Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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This week sees yet another disaster in Government housing policy as workers and families across Ireland continue to endure a worsening housing crisis and those fleeing a terrible war in Ukraine were left to sleep in Dublin Airport because there was no accommodation for them. Last March, the Taoiseach said the State would accommodate 200,000 Ukrainian refugees but he had no real plan as to how he would meet that commitment. The Irish people have welcomed some 60,000 refugees from Ukraine and the system is already overwhelmed. On Friday next, the latest homelessness figures are to be published and all indicators suggest that we will see another shameful increase in people in emergency accommodation. Meanwhile an entire generation is locked out of affordable housing and opportunity. They weigh up the prospect of life from Boston, Perth or Toronto.

All the strands of this social catastrophe are linked by the Government’s failure to plan, organise and ultimately its failure to deliver. There is no doubt that the Government is top of the class at when it comes to announcing big targets that grab the headlines. It gets an A+ on that score. But time and again it falls short when it comes to delivery. This failure to plan and deliver means we now see crisis heaped upon crisis. We see massive pressure heaped onto a housing system that is already broken beyond recognition. And this means that everyone loses. You lose if you have spent years desperately searching for an affordable home and you also lose if you come here to this country fleeing a terrible war in search of shelter and help. So people are now frustrated. They asked how on earth it is that nine months after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Government is now scrambling to put together a plan. How is it that the Government is appealing to the public for help but at the same time, people's offers to accommodate refugees are being ignored? It seems that the Government’s approach was to outsource the State's response, cross its fingers and hope for the best. What people see is the same incompetence and infuriating lack of pace that the Government has brought to addressing the domestic housing crisis. Not content with denying our own people the right to an affordable, secure roof over their heads, the Government now extends its catastrophic failure to those coming to Ireland seeking humanitarian assistance.

De thairbhe theip an Rialtais tabhairt faoi phleanáil, tá an ghéarchéim tithíochta imithe in olcas agus an Stát faoi bhrú lóistín a sholáthar dóibh siúd atá ag éalú ón chogadh. Cuireann an teip seo géarchéim ar ghéarchéim agus brú ollmhór ar chóras atá briste.

People are sick of the Government's excuses for its failures in housing. It claims that housing is its number-one priority but it is now time to back up those words with what matters: delivery. We all know there is a housing shortage but what is the Government doing to ensure offers of accommodation for those fleeing war will come on stream quickly? The outsourcing system is not fit for purpose. When will we see a change in Government housing policy to ensure members of the locked-out generation can finally put an affordable and secure roof over their heads?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. Her commentary and some of the debate on this issue in recent days has become somewhat detached from the reality we find ourselves confronted with. We need to be very clear about what this is all about, what has happened, where we are and where we go from here. The first thing that has to be done is to acknowledge and pay tribute to the extraordinary Irish national effort in response to Putin's illegal and immoral invasion of his neighbour, Ukraine. We have all watched in horror as this man has ordered ruthless attacks on civilians by air, land and sea, displacing up to 7.2 million people all over Europe. He is doing it with greater intensity now by raining down drones on the people of Ukraine and their energy infrastructure. We have responded to that terror with unprecedented warmth, generosity and support. More than 55,000 Ukrainians have sought and received refuge in our country, one of the highest figures within the EU, which the Deputy does not acknowledge. She calls it a disaster, which is extraordinary language to be using. Approximately 43,000 of those are being accommodated by the State in various ways. In addition, we have accommodated 9,000 seeking international protection. This number will rise to about 14,000 by the end of the year. That is not a story of failure; it is a story of families in every corner of this country and communities across this country opening their homes and hearts to people who are fleeing war. That is the story of Ireland's response to the war in Ukraine. The Deputy should not try to have it both ways and try to play crude domestic politics. It is a story of a massive effort by our public servants across the board, across Government and across the country. It is a story about people understanding how much it means to help people fleeing war in another land.

