It is okay.

I thank the Minister for his opening remarks. As I am sure he knows, Sinn Féin will not be opposing the Bill. We certainly feel that the proposed changes to the registration regime for approved housing bodies are necessary and appropriately drafted, and need to be introduced as a matter of urgency. It was on that basis that our committee unanimously agreed to waive pre-legislative scrutiny, although a number of us had some concerns with respect to the second half of the Bill, which I will come to in a moment. I tha…

I watched the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and his Ministers of State give their budget press conference yesterday. I do not think I have ever seen the Minister look so uncomfortable. He appeared not only deflated but at some points even defeated. He was almost like a man who did not want to be there, which was not unlike his very brief presence today in the Chamber. When we look at what happened yesterday, it is hardly surprising that the Minister was so uncomfortable. Billions of euro in additional expenditure were …

It is almost two years since the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, made a commitment to introduce an interim fire safety remediation scheme for people impacted by Celtic tiger-era defects. That scheme opened almost a year ago. As the Minister knows, it has beset by significant delays, many of which, in my view, are of the Minister’s making. Can the Minister give an update on where the interim scheme is, the total number of applicants and the total number of eligible homes? Crucially, can he confirm whether any multi-unit d…

Like the Minister, I meet many of the affected homeowners and tenants in these properties. They have been enormously frustrated by the significant delays which would have been entirely avoidable had the Minister and his officials taken on board the detailed advice from Dublin Fire Brigade and others last year and early this year, rather than leaving it to the last minute in June, July and August of this year. I have one follow-up question. Obviously, one challenge to emerge over the summer is that some of the schem…

With respect to the wider redress scheme, we are very keen to see the general scheme. We will engage on it constructively, as we have done previously. On the basis of the press release the Minister issued, he has made a huge mistake. A grant scheme to owners' management companies to fund very complex remediation works in multi-unit developments is a mistake. If I am reading the press release wrong, the Minister should please correct me, but it seems he is following the flawed methodology of the defective block gran…

Is it a grant scheme?

But is it a grant scheme related to the OMCs?

As the Minister knows, the figures published at the end of August for July show yet again an increase in the numbers of adults and children, including single people and pensioners, in emergency accommodation. Month after month, we see these increases. What the Minister is doing is not only not fixing the problem but also making it worse. What new initiatives does he intend to introduce in the coming months to start getting a grip on a crisis that he has not yet tackled since becoming Minister?

Yet, month after month, the number of adults and children, including pensioners, families and single people, in emergency accommodation has increased under the Minister's watch. In May 2021, the low point of homelessness as a result of the emergency measures introduced during the Covid pandemic by the Minister's predecessor, we had 5,843 adults and 2,184 children officially recognised as homeless. In July of this year, that shot up to 10,028 adults and 4,401 children. That is an 80% increase in overall homelessness…

I always get very concerned when I hear the Minister and others say homelessness is a very complex problem, because sometimes it can be interpreted as code for saying it is the fault of the people experiencing homelessness rather than a failure of the Government to meet their housing needs.

The tenants in situ circular the Department issued is restricting the numbers, capping the ability of local authorities to acquire more properties, particularly in large urban areas, and making it more difficult for approved housing bodies to purchase properties that are vacant to meet the needs of one- and four-bed households, whose members spend longer in emergency accommodation. The Minister is correct that exits were marginally up last year by comparison with the year before, but they have been down overall in …

It is in the circular.

There is nothing new.

The numbers continue to rise.

I fully support Deputy Ó Cathasaigh. As the Minister of State knows, this is an issue that we have raised regularly in the committee. "Frustrating" is probably an understatement. We were led to believe at an earlier stage that the legislation was nearly ready to go at the end of last year. Now, we are hearing that it has not even been completed. Even if it is published before Christmas, it will not be passed until next year. We then have a year to two years for the designation process. All the while, there will be …

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle-----

I will continue the conversation about the tenant in situ scheme because the information both the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, have presented is not the same as the information given to local authorities in the circular of June this year. There is a cap - it is 50% above the targets that have been set for local authorities. Anything above the 50% cap must be submitted individually to the Department for sanction and that currently takes months. There are also other restrictions in the circular …

For example, they tell us that the first instance focus on prevention and the requirement that all other options have to be exhausted will create further delays.

This is hugely restrictive and it is a change.