I note the Minister does not like being interrupted by other people but he happily does it to me. I do not mind him interrupting but I am just pointing out that he takes umbrage when others do it, yet he does it to me all of the time. He can just reflect on that.

We mentioned in the motion 20,000 social, affordable and cost rental homes, not 20,000 social homes, but perhaps the Minister did not actually read it. It is not clear if the Minister thinks it is not possible to do that. I do not understand how the Minister feels it is possible to do 24,000 homes this year yet we could not have 20,000 of those as social, affordable and cost rental homes. If we have the capacity to build 24,000 homes, including many that will be owned by investment funds, how come we do not have th…

I welcome the motion and thank my colleague, Deputy Cairns, for bringing it forward. I welcome everyone watching today in the Gallery and elsewhere. This is a very important motion highlighting the huge inequalities, injustices and exclusion faced by people with disabilities. All of us as Deputies are hugely aware of the impact of this on people with disabilities. We hear from people with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities all the time who have been let down badly. We hear about children waiting…

I will first make some comments on the additional parts the Minister has announced today. I completely understand that this work must be done. It is very difficult, however, in terms of the legislative process and the scrutiny process, for us to engage with that in detail when all we have at this point are the introductory comments made by the Minister. We do not have the detail. I appreciate that there will be a briefing on Monday, which was sought by the Chairman of the joint committee and others. The deadline fo…

The list of people on the NSAI review group of industry standard 465 reads like a who's who of the industry. I question whether there is sufficient independence in that. What measures are in place to ensure they are sufficiently independent and not tied in with many of those industry representatives in the group? Where are the measures to ensure sufficient international experience and expertise is giving input to that group?

I move amendment No. 49: In page 14, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “(1) The Minister shall request an updated Society of Chartered Surveyors of Ireland report on construction costs for the Defective Concrete Block Grant Scheme in advance of the opening of the scheme, based on appropriate regional or county-based costings. The Minister may also amend the terms of reference for this report to take account of the varying costs for replacing or remediating smaller homes, bungalow and dormer bungalow…

There has been no explanation from the Government as it seeks to rush through this legislation, and no explanation as to why quarries are still operating in Ireland producing substandard materials that are going into homes leaving families, communities and the entire State vulnerable. There has been no explanation from the Government regarding why the quarries that have produced substandard materials have not been pursued by the Government to recover those costs. Yet, it is trying to force all the discussion, and t…

In some parts of the country renters have been hit with staggering rent increases of up to 75%. This is utterly unacceptable and no renter can afford those kinds of increases. The way in which the rent pressure zones rules have been written means that those parts of the country will never be declared a rent pressure zone. Is the Tánaiste aware of this problem, what is the Government going to do about it and will the rent pressure zones be extended to cover the whole country?

I am a member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage and a member of the Business Committee. My understanding from the discussion at the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage is that the members of the committee are more than happy to meet next week for six, seven, eight or nine hours, or however long it takes to go through these amendments in detail and scrutinise them to ensure we can get the best Bill possible. Members of the committee will make…

I had indicated to speak on Seanad amendment-----

I do. I want to speak on Seanad amendment No. 1, which is about the Title of the Bill. Many of the amendments are not related to the Title of the Bill. I specifically want to know why the amendments on the Residential Tenancies Act 2004 are coming in like this? Why were they not brought in in the Dáil originally? Why are we not getting an opportunity to input into them? Some of them are welcome but some need changes. Being brought in this way does not give us the opportunity to do that. Why is it being done that wa…

On Seanad amendment No. 3, was there any engagement with bodies, such as Threshold, which have expertise in this area? Why are these being rushed through without proper consideration given that there has only been a handful of cases where an adjudicator has found the tenant did not provide the landlord with contact details in an appropriate manner, for the landlord to offer back the home? Why is there such speed on this? Why is there not proper consultation and consideration of this amendment? As the Minister of St…

This is not the responsibility of the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach or the Minister of State who is here per se but in terms of process, this is absolutely unacceptable. I have raised a question about these provisions and we have had no opportunity to discuss this anywhere previously. This is our only opportunity. Why is the Government saying seven days is sufficient for a tenant to be able to respond and not something like 21 days, which Threshold incidentally thinks would be a reasonable amount?

It is strange there has been consultation with Threshold, because if there has been it has not been listened to on this.

On the seven days, I want to make this point, which is tenants live in the real world. They have other things going-----

A Chathaoirligh Gníomhaigh, I am speaking on this-----

I am speaking on this amendment.

But when else can we-----

This is not Second Stage. There was no Second Stage. This is my chance to speak to this amendment.

I am speaking to the amendment.