David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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This morning, the Irish Examiner reported that up to 6,000 patients in County Waterford and the south east are in a living nightmare due to an extraordinarily long wait for their cancer test results. At the end of last year, there was a backlog of more than 6,000 potentially cancerous tissue samples waiting to be processed in the histology department of University Hospital Waterford. This number was reduced over the past two months to 5,000 as of Monday but there are still significant delays, with some patients waiting up to six months. The samples have come to the lab from hospitals across the region, including St. Luke's, Kilkenny, and Tipperary hospital. There are samples that were taken at University Hospital Waterford and, indeed, samples taken on referral from GPs. I stress that these are routine or non-urgent samples, meaning the likelihood of cancer is reckoned to be low but they still originate due to a clinical concern raised by a medical professional.

I spoke to hospital management this morning, and I spoke to management at the hospital during the week. They told me that while most of these samples are taken to be examined as a precaution to rule out cancer, there is still a chance that some of them may indicate cancer. While the chance is low they say, that is no comfort to the 5,000 patients waiting for abnormally long periods for what should be a quick, routine test. The results are needed swiftly for both patients and clinicians. People are worried sick because their results have taken this long to be returned, and they will not have comfort until they get them. Meanwhile, clinicians need these results before they can diagnose a patient's condition. They need to be able to rule cancer in or out before identifying the problem or whether there is indeed a problem.

While the backlog has been reduced to 5,000, it has been brought down over the past month only through staff working significant, and what hospital management say is unsustainable, overtime. The histology department at University Hospital Waterford has been significantly under-resourced and understaffed staff for some time. It does not have enough consultants, histopathologists, medical scientists or support staff. This concern has been raised time and again by hospital management, including at several meetings between Oireachtas Members and hospital management in Waterford. Management has raised its concerns directly with central HSE executives and, indeed, the CEOs of the hospital groups. The hospital has issued an emergency alert to the Minister for Health in this instance because demand is exceeding capacity, and that brings risks for patient safety. Rapid diagnosis of cancer is essential for survival, as the Taoiseach knows.

Given the scale of the backlog in the south east and the waiting times for a cancer test, the hospital has sought additional histopathologists. Two consultant posts have been approved over the past few weeks but we need a stopgap solution for the south east. That must involve the redeployment of consultants and other professionals from other regions to help on a temporary basis. Indeed, this was sought by the hospital and the CEOs of the South/Southwest Hospital Group and the Ireland East Hospital Group but no help was forthcoming. I got that directly from hospital management. It is not acceptable. Will the Taoiseach ensure additional staff are redeployed to University Hospital Waterford to clear the backlog of 5,000 cancer tests? Will he also ensure cancer services in Waterford and the south east are supported to reduce waiting times and deliver quicker results and diagnoses? Will his Government commit to reviewing the cancer strategy and cancer services to ensure they are fit for purpose and that deaths from cancer can be reduced in the years ahead?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. It is a matter of great concern to me and the Government that approximately 6,000 people in the south east have been waiting several months for laboratory test results. I know that causes great anxiety for patients and runs the risk of delayed diagnoses and poorer outcomes, even though the samples are based on routine tests and are not urgent. While the risk is small, and we want to reassure people of that, it is not negligible. That people should have to wait several months for the result of any test is below the standard of care that we seek to provide.

The hospital group has confirmed that corrective measures have been put in place, and the hospital has confirmed that all urgent samples have been, and continue to be, processed without delay. Corrective actions include the transfer of histopathology samples and reporting to other laboratories, additional histopathology reporting sessions by consultant pathologists in Waterford, the engagement of agency medical scientists and additional sessions by medical scientists in the hospital. Further additional resources are required, though, to meet the demand for the vital regional service. Approval for the recruitment of additional consultant histopathologists has been granted.

The hospital has received considerable increases in resources in recent years. Just in the past two years or so, the number of staff has increased by almost 20% and the hospital's budget has increased by almost 20%. There are now 2,400 full-time equivalent staff in the hospital and the hospital has a budget of €270 million. However, we acknowledge there is still a gap between demand and capacity, and that is why authorisation has been given to appoint new consultants, who are much-needed.

