As is so often the case, the Deputy seems to think the solution to the housing crisis is just her being Taoiseach and her party being in government.

She puts no solutions forward in her contributions, nor does she do so in the Sinn Féin motion. It seems to me that she sees housing not as a crisis to be overcome, or a problem to be solved, but a political issue to be exploited. There are four things the Deputy could do to help, if she is interested in helping. One, she could stop objecting to new housing.

The Deputy objected to 2,000 homes in her constituency alone. Her party has objected to 12,000. She particularly objects to one-bedroom accommodation because the people who live in them are "transients", to use her language, and build-to-rent accommodation, even though we need more properties to rent. She could drop her opposition to the help-to-buy and first home schemes. Many first-time buyers know an election is coming in the next two years and are starting to read about Sinn Féin policies. We had more first-tim…

The third thing the Deputy can do is to stop threatening landlords with increased restrictions and regulations and more taxes. That will just cause more of them to leave the market.

Deputy McDonald could acknowledge that Sinn Féin's plan to extend the eviction ban until the end of January will do only one thing. It will make the situation worse but perhaps that is what she wants.

We were always clear when this was introduced that it was a temporary measure. If one reads the regulation, it says winter period. It was very clear that this was to be a temporary measure for the winter period and would end on a phased basis from 1 March. It gave tenants facing or receiving notices of termination a few more months to find alternative accommodation and gave the Government time to act, and we did act. Over 6,000 new social homes have been built. The tenant in situ scheme has been scaled up and a ver…

The truth is that extending the eviction ban until the end of January just means it is going to be much worse then and it will be in the middle of winter. In fairness to the Labour Party, it has put forward a different proposal. It is proposing that the eviction ban can end if we see the number of people in emergency accommodation fall for four months. That needs to be thought through. It might fall by 50 in one month, ten in another month, 55 in the next month and perhaps two in the month after that. It might fall…

It is very clear to everyone that once this was introduced, it was going to be very hard to unwind. I do not think it gets any easier by extending it until the middle of winter, which is January, or by waiting until the numbers fall by as few as four over a four-month period.

That is not the position I am articulating. I do not agree that it makes sense to extend the eviction ban until the depths of winter at the end of January, when the situation-----

-----could be even worse. I do not think waiting until the figure has fallen by maybe one person a month for four months makes sense either. The solution is a different one.

The solution is more social housing. We built more social housing last year than in any year since 1975 and we will do more again. The solution is the tenant in situ scheme, with councils and approved housing bodies buying up-----

-----homes in order that people can stay in them. The solution is more supply, which is why we are extending the Croí Cónaithe scheme to rental properties, changing the rules around the fair deal-----

-----and engaging on unactivated planning permissions. It is also why we have committed today to tax changes for small landlords that will take effect this year and will be in the budget later in the year. It is why we are investing in homelessness prevention services. These are real solutions that will make a difference.

Different mechanisms to kick the can down the road definitely will not work.

I thank the Deputy. I remember that speech well. I made it at Bausch + Lomb, on the outskirts of Waterford city, at a jobs announcement, and I committed to a number of things happening in Waterford. I was back there recently - the Deputy was with me for some of it - and I was so pleased to see the amount of progress that has been made in the five or six years since then. I said there would be a focus on getting good, well-paid jobs into Waterford. About 600 IDA jobs have been announced in Waterford in that period, …

It is only right to recognise that there has been considerable investment in the hospital in recent years, with a 20% increase in staff and a 20% increase in the budget since the Government came into office. The new Dunmore wing is an impressive addition to the hospital, with extra bed capacity, as well as extra services in the palliative care wing. There is finally now a second cath lab in the hospital, which is great to see. Given the number of meetings I had on it through the years, it was great to visit it and …

I thank Deputy McNamara for raising the issue of the Limerick-to-Scarriff greenway. I am aware of the project, which is very exciting. I am a big fan of greenways both as a local active amenity for people who live in the area but also as something that can be very attractive for tourists. It very much speaks to the Government's current strategy of trying to get longer-stay tourists to come into the country for more sustainable breaks. The project is at phase 2 where technical advisers are examining options for a pr…

I hear what the Deputy is saying. I know he is a strong advocate for this project. I do not know enough about the engineering pros and cons of this, but I will certainly make sure-----

I would be happy to visit too. In the meantime, I will certainly speak to the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, about it and the ESB as well. I cannot tell them what to do or not do in engineering terms but I will certainly ask them to look at it in a favourable way, if that is possible.

I thank Deputies for their contributions. We have no objection on this side of the House to having a debate on the St. John Ambulance report. I am very conscious of the distress that the report's contents must have caused the victims and the survivors. It was published only last Thursday, so the appropriate first step is for Tusla to come into the committee. I understand that this is scheduled. Perhaps we could then discuss it in the Chamber thereafter. The first step is for Tusla to come into the committee. That i…