We need to be careful of the implications of how this gets articulated. The only person I see who would get solace from what the Deputy said and the manner in which she said it is Putin himself. That is what Putin wants to do. He wants to create the impression across Europe that Europe cannot cope with or manage this. That is why the Iranian drones are being dropped all over Ukraine right now, destroying energy infrastructure. It is because Putin wants to make life unbearable for Ukrainians and the country and uninhabitable. Therefore, we have to make sure that he does not succeed with that agenda. Right across the board, we have provided a range of accommodation options, not just one, and we will continue to do so. We will continue to work in solidarity with our EU colleagues in terms of the directive to protect and do everything we can to help Ukrainians fleeing war. That will be achieved through a range of options, including procuring accommodation, building fresh accommodation and reconfiguring buildings. There will be challenges along the way and there will be ups and downs and bumps along the road. Of that, let there be no doubt. This will be the case throughout Europe; it is not an Irish phenomenon. Many other capital cities and countries are challenged by this unprecedented humanitarian crisis, brought about by the war in Ukraine. It is unprecedented since the Second World War to have millions of people displaced and forced out of their homes by a war. That is the context. I do not accept the Deputy's analysis of it at all.

In some respects as well, I note that the Deputy has intertwined this issue with the housing crisis. The only incompetent thing I saw in recent weeks was a suggestion that we should do what the former UK Government did in regard to energy.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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There is no need to convince anyone of either the vile criminal actions of Vladimir Putin or the incredible generosity and warmth that has been displayed by the Irish people. Those are objective matters of fact. The difficulty is that the Taoiseach has not matched the effort by the Irish people with Government action.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is the reality here. The facts, as reported and acknowledged by everyone bar the Taoiseach, are that people fleeing from Ukraine arrived and there was nowhere for them to go. They slept in the airport. There was talk of some perhaps being left homeless and having to sleep on the streets. We can all agree that is not an acceptable situation. I have asked the Taoiseach to set out for us what the Government response will be to that.

People are well used to the Government and the housing crisis that people have lived through for a decade and longer, and now we have crisis upon crisis. What is the Taoiseach's answer in respect of these individuals arriving?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I call on the Taoiseach to respond. We are over time.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Why is he only cobbling together a plan now?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy has just acknowledged that up to 54,000 Ukrainians have been accommodated in this country, and 43,000 of them have been accommodated by the State. That is not cobbling together a plan.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is a reality. That has happened. We never before had to deal with such numbers coming into the country. We have to deal with it because of a war. It is a vicious war and we have said, along with our European Union colleagues, that we will do everything we can to accommodate Ukrainians, and we have. That must be acknowledged. The Deputy described all of that as a disaster.

She commented that we could not do our own as well. I know what that is targeted at. I know why that phrase was used.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Shame on you.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy used that phrase at the beginning of her remarks and I know why she used it and who it was targeted at.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is a disgrace.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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She is playing both sides in this debate, and I regret that she is.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is an outrageous remark. It is the Taoiseach who is leaving people homeless.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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She is not the first member of her party to play that game either.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It is a shame on the Taoiseach.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We are over time.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is a disgrace. It is beneath the Taoiseach.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We will continue to do everything we possibly can to deal with the housing crisis.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Thousands are homeless.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We are doing that, right across the board in terms of affordable housing and so on.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We are over time. Deputy Ó Broin should not interrupt.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In regard to the humanitarian crisis that has been imposed upon Europe by Putin's appallingly immoral and illegal war-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We are way over time.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----we will do everything we can to respond. We are responding and have responded as a country.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Shame on you.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is the language Deputy McDonald used.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am moving on to Páirtí an Lucht Oibre.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It is nice to see the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, has appeared. Where has he been?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Ó Broin should have a word with his colleagues.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Members should please show some respect. I call on the leader of the Labour Party.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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It is unedifying to see any attempt being made in the House to engage in political point scoring on both sides on such a serious issue. It is fair to say that across Ireland, communities have been dismayed to see people fleeing the brutal war in Ukraine having to sleep on the floor in Dublin Airport. That is a matter of grave concern, dismay and distress to communities across Ireland that have been so generous in offering refuge to the thousands of people who have had to come here because of the brutal invasion of their democratic, sovereign homeland by Russia; by Putin and his brutal army.

