Joe Flaherty (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is fantastic to see the energy and enthusiasm the Minister has brought to the Department, as have his junior Ministers, over the past 19 months. They have hit the ground running. In particular, over the last quarter and the start of 2022 we have seen real success in the battle against the housing crisis.

The Minister is the bainisteoir and is here with his bainisteoir cúnta and my constituency colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Peter Burke. It is unfortunate that the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is not here because I wanted to pay tribute to the work he is doing in heritage. I have seen first hand small community groups heartened by the enthusiasm he has shown. I hope the message can be passed on to him. Though the Minister is the figurehead, it is important to acknowledge the team in the Custom House. We can see the amount of work and effort gone into the Housing for All plan. It is clear to see there is a fantastic team behind the Minister and we look forward to the results over the next three years or so.

I was heartened in the last week to see our first Fresh Start success in Longford in a matter of five weeks. We can be cynical about these things sometimes but to see that coming through so quickly was a ringing endorsement of the work being done in the Department. Everybody involved has to be commended. It was great to hear that woman who thought she would never get her life back on track after a difficult separation get equity in a Dublin property and started her life again in rural Ireland.

It will come as no surprise that I will ask about affordable housing and Housing for All. Affordable housing cannot be just centred on Dublin and the big metropolitan centres. The Minister already has his housing delivery plans across the 31 council areas. Is there a dedicated component and target for affordable housing in each of those delivery plans? On engagement with local authorities at this stage on affordable housing, will the Minister indicate how many local authorities are actively engaging? He will appreciate I am obsessed with one local authority, namely, Longford, but I still get a sense it will be difficult for those counties to get it over the line. I cannot tell the Minister enough how real an issue affordable housing is across the country. If we do not tackle it in rural areas and provincial towns, we will not tackle it nationwide.

Where are we in relation to the launch of the affordable purchase shared equity scheme? When will it be ready? It is not clearly set out but I assume that is just for new builds. If we are struggling to get affordable housing up and running in rural Ireland, there is an opportunity for some counties to tweak that to include second-hand house purchases and enable people hanging on for affordable housing to get onto the property ladder. I am not looking for it nationwide but a specific and targeted approach across a number of counties might be worthwhile.

The Chair spoke about Irish Water, which is an area of expertise for him. There are concerns across the country about Irish Water. Irish Water today revealed a figure of €13 million for the cost of repairs and leaks in Longford over the past two years. That is, on average, just under €18,000 a day being spent on leaks and repairs. At the same time, we are struggling to see that body put in place a decent infrastructure to allow the local authority move ahead with its plans.

I welcome the non-seweraged villages initiative and the Minister's plans to work with local authorities. For example, for a town like Ballymahon that is maxed out in terms of its capacity, will there by an opportunity for the local county council to come up with a proposal on the basis that Irish Water's capital plan is unlikely to deliver a solution for that town for the next three to five years? Is there an opportunity for the council to come to the Minister with its own bespoke plan and seek funding?