I want to clear something up with the Tánaiste. I accept that people come in and make mistakes. Nobody is infallible. However, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, came in yesterday and made a very brief comment to the House, with no reference to the statement he made about the Central Bank. It is essential that the record be corrected. This is not just some mistake. It was doubled down on by the Minister going on RTÉ's "Prime Time" and telling the country the Central Bank had approved the scheme. That is not the …

Some of us have been saying that for years. We have to build it in the quantities that are required.

Does the Tánaiste believe the Minister should come in and correct the record in regard to the Central Bank?

I welcome this legislation, which is long overdue. It seems that every time we have a debate on European legislation, I can use a copy-and-paste paragraph about the flagrant disregard for the need to transpose European framework decisions in a timely manner. It is 13 years since this framework decision was written and ten since the deadline for transposing it passed, yet here we are in 2021 with formal proceedings being taken against Ireland in the Court of Justice of the European Union, a domestic action before th…

Under the recently published Companies (Corporate Enforcement Authority) Bill 2021, the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement, ODCE, will be taken over by an independent statutory agency, namely, the corporate enforcement authority. The aim is to have that body up and running by 1 January. Will there be a memorandum of understanding with the Garda regarding resources available at all times?

There was a problem with the secondment of gardaí to the ODCE. An article on the matter written by Ken Foxe was published in The Irish Times some time ago. Essentially, the director wrote to the Garda Commissioner seeking six new detectives but all he got in return was an acknowledgement. It took a long time to fulfil that need. They are absolutely critical to the working of this new legislation, as the Minister of State is more than aware. Will there be a memorandum of understanding between the Garda and the new c…

I hope this works out very well because there has been underprovision in the area but there is also the fact that white-collar crime has not been taken as seriously as other types of crime. Some of that is down to the fragmentation of organisations such as the ODCE. I hope its successor will be more successful, but it can only be successful if it is independent and has the resources to do the job. Obviously, the Minister of State is giving me an assurance based on the written confirmation from the Commissioner. We …

Last week, Deputy Jim O'Callaghan of Fianna Fáil was quite blunt in his assessment of the party's handling of the housing crisis. He said: "[Fianna Fáil] doesn’t understand the scale of the housing crisis". I happen to think that the Deputy was being unfair. It is not just Fianna Fáil that does not understand the scale of the housing crisis, it is the entire Government. Given the Government's shameful U-turn to facilitate tax breaks for cuckoo funds last week, that much is clear. If the Taoiseach wants to begin to …

That is not true.

We called for it in 2016.

Fianna Fáil was as good as.

I would challenge the Taoiseach regarding the rent freeze. I do not accept it is not constitutional and at the very least, it should be challenged. Linking it to inflation when inflation is going up will not give certainty. The only certainty renters have at present is the date on which their rent will go up. That is completely unacceptable. Affordability right across the spectrum, whether it is purchase or rent, is the key issue. There is little I can see the Government doing that will deliver affordability. In th…

It is fair to say that how local government is funded in Ireland is so opaque that most people find it difficult to get to grips with the origin of the system. When the local property tax was introduced in 2013, it was based, as we know, on the market value of a house or apartment. It does not, however, take into account people's ability to pay with the exception of allowing for deferral on the grounds of hardship. It does not take into account the equity. In situations where a house is in negative equity, the mark…

The Government is tying itself up in knots trying to explain the screeching U-turns on the cuckoo funds. Yesterday, the Taoiseach said this capitulation to cuckoo funds had been signalled when the stamp duty increase was announced in May. However, when Deputy Donohoe announced this measure, he said three bodies would be exempt: local authorities, approved housing bodies and the Housing Agency. If he had signalled he was about to exempt cuckoo funds from a measure designed to target cuckoo funds, it certainly would …

The Minister described this as a short-term emergency measure - for 25 years. Let us just talk about what this entails. A builder builds a housing estate and a cuckoo fund comes in and buys it in its entirety. It is exempted from the 10% stamp duty because it will lease it to the local authority. The local authority will pay the equivalent, if not more, in terms of a mortgage for 25 years. The local authority will then refurbish the house and hand it back to the original owner. You could not make this up. This is n…

I share many of Deputy O'Reilly's concerns. I am not a member of that particular committee and have not had the benefit of the debate. We all know why the Bill has ended up before the House, and that is because of the Supreme Court judgment. Amendment No. 1 may be covered in the legislation but the second, on redacting names, would give a degree of comfort. It seems very reasonable to me. People do ask if their name will end up in the public arena around these things and they do not want to lose their privacy or th…

I want to add my voice to that. I raised the issue of the legislation being rushed in the context of the Second Stage debate, and the Minister of State refuted that and said there had been ongoing consultation over the past year with all sorts of stakeholders. We are not stakeholders; we are legislators. That is the point. Consultation is absolutely valid with other groups but this is not consultation; this is about the final stages of the legislation that will be in place. This proves the point that this is rushed…

I too welcome that we are back in our home Chamber. While the Convention Centre is a wonderful venue for all sorts of conferences and music events and so on, when empty it feels a little like an airport terminal. It feels pretty good to be here. The purpose of this Bill is to address the urgent matters identified in the Supreme Court's majority decision on the Zalewski case. The case was taken against a WRC adjudication officer, the WRC, Ireland and the Attorney General. It challenged the constitutionality of the p…

This Bill is intended to provide a rescue mechanism for small and micro businesses facing difficulties. The situation has been exacerbated by the pandemic, but it is something that was needed in advance of it. We know that SCARP will be available to all small and micro companies, those which have a turnover of less than €12 million, a balance sheet of less than €6 million, and where the number of employees does not exceed 50. This covers 95% of companies in Ireland. It has already been stated that it involves 788,0…

I welcome the legislation and acknowledge the urgency with which it is being brought forward. We did not object to the waiving of pre-legislative scrutiny for that reason but I agree with Deputy Howlin on the tacking on of other matters. It is not the right way to proceed and it is disingenuous to presume we would even know this would happen. The urgency needed to pass this Bill is indicative of the absolute lack of preparation for an outdoor summer. It should not have taken businesses and gardaí raising the matter…