Mr. John McCarthy:

I will respond to the second issue first. The Senator referred to climate change and the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. If wake-up calls were needed, the report certainly provides a clear wake-up call with regard to the extent of the challenge the global community faces in dealing with climate change. On the Ireland-UK issue, our colleagues in the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources have the lead in that regard. To offer clarity on it, the fact that the agreement is not going ahead at this point between Ireland and the UK probably presents more of an issue for the UK in how it meets its targets rather than necessarily for us. I recall hearing the Minister, Deputy Rabbitte, say in the last few days that we remain on track to reach Ireland's target of 40% for electricity generation by 2020.

In terms of our overall climate objectives, we have a target to reduce emissions by 20% in the non-traded sector of the economy by 2020. The projections from the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, show our emissions to be on the right side of the line we must observe for the first half of that period, up to 2015-16. Thereafter it becomes more challenging. That is the reason the Minister has put a great deal of emphasis not just on the development of legislation but also on the development of a new climate low-carbon roadmap to both envisage the 2050 time horizon and where we must be at that point and also to deal with the shorter term to 2020 and what further measures might have to be taken across the key sectors of transport, energy and agriculture. Those are our three key emitting sectors in so far as the non-traded sector of the economy is concerned.

I accept the Senator's point regarding communications. Over a decade ago we found ourselves in a situation where the wider roll-out of waste charges had to be dealt with. A great deal of effort was put into communication about what those charges would yield in terms of better approaches to waste management and improvements to our environment. On foot of the recent EPA report we are starting to see the benefit of that. For the first time we are recovering more domestic waste than we are sending to landfill, which is a significant achievement. There are similar issues with regard to water, and communications are obviously essential. We will work with Irish Water in that regard. As I said in my opening remarks, one of the key benefits and reasons for the approach the Government has taken is to ensure we get to a point where we have a water infrastructure that is fit for purpose and delivers in a manner that supports both individuals and businesses in meeting their needs. Significant benefits will flow from the new regime so the communications issue must be addressed.

With regard to housing, a number of strands of activity are ongoing. There is an overall cross-governmental construction strategy in preparation and that is at an advanced stage. We are also working on a plan for social housing specifically regarding homelessness. The oversight group has published its report and perhaps my colleague, Michael Layde, might comment on the homelessness aspect as it is one in which he has a particular interest.