Micheál Martin

We want to help.

Apologies. Tibet will be on the EU-China forum. We always raise issues with China. China always responds, by the way, robustly and never has any issue with the matter being raised. We do not get a satisfactory response from our perspective. On the Dalai Lama and so forth, I could not agree with the Deputy more.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 12 to 17, inclusive, together. Ireland enjoys a deep and strong relationship with Canada, a country with which we share many values. Increasingly, that relationship has an economic focus. In recent times, we have expanded our presence in Canada with consulates opened in Vancouver and Toronto in addition to our embassy in Ottawa. We also have a strong agency prese…

I am amazed and somewhat shocked at the orientation and nature of the Opposition's presentations, particularly in terms of CETA. Someone said these are legitimate questions about the investor courts. The investor courts were dealt with through the European court judgment and will be dealt with in terms of the legislation. All trade agreements have to have a mediating facility and mechanism. Deput…

-----that we do not believe in free trade.

You are saying it. Not one of you could say you will vote for CETA or will endorse CETA.

Yes, you are against it.

You are against something in the context of which trade from Ireland went up from €936 million in 2016 to €4.1 billion in 2024.

How could you be against that?

Some of the Opposition purport to be in favour of workers. You could not care less about workers, Deputy Murphy. You could not care less about Irish workers. It is Irish workers who benefit from that level of exports. Indigenous companies and people working for multinationals also benefit. You just could not care less.

You do not care about anything to do with the western hemisphere-----

-----and that is your position. This is a fundamental point that has been raised time and time again. Those opposite say they are against this and against that. They do not believe in an enterprise economy, they do not believe in free trade and they do not really believe in workers' opportunity to develop and grow within their employments under the model we have here. That is a very serious issue …

Other issues were raised. To Deputy Ó Cearúil, we will embrace the strategic partnership. We have our position of military neutrality. I do not know whether it was Deputy Murphy or Deputy Coppinger who suggested our relationship with Canada was about militarisation, armaments and so on-----

-----but it most certainly is not. Other EU member states are entitled to have their positions on defence.

We are.

We are not part of NATO.

If you talk-----

-----to people from Lithuania and Latvia, they have very legitimate existential concerns given their countries' long histories with Russia and the manner in which Russia treated them. Time and time again, it invaded those countries and violated their integrity. If the Deputy was living in Lithuania, he might have a different perspective to the one he has now.

I propose to take Questions Nos. 18 to 34, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on housing last met on Thursday 5 June and is due to meet again on Monday 21 July. The committee works to ensure a cross-Government approach to the implementation of our commitments in respect of housing policy. Housing supply has increased significantly over the past number of years, with almost 140,000 new hom…

Deputy Sheehan referred to the size of apartments and the change in the guidance and standardisation in terms of design and so on. That is not being done at the behest of developers. There is a well recognised and analysed viability gap in terms of the construction of apartments in cities and, indeed, across the country. It is well documented that there is a fundamental issue in terms of cost and …

A lot more social homes are built now than there were historically. The building of social homes is at a 40-year record, which does not get recognised at all.

Of those on the homeless lists, as I think that is what Deputy Tóibín was referring to, close to 50% are from the EU or the EEA. We have a growing population. The timelines as to when people come on to the emergency accommodation lists are a matter that needs to be examined in the context of the needs of people when they arrive in. The growing population has created new demands and pressures on ou…

Is that in terms of-----

The Minister is pursuing that issue.

Potentially. We have to wait to see the details of what will come forward from the Minister.