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Communities have been battling for years in defence of the basic premise that the house they paid for should be of a standard they can live in and that can stand. Aontú has been solidly behind the campaign over the past decade. I have visited many homes … spoken at demonstrations in Dublin. The truth is that families' lives have been absolutely destroyed by what has happened. Local authority buildings, public buildings and schools have been left in a situation where the blocks are crumbling around them. This has happened because of light-touch regulation

people, he would know there are almost 1 million people on acute health waiting lists as well as some 250,000 people on community and primary care waiting lists. We have record numbers of people on trolleys. Yet, the Government cannot seem to get a grip with … price of fuel, diesel, green diesel and home heating oil. Instead, however, there are piecemeal approaches from the Government. We also proposed an energy credit of €400. We also proposed additional capital spending in health, housing and other areas to build the society we need with schools, hospitals

building of public houses and an Opposition which has pretty much ignored the building of private houses. That limited debate has contributed to the severity of the housing crisis. We in Aontú believe a society needs to have both functioning properly in order to deliver housing. The Minister … four in that year. For a decade, nearly a generation, Governments stopped building public houses in this State. We believe strongly a bird cannot fly on one wing. The solution needs to involve both delivering public housing and fixing the broken private housing system. The truth

just a facility; people are building relationships with the staff and with each other. The staff know the risks. They know who is struggling at home, who needs guidance and who to pull aside for help and community support. It is a preventative-type relationship. It is relationship … this House about early intervention and diversion, especially in relation to disadvantaged areas. We speak about community partnerships. I can say hand on my heart that this project is delivering for young boys and young men in Ballyfermot. Will the Minister consider the decision in relation

being squeezed in every direction. With record surpluses, what did the Government deliver on electricity prices? It delivered nothing. On home heating oil it delivered the bare minimum. On petrol and diesel, there is nothing. On groceries, there is nothing. On rents, damn all, and whatever was given … carpet treatment. That is indefensible. Sinn Féin will continue to challenge the Government to support workers and families, build housing and support communities. One of the roles of Government in a wealthy state is to deliver a functioning justice system and to make communities safer, yet the Minister

deliver affordable housing. The ambition is clear with over 300,000 new, affordable homes by 2030. We have a starter homes programme. We reckon there are 15,000 supports a year between first home, help to buy, starter home purchase and the vacant property grant. I would like … social development, be that sporting or community facilities. That is great. Many members of local authorities talk to me about the lack of funding for those facilities. Here is their option. If the local authority housing section gets moving building social and affordable housing, it will be rewarded

significantly improve railway services for communities across Fingal and the wider Dublin area. Looking further ahead, the planned four-tracking on the northern line has the potential to be absolutely transformative, unlocking additional capacity, improving reliability and supporting the continued growth of communities such as Balbriggan, Skerries, Rush … projects such as DART+, the provision of new rolling stock and signalling upgrades, once delivered, as well as the delivery of a modern train control centre and future capacity enhancements, we can build a railway that is safer, more reliable and better equipped to meet the needs

Park, Woodside and Nutgrove Avenue were badly affected by the flooding. Thousands of euro worth of damage has been done to people's homes and businesses. Cars have been written off. Water came up through the floorboards in houses. We are not sure about the structural damage that … moment. Part of the Labour Party's amendment involves putting the support schemes - the business one as well as those for affected community organisations - on a statutory footing in order that they do not require Government approval to kick in every time there is an incident of localised

care in 2026. We have opened 1,481 new acute inpatient beds since the end of 2020. This year, we will deliver 177 acute and 428 community beds. Those are just as important as acute beds because they provide the opportunity for people to move out of hospital … suitable care that they need. The first new surgical hub opened in Mount Carmel in 2025. We expected it to deliver 3,000 procedures and it delivered 3,700 procedures. Of course, we are opening five more surgical hubs this year. Crucially, we will roll out the outpatient

account from the Opposition benches. The Government should now be actively engaging in bringing about the change so badly needed by the communities that we all serve and represent. Change is desperately needed for the families facing eviction at the end of this month … Government will deliver on the few new commitments or aspirations set out. Indeed, many of the measures in the programme will see us going backwards. There is nothing there on how the Government is going to achieve the ramped-up delivery homes that we all know

Dublin Fingal East, one of the largest and fastest growing areas. We are seeing large developments being built delivering thousands of much-needed homes but there is little effort being put into planning good quality affordable childcare facilities to meet the needs of families. Those childcare facilities that … Féin is determined to deliver childcare for €10 a day. We are committed to an early years model of childcare that is affordable, high quality, accessible and inclusive. There are immediate actions that the Government can take by providing a roadmap to deliver €200 a month childcare with

last year’s general election. There has been no mention of that today, however, and the Government has squandered the opportunity to deliver it. The Government has done very little to increase capacity at a time when tens of thousands of children have no childcare place. It could … opportunity to build a good, secure life in their own country. The Government has forced a generation to choose between living with their parents well into adulthood or moving abroad and leaving their families, friends - although a lot of their friends are abroad - and communities behind. This

