Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)

I have a few practical questions and an observation. I will put all my questions and my observation in one go.

I am conscious of the workload of the Department of public expenditure and other Departments. A continuing theme is staff vacancies, an inability to predict when people will retire and the uncertainty around that. Department heads must have some idea how many staff are going to retire but that issue is a recurring theme, along with vacancies, recruitment and retention.

I have a specific question on the Land Development Agency. I understand Mr. Moloney's Department and the Department of housing are the sole shareholders in the agency and quite an amount of money was allocated to it. Were any more sums allocated in 2024 or 2025? An equally important question relates to the oversight role of the Department of public expenditure in that regard.

My observation concerns the tenant in situ scheme. I am one of those who highlighted that it was being withdrawn and local authorities were being left in the lurch.

However, I echo the comments Mr. Moloney is making that there are equity issues in this regard. It is a scheme that should be reviewed. I am the first, as a TD, to call for the tenant in situ scheme as an emergency response, but we have got into a situation with an emergency crisis that has gone on for way too long in housing. Every scheme is a reaction. This is a cause of serious concern to me, as is the help to buy scheme. While as a TD I am calling for the tenant in situ scheme, at the same time, I am calling for an absolute review of it because I know of people on a waiting list for up to 20 years in Galway. Their place on the list means nothing when someone is in trouble in relation to a house. I am the first to be shouting for that person too but we need a policy here. We need a review of it. I echo what Mr. Moloney is saying. I will stop because I want to give him a chance to answer.