-----and a very big job.

I honestly wish her a fair wind in that regard. I also want to take the opportunity to recognise the former leaders, Deputies Shortall and Catherine Murphy. We have not always seen eye to eye. I have seen many attempts to establish new parties in my time in politics, however, and very few survive eight years. Very few have six Teachtaí Dála after eight years. It is a success that they have brought the party to this point. I do not think any party since the Progressive Democrats has managed to reach that level of su…

We have a derelict sites levy. That applies to derelict houses and has been in place for a very long time.

No, this a different one that was in place even when I was on the county council. That has been around for 20 or 30 years. It is a levy on derelict properties and sites and increases every year. Councils are a bit slow putting properties on it, quite frankly-----

-----but it does exist. We are bringing in a vacant property tax as well, initially at that rate. However, I have an open mind on whether we increase that rate into the future. As the Deputy will know from the same report she quoted earlier, levels of dereliction and vacancy in Ireland are actually falling. The levels of vacancy in areas where housing need is greatest, such as Dublin and Cork and so on, are actually quite low.

When we look at the exact same report, we will see that when houses are vacant, they are often vacant for a reason. They are for sale, to let, under renovation or the person who lived there has just died. That is all in the same report the Deputy quoted. It is worth pointing that out. Another thing we are doing, which is really important, is providing grants now to young people and older people to do up old buildings-----

-----to make them into homes. That is going really well. I am really encouraged with what can be achieved around that. As well as that, we are going to provide a fund to local authorities so they can apply a compulsory purchase order, CPO, to vacant and derelict properties and bring them into use. That can help too.

I thank the Deputy. I remember the pandemic very well. I remember it almost on a day-to-day basis and I remember the very difficult decisions and the different judgment calls that had to be made at different points in time, often without much information. At the very start we knew very little about the virus, as the Deputy will recall. It was not even clear at the start whether asymptomatic transmission was even possible. That became clearer later in the pandemic. It will always be the case that with hindsight thin…

We will have a full public inquiry into how the pandemic was handled in Ireland. This will include what happened in nursing homes, in hospitals and in the community, along with the wider economic and social response. We have not yet decided on the exact format of that. I do want it to be done properly, whether that is using the commission of investigation mechanism, which has pros and cons, or a tribunal mechanism or another mechanism. I am open to that being considered. There are pluses and minuses to all of these…

I thank the Deputy. I do not have the exact numbers she asked for but I will ask the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide them for her if they are available.

As regards the supply of housing, we are doing absolutely everything we can to increase the supply of housing for people who need it. We are seeing some good results - not enough, but some good results. There were 30,000 new homes built last year, more than in any other year in more than a decade. That does not include student accommodation or vacant or derelict homes being brought back into use. Approximately 8,000 additional social housing units were delivered last year, more than any other year since 1975. No Go…

We need to have regard for other factors. First, there is the exit of landlords from the market, which is a big problem. There are fewer rental properties available now than there were a few years ago. We need more of them, not fewer. People need to rent for different reasons at different points in their lives and, therefore, we need more landlords. The exit of landlords, particularly small landlords, from the market is a real problem. We have to make sure we do not exacerbate that. We also need to have regard to t…

We have sourced more emergency accommodation. I do not have the exact figures or locations but I will ask the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide that information for the Deputy. It is important to state that although the number of people in State-provided emergency accommodation is at an all-time high, the number of people we are taking out of homelessness into secure housing is also at an all-time high. The difficulty we have, and it is a big difficulty, is that people are becoming home…

We will certainly examine that issue. I am not sure if it is possible for us to cap rate increases. Interest rates are set by the European Central Bank and not by the Government. Of course, banks and lenders are commercial entities and will set a rate that is above the ECB rate because they have to cover both their own costs and the fact some people are not able to repay, which means the cost of that has to be socialised. I appreciate that many people are seeing their mortgages go up and, pretty much every couple o…

We will certainly take those suggestions under consideration. The Children's Rights Alliance gave us a B- last year for our plans to end the direct provision system and replace it with a not-for-profit accommodation model, which is Government policy. The report downgraded us to a D this year. That has happened because of a massive increase, a near trebling, in the number of people coming to Ireland seeking international protection. We have to bear in mind that anything we do must not create a pull factor. We do not…

I could be wrong but my understanding is the Minister for Health has the report. It has not yet been shared with me or the Government. If the Minister has it, he is obviously giving it consideration but we will not delay it much further. I agree it is important the report is published as soon as possible.

The recruitment and retention of healthcare workers is a real problem. We now have a huge budget for our health service. It was €14 billion when I was the Minister for Health and is €22 billion now. There is no lack of money or political will when it comes to improving our health services but there are other restraints, one of which is the ability to train, recruit and retain an adequate number of healthcare staff. This is by no means unique to Ireland; it is an international phenomenon. It is a global labour marke…

I am not familiar with the exact announcement to which the Deputy refers. My information is that this matter is still under consideration by the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications. The future is offshore wind - west, south and east coast. That is what will secure our energy independence and energy security and energy price stability.

Yes. This needs to be plan-led, however. It should not be a free-for-all led by investors and developers; it should be plan-led. That is why it is important we have a plan, but it has to be the right plan.

I thank Deputy Griffin for raising this issue. Attacks on the Garda or any of our uniformed services are unacceptable. They are not just attacks on an individual; they are also attacks on the wider community and on our State. The Minister, Deputy Harris, had a meeting with the Garda representative bodies very recently and assured them that we are taking this extremely seriously. Among the actions we will take are legislation to allow gardaí to wear body cameras, which would be a potential deterrent and would make i…