It is disappointing that there was not engagement back in the spring or earlier in the summer by the Government to ensure that we would have short-term, medium-term and long-term planning in place in order that this would not happen. Back in July, I hosted a briefing here in the Oireachtas with members of the Ukraine Civil Society Forum at which they called for that level of planning to be put in place, and at which they and members of the Ukrainian community here called for a co-ordinated whole-of-government response led by the Taoiseach. That is what is needed now.

For too long, it seems, the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has been left to bear almost full responsibility for the housing of and provision of support to those who come here fleeing war and to the communities here who are supporting them so generously and ably. That has not been good enough and that is why we are in the position we are in now.

We in the Labour Party want to offer constructive support and engagement with the Taoiseach and the Government and that is why I wrote to him yesterday seeking that he would provide all Opposition leaders and spokespersons with a briefing on the current status of accommodation for those fleeing war in Ukraine and, indeed, those seeking international protection. I sought that briefing on the current situation but also sought a briefing on future planning. In the spring, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage wrote to us in the Opposition and asked us to supply him with details on vacant properties in our areas, and we sent details to his office. Through our party’s housing spokesperson, Senator Moynihan, we put forward a range of properties in our constituencies, including Baggot Street hospital in my area and other properties too. I have been engaging with the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman's, Department, as have other colleagues. We have not heard back with updates on the properties we have proposed.

We want to see local communities and local authorities be far more strongly engaged in this process. We want to see a whole-of-government approach and a ramping-up of efforts to unlock the capacity we know is here in this country. We have been very generous in our approach but across Europe we have seen generosity. The Czech Republic has taken in four times as many refugees from Ukraine per head of population as we have. We are seeing enormous efforts across Europe because European democracy is under threat. The Taoiseach is absolutely correct; Putin is weaponising refugee flows and we cannot let him win. That is why we need to ensure the Opposition and the Government are engaged together in this collective effort.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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First, I accept the Deputy’s bona fides. I received her letter yesterday and we will set in train that briefing she requested.

Those countries closest to Ukraine have the highest numbers of Ukrainians coming in, namely, Czechia, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Latvia. Then you have Cyprus, Slovakia and Germany and then you have Ireland. We are taking the equivalent of about 1.2% of our population. Ireland is ahead of Austria, Finland, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Denmark, Norway, Slovenia, Belgium, Portugal, the Netherlands, Croatia, Sweden, Romania, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Malta, Greece and France in terms of the numbers we have taken in. We need perspective on it. It is challenging for all countries and, to be fair to the other countries I mentioned, they have challenges on international protection as well as the situation in Ukraine.

As for the approach being taken, I chair a Cabinet committee on this. A group of senior officials meets every week, and has been meeting every week, on this issue to try to identify new opportunities, Baggot Street hospital being one. That is being developed but it is going to be take time in terms of the physical work that has to go into getting it ready. Moreover, the reconfiguration of public and private buildings is under way across the country to create additional capacity. There is rapid-build housing and while concerns have been expressed in communities, with some public representatives against it, it will have to be a feature of housing generally into the future. These are good-quality houses that can be built much faster. We have already started with 500 units but that will have to go to a much higher level. I foresee a significant ramping up of rapid-build houses to respond to the general housing issue and to help with the emergency created by those fleeing war in Ukraine and with emergency housing more generally. Overall, about 55,000 people have come in from Ukraine and we are looking at about 14,000 individuals this year seeking international protection. We have other pressures within Europe relating to emergency housing, whereby people who present as homeless come in looking for emergency housing. There is a general increase in the numbers who are seeking fairly quick access to housing, in addition to the general housing situation.

