Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Last night during a debate with Sinn Féin's Deputy Ó Broin, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy O'Brien, claimed that we do not have a housing emergency. It was incredible stuff and, therefore, I will share with the Taoiseach just some of the hundreds of accounts from people who have been in touch with us in the past 24 hours - victims of the housing emergency.

Christopher tells us:

I'm living in rental accommodation. I work full time in the defence forces, my partner works part time as we cannot afford full time childcare. Will never ever be able to afford a house with prices this high. At my wit's end. I genuinely have to hold back tears some days out of pure frustration at the state of things.

Tracy tells us:

I Had to take an overdraft so I can pay the mortgage every month. I can't afford oil for heating. We’re ripped off. I’m considering moving to New Zealand.

Christine story is as follows:

I got 6 months’ notice to leave after 9 years renting. I’ve 4 ... [children all] under 10. I've been on the housing list for several years. Council ... [tell] me there are no houses and to start asking ... family. I’m so stressed I’ve had to go on medication. I work hard. I feel so let down. My heart is broken thinking my ... [children] might not have a home.

Aoife tells us:

Myself, my husband & 3 kids have lived with my mother for nearly 5 years now. We make too much money for social housing and WAY too little to own our own home. Our only hope would be affordable housing. We couldn’t afford to rent. We feel like our lives have been on hold for so long now. We pay all our taxes and bills. We truly are the working poor & hidden homeless.

Cillian says:

I am 28 years old, ... [I live] in a house-share. I have a good job, ... [but] at this age I [had] hoped to my own place. The house I’m in is overcrowded and damp. I hate going home ...[from] work, but I have no prospect of finding a nicer place. I’m very much considering moving away for a better life. I know [there are] people are worse off than me, but my current situation is [so] depressing.

Kate tells us:

We’re back living with my parents along with two children. We are saving for a house, but prices are crazy. We both have good jobs but [we are] not massive earners. When my dad was diagnosed with cancer in September, we considered moving out and renting again to give my parents space. 17 applications were sent and not one response! My eldest child is so insecure about not having our own house and it causes huge worries for him and us.

There the Taoiseach has it. This is just a small sample of the real stories of Government's collective failure in housing - a father is close to tears every day; a mother on medication to cope with the stress; young people feeling depressed and looking to emigrate; children wracked with anxiety and fear; and families living in a state of panic. Deir an Taoiseach nach éigeandáil tithíochta í seo ach ní thagann an tuairim sin le fíorscéal na ndaoine. The claim made that this is not a housing emergency is painfully out of touch with the reality of people’s lives. If this is not a disaster, what is it? If this is not a social catastrophe, what is it? If this is not a housing emergency - as the Minister claims - what is it?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I have been very consistent in this House in saying repeatedly that housing is the single most urgent and important social issue facing our society at this time. Since the Government has come into office, we have focused razor-like on the housing issue. The evidence supports this with the new schemes that have been brought in, construction and so on, but I will deal with that in a moment. The Deputy should be in no doubt the Government sees housing as the key priority. It is a pillar of the programme for Government and much has been done over the past two and a half years, notwithstanding the impact of the lockdowns during Covid-19, of which there were two.

We came out of those lockdowns to the war in Ukraine and an inflationary cycle that greatly increased building material costs but we got to grips with that through the work of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy McGrath, on public tendering and reform to give confidence back to the sector to continue to invest in housing. We are increasing the supply of housing and will continue to do so. The plan is working. We all accept the challenges facing people but the answer is to build more houses and get supply up, along with a range of other policies. I have said repeatedly that I have seen no alternative to Housing for All from the Deputy's party or anybody else. I have not seen it in substance, detail or additional recommendations that would go over and above what the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, has introduced. Those are the realities.

The latest home completion data from the CSO show the country is well on track in exceeding the Housing for All plan for 2022. We will go over 24,600 towards the end of this year. Some 28,000 homes were built in the 12 months to September 2022. Some 21,000 houses were completed in the first nine months of this year and we hope to go over the target that we set ourselves. The plan is working but we need to build more houses, more quickly.

There were more than 16,000 first-time buyers in the past 12 months. That is the highest since 2007 and represents 33% of all house purchases. House completions, commencements, permissions, home purchases, first-time buyers and mortgage draw-downs are all up to record levels. We have had the highest housing delivery since 2008; the highest commencements on record; the highest planning permissions, the highest number of first-time buyers since 2007; and the highest number of homebuyers since 2008.

