Although it is not necessarily just from the Minister of State, there is almost a narrative that we should not worry because there are other protections and ways of assessing these areas. If that was the case, of course, why would we have marine protected areas, this planning framework, sensitivity mapping or all this work? I am not confident, from what is being said, that these areas will get the same level of protection as they would in a few years if marine protected areas were in place. Therefore, there is a ne…

I want to ask the Taoiseach about people trying to buy homes competing with investors. This is a message I received from a constituent: Today I went ... to ... look at an apartment to buy. The estate agent automatically assumed I was an investor. The other person at the viewing was bidding on this particular apartment and another upstairs in the same building - with a view to buying both... I have a well paid permanent job. How does anyone stand a chance ... A German investor is reported today as buying up 72 homes…

I referred to apartments.

What is the Government doing to increase the number of apprenticeships, especially in construction trades? This is of crucial importance for building new homes and for meeting our climate change and retrofitting targets. Apprenticeships in key construction trades, such as bricklaying and plastering, are at only some 10% of their 2004 levels. In other countries, such as the UK and Norway, public contracts for large infrastructure projects include a clause that a percentage of the workforce must be made up of apprent…

I want to ask the Taoiseach about the local connection rule and the commitment on page 55 of the programme for Government to introduce a social housing passport to allow a household to move from one local authority housing waiting list to another. The local connection rule is still causing significant issues and problems, perhaps not on the same scale as last year, but people are still being refused emergency accommodation because of the rule. People have been told to leave emergency accommodation because of this r…

I want to ask the Tánaiste about the shared equity scheme. On previous occasions when Governments have ignored expert advice from the Central Bank or the ESRI, especially on housing, it has not ended well. Why, on this occasion, does the Government feel it is okay to ignore the warnings from the ESRI and the Central Bank that this will inflate house prices? House prices have increased by 12% in the last year. A similar scheme in the UK led to a boom in house prices and a boom in profits for developers. Why, on this…

I welcome the confirmation from the Minister that there will be time allocated by the Government to facilitate this on Committee Stage next week, and that it will move on to Report Stage and Final Stages the week after that in Dáil Éireann. I welcome that and it is important. I am aware that considerable time has been given to this Bill in the Seanad, but it is important that there is time allocated in Dáil Éireann also, not least given the history of planning legislation. It does deserve sufficient scrutiny. I wil…

I thank Deputy Gannon for bringing forward the Bill. It is quite shocking that it needs to be brought forward at this stage in the history of this country. We are approaching the end of 2021 and I find it very difficult to understand the lack of urgency in the comments of the Minister on this issue. There is a requirement for this to be dealt with quickly so that no more school students are left in situations where they are not getting access to proper standardised and fact-based relationships and sexuality educati…

Has there been an assessment of the social impact the housing crisis is having on people with disabilities? Last week, Ciara, who is homeless and sleeping in a car, told her story on the Reboot Republic podcast. She could not find any suitable private rented accommodation as her HAP was insufficient. There is no homeless emergency accommodation suitable to her needs. She has lost her care support services because she is now homeless. She is living in physical pain because she is sleeping in a car, which is utterly …

What is being done to reduce the number of homeless people sleeping rough on our streets? The latest figures show there are 95 people sleeping rough in Dublin. I have met people on our streets who say they feel safer sleeping on the streets than in emergency accommodation. There is no Garda vetting of staff in privately run emergency accommodation. The basic national quality standards are not applied. The local connection rule is used to prevent people from progressing from emergency accommodation to housing. When …

Has the Taoiseach nothing to say in reply to my question on homeless people rough sleeping?

This issue is progressing out of it, though.

I want to ask about vacant local authority homes. The report published by the National Oversight and Audit Commission shows that there are almost 5,000 empty local authority homes throughout the country. Some local authorities take more than a year to re-let a home. Cork City Council, for example, takes 85 weeks on average to re-let a home. With more than 60,000 households on housing waiting lists and even more people living in insecure housing assistance payment, HAP, tenancies, this is completely unacceptable. We…

I raise with the Taoiseach the issue of access to public transport for people with disabilities. Last Friday, lifts at nine railway stations were out of order, meaning people with disabilities could not access public transport and trains at those stations. It is completely unacceptable this would happen. It is vital public transport be accessible to everyone. This issue has been going on for years and Irish Rail has failed to rectify it. Lifts at railway stations frequently becoming broken and being out of order me…

I thank IHREC for this excellent report and for the work that has gone into it. This is a serious report. It is a good, methodological study. It makes the best use of the data that are available, although there are, as the report points out, serious gaps. The report does a service to making people's housing needs more visible, especially those of lone parents, people with disabilities, Travellers and migrants. Their housing needs often are not visible enough. This matter deserves a more considered response than we …

The figures from the Residential Tenancies Board show that rent caps have been breached in every county in Ireland where they have been introduced. Figures given to me by the Residential Tenancies Board also confirm that sanctions against landlords for breaching rent caps have only been applied in about 10% of the cases investigated. Clearly, rent caps are not working. It is not just the Opposition Deputies who are saying this. Deputy Willie O'Dea, a Government back bench Deputy, has called for an end to ineffectiv…

I raise the issue of NAMA and the sale of homes to investment funds. Building defects do not explain why the homes in question - 26 apartments - were left empty for almost a decade. They do not explain the length of time involved. It should not take so long. The Government is not meeting its target for the delivery of cost-rental and affordable homes. The target is so far off that the Government did not even publish information on it in the report on Housing for All released today. NAMA has almost €2 billion in res…

What about cost-rental and affordable homes?

Why are they not being sold for cost-rental and affordable housing?

I raise the issue of safeguarding procedures for vulnerable adults. Recently, An Garda Síochána had detailed knowledge of credible allegations of sexual assault against vulnerable people experiencing homelessness. I have raised that with the Taoiseach before. The Garda did not pass this information on in a timely manner to the organisation where the alleged perpetrator worked. This placed vulnerable people experiencing homelessness at continued risk. Will the Government introduce legislation to require An Garda Sío…