The broader policy area is one for the Minister for Justice. We must be clear that the administration of the courts and dispensing justice are matters for the judicial system. It is a matter of how the courts are administered, witnesses present, the Judicial Council and so on. I will refer the matter again. I think the Deputy raised the issue previously with the Minister.

The Deputy has been very persistent regarding the necessity to bypass Tipperary town and the N24. I will pursue the issue with the Minister and the Department of Transport to see if anything can be done to accelerate the process.

As Taoiseach at the time, I paused the entire process. Dr. Holohan then pulled out and said he no longer had any interest in pursuing the secondment. No Government funding was expended on this and the secondment did not proceed. There is an issue, as the report identified, around clarifying the entire secondment process. We can improve on that in respect of people in a given post who may seek a secondment from it. I believe we can redeploy people with expertise and experience, perhaps more effectively, within the p…

I fully accept the report.

I am very familiar with the report and the Government fully accepts the recommendations of the report.

I reiterate that the reason the eviction ban was lifted was that to keep it going and retain it or extend it would have made the situation far worse for many people. People are exiting and there is an exodus from the private rental market. The number of houses available to rent has been reducing over the last two to three years. That is, in my view, because of the lack of certainty regarding the regulatory framework governing it and policies. Sinn Féin over time has demonised small landlords.

It did, without question. It attacked them. People are saying they are better off out of the market. The strong advice we received was that it would make the housing situation worse and make homelessness worse if we proceeded. We have brought in measures. I do not know the circumstances of the case the Deputy raised. The council has resources to buy out that house, if possible. I am not sure of the circumstances.

I welcome the students of St. Michael's school to Leinster House. There are students from another school on the left in the Gallery, but those from St. Michael's are straight ahead of me. I hope they enjoy their stay in Leinster House and some of them come back in a different capacity, as Deputies or Senators, in the future. The Government is very committed to public transport and the extension of the Luas. I take on board what Deputy McAuliffe said about the Luas in Finglas and I will work with the Minister on mak…

I would love to visit if the Deputy were to invite me.

I accept what Deputy Ó Cuív said. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has taken urgent measures to bolster the capacity and strength of An Bord Pleanála in the form of a number of new officers appointed. Quite a substantial number have now been approved, for good reason. Reform of An Bord Pleanála is ongoing, and there is the new planning Act. I think we are subject to the House in getting that passed. We should make a collective effort in the House to get that legislation passed because it is e…

I thank the Deputies for raising those issues. As for the tenant in situ scheme, the Minister is clear that additional resources will be provided to councils in the event of their going above their targets. He is not providing strict limits in respect of the number of houses that can be bought with tenants in situ to prevent people from being evicted. Louth County Council can, therefore, exceed the target. In response to Deputy Griffin, I will follow up the back pay for retired nurses with the Minister for Health. …

The fundamental point that an indefinite eviction ban would make the situation worse and is not a viable policy is one shared by the Deputy and his party. Sinn Féin does not propose an indefinite eviction ban. It proposes exactly the same as the Government decided this week, only it delays it for a number of months. It has changed the delay time. It was 31 December, then it was 31 January and now it has a new iteration of essentially the same point. What Sinn Féin Members have attacked with great fury in recent wee…

We can leave that, but it is a fact.

As Deputy Ó Broin said on radio last week, Sinn Féin wants public housing on public lands only and therefore it was against affordable housing on public lands, cost rental and so on.

That is exactly the position.

If I could, I want to move on, because it is a standard practice now in the House-----

There is a standard practice in the House, which I have witnessed over the last three or four days when Government Members get up to speak, having allowed the Opposition Members to speak without any interruption-----

-----that Government spokespeople are heckled all the time.

Here we go again.

As I said, considerable progress has been made on housing with 30,000 new homes completed last year, a 45% increase on 2021. We saw the highest number of first-time buyer purchases in the month of January since the CSO data series began in 2010. Nearly 20,000 social homes have been added to the social housing stock since this Government came in. That was up to quarter 3 of 2022 and was the highest in many a year. The 2022 social housing figures will reflect that growth, as will 2023 also. Regarding measures to deal…