Liz McManus (Wicklow, Labour)

The Minister, Deputy Gormley, has no problem commenting on this area. A recent headline states "Gormley insists carbon levy in budget will be revenue neutral". The Minister might explain how the Minister, Deputy Gormley, can speak out but he cannot. He might clarify the position because there is a great deal of confusion.

On social housing, will the Minister accept that it is not good enough to wait for casual vacancies to arise? The number of casual vacancies that arise are rare now because very few houses are being built and people cannot afford to move out of social housing. The Minister has to think of a new approach. External insulation is an obvious one, but there are probably other arrangements. The problem will not be dealt on the basis of waiting for casual vacancies to arise.

Will there be targets in this strategy that will address the problem in this area? It is all very well to have 1,500 houses, but fuel poverty will not be dealt with unless the scale is ramped up considerably. Will there be a timeframe for the implementation of the strategy or will it simply amount to aspirational proposals, which we have read about and heard previously from the Minister, which no longer meet the needs in this area, as more and more people struggle?

See this speech in context