Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Workers and families are experiencing a really tough start to the new year. The post-Christmas period is always a time of financial pressure but the soaring cost of living sees households really up against it. People are due to be hit with massive energy bills as Government supports are swallowed up. Parents are finding it difficult to put food on the table as the price of groceries has skyrocketed and households continue to cut back on the basics just to get by. The cost-of-living crisis has not gone away. For many households, in fact, the situation is getting worse. People continue to make hard decisions just to make it to the end of the week. The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has said it has received the highest number of calls from families seeking help since the economic crash. The society is also providing record levels of support to students and young people. A poll conducted for Virgin TV News captures the reality of this crisis. The vast majority continue to stress about the impact of soaring costs on their lives. Many say they will not have enough to cover spending on essentials this month and more than a fifth say that their children have had to go without meals or clothing.

Adding to the pressure, the ECB is set to hike interest rates for a fifth time next week. The hike will mean an immediate blow for those on tracker mortgages. The stream of hikes has left these households thousands of euro worse off. We know that those who had their mortgages sold to vulture funds are being aggressively exploited and battered by interest rate increases. Yet, even though there are more hikes to come, the Government refuses to bring forward any mortgage relief measures. People are genuinely worried about what is coming down the tracks as Government supports come to an end. When Sinn Féin public representatives are out in our communities, people constantly come to the door with their extortionate gas bills in hand and they are very worried about the next one. As things stand, at the end of February the reduced VAT rate for gas and electricity comes to an end as does the reduced rate of excise duty for petrol, diesel and home heating oil and the ban on energy disconnections. Four weeks later, the moratorium on evictions runs out. This presents the perfect storm waiting to happen for workers and families.

The Government has said that it will meet in the coming weeks to discuss the future of cost-of-living supports but after two years of being hammered by soaring living costs, households need clarity and certainty about what is going to happen next. They need that clarity and certainty from the Taoiseach now. He has said there will be no cliff-edge but people need to see the plan. Tá an ghéarchéim sa chostas maireachtála ag cur daoine faoi bhrú dáiríre. Caithfidh an Rialtas a chinntiú go bhfaigheann teaghlaigh an tacaíocht a theastaíonn. Tá oibrithe agus teaghlaigh ar chiumhais na haille agus ní féidir leis sin tarlú.

My questions are these. Will the Taoiseach provide struggling households today with certainty they need? Can he set out his plan? Will he commit to extending the supports and protections that are coming to an end? Will he please examine options to introduce targeted, tailored and time-bound mortgage interest relief for struggling mortgage holders?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The cost of living is a matter that concerns huge numbers of individuals, families and businesses across the country. It is very much the issue that is coming up on the doors for our public representatives as well, when we are knocking on doors and speaking to people, and not other matters. I have to say that I agree with Deputy McDonald's assessment. A lot of people, families and businesses are struggling with the cost of living. Tá go leor daoine faoi bhrú. Tá an costas maireachtála an-ard agus cabhróidh an Rialtas.

Incomes are rising in Ireland but the cost of living is rising faster. What that means in real terms is that a lot of people, if not most people, are worse off this year than they were last year. We are seeing inflation slowing. Inflation is not as high as it was a few months ago but there is a big difference between inflation slowing down and prices going down. It is just that prices are going up less fast than they were earlier but that is not a good situation to be in. Prices are continuing to rise, notwithstanding the fact that inflation is not rising as fast as it was before.

As I mentioned, the Government is here to help and wants to help. We can do so because our economy is strong, because of the economic policies pursued by this Government in recent years and also because our public finances are in good order because of the good work done by the Ministers for Public Expenditure and Reform, and Finance, Deputies Donohoe and Michael McGrath, in particular, in recent years. What have we done in the past three weeks? We have significantly reduced the cost of childcare, by around 25%, which has helped a lot of families. We have increased the pension by €12 per week. In fact, all weekly welfare payments have been increased by €12. Approximately 70,000 elderly people now qualify for the fuel allowance who did not qualify last year. Those applications are still coming in and I encourage people to apply. Income taxes have gone down and people will see that in their pay slips this month, if they have not already. The rent tax credit is now available to hundreds of thousands of renters, at €500 per renter, per taxpayer, or €1,000 per couple. If three people are renting together, they each get the €500 credit. A lot of people have not yet applied for that and I really encourage them to do so. All of these measures are permanent and do not end at the end of February.

