I thank the Deputy. That is exactly what is under way at the moment. The value of a procurement framework is it provides an overall framework within which public bodies should have consistent standards for being able to procure services or goods and it is of help in making procurement processes work more efficiently. For that reason, we are now looking at the roll-out, as I said a moment ago, of a procurement roadmap for these various technologies. I would be happy to find more exact timings on it for the Deputy as…

I will certainly think about it. I appreciate the point the Deputy is making that we should have a target for the number of homes delivered via modern methods of construction. I can definitely see the logic of that. The only thing is, I would not want to agree to any further targets that make the delivery of our overall housing targets even more complex than it already is. Where we agree is these technologies, if deployed at scale, can make a big difference. I have seen some examples recently that I have been a bit…

I am responsible for the public spending code, which sets the value-for-money requirements and guidance for evaluating, planning and managing Exchequer-funded capital projects. In March this year, I informed the Government of a package of significant actions aimed at enhancing project delivery for the national development plan, NDP. This package represented a fresh approach to securing delivery as part of the Department's enhanced remit around the NDP. The actions include significant changes to reduce the administr…

Any process that reduces the number of steps that need to be taken and decreases the number of projects that need to go through a more thorough and broader evaluation process, which we have done by increasing the threshold from €100 million to €200 million, is going to help with speed. I anticipate that the improvements for projects overall in how much time will be saved by this will be measured in months. Every month helps.

Yes.

I thank Deputy McDonald for raising what is an exceptionally sensitive and important report into the most difficult of circumstances possible. When the Minister, Deputy Harris, was briefing the Government on this report yesterday morning, it reminded me, and I am sure it has reminded all of us, that there are a set of tragic circumstances that I think are beyond the ability of most of us even to imagine. We can only recognise the trauma and then the bravery of many who have to live with the consequences of such dea…

The Deputy is right in being very clear in calling out crimes that are the subject of such trauma and sorrow. Like the Deputy, when I see the reports of the crimes and particularly the funerals and those mourning the loss of life because of the crimes, I find it difficult to comprehend. My human response is to look away briefly, particularly if the loss of life of children is involved. We are all aware of recent crimes and tragedies that have involved children. The role of the State is so critical because we have a…

I thank the Deputy for again raising what everybody in this House knows is such an important matter. I said previously that the decision to end the eviction moratorium was one of the most difficult and complex I have ever been involved in as a member of the Cabinet, but I am acutely aware and can see in my constituency that whatever difficulty was involved in making the decision was minor by comparison with the difficulty some encounter and are encountering due to the consequences of the decision. I am well aware, …

Respectfully, the maintenance of the moratorium on evictions in the rental sector ran the great risk over time of leading to even fewer rental properties being available.

Prolonging the eviction ban also ran the risk of even greater difficulty arising when it ended. That is the reason the Government made what we accept was a difficult decision, one that has been the subject of much explanation in the House and debate elsewhere. I wish to challenge Deputy Bacik on one point. She stated that our provision of 11,800 social homes, which is our ambition for this year after delivering against our social housing targets last year, was cold comfort to those who might not be able to access t…

This is a matter with which I am familiar; Deputy Cannon has been raising it as well. I am sure he has been attending the same meetings as the Deputy and engaging with parents, pupils and teachers who are concerned about the issue. I acknowledge the scheme's importance and the valuable role it plays in supporting school access and supporting families. I also acknowledge the importance of the cost of school transport in the context of the cost-of-living challenges that many are facing. While Deputies understandably …

That is a fair point. We put in place those measures to make a much-needed, and I believe much-valued, contribution to families at a time in which the cost of living and the increase in the cost of living was so urgent and causing such hardship. I am aware from Deputies on these benches of the anomaly to which Deputy Canney refers and also of the frustration that many families and pupils felt when they saw school buses go by that were empty and had empty seats on them. This is of course a matter that will be consid…

I emphasise that while this review is under way, we will continue to deliver against all of the commitments on the current scheme. I have no doubt that Bus Éireann and the Department of Education will do all they can to try to resolve individual issues that are developing. I cannot promise that we can resolve all of them, but I know everyone will do their best.

I am sure the Deputy would not be short of many great ideas regarding how to spend €1 billion in County Kerry. I am also sure he would be able to turn that money to very good effect. But on the point about €1 billion, it is important to make the case that during two of the three years that Deputy Michael Healy-Rae refers to, we were dealing with a pandemic during which the construction sector was closed for long phases.

The sole reason as to why there were capital underspends for the year before last is that during that period the construction sector was not functioning in a normal way. That is the key reason.

I completely agree with the point Deputy Michael Healy-Rae made about voids. In many ways, the term "void" is very misleading. It is an empty home. In Constitution Hill, at the heart of Dublin Central, a very different setting, I have seen the way in which properties that were described as voids have now been turned into homes for people who needed them. That is why the successful delivery of, let us call it, an empty home programme via our local authorities has been a really important element of what the Governmen…

I appreciate the importance of the empty house programme; it is why, between 2020 and 2022, more than 8,000 so-called voids were turned into homes across the country. In recognition of the Deputy's point that we should turn empty properties into full homes at a time of such great housing difficulty, that has happened. The programme for 2023 is to use €31 million, which I mentioned a moment ago, to add to the 8,000 homes and deliver a further 2,300. These programmes are fully funded and are being implemented all ove…

The Government is already recognising the challenges many face with the cost of living. For example, in June, an additional €100 payment per child will be available through a bonus child benefit payment, we are making a further increase in the back-to-school clothing and footwear allowance, the hot school meal is being extended, we have made efforts to reduce school transport costs and an additional payment has been made available through the working family payment. Those are all things we have done. The finance Bi…

We are all aware of the huge importance of this as a healthcare policy. We are also aware of the important report the Government and Oireachtas received on the matter. On the operational points the Deputy raised, we in the Government appreciate their seriousness. We have requested that the HSE put in place an implementation group to respond to the important operational issues raised in the provision of this vital healthcare service to women. Regarding legislative changes to which the Deputy referred, the Government…

The census to which the Deputy refers reminds us all of the scale of change under way in our society and economy. From my experience of divestment programmes and procedures, I have seen the reason they do not happen or happen slowly is that the school community takes time to consider this process and does not always reach a view that a change in patronage is appropriate. We need a more diverse primary and secondary educational system to support the needs of children of families the Central Statistics Office, CSO, r…