Am I to take it from what the Minister has said that it is his view that it is appropriate to have increases, as long as they comply with the RPZ legislation? As I am sure the Minister is aware, there is huge stress on students, as well as mental health and well-being issues for students who cannot find affordable accommodation. There are ever-longer commutes. This has impacted students’ education. It is also impacting student choice because students increasingly feel that they can only apply to the college closest…

I thank the Minister for that response. This has been well documented. There is evidence of student accommodation providers clearly circumventing the RPZ rules with additional costs. It is not for discretionary items they can choose to opt into or opt out of.

They cannot rent their accommodation without paying those additional charges that have been increasingly introduced. They are a way for large providers to get around these rules. It has been brought to the attention of Government Ministers before. This urgently needs action. I welcome that the Minister says he will look into it-----

-----but it urgently needs to be addressed, because this is going against the spirit of the law, if not the actual law. The Government needs to take a view on this and act on it. It must either change the legislation or, if the legislation is robust enough in this area, it must enforce it.

Yes.

I will ask about conditions in privately run homeless emergency accommodation. On 2 August, a woman named Mairead was physically assaulted by a member of staff in a privately run hostel for homeless people. While this hostel is run by a private company, it is funded with public money. The incident was recorded on video, which clearly shows the male staff member telling Mairead that she is a piece of junk before threatening to hit and crush her. This staff member then hits Mairead and forcefully knocks her to the gr…

I have raised the issue of conditions in privately run emergency accommodation with the Minister multiple times before. He needs to act on it.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — the cost of buying a home has increased by more than 25 per cent since this Government came into office; — it now costs almost €330,000 on average to buy a home, an increase of more than €66,000 since 2020 and €90,000 since 2017; — the median income for first-time buyers of new homes is now more than €90,000 and more than €103,000 in Dublin; — there are more than 520,000 adults living in their childhood bedrooms, a 14 per cent rise since 2016, and a 19 per cent increase sinc…

I thank all Deputies who have contributed to this important discussion. I want to respond to something the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, said when he was articulating Government policy. He said the Government's position is that a reinstatement of the winter eviction ban would not work because it would deter investment in the rental sector and supply. We are not looking for reinstatement of the winter eviction ban. We are looking for the situation that applies in most European countries, where renters who…

I welcome this Bill and that we finally have it at this Stage. I know a lot of work has gone into it and there are improvements from the general scheme. I want to acknowledge that and say that it is moving in the right direction. With that said, it needs to go a lot further. Fundamentally, one of the reasons the Social Democrats and I are most interested in directly elected mayors is because of how that role can strengthen local democracy. Fundamentally, what this Bill does as it is currently written is to transfer…

I thank the Minister of State for the clarification. It is important that people are not just going through the motions or that they are in just a few times a year. That is useful. I have talked about recommendation 8, which concerns the mayor having the power to select and appoint members of staff to their office. Recommendation 9 refers to sanctions or removal of the director general in the event of underperformance or, indeed, inhibiting the role of the directly elected mayor. That is a very important recommenda…

How would spending your budget reduce the supply?

Spend your budget to build affordable homes and increase the supply.

The usual practice on motions such as these is that they are not scheduled to be taken without debate until they have gone through the committee. We did not raise objections to this because this is the last sitting week of the term and in the past any time we have sought to have a 55-minute fixed debate after a motion goes to the committee the Government has always acceded to the request. This is unprecedented, certainly in my experience. We facilitate the Government and when we request a 55-minute debate after ser…

A date needs to be set for the referendums on water and housing. The Government is running out of time. In the context of a constitutional amendment on the rights of people with disabilities, I raise a specific issue relating to respite services in community healthcare organisation, CHO, 9, which covers north Dublin. Yesterday, I attended a meeting organised by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, on day services for school leavers in my constituency. One of the issues that came up at the meeting, which is raise…

I also want to ask the Taoiseach about the safety net he promised renters when the eviction ban was lifted. At the end of March, he told the Dáil that the first refusal scheme would be in place within a few months. The Minister for Housing, Local Government, and Heritage, Deputy O’Brien, promised that the first refusal scheme would be in place by now. However, not only is there no legislation, there is not even any draft legislation. The commitment which the Government made to independent valuations has been torn u…

When the Government took office, there were 8,699 people living in emergency accommodation for the homeless. That was far too many. The figure did not include people sleeping rough, including in cars, tents and parks and on floors and couches. Since then, there has been a 43% increase in the number of people who are homeless. They now number 12,441, including 3,699 children. Unfortunately, in moving his amendment to the motion, the Minister barely gave homeless people a mention. He did mention them but it was barel…

It is what the Minister is doing. He is trying to delete facts and the reality of the number of homeless people from this motion. That is exactly what he is doing. Should homeless people not be properly visible? Should we not be talking about how to eradicate homelessness? Should the Minister not be saying how he is going to decrease the number of people who are homeless rather than trying to delete references to the number of homeless people and how much that number has grown since he took over as Minister of Hous…

I ask the Taoiseach about young people leaving State care and what the Government is doing to prevent them from becoming homeless. When this Government took office, 8,699 people were living in emergency homeless accommodation. That figure is now 12,441, an increase of 43% and the highest number ever on record. It does not include people who are sleeping rough in cars and tents and on couches and floors. Young people leaving State care are at very high risk of becoming homeless. This should and could be prevented. T…

On social development, I want to ask the Taoiseach about a lack of adult day services for students who have finished school this year. For example, students leaving school in St. Michael's House, Baldoyle, have received a letter stating that there are no placements available for them in adult day services. This letter explains that St. Michael's House is not in a position to offer these placements due to a combination of staffing shortages, a lack of facilities and significant waiting lists for adult day services. …