Richard Boyd Barrett

According to the Central Bank, we need 50,000 to 60,000 houses a year in order for the Government to meet its 2030 targets. There is not a hope in hell of reaching the housing need that has been agreed on by many bodies, including the Government.

By the way, Mitchell McDermott today proved that this has nothing to do with planning permissions. We have loads of planning permissions.

It is not planning objections that are the problem, as Mitchell McDermott said. We have 32,000 planning permissions that are being sat on. There are no judicial reviews, they have the planning permission, but they are not happening because of viability. What does that mean? It means profits - profits for your developer friends - or the lack of infrastructure, such as water infrastructure. We know …

We do not need a single further unaffordable home, not a single one. What we need is affordable homes. I did not say they should all be social. I said they should all be affordable or social. The problem is that houses being delivered with rents of €3,500 or for €600,000 or €700,000 are totally unaffordable to ordinary people, but are very good for investors. We are saying we need a State construc…

We opposed it, and we got the social housing. We said there should be more social and affordable housing, and we got the 100% because we opposed it.

It was only 10%. We got 100% because we put in a submission on it.

It is not true. We said we should have social and affordable housing.

Says the special adviser to Eoghan Murphy.

She is getting personal but I cannot.

It is despicable that people with disabilities lost €1,400 in the budget. To hit the most vulnerable in that way while giving massive additional handouts to some of the most profitable companies in the world in the form research and development tax credits says everything people need to know about the priorities of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and their supposedly Independent allies. The disability com…

Uber and other taxi app companies have been at the transport committee this week. Across the world Uber makes enormous profits by driving down the amount given to taxi drivers and driving up the cost to passengers through add-on charges and dynamic pricing. Taxi drivers have been forced to protest about this. What they have proposed to benefit the driver, the passenger, the taxpayer and the wider …

Easy.

Cherrywood in south Dublin is one of the biggest residential developments in Europe and the biggest in Ireland. It is a new town. There is going to be 25,000 to 30,000 people living there. The whole thing was conditional on the development of a town centre with community facilities, supermarkets and all the rest of it. The private developers who built the houses and made big profits are refusing t…

One of the disastrous consequences of the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) Act is that it will fuel even further homelessness and people being forced into emergency accommodation because they cannot find an affordable rental property. For weeks now I have been asking at the Business Committee for an emergency debate on the record levels of homelessness and people in emergency accommodation. Ther…

I am getting elderly people as well as families.

We need an emergency debate on homelessness.

4. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the G20 in South Africa. [3922/26]

Donald Trump and the US Government chose to boycott the G20 in South Africa on the spurious and ridiculous grounds that there was a genocide going on against white people in South Africa. Of course, the real reason he boycotted it is because South Africa has led the charge against the Israeli genocide in Gaza, rightly indicting the criminals who have committed the genocide against Palestinians and…

22. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on his attendance at the EU-African Union summit. [6012/26]

The European Court of Justice nullified a trade agreement between the EU and Western Sahara. The African Union recognises Western Sahara as a place that is sovereign and should have self-determination but it is occupied by Morocco. The European Commission essentially refuses to accept international law and respect the right of self-determination of the Western Saharan people because it is engaged,…

The imperialist aggression of Russia in Ukraine is clear to see and must be absolutely condemned. It involves the killing of tens of thousands of Ukrainians, the destruction of infrastructure, the kidnapping of children, the commission of war crimes and the imperialist arrogance of the Russian empire - Putin's empire - in believing it should control spheres of influence around Russia. There is a l…

I commend Sinn Féin on tabling this motion on the need for emergency mental health services and stating they should be 24-7 and involve dedicated mental health emergency rooms in level 3 and 4 hospitals, investment in model 2 hospitals and proper staffing for mental health services. The second last point is particularly important, from my experience. It refers to "mental health crisis assessment …

Is there a split in the ranks of the Government?

Will the Tánaiste join me in welcoming performers and participants from Jenin refugee camp and the Freedom Theatre who are coming here? They will be performing Return to Palestine starting next Wednesday in the Project Arts Centre as part of the Seachtain Saoirse don Phalaistín, the week of freedom for Palestine, organised by Cairde Amharclann na Saoirse in Éirinn, friends of the Freedom Theatre i…

I do not understand.