Simon Harris
Wicklow · Fine Gael · Ireland
“There are more than 10,000 routes and thousands of buses involved and the number of students using the services is not a million miles away from 200,000. The current terms of the scheme are going to continue to apply for the 2026-27 school year.”
“I thank Deputy McDonald for raising what is genuinely an important issue. I do take the point that when we talk about this in the abstract or from a process point of view in here, that for people watching this is their real lived experience.”
“There number of children who have been supported by means of the school transport scheme, as Deputy Fitzmaurice knows and has alluded to, has grown significantly in recent years. Since 2018, the number increased from 120,000 in 2018 to more than 181,000 now. Included in that figure are 24,000 pupils with special educational needs.”
“I knew the Deputy would have to mention the GAA, especially with Galway and Limerick playing at the weekend. I wish everybody involved the best of luck. We are very committed to the school transport scheme. If the Deputy wants to see our commitment, he should look to our budget.”
“An ageing population, increasing healthcare needs, the transition to net zero and the need for continued investment in housing, energy and infrastructure will place a significant demand on public resources.”
“There is also a legitimacy to the point the Deputy made about how it is a legitimate form of transport for some people. We see this working in other European countries. We see it in our nearest neighbours. I do not want to get the regime wrong, but I think they have registration at the point of purchase that allows people to track this.”
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“I want to put those facts out there to have a rounded conversation on where we are at regarding housing, housing supply and first-time buyers. Yes, I will say that supply is the key to all of this because it is. We have got to continue every single day to see what more we can do to increase the number of homes. There are some positive signs which are not often acknowledged. We are now seeing 600 first-time buyers every week drawing down their mortgages. That used to be 500. It is now 600. These are real people every single week. We are seeing more than 60,000 applicants having availed from the help-to-buy scheme. Over 9,000 home buyers have been approved to use the first home scheme. I reference that because, of course, that reduces the headline prices.”
“The figures yesterday also showed that 50,583 homes were purchased last year and that almost 40% of them were purchased by the very first-time buyers the Deputy referenced. The number of homes purchased last year was up from 48,775 in the previous year. It almost doubled the number of transactions in 2013. It is important when we pick reports that we look at all of the figures in that report. The report yesterday also showed that there were more first-time buyers in 2025 than in 2024 and more homes and transactions around homes in 2025 than in 2024. I was pleased to see in the figures that the proportion of first-time buyers was also up, to almost 40%, with 19,680 of that total being first-time buyers.”
“We all know that house prices are too high for too many but it is also important that we do not misunderstand what a median price is. A median price does not refer to every house or indeed a typical house, as the Deputy said, in Dublin. Anyone who searches online will see many homes available in Dublin for below €500,000. That is not to take away from the challenge in relation to affordability but it is an important point of clarification. The Deputy also chose not to reference a number of other statistics published in that same report by the CSO yesterday which speak to the very people the Deputy wished me to speak to. They speak to young people wanting to buy their first home.”
“I thank Deputy Nolan for raising the issue of sulky races and making the point in relation to the current laws that exist regarding that. It is important they are enforced. I know the Minister for agriculture is working on animal welfare proposals too. The Deputy is quite right in relation to sulky races in terms of the animal welfare abuses, the abuses of horses, the lack of care for them, and the devastating impact this can have from an animal welfare point of view, as the Deputy has outlined. I pay tribute to organisations such as My Lovely Horse Rescue and others on the work they do. In light of the Deputy raising this I will ask the Minister with responsibility for road safety and the Minister for agriculture to come back to the Deputy. I will also ask the Minister for justice to raise with the Garda issues around enforcement.”
“I do recognise this and I thank the Deputy for raising it. I know Deputy O'Rourke's part of the country is one that has been badly impacted. We had a meeting of the Cabinet committee on climate yesterday that was dedicated to the issue of the recent floods and the impact. The Department of Transport provided an update on that. It is fair to say the damage will run to tens of millions of euro. The message to the local authorities and the Department of Transport was to get on with it in terms of repairs. They have enough headroom within their capital allocations to make that work. We can obviously address other issues at a future Estimates time. The most important thing is that they get on with actually repairing these roads because quite a lot of damage has been done.”
