2025-12-03

I very much welcome this opportunity to come before the House to discuss the Government’s new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities. The development of this new housing plan was a commitment under the programme for Government. It reaffirms that housing is the number one priority for all arms of government, including local government, and expects that all people and organisations, whether public or private, will play their part in tackling the challenges we face in increasing housing supply and reducing homelessness. The Government is entirely focused on building 300,000 new homes. By the end of 2030, there will be 72,000 additional new build social homes built for those in our society that need them most. Our goal remains a housing system that truly serves the needs of our people. That is why we are committed to also providing 90,000 affordable housing supports. Delivering Homes, Building Communities is ambitious - of that there is no doubt - but the Government is fully committed to making it a reality. Delivering Homes, Building Communities also builds on the achievement under Housing for All with over 137,000 new homes built, 44,000 social homes and nearly 16,900 affordable housing supports provided, with 4,500 of these being cost-rental homes, a tenure type that did not exist just five years ago. This gives the Government a strong platform to scale up housing delivery and under Delivering Homes, Building Communities, we are focused on delivery. This will not be easy and there is no one single solution that will solve the housing challenges we face. That is why Delivering Homes, Building Communities takes pragmatic action across a number of different policy areas to boost housing supply while ensuring that the new homes delivered support people who need them the most. These two key objectives provide the foundational pillars in the plan: activating supply and support people. The first pillar, activating supply, is about removing structural barriers to homebuilding and ensuring we deliver 300,000 new homes in the lifetime of this plan. This includes measures aimed at unlocking land, reforming planning, delivering infrastructure and creating the conditions needed to increase investment in housing supply. Delivering Homes, Building Communities is enabled by the largest ever capital investment in the history of the State. A total of €275 billion will be invested over the next ten years under the national development plan, to significantly upgrade our infrastructure and make the environment for building homes much better. This cannot be overstated. This includes almost €20 billion to support the delivery of 72,000 social homes and 90,000 affordable home supports over the next five years. It also includes €12.2 billion for water and wastewater services and €3.5 billion in equity funding for ESB Networks and EirGrid to make sure that we have the capacity in these vital services to make housing connections as and when they are needed. The Uisce Éireann investment is particularly significant. Of the €12.2 billion funding provided, 95% of it will be used to support the delivery of a wide range of projects in cities and regions to ensure the delivery of the additional water services capacity required for new housing. Investment in transport will also be critical to unlocking housing. Up to €3.5 billion will be invested in transport projects, which will support the delivery of tens of thousands of homes across the five cities. We have also introduced a €1 billion infrastructure investment fund, which will help to de-risk the development of sites in towns and cities across the country. This will be managed and deployed by the housing activation office. A key change element of Delivering Homes, Building Communities is the emphasis it places on creating the environment needed for the building of more homes. One vital part of this is creating the right conditions to attract inward investment in housing development, particularly in building apartments. Delivering Homes, Building Communities details a suite of complementary measures to do just this. They will result in the development of thousands of new apartments. The measures include: the changes announced to rent pressure zones, RPZs, to attract private investment back into the rental sector; the new planning design standards for apartments; a reduction in the VAT rate to 9% from 13.5%; an enhanced corporation tax deduction; and an exemption from corporation tax for cost-rental homes. The cumulative impact of these could result in a reduction of up to €160,000 in the cost of delivery to apartments. This is a significant amount of cost savings per unit, and it has the potential to unlock thousands of apartments that were not viable just six months ago. Another such measure is the establishment of the housing activation office. The office is now up and running. The team has met with all local authorities and industry and is actively developing a programme of investment to get more homes built. The office will identify and address barriers to the delivery of public infrastructure projects needed to enable housing development, through the alignment of funding and co-ordination of infrastructure providers. To deliver more homes at speed, the State will indeed do more, but this plan will also empower others, particularly the private sector, to play their part. We can all agree that an effective planning system remains a critical piece of the solution. Delivering Homes, Building Communities is not only tackling the barriers in the planning system, but also those in the legal system, regulation and procurement. We will free-up the private sector to provide homes at much greater scale by providing more zoned and serviced land for housing right across the country. The full implementation of the Planning and Development Act 2024 will be another game-changer for the wider housing system. It will provide certainty to all practitioners but particularly developers. Having set timelines for decisions allows developers to better manage projects. This, in turn, will have positive impacts on the cost of housing development. The Government is also committed to creating the best possible conditions for the industry to build and to activate more homes. We have not waited until the publication of this plan to get on with the work. Since coming to office, the Government has delivered a revised national planning framework, NPF, enabling the zoning of significantly more land. We have introduced reform of RPZs and revised apartment standards, both of which will make apartment building more viable. Working across government, Delivering Homes, Building Communities also involves measures to boost construction capacity and skills. The scale, quality, speed, efficiency and sustainability of the construction industry must be at the highest levels to meet national housing projections. Increasing skills and enabling wider adoption of modern methods of construction, MMC, is a critical aspect to achieve this and support the delivery of high-quality housing with reduced delivery times and reduced costs. In addition, while housing need is so critical, addressing vacancy and dereliction remains a key priority of the Government under Delivering Homes, Building Communities. The plan commits to bringing homes back into use through the vacant property refurbishment grant and the introduction of a new derelict sites tax, administered and collected by the Revenue Commissioners. As I have outlined, the Government will lead with record investment and strong direction, but success also depends on local authorities, the Land Development Agency, LDA, approved housing bodies, AHBs, and the private sector playing their part. The LDA has been further capitalised by €2.5 billion. This will support a significantly expanded role. In addition to over 2,000 homes already delivered, the agency is working on a pipeline of a further 27,000 new homes on over 40 sites. Local authorities will be supported as well. A number of measures detailed in the plan will ensure the delivery of record levels of social homes and affordable housing supports by local authorities. A new single stage approval process for all social housing projects under €200 million will support them to increase and accelerate the delivery of new homes. The Government will also support and fully fund local authorities to establish ring-fenced new build teams that are fully focused on delivering new social and affordable homes. This will ensure there is additional dedicated housing expertise in every local authority. These teams will be solely focused on the delivery of new homes. They will be afforded the opportunity to develop own build projects, problem solving as they go while developing a strong pipeline of future social and affordable homes. They will be recognised for over-performance to incentivise delivery of the 72,000 new social homes by 2030. We will also put in place measurements and publish data to illustrate how everybody contributes. Every part of society has a role to play. The housing crisis affects us all and solving it will need everyone to act together. Affordable housing bodies also play an invaluable role in housing delivery that complements local authority social and affordable home delivery, helping to address acute housing needs, including for many of our most vulnerable citizens. They have been responsible for approximately 50% of all social and affordable delivery over the past four years. The Government is committed to strengthening capacity and specialism in the AHB sector to increase delivery. This will include, among other things, supporting a restructuring and consolidation of the sector, addressing legacy impediments and providing greater clarity of the required social and affordable housing delivery by AHBs through local authority housing delivery action plans. The second pillar, supporting people, is aimed at supporting people to get a home. It is focused on tackling homelessness, protecting children and families, increasing social and affordable housing output and strengthening protections for those renting. It supports homeownership - giving new buyers a chance to put down roots, while revitalising villages, towns and cities. I am acutely aware of the profound impact homelessness has on individuals, particularly children, and addressing homelessness is a key priority under Delivering Homes, Building Communities. This includes measures to prevent homelessness, support people experiencing homelessness and support people to exit homelessness. As part of this plan I felt it was essential to reaffirm my, and the Government’s, commitment to the Lisbon declaration and working towards ending homelessness by 2030. I will also continue to work with the national homeless action committee to ensure a whole-of-government approach is taken in everything we do to address homelessness. The single biggest intervention we can make as a Government is to deliver increased levels of social homes. An additional 72,000 social homes will make a big difference. We will also work with each local authority to examine how the allocations of these new social homes will best address the needs of households experiencing homelessness and, in particular, families with children. On top of this, Delivering Homes, Building Communities includes a number of additional measures that the Government will take to address homelessness, including the provision of an extra €100 million capital funding in 2026 to support the exit of families longest in emergency accommodation. This is in addition to the €50 million already announced for 2025. We will also develop a child and family homelessness action plan and a whole-of-government homelessness prevention framework. Both will allow for a co-ordinated approach to addressing the root causes of homelessness. I also want to detail some of the action the Government is taking to support our ageing population. Providing housing for older people is very important to this Government. We will develop an action plan to increase the delivery of housing for older people. The action plan will focus on increasing the delivery of social homes for older people, increasing delivery of more suitable homes for older people in private housing and will increase choice for those who wish to rightsize. This plan is focused on supporting people to get a home and the Government has committed to record levels of direct funding for housing to support this. In 2026 alone, over €9 billion capital funding will be provided through the Exchequer, LDA and Housing Finance Agency. This funding is targeting never before seen levels of social homes and affordable supports. An average of 12,000 new build social homes and 15,000 affordable home supports each year to 2030. This will provide real homes and supports for individuals and families right across the country who are currently struggling to secure a home of their own. We will also continue to work with our stakeholders to revise, expand and improve the range of affordability supports in place for home ownership and cost rental. This will be done within the context of investing in our towns, villages and cities recognising the importance of community in people’s daily lives. Through the implementation of Housing for All, we have learned that there is no single solution to the challenges we face. The answer lies in a suite of complementary actions across a broad number of areas. Delivering Homes, Building Communities provides a clear roadmap for the action that now needs to be taken. The state will continue to play a critical role, investing unprecedented levels of public money in the delivery of housing. We will continue to consider every lever at our disposal to increase supply. We remain steadfast in our commitment to meet the challenges head on and ensure all those aspiring own their own home will be able to realise their aspiration. I look forward to hearing Members’ views and perspectives on these vital matters.