I have just given the Deputy an example of five things that the Government has done just in the past three weeks to help people with the cost of living, which are permanent and which do not expire at the end of February.

I want to make that clear. The Deputy is correct to say that at the end of February a number of measures will expire. I have said, as has the Tánaiste, that there will not be a cliff edge in that regard. We will not be able to continue everything as we just do not have the resources to do so, but there will not be a cliff edge. What will happen in the coming weeks is the relevant Ministers will sit down with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and the Minister for Finance and we will work out which measures we can continue and which ones we cannot. We will try to do that as quickly as possible, in the next couple of weeks, so that people have certainty long before the end of February. That is the work we are doing at the moment.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Taoiseach. Notwithstanding the measures the Government has taken, people are still struggling, as I have described. The Taoiseach has confirmed that he also recognises that. All along, we have said to the Taoiseach and his Government that the one-off measures that were introduced to assist people were, of course, welcomed by people. All help is good help when you are under pressure. What people really have needed and still need, however, is a sense of certainty and an ability to plan. They need to know where their household will be and how they will provide for themselves and their children at the end of next month and the month after that. While the Taoiseach's acknowledgement of the potential cliff edge is welcome, as is his assertion that there will be no cliff edge, we need more than that now. People need to see the colour of his money. They have to see the shape of the plan. I again ask whether the reduced VAT rate for gas and electricity will come to an end or whether the Government will continue it. Likewise, will the reduction in excise duty on petrol, diesel and home heating oil be continued? What about the moratorium on energy disconnections and the moratorium on evictions? People need that sense of a plan and certainty now.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. Those are very fair and legitimate questions to ask but I cannot answer them today because the Government has not made decisions in respect of the measures that expire at the end of February. We will do so, however, and we will make sure that people have certainty long before the end of February comes. What we have done to help people with the cost of living is a combination of one-off and temporary measures and also permanent measures. That should be acknowledged. The reduction in the cost of childcare is permanent and I would like to go further again in the budget later this year. The increase in pensions and weekly welfare payments of an extra €12 a week is also permanent, as are the extension of the fuel allowance, the reduction in income taxes and the rent tax credit. The increase in the national minimum wage, above the rate of inflation last year, will be built on next year. In addition, there are increases in public sector pay and in some of the parts of the private sector that are governed by employment regulation orders. So long as this Government is in office and we pursue the economic policies that we have been pursuing, keep the public finances in order and there is no change of Government, people can be confident that those measures will be permanent.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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We heard all that before. People are still struggling.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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The Taoiseach and his predecessor, Deputy Micheál Martin, repeatedly told this House that housing was the biggest single social issue facing the Government. In his first interview after he assumed the office of Taoiseach, he said we needed to turn the corner on housing with a Covid-style response. He then clarified that what he meant by that was to adopt a can-do attitude. His can-do attitude appeared to evaporate in the Dáil yesterday when he flippantly dismissed concerns in respect of the significant under-delivery of social homes last year. The target for the delivery of new-build social homes last year was 9,000. That was reduced quietly in November to 8,000, and in December the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform warned that just 6,500 were likely to be delivered, nearly 30% below the original target. Even then, the majority of them were purchased from the private sector. When this was raised with the Taoiseach yesterday, he offered no explanation or apology for this gross failure by the Government to deliver on its own targets. He said, "we have not built perhaps as many as we would have liked or as many as we had intended". What is the point in the Government's housing targets? Can the Taoiseach explain that to me? Judging by his comment yesterday, he does not seem to care that the targets for social homes have been missed for three years in a row.