“I will also ask her to come back to the Deputy directly in relation to Leixlip and Naas. The Department tells me it has consulted with St. Corban's National School in Naas and has sanctioned the opening of an additional junior infant class for September in an available classroom to meet a specific demand there. We have also seen the completion of a new 32-classroom co-educational primary school in Naas and the establishment of a new primary school in Leixlip. The Minister, Deputy Naughton, will continue to engage with the Deputy on the issues.”
“I thank Deputy Neville for raising this issue. He makes this point quite often and he is right about County Kildare and the population and the need for public services, including education, to keep up with it. The Department tells me that it basically divides up the country into what it calls school planning area levels. It looks at both enrolment and child benefit data. It updates it annually and it is geocoded to the 19,000 small areas across the country. From that, it analyses at a granular level the population of school-going children and the schools they attend. It is not currently using ECCE data. I think there is something interesting about that, considering the number of kids now involved in ECCE is so high. I will certainly engage with the Minister on that.”
“I thank Deputy McGreehan for raising the point. In my own constituency, I see something similar. Yes, I think it is a statement of fact to say the demographic situation in relation to primary schools might be changing but it is not equal across all parts of the country because there are some parts of the country where the population is continuing to grow very quickly and a lot of that is on the east coast. The point raised by the Deputy in relation to County Louth is valid. We have to start to look at data on a much more granular basis in terms of counties but even parts of counties as well. The Deputy will know the Minister has announced tranche one of the capital programme. What I would say to the Deputy's constituents and to those schools she has referenced is that it is not the final word, it is tranche one.”
“I thank Deputy Hearne for raising this. I genuinely thank Dublin Simon Community for the work it does on behalf of our country and homeless people and its advocacy. I note and take seriously the report; I do not dismiss it. I was also looking at some figures which show that 272 new HAP tenancies were created in those 16 areas in December, but I do not take from the seriousness of the issue the report highlights. The Government's commitment is to review HAP limits and levels, to have that completed in the first half of this year and then to act on it.”
“I appeal to any person in this country who may have any information at all in relation to this to please go to the Garda and make that information available. It is safe enough to say this much. You clearly had here vulnerable young women in a powerful network of despicable powerful men who abused that and carried out depraved acts.”
“I note and appreciate the Deputy's work on this and his engagement with the Taoiseach. Indeed, I read his comments on the issue. We are all absolutely appalled, sickened and disgusted at the depraved - and that word does not fully capture it - conduct we are seeing in some of the Epstein files. Like the Deputy, all of us are seeing that many files are being put out with different bits of information at different times. Of course, all law authorities, enforcement agencies and police forces are going to have to play any role that is appropriate or important in relation to answers, truth and justice. My understanding is that there has not been specific information in relation to the Garda and the like. However, on foot of Deputy Smith raising the matter in the Dáil, I will discuss it further with the Taoiseach and the Minister for justice.”
“I will speak with the Minister, Deputy Lawless, in the first instance and ask that he engage with the ETB and come back to the Deputy.”
“I will. I am conscious that the Deputy's part of the country, as well as all the benefits he has outlined, has also produced a fair few Olympians and people who have represented our country with distinction as a result of the experience and training they have had in the water and on the sea on our south and south-west coast. From my time in the Department of further and higher education, I know the benefit of outdoor education. We have to look at education in the round. It comes in many different forms. It is not just a classroom or university lecture hall. Outdoor education centres are also important and, obviously, there is a benefit economically and to the tourism product of west Cork, as the Deputy said.”
“I thank Deputy Daly for raising the matter of SNA provision in his own county and, indeed, Donegal. I will certainly speak to the Minister for education and the Minister of State with responsibility for special education on that point and the point he made about the interpretation or definition of significant need and how it is being applied in various schools. I will ask the Minister to come back to the Deputy directly.”
