-----"Do you condemn the threats and the intimidation of gardaí?"-----

-----and the Deputy said, "I do not condemn the protesters."

On what happened, I fully respect the right of people to protest, even the people in the Gallery in terms of the Dublin City Council situation in regard to rent. People are entitled to protest. In my view, you seem incapable of saying it is wrong to blockade our only oil refinery. You cannot say that is wrong, even though it would have led to a scarcity of oil supply and an increased fuel crisis. You cannot say that it is wrong to blockade ports, even though it would destroy our economy.

You cannot say it is wrong to intimidate bus drivers. You do not have the courage. You are weak as a political party. Absolutely.

You could not do it. You tried to jump on board. That is the sad-----

I did not interrupt you, Deputy. I would appreciate-----

I have a few things to say .

I fully respect the rights of people to protest.

I fully respect the right of people to protest-----

I fully respect the right of people to protest but surely it is possible in this House for us to get agreement on basic rights and wrongs in terms of what should and should not happen.

That is something you have not been prepared to do. I regularly engage with people in terms of protest. I am not a member of Dublin City Council. We have a system of local government in this country and there is a differential rent system. It is a critical piece of the State's system of local government which, as you know, is far better than the private rental sector or anything near it. It is subsidised housing costs and supports households. I believe Dublin City Council should do far more in terms of regeneration…

-----in terms of refurbishing flat complexes, in particular, which I have been in in recent years and which I accept are not acceptable. A lot of capital money has been allocated to Dublin City Council and, essentially, there is a huge issue of housing maintenance. The city council obviously has a revised rent structure now. It is a matter for Dublin City Council, the executive and the council itself to explain and defend that. We do not run the councils.

Let us not pretend we do. I know the by-election is coming and I accept that but we do not run councils from Dáil Éireann and it is disingenuous and dishonest of the Deputy to say-----

-----that I could not care less. We have eight councillors in Dublin City Council out of 60. The Deputy is in attack mode. That is what she does generally speaking.

What about this specific one?

Dublin City Council is responsible for housing policy. Government funds local authorities the length and breadth of the country.

Sorry, it funds them very substantially, and funding has increased-----

Funding to local authorities has increased very significantly over the past five to six years.

There is no question about that. Also, the number of social houses we are building that are of a very high quality is the highest since the 1970s. There were close to 12,000 social houses delivered last year.

There is the highest number of direct builds ever built in our country - 8,500. There is a lot of work going on in social housing. I am not specifically responsible for what transpires in Dublin City Council and it is a matter for the council. Again, I have to go into the details of what is proposed. I do not have the details of the specific differential rent scheme the council is introducing.