Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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We will have to agree to disagree because my time is running out. The figures I have show there were 292 children homeless in Cork in the first six months of this year. The Minister cannot argue with that. To give some facts, in 2021, there were 224 children homeless in Cork, so there are an additional 49 homeless children in six months alone. The Minister might get a chance to come back to this issue later.

There are huge problems across every local authority with flats, complexes and properties that were built 70, 80 and 90 years ago. We need a funding stream to be put in place for local authorities to tackle windows, doors, retrofitting and insulation. Local authorities do not have that money. In relation to the 2030 climate commitments, if we do not hit our targets, we will be spending billions of euro on fines. Would we not be better off investing that money now in local authorities to deliver retrofitting. My dad lives in Harbour View Road in Knocknaheeny. Harbour View Road was retrofitted and it made a major difference. The problem i, it is only one road. We need retrofitting rolled out across the State. We know it works so why do we not roll it out?