“A number of schemes have been put in place but I need to speak with the Minister for agriculture to try to get some specific direction in relation to the sheep farmer the Deputy referenced. I undertake to engage with Government colleagues to see if there is anything we can do to assist and to come back to the Deputy directly.”
“I thank Deputy Callaghan for her question. As is often the case, she has highlighted an issue which we need to give some consideration to. I am very conscious that in her part of the country, in my part of the country in the south east and in much of the east of the country, we saw significant rainfall over an extended period, with flooding, including of farmland, particularly in the east and south. Thankfully, with most cattle housed this time of year, the impact was somewhat limited compared to what it could have been if it had been a different time of year. We have not been experiencing a shortage of fodder either. We have seen some challenges in relation to slurry tanks at capacity and limited opportunities to spread organic manure.”
“I thank Deputy Daly for raising this issue. I genuinely appreciate his expert knowledge, as well as his knowledge as a TD, of health services in the west and north west. One piece of work we have undertaken as a Government is we have created regional health organisations so that we can see the full spectrum of health, population, budget and staffing. This should allow us to be much more analytical in making sure that we are putting resources where they meet the needs and demands of an area and the demographic profile. On foot of the Deputy raising this matter, I will ask both the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, and the Minister of State with responsibility for older people, Deputy O'Donnell, to look at the figures he has put on the record of the House and come back to him directly.”
“I do not want to speak for the Minister, and I do not have the note in front of me, but she brought proposals to Cabinet before Christmas in relation to not saying it is a choice between this, this or this, but saying we need to move forward in relation to all options. However, it is a question of doing it in a certain sequence that makes most sense for the Deputy's constituents in terms of increasing bed capacity. I will ask the Minister to continue to engage with the Deputy and all mid-west Oireachtas representatives in relation to this.”
“I thank the Deputy for counting how many days I have been in the Dáil. I am grateful to the people of Wicklow for returning me to this House each and every time I have asked them. I never take that for granted. I work very hard for them and for this country. I think the Deputy has been here since 2016 and I am sure he tries his best for his community too. In relation to University Hospital Limerick, I acknowledge that the Minister for Health has been working on a cross-party basis on this issue. In fairness, I acknowledge that the Deputy has been a part of that too, as has Deputy O'Donoghue and many Deputies across the House. For the first time, we have near political consensus on what needs to happen.”
“Where paperless application types are available to legal practitioners and financial institutions, that helps reduce processing times for all service users. I understand Tailte Éireann is currently running a tender process for an e-registration system, which would move the entire registration system to a paperless system.”
“I thank Deputy Ó Muirí for raising this matter. He is entirely right. Every lever and every stage of the process needs to be expedited in relation to homes, housing and getting the housing market moving. Tailte Éireann tells us that it is working to address the registration backlog through both increased resources but also improved processes. It also makes the fair point that many applications are not in order when they are first submitted. That figure was about 38% last year. There is clearly either a communications issue or a process issue there in relation to making sure the lodging parties' applications are in order. That would certainly speed up times. We also need to look at how digital services and the uptake of e-registration services can speed things up here.”
“The Department confirms that the NCSE is now in a position to issue letters of eligibility to children and young people who have made contact with it after 1 October and who meet the criteria for a special class or special school placement. The NCSE is commencing this process this week.”
“I am pleased Deputy Brabazon raised this matter. It is an issue that is coming up quite a lot. The Department and the NCSE tried to do something good here, which was to get ahead of things earlier this year through better planning and the like. As is often the case, however, other things happen and, through no fault of their own, not all parents were in a position to apply. Something that was about trying to facilitate earlier sanctioning of classes has obviously posed a challenge. The NCSE has advised the Department of an increasing number of children and young people who have come to its attention since that timeline. The Department has now worked with the NCSE on proposals to address the needs of those children.”
“The company needs to be much better at communicating with Oireachtas Members because we are all going back to our constituencies trying to provide information. We are looking at engaging with Uisce Éireann in relation to how we improve at that level. I will be back to the Deputy on the specific issue he raised.”
