If I was concerned about the new Government and new Minister before tonight's speech, I am even more concerned having listened to his words. Nothing in the speech from the Minister or the Minister of State would not have been said by Deputy Eoghan Murphy in this Chamber only a matter of weeks ago. The former Minister may not be here in person but his spirit is very much alive and well on the Government's benches. Let us unpick some of the claims. The serviced sites fund is a good fund but it is not being used prope…

Vótáil.

As other Members have said, racism exists in Ireland, but it is important to state that it is not a new problem. I remember as a teenager watching an English television drama set on a building site in London. At the height of an argument between an old Irish navvy and young black British brickie, the Irish lad said without a trace of irony to the British lad, "Why don't you go back to where you came from?". That one sentence encapsulates the very heart of racism - the idea that someone does not belong, is not from …

I am sharing time with Deputies Gould, Ward and Paul Donnelly. I am taking six minutes of that time, three of which I will give to the Minister of State to answer questions, if that is okay with my colleagues. They will look after their own time. I will ask three brief questions before I ask climate-related questions that are relevant to the Minister of State's Department. I am aware that either this week or next week, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, intends to bring to Cabinet a proposal to extend the ban on r…

Deputy Durkan has obviously defected from Fine Gael.

It is only Ministers who are involved in the spin.

I have three specific questions, two of which relate to the topic in question, while one is more general. With respect to the response of the Minister's Department and the taxi regulator to the taxi industry, most Deputies hear much concern expressed by taxi drivers about the lack of any active support, especially for those who may be able to return to work at a later stage in the Government's exit strategy but will not be able to work full time because of a lack of available opportunities. Will the Minister outlin…

As the Minister knows, a disproportionate number of people who have lost their jobs and are on the pandemic unemployment payment are renters, who are often very young and working in sectors of the economy that are unlikely to recover until the end of this year or early next year. I note in the Estimate that there is an increase in the rent supplement allocation to €164.6 million. That is a 24% increase on the total expenditure on rent supplement last year which was, according to a parliamentary question reply from …

There are six or seven vacant spaces.

It is the number of Members in total. This is a distraction. Please, Chair.

When the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, was last in front of this House, he talked about a package worth about €0.5 billion to assist in dealing with the rates funding crisis. We have since learned that half of that money is not guaranteed to offset the rates cost because the local authority start-up grant will not be required to be used to offset rates, either through a waiver or a direct payment by the relevant businesses. This means there is already a shortfall from what we were originally told about. No member…

But the Minister of State is not guaranteeing 100%.

As I have said, the Minister of State does not understand the difficulty the local authorities are in or the position of the County and City Management Association, CCMA. The CCMA was of the understanding that there was a pot of approximately €500 million which would get them over the first three months - that is the €260 million - but also that they could plan for the future because they expected that the €250 million from the start-up grant would be used as either a direct rates waiver or a contribution towards r…

I want the Minister to withdraw the mandatory ministerial planning guidelines that allow for co-living. That is something he can do.

That is a separate matter.

I will take five minutes and give the Minister five minutes in which to respond, if that is acceptable. I will then take a further minute, and then my colleague Deputy Guirke will take his four minutes. I will proceed straight to the questions. Many renters and landlords were hoping the Minister would have announced the extension of the ban on evictions, notices to quit and rent increases. I appreciate these are important decisions, but given the 100-day exit plan the Government has announced and the fact that many…

I thank the Minister for his answers to which I will respond. He missed two questions, one of which is really important. We have a situation in Dublin where single men in particular are seeking to present as homeless. They are not able to access assessments in a timely manner and they are not able to access emergency accommodation and, therefore, they are being forced to sleep rough for periods of time. Some of these people may not have presented to homeless services before. Some of them may have come from other lo…

I give him that commitment.

I start by offering my deepest condolences to families who have lost loved ones to Covid-19. My thoughts are with all of those people who are sick or unwell, be they self-isolating or in hospital. Like other Deputies, I express my sincerest thanks not only to all of the outstanding health and emergency workers but to all of those other people, be they in the public service or private sector, who are keeping our economy and society moving - people like retail workers, delivery workers, taxi drivers, local authority …

I will be brief. I support amendments Nos. 6 and 7, but I oppose amendment No. 8. While I agree completely with its intention, my genuine worry is that if, for some reason, the Oireachtas cannot meet in three months, then the proposed measures to protect renters will fall. While we may have a Government, my bigger worry is that we do not know what is going to happen with the pandemic. We cannot have a situation in three months where, if it is not possible for us to meet physically for a session, these valuable meas…