We have also pushed strongly ahead with social housing. Some 18,390 new social homes have been added to the social housing stock under the Government to the end of quarter 2 of 2022, including 11,301 new builds. We have brought 5,000 social homes back into use under the voids programme. We are also concluding the review of a fundamental overhaul of our planning code, because delivery of housing is key, as is the delivery mechanism in respect of objections to housing projects and the slowness of delivery in many councils over many years. O'Devaney Gardens, Oscar Traynor Road - you name it - have taken too long.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Skehard Road.

Brian Stanley (Laois-Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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Fianna Fáil objected.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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There were ridiculous objections and so forth. We have the Croí Cónaithe fund. Sixteen Acts have been passed in this House. The Minister has brought 16 pieces of legislation on housing through this Dáil. We have capped the rent increases in rent pressure zones at-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank the Taoiseach.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----no more than 2% per annum. There has been an extraordinary burst of activity over the last two and a half years under the Minister. That cannot be taken from him. It is real and substantial.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The highest rents, highest house prices and highest levels of homelessness - that is the reality of the Government's record.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Here is Karen, who is in her early 20s. She says she has been with her boyfriend for six years and they are still living with parents in a box room. They just want to start their own life and are just waiting for something to get better. It is so hard, she says. Michael says:

We are a working family with 2 children. Renting for 21 years. We’ve been given a notice of termination. We have no idea where we are going next. We can't afford to buy, and we can't afford to rent. We are not even eligible for council housing since we are above threshold. The future is so unsure.

Does the Taoiseach accept that this is a catastrophe? Does he accept that we are living through a housing emergency? If, like his Minister, he does not accept that, it would go a very long way to explaining the Government's abject failure to meet the housing needs of people. I will ask the Taoiseach a straight question. I have given him just a sample of the stories. This is a housing emergency, is it not?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am not going to play the Deputy's populist game.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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It is not populist to accept there is an emergency.

Johnny Mythen (Wexford, Sinn Fein)
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Answer the question.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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Cop yourself on.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is a hard "No".

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Sinn Féin is essentially populist in its approach to issues. I have stated my position on housing. I used my definitions and I said it is the greatest and most important and urgent social problem facing this country. I have said that repeatedly. Deputy McDonald is not going to put words in my mouth.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach is not going to put roofs over people's heads.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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What I will say to her, through the Chair, is that we do not understate the seriousness for many people out there.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Your Minister-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I listened to the Deputy for four minutes plus and not one single solution or one single proposal came from her in respect of this. When we put forward the first home scheme, for example-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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This is incredible. The Taoiseach is dismissing the voices of people in housing distress.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----it was opposed by Sinn Féin.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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He is dismissing the voices of people in housing distress.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Allow the Taoiseach to continue, please.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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While the various schemes that the-----

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

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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Shocking.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Through the Chair, this is the same tactic all the time.

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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I did not interrupt Deputy McDonald when she spoke but inevitably now the tactic is to interrupt my good self or others when we are making comments.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Only when you dismiss the real life experience of the people-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Saying I have dismissed-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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-----suffering under your failed housing policies.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is more of the populism.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Sinn Féin voted against the help-to-buy scheme.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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You are an absolute disgrace.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is the classic populist trope that Deputy Ó Broin has just articulated.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It is not populist to bring the stories of people to this Chamber.

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

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Táim ag bogadh ar aghaigh.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is trying to suggest we are somehow not empathising people who are in difficulty with housing.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach did not even respond to one of those real-life case studies.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The only way to respond is to build houses.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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You need to get on with it.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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How many have you opposed, Deputy Ó Broin?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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When you look at Clonliffe Road-----

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

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----the Deputy opposite feels free to oppose-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Tá mé ag bogadh ar aghaigh go dtí Páirtí an Lucht Oíbre.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I just want to make a point.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It is everybody else’s fault but yours and your Minister's. You are in charge; take responsibility.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The party opposite is a serial opposer of housing all the time.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach is living in a bubble.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Clonliffe Road is one of them.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I have been standing for at least a minute. I am not going to continue. There are interruptions on both sides. If we could, with respect, move on and listen to the speaker. Otherwise, I will not continue. I simply will not. An Teachta Bacik, más é do thoil é.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle. The Taoiseach is welcome back from COP27. Yesterday, I welcomed that he was attending COP27 and that the Government was represented there by him. I called for more urgent action here at home to tackle the climate catastrophe. I think it has been promised that we will have a debate on COP27 in the next week or so. I look forward to hearing more about that then.

