Rory Hearne

I thank the Minister of State for that. I appreciate the Minister for Health, Deputy Carroll MacNeill, is responding by saying she will address this and take action. I am disappointed there was not a specific response to the constituency of Dublin North-West or the rationale for why that area in particular has such high lists. The Minister of State might take that back to the Minister to ask what …

I echo my colleagues' sentiments and statements on this. The people of Gaza do not have time left for this Government's dithering and delaying on the implementation of the occupied territories Bill. Seventeen thousand children have been murdered in Gaza by the Israeli genocidal regime. Right now, millions of people in Gaza are being starved to death. They are being shot and murdered while trying d…

The failure to implement key parts of the EPSEN Act shows that, while we remain a republic that has a proclamation that sets out to cherish all children equally, we are a republic of inequality when it comes to children with additional needs and children from disadvantaged backgrounds. They are not getting the education they have a constitutional right to and all the broad elements that requires. …

5. Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason he decided to withdraw funding for social housing PPP bundles shovel ready this week; and the measures he will take to ensure the 3,000 social homes planned as PPPs are going to be delivered in the original timeframe. [36246/25]

The Minister will be well aware that he and his Department decided to withdraw funding for up to 500 social homes that were due to be delivered through public-private partnerships. Will he set out the rationale that underpins that decision and give detail on it? How many value for money assessments were undertaken before the final decision was made? Will he outline the measures to ensure the 3,000…

It has confounded and upset many people in communities where these social housing projects were due to be delivered. Two are in my constituency, Ballymun and Whitehall. These areas have high levels of social housing need. It is deeply upsetting and disappointing. Can the Minister guarantee they will be delivered according to the original planned timeframe? I wrote my PhD and a book 14 years ago c…

The Minister did not answer how many value for money assessments were undertaken before the final decision was made. How was it let get to this point where he now says it is too expensive? Public-private partnerships involve lifetime maintenance costs and not just the delivery cost. I have been heavily critical of this model of delivery of social housing. The Minister still has not answered the qu…

We supported the extension of RPZs but not the increase in rents. We did not support that.

The housing crisis is no longer a crisis; it is a social catastrophe. It is an emergency, as the Government has accepted. However, Government actions - cutting key housing projects, suspending funding and gutting homelessness prevention schemes - tell a very different story. Instead of rising to meet this catastrophe, the Government is failing time and time again. That is because its policies crea…

Not true.

I will raise an issue I have highlighted here before. We know of the growing need and demand for co-educational Educate Together schools. One such school in my own constituency is Clonturk Community College in Dublin 9. It is a co-educational Educate Together school. It is a fantastic school with over 1,000 students. My eldest son attended the school and had a great experience there. However, the …

The Central Bank housing figures, out today, show with terrifying clarity the housing disaster that the Government’s policies have created. Not only did the Government mislead the public in the election by stating 40,000 homes would be built last year but it will not reach anywhere near 40,000 homes this year or next year. It is also pulling the plug on social housing projects due to commence on s…

I wish to discuss housing maintenance, in particular the impact of mould and damp on tenants of social housing in my constituency and throughout the country. It is an area I have worked in for almost two decades in an academic capacity doing research on the impact of mould and damp on residents and tenants and working with communities. Mould and damp are endemic across social housing in this city …

I thank the Minister of State for his response and engagement on this matter. To iterate the scale of this crisis of mould, damp and poor conditions, it was seven years ago that the European Committee of Social Rights found the Irish State to be in violation of human rights and failing to take sufficient and timely measures to ensure the right to housing of an adequate standard for families living…

An issue that is particularly important for my constituency of Dublin North West but affects the entire city is the MetroLink. Ireland is one of the richest countries in the EU, but Dublin is the only large western capital city that does not have a metro. The metro was first promised in 2005, some 20 years ago. It was ditched in 2010 by Fine Gael, so we are still waiting for the metro. The expecte…

This legislation, extending rent pressure zones to the rest of the country, is something the Social Democrats have called for before. We will not be opposing it. As part of the wider legislative changes the Government is proposing, however, we are deeply concerned about significant aspects of it. It is quite a cruel move to give renters around the country who will have an RPZ for six or seven mont…

It is very hard to listen to this, with the level of homelessness we have.

I speak in favour of the amendments as put forward. The Minister is trotting out this line, as the Taoiseach has, that we have no solutions. That is utter crap and he knows it. I have emailed him with the homes for Ireland State savings scheme proposal. It is not correct that we have not put forward solutions. He might disagree with them-----

-----but it is not true that we have not put them forward. The Minister can mutter under his breath-----

We have put forward solutions. The Social Democrats has put forward a number of solutions. I have written books on it. To say we have not put forward solutions is just untrue. The Minister should be more honest and say he disagrees with our proposals and on what is put forward and outline why. There is a hole in the Minister's argument. We are separating what has been brought forward today and wh…

Okay. That is what the Government has set out. When a tenant leaves the property and a new tenant comes in, the rent will be able to increase to market rent. That is one of the Government's clear incentives. It is not true for the Government to say it is protecting renters, because those new renters who are trying to find properties have to then pay the market rent. That is where this will lead. A…

The motion is a very important one. It is putting forward solutions. We have heard criticism directly from the Taoiseach regarding the lack of solutions, but they are there, we have put them forward and we are putting them forward again tonight. The Opposition parties are bringing this motion to highlight that this housing crisis is no longer just a crisis. In fact, it has not been a crisis for m…

I have been extremely critical. The Minister has withdrawn funding from public-private partnership developments.

We need funding for those schemes to deliver housing.

It is another scandal. It is another failure of our State to protect our most vulnerable. The failings of care that have been revealed in the "RTÉ Investigates" programme are horrifying. Vulnerable residents were left unsupervised, there was a lack of basic supplies and there was the rough handling of older people. One of the nursing homes featured is Beneavin Manor in my constituency of Dublin No…