Cabinet to discuss Drumcree stand-off

The Cabinet is expected to discuss the continuing stand-off at Drumcree over the Orange Order parade when it meets later this morning.

The impasse in Co Armagh is now into its third day despite efforts on Monday by Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Bryant to mediate a solution.

Garvaghy Road residents say they are seeking an international mediator to lead discussions at resolving the parade dispute after Orangemen managed to overturn a long ban on them parading down the predominantly nationalist road.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Helen McEntee is expected to update her Cabinet colleagues on events in Northern Ireland over the past few days with further discussion on the dispute likely among senior ministers.

Housing Scheme

Minister for Housing James Browne is to seek Cabinet approval for an overhaul of a scheme which encourages owners of rundown vacant buildings to lease their properties for social housing.

The Repair and Lease Scheme provides an interest-free loan of up to €80,000 per unit to owners of vacant properties to repair or convert their properties to rental standards.

The renovated homes are leased to a local authority or an Approved Housing Body to provide social housing with the loan repaid as an offset on the lease payment. Officials argue that it contributes both to the provision of social housing and tackling vacancy.

The scheme is increasingly used to renovate vacant commercial properties into small developments of one or two-bedroom houses. These projects are typically in central locations and 58% of the properties as part of the 2025 scheme delivery were one-bed units.

As the owner carries out the works, it frees up local authority building teams to work on other projects with average renovation times generally between nine and 18 months.

However, Mr Browne is to seek approval from Cabinet this morning to direct local authorities to prioritise the delivery of studio and one-bed units under the scheme. This is in line with a Programme for Government commitment relating to one-bed units.

He also wants to bring more property owners in under the scheme. At present, applications for existing residential properties are limited to owners who require capital funding.

This was intended to exclude investment firms but proved difficult in practice and so is being removed. Mr Browne also wants to introduce a payment for legal fees to assist local authorities in meeting these costs.

Government sources argue the changes to the scheme will allow certain properties to be dealt with, fixed up and leased. However, they do not expect a greater uptake from larger investment groups who hold vacant properties.

New rules for female MEPs

Mr Browne will also seek Government approval to implement new EU rules which would allow women MEPs to delegate their voting rights to another MEP during pregnancy and after childbirth.

This would be for up to three months before the due date and six months after giving birth.

In November 2025, the European Parliament adopted a resolution proposing a targeted change to the European Electoral Act.

The Taoiseach wrote to Parliament President Roberta Metsola in August strongly supporting the initiative.

School attendance

Cabinet ministers will also discuss trends in school attendance.

According to data collected by the child and family agency Tusla in 2023 and 2024, one in five children across Ireland are chronically absent for more than 20 days a year.

Tusla has said that underpinning this figure is the worrying trend of increased school absences since the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Minister for Education and Youth Hildegarde Naughton will update Cabinet on efforts to improve school attendance, with recent data showing signs of improvement while highlighting the need for continued action across the education system.

Cabinet will be briefed on the implementation of the Tusla Education Support Service (TESS) annual attendance report and student absence report for the 2024/25 school year and will be updated on actions under way to improve school attendance.

Ms Naughton will tell her colleagues about the significant range of measures already in place to support attendance, including the DEIS Strategy to 2035, DEIS Plus, the expansion of Home School Community Liaison supports, the Traveller and Roma Education Strategy, City Connects expansion, targeted initiatives in the Northeast Inner City and ongoing research with the ESRI to better understand the causes of school absence and inform future policy.

She will also outline how since 2021, the number of Educational Welfare Officers has increased from 90 to 161, significantly expanding the capacity to support children and families.

School attendance initiatives are being scaled up nationally.

The evidence-based Anseo attendance programme has grown from a pilot involving four schools in 2023/24 to over 200 schools in 2026/27, while almost €11 million in attendance support funding has been provided to schools in recent years.

Infrastructure Delivery

Minister for Public Expenditure Jack Chambers will update Cabinet on progress being made in accelerating infrastructure delivery.

He will tell colleagues 95% of actions due for delivery in the first half of the year were delivered with timelines for a range of projects now significantly reduced because of the changes introduced.

He will point to 12 months being saved from the Greater Dublin Drainage project, permits to develop in marine areas being issued 30pc faster, and planning permission for a series of ESB projects all granted in an 18–26-week window, well ahead of the 48-week statutory limit.

Unemployment

Minister for Social Protection Dara Calleary will bring the fourth and final annual progress report of Pathways to Work 2021-2025 before Cabinet.

The report contains details of how the long-term unemployment rate has fallen over the last five years, from 44,900 in the fourth quarter of 2021 to 36,100 in the fourth quarter of 2025.

The youth unemployment rate dropped from 15.6% to 10.5% average in the same period.

Participation rates increased for women, people with disabilities and lone parents over the same period.

Minister Calleary intends to publish the successor strategy, Pathways to Work 2026-2030 in the near future.

National Skills Council Advice

Minister for Further and Higher Education James Lawless will ask Cabinet to note the second Annual Statement of Advice from the National Skills Council.

For 2026, the council recommends a significant increase of investment in upskilling to meet evolving workforce and population needs, supporting SMEs and the community and voluntary sector.

It also recommends reforming further and higher education to respond effectively to the opportunities and challenges of AI.