John Cummins

The Deputy's time is up.

Settle down, settle down.

Half a billion is not billions.

Ah, stop.

That is an outrageous statement.

They are available for self-builds too.

I thank Deputy Gould for the question. Addressing vacancy and dereliction is a key priority of the Government. The vacant homes action plan published in January 2023 set out a range of actions to be taken to return vacant and derelict properties back to use as homes. The 2025 progress report shows significant progress has been made and it is available on the Department's website. The CPO activat…

It is certainly my expectation that the report will be published this month. That is what my officials advise me. Local authorities have a role in pursuing the owners of vacant and derelict properties. They can issue notices and where those notices are not acted upon, the properties are included on the register and levies are applied. The Deputy will be aware that in yesterday's budget announceme…

To be honest, that is just a bluff of a response as well because the Deputy is well aware that the organisation and role of local authorities in this is important. He knows about the schemes, including the vacant property refurbishment grant, the repair and leasing scheme and the buy and renew scheme.

I did not interrupt the Deputy. All the schemes that are in place are to bring those properties back into use. What we announced in the budget yesterday was a derelict property tax-----

Once again, I did not interrupt the Deputy.

With all due respect, I did not interrupt the Deputy so I would appreciate the courtesy of allowing me to reply. We are introducing that tax as the stick that will come if the carrot of those schemes has not been used. CPOs have a role to play. The issuing of the notices and instructing the owners of those properties to bring them back into use and activate them is also a tool some local authorit…

No problem.

No problem.

As the Deputy will be aware, I have no ability as Minister of State with responsibility for planning to place a pause on any type of planning application, be that for housing, wind energy, infrastructural projects or any other type of development. The 2006 wind energy development guidelines will remain in force pending the finalisation of revised guidance, which is currently subject to a focused r…

I will not publish anything for the sake of ticking a box. I have been in this role for six or seven months. I want to ensure that we get these guidelines right, so I have been working extensively with my officials, who have been engaging with their colleagues in the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment. All of the matters raised by the Deputy are being taken into account in the revie…

I reiterate that it is a priority in my Department. My officials and I have been working on this for a considerable period of time. I want to ensure that we get these revised guidelines right. I take public consultation seriously. There was public consultation over the summer on exempted development and over 920 submissions were received. I have reviewed all of those so I take on board what has co…

I thank Deputy O'Rourke for his question. Both the Minister, Deputy Browne, and I, and the Government as a whole, are fully committed to ensuring the delivery of housing at scale. Part of that is the continued acceleration of delivery of affordable housing. Over 14,500 affordable housing solutions have been delivered by our range of delivery partners since the launch of Housing for All, including …

I did not quite catch exactly the description of the country the Deputy just gave but, as he knows, there are as many people returning to this country as people leaving it. In terms of affordability supports, he should tell the 618 individuals and couples in his county of Meath who have been approved under the first home scheme that the support that the Government is providing is not of help to t…

The Deputy said the scheme was saddling people with additional debt. Some 6,200 persons in his county of Meath have availed of the help to buy scheme.

That is getting their taxes back that they have paid over the previous four years to support them in getting their deposits together to purchase their first homes. That does not have to be paid back. The Deputy's party is opposed to that. It is not putting additional debt on any family or individual. The first home scheme is bridging the gap to home ownership, with 618 applications in the Deputy'…

I did not interrupt the Deputy. If he is not going to allow me speak-----

These are schemes that are providing supports to individuals and families to bridge the gap to home ownership.

The same tactics.

I thank the Deputy. A commitment was included under Housing for All to develop a roadmap to implement minimum building energy rating, BER, standards where feasible for the private rental sector. This work supports the objectives set down in the Government's climate action plan. My Department is committed to improving energy efficiency in the rental market and our work in this area is being informe…