In addition, a serious incident management team, involving both the South/Southwest Hospital Group and the Ireland East Hospital Group, has been established to ensure all available supports are provided to the hospital to manage the backlog. This does involve samples being taken to other laboratories in other hospitals where they can be reported on.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I spoke to hospital management early this morning to be assured that whatever can be done is being done. The manager I spoke to said the serious incident management team has been in place for some weeks. She also said the transfer of samples to other laboratories is not happening at the pace promised and that the hospital has directly asked the two CEOs of the hospital groups, because St. Luke's, Kilkenny, is in the Ireland East Hospital Group and University Hospital Waterford and Tipperary hospital are in the South/Southwest Hospital Group, for a histopathologist to be brought on site in Waterford as a stopgap solution to deal with this problem. She says that has not happened and that, as a consequence, the waiting times and number of samples are still unacceptably high. I have accepted that these are routine samples. Nobody wants to raise alarm but hospital management has also told me that there is a risk of cancer in some of the samples. We need to get them processed and each patient needs to be assured his or her sample will be processed as soon as possible. On the one hand, the Government must consider the issue of transfer, which is not happening at pace, and, on the other hand, the bringing of others on site to help with the backlog.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I will certainly speak to the hospital manager myself about the matter this week to get a better fix on the situation. There are many ways in which we can get on top of the backlog, one being the transfer of samples to other laboratories. I will inquire as to why that is not happening at an adequate pace. The other way is to transfer staff to the laboratory from other laboratories. Generally, it is easier to move samples than to move staff for obvious reasons. Sometimes it requires a little bit of both. As the Deputy acknowledged, the risk is low because the samples are not urgent but, as I have acknowledged, the risk is not negligible. I do not think it is up to the standard of care that we seek to provide as a Government that anyone should wait months for the result of a scan or a laboratory test and we are going to get on top of this.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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On behalf of everyone here, I congratulate Deputy Cairns on her elevation. I do not know whether it is in order this morning to describe her as the new leader of the Social Democrats.

This is her first Leaders' Questions in that capacity.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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Thank you very much, a Cheann Comhairle. I am a member of the first ever generation who will be worse off than our parents. This did not happen by accident. Political choices made by successive Governments have resulted in the aspirations and dreams of an entire generation being either diminished or destroyed.

Nowhere is the political betrayal of young people more evident than in the housing disaster. Skyrocketing rents and exorbitant house prices have resulted in the collapse of homeownership rates. We are now at the bottom one third of EU countries when it comes to homeownership. The Taoiseach told a recent meeting of his parliamentary party that he was alarmed to see that figure, but was he surprised? All this happened on Fine Gael's watch.

The share of 25 to 34-year-olds who own their own homes more than halved between 2004 and 2019, plummeting from 60% to just 27%. People can no longer afford to buy a home because they are spending all their money on rent. Between 2012 and early last year, rents increased by a staggering 95%, while prices in the economy increased by just 11%. Rents are still increasing; there appears to be no upper limit. The housing disaster is not just about bricks and mortar. It is about young people whose adult lives are on hold because they cannot afford to move out of their childhood bedrooms. It is about couples postponing having a family because they cannot find affordable housing. It is about the stress and anxiety that causes once happy relationships to break down. It is about a lack of hope. It is about despair and fear for the future that your life will be permanently on hold, that you could be served an eviction notice at any moment and that you will never be able to afford to do what your own parents did on just one income - own a modest home.

We know the housing disaster is a social catastrophe and it is now threatening our economy too. Today, Chambers Ireland warned that the housing disaster is the biggest threat facing small and medium businesses. It said that multinationals are considering buying up entire housing estates. An economy cannot function when workers cannot afford to buy or rent a home, and neither can a society.

Fine Gael has been in government for almost my entire adult life. The Taoiseach's party first promised to address what was a housing crisis in 2014. Nine years later, it is an unprecedented housing disaster. Promises have been broken, targets have not been met and lives are being ruined as a result.

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

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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Can the Taoiseach please tell me when people on average incomes will be able to afford to buy or rent a home? How much longer do we have to wait for the Government's plan to work?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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At the outset, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate Deputy Cairns on her election as leader of the Social Democrats. As one leader to another, it is an enormous honour to be chosen by one's party to lead them. It is a tough job and much of the work goes unrecognised whether it is fundraising, dealing with party accounts, disputes between public representatives, internal rows or staff matters. It is all before her. It is a very tough job-----

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach should speak for himself.

Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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That is only in Fine Gael.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It sounds like a counselling session.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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The Taoiseach has so much money he cannot handle it.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----and a very big job.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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There are plenty of people behind the Taoiseach who would take the job.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I honestly wish her a fair wind in that regard.

I also want to take the opportunity to recognise the former leaders, Deputies Shortall and Catherine Murphy. We have not always seen eye to eye. I have seen many attempts to establish new parties in my time in politics, however, and very few survive eight years. Very few have six Teachtaí Dála after eight years. It is a success that they have brought the party to this point. I do not think any party since the Progressive Democrats has managed to reach that level of success. Of course, most new parties do not survive their second leader but, hopefully, that will not be the case for the Social Democrats.

I thank the Deputy for raising the question. I am deeply concerned about the fall in homeownership in Ireland. This is a country in which nearly 70% of people own their own home. I want that to be the reality for people who are now in their 20s and 30s. That is why I am determined that this is the year in which we should turn the corner on the housing crisis.

The Deputy said she believes hers will be the first generation of young people in a long time who are worse off than their parents. I have not thrown in the towel on that. That will only be the case if we do not turn the tide on the housing crisis and homeownership, which I believe we will.

When it comes to other things that young people experience, we are doing much better. There are more employment opportunities than ever before for young people. Youth unemployment is at an all-time low. Incomes have never been higher. More young people experience further and higher education than ever was the case in the past. Of course, the personal freedoms young people have today, particularly people from LGBT backgrounds and women, are way beyond what would have been imaginable for previous generations. But the area in which we are letting young people down is on housing, and I acknowledge that. That is why we are doing so much work to turn it around, particularly when it comes to homeownership.

I am encouraged by the fact that last year, 16,000 young people and young couples bought their first home. That is the highest figure in 15 years. We need to build on that and we will do so, mainly by driving increased supply of new housing, which is crucially important, and continuing to have in place the help-to-buy scheme, which has already helped more than 30,000 people, mostly young people, to buy their first homes. The shared equity schemes like First home will now help many people too.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Taoiseach for his warm wishes; I appreciate that.

He reeled off a number of statistics and issues with regard to employment and education, which are key. Without somewhere to live, however, it is difficult to get through any kind of employment or education. The most important statistics for people out there are that rents and house prices have never been higher and homelessness has never been higher. The Taoiseach said he is doing everything to try to turn that around.

In a recent report, however, the National Economic and Social Council said the fastest way to increase the supply of housing is to bring in a vacant and derelict properties tax. The Social Democrats has suggested a punitive 10% tax on vacant homes. Inexplicably, the Government waited until this year to introduce a tax on vacant homes and then set it at a derisory 0.3% of the value of a home. If the Taoiseach is doing everything to turn it around now, will he increase the rate so that it actually acts as a deterrent?

In Denmark, if a property owner moves out of his or her home, he or she has to approach his or her local authority within six weeks so it can be rented out or else that person has to try to sell it. That recommendation was made in 2020. Why has the Taoiseach not acted on that either?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We have a derelict sites levy. That applies to derelict houses and has been in place for a very long time.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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At 0.3%.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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No, this a different one that has been in place even when I was on the county council. That is been around for 20 or 30 years. It is a levy on derelict properties and sites and increases every year. Councils are a bit slow putting properties on it, quite frankly-----

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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That is an understatement.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----but it does exist. We are bringing in a vacant property tax as well, initially at that rate. However, I have an open mind on whether we increase that rate into the future. As the Deputy will know from the same report she quoted earlier, levels of dereliction and vacancy in Ireland are actually falling. The levels of vacancy in areas where housing need is greatest, such as Dublin and Cork and so on, are actually quite low.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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What about all the Airbnbs?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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When we look at the exact same report, we will see that when houses are vacant, they are often vacant for a reason. They are for sale, to let, under renovation or the person who lived there has just died. That is all in the same report the Deputy quoted. It is worth pointing that out. Another thing we are doing, which is really important, is providing grants now to young people and older people to do up old buildings-----

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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That figure is 600.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----to make them into homes. That is going really well. I am really encouraged with what can be achieved around that. As well as that, we are going to provide a fund to local authorities so they can apply a compulsory purchase order, CPO, to vacant and derelict properties and bring them into use. That can help too.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call the leader of Aontú, Deputy Tóibín.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Information given to Aontú by the HSE shows that well over 40% of Covid-19 deaths in Ireland are linked to hospital or nursing home outbreaks. That is 3,500 people who died because they contracted Covid-19 in a nursing home or hospital. For example, these are people who went into hospital with a broken leg and came out in a coffin.

