The first question was about the TEN-T and was from Deputy Kerrane. It related to the western rail corridor. The western rail corridor is now being considered in the context of the all-island rail strategy that the Minister for Transport, Deputy Eamon Ryan, has agreed with his counterpart in Northern Ireland. Through the shared island initiative, we have agreed to fund an overall strategic review of the all-island approach to rail. The majority of funding for infrastructure in the next ten years, be it rail or road…

The Minister brought them in in December, to be fair. The 2% limit was introduced by legislation in December. It will take some time to bed in. The rent control board will carry out its own engagement with landlords to make sure that the legislation is adhered to. The rent pressure zones have been around for quite some time and are similar to the measures in France that the Deputy suggested. The overall point I will make is that this comes back to supply. We need cost-rentals, private rental and private homes but w…

I have no issue with linking people's income to rent. In fact, our social housing programme is quite good in that respect. Likewise, HAP is a support to many low-income families in getting access to housing. Our preference, however, is to build more houses and to build social housing through the approved housing bodies and the local authorities in order that people can get access to social houses rather than having to rent at excessive rates. Our preference is also to get more private rental supply. If we inhibit p…

Is the Deputy saying we should not build?

There is no doubt but that the absence of supply is driving rents at present.

As for the issue Deputy Cian O'Callaghan raised, of course apartments are homes - I know that - but we have had an issue with the building of apartments in recent years. We have been in government for one year and a half and we have been endeavouring to deal with the issue of viability. Builders are saying they cannot build apartments and get a return. There has been a particular absence of compact growth. We want to build more in the city centres, where the services are. The Housing for All strategy has developed …

Yes. We will reach 9,500 this year. That is the maximum.

Leasing is not the big story anymore. The Deputy knows that. We will directly build 9,500 houses. To respond to Deputy Ó Murchú, as I said, the 2% limit on rent increases came in last December. It is now February. It will take some time to bed in. I take his point that supply will take time. I appreciate his candour and honesty about that. There were 30,000 commencements last year. We need more than 30,000 every year for the next ten years.

I apologise; I do not know the detail of that. I do not know the background so I do not want to make any comments. However, I will say that no intimidatory actions or actions of the kind the Deputy has described should occur when children or teachers are in school or in an early education setting. Nobody should be endangered by any actions. There are better ways to resolve issues.

The public service, justice and policing reform unit is part of the social policy and public service reform division of my Department. The work of the unit supports me, in my role as Taoiseach, with regard to criminal justice, policing, community safety and related matters. The unit incorporates the policing reform implementation programme office, which oversees the implementation of A Policing Service for our Future, the Government's plan to implement the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Irela…

On the issue of Tusla's report and the review of the provision of accommodation for victims of domestic violence, as the Deputy will know, the Minister for Justice said last week that she would be taking overall responsibility for policy and wraparound services. She will therefore be publishing that review along with both interim and medium-term plans to provide for and develop those places, which we need. The Deputy has highlighted this need in respect of Roscommon. The report was submitted to the Ministers, Deput…

We in the European Union have been dealing with Belarus, for example. Let us not always try to dilute the core argument I am putting forward because what I am saying is the truth.

I do not agree with what is going on in Hungary at all in some of what it is doing but equally let us not pretend either-----

The Government has been working hard to implement the commitments in the programme for Government across a wide range of issues in all Departments. The ten Cabinet committees established by this Government reflect the full range of policy areas on which it will work on during its lifetime, as set out in the programme for Government. Cabinet committees meet regularly to continue this work. Strategy statements prepared by Departments reflect the key national priorities as outlined in the programme for Government. My …

On the point made by Deputy Kerrane concerning the local employment services and job clubs, there has been considerable discussion about this in the House and, indeed, within the Government. The Minister has received significant legal advice in respect of the European directive and the need to adhere to it. The Minister, in the designing of the tendering process and framework, has put a fairly high premium on community involvement and engagement. In some cases, that is a key factor in terms of capacity to be succes…

In terms of the Deputy's question about whether there is a disconnect with local authorities, I just said in my reply that the Minister has provided an additional 200 staff to local authorities. He recognised that, and we have been, since we came into office, very serious about social housing. There have been a number of years where it has taken a while to catch up. We want to do 9,500 this year in terms of direct builds. The approved social housing bodies have taken up a lot of the slack in providing housing. Thos…

We cannot just move on from that with a click of our fingers or wish it away. What we can do is rebalance that equation over time. If we did that, we would then free up more houses for the private market as well, for cost rental and so on. We can have all the politics about it and I respect people's views and different perspectives, but I keep coming back to the point that we need to get supply up. Twenty thousand houses are not going to solve our housing crisis. Before that it was even lower. There is no question …

I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue. Since this Government came into office in the midst of a global pandemic, a one-in-100-year event, the Government has intervened to an extraordinary degree to underpin incomes and support lower income workers, to keep people in jobs and to support enterprises. That has been an effective and successful intervention in underpinning our economic activity. There is no question about that. We supported workers from the get-go of the formation of this Governm…

Could I first of all say that budget 2022 increased the weekly rate of the fuel allowance by €5? We increased the qualified child payment, the living alone allowance and the income threshold for the working family payment. The total cost of that was about €146 million. Where is that revenue coming from? It is coming from the revenue raised by the carbon tax.

Today, the Minister for energy will announce a very significant and comprehensive retrofit programme. The objective of that retrofit programme is to reduce the cost of living on an ongoing basis in home heating, in making homes cheaper to heat, and more comfortable and healthier over time. Some €200 million odd this year alone will come from the carbon tax towards that measure. The carbon tax is going back to the people. On the issue of better environmental farming practices, it will go to farmers, particularly low…