I thank the Minister for his outline of what the Bill involves. By way of a general comment, rushed planning legislation, unfortunately, often leads to bad planning outcomes. Too often in previous years we have seen very complex and technical changes introduced at the last minute to already very complex planning and development legislation, the outcome of which has been to make our planning system more complex and cumbersome and less participative than it should be. I have to say, and I will explain why in a moment…

That is perfect. I would like more information from the Minister on what could be the maximum extension. This would be helpful. On the extension of planning permission, I do not think there is a Deputy in the House who wants to disadvantage in any way building sites, particularly those involving residential construction, that have been forced to close because of public health guidelines. I am concerned, however, about the two-year extension and a blanket extension. I thought it would have been much more effective f…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — on 9th April, 2019, An Board Pleanála approved Dublin City Council’s (DCC) Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) Planning Scheme for Poolbeg West; — following years of campaigning by the Irish Glass Bottle Housing Action Group and communities in Ringsend and Irishtown, Dublin City Councillors ensured the SDZ plan included 15 per cent affordable housing, above the 10 per cent social housing required under Part V of the Planning and Development Act 2000; — the SDZ provides for betw…

One of the reasons it is so important to get that extra 15% is because house prices in this part of the city have increased more dramatically than in many other places, as the Minister is aware. There are families who have lived in that part of the city for three or four generations and whose children simply cannot afford to rent or buy there, and who do not have any prospect of renting or buying in or close to the communities in which they live, work, play and socialise. The delivery of these homes, therefore, is …

I thank the Minister of State for his remarks. The Irish Glass Bottle Housing Action Group was formed in 2016. It has been campaigning vigorously and has secured cross-party and widespread community support during that time. For the five years of that campaign, Fine Gael has been in government and in charge of housing for most of that time. What really galls many people in the affected communities is that the State had an opportunity to buy this land at a discount. This would have guaranteed greater affordability b…

Yes.

Figures from the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, show within the last ten months 3,810 rent arrears warning notices have been issued and 1,122 notices to quit. Given that the general ban on evictions ended on 22 April 2021, there is a genuine concern that many of these tenants could end up losing their homes and becoming homeless. I ask the Minister to outline what he is going to do to ensure that this very specific group of tenants is protected in order that we do not see a rise in homelessness, and particularly…

My question was very specific. While the information that the Minister has provided is very interesting, it does not actually address the question. I look forward to him addressing the question in his response. The problem is as follows. The homeless figures for April 2021 show, for the first time in a long time, an increase in the number of families with children in emergency accommodation. We know that the single largest cause of family homelessness is landlords issuing vacant possession notices to quit. In fact,…

Again, the Minister did not answer the very specific question. The single biggest cause of the dramatic drop in family homelessness in the last year was the blanket ban on evictions. One of the first acts of Deputy O'Brien as Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage was to end that blanket ban. It was reintroduced when level 5 restrictions returned, but it ended again on 22 April 2021. That means that if landlords continue to issue vacant possession notices to quit and others, we could see a month-on-mon…

On Sunday, writing in the Mail on Sunday , John Drennan included a startling revelation. Apparently, a high-level memorandum from senior civil servants to the Cabinet sub-committee on housing said that the 33,000 new home completions that will be in the housing for all strategy will not be met until 2025. I do not expect the Minister to confirm or deny the content of a confidential memorandum to a Cabinet sub-committee but could he tell the House when he believes the target of 33,000 public and private home complet…

Hopefully the Mail on Sunday will let me write a critique of the Minister's plan and I can sing its praises or highlight its weaknesses, depending on its content. For the second time today, the Minister has not answered the question, which was a simple one. When does the Minister believe we will reach the 33,000 new home completions target that will be in his strategy? If he will not answer that, will he tease out his last comments by confirming whether there will be targets for social housing and, crucially, affor…

Sinn Féin makes no apology for opposing sweetheart land deals for developers that will see 50% to 70% of the homes on public land sold at prices over €400,000. That is bad housing policy and reckless use of a public resource. I remind the Minister that Members of his party sided with Sinn Féin and the Social Democrats in opposing the appalling sweetheart land deal in Oscar Traynor Road. Despite the fact the Minister has been given an alternative proposal supported by a majority of councillors on Dublin City Council…

This week's Central Statistics Office, CSO, pulse survey makes for grim reading. Some 76% of people sharing rented accommodation do not believe they will ever own their own home. Tens of thousands of people are locked out of home ownership, trapped in over-priced rental accommodation or forced to move back home with their parents, who are beside themselves with worry that their children will ever own their own home. Young couples are unable to save for a deposit because of sky-high rents, and single people are pric…

If ever there was a lesson in Orwellian doublespeak and dishonesty, we have just heard it from the Tánaiste. The key problem is that almost every single policy this Government has introduced has pushed up house prices and rents. The help-to-buy scheme pushed up house prices. Rent pressure zones, RPZs, pushed up rental costs. The shared equity loan scheme, which we will debate later today, has been criticised by everybody, including councillors in the Tánaiste's own party. Sinn Féin is the only large party on the fl…

I did not ask about social housing. I asked about public housing, and surely the Tánaiste understands the difference between the two.

We deliver 4,000 affordable purchase homes per year. How many has the Tánaiste delivered?

How many has the Tánaiste delivered?

We deliver 4,000 affordable purchase homes annually.

We want affordable homes for working people, and not tax breaks for big landlords and sweetheart land deals for developers.

Yesterday we heard that the Tánaiste's Cabinet colleague, the Minister, Deputy Harris, suggested that alternative sites were being examined for the future national maternity hospital. Tallaght, in particular, was mentioned as a possibility. Can the Tánaiste confirm whether the Government is indeed looking at alternative sites and, if it is, which sites, and what stage is that at? If an alternative site was to be chosen, how long would it delay the project? Will the Tánaiste confirm, so we are all crystal clear on i…