I thank the Minister for bringing the Bill before the Oireachtas. It is a hugely important Bill that sets out how we will meet some really difficult targets around emissions reductions and the transition to clean energy. I also thank the Department officials, some of whom I see here today, for the huge amount of work they have put into this and for the briefings they gave to our committee throughout the pre-legislative scrutiny of what was previously known the Marine Planning and Development Management Bill. I also…

First, I thank the Minister for introducing amendments Nos. 9 and 14, which go a good way to meeting the objectives of the amendments Deputy Duffy and I previously submitted. This shows that if parties and Members are willing to work with the Minister to improve this legislation, and they are committed to delivering badly needed housing at scale that is affordable and well-designed, then the Minister is willing to work with them. I want to comment on the role the Oireachtas housing committee played in this. We had …

I am also asking the Minister a question on the pandemic unemployment payment where persons are currently in receipt of that payment and are offered short-term temporary work. This is especially the case in the music industry, where a gig may happen and they will go back to work on it. Will such people be allowed to return to the payment following the completion of that work or, if not, will they be required to apply for jobseeker's allowance? Will the Minister also comment on whether she would consider that this w…

I thank the Minister. I am referring in particular to the music industry and to the large cohort of people who work in that sector in the sound, power and production areas. Where they may be offered gigs throughout the summer, there might be two or three days of work, and that is through other Government supports for live music events through the Department of the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin. People taking up that work know it will be for only two or three days. They know their industry is not open fully. Wil…

I accept that the Minister cannot introduce sector-specific schemes, but there are sectors that we know cannot reopen or can reopen only in very limited circumstances because of crowd control measures or social distancing. As the Minister has pointed out, there has been unprecedented support for welfare payments and employment supports across the past 15 months and I think everybody recognises that, but we have to look at these cases and allow for flexibility where we want these people to return to work and they wa…

Has the Minister's attention been drawn to cases whereby full-time musicians or those in the music industry who are currently in receipt of the PUP due to the ongoing closure of the industry, are receiving phone calls from social welfare officers asking if they have considered moving to the jobseeker's payment? Is this an operational procedure by the Department and are all persons in receipt of the PUP likely to receive such a call?

I welcome the Minister's statement to the effect that the engagement is across all sectors and that the purpose of the call is to advise and inform people of what options may be available to them, which she reiterated. I am aware of her recent response to Deputy Cannon on the matter. The Minister was clear that she does not expect musicians or artists to retrain. As I indicated in my question, there is a cohort of workers engaged in work which supports that of artists and musicians who we do not expect to retrain b…

All Members across the House acknowledge the tremendous work being done by the Department of Social Protection, the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, and her predecessor as Minister, now Senator Doherty, all the staff across the Department and in Revenue. Some 15 months ago the Department had to react to give payments to people across society who had never been in receipt of payments before and to make the process as easy and straightforward as possible. I welcome the Minister's commitment that we will continue to do tha…

I thank Deputy Mattie McGrath for reminding me that An Taisce is a prescribed body in respect of planning regulations. It would be a good move for the Land Development Agency to also become a prescribed body to enable it to be made aware of the submission of planning applications which may border or impact public lands. It is something I will discuss with the Minister and is an aspect which may be introduced under planning rather than within the remit of this Bill. I will not be supporting the amendments put forwar…

I am sharing time with Deputy Leddin. I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, and his officials for the time they took to brief us on the Bill and for the briefing notes they supplied. If it gives colleagues comfort, the joint Oireachtas committee agreed unanimously to waive pre-legislative scrutiny on the Bill. We also wrote to the Irish Planning Institute and the Royal Town Planning Institute Ireland seeking their views on the Bill. We will supply Members with those responses when we receive them. I support…

The programme for Government commits to a referendum on the right to housing. When I raised the issue in the House with the Tánaiste two or three months ago, he indicated that a commission on housing will be tasked with dealing with that process. What is the position on the commission on housing, will the referendum be a priority for that commission and when can we expect to see a possible wording for that constitutional change?

I thank the Minister of State for the positive news that progress is being made on the matter and that the commission will be active in September. A couple of months ago the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage had a good engagement with Home for Good. We fully understand the complexity of changing the Constitution. Later today, we will debate the Affordable Housing Bill 2021. I hope that it will be passed and that we will also soon pass the Land Development Agency Bill, which will see a large-…

I welcome the Minister of State's comments, which are very positive. I assure him that the Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage is available and willing to engage on this matter when progress is made on it. I understand that the Department is under a great deal of pressure as it develops legislation on marine planning, housing and many other issues. I hope there will be no delay in relation to the referendum. As I said, the committee is willing to engage on and support it.

This legislation is particularly welcome by the Green Party, not just because it will address the delivery of affordable housing but because it enshrines in legislation for the first time cost-rental housing. We have long advocated for this form of housing, based on the Vienna model. We met Green Party colleagues from Austria recently to learn from their experience and craft that European leading example into our legislation. It is simple, makes perfect sense and provides a long-term and sustainable housing model a…

The music and entertainment business assistance scheme, MEBAS, was launched recently. I know the Minister and her officials put a lot of time and effort into it and met with a broad range of people involved in the music and entertainment sector. The Oireachtas committee meets regularly with them as well. At our most recent meeting, they expressed concern about some of the complexity involved in applying for the scheme and some of the qualifying criteria. What has the success rate been like? Have there been many app…

I thank the Minister for the update. If I read the reply correctly, only three of 300 applications have been refused, which is a refusal rate of only 1%. That would speak to the scheme having some success. I note that the Minister mentioned the other scheme that was launched recently as well, the €25 million live performance support scheme, which will provide an opportunity for all those involved in the sectors mentioned to get back to work in some shape or form. What is apparent to me from the meetings I have had …

I thank the Minister, who raises an important point. Often, when we go to see a show or we go to be entertained, we see who is standing on the stage but we have to recognise that many more people are operating front of house, backstage, in production, in decor and in everything else it has taken to get that entertainer on the stage. It is important the schemes recognise them as well. In terms of outdoor entertainment, we have to look at places like pubs that have large beer garden spaces that are carefully managed …

I was not made aware of that.

A number of months ago, I was contacted by a GP in Wicklow who wanted to let me know about the difficulties she was experiencing in trying to refer patients for mental health services. Following this contact, I organised a meeting with a representative group of GPs in Wicklow. Across the board, all of the GPs expressed the same concerns to me on the availability of psychiatry and psychology services in Wicklow across the cohort of services for adults, children and people with intellectual disabilities. Each one of …

Today we begin the journey to net zero and we legislate for the ambition of decades of work by environmentalists, climate activists, scientists, NGOs and more recently the voters across our communities who have demanded action to stop our climate chaos and biodiversity loss. We do this for the young people across this country and across the world who went on strike and marched and raised the bar and demanded action now, action that should have started 20 years ago. Many do not yet have a vote, but they certainly ha…