There might have been some fault on our side. I understood it was done. It might have been belatedly.

I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy Pringle, who has followed up this issue at every available opportunity but just unfortunately cannot be here at this moment. My question is what plans the Minister has to make the defective homes redress scheme accessible for the difficult cases where it is more feasible to build a replacement home beside a defective property and then demolish it, rather than on the footprint. I will come back in on the details of what I mean by those exceptional cases.

The Minister of State's understanding goes some way towards the problem but not quite all the way. It arises from a direct letter that he got, and other people are in this position. While I will not mention names, they have a child who is nine years old and who has a severe disability and cannot walk. They met with Senator Nikki Bradley and the ambassador, and have tried all of that. They are asking for the legislation to be amended. The Minister of State quoted policy but I am referring to an exceptional situation…

I see where the misunderstanding is. However, the question concerns building a replacement home “beside” a defective property. What the Minister of State has read out comes straight from the policy and they cannot do that because the scheme does not allow for that. What we are asking on behalf of this family and other families is that we make whatever amendment is necessary, given the extenuating circumstances. I realise this is difficult but it is not anywhere near as difficult as what this family are enduring. Th…

I do not want any more of this misunderstanding. It is side-by-side.

I am sure Deputy Pringle will do that.

What steps have been taken to address the crisis in homelessness? I will mention the figures again, though I think they are actually a little bit higher than this: 14,486 people, including 4,419 children, are in need of emergency accommodation. In Galway, there are no houses available under HAP and homeless services are at full capacity. I am not given to exaggeration; they are the facts in Galway city.

I thank the Minister of State for the response but I repeat that homeless services in Galway are at full capacity. When someone comes into our office and we ring up, we are told they are at full capacity. Will the Minister of State deal with that? I appreciate he has brought in measures. I appreciate the tenant in situ scheme. The problem is the housing policy is not fit for purpose. It is making the situation worse. We have a kaleidoscope of schemes that are keeping prices artificially high. HAP, long-term leasing…

Rebuilding Ireland has not worked. Housing For All has not worked. They are part of the problem. I spent 17 years at local authority level. We stopped building houses in 2009. It is on the record. Construction was suspended. We introduced HAP on a pilot basis and put it on a statutory footing in 2004. People were housed if they got a HAP property. Now there are no houses available at the HAP discretionary rates or ordinary rates. We have the insulting thing - I do not mean the person but the position - of a HAP fin…

This is a very specific question on the number of social housing units delivered by the local authorities in Galway city and council in 2022, 2023 and 2024 and the targets set in respect of them. Have the targets been achieved?

Can I have one minute?

I appreciate the Minister will get back to me tomorrow. I read all of the task force minutes, although they were delivered late. I do my best to keep up. I am still waiting on the minutes of two meetings. They have never reached their targets. This is why the task force continues to sit, albeit under a new name. It has been sitting since 2018 because we had a housing emergency. It has repeatedly failed to deliver the targets. Galway has land and public housing should be built on it. This is not what is happening. I…

I am just talking about Galway.

Gabh mo leithscéal; I made a mistake, Tánaiste. Questions Nos. 1 and 2 were grouped. I did not hear that being said, and I did not check the screen. I am really sorry.

Unfortunately, we timed it because it was an important question. We are going to reduce the time back to one minute now. The Tánaiste got the extra time, but it was an important topic. If it is okay with Deputy Smith, we will come back to his question as a separate slot.

I call Deputy Carthy.

I am sticking to the time on this because we allowed extra time previously. The Deputy has a full minute.

The Select Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage has completed its consideration of the following Supplementary Estimate for Public Services for the year ending on 31 December 2024: Vote 34 - Housing, Local Government and Heritage.

Bogaimid ar aghaidh anois go dtí an chéad cheist eile, Uimh. 8 in ainm an Teachta Gino Kenny. It is grouped with Questions Nos. 29 and 31. Níl an Teachta anseo mar sin glaoim ar an Teachta Pauline Tully.

The Deputy has resumed his seat so he has to stop talking.