Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for highlighting what is the biggest domestic emergency we face in this country - the issue of housing. It is nowhere more acute than when it comes to children. We are united on that. I have huge respect for the Ombudsman of Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon, for the work of his office and his independence. Both of the parties in government established this structure because it is good to have somebody to hold the feet of Government to the coals and keep us under pressure. The points he made this week remind us of the real acuity of this situation. He made a number of constructive suggestions, including asking the Oireachtas joint committee on housing to play a role in this. I am quite sure that across parties, Members will want to see happen.

I say respectfully to the ombudsman and to the Deputy that it is actually because we are so aware of the issues relating to children that we are taking some of the measures that we have taken. I said this yesterday. The no-fault eviction ban that we are legislating for will help keep children in their homes. I think the Deputy will agree with that. On cost rental, I was out in Tallaght yesterday where we have the first cost-rental scheme by a council, opposed to the Land Development Agency, LDA. It is a good development in Tallaght. There are 133 homes, playgrounds and a school to go in. This will help children in knowing where they are going to be living for their childhood. That is good. That needs to become a template for the rest of the country.

I take the Deputy's point, though I disagree with it, but I understand why he said there is no point telling a child that this is the greatest number of social homes being allocated since the 1970s. I will gently push back because these homes are being allocated to families with children. These are real people moving into these homes. We have a social house building programme back up and running. I agree with the Deputy on one point, although I will not share the language of the "dead hand". I take the point he made in relation to too many gates and barriers in the context of local authorities getting on with social housing. As recently as this week, we discussed this with the housing Minister. The Minister, Deputy Browne, intends to bring forward proposals to rectify that and to empower councils to move much more quickly on this. That cannot come soon enough.

We have tried to take a number of big and bold decisions since this Government came into office, including providing clarity relating to rent pressure zones, RPZ; plans relating to the no-fault evictions; reforming our planning laws; and providing more money for the delivery of social and affordable homes. The Deputy will see us take more actions in the national development plan next month to help house building, including the infrastructure that is necessary around water, wastewater and energy. During the election, the Labour Party made a constructive suggestion on the role of the LDA. The party wishes to reform it. We have different views on it, but we have agreed with this much, which is that certainly the mandate of the LDA needs to be expanded. We have taken decisions in recent weeks to give the LDA more power to do more and to deliver more homes.

I do not want to misquote the Deputy but he said something about private investment and public investment. There is a need for both. When I read the Housing Commission report, it is very clear. We need to invest more publicly but we cannot just do it with public money. We also need to get private investment to get a functioning housing market in place too.

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