The definition of "madness" is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result and that is exactly what the Minister is doing with this so-called plan. It is not a new plan and anybody with a shred of honesty who has read it would say that plainly. It is the same old failed policies repackaged, rebranded and re-presented one more time but this time with far less feeling. In fact, the only changes in this document from those of the Minister’s predecessors are the reintroduction of policies from a previous plan that failed back then and without doubt are going to fail now. Let me run through some of the problems. The first and most fundamental is once again the Government is underestimating overall housing need. It is ignoring the Housing Commission’s estimation of the housing deficit, the amount of homes that are needed to meet housing demand right now, by a factor of about 20%. That is why the Department of Finance has said that even if the Government meets these targets, the housing crisis will continue for another decade and a half. Within that, the Government is chronically under-providing new social homes by a factor of about 30%. We need more than 90,000 new-build social homes over the next six years but we also need far more funding for the regeneration and improvement of existing social homes and a far more ambitious programme of social housing acquisitions. None of that is in this plan. Despite the Minister’s commitment to working towards ending long-term homelessness by 2030 – I always thought the Lisbon declaration was to end long-term homelessness by 2030 – there is not a single new measure in this plan across its 100 pages to prevent homelessness or accelerate people’s exits from homelessness. Every time I hear the Minister, who normally is very cautious in his choice of language, talk about waging a war on dereliction, I am quite embarrassed for him because there is no urgency in tackling vacancy and dereliction in this plan. Transferring responsibility for the derelict sites levy to Revenue, which may collect it by 2027 is not a war; it is a snail’s crawl in tackling one of the most urgent and pressing issues of our time. Crucially, for all the Minister’s talk about private sector supply, new measures for the small and medium-sized builder-developer sector to build good-quality homes for working people to buy in every county are entirely absent from the plan. The only changes the Minister is proposing are the changes well announced to the private rental sector – reintroducing inferior design standards for apartments to make them smaller and darker; a €640 million tax break to apartment developers where the apartments are viable, being built and, in most cases, already have buyers; and legislation trundling its way through pre-legislative scrutiny of which the primary, if not sole purpose, is to jack up rip-off rents even higher from next March. Yesterday during pre-legislative scrutiny, the Bill was described by one stakeholder as "a jungle of confusion". I could not have found better words. It contains three new rules for rent setting and three new rules for security of tenure, and the only thing we are sure of is not increased supply, but ever greater rip-off rents and confusing and unenforceable tenure changes. Of course the Minister knows it does not have to be this way. His party leader - sometimes I think the man who is actually in charge of housing - the Taoiseach stood in this Dáil only a week ago and complained about the Opposition and said that we had no alternative and no detailed plans. He must have missed the Government’s own Housing Commission report with over 200 pages of detailed recommendations being thrown in the bin and ignored by the Minister and his predecessor. The Opposition, including ourselves with a fully costed housing plan, over and over again has set out exactly how it can be done. Unless there is greater State intervention and the right kind of private sector supply to meet the needs of buyers, we are not going to get to a situation where all of those people who have been failed by the Government’s housing policies get access to secure, adequate and affordable homes. As long as that is the case, we will continue to campaign, to highlight and to critique but crucially to set out the alternatives because the only thing that is certain is this: this plan will come and go like Deputy Darragh O’Brien’s, Eoghan Murphy’s and Simon Coveney’s before it. It will fail and the losers will be people in need of affordable housing. On that basis, we will continue to oppose the plan because it is part of the problem and not part of the solution.

The Minister does not understand the damage that he does and that Governments have done when they announce a new housing plan. It takes a year to deliver but what a Minister does when he announces a new housing plan is create hope. People are so desperate for housing they would do anything. They look at their Government as they wait for its plan. It has caused devastation to ordinary people because this plan is only a rehash of what we have seen before. There is nothing in here that will solve the housing crisis. There is nothing in here that will solve the homelessness crisis. I take no glee in that. I am actually gutted that there is nothing in this plan. In my constituency today, four houses came up in Kerry Pike. Hundreds of calls have come into my office for four houses in Kerry Pike because people are so desperate. Does the Government not understand how hard it is for ordinary people and families who are trying to get a home? They cannot find a home to buy; they cannot afford it. They cannot get somewhere to rent; they cannot afford it. They cannot get social housing. I am talking about the pensioners who have notices to quit. Where will they go? These are people who are terrified about where they are going to go in January because we have a tsunami of evictions coming and the Minister seems to have his head in the sand. Does he not know what is happening? Does he not know what people are living through? He is coming in with this plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities. I would love to tell him what I think of it. I am dealing with people who are sleeping on couches or in box bedrooms, and people who are separated for Christmas. Christmas is coming. I have families who have been in emergency accommodation for three years. Imagine those poor children. They cannot put up a proper Christmas tree. They are wondering will Santa come. The parents are then distraught because they are looking. They feel like failures but they are not the failures. The Government is the failure. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are the failure because they put developers and speculators before people. They put money before people. That is what this is doing. It is an absolute disgrace. Where is the hope this Christmas? Who will be lighting a candle for all those homeless people?

This latest housing plan is not worth the paper it is written on. Like all other failed plans from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, this will only make the housing crisis worse. It will only make people's lives harder. It will lead to more misery for anyone trying to put a roof over their head so that a small few can make bigger profits. Smaller, darker, more expensive homes; that is this Government's plan. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil are serving the interests of people who are profiting from the housing crisis. In my own county of Donegal, 80 council houses are lying empty because of defective blocks. There is no plan from the Government. They are just lying empty. It is disgraceful. Fine Gael's record in government is clear. Since it came into office, the number of people under the age of 40 who own their own home has been cut in half. Fianna Fáil joining in has only made matters worse. Today, 180 landlords own 56,000 homes in this State. The Government has ripped up home ownership and ripped it away from a whole generation to drive them into the arms of corporate landlords. In the last five years, these big landlords have doubled the number of properties they own. We have seen them hoovering up homes. They have outbid people at every turn. Workers watch on as house prices are pushed out of reach. The Government is trying to spin a yarn that there is not enough money in housing. It churns out industry nonsense for big developers, the same big developers that are making super-profits. The biggest players have 20% gross profit margins. They are talking such a big cut that it would make the banks and the insurance industry blush. The Government looked at these obscene profits and decided to hand the developers more. It handed them massive tax breaks in this year's budget. Every worker will be worse off next year in order that developers can make more money. Shame on the Government. It wants us to believe that higher rents, higher house prices and bigger profits are going to solve the housing crisis, but that is not the case. While Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael remain in government, the housing crisis is only going to get worse. More and more people become homeless. Young people emigrate. Lives are put on hold. People's hard-earned wages are handed over to landlords and banks. All of that will continue until we take back control and start building homes working people can afford to own.

Well said.

One of the biggest failures of this Government is the whole area of affordable housing. In large numbers of local authorities across the State, there is just no plan to roll out affordable housing schemes. I can speak with authority about my home county of Donegal. Again and again, I have submitted questions to the Minister and to his predecessor, Deputy O'Brien. I have appealed to them to put in place affordable housing schemes. If a family in Donegal with two adults and one child earns over €32,250, they cannot go on the social housing list. In order to get a mortgage, they would have to earn between €70,000 and €90,000. If the Minister does not know what wages are like in Donegal, I can tell him that a huge cohort of families are stuck. This is happening all across the State but I am telling the Minister about Donegal because I can speak with authority about it. They cannot go on the social housing list. They cannot get a mortgage. The Minister has no plan for them. He has just abandoned these working families. There is public land all across the State that could be deployed for this purpose and the Government wilfully refuses to do it. We are hearing again and again the stories of our young people who are telling us they have no other option than to go because they have no hope. There is no light at the end of the tunnel for them to be able to put a roof over their heads. This is the social contract. We told our young people to go to college, get an education and train up in a profession. That is the contract. Get up every morning, go to work and you will have a roof over your head and security for your family, which is the most basic right. That has been denied to them. I genuinely cannot believe the Government has published another plan that fails to address this huge cohort of workers. These are ordinary workers who earn a wage that reflects their reality and life. They cannot do anything. They are stuck. I am not even going to appeal. I have lost hope in the Minister's Government. It is time for a new Government. That is clearly what we will have to work for because the Government is not listening. It is not even listening to its own commission. It is outrageous.

I thank the Minister for finally coming before the Dáil to speak to this housing plan, a plan which is a blueprint for failure. It has next to nothing to say about rural depopulation because we know it will take real action to confront that problem. Communities across the State are being slowly hollowed out - in some cases quite quickly - because the Government has failed to deliver the homes, the services and the opportunities that young people need to stay rooted in their communities and their own places. Once young people are forced out, everything else begins to erode such as the school, the post office, community organisations and the GAA club. The failure of the Government is compounded by barriers to rural planning and the absence of basic enabling infrastructure. Wastewater capacity, water connections and transport links are missing, and without them housing simply cannot be delivered. This is the direct consequence of a Government that has turned its back on rural Ireland. This housing plan offers more gloss, more spin, nothing new and certainly no delivery. Fágann plean tithíochta an Rialtais an Ghaeltacht ar lár. Is é seo an ceathrú plean ó 2013 agus fós tá teaghlaigh óga á bpraghsáil amach as a bpobail féin. In áit ghníomh, faighimid gealltanais ar staidéir nua agus moltaí nach bhfeicfimid go dtí 2026, más ea. Tá an ghéarchéim ann anois. Tá sé ann le blianta. Tá teaghlaigh ag imeacht anois. Caithfear cumhacht agus acmhainní a thabhairt d'Údarás na Gaeltachta chun tithe agus bonneagair riachtanach a chur ar fáil. Caithfidh an Rialtas toil pholaitiúil a léiriú agus a thaispeáint do na húdaráis áitiúla. Gan tithíocht, níl aon phobal agus gan pobal, ní mhairfidh an Ghaelainn. The housing crisis in Waterford is now undermining the very future of towns, villages and the city. Rents are rising out of control, up 7.6% this year, which is above average. While affordable and social homes remain stuck in process and are delayed, families are left waiting. Nowhere is that failure more stark than in the village of Ardmore, where a community is facing an existential demographic crisis because an affordable housing scheme that is being spoken about has been pushed from pillar to post, from local authority to Department and from Department back to local authority, for years. It has been left in limbo. Young people have been driven out and are being driven out still. The demographic core is thinning and the village risks losing the very people who sustain its services, its school and its very identity. That same pressure stretches from Dunmore East to Lismore, and from Bunmahon to Waterford city. This neglect and indifference must end. Like my colleagues, I appeal to the Minister to change course. We hold very little hope because the plan he has published is an abomination and an admission of failure.

