Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have a number of items. Will the Taoiseach agree to make time available for the Minister for Justice and Equality to come in to answer questions specifically in regard to the removal of the former Garda Commissioner? In particular, will he make clear, on the record of the House, when he was alerted to the content of the letter sent to him by the former commissioner under section 41 of the 2005 Act?

In other words, at the meeting at 6 p.m. last Monday when he was briefed by his departmental officials, was he alerted to the content of the letter sent to the Secretary General by the Commissioner? We need more time to go through this. When it was timetabled last week, there were no questions on any specific statement last Wednesday morning. It was just a carefully scripted statement but there were no actual questions on that statement and we could do with time for the Minister on that.

In respect of the housing situation, the Taoiseach knows that up to 100,000 families are in arrears as we speak. This is a significant issue in terms of the mortgage arrears crisis. The Secretary General of the Department of Finance said last week that there must be an increase in the availability of social housing. The housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill is committed to. Could the Taoiseach indicate when it will come before the House? Under the programme for Government, the Taoiseach indicated that a staged purchase scheme to increase the stock of social housing would be introduced. Could the Taoiseach bring the Dáil up to date on that? Under this scheme, leased dwellings will revert to the ownership of local authorities and housing associations at the end of the leasehold period. The Taoiseach also said the Government would introduce legislation to enable larger housing associations and local authorities to access private sector funding for social housing by issuing social housing bonds secured on the value of their existing housing stock when market conditions allow. Could the Taoiseach update us as to when this will happen?

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