Rory Hearne

I will withdraw that it was a lie; it was a mistruth.

I hope people at home can see the Minister's behaviour, which is being visited on them in the streets.

The Minister never acknowledges the human impact.

More than 7,000 notices to quit were issued during the first three months of this year, which is an increase of 51%. The Tánaiste's response to being challenged on the highest levels of evictions since the Famine was quite shocking and revealing in its lack of concern for the real-life trauma, stress and anxiety of thousands of households, many of them children, families and workers, who were evic…

He did not even respond in terms of this being trauma and people's lives being thrown upside down - thousands of them. Yet, the Tánaiste says, "Oh well, we will see what we can do." Why will the Government not put a ban on evictions in place?

The Tánaiste says he cares. He says he has compassion. This is what is needed.

Does the Tánaiste accept the trauma?

I thank Deputy Cairns and my Social Democrats colleagues for bringing forward this Bill. It is not a simple area of legislation but our job as legislators is not to shy away from the difficult conversations and to respond to the difficult realities that citizens and people in this country are living through. This is a deeply emotional topic. As a father and a partner, I have experienced the pain o…

Home spins.

21. Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet Committee on the economy, trade and competitiveness will next meet. [34358/26]

We are losing nurses, teachers and tradespeople because they cannot afford housing in this city and across the country. Our businesses and public services cannot get workers because of the rents. We are seeing the main supply is vulture fund apartments at €3,500 a month. Who can afford that? Not one affordable house for sale was built by the State in Dublin city last year. What is the Taoiseach do…

I raise the issue of the failure to regenerate social housing flat complexes. The Government is giving billions of euro away in tax breaks to wealthy investor funds, yet it has turned to our most disadvantaged communities living in substandard housing conditions in social housing flat complexes and told them it cannot fund their regeneration. Does the Minister have any sense of embarrassment or sh…

These are existing social homes.

The Minister of State spins a story that the Government has acted on the cost of living, but the truth is that the Government has stubbornly refused to do things within its power that could reduce the cost-of-living crisis for ordinary people. On the other hand, the Government gives away billions of euro in tax breaks to wealthy investor funds and those on the highest incomes. The Government refus…

I raise the issue of IRES real estate investment trust, REIT. A number of renters from different complexes it has have been in touch with me. It is deeply alarming that IRES REIT, which is Ireland's largest vulture landlord, owning over 4,000 properties, is refusing tenants permission to replace a tenant who leaves in flat-share situation. The remaining tenant has been told they must pay the full …

Will the Taoiseach intervene and stop IRES REIT engaging in this exploitation?

Today's motion from Sinn Féin is welcome and we support it. It is timely given what has come out today about the Oliver Bond Street flats, which is absolutely disgraceful. I have been in Oliver Bond Street and have worked with colleagues who have done research and community work in those flats. I worked for many years as a community worker in the Dolphin House flats dealing with issues of mould an…

There is a crisis of community safety in Ballymun in my constituency. This week, an 11-year-old boy found a gun with live ammunition in a public space and discharged it. It is a miracle that a child was not killed or injured. This must be a watershed moment for Ballymun. What happened is utterly unacceptable. I have been consistently raising ongoing community safety issues and the need for increas…

It leaves out the Gaeltacht.

What about the Gaeltacht areas?

I support both the motion and what has been put forward. However, there is a need to raise certain issues in relation to the scheme. There are limitations to the scheme, and a number of questions remain to be asked, specifically in respect of the take-up and why only 435 houses that were built using defective blocks, or around 13% of 3,500 homes, have had the remediation work completed. Why has th…

People across the city who are looking to buy a home are despairing. The prices of houses and rents are way beyond what they can afford. They are looking to the Government for hope to be able to buy a home. We have reached the point where no ordinary people can afford to buy a home in our capital city. It costs €500,000 for the average home in the city. That is ten times the average salary. In the…

I appreciate the Minister of State’s response and setting out of the detail, but surely he can see it is completely inadequate. In terms of the numbers I gave earlier, 13,000 adults over the age of 18 are living in their parental home in my constituency alone. There are 50,000 people in that situation across Dublin. Where are young people, and as I said, increasingly those in their 30s and 40s, go…

Are you going to check it?

All waffle. Answer the question.