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. After months and months, we finally have the Government's new flagship housing plan. After almost a year in office, we finally see how the Government hopes to bring an end to the housing catastrophe in this country. However, what did we get? We got very little. We got, essentially, an admission of failure and a total and complete lack of any vision or ambition. We got a plan that scrapped targets, provides no serious pathway to secure affordable homes for ordinary people and is not ambitious enough on social housing. It has nothing new on affordable ownership and it does not even give proper clarity on the role of State bodies like the LDA. This could and should have been an opportunity for Government to change course on housing. Housing for All, objectively, was not a success. In its lifetime, homelessness rose from around 8,000 in 2021 to 16,766 at the last count. Family homelessness, in some cases, has risen by 120% and the number of single adults living in homelessness has never been as high. In that time, the average price of a home has risen from €272,000 to €380,000 and the average rent has risen from €1,516 to €2,200. In the lifetime of the plan, the Government never met its targets for social and affordable housing construction. In 2024, the target was 12,930, of which it delivered 10,596. It will not meet its targets this year either. The Government claims to have delivered 7,126 affordable homes in that time but it can only get that figure by including vacant property refurbishment grants. As for private homes, I will not even go there. There are a couple of particular issues I have with the new plan. First is the abandonment of annual targets for the private sector. This is a naked attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the Irish people and to avoid accountability and scrutiny. It will not work because people know the previous target of 40,000 per year was a complete fiction. They know when they look at the Central Bank forecast of 32,500 homes in 2025, 36,000 in 2026 and 40,000 in 2027, that there is not a hope of reaching 300,000 by the end of the plan. There is a section in the plan on promoting affordable ownership. This is the most pressing issue facing us as a society. We have an entire generation locked out of home ownership with all the threats that poses to the social fabric of the country. There is nothing here on reducing prices or on making home ownership a plausible reality for younger people. Instead, we have had what I can only describe as a PR rebranding exercise, repackaging existing supports as a so-called starter homes programme. Again, the Government is trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the people. The plan states that giving existing schemes a new name under one umbrella will "strengthen the focus and visibility of these initiatives". This is the bit I find most absurd. Is Government seriously suggesting the issue with the housing market is that people are not aware of the support schemes that are out there? This is a supply-led crisis and demands a radical supply-side response. We in Labour believe we need a massive ramping-up in the State's capacity to deliver homes. There is nothing in this plan that offers any hope on that front. I am glad the Government has at least retained an annual target for delivery of social homes but the target of 12,000 units is too low. It should be around 15,000 units per annum. This is something we proposed in our manifesto and it is more in line with the recommendation of the Housing Commission that social and affordable housing stock should be 20% of all housing stock. It is currently around 10%. That has been ignored. It is important to note the Housing Commission estimated a deficit of between 212,500 and 256,000 homes and it is clear from the targets published here that the Government has once again ignored that. In relation to the 72,000 target, how many of these social housing units will be turnkey developments and how many will be direct-build homes? That is something we need clarity on. We also need clarity - I pursued this last week with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell - on the issue of gearing and access to finance for approved housing bodies. We know how crucial the AHB sector will be to our hopes of getting anywhere near the targets for social homes. We know many of them are approaching their borrowing capacity. I do not take much confidence from the Minister of State's reply to me last week that the Department will now move the recommendations of the strategic forum to a sectoral reform working group - yet again, more delay. I want to talk about land speculation, which we know is making this crisis worse. I welcome the commitment in the programme for Government to implement the land value sharing residential zoned land tax to penalise land hoarding and ensure zoned land is developed. During the last Dáil, we published legislation on implementing the recommendations of the Kenny report; however, that Bill lapsed at the election. This is something we will be coming back to because the Government must be committed to dealing with the issue of excessive profits being made following the zoning of land. It is nothing short of shameful that 17,000 people will spend this Christmas in homeless accommodation. This is a wealthy country. The focus on family homelessness in the plan is welcome but the Minister will be judged on it. The plan will be judged on its delivery of outcomes. I am slightly concerned by the lack of specific measures for single adults in homelessness. We need a stand-alone strategy for dealing with this group because it is the biggest group of what I would describe as non-movers. The plan recognises this because it states single adults account for around two thirds of households on social housing waiting lists, but there is no real, tangible detail on dealing with the issue. We need to increase the stock of one-bed housing units. That is an important first step but we also need a specific plan for dealing with single people in homelessness. On the rental market, the plan refers to stability but what is proposed in terms of the RTB (amendment) Bill is nothing short of a horlicks. It is unenforceable, confusing, incoherent and seeking to satiate two competing interests at the same time. Rents will, unfortunately, continue to rise and so will the rate of terminations. I am more concerned by the lack of an updated definition of "rent" or of a long-term coherent vision for renting in Ireland. We need real protections for renters, protections that keep people in their homes. People deserve stable leases, predictable rents and clear, coherent procedures that can be easily understood and enforced. In relation to the RTB (amendment) Bill, I am concerned we will be back again in two, three or four years' time when rents continue to rise and whatever government is in power at the time comes under undue political pressure. While the intention here is good, I do not think this plan will deliver the radical reset in housing policy we need.

I welcome the publication of the action plan on housing and the target to deliver 300,000 homes through a whole-of-government approach. It is ambitious but appropriate. We need ambition. Housing affects everyone in society, whether someone waiting on a local authority housing list, a young person hoping to buy or older people looking for more suitable housing. This issue is urgent. In my area of Carlow-Kilkenny, I meet constituents every week. Single people are finding it very hard to get one-bed houses or one-bed apartments. I know that is a priority for the Minister. It is urgent across all of society that we build as many homes as possible and have as much supply of housing as we can. It is also very important that we work with our local authorities in improving housing delivery. I particularly welcome the commitment in the plan to deliver 12,000 new social homes every year. This is critical. We have to focus on starter homes and affordable housing. I know these are a priority for the Minister and that he is very much committed to delivering them. I welcome that. Like other TDs, though, I have received lots of contact from people who are working and do not qualify for either the local authority housing list or a mortgage. These people are caught in the middle. It is an area I know the Minister is addressing and I welcome it. The other issue is the lack of supply of rental properties. It is very challenging, but I do welcome the increased protections for renters. It is really important alongside the increased supply the Minister is committed to. Serviced sites across the country, including in my own area of Carlow-Kilkenny, need to be developed as soon as possible by local authorities for a mixture of homes. Sites should deliver homes for those on the social housing list and those looking for starter homes, as well as our older people and those with disabilities who need different housing options. I welcome the Minister's opening statement when he spoke about this issue and his commitment to it. This is really welcome. This does show the Government's commitment to housing and working to find and get everyone a home. This is so important. We also need to look at the waiting list for grants. I just wanted to bring this matter up in respect of the housing adaptation grants. I have spoken to the Minister about it. I know the Government has increased the funding. I welcome that and I know it has done that. I wonder, though, if it could look again at the hike in the price of materials, because this means people are finding it difficult between quotes and the grant value. Maybe this is another issue the Minister might come back to me on again. Our local authorities need resources to deliver on all this. I know the Government has funded extra staff in local authorities. I thank the Minister for it. I also know this is something he has worked on and I ask that this continue. I again have to mention my own area. This is why I felt it was important to come in today and ask the Minister about this issue. I want to talk again about dereliction in housing. I know a lot of work has been done over the last year. I can see it as well. The only issue I have is that maybe we need to look at our local authorities on the timeframes for empty houses in our towns and villages and in our stock. Carlow is now a university town and county. Like other university towns, we know the value colleges and students bring to the local communities and our economy. I ask that student-specific accommodation would be a priority. I know student accommodation is a topic the Minister has spoken about many times, but we feel in my home town of Carlow that too many students face long commutes that impact their studies and social life, as well as taking away from the towns and cities where they are studying. Again, I know this is something the Minister is addressing and I welcome it. The programme for Government commits to re-establishing town councils on a phased basis. I was a county councillor for many years, so I really do appreciate this. I see the work they do. I ask that this be done as soon as possible. The Minister knows himself that local authorities and local representatives play a huge role in towns and counties and can be so effective as leaders. They are leaders in community engagement and championing local authorities. Within my own remit, I will mention that in my own area, the Department of Health, I have also secured some funding in the budget for healthcare initiatives for people in emergency accommodation, having worked with the Minister on this issue. We also need to look at services for the vulnerable. This is within my area. I know the Minister has been very supportive of me doing this. The really good news today came when I read about Rosslare-Europort. I see CIÉ will soon be seeking planning permission to expand the port and develop a landmark facility for offshore wind energy. This will be a huge investment in the south east. Again, this is really important. I believe too that offshore wind energy is the way to go in increasing our energy capabilities. All this is backed by the unprecedented investment in infrastructure under our national development plan and the infrastructure report. These are just excellent. I know we have a lot to do and we need to build a lot, but I do believe the Government is going to make those changes in line with the commitment they have given.

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Government's housing plan, delivering homes, building communities. I thank the Minister for his opening remarks. As has been said, this is a very ambitious plan. We know the overall target is 300,000 houses between now and 2030, with 12,000 social homes and 15,000 starter homes. These are critically important. This is a plan of substance and actions. There are up to 80 actions in this plan. No single action will deliver what we want, but if we combine them all together, it will result in significant action in my opinion. It is building on the announcements already made by this Minister and this Government in recent months, such as extending planning permissions that were about to expire, resourcing the planning system so we get faster and more efficient planning decisions, resourcing the Land Development Agency, and we know there is an additional €2.5 billion, which is significant funding, simplifying the approval processes in the Department so we have faster decisions in terms of housing approvals and, of course, the Housing Activation Office working actively with the 31 local authorities in helping to deliver homes. These are critical measures and this plan will build on that. It provides record funding through the revised national development plan, with €102 billion between now and 2030. This will provide critical investment in water, wastewater, energy, key infrastructural requirements and, of course, housing itself. As we have seen today and this week in relation to the accelerating infrastructure task force and the recommendations within that in terms of trying to speed up the delivery of key infrastructural projects, I think that will work in tandem with this plan so we can have a very solid foundation for home building in future. The €9 billion of Exchequer funding being provided in 2026 for homes in this country through the Land Development Agency and the Housing Finance Agency is very significant. As I said, the planning reforms are very important so that we have faster decisions and consistency across the country in terms of decisions. The reforms of the city and county development plans are also very important so we will have additional zoned land and sufficient headroom in this regard. As we know, not all zoned land is developed, so we need sufficient headroom there. The new, updated development plans will allow for that. We must, of course, ensure we have compact growth in our urban areas so we maximise the services we have available. Tackling vacancy and dereliction is also a very significant part of this and there are key measures in it to provide additional incentives. Equally, if actions are not being taken, a property tax will be established through the Revenue, which is also very important. The real test of this plan will be reducing homelessness in this country, which we know is very significant. There are specific actions in this plan to try to address this issue of homelessness. Critically, for me, this is about ensuring we have a proper housing supply, that the 15,000 starter homes are delivered through this plan, which is critically important so people have the option of securing home ownership, and that the schemes are there to assist them.

I welcome these statements on the Government’s updated housing plan, which rightly sets a minimum target of 300,000 homes, including 72,000 social and 90,000 affordable homes. The plan is backed by €9 billion in housing capital for next year alone. It focuses on activating land, clearing blockages and expanding housing first and family homelessness measures. This is essential if we are serious about meeting needs rather than chasing yearly targets. In my area of Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, we can clearly see what works when the State, the county council, the LDA and approved housing bodies pull in the same direction. Shanganagh Castle in Shankill is the largest social and affordable housing scheme in the country, with 597 new homes, including hundreds of social, cost-rental and affordable purchase homes in one integrated community. That is how we should be doing public housing everywhere, at scale, where mixed tenure and long-term affordability is built in. Alongside that, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown has sharply increased allocations from its own stock and AHB homes in recent years, and has used voids funding to bring long-time vacant units back into use. Those are the quiet but important wins for families on waiting lists and for people exiting emergency accommodation. However, nobody in Dún Laoghaire believes the job is done. Rents are still some of the highest in the State, and we see the human reality of homelessness every week. This plan will be judged on whether it speeds up approvals, gets more Shanganagh-type schemes on the ground, turns vacant properties into homes and gives local authorities the staffing and flexibility to deliver. If we do that, then this plan will not just deliver units on a spreadsheet, it will build new communities in Dún Laoghaire and across the State.

I have listened to the speeches over the last little while and I find it incredible. Fine Gael has had 15 years and it is talking about another new plan on the abandoned plan on top of the other abandoned plan it had prior to that, which created nothing. It is absolutely scandalous to listen to the Government because it is not a new plan. It is reheated, repackaged and has already failed three times to deliver genuinely affordable and social homes. What is shocking is that the Government is now actually underestimating the number of homes required by 20%. There has been no increase in social housing funding or targets and this means homelessness will rise and council lists will continue to get worse. My office and our council have seen a dramatic rise in the number of those receiving notices to quit, meaning more and more children are going into homelessness. If the Minister does not believe me, just have a look at the statistics. Every single month, month on month, it is increasing. The gouging of the funding for the tenant in situ scheme, where the council would buy the homes of those facing evictions, is an absolute disgrace. The scheme is one of the things that actually was working and preventing children and families going into homelessness. This week, I was contacted by a mother with two adult children in a two-bedroom apartment. She is a professional who worked hard and did the right things. You know when the Government said, "Do the right thing. Stay in school, go to college, get the degree and the master's, get the job, buy a home and maybe have a family if you want"? Those dreams have turned into a nightmare for a generation of people.

