I listened to the Minister for housing earlier and if ever there was an example of a Minister out of touch with the lived realities of homeowners and tenants impacted by defective concrete blocks and building materials, that was it. My God, he clearly has no understanding of the reality that people who represent these counties are articulating today. Given that it has been 15 long years since homeowners and tenants first brought this to Government's attention, it highlights a callous disregard and a lack of urgent …

That is not true.

It did.

And from the Housing Commission.

And it is still going to miss its target. That is brilliant.

They do under this Government.

In the lifetime of the Government.

Hear, hear.

As the Minister knows, Sinn Féin will be supporting this legislation. I thank the officials from his Department for the very detailed briefing they provided to committee members on both the Bill and wider issues around AHB strategy and reform. It is a single-sentence Bill, so there is not an awful lot to discuss in terms of its explicit content. However, given that it is related to the funding of AHBs and, potentially, local authorities, I want to make some general comments on how that funding is used in order to c…

As the Minister knows, homelessness is at the highest level since modern records began. Over 16,000 people, including 5,000 children are officially categorised as homeless and in emergency accommodation funded by the Department. Astonishingly, neither the Minister for Finance nor the Minister for public expenditure and reform even referenced homelessness yesterday. The budget book simply references an increase for emergency accommodation, hardly a sign of success. Will the Minister outline the actions he intends to…

Yesterday, in response to the budget, Focus Ireland said: "Budget 2026 has failed to deliver for the record number of over 16,350 people now homeless as the Government did not take any decisive action on housing to help the most vulnerable in society." The Simon Communities of Ireland in a similar vein said: "It is deeply disappointing that yet again there was no mention of homeless prevention and homelessness remains invisible within the budget and also in the ever-present conversation around housing". We know las…

The Simon Communities of Ireland went on to say yesterday, “The measures announced today will do nothing to reduce the numbers of people being forced to experience the trauma of homelessness.” What it is saying and what I want the Minister to respond to is, of the €235 million of additional funding for homeless services on the allocation to date of this year, how much will be spent on new homeless prevention or homeless exits or is that money simply a reflection of what the Government is actually going to spend thi…

The programme for Government had a clear commitment to progressively increase the renters' tax credit. Obviously, that promise was broken in yesterday's budget and as a consequence the vast majority if not all of the renters' tax credit will be swallowed up by rental increases based on the most recent data from Daft. Likewise, an increasing number of people who apply for cost rental projects are refused access because they do not meet the affordability test. They earn too much to be eligible for social housing but …

Average rents for new tenants increased by over €1,000 last year and for existing renters by almost €800. Despite the Government's renter's tax credit, the majority of renters will either be worse off or marginally better off. When we change the legislation, however, those rent increases are going to be even more dramatic for people who move tenancy or enter into a new tenancy. One thing the Minister could do is to retrospectively apply his decision to exempt corporation tax on cost rentals to the 1,200 existing LD…

Prospectively or retrospectively? Apologies; I am not heckling.

So they will not apply to existing tenancies.

The potential saving for a cost-rental tenant paying an average rent of €1,500 per month would be €225. That is €2,700 a year. I hope that he would insist rather than expect that the LDA provides that. Equally, the VAT reductions on apartments could also be a helpful way for reducing the rent if the VAT reduction is passed on to the AHB or LDA through Project Tosaigh or forward purchase. Is the Minister going to insist that the €20,000 or so reduction in costs to a developer will be passed on to any AHB or the LDA …

Will the cost reductions to the developers be passed on to the LDA, yes or no?

This is the tenth budget I have had the opportunity to respond to as the Sinn Féin spokesperson on housing. In every single year, the Minister for housing presents a budget and tells us it will address and improve the housing situation across the State. In the 12 months that follow, house prices, rents and homelessness rise, and social and affordable housing targets that are too low to begin with are not met. Of the ten budgets I have digested since first being elected to the Dáil, in respect of housing, this is by…

I want to address Financial Resolution No. 4. I have to say I am not surprised that none of the Ministers from the relevant Department are here to defend it because it is quite clear they were not in favour of the introduction of this particular policy measure. There is no doubt there is a challenge in terms of affordability and viability but the suggestion that a reduction in VAT on new apartment purchases, from 13.5% to 9%, would do anything to address either of those issues is absolutely absurd. In fact, it show…