published today. It runs to 245 pages and contains well in excess of 190 recommendations. There are recommendations for all Departments, including my Department, State bodies and the Arts Council. Regarding the issue with the National Gallery, we dealt with that. The X-ray scanner went into use before Christmas. Regarding capital underspend, I have addressed this issue with the Deputy and Deputy Ó Snodaigh previously. The problem we have with many of the buildings housing the national cultural institutions is that they are not straightforward buildings like Leinster House.”
“Guidance and training on the value of performance information and approach to choosing robust indicators has been provided for all staff. These steps, together with ongoing compliance within procurement and appraisal guidelines, will help to ensure the Department delivers value for money.”
“The Department and the bodies under its aegis, where relevant, appear before the public accounts committee and both Joint and Select Committees on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport. My Department continues to advance work to improve oversight and governance of the State bodes under its aegis. This will ensure the highest robust, comprehensive, transparent and efficient oversight and governance framework for all those bodies, consistent with my commitment to ensuring that State bodies operate with accountability, integrity and efficiency. In addition, the Department has completed an evaluation of the Department's performance information system, as recommended in the 2023 report on the accounts of the public services issued by the Comptroller and Auditor General.”
“These include the appointment of an expert advisory committee in regard to the Arts Council whose report I brought to the Government today; engagement with the Institute of Public Administration to provide expert independent advice around governance and oversight to my Department; and establishing a dedicated State body governance unit within the Department. Transparency regarding departmental use of funds is ensured via publication of the annual budget books, the annual Revised Estimate and the annual appropriation account, as audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Each of these bodies under the aegis of the Department produces its own annual report and accounts, which are subject to audit and laid before both Houses.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The public accounts committee published a report last November in respect of the 2023 appropriation account for Vote 33, which was the then Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, together with the 2023 financial statement of the Arts Council and the National Gallery of Ireland. In the report, the committee identified governance and oversight concerns across the Department and its agencies, including the Arts Council and the National Gallery. I understand the Minister for public expenditure will shortly issue his formal reply to the committee on the report. I am committed to ensuring the highest standards of oversight, value for money and transparency. I have acted to address the issues identified in the report.”
“With the Leas-Cheann Comhairle's indulgence, as Minister with responsibility for the sector, I will join with him and with the House in extending the sympathies of my Department and of the Government to the family on their loss. It is not just a loss to the family but the loss of a great cultural icon here in Ireland.”
“I thank Deputy Neville for raising this issue. We discussed this previously at a meeting held in the Department. The Deputy is right; Swim Ireland published a gap analysis with regard to swimming pools in the last week. There are huge gaps in relation to the number of swimming pools available across the country, particularly in large urban centres. What were once small villages are now massive towns with populations as big as Limerick city's. We need to invest in them. I made it very clear the other day that, where these projects are led and driven by local authorities and developed on local authority land, my Department will engage and liaise with those local authorities on the possibility of delivering them through the large-scale sports infrastructure fund.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. Massive investment has already been made in primary and post-primary schools across County Offaly by the Department of education under both this Government and the previous Government. That will continue. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, will respond to the Deputy on the specific issue she has raised regarding Birr when she returns.”
“I know what a blister pack is and have had to use one myself as have other loved ones in my family. I answered a question on this earlier in response to Deputy Carthy. The Taoiseach outlined yesterday the steps he believes are available to the HSE and the Irish Pharmacy Union to discuss this matter and I am sure those discussions will happen in due course.”
“We need one and the Government is committed to building it. I hope there is a favourable response with regard to the latest planning issue but we will have to take that as it comes.”
“I already answered a question from Deputy Moynihan on DART south-west and the Government's commitment to it, as well as to DART+. I do not disagree with Deputy Ahern at all and that is why Deputy Darragh O'Brien, when he was Minister for housing, brought forward legislation in relation to objections. It is also why the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste speak so frequently with regard to the abuse, as I see it, of judicial reviews as being an obstacle to getting essential pieces of infrastructure over the line. It is not just a Dublin issue but is all over the country. Whether it is in relation to roads or public transport, it is everywhere. Deputy Ahern is correct that Dublin needs a metro, a connection to the airport and an underground. Dublin is one of only two capital cities in the entire EU that does not have an underground network.”
“That is why the Minister for enterprise, Deputy Burke, has now insisted that any memorandum being brought to Government, with regard to any great idea any of the 15 of us might have, must pass the small business test in order to ensure that we keep costs to businesses down. In the Deputy's local town of Killarney, which I know well, and in Kenmare I am sure they welcomed the reduction of VAT in the budget. That has sustained thousands of jobs all over the country. I know some others on the Opposition benches do not agree with it but I agree with, as does Deputy Healy-Rae, because it sustains thousands of jobs in towns like Killarney.”
“I will go back to a comment I made earlier about Deputy Healy-Rae. We agree on most things but we do not agree on this. Support for Ukraine is something that we have to do, to be honest about it. We cannot have a situation where a country's territorial sovereignty is illegally invaded by a state like Russia and we do not support it. Most people would agree and I know that deep down, Deputy Healy-Rae agrees. We have to support them. Their lives have been made an utter and absolute misery by a state that has no regard for international law. I do agree with the Deputy with regard to small businesses and increased costs.”
“I thank Deputy Daly for the question. I know the school well. John B. Keane used to say that if you fell out of bed in north Kerry you would wake up in west Limerick. I know the town very well and the school in question. I do not know about the issue the Deputy raises and I do not know how much plaster has fallen down but I will ask the Minister for education and her officials to revert to the Deputy.”
