The Minister's predecessor had a terrible habit of refusing to answer very reasonable questions from the Opposition during Priority Questions. I had hoped that the Minister would not repeat that pattern. Unfortunately, he has done so just now. He has failed to address the question. There was not a perfectly normal situation at the end of last year. We know that because the local authorities, approved housing bodies and building contractors and developers have told us that. There was a huge delay in anything up to 5…

The additional €450 million of capital approved by Cabinet still means the total capital expenditure for social and affordable homes this year is less than the total outturn last year. It is an improved situation but it is not a better situation. To be clear, is the Minister telling me that a majority of those 3,000 units have completed all of the processes with the Department and the relevant local authorities and approved housing bodies have been notified? Is he also saying that all of those 3,000 units will have…

Can the Minister tell us, if he has the figures, the final outturn for the affordable housing schemes delivered by local authorities, approved housing bodies and the Land Development Agency in 2024? Does he share my concern about the low output of these schemes to date and the increasing unaffordability of both the cost rentals and the affordable purchase units across the State?

Unfortunately, the facts, as provided on the Department's website, flatly contradict the Minister's assessment of the success of these schemes. The target for affordable purchase and affordable cost rental in 2022 was 2,100 units. The Government missed that by 52%. For 2023, the target was 3,500. The Government missed that by 61%. For this year, the target for affordable homes to be delivered by local authorities, approved housing bodies and the LDA is 4,400. At the end of quarter 3, only 1,297 had been delivered a…

Obviously, we will debate that matter when those figures are finally published but given that the Minister is operating from such a low base, to have the best year to date is hardly something to celebrate. Let us look at the affordability in two cost-rental projects, both on public land. In O'Devaney Gardens, the cost of the so-called "affordable" rentals there will be just under €1,500 a month for a one-bed, just under €1,700 a month for a two-bed and almost €1,900 a month for a three-bed. That is substantially ab…

This project has been the subject of considerable debate in this Chamber and of strong cross-party support since it was announced in 2018. There will be further delays. Those delays will be as a result of the imposition of the four-stage approval process by the Department. The four stages include unnecessary design approval, cost appraisal and lengthy procurement. We argued with Darragh O'Brien previously that this could be used as a pilot to run those approvals in parallel with tendering and procurement. We stated…

I welcome the new Deputy's strong opposition to the introduction of this unjustified charge. I just want to let him know that in a matter of weeks we will table legislation - to be debated in this House - to remove Part 2 of the Water Services Act 2017 to ensure that neither this nor a future Government can introduce such a charge. I very much look forward to the Deputy's and the Minister's strong support for removing that Part from the original legislation. We simply do not trust his Government on this issue. Howe…

We voted against the Government legislation.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — under significant pressure from the Opposition, the Government reopened the Social Housing Tenant in-Situ Scheme in 2022, and, following further pressure from the Opposition, provided much needed flexibility in the operation of the scheme in 2023; — since April 2023, more than 2,500 households have been prevented from becoming homeless because of the scheme; — 16,546 notices of termination were issued to private rental tenants last year, with more than half of those on the g…

As the Minister knows, last year, more than 16,000 eviction notices were issued by landlords to tenants in the private rental sector and more than half of those eviction notices were on grounds of sale. The sale of property is the single largest driver of homelessness for families, couples, singles and pensioners. As a consequence, in the past year alone, the number of people in emergency accommodation funded by the Department has increased by a significant 13%. We have never had as many adults and children, single…

The concern - and it is a genuine concern - that has motivated us in bringing forward this Private Members' motion is that the capital funding announced by the Minister's Department to date, and the new restrictive eligibility criteria, will result in fewer tenant in situ purchases this year than last year, even if the demand is the same. That is the central concern here. The total capital allocation of €325 million, as the Minister said, is across four acquisition streams. That funding, at current average acquisit…

On behalf of Sinn Féin, I thank the individual members of the commission and its secretariat and all those other individuals and professionals who assisted it in its work over the two and a half years. This is, as the Minister of State said, an incredibly significant piece of work. It is on a par with the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, Housing in Ireland 2005 report. It is a benchmark piece of work which I would like to think all of us will return to on a regular basis as a source of ideas as well as n…

Hear, hear.

The Minister should be here. This is unprecedented.

I thank the Social Democrats for tabling this very important Private Members' motion. Sinn Féin is happy to support it. As is often the case in these debates, there are some policy details where we have differences of emphasis but we fully support its spirit, and on that basis we are opposing the Government's amendment. This really is unprecedented. The line Minister was not available last week; he was at Cabinet. That is fair enough, but he did not have the courtesy to notify the sponsors of the Labour Party motio…

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

Not true. At least they could afford the houses, unlike under the Government's policy.

But we told you this was going to happen. You ignored our advice.