Get rid of that.

Following the Minister's contribution, I will withdraw amendment No. 13.

The Select Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage has completed its consideration of the Local Government (Mayor of Limerick) Bill 2023 and has made amendments thereto.

Can the Minister update the House on the plans to expand the provision of services at the National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh, in my constituency?

Cappagh hospital is in my constituency but as the Minister rightly says, it is a national hospital. My colleagues, Deputies Cahill and Brendan Smith, have been plaguing both the Minister and the Ministers of State, Deputies Butler and Rabbitte. We have had extensive visits from Ministers. The Taoiseach himself has been out, as has the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and many others. It is a fantastic hospital. There is great energy there. What the hospital did during Covid was really impressive, yet it is operating in m…

I very much welcome the confirmation that the project has been approved by the HSE board. There is great goodwill here. Sometimes we need to just keep pushing it through the bureaucracy. There is no better man than the Minister to do that. It affects people in my constituency but it is a national resource. There is great energy and effort here and it will go a long way to meeting the needs of patients, many of whom have been waiting too long, and which the Government is doing everything it can to address.

On the issue of additional capacity, could the Minister update the House on the additional beds provided by the Government over recent years and the plan to put in place 1,500 new hospital beds, which he had indicated earlier this year?

I thank the Minister for stealing my punchline because I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy Troy. I welcome the arrival of Maria Ginnell Troy, his daughter. It is an example of how, in very important times, we need hospital capacity. I welcome the additional beds that the Government has brought on board and the significant funding. In the talk of cuts over recent weeks, I have heard no acknowledgement that funding has increased by nearly 40% over the lifetime of the Government. It is important that we pres…

The use of rapid build is increasingly important in both housing and the delivery of infrastructure but it can pose a challenge at constrained sites. In my constituency, Beaumont Hospital is an increasingly constrained site, although it once had a lot of land around it. The Mater hospital, which is nearby, is beyond maximum capacity. The big challenge will concern how rapid build can be achieved at congested sites or in brownfield areas, where more turnkey or bespoke design is often required. I thank the Minister f…

Will the Minister give consideration to extending the completion deadline for Croí Cónaithe grant applications, which is set at 13 months? It would allow successful applicants time to properly finish the property and draw down what is a very important support to tackle vacancy and dereliction.

I thank the Minister of State for outlining the circular issued to all local authorities. The Croí Cónaithe scheme has been invaluable. This has especially been the case in those areas where house prices are that bit lower than they might be elsewhere and additional works cannot be funded with borrowing because of the loan-to-value ratio and the cap the market places on homes in those areas. In areas, though, and I am thinking of parts of my constituency, this scheme enables people to go in and borrow money for the…

I thank the Minister of State. I especially welcome the update concerning Dublin City Council and the interaction in this regard. We have been speaking with the Minister for some time. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan, who asked me to raise this parliamentary question on his behalf today, has also been working with Cork County Council, and perhaps the same interaction could be undertaken with that local authority. This is an important scheme and it is having an impact. I always have a wry smile when Sinn Féin backbenc…

We will let them off with that.

I see Sinn Féin councillors now-----

I see that Sinn Féin councillors are now offering the guarantee that the tenant in situ scheme is working, but the party's frontbenchers do not accept that either.

I ask the Minister and the Minister of State to do whatever they can to try to ensure this scheme is rolled out and that as much value as possible is derived for the money being put into it by the Minister, the Minister of State and the Government.

Hear, hear.

Will the Minister give consideration to those in a domestic abuse situation who often through a housing assistant payment, HAP, or other form of temporary housing find refuge away from the family home and were previously on a local authority waiting list in their area? Could they be allowed to transfer to a local authority waiting list in another area without losing the time they have built up? These are unique circumstances that give some room for consideration of the matter.

I welcome the Minister being open to the issue. I dealt recently with case where a HAP tenant who had been a victim of domestic violence was losing her home and the local authority included them in the tenant in situ scheme. It was a bit convoluted getting there but she walked away from a property interest she had in a family home. Anybody else would ask why someone would walk away from a property interest but it was because she was so damaged by the experience and so broken by what had happened that she just could…

Many years ago, when local authorities had a smaller number of approved housing bodies providing housing and they had more discretion to take it outside the scheme of lettings, those AHB developments were often used for these more sensitive cases where discretion could be applied, although we are in a changed landscape compared with where we were ten years ago, when local authorities had that power. As for the discretion of housing officers, they have a greater understanding of the housing crisis than perhaps even …