I welcome this opportunity to update Members of the House on the progress made in the time since the publication of Housing for All. It is 14 months since the plan was published and although the landscape and environment in which we are operating is ever-changing, real progress has been made. It is important to take stock of this progress and today is the perfect opportunity to do so. We are seeing a combined level of commencements, completions and planning permissions that have not been seen in more than a decade.…

I thank all the Senators for their contributions, notwithstanding some unparliamentary language. I will make a general comment on the points raised by Senators before I sum up. On the general comment made by Senator Buttimer in his closing speech, I do not think we will get anywhere by revisionism or the blame game and it is critically important we work collectively to try to achieve these targets. There is a crisis and it is a crisis we can resolve together. That type of negative criticism, which is unwarranted in…

Many things have changed in the 14 months since the initial launch of Housing for All. A lot of these changes were anticipated but a number have arisen that were not and some of these could not be fully predicted with the level of inflation and the extent of supply chain issues being two such examples. Again, these issues have been raised by some Senators here this evening. Like all good plans, Housing for All is a living document by design. The Government's commitment to review and update the plan on a yearly basi…

I am grateful to the Cathaoirleach and all the Senators for facilitating debates on this urgent legislation in Seanad Éireann this week. I also thank the members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage for providing the necessary waiver of pre-legislative scrutiny and the Chief Whip for enabling the Residential Tenancies (Deferment of Termination Dates of Certain Tenancies) Bill 2022 to be read a Second Time today. I also acknowledge my colleagues in Dáil Éireann for quickly pass…

I welcome the students to the Chamber today. I do not know what school they are from. First, I thank Senators for their contributions. I know we will get to debate some of the issues raised on Committee Stage. I am confident that the House will be able to agree and pass Second Stage today. I echo the comments of Senator Martin in thanking the Opposition, in particular, for being so constructive in the debate generally. I would like to turn to some of the points raised. In response to Senator Fitzpatrick, I can say …

I will speak to amendments Nos. 1, 13, 14 and 19. I cannot accept amendment No. 1, which proposes to push out the expiry date of the winter emergency period to the end of April 2023 to help tenants in receipt of relevant tenancy terminations affected by this Bill. As was outlined earlier on Second Stage, this Bill was carefully calibrated to balance the rights of tenants and landlords. Tenants facing a notice of termination will receive protection under this Bill, allowing them to stay in situ over the winter emerg…

I cannot accept amendment No. 2. This Bill and the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act 2015 do not cover local authority housing apart from those where cost rental tenancies are in place. That said, I know tenancy terminations from local authority housing are rare and I have no reason to think local authorities will move forward with terminations over the winter months. Given that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, indicated in the Dáil last night that he will consider issuing a circular to local authorities o…

I absolutely acknowledge the points the Senator makes on the specific vulnerability of Traveller families regarding housing and how disproportionately they are affected by homelessness. As I have said, however, local authority housing is not covered under this Bill. Quite a number of Traveller families are renting in the private market, or through HAP or RAS, and they have protections there. Similarly, regarding Traveller-specific accommodation, local authorities have services in place to support tenancy and stabil…

First, Senators raised a number of points around the RTB and notifying local authorities. The point is made well about tenants in situ . I will discuss that further with the Minister. Senator Martin raised some interesting points too on the term "eviction". That is for another day. Am I correct that Senator Moynihan is withdrawing amendments Nos. 4 and 7 so I am speaking to No. 6?

On amendment No. 4, this is an emergency Bill designed to apply in respect of winter emergency period only. Its provisions are carefully drafted to limit its interference with constitutionally protected property rights of landlords. On the landlord's right to terminate a tenancy on the ground that he or she intends to sell the property, I wish to clarify for the House that outside the winter emergency period there is no general provision in the Residential Tenancies Act to prohibit a landlord from selling his or he…

I reiterate, and as Senator Fitzpatrick has said, this Bill has been set out to do a specific piece of work, which is to implement a temporary ban on evictions. There is no intention, or any inference otherwise, that it is discriminatory against any particular community. It is a general protection for tenants and tries to strike a balance between tenant and landlord. I gave a commitment to the Senator on the circular that will be issued to local authorities which, in particular, will recognise the vulnerability, sp…

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue on the EPA's urban wastewater treatment in 2021 report. Having a well-functioning and resilient wastewater treatment infrastructure that will protect our environment is an issue of national importance and I appreciate the Deputy's concern in this matter. Since 1 January 2014, Irish Water has had statutory responsibility for all aspects of water services planning, delivery and operation at national, regional and local levels. Irish Water's primary function is to pr…

I agree wholeheartedly with the Deputy. It is certainly not the case that we are talking about decades. We cannot take decades. It has to be resolved. Irish Water has plans in place for the 32 areas that were assigned in the EPA report. Those plans will be brought forward. The Government has brought in record investment over the past number of years. We are front-loading that investment. It is critically important we do so from a human health perspective, a biodiversity perspective and with regard to development of…

He will be.

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "That Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "acknowledges: — that there remain challenges to overcome, one year on from its publication, Housing for All: A New Housing Plan for Ireland is delivering through increased housing supply, a range of affordable purchase and rental measures, new initiatives to tackle homelessness, and ongoing, long-term reforms of the housing and planning systems; — that the housing supply is increasing, despite such unprecedented cha…

I thank the Deputy for his question and I also thank Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan. The Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended gives the OPR a statutory basis to carry out three main functions. One core function of the OPR is the independent assessment of all local authority and regional assembly statutory plan making processes. This includes county and city development plans, local area plans, and regional spatial and economic strategies. The OPR provides observations during the drafting of statutory plans. In …

It is interesting that on a day of excessive rainfall and orange rainfall warnings, we see that many of the areas that are prone to flooding across the country are such because of bad planning. I reject outright the use of the term “interference” in respect of the OPR. The office plays a critical role in our planning system. It exists to guide and support the work of local authorities. There is robustness in that the Minister does not have to accept the recommendation. It is worth remembering that the OPR was forma…

Our Department has made huge strides in working with SOS Dublin Bay on the monitoring issue. Separately, on days when there is severe rainfall, the general advice is not to swim for a few days afterwards. That is good advice. I spoke to Deputy Bacik this morning. We would be happy to provide a briefing to Deputies on progress that has been made. Significant progress has been made on monitoring water quality in Dublin Bay.

I thank Senator Boyhan for his comments on the necessity of An Bord Pleanála. He and I interact regularly on the issue of public participation in our planning system. He feels it is vitally important that we have a robust planning system in which members of the public can have confidence and in which they have a right to participate on the basis of parity. I commend the Senator on that. On 4 October, following Government approval, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, published an action plan for An Bord Pleanála w…

I thank the Senator for his positive contribution and that is certainly something I can take to the Minister. We have to hugely value the role of any expertise many former elected members have brought to local government over many years. They have expertise in formulating development plans and setting the agenda at local level for how our communities are planned. While An Bord Pleanála has been through an incredibly challenging time, we see the positive outcomes of this report and the intent of the Minister, Deputy…