Those are the plans that are under way and they involve a lot of Departments, such as the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Defence, which are represented on that committee. For example, a number of barracks and other Army facilities that were formerly used for other purposes are being reconfigured with a view to providing accommodation and so on. The Department of Foreign Affairs co-ordinates the issue and keeps the rest of the Cabinet abreast on what is happening in other countries within Europe and the pressures they are under. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, obviously, is a key part of it and the local authorities have been doing a lot of work in respect of this issue. They will continue to do so and will do even more, along with the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, of course, which has been the lead Department in respect of the broader issue of migration and integration into the country.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the Taoiseach for indicating that he will engage formally with Opposition leaders and spokespersons on this. I welcome that. It is very important that we ensure the strong political support is there across the spectrum and across Opposition and the Government. We have seen divisions being sewn in other countries over this issue and it is really important we do not allow that to happen here. That is really commendable.

I also thank the Taoiseach for engaging with me on the Baggot Street hospital site. I have also put forward other properties, however, as have my Labour Party colleagues. We await a Government response on that. It would be very welcome to have a process where we can feed in constructive proposals to address this, including the ramping up of modular housing. As the Taoiseach said, that does offer a way forward.

It is good to hear about vacant State-owned properties that are being repurposed, which is very welcome. The Ukraine Civil Society Forum asked for better management and co-ordination, however, including communication with local authorities and communities and a proper structure to manage the response, monitor standards in welfare and facilitate all the offers of pledged accommodation. This should offer clear communication from the centre of Government and as the Taoiseach said, a clear sense that this issue is being addressed across all Departments to the same degree. That does not appear to be the case in the public perception. It is very important that we see leadership from the centre of Government.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I want to confirm the Deputy's points about those displaced over the weekend. That was disappointing. We do not want that situation to happen. All Ukrainian displaced persons and international protection, IP, applicants who were not accommodated over the weekend have now been contacted and offered accommodation.

On the co-ordination front, I am aware of the issue because we met with the various groups over the summer. In my view, it has to be a cross-departmental and multi-departmental approach. That is why at Government level, having a Cabinet subcommittee and a senior official group is the best structure to do that. There were some suggestions early on that one would appoint an individual from outside the system who would endeavour to co-ordinate it. In essence, however, it has to be done across the Departments and the public service.

A second call will be initiated through the local authority system with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage having an oversight view to make that stronger and more streamlined into the future. As I said, work on the reconfiguration of existing buildings and other buildings is also on the way. We will seek and need the co-operation of everybody when we start doing things expeditiously in terms of procurement and value for money. All of that will have to be put to one side as we move ahead in this.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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A figure of 357 homeless people have died in the last five years in Dublin. That is the equivalent loss of life of a transatlantic flight falling from the sky. It is a catastrophe that is happening silently and invisibly every other day on the streets in which we live. There were 47 deaths across homeless services in Dublin in 2018, 49 in 2019 and 76 in 2020. Last year, in 2021, incredibly, 115 people died in homeless services. So far this year, 70 people are recorded to have lost their lives in the Dublin homeless services. It does not bear thinking about but those figures are set to increase due to the fact that the weather is going to get colder and more severe over the next number of months.

These figures were released to Aontú by Dublin City Council under the Freedom of Information Act. If we were to submit the same question to any other local authority in Ireland right now, however, we would be met with stoney silence because no other local authority actually records the number of people who die in homelessness around the country. It is an incredible thing that the vast majority of local authorities are not even recording this. It is an absolute scandal. If we are not even measuring this incredible situation, how will we ever get to a situation where we are finding solutions to it?

I have been raising this issue of homeless deaths for the last number of years and different Ministers with responsibility for housing have tried to explain it away. Some said these deaths are just part of a natural attrition that happens. Others said these are the results of car accidents etc. The truth be told, however, and the Taoiseach should know this, homelessness is a direct cause of death. People who are homeless for longer than 18 months are eight times more likely to die than a person who is homeless for less than six months. Right now, on the streets of our capital city, people are dying directly as a result of homelessness.

