I will leave it at that.

At 7.50 p.m.

He made a charge.

No.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am introducing the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024 which intends to make amendments to the Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019 and the Affordable Housing Act 2021. The Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019 provides for the regulation of approved housing bodies, AHBs, for the purpose of supporting stronger governance and the financial viability of that sector. I do know whether there are copies of my speech for …

Is the Deputy sure? I thought there might have been copies for Members but the speech was amended. The Deputy is okay. We will arrange for copies.

A slight amendment was made to the speech just beforehand. The Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019 provides for the regulation of AHBs, for the purpose of supporting stronger governance and the financial viability of that sector. Section 25 of the 2019 Act provides for existing AHBs, approved under section 6 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1992 to be deemed registered on 1 January 2022, subject to applying for registration within 12 months for AHBs providing or managing 300 or mor…

Níl mé cinnte faoi sin. Like the four budgets before it, this year's budget is unprecedented. It provides more than €6 billion in capital to help us to deliver social and affordable homes for our people. It is the most that any Government has ever invested in housing. It is made up of more than €3.1 billion in Exchequer funding, an additional €1.25 billion to the Land Development Agency, which the party of the Members opposite would abolish, and €1.65 billion in Housing Finance Agency funding. On top of that, we ha…

I thank the Senators. It is good to be back with them again today. A comment was made concerning rushing this legislation or there having been no consultation on it and this being an attack on democracy. I again put on the record of the House that this Bill was approved by the Government in December 2022, published in January 2023 and underwent widespread consultation and pre-legislative scrutiny in the Oireachtas joint committee-----

I am sorry. I listened to-----

I actually did listen to the Senator. I respect the points she has raised and I will endeavour to address them. I cannot, however, leave a charge she has made unanswered. I think it is appropriate that I give my opinion whether the Senator agrees with it or not. It is not just my opinion; there are the facts here too. We have had nearly 200 hours of debate in the Oireachtas on this legislation. We did extensive pre-legislative scrutiny before that in the Oireachtas joint committee. Many Members here participated in…

I have addressed them. I could actually-----

That is fine.

Regarding the periodic critical review, as the OPR was established in 2019, the PCR is now due to be undertaken. Informal meetings have been held between my Department and the OPR regarding the periodic critical review process. Officials in both the Department of Housing and OPR are currently engaging in an information-gathering exercise in advance of the formal PCR commencing. As part of the process, a working group will be established consisting of nominees from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Her…

To answer Senator Boyhan directly, I expect the review to commence this year. As he rightly said, regardless of electoral cycles or when the election happens, the preparatory work has commenced. My officials have been meeting with officials in the OPR already. The information gathering piece is there. It is important that it is done. The office has been in place for five years or thereabouts. It is important that is done. It will inform how we move forward. That will commence this side of the new year. The recommen…

There are quite a lot of amendments in this group and there are Government amendments as well. I will address amendments Nos. 115, 116, 118 to 122, inclusive, 126, 143, 145 and 146 as tabled by Senators Higgins, Ruane, Black and Flynn, and amendments Nos. 123, 124, 125, 127 to 130, inclusive, 132, 133, 136, 137 and 141 as tabled by Senators Boyhan and McDowell. We were talking about the duration of development plans. Amendments Nos. 115 and 116 relate to the lifespan of a development plan and the period after which…

The interim fire safety scheme is in place now. It is a complex arrangement. At the outset, I thank the stakeholders and the residents in particular, including the Construction Defects Alliance, the Apartment Owners Network and Not Our Fault, which have engaged in a really constructive manner. Yesterday, I received Government approval for the priority drafting of the main scheme legislation, the apartment and duplex defects remediation Bill 2024. This Bill will complement the interim measures the Government has alr…

First, I reject any assertion there have been delays in bringing this forward. We want to make sure the interim fire defects scheme works for people and residents. That is why I have engaged personally with literally hundreds of residents and their representative groups on this issue. The legislation we agreed yesterday is very important too. It will go to the Oireachtas joint committee in the next Oireachtas. That is one thing on which we differed. Deputy Ó Broin wanted to piggyback on the higher remediation schem…

We are resourcing the Housing Agency. There is a specific senior programme manager in place in the agency who is managing the applications. We have worked very closely with the OMCs on the applications, being able to seek the correct information and working that through. That is why the pathfinder schemes are so important. We receive applications every single day of the week and continue to have webinars with residents, OMCs and managing agents. I have also engaged with Insurance Ireland and the BFI on this to keep…

It was considered. We are going on a whole-of-building basis, and that is the way to do it.