It is important to remember exactly why the ban on evictions was introduced last November. The Minister knows, given he brought a memo to Cabinet in October that told us there were 19 local authorities with no additional emergency accommodation capacity. It stated that if a ban was not effected, a significant number of single people, couples, parents of children and pensioners would end up with nowhere to go. They would have been forced to sleep rough or present to Garda stations. That is why the ban was introduced…

The central cause of this crisis is the Minister and his policies. Deputy Barry was correct. The Minister will be remembered like some of his predecessors. Some of us are old enough to remember when Margaret Thatcher withdrew free milk from schools in Britain, giving rise to the campaign slogan "Thatcher, Thatcher, milk snatcher". The proposal by John Bruton to introduce VAT on children's shoes almost brought down a Government. That is the Minister's legacy. It is what people will associate with the name Darragh O'…

-----of single people, adults and pensioners. Nothing in what I have heard from the Government today gives me any confidence that, month after month, we will not have rising homelessness figures.

We will be here to remind the Minister because the people he is evicting have come to us for support and for us to be their voice.

Until the Minister is out of office, they will not get the homes they desperately need and rightly deserve.

The Minister acknowledged that the ending of the emergency ban on evictions is likely to lead to an increase in homelessness from April. In the first half of last year 2,700 notices of eviction were issued and we expect that when we get the figures tomorrow and later this month for the second half of last year the total may be 5,000. Given that our emergency accommodation system is almost at breaking point, what is the Minister's contingency plan to deal with the rising level of presentations, both in terms of prev…

The Minister has his head buried deep in the sand. Last year, by his own admission, he missed his social housing targets by 1,500 units. He has underperformed on his target of 9,000. Interestingly, he has not told us anything about affordable housing. As we know, in his own constituency, the properties in Dun Emer have not yet been purchased and with both cost-rental and affordable purchase, he is way behind target but none of that answers the question. In four weeks' time, because of a decision the Minister has ma…

What the Minister seems to believe in is taking decisions that increase the levels of homelessness across the State. He had a choice. He had a choice on Monday and Tuesday to protect tenants from the imminent threat of homelessness or to support landlords. He took the decision to support landlords. That is fine and that is his position but there has been no additional supply over the emergency ban on evictions period. In fact, the Minister missed the previously promised supply targets. Regarding the tenant in situ …

What does the Minister advise people to do in April?

It is a simple question. What does he advise people presenting to local authorities?

There is no plan for April.

That is the question I am asking. What does the Minister advise those families to do? He has not answered that.

Then why is homelessness increasing?

What do those families do in April?

What is the Minister's advice to those families in April?

The Minister has no answer.

He is representing the figures.

I ask the Minister to give us an update on the progress with the redress scheme for homes with Celtic tiger-era defects. Specifically, can he give us an indication of when he hopes to bring forward the legislation to underpin the scheme? Also, possibly more urgently, can he tell us when interim funding for emergency works will be made available? As the Minister knows, since he has met homeowners recently in a number of developments, they are losing their insurance cover and urgently need that interim emergency fund…

I suppose the two specific questions I asked remain unanswered, so I will ask them again. Can the Minister tell us when he hopes to introduce the legislation? Even a ballpark figure in terms of the quarter would be helpful. Can he tell us when that hardship fund will be available for application? People need to know. With respect to retrospection, what certainty will the Minister be able to give to people if they are taking a decision to spend money now on remediation that it will be covered be retrospection? Also,…

The Minister knows we want to work with him on this, notwithstanding differences on detail or other matters. There is a genuine concern. We have seen with the enhanced redress scheme for defective blocks that the legislation was passed in the middle of last year but the scheme will effectively not be open for applicants until the middle of this year. Will we have the same kind of situation with respect to this? I am concerned about a January 2023 date for the start of retrospection. Many people who funded works pri…