When I raised this matter previously, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage commissioned Dr. Austin O'Carroll, a north inner city GP, to research the causes of these deaths and propose solutions. I welcome the fact that this happened. If the Taoiseach looks at the figures, he will see that there is little evidence we are getting to grips with this crisis. The Government is missing all of its housing targets. The Dublin Housing Delivery Group submitted a report to the Minister recently indicating that there is evidence of a slow-down in social housing projects and that work has ceased on some sites.

This is a record-breaking Government for all the wrong reasons. There are record numbers of people accessing emergency accommodation. There are record numbers of children accessing emergency accommodation. House prices are at record levels. Rents are at record levels and last year we had a record for the number of people who died in homelessness in our capital city. All of these indicators are going the wrong way under Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Green Party in government. Will the Taoiseach commit to recording the number of deaths of homeless people in every county and will he detail the progress so far on the implementation of the recommendations made in the Interim Report on Mortality in the Single Homeless Population 2020?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The death of anyone who is homeless is a tragedy. We extend our sympathies to the families concerned. I refer, in particular, to the deaths of people availing of homeless services. That matter is taken very seriously. The Deputy made a fairly bald statement in the context of offering an almost a direct juxtaposition between the numbers who have died and the position regarding homelessness. I do not think the figures bear that out. The Deputy quoted the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive, DRHE records. That organisation records death notifications from all of its funded residential and outreach services in line with a procedural agreement with the Health Service Executive. These services include support for people in permanent tenancy - people who have been taken out of homelessness but are in permanent tenancies - including Housing First, for example, long-term supported accommodation and people receiving tenancy support who are not counted in the Department's homeless figures. We have to be very careful. Is the Deputy saying that all of those deaths occurred because people were homeless? Not necessarily; that is the point. Also, homelessness is a complex issue and we must take into account the range of issues that can lead to someone becoming homeless. Some 37 of the 70 deaths the Deputy identified were in the categories I have just mentioned. In other words, they related to people in permanent tenancies and not in a state of homelessness. Nonetheless, it is still extremely sad and tragic that anyone would lose their life but I do not have the specific causes of death for those 37 people . To be fair to everyone, perhaps more research is required in respect of those figures before we draw the conclusions the Deputy seems to be drawing in respect of the figures he articulated.

I believe all local authorities should follow the example of the DRHE in how it records people within its homeless services. As the Deputy knows, we are moving much more towards the Housing First approach to homelessness which is actually giving people a permanent tenancy almost from day one if that is possible. We just need to be very careful in terms of how we describe this and how we analyse and research it. That is all I would say in that regard.

There is a pilot study on data collection of homeless deaths nationally which has been undertaken by the Health Research Board on behalf of the Department of Health. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is liaising with the Department of Health and the Health Research Board on this study. I will talk to the Ministers for Health and Housing, Local Government and Heritage to see if anything more needs to be added to that research in order to get as complete a picture as we possibly can. The research is very important because it can inform policy. We saw during Covid how a strong synergy between those two Departments on homelessness reaped significant dividends for the homeless in the context of a positive response on the Covid issue.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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I am surprised at the Taoiseach. These figures are very stark and real. There are direct correlations between being homeless and losing one's life. Equivocating or fudging at this point in 2022, after years of this, is simply not good enough.

Ten or 15 years ago, the Government might have had an excuse for doing so. However, equivocating on these figures, the direct correlation and the cause and effect that is happening on the streets of Dublin is wrong at this point. If that is the stage the Government is at, it surely will be a problem in terms of urgently putting resources in place to fix the situation. Dr. O'Carroll, who was commissioned by the Minister, said that the length of time for which a person is homeless leads directly to an increased chance of mortality. We know the number of people dying correlates exactly with the number who are homeless. The truth is that people do not have access to primary care, mental health services and dual diagnosis services. They are living in conditions where they are exposed to the weather, to violence on the streets, alcoholism, etc. All of those issues are contributing factors to the deaths that are occurring.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Thank you, Deputy. We are over time.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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The Government is not contributing to solving these issues by way of any real effort or urgency.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The Taoiseach to respond.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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What actions is the Government taking to make sure this problem is solved and lives are saved?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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More than 20 years ago, we put a facility together that married health, housing and homelessness in a centre on Anderson's Quay in Cork city, where we gave access to primary care, mental healthcare and homeless services. What the Deputy is saying is not quite true.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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People with houses do not have access to primary care-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputy, please.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It has long been recognised that people who are homeless for a variety of reasons-----

