John Cummins (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A few things have been said about people having to emigrate because of the housing crisis. If we are to believe what Deputy Ó Broin said, he is essentially saying that people are going to Australia because of housing and the issues around it. I will read headlines from the past three months in Australian news. These include: "'Recipe for disaster': Australia faces housing crisis amid ... decline in building approvals" from news.com.au; "Australians seek share houses in soaring numbers as housing crisis bites" from The Guardian; "Australia's Housing Crisis: Lessons for the World" from bloomberg.com; and "Proof Australia's rental crisis is getting worse as living costs soar across the country" from Australian Associated Press.

I am happy to live in a country where housing commencements now number 350 every single working day and, every single week, 500 first-time buyers are purchasing their first home. Of course, everything is not perfect and rosy. It is not anywhere in the world.

We need to be honest and upfront with people and show that progress is being made, despite what some people may try to present it as. Let us have an honest debate here in the committee rather than trying to score political points over and back. It is not helpful in any way. I will confine my questions to real issues in terms of trying to get progress on a few things. I will start with the disabled person's grants. Obviously these are really important grants for people to be able to maintain residents in their own home. Record funding was given for this to local authorities across the country last month. As we know, costs have increased considerably across the board. When will we have clarity on when those grants will be revised? I certainly hope they are being revised upwards because the people I talk to in my clinic are struggling to get works done.