Hear, hear.

In one single school in Dubai, there are 50 Irish teachers. I have spoken to some of them and they talk about coming home. They wonder how they are going to find somewhere to live and how they are going to survive in a cost-of-living crisis when they come home - if they come home. A teacher contacted me just today. Schools in Dublin West have had to cancel subjects, with children unable to take their favourite subjects, because there are not enough teachers and they cannot afford to live in Dublin West. I mentioned gardaí today. We had a net increase of one garda in the K district. Why would a garda stay in Dublin when rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Dublin West is €1,400 to €1,600 and a house is €2,200 to €2,500? So-called affordable housing in Dublin West costs over €400,000. That is if they even get on the list. Three hundred people applied for around 60 houses. Despite the cost, they are all massively oversubscribed. Despite this bad news for those in housing need, Sinn Féin will continue to campaign for and champion the needs of all those without a home of their own. The Government's developer-led policy, which hands hundreds of millions of euro to profitable developers, is sickening in a cost-of-living crisis. Sinn Féin will work with builders to build public houses on public land with public money. That is where the solution lies, not in another failed Government strategy.

The housing disaster, as the Minister is well aware, is worsening by the day. Unfortunately, the housing plan he and his Government have developed offers very little hope that they are willing to accept the utter failure of this and successive Governments. This housing plan is no radical reset. It is no radical transformation and, in particular, it offers nothing but words to the thousands who are stuck in homelessness, the 500,000 adults stuck infantilised in their childhood box rooms, the hundreds of thousands of renters, our young people who have emigrated already and the tens of thousands who will emigrate in the coming years, as they see no future here because they cannot afford the crazy rents or house prices. The Minister is about to deliver a double blow to renters this coming March. What is going to happen is his rental changes will squeeze renters who are already struggling to get by. I would argue that he has been deeply misleading in his claims on the new rental measures. He said here in the Dáil last month: We are severely restricting how tenancies can be ended by landlords. That is to ensure there is that security of tenure. I believe that you will see far less frequent notices to quit as a result of this security of tenure being brought in for tenants. This is untrue, is it not? The truth is that the hundreds of thousands of renters who are currently in leases will get no extra security of tenure after March. They will still be as vulnerable to being evicted on a no-fault basis if their landlord decides to sell as they are today. The current renters, the hundreds of thousands of renters, get no extra protection. If they do nothing wrong, they will still be at risk of those evictions. There is nothing to stop landlords continuing to evict most of these renters on current leases into homelessness after March. The Minister has misled the Dáil and the public on what is happening. Second, he has said that by extending the rent pressure zones across the country, he is giving renters certainty in rent, but what he is actually doing from 1 March is that in the case of any new lease signed by a renter, he is effectively removing all the rent controls that are in place. He is removing the intertenancy 2% cap on rent so that when a new tenancy is set after March, it can be set at a market rent in most cases. We have also know that every six years, the rent can be reset to the market rent. Last night, at the housing committee, a number of experts said very clearly that this is effectively deregulating rents and removing rent controls for new tenancies. What the Minister is actually doing in March is leaving existing tenants exposed to the ongoing risk of no-fault evictions and giving them no security of tenure, and he is exposing all new renters to what are effectively uncontrolled market rents every six years on a skyrocketing level. This housing plan is a slush fund for investors and developers and the Minister's new rental measures are a landlord's ticket to continue to exploit renters into the future. In fact, he set it out very clearly in his speech when he said the big changes are "changes... to rent pressure zones to attract private investment back into the... rental sector"; "new planning design standards", and we know what they are, reducing standards; a reduction in VAT, which is a giveaway to developers; and an enhanced corporation tax reduction. The cumulative impact the Minister set out is a potential reduction of up to €160,000 per apartment. That €160,000 per apartment is the gift he is giving to developers and investors per home. Billions of euro in public money are about to be given to investors and what will young people in this country get? Very little, most of them. On the eviction ban, which is much needed, there is a tsunami of evictions going on. Fifteen thousand notices of termination have been issued to renters so far. I have gone through it by area. The Minister can look at it. There were 1,706 notices to quit issued in Cork alone, with 940 in Galway and 412 in Meath. In the Minister's own constituency, 356 notices to quit have been issued to renters so far this year. Where are these people to go? There are not homes for them to go to. All of these renters are individuals and families with their own stories. It is a trauma, as the Minister very well knows, to be evicted from your home. He and previous Ministers and taoisigh have claimed that these are not evictions but notices to quit. They are evictions just as much as the battering rams that battered our homes and battered people and tenant farmers out of their homes in this country during the Famine times. They are as much an eviction as they were and I am shocked that we are not seeing this as a tsunami of human misery, which is what it is. This country has not seen this level of evictions since the Famine times and the Minister is standing over it. In fact, his measures are helping it, as he knows. Why is he not implementing an eviction ban like the one we saw during the Covid years? It was done during Covid as an emergency. How is this not an emergency? Thousands of people are being evicted from their homes, including children. How can they look forward to Christmas now? Where is Santa Claus going to come to? What are their parents telling them? "We do not know where we are going to be." The Minister knows the impact of that on a child's life. He is destroying these children's childhoods and I am not saying that, as the Minister described it last week, as hyperbole. I am saying it because it is true and the Minister knows it is true, too. I cannot get my head around how an Irish Government is willing to stand over tens of thousands of people being evicted into homelessness. It is utterly wrong. On the issue of starter homes, again, it is completely misleading for the Government to say it is going to deliver 15,000 starter homes. First of all, what is a starter home? These are grants. They are not actually affordable homes delivered. Where is the target for directly delivering genuinely affordable homes? There is also nothing in the plan to deal with what the Instagram account Crazy House Prices highlighted, namely, the massive issue of gazumping, bidding wars and the lack of transparency in the house purchasing process. Why will the Minister not make real moves to reduce house prices? Is he unwilling to step up to the vested interests who profit from higher and higher house prices? There is nothing in this plan to tackle that issue. On housing in the Gaeltacht and the Irish language, níl aon tithíocht inacmhainne ar fáil in aon áit ar bith sa tír seo. Tá an cíos ró-ard agus tá na praghsanna tithe ró-ard leis. Tá pleananna agus beartais an Rialtais ag déanamh rudaí níos measa. Is ceart daonna í an tithíocht do gach duine sa tír ach tá na daoine óga ag dul ar imirce. Bíonn ar dhaoine óga bogadh ar ais go dtí tithe a dtuismitheoirí. Tá an ghéarchéim tithíochta sa Ghaeltacht ag cur ár dteanga i mbaol. Is cúis mhór díomá é seo do na pobail Ghaeltachta, a dúirt Conradh na Gaeilge agus BÁNÚ agus iad ag iarraidh réiteach a fháil ar an bhfadhb tithíochta sa Ghaeltacht. Níl aon rud sa phlean náisiúnta tithíochta a thabharfaidh dóchas do na cainteoirí Gaeilge sa Ghaeltacht. Caithfidh an Rialtas na cumhachtaí a thabhairt d’Údarás na Gaeltachta chun tithíocht a fhorbairt do phobal labhartha na Gaeilge. There is nothing in the plan that gives hope to the young people who are growing up in the Gaeltacht, who are there, who cannot get a home. Why is the Minister not willing to give Údarás na Gaeltachta the powers and funding to build affordable homes, which is what it could do? The future of our language is in jeopardy because young people cannot find a home in the Gaeltacht. The Minister has the power to do something on this. We in the Social Democrats have put forward many solutions, including the homes for Ireland savings scheme, which could provide billions in additional funding. The Government has ignored it in this plan. We have put forward clear policy alternatives. Instead, the Government is clearly captured by the former Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael lobbyists who are working for the investor funds and the banks. It is doing the bidding of those who want ever higher rents and house prices while our young people are locked out of the basic need of a home, which is a fundamental human right. It is not mentioned once in the housing plan that housing is a human right. Where is the Housing Commission recommendation for a referendum to put a right to housing in the Constitution? It is at the heart of why we are in this mess.

In the short time I have, I would like to raise a number of issues that have been raised here before, but I would like to see them addressed. In Kilkenny city over the weekend, a family - a husband and wife and two children, one of the children a special child - became homeless. They rang all of the telephone numbers to seek help and there was no answer. That is the basic failure of bureaucracy, of housing, of the Department, of anyone who should have been manning those phones, a failure to respond to the needs of that family. That is truly shocking when we consider the amount of money that is being poured into the local authorities to deliver on their housing programme. I asked previously about zoned land that is already serviced and has been dezoned. The developer wants to finish the site, conclude the development and provide 30 to 40 homes but he cannot do it. Is that not a failure of bureaucracy? On the tenant in situ scheme, I am aware of two families in Kilkenny city who qualify for the scheme but the council will not respond. I cannot understand. If there is funding there, and we are told there is, and a duty to fulfil the needs of both those families, why does the council drag its feet on the tenant in situ scheme? Finally, the number of houses throughout Carlow and Kilkenny that are vacant and waiting to be refurbished, they say, to be allocated is truly shocking. All of that may be at a very basic level but it is a fact and it is a failure of bureaucracy. If the Minister is putting that amount of money into a system that answers queries in the manner I have experienced, how in the name of God can he expect them to spend the billions he is giving to them?

The housing plan 2025 to 2030 presents a valuable opportunity to rethink how we design and deliver homes in a sustainable way. A key element must be a shift towards building up rather than building out, ensuring we protect greenfield land while promoting compact growth. This does not mean high-rise development but well-designed, high-density urban living that fits the character and scale of our town and cities. It is time we explored how ports like that in Dublin could be relocated and reconfigured, as has been achieved in other parts of Ireland. For example, the Port of Cork has shifted most of its operations from the city quays to Ringaskiddy, freeing up significant dockland space for regeneration. Similarly, Waterford Port moved its commercial activities from the city centre to Belview, which opened the way for new urban development. These examples show how relocating port functions can successfully unlock valuable waterfront areas for residential, cultural and commercial use. Indeed, Drogheda port area is crying out for such redevelopment and it could transform the town. Returning to my call for exciting urban design and higher density, I am calling on the Minister to launch an international architectural competition, drawing in architectural talent from across the globe. We do not have to go very far. Róisín Heneghan from Belmullet, County Mayo, was recently the key architect in the Grand Egyptian Museum, bringing glory and a wow factor back into the city of Cairo. This is what we need. We need to be creating vibrant spaces that will transform the way we live but will also add a wow factor to Dublin, Drogheda, Dundalk, Cork, Galway and all the other towns and cities. It would be a leading light in how we decide how to regenerate these areas and, indeed, we could be a leading figure in such a project.

