I will address that situation in my response because it is important.

The Deputy should remember what he said in July. He should look back at it and see if he was right.

They will be published next week, on the last Friday of the month.

That is nothing to do with this Bill so the Deputy should not imply-----

I thank colleagues for their contributions and their support. I note that there are amendments tabled, which we will go into in more detail as they are moved. For Deputy Pringle's knowledge, this Bill was not scheduled to coincide with the release of figures for homeless numbers. That happens in the last week of the month. They will be published on Friday next week, as I have done since I took over. Deputy Buckley spoke about the measures here. We debated other residential tenancy protections in July. I am grateful…

These are the choices that we have to make. In the budget, which Deputy Pringle opposed, we provided for a further 15,000 new HAP tenancies. I do not necessarily want to do that but I have to make provision for it if we are to stop people going into homelessness. Instead, we are transitioning to public homes, with the largest building programme in the history of the State for next year. We supported that. It is what this coalition and I, as Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, are bringing forward. …

I thank the Deputy for tabling this amendment but, unfortunately, I cannot accept it. The Residential Tenancies Acts do not apply to licensed arrangements apart from in the student-specific accommodation sector which I, Deputy Ó Broin and others worked on in the last Dáil. The rent-a-room lodgings in private dwellings are not covered by the Acts or this Bill. Tenancies in dwellings where the landlord lives are not covered by the Residential Tenancies Act. The Bill proposes to modify temporarily the operation of cer…

On Deputy Bríd Smith's comments on the Business Committee, I am not a member of it and I do not make those decisions. While I recognise she was in here working, the officials in my Department, the Attorney General's office and the Bills Office were working full tilt in the preparation of this emergency legislation. I know the Deputy knows that. I mentioned to colleagues earlier that it is of course far from ideal that there was only a window of an hour and a half to table amendments. We had to bring the Bill to an …

It might have been Deputy Barry who said it.

I would not like to misrepresent what the Member said, so I will withdraw that claim. I have regard for Deputy Boyd Barrett.

He did declare it.

I have tried to address the queries that have been raised regarding the amendments. I point out to Deputy Barry that I know exactly what he stated in the House. That is the reality of it and it is important. I do not see what anyone's background has to do with the matter. It is not for me to hold a candle to anyone. If a Deputy is elected to the House, he or she is entitled to speak. It should not make a difference whether a Deputy is from Cork, Dublin, Belfast or elsewhere, or whether they own two houses, ten hous…

That was not in August. I will clarify the matter in my response.

The Deputies have covered a lot of details in discussing these amendments. We are dealing with the reality of the situation and putting practical measures in place. The Bill represents the second very significant addition to tenancy protections that the Government has introduced since late July. I welcome the conversion that some on the far left and Sinn Féin have come to by supporting this legislation. I genuinely do welcome it, but I repeat, the measures we brought in in July, effective from 1 August, the Residen…

I move: It is proposed, notwithstanding the Resolutions of the Dáil of 10th September, 2020 and 21st October, 2020, that - (a) the schedule for the Dáil sitting week contained in Appendix 1 of the Report of the Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform dated 8th September, 2020, is agreed to have effect until 17th December,2020, save that the Dáil shall meet on Tuesdays at 2 p.m., and (b) the Revised Estimate for Public Services 2020 [Vote 29] shall not be taken on 22nd October, 2020."

I move: That Dáil Éireann: (a) approves the Fourth Report of the Standing Committee of Selection in accordance with Standing Order 34, copies of which were laid before Dáil Éireann on 22th October, 2020, and appoints members to Select Committees accordingly, and (b) appoints Deputy Joe McHugh to be Chairman of the Committee on Members’ Interests of Dáil Éireann.”

In their budget speeches yesterday my colleagues, the Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputies Donohoe and Michael McGrath, confirmed this Government's clear commitment, as stated in the programme for Government, Our Shared Future, to the State placing a much greater emphasis on directly building new social and affordable housing. Budget 2021 has provided the resources needed by my Department, local authorities and related agencies to follow through and deliver on that commitment. In total,…

I move the following Estimates for Public Services 2020: Vote 7 — Office of the Minister for Finance (Revised Estimate) That a sum not exceeding €38,573,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of December, 2020, for the salaries and expenses of the Office of the Minister for Finance, including the Paymaster-General’s Office, for certain services administered by the Office of the Minister and for payment of certain grants. Vote 8 — Office of the…

I am committed to ensuring that affordable, quality housing solutions are available to all and that is reflected in the programme for Government. I believe in home ownership and I have restated that on many occasions. I will come good on the commitments made in the programme. The programme details a wide range of measures to be brought forward over the lifetime of the Government to firmly put affordability back at the centre of the housing system. This includes, for example, ensuring our local authorities are centr…

The Deputy will appreciate we are just a week from the budget and negotiations and discussions on expenditure for next year are at a crucial stage. I am not, therefore, in a position to give him any further details. This is not by way of being evasive; it is just an issue of timing. There are other measures, including affordability measures, that help people buy homes, one of them being the help-to-buy grant that I have supported in opposition and in government. The Deputy opposed the help-to-buy grant, which more …