I thank the Deputy. I discussed earlier with Deputy Duncan Smith the same issue in a different part of the country. There are issues. I know the review of the school transport scheme is nearing completion. That needs to be done urgently and I have engaged with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, on the issue. Even though we are investing more in school transport now, some students are not able to access buses to their local schools and that is something that needs to be rectified. I will engage directly with …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta. Táim sásta go bhfuil dul chun cinn beag ann anois. Cuirfidh mé an cheist ar aghaidh go dtí an tAire Sláinte faoi Áras Mhic Dara agus beidh mé ar ais chuici go luath.

I thank the Deputy. The enhanced defective concrete block scheme is up and running and we are seeing an increase in applications every week. We want to ensure that finance is not a barrier for people accessing the scheme. I have also discussed the matter with the BPFI and the Department of Finance is involved. I have not seen the detailed proposal yet. I believe it has come in very recently. I heard the chief executive, Mr. Brian Hayes, discuss the issue. Any proposal for assistance we can give to homeowners to acc…

I thank Deputy Verona Murphy. In that instance, if we can help in any way to get those details directly to the Minister for Health, I will do so-----

-----and let him assess it. So if the Deputy can get those details through I will get that on to the Minister for Health for her. Deputy Durkan's point is well made and we will ensure that anything we can do, at Government and interdepartmental level, to ensure access to Castletown House, we will do. Deputy O'Connor has expressed frustration at continuing delays for NCTs, which we see. I know the Minister of State, Deputy Chambers, is committed to supporting all appropriate RSA requests for assistance in tackling t…

On behalf of the Government I want to thank An Ceann Comhairle for those remarks and I wholeheartedly agree with him. I thank him for the swift action he has taken. There is not a word he has said that I do not agree with but I want to thank the staff here, the ushers and An Garda Síochána for the work they did so professionally yesterday. They went above and beyond; let us be straight about it. While you will see this morning that we will not always agree on everything in this House, I will always defend the right…

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all the words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes that Housing for All: A New Housing Plan is firmly focussed on re-establishing a sustainable housing delivery system capable of delivering for current and emerging needs and the Government: — is actively working to improve Ireland's housing system and deliver more homes of all tenures for people with varying housing needs, including first-time buyers, renters, low-income households, and people experiencing home…

The Affordable Housing Act 2021 established cost rental on a national footing and underpins the affordable housing fund that allows us to deliver affordable housing to local authorities and to make that subvention on behalf of the State to make the homes affordable. The Social Democrats voted against that legislation as well. It opposed the first home scheme, which so far has helped, in just over a year, 2,500 households to buy their own homes at an affordable rate. The Social Democrats opposed-----

I did not interrupt Deputy Shortall once. The Social Democrats also opposed that. Another real assistance that helps first-time buyers is the help to buy grant, which is a rebate of a tax people paid to them to help-----

-----with their deposit. Some 41,000 households have been helped with that so far. Again, the Social Democrats opposed it. Every single measure brought forward-----

Every single measure has been opposed by the Social Democrats. I have a lot of regard for Deputy O'Callaghan. If the motion he tabled is the first effort at Social Democrat housing policy and this is apparently the alternative to the most comprehensive housing plan brought forward by any government - it is the single biggest intervention by any government in the history of the State - it is a very poor alternative. Last year, we were able to deliver nearly 10,500 new social homes, more new-build social homes than h…

We will do that by increasing supply and exiting more people from emergency accommodation into permanent, secure housing. In the last quarter of last year and the first two quarters of this year, we have seen more people exiting from homelessness into permanent social housing than we have seen since those records were collected. It is a good trend. We have also seen that there are many reasons people fall into homelessness and quite a diverse demographic as to why it happens. We have to support all of them. All peo…

The people whom I have visited in the constituency and estate right beside Oscar Traynor Road want homes for their sons and daughters. Deputies in that area who have made a virtue of finding any reason to oppose that development have to answer for themselves. I want to see progress and delivery. I want to see sites such as that on Oscar Traynor Road being developed for residents and young people in the area, among others, and that is what is happening. It is happening in Donabate, at Shanganagh Castle and across th…

Every measure that has been brought forward to help in home ownership-----

That is happening. Some 400 first-time buyers a month are drawing down mortgages, 41,000 are people getting the help-to-buy grant and 2,500 households, with that number growing every day, are able to buy their home through the first home scheme. The Deputy opposes every single one of those measures.

Certainly not.

Like last Thursday morning. Housing questions and Opposition Deputies never showed up.

Not true.

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "That Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes that: — the Government is taking the challenges in the rental sector and the increase in the number of people accessing homeless supports in recent months very seriously and, through the implementation of Housing for All: A New Housing Plan for Ireland, the Government is actively addressing this; — a substantial increase in the supply of new homes is the key route to solving Ireland's housing crisis; and — the…

Home permissions, completions and purchases, as well as first-time buyers and mortgage drawdowns, are all at record levels. There was an annual increase of 37.8% in the total number of new homes approved for planning permissions in quarter one of 2023 compared with quarter one of the previous year.