Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I will take five minutes and give the Minister five minutes in which to respond, if that is acceptable. I will then take a further minute, and then my colleague Deputy Guirke will take his four minutes. I will proceed straight to the questions.

Many renters and landlords were hoping the Minister would have announced the extension of the ban on evictions, notices to quit and rent increases. I appreciate these are important decisions, but given the 100-day exit plan the Government has announced and the fact that many affected people in the private rental sector will not be able to return to work until the end of the period, will the Minister at least tell us when he is going to make the decision so people will know when to expect the news?

I welcome the fact that the Minister commissioned ESRI research on the rent arrears debt burden. He should be under no doubt that it is going to be significant. Will he commit to publishing the report and engaging with sectors and Opposition Deputies, if he is still in office, on possible solutions to deal with that? Many of us have constructive suggestions.

With respect to construction, we are all very concerned about the impact on the social housing output targets for 2020 in terms of both the break in construction and the slow rate of construction, obviously because of the important public health and safety measures. Will the Minister tell us whether he is considering ways to try to meet the targets other than through construction? For example, will he reconsider the limitation on the acquisition of new properties by local authorities to try to fill what will inevitably be a gap in the output? Will he also consider whether some private sector sites that may no longer become viable because of the loss of future sales might be acquired as turnkeys at existing use value by the Department and the local authority to meet the shortfall?

On homelessness, I acknowledge the very substantial work of the Minister’s departmental officials, Dublin Region Homeless Executive, DRHE, the local authorities and the homelessness services on the ground, but there are people falling between the cracks. There is a particular problem in local authorities where new presentations are either not being taken or are being delayed. Small numbers of people are being forced to sleep rough, in some cases for a week or two. That is a real problem. I have raised it with the DRHE and the Minister's own staff, but it still has not been fully resolved. It needs to be addressed.

I am also concerned about the additional pressure on some of Dublin’s day services that have remained open because of the closure of others. A small amount of additional funding needs to be provided to those day services that are still open to ensure they are meeting the needs of those availing of them. Some of the facilities at some of the new private sector accommodation centres do not meet the standards the Minister outlined today. I would like him to review that.

With respect to local government, I welcome the €260 million. That is very important. Will the Minister commit to providing further funding if needed? Will he speak to the very significant drop in funding from non-rates-related revenue sources, such as car parking rents and other charges, because it represents a very big loss of income to many local authorities and they are already talking to their members about cutting services if that gap is not filled.

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