Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I move:

That Dáil Éireann reaffirms its confidence in the Government.

This is a good Government of three parties working together. We led Ireland through the pandemic, saving lives and livelihoods. We have secured a new agreement on Northern Ireland and Brexit, preventing a hard border. We have helped families and businesses to weather the cost-of-living crisis through unprecedented financial support. This was only possible due to our prudent management of the public finances down the years. For only the second time in our history, we have full employment and a job for everyone who wants one. For a country that knows the painful experience of centuries of emigration, we are now once again home to more than 5 million people, with people coming to Ireland from all over the world to avail the economic opportunities here. Under this Government, there are more Irish citizens returning home than there are leaving.

We have made major strides forward on workers’ rights, including increases in the minimum wage, statutory sick pay and parental leave. We are reducing the cost of healthcare, childcare, going to school or college and we are improving the quality of those services all the time. Notwithstanding the very real problems with access to our public health service, good patient outcomes now ensure that we have the highest life expectancy in the European Union.

In a world made up of 200 countries, Ireland is consistently ranked in the top ten or 20 by almost every measure. By any objective analysis, this is a Government that should have the confidence of the House. It is also a Government that can do more and can do better. I am conscious that this motion was triggered by a motion of no confidence tabled by the Labour Party, relating to the housing shortage. I believe the housing crisis cuts so deeply because it offends our sense of fairness and our fundamental belief in what Government is for and what the State should do. Housing is a basic need and a human right, and family homelessness in particular shakes our faith in our Republic, which is founded on the idea that all children should be treated equally. Solving the housing crisis is therefore one of the greatest political and practical challenges of our time. Indeed, it is an imperative.

Due to a rapidly rising population, ever-smaller household sizes and the scarring effects of the construction, banking and fiscal crash, we have an enormous deficit of housing in Ireland, perhaps 250,000 units, but we are making progress. Last year, we built more social housing than in any year since 1975. This year, we will build even more. No Government in my lifetime, or in the lifetime of most people in this State, has been more committed to social housing than this one, and that matters.

In December, there were more first-time buyers buying their first home than in any month since records began in 2010. More young couples and single people bought their first home last year than in any year in 16 years. That gives me hope. We exceeded our main target by building 30,000 new homes last year, not including student accommodation or derelict properties that were brought back into use. That spurs us on.

I admire and respect the passion and indignation shown by many of those who are trying to find solutions, whether they are in this House or outside it. It speaks to our empathy and compassion as a nation, as well as our determination to make things better and care for others. As a Government, our job is to match this passion with action. We have to lead with ideas that are realistic and implementable. We need to demonstrate convincingly that we understand the scale of the crisis and that we care deeply about those who are experiencing its consequences. My only criticism of proceedings in this House is that too often they allow the critics of Government to show passion and indignation without presenting new ideas, let alone having them tested. Indeed, they get very offended when they are tested. Therefore, instead of honesty about the scale of the problem and about what can be achieved given the constraints, we get quick fixes, simple solutions, populist rhetoric, constant interruptions, politicians claiming that they just care more, conspiracy theories about the causes of the crisis and the demonisation of those who are working every day to relieve it. It is political theatre, performative anger and performance art and I think more and more people are starting to see through it.

The Labour Party's motion is just another example of this. If the Opposition is successful in winning this vote, it would mean that Dáil Éireann would be dissolved this afternoon. There would be an election sometime in April and the Dáil would not meet until sometime in May. It might be well into the summer before we would have an elected Government. The eviction moratorium would lapse on 31 March anyway, and no new primary legislation could be passed to deal with the housing crisis for several months. Knowing this, it is profoundly disingenuous for anyone to claim that the Labour Party’s motion is about renters’ rights or about people who are facing homelessness.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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It is about confidence in the Government.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is about competition for attention on the Opposition benches and on the left wing of politics and-----

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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That is not true.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----about four parties trying to outdo each other-----

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----to come up with new and more dramatic language to describe the housing situation-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Homelessness has increased by 30% in a housing crisis.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----as though somehow it would actually help anyone. When it comes to solutions, we largely get utopian populist ones. The latest of these is a promise from the Labour Party to provide a million homes in ten years. When asked how that number was arrived at or how it was realised, the leader of the Labour Party had no answers. When pressed, she took a page straight out of the book of Sinn Féin. "Sure aren’t the Irish great at building things?", she quipped. We have heard that before.

We all know where the figure of 1 million promised new homes came from. It is a round number. That is all, and there was a conference speech to be made. Tesco advertisement 2.0.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Housing Agency said it was required.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I know the Labour Party does not have confidence in this Government, but it seems to me that it has long lost confidence in itself. It does not know whether to stand over its decisions in government, and say it would do it all again for the good of the country if given the chance, or whether like a character from The Crucible, it should deny its own truth, recant, confess, and purge itself of its past in the hope of being embraced back into the fold by the wider left, to spare itself more fire. It is caught in a trap of its own making. It was in government not too long ago. It held the housing and public expenditure briefs for five of the past 12 years.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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They might release your letters.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is a truth never acknowledged, but I am going to say it. Every party in this House seems to believe the housing crisis was terribly mismanaged, except for the periods when they were in government. It is remarkably convenient, but not coherent. No wonder Sinn Féin is so happy. It gets to be consistent and direct its ire at everyone, including the Labour Party. Of course, if one mentions the housing crisis in the North, one is shouted down. It does not want voters to know what 20 years of on-and-off Sinn Féin government, replete with Sinn Féin housing, finance and deputy First Ministers really looks like, and it certainly does not want anyone to report on it.

Alas, extending the moratorium for a few more months or until the end of January, March or April or another year or two would have been the easier political decision to make. It would have been the path of least resistance, as one journalist described it. However, it would not have been the right one. It would have made homelessness worse, just at a later point. That is not a solution.

However, there are solutions. Last year, more than 5,000 were lifted out of homelessness or prevented from becoming homeless in the first place by way of new tenancies being created - sometimes social, sometimes private rented. An estimated 50,000 new tenancies were created in the last year alone, according to the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, and we anticipate a similar number this year. That is the solution: more social housing, and more new tenancies of different forms. That is the answer to the question, "Where will they go?" and that will be the answer for the vast majority of the people affected by the lifting of the temporary winter eviction ban.

Our mission as a Government is to implement genuine solutions, including more and better housing for all. Driving us is the exact same passion and indignation that drives our opponents. The difference is that we will be honest about the solutions, clear about the constraints and realistic about the timelines and the unintended consequences of any actions taken. However, this is a crisis that we will overcome. We are making progress, and over the next two years we will build on it. I commend the motion to the House.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on this motion of confidence this morning. I was disappointed to see the Labour Party table a motion of no confidence. I served in government with members of the Labour Party between 2011 and 2016, and when it came to making the really hard decisions that were needed to get this country back on a sound economic footing, the Labour Party never shirked its responsibility. I would go so far as to say that had it not been for the work of the Labour Party along with Fine Gael during that Government and throughout those very difficult years, we would not have the strong economy we enjoy today. It acted in the national interest, and the decisions it made helped to lay the foundations for the record levels of employment we have in this country today. I have no hesitation in acknowledging that, because it is the truth.

The Labour Party politicians I know are decent, honest, and hard-working. As a Member of this House, and as someone who has always had absolute respect for the work they do as parliamentarians, I would be genuinely disappointed if what we are seeing now is the start of the Labour Party going down the populist road of political opportunism and grandstanding. I can tell Members one thing. If the Labour Party is trying to take on Sinn Féin when it comes to political opportunism, it will be a race to the bottom and a race that it will lose. Sinn Féin's policymaking amounts to: "The answer is yes. Now, what was the question?" The Labour Party is better than that. They are not hurlers on the ditch. They normally talk sense, and bring forward thoughtful, well-worked proposals. Yet when one hears, as one did at the weekend, "1 million houses in ten years", that might be a nice soundbite, but where was the substance or detail on how it will actually be delivered?

Regarding confidence in this Government, I look at some of the major policy initiatives in my Department: pay-related benefit, a major expansion of the school meals programme, the delivery of the auto-enrolment pension scheme, and the continued drive towards remote and flexible working. These are the policies which the Labour Party supports, which will help workers, and help families. If its motion of no confidence were to succeed, all of that work falls by the wayside.

I saw at the weekend Deputy Alan Kelly, someone who I have a lot of time for, describe Labour as nationalists, not populists. He is right. The Labour Party stood for this State when others stood against it. The Labour Party is the oldest party in this country, and believe it or not, James Connolly's parents actually came from beside Newbliss in County Monaghan, my local village, and his memory is commemorated there.

I really hope the Labour Party does not go down the road of populism, and simple solutions to complex problems. The Labour Party has served in government; it knows it is never that straightforward. We have enough populism in this Dáil. We do not need any more.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Acknowledging that more progress needs to be made in our society, in our economy and by this Government is not the same as the Government indicating that we are not making any progress at all. That is the premise of this debate today.

This Government, all of our colleagues, colleagues from three different political parties, fully acknowledge that we need to do more. We fully acknowledge, particularly as we grapple with the searing effects of our challenges in building more homes, the need to get more homes built and to respond in an even more effective and determined way to getting more homes built, having them built in the right place and in a more affordable way.

