That would take another year and a bit to establish.

It would take another year and a half to get it established and up and running. We have established the Land Development Agency through legislation, which is dealing with a lot of development, to try to get social and affordable, as well as other housing, going using State lands. We already have an agency as an engine to get housing built as fast as we possibly can.

We will take measures to force vacant units back into use and, more important, to force zoned land into use. The Ministers for Finance and Housing, Local Government and Heritage are working on that specific point. I agree additional measures will have to be taken, over and above what we have done. We are constantly at this in respect of adding capacity and trying to get more houses built, and that will continue. Income thresholds will be increased by the end of the year with regard to social housing. That will not …

There has been huge expansion in the nursing home programme over the years, particularly in terms of the nursing home support programme. Approximately 80% of all nursing homes are private and 20% are under the HSE, which we call community nursing units. The State is allocating approximately €1.4 billion per year to support approximately 22,000 nursing home residents and that has seen a strong increase over the past two years in particular. During Covid-19, an additional €144 million was allocated to nursing homes. …

As the person who set up HIQA, I take its guidance seriously. It has been very effective in increasing standards in health in this country since its initiation in the early 2000s. We take its point of view seriously because we want to protect and do everything we can to support smaller nursing homes as well because they are important in local communities for obvious reasons such as proximity to families and so forth. It is important, therefore, that we do whatever we can to underpin nursing homes. I get the sense t…

We have taken significant measures to help students in the budget, not least the €1,000 reduction in fees this year and a further €500 reduction in the next academic year. There is also the renter's credit that parents who pay rent for students will be in a position to avail of. Those are significant measures. There is also the additional payment under the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grant, which is very helpful in the current inflationary cycle we find ourselves in. As for student accommodation, it is…

The State is doing so and discussions are under way between the Department, representing the Government, and universities in respect of how to get more student accommodation in place.

I agree with Deputy's raising of this very serious issue. I salute her for doing so as it is important this House reflects not just the deep concern but the outrage at what is happening to young women in Iran, particularly the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Her death was quite shocking and cannot be justified in any shape or form. There has been a very natural and strong response from the Iranian people and Iranian women. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Coveney, raised our concerns on the matter directl…

-----resisting Iran's human rights-sanctioned regime. I do not believe cutting diplomatic relations is the most effective way of dealing with this issue right now.

I heard the Deputy this morning and the manner in which he dismissed his colleagues on Dublin City Council was beyond me.

He did. He said they had no power and they were next to useless. He did not use those words now but the impression I got from him was-----

Yes. Apparently that is your view. You have a right to your view but we have to go back to Dublin City Council. I genuinely think so. To be fair, there are plans for O'Connell Street, which I mentioned earlier, in terms of the Moore Street area and so on.

Through the Chair, I am just making the point that Dublin City Council has to be at the centre of O'Connell Street. There is no avoiding that. One of the easiest things to do is say "Let us have a Taoiseach's task force". A lot of people are saying we should have a Taoiseach's task force about this, that and the other. I take the Deputy's point but the Minister for Justice has already said a community partnership has already been established-----

-----involving all the various local groups and so on to try to move on. The Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage has huge plans for rejuvenation but there are loads of objections.

There are lots of objections to the development of O'Connell Street.

Why do we not cut to the chase and say that?

We keep on objecting to everything that moves-----

-----and then condemning dereliction.

It is a bit hypocritical.

I appreciate the points the Deputy has made in respect of remembering Savita Halappanavar and of those taking part in the remembrance ceremony. He raises an important issue. As he knows, the Minister for Health has appointed Ms Marie O'Shea BL as the independent chair of the review of the legislation. There is a requirement in the 2018 Act that the legislation would be reviewed. There are three strands to the review. One is the public consultation that closed on 1 April. Another is research on the experience of wom…