I turn to the plight of the 3,000 people in Ireland, many of whom live and work in my constituency, who are employed by Facebook or its parent company, Meta, and currently do not know whether they will be in a job in a few weeks' time. We heard this morning from Facebook that it plans to make 13% of its global workforce redundant. That could mean as many as 390 people being made redundant here. That is a devastating prospect for so many people. It does not just apply to those employed by Facebook because this news follows a spate of lay-offs. There have been announcements from Twitter and Stripe. From news today, we know Zendesk is considering downsizing and Intel is considering job cuts.

There are many thousands of people employed by tech and related companies in Ireland. Not all will be directly affected but many are in fear as they face this appalling prospect of losing their job. In a grim irony, many are discovering their fate in real time through a drip-feed of coverage on the same social media sites that are now threatening to take away their livelihoods. The news about job losses was broken to many Twitter employees when they were suddenly locked out of their email accounts in their workplaces. That is no way to treat humans. It is no way to show any sort of dignity and respect to those who are highly skilled, highly qualified and working in what we might call high-value sectors. However, we know job losses in high-value sectors can also have knock-on effects on low-paid sectors. In Ireland, we have seen chronic conditions for low-paid workers over many years and many of those working in these sectors will also fear the knock-on effect.

I am asking that the Taoiseach and his Government call for much stronger rights for workers. We need to ensure, for example, that we see collective bargaining as a right and collective bargaining in the workplace because many of these tech companies are stridently anti-union. The workers are not organised within the workplaces in these high-value sectors. The lack of representation and collective solidarity may well have an impact now on the sort of redundancy packages we are going to see offered. We also need to see leadership from the Government on improvements to collective redundancy legislation in the event of liquidation. Clearly, that is not the issue today with the tech companies but it is a scenario that devastatingly arose for Debenhams workers two and a half years ago. We still have not seen delivery of the promise to improve collective redundancy rights in the event of liquidation. Will the Taoiseach guarantee strengthened collective bargaining and workers' rights in the face of these lay-offs and projected lay-offs?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The technology sector is going through a difficult phase globally and there are some manifestations of that here. As the Deputy said, Meta has made a global pronouncement that will have implications for Ireland but we have to facilitate and provide for proper consultation between the company and its employees. The employees who may be affected should at least be afforded - it is our understanding they will in this case - proper due consultation. Meta employs about 3,000 people directly in this country and 6,000 contractors. It has dramatically increased its workforce in Ireland over the last number of years. That has been the case with many companies across the technology sector generally. It was good news over a ten-year period to witness that dramatic increase in jobs.

For any workers to learn at this time of year that they may lose their job is sad and difficult news. The role of the Government and its agencies is to work with the company and also the employees to ensure every support is available to employees. That applies both to supports and also potential alternative employment opportunities. In the past six to nine months, we were experiencing almost full employment. It is to be hoped there will be opportunities within the tech sector and broader sectors for anybody losing his or her job following the announcements a number of companies are making.

We must keep the balance right as well, in that sectors go through change and many tech companies have, as I said, undergone very rapid periods of expansion, some of which is clearly being pulled back globally. The world economy is changing, as we know. There are headwinds across the globe and these are impacting on the technology sector. We have been here before. At the moment, the consultation and the work IDA Ireland is doing suggest this is something we are going to have to deal with. However, we need to keep perspective and balance in our analysis of this and the description of what is actually happening. We must see it against the backdrop of very rapid expansion over the last number of years. We must ensure we do everything we possibly can to help the workers in this situation.

We have a good system for doing that and we have managed to do it in the past.

We should also seek out new opportunities that will arise in the reorganisation of this sector. New opportunities will always arrive and it is important that we keep an eye open for them. Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, SOLAS and the Department of Social Protection all stand ready to help workers who could get bad news in the next number of days. That is a very difficult situation for them. More broadly, foreign direct investment, FDI, in Ireland is still very strong and the pipeline is still very strong.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the Taoiseach. It is indeed sad and difficult news. I know of friends, neighbours and constituents who are in a situation where two partners are both working for tech companies. They have massive mortgages and enormous childcare fees. They are locked into these commitments and are facing an uncertain future in which they see prospective job losses. I absolutely accept there has been enormous expansion in the sector, supported by State investment. Let us not forget that. Indeed, I understand the State invested €42 million in Stripe through the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund, ISIF. There must be a quid pro quo. There has to be a sense that companies are now going to treat workers with dignity and respect.