I welcome the updated housing plan. The plan is only as good as the money that goes into it and ultimately this is the largest investment that has ever been made into housing. The launch of the infrastructure plan this morning will give the plan the credence it needs to go forward and actually deliver the homes. They have to be underpinned by the necessary infrastructure. Once we have the infrastructure and the funding, really there is no excuse but we do have a problem with red tape, bureaucracy and local authorities. If we want the housing crisis to be resolved or improved, we need our planning departments to look at every zoned site in towns and villages right across the country and ask how we can get homes built there, not how we can stop them or why we should stop them. In my own town of Athenry, in 2023, over 200 homes were refused in the space of two months. We have 1,000 jobs on the way to the town now and housing is going to be a huge issue. We need our planning departments acting decisively to make sure that homes are being granted on these sites and that they are working in conjunction with developers and councillors to see homes delivered. The wastewater shared treatment systems in rural villages are really welcome. Countless villages in County Galway have not seen homes built for 15 years because they would have been refused planning if anyone went for a small scheme of ten or 15 homes. Those small schemes provide people for those villages, for the GAA clubs, the local schools and the local community. They are the people who end up contributing to those areas, whose populations have declined in the last 15 years. It is vital that the spec on those shared wastewater treatment systems not be overkill and that when Uisce Éireann works with the developer, it can take them over swiftly and efficiently so that developers are not waiting for the ESB or Uisce Éireann but have collaborative partners that want to see them get the job done and get these houses built. The last point I will make is around the backyard modular units. I have a fear that whenever the guidelines come out for the updated exempted development guidelines, they will be over-specced and overkill, and people will not have that flexibility to do what they need in their own back garden space. There is a huge opportunity there to provide units that could benefit communities and families and would act as a support to people as well.

I want to take the opportunity to discuss my experience from a housing perspective. As someone who has been a councillor in County Kildare for a number of years and, indeed, a town councillor before that, I have seen the different tranches. I have seen a housing boom and a housing bust, and now I have seen continuing price increases in housing. We have seen that a lot of those houses have become out of reach for ordinary people. A lot of our friends and families have not been able to buy in the area and have had to move outside of the area, unfortunately. That is the reality, however. I would see this housing plan as a significant step in trying to allay that and to ensure that we do get development in our areas and in our towns and villages. Previous speakers have spoken to their own experiences because, ultimately, in an area like housing, we are especially aware of how our own area is. When I talk about the story of north Kildare, I speak to where we have a lot of housing. We have a lot of housing in the likes of Naas, Leixlip, Celbridge and Kilcock. We all know those areas have had a relative boom in housing numbers but, ultimately, what those places are lacking is infrastructure, and they have lacked in infrastructure. I also think about urban regional and development, URDF, funding over the last number of years. Typically, it has gone before to areas such as large towns where there might be a courthouse or an old building that needs doing up. Millions of euro are poured into these older towns. That is the one thing north Kildare does not have. It does not have huge old buildings and wide streets, but what it does have is a lot of small, old villages that ultimately now have rings of houses around them. However, they do not have the infrastructure, and they do not have the facilities. I spoke in this Chamber before about how between the towns of Leixlip, Celbridge and Maynooth, there is currently a population of 53,000, and that will expand significantly. We have a university, but we do not have a proper community centre. We do not have a cinema or a theatre. We do not have basic fundamental items that would be in a city that would encompass that number of people. Also, Kilcock is only a few minutes away, as is Clane. They are the types of issues we need to support, and I will be asking when the URDF funding comes out that north Kildare is looked on very favourably in order that we can deliver the facilities that need to go in behind the housing that ultimately will go into our area.

I, too, like the previous speaker, have been a public representative for some time. I have been a public representative for the last 11 years and I have to say, I have never seen the housing crisis as bad as I am seeing it now. To be honest, at this point, I nearly think it is with intent. I am dealing with people, and we know the homeless figures are increasing every month, but I also see the impact of the housing crisis week in, week out in my clinics. On a practical level, however, when we are looking at Galway, south Galway emergency accommodation is always full. There is always a waiting list to get into homeless accommodation when someone is homeless in Galway. This is nothing new. This has been ongoing for a long time but the problem is that it is getting worse. I do not think it is good enough that we just have launches of plans, but nothing actually ever changes. People see through those words when they do not see it with action. Let me be clear; I want the Minister's plan to work because I cannot face this continuing crisis worsening for the people of Galway year in, year out and week in, week out. When we look at Galway city, however, I would be interested if the Minister could outline how many new houses will become available to the council in Galway city next year. How many houses will become available in County Galway next year? How many sites will be ensured to be serviced? We do not have the sites that are serviced in the Connemara area to ensure that we can actually deliver housing that we need. When will the draft Gaeltacht planning guidelines be published? We have had this promise now year after year. Now, we have a housing plan that stated that we are going to have a planning statement instead of draft guidelines, so what is happening in relation to those things? We also have a situation whereby people who are in housing assistance payment, HAP, tenancies are seeing their rents increasing and they cannot pay them. There are, therefore, practical things I hope the Minister does. I hope that he acts on them because I cannot continue to see this hopelessness that is out there because the housing crisis is worsening. Céard é an chraic leis na dréacht-treoirlínte pleanála Gaeltachta? Tá an Rialtas tar éis a rá linn bliain i ndiaidh bliana go mbeidh siad foilsithe agus go mbeidh comhairliúchán phoiblí ann, agus níl. Anois, tá sé ag rá linn go mbeidh ráiteas pleanála ann ina háit. Céard é sin? Níl aon eolais againn mar gheall air sin. Ag an am céanna, tá an ghéarchéim tithíochta i gcathair na Gaillimhe ag éirí níos measa. Tá an ghéarchéim tithíochta atá againn i gConamara, sa Ghaeltacht agus sna hoileáin amach ón gcósta ag éirí níos measa freisin. Céard atá ag tarlú leis na dréacht-treoirlínte pleanála Gaeltachta agus céard é an ráiteas pleanála seo ar a bhfuil an Rialtas ag caint?

It is disappointing but, sadly, not surprising that there is so little mention of the defective concrete crisis in the new housing plan. It is a crisis that has impacted my native County Donegal and many countries throughout the whole country, and worse, it is referred in this to as a legacy issue. This is far from a legacy issue. It is alive and present and persistent. It is happening right now, and inaction will guarantee that this will continue into the future. It is a lived reality every single day for many of my constituents in County Donegal. It is the reason that homeowners cannot keep homes warm any more for families this winter. It is the reason children now fear weather warnings and the reason that every happy moment is tainted, as I said to the Minister, like me trying to put the Christmas lights up on a wall that no longer exists and is just plaster. This is not a legacy issue. This is my daily life and that of everybody else affected - thousands of us. We have only seen the tip of the iceberg, and the denial from the Government is staring us straight in the face. We need this sorted. It is basically in every county in Ireland. It is in Wexford right now as we speak in the Minister's constituency. I have been down there. People have shown me. We have a pyrrhotite issue there and a pyrrhotite issue in Donegal. It is the same problem with defective concrete geographically at two different ends of the country. It is not going away, and the Minister needs to do something about it.

In the limited time available to me, I want to call again for the declaration in law of a housing emergency. Housing is a human right enshrined in Article 25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A housing emergency exists in this State. The Government's own Housing Commission asserts that "Only a radical ... reset of housing policy will work". It further asserts that "It is critical that this housing deficit is addressed through emergency action." Successive Governments have failed to solve this housing emergency. Housing plan after rebaked housing plan has failed dismally, and this one is no different. The Minister's own Department stated that it would take 15 to 20 years to address the housing situation, and this if - it is a big if - Government targets are met, which, of course, has never happened. There is precedence for such a declaration in law, such as the financial emergency measures in the public interests facilitating the bailout of banks, etc. The declaration in law of a housing emergency would make sure that the State and all its agencies - Departments of State, local authorities, approved housing bodies and utilities like Irish Water, ESB Networks and the Land Development Agency - would be required to take emergency action to solve the housing crisis. This approach is consistent with and faithful to the spirit and the terms of Bunreacht na hÉireann Articles 43.2.1° and 43.2.2°. We urgently need large-scale building of social and affordable housing on public land. We need to stop evictions, we need to freeze rents and we need a massive plan for the purchase of vacant homes by local authorities to refurbish for letting. The first step in that process is the declaration of a housing emergency.

Even I, as a socialist and somebody who critiques and challenges the market and the capitalist system, never thought I would be here, 11 years after first getting elected, and that the housing crisis would have been left to fester and become as rancid as it is. I want to ask about Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs. Where have they been? It has been like "The Silence of the Lambs" over the past 11 years as this has worsened. There are a few of them in here tonight. The only time I heard a peep out of any of them was when the investigation was taking place over the presidential election. Suddenly a couple of younger Fianna Fáil TDs started piping up that maybe the Government was not doing very well on the housing crisis. The reason I mention it is I represent Dublin West, which has been at the epicentre of the housing crisis for over a decade. There are 105 families who have told Fingal County Council they have eviction and termination notices. This is in Dublin 15 alone and not the entire constituency. One of the families on our list comprises a woman, her teenage sons and her husband. They had paid their rent for the house they were living in since 2009. The landlord wanted to sell and the council could not buy it because it did not have the money under the tenant in situ scheme. Every legal process was gone through. Phone calls were made to the sheriff. Ten male bailiffs came to the house when she was there alone in her pyjamas. They pushed her out of the house like a criminal. This woman has done nothing wrong. There was no emergency accommodation to be found by the DRHE or Fingal County Council. This family was literally on the streets and they are not the only ones. The Minister has been told about this for ages and absolutely nothing is happening. I do not know why Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael TDs for Dublin West are not in here banging on about this but I presume they do not care. The other issue I want to raise is that we have a massive land bank up the road where we had been told that 7,000 homes could be built, and apparently now the figure is 20,000. It is a strategic land bank in Scribblestown, Dunsink. I have raised this five or six times since I got re-elected, as have our councillors on the council. I am pleased to hear it seems to have had some impact because it will be moved from the long-term strategy under section 28 of the NPF. This could solve the housing crisis in Dublin West. It needs to be moved on now. Fingal County Council needs to be given whatever money is needed to make it occupiable so we do not continue with this human misery we have had.

We need a housing plan that is going to work. Rents are up sky high and will get higher in March. House prices are up sky high. Evictions are up sky high. There were 15,000 notices to quit and eviction notices in the first nine months of the year. We need a plan that will work. The Department has set out that County Laois has to increase its population by 35% between now and 2030. I see the Minister's plan to roll out infrastructure and I will welcome it if it is done but without the infrastructure in Laois, it will not happen. The northern orbital route in Portlaoise needs to be built to free up land for housing. The bypass in Mountmellick needs to be built. The southern orbital route in Graiguecullen, County Carlow needs to be built. These projects need to be fast tracked or the houses will not be built. This is along with the sewerage plants and water plants that are also needed. Housing targets were missed last year and we were 1,129 short on social housing. Cost-rental housing targets were missed by a country mile. I fully support affordable house purchases and these targets were down by more than 60% and were completely missed. The housing plan has to be accompanied by increasing those targets. We also need standard house plans. I am back to this again. We need the same plans for all counties. We would need seven or eight different types of plans. The officials in the Department will say they use standard design but that is not a standard house plan. We need this if we want to mass produce something that is good quality, produce it quickly and reduce the price. It could reduce the cost between 11% and 16% by cutting out the nonsense of councils having to go to a blank canvas every time and bringing in architects when they want to build a house. Why is this not being done? Why are we not doing mass production? Please row back on the proposal for rent changes in March. The 2% limit will be gone in March and it will be set at market rent. I can see where this is happening in my area already. Changes to tenancies happen more regularly than every six years. The average is two and a half to three years, according to statistics. We need to go back on this again. The Minister will cause more evictions and I plead with him to stop it. Let us mass produce houses. Let us up the target for social houses and row back on the rent proposals for March.

