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

-----and they would have to be revised downwards. It is not a straightforward thing at all. We increase the funding for section 39s to reflect the fact that pay increases are being paid across the economy at the moment.

On Deputy Ó Cathasaigh's question on culture and language, my regret is that we did not include it in the first place. It probably would have made sense to do so. I am not sure why we did not but the advice from my officials is there is a concern that if we adjust the framework and change what is measured, we would not be consistent. It would be impossible to make year-on-year comparisons, or comparisons with other countries, if we change what is measured every year. Having said that, I do not entirely accept that because the same argument is made regarding the census, and we change census questions and add new census questions. It is something I have an open mind on. We will do a half-day seminar later in the year on the wellbeing framework and, as part of that, we can consider whether we add new measures or take out measures and add a new measure on culture and language.

On Jurys Hotel, my understanding is that the former Jury's Hotel is not available and there are plans at present to develop it. I will check that out.

Deputy Paul Murphy raised the issue of greenhouse gas emissions from the military, including from aeroplanes, aircraft and vehicles. I have no doubt that is the case. I do not know the figures but I am sure he is correct in saying that military equipment can be responsible for greenhouse gas emissions. I give the assurance that Ireland will not participate in any arms race. We will improve and modernise our equipment but that is something quite different.

There is a programme for Government commitment to hold a referendum on housing. The Housing Commission is doing some work on that currently but has not reported back to Government yet. Until we see that, we cannot set a date but the wording will be very important. I would like to see an amendment on housing in our Constitution but I want to be sure it will actually help people get housing. The last thing we need is an amendment that results in people having the opportunity to sue the State for not having housing, but not getting any more housing. We could have a situation whereby one court rules against housing on one ground while another court rules in favour on another. Getting the wording right is crucial. I want to see wording that will tip the balance in favour of housing, houses being built, and courts taking the view that the right to housing is something meaningful. If it conflicts with another right, the balance should be tipped a bit more in favour of homes being built. A right that does not make it easier to get or build a house will be a pyrrhic right. It is all down to the wording. We do not have any draft wording yet.

On the issue of Derrinlough, I do not have figures on that. It is generally the case that when a facility is closed people are offered redeployment or redundancy. I do not know exactly what happened in the case of Derrinlough but I will look into it. Sometimes, it depends on the workers and their skills and what else is available, but I will check it.

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan raised the issue of housing inequality. We have considerable housing inequality in Ireland. What we are trying to do to close that inequality includes all the things in Housing for All, namely, increasing the supply of new housing, trying to make it more affordable for people to buy, reducing the cost of rent through the rent credit and other measures such as that.

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