The figures are even worse when it comes to affordable homes. Having delivered zero affordable homes in its first two years, the Government is set to miss last year's target by a whopping 80%. Fewer than 1,000 affordable homes will be delivered out of a modest target of 4,100. Perhaps this should not come as a surprise, given that the Department failed to spend a staggering €1 billion of its capital budget during the biggest housing crisis in the history of the State. The Taoiseach and his predecessor continually claim they are prioritising housing but where is the evidence for that? It cannot be found in the Government repeatedly missing its own targets, the record number of people in homelessness, record rents, record house prices or the record number of adults in their 20s or 30s or even older who are living in childhood bedrooms and cannot afford to move out.

People desperately need hope that the housing disaster can be addressed. The Taoiseach claims it will be addressed using some vague can-do attitude that has apparently been absent from this Government so far, but his record is one of broken promises. Is it any wonder that a new poll carried out by Virgin Media News found that a staggering 92% of young people are worried they will never be able to afford a home?

My questions are simple. What is the point in the Government's modest housing targets when it keeps missing them? Why should anyone believe any of the Government's commitments on housing? Does the Taoiseach really understand the magnitude of this problem?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Of course I understand the magnitude of the problem. I do not think anybody living in this country - certainly nobody who runs for election or gets elected - could not understand the magnitude of the housing crisis we are facing. It is the biggest social issue with which the Government and the country is currently grappling. It affects people in all sorts of different ways, whether it is people who cannot afford to buy their first home, people who are paying massive rents or people in their late 20s or late 30s still living in their childhood bedroom. It affects people in so many different ways and it is holding us back as a country, an economy and a society.

That is why we are determined, as a Government, to turn the corner on the housing crisis as soon as we can. Housing for All is our plan to do that and it is showing results. Our main housing target last year will not just be met; it will be exceeded. We targeted the construction of 25,000 new homes last year. We do not have the numbers in yet but it looks like it will be closer to 28,000, so that main housing target was not only met, it was exceeded last year. Of course, our target for this year is to build approximately 29,000 new homes. I want that to be exceeded this year as well, by the way. We are working really hard to make sure the slowdown in commencements does not result in a slowdown in completions.

The Deputy might not know this but 16,000 people, couples and families bought their first home last year. That was the highest in 16 years. I know it is cold comfort to people who cannot buy a home yet, but the highest number in 15 or 16 years - 16,00 people - is not a small thing to have achieved.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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How many people are in the market to buy?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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More than 1,000 young people and couples a month now buy their first home. Of course, we have new forms of public housing that are now becoming a reality, such as cost rental, for example.

As regards the social housing target, the Deputy is correct that we missed it last year. Some 6,500 new social homes were provided. What the Deputy did not acknowledge - she should have done so, frankly, to be fair - in her question is that was still the highest number of new social homes provided in Ireland for a very long time. We do not know how long. It might have been the highest since the foundation of the State. I know people talk nostalgically about the 1920s when the Free State built a lot of social housing, or about the 1940s, the 1950s, the 1970s and the 1980s. We cannot find on record a year in which more new social housing was provided by the Government in its many forms than last year. We are not happy with it either. We want it to be much higher this year - closer to 9,000 or 10,000. That is our objective.

Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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We have repeatedly said there is an over-reliance on the private sector and there has to be a scaling-up of the public sector. A briefing note prepared for the Minister, Deputy Donohoe, in December stated that the reliance on the private sector delivery is a vulnerability for 2023. When it comes to social homes, 2,706 new-build social homes were delivered at the end of September.

More than 70% had been acquired by the private sector. I repeatedly see in my area that when a housing estate is built, the council buys a number of the houses or, worse, takes a long lease, which is very poor value for money. We had capital underspend of €1 billion last year. We are certainly not seeing the scaling up of direct building by the State, which has been talked about.