I only have two and a half minutes so I will make two or three points, beginning with the planning system. As the Minister knows, most local authorities are reviewing their development plans, which I welcome. It is long overdue. There is one issue I want to raise with the Minister and it is something I only became aware of in the past couple of days. It is a document on housing densities entitled Sustainable Residential Development and Compact Settlements Guidelines for Planning Authorities. My understanding is that at least two local authorities, and thankfully they do not include the local authorities in Cork city or county, are referencing this document in relation to the request of them to increase zoned land, particularly on serviceable sites. The document gives a provision for increased densities and these two local authorities are saying the request of them to zone additional land has been satisfied because densities were increased in this document. Some local authorities are saying their job is already done. This is unacceptable in the situation we are in. I would really like the Minister to examine this and ensure it is not allowed to happen. It is a bit of a pass by those two local authorities. I am losing count of how many times I have raised Irish Water in the Chamber over the past six years. I welcome the change that is due to be made, whereby we will have more developer-led infrastructure. Unfortunately it is the only resolution I can see for the current impasse on the lack of wastewater infrastructure, in particular, that is servicing most of these sites. I have often referenced the case of Carrignavar. It is a village ten minutes from Cork city centre. It is due to be connected through BusConnects. It has everything going for it. It has a new school and a new special school. A new community centre is on the go as well. This village has everything going for it but it has been hampered for the past 15 years with no growth and housing land dezoned. We are being told the treatment plant will not be built for at least seven years. Unless we crack this wastewater and Irish Water issue I have a feeling that many of the Minister's efforts will be futile. A couple of weeks ago I asked a parliamentary question about the number of one-bed and four-bed properties that had been delivered by local authorities throughout the country. It is quite clear, particularly in the case of Cork city, that they are not delivering one-bed and four-bed properties in a meaningful way. Unfortunately, larger families and single applicants are lingering on the list for the longest time. We need to do more to address this and perhaps consider levying quotas on local authorities to facilitate this.

The programme for Government commits to investing additional capital in Uisce Éireann to support reaching housing targets. We are going to prioritise water and wastewater infrastructure to deliver the capacity to facilitate housing development in our towns and villages. I welcome the recent investment of over €12.2 billion in Irish Water but we need delivery on it. At the moment the respect shown to me and other Oireachtas Members by Irish Water in their engagement is absolutely disgraceful. If I asked somebody to do something or come back to me, I would not expect an answer in a minute but when we are waiting two, three, four or five weeks for a reply it is disrespectful at best. If we are funding it with this level of money, that needs to stop. Towns and villages in counties Carlow and Kilkenny that I represent are hamstrung. They cannot grow because the wastewater infrastructure is not there. I acknowledge and welcome the Minister's recent announcement whereby from January up to 40 houses can be developed in a local area. It will potentially give a lifeline and create a ripple effect in schools, shops and GAA clubs across Carlow and Kilkenny. Now that we have a record level of investment, what is so important is that delivery is there. This is key. The big challenge is that Uisce Éireann has to be able to do this on time and with a sense of urgency. My one ask of the Minister is that he puts a rocket up Uisce Éireann and gets it going. What is happening at the moment is not acceptable. I want to raise housing adaptation grants and housing for older people. They are designed to support older people and those who live with disabilities to live safely and comfortably in their own homes. Whatever their needs may be, the Government has to be committed to providing meaningful assistance. These schemes have been, and continue to be, a great success. We have to ensure our older people and disabled people can live and stay in their homes as long as possible. I acknowledge the significant increase in funding from the Minister. It was €75 million two years ago, €100 million last year and it has now been increased to €130 million, so credit where credit is due. That will make a huge difference to families across Carlow and Kilkenny, including in Ballyhale, Gowran and Ballyragget, and in Dungarvan, all those towns I represent. I implore the Minister to continue to invest in that particular scheme because it makes a massive difference to families right across the constituency.

I apologise to my colleague. I was on the wrong clock and I was thinking, "He has gone a minute over time" but he was within time. He will be looking back at the video asking, "What was your man doing there behind me?" I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on this. The Minister and Minister of State, Deputies Browne and O'Donnell, are two good men leading the Department. This plan is ambitious and I want it to succeed. Everyone wants it to succeed; the country needs it to succeed. There will be 300,000 new homes over the lifetime of the plan, major investment in water, energy and transport with over €9 billion committed to housing alone in 2026. The plan is good, the money behind it is good but how it is delivered is what we will really be tested on here. I am concerned we may not have the workforce to do this. I have said many times that we need to follow the lead of countries like Australia and Canada where there are specific visas to bring back tradespeople that are domiciled overseas, as well as tradespeople from other countries, to work in their countries to help build houses and other critical infrastructure. We need to have such a policy. We have critical work visas for urban town planners and architects but we have no critical work visas for the people who build. We have all the people who will design houses, talk about them and engineer their way through a solution but nobody to actually build, plumb and wire them. They are the people I would like to see in this country, whether they are Irish people enticed to come home or people from other countries with skills we need here. I would really like to happen. I also want to mention the villages of Broadford and Cooraclare in County Clare. They have been funded for two years today to have sewerage schemes. More money was topped up last week but we do not see it happening quick enough. That needs to happen. I am looking for the Minister's intervention at this time, two years on, to get the logjams moving. I hope Deputy Coppinger is up in her office watching the TV. She might come down later and answer why in 2020 she objected to 211 apartments in Clonsilla, not just apartments but homes for families. She can throw her little grenades in this Chamber and get nice little clips for TikTok but it does damn all to house families. Speaking of grenades, the objection fee is €20. I own a farm and I applied for planning permission to build on it but a solicitor in Ranelagh, for €20, objected to that and blew it apart. That is not right. In the same spirit, what Deputy Coppinger did in Clonsilla was not right. If someone is going to object to something, the fee should be commensurate with the actual cost of the project. There has to be something more than a €20 fee for holding up a Clonsilla apartment block worth millions of euro that would have housed 211 families. There has to be an equal playing field.

Housing is the greatest issue affecting my generation and I will not apologise to any Member of the permanent Opposition that will stand in this Chamber and ask where young Fianna Fáil TDs are. I am proud to be a young Fianna Fáil TD. I am proud to come from a working-class republican background. I am proud to stand in this Chamber and represent young people across rural Ireland because I am impacted by the housing crisis. My generation is impacted by the housing crisis and I know what it means to face unaffordable rents, unaffordable housing and unaffordable purchase prices, and I will stand up in this Chamber and say it. I will not apologise to a Member who asked where the Fianna Fáil TDs were and when she had the chance to sit here and listen, she got up and left because it is more important for her to post her video on social media than actually listen to what is going on.

She is a serial objector.

Hear, hear.

It is more important to that Member to object to 211 homes in her own constituency than contribute positively to policy in this country. It is more important to that TD to sit in Opposition and oppose and object time and again when 211 homes could have been built in Clonsilla but she delayed them.

Hear, hear.

As regards wastewater treatment plants, if Deputy 'Chap' Cleere puts a rocket up Irish Water, I will light it, if it means we will get a wastewater treatment plant in Cloghjordan and Ballycommon.

I will provide it.

We can build houses there if Uisce Éireann will provide the infrastructure. Time and again, every chance I have had to raise housing in this Chamber, I have done so and at every opportunity, I will again. We want houses in Cloghjordan and Ballycommon and they can be built if we provide the infrastructure, but it is urgent. It is needed now, not in five or ten years. My generation needs it now. We need affordable housing schemes in Nenagh, Roscrea, Thurles and Urlingford and I am proud to represent all those towns. We need affordable housing for my generation, for those young people who have gone abroad who want to come home and build a life, and for the people I went to school with who want to raise a family. Rural planning needs to be loosened. We need to give GAA clubs and rural schools a chance. We need to repopulate rural Ireland and allow those of us who can get a site in rural Ireland to not have to jump through ridiculous hoops to be able to build in our own parish and our own home. Now is the time for urgency, now is the time for action.

The housing plan the Government has outlined doubles down on policies that are not working and is ultimately not going to address the affordability issue. We have policies that are adding fuel to the fire and encouraging inflation in the cost of housing. One of the most frustrating conversations I have in constituency offices is with people who are on an income - a person or a household - between €40,000 and €90,000. That is not to gainsay people below that level because there are huge challenges for people on social housing waiting lists but at least there is an avenue for them, even if the wait is very long and sometimes there are huge issues with that. However, for people who fall into that bracket between €40,000 and €80,000 or €90,000 in Cork city and in large parts of the country, there is nothing for them. Many of those people have done everything right. They have gone to get the best jobs they can. They have worked hard, studied, trained, got apprenticeships and are working all the hours they can. They are saving as much as they can yet they are being approved for mortgages that are absolutely laughable and will not buy them anything. Houses in some of the affordable schemes in Cork city cost nearly €400,000. It is just not realistic. These are not affordable housing schemes and nothing in what the Government has outlined has suggested it is going to get to grips with anything that truly resembles an affordable housing scheme. I am more than disappointed. The Government is going to keep on repeating the same mistakes again. Given the price of housing at the time Government entered office, I would be very worried it will be much beyond that by the time this Government leaves office. I have two suggestions in this regard. First, it seems obvious that if there is a social housing income threshold and there are people earning above that who will not be touched by any realistic commercial mortgages, they need to be considered for social housing. The Government needs to raise the income thresholds. The other issue is some of these people can afford to buy properties that are effectively derelict or shells and so on. It is logical that if those people in that window can afford to buy those properties, they should get specific help with the renovation of them. In addition to their mortgage, they should get a grant, or interest-free loan at the very least, which will also help local tradespeople and contractors to say, "Yes, you go and buy that house that otherwise you would not have the money to make liveable and we will help you make it liveable. We will help you make it a place where you can set up a family." Currently, there is not anything like that. Housing lists need serious reform. There is a lack of transparency and huge issues there where maybe somebody exceeds the limit for a year and comes back in under it, they lose 13 years on this. That is no good.

It is a breath of fresh air when I hear that people over there agree to something I suggested five years ago. One Member said he is a young person representing Fianna Fáil representing that generation. I have four sons. I started out in Fianna Fáil, until it tried to put me in cotton wool and would not let me speak. The Deputy is part of the Government that is part of the problem because it did not listen. It is now listening, after listening to people with experience. I am in construction all my life. We know how to deliver on budget and on time, otherwise I would not be in business. I am looking forward to us being able to deliver, now that the Government is finally listening on developer-led infrastructure. I have been saying it for six years and it has only taken six years for the Government parties to listen because I can bring it on budget and on time. I am delighted Deputy Dolan is representing Fianna Fáil but he is also representing the mistakes of it not listening to us. That is coming from a person who was a member of the party.

