When the Land Development Agency, LDA, was being established in 2018, Fine Gael repeatedly said that it would be a game changer. We were told that 150,000 new homes would be built over 20 years and that sites had already been earmarked for 10,000. It was reported at the time that the first of these homes would be delivered in 2020. Many of these accolades concerning the LDA came from the Taoiseach. He said that the agency would be staffed by people with a proven track record in delivering homes and that it would hi…

The Taoiseach saying that they are under construction now - five years later - reinforces the point I was trying to make. It is five years later. The LDA is not exactly hitting the ground running. That literally reinforces the point I made. The Taoiseach said that we all need to understand that it takes time. I understand that. The point I am making is that Fine Gael has been in government for 12 years. How much time does the Taoiseach want? The Government's attacks have become as predictable as they are weak. Ever…

When does the Taoiseach think it all began to go wrong? When did his housing policy begin to unravel? Was it in 2014 when Fine Gael first promised to tackle the housing crisis? Was it in 2015 when just 75 social homes were built by local authorities, the lowest figure in the history of the State? Was it in 2016 when Fine Gael promised to end the use of hotels to house homeless people within one year? Was it in 2017 when Fine Gael introduced strategic housing developments that bypassed local planning and broke An Bo…

Will the Taoiseach clarify when it all went wrong? When did the Government's housing policy begin to unravel?

I do not know who the Taoiseach is trying to kid. Is it the Opposition, the electorate or himself? He told us recently we had turned a corner on housing, but we have been listening to him say that since 2014. It is nine years of turning corners. It should be clear to the Taoiseach by now that he is not turning corners but blatantly going around in circles. For nearly a decade, the Taoiseach claimed to have the answers to the housing disaster. Every year, for years, he says things are about to improve, people just n…

There has been a concerted effort by the Government to downplay the significance of the Dáil vote on the eviction ban as meaningless. Government representatives have been trotting out the same line. They say that the result is not binding so it does not really matter. I can assure the Taoiseach that the vote is highly significant for the many thousands of families who are facing imminent eviction, it is highly significant for the children who will grow up in homelessness and it is highly significant for elderly peo…

So the Taoiseach will not extend it if everyone votes-----

It is fair to say that despite a long tradition of wool produce in Ireland, the wool sector has been significantly underappreciated and undervalued in recent times. Instead of having a robust and innovative rural sector, low prices and other uncertainties and Government policies have negatively impacted on sheep farmers and the wool industry. I recognise the progress made with the feasibility report and the wool council, but what measures is the Minister of State putting in place to support the sector?

I thank the Minister of State. I acknowledge the progress that has been made in this area. There is a more positive outlook, but we still have a long way to go before wool can be a strong contributor to rural economies. Besides woolen products, there is considerable potential for its use in insulation, fertiliser, packing and horticulture. Given its versatility and former abundance in Ireland, especially in the west, the current state of the sector is a clear sign of policies that are not working. However, last yea…

Farmers and their representative organisations recognise the importance of the wool council and the feasibility study. They have also warned that what is proposed needs to be supported and driven by the Government in conjunction with them. Action in respect of the various short-term goals is obviously crucial at this point. Will the Minister of State elaborate on the measures she is putting in place to support the develop of co-operatives? The feasibility study stresses that there is significant merit in the co-ope…

Deputy Neasa Hourigan said that Green Party values were not represented when the coalition leaders agreed to lift the eviction ban. Were Fianna Fáil values represented in the room when the coalition leaders took that decision? This may seem like a redundant question given that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is a member of Fianna Fáil, but I believe that people, including the Tánaiste's own supporters, would like to know. How is it that Fianna Fáil, which is rightly …

I should not need to remind the Tánaiste that he is in government, and not the Social Democrats. The Tánaiste talks about the things we oppose. Imagine if we had supported the Government's decisions on housing. That is what has led us here. We opposed the Government's decisions because we believe they are wrong. It is not about what we think. The evidence is in the number of people who are homeless. There are 12,000 people homeless and we are looking at an additional 3,000 homes gone in three weeks' time. We do not…

We do.

Today is International Women’s Day. We know that women disproportionately adopt caring duties in the home. We also know the State's supports for carers are utterly threadbare. There are now 700 vacant posts in the children's disability network teams, CDNTs. Not one of those teams is fully staffed. Despite all the promises made by the Government to improve services, fewer therapy hours were delivered last year compared with the year before. The situation is getting worse, not better. Children with disabilities, and …

There are 700 vacant posts.

I also wish everyone a happy International Women's Day. Although this annual session for International Women’s Day is a welcome chance to highlight the issues impacting girls and women, I have to wonder if I could just dust off last year’s speech and give it again. What has changed in the meantime? The Government’s announcement of the referendum on removing the constitutional reference to a woman’s place being in the home says it all. Is this the kind of great, meaningful act for International Women’s Day? It is in…

It is unbearable sitting here listening to the Taoiseach trying to defend the indefensible: the Government's decision to lift the ban on evictions in the middle of a housing emergency. The Government has now potentially condemned thousands of individuals and families to homelessness. There is nowhere for them to go when they leave their homes. There is no affordable private rental accommodation anywhere in the country. Emergency accommodation is full. Hotels are full. Bed and breakfast accommodation is full. There …

It is quite telling that the Taoiseach is reduced to trying to blame the Opposition consistently for a housing disaster that has exploded during his 13 years in office. Is that really the best he can do? I know I am new to this but I think being a leader is about taking responsibility for the things that have happened on your watch. The Taoiseach said the Government had weighed up the pros and cons and, on balance, had decided to take this decision. We have heard a lot about the knowns and the unknowns in recent we…

I asked a question.

Thank you very much, a Cheann Comhairle. I am a member of the first ever generation who will be worse off than our parents. This did not happen by accident. Political choices made by successive Governments have resulted in the aspirations and dreams of an entire generation being either diminished or destroyed. Nowhere is the political betrayal of young people more evident than in the housing disaster. Skyrocketing rents and exorbitant house prices have resulted in the collapse of homeownership rates. We are now at …