Some of the comments made about the State's response have been fact-checked by The Journalin an article published a couple of months. This challenges much of what is being said about the numbers delivered.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I do not accept the thesis that there is overreliance on the private sector because that implies we should, maybe, have the same number of houses but with more public and fewer private. I have a different view: we need more public housing and more private housing. We need more private housing for people who want to buy and own their first home, which is a social objective we should all get behind. Also, we need more public housing for people who cannot afford to buy their own home. It is not a case of having more or less of either; we need more of both. That is the view of the Government.

I do not accept the argument that we are not scaling up the delivery of public housing by the State. When people study this, they need to acknowledge there is more to the State than local authorities, or councils. For example, the Land Development Agency, LDA, which has about 4,000 homes either under construction or in planning, is a State body. The State funds approved housing bodies, such as the Iveagh Trust, the Peter McVerry Trust, Clúid Housing and other such bodies that we admire, to provide social housing. Anyone talking about public housing in the State who looks only to local authorities is either not fully knowledgeable or disingenuous, because there is more to the State and local authorities.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Baineann mo cheist leis an athbhreithniú neamhspleách atá ar siúl le bliain anuas faoi stiúir an Bhreithimh Bronagh O'Hanlon. Cá bhfuil an tuarascáil atá geallta? Laistigh de na téarmaí tagartha, dúradh linn go mbeadh an tuarascáil críochnaithe roimh dheireadh na bliana. Tá deireadh na bliana imithe agus tá bliain nua ann. Cá bhfuil an tuarascáil? An bhfuil sí ag an Taoiseach? An bhfuil dréacht-tuarascáil léite aige? Muna bhfuil, cá bhfuil sí? Cén fáth go bhfuil deifir ann maidir leis an tuarascáil in ainneoin chomh tromchúiseach is atá na líomhaintí agus na hábhair a nocht na mná cróga ó na fórsaí cosanta?

A year ago, exactly on this date, the then Minister for Defence, Deputy Coveney, announced an independent investigation into the allegations of Women of Honour and the women's experience in our armed forces. The aim was to establish a judge-led independent review to examine issues relating to sexual misconduct, including rape, bullying, harassment and discrimination in the forces. The announcement followed on from the documentary on RTÉ Radio 1 by Katie Hannon on 11 September. We were all silenced when we heard that show. I know exactly where I was; I was on my way back from Achill. The four of us in the car were totally silent as we listened to the programme. From 11 September until this date a year ago, there was engagement with Women of Honour. The women engaged with hope and full commitment for a while; however, they were not happy. The Government decided to go ahead with the review. Trust was broken at that point because what the women wanted in respect of what they had exposed was not what the got. They came forward trusting that the Government finally wanted to do something about the culture that appears to be endemic in the armed forces among both men and women. With this in mind, the Government set up a review body with three people, with Ms Justice Bronagh O'Hanlon in charge. The Taoiseach might clarify why the terms of reference have been breached. Where is the final report that was promised within a year? My colleagues and I have repeatedly asked Dáil questions on this. We were told the Government was perfectly on target to get the report before the end of November. Where is it?

The Taoiseach might clarify another matter. In one of the answers we received, there was a reference to a discrete issue regarding another report, from a senior counsel. Has that been received and fed to the tribunal?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as a ceist. Is rud an-tábhachtach é, mná d'onóir. Ceapaim go bhfuil an tuarascáil leis an Aire Cosanta anois ach níl mé cinnte, agus tá sé ag dul go dtí an Liobáin inniu. I understand the report is either complete or nearing completion and that if it is not already with the Tánaiste and Minister for Defence, it is certainly due in the very near future. When he receives it, he will consider it. He will probably want to speak to the Attorney General about it as well, and then he will bring a recommendation to the Government as to how we take it forward.

It is important to state the judge-led review was always a first step towards further action. This is a matter that the Government is very concerned about. The Tánaiste is deeply concerned about it. Indeed, he met representatives of Women of Honour personally roughly a year ago. I know he wants to take the matter forward, but I do not want to say any more than that for fear of giving the Deputy inaccurate information. That is my understanding of the situation as of today.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I am going to try to be very precise. The terms of reference stated a report should be completed within a year. The Minister, at various stages, told us we were on target in that regard. Has a report been completed? Has a report been handed over to the Minister? The answer to each of these questions is "Yes" or "No".

