Eoin Ó Broin

Tell the truth.

I have the letter from the Department.

There are 15 extra homes in this proposal, a net increase.

I have the map. Maybe the Minister could look at-----

Just the number of people living there. Fewer people will live there under the Minister's policy.

The approach of the Minister to inner-city flat complex regeneration is fundamentally flawed. After three long years of consultation with the local community on Oliver Bond Street, Dublin City Council made a very detailed proposal. It would take 74 1930s flats and bring them up to modern standards with a loss of 28 units. It identified a brand-new site, adjacent to Oliver Bond flats, with an addi…

What is the Taoiseach going to do about it?

Not true.

Not a chance. Not a chance.

It is always somebody else's fault.

Now you are blaming homeless people for homelessness. That is outrageous, Taoiseach.

The Taoiseach of the country is blaming homeless people for their homelessness. He is responsible for their homelessness. What a disgrace.

That is exactly what you are doing. You are blaming the victims of your own housing policy.

That is an absolute disgrace.

I do not want to be leader but I want to see homelessness fall. That is not happening under you.

I was provoked by the Taoiseach.

I have respect for the Chair-----

-----but I have no respect for a Taoiseach who misleads the House.

We know the figures. Government policy creates homelessness.

While I welcome the inclusion of these two counties, it has to be said that the scheme is not fit for purpose. It has been in operation for six years and fewer than 500 homes have been mediated. Despite the Minister's comment to the effect that so-called significant changes were made to the scheme to improve in 2022, fewer families in Donegal and Mayo have applied for the scheme under the new rule…

As the Minister of State knows, housing is the number one social crisis currently affecting the State and the cost-of-living crisis is the most immediate economic challenge. However, climate change represents an existential challenge, not just in this country but across the entire planet. We can see every single day the impacts in urban and rural Ireland as well as elsewhere in the world of the f…

Finally the Minister for housing says something about housing at the end of his speech. There was nothing to say about housing by the Minister for housing.

Hear, hear.

Tell that to families who are homeless

There is nothing new, record rents, record house prices.