However, the recent performance and delivery of the Government is also a good and solid indicator of what this Government can achieve and will achieve during the rest of its term of office. We will do so fuelled by an acknowledgment that more in our society want this Government to do and achieve more, and to achieve more on the back of an economy that continues to be strong. If one looks at what this Government has had to contend with on behalf of the people of Ireland in recent years, during this term of office, we can make a case to the Dáil and to the people today as to why support for this Government is merited, and why that support, in turn, will allow this Government to make an even bigger difference in the challenges that this Dáil wants to see improved on, and on which it wants to see further progress delivered.

What is that track record? This is a Government which, building on the resilience, stamina and determination of the Irish people, navigated our way through a deadly pandemic. In my contribution today, I am going to focus on the economic context, and the economic element of that. It is a Government which spent more than €30 billion in measures, which allowed us to put in place the public health measures that were needed to close our economy for many months and over two years. By doing that, and because of the nature of those measures and the way we managed our public finances, we led our economy back to the level of full employment it is at currently. I remember in the early months of the pandemic dealing with this. I used to get question after question about saying austerity is inevitable, and that we were moving into a prolonged recession, and moving into a period of high unemployment.

However, due to the economic decisions that were made, building on the resilience of the people and decisions that were made by this and the last Government, we not only led our way through the economic consequences of a pandemic but nursed and supported our economy back to a position of growth, a surplus in our national finances and more people at work than ever before in the history of our country, including more young people and women returning to the workplace. Just after our country had to contend with the effect of the pandemic, we dealt with the next wave of challenge, namely the economic effects of the awful war on the people of Ukraine. Fresh from our committing tens of billions of euro to fund the employment wage subsidy scheme and the pandemic unemployment payment, we put in place additional measures, including a budget of €11 billion. That is helping, but we always acknowledge more help needs to be given. We always acknowledge many want us to do even more. We put in place a combination of one-off measures and changes to taxation and welfare to provide support at a time when a weary country battered by a pandemic had to deal with the return of surging inflation within our economy. We have done all that while at the same time getting the balance right between helping enough today to try to make a difference and setting aside the ability to help more in the future if it is needed.

Of course, the context to all this is where we are with the great challenge of building more homes for our country. The Taoiseach outlined where we are on the national measures being delivered and Ministers, especially the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, will do likewise. In dealing for the second time in this Dáil with a motion of confidence, I want to put on record the progress I see happening in my communities in the constituency I have the privilege of representing in this House. At Seán Foster Place, 30 homes are opened and being opened at the moment. At Dominick Street there are 70 homes. At O'Devaney Gardens there are 56 homes and hundreds more being built. At Dorset Street there are 160 homes. At St. Finbarr’s Court there are 40 homes. At Infirmary Road there are 40 homes. These are homes that are either open or being built at the moment and are just the ones being built by Dublin City Council. Plans being developed include 19 homes at Matt Talbot Court, ten homes at St. Bricin's Court, 60 homes in East Wall, over 70 homes in Croke Villas and 150 homes at Stanley Street. That is not to mention the work approved housing bodies are doing across my constituency or the new homes being delivered by the private sector with the support of measures the Government has introduced. We know more needs to be done, but progress is being made and we can make the case for that while also acknowledging more needs to be delivered.

The Minister, Deputy Humphreys, said there are few parties she holds in higher esteem than the Labour Party and I am of the same view. I think of the contribution the party has made to our country, our economy and our society and of the contribution made by Deputy Howlin in particular, as well as Deputy Nash. I had the privilege of serving in Government with them both. However, that is why I listen with a sense of worry to the Labour Party claim it can deliver a million more homes. On what land, with what workers and with what money? How is the party going to deliver them?

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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The Minister did not listen.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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We built up to 60,000 per year at the height of the boom.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I fear claims like that only deepen the sense of disenchantment and undermine the legitimacy of how progress can be made, rather than offering any solutions.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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The Government's solution is homelessness.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I conclude by reiterating what the Taoiseach said a moment ago. He said we can do more and we can do better. This Government will do more and we will do better. We know more progress needs to be made, but progress is still happening.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Fine Gael has now been in power for 12 years. For seven of those years, it has been joined at the hip to Fianna Fáil. On its watch we have gone from housing crisis to housing emergency to housing disaster. The policies Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have implemented together over the course of the last decade have brought us to where we are today. They have followed an agenda that explicitly transferred to the private market the responsibilities of Government to deliver housing for our people. To understand the emergency of today, we need to look at the disastrous decisions the parties have made in the past.

On entering Government 12 years ago, Fine Gael seized on the austerity imposed by Fianna Fáil and continued to slash capital housing budgets to the point where the Government essentially stopped building public housing. Even with an upturn in the economy and a significant recovery in the public finances, the Government refused to provide the necessary investment to tackle the housing crisis and build the homes our people need. From 2016, Fianna Fáil backed every Fine Gael housing budget to the hilt. In 2019, Micheál Martin claimed he had secured a housing budget to deliver thousands of affordable homes by 2021. How did that go? How many of these homes were delivered? The answer is not one. This crystalised the charade presided over by housing Minister after housing Minister, namely, Phil Hogan, Alan Kelly, Simon Coveney, Eoghan Murphy and Darragh O’Brien. This a list of housing Ministers who refused to change direction when the writing was on the wall, in the midst of an ever-mounting catastrophe. All failed, and failed miserably. As Governments slashed investment in housing, they turbocharged the housing assistance payment, HAP. Instead of building housing, Ministers poured billions into the private rental market. By the way, it was always the Governments' responsibility, not the responsibility of small landlords, to sort out housing. Now, as the private rental market shrinks, many of those families are left with nowhere to go. The decision by Michael Noonan in 2013 to roll out the red carpet for cuckoo and vulture funds will go down as a disaster for our housing market and one for which ordinary people have paid a very heavy price.

The housing emergency did not fall out of the sky. For the last three years, joined by the Green Party, Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have continued to sing from that same ruinous hymn sheet. This Government came to office declaring it would be the Government to fix housing, yet it has clung to the same failed policies. The calamitous results are plain to see. Indeed, they define life in Ireland for a generation. They are sky-high house prices, record, extortionate rents and a level of homelessness we could only have imagined in our worst nightmares. The Government's record has been low targets set and low targets missed, deadlines set and deadlines missed and figures announced and figures massaged. This is a Government big on promises but very short on delivery. The results of its failure is heartbreaking and include lives on hold for a generation, aspirations and dreams surrendered and a claustrophobic, stifling atmosphere where people feel no matter how hard they work or whether they do all the right things, they still will not be able to build a decent future. Many have packed their bags for a new life abroad because they simply cannot make it work at home anymore.

How any member of Government could look anybody in the eye and say its housing policies are working is beyond me. This Government does not deserve the confidence of the Dáil because it does not serve the needs of the people. The message it has sent to a generation who have lost so many years to the crisis the Government created is to wait. Nero fiddles while Rome burns. The Land Development Agency report published yesterday asks people to wait again for the possibility that the Government might build, but not now. It will happen at some point in the future. What planet is the Government living on? On it goes, with the delusion of Government on full and glorious display again today.

Leo Varadkar returned to the Taoiseach’s office in December.

He said housing would be his priority. Well, his first major housing decision is to put 3,000 working families, single people and pensioners at risk of losing their homes by lifting the eviction ban in three days’ time. That is his approach. This affects every renter faced now with the stress, worry and insecurity of getting that call from the landlord with devastating news that will literally turn their lives upside down.

The Taoiseach claims a distinction between receiving an eviction notice and being evicted. He does this with zero regard for the pressure that an eviction notice places on families, with zero regard for the stress, anxiety or the sense of hopelessness that it creates. We have all heard stories of children asking where they will have their birthday party if they must leave, whether their friends will be able to find them or if they will still be able to go to their school. How do you tell children that their home is not their home anymore? How can anyone have confidence in a Government that does this with its eyes wide open, to so many families? How can anybody have confidence in a Taoiseach that cannot answer the straightforward question, where are people meant to go?

There are now 750,000 people living in the private rental sector. Tens of thousands are trapped in a nightmare of extortionate rent and crushing insecurity. In any other generation, they would now own their own homes. Instead, they are trapped paying rip-off rent month-in month-out, with no hope of saving for a deposit. Their chance of home ownership is razor thin and narrows every day because of the repeated failures of this Government to tackle supply and affordability. Homelessness used to be associated with people down on their luck. Now however, thanks to Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, it is a very real fear and a real experience for some working families. We have almost 12,000 people in emergency accommodation, including 3,000 children. The sharpest edge of this scandal is seen in those sleeping in doorways and in the tents that dot the banks of the canals. These are heart-breaking sights that will become more frequent because of the failure to resource emergency accommodation. However, we all know that the true level of homelessness is disguised by the number of those who are couch-surfing, those living with friends on a temporary basis, and those living in overcrowded accommodation. All of this - all of it - is the result of Government policy.

Now the housing crisis presents a real threat to our social cohesion. Not alone is the housing emergency robbing people of a secure home. It is now impacting on staffing in education, in healthcare and on our ability to attract jobs and investment. The Minister will hear this first hand from leaders of industry today at a conference. This spillover threatens our progress, prosperity and success. Therefore, we need change like never before. We need leadership that will bring an all-of-Government approach to tackling this crisis, a Government that will bring energy, pace, ambition, innovation and change.