“I thank Deputy O'Donoghue for raising the issue. I do not want to give a knee-jerk response, other than to say that I will certainly give consideration to what the Deputy said. I will also talk to the Minister, Deputy Browne, in relation to this. There is a broader issue, if I can raise it, in relation to the Deputy's question around Uisce Éireann and its accountability to elected representatives. The Deputy's colleague and leader, Deputy Collins, raised this last week. I have discussed it with the Minister. I am not sure why Uisce Éireann, and this is not a criticism of the Ceann Comhairle or the Oireachtas, does not have a responsibility to answer parliamentary questions. That is not to my satisfaction.”
“I thank Deputy Ward for raising this issue. I will speak with the Minister of State with responsibility for the OPW, Deputy Boxer Moran, today in relation to the situation. From memory, I know the Minister of State was in Donegal in recent days. I will get a brief from him, my Oireachtas colleagues and, indeed, the Deputy in relation to that visit. We had a Cabinet committee meeting on flooding yesterday morning. The main message from that was for all of us to empower the OPW to provide as much assistance as possible to local authorities for what we are calling "interim measures", measures in the here and now that can make a real difference. I will certainly make sure Raphoe is part of that conversation. Either the Minister of State, Deputy Moran, or I will be back to the Deputy directly.”
“I thank Deputy Cummins for raising this issue. I am so sorry for Maud's family and Maud, and indeed the Deputy who described her relationship, which is obviously one of closeness, with the family. I am pleased to hear the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, will meet the family in relation to the ten points. I would be happy to talk to the Deputy in relation to it as well. I will certainly talk to the Minister of State in advance of the meeting. Let us hope that meeting can bring real progress. I am sure I speak for everybody in this House in saying that to see a family who are so generously willing to give, in the hope that no other family ever experiences the most horrific pain, tragedy and loss that they have experienced, is something we are all very grateful for.”
“I thank Deputy Bacik for raising this issue. It deserves a more considered response from me because it is a very important issue. We need to get it right. On foot of Deputy Bacik raising this matter, I will discuss it with the Minister, Deputy Foley. I will also discuss with her the Government's response to Patricia Carey's analysis in relation to the current scheme and the processes relating to it. I will revert to the Deputy directly.”
“Ideally, we stick to not making extraordinarily charged comments about people that are not backed by any evidence. The Deputy can debate me any time in relation to this matter. He should not interrupt me again. He should not do that again. I am not taking this bully-boy attitude. I am speaking; it is my go.”
“We will be very eager to monitor that very closely with the Minister for Health and the HSE, and at the Cabinet committee on infrastructure delivery. This is a year in which we will see good progress for Finglas in terms of the primary care centre. We are all very committed to Beaumont Hospital. We will see a number of projects coming forward, but, in fairness to the HSE, I want to await the capital plan. I am always conscious that these projects being delivered on live hospital sites presents extra complexity, which is something the HSE is factoring in. I will keep in touch with the Deputy on this matter in the coming weeks.”
“I do not disagree with anything Deputy McAuliffe said. It is now about delivery. The Minister for Health is very committed to it, as are the Minister for public expenditure, Deputy Chambers, and the Government. We all identified in advance of the previous election that our challenged is to put the resources our country has to work in terms of getting these projects moving. There are encouraging signs in that regard. I have seen a level of focus and an appetite for this reform in the new infrastructure division of the Department of public expenditure and reform. The Deputy is right in that we have to translate this now to every level of the public service. I do not say that critically. We can have a policy but we need to make sure it is translated right down to the front line.”
“Bernard Gloster has been very committed to the project, as has Deputy McAuliffe. I am committed to working with the Deputy to try get it over the line very shortly.”
“Enabling works are now anticipated to commence on the site in the middle of this year, which will come as welcome relief after the long period for which the Deputy's community has been waiting for that facility. I am really pleased the Deputy mentioned the SAOL project. I have given a commitment to coming out - and I would be delighted to do it with the Deputy - to see that project. I feel very passionately about it. I have gotten to know those involved personally. My colleague and friend Councillor Gayle Ralph raised this matter with me as recently as last Saturday, but I would be very pleased to go out with the Deputy to visit SAOL and make sure we get this over the line. This is a chance to transform lives. A huge amount of work has been invested in this by SAOL but by the HSE.”
