The challenges of living with a rare condition are acknowledged in the programme for Government, which states that rare conditions are complex, their impacts are severe on the patients living with them and it can at times be difficult to access appropriate medication and technology. It is estimated that there are 300,000 people living with rare conditions in Ireland, 4% of whom are children and have received their diagnoses by the time they are 16 years of age. While rare diseases are individually rare, they are co…

I wish to discuss build-to-rent construction. I will begin by being honest in saying I do not like it. I do not like it as a model and it did not exist when I was working in architecture. I do not like the fact there is a two-tier standard of housing that differentiates between what you might need when you are renting and what you might need when you own a building. I do not like the lower standards it engenders and that apply to build-to-rent versus owner-occupier units, and I do not like that Irish residents will…

I thank the Minister of State. As he said, build-to-rent makes up 16% overall but that figure is 65% in my constituency. That is a predominance of build-to-rent. I take the Minister of State's point about Maynooth but we might just stick with the issue around the quality of build-to-rent accommodation. It is a lower standard and there are lower requirements for storage and public amenities. Even those people who rent should have a place to park their prams. I want to bring to the Minister of State's attention somet…

I am quite glad that I get to speak on the second week of the debate on the Bill because it gives me a chance to read and listen to the contributions Deputies have put forward, which has been very interesting. There has been quite a spectrum of responses to the Bill. For some the Bill goes too far and there is a feeling that it might pit communities against the inevitable reforms that will be required by the very real changes brought about by global climate change. I agree with some of those concerns. We have a cha…

I am mindful that I have come into the Chamber to talk about illegal evictions. While the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is most definitely tasked with the reduction in the number of evictions generally, and we will try to get through it today, this might be more of an issue for the Department of Justice. That is the Department I had in mind when I tabled this matter. It is very much on the record of this Dáil that I have more general thoughts on the need for evictions but what I want to talk …

I think I did but it may be that somebody was not available.

I thank the Minister of State. That was very helpful. I am very happy to hear that the RTB is considering the issue of illegal evictions and reporting to the Minister of State on it. This is very useful. I realise the matter is dealt with in the programme for Government. I am delighted to hear about it. What the RTB can do is very much about process and will be after the fact. What we see happening on the streets in my constituency is people turning up on a particular day and asking tenants to leave their homes. Wh…

I echo what many Deputies have said by acknowledging that the Minister of State strikes me as a person who is dedicated to providing suitable services for children with disability. The enormity of what the "RTÉ Investigates" programme has brought to light was somewhat overshadowed by the issue that arose in the Beacon Hospital last week. I expect that we will still be talking about the programme long after the Beacon issue has gone because it speaks to the culture and ethics of Departments, in particular, an Roinn …

I thank Deputy Verona Murphy for raising the issue of orthodontics because it comes across my desk all the time. Access to training for orthodontists is an issue we must address as well. I will talk about a banking forum. A few weeks ago, the Dáil debated the current banking situation in Ireland. I think we would all agree that we are at a moment of great difficulty. We had the announcement by Ulster Bank that it is withdrawing from the Irish market. Hot on the heels of that came Bank of Ireland's announcement of t…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. Not to be coy about this but I see a banking forum as a first step to talking about public banking, something for which Green Party has pushed for a long time. It would speak to issues around regional access to banking. It is something to which 21 countries in Europe have access, but we do not. We do not have that level of competition or choice in the banking sector for people in Ireland. The idea that a banking forum is somehow unacceptable and that the Minister would n…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCathaoirleach Gníomhach. The Green Party agrees with the principle of active land management, of utilising under-used sites and identifying private lands that could be of benefit to projects for renewal of particular areas or consolidation of public lands with off-cut lands or lands of that type. The core principle of the Land Development Agency, LDA, should be to operate to support local authorities in providing housing and managing land and be based on the following principles. Public an…

I join a surprising amount of my colleagues tonight in asking that we would once again consider public banking. I am very aware that we have had this discussion previously. I accept the Minister's points about the ISIF and the Strategic Banking Corporation of Ireland but, as we have heard tonight, the Ulster Bank and Bank of Ireland announcements will come as a particular blow to SMEs that already face the twin challenges of Brexit and the impact of Covid. As the Minister said, Ireland is a small market in financia…

I welcome the clauses in the Bill that make provision for unaccompanied minors or those seeking international protection. I would like to draw his attention to people who have been granted a legal right to enter the State as family members of refugees or under the international humanitarian admission programme. It is not practical for these people to further delay their travel to Ireland for a number of reasons. In some circumstances, the family is in danger until such time as they can leave the country. NGOs, incl…

A number of weeks ago, I engaged with the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, on a number of issues with regard to private emergency accommodation, which is a rapidly increasing proportion of the accommodation provided and, it seems, a very profitable one. The Minister persistently referenced the role of local authorities and the Dublin Region Homeless Executive in tackling our homelessness crisis but I believe the Government has a core duty in this area, of course in terms of policy and funding but also in ensuring …

The report of the expert group set up to review the Mental Health Act 2001 was published in 2015. It contains 165 recommendations, including provisions intended to strengthen protections for people who are detained without consent at approved centres. In June 2016, the then Minister of State with responsibility for mental health, Deputy McEntee, stated that the draft legislation would be completed by the end of that year. In July 2019, a draft heads of Bill was sent to the Mental Health Commission for its considera…

I return to the issues raised in the "RTÉ Investigates" programme on homeless services operating in Dublin. They will be of concern to the NGOs involved and to my colleagues on Dublin City Council, including Councillor Janet Horner and the Lord Mayor, Councillor Hazel Chu. I return to the issue of local connection, which was rightly raised by Deputy Toíbín. The letter to which the Minister referred outlines a response that will pertain only to the cold weather period, which obviously will not last. We have also had…

I wish to raise an issue today with the Department of Health and its Minister. While I acknowledge they are well aware of the issue, it is so important that it is worth highlighting again. My constituency of Dublin Central is home to the Rotunda Hospital, which is the busiest maternity hospital in Europe. In 2019, more than 8,000 babies were delivered in hospital. In the same year, more than 1,300 of those babies needed to be admitted to neonatal care units. The hospital is run on a break-even budget and incredible…

I share the Ceann Comhairle's fondness for the Rotunda. All three of my children were born there, one with only seconds to spare. It is a place which is very special to many of us. I welcome the response from the Minister of State. The Department of Health has engaged with the management of the Rotunda Hospital. We welcome that engagement. To be clear, the best practice in neonatal intensive care units is that every child would have 16 sq. m. In the Rotunda Hospital now, the space available is 5 sq. m., and that im…

I welcome the Bill. I wish to highlight some issues relating to the changing landscape of financial services and taxation that we are likely to see arise in a post-Brexit Europe. Although the Bill is sorely needed, it is something of a missed opportunity to implement more robust measures in the sector of financial services and taxation. In all the current uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the negotiations, there is one thing of which we can be sure - Brexit will result in change. Of course, it will result in chang…

Some of the items I will be focusing on as part of my work in the Committee on Budgetary Oversight are performance metrics, results and transparency. Is it clear what each Department is trying to accomplish with the taxpayers' money and is the Department achieving those goals? In the ten days before the budget, both the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Public Expenditure gave a little information to the Committee on Budgetary Oversight on the measures that would be contained in budget 2021, and the spendin…