Rory Hearne

All waffle.

The Taoiseach will not answer the question.

What about renters who will be stuck renting these-----

There is a huge concern among parents of children with additional needs, autism and disabilities that what is happening now is an undermining of the minimal resourcing that is there already. The truth is we have created an education system that is more exclusionary than it is inclusionary, and we need to create an inclusive education system. In my constituency, Finglas Parochial National School w…

There are 60,000 households, many of them families with children, in receipt of the housing assistance payment, HAP. They are classed as having their housing needs met but I want to give the Tánaiste a case of one person in my constituency. Last night, I met a father with two young children who told me that he was sick with worry about being able to afford the weekly shop. He got to the Lidl count…

To follow on from my fellow Deputies in Dublin North-West, we are highlighting this issue today because St. Aidan's CBS in Whitehall is at the centre of the community. It provides excellent education. We met the school principal and deputy principal recently, who outlined their very real frustration with the lack of progress on promises of new school buildings. Tá foirgneamh scoile nua ag teastáil…

It is important that St. Aidan's is included in the new list and is prioritised. I again express the frustration from the school. The principal and deputy principal outlined that they had submitted the developed design to the Department in January of this year but they were still waiting to get a response on that. The Minister of State set out that it was undergoing a comprehensive technical and c…

It is extremely frustrating to come back in here and put forward these proposals. We put forward key, targeted proposals for the budget last year and the Government completely ignored them. The Government has thrown its hands up and said the cost-of-living crisis is down to an international situation. It is blaming global oil prices for the cost-of-living crisis but the reality is core aspects of …

We voted no confidence in the Government today because from our perspective, from what we see and from what our constituents tell us, people are struggling and suffering. They are being devastated by a cost-of-living crisis. What we are being told about the reality of people's lives is that they cannot cover the basics. There are people in this country right now who are choosing whether or not to …

This is a cost-of-living crisis that has been going on for almost five years. The lack of self-awareness on the part of the Government is really frustrating and disappointing. What we saw last week was an expression of how people are struggling. It was one section of society but so many people are struggling. At the time of the most recent budget, we in the Social Democrats put forward an alternat…

I have been researching and critically analysing Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's infrastructure policy for almost 20 years. In fact, I did my PhD on it, specifically on infrastructure and how it was developed during the Celtic tiger period. Back then, 20 years ago, the key policy of Fianna Fáil was to have public-private partnerships deliver infrastructure through new ways which were, essentially, han…

I will raise the issue of evictions, which I raised last week. The Tánaiste has probably heard that a number of people are facing eviction from a retirement village in Sligo. I am completely shocked by this. It is described as involving people in their 80s and couples. One couple in their 80s have a child with disabilities in his 50s who is facing eviction from this place, which is a retirement ho…

What about all these people now?

I represent the constituency of Dublin North-West. The communities of Finglas and Ballymun have some of the highest deprivation in this country. The Minister has been out to visit us in Ballymun. I was at a community safety meeting in Ballymun just two weeks ago where members of the community outlined how there are primary school children walking to school past drug dealing. There is open drug dea…

Tairgim: “Go gceadófar go dtabharfar isteach Bille dá ngairtear Acht chun an Bunreacht a leasú.” I move: “That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Constitution.” This is my first Bill to be brought forward in Dáil Éireann. The Forty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Housing) Bill 2026 seeks to put a right to housing into Bunreacht na hÉireann. The housin…

Tairgim: "Go dtógfar an Bille in am Comhaltaí Príobháideacha." I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

The response from the Government to the cost-of-living crisis that has come on top of a cost-of-living crisis is absolutely inadequate. The Government response is miserly in comparison to the scale of suffering in the country. We are seeing rising numbers of people living in poverty under this Government. The Minister claimed that the Government is addressing these issues. The Taoiseach goes on ab…

The Government had no problem giving back cuts to investor funds and developer funds in the budget but it will not give them to people who need the money.

That was a substantive point.

I am not shouting. I am making-----

Younger generations, renters and workers are being broken by the Government's housing policy failures. Today, we hear that last year there were 20,000 eviction notices issued to private renters, the highest we have seen since the Famine, and up 41% in the last quarter, made worse by the rent hike Bill. We are seeing evictions increasing on a scale we have not seen in this country. These evictions …

I want to raise the issue of children in my constituency who are currently attending the Finglas Parochial National School. These children have additional needs and should be prioritised and yet do not have the classes they were promised and for which the school was sanctioned in 2024. These children are spending two hours a day in a community hall and this is not good enough. These children shou…

I thank the Minister of State. I reiterate that it is absolutely unacceptable that children are left for two hours a day - this is their education – in a community hall. The teachers have to re-set up every time. They do not have the proper toileting or sensory spaces. These are not appropriate school places. It is unfair. As one parent said last night, it is cruel for the Department and NCSE to b…

149. Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to ensure transparency in the home-buying process, to curb ghost bids and gazumping, and to curtail bidding wars that are leading to higher house prices; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18166/26]

House prices are completely out of control and have been for a long time. They have increased by 68% since 2020 when Fianna Fáil took over the housing Ministry - 68%. In Dublin, the median price of a home is €500,000. That is half a million euro for a home. What is the Minister doing to address the issues that are contributing to inflation in the market, such as dysfunction in our housing market, …