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Has the Taoiseach seen what is happening in child and adolescent mental health services?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy introduced politics into this at the beginning, which is fine. I am just making the point that there is a multiplicity of reasons someone ends up homeless. We cannot generalise to the degree he is perhaps doing. Some, without doubt, have significant challenges as they become homeless, which can lead to increased morbidity and mortality. The point I am trying to make is that we have to bring the services to the homeless. That is what we need to do as a State, by intervening in a positive way in a person's mental health and medical issues, and we need to do that by proper integration of services on the front line.

The Deputy referred to primary care. It was explained to me by homeless services a long time ago that many people who are homeless do not bother getting the medical card and do not have GPs.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Thank you, Taoiseach.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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What do we do? We bring the GP and the primary care service to the homeless centre or we at least provides it in an accessible way. In my view, there is a way of dealing with this, we are committed to doing it and unprecedented resources have been allocated to it. It was done very well during the Covid period, and we want to try to maintain that.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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I want to discuss the growing disconnect between the Government's stated aspirations on energy and the reality on the ground. This week, the Government is asking the Dáil to vote for the provision of emergency generators that will run on liquefied petroleum gas, LPG, and, crucially, will also have the capacity to run on green hydrogen, if and when it becomes available. One of the Government's first acts was to announce an exploration ban on the extraction of oil or gas in Irish waters. I am told there are people in the energy sector who wish to explore for gas, particularly off the west coast, where there is infrastructure. The crucial difference between the gas coming in from the west of Ireland and LPG is that the carbon footprint of LPG is far higher because not alone do we burn it, there is also the energy used to transport it here. The Taoiseach could not have predicted the energy crisis when the Government announced the ban on exploration. Will he revisit it in light of what we know now?

One of the rationales posited for the ban at the time was that by keeping fossil fuels in the ground, we will incentivise the use of sustainable alternatives, but that did not happen. The European Commission has said Ireland and Denmark are the two countries most suitable for the production of biomethane. Denmark now meets one quarter of its gas needs by way of biomethane and it is saying it will meet 100% of its needs in this way by 2034. We do not produce any biomethane of any significance. An EU scheme was announced whereby billions of euro were made available for countries to develop their biomethane sectors to meet the energy crisis. When I asked the Taoiseach about this before, he said I would get a direct reply from the Minister. Only after I asked the latter about it did I find out we did not even apply for that scheme. Italy is getting almost €5 billion to develop its biomethane sector.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is getting loans.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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It is money that can be used to provide an alternative to carbon, which is the Government's stated intention. However, what is happening on the ground is that there are farmers groups across the country that are willing to develop the biomethane sector. They are begging for support. There was an opportunity to get it from the European Commission and the Government did not avail of it. We are told that wind, particularly offshore wind, is the answer. Ireland is the country in Europe that is most suitable for producing wind energy. At the moment, we produce 24 MW of offshore energy. Scotland, by comparison, produces 1.9 GW - or 1,900 MW - and is hoping to increase that to 11 GW by 2030. We have recently upped our 2030 target from 5 GW to 7 GW. Any international investor is going to look at our track record to date in determining whether to invest. Our track record does not match our rhetoric.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I stand open to correction, but the ban on exploration came about as a result of a recommendation from an Oireachtas committee of the previous Dáil.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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It was the Tánaiste.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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It was the Tánaiste in 2019.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The previous Oireachtas committee on climate decided, by majority vote if I am correct, that we would ban oil and gas exploration. Why? Because we wanted to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels. Why? Because we wanted to deal with the issue of climate change, because climate change is existential and we have to start. The danger was that if we kept on doing oil and gas exploration, we would reduce any incentives to move towards renewables. That has been the challenge. No one saw the war in Ukraine coming and the degree to which Europe would have to reduce, very rapidly, its dependence on Russian gas and oil, with countries scrambling all over looking for LNG across the board.

