Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have three questions. With regard to rural one-off houses, will the Department reverse its view on social housing - local authority houses - on sites that people have available for family members and in respect of which the Department has been disapproving for so long, particularly in view of the fact that it is quite recognisable that people are less vulnerable to disease in more dispersed communities?

Second, how are we going to make up lost time in progressing planning and so on for the rest of the local authority houses that are needed urgently? In other words, what is the Minister’s expectation for the output of promised social housing for 2020 by comparison with his expectation at the beginning of the year?

Third, has the Minister had any discussions with the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection on reinstituting the mortgage interest scheme that used to be run by the Department whereby, if a person could not pay mortgage interest because of unemployment, it was paid for him or her for the period of unemployment. To be quite honest, I am fed up with relying on banks' goodwill. I do not believe in it. In 2014, the Government abolished mortgage interest supplement. Bring it back.

See this speech in context