I am sure the Taoiseach is aware that there are great concerns in respect of housing. The housing crisis is felt in every part of the country. Not a day goes by without people calling to my constituency office looking for a home or somewhere to stay. There is a severe housing shortage, spiralling rental costs, and in Louth alone, rents have gone up by 8%. This is hitting everybody and all walks of life. I invite the Taoiseach today, together with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O’Bri…

I said earlier on that there had been no objections to this project, which would comprise 150 to 200 modular homes. This developer is willing to help with the current housing crisis. These houses are family homes with a front and back garden. The people who come to me do not want to rear their children in apartments. They want them to have a normal life in a very safe environment. I will again use the term "shovel-ready". The electricity, sewage and gas infrastructure is ready. There are schools, shops and everythi…

There is a problem.

I wish to share time with Deputies Canney and Verona Murphy.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this very important issue. I will support the Bill's progress on Second Stage today. Over recent months the cost-of-living, energy and housing crises have meant that people are making choices between paying their rent, paying energy bills or having money to put food on the table. People are being sacrificed and to add to their worries, there was a significant jump in the number of landlords selling up. There was a substantial increase in the number of notices to quit in the pri…

The Finance Bill, which gives effect to some of the measures arising from the recent budget, is being considered in a number of particular contexts, including the cost-of-living crisis and electricity supply crisis. This year, a huge increase in the cost of energy is an additional cost for those who are already struggling to get by. Even before the recent spike in inflation, Ireland was one of the most expensive countries in the EU in which to live. Our housing costs are the highest in the EU while the price of goo…

Due to the lack of public transport options, the current system has been orientated towards car ownership and use. Many workers and families, especially in rural Ireland, are completely reliant on private car use for education, work and leisure. The transport sector accounts for 17.7% of our total greenhouse gas emissions. Therefore, investment in public transport can play a central role in helping to reduce our carbon emissions. While it must be acknowledged that the Government is now acting to reduce emissions an…

Families of children with autism and moderate learning disabilities who are due diagnoses are in a crisis situation in counties Louth and Meath. I am aware of 15 families who have adolescent children with autism and moderate learning disabilities who urgently require a psychiatric review but have been told by the HSE that the service is not available as there is no psychiatrist on the HSE team. When will a psychiatrist be made available on the HSE team in counties Louth and Meath?

A common threat for children with autism who are transitioning to adolescence is high anxiety levels and obsessive-compulsive disorder, OCD, behaviour. Many of those adolescents are non-verbal. They display their anxiety through OCD, self-injury behaviour, hitting themselves with force, property destruction, poor sleeping patterns and assaulting others. Many of these families live in constant fear of attack from their adolescent child. They live in houses that have been significantly damaged by their adolescent chi…

In addition to no psychiatrists being available, the only pediatrician available in Louth-Meath is Dr. Maeve McCormack, who will only see children who are aged 16 years or younger. There is a four- to five-month waiting list to see Dr. McCormack. CAMHS will not see teenagers who are due a diagnosis and those adolescent children cannot be seen by mental health teams until they are 18 years of age. I am sure this is not only happening in counties Louth and Meath. These families are crying out for help. Apart from the…

As a member of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill and will support its progress on Second Stage. The Government has been trying to soften the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic by extending significant financial assistance to the tourism sector. This includes hospitality, travel and tourism, leisure and sporting sectors coming within the scope of its emergency credit. However, new figures from the Irish Tourism Industry Confederation…

I acknowledge that the electricity credit announced in the budget will go some way towards helping families struggling to keep up with rocketing energy prices. However, without a price cap the average energy bill has continued to rise, with some families stating it is like paying a second mortgage or double rent. This is highly unsustainable. Shortly after the budget announcement, electricity and gas suppliers announced additional price hikes, putting severe financial pressure on people. In the first half of 2022, …

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on Second Stage of this Bill and will support its progress today. There are increasing concerns that unbalanced work-life relationships can result in reduced health and performance outcomes for individuals, families and organisations. This has been exacerbated by the pandemic, when it was necessary to fuse work life with home life due to the sudden work-from-home requirements. I am a working man, a big family man and, as an avid runner and chairman of the Louth county board, …

In the Government's Budget Statement, a lot of promises were made on tackling the electricity crisis. In it the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, stated that every household will be provided with electricity credit. I acknowledge this measure is a huge help for most households but I have a constituent who raised the issue of one electricity meter covering two dwellings: one home and one independent granny flat where the inhabitant is in receipt of palliative care which requires sig…

Granny flats and the situation where there is one meter for two dwellings. Families are building granny flats to let their parents come in or vice versa and are only entitled to one grant. Is there a possibility this can be sorted out?

Irish households are facing into the biggest cost-of-living squeeze in nearly four decades in the middle of another significant jump in the official inflation rate. The Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, estimates that the share of households experiencing energy poverty increased from a level of 13% in 2015 and 2016 to 29% in mid-2022, with potentially more than 50% of all households considered to be at risk of energy poverty by the end of the winter. With regard to the electricity credit announced in th…

Many constituents who come to my office raise serious issues about their children who may be autistic or have a disability and need assistance. In fairness, the Government has done a good enough job, especially in introducing investment in special needs education in schools. I welcome the provision for the employment of additional special education teachers and special needs assistants, SNAs, with the number of SNAs to go above 20,000 for the first time. It will definitely help families. However, I would like to ad…

The Government pitches the Housing for All plan as its proposal to alleviate the housing crisis. Housing for All promises an increase in the supply of new housing to an average of at least 33,000 new units per year. This promise included over 10,000 social homes each year, with 9,500 of these being new builds, and an average of 6,000 affordable homes for purchase or rent to help eliminate homelessness and address the waiting lists. Yet homelessness is at a record level and people are queuing on the streets to view …

The new 10% levy introduced on concrete blocks, pouring concrete and other concrete products is expected to raise €80 million annually. Based on that figure, however, it would take 40 years to raise what is needed to pay for mica redress. This levy will penalise young people trying to build or buy their first homes as well as local authorities trying to build social housing. Given robust demand for housing, combined with the long-standing supply constraints, the burden of this new levy is likely to fall on the resi…

The Government is faced with a very challenging situation. From an economic perspective, we face two enormous challenges, namely, an electricity crisis and a cost-of-living crisis. I am pleased that the budget is framed mainly around them. There is no doubt that the last few budgets have been very difficult for everyone. We often hear of the squeezed middle who have shouldered most of the financial burden caused by the Government's inability to manage electricity supplies. The Economic and Social Research Institute…