I accept the devastation for families on receiving that news yesterday. This is not the news they wanted to hear. The previous month a drug was approved and that was welcomed across the House. The very same group made that recommendation in respect of that drug. There is an urgency attached to this and we are prepared to work with Members of the House in terms of the processes. We all accept that, ultimately, there has to be a scientific perspective on this. I accept there is also a role for those at the front line…

-----has published a strategy on.

A number of years ago, I met with Maureen Considine and some survivors in Bessborough. Deputy Cairns has often said we should talk to survivors. Their perspective is far different from hers in respect of Bessborough. I refer her to an article in today's Irish Examiner by Maureen Considine in respect of this issue. She established the Cork Survivors and Supporters Alliance, CSSA, in respect of this issue - in terms of the burials in Bessborough. The fundamental issue they wanted was to first of all establish where t…

-----long after the home closed. I know a lot about it because I have been around a long time in that area. I live nearby.

The time is up. I thank the Taoiseach. I call Deputy Cairns.

I will come back in a minute.

Deputy Cairns has attacked the Institutional Burials Act. She implied it was imposed by this Government. It actually was agreed by the entire Dáil.

By the entire Dáil, including Deputy Cairns's party.

Let us park that for a moment.

It was agreed. When I spoke to Deputy Bacik yesterday, we had a constructive engagement and she asked certain things. Deputy Cairns cannot draw conclusions from yesterday in terms of what the Government's position on this ultimately will be because we said we would reflect on it. That is what I said yesterday and that is what I intend to do. We need to be mindful of all survivors. I think Deputy Cairns has been too dismissive of those I have quoted this morning. I met with them three or four years ago. I was very t…

There is a very telling phrase in the article.

If I could, I will just finish on this very sensitive issue. Their point is that there was not a blade of grass disturbed on that site.

The way that site was organised, there would have been a burial ground. I accept the point that we have not located it, but there would have been a burial ground there.

That is the issue. It is not where they-----

First, we will use every lever. I accept that housing is the social issue of our time. There is no question about that. We are using every lever but from time to time the Opposition objects to many of the levers that we deploy in respect of housing. Could I pick the Deputy up on social housing? Between 2020 and 2025, we have delivered 60,000 social homes, through build, acquisition and leasing. Over 9,000 new-build social homes were delivered in last year. That was the highest annual total in the State's history. W…

Not least among these is the migration issue, which is having a significant impact. Across the board, we have taken significant initiatives, which have been opposed by the Opposition, to deliver housing. I still think that the Government's programme is more substantive, effective and impactful than any proposals that brought forward by other political parties in the House.

That is not real. On the Labour Party's proposal, namely the idea of setting up a new State-owned construction company-----

-----would take years and would not have any impact on house building right now or over the next five years for that matter. The Labour Party has produced a couple of pages on it, with nothing fleshed out. That is the bottom line. We already have the Land Development Agency-----

-----and that is delivering well, so why create a new one?

It has been ramped up, for God's sake. Billions are going into the Land Development Agency. That is how thin the Labour Party's proposals are. Genuinely, there is no real substance coming from the Opposition on housing in terms of adding to our stock. We did the exemption for back gardens, but those in opposition just dismissed that. We did rural housing and that was also dismissed. The Department also produced guidelines. The help to buy scheme, was opposed by the Opposition. The first home scheme was also opposed…