I disagree with the assessment made by Deputy Ó Broin regarding housing policy, and I have not seen from him or his party a substantive policy response to Housing for All. It just does not exist. Housing for All is a very comprehensive and substantive document, with a suite of measures that will take time. There is no doubt Covid-19 has been a key factor over the past two years, which the Deputy ignored for obvious reasons. Construction was closed twice, in 2020 and 2021, for three or four months each year, which s…

Yes.

Níl an ceart ag an Teachta. Tá fianaise ann go bhfuil polasaí an Rialtais ag obair. Tá níos mó tithíochta á cruthú againn. Tá sé sin soiléir ó na figiúirí atá againn maidir le cúrsaí tithíochta. The Deputy is not correct in saying that the Housing for All strategy, launched last September, is not working. It is working. There has been a rebound in construction activity since we emerged from Covid. Covid did cause difficulties. It closed down construction for a substantial period in 2020 and 2021 and the impacts of …

The rent index is designed to measure developments in rental prices faced by those taking up new tenancies. A tax credit would only add to the price of those rents. It would be inflationary. There is no guarantee it would result in a reduction of increasing rents for new tenancies, none whatsoever. The Deputy is wrong in saying the Housing for All policies are not working. By definition, 35,000 commencements to March is the highest rolling 12-month average since 2008. There is a lot of activity in the construction …

The existing banks should step up to the plate and should do everything they possibly can to assist the customers of the exiting banks, KBC and Ulster Bank, in respect of their needs and to facilitate switching. I am unclear as to what the Deputy thinks the Government should do. He has not really specified that. He spoke about a laissez-faire approach. I am not clear on what he is saying the Government should do specifically. What should the Department of Finance do? We have a structure and the Deputy knows this. T…

I am still unclear as to the fundamental point the Deputy is making. Is he saying the Department of Finance-----

Is the assertion-----

He has not articulated it. Is he asserting that the Department of Finance should take over the role of the Central Bank?

What is the function? We have had this argument-----

This is an argument that is not from today or yesterday with regard to the management of banks. The Central Bank is there. There is a separation between the Government and the operation of banks. There always has been. I am interested in hearing the Deputy's ideas as his presentation was not clear.

In respect of KBC and Ulster Bank leaving-----

If you let me-----

I am speaking through the Chair. The point I am making is that existing banks should do everything possible to work with the exiting banks to facilitate customers. The Department of Finance is engaging with the banks to ensure that happens.

Everything must be done to protect tenants and we are doing that through a variety of legislation and so forth. The Deputy asked about St. Helen's Court in Dún Laoghaire and landlords issuing notices to vacate to five HAP tenants at that location. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is working with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to ensure the five remaining households - three singles and two families - do not fall into homelessness as a result of their tenancies ending at St. Helen's Cou…

The Tyrrelstown amendment was the optimal that could be achieved within the current constitutional framework. That is my understanding and we must work with the practical and real legal framework.

It would require a change to the Constitution. We are working on an amendment to the Constitution related to housing. It is one of the tasks of the new Commission on Housing. With regard to Radoslaw, Tony and the other tenants who are the victims of this unacceptable behaviour, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is working with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to ensure the five remaining households do not fall into homelessness as a result of their tenancies ending at St. Helen's Court. …

The Deputy should go back to the person in question and tell them to go back to the council because the funding is there. I do not know the specifics about the house but that is not on. Very significant capital funding has been given to local authorities to repair housing and vacant properties. Due to a very strong initiative taken by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, local authorities have brought back 6,000 vacant local authority housing units for people on the social housing list in the ne…

We are going to do that. Fortunately, this year we have put €4 billion into a contingency fund in the budget for Covid for 2022. Some of that is now being used for Ukraine. The figure the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform used last week was an estimate of what it could be in 2023. We hope it is not and that the war will end. I accept the Deputy's bona fides and the merits of what he is saying in terms of vacant properties. I will ask the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to meet the Deput…

The motion tonight is to get rid of the carbon tax. The only way we could do the motion-----

The only way we could implement the motion this evening would be to get rid of the legislation that underpins the carbon tax, which provides the funding to deal with fuel poverty. We have brought the fuel allowance to well over €1,000. The motion does away with the retrofitting funds to enable people on low incomes or people generally to retrofit their houses so there would be lower bills. It does away with farming that is friendly towards the environment. It does away with the just transition. The midlands and oth…