I will finish by saying it would not be cost rental if we were to accept the amendments being proposed.

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I commend my colleague on tabling the motion. The joint Oireachtas committee had this discussion in November. We had Wayne Stanley, Rosemary Hennigan, Professor Gerry White and Rebecca Keatinge before the committee. They put forward comprehensive testimony on the importance of this and associated matters. In fairness, committee members put forward many questions. Senator Keogan has touched on the term "adequate housing", which I asked about at the committee meeting. Wha…

I thank the Cathaoirleach and I echo his comments at the outset in relation to Denmark. I had the pleasure of meeting the Danish Ambassador in Waterford. Denmark has close links to my own city of Waterford. It was only last week that we had the announcement of increased shipping capacities between Waterford Port and Amsterdam, which was hugely welcome. In light of the appalling cyber attack on the HSE committed by criminals with no regard for human life, I want to commend our front-line staff around the country, in…

I understand the point Senator Higgins just made, but the reverse also applies in the case of inflation in the market. If a council agrees and fixes a price in 2021, that price is fixed, regardless of whether the unit is delivered in 2022 or 2023. From what has just been suggested, it would seem the Senator wants to have the flexibility to break a contract when a price has been agreed. I can see the point she is making in terms of cases where there is a deflation in the market, but when a contract is agreed at a po…

I appreciate the thrust of what Senator Moynihan is trying to achieve with her amendment but it must be considered in the context of the entire Bill, particularly the affordable purchase and cost-rental schemes. The serviced sites fund is attaching to the affordable purchase scheme. The Minister indicated both in this House and elsewhere that he is looking at revising the services sites fund, particularly for the Dublin area where it costs more to provide houses, which will supplement and reduce the price of housin…

Senator Boyhan touched on what the outcome of accepting the amendments in this group would be. They would result in the State having one hand tied behind its back. In a housing crisis, one cannot go into the sweet shop and say one will only take this bit and that bit. We need to look at absolutely every mechanism possible to deliver homes for the people of this country. Earlier this week, Fingal County Council approved a scheme to deliver 1,200 homes in Donabate. That proposal was opposed by Sinn Féin and the Socia…

I wish to make a final point. In his speech on Second Stage, the Minister stated that we cannot let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We must use all of the tools at our disposal to resolve the housing crisis that we face. Ideology is not going to fix the housing crisis. If we were to take Senator Warfield's suggestion in respect of Fingal, we would go back three or four years. All of the families who would be placed in private, social and affordable homes in that area over that three or four-year period, would…

I echo what Senator Fitzpatrick has said about supporting this in principle. I certainly hope Senator Warfield will take the premise of this when we discuss later amendments. What I have said heretofore is that we have to use any mechanism possible to deliver housing. I have no problem in principle with the premise of what Senator Warfield is suggesting. We must use every delivery mechanism so we are not at a pick and mix in the Affordable Housing Bill.

The net effect of this amendment would be to remove the ability of the LDA to provide affordable homes for people. Senator Boyhan referred to Shanganagh Castle. The LDA is going to break ground on that site this year to provide 597 mixed tenure homes. We will not be able to provide affordable purchase units on that site if this amendment is passed. In the same spirit of co-operation the Government showed in accepting the previous amendment on including co-operative bodies, I ask Senator Warfield to reconsider his d…

To be very clear, this amendment will prevent the LDA from providing affordable homes on State-owned land for affordable housing purchase and cost rental. If this amendment is passed, the 597 homes at Shanganagh Castle cannot proceed. That is what we would be voting for if we passed this amendment. It would be totally irresponsible of us to remove the ability of the Land Development Agency to provide homes on a site that is going to break ground this year. What about all the families waiting to live in those homes?…

As with much of this debate, it comes back to ideology. I will provide Senator Warfield with an example of a public private partnership housing scheme in my area which has been delivered as part of one of the national bundles. It is called Presentation Gardens. People will be getting the keys to those 63 homes in the next few weeks. How can Senator Warfield tell any of those who are getting one, two and three-bedroom homes that public private partnership arrangements are not working? Those people are getting homes …

Can I clarify something? Amendment No. 12 is not in the group, but it was addressed. Can we take it that it was included in the group? Senator Higgins referred to it. The group includes amendments Nos. 10, 11 and 17. Can we take it that amendment No. 12 was included, for the sake of brevity and trying to shorten the process?

Can we take it that it was addressed?

I appreciate what is being attempted with the amendment but, like my colleagues, I believe it does not quite grasp what we are trying to achieve here. The reason I mentioned amendment No. 12 before we broke for lunch is that it should have been in this group. I will not be supporting amendments Nos. 10 and 11 because I support amendment No. 12 as it captures what we are trying to achieve. It is on that basis that I hope amendments Nos. 10 and 11 are not pressed.

I support the thrust of my colleague's amendment. We all want targets in respect of the delivery of affordable housing. If it is not this exact wording, could the Minister of State take on board the thrust of the amendment? What I would like to see is not only local authorities having targets for affordable housing built in but also the targets for the LDA, AHBs and the co-ops that we added to the Bill earlier. -We need to see them broken down in terms of cost-rental and affordable purchase. I support the thrust of…

I welcome the Minister of State. I thank her for her comprehensive response to the motion. I pay tribute to the men and women who serve this country with great diligence, professionalism and bravery day in and day out, 365 days a year, be they with the Air Corps or CHC, which won the contract nearly ten years ago to operate the SAR service for the country. I acknowledge the service personnel who paid the ultimate sacrifice in trying to protect and save lives, in particular the crews of Rescue 111, which crashed in …

At the start of December last year, I raised the plight of the performing arts sector, including dance schools, stage schools and music educators, on the Order of Business. I engaged, as many in this House did, with people outside the gates of Leinster House. Last week, along with my Fine Gael colleagues, we had a meeting with the Performing Arts Educators of Ireland, Comhaltas and the Irish dance sector. Unfortunately, they have been left frustrated and disappointed at the lack of clarity for their industry, which…

I very much appreciate what Senator Higgins is trying to achieve with her amendment but this is about putting in place an appropriate scheme to access finance for SMEs. I want to flag an issue that I have encountered. I will not name it, but I refer to a business involved in the hospitality sector across several counties which has made applications through similar schemes, namely, the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland, SBCI, future growth loan and the Covid credit guarantee scheme. The business was refused b…

I join my colleagues in welcoming the Minister of State to the House and echo their comments on the hard work and dedication he has applied to the role since taking office last year. I too believe he is a very good fit for the role and heritage is a very good fit for him within the Department. We are trying to ensure that we have all the technicalities in place to allow him to exercise his function as Minister of State with responsibility for heritage to the full extent, which I have no doubt he will do. Section 15…

Now.