When the announcement was made, there was a related matter in that the Minister had received the nomination of a Ms Ruth Fitzgerald, SC, with a view to having her conduct an independent assessment of the specific actions taken. It is set out here. I have a question in this regard. We were told by the Government that it was to be a discrete assessment and that the outcome would be made available to the independent review group once completed. Was that report completed?

I would like to take extra time. However, to be fair, I do not know where I am with the time because we have got extra time. Where am I now with it?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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The time is up.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I will never ask the Ceann Comhairle again. I will certainly just take the time.

Where are we now with the report? It is important that we have specific answers on this. There have been most serious allegations of rape and sexual abuse. It has been acknowledged repeatedly by the Minister and other members of the Government that the culture in question is not of the past; it is the pervading culture still. At the weekend, we saw in the newspapers that women and men are afraid. I am out of time and will not take up any more time. I would really like a specific answer.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Níl an tuarascáil leis an Tánaiste fós. Tá an Tánaiste thar lear. I understand he has not yet received the report, but we will give the Deputy a more detailed answer to her specific questions before the end of the week. I understand from the Tánaiste's office that he has not received the report as yet but that it is expected very soon.

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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I wish to raise serious concerns we have about the ambulance service in west Cork. West Cork has four ambulances: one based in Clonakilty; one based in Castletownbere, one based in Bantry General Hospital; and one based in Skibbereen. I am reliably informed that, on most days and from early morning to late at night, the Clonakilty ambulance is in Cork city and county, not in west Cork, where it is supposed to be. The Castletownbere ambulance is in Kerry, tied up all day and night, leaving just two ambulances to cover the whole of west Cork. Cork, being 132 km long, is the longest county in the country.

When the Skibbereen and Bantry ambulances get a call from anywhere in west Cork, they are instructed, no matter how big or small the medical issue is, to take the patient to Cork University Hospital, in many cases bypassing Bantry General Hospital, which could easily sort the problems. This is an issue for another day. When the two ambulances arrive at Cork University Hospital, their patients most likely cannot be taken into the hospital due to overcrowding, meaning the ambulances are tied up outside the door for hours, thus leaving the whole of west Cork without any ambulance cover.

To compound the problem further, some of the west Cork ambulances are sent to Waterford, Tipperary or Listowel, leaving west Cork with no ambulance service cover on many nights.

I am not making this up. These are the facts and I will tell the Taoiseach how I know. First, it is from talking with families who have had loved ones in agony at home waiting for hours and hours for an ambulance and it has not arrived or it has arrived too late. Also, it is too common in west Cork when people ring for an ambulance and find out how long it will be before it will arrive that they lift the very ill patient into the car and head to the hospital in a fight to save his or her live. I am aware of this also from the dedicated ambulance staff, who cannot come forward as they will get fired. They are telling me that what is happening in west Cork is unbelievable and is something they feel very strongly about as they are trained to save the many people in west Cork. Their efforts are being used by a faulty system to save everybody else in every other county but the one they live in and signed up to work in.

How many people have to die before the Government sits up and takes notice that this system is not working? The HSE and the ambulance service cannot hide behind the dark of night and hope no-one will know they have no cover in west Cork for the people from the Beara Peninsula, Bantry, the Mizen, Sheep's Head, Skibbereen and Dunmanway, as well as Clonakilty, Bandon and Kinsale. It is a massive geographical spread with no cover and this is on the Taoiseach's watch. The facts speak for themselves: people lying on the roadside for hours after a car crash; elderly people lying for almost a day after a fall, one of whom was left for 16 or 17 hours and a case that turned out to be a serious broken bone; or in some recent cases parents driving a seriously ill family member to the hospital as no ambulance could be found. I have spoken of this to the former Taoiseach but not a thing has changed. Now I ask the Taoiseach to make changes to save the lives of the people of west Cork who require a simple ambulance service that cannot be found.

