Yes, but the Minister was not in government in 2016.

Different circumstances were pertaining. There is a need to increase capacity around house building within the local authority system. I am sure the Deputy knows that as well. That is something that we are very committed to doing.

First, the summer economic statement will be published by the Government. There is no issue there. It is quite obvious the Government will look at frameworks around the summer economic statement looking out over five years. The Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform work in harmony on that with the rest of Government. The point I made earlier is that it will reflect significant capital investment in whole areas of the economy, such as enterprise, environment and climate change but particularly in h…

First, 86% of landlords own one to two properties. As we lost approximately 3,870 landlords, who went out of the market in 2020, it is a contracting market. Supply is the key. You cannot take €1 billion out of the HAP tomorrow morning. The Deputy knows that. It is not that simple. There are tenancies tied up in HAP for many years now. You cannot simply replace that overnight or pretend you can. I do not think the Deputy should suggest that. Nor can you do that over the next two or three years but I will accept that…

The Minister has introduced rent controls in given areas and looked after people who were vulnerable in respect of rent. He has introduced new legislation to restrict rent increases. The Deputy knows that. However, he summed it up himself. It is not about resources. Of course, resources matter. The Deputy is going on about a billion here and a billion there, but my point is that it is about delivery. That will be the big challenge. The Deputy refers to another €4 billion or whatever, but it is about getting the cap…

The capacity does not exist to direct build 20,000 social houses next year.

It does not exist right now. It can happen the more we build, and, yes, we rely on HAP, RAS and so forth.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. The Deputy will appreciate that I am not responsible for, and do not have detailed knowledge of, every area in the country in respect of water supply and water quality, but I accept that if a particular district is 16 months without a consistent sustained water supply, that is not acceptable. That issue should have been addressed by now, but I will have to get a report from Irish Water on its perspective on this, what the challenges and problems are and why the issue in Fe…

We need solidarity in the country. I genuinely believe when I say solidarity that we have to find solutions to problems in the country. Dublin is expanding. Many of your people-----

People who lived in Limerick are now living in Dublin.

There you are. That is a good sign for Limerick.

What I also see happening is that any project to help resolve issues just gets objected to. That is becoming the sort of habitual-----

I want to make my point. It is becoming the habitual trend.

There is a very serious issue with water supply in the east part of the country. We need to be practical about it. We need engineering solutions. We need to do so in a way that does not damage the environment or local communities. We need to do it practically and with a bit of common sense. That is all I will say on that one. The idea of having to pay for every drop of water the whole way up is not realistic in terms of how we can apply it.

I do not know who "you" is. Does the Deputy not know I come from Cork? There is only so much I will take.

I note you are wearing the Limerick mask. I understand the success of the Limerick hurling team. You are fully in your rights to have that self-confidence and that projection forward. I understand that fully.

The position of the Irish Government, which is shared by all of the political parties in Northern Ireland across the political spectrum, along with all the victim groups also, is that a unilateral move away from the Stormont House Agreement and the introduction of what amounts to a general amnesty for all security personnel and all paramilitaries for murders and other crimes committed up until the Good Friday Agreement is not the right way to go. It is wrong for many reasons. I have stated this consistently. I do n…

We always keep these issues under review. I appreciate Aoibhe and Senan asking these questions. The public health advice has been that indoor events are problematic. I would say to everybody in the House that the numbers are rising. We will know today that the case numbers are rising, as are hospital numbers. We saw what happened in the Netherlands, where the Government has had to apologise for reopening too quickly. We see what the French Government is now saying on requiring vaccination passes for access to hospi…

We need to take this step by step but we will keep it under review.

A core part of Government policy is to build houses and not lease them. This will be reflected in the Housing for All strategy. In the interim period, we need to wean off the degree to which leasing has been used. Up to 2,500 houses over the next 18 months can be provided through this mechanism for people on social housing lists. We do need to get people off the social housing lists and we need to get houses for them. We cannot wave magic wands here. Earlier, Deputy Boyd Barrett went on about how many people are on…