It is an honour to be in the Seanad today to talk about such an incredibly important issue, that is, homelessness in Ireland. I will set out the new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030, which is building on the progress made in recent years to increase housing delivery across the board and social housing, in particular. The Minister, Deputy Browne, will conclude today’s discussion by outlining the many actions in the new housing plan that are targeted at ending homelessness. The Governmen…

I thank Senator Fitzpatrick so much for raising this vital issue. In fairness to her, I know the whole concept of the task force and reviewing local government and how local authorities work was something that she called for in the last Seanad. She is following through now and is looking for an update. I completely understand. I fully agree with the strengthening of local government that she called for here today. We need more resources for councillors. As she said, she and I both know that councillors often rely o…

These will be published shortly. I will speak to the Minister, Deputy Browne, and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, to ensure that "shortly" means very shortly and immediately, and that the recommendations are followed through on. I know that the Senator is working on that already because I know she has met the Minister, Deputy Browne, and will meet him again to ensure those recommendations reflect the work that she has done and that they are followed through on and legislated for, if necessary. I sincerely th…

I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of endometriosis. It is something that for too long we have not spoken about. There still is not enough awareness of what it is and the challenges and difficulties that women across Ireland face when they have this condition. There are women across Ireland living in severe pain because of endometriosis. There are woman across Ireland who experience heavy bleeding. There are women who have to undertake serious surgery to treat endometriosis, which is very painful an…

As I said, the HSE cannot comment on the outcome of this application. That is fair enough. There is a process to go through. I can probably comment more freely. I agree with Deputy Burke. There are obviously different levels of endometriosis but the surgery is costly and painful and there is a long recovery time. I am not a doctor, but the surgery does greatly increase the success rate for reproduction. Nevertheless, endometriosis can come back. If there is a treatment that can prevent that, it should be looked at …

I thank Deputy Cooney for representing the people of his constituency in Clare who have been affected by this issue. I appreciate the issue of defective concrete blocks is particularly emotive for households and sympathise with all who are caught up in this distressing situation. The establishment of the appeals board was an important step in offering those affected by decisions made by the Housing Agency and local authorities an opportunity to have their cases assessed by an independent group of industry experts. …

It is my understanding that the appeals panel is aware of the understandable desire of applicants to have their cases dealt with in as expeditious a manner as possible. The time taken to assess appeals has in many cases been longer than originally envisaged. We have to accept that. However, I understand some of the time taken to consider applications and issue decisions has been taken up by requests for further information, either from appellants or other stakeholders. I am informed the panel has taken this approac…

It suits.

I do not have the exact details of this case but Senator Cosgrove has set them out quite clearly. She has described a picture in which some of the most vulnerable people in our society have had no input in a situation where their future is uncertain. They do not know where they are going to go. She referenced people with dementia and people with mobility issues. They are some of the most vulnerable older people in society. I appeal to those involved and to the owners to have a heart and to consider the impact that …

The purpose of the Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 is to try to create an environment where we can get more units built so that there is more accommodation and we can eventually address issues such as homelessness and the cost of rent and introduce security of tenure. I appreciate that the situation being raised by Senator Cosgrove was prior to the legislation. I cannot speak about the specifics. I do not want to say or do anything that would have a negative impact on the people Senator Co…

I welcome the guests from Kildare. I hope they enjoy their time in Leinster House. The Senator is right. I think everyone is now aware of St. Francis special school in this House and the Dáil, right across Leinster House and Government buildings, because she raises it so regularly. Fair play to her for representing her constituents in that way. I will try to give the most accurate update possible and I hope it will be of some comfort to the Senator and the school staff and principal. The school referred to by the S…

To recap, the 2b stage includes obtaining all statutory approvals. That includes planning permission. Sometimes it can take time but it needs to happen as quickly as possible. Then there are another few phases to go through, including preparing fully detailed tender documents and an accurate pre-tender cost plan. Those are the elements that can be expedited. I do not see why they should take a long time. Planning permission can be a bit more difficult because of the statutory requirements in terms of time and so on…

I thank the Deputies for their comments and contributions on the Labour Party motion today. I particularly note many of the complimentary comments in relation to the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, who obviously has a vast knowledge and deep understanding of this area and, indeed, the workings of An Garda Síochána. Like others, I want to express my thanks to An Garda Síochána for the excellent work it does on a daily basis. Over the next couple of minutes, I will outline the impact of the work that An Garda Síochána …

He was here for almost the entire debate.

Lucky you, Senator.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach. First, before I get into the meat of my contribution, I want to outline that the Government will not be opposing the motion here today. I very much enjoyed this debate, to be honest. I find things are very civilised here in the Seanad. Senators give each other-----

I do not want to get too comfortable here.

Senators give each other time for debate. There are very interesting and thought-out contributions. They even give each other time, which is very interesting - Opposition giving Government Senators time. Very enjoyable and thought-provoking points were made, I must say. I find myself flipping over and back on where we should stand on this and what the position is. That is the whole reason we are not opposing this; we need to await the research that is being done by An Coimisiún Toghcháin, which my predecessor, the …

We will say nothing about that. I am going by the different reviews since the 1980s, and 166 was the number of TDs in the 1980s. If you come to now, it has only jumped by a total of eight. That is in a good number of decades. It is not like we are making these monumental jumps in terms of numbers. It is not getting out of hand as yet but there is a conversation that needs to be had. I completely understand that. In fact, from the 2009 review to the 2013 review, it went down from 166 to 158 and went back up to 160. …

Senator Boyhan has given a very level-headed and fair assessment of how the Limerick mayor is working out. Of course, it was never going to be without issues and was never going to go 100% smoothly. I spent 13 years on a local authority and one gripe we always had was that the chief executive was not directly elected and we were the ones who had to face the people and face the music on a five-year term. This was a response to that so I appreciate the Senator's assessment of it. I will give the substantive response …