It does not have to be this way. Housing can be fixed. We can give this generation the chance at life it deserves. Only a change of Government will solve the housing crisis. We in Sinn Féin wish to lead that Government. From day one, we would get down to the work of building tens of thousands of homes on public land. We would build affordable homes. We would get rent under control. We would cut the bureaucracy, the red tape, and the inertia to bring thousands of vacant homes back into use and to harness new technologies for housing construction. We would work with all stakeholders across our society to deliver the biggest public housing programme in the history of the State. A Sinn Féin Government would roll up our sleeves and we would get the job done.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Tá ag teipeadh glan ar an Rialtas seo maidir le tithíocht. Ba cheart dó imeacht. In ainm Dé, tá ár bpobal i mbarr a gcéille agus iad ar son tithe atá slán agus ar fáil ar phraghas réasúnta. Tá daoine i mbarr a gcéille agus iad ar son na hathraithe. Is Rialtas Shinn Féin amháin a réiteoidh an ghéarchéim tithíochta.

Ireland is a great country. Our people are brimming with talent and energy. They deserve better than the stranglehold of this perpetual housing crisis. They deserve better than Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil because they have had their chance and they have failed. They are out of ideas, out of touch and out of time.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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You could not even get a new speech, it is the same script.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Now is the time for others to be given the chance to show what we can do. It is time for change. The longer Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael remain in Government, the more damage they will do. We need a general election and the sooner, the better.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I have no confidence in this Government.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Among the many reasons that I have no confidence is that I have no confidence in the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Housing or his failed housing plan. Under Deputy Darragh O'Brien's stewardship, enthusiastically supported by the Tánaiste, Deputy Martin, and the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, this Government has turned a housing crisis into a catastrophe. Let us look at some of the facts, while Government Deputies recover themselves from their mirth.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Your facts.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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In two-and-a-half years house prices have increased by 20%. Home ownership is now more difficult than at any other time in decades. Rents in the private rental sector have increased by a staggering 23%. That means that renting is more expensive than ever before. The Taoiseach, for the second day in a row, has claimed there were 50,000 new tenancies registered with the Residential Tenancies Board last year. That is not true. In fact, the Taoiseach knows that the Government now requires tenancies to be registered every single year. Therefore, the overwhelming majority of those tenancies are annual re-registrations. Under this Government's watch, as with its predecessor, the private rental sector has shrunk every single year for six years in a row and there was not a single plan or measure to address the consequences of that.

With respect to social and affordable housing, comparing output last year to 1975 when the population was almost 60% lower and housing need was lower, really is laughable.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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The Government targets are too low, they are not being met and the consequence is that social housing need is rising. In fact, trying to outdo the Taoiseach for misrepresentation of the facts, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, told us last week that social housing need had miraculously shrunk by 36% in a decade. What he actually means is they have moved people from social housing waiting lists onto housing assistance payments, HAP, and social housing has increased during that period.

What is the consequence of all of this? Darragh O'Brien, as the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, has presided over a 40% increase in homelessness and a 56% increase in child homelessness. That is the single biggest increase in child homelessness under any Minister in decades. Deputy O'Brien is the Minister for Homelessness, and shame on him.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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With respect to the 30,000 homes, independent experts are telling the Government that we need at least 50,000 so even hitting 30,000, if that is the true figure, comes nowhere close to what is required. Interestingly, there is no more talk of increased commencements because we only learned this week that they are now 20% down on last year. There is no more talk about increased planning permissions because again, they are down on last year.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Does Deputy Ó Broin agree with the CSO figure now?

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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When you look through all of the housing policy initiatives of this Government, what do they all do? Help to buy and shared equity schemes increase house prices. What does the Land Development Agency, LDA, do? Very little, because it was not given the powers actively to manage land. The so-called affordable housing programme is producing homes that are not affordable even under the criteria of the LDA or the cost rental equity loan.

This week the Tánaiste, Deputy Martin, echoing the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, from 2019, told us we had turned a corner on housing. This is not true. We are stuck in a vicious cycle and the only way to break that cycle is for this motion to pass, this Government to fall, and a Government of change to be elected to drive a radical change in housing policy to meet people's housing needs. I commend the motion to the House.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Táimid ag bogadh ar aghaidh.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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No change in Sinn Féin's policies then.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Thanks for amending our motion.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I am glad to see the Minister for homelessness finds it so funny.

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

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Deputies, please, can we have a little respect?

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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The Minister of State is gas. She is hilarious. It is really entertaining.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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This morning, the Taoiseach has engaged in political theatrics and performative anger. He spent more time lambasting the Labour Party than he did setting out what the Government has achieved on housing, yet he is accusing us in opposition of politicising housing. That sums up the problem with the Government. Housing is political. In choosing to lift the eviction ban in three days' time, the Taoiseach has engaged in making a political choice, and it is the wrong choice. It is a political choice that is catastrophic for the thousands of families and renters now facing the cliff edge of eviction. It is a wrong choice which follows from a series of wrong choices he and his Government have made on housing. He acknowledged the Government should have done more, but it has not done so and housing charities and local authorities are now warning that homeless services may collapse from Saturday. The Government's policy has failed and that is why we in the Labour Party have tabled a motion of no confidence. It is the responsible thing to do in opposition when we see the scale of the catastrophe facing us. It is the first such motion we have tabled in many years, by the way-----

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Labour Party was in government in 2011.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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-----and it, too, is the fault of Government. If the Taoiseach loses the confidence of the House today, that is the fault of the Government. The fault lies at its door.

We have given the Government an opportunity to right its wrong. The Labour Party and other Opposition parties have offered constructive proposals to continue the extension of the ban. For example, we have proposed in draft legislation the use of an evidence basis rather than a time basis for extending the ban. The Government has not even responded. It has not taken up our proposal because it just does not have the answers. Its conservative coalition is not working. It is all spin and no substance and it is failing the people. In the countermotion put forward by the Government last night to another constructive Opposition proposal, the Minister put forward much spin and very little substance. That amendment from the Government was all framed in the future tense - what it will do to address the housing crisis, not what it has done. It did not refer to the measures it should have been taking in the past five months while the eviction ban was in place.

This catastrophic failure in housing delivery lies at the fault of Government. It is a failure of ideology, not of the economy. The State is running a €5.3 billion budget surplus, the highest in Europe. The Taoiseach has scoffed at the scale of the Labour Party's ambition to deliver 1 million homes in ten years. That includes 50,000 new builds a year. That is an achievable ambition and it is the scale we need.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Not 1 million.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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The Taoiseach has acknowledged the immense shortfall in housing currently. In previous years, this country has delivered 60,000 new builds a year.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Is it 50,000 or 100,000 houses a year? Which is it?

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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It is perfectly achievable if the will is there. The Minister, Deputy Donohoe, rightly points-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Read the document.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Is it 50,000 refurbishments a year?

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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-----to the achievements of the State in addressing the Covid pandemic. That is the scale of ambition we need now on the housing catastrophe.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Read the document.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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I have.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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We need 50,000 new builds and 50,000 refurbishments and retrofits a year.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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That is the scale of ambition we need. The Government Deputies may laugh and scoff but it is based on the Government's own figures.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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It is what the Housing Agency stated is required.

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Labour Party should be clear.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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The Housing Agency and the Housing Commission state that is what is required. Instead of that, the Government has shown no ambition and we have been left with record homelessness figures. More than 11,700 people, including more than 3,400 children, each one with an individual story of hardship, are already in homelessness and more are now poised on this cliff edge. An elderly man in his 80s who is facing eviction, with no prospect of security in his retirement, contacted me in despair. It is unconscionable. The Labour Party is the only Opposition party to have served in government, as some speakers have acknowledged. We in the Labour Party are not hurlers on the ditch. We have put forward constructive proposals, as have other Opposition parties, which the Government has not taken up. It has not even considered them. It has castigated our proposals but it has not given any clear indication of what it has done or will do to address the housing catastrophe.

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy should read Housing for All.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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The Taoiseach acknowledged that a home is a basic human right but his Government has failed to vindicate that right. He has presided over a chronic failure in housing policy, and for that reason we have no confidence in his Government and urge all colleagues in the House to support us in voting against the Government today.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Hear, hear.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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The Labour Party will not be patronised by Fine Gael. What I heard from the Taoiseach earlier-----

Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy was not here.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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-----was an arrogance born out of disrespect for the constitutional right of an Opposition party to hold the Government to account. What I heard from the Taoiseach was the sound of entitlement. It was noise from a party that is failing on housing and is more interested in keeping the roof of Government Buildings over its head than providing roofs over the heads of children who are at risk of homelessness this week.

It is not the precarious housing situation that keeps the Taoiseach awake at night but, rather, the precarious Dáil arithmetic. The past week has been one of shame and embarrassment for this House. Decent politics and good governance have been brought into disrepute. The antics of the Government, with its grubby little side deals with the cheap dates in the so-called Independent ranks, will live in infamy. Transparency has been sacrificed on the altar of those grubby little side hustles. The sight of the Government's first substitutes limbering up, hoping to catch the eye of the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, has been nothing short of pathetic. It is decision time now for those Independents. This is a binary choice. It is not like the motion last week, which was amendable. This is a black-and white choice. It is "Yes" or "No". Are they with the people who elected them to work on behalf of the public good and the common interest or are they fully paid-up members of this conservative coalition's second term? If the road or village community centre those Independents have been promised is more important than the fate of children who may spend the school holidays looking aimlessly for new homes, it really is time for those on the Independent benches in this House to take a damn good look at themselves and examine their consciences. The Taoiseach's conservative coalition is becoming a coalition of chaos, beholden to a rag-tag bunch of Independents for survival, and we have no confidence in it.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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This Government was formed with three clear goals: to show climate leadership, reform the health service and public services, and provide housing solutions for people.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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It is not working out.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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In the first area, namely, climate, next month we will have the first auction for offshore energy and set in place the mechanism for us to power the country securely into the future. It is working out for the tens of thousands of people who are starting to switch to the solar revolution because we changed the rules to make that viable and practical and to deliver it. In retrofitting, we are meeting our targets in improving people's homes to protect them against the high energy prices-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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No, you are not.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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-----and creating tens of thousands of jobs as we do so. In transport, we are one of the few countries to have experienced an increase in public transport above 2019 levels coming out of Covid. That is because we reduced public transport fares for those under 24 by 50% and for everyone else by 20%. We have pathfinder projects that we are now delivering throughout the country if we can get support from other parties in local government. We are delivering an electric bus service in Athlone. In Waterford last month we delivered a new sustainable bridge across the River Suir and are moving the train station so that we can create housing in the centre of Waterford. That is real. It is happening.

