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Fine Gael because €500,000 is in no way affordable and that is the truth. All of this is evidence that the Housing Commission was right when it called for a radical reset. In my constituency, people do not just want a radical reset in housing but desperately

will fund and support low-carbon transportation, such as MetroLink. The review prioritised increased investment in critical infrastructure for water, energy, transport and housing to allow us to enable the delivery of hundreds of thousands of additional homes; provide greater opportunities for our enterprise economy and support … communities will benefit from high-quality services that drive improved living standards. I thank my fellow Government colleagues and Members from right across the House who are engaging positively and constructively on this journey to transform infrastructure delivery in our country. We have a generational opportunity to shape

might lean into that, to start in a moment of harmony. I genuinely join all Members in this House and people right across the country in supporting the Irish national soccer team tonight as they take on Czechia. At a time of real challenge in our country … level of volatility around fuel, is the right thing to do. We also took practical and more universal measures to help everybody in the area of excise. There was general and widespread support for that too in this House. Sinn Féin did not vote

Acts and how they interact, and it gives temporary breathing room for inactivated permissions. It also rightly acknowledges that some permissions are caught up but Members across the House have spoken about how it is ridiculous that someone in Galway can object to developments in Dublin … understaffed in Dublin. We have hundreds of houses boarded up. I have young mothers with children coming to me and right around the corner are houses that are boarded up. One of them gave me her permission. Carla Keegan is waiting there with her two children

push for these homeowners to get what they need and deserve throughout this Dáil term. Is ceart daonna é tithíocht. Housing is a human right but the Government does not believe that. If it did, it would not allow this situation where people are living in unsafe homes … homes affected by pyrite, in homelessness, or in hidden homelessness. We need a change in our approach to housing. We need to treat it as a human right, and supporting 100% Redress is the start of that

Callaghan, said, if we are trying to get decisions made within six months, including appeals, that is a good thing because, right now, 80% of applications for asylum are turned down and only a third are granted on leave to appeal. A lot of economic migrants … from within the EU and another 30,000 are coming into Ireland legally every year. We do not have the capacity right now to provide housing, so we have to look at where our industrial policy goes, where people should be working and what kinds

debate. I will give Members an update on that and then I want to speak about right-sizing, which falls under my brief as positive ageing, and housing options for people to age positively. The programme for Government has committed to designing a statutory home care scheme … older people. I am a Minister of State in two Departments, health and housing. My remit is to look at housing options for older people, which includes right-sizing. I am actively working on this with the officials in the Department of housing at the moment

welcome these statements on the Government’s updated housing plan, which rightly sets a minimum target of 300,000 homes, including 72,000 social and 90,000 affordable homes. The plan is backed by €9 billion in housing capital for next year alone. It focuses on activating land

people and families accessing emergency accommodation come from the private rental sector, and Ireland's homelessness crisis is exacerbated by weak tenancy rights; acknowledges that: — Housing for All - A new Housing Plan for Ireland has manifestly failed to deliver enough new housing to meet demand and tackle

been going on 14 years. We have two failed schemes. We are in the middle of a scheme right now under which work on barely 300 houses has been completed … number of those were the subject of remediation work, which is a patch-up job. The work on these houses will have to be done again. Right now, people are stuck in them. They cannot sell their houses. They cannot move on with their lives. They are stuck

truly stunned not only that the housing Minister is not here but that there is only one representative on the Government benches when in the media and in the Dáil Chamber, all we hear is that the Government wants solutions from the Opposition. When … offer concrete, well thought-out, researched, evidence-based solutions, this is the showing we get. I come from the human rights sector where we talk about housing as one of the fundamental rights without which it is impossible to realise other rights. We have heard from my colleagues

issue of cancer, I missed the opportunity yesterday but I also welcome Deputy Boyd Barrett back to this House. Many people right across the country were inspired by his interview this week. I know it has been an extraordinarily difficult time for him. He might not believe

