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

We have reduced public transport fares, which has been successful, but we need to make sure we do not create major capacity problems for ourselves and that is something we have to balance each time. The school transport initiative is a climate measure. Since we waived the fees for school transport, there has been a large increase in the number of children using school transport. The figure is in the region of 20,000 or 30,000 more. It is definitely a climate measure that is beneficial.

I am not exactly sure where we are in terms of the legislation on conversion therapy. I will come back to Deputy Barry on that when I get an update. However, I join him and others in expressing solidarity with the trans community in light of recent events.

I refer to the ESRI study on housing adequacy and child outcomes, which Deputy O'Reilly mentioned. This is an important study that highlights critical interventions in securing adequate housing for families and children while providing a strong evidence base for those interventions. The report's findings resonate with research being carried out by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on housing costs, stress and deprivation, which will be published shortly. While Housing for All places considerable focus on supply and affordability, it does not ignore other housing challenges and commits to reforms across multiple areas. When it comes to new-build social housing, for example, we do not have the exact figures yet for 2022 but we think it will be around 8,000 new social homes, possibly the highest number since 1975. Our ambition is to build more in 2023. There is also the retrofitting of about 30,000 social homes, making them warmer and less expensive to heat.

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