Can the Taoiseach confirm the statement by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Deputy Michael McGrath, yesterday that penalties and sanctions will be applied where companies are found to be in breach of existing laws requiring, for example, a 30-day notice and consultation period where collective redundancies are being discussed and presented and where there is required to be notification in advance to the Tánaiste's Department? We have seen indications that these legal obligations will be complied with but can the Taoiseach confirm sanctions will follow where there is a lack of compliance? Can he confirm he will be looking to strengthen the rights of workers to ensure they are treated with dignity and respect in similar situations in the future?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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All works must be treated with respect and dignity and in line with our law and employment law. I made it very clear in the context of the Twitter announcement that I was not at all happy with the manner of it. Respect and dignity are very important in communication terms. There are established frameworks for communication and there are obligations on employers in proposing collective redundancies, for example, which involve fines if they fail to consult with employee representatives or provide certain information to employees when proposing a collective redundancy. There are fines covering that and the law will be enacted. In the context of Meta, our understanding is there will be full and proper consultation with employees. The same applies to Stripe. The Twitter case was a much different context.

As I said earlier, we have a strong diversity in our FDI mix in Ireland, from the life sciences to financial services and technology. Last year was a record year. This year is still a record year in terms of inward investment but our focus will be on the workers who could be getting bad news in the coming days. We will do everything we possibly can to help them.

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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I understand a decision on funding for the Waterford North Quays development is being considered by the Cabinet today. Will the Taoiseach confirm its status?

I understood the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, would be taking Leaders' Questions today and I wanted to ask about student accommodation. My question is about what is being proposed for the future, given that students have, to a large degree, been left at the back of the queue in terms of our accommodation crisis. Some students might have the choice of living at home but they are largely in the minority of those accessing third level. At best, it would be inconvenient for families who have the required economic resources. For those who need to travel for education, accommodation issues certainly are a personal life-limiting event.

The national student accommodation strategy from 2016, which runs for another two years, is a shared policy between the Departments of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science. Sadly, the strategy clearly is not up to the task. I refer to the particular accommodation crisis in Waterford. Bizarrely, despite the big plans that are forever in the future for Waterford's higher education sector, the Department's 2016 strategy models no additional student accommodation whatsoever for Waterford.

Waterford Institute of Technology, WIT - now the South East Technological University, SETU - was at the vanguard in developing its own student accommodation, with the College Fields development dating back to 1992. Great foresight was demonstrated by the college leadership at that time. It prudently borrowed to build enduring public resources for students, which, 30 years later, provide income to the college. In 2012, in the midst of construction work, the capacity for borrowing was taken away from WIT. This is a capacity that has enabled the building of accommodation in every other university in Ireland, including in Galway, Cork, Limerick and Dublin. Irish universities have more than €1 billion of debt at this time, much of it to the European Investment Bank, EIB. Little of it relates to funding accommodation for the new technological university, TU, sector. At this point, none of it relates to SETU.

Will the Taoiseach commit to revising the national student accommodation strategy? Will the Government reintroduce a borrowing capacity to SETU and end the discrimination within the third level capital funding capacity at present? Most importantly, will the Taoiseach support the building of badly needed student accommodation in Waterford to allow the expansion of college numbers that is so badly needed to end the brain drain in the south-east region? We need student accommodation that is tailored to student needs and to allow family homes that are inappropriately rented at this time to be returned to the rental sector and to private family use.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. He is correct that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, was to cover Leaders' Questions today. I was not sure I would get back on time. I flew through the night to get here. I managed to get back for the Cabinet meeting and I then took the opportunity to come to the Chamber.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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Did the Taoiseach pay carbon tax on the fuel?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Shanahan is correct regarding an announcement on funding for the Waterford North Quays project. It is a fantastic announcement, which the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, brought to the Cabinet today. The Cabinet approved the decision to invest, along with the local authority, more than €200 million in what is a groundbreaking project for Waterford and the North Quays public infrastructure.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I pay tribute to the local authority, the Minister and the Department for getting this development, which is the largest urban regeneration project in the country, to begin, paving the way for Waterford to enhance its offering as an attractive place in which to invest and enabling it to develop new transport solutions. This is great news and we are very pleased with it.

I take the Deputy's point in respect of student accommodation. I have been very engaged in this issue with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. The institutes of technology never had the capacity to borrow but now, as technological universities, they do. A number of measures have been taken in the short term. We brought in a tax credit for renters that will apply to situations where parents pay rent for their child attending third level. In terms of accommodation, there has been a big viability gap between what colleges could build, and the cost they could build it at, and the rent at which it could be offered. The rent would be too excessive for students.

