I move amendment No. 8: In page 8, line 14, after "arrangements" to insert "and public-public partnership arrangements". I will withdraw the amendment, reserving the right to introduce a new version of it on Report Stage.

I move amendment No. 9: In page 8, between lines 14 and 15, to insert the following: "(d) arrangements under paragraph (b ) or (c) shall be subject to the condition that affordable housing or publicly owned social or cost rental housing constitutes at least 80 per cent of such an arrangement.".

I know the comments made by Senators have been intended in a positive way. They have talked about addressing the reality of unequal social backgrounds and experiences. However, we need to be clear that this is not about people's aspirations. It is not that people need to be inspired by seeing a rich person living next to them. I understand that is not what other Senators have suggested, as I made clear in prefacing my remarks. To be clear, I understand that. The reason I am making this point is because there has be…

Okay, it was due to cost. However, everything in this housing legislation involves that. It is a question of housing for people with a disability being mainstreamed and being part of any large housing block in respect of which we are making arrangements or in which we are investing. Perhaps the Minister of State can address these issues. I want to be very clear that in my initial comments I was not seeking to speak about any of the Members who have spoken today. I am speaking about a framing. We must be very clear …

I will not speak at length to it again

It has been brought to my attention there is an amendment in the group which I have not spoken to. Amendment No. 17 is eminently sensible and I hope it would happen anyway. It proposes that in performing functions under the Act, housing authorities would have regard to the appropriateness of the location of dwellings in terms of facilitating access to public transport, education services, health services and public amenities. Something we have really seen during the pandemic is that we have areas and communities wh…

No. That is the next amendment. We are on amendment No. 11.

I move amendment No. 11: In page 8, line 25, after “in” to insert “owner-occupier”. I accept that the Minister of State seems to have reassured me but I reserve the right to retable the amendment on Report Stage. If it is possible, I ask the Minister of State to send me a short note to allay my concerns in that regard. In that context, I am happy to withdraw the amendment.

I move amendment No. 12: In page 8, line 26, after “and” to insert the following: "support the long-term sustainability of diverse communities, including the intergenerational sustainability of urban communities, and". I thank the Minister of State and colleagues across the House who have recognised the importance of sustainability and diversity. There is a common concern and passion for that kind of vision. My amendment states that the goals would be to, "support the long-term sustainability of diverse communities…

I will be brief. I agree with many of Senator Casey's points. A review of the national development plan has been completed, but the national planning framework has not been reviewed. Now all of the new local development plans are being constrained by a planning framework, which is out of sync with our national development plan. There is a disjoin there. As a starting point, I underline that I do not believe our new local development plans should be overly constrained by the national planning framework because it ne…

There is a number of detailed aspects in each of the four Bills being extended here and each time one of them came through we engaged and put forward amendments. In many cases, there was no chance to debate those amendments. In all cases, there was no acceptance of the amendments, even those that came from Government Senators who spotted flaws in the drafting of the legislation. Given the way this Bill is being put through and the fact there is only one hour for this Stage, we have not had the opportunity to give o…

It is correct to say we need to take a stand on human rights. There are human rights issues on several levels in the news today. We have heard about the human rights violations in Cork, where a young girl has talked about living in an abandoned place that people forgot about. A member of the Traveller community has spoken about the absolutely unacceptable circumstances in which Travellers are being asked to live in Ireland. When I hear about Gaza, I worry that it might again become a place that people forget about.…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 3, line 27, after “concerned” to insert “and such conditions may include social and environmental criteria”. This amendment proposes that the conditions attached to the agreements which the State may sign with banks in respect of loans under this scheme may include social and environmental criteria. I do this cognisant of the fact that this is effectively a co-funding and a co-sponsoring process whereby part of the guaranteeing process is done by European institutions which have set …

In case I do not get the opportunity to speak to that section, given I have to critique-----

-----and the fact that this is a 30-minute debate. We are making decisions in respect of a €50 million fund, with potentially €29 million of State liability in a 30-minute debate which is inadequate. It would be appropriate and I hope that the Minister of State will indicate that he does intend to produce a report to deal with how these various environmental and social criteria have been integrated. I am looking for transparency and information on this because it is one instrument in a suite of stimulus measures as…

I agree. Many SMEs have shown incredible adaptability and have been making very significant changes. They are transitioning and we need to support and fund that. One of the problems is that people often get loans only for what they are doing already rather than what they can and want to do, and that is something we need to examine. We also need to examine our procurement policies and how we reward SMEs that enter new areas. That will be part of the just transition funding that we need to consider. In response to co…

I move amendment No. 2: In page 4, to delete lines 15 to 20. This amendment relates to mid-caps. I know that it is a small part of this fund, but it is a concern for me. I know too that there are issues because some of this is targeted.

Yes, it is 5%. My concern is around the SME focus. I understand from engaging around this issue, that it relates to agri-businesses on the Border and so on, but I am concerned still about where the loans will go. It relates to the point I made earlier about whether our SMEs are getting the loans. In other words, will small businesses get access to these loans? I am also concerned that the mid-caps which can access this funding are companies which are based in Ireland or have a branch in Ireland. My concern - this r…

Certainly. I was just going to say that I believed there were already environmental and social criteria from the European side. We would simply be matching those. That might be the appropriate approach.

We came back to the Seanad during the election period. It was not, in fact, this Seanad but the previous one, the 25th, that passed the Health (Preservation and Protection and other Emergency Measures in the Public Interest) Act. This is the first time that this Seanad has had the opportunity to scrutinise that legislation but that opportunity is being deeply curtailed by an inadequate period for debate and in the absence of proper pre-legislative scrutiny. There were lengthy debates of previous Bills as they came …