That is thanks to the Minister.

All those families-----

This is not a joke. Some 3,000 children are homeless.

The Minister gave up on those children.

Apologies.

Hear, hear.

I thank the Minister of State for his response. The problem is that there is a void at the very heart of the Government's housing plan, which is the lack of an ambitious public housing delivery programme, based on the level of need that is out there. Even if the Government meets its social and affordable housing targets, which I do not believe it will, it will come nowhere close to meeting existing needs, let alone growing, emerging and future needs. The reason I do not believe the Government will meet its targets …

I thank the Minister of State. Sinn Féin will support the motion. The issue the motion relates to and the directive itself are enormously important in having an EU-wide set of minimum standards for protecting individuals, journalists, human rights advocates and, more particularly, residents' associations, and environmental and non-governmental organisations, which is vital. Given the limitation or weakness of the EU directive, namely, that it applies primarily to transboundary or cross-border strategic litigations,…

I will make no apology for this. It is in the public domain, it has been reported in the newspapers and it is a matter before the courts. These are precisely the kind of cases - I will not name any individuals - where company names have been reported in the public domain. I want to repeat them in the Chamber. I will not go beyond anything that is in the public domain, if that is okay. Cosgrave's has initiated a strategic litigation against the owners' management company, OMC. It is trying to bankrupt that OMC and d…

I thank the Minister for his opening remarks. Despite the rather technical and dry nature of this legislation, it is important to remind the House that it has the potential to have profound impacts on the lives of entire communities. We have spoken previously, when we dealt with the predecessor to this legislation and the general scheme of this Bill, about Derrybrien. It is probably one of the most egregious cases we know of. The inadequacies of our planning system and the poor behaviour of a State agency led to a …

I move amendment No. 5: In page 6, line 18, to delete “both” and substitute “these". My colleagues and I object in the strongest possible terms to the way in which Committee Stage of this legislation is being rammed through today. The pre-legislative scrutiny phase was truncated. Committee members did everything we could to ensure some level of scrutiny of the Bill. We had to submit amendments before the legislation was debated on Second Stage, which is highly irregular, and have been given just two hours today to …

I move amendment No. 7: In page 6, to delete line 24 and substitute the following: “ “dwelling” means any property prescribed as such by the Minister by way of regulations;”. This is another one of those amendments that is of a technical nature. It inserts into the definitions section a different definition of "dwelling". One of the many concerns that homeowners have is that the definition of "dwelling" in the Bill and the subsequent regulations is too restrictive. Apartments, duplexes, nursing homes, other congreg…

On a point of order-----

I move amendment No. 9: In page 6, between lines 24 and 25, to insert the following: “ “foundations” means the lowest load-bearing part of a building, typically below ground level;”. The Minister finished off with respect to foundations. The problem is that the NSAI will not conclude that work until the first or second quarter of next year. That is assuming it meets the deadline for its research on foundations. In the meantime, this scheme will open. People will apply, if this Bill passes unamended, as outlined in …

I move amendment No. 11: In page 7, between lines 25 and 26, to insert the following: “ Reports 4 . The Minister may within a year of the commencement of this Act, commission and publish reports on the following matters: (a) the enforcement of construction product surveillance in the construction industry and measures taken to strengthen such enforcement to ensure full compliance with all relevant standards and regulations; (b) the enforcement of all relevant construction industry and environmental standards in qua…

I move amendment No. 19: In page 9, between lines 16 and 17, to insert the following: “(16) The Minister shall request the National Standards Authority of Ireland to complete the review of I.S. 465:2018, in a timely manner and as far as is possible to ensure that that review is completed in time for the opening of the Defective Concrete Block Scheme as provided for in this Act.”. The Minister and his officials explained both at the special hearings of the committee and on Second Stage that the NSAI had been asked t…

The Minister made a claim that this scheme will provide 100% redress for homeowners. That is not true on the basis of the current framing of the scheme. That is the case because the costings underpinning the scheme, on the basis of the legislation in front of us, were made by the SCSI in January, and the terms of reference were made by the Minister and the Department, not the SCSI. Unless this amendment is passed and unless the Minister requests the SCSI to update those costings in advance of the opening of the enh…

Hear, hear.

It would be nice if the Minister spoke to the amendment.

I welcome homeowners from Clare, Limerick, Mayo, Sligo and Donegal, who are in the Gallery today. I commend all of them, and all affected homeowners, many of whom have been campaigning for a decade. In particular, I commend them on the incredibly intense level of campaigning over the past 12 months, on the streets and on social media, and their engagement with the Minister and his officials, as well as the Opposition. Having listened very carefully to the Minister, it is clear there is a growing gap between what he…