Will the Deputy rejoin us?

However, I will look at it and support the people from Clare. The lads are all singing from the one hymn sheet now and they are agreeing on it.

It is €20 to get back in.

They will go home and tell their constituents that they spoke up for them today. However, they did not listen for five or six years to the people with experience who could have helped to address the problem. As I have said, I will give them praise all day, every day, if they deliver what we have asked.

Will the Deputy rejoin us?

It is €20 to rejoin us.

I am delighted that the Government is now taking the advice of an Independent who is giving it the roadmap so it can deliver infrastructure, on budget and on time. I am delighted that the Deputies are speaking from my book. They might bring this to their parties and drive it home. I will provide the rocket they are looking for, and as Deputy Crowe said, he can light it but he would want to light it under Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael first.

That sounds like a rejoining speech.

I agree with the speaker across the floor who wanted to put a rocket under Uisce Éireann but I would say that it would take a hell of lot more. Unfortunately, it has been protected long enough by Government. It is a law unto itself right now. There is a massive housing crisis now, not alone in the want of housing but also for the people who have the houses. I hate calling them landlords because they are house owners. The way they are being treated and the way they have spoken to me with worry in the last few weeks about legislation that is coming through here, they have had it. They are running and getting the hell out of the market because we have treated them so badly. We have left them wide open and we need to turn it around. They have no protections. The other day, I spoke to a man in Skibbereen. He has a guy in his house who does not give a damn. He told the man that he would not pay because he knew that he would get a year or a year and a half's grace and he could laugh at the house owner.

Sit down-----

Stop, please. When the tenant meets the man on the road he is hooting at him and putting the thumbs up, because the knows the RTB and everyone else is there to protect the tenant but there is no one to protect the landlord. Someone needs to talk on behalf of the house owners. I want avoid using the word "landlord" as much as I can. Imagine, a year to year and a half, and he will not have to bat an eyelid. It will not worry him, because he is quite safe and he will get protected. It is time to kick these people out. One or two months without paying, the hell out the door they should be put and end of story. The RTB is asleep at the wheel. We need to move on and straighten it out. Some people want to get out of the market at the moment and they said that they cannot sell a vacant tenancy. They are in an awful state. I am getting phone calls from all over the place on this. A while ago Deputy Danny Healy-Rae told me he is getting the same barrage of phone calls. This needs to be moved on immediately.

I spoke before on this. I hope this solves the housing thing, that is being honest. I do welcome the likes of the modular on it and different steps where we are going to go designing the same type of house and all of those things. These are things that should be have been done years ago but I welcome them. I cannot see a lot on rural housing. I believe that family members should be allowed build houses. We need to make sure that we accommodate people now but the devil will be in the detail. I hope we build the 300,000 houses but we need to change our tune. I have said for the last four or five years, that this is not us against the Government or the Government against us. We need to bring in emergency legislation that if a site is designated for housing, if it is zoned, be it for 27 houses or 30 houses per acre, there should be not debate about it. Give it planning and get it going. If we want to deliver, we have to ride roughshod over it, whether we like that or not. Emergency legislation is what I believe is required. I know the Government is trying to stop judicial reviews and stuff like that but if we keep fiddling around, what will happen is, at the end of the day, with the best regard in the world, they will go to the courts and they will keep going to the courts and they will keep blocking it. This bullshit is to stop if we want to build houses. We have got to get hard and get heavy at it if we want to deliver for the people. I welcome the things and I wish the Government luck with it but the devil will be in the detail over the coming years and I think the Government will need the emergency legislation. I hope I am proved wrong.

The average price of a house sold last year was €426,000. This is eight times the average income at the moment. The average rental price for a two-bedroom apartment at the moment in this State is over €2,000. It is an incredible situation. We talk about the homeless figures and we do not realise how serious it is. A total of 402 people have died in homelessness just in Dublin in a five-year period. Nobody is actually recording those figures in any other local authority in Ireland. It is incredible. I want to raise a couple of the issues that have been brought about by the accelerated infrastructure report the Government launched today. We in Aontú have been focusing on the dysfunction in the building system for many years now. We have been raising the issues of the slowness in planning, permitting, licensing, tendering, and judicial reviews. In those sectors, we are the slowest in the whole of the European Union in those terms. This is holding back the building of houses in this country. This report today is basically like something from "Yes, Prime Minister". Fine Gael has been in government for 15 years and only now realising there is an infrastructure problem. This particular accelerator programme was started last January. Some workshops were done in June, employment of people began in July and it is only now that the actual report is in place. Most of the elements in the report talk about planning, examining, and talk about actually fully implementing those plans and examinations by 2027. In fairness, this is just another layer of slow bureaucracy from the Government. As for some of the powers there, in terms of the judicial reviews I welcome that there is going to be reform in it but hear this, the whole courts system is really slow in this country. Judicial reviews are taking far longer than they should because we are not resourcing the courts. In the planning system as well, the local authorities do not have the staff they need. Regarding An Cóimisiún Pleanála, I was talking to a builder yesterday who has had an application for 100 houses with this body for the past 20 months and no sign of it coming out. Resourcing these aspects are just as important as reforming them as well. I fear that the Government's timeline for this is still far too slow.

I note the Government's plan and in the limited time I want to focus on one aspect of it, namely, the incoherence in terms of infrastructure and facilities tied in alongside. To give an example, four years ago I proposed rezoning land beside Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in an industrial area right beside the M50. It would have made perfect logical sense to build housing right opposite a major shopping centre. People could just walk across the road to it and there was space for a school as well. However the commissioner overruled it saying that it was premature and that we had enough zoned land in the county. Now, four years later, South Dublin County Council gets a diktat saying it has to identify bits of land left, right and centre, one of which is in the actual Liffey valley. This is St. Edmundsbury, where there is a proposal to put houses along a so-called transport hub that is regularly congested because of traffic rat-running to avoid the tolls on the M50. Throughout the constituency of Dublin Mid-West where there are identified tracts of land, one thing is missing. Every one of these suitable tracts of land should be proper, ring-fenced SDZs. Adamstown will have 3,000 more houses and Clonburris will have 8,000 houses but they do not have proper tie-ins of facilities and infrastructure, of having the bus services running beforehand and having trains and schools. We have DART+ South West now pushed back by five years. We cannot just build houses without building communities.

In the sphere of policies and strategies that the Government has announced today and possibly will over the term of the Government, I think this is one of the most important if not the most important. Together with the announcement today of how we are going to accelerate infrastructural development over the coming years also, the combination of these really will determine, I believe, how this Government will fare. However, that is not the most important thing. It will determine the well-being and welfare of our citizens, particularly the most vulnerable, into the future. I can concur with much of what has been said. I even concur with my colleague from Galway-Roscommon, Deputy Fitzmaurice, that the devil will be in the detail and the detail is important. We have a lovely plan with significant figures in it. We have strategies laid out in it but we need to see how these strategies will be implemented on a minute level. One of these I refer to specifically is the affordable housing programme. In my time in the local authority, going back some years, there was a very clear and obvious way that the affordable housing programme worked. There was a clear and obvious way that people could access the affordable housing programme. People went on an affordable housing list. As the local authority developed a suite of affordable houses in conjunction with social houses, they were sold to those people on the list. That is not as clear to me any more. I recognise that we have many options in terms of how we aim to deliver affordable housing. The ambition is clear with over 300,000 new, affordable homes by 2030. We have a starter homes programme. We reckon there are 15,000 supports a year between first home, help to buy, starter home purchase and the vacant property grant. I would like to see the role of the local authorities clearly outlined in developing affordable houses and selling them to people in their local electoral areas. Is maith an rud é chomh maith go bhfuil Údarás na Gaeltachta luaite sa phlean seo. Chuala mé daoine ag rá níos luaithe nach raibh an t-údarás luaite sa phlean. Tá sé. Tá siad ann. Tá sé ráite sa phlean go mbeidh ról ag an údarás chun oibriú leis an Roinn tithíochta agus Roinn na Gaeltachta chun tithíocht a chur ar fáil do mhuintir na Gaeltachta. Is mór an rud é sin agus is maith an rud é. One of the things we have already done that is particularly welcome is we have reduced the funding of social housing and how local authorities obtain that funding from a four-step process to a single-step process. That should be more seamless and should get rid of extreme bureaucracy and make it easier and quicker for local authorities to develop housing. One measure in this plan that is really positive, which I have not heard many speak of is, we will reward local authorities. Local authorities that are ambitious and will develop more housing will be rewarded with additional funding for social development, be that sporting or community facilities. That is great. Many members of local authorities talk to me about the lack of funding for those facilities. Here is their option. If the local authority housing section gets moving building social and affordable housing, it will be rewarded with additional moneys for social amenity facilities. I welcome that. I have gone over my time slightly.

It is always worth listening to Deputy Connolly on housing. He made a lot of good points.

There is a bit of leeway.

I welcome the plan. The housing crisis is a societal blight. Owning a home is part of the social contract in Ireland, yet for many young people, that remains a dream. Housing supply and affordability are international problems, such as in the UK, Australia, Canada and in the European Union. The first ever housing Commissioner has been appointed because of these issues. One in 10 people in the European Union cannot afford to pay their mortgage or rent on time. The price of houses in the Union has gone up by 60% in the past ten years. In the United States they have gone up by 60% since 2019. However, we have to solve our own problems. Nobody can be satisfied with our homelessness figures and the fact that our young people cannot get skin in the game and put down roots in our own country. This document moves us from planning to delivery. Delivery has been too slow; held up by inconsistent planning and resistance to planning. It takes too long to deliver wastewater and electricity infrastructure. It takes twice as long as the EU average. We cannot pretend that a seven- to ten-year wait to produce a wastewater treatment plan is acceptable. I welcome the fact that we will have developer-led wastewater treatment plans, especially in the small towns and villages around County Roscommon and east County Galway, as Deputies Dolan and O’Meara pointed out. That is a game-changer because it will let it allow communities to grow. I am delighted that in my own town of Ballygar, County Galway, our wastewater treatment plant will start next year. However, it has been 15 years since a block has been laid in our own town. It is simply not good enough. I welcome the new planning framework but I hope the Minister and Government will put pressure in our local authorities to deliver social housing, affordable housing and rezoned and de-zoned land. We have a situation in Roscommon town where there are 48 houses that were zoned in the early noughties and fell out in the economic crash. They have all the facilities, including electricity and wastewater treatment, and there is difficulty getting them rezoned again. That is simply not good enough in the midst of a housing crisis. I have four children in their twenties who are relatively privileged. They are well educated and have good jobs and they cannot get to the front door, even with a leg up, of a one-bedroom apartment. If they cannot get to it what hope is there for the rest of the young people in our community. This is a generational crisis and we must face it head on.

