184. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Taoiseach to provide CSO data on labour force participation, migration, and tax status of persons aged 22-40 years of age, by highest education level; and to support an assessment of post-education retention and contribution to the economy. [61185/25]
183. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Taoiseach the number and value of contracts that underwent post-award variations; the net value change as a percentage of original awards, by CPV/category; and the three most common drivers of variation identified, for 2022–2024. [60950/25]
174. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the current number of vacant posts within the children's disability network team (CDNT) in County Galway; the recruitment strategies in place to fill these roles; and the means by which she intends to ensure that children and families supported by CDNTs will not experience further delays in service access as a result of staffing shortfalls. [61615/25]
123. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the measures being implemented to reduce assessment and intervention waiting times for children with additional needs in Galway east; and whether she will provide a clear schedule for improvements in access to therapy services and family supports under the Progressing Disability Services Programme. [61616/25]
175. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence the supports available to Defence Forces personnel who are being discharged on medical grounds, particularly in cases involving long-term illnesses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56896/25]
93. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment if his Department is liaising with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on the new draft wind energy guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59827/25]
66. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence when the Defence Forces regulation regarding a directive of military prosecutions will be amended following his announcement on 14 October 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60383/25]
41. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence his plans to increase officer cadet pay above the minimum wage, and to a level of at least that of all other inductees in the Defence Forces; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60384/25]
49. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he plans to provide greater level of detail to the public on the way in which public moneys are spent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59828/25]
36. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he will consider establishing a unified and modern framework to close the transparency loop in public procurement, linking tenders, contract awards, purchase orders and payments in a single, machine-readable, publicly accessible system, in order that the full cycle from tender to payment to performance can be viewed by citizens; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59829/25]
2148. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to outline the statutory, policy or administrative basis under which his Department publishes its consultancy spending reports (details supplied); whether this publication is required under the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies, or undertaken as a voluntary transparency initiative; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59596/25]
1997. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health to outline the expected policy changes planned to achieve the Programme for Government commitment to “ensuring that patients have access to new innovative new medicines and treatments as quickly as possible”; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59594/25]
1996. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health if there are any policy proposals or changes planned that will assist how the best value medicines programme contributes to reducing the financial burden on the HSE’s medicines budget and assists in securing access for patients to new and innovative treatments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59593/25]
1995. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 766 of 21 October 2025, if she will provide a detailed update on the progress of the best value medicines programme in achieving its stated target of at least 80% of individuals being in receipt of the best value medicine; if she will provide a breakdown of uptake levels by each target area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59592/25]
1956. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health if consideration has been given to expanding the range of services offered in primary care centres to include minor procedures and additional clinical services, with a view to alleviating pressure on hospital accident and emergency departments; and if she will consider the development of a pilot initiative to assess the feasibility and impact of such an expansion. [59371/25]
1719. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health the way in which her Department will be involved in the preparation of the forthcoming Life Sciences Strategy; and whether her Department will have a leadership role in the delivery and implementation of that strategy. [58126/25]
1718. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health the way in which the €9 million in full-year funding allocated in budget 2025 to support vital cardiovascular initiatives has impacted the cardiac services reform strategy; the way in which this investment has contributed to the development of a new national cardiovascular strategy; and when the implementation plan for this strategy will be published. [58125/25]
1651. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health the progress of the working group on the National Hearing Care Plan; if she has received the report from the working group that was due by end of Q2 as per the terms of reference; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57885/25]
1469. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will provide details on the 700 additional childcare places announced in Budget 2026; where these places will be located; how they will be located; the timeline for their delivery; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57838/25]
