New €10m fund to help people pay energy bills to be signed off

A €10m fund to help struggling families and individuals on pay-as-you-go energy tariffs is to be signed off by Government as part of a new energy poverty action plan.

Environment Minister Eamon Ryan will seek Cabinet approval for the new action plan which will include the establishment of financial support fund.

Sources said the money will "provide further safeguard for people at risk of energy debt, including, but not exclusively, pay-as-you-go and electricity customers".

As part of a busy Cabinet agenda, Public Expenditure Minister Michael McGrath will provide further detail on planned Government expenditure in 2023, including €650m which is being set aside for the recently launched Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme.

Mr McGrath is also seeking approval to publish the report of the Review of Ethics Legislation and to begin drafting legislation to reform the statutory framework for ethics in public office

It is expected that reforms will mean the same standards will apply to both national and local government and there will be revised disclosure obligations based on the seniority and autonomy of public officials.

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Separately, Housing Minister Darragh O'Brien will bring the Planning and Development Bill to Cabinet, which will place strict time limits for judicial reviews, require a material interest for objections, rename and restructure An Bord Pleanála and lengthen county development plans. 

The legislation is considered one of the "big-ticket" items for this Government and aims to overhaul planning across the board.

Mr O'Brien will also bring a memo seeking approval for the general scheme of the Marine Protected Area Bill. 

The bill is designed to deliver a modern framework for designating and managing protected areas in our seas and oceans, which represent around 30% of our maritime areas.

Surrogacy

Meanwhile, the Government is progressing with legislation to provide legal certainty to parents who have welcomed children via surrogacy.

There are currently no laws in Ireland to govern domestic or international surrogacy, however, the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill currently going through the Oireachtas is seeking to regulate surrogacy and other reproductive areas.

Ministers Stephen Donnelly, Heather Humphreys, and Roderic O'Connor will bring a joint memo to Government relating to assisted human reproduction and international surrogacy which will seek to draft a number of amendments that would recognise future international surrogacy arrangements as well as parentage in respect of certain past surrogacy arrangements, both domestic and international.

At the last Cabinet meeting before the reshuffle, Ms Humphreys will also brief ministers on the first progress report of the pathways to work strategy.

The progress report will show that Ireland’s recovery has been faster and stronger than anticipated, but Ms Humphreys will warn of a challenging global economic outlook that requires the country to be vigilant to ongoing threats to the economy.