It is a human disaster of enormous proportions and, incredibly, the people who were most vulnerable during the Covid crisis were actually the people who were most exposed. Throughout Covid the Government was focused on restricting people to 2 km from their homes, preventing people from going to funerals, to school and to work, when in reality the most dangerous place one could be was in a nursing home or in a hospital, the two locations run or regulated by the State. We accept that no Government could get everything right but there were serious and disastrous mistakes made during Covid.

Documents released to Aontú by the National Treatment Purchase Fund show that 10,000 people were discharged from hospitals into nursing homes at the start of Covid. Many of those who were discharged were not tested for Covid. This had the effect of seeding those nursing homes with Covid. Staffing was chaotic in those nursing homes. Indeed, the current Minister for Health, when he was an Opposition Deputy at the time, stated in this Chamber that the HSE was intercepting staff and PPE from going into nursing homes. The head of Nursing Homes Ireland actually tried to get a meeting with then Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris, to draw attention to this crisis but none was forthcoming for weeks. Nursing homes were so short staffed that they were phoning relatives and asking for help. Nursing homes were going onto Facebook looking for help. In one case I recall a nursing home manager went on the radio in tears to discuss how two staff were left in charge for 48 hours in a nursing home when five people died around them. They could not get the necessary staff to help them out. The Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler, wrote to the HSE head, Mr. Paul Reid, as did Mr. Phelim Quinn, then chief executive officer of HIQA, urging for more staff. There was no reply for weeks, but finally Mr. Paul Reid wrote back saying that everything was fine and that there was no pressure. Shockingly, at the time, the Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, created the Be on Call for Ireland initiative where 73,000 people signed up including medics and nurses who came home from abroad to do their civic duty for this country. How many people were ever recruited from that? It was around 450 people. Only 10% of that database of people were ever contacted by this Government, which is a tiny fraction.

The Government is now saying that it is carrying out a review. Is the Taoiseach for real? Is the Taoiseach saying that the deaths of 3,500 people only warrants a review? Why does the Government oppose a public investigation that would find out the truth and provide justice for families who have lost loved ones so tragically in the Covid crisis?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. I remember the pandemic very well. I remember it almost on a day-to-day basis and I remember the very difficult decisions and the different judgment calls that had to be made at different points in time, often without much information. At the very start we knew very little about the virus, as the Deputy will recall. It was not even clear at the start whether asymptomatic transmission was even possible. That became clearer later in the pandemic. It will always be the case that with hindsight things will look differently than at the time when we had so little information.

I remember something that Paul Reid, the head of the HSE at the time, said at the start of the pandemic. He said that there was no road map, no play book and no lived experience as to how one deals with a pandemic of this nature. He said we would probably get about 70% of things right and 30% of things wrong. That is probably correct, but it is important that we find out what we got right and what we got wrong. This is why there will be a public inquiry. A public inquiry will be established this year to examine how the pandemic was handled in Ireland, not just healthcare aspects such as what happened in hospitals and nursing homes, but also around testing, the public health advice that was given around masks and antigen tests and all those things that became controversial, and also the economic response. All of these things need to be inquired into. I am committed to having that inquiry up and running this year.

With regard to there being a lack of staff, there was a lack of staff at various points during the pandemic. It was often the case that staff were just unavailable. In some cases, staff are unwilling to go into nursing homes for fear of getting the virus themselves. I can understand that. In other cases, when people were contacted because they had offered their services, they were not available when they were contacted. That was the real experience I had during that period of time. The Deputy will also recall that during that time I re-registered as a doctor and took part in the vaccination programme and the occupational health programme prior to that.