In agriculture, the number of people going into organic farming since the Government was formed has increased threefold. The Minister of State, Senator Hackett, has agreed a new form of forestry, with a €1.3 billion budget. The Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, is delivering on bringing back nature in this country. It is real and it is happening. It is the future and it is what we need to focus on rather than getting caught in the back and forward politics here.

In health reform, the Government showed through Covid that it can work together and be flexible and quick. We came out of Covid successfully, by any international standard. It was the Irish people who did it, but they were helped by the Government managing the way through that. We need to use that experience of how to be flexible and fast in putting in place further reforms.

What does one see across Europe at this time? In the UK, there is division, with strikes on every corner. In Germany and France, it is the same. Across Europe, governments are in disarray. What we do is we work in partnership. We work with unions, employers, and environmental and other NGOs so that pay deals are reached and we are not stuck in the same chaos that is happening in neighbouring states. We should not trip ourselves up and put ourselves into that chaotic position. This Government is functioning and working because it is working with other elements in society to deliver a secure future for people.

On housing, no one has a monopoly on the desire to house people so that our children and their children after them can raise a family safely, securely and affordably.

That instinct belongs to everyone on any side. Does the Deputy think we do not want the same?

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Government is voting to make them homeless. That is the reality.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I disagree. I say to Deputy Doherty-----

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Government is voting to make people homeless.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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-----that I see slogans-----

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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That is not a slogan; that is reality.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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-----and the politicisation of the issue, which is what Deputy Bacik said. I will give her one example of that.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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They will be homeless. That is not a slogan; it is a fact.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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In three days.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Yes, we are absolutely fixated on and determined in trying to prevent homelessness-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Do it, then.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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-----but not a single member of the Opposition this morning referred to something that was agreed last week, which is fundamental, significant and not conservative but progressive-----

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It was dodgy deals.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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-----which was the decision to put in a safety net so that we help and try to prevent that. They have not mentioned that once. It will be introduced on 1 April.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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What safety net?

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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What is the safety net?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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If Deputies are really interested in this issue and if we are really interested in protecting it-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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What safety net?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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The safety net that we decided last week that if someone is on social welfare-----

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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The Government is taking it away from them in three days.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Could I make my point? If someone is on social welfare and is at risk of being evicted, we have expanded the tenant in situprogramme so that the local authority-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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There are 30 in County Wexford.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Let me make the point, Deputy Howlin.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Through the Chair, please.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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We have expanded the funding and made sure there will be no limit to the availability for that to protect those people-----

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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There is no funding.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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There is no funding.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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-----but not just those in receipt of social welfare.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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There is not one cent of extra funding.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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We have provided additional grant funding. For some, it will mean they have the first right of refusal ahead of anyone, which is the vast majority.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Where is the legislation?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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Deputy Ó Broin might let me make my point.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Where is the legislation?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I listened to him, with respect-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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How long will the legislation take?

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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-----so he needs to listen to me.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Government should not be making people homeless in three days.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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We need bit of order in the House, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I ask Deputies to please be quiet.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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For those who want to purchase their own house, we will provide shared equity schemes to help them do that, and where they cannot afford to do that, we will have a mechanism whereby the local authority or approved housing body, AHB, purchases the property. That is new.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It does not exist yet.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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That is radical and different.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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People must go through the AHBs so it is no good.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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There are two other speakers in this slot.

Eamon Ryan (Dublin Bay South, Green Party)
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I will conclude with that. Let us not just use slogans. Let us not play politics with housing. Let us work on real solutions.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Let us not make people homeless.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Do not make people homeless. Shame on the Green Party.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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Will we just make them homeless next Christmas, just after Santa Claus.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Will Deputies please do the courtesy of listening?

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Could the Leas-Cheann Comhairle ask both sides that, in fairness?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I call the Minister, Deputy Harris.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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First, there is a complete misrepresentation being put forward by the Opposition, which is this monopoly on concern and compassion. It has been made very clear by Government. Deputies heard from the Taoiseach's speech today and from the contributions of all Ministers the options that are being put in place to support people around the time period of six months. The six months was used to provide more solutions. Solutions exist today in my county that did not exist six months ago. We should not, therefore, try to debase or reduce this debate to one about who cares more about people. That does not serve anybody. That is the worst of Punch and Judy politics.

Why are we having this debate? We are having the debate because the Labour Party decided to table a motion of no confidence in the Government, as is its right. It is a party for which I have great respect. It is a party that has positively contributed to politics and to Government. It is a party of which five of its existing seven Deputies have served in government and served in government with my own party. Sadly, today, it is choosing to try to compete with the populists and that is not a good place to be. We have come a long way from Gilmore for Taoiseach and from a party that aspired to lead a government to one that is now more concerned about its colleagues on its left and right-----

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Is the Minister going to get to the issue of homelessness at any point in this contribution?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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-----and is trying to grab anything.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Will the Minister talk about homelessness?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Ó Ríordáin has probably objected to more homes than any other member of Dáil Éireann. He has probably objected to more-----

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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No, I have not, actually.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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He probably has-----

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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The only people who have objected to social housing where I live are Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil Deputies. The Minister knows that.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Deputy Ó Ríordáin, please.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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There were 88 social housing units in Coolock objected to by Fine Gael.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I think we hit a nerve there.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Fine Gael objected to social housing in my constituency.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Ó Ríordáin is not a múinteoir anymore. He does not need to wag his finger at me.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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The Minister should talk about homelessness then. Start talking about homelessness.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Do not wag your finger at me-----

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The time is moving on.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

-----and stop objecting to homes in your constituency.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The time is running out, Minister.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

It is running out because the Leas-Cheann Comhairle is allowing my time to be taken.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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The Minister will not speak to the issue.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

There is an interchange rather than Deputies talking through the Chair. Can we speak through the Chair?

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am sorry, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle. I will talk to you directly. Sadly, we saw this last weekend when the Labour Party promised to deliver "one million homes in ten years" to tackle the housing crisis, which is a direct quote, with no ifs, no buts, no asterisks, no caveats and no detail. A few hours later, it turned out that only half of them would be new homes. Retrofitting a home is good for the climate but it is not a new house. It does not provide a new housing solution.

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Government counted new homes in-----

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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To paraphrase a former Labour Party leader, however, is that not what you say during a national conference?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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The Government counted them.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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This Government will reaffirm today that we have a majority in Dáil Éireann, and Dáil Éireann will reaffirm its confidence in this Government to get on with the job. We will continue not to reduce housing to an issue of sloganeering but actually to work night and day with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, to come at the housing challenge from all angles. This is a Government making more interventions than ever before in the history of the State, and the Deputy knows it.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank the Minister. The Minister, Deputy Michael McGrath is next.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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He cannot plead ignorance. The Deputy was in government. He knows how challenging it is.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Can we have the Minister, Deputy McGrath, uninterrupted?

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I listened for more than 20 minutes to the Opposition Deputies speaking earlier and I did not hear any new ideas. I heard no positivity. All I heard was 20 minutes of negativity, bitterness and, particularly from Sinn Féin, a personalised diatribe towards the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage which will do absolutely nothing to provide a home for a single family in this country in the weeks and months ahead.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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There has been a 56% increase in child homelessness.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The truth is this Government is now the biggest developer of housing in the State.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is not true.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We might look at the range of schemes the Minister has brought forward in the past couple of years in particular. We had the first home scheme. We have a new Croí Cónaithe scheme. He has introduced affordable purchase again in this country. We now have cost rental up and running for the first time ever. We have the Land Development Agency, LDA, on a statutory footing, on site, delivering homes in our country. We have record social housing. This Government is now building public housing at scale for the first time in a very long time in this country. We have the continuation of the help-to-buy scheme. Ireland is a very successful country. We never heard any of the Opposition Deputies say that.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I said it.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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That is evidenced by the fact our population has grown by approximately 360,000 people from the census in 2016 to 2022. Much of that has been by net inward migration. It is not the basket case Deputy Ó Broin consistently portrays it to be.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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You are the basket case, not me.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland is an attractive place where people want to come to live, work and rear a family and we never hear any acknowledgment of any of that from any Deputies on the other side of the House.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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House prices, rents and levels of homelessness are rising-----

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

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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-----and Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael's housing policy is to blame.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We have an economy in this country-----

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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It is not the IRA Army Council in here. Other people can speak.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----that is attracting people to Ireland. A record number of people are working in Ireland today. The figure is almost 2.6 million people, which is the highest number at any point in the history of our country. We have public finances that have been well-run. For the first time in our history, financial constraint is no longer the inhibitor of developing housing.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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Exactly.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The reality is that it is about capacity-----

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It is the Government that runs it.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----and that is about the hard grind of Government, land availability-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Determination

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----planning reform and ensuring we have sufficient labour in our system so that we provide the funding for housing to take place, and that we give our local authorities and approved housing bodies the capacity to deliver the homes our people need. We are absolutely committed to developing at scale, in record numbers, affordable housing-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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When?

