The Minister does not have the answer today.

The Minister just will not give it to us.

It is ten months since the publication of the report of the working group on defective buildings. Will the Minister give the House an update on the progress of the establishment of the redress scheme for those homeowners? More particularly, will he give us information on what is happening with emergency funding for mitigation measures, the timeline for the publication of the legislation and when he expects the scheme to be open? Can he give us any update on his engagement with the insurance industry on that aspect …

This is an issue on which we want to work with the Minister.

All of us in opposition want to do that, but there is enormous frustration, not just on this side of the House but among homeowners living with the reality of defects in apartments, duplexes and houses. Some of those homeowners are now staging a protest outside the Dáil every week, not just from Citywest but from Ennis and elsewhere. While we understand the legislation has to be done right and there has to be technical groundwork, there are people today who want to do remediation work but are nervous about doing it…

My concern is that much of what the Minister has said is similar to what he said the last time I raised this issue at the end of last year. There was actually an expectation and inference from him that some of the funding for mitigation measures, which could include fire wardens or emergency remediation work could be available in early 2023. That has not transpired. Likewise, for example, the Minister originally told us that the enhanced defective blocks scheme would be open at the end of last year and then early t…

It is because it pushes up house prices. The Minister knows the answer.

None.

I have a technical question. In a response on this issue earlier, the Minister indicated that the cost-rental subsidy would be available to approved housing bodies. He has not said that before so is that the case? Second, does the Government envisage on certain projects a combination of the cost-rental subsidy and, for example, the affordable housing fund, AHF, or the CREL to increase the subsidy? I am thinking, in particular, of Poolbeg. Is that in the Minister's thinking in respect of the cost-rental subsidy sche…

Is it the combination of the two subsidies?

This week, we heard the heartbreaking personal testimony of Micheline Walsh and her husband, Richard. They are in their late 70s, have been overholding for more than a month following an eviction notice and currently have nowhere to go. Micheline was not just highlighting her own case but those of the many older people who are at risk of homelessness and the hundreds of people over 65 who are currently in emergency accommodation. The Minister has said the State has a good record of treating older people with dignit…

I thank the Rural Independent Group for tabling this motion today and allowing us to have a very important debate. Sinn Féin has long argued on the floor of the Dáil and Seanad that the housing crisis is not just an urban phenomenon. It is not just in the cities or the larger towns. It affects every town, village and rural parish in the State. It is important to understand why it is that way. At the very centre of the housing crisis in urban and rural areas is the failure of Government to deliver a sufficient volum…

The Government must do much more on high-grade timber products. We would like to see it do much more and we would like to see its action on that.

The private rental sector is in its deepest crisis in modern history. Since the Government took office, rents have increased by 23% and are now higher than they have ever been at any other point in history. In fact, they are now so high that not only are many people being forced to remain at home with their families into their 30s but couples in their 30s are having to double up in single-family accommodation and put off significant milestones in life, including having children and getting married. Front-line publi…

Hear, hear.

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage had a capital budget underspend of €1 billion between 2020 and 2022; — the primary cause of this underspend is the excessive bureaucracy and red tape imposed by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on local authorities and Approved Housing Bodies; — zero affordable purchase or Cost Rental homes were delivered by this Government in 2020; — zero affordable purchase homes and just 65 Cost Rental homes …

The Government is in its third year and during all of that time house prices, rents and homelessness have increased. As the Government announced yesterday, it has missed its social and affordable housing targets for three years in a row. To come here and say that is evidence that the housing plan is working takes a brass neck beyond belief. Let us remind ourselves of the figures from yesterday. If we look at the social housing figures, including both real social housing built and bought by local authorities and AHB…

That is absolutely not true.

What I said was 100% of affordable housing on public land.

He should not mislead the Dáil.