-----and then there is the current situation in terms of energy prices but, notwithstanding that, we expect to reach our target this year-----

-----of about 25,000 houses built in the country.

On the affordable side, very good progress has been made on affordable housing-----

-----despite the opposition of Deputies to the Land Development Agency, LDA, and various other organisations.

Very good progress has been made on affordable housing and also on cost rental, in terms of social housing and right across the board.

Can Deputy McDonald give me the number of houses to which Sinn Féin has objected?

That is not a result. Sinn Féin opposed planning applications.

A Cheann Comhairle, may I make a point of order? I have noticed in the past half hour that every time I get up to speak there are interruptions and heckles and the Deputies are not being pulled up.

I will engage with the Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, who has responsibility for energy, regarding the specific issue the Deputy has raised in terms of district heating. The Government will have a whole series of measures to try to reduce pressures on households and protect jobs, as I have said. We have already allocated about €2.5 billion over the past year. We will have a cost-of-living package next week along with the budget, which is designed to take pressures off people. In regard to…

The Government is investing in retrofitting on a massive scale. Some €8 billion will be allocated out to 2030. The revenue has to be generated to allow that to happen. That is giving certainty to the industry and allows the supply chain to scale up, creating thousands of high-quality jobs and delivering a critical national objective. Demand across Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, retrofit schemes has been exceptionally high since the Government's announcement. As of the end of August, more than 30,000…

I could continue with more details. Everything that can be done is being done to expedite these issues.

I have sympathy with Deputy McGrath's position on this issue and what he advocates. There were obviously safety reasons for that age limit being introduced in the first instance but the world has moved on in that people are living longer and have better quality of life as they age. That should be taken into consideration. The Minister is looking at the issue and I will engage with him again on it.

I have memories of that site. Ultimately, Amgen was not in a position to locate there. In the first instance, it is a very valuable site that will ultimately land a significant project. In turn, it will become a catalyst for acceleration. The Deputy is asking that the road be done now and have it approved and upgraded. I do not disagree with him but there are constraints on the funding, Transport Infrastructure Ireland, TII, and all of that. Nonetheless, I do not disagree with anything he said and I take his point.

I believe the price in the Boherboy affordable scheme is much lower.

The Boherboy scheme is in Cork also, as the Deputy is aware, and the prices are lower. Obviously, it depends on location and a whole range of factors, such as input costs and such matters. I pay tribute to Cork County Council for moving on the affordable schemes a bit faster than other local authorities. That is what we want. There is no one uniform price.

There are different levels of affordability in different locations, taking into account the costs involved in developing a particular site and so forth. Our main aim and target is to get housing as affordable as we possibly can for people and, through other schemes such as the first home scheme, to make houses that young people wish to buy affordable also. It is not just the affordable housing scheme the local authorities are doing but also the first home scheme, the shared equity and help-to-buy schemes and a rang…

As the Deputy knows, the Minister waives all fees for the school transport scheme. This measure is saving families up to €650 a year. This very substantial cost-of-living measure should be acknowledged in any comment on this scheme. It was coupled with an increase in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance and the extension of the school meals programme. Over 124,000 tickets have issued, an increase of 21,000 over last year, and it is higher again if we include special needs children. We have 21,000 more…

First, I accept the points the Deputy is making. There are huge gaps. In my view, the roll-out of the progressing disability services, PDS, model has been very problematic and challenging over the years. I would have had my own views prior to coming into government of the PDS model. I have engaged with the Ministers for Health and Education, the Minister of State with responsibility for special needs education and the Minister of State with responsibility for disability services, Deputy Rabbitte. We have had a numb…

Within different parts of the health services, therapists can be recruited more easily than seems to be the case for the disability sector. That is a challenge. We are meeting regularly now to try to deal with this and the HSE is part of those meetings.

The Deputy cannot raise this issue and pretend there is no extra 21,000 places, which everybody in the Opposition seems to want to do. I am not saying she is doing that.