The last speaker has cracked it; the answer is "public housing on public land". It was a potent sentence. We all know it is not easy to deliver the housing but it needs to be delivered. I got involved in political activism because of the housing issue in 2008. Circumstances have evolved since then, and we are where we are. We have a homelessness crisis that is beyond comprehension, an affordability crisis that beggars belief and a supply crisis that shows no sign of being resolved. It is an absolute catastrophe and…

I refer to the organisational capacity review undertaken by the external consultants for the NCSC last year. When are we likely to see the report on that and the draft recommendations? We had a disappointing private meeting of the transport committee earlier, where we could ask questions but not receive any answers. We understand this is a live issue and there are concerns, so we were respectful of that but the resourcing of this branch of government has been the subject of much debate prior to this ransomware atta…

That is fair enough in one way, but in the absence of briefings for Opposition spokespersons, this was a meeting of the transport committee and given that it was not public, there was an opportunity for the NCSC to present to it. We did not see the point of its officials coming to the committee in private and then not being willing to answer any questions. It would have been better not to have come at all. What we would like to see throughout the course of the next few days – we hope this does not go on for too lon…

We are supporting the Bill. I thank Deputy Cian O'Callagan and his team for their work on this matter. The provision of social housing stock by way of Part V acquisition should never have been allowed to become another cushy deal for developers but, unfortunately, it has. Local authorities and the Government must ensure social housing is provided in the most sustainable, efficient and effective manner possible. Ultimately, the point of social housing is for people to have homes and be safe and secure. The point of …

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling the motion, which the Labour Party will be supporting. In its amendment to the motion, the Government states it will tackle issues facing renters while "ensuring equity and fairness for landlords and tenants", before going on to state that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage will, at some unidentified point in the future, "bring forward comprehensive new protections for tenants" but that those will be balanced with constitutional property rights. We have seen how th…

It was with much disappointment that on the Monday of the workers' bank holiday, we awoke to reports the National Transport Authority, NTA, plans a further tendering of four Bus Éireann routes, namely the 101, the 101X - the Drogheda to Dublin service, the 133 and the 131 between Dublin and Wicklow. Is this a policy the Government supports? Is it commensurate with its commitment in the programme for Government? Almost more pertinently, is it complementary to a strong climate action plan that this slice-by-slice app…

I want to raise with the Taoiseach the just transition. There has been strong, understandable and righteous criticism of the weakness of references to a just transition in the draft climate Bill. We hope we can amend and strengthen that on Committee and subsequent Stages. There is little faith that it will be strengthened. I want to highlight what happened in Lough Boora last week. A local man, Pat Barrett, built up a bike rental business over the past decade. A contract has now been awarded to a Dublin company by …

Young people with families who are looking to buy a home are absolutely furious over the increasing number of homes being snapped up by outside investment funds and REITs, or so-called cuckoo funds. Fianna Fáil campaigned very strongly in 2019, in advance of the general election, to clamp down on cuckoo funds. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, committed to changing the law to block them from snapping up new developments. Round Hill Capital bought 135 homes in Mullen Pa…

Second-hand homes are being snapped up as well.

It is deeply regrettable that this item of business is getting off to such a poor start. The requests at the Business Committee last week, in the Dáil yesterday and again today, and in the contribution of Deputy Ó Broin and subsequent contributions to follow, including mine, were and are perfectly reasonable. The Minister of State stated that this has been the longest consultation in the history of the State. What would another week have cost in that context? We have committees that are dying to do proper work and …

I will speak in a moment about the impact the pandemic has had particularly on children with autism. However, one aspect of the Minister of State's speech leapt out at me as being very positive. It reminded me of a conversation I had with a friend of mine whose son has autism. It was some years ago around 2014 when I had just become a councillor. He asked me, as someone with vim, vigour and gusto just starting out in public life, what I would do to assist those with autism. I asked him about his experience and he s…

The Labour Party and our housing spokesperson, Senator Moynihan, thank the USI for all the work it has put into this Bill. We also thank Deputies Ó Broin and Conway-Walsh for putting Second Stage of the Bill on the clár. It is most welcome to hear the Minister indicate the Bill will pass to Committee Stage. There is cross-party consensus that it is something that needs to be done. We have known for years that students have been absolutely rinsed in terms of rent. However, what the pandemic has brought to the fore i…

The points raised in respect of this matter reflect the discussion that took place at the Business Committee, the emails among members of that committee and what has already been stated here. This is a reasonable request from parliamentarians who are committed to scrutiny of legislation, etc. The Taoiseach knows it is the right thing to do. I ask him to listen to the Opposition and the committees on this, to pause and to remove it from the Order Paper for tomorrow.

It is clear that one of the impacts of Covid will be changes in work practices that will last long after the pandemic has ended. This is something I have campaigned on in recent years, representing a commuter area and county in Fingal. The Government has launched a remote working strategy and it is clear working from home and working from local community hubs will be the norm. However, we will need policies that support workers in that. One relates to the taxsaver annual ticket. The cost of an annual taxsaver ticke…

I ask that every effort be made to allow this Bill to go forward on Second Stage. This has been a long time coming and has gone through detailed pre-legislative scrutiny. There is a very significant appetite for this. There is still a long way for this to go and a great deal to be done on this issue. I ask most sincerely that Second Stage be allowed to continue. I thank the House.

I am delighted to have just received a written copy of the Minister's contribution because, unfortunately, I did not get to hear a large part of it. From what I did hear, the Bill means an awful lot to the Minister and the Green Party, and that needs to be acknowledged. This is a big piece of work and it is clear from his opening contribution that this, while not the culmination because there is much work ahead, is a big moment for him and his party. It is great finally to have an opportunity to speak to the Bill o…

I want to raise a point of order. This is happening yet again.

People are taking the mickey.

On a point of order-----

Deputies are absolutely abusing the process-----