We import the majority of our gas from the UK, which also take supplies from Norway. Some 75% of our gas from the UK and 25% comes from Corrib. We have developed well in terms of onshore wind. We are now on the cusp of a significant development in the context of offshore wind. Consents have been activated in respect of the east coast. Auctions will take place, and we will see the first phase of a significant offshore wind energy project getting under way. That has been assisted by the fact that the legislation around maritime permits and so on was brought through the House last year. The Maritime Area Regulatory Authority, MARA, has been legislated for, and advertisements for positions in MARA are now under way. It is envisaged that MARA will be established early next year. There is a genuine desire, which the Deputy articulated, to move faster in respect of this. The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Eamon Ryan, is off that view also. The EU is of the view that we need to fast-track the permit system. It is introducing a regulation that will provide for an overwhelming public interest clause. The latter will override other objections to offshore wind in the interest of the public good in order to get as much offshore wind energy in place so as to permanently reduce and eliminate our dependence on fossil fuels. All of that is accelerating across Europe because of the war in Ukraine. People want to reduce, very quickly, their dependence on Russian gas and oil.

Recent developments have been extraordinary. Russian gas accounts for something close to 10% of requirements compared with what the position was at the beginning of the year. It has been an extraordinary achievement by the EU. Gas storage is at 80% or 90% across Europe. This just shows what can be done out of necessity. That is the agenda ahead of us in terms of our security of supply.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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The reality is that people who want to invest in the biomethane sector in Europe are not coming to Ireland to invest. They are going elsewhere, because we do not have the structures within which they can invest. We did not even apply to the EU for that money. The reality is that Moneypoint is gearing up production at a time when we are saying that we are bringing in green energy, that we are going to create green hydrogen and that we will bring offhsore energy ashore at Moneypoint. That reality is further away than ever because the investors who were bringing both the money and the technology to bear on this matter are walking away from Ireland shaking their heads.

Those investors are going to Scotland. I do not know why they are moving away but I am told they are doing so because of Ireland's inability to put frameworks in place to allow them to invest money. They are going to Scotland instead. We are producing 24 MW of offshore energy while Scotland is producing 1,900 MW.

The Taoiseach is correct that consents are only now being given out for phase 1. Phase 2 will be the stage when floating energy will be able to develop green hydrogen that might some day fuel emergency generators. People need to know now whether power-to-X will be included. We have data centres that can take power directly from offshore generation if they are allowed to do so. Will they be allowed to do so? What will be the relevant criteria?

We are hopelessly behind. We will not attract international investment without certainty.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications, Deputy Ryan, with the Commission for the Regulation of Utilities, EirGrid and the Department, form a board to try to accelerate the offshore wind initiative. The desire of the State is to do this in a controlled and organised way, not in a wild west sort of way. It is a natural resource. It is a national resource that belongs to the Irish people. This must be done in a programmed way.

Many investors are in a hurry, and I understand that fully. I know what is happening in Scotland, which is moving at pace. We acknowledge-----

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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Scotland is moving at a greater pace than we are.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----that we need to up our pace and speed up the rate at which we can get these projects in place, certainly before the end of the decade. We have already increased our target in respect of offshore wind, hydrogen and so on for the end of the decade. Be in no doubt of the Government's commitment in respect of the funding. I think the Deputy is talking about loan facilities. Given the interest rates at which we were borrowing, if that is the same scheme, we did not need to borrow from the European Union facility when we could borrow at a cheaper rate ourselves. In some instances, we do not need to borrow, given the surpluses we have had.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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Would it be fair to say that turtles think they move at pace?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Sorry?

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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Would it be fair to say that turtles think they move at pace?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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They get to their destination.