Black is white, the world is upside down. Where is Iran's right to defend itself in this? Everyone in this House would recognise the right of Ukraine to defend itself against imperialist assault by Russia. Does Iran not have a right to defend itself against imperialist assault

country. Finally, I want to mention the national development plan. It is a very ambitious plan. It is focusing heavily on housing and that is right and proper. In terms of trying to stimulate housing activity, much of the capital investment will be in areas that are designed

respect the rights of every Deputy who is elected to this House. I respect their rights

their local communities are important, and this is something the Deputy is passionate about as well. We will continue to engage right across the House. I will always listen to any proposals to see where we can make changes and continue to evolve our policies

euro in profit and only pay 1% in tax. At the same time that this Bill removes mortgage interest relief from people right across this State, people are now seeing interest rates increase and are finding it more difficult to pay their mortgage costs and the Government will … words, the worst one can do is help somebody trying to buy house is to accidentally push up house prices. He was right but he buckled under pressure from Fianna Fáil and has jacked up the amount involved. Therefore, house prices will increase further. It is shameful that

issue, given his brief. I ask him to take that back to the Chief Whip. It is disrespectful at best to colleagues right across the House that we are not being given the opportunity to raise these issues directly with line Ministers. At half ten on a Tuesday

costing, funding and how we are going to do this. There are questions, which many Members of the House have raised, about whether a citizens' assembly is the right place to do it. Do we need a new structure? Certainly, there is something radically wrong when our focus … overly agree with everything in the Bill, but I think it is a step in the right direction. I applaud my colleagues in Sinn Féin for bringing this to the House. We spend a lot of time talking in this House about issues we will never solve, such

wants a debate on housing. Where are we? What are we doing? It is so disingenuous to think this is a debate on housing. We are not talking about policy here. The Minister arrived in for the end of the debate. I believe things can be better … this Chamber are here to work constructively on solutions, but it has to start with an acknowledgment that where things are right now with housing policy is very concerning and it does not seem to be getting any better

lobbying that is going on being hidden by this Government? That is why we need transparency. People have a right to know who is making our housing policy and who is influencing it. That is the whole point. We are supposed to be moving away from a politics … within the private market. This comes back to the fundamental problem in our approach to housing, which is we do not deliver it as a public good and a human right. The State outsourced it and handed it over to the private market, hence we are completely dependent

which is the broader point the Deputy is getting at, that it is not going to be enough. There are towns and villages right across Ireland, rural and urban, that desperately need the water infrastructure and wastewater infrastructure as well. We have been very clear as a Government … move forward on that investment. We are also bringing Irish Water to the table in the new housing activation office, which we are going to get right, because water infrastructure is a key enabler of housing to keep young people in constituencies like the Deputy

north Cork. We are very lucky to have five or six sites in development at the moment, with a number of houses being developed right across the town. We have a number of other applications for planning permission which do not have a wastewater connection at the moment … That will allow for an increase in the population equivalent, PE, in the wastewater treatment plant, which would allow for ca. 230 more houses to be built. I bring this to the floor of the Dáil today in the hope that we could push it forward

election cycle. After the budget, I picked up some Fine Gael election material. So many promises have been broken. The Deputy is right that the Minister believes he can hold the Government together. There will not be an election for a couple of years and the promises … welcome this. There is a viability issue with apartments. I hope this measure will see an increase. Viability in terms of housing is felt right across the construction sector. It is felt in Mayo. I spoke to a developer last week who has planning permission for a relatively

worth, it was the right decision. The new Standing Orders recognise the constitutional rights of all elected Members of this House. Government backbenchers have as much right as Members of the Opposition to represent the concerns of the constituents who have elected them. Since 29 November, we have … decisions of President Trump may be outside of our control. In the context of global challenges, this Government wants to get Ireland's house in order. It was another American president, Abraham Lincoln, who said: "A house divided against itself, cannot stand.". Sinn Féin want this House