I welcome the Minister of State to the House and thank the Department for the comprehensive briefing note provided to Members. It is always helpful to have such briefing notes. The information provided gives us a detailed breakdown of the Bill but does not oversimplify what is relatively complex, consolidating legislation. The purpose of the Bill is to update and set out in one stand-alone enactment the law relating to the State’s maritime jurisdiction. Our maritime jurisdiction law establishes the State's differen…

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Burke, back to the House on this important legislation, the Affordable Housing Bill. I will speak briefly to this series of important amendments. They are at the very heart of the issue of affordability, as Senator Higgins has said. It struck me as rather odd that the Bill is entitled the Affordable Housing Bill but it could not even give us a definition of affordability. There is no definition of affordability in the Bill. You could ask what are we doing here? That is our jo…

I thank Senator Boylan and Sinn Féin for bringing this important Bill to the House. We heard from Senator Boylan about the litany of excuses and inconsistencies from the Government in responses to parliamentary questions, Commencement matters, dialogue, conversations and correspondence on this issue. One must therefore ask why that has now changed. This Bill has undoubtedly been significant in that regard and it has focused people's minds. I acknowledge and give credit for that accomplishment. Far too often, we com…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. Before proceeding to talk briefly about Senator Moynihan’s amendment, I wish to thank the Bills Office. What an enormous task it has and it is under enormous pressure. If one looks at the legislation coming through both Houses and, in particular, how we will have to turn this legislation around for next week, I wish to acknowledge the enormous work of that office and the time pressures it is under. This is important legislation and I am not going to dwell. It is importa…

I have some reservations about this because I think we need to use all options to secure homes. Hopefully, in time, we will have options to buy affordable homes in the private sector. It is not a matter of private versus public. Every option, angle and opportunity must be about enabling people to get a home. I do not even like the slogan "housing for all". I prefer a home for all as I think it is a nicer word. It is about homes. People do not necessarily care about who owns, builds or pays for them because, ultimat…

I am interested in what Senator Higgins said and look forward to that amendment because it would address some of the concerns that have been raised. To be clear, my understanding is that this amendment seeks to remove an open market dwelling as a category of affordable housing, leaving only houses made available by a housing authority and Part V houses. That is the issue. I ask the proposers of the amendment to come back and clarify the matter. The Minister of State may address the issue. We need absolute clarity. …

I am very happy to support this amendment, which is a good one. It is important that in the spirit of working together we support this, and I hope the Minister of State will support it. We have seen traditionally smaller co-operatives and community housing trusts establish units. It has worked. I have been to see a few of them in the west. Some projects have run into difficulties, and that must be acknowledged too, in terms of funding and the transfer of the structures around that. It is not anyone's fault, other t…

I have concerns about the amendment and do not support it. While I have major concerns about the LDA, we will have opportunities under the Land Development Agency Bill to examine some of those. As I said earlier, we must have mixed tenure and use every available resource, vehicle and opportunity to provide homes for people. There are some issues with the LDA. Some of the Senators who are present are members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage and recently we had a very good e…

Again, I have some concerns about this amendment. Before I start, I am looking at amendment No. 7 tabled by Senators Higgins and Ruane. The effect of that amendment, if agreed to, is that any public private partnership arrangement must have 80% social and cost-rental housing. There is an acceptance in that amendment that the Senator is supportive of public private partnerships in certain circumstances.

That is fair enough. That is part of the argument. The follow-on in the next amendment is that the Senator is suggesting she is not against public private partnership arrangements. It is important to clarify that. I am trying to be consistent with the argument the Senator is making with regard to amendment No. 6. We have had bad experiences with public private partnerships. There are many partnerships and we have to partner with everybody to deliver houses, be they public, private, social, co-operative or whatever.…

It has been an interesting debate and I note that issue about flexibility. I want to address some of the issues in what Senator Casey said. The Senator touched on the lack of available land within his own local authority, in this case Wicklow County Council, and the challenges there are. I note the Senator said that we have to reach out. We have to reach out to everybody. The Senator makes that very valid point. The Senator's preferred choice would be 100% public housing on public land. I believe that. That is the …

I do not necessarily agree with what Senator Seery Kearney has said. In fact, I totally concur with Senator Warfield. It is very important that we are vigilant at all times. This is the place where we make legislation. Language is critical and we know this from the diverse views and situations in the politics of this island. Language means everything. It is how we communicate. It is how we pull in the subliminal messaging. We always need to be conscious and aware there is no inherent misunderstandings in that langu…

There is a great deal of merit in what Senator Fitzpatrick said. It is about tracking, tracing, targeting and holding people to account. There has been much talk today about empowering housing authorities and local authorities but it goes back to that thing about the executive and the reserve function. Most people here have been involved in local government at some level and we know the frustrations. Senator Fitzpatrick touched on them. She was a member of Dublin City Council for a long time so she has vast experie…

I thank the Minister of State for his engagement today. I hope we will continue to have meaningful engagement and that we will not guillotine or close down this debate. There are some imaginative ways in which we can look at our schedule next week. I have some in mind already, which I will bring to the House on Monday so that we can prolong this debate. It is good we are having it because it is a very important debate. The Minister of State has made a very valid point on the scope within the national planning frame…

I welcome the Minister of State to the House. I second the motion. First, I want to thank the members of the Irish search and rescue service who risk their lives to save the lives of many other people. Regardless of who they are or for which service they work, they face the same challenges and difficulties and they put themselves at risk for us. It is important that we never lose sight of that in any debate on SAR. My understanding is that since 2004 the Irish Coast Guard has had overall responsibility for the prov…

I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Butler, to the House. As always, it is good to see her. She always gives a very comprehensive response to Commencement matters or any other matter that might come before the House. I raise issues with BreastCheck, CervicalCheck and bowel screening. I am a former director of the National Treatment Purchase Fund - I do not know whether the Minister of State knew that - so I am very aware of the importance of waiting lists, how they are managed and th…

I note the additional funds and resources that have been allocated to address this issue. I thank the Minister of State for that. I am particularly pleased about the confirmation of the services for Donegal today because there is a substantial level of concern about the issue in the county. That is good news for the people of Donegal, for the people who represent them and for the people of Dublin. This goes back to the fact that the delayed detection of late-stage cancers will mean fewer treatment options and not v…

I thank the Leader for setting out the Order of Business and concur with other Senators on the revision to the schedule that has been made. The replacement of the debate on defence issues is important. I look forward to the debate on Fine Gael's Private Members' motion on young people. It is a thought-provoking issue. All is not well in that area and I look forward to setting out a number of issues and sharing some information in respect of the Ombudsman for Children. I also welcome the debate on the Affordable Hou…

I move amendment No. 2: To insert the following paragraph after “calls on the Government to:” “- actively pursue the implementation of the recommendations contained in the Ombudsman for Children’s Annual Report 2019, as well as those of the Children’s Rights Alliance Report Card 2021, and to lay a report before Seanad Éireann on such implementation no later than 1st October, 2021;” I welcome the Minister to the House. I also thank the Fine Gael Members, led by Senator Seery Kearney, for using their time for this Pr…

I move amendment No. 3: To insert the following paragraph after “calls on the Government to:" “- address as a matter of urgency the current waiting list of 2,551 referrals for all Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS), noting the increase in referrals to CAMHS during 2020, the 66% increase in hospital admissions for eating disorders during 2020 compared to the previous year, and to allocate adequate and targeted resourcing for the service;"