“The Deputy is right that in a previous life I was a chemist. Lithium does not fall from the sky. It is dug out of a huge hole in the ground and anybody who says there are no environmental consequences from an electric car is not telling the truth. In some far flung place in the world somebody is driving a gigantic Volvo BM, spewing thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere to try to get a bit of lithium out of the ground. It is not an inconsequential extraction. The Deputy is right that there have been issues with regard to their safety, particularly in phones and poorly-built toys from countries outside the EU that might not have the same regulations as us, particularly a CE mark. I will ask the Minister with responsibility to respond to the Deputy directly.”
“As the Deputy will appreciate, the Minister for Education is not around. Regardless of that, I agree. The concept of school secretaries and caretakers and other ancillary staff who are integral to the operation of our schools being on picket lines was, to be quite honest, very difficult. The industrial machinery of the State is the vehicle through which this issue needs to be progressed. I hope the unions and the Department will be able to enter into it in a spirit of co-operation and we do not see what we saw before. Nobody wants to see children having to walk past their school secretaries and caretakers. At the end of the day, we have to leave this issue, in the same way we would with any other industrial relations issue, to the industrial relations mechanics of the country to be able to resolve it.”
“I encourage Dublin City Council, the largest local authority in the country, with the largest rate base in the country, to heed what the Deputy has said with regard to the local community and the importance of The Complex and to try to see-----”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. She raised it in a different way from her colleague in the Labour Party. She will understand that there are only two ways properties could typically come into the State's ownership. One is through the local authorities and the other is through the Office of Public Works. The OPW manages all the State's portfolio on behalf of Government Departments, including my own. For instance, this includes the national museums. This building we are sitting in is actually the property of the OPW. I mentioned this issue to the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy Moran, last night. If there is a mechanism to get the building into the State's ownership, my Department can then obviously engage to discuss how we will support it going forward in terms of its operation and everything else.”
“I understand the Deputy's concern with regard to rural GP practices. It is an issue for all of us who represent rural areas. On the specifics of this issue, I will have the Minister for Health, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, who, unfortunately, is unable to be with us this week, revert to the Deputy directly with a specific response.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I know the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, are working with regard to rail. DART+ South West, which forms part of the broader DART+ programme, involves an extension of the DART from the city centre to Hazelhatch and Celbridge. The programme will increase train capacity from 12 to 23 trains per hour. An Coimisiún Pleanála granted permission for DART+ in 2024 and it is estimated the route will serve 56,000 people. The review of the NDP allocated €22.3 billion Exchequer resources to transport from 2026 to 2030, with an additional of €2 billion from the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund to support the Metrolink and other projects. I understand the Deputy's comments, and I am sure Deputies from that part of Dublin will agree with him.”
“As the Deputy knows, there is a separation of powers in this State with regard to the role of the Executive, the Oireachtas, the DPP and An Garda Síochána. On the more substantive issue the Deputy raised, I will ask the Minister of State with responsibility for the marine to respond to him.”
“The Minister for foreign affairs has outlined the Government’s position as recently as the last few days with regard to the occupied Palestinian territories Bill and the prohibition of doing trade with that geographical area. The position of the Government has not changed.”
“Many of us are parents of young children and have worked in schools. I do not think anyone has a monopoly on this and we want to try to make sure we get it sorted. It will not be for want of effort on the part of the Government.”
“I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. I speak to it not only as the Minister deputising today but as a parent and teacher. The Minister, Deputy Foley, raised the matter at Cabinet and spoke publicly to the media about it. I reiterate that as a Government, we must ensure that the needs of children are identified at an early stage and that they receive supports to meet those needs, whatever they are. There may be a need for speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy or another service. The Minister brought proposals to Cabinet this week. They will be fleshed out. There will be consultation and an opportunity for people to engage. I will raise the points made by the Deputy with the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins. We are as anxious as anybody else that this is resolved.”
“Any organisation that is in the charge of a local authority, voluntary group or charity can come to my Department. The Deputy is right that we have plans for 2026 around arts centres. They will be properties that are not owned by the national cultural institutions. They will not be eligible to apply. The Deputy might reflect on her comment. I hope she comes back in a second time. I think an awful lot of people in Dublin and I regret she has made such a comment. Perhaps she would like to come back in.”
“The Deputy has already insulted me. By the way, my parents lived next door to Michael Hartnett. I know him and his legacy quite well. There are two methods by which properties are acquired by the State. One is through the local authority. The Deputy is a former member of Dublin City Council. The other method is through the Office of Public Works. I mentioned this issue last night to the Minister of State, Deputy Moran. There is no provision for my Department to acquire properties. The Deputy and I know that. There is no methodology by which my Department can acquire properties. There are mechanisms for my Department to support properties that are either in the charge and ownership of local authorities or in voluntary and community groups.”
“The Department is conscious of making sure that State agencies, such as the HSE and An Post, advertise, where possible, with the local paper rather than online. I know, for instance, that for road opening licences and road closures, Monaghan and Cavan county councils would be adept at that. I cannot make a direct intervention, as the Deputy knows, in the case of The Northern Standard . If it has an archive and is looking to have that archive housed, there may be an opportunity for the National Archives of Ireland to discuss that. I thank the newspaper for what it has done for the people of Monaghan and for democracy. I hope that the journalists and others who work at the paper find employment in the local area. I wish them the best of luck. At this time of the year, Christmas, it is a tough loss for a community. I respect that.”