We have been examining ways and means of bridging that gap. The Minister, Deputy Harris, has set up a dedicated unit within his Department dealing with student accommodation. The staff have gone to all the institutions to identity whether there are short-term initiatives the State could take to underpin projects. We are looking for some early solutions in respect of accommodation. The Minister will bring a memorandum to the Government in the next number of weeks in regard to this initiative. We will then have to look at a more medium-term initiative for students in need, including, for instance, students in receipt of the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grant. There are state aid implications if the State intervenes to support the construction of student accommodation. We would need European Commission approval. That is being progressed. In the interim period, we are looking at four potential sites on which we could perhaps get initiatives under way to get badly needed accommodation for students in place.

Matt Shanahan (Waterford, Independent)
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It is very good news that the Taoiseach has confirmed funding for the North Quays development.

I extend sincere thanks to all my Oireachtas colleagues in the south east, in particular the Deputies from Waterford and Senator Cummins, and, most especially, to the Taoiseach, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, and their offices. They have engaged with me constantly on this matter. It is a good day for the south east to see this project developing, and I thank the Taoiseach for that.

In regard to the national student accommodation strategy, I am mindful that the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, told me a week ago that I never welcome anything. That is not the case. We have a deal of work to do and a road to travel and that is what I concentrate on. WIT had an excellent reputation for developing its own accommodation from 2012 onwards. We have lost much ground there. The Taoiseach stated the Minister, Deputy Harris, would bring a memorandum to the Government and the TUs could have a borrowing framework. Will he clarify whether that has been crystallised? Can TUs now access capital independently under a borrowing framework to deliver student accommodation and also the teaching buildings they need to deliver? We need a more appropriate strategy. I am absolutely committed to working with the offices of the Government to deliver that.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is my understanding. That was a key ask, particularly to unblock the student accommodation issue. Some of the institutions have land but the schemes did not add up in terms of viability, as I said. That has slowed down much of the student accommodation in the past two to three years. The State has to get involved to bridge that viability gap. The Minister, Deputy Harris, is working on that. He established a dedicated unit which visited all the universities, both TUs and the more traditional universities, and it hopes to come forward with some interim solutions and then a more general scheme that supports State intervention to get more units built.

Some 670 new beds were provided this year and some will be delivered by the University of Galway later this year. This shows it can be done but it is clear the State has to get involved. The rent-a-room scheme has been effective. This is where people can earn up to €14,000 in rental income before having to pay tax. A lot of work went into marketing that scheme for this year’s student intake. It yielded some good results and the institutions promoted it strongly. We are looking at other ways to make that option more attractive. We have a lot of housing stock that is not optimally occupied. That is a good scheme as it incentivises people who might be in a three- or four-bedroom house on their own and can bring somebody in. It is a good use of existing housing stock and a quick way of getting extra stock in use.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I call Deputy McNamara.

Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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Is Deputy Pringle not next?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I have a different name down here.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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I understood I was to speak. In Donegal, 7,700 properties are lying vacant while 2,646 families are on the housing list in the county. There is no doubt that there is a direct link between dereliction and the current housing crisis. There is also no doubt that the whole us-versus-them narrative is one that has been fuelled by this Government unfortunately. For this, it should be ashamed. There is no reason we cannot house all those on the housing list in Donegal, displaced refugees and all those affected by the mica crisis, who are required to live elsewhere while their houses are being rebuilt. I have been saying this for a while now but we need to figure out what we are going to do about the many families who will be displaced due to mica. As time ticks on and the redress scheme is put in place, I am anxious that hundreds of families in Donegal will be displaced over the coming years. I have been contacted by one family with a seven-year-old child with a disability. They say:

I am sure you are aware of the shortage of rental properties in our country, never mind our county. The possibility of us finding a rental property with wheelchair accessibility is going to be non-existent and a mobile home is going to be completely out of the question for us in our situation. Our existing home may not be in great shape but is accessible for our son [at the moment]. We are a young normal family from Donegal that seem to be stuck in this unfortunate situation like so many others.

