Since the Government took office, rents, house prices and the number of people who are homeless and living in emergency homeless accommodation - almost 12,000 people - have reached record levels. At the same time, almost €1 billion that was allocated to be spent on housing has not been used for the purpose of building social and affordable homes. This year, spending on housing is running 32.5% behind where it is meant to be. When we raised this last year we were told not to worry and that the Government would catch…

The Acting Chairman should extend the time.

I want to ask the Tánaiste about the Historic and Archaeological Heritage Bill. Historic monuments are a hugely important part of our heritage. Where there is public access to monuments, it must be protected. Aideen's Grave in Howth is a megalithic tomb where walking groups with local guides have been told by the new corporate landowner that they are no longer welcome to visit it. Does the Tánaiste agree that the public, including guiding walking groups, should continue to have access to important monuments such as…

Before the debate was adjourned, I was making the point that according to the 2001 survey published by the Heritage Council, 34% of the State's archaeological monuments had been destroyed since 1840. The survey found the destruction was continuing at an alarming rate. Once a monument is destroyed, it is gone forever; it can never be brought back. We have seen such destruction in Wood Quay and Carrickmines Castle. We have had warnings from recent history even with what we saw happening in the attempted destruction o…

The Social Democrats will certainly support this Bill proceeding to Committee Stage. The idea of Committee Stage is for Bills like this to be teased out and scrutinised. It is disappointing that while the Government criticises the Opposition for not tabling proposals, when the Opposition brings forward proposals and Bills such as this, the Government does not even want them to be discussed and scrutinised on Committee Stage. Why, therefore, is it blocking discussion and detailed scrutiny of proposals that are broug…

First, I welcome this Bill. There are good parts in it. The Minister of State has a tendency to come into the Chamber and reference the pre-legislative report and process, which I think is very good. I want to acknowledge the input into the pre-legislative process, especially by An Taisce, Archaeology Ireland, the Local Authority Archaeologist Network, LAAN, and others. We have a habit of pointing out that most of the recommendations in the pre-legislative report have unfortunately not been taken on board by the Mi…

We should contrast what is happening in respect of vacancy in Ireland with what the Spanish Government has just announced. It has announced that 50,000 vacant homes are going to be brought back into use and made available at affordable rents for adults who are still living with their parents. That is the kind of initiative we need. It is making good use of its housing stock and is giving people the ability to live independently and get on with their lives. It is a welcome measure and the Government here should be l…

During the discussion this morning on the Social Democrats' vacant homes tax motion, the Minister for Finance was quite dismissive of the figure of 160,000 vacant homes identified by the census. He seemed to think that the figure included the homes of people who were on holidays for a few weeks, but this is not correct. For a vacant home to be classified as such, the census enumerator must visit it on several occasions and find that it is vacant and then must talk to the neighbours and get clarification that there …

That is not the case.

On behalf of the Social Democrats I welcome this motion and I thank Deputy Ó Broin for bringing it forward. It complements the motion which the Social Democrats will be bringing forward in the morning on the vacant homes tax, where we are looking for such a tax with teeth. The derisory 0.3% rate of the tax which the Government has brought forward will not be an effective tax and will not unlock the potential of the more than 100,000 vacant homes we have across the country. Even with the open goal of vacant homes, t…

On behalf of the Social Democrats, I send our best wishes to Noel Murphy and thank him for all his years of public service, The Taoiseach has put very misleading information into the public domain about the courts and eviction notices. He stated that it is "very, very rare" that a judge would evict an individual family into homelessness. However, solicitors specialising in housing law working at the coalface supporting renters have said they do not know of any cases at all in Ireland where a judge sided with renter…

Will the Tánaiste talk to the Taoiseach about what he said?

The Taoiseach said it is very rare that a judge would evict a family into homelessness. However, solicitors specialising in housing law have said they do not know of a single case in Ireland where a judge sided with renters facing homelessness and did not grant an eviction order. I am sure the Taoiseach will agree that solicitors working to support renters at the coalface in the Mercy Law Centre and community mediation know what they are talking about. On what basis has the Taoiseach made the assertion that judges …

He never was.

Could we extend the time in order to get answers?

A stay is different.

On several occasions it was agreed at the Business Committee that there would be discussion and statements on lifting the eviction ban and homelessness. The Chief Whip agreed to that. In fact, on several occasions we did not oppose the Order of Business because that commitment had been given. It was on the schedule for this week. Why, given the gravity of the situation, has the Government removed that from the schedule this week? Will it put it back on?

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend section 35A of the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 (as amended) so as to protect tenants of multi-unit developments from large-scale evictions. I am introducing my Tenancy Protection Bill 2023. The aim of this Bill is to put an end to the practice of mass evictions of renters. This is a real issue affecting people right now. I will give two examples. In Tathony House, 35 households are being evicted by their landlord. This involves 100 people…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

The temporary ban on no-fault evictions is simply a sticking plaster on the open wound of the housing disaster. Instead of treating that wound, the Government is abruptly ripping that plaster off, leaving thousands of people exposed to eviction and the threat of becoming homeless. I welcome the Bill and the Social Democrats will be supporting it. We would like to see a later date and, indeed, we believe lifting the ban on no-fault evictions should take place in the context of bringing in full no-fault evictions, wh…