The characterisation the Deputy mentioned at the start was not particularly accurate. I am sure it was the case that there were people who went into hospitals who were in very good health but perhaps had, for example, a broken leg and who contracted the virus and died from it. Unfortunately, this does happen in healthcare. It is never something that anybody wants to see happen but the vast majority of people who died from Covid in Ireland were people who were elderly or had an underlying medical condition. That is how viruses work. That would have been the case in the community as well as in hospitals and nursing homes. Out of respect to the relatives of the thousands of people who did die in hospitals and nursing homes we should not create the impression that all or most of those deaths were preventable. Some of them might have been, but nobody dies of natural causes. There is always a reason. Very often it is a respiratory infection or urinary tract infection. For people who are elderly or who have comorbidities that is the thing they get at the end and that is the cause of death. It is not the case that those deaths were all or even mostly preventable. Out of respect for those families, many of whom are still grieving, it is important that we do not create a false impression in that regard.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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It is important to repeat that the information we received is characterised that these 3,500 people who died contracted Covid in a nursing home or in a hospital. Out of respect to those people who have lost loved ones, they should be entitled to the truth and entitled to justice in relation to what happened them. They want information here. They do not want a nebulous review or inquiry. They want a commission of investigation that happens in a public fashion. If we do not do this for them, then they will not get to the bottom of what happened to their loved ones and they will not get justice for what happened to their loved ones. Right now, the information we have shows that 44 families are currently starting legal action against the State as a result of what happened. If there is not a full public investigation I worry that we will have the time-honoured example of this Government aggressively litigating against those families who have lost loved ones, in the same manner the Government has done on numerous occasions, so that families spend years tied up in the justice system expending massive amounts of their own resources in trying to achieve justice. Will the Taoiseach go on the record to say that we will have a full commission of investigation into this tragedy?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We will have a full public inquiry into how the pandemic was handled in Ireland. This will include what happened in nursing homes, in hospitals and in the community, along with the wider economic and social response. We have not yet decided on the exact format of that. I do want it to be done properly, whether that is using the commission of investigation mechanism, which has pros and cons, or a tribunal mechanism or another mechanism. I am open to that being considered. There are pluses and minuses to all of these mechanisms. I do not believe it can be done quickly. It will take time and it will take time to do it properly. I am determined to have this up and running this year, and ideally by the middle of the year.

Again, it is important we are honest with people that with the best will in the world and even with the best infection control procedures, it is not always possible to keep viruses out of hospitals and out of nursing homes. If it is not brought in by the staff it is brought in by visitors or brought in by the patients. That is just the reality of it. If one looks at the same statistics the world over one will see a similar profile, which is sadly that a high proportion of people who died from Covid would have picked it up in a healthcare setting or in a nursing home. That is the nature of a virus. We need to be serious about looking into the issues the Deputy has raised, and he is right to raise these issues, but we also need not to create the false impression as to how viruses work and what was possible and what was not possible.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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For weeks now this Government has been equivocating on whether or not to extend the eviction ban while people who are living on a knife edge are worrying how they are going to pay the rent and their bills and if they will have a home in the coming months or not. Calls are coming from every sector that deals with housing on the dire need to extend the ban. Threshold has had hundreds of people contacting it with regard to eviction. Fr. Peter McVerry has said that we are facing an avalanche of evictions. The Taoiseach's own Minister was compelled to bring in the winter eviction ban because he was advised that up to 2,800 people could find themselves on the streets if the ban was not brought in during November. I cannot tell the Taoiseach of the concern and stress felt by all of the people who come into my constituency office, and I am sure into every constituency office, who are either facing eviction or are worried about facing eviction if this ban is lifted. People are barely keeping their heads above water, and many people cannot even do that. There is a real need for this eviction ban to be extended to keep hundreds of thousands of people in their homes.

I was listening to Nessan Vaughan of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul speak on "Morning Ireland" this morning about the sheer numbers of people coming to it as a result of the cost-of-living crisis. The problem is becoming more widespread. Groups of people who, a year ago, would never have dreamed of needing to go to a charity are now contacting the society, in desperate need of help. If the Government lifts this ban, many people who are already choosing between food and heat will be facing eviction as well.

I have before me an article published by the Nevin Economic Research Institute, NERI, which welcomes the one-off payments but states that the Government's recent cost-of-living package did far too little to combat the rising rates of poverty and deprivation among some of the most vulnerable groups of people. The deprivation rate stands at 44.3% for those with disabilities, 43.5% for lone parents, 48.6% for unemployed people and 35.6% for renters. Children have a one in five probability of living in deprivation. There are 3,431 children and 1,609 families in homelessness. The Children's Rights Alliance stated yesterday that child homelessness went up by 34% last year and family homelessness by 44%.