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----cost-rental housing-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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When?

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----public housing-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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When?

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----and working with the private sector to alleviate the blockages that exist in the system to ensure we can build up the number of houses we need to meet the demands of a growing economy and growing population. This Government has a positive agenda. We will deliver and we will not bow to the incessant negativity and bitterness we hear from the Opposition.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We will go back to Sinn Féin. I appeal to all Members. There are slots for people to speak. Could we do the courtesy of listening to each other? I call an Teachta Cullinane.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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In the Taoiseach's contribution, he recited a remark that was made by the leader of the Labour Party that the Irish people are good at building things. The Irish people are good at building things. The problem for this Government is that many Irish people are building not in Ireland but in America, Australia and elsewhere-----

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

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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-----because of the policies of this Government. They have been forced to emigrate because they cannot get homes.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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More came home last year than left.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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They cannot afford homes.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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More came home last year than left.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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Far too many of them want to work and live in Ireland.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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That is misrepresentative.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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Therefore, my positive message to those people listening to this debate is that I want a Government that wants to bring those people back so they can build in this country, and build the homes that people need.

I have always said, and I believe it to be true, that Fine Gael represents a cosseted, privileged class, and it proves me right every single time. It is the party, supported by Fianna Fáil and now the Green Party, that rolled out the red carpet for institutional investors to come in and buy up tens of thousands of properties that should have been bought by Irish people. Instead, however, they were bought up by these vulture funds that are now charging extortionate rents to those very same people who cannot afford to buy their own homes. That is because Fine Gael represents the cosseted, privileged classes. We saw it with the collapse of the Celtic tiger. Who was bailed out? It certainly was not ordinary working people. They were met with vicious cuts. Every single time, when it comes to defending the interests of the elites, the golden circles or institutional investors versus those of ordinary working people, we know what side Fine Gael is on and we know what side Fianna Fáil is on.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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It takes some brass neck for the Government to say that it has turned the corner on housing and that its policies are working. Let us examine the facts. House prices are up and have been rising all of the time. Rents are up and have been rising under the Government's watch, month on month and year on year. Homelessness is up month on month and year on year under the Government's watch. It cannot blame the Opposition for that. It cannot blame Sinn Féin or anybody else for its failures. What the Government has overseen are record levels of homelessness and increased house prices and rents. Let us also look at the targets the Government set. I refer not to the more ambitious targets we would have wanted it to deliver, but to its social and affordable housing targets. The Government has missed every single one of them. The Minister for Finance, Deputy Michael McGrath, is wrong to say that biggest developer here is the State. The private sector built more homes than the State did. Many of the social and affordable homes being spoken about were purchased from the private sector. This Government has failed abysmally.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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Some of those in government have talked about how we should not equate a notice to quit with an eviction. That fails to understand the human consequences of what happens when a family, many of whom have been in my office, gets the letter in the door, the phone call or the email to say that there is a notice to quit. The first thing they have to do is find alternative accommodation. That the stress and anxiety this causes for families is enormous. One lady, her name is Eleanor, sent me an email yesterday. She has three children. She is faced with a notice to quit. She is asking me to help. She is begging and crying, like many families have been. I am sure everybody in this House has experienced similar. I know and she knows that it is a lottery when it comes to trying to find accommodation. Some people will find it, but many will not. The Government still has not answered the question as to where many of those families will go. We simply do not have enough homes. Everybody is fishing in the same pond in the private rented sector because we do not have enough social and affordable homes. To say there are alternatives for all of the families being served with notices to quit is absolutely wrong.

The Government claims that Sinn Féin's housing policies are populist. It is wrong. They are practical, realistic and deliverable.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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We have called for 20,000 public, social and affordable homes to be built. That is realistic, practical and deliverable.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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We told the Government that it should be building public houses on public land. It ignored us. There is a report from the Land Development Agency which states that 60,000 homes could and should have been built. However, the Government did not do that. It did not do it because it failed. We were again proven right that public homes could and should have been built on public land. Our other policies include a ban on rent increases for three years, putting one month's rent back into the pockets of renters and embarking on the biggest social and affordable housing programme the State has ever seen. That is what Sinn Féin would do. What we will not do is evict people. What we will not do is see people who are desperately trying to find alternative accommodation over the next number of months being left homeless. As already stated, we would embark on the biggest social and affordable housing programme the State has ever seen.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The Deputy is over time. I am moving on.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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What people really need is this Government gone, a general election and a Government led by Sinn Féin.

Mairead Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I call Deputy Holly Cairns, who is to speak uninterrupted.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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This is the second vote of no confidence in the Government on the subject of housing in the past three months. In December there was a motion of no confidence in the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. Today there is a motion of no confidence in the Government. Both motions are inextricably linked to the housing disaster. Even if the Government survives the vote on this occasion, I expect there will be more motions of no confidence. Time is running out for the Government. The people it has failed on housing have had enough. They lost confidence a long time ago and it is not coming back. They have no confidence in the Government's ability to solve the housing disaster. They have no confidence in its plans and no confidence in its promises. They no longer even have confidence in its presentation of information, because every day we hear the same attempts to spin failure into success. Somehow weakness becomes tenacity. Delay becomes urgency. Defeat becomes victory. We saw the usual gaslighting again yesterday. Despite the Land Development Agency's failure to deliver a single home on State land in five years, the Taoiseach told me this would not have any impact on its overall targets. In fact, he stated that he is confident the agency will exceed its target. That target is 150,000 homes, and five years of the 20-year deadline have already elapsed. The Taoiseach expects us to believe that the Land Development Agency is sufficiently resourced and empowered to deliver more than 150,000 homes in 15 years. Is there anyone, even on the Government benches, who actually believes that? Does the Government expect the public to believe it? This is not a game, and everyone in here should stop for a moment and imagine what it is like for people looking at eviction to watch the shouting going on here this morning. It is not some kind of cheap three-card trick that can be played on people who are desperately looking for a home. They need more than sleights of hand or ever moving targets. The number of people enduring housing distress is growing every day. The impact this crisis is having on people's physical and mental health is absolutely devastating. Children are missing developmental targets as they grown up in emergency accommodation. The lives of adults in their 20s and 30s are on permanent hold because they cannot even move out of their childhood bedrooms. Once happy relationships are breaking down under the strain of housing insecurity. The stress of living with constant housing anxiety and fear for the future is debilitating and exhausting. More and more people are experiencing this trauma. There is no end in sight, and no hope for so many. We already have record numbers of people who are homeless. There are 11,754 people, including almost 3,500 children living in emergency accommodation now. That is a national scandal. However, we know that the official figures are a significant underestimate of the extent of the crisis. In reality, the situation is a lot worse. There are thousands more people who are sofa surfing, sleeping in their cars, or staying in overcrowded box rooms in their relatives' homes. I watched "Prime Time" recently. At just one viewing of one rental property on one day in Dublin, a reporter met two men who had been holding down jobs since last year while sleeping in their cars, one young mother who had been sleeping on friends’ couches for nearly a year and a mother whose entire family was about to be evicted as soon as the eviction ban is lifted. This nightmare situation is replicated across the capital and across the country.

This is why the Social Democrats have implored the government not to lift the eviction ban. It needs to just look around and see what is already happening. Why would it do something it is sure is going to make the situation significantly worse? Why would any Irish government vote to increase homelessness? The eviction ban is the only protection left that is stopping people from becoming homeless. However, the Government evidently does not seem to care. It is determined to plough on regardless, no matter what the cost in human misery and suffering. To add insult to injury, last week it announced some half-baked schemes which it optimistically described as a safety net for renters. This is just more gaslighting. None of these measures are in place. It is doubtful that some ever will be. Does anyone in government actually know how a safety net works? It is supposed to be in place before you fall. That part is critical. If it is not, and it does not catch you, then its functionally useless – like most of the Government’s so-called mitigation measures. The Green Party deserves special mention here. They have justified their support for lifting the eviction ban by stating tenants will soon have a first right of refusal to buy their home when the landlord sells it. Any such scheme would require legislation. That is something the Green Party leader seemed confused about after it had been announced. We have no idea when that legislation is likely to be published. Even if the legislation did exist, most tenants would not have a hope of being able to afford their rental homes.

In this instance, the Green Party did not seem to know house prices are at record highs. The decision of the Green Party is a Marie Antoinette moment. Let them eat cake is not the solution when the masses cannot even afford bread.

There are solutions to this crisis the Government could adopt if it were actually interested in addressing this disaster. There are more than 16,000 properties in the short-term letting sector, many of which would move to the long-term rental market if the existing regulations were enforced.

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

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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There are tens of thousands of vacant homes in the country that would come back into use with an effective vacant home tax.

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

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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Crucially, we need to build State homes on State lands. Enough is enough.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy's party opposed the establishment of the Land Development Agency.

Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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The Social Democrats have no confidence in the Government.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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We are over time. Ar ais go dtí an Rialtas. There are four speakers and I ask for their co-operation. The first is the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Simon Coveney. The Minister has four minutes.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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I am happy to speak in support of the motion of confidence in the Government. I respect that Opposition parties have a job to do to hold the Government to account. In truth, however, the putting down of a motion of no confidence in the Government by the Labour Party seems to me to be far more out about competition and headlines among Opposition parties than anything else. It comes in the week of the Labour Party conference and at a time the party continues to struggle for relevance and in the polls. I have a lot of respect for the Labour Party, as have others on this side of the House, but this is not a good direction for it to travel.

The Government is cohesive and united in the face of multiple challenges. In the context of this motion of no confidence, if we judge how this country is being governed and how we are seen from the outside, we are in a much better place than we often give ourselves credit for in this Chamber. Internationally, Ireland is seen as a progressive, stable country delivering economic growth and opportunity in the face of international turmoil and disruption. Companies want to come here and continue to come here in their droves. People want to live here. Our population is growing at a far faster pace than anybody could have predicted. That excludes the 90,000 or so people who have come here in the past 12 months seeking international protection. On virtually every international benchmark or measurement of quality of life, we continue to score well, including on life expectancy, progressive budgets, competitiveness, the qualify of life index, productivity, employment growth, youth employment, population growth, export growth, income per capita, the numbers attending third level education, consumer spending and wage inflation. The list goes on.

This country is far from perfect but our ability to weather storms, including Brexit, the Covid pandemic, inflation and the cost-of-living crisis, has been tested to the limits in recent years, and we have done okay. I am the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Today, we have the highest number of people employed in the history of our State, at just under 2.6 million. Employment growth last year was almost 70,000, and that growth took place in every county. Employment outside of Dublin grew by nearly 62,000 last year. Our economy is driven by record exports. Last year, despite the war in Ukraine, inflationary pressures and ongoing Covid disruption to supply chains, exports increased by €42 billion, or 26%, in one year.

This is not happening by accident. It is because of the solid and consistent pro-enterprise policies the Government parties continue to build on, while Opposition voices continue to take economic growth and revenue streams for granted. The reason this debate needs a voice highlighting our economic and enterprise growth is that without that economic strength, the challenges we need to overcome as a Parliament and a Government cannot be achieved. The Government has a proven track record in generating wealth, which we can now use to solve many of the social challenges we must take on.

I use the 30 seconds remaining to me to refer to housing. The Opposition parties have no monopoly of compassion on this issue. The fact there are nearly 12,000 people homeless today and in emergency accommodation, including nearly 3,500 children, is a scandal. It is a scandal we want to take on upfront, but with honesty rather than with slogans and populism. This is the hard work and complexity of being in government, which the Labour Party should understand a lot better than it is showing it does by putting down a motion of no confidence this week.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Throughout the past two and a half years, this coalition Government has faced a confluence of crises and challenges never seen before. They included a pandemic that closed the country down, a cost-of-living crisis fuelled by inflation and a war on the footsteps of our Continent that threatens world peace. At each juncture, the Government has not been found wanting in responding to the needs of communities, families and businesses.

My Department supported tourism throughout the Covid-19 pandemic with generous grants and funding. We are providing 2,000 artists with a weekly income of €325 as part of our landmark basic income for the arts pilot. Another groundbreaking measure is the move to reduce harmful online content and make our children safer online, with a new online safety commissioner and the regulation of online services. The new regulator is now up and running, with real powers to sanction and targeted interventions to end the era of self-regulation.

The Government has also addressed the spiralling cost of living for communities. The Green Party in government secured a 25% average reduction in childcare costs. We introduced energy supports for businesses and households, kept VAT low for the tourism sector and targeted those most vulnerable and in need of help.

Further ways to protect the environment, the nature around us and our own future have also been progressed by this coalition Government. Crucially, we passed legally binding climate laws to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. We added further onshore generation in 2022 that is already powering 350,000 homes per annum. The planning for seven large offshore wind farms has begun. The Government is on track to deliver more renewable energy than have all previous Governments. The Green Party in government secured a sixfold increase in investment in cycling and water infrastructure, resulting in a significant number of new greenways and cycle lanes. There has been a 20% cut in public transport fares and a further 50% cut for young people, which was the first such reduction in almost three quarters of a century.

I have progressed new cultural, sports and Irish language supports. Agus mé i m'Aire Turasóireachta, Cultúir, Ealaíon, Gaeltachta, Spóirt agus Meán, is é an rud is tábhachtaí dom ná cluas a thabhairt ar riachtanais na teanga sna ceantair Ghaeltachta agus fud fad na hÉireann. Sa cháinaisnéis i mbliana, tá leithdháileadh suntasach speisialta tugtha do TG4 ar mhaithe le cainéal úrnua do pháistí amháin a chur ar fáil. Beidh an cainéal nua seo seolta i mbliana. Feictear dom go bhfuil dualgas orm, ní hamháin mar Aire, ach mar thuismitheoir, an Ghaeilge a chaomhnú do pháistí na tíre.

I have ensured, following the Covid crisis, that new life is injected back into our nighttime culture through later openings, more diverse offerings and cross-Department reforms of the antiquated alcohol licensing system.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I thank the Minister. We are over time.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I have full confidence in the Government. Its work must be allowed to continue. Tá mo thacaíocht agus mo mhuinín ag an Rialtas.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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There are myriad reasons I am proud to vote confidence in the Government. I will use my speaking time to outline briefly some of those reasons in my area of education. Simply put, the Government has progressed landmark reforms and investment in the education sector. All of them have been chosen to create the best possible opportunities and experiences for our children and young people, as well as to support the excellent staff working in the sector.

Budget 2023 provided for an unprecedented investment in education of almost €10 billion. This funding has enabled the largest ever investment in special education, an area that now has 40,000 dedicated professionals working in it, supporting students across more than 2,500 special classes in the mainstream system and in 128 special schools.

A new free schoolbook scheme for all primary and special schools has been initiated by the Government. This is truly a landmark moment in Irish education and one that will provide significant relief to working families across the country. Overall, this initiative alone will benefit more than 540,000 students and their families.

In three successive budgets, the pupil-teacher ratio at primary level has been reduced, bringing it to an historic low of 23:1. As a teacher, I know the value of smaller classes and have been committed to making this happen. In every year in which I have presided as Minister, our primary students have benefited from smaller classes and more individualised access to their teachers. A further reduction of the ratio has also been achieved in DEIS urban band one schools, thereby ensuring schools with the greatest concentration of disadvantage have been able to access additional teaching resources.

The DEIS initiative is a flagship programme to tackle educational disadvantage. The Government has provided for the largest ever expansion of the programme, which means one in four of our students now benefit from DEIS supports. In terms of wider student supports, it is important to note that a pilot programme for the delivery of counselling provision to primary school students is being rolled out this year.

What of curricular advancements? There is no doubt that the Irish education system is one of world-class learners, thinkers and doers. That has been key to Ireland's development as a society and an economy.

Of course, the Ireland of today looks significantly different from that of 100 years ago. We must move with these changes. It is for this reason that we have invested in curricular redevelopment in order to ensure that Irish schoolchildren and young people continue to develop the skills knowledge and attitudes they need to thrive in the 21st century. In recent weeks, the first ever primary curriculum framework was launched. Senior cycle review and reform was also launched. The past two years alone have seen positive, purposeful and proactive developments and initiatives in education. I assure the House that much more is to come.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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Everyone in this House is honest and mature enough to recognise that the housing crisis is a complex social and political issue. It will not be resolved-----

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Overnight.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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-----through motions of no confidence in the Government. It will not be resolved by politicians making unbelievable promises. It will not be resolved-----

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Five Ministers for Housing. The Deputy is the fifth.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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-----by doing what politicians are great at doing, which is describing the problem. It is also wrong to suggest that some politicians in this House are more morally virtuous than others.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Deputy Jim O'Callaghan turned down the chance to become a Minister.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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Emotion and empathy are significant in politics, but we cannot allow politics to be dominated by emotion and empathy. They play an important role but cannot dominate our discussions. The only way this issue will be resolved is by putting forward a plan and increasing the supply of housing has to be at the centre of any plan. The Government has a plan. It is called Housing for All. People in the House may not like it or may not think it is ambitious or radical enough, but the one great advantage people in this House have as opposed to people outside the House is that they can put forward legislative proposals.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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We do, all the time.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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There is an obligation on parties that think we are not doing enough in the context of Housing for All to bring forward their own legislative proposals-----

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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We do.

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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-----in this House. Otherwise, Housing for All is the only plan available.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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It is the Government's figures

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Time is running. I will move back to Sinn Féin. I appeal to Deputies to do others the courtesy of listening.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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The root cause of this debate is the Government's decision to remove the only protection against homelessness that is in place. The eviction ban was put in place to protect renters due to the scale of the housing crisis that successive Governments have created. In the run-up to today's debate, several constituents contacted me to implore me to vote no confidence in the Government. I told them I have not had confidence in the Government since the day it came into office because I look at the facts and because I see my constituents in my constituency offices. They tell me what is happening. They tell me what life is like for them under the Government. How could anyone have confidence in a Government that knows exactly what the right thing to do to protect people is but that consistently does the wrong thing and makes people suffer? There is almost a premeditation in what the Government is doing.

