As the Deputy is aware, the Bill itself provides statutory timelines for An Bord Pleanála. That will provide a degree of certainty and it should speed up the process in terms of appeals. On the second point the Deputy raised, it would be inappropriate for me to comment on any individual planning cases. It should be noted that the Government is opposed to the abuse of any process, including the planning process, for personal gain to the detriment of the process. The planning system is an open process which incurs pu…

As the Deputy is aware, we are increasing the staff of An Bord Pleanála to 300, so we are putting the resources into the bord. The point I would make is that we are open to consider any amendments to the Bill on Committee Stage. I expect the Deputy will bring them forward and we would welcome that. What we are looking for, with the new planning Bill, is to have a robust and fit planning system for a modern age that ensures there is a streamlined process that is fair for those who wish to bring forward objections. W…

The documents referred to in the question are documents that are prepared and published by the Minister for Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform. The abridged Estimates for public services, AEV, are published as part of the expenditure report budget documents and detail provided for the Votes is limited to programme level. They vary and are hence called "abridged". They are published at budget time. The Revised Estimates Volume for public services, REV, provides considerably more detail at subhead level, as …

The Deputy has raised this matter previously. Departments and governments have to have their own process in how they deal with documents. I reiterate that the Revised Estimate Volume for public services obviously provides considerably more detail. It is prepared and published by the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, Deputy Donohoe. I understand that is due for publication in December and relatively soon. The details the Deputy is looking for must go through a formal pro…

Deputy Ó Broin is an experienced politician and is aware of how Departments and Government operate. The abridged Estimates Volume, AEV, was published by the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform at the time of the budget and is freely available.

Regarding the detail the Deputy is looking for, that document is published by the Minister for Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform.

The Revised Estimate Volume, REV, is under the domain and jurisdiction of the Minister for Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform. He will publish it very shortly. I hope the Deputy will await that, not go down the road of freedom of information and work with the normal process of Government.

I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett for his question. Supporting individuals and families facing homelessness is a key Government priority. Critical to supporting households to exit homelessness is increasing the supply of housing. Record State investment of €4.5 billion has been made available this year to support the largest State home-building programme ever, including 9,100 new-build social homes and 5,500 affordable homes. Budget 2023 allocated funding of more than €215 million for the delivery of homelessness service…

We want a mixture of the type of units available. One and two-bedroom units are important and three and four-bedroom units are equally important. We note the point the Deputy makes and it is something we always look at. We are always looking for local authorities and AHBs to provide the three and four-bedroom properties as well. I want to put it in context. Last year, 5,478 people were either prevented from going into homelessness or exited homelessness. For the first three quarters of this year that figure is 4,61…

Deputy Boyd Barrett makes a clear point. He mentioned a specific case and I ask him to forward me details of that case and I will follow up on it. The tenant in situ scheme has been a great success. There have been 1,196 acquisitions to date and there are 1,000 more in the pipeline. Many of those are three and four-bedroom properties. I welcome the fact that the Deputy acknowledged that it has worked. On Deputy Farrell's point, applications for funding come through the local authorities but they come based on appli…

I thank the Deputy. The Housing Act 1966 provides for the charging of rent by local authorities on social housing tenancies. Rents are based on household income levels, with those on lower incomes paying lower rents. This system is known as the differential rents system. It is a critical piece of the State's welfare apparatus, subsidising housing costs and supporting households who cannot meet their long-term accommodation needs from their own resources. The system currently comprises 32 income-based schemes which …

The differential rent scheme was, as the Deputy said, designed to provide rent at an affordable rate to tenants and provide income to local authorities to ensure they can maintain those properties. That has not changed and remains the model. One of the reasons we are doing a review of the differential rent scheme is to deal with the inconsistency between local authorities. The Deputy will go on to talk about the fact that the income people receive from different sources is, or is not, taken into account. We are com…

I thank the Deputy. Carers do great work and the people for whom they care are hugely important. The Deputy has raised the issue in her constituency of Clare. We welcome the submission from Family Carers Ireland. It is something we will take into account in our scoping and review exercises. We want to ensure we bring about consistency in the schemes. I take on board the points the Deputy has raised.

In the limited time I have, I will say that this is a matter the Deputy has raised on many occasions and we take what he says on board. We want that mix. The LDA is moving into that affordable purchase space. We want to look to increase that. The Croí Cónaithe cities scheme was launched in May 2022. This scheme is a viable measure designed to support the building of apartments for sale that would otherwise not be built, providing a greater range of tenure in our urban centres. The scheme aims to bridge the gap betw…

The local authority affordable purchase fund can be used by the LDA in conjunction with the local authorities. That is there and that is its intended use. The local authorities and the LDA can partner up and funding can be provided under the local authority affordable purchase fund. Many local authorities are already seeking expressions of interest from potential purchasers under the affordable purchase scheme. Indeed, we are encouraging the local authorities to do that. We are in constant contact with them and I w…

The local authorities identify schemes and seek expressions of interest. Deputy Bruton is making a more general point. Some local authorities would be doing it already but the Deputy makes a very good-----

That is correct although in some cases they advertise beforehand. I have seen some local authorities advertise schemes in advance of them being built. They identify schemes and before they are built, they advertise them. The Deputy's general point is well made though and is something on which I will follow up.

I note both points the Deputy has raised. Have the engineers been in contact with the Department on that issue? We do not appear to have received anything specifically on the issue to date. If there is a particular issue, the Deputy might bring it to our attention. More particularly, the engineers might make contact with us. I know the issue came up at a meeting of the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. It came up a number of months ago and was raised by the engineers. It is not a matter tha…

I thank the Deputy. A body of work on the issue of environmental and climate savings within building, and the employment of modern methods of construction, is under way in the Department. I cannot give the Deputy a formal response as to whether we have engaged with the particular group she mentioned. I will follow up on the issue and revert to the Deputy.

It is, yes.