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

I join Deputies Bacik and Doherty in welcoming the news earlier this morning that the DUP is willing to re-enter power-sharing in Northern Ireland. This paves the way for democratic and devolved government to be restored, for the assembly to function and for the executive to meet and make decisions for Northern Ireland. Crucially, it will also allow the North-South bodies, including the North-South Ministerial Council, to work again. Many of the problems people face in Northern Ireland are very similar to those we face here and it is important that they have a democratic and devolved government up and running to deal with those very real issues. I had a chance to speak with the UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak earlier today. He briefed me on the situation and we agreed to continue to work together on issues of mutual interest and mutual concern such as this. It is hoped that we can have the institutions up and running and the necessary legislation passed in Westminster before 8 February. It is very positive that as we enter the spring, there is new hope that the Good Friday Agreement can work again. I think we will all agree that this would be very desirable.

Once again, I appreciate that a lot of people are suffering because of the housing crisis and that this manifests itself in different ways, including renters paying rents that are too high or having a bad experience with their landlords, but we are making progress and we are helping. As I mentioned earlier, 33,000 new homes were built last year, which is the highest number in 15 years, and 500 first-time buyers are drawing down their first mortgage every week. We have not seen this since 2007 when I was in my late twenties. That is how much it has changed in the past couple of years and how much progress we are making. We are also seeing dereliction and vacancy rates falling, in part because of the actions this Government has taken.

Regarding the matters raised by the Deputy, for obvious reasons, I do not want to go into individual cases when I do not know all the details and I do not want to say anything that might jeopardise prosecutions or enforcement actions that are under way. In terms of what we can do to help renters, we have brought in the rent tax credit, which is putting a month's rent back into the pockets of average renters. We have brought in new laws to extend the terms people are given such as the notice to quit time period so people can have more time to find a new home if they need to. We are also dramatically expanding cost rental, which is a new form of affordable housing and a new form of public housing where the Government in partnership with others provides properties that people can rent at affordable rates where they do not qualify for social housing. We are going to continue to build on that in the years ahead. We are always open to considering ideas and recommendations from other parties as to how we can strengthen renters' rights but we need to make sure that we get the balance right.

See this speech in context