Unfortunately, this is only one of many mica families who have contacted me regarding their anxiety about finding rental accommodation while dealing with the mica crisis during a housing crisis and a cost-of-living crisis. The Government is literally forcing people to endure crisis after crisis and doing absolutely nothing to help them. This issue will only continue to get worse. The Government needs to pull the finger out and put a plan in place. I know of many people in Donegal who have offered their accommodation to Ukrainian refugees and were refused. Is there no way we could set up a system to allow these people to offer their accommodation to mica families who need temporary accommodation while their houses are rebuilt? We have shown that these systems can be put in place. Why then are we not using them to help Donegal families? What is the Government going to do to address the rental crisis faced by displaced mica families in Donegal?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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As I said, huge activity has been under way on the housing front, notwithstanding Covid-19 and the inflationary cycle that has come as a result of the war in Ukraine which affected house construction. We will exceed our targets on the Housing for All plan this year. We will get more than 24,600 houses but that is not enough. We need to get to 33,000 houses per annum. Next year’s target is 29,000, as per the plan. That needs a collective approach from everybody in this House and from society.

Our planning system will be overhauled but it needs to be overhauled because we do not have the luxury of opposing housing projects here, there and everywhere, on an ongoing basis or in a serial manner, because that just slows down the process whereby people who need houses get houses. The younger generation needs houses and access to houses.

In regard to Donegal, the Minister will meet the chief executive officer of Donegal County Council next week to discuss a range of issues. The mica scheme is one for the long haul in the sense that a set number of homes is coming forward. I think about 300 have been identified as needing major works.

One area we are looking at is rapid build. That has to be considered in addition to what we are doing already in regard to house building. New technologies in house construction emerge all the time, which means we can shorten the time for constructing a house. Last week, I had good discussions with Fingal County Council. I was on a site where 1,000 houses will be built. It can at least do this within 12 months, from sanction to people moving into the houses. We use terminology incorrectly about this. Much of it is new manufacturing technology and new models of delivery in terms of steel frame and factory sites doing much of the work off-site, which means people are in a position to accelerate the construction of a house. We will see greater use of rapid build to deal with all of the issues we have, including the social housing waiting list, and to deal with situations that arise in terms of mica or whatever else.

We have taken measures. I met mica group representatives in Donegal more than a year and a half ago with the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O’Brien. The Minister then engaged on the cost of rent in advance, which had not been allowed in the previous scheme. We rectified that. The financial wherewithal is there now under the new legislation and new scheme to assist people in securing rental accommodation. Deputy Pringle is pointing out that there is an issue.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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There is no rental accommodation.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We have to build it. We have to get more supply into the market. It is as simple as that at the end of the day. We cannot magic up houses but they can be built. We have to work on getting them built as fast as we possibly can. We will work with the representatives of the residents and the county council to see what can be done.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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Maybe the Taoiseach does not recognise the urgency of the situation. Even if the mica scheme works well and 300 mica houses are done every year, where will the 300 affected families be housed? If 300 houses are done every year, it will take many years to get through all the houses affected by mica. We should be earmarking, buying and servicing sites now for temporary accommodation for people because when this scheme starts it will be too late to look for housing as it will take a year to deliver the houses. We cannot have families waiting. The problem is that families cannot get anywhere to rent.

In my end of the county, one cannot get a house to rent. There are families on the housing list that cannot get a house to rent. It is not possible. Yet, there are loads – thousands – of Airbnbs all over the place. Why not target those? If the accommodation is made available and can be done quickly for Ukrainian families, and rightly so, why has it not been done for Donegal families as well? The Government needs to be pulling out all the stops. I am glad that the Minister is meeting the chief executive next week and I hope he addresses these issues, which are vitally important and need to be addressed urgently. We will end up with a scheme starting to repair houses where families will have no where to go to get their house repaired and that is just not on.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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In terms of Ukrainians who fled war, the vast majority are being housed in hotels and various collective accommodation. They are not in houses right now, but they are in pledged houses that individuals who, having seen what was happening in the war, decided to make their homes or vacant houses available to Ukrainians. Therefore, Ukrainians have not affected the social housing market and that impression should not go out there - they have not and that is as clear as night follows day.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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The Taoiseach is not representing what I said properly.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I just want to make the point that the rapid build is only started. In terms of Ukrainians, we developed a new scheme. I told the Deputy that we have to consider rapid build for social housing and the housing issue more generally to get the numbers of houses that we can build up significantly. We need to build more houses than we are building. The past two and a half years have seen very significant progress on the housing front. The foundations have been built now legislatively as a whole range of schemes have been introduced in terms of affordability. The Croí Cónaithe scheme is there to get vacant, derelict houses rebuilt for people to own and occupy. There is a lot there now, to be fair. The first home scheme is there as well, which will help many young first-time buyers.