Earlier this month, the Sunday Independentreported that the Government feared an extension of the eviction ban would lead to a dramatic increase in homeless numbers close to the holding of the European and local elections next year and that there was a political motivation behind its decision to end the ban this month.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Rubbish.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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We see what it is doing. The Government accuses others of playing politics. We see what it is doing. The people it is playing politics with are those who are facing eviction. Some 4,700 households have eviction notices that are due to come into effect in April. That is who the Government is playing politics with. We see what the Government is doing; we know what is going on.

The reality is that homeless services are massively overburdened. Housing supply has not increased and the cliff edge that is facing many tenants is adding huge pressure. The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment spoke about enterprise and business. IBEC and Chambers Ireland, hardly bastions of left-wing ideology, will tell the Minister that the Government's housing crisis is now inhibiting the ability of businesses to recruit and retain staff. The Government should talk to principals in schools. Teaching used to be a good job. Teachers used to be able to afford to pay their rent. We cannot get teachers now. Does the Government know where they are? They are in Australia. They have been forced out of this country by the Government and its housing policies.

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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More Irish people came home than left last year. The Deputy should stick to the facts.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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Deputy Jim O'Callaghan stated that the crisis cannot be solved overnight. Fine Gael has been in government for 12 years. It has had more than 4,000 overnights. How many more overnights will it take? We need a change of Government, a change of approach because what the Government is doing is not working. I do not know whose interests it is serving, but it is not serving the interests of my constituents or of families. All the latter want is the chance to have stable and secure homes from which they can build their lives. This should not be too much to ask, and yet the Government finds itself incapable of addressing their concerns and of providing people with a safe or secure roof over their heads.

I do not know if anyone on the Government benches has ever been evicted.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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Yes.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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It is absolutely horrible to have to hand your keys back to someone and have to walk away from the place you thought you might be able to build your family. It is awful. Those in government speaks about safety nets. They have not got a clue. To have that safety net taken away - a safe, secure stable place to live; a place your children can call home - is soul destroying. I say to people who will be evicted - and people will be evicted in the next month - that the shame is not theirs, it belongs to the Government. It is doing this. It has a choice. We have tabled legislation. The Government can support that legislation. It has a choice, and it is turning its back on those people.

I want to say something to the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, and the Minister of State. The Minister of State and I live in the same town. We have a neighbour who is a widow. She has four children. She will be evicted on 15 May. I ask Deputy Joe O'Brien where she will go. He used to work in homelessness services. He knows how bad it is. Where will she go? Will she go into emergency accommodation and put her kids on the bus every morning coming from town out to Skerries? Is that what she is supposed to do. Will she go into a hostel? Where will she go? She is Deputy Joe O'Brien's neighbour. She is my neighbour. She is one of the Minister's constituents. Where will she go? She is a widow with four children. The Government does not have any answers and unless Deputies have an answer for that woman, they must vote no confidence in this Government and support the Sinn Féin legislation to extend the only bloody safety net that exists for these people.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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No matter how much the Government tries to spin it, this debate is happening because it has made the cruel and cold-hearted decision to allow thousands of people to be evicted from next Saturday. That includes workers, pensioners, sick people, women and - worst of all - children. Does the Government honestly believe that any child deserves to be evicted into homelessness? More than 4,000 children are homeless now, because it allowed them and their families to be evicted and thousands more will be evicted if this ban is lifted. It is absolutely immoral. The Government's narrative is that it will evict people in order to save them. It will actually be better for people if we allow them to be evicted into homelessness when there is nowhere to go. The fear, the trauma, the anxiety and the damage that is done to the mental well-being of those children and their families is shocking and for many of them it will be life-long. The Government is allowing that to happen and saying that it is somehow justified.

The Government then tries to blame the Opposition for populism, as the Government calls it. The responsibility for the beginning, middle and end of the housing disaster we are facing lies with Governments led by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. I say to Deputy Jim O'Callaghan that the reason for all of this is quite simple. It was due to the decision to stop building local authority housing and outsource it to private landlords and the simultaneous decision to set up the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, and nationalise all the building land and sell it off - €40 billion worth of it - to vulture and cuckoo funds that are now charging extortionate rents and making a fortune from the housing misery of those children, those families, those working people.

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

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I have not finished yet.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Unfortunately, the time is up.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I was not over my time, but I will stop anyway.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I stopped the Deputy precisely on time.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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In an hour and a half or so, we know what is likely to happen. A landlords' Dáil will vote confidence in a landlords' Government. The consequence is that thousands of families will receive eviction notices in the coming months. My message is to those people. Do not leave your home if you have nowhere to go. Do not make yourself homeless. Threshold stated yesterday that more than half of all notices to quit it sees are invalid. Wait until your notice period is almost up and then appeal to the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB. If it is invalid, the landlord will have to reissue the eviction notice, giving you the full notice period again. Even if the eviction notice is valid, you should still not leave your home if you have nowhere to go. You should contact the tenants' union, Community Action Tenants Union, CATU, and your local People Before Profit representative. You should inform your landlord that you will not be leaving because you have nowhere to go. You should continue to pay your rent. Your landlord cannot legally just physically throw you out. He or she must go through the District Court and obtain an enforcement order to get you out. That will likely take at least six months. When you go before a judge, it is quite likely you will get an extension of another six months. Even the Taoiseach, Deputy Varadkar, said the other day that judges are unlikely to grant enforcement orders.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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That is the point.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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The simple message to people is refuse to allow this landlords' Government to make you homeless. It will rule in the interests of landlords; that is what it does. If people stand together, get organised together as communities and as tenants and if they mobilise this Saturday at 1 p.m. in front of the Dáil to evict this Government instead of evicting renters, we can stand together and beat this Government.

Barry Cowen (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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March into office.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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There are some things in life you do not really recover from. Will Smith was the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and went on to star in some decent movies but he is probably not going to be remembered for any of that. Instead, he will probably be remembered as the guy who charged onto the stage at the Oscars ceremony and socked the presenter on the jaw in front of millions of people. Governments are a bit like people in that way. People do not pay too much attention when governments are sweating the small stuff. They tend to remember the big and dramatic moments. This Government has had several big dramatic moments. The one the Government will be most remembered for is its mishandling of the housing crisis. Now is its Will Smith moment, the sheer unadulterated fecking madness of ending this eviction ban.

Of course, this Government was always on the side of the landlords and the rich. It was never on the side of renters, working people or the young. I would have voted no confidence last year, last month and last week. I will be voting no confidence today. Evict this Government, not the renters.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I have sat here since 9.12 a.m. and listened to most of the Opposition contributions. There has been nothing new. There has been no new policy.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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That is not true.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I think Deputy Barry has in probably the best way just explained and given an example of the simple sloganeering and vitriol that has been the main part of this debate today. I wish to turn to the facts, which are that everyone on these Government benches, and I assume everyone in this House, wants to do their level best to tackle the housing crisis. I say that as the Minister responsible for housing. There is no lack of compassion on this side of the House, yet the Opposition has tried to paint it as such. That is shameful and disgraceful.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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What is shameful is the Government's decision.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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We will not be diverted from the job we have to do because we have a responsibility as the elected Government of this country to make real strides in housing. I refer to some facts which some will not like. In the first year of Housing for All, 30,000 new homes were delivered, which is indisputable. There are more new social homes than since 1975, which is also indisputable. Affordable homes are available to purchase through local authorities for the first time in a generation, with thousands more to come and approved. Some 42 schemes have been approved across the country already. There are State-backed affordable rents - cost rentals - for the first time ever, which were opposed by the Social Democrats. There is more than €4 billion in annual investment by the State in housing. We published our plan, which is there for everyone to see. We financed it and we are implementing it. There is nothing comparable to that. It is about delivery and supply.

Deputy O'Reilly put forward her views, which she is perfectly entitled to do. On the ground in Fingal, her Sinn Féin party colleague, a councillor, opposed 1,200 new homes in Donabate, 253 of which were social-----

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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She did not.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is not true. The Minister is misleading the House.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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-----and 253 affordable homes in Ballymastone, Donabate. That is replicated across the country. I am used to that by Sinn Féin, the party of objectors. I have a lot of regard for our Labour Party colleagues and have found them constructive in the main in the past-----

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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But-----

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome Deputy Sherlock. The Labour Party should not go down that road. Deputy Bacik's claim that the Labour Party will deliver 1 million new homes over ten years and to then say they are retrofitted or refurbished homes is something people will see through. The Labour Party should not go down the road that their colleagues in Sinn Féin have.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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They are the Government's figures. It is a scale of ambition.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Time and again, Sinn Féin, ably supported by the Social Democrats-----

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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Build homes is what we will do.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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-----will oppose every single measure this Government takes.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is not true.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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To give an example for the serial objector and interrupter Deputy Ó Broin-----

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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Somebody has to put the facts on the record of the Dáil.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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-----every measure for first-time buyers, such as the help to buy grant of €30,000, which has been availed of by 37,000 households, has been opposed.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It pushes up house prices.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The first homes scheme, which has helped more first-time buyers since 2014 - some 1,200 already in eight months - was also opposed by Deputy Ó Broin. Inexplicably, Deputy Ó Broin and his party opposed grants of up to €50,000 to bring vacant homes back into use, which the Labour Party said it wants to do.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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That is not true.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Those are the facts and the Deputy does not like them. I say to Deputy O'Reilly to stop objecting to housing in Fingal.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister should not wag his finger at me. Where is the widow with four kids going on 15 May? The Minister has no answer.

Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister should answer the question.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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I remember when the Labour Party used to stand for something. Once upon a time, the Labour Party would have been in a Government like this and putting its stamp on it. It was a party of principle as opposed to a party of opportunism.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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That is patronising.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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We still are.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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These days, the only thing the Labour Party puts stamps on are the envelopes for the planning objections it loves lodging, opposing housing and apartments to purchase and rent, many of which are on publicly-owned land.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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The Deputy will get an extra merit for that zinger.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I am disappointed.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Fine Gael has objected to 12,000 houses since 2019.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Once upon a time, the Labour Party would be advocating for more housing to be built across the length and breadth of this country and it would be ashamed to object to housing. It had principles.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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This is unbelievable.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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When queried about these objections, it cites proper planning by way of excuse.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Has the Deputy ever met Catherine Noone? She hates social housing.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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It says not this height, not that height, not in this place, not in that place, too much traffic here, not enough parking here. Voltaire had it right, Le mieux est l'ennemi du bien. Perfect is the enemy of good.

Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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How many houses did he build?

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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We are a long way from Galway now.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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We need good housing for everyone, not perfect housing where everyone agrees on the height, density, colour scheme or the right number of parking spaces. I would like the Opposition to be honest with people today and admit it is stopping and stalling thousands of homes across the country.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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The Deputy should look around her and talk to her colleagues.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The housing objections from the Opposition are denying people a place to live in, which is an indisputable fact.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Only Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael object to social housing.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The Opposition should be honest and admit it is part of the problem.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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No.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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We in government, on the other hand, are investing in all types of housing in every county.

The 2023 €4 billion housing budget has been welcome by experts in this area, such as the Irish Council for Social Housing. One never hears the Opposition mention that. The fact is that Labour is playing politics with housing, as is Sinn Féin. They object to homes and then march in here and put down a no-confidence motion in the Government, because the very same houses they objected to are not being built.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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They are not being built because there is an eviction ban.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Labour and the Opposition waste valuable Dáil time, week after week, never offering realistic solutions to housing-----

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Rubbish.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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-----or setting out-----

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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We have put forward many solutions.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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-----how they would even implement them, as effective Opposition parties would.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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Who wrote that for the Minister of State?

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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Instead, they force votes they do not even want to win.

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Yes, it does.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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The party of James Connolly, Brendan Corish and Michael O'Leary understood the importance-----

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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You are welcome to have Michael O'Leary.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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-----and necessity of building homes for workers and families-----

Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin Bay North, Labour)
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Keep Michael O'Leary.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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-----of all incomes, something the Labour Party of 2023 appears to have forgotten.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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In fairness.

Hildegarde Naughton (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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There was a time when the Labour Party would have been ashamed to pull a stunt such as this.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Does the Minister of State do her research on Wikipedia?

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I will speak about the work being done in my Department since this Government took office in 2020 and why I have confidence in this Government. We are making significant strides across all areas of the Department, responding to major challenges throughout. We are in the midst of the largest humanitarian crisis the State has ever faced and one year into the war it is easy to forget that. However, since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, my Department has accommodated more than 80,000 people, coming from a base where we were accommodating 8,000. We are still facing very real challenges, but when we look back on the war and the upheaval in Ukraine, in Afghanistan and elsewhere, as a country, we will be able to say we met our obligations and lived our values.

As a Green Party Minister in this Government, I have prioritised supports for our youngest citizens. We are now investing more than €1 billion per year in childcare, four to five years ahead of a target set by previous Governments. We have increased pay for childcare staff and investment in childcare services, doubled the number of children accessing the national childcare scheme and, at the same time, we have substantially decreased the cost of childcare for parents.

We are delivering on equality. Later this evening, the Dáil will vote on the final stages of the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, providing parents with more time with their children, more flexible working options and more leave for medical emergencies and crucially, the Bill will make Ireland one of the first countries in Europe to introduce a statutory entitlement to paid domestic violence leave.

I know the housing situation remains profoundly difficult, but progress is being made. Housing completions are up 40% on 2019. We are providing more social homes than any Government in decades and we are delivering on a long-time Green Party policy of cost rental, which will provide a completely new model of affordable rental to thousands.

Much has been done in the past three years. Adopted people finally have a right of access to their birth certificates. Mams and dads have the right to an extra five weeks paid parent's leave and we have halved public transport costs for young people. This is why I will be voting confidence in this Government.

Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
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At the start of this Government's term of office, we faced one of the biggest employment crises in the history of this State and yet, at this point in the Government's term in office, we have record employment, higher than at the beginning of the pandemic and across every region of the country. Our fantastic team in the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, with regard to public servants and agencies, and our local enterprise agencies, LEOs, have worked incredibly hard with our enterprise community, to ensure that job security and success. By their sacrifice and work, we have the ability with their revenues, to invest in public service in a way we have not been able to do before. The Government's policies for enterprise have ensured that we have got our enterprise community through the challenges of Brexit, the pandemic, Ukraine and its impact, and allowed its creativity to be supported and flourish.

That is the same kind of focus that is going into the Housing for All plan of our colleague, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, which delivered on 30,000 houses and the highest number of social houses in 2022 in 40 years. It demonstrates the momentum and pace of progress. The plan is costed and realistic. It is not slogans or shouting down. Tá sé tábhachtach. Tá an Rialtas seo ag obair. Tá na figiúirí ann, is iad sin, na figiúirí fostaíochta agus tithíochta agus léiríonn siad go bhfuil an plean ag obair. Níl plean ag an bhFreasúra. Níl sé in ann aontú le chéile ar phlean. Tá sé tábhachtach go leanann an Rialtas seo ar aghaidh leis an obair thábhachtach atá á déanamh againn agus leis an obair atá ag obair, mar gheall ar na figiúirí.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The headlines in our national newspapers six years ago, at the start of January 2017, read, "I'm not crazy - I will end homeless families living in hostels". That was from the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, at that time, when we had the scandal of 7,000 people homeless breaking new records. He told us he would end families living in hostels in six months. Today, we have 11,754 people homeless, many of them in hostels, bed and breakfasts and hotels. More than 1,000 additional children are now homeless, compared to the time when the Minister, Deputy Coveney, made his statement. While the Minister may not be crazy, it is very clear that this Government, just like its predecessor, is deluded. The Government is deluded in the fact it thinks it is turning a corner, time and gain, in the housing crisis, when we see the evidence in every single community throughout the State that this Government is failing spectacularly.

The Minister speaks here about targets, but he does not make the point that he has missed, not only the social and affordable targets this year, but every single year since he took office. He is the Minister for failure in meeting the targets. That is the reality.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The pandemic does not matter, no?

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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If we are to measure the success of this Government on the issue of homelessness, we need to deal with it in truth and reality. Let us deal with the fact the Government does not want to talk about, that is, the fact it is taking a decision that in three days' time - in just a handful of hours - people are facing the eviction notice they have received being activated. I listened to some of the Minister's Government colleagues debating on national radio, including one with my colleague, Deputy Gould, who said he did not want to talk about the micro; let us talk about the macro. However, the micro is what really matters here, because the micro is the people the Government has decided to evict in three days' time. It is the mother with the four children,who does not know where she is going to go. It is the cancer patient who does not know which type of emergency accommodation she will get. It is the family in my own constituency, with children with autism, that is looking at their lives' being upended. The pattern they have had in their home for many years is now being thrown into disarray, not knowing where they will live and not knowing if the council can provide emergency accommodation. The micro matters. The Government is handing the eviction notice to each and every one of them. It is the family Deputy Gould talked about. It is somebody on stage 4 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, who cannot walk unassisted and faces homelessness. It is the 86-year-old mother from Kerry who is full of anxiety and does not know if she will be in emergency accommodation in the next number of days. It is the newborn child in Cork and her mother, who is full of anxiety, because she has an eviction notice that will be activated in a number of days and the council cannot guarantee emergency accommodation.

I have sat here. I have looked at colleagues, Government Ministers, across the aisle and they have been laughing and joking-----

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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That is not true.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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That is not true.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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-----but I will tell them something, in every single one of those families that face an eviction notice------

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy is wrong.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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-----there is no laughter or jokes in their household. They are riddled with anxiety and concern and begging and pleading that the vote that takes place later tonight to extend the eviction ban is one that sees sense.

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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A video clip is what the Deputy wants.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Government does not wish to hear the truth, but the reality is it is in the Minister's constituency as well, because the housing disaster the Government has created has gone into every single constituency, parish and community. That is the reality.

Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail)
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Keep objecting.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Government's own Minister has acknowledged the decision he and the Cabinet have taken and the decision the Government voted for, with the support of a handful of Independents, will increase homelessness. However, it is not just figures we need to be talking about. It is not just the 11,754 who are homeless, and the 3,451 people, but all of the additional people the Minister will make homeless. We put it to the Tánaiste last week about a family who was told to go to the Garda station, because that was the only security that could be got. He was shouting across the Chamber that they were sorted. They were sorted, because Deputy Ward was able to find emergency accommodation.

They were sorted in bed and breakfast accommodation. What type of decency does the Government believe in if it thinks that families in bed and breakfast accommodation in this year of 2023 is right? Do the right thing. Vote to extend the eviction ban. I have no confidence in Darragh O'Brien. The public has no confidence in Darragh O'Brien, and why would they? He is the Minister for homelessness. I will be voting no confidence in this Government.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Brilliant stuff Pearse.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The truth hurts, Darragh.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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He is not concerned about them.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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Can we move on, please? Teachta Tóibín is next and he has five minutes.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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