Micheál Martin

That is not surprising because she did not in any shape or form want to point to any figures that would give some degree of positive reality. We want to build far more and we acknowledge that we have far more to build. The Deputy has a record of opposing well over 1,000 houses in her own constituency.

She has put her own constituency needs above and beyond the housing-----

She did. She objected to well over 1,000 houses in her constituency.

It is a bit rich of her to come in here on a daily basis ranting about housing when her own record in respect of giving it the ultimate priority that it deserves is fairly poor in terms of her performance.

The programme for Government-----

-----is clear in its decision. The programme ordained that we would set up a housing activation office because we are going to consistently add to the initiatives we have taken in housing-----

-----and we make no apologies for doing further in terms of-----

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue which is top of the Government's priorities, namely, special needs in general and especially special needs education. I make the point special education now accounts for about 28% of the entire education budget. That is a 48% increase in four years since 2020. Staffing has grown 27%, with 23,400 special needs assistants now in our school sys…

As I said, there is a plan. In the past five years, we provided 11 new special schools and five more are set for 2025-26. On the High Court decision some years ago in respect of preliminary assessments or the then system organised by the HSE, the experts have come back to the Government and stated that it has compounded the delay and backlog relating to assessments of need. The Government is look…

I appreciate the Deputy raising this issue again. Some 7,100 affordable housing solutions were delivered in 2024, exceeding the delivery target of 6,400. Since we came into office in 2020, nearly 13,000 affordable housing options have been delivered by the various delivery partners. Help to buy has helped young people to afford to buy first time new-build houses. Bridge the gap has also helped fir…

The Deputy is very dismissive of the vacancy grants. They are a huge-----

They are a huge addition to making houses affordable for God's sake.

If the Deputy talks to anybody who avails of those grants, he will see they are incredibly substantial, and so are the grants for dereliction if a person buys a derelict house and refurbishes it.

That makes it affordable. It made it possible, and it has been a success. I know the Social Democrats opposed it.

Some of them went out against that as well-----

-----because they went against the affordability legislation that passed through the House in the previous Dáil. The homelessness issue is becoming much more complex in terms of the composition of those who are homeless now-----

-----and the additional pressures that have come on in terms of emergency housing accommodation. It is not similar to what homelessness was five or six years ago. That needs to be acknowledged and analysed as well. What Government is focusing on is exiting people from homelessness as quickly as possible and preventing people from becoming homeless in the first instance.

I have been very consistent in this House, as the Government has been, in condemning Israeli attacks on Gaza and the continuing bombardment of Gaza. We have been absolutely consistent, without question. We have taken a whole range of steps since the outbreak of this terrible war and the horrific attack by Hamas on 7 October, which also deserves to be roundly condemned. I have done that, too. The b…

It is not-----

I never used the word "pride", so do not put words in my mouth, please. I never used that word, nor did I use the word "boast". Everything within our capacity to have an impact on this situation, we have been doing. We should not overinflate the impact of other measures the Deputy mentioned. There are no planes leaving Shannon for Gaza.

You have made an assertion that there are-----

-----and there are not. I respect the Deputy a lot and I respect her good faith on these issues to a point, but I often get the sense the debate on Palestine in this House and elsewhere is more about trying to create division between the public, the people and the Government of the day.

That is my genuine sense.

I have been through this since the beginning of the war and that is a genuine takeaway I have from some of the protestations and interruptions from certain people on the far left in particular-----

-----who have interrupted various meetings we have had, endeavouring to disrupt.