waiting lists and improved health facilities, such as the National Forensic Mental Hospital in Portrane, hospital extensions and new primary care centres and community nursing units across the country; — a reduction of approximately 48 per cent in the weighted average waiting time for outpatient appointments, down from just … public transport system, including BusConnects; — high-quality cultural and sporting amenities delivered, such as the Sport Ireland Campus in Blanchardstown; — continued progress under the National Broadband Plan, such that over 330,000 homes have now been passed and can avail of the high-quality connectivity offered by this

capital allocated to the community sports facility fund for the year ahead. This will support approved projects coming on stream under existing rounds of the fund. Over the year ahead, I also intend to open applications for a new round of the community sports facility fund … lives of local communities across the country. As I stated before, An Post is central to providing invaluable support for some of the most vulnerable in our society through the provision of social welfare payments, free postage to care homes, community focal points and many other valuable services

greener tune at that time. This has now passed and we are into a new regime. To ensure he builds confidence with a community like that in south Kilkenny, the Minister needs to bring forward the €200 million or so that has been promised for next year … that the bigger project is delivered. Relevant to this debate, the Government needs to make money available to carry out the improvement works that are essential now as a result of the fact that the road will not be delivered for eight years. It also must make sure

operation. It would ensure that flood mitigation funding delivers maximum value for money, reduces duplication and integrates nature-based solutions alongside traditional engineering works. A national approach would provide certainty. It would allow local authorities and communities to plan proactively. We cannot continue to lurch from one flood … management strategy that integrates existing flood relief programmes, accelerates delivery, strengthens governance and funding mechanisms, and uses modern tools for river basin management. Communities like Portarlington, Clonaslee, Rosenallis, Mountmellick and others across County Laois deserve clarity. They deserve progress and they deserve to know that the Government

about men’s health, we are speaking about fathers, sons, brothers, grandsons, partners and friends. We are speaking about the people who build our homes, teach our children, run our businesses and serve in our Defence Forces. Yet, too often, men’s health, especially men’s mental health … also have additional suicide crisis assessment nurses, SCANs, to support people in crisis who present to GPs in their communities. We have increased funding for the suicide prevention community and voluntary organisations, including Pieta, and there is €1 million in funding to start the implementation of the next

many years. Instead of acting to stabilise the market and building homes, the Government is embedding a mechanism that will ensure that rents rise again and again. The Bill will not reduce rents. It will not deliver stability. It will not prevent homelessness. It locks in higher rents … this legislation are not confined to Sinn Féin and the Opposition parties. Organisations working on the front line of homelessness, including the Simon Communities of Ireland, have warned that unaffordable rents are a direct driver of homelessness, and that the Minister's upward rent resets risk undermining security

Ireland, working with the Simon Community Galway, published a report a report on homelessness in later life. It found that old age homelessness had doubled in the past five years. It found that the assumption of older people owning their own homes or being in secure tenancies … that many of these people are in private rented accommodation with rapidly rising rents, watching their own security that they spent a lifetime building disappear in front of their eyes. Uachtarán Connolly attended the launch of that report in Galway. She said it shines a spotlight

able to provide all the housing the country needs. We need the Minister to talk up investment in public housing and try to deliver more public housing for people. Last week, a woman came to my clinic. She is living in her car. I got a flashback … years later. It says to me and the people living in my community that the Government does not care. It does not give a damn about the people in that community, including the woman living in her car. They could have access to housing and a fundamental right

person with a disability remains at the centre of everything we do. As we look to the future that means continuing to build services that provide greater choice, greater flexibility and more individualised responses while also ensuring those services remains sustainable and make the best use of available … These placements largely support people moving from their family home to residential services and are in addition to transitions from congregated settings. Between 2022 and 2024 €52.4 million of CAS was provided by the Department of housing to deliver 280 units of housing for disabled people. In addition

space and facilities and is reliant on prefabricated buildings. The extension will result in a 1,200-pupil school. It involves a purpose-built autism unit with three classrooms, 19 general classrooms, specialist rooms for art and home economics, science laboratories, a new staff room, a general purpose … much more, as well as alterations to the existing building. This is an exciting project, but also an essential one, if the existing and projected demand at the school is to be met and education delivered at an appropriate standard. These are the type of facilities children

health service, developing a new workforce plan for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services and advancing a statutory home care scheme for old people. I know she will also build on the significant progress which has already been made in transforming women's healthcare. I am delighted … delivering the infrastructure required to bring our country to the next stage of its development and enable faster delivery of housing and much more. We will work together to prioritise investments across the justice system, recruiting at least 5,000 additional gardaí and building stronger, safer communities. This

would not be possible without strategic and well-targeted investment, both public and private, and through the seafood development programme, the Government is delivering essential support to strengthen competitiveness, sustainability and employment across the sector. In addition, targeted supports, funded through the Brexit adjustment reserve, helped the sector … consultation I have endeavoured to carry out here at home, I am also working my way through meeting ministers with responsibility across fisheries and marine in member states where we can try to build alliances insofar as possible. I will continue that engagement. I know that the committee

constituency is home to some communities that have been left behind for far too long by the powers that be. One of those communities in Ringsend has a national school that is badly in need of capital investment works to upgrade its old 1960s building. I toured … electrical wiring and other structural works required for the new merger between the girls' school and the boys' school, which share a building but are not connected, up and running. It is a major priority for me to see this school and its students supported by the Department