The Minister of State would go a long way to convince us that is true if, in the same way he withdrew amendment No. 25, he would withdraw amendments Nos. 12, 13, 40, 41, 42 and 47. Maybe he could let us know if he is serious about that and save us the bother of having a needless debate because otherwise this is going to be guillotined through. We are not going to reach most of the amendments. I do not know what he means when he says he is open to co-operation because whatever is said here is going to make absolutel…

This is one of these substantial last-minute amendments the Government has brought in, the purpose of which we agree with. As well as some of the questions I have already heard asked, as I alluded to in my opening contribution, I want to understand clearly what is being done here. It is not legal to offer for short-term let properties that do not have the planning permission to do so or the exemption that would allow them to do so . It is against the law but companies are doing it. We are now bringing in an amendme…

The Minister of State did not answer my question.

I want my question to be absolutely clear. I think it is a similar question to Deputy Ó Broin’s, although the Minister of State is not quite getting it. As I read it, for the next six months, if someone advertises a short-term residential tenancy for which they do not have permission for a change of use or an exemption, they will be breaking the law and they will be fined and, potentially, imprisoned. However, in six months' time, unless the Minister renews it, they can advertise a tenancy for which they do not hav…

That was as clear as mud.

A resolution of the European Parliament was sent to me which was agreed on 1 June 2021. It relates to the impact of offshore renewable energy on fishers and the marine environment. This resolution was adopted and recommended by the rapporteur. To cut a long story short, what it basically states is, notwithstanding the commitment of the European Union to develop its offshore renewable resources, it should not do so in such a way that would displace fishers or do things that could potentially damage the marine enviro…

When the Minister of State gives us those assurances, it is apparent he has been given them by someone else. While I do not doubt that he is honestly relaying what he has been told, it does not satisfy me that we are having a fully rounded and well-interrogated scrutiny of these amendments that relate to large-scale residential developments and large-scale industrial infrastructure that will fill the near-coastal area all around our coast with industrial developments. We are talking about large-scale, massive indus…

The Taoiseach has been scathing of those of us who intend to vote no confidence in the Government this evening, suggesting it is negative and cynical and asking why we do not concentrate on positive proposals. This week, the Government has an opportunity to prove it is interested in positive proposals. The reason I have no confidence in this Government is that as we head into the summer recess it has done nothing to take on board positive proposals to deal with the utterly dire housing and homelessness crisis and t…

How would it make things worse?

I guess that is a "No". The Government will not be supporting a Bill to reduce rents to affordable levels. That is not overly surprising from parties that are dominated by a disproportionate number of landlords relative to the population. Approximately €13 billion has been spent through HAP, the rental accommodation scheme, RAS, and leasing since 2001. That money in various rent supports and rent allowance has gone into the pockets of landlords. We now discover - and I note the Taoiseach did not respond on this poi…

It is a Bill.

The Government is cutting people off HAP.

Recently, the Tánaiste made references to the possible introduction of Uber to this country. Over the weekend, The Irish Times detailed that the origin of this was John Moran, the former Secretary General of the Department of Finance, lobbying a former Minister to put Uber's plans into the election manifesto of Fine Gael. What is the attitude of the Taoiseach to all of this? We had taxi drivers absolutely hammered during Covid. It is still unclear whether the Government will meet their demand to do away with the te…

The cost-of-living and inflation crises were key issues at Davos. Did the Taoiseach talk to any representatives from France when he was there? This morning, he pooh-poohed efforts to control rents. He has similarly pooh-poohed our proposal that we should control energy prices. It may be of note to the Taoiseach that the French Government has limited energy price increases to a maximum of 4%. The French Government can do that. It has also introduced a new regime of rent controls. It recently nationalised one of the …

I am certainly not.

It is Government time.

The Government has trotted out a completely false narrative. Its members are all on message in saying they are the people with solutions and we are the people who are just being critical, but that is not the truth. Tomorrow we will have a Bill seeking to reduce the rents in this country to affordable levels and the Government will vote against it. That is the truth. The truth is that 10,300 households will be really suffering over the coming weeks. Record numbers of people and their children are in emergency homele…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. It is difficult to resist, when discussing a treaty on outer space, the gag about this Government living on a different planet, but I will resist it and try to take the issue seriously. It is quite incredible it has taken 50 years to get to the point of actually transcribing this treaty into law. That is a pretty extraordinary fact. The objectives and intentions of the treaty seem laudable on the face of it. However, when I looked at what are called the depository nations where th…

He is scared of Deputy Kenny.

The Minister suggested that some of us are just playing politics with this issue and we do not really want to see the housing crisis improved because, somehow, there is some political benefit to us from its persistence. I do not know whether he is just saying that to play politics or if he actually believes it. I say to him that it is absolute nonsense. I can tell him that I absolutely dread going into my clinic on a Monday and a Friday because of the misery I have to face when families and individuals come in, one…