“The Minister for Health will keep in close contact with the Deputy in relation to that and with all of our Deputies across the Government benches too. The Deputy referenced a number of projects in relation to Beaumont Hospital, such as the cystic fibrosis facility, which, I know, is important to Deputies Ó Muirí and Heneghan too. This is a very important facility, and we all feel strongly about the extra bed capacity and the emergency department. Deputy McAuliffe also referenced Finglas primary care centre. My understanding is that the tenders for phase 1 have been received by the HSE, which expects a positive outcome on tender award over the coming weeks.”
“It has a real impact in the Deputy's constituency, in my constituency and in constituencies across the country. In addition to the work that the Minister, Deputy Chambers, did in the context of the accelerating infrastructure task force, I am pleased to say that we are now seeing real delivery. There was a proposal before Cabinet this week that we estimate will cut around 20 weeks off the delivery of the projects by not having to go back to external consultants. I say that by way of both form and credibility in terms of Deputy McAuliffe's constituency action in relation to that. On health specifically, we are expecting the HSE capital plan to be published, as the Deputy rightly said, in the next number of weeks.”
“I thank Deputy McAuliffe for raising this issue. All of us on these benches agree with him because, thankfully, we are now in a position where we can provide a significant level of capital funding. Roughly speaking, we are planning on spending €275 billion out to 2035. That is badly needed for housing, for the enabling infrastructure for housing and a growing population and for the delivery of modern public services, including in the area of health. I and my colleague the Minister, Deputy Chambers, agree with the Deputy. Alongside funding, the challenge now is going be making sure we cut through the red tape, bureaucracy, the bottlenecks, the gates, the stages, the external consultants and this, that and the other that have led us to a situation where big projects are taking far too long to deliver. That is not consequence free.”
“That is my political point which I am entitled to make. Nobody in this House should object to housing. I feel very strongly on that. I hope we can all agree on that. I am not sure whether Deputy Boyd Barrett is upset that there are more landlords in the market or not by what he just said. If we were to see an increase, that is a good thing but his figures are not comparing like with like because, as he knows well, we now register approved housing bodies in relation to tenancies as well. So, he is not comparing like with like. If the Deputy thinks there is a flurry of people putting up their hand saying they want to be a small landlord, he is not engaging across his constituency as I know he does.”
“I have never objected to a home and nobody in this House should. I do not care what party they are in. They should stop objecting to houses. Everybody should stop. There is a housing emergency, end-of.”
“It is not at some point that supply will come on stream. Supply is increasing despite the Deputy's best efforts, whether it is objecting in his constituency to housing developments. That is a cause and an effect-----”
“We have been very clear on what we are going to do in relation to HAP. We are living in a country again where almost 100 homes are being built every single day.”
“However, we should not misrepresent the purpose here. People are looking at this Bill, including the Dublin Simon Community which acknowledges and welcomes the tenant protection elements of this legislation while having different views from us on other elements of the Bill. We have to increase supply. We have to keep landlords in the market, particularly the small landlords, and at the same time we have to make sure that, for the very first time in Ireland, we have a nationwide, permanent system of tenant protections. I do not say this dismissively of the very serious situation Deputy Boyd Barrett's constituents are facing, and that he rightly raised, but I do not have the specific information relating to any individual case. However, we are increasing the number of social homes and we are increasing housing supply.”
“Who is going to rent the homes if there are no landlords? Deputy Boyd Barrett does not agree with my political outlook on the world but Michael Byrne of the school of social policy, social work and social justice in UCD specifically said that what is being missed in the current discussion is that the new legislation that was passed last night in this House is designed, once established, to reduce the level of notice of terminations. That is what the professor in the school of social work and social justice said our Bill is trying to do, that is, when it is enacted, to reduce the number of notices of terminations. So, yes, as is always the case, there is teasing through the legislation and debating and discussing different elements of it and what people think is good, what people think is bad and what people think should be better.”