There are three issues I wish to raise in regard to housing. The first is homelessness; something we see across the length and breadth of the country, particularly in urban areas. I come from a rural part of the country, Sligo–Leitrim. We have a homelessness crisis. We have a lot of people sleeping out in doorways, which we did not have before. We have many people staying with relatives or friends or in their cars. It is something we have noticed in the past couple of months that has come to the fore. Big efforts are being made by the local authority but there simply is not enough homeless accommodation to deal with the crisis. We have single mothers with young children staying in hotels with no facilities to cook, wash and so on. These are serious issues that we need to deal with. The State needs to provide its own homeless accommodation. That needs to be looked at in every constituency around the country. They are simply not there. Local authorities are finding it very difficult to find homeless accommodation for people. They are sometimes taking children far away from the schools they go to try to find them somewhere to stay. Most of this involves people being given notices to quit and having to leave rented accommodation because the landlord is selling up or whatever, which is his or her entitlement. However, if the people do not have anywhere else to go, they are in a huge crisis. The second issue I wish to raise relates Uisce Éireann and water services particularly. The water in south Leitrim is produced in a plant beside the River Shannon in Carrick-on-Shannon. That covers all of south Leitrim through Drumshanbo, Ballinamore, right over to Carrigallen, Mohill and all of that region. It has been at 110% capacity for the past number of years. It is bursting at the seams. If a pipe bursts somewhere, people are without water not for a day or two, but for up to a week, because it has to take so long to fill reservoirs, etc., and the plant cannot cope with the capacity pressure on it. There is a real case for proper infrastructure to be put in place as far as Uisce Éireann is concerned, and it is the same with wastewater in many small towns around the country. If somebody goes looking for planning permission in any of those towns at the moment, they cannot get it because Uisce Éireann cannot guarantee the supply of water or in many cases wastewater services either. That is a serious issue. I know builders who want to build and do not have that. The final issue I want to raise is rural housing. A lot of my constituency is rural. We saw the report from the GAA recently across the whole western seaboard where the population is in decline in parishes and they are having serious issues. It is the same across many areas where we have declining populations yet people cannot build in their own areas where they want to build. Some of it is because of restrictions in place, and some of it is because of soil conditions or whatever else, but the result is the same everywhere. We have no families to keep the schools going and our rural parishes alive. The only way we can do that is to take emergency action to look at all of these rules and regulations again and set the rules aside to start to provide solutions for people. It is solutions that people want so they can live and flourish in their own regions.

I welcome the fact of the engagement we had on this plan. The affordable housing scheme is something that needs to be prioritised. It is my generation that is facing the consequences of the decisions of past Governments. I am supporting this Government in the hope it will listen to me. I know it has in regards to the cabins of the back of gardens but the other thing that really needs to be done is to address the red tape and bureaucracy. It is said across this House but are we just saying words or are we actually going to remove it? I welcome the judicial review proposal. It is great that people will not be able to stop developments as easily, but one of the things that needs to be done is that we need to get local authorities and developers all together to stop these mass objections. It is the most hypocritical thing when I hear TDs across this Chamber say we need to build more houses, yet they have objected to 50 units here or 100 units there. This is NIMBYism because they are afraid they will not get elected in the next election. I am not afraid. I am supporting the Government to get things done. These TDs need to do that as well. I see it constantly and it is the most annoying thing coming into this House.

I am deeply concerned by certain proposals in the national housing plan. Although it has been described by the Government as unprecedented in terms of investment, it comes at a time when homeless figures have hit a record high of 16,350 people. Within that number is a total of 5,145 children who are estimated to be living in emergency accommodation. The fact is we have been here before on a number of occasions, with plans to finally tackle the systemic barriers to the homeless and the lack of social and affordable housing. Nothing has changed. If anything, the situation has become increasingly desperate across all metrics. From what I can see, the Minister is saying the national housing plan is expected to place an emphasis on ending child and family homelessness, including the allocation of €100 million in 2026 to house families who are on the list the longest. That is a derisory figure in the grand scheme of things. Some €100 million may sound like a lot, but in reality, it would only get 400 houses at an average price of €250,000. I am also extremely concerned about the new housing laws coming in in March. I have been contacted by many small property owners who tell me they are leaving the housing market. That is going to put more pressure on. I ask for those housing guidelines to be reviewed quickly, or we are going to have a mass exodus of small property owners. They are too extreme. We need to have a balance and protect the small property owners The guidelines that are coming in in March need to be reviewed quickly or we are going to have a mass exodus of small property owners.

I am glad to be able to speak tonight. I welcome the proactivity of the Minister, Deputy Browne, and his junior Minister from Port Láirge. Is the Minister going to extend the situation whereby commercial properties can be used for housing without planning permission? That is so important. Is he going to do something about backyard developments behind houses, which are not mentioned this plan at all? What about a case in which a man houses himself in a mobile home? Seán Meehan from outside Clonmel in County Tipperary is being brought to the courts for putting up a nice timber house around a mobile home. He needs to be looked after, as do other people like him. There are thousands of Seán Meehans. We need to deal with that issue. We also need to do something meaningful regarding small and accidental landlords, who should not even be called "landlords". These are people with a second, third or fourth property. They are being crucified. They have no rights whatsoever. They are getting no support. The Government needs to make it easy for them, especially now that holiday lets are going to be banned. The Government is going to make the situation worse. Small landlords need to be supported. I hate calling them "landlords" because they are not. The big landlords are very different. We are giving too much say to bad tenants. I love good tenants and we all like good people who pay their way. If you have bad tenants, you must be able to remove them from a house. Those are the things I am asking about. The extension of the ability to transfer commercial property to residential property without requiring planning permission is crucial. We must deal with situations like that of Seán Meehan, who so badly needs his situation rectified. He will be before the courts again in January. There are many more like him. It is not good enough.

The Government's plan to lock people who are renting houses into six-year tenancies is not going to work in Kerry. People get on to me every day because landlords are refusing to continue leasing properties to them. Trying to force people into six-year tenancies is not going to work. The plan the Government has to force Airbnb properties into long-term letting is not going to work either. That is how people have been getting their livelihoods up until now. The only ones who are getting planning permission for one-off houses in Kerry are farmers' sons and daughters. That is fine, and we appreciate it. However, anyone else out in the country who has been there all their life is not getting planning permission. I have been asked several times to do something about that. The tenant in situ scheme is not working simply because the county council will go out to look at a house and will find anything, something or many things wrong with the house, and will not buy it. The council will not buy any second-hand house in Kerry, only new houses. I want the Minister to address those issues.

I thank all the contributors to what has been a wide-ranging debate. I want to touch on what the Government is doing generally on housing. The housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, is one of a number of items. The first was the national planning framework, which has been revised and updated to deal with the increase in population. We want local authorities to look at their development plans and to cater for that increased population. One of the points that came up earlier related to local authorities. We want them to provide for up to 50% more housing than the targets that were laid down by the Department. We need more land zoned for development. That is important. Then we had the national development plan, which provided funding. We then had Delivering Homes, Building Communities. Today, we have the accelerated infrastructure task force report and action plan. They are all parts of a comprehensive plan, led by the Government, to get an increased supply of homes. That is the ultimate objective. Listening to the debate, it is all about supply. It is all about putting in those additional measures for supply. If you look at the Delivering Homes, Building Communities plan itself, some of the areas have worked very well for people who are looking to purchase or rent a home. The help-to-buy scheme has helped over 59,000 people. They are getting their own tax back, in many cases, to use as a deposit for a home. Some 8,400 people have availed of the first-home scheme. There is also the vacant property refurbishment grant, from which nearly 15,000 people have benefited. Many of the Opposition parties were opposed to all those schemes but they have benefited a huge number of people. We are extending many of them to 2030. Deputies spoke about affordable homes. That issue came up consistently. What does this plan do? It sets a target. We want to provide 15,000 supports for the people who qualify for the help-to-buy and first-home schemes and through local authority loans and the vacant property refurbishment grant. A point that came up earlier was that people may not have read the plan. I suggest they go back and do so. It was suggested that people who want to purchase a derelict or vacant property for a period should benefit from the first-home scheme. We are going to engage in that to see what we can do. Such people would probably also qualify for the vacant property refurbishment grant. That point is generally being missed. The issue of helping small builders also came up. Within the plan, there is €400 million for an equity risk capital investment programme. Some €200 million is going to Home Building Finance Ireland. There is also a scheme there at the moment, the ready-to-build scheme, which will be available to small builders in towns and villages to allow them to work with their local authority to build mixed units in those areas. That scheme is there for small builders. The key focus for us is increasing supply. Other issues arose. Local authorities are critical to increasing supply. We want to work with the local authorities. How are we doing that in the plan? We want them to zone more land. We need more land for residential purposes. The population has gone up. The national planning framework states that. We want to get the message out that we want local authorities to zone 50% above their targets. That will be zoned land that will be built on. Every local authority will now have an affordable purchase target. We want every single local authority to build affordable purchase homes. It is now called the smarter homes scheme. That scheme is available for people who are having difficulty purchasing on the open market. They can get a discount of up to 40% on the value of their house. They can also hold onto the help-to-buy scheme. We want the local authorities to be in that specific space. For social housing, we have a target of 12,000 units per year, which is an increase of more than 3,500 on what local authorities are currently delivering nationally. That would be a big increase in delivery. We are providing €500 million in an acquisition fund for local authorities to go out and purchase land that can be built on for social and affordable housing. We have also set up the housing activation office, which has a €1 billion fund to work with local authorities to do the enabling works on sites upfront. These sites are available and can be built on. Local authorities can enter agreements with builders to build affordable purchase and cost-rental homes. Social housing is obviously hugely important. If the local authorities exceed their self-build target, they will get funding for other activities within their local authority areas. That is important. Defective concrete blocks came up. Legislation was introduced by the Minister, Deputy Browne, yesterday. We are looking at that area. I want to deal specifically with my area of responsibility in housing, which is housing for older people. I will make a few points. We have increased the allocation for the housing adaptation grant to €130 million. It is up by €30 million this year and it will apply across all categories, including older people and disabled people. Furthermore, we are looking to increase delivery of housing for older people in social housing and private housing. In the area of the rental market we are doing a body of work because the incomes of people who are retiring will drop and we want to ensure we deal with that issue. We also want to give choice. It is all about choice. If people wish to purchase a smaller home, we will support them by looking at bridging finance. If people wish to adapt their homes to suit their needs within the home, perhaps with a smaller or separate unit, we will support that. We are looking at planning exemptions. Modular homes came up. A body of work is under way at the moment to look at planning. The point is that this is a co-ordinated and comprehensive plan, including the national planning framework, the national development plan, the plan we have now that we are discussing today, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, which goes up to 2030 and the plan we published today, Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan. Members say they want to see the barriers removed. The plan that was published today is aimed at removing barriers and dealing with judicial reviews. Water services came up repeatedly. Within the housing plan, we want to support private builders and developers to get schemes going in areas. The critical issue with the measures we are putting forward in Accelerating Infrastructure Report and Action Plan is that I expect and hope that Opposition Members will support what we are doing. Ultimately, we have choices to make and there will be issues that people will find difficult. When it comes down to it, at times the common good has to override private interest. It has to. The bottom line is that we must get an increase in supply. People have spoken about measures for apartments and that is all about viability. Everything here is about practical options - they are not theoretical - to support building. The State cannot do it all. We have to work with the private sector. We have put in €9 billion. It costs approximately €20 billion per year to build 50,000 homes so ultimately, it is about a co-ordinated approach involving the State and the private sector. I hope we can work in a collaborative way across the House so we can continue to increase the supply of housing.