I thank the Senator for raising this important matter and giving me an opportunity to update the House. I assure the Senator that the Government absolutely recognises the importance of tackling vacancy and dereliction and we continue to be committed to addressing these issues through a range of measures and with the support of all key stakeholders, including our local authorities. In particular, the Government has invested in the provision of dedicated vacant homes officers and town regeneration officers, working w…

I thank the Deputy very much for raising what is a very important issue for the area of Kanturk - an area that the Deputy is exceptionally passionate about. The operation of public wastewater treatment, together with the operational issues locally, are matters for Uisce Éireann, which has statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services, planning, delivery and operational at national, regional and local levels. Neither the Minister, Deputy Browne, nor I have a function in the matters which the Deputy refe…

There are obviously pros and cons to what the Senator is suggesting in respect of removing commercial at ground-floor level. The commercial-to-residential exemption from planning does provide for that but the vacant above-the-shop grant does exactly that by providing for residential units above a commercial unit.

There is no question that our water and wastewater systems require substantial and sustained investment over a number of cycles to be able to bring it up to the quality required for a modern service. On the upgrading of plants, there have been many plants across the county that have been upgraded over the past number of years. I compliment Uisce Éireann for its work in that respect. However, there is a hell of a lot more work to be done. That is why the Government is investing record sums of money in Uisce Éireann.…

That is what we are supporting from a Government perspective. We want the ground-floor retail to remain while utilising that underutilised space above the shop. It is a very significant intervention by the Government to provide up to €135,000 in grant support. There are obviously other schemes, like the repair and lease scheme, that have been used to good effect in areas, particularly in my own city and county of Waterford. The Senator mentioned the derelict property tax, which is progressing with the Tánaiste and …

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter in the House today. As the Deputy knows, the Land Development Agency, LDA, acquired land beside Clongriffin train station from the market with existing permission in 2023. It subsequently sought and was granted approval for a revised planning application, broadly similar to the existing planning which took into account the new objectives and policies in Dublin City Council's development plan 2022-2028. The development on the site has an overall potential for more than 2,00…

I thank the Deputy. Obviously, the successful delivery of projects of this scale are certainly dependent on a number of factors and that includes engagement with the community. Certainly, I know the Deputy would have written to his colleague, the Minister, Deputy Browne, in this respect and I am informed that there has been consultation meetings which have included meetings with local councillors, drop-in clinics for members of the public, meetings held with the community association there, as well as engagement wi…

How much?

Let us be clear about what is happening today. At a time of real global uncertainty, when families are worried about the cost of living and when businesses are planning for an unpredictable future, the motion of no confidence is not about stability or solutions; it is about opportunism. Sinn Féin is seeking to collapse the Government because it thinks it can benefit from chaos. It offers noise but not clarity, disruption but not delivery. While Sinn Féin tries to create instability, the Government is getting on wit…

On planning, we are simplifying the system to ensure timely decisions are made, red tape is cut and that people have a reasonable expectation of receiving planning permission for a home, particularly in rural Ireland, where they want to continue to put down roots and support their local communities

This Government will-----

I thank the Deputy. We have sent the finalised regulations for screening and once the screening is done we will bring them before the Oireachtas joint committee. That is in relation to the domestic exemptions. The next set of regulations is the infrastructure exemptions, which are being finalised as well.

The screening usually takes four to six weeks and then they will go to the Oireachtas joint committee.

I thank Senator Byrne for raising this matter in the House. Action 7.16 of Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030 states that the Government will: Introduce increased regulation of the Short-Term Letting sector by: introducing a Short Term Letting and Tourism Bill; and a National Planning Statement will provide guidance for local authorities when deciding on planning applications for short-term lets. On 1 July 2019, planning legislative reforms to regulate the short-term letting sector came into effect as…

I appreciate the concerns in the sector among those who have been operating in this space for quite some time. I have a number of them in my constituency, as I am sure the Senator does in Limerick. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment has published the general scheme of short term letting and tourism Bill which will establish that register to be managed by Fáilte Ireland. It is the intention that the national planning statement will assist local authorities by providing clarity, as I outlined in my …

I thank the Deputy for the question. Currently, local authorities charge rent under the Housing Act 1966 and this is known as the differential rents system. It is a critical piece of the State's welfare apparatus that subsidises housing costs and supports households who cannot meet their long-term accommodation needs from their own resources. The making or amending of such rent schemes is generally a matter for the executives of local authorities within the broad principles set out by my Department, including that …

The Deputy asked whether it will result in increased or decreased rents. As I outlined in my initial response there are significant differences in rent schemes from local authority to local authority. Somebody with a given income in one council may be paying more than someone on a similar income in a different local authority area. There is a national framework contained in the housing plan. Options will come forward to the Minister in the second half of this year. Obviously we will look at what the best system and…

I thank the Deputy. In the premise of his follow-up question, he is determining the outcome of this review. He is stating the outcome of it will be that we will go to the highest rent provided by a local-----

I did not interrupt you, Deputy.

I did not-----