Things are getting worse for many people. Has the Government used the opportunity afforded by the winter eviction ban to put in any real emergency measures to increase the supply of housing to help those without a home or facing eviction? Before the winter eviction ban was introduced, there was no emergency accommodation available from the Dublin Region Homeless Executive. We are in cost-of-living, homelessness and housing crises. Is the Government going to take away one of the last barriers to thousands of people being evicted from their homes and potentially put us into a severe eviction crisis? What measures has it put in place to provide emergency services for those with termination notices dating from before November last year and for those who received notices since then? How many extra emergency places have been sourced and from where? In the context of the many people renting who are not on a housing list, HAP or RAS, will the Taoiseach instruct landlords that, as soon as an eviction notice issues, they must contact the local authority to give it an opportunity to buy the property? Will he allow that to happen?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. I do not have the exact numbers she asked for but I will ask the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide them for her if they are available.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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The relevant figure is 10,798.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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As regards the supply of housing, we are doing absolutely everything we can to increase the supply of housing for people who need it. We are seeing some good results - not enough, but some good results. There were 30,000 new homes built last year, more than in any other year in more than a decade. That does not include student accommodation or vacant or derelict homes being brought back into use. Approximately 8,000 additional social housing units were delivered last year, more than any other year since 1975. No Government in my lifetime has been more committed to social housing than this one. Housing of new forms, such as cost rental, is now becoming a reality for the first time. We have also sourced additional emergency accommodation not just for the 5,000 or 6,000 Irish citizens who need it but also for people who have come from abroad, such as those seeking international protection, homeless people from abroad and people from Ukraine. A huge amount of effort has been put in by the Departments with responsibility for housing and integration to find as much accommodation as possible. That includes refurbishments and modular housing. Within weeks, we will see the first modular homes being occupied. That is a positive too.

In terms of extending the eviction ban, we have not made a decision on that yet as a Government but we will do so shortly. We had hoped the eviction ban would result in a fall in the number of people in emergency accommodation, as was the case during the pandemic, but it did not. The number has continued to rise. That is because there are other factors at play, including things like family breakdown and the fact that the travel-related restrictions that were in place during the pandemic are now gone. It did not have the effect we had hoped it would have. It can and will be argued that if we had not done it, the situation would be even worse. That may well be the case but it is not certain.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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It is the case.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We need to have regard for other factors. First, there is the exit of landlords from the market, which is a big problem. There are fewer rental properties available now than there were a few years ago. We need more of them, not fewer. People need to rent for different reasons at different points in their lives and, therefore, we need more landlords. The exit of landlords, particularly small landlords, from the market is a real problem. We have to make sure we do not exacerbate that. We also need to have regard to the fact that there are people who live abroad and are coming home. Every year, 30,000 Irish citizens return home. They do not all own a house or apartment but many of them do and they should be allowed to move back into the homes they own.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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More than 3,000 people could be facing termination notices at the end of March. What has the Government put in place to provide emergency services for many of those people if, for example, the local authority will not buy the house due to structural issues? I was contacted by a family facing eviction. The council stated that it cannot buy the house in question. The family has a severely affected autistic child who could not face being moved around the homelessness system in any way. What measures has the Government put in place? Has it sourced at least 1,500 emergency places? If so, from where? What measures has it put in place to set up a scheme whereby landlords must tell the local authority they are issuing a termination notice and offer it an opportunity to buy the house? What happens to people who are not on HAP, RAS or a housing list? What help can they be given? Will they just be left out on the street? Does the Taoiseach have a plan for where those in apartments will go if they face eviction in the coming two or three months? If the Government is not going to extend the eviction ban, the Taoiseach must tell the House what services it will provide for these people so that they know they have something to fall back on.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We have sourced more emergency accommodation. I do not have the exact figures or locations but I will ask the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide that information for the Deputy. It is important to state that although the number of people in State-provided emergency accommodation is at an all-time high, the number of people we are taking out of homelessness into secure housing is also at an all-time high. The difficulty we have, and it is a big difficulty, is that people are becoming homeless faster than we can find homes for them. We are providing homes for them, however. There is a churn and it is important that we be aware of that. We are very much saying to local authorities that the money is there for them to buy homes if a landlord is selling up. In the case of a social housing tenant or the tenant of an affordable housing body, the option is there for the local authority to purchase that property and keep it in the rental market.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, Independents 4 Change)
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What about those who are not on a local authority housing list? I ask that the Minister come to the House next week to explain any decision in respect of the eviction ban.