1053. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to increase the social housing eligibility thresholds nationally, particularly in light of recent increases in the working family payment and the ongoing cost-of-living pressures; if consideration is being given to introducing an annual review mechanism to ensure thresholds keep pace with inflation and wage adjustments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58806/25]
1052. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will review the income assessment criteria for social housing eligibility, with particular reference to the including of the working family payment (WFP) in the calculation of assessable income; to consider introducing an income disregard for the WFP on the basis that it is a social welfare support for low-income working families rather than earned income; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58805/25]
670. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth the status of the review into the upper age limit for school transport drivers contracted by Bus Éireann; when changes to allow drivers over 70 years-of-age to continue transporting children to and from school are expected to take effect; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58102/25]
645. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Education and Youth if she will clarify whether the “above-SERC SNA” review process remains in operation under the new SNA allocation guidelines; if schools with autism classes will continue to be able to apply for above-SERC reviews throughout the school year in cases where a child’s needs cannot be met within the standard staffing allocation; and if she will confirm whether principals will be required to redeploy staff from their mainstream SNA allocation to meet above-SERC needs in special classes, given the already limited mainstream SNA ratios in many schools. [57880/25]
618. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment whether the Government’s 15-day prompt payment requirement applies to all payments made by Departments and agencies, including reimbursements or grant payments to community, voluntary and non-profit organisations; if not, to identify the categories of payments excluded; and to explain the rationale for this distinction. [59595/25]
588. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment the timelines for the publication of the forthcoming Life Sciences Strategy; if it is intended that the strategy will be published in advance of Ireland's EU Presidency in 2026; and given the strong connection between innovation and funding, whether the strategy will examine how innovation is valued through new pricing and reimbursement structures. [58127/25]
459. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Finance if he will consider extending the recent VAT reduction applied to the hospitality sector to include the beauty industry, given that beauty salons were classified under hospitality during the Covid-19 closures but are not currently recognised under any defined VAT category; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58103/25]
766. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health if she will report on the progress of the best value medicines programme in achieving its stated target of at least 80% of individuals being in receipt of the best value medicine; if she will provide a breakdown of uptake levels by each target area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56638/25]
765. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health the way in which the best value medicines programme contributes to reducing the financial burden on the HSE's medicines budget and assists in securing access for patients to new and innovative treatments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56637/25]
764. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health the communication and support provided to patients being switched to best value medicines; the monitoring which has been undertaken on patient outcomes and acceptance of switching; and if she will publish the data annually; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56636/25]
763. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health if she will consider introducing sanctions for hospital groups that fail to meet best value medicines uptake requirements, or alternatively strengthening gain-share incentives to ensure the savings target is delivered; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56635/25]
762. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health if she is aware of clinicians that continue to prescribe higher-cost originator medicines contrary to the HSE's best value medicines guidance; the measures which will be introduced to ensure adherence; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56634/25]
761. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health the total additional cost to the HSE resulting from sub-optimal uptake of best value medicines since the programme was introduced; and the impact this has had on access to new medicines for patients; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56633/25]
760. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health the uptake rates for each best value medicine by hospital group or clinical site; to identify those that are underperforming against the targets set by the HSE to save money for the HSE; the specific actions she will take to bring prescribing into line with HSE policy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56632/25]
759. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health her plans to revise the national uptake targets for each medicine in the best value medicines programme; if so, the targets and the date she expects them to be met; the reasons for the targets not being met; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56631/25]
758. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health the HSE expenditure on medicines for each of the past five years, by category (including high-tech medicines, biologics, biosimilars, generics and community drug schemes); the projected spend for 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56630/25]
757. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health the total budget allocated for spending on medicines by the HSE in each of the past five years; the outturn expenditure on medicines in each of those years; the projected allocation for 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56629/25]
342. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation to set out Ireland’s recent achievements in open data and high-value datasets, including highlights from the latest EU Open Data Maturity assessment, notable flagship datasets/APIs released on data.gov.ie, examples of measurable reuse and public value (e.g. research, SME innovation or service improvement), progress on implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138, and key milestones planned for 2025–2027, including any initiatives Ireland intends to champion at EU level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56760/25]
341. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if the National Open Data Strategy 2023–2027 and forthcoming Public Service Digital Strategy explicitly incorporate high-value dataset obligations; and the way in which these frameworks will ensure alignment with the Open Data and Public Sector Information Directive (EU) 2019/1024, particularly in relation to the accessibility and reuse of financial and procurement information. [56759/25]
340. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he will consider using Ireland’s forthcoming 2026 EU Council Presidency to advance the inclusion of Public Procurement and Contracting Data within the European Commission’s list of high-value datasets; and to outline any preparatory work under way to position Ireland as a leading example of open, structured procurement transparency. [56758/25]
339. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation if he will consider designating public procurement and contracting data as a high-value dataset-equivalent category for domestic purposes; and if he will introduce a circular or statutory instrument requiring that procurement data, including tenders, contract awards, supplier identifiers, contract values, and links to eTenders notices, be published in open, machine-readable formats (e.g. OCDS-compliant CSV or JSON) with stable identifiers and public APIs. [56757/25]
338. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the coordination arrangements in place across Departments, local authorities and State agencies to ensure consistent implementation of the High-Value Datasets Regulation; and if technical or training supports have been provided through the Technical Services Framework for Open Data and Data Management. [56756/25]
337. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the technical and operational standards adopted nationally to ensure high-value datasets (HVD) are published in full compliance with Article 4 of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138, including requirements for open licensing (CC0 or CC BY 4.0), machine-readable formats, API access, bulk download, and comprehensive metadata; and if all designated HVDs are now listed and accessible on data.gov.ie. [56755/25]
336. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the way in which progress on high-value datasets will be monitored and reported to the European Commission from 2025 onwards; to list the datasets included in Ireland’s initial submission; and the criteria being used to assess completeness, technical quality, and accessibility of the data published. [56754/25]
335. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation the way in which Ireland has implemented the requirements of Implementing Regulation (EU) 2023/138 on High-Value Datasets; the Department, unit, or official responsible for coordinating national compliance; and if the June 2024 availability deadline and the February 2025 reporting obligations under Articles 5 and 6 have been fully met. [56753/25]
307. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Health to provide the direct web links to the All Agencies Prompt Payments Returns for Q2 2019 through Q4 2020 (details supplied). [55724/25]
931. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht if his Department and each body under its aegis discloses expenditure on external consultancy and adviser fees, by category (details supplied) in their annual report and or financial statements for each accounting year; if they provide direct web links to the most recent publications where these Section 1.5 disclosures are set out for his Department and for each aegis body; and if they provide the total consultancy and adviser fees by the Section 1.5 categories for each of the past five years for his Department and for each aegis body, respectively; and the internal controls that are in place to ensure that these category-level disclosures are made annually and that procurement of such services complies with applicable competitive tendering rules, in tabular form. [55373/25]
929. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht if all contracting authorities under the aegis of his Department are in full compliance with Circular 05/2023, in particular the mandatory requirement to publish contract award notices for all contracts above €25,000; and if he will provide details of the monitoring or enforcement arrangements in place to ensure this requirement is met. [55082/25]
928. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht if there are any technical, legal, operational, or policy constraints preventing his Department, when publishing quarterly reports of payments or purchase orders over €20,000, from including additional columns that link each payment to its underlying procurement process specifically tender/contract title; name and address of the awarded contractor/supplier; contract award date; contract duration; expected contract value (excl. VAT); maximum contract value (excl. VAT); the unique identifier from the relevant contract award notice; and where such constraints exist, to provide details explaining his Department’s current process for reconciling each reported payment with the corresponding published contract award notice on eTenders. [55065/25]
923. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science if his Department and each body under its aegis discloses expenditure on external consultancy and adviser fees, by category (details supplied) in their annual report and or financial statements for each accounting year; if they provide direct web links to the most recent publications where these Section 1.5 disclosures are set out for his Department and for each aegis body; and if they provide the total consultancy and adviser fees by the Section 1.5 categories for each of the past five years for his Department and for each aegis body, respectively; and the internal controls that are in place to ensure that these category-level disclosures are made annually and that procurement of such services complies with applicable competitive tendering rules, in tabular form. [55368/25]