Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am quite conscious of the time. By the way, it was very helpful that many of the witnesses were here at the first session because these two issues totally overlap. The witnesses might comment on the sunset clause set out by Dr. Hearne and Dr. Murphy with regard to the ending of hubs in December 2019 and the practicalities of that. Would they share that ambition?

On hotels, we had great fanfare when the previous Minister, Deputy Simon Coveney, was in here about Rebuilding Ireland. He emphatically told us there would be no hotels in a year or so. That has not happened and we cannot go back on it. However, what is the objective of the Department in terms of a date and a timeframe for the total cessation of anyone being accommodated in hotel accommodation? Could we have a date and an ambition for, and no vagueness on, that? When is it intended to do that?

I welcome the shift back to direct building. That is important. The Minister talks about the new inter-agency homeless group. Who is on that group? What is its remit and its format? How will it actively set about its work? The witnesses might share that with us in the next week or two. Whenever they have a moment, I would like to hear more about it.

My fourth point concerns the use of public lands. I have raised time and again the lack of verifiable data on public lands. I want to zone in on local authority lands. We know from the Department's own local government auditors, who examine internally within the Custom House the returns for the 31 local authorities, that they have found substantial shortcomings in them. I mention particularly Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council because that is the one I know. I looked at the last audit report today. It is on the Department's website, which states that there is a shortcoming here and that it wants a complete inventory of the lands within the local authority. I have written to the Department about it. I do not know what is going on here. The last audit carried out, which is published online, for Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council is that of 2015-2016. That is really important. We need hard facts and hard data on sites. If we are serious about availing of and building on local authority lands, in particular, although I would not rule out any other State lands, we need a detailed inventory. I would like that to be prioritised if at all possible.

I know it is pre-budget so they may not wish to comment on it, but is there any intention to look at increasing the housing assistance payment or the rent supplement limits given current market rents? What is their view on it? Are they thinking along those lines? They might share that with us.