I support comments from previous Deputies regarding the amount of time for this debate and the lack of scrutiny in committee being completely unacceptable. The Government has had great co-operation from Opposition parties during the last year concerning restricted timings. When, across the board, we have raised concerns about this aspect, the Government was not willing to listen and engage. The lack of scrutiny in committee is particularly disappointing. Regarding the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Go…

I thank Aontas na Mac Léin in Éirinn, the Union of Students in Ireland, for its work on these proposals. I also thank Deputy Ó Broin for his work in bringing forward the legislation. I welcome the Government's agreement to take the Bill forward to Committee Stage, which is very positive. There has been a lack of urgency on the part of the Government in dealing with this issue. If it continues at the same pace, we will be in a situation where most of the students who were penalised last year for complying with publi…

I thank the Minister for his kind words. He has agreed to implementing the best parts of the Bill. Will he tell us which parts he does not agree with and does not intend to implement? From his words this morning, he seems to have formed a view on that question. If so, the House has a right to know which parts of the Bill he believes should be implemented and which should not. It is only fair to the USI, which has worked on these proposals, to let it know what is planned. It is welcome that the Bill is progressing t…

I was here for the Minister's opening statement.

To be fair, I think the Minister was trying to be helpful with his intervention. I thank him for that and I appreciate that these issues will be discussed on Committee Stage. However, it would be useful to have his explicit view on the question I raised in order that we know where we stand. I thank the Minister for being willing to engage on that point. The essence of these proposals is that students and their families were penalised last year for following public heath measures. This should have been dealt with as…

A matter reported this week which is related to the Bill is that rents are being artificially fixed. Rents are not being recorded properly and this should be addressed in the legislation that the Minister mentioned. This has implications not just on rent pressure zones and undermining the 4% increase protections but also for the State in the context of long-term leases. As the Minister knows, such long-term leases are being signed on the basis of market rents. I know from documents released to me under the freedom …

On the same point, a 45-minute debate on this motion is entirely insufficient. There has been a lack of scrutiny of the national marine planning framework. It is a highly significant framework, which has major implications for our marine environment, those who work in fisheries and renewable energy. It is highly regrettable that the Government does not seem to have learned lessons from Derrybrien, where the State is paying out some €15 million in fines for rushing through planning legislation without proper debate …

I move: Bill entitled an Act to repeal the parts of the Planning and Development Act 2000 that provide for the provision of social housing via Part V leasing. When Eoghan Murphy announced his resignation yesterday, he claimed credit for having, in his time as Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, the largest spend on public housing in the last decade. How much we are spending is the wrong metric to be looking at. We should instead be looking at outcomes. Where social housing is concerned, the outcome…

No, this is absolutely uncalled for.

You should not be in full flight of conversation while any Member has the floor.

A Leas-Cheann Comhairle, I ask that all Deputies, including the Minister, might listen while I make my contribution, rather than being in full conversation.

Housing has been turned into a commodity for investors and social housing has been turned into a commodity for investors. Part V long-term leasing is part of this problem and I seek to address it in this Bill. The aim of the Bill is to improve the provision of affordable and social homes. It does this by revising the Part V arrangements and seeks to repeal provisions introduced by the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015 under the then Minister with responsibility for housing, Deputy Kelly, which allowed Part V …

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

On the citizens' assemblies, will the Taoiseach look at the issue of families getting legal representation at inquests in circumstances where they have lost their loved ones? As he is aware, the families of the Stardust victims put forward proposals to ensure that they would all have legal representation at the inquest. Those proposals were cost-effective and based on international best practice. They were not agreed to by the Government, which suggested that families should go down the legal aid route. Assurances …

Briefly, can the Taoiseach clarify what is the position of the Government in terms of intellectual property rights? Has the Taoiseach discussed this with President Biden? Is Ireland advocating at an international level for the waiving of these rights? What exactly is the position? If not, will the Taoiseach start to do this?

There are reports this week of 435 apartments in Ashtown in Dublin 15 being sold off to a foreign investment company based in Germany several years before these apartments will be completed. According to the Construction Industry Federation, in 2019, 95% of apartments were sold to institutional investors, leaving only 5% for everyone else. Individuals and couples simply cannot compete with these multimillion euro investment funds. An entire generation is being locked out of home ownership. Rents for apartments in D…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 4, line 5, to delete "12 July 2021" and substitute "12 October 2021". I will be speaking to all my amendments now in the interests of time as they are similar and attempt the same achievement. I asked the Minister yesterday to correct the Dáil record on the National Quality Standards Framework not being applied to private emergency accommodation. It is regrettable he has not updated the record on that. I can assure him I will keep raising the matter until he does because it is import…

The Taoiseach has been outspoken on the issue of vaccines to the effect that there should be no barriers put in place and, should that happen, it would affect people in the North as well as us and the wider European Union. On that point of making sure there are no barriers in place in terms of vaccine production, distribution and roll-out, will the Taoiseach raise the temporary waiving of intellectual property rights so that can be carried out to full production levels?

I agree it is concerning that the committee has not met since November given the considerable pressures, in particular mental health pressures, young people are under. The Taoiseach previously gave a commitment on young people and children who are trapped in camps on Greek islands. As the Taoiseach knows, in September last year a fire at one of these camps left 12,000 people, including 4,000 children, destitute. When will the commitment to evacuate 50 of these people, including children, be carried out? Will he con…

Recently, I accompanied the Dublin homeless outreach team when it visited homeless people who were sleeping on the streets of Dublin. I met homeless people who told me that they felt safer sleeping on our streets than in private emergency accommodation. I raised with the Taoiseach previously that the National Quality Standards Framework, NQSF, is not applied to private providers of emergency accommodation. When I raised it with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in the Dáil, he incorrectly stat…