I met Uisce Éireann a few months ago and it has a work programme. Understandably, it prioritises wastewater investments that will result in the greatest return in new homes, new housing estates and developments and new industry. I am aware, and I hear this from my Deputies and councillors all over the country, that a number of small towns and villages around the country are constrained and cannot have any natural growth or even build a small number of houses because of the need to invest more in wastewater. The Min…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 20 to 23, inclusive, together. I attended the North Sea Summit in Ostend, Belgium, on Monday, 24 April. There I joined the Prime Ministers of Belgium and Denmark, the President of France, the Chancellor of Germany, the Prime Ministers of Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Norway and the President of the European Commission. The summit was a valuable opportunity to engage with leading global champions of offshore wind, share insights and learn from best practice. Climate change is the m…

I thank Deputies for their questions. When it comes to renewable energy, I do not accept that we are laggards at all. We now produce about 40% of our electricity from renewable energy. That is a lot higher than many other countries. I think what happens sometimes - and it is understandable - is that people who are in a particular subsector or niche see things from their perspective and not from the wider perspective. Often, people who promote floating offshore wind energy see only that. They do not see that there i…

I thank the Deputy. On behalf of the Government, I acknowledge that we are facing a cost-of-living crisis. Inflation has reached very high levels in the past year or so. Thankfully, it is now slowing down, but that is not the same as prices falling. Prices remain very high. A lot of people and families are struggling with those bills, and everyone in government understands that. As I often say, when it comes to any household bill, there are three elements to it, namely, how much you are paid, how much you get to ke…

As I said earlier - perhaps I did not say it - we are not going to oppose the motion that Sinn Féin has tabled. We do not agree with all of it, but we think there are some things in it that we are doing already and that can be done. There are other suggestions that are worthy of consideration. While we will not be agreeing to everything Sinn Féin has put forward, we will not be opposing the motion in the round because much it is being done already and much of it can be done in future. I mentioned that, just last we…

-----and that is our view. I reject the Deputy's contention that we have not been acting. We have been acting. More social housing was built last year than any year since the 1970s. Nearly 8,000 new units were built and 10,000 new social homes were provided. We are going to do more than that this year. That is our objective and we will achieve it. We are also telling local authorities to take up the option of buying a property where a landlord is selling up if that prevents the tenant going into homelessness. We ha…

I thank the Deputy. The new 97-bed block will be delivered as soon as is possible. I wish I could give the Deputy a date of a week or a month hence. I cannot do that at present, but it will be delivered as soon as possible. It would still be needed even if there had not been a fire given the increasing population in Wexford and the increasing need for healthcare to be available. I am told it is at detailed design phase and the business case is being prepared under the revised public service code which is quicker th…

I am the Taoiseach and the buck does stop with me when it comes to matters such as this. However, it has to go through a certain process. It has to be designed. Planning permission will be required. It has to go to tender, be built, installed and commissioned. I do not want to make a commitment to the Deputy in good faith that I cannot necessarily honour. I cannot give her an exact timeline on it now, but I will be clear to the Deputy and to the people of Wexford that I and the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, are commit…

We are an outlier in some ways; we are not in others. Lots of countries, particularly in eastern Europe, have taken in many more people from Ukraine than we have, both in raw numbers and as a percentage of their populations. While we have taken in many more people from Ukraine than France has, for example, France would point out how many it has taken in from Syria, Algeria and other parts of the world. We are more reliant on the use of hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation than other countries are, largely bec…

I am not proposing to have a debate on the matter.

I thank the Deputy. As I said earlier, this is a sad case. We all sympathise with Micheline and her family. As the Deputy mentioned, there are approximately 100 or 200 people over 65 years of age in emergency accommodation. That represents approximately 2%, but it is still a lot. There are more than 100 people over the age of 65 in emergency accommodation. Many of those became homeless while the eviction ban was in place. The eviction ban did not cause homelessness to fall. It rose nearly every month in which the b…

The underlying cause of the problems that we face is a lack of housing. There is a major housing shortage and a lack of social housing in particular. Until we address the deficit, close it, and build the additional housing we need, and the additional social housing we need, unfortunately, these problems will continue to arise. Temporary solutions are not solutions.

That means building a lot more social housing, which is what we are doing all over the country.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. I am aware of a number of people whose mortgages are with non-bank lenders who are facing very high interest rates. It is 8% or 9% in some cases. I understand that it is relatively easy to switch if a person has equity in the property and a good payment record. They can switch back or switch to another bank where they might get a lower rate but that will not always be the case, particularly where people may have had a period where they were not paying their mortgage, ofte…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 12, inclusive, together. The role of the social policy and public service reform division is to assist me, as Taoiseach, and the Government, in fulfilling programme for Government objectives to help create a socially inclusive and fair society. Specifically, the division assists the work of the newly established Cabinet committees as follows. The Cabinet committee on social affairs and public services and the associated senior officials group oversee programme for Government co…

That should be agreed across the board. We should also have fair rules on that; they are not always there. I do not think it is right that only Ministers should be required to attend to the Dáil, particularly when it does not relate to their ministerial functions which is what is being argued here. In the case of the Minister of State, Deputy Niall Collins, this relates to events of 16 years ago at the Bruff area committee. I understand that complaints have now been made to the Standards in Public Office Commission…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 14 together. The IBRC Commission of Investigation was established in June 2015 following consultation with Oireachtas parties to investigate certain transactions, activities and management decisions at the IBRC, beginning with the Siteserv transaction in its first module. The commission’s original deadline for reporting was 31 December 2015 but following requests from the commission and after consultation with Oireachtas parties, its timeframe for reporting was extended on mu…

I apologise to the Deputy. I do not believe I have the answer to that question but I will come back to the Deputy by correspondence on that.

There were a number of questions here, the responses for which did not relate to the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation commission of investigation, so I might come back to Deputies by correspondence if that is okay.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 to 23, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on EU and international affairs was established by the Government on 18 January 2023. Its role is to oversee the implementation of programme for Government commitments relating to the European Union and international issues. The committee generally meets in advance of meetings of the European Council and we expect it will do so again ahead of the meeting that will take place in Brussels at the end of June.