The developers are happy.

On Monday evening, a young man in my constituency was seriously injured in a motorbike accident. At the moment, he is in a critical condition. Our thoughts are with him and his family at this time. He, unfortunately, is just one of a number of people, especially young people, who have been involved in serious road accidents in my constituency. There are a number of reasons for this. A northern ring road was promised more than 25 or maybe 30 years ago but it still has not been developed, and now there is a situation…

I support these amendments in relation to the ability to draw down funding. We are in the middle of the worst housing crisis in the history of the State and we will not having the ability to access vital funding. We have the highest house prices, rent and homelessness figures in the history of the State. We have almost 8,000 people on housing lists in Cork. The Government's affordable housing projects are a joke. That is the only way to describe them. Hundreds of people are looking to buy an affordable house in Cor…

The Minister should check the figures published today. He probably has not seen them as he was here going through the Bill. I ask him to come back to me tomorrow. Everyone knows the target figures set by the Government and the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, of just over 30,000 houses a year are too low. Then we hear the Minister say the Government will hold a review and look at the data. I do not know. It just shows how out of touch the Minister is if he thinks 30,000 houses a year will solve the housing crisis.…

Four thousand children are homeless. Is that your best contribution? Some 4,100 children are homeless and that is your best contribution.

Fine Gael has been in government for 13 years.

Fianna Fáil has been in government for seven or eight years with it. You have made 4,000 children and 13,000 adults homeless and that is your best contribution.

If that is all you can contribute today, you would be better off going back to your constituency because you should be ashamed of yourself.

That is fair enough. To get back to the point, on derelict and vacant sites, according to the census there are 163,000 vacant properties. A number of years ago, I got a site in Blarney Street put on the derelict sites register. I have mentioned it here a number of times. This butcher's shop was empty for 33 years and because it went onto the derelict sites register and Cork City Council started to charge the owner 7% a year, he has now turned the building into a two-bedroom property and a three-bedroom property. Th…

The Minister mentioned "evidence-based". Obviously, the Minister is quite an intelligent man and being Minister for Finance, is good with figures. He quoted that Cork City Council delivered 800 additional houses. That is a misprint, that was 800 families. Some 1,000 to 1,200 came on to the housing waiting list the same year. I am not a genius or an expert in maths but if 800 houses are delivered and 1,000 or more come on to the list, that means that 200 people, or families in most of these cases, are actually worse…

Is HAP social housing?

He is not answering.

Cork's heroic victory over Limerick last weekend will go down in history as one of the most exciting games of the modern time but thousands, if not tens of thousands, of people were not able to watch it, including diehard GAA people and hurling people who love the game. So far, not one of Cork's hurling championship matches have been on television. The games against Clare and Waterford were also crackers but people did not get an opportunity to see them. This decision by the GAA and by RTÉ is a disgrace and flies i…

I do not accept the Minister of State's assertion that there is no role for the Government in this matter. Hurling is not just another sport. It is our national game. It is part of our culture and tradition. It is what Irish people from the island of Ireland and all across the world associate with being Irish. To say the Government has no part to play in it, while other sports are on every television channel, is not acceptable. We must protect our game. Hurling is a minority sport. Fewer and fewer people are playin…

I ask the Minister to provide an update on whether she will provide assistance to develop a community centre in the Fair Hill-Fairfield area of Cork city.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. First, I welcome the money that has been put into the community fund. However, the people of Fair Hill and Fairfield have not had a community centre for decades. For the past ten years, this brilliant community has again been trying to develop a community centre. At the moment, it has a two-bedroom house from Cork City Council, to which hundreds of children come for youth groups every week. There is also a men's shed group and an art group making use of this little two-bedroom house. …

We are trying to get the money for the feasibility study. This group is currently doing that but it is taking years to access any funding. Maybe it is different with the funding for shovel-ready projects but this site is not shovel-ready and will not be until the feasibility study is carried out. The question is whose responsibility it is to deliver a community centre. Is it always on the volunteers? These are people with their own families who are working their own jobs. What do we want them to do? Do we want them…

I have raised a number of times in the past the issue of the return of therapists to special schools, including St. Killian's Special School and Cara Junior School in my constituency. Figures I have received show that there are 368 students in special schools in children's disability network team, CDNT, 8 in my constituency, and they have only been sanctioned two full-time therapists for 368 students. I spoke with the principals from special schools in my constituency today. They are beyond frustrated, and they are…

There is a serious knock-on effect for children because of the failures to provide therapies. Behavioural issues are getting worse, children are falling behind and through the gaps, and staff are under constant pressure and stress, all of which could be resolved. We will not be able to fix everything but if the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, were to provide €150,000, the therapies that are needed could be provided. It is shocking that more than 750 children in Cork are waiting on assessments of needs. The wait…

Glanmire flooded at the same time as Midleton flooded. The works have started in Glanmire, but the tragedy is that those works were sanctioned a number of years earlier and if the Government and the Minister of State's predecessor had not delayed, Glanmire would not have flooded that day. Areas such as Blackpool in Cork flood constantly. Will the Minister of State provide funding to enable local authorities to put in eco-drains and flood protection measures? At the top of Knocknaheeny, an area I represent, there is…