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

I thank the Deputy for his affirmation of all those who work in the housing department in Kerry County Council and in the construction industry more generally. Yesterday I met representatives from the industry to discuss the degree to which they have developed innovative approaches to safety in the workplace, particularly during the Covid pandemic. The return-to-work protocol became the benchmark for other sectors. The unions were particularly proactive in that regard and made a very positive contribution to that forum under the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, process which is a very good example of partnership.

The Deputy spoke about the need for one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. At the moment we are making some progress in taking families out of homelessness, but overall the majority of those who are homeless are single people. We need to accelerate very significantly the number of one-bedroom and two-bedroom units across the country. That would help many single people or people with smaller households to secure housing. There is a need for much more of that type of provision to deal with homelessness in an effective and critical-mass way and also then to deal with the wider issue of the social housing list.

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