“There is a commitment in the housing plan that will be concluded in the first half of this year. I would push back, as the Deputy would expect me to, around the point he made in relation to this kind of corporate landlord capture. I have heard a lot of this in the past number of days. I do think this is in the space of misinformation. Small landlords make up 88% of all landlords in this country. They are providing 45% of all private tenancies and these reforms are explicitly designed to also help retain landlords while improving tenant security. We have to do both. If a small landlord leaves the market, tenants lose the ability to rent a home. There is a cause and effect here. Small landlords and landlords are not the enemy of the public good as is often portrayed by the far left. It is a vital part.”
“I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett. I say to Michael and Shannon and to all people across the country in need of housing that every action we take is to increase the number of homes that are available to rent or buy. That is not just one type of home. It is more social homes, more affordable homes and homes through the Land Development Agency, LDA. Quite an incredible the number of homes are now receiving some level of subvention from the State to be built. It is also private homes because private homes and private investment are good and there are lots of people who want to buy their own home and see either themselves or, indeed, their adult children be able to move into one of those homes. I take the Deputy's point relating to the HAP limits. I know Deputy Boyd Barrett has been a strong advocate for this.”
“As part of the follow-up procedures with hospitals, all of the information relating to a child's medical history absolutely must be made available to their parents. It is normal for clinicians to engage with the parent of any child in this way. In relation to the statutory public inquiry, the aim is to get into a process where a facilitator or mediator, and I have heard both titles used, would be appointed imminently to work with the families, the Government and everyone else to get the terms of reference correct. I expect the Minister to be in a position to make this appointment imminently.”
“I find myself in broad agreement, as, I think, does the House, with the Deputy. I do not think there is a huge difference of opinion here, but I take the point. The only reports that should not be published are those where there is a legal issue with publishing. I also take the Deputy's point about circumstances where there are legal issues and trying to identify if there are ways of overcoming them and putting some information in the public domain. I genuinely know that the Minister is working in good faith on that matter. I want to make a point, and I wish to do so sensitively. I absolutely understand why people want to see the report. I am not dismissing that at all. Any parent has a right to all of the clinical information in relation to their own child.”
“She wanted to find a person of substance and high calibre who will also be available to do the work. That person has been identified and I believe the appointment is imminent. The scoping exercise needs to take place as quickly as possible. I fully understand the urgency of it. I also understand from my engagement with parents that it is both urgent and a matter of getting it right. I really hope that in the coming very brief period we can see this move forward.”
“He stated that while "these are not clinically urgent, but nevertheless, in the interest of peace of mind and assuredness to families, this exercise needs to be carried out quickly in the coming weeks." The latter refers to follow-up appointments. We need to make sure that this happens in an expeditious manner and in a manner that puts children at the centre of the process. Specifically in relation to the statutory inquiry, the Minister spoke to this matter at the Oireachtas committee yesterday. She wrote in December to communicate her intention to appoint someone. Although I do not have the letter, I believe she also identified the person she was hoping to appoint. There has been an exchange of correspondence and information in the interim. She certainly has identified the person.”
“I do not want to say anything, and nor does anyone else, that cuts across this. However, I can inform the House that the Minister absolutely wants to be in a position to share this information. There is no reason in the wide earthly world why she would not want that. This is an important step to try to fix a very serious issue and, ultimately, to try to rebuild trust and confidence in children's healthcare and CHI. I want to make a point regarding the children. The words of Dr. Colin Henry, the top doctor in the HSE, the chief clinical officer, yesterday are important. These are his words and not mine.”
“The Government wants as much information as is absolutely legally possible to be made available to a statutory inquiry. I genuinely and sincerely mean that. In fairness to my colleague the Minister for Health, I know this is her position. The Minister has been engaging with the Attorney General in respect of this matter. I am very conscious and careful, even though we are in the Dáil, of the fact that phase 1 of the report relates to the clinical practice of an individual consultant. I am also very aware of processes that may be under way legally. I am also very aware of processes that may or may not get under way in future. We need to be very careful in relation to this. Phase 1 of the report is specifically a risk assessment of the practice of an individual consultant.”