I ask the Taoiseach to look at the imminent collapse of the ambulance services in west Cork. The ambulance service is losing the best staff anyone could ask for due to stress issues around delivering hours and hours hundreds of kilometres away from their base. West Cork cannot be allowed to remain wide open for so many nights without cover, with this Government standing idly by and covered by the dark of night. It cannot continue. What does the Taoiseach plan to overhaul this mess, which is having serious consequences for the people from Innishannon to the Mizen Peninsula?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am afraid that I do not have specific information to hand with regard to the ambulance service in Cork south west, or indeed any particular part of the country. The Minister for Health is beside me here in the Chamber and he will be happy to engage directly with the Deputy on this and to provide more information and answer the Deputy's questions as best we can.

On the wider issue, we are implementing a programme of constant improvement of our national ambulance service at the moment. We acknowledge that response times are not as good as they should be and ought to be. We are increasing the number of ambulances and increasing the number of staff who work in the national ambulance service and also improving and upgrading ambulance bases. Increasingly, it is a service that is provided by paramedics and advanced paramedics. These are people who can treat patients on the scene and are able to decide which is the most appropriate hospital to take the patient to. This is a really important improvement and a very important change from our ambulance service of the past. We also have an air ambulance service. The Deputy will be aware that ten years ago there was no helicopter ambulance service in Ireland. We now have two helicopters operating. This is a big improvement especially when it comes to major trauma. It is a significant improvement. This is all happening at a time when our population is rising and is ageing and the demands for health care are increasing. As a result of that, we are developing a new national ambulance strategy and the funding is there to back it up so we can improve our ambulance service, get people treated on the scene by paramedics and make sure they are taken to the right hospital where the most appropriate level of care can be provided.

Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent)
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I respect that the Taoiseach may not have to hand all of the information relating to the west Cork ambulance service. I appreciate the Taoiseach's offer that the Minister will engage on this matter.

Staffing is an issue. The staff the ambulance service has at the moment are exhausted. Some are walking away. I have spoken to them personally. There were great ambulance staff who just could not cope anymore and just walked away from the whole crisis they see there. There are solutions out there if worked on. I will put some of these solutions to the Taoiseach. In 2013 the west Cork people and ambulance staff were sold a fib that there would be a 24-7 rapid response vehicle in west Cork at all times. It would be a truly great service, if delivered. Fast forward ten years and what the people of west Cork have is a daytime rapid response vehicle, which I was told was out for 94 days last year. This broken promise of a 24-hour service has cost numerous lives in west Cork. If we are to put our ambulance service right we need an intermediate care vehicle to transport people from hospital to nursing homes or to community hospitals and back. This needs to be put in place immediately. These solutions will not resolve this huge ambulance crisis in west Cork but if worked on it will make a very positive difference. I urge the Taoiseach to work with all involved to introduce these solutions. If not, the consequences will be fatal for the people of west Cork who require an ambulance service.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I acknowledge that a lot, if not all, of our healthcare staff are exhausted at the moment and many feel burnt out. Ambulance staff are among those. It has been a relentless three years for people who work in our health service. Many of us went from lock down to unlock, and perhaps got to spend time at home or work from home, whereas our health services have been really stretched. It has been an extraordinary three years with a pandemic. Now that the pandemic has entered a different phase, all of the unmet healthcare needs that we could not deal with during the pandemic have boomeranged and there is a huge snapback in demand for healthcare. This has made it extremely difficult for healthcare staff. That is not unique to Ireland. As the Deputy will be aware, it is also the case in the North, in Britain and all around the world.

On the rapid response vehicle, as I have said, I do not have a reply on that today for the Deputy. The Minister will come back to the Deputy on that and we will see what we can do.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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That concludes Leaders' Questions.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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When there is no ambulance in Clonakilty where do they come then only take the ambulance from Kenmare? Kenmare and all that area is then without an ambulance.