Town centre first is yet another tool with which the Government can tackle the housing crisis. It aims to tackle vacancy, combat dereliction and breathe new life into town centres. People have reconnected with their communities throughout the pandemic, underlining the importance of high-quality public streets, parks and other amenities in towns that provide space for communities to socialise and recreate. Local authorities have been provided with a number of powers and measures to deal with the issue of derelict pr…

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke, for being here for this Topical Issue debate because I know that he, the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, treat this matter with the utmost seriousness. We have had nearly two days of housing meetings with chief executives and housing directors of local authorities across the country with the Minister. I want to point out the massive ambition in this House for the delivery of public housing. We put in a lot of hard work on…

I welcome the Minister of State outlining some of the many things contained in Housing for All, the Affordable Housing Act 2021, the Land Development Agency Act 2021 and the many other measures that he mentioned. We need to go further and start to make sure that every local authority knows the breadth and depth of this housing plan, that every local authority knows how much is in here and that every councillor has an understanding that there are tools in this housing plan that will allow them to progress the projec…

I welcome the Government's decision to establish two citizens' assemblies, one on biodiversity and one on a particular priority for me, local government in Dublin. I served for ten years as a member of Dublin City Council and had the great honour of chairing that body. On many occasions during my time in this House I have missed the fantastic opportunity that being a local councillor gives a person to impact his or her community in a real and tangible way. That said, our system of local government is broken. It is …

First, I want to welcome the publication of the commission’s report. Fianna Fáil welcomes this report. We called for it to be established by a motion before the Dáil in 2019, when we were in opposition. It was a key component of our input into the programme for Government, which was agreed by all three parties. It has the commitment of the Minister and of all of the backbenchers in those three parties. The publication of the report is a crucial step forward. I look forward to the Minister's work to consult with oth…

I thank the Taoiseach for the commitment he has shown in dealing with some of the difficult issues in the community of Ballymun that arose further to the recommendations from the Ballymun - A Brighter Future report. I know he has more work to do on that and he is due to visit the constituency and meet public representatives. A key element of that is the delivery of housing. We have 19 sites in public ownership with 28 ha of land which provide a great opportunity to deliver a mix of housing for a community that real…

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Dunsink Observatory in my constituency. It is an historic and environmental gem. Unfortunately, I could only access it by travelling through the Tánaiste's constituency. This is due to a chronic problem of illegal dumping. The Fianna Fáil Senators, including Senator Malcolm Byrne, have brought forward the Local Government (Surveillance Powers in Relation to Certain Offences) Bill 2022 to try to put on a legislative basis the use of such technology as drone footage and number …

On 5 March 2020, the Ceann Comhairle called me to make my first contribution to the House. The previous weekend, a case of coronavirus had led to a closure of a school in my area. Local councillors and Deputies had been briefed in City Hall by people who we considered to be unknown public health officials but who the entire country would soon get to see on a nightly basis. I left that meeting feeling incredibly afraid, not just for my community but for the country. In a wave, Covid came upon us and our community an…

At the weekend, this island marked the 50th anniversary of the murder of civilians in Derry on Bloody Sunday. The families and the people of Derry endured too long a campaign for the acknowledgement of truth about what happened in the name of the British Government but full justice and accountability have never been secured. This is true of most victims of the Troubles and I am today mindful of the Birmingham bombing families and the Reavey family, some of whom I have met. They and all victims are being re-traumati…

I intend to speak for only one minute. While I very much welcome the Bill because I believe we need reform in higher education, I in fact was a member of a higher education governing body and never attended a meeting. You might ask why would I be proud of that. I did it because I was an automatic member as the Lord Mayor. It is a terrible way of governance of any institution to have automatic members and I welcome the Bill because it reforms that system. I have been asked to put on the record of the House the conce…

Like the previous speaker, I welcome the Minister of State's leadership in the area of mental health. I know it is something she understands and has championed while making changes within the Department. Looking at the figure of €1.1 billion, one might think it a huge amount but this is a huge and challenging problem. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to have a director of mental health within the HSE and €1 billion deserves a director in the area. That €1 billion deserves somebody with clinical…

Last year the Oireachtas housing committee spent our time ensuring the Affordable Housing Bill and the Land Development Agency Bill were passed. This year we will focus on the delivery, particularly the role of local authorities, approved housing bodies and the Department in ensuring the legislation all of the Deputies on this side of the House passed starts to turn into action. Will the Minister outline the progress he has made working with approved housing bodies and local authorities to deliver affordable and so…

I thank the Minister. Until we passed the legislation last year local authorities were not in a position to deliver mixed tenure and mixed income housing and this will assist Dublin City Council in bringing forward projects. We all know the importance of this. Having represented Finglas and Ballymun for more than a decade I know the importance of it. It is very clear that local authorities have all the tools on the table. They have a multi-annual budget, partners in the approved housing bodies sector with which the…

I thank the Minister. I emphasise the importance of ensuring we put pressure on local authorities and approved housing bodies to deliver. They have been out of practice for some time. We are back in the business now of local authorities leading. I get the impression from the Opposition, particularly Sinn Féin as it criticises us, that it no longer criticises us on policy but on the inability to deliver a house overnight. We all know this is not possible. It is caricaturing the Government as being uncaring knowing w…

The Government is taking steps to try to deal with inflation. It is a tricky business when, in itself, Government spending can drive inflation. The measures in the budget and targeted social welfare changes will help. The announcement of a €100 payment to assist fuel inflation was very welcome. As we move further into January, will the Taoiseach outline when the Government will bring forward that legislation and when the payment might be made?

This morning, the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, indicated that inflation may cap out at 6%. That is an alarming and stark figure, because while many of us can stand up in here and talk about any manner of public policy, inflation will impact on our competitiveness, public pay policy, the pay policy of private companies and our ability to spend the significant amounts that many of the Ministers sitting behind the Tánaiste have allocated. Will the Tánaiste outline how the Government intends to identif…

In contributing to the Covid debates, it often feels as though you are speaking while standing on shifting sands because Covid continues to bring about changing circumstances and to be inconsistent. The prime example of that is that only a few weeks ago we renewed the emergency powers legislation and the lead Opposition party said the restrictions were long past their sell-by date. Yet we are back at the stage where restrictions are being examined. I do not say that as any criticism of the Opposition because the Co…

I welcome the opportunity to raise the issue of the important work being done in communities by local employment services and the great deal of uncertainty within those communities in respect of the indicated tendering process. It is not an unfounded concern because many of these partnership companies, or local development companies as they are often called, bear the scars of the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, process. That programme was often the other arm of the partnership model. I a…

I appreciate the Minister of State's response. I was disappointed to get a call from the Minister's private secretary only an hour ago to say she would not be able to take this debate. To be fair to her, she has met with me and many other Fianna Fáil Deputies to discuss this matter, about which there is grave concern. The work of a Deputy from one of the parties in government is often done behind the scenes rather than here in the Chamber. There are probably two instances in which we choose to raise matters in the …

Like Deputy Pringle, I also rushed over - so much so that I forgot my jacket - and I am glad that the House has agreed to take the amendment at this point. Something very fundamental is happening in this Bill. We are restoring to the local authority level the first opportunity for decisions on planning applications and that is really crucial. There have been lots of issues with developments in my community and in many other communities. Often when one breaks it down, there are multiple reasons for that. There are p…