The housing report in Galway. We want to see that particular report expedited. We gave a commitment during the last session of parliamentary questions on housing that we would follow up on it. I will follow up on it again. We want to see the report published. On homelessness, the Department is working with all the local authorities to ensure adequate accommodation is available for people who are made homeless. More particularly, we want to keep them in their homes under the tenant in situ scheme and various other s…

I move: That the proposal that Dáil Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: (i) Planning and Development (Section 181) Regulations 2023, (ii) Planning and Development (Street Furniture Fees) Regulations 2023, (iii) Planning and Development Act 2000 (Exempted Development) (No. X) Regulations 2023, and (iv) Planning and Development Act 2000 (Exempted Development) (No. Y) Regulations 2023, copies of which have been laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 3rd May, 2023 and 4th May, 2023, be referred to t…

I move: That the proposal that Dáil Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Planning and Development Act (Exempted Development) Regulations 2023, a copy of which has been laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 31st March, 2023, be referred to the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, in accordance with Standing Order 95(5), which, not later than 17th May, 2023, shall send a message to the Dáil in the manner prescribed in Standing Order 101, and Standing Order 100(2) shall accord…

It is not the only time in this debate-----

Or "The Quiet Man".

Who owns the building?

We all had a couple of them.

We were taught it at home.

I thank the Ceann Comhairle. I welcome his contribution. It is important that he would put on the record the significance of the Bill. It comprises 238 sections and 242 pages. It is a monumental Bill. I want to pay tribute to my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Malcolm Noonan, and the officials in the heritage section of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on this phenomenal body of work. I want to give a final overview, but more particularly go through the comments raised by individual…

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)(a) and 181(1).

I thank all the Deputies for their contributions, and I am grateful for the opportunity to close the debate for the Government on the People Before Profit-Solidarity Rent Reduction Bill 2023. As my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, stated earlier, the Government opposes the Bill for the reasons he outlined, which I will summarise. A similar Bill was debated last July, so, contrary to statements there has not been debate on the issue, there has been. Furthermore, fundamentally, we believe the Bill wil…

The Deputy was smiling. I hear people talking. Ultimately, it must be viable for a builder to build and it must be at a price that is affordable for the person to purchase. We are bringing in the cost-rental scheme. Six hundred of those units are already up and running and we have another 1,000 in the pipeline. This new scheme we have announced is now being worked on by a group. We want to see the fast-tracking of cost-rental schemes by local authorities and by the Land Development Agency.

I am delighted to be back in the Seanad. I was a Member previously and I value its contribution hugely. I have a relatively short time, so I want to address the points Members have raised, as distinct from the contribution from the Minister. I will provide a lot of information about what we have rolled out in our plans. We built 30,000 units last year. We propose to exceed that figure this year. We built more than 9,000 social housing units in 2021. We will shortly have final figures for the number of social housin…

We have given them additional staff. The Department keeps it under constant review and I am currently embarking on a tour of all local authorities to find out exactly what is happening on the ground. The Department will take on board any additional resource requirements. We want to keep people in their homes. I will move on. Senator Black is not present. However, she spoke about a dysfunctional market. If 13,500 small landlords have left the market in the past 12 months, we have to question why. We believe that pub…

There have been a large number of contributions and I acknowledge them. The Government will oppose the Bill which Sinn Féin has tabled. The Minister has moved a reasoned amendment to that effect. If someone is watching this debate and they are about to be made homeless what do they want to know? I will deal with what I believe are the facts. Why are we not supporting Sinn Féin’s Bill? It is because we fundamentally disagree that the eviction ban should be continued. We were quite honest when we announced the ban th…

-----not to the Garda Station. They should go to the local authority. If they go to the local authority and they are a HAP or a RAS tenant, there is a tenant in situ scheme. From the feedback we are getting from the local authorities, they will well exceed the 1,500 we put forward for this year. That scheme is there. We want landlords to come forward and sell their houses with tenants in situ who are on HAP and RAS to the local authorities.

It is happening. Allow me to go through the points because it is the public out there who are homeless and I want them to know what is there rather than us shouting and roaring across the Chamber. Second, if someone is above the social housing income limit, there are two schemes coming on board now. Deputy Boyd Barrett referred to one. The bespoke scheme will come into operation on 1 April and the first opportunity to purchase will also come into being on 1 April on an administrative basis. The Minister wrote to th…

It has brought forward a Bill. Ironically it had elements after it had eventually seen the light on a staggered approach to eviction notices. But we fundamentally disagree on extending the eviction moratorium because we believe that we must have a functioning market. You have to have private landlords. You cannot have a situation where they are not there. If they are leaving the market, tenants lose out because of it. The only measure it did bring forward was a €400 tax on landlords. I looked at its record in the N…

That is exactly what she said.

I was here.