Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

On the first matter, I will check up on the issue of the social worker and the child protection officer; the Deputy has my assurance on that. Tusla has been given a €14 million budget increase next year to allow it to hire additional staff and social workers. I will certainly check up on that with the Minister, Deputy Zappone. As the Deputy knows, this week we passed a very important child-protection milestone with the introduction at long last of mandatory reporting. That has been promised for a very long time and I am pleased to be leading the Government that made that happen this week. I particularly compliment the Independent Minister in my Government, Deputy Zappone, for delivering that and making it happen. I will raise that issue with her.

Our housing plan will take time. I have explained the backdrop to this - a six or seven-year period after the economic crisis in the causing of which Fianna Fáil had a very significant hand. We had a six or seven-year period during which the private sector was not in a position to build homes because the banks and the construction industry had collapsed.

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