Answer the question on housing please.

The question is on housing.

It is all well and good for the Minister and the Government to talk about what they are doing for the State and to slap themselves on the back. Unfortunately, this announcement of a recovery and resilience fund does nothing to reopen the out-of-hours GP service for the people of the Cork North Central constituency, SouthDoc Blackpool. Three times this year SouthDoc has told the people of Cork North Central and me that it would reopen. It still has not. Fifteen months ago, it closed its doors under the guise of an e…

A lady contacted me who is in desperate need of gastric sleeve surgery. She saved for four years for the surgery in Turkey. She forwarded to me a letter from her surgeon which states that this surgery is time-sensitive and necessary. I contacted the Department of Health and was informed that only a liaison officer can tell her, when she returns to Dublin Airport, whether she is exempt from hotel quarantine. She cannot afford the cost or time involved with quarantining for two weeks in a hotel on her return. She des…

In the context of the forthcoming announcement on Friday, I ask the Minister to put in place a plan to increase attendance numbers at meetings of Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous and other such bodies because it is time to be proactive. The Minister recognises these are essential services and we have worked together in the past to get these services back up and running. The Covid-19 crisis has been especially difficult for people in recovery. We are being contacted by many individuals and groups to state t…

Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers was set up 35 years ago, in 1986. Since then, it has moved from Na Piarsaigh football and hurling club to the North Monastery and later to the North Point Business Park. The Department of Education is in negotiations with the Farranferris Foundation. Gaelscoil Pheig Sayers needs a new purpose-built school. Will the Minister commit to this? Twelve years ago, the school had 89 students. It now has more than 300. There is great enthusiasm for educating young children in Cork North-Central throug…

The crisis that now faces our aviation sector is unprecedented and requires unprecedented action from the Government. Sinn Féin has been calling for a survival and recovery plan for months to protect workers, their families and the industry. These workers need help to pay their mortgages and look after their families. They do not need Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to play politics with their livelihoods. It must be remembered that Fianna Fáil privatised Aer Lingus in 2006 and the job was finished off by Fine Gael in 20…

There are approximately 92,712 vacant homes throughout the State. This does not include homes on the derelict sites register. This is a shocking statistic and it is clearly a very serious problem. The Government has committed to tackling vacant homes, as did its predecessor. Yet, there are only three full-time vacant homes officers across the entire State. This is nothing short of scandalous. How can the Minister of State stand over this? When I asked how a part-time vacant homes officer is meant to tackle this iss…

There are 31 local authorities, with three full-time vacant homes officers and the rest work part-time. The Minister of State is telling us that many of these part-time officers have multiple roles. They can be the derelict sites officers, they can organise housing maintenance or they may be involved in allocations and planning. They are overseeing adaption grants and tenant purchase schemes. They can also be involved in processing Rebuilding Ireland home loans. The Minister of State said staffing is a council issu…

Providing funding is what I said.

Does the Minister of State believe that one vacant homes officer in Cork could return 92,000 houses to use? It is not possible.

I wish to support this motion and I thank the Deputies from the Regional Group for bringing it forward. Some 50% of my constituency is rural and the lack of water and wastewater infrastructure there is an important issue. We are in the middle of the worst housing crisis in the history of the State. Without investment by the Government in water and wastewater infrastructure, how will houses be built in villages, towns and rural areas? The Government must invest. One-off housing is being blocked because of a lack of …

I welcome and support the Bill because for many, the fair deal scheme has not been fair or equal and the Bill finally provides recognition of that. We could go further and introduce a publicly funded residential care model because the Government is relying too heavily on the private sector to provide residential care. Older people must be treated with dignity and respect and they must be confident they will get the care they deserve. Statutory home care should be provided. Where possible, people should be supported…

I have a number of questions. I will take three minutes and give the Minister the remaining time to answer if he could. I was contacted by a lady whose mother is 69 and is housebound. She had received a vaccine appointment for a clinic but she had not received an appointment from the National Ambulance Service to come out to her house. When I contacted the HSE about this, it was confirmed to me that there is no system in place for under-70s who are housebound to receive their vaccines at home. To me the Minister ha…

There are three centres in Cork but not one is on the northside. Half of Cork has no vaccination centre.

I support the Bill and thank Deputy Cian O’Callaghan and everyone involved in bringing it forward. Part V long-term leasing is a cosy deal for developers, which leads to social holding being turned into a commodity under the watch of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Part V long-leasing, combined with investment funds buying entire estates, as we have seen this week, will not solve the housing crisis but will in actual fact make it much worse. The Government is continuing to rely on passing the buck onto the private secto…

I went on to daft.ie today and the cheapest rental property in Cork is €450 for a one-bed studio. One would need to earn €34,000 a year to afford this property. One is paying €200 a week to live in a box, because that is what it is, and to look at a washing machine and oven. In another property, on the market for €900, the kitchen countertop doubles up as a bedside table. The Minister referred to court cases in Berlin and how the Government cannot ban rent increases. Would Germans live in these hovels? Not a chance…

Last year, 109 beds were lost in rehabilitation treatment facilities nationally. Waiting times for beds in some facilities have doubled. Some 1,229 people have been waiting more than 12 months for treatment in one facility in particular. When I asked the Minister about this, he said there was nothing he or the HSE could do about it. That is not good enough. There is plenty that could have been done and that can still be done to reopen and replace the beds that have been closed. Will the Taoiseach commit to instruct…

These beds were lost due to the Covid restrictions but no attempt was made to replace them.

It is addiction services.