Aontaím go bhfuil géarghá ann le faoiseamh a thabhairt do theaghlaigh agus do leanaí atá gan faoiseamh tithíochta, go háirithe leanaí le riachtanais speisialta. Táimid ag déanamh gach aon iarracht na seirbhísí a chur ar fáil. Ní ceist áiseanna í seo. Ní ceist tacaíochta í. Tá na háiseanna ann. Tá an t-airgead ann. Is éard atá in easnamh ná na foirne a chur ar fáil agus na daoine a mhealladh isteach sna seirbhísí chun oibriú sna hionaid fhaoisimh seo.

I am fully aware of the situation in respect of Carrigaline Community Special School in Cork and respite services across the county. I would have met with the parents of Carrigaline Community Special School, which is a recently established school and the first of its kind under the ETB in the Cork area given a previous absence. I was involved in asking the ETB to come on to the scene to provide special education. This along with traditional providers is something we should welcome.

School patronage should not determine the availability of respite care for any child. All providers have service-level contracts with the HSE. In my view, those service-level contracts do not differentiate or in no way should be used to say that because you go to one particular school, you cannot avail of respite services provided by a provider. The children in a given disability area must be treated equally when it comes to the provision of services. The HSE confirmed to me that this is the case. It cannot just be about traditional practice. That would be a concern of mine having met the parents - that it is their view that because their children attend an ETB school, they do not have the right to respite services provided by traditional providers. The HSE will meet with all providers to make sure that is not the case. That is not the Government's position.

As the Deputy said, some services are suspended. The ten beds to which he referred are not operational because of staffing issues but my understanding is the HSE has not rejected the Minister of State's proposal that a combination of permanent staff along with agency staff be used to operationalise those beds. I believe the local HSE is working to try to create alternatives or models to see if we can operationalise those beds or provide respite to children in the area and likewise across the country. It is not a question of funding. The capital is there and will be there to provide additional respite facilities for children in addition to therapies. Other forms of provision will be utilised to attend to and provide for the needs of children with special needs.

I understand the anxiety of the parents involved. Many of those parents had anxiety two years ago about getting school places. At the time, we worked with the NCSE to establish new schools. We are working to make sure there is adequate therapy provision. If one form does not work in terms of the traditional way of recruiting therapists, we will have to look at other ways because we must look after the child and the families. That should be uppermost in all our concerns and it is in mine and that of the Government.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Every year, resources have been increased and expanded, and correctly so, in respect of special needs and the families to whom Deputy Doherty referred and whom I have met. There is not a Deputy in the House who has not met families in situations such as this. Staffing is now the issue. I refer here to the recruitment of staff. The funding is there to recruit staff to these services and facilities, and funding will continue to be provided and it will be expanded. In the forthcoming Estimates, there will be additional funding for disabilities generally and for children with special needs in particular. The focus of the HSE and the providers is to do everything possible to recruit staff and provide a service that is without discrimination, in the context of whatever school a child attends, and that provides the respite care, physiotherapy, speech and language and neurorehabilitation that children may require. That is the approach. We are working with the HSE to make sure it can achieve the capacity that is required to open these beds.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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Yesterday came more bad news for those who work in the tech sector with the announcement that there will be almost 500 job losses at Meta's operation here in Ireland. Wen mortgages and rents are at an all-time high and the cost of everyday basics continues to rise, this is very difficult news for all those affected, many in my constituency of Dublin Bay South. I express my solidarity and that of my Labour Party colleagues with all of those who are once again in the dark as to whether they will continue have jobs in a few months' time.

Along with the cuts previously announced, it now seems that 20% of Meta's total workforce in Ireland is likely to be made redundant. That is a significant proportion. The Tánaiste knows that this forms a pattern in the sector. We are seeing a practice being embedded whereby big tech companies hire employees en masseand then fire them, again in large numbers, through collective redundancies in the name of so-called efficiency. It may appear to be efficient from a company’s point of view for its bottom line but it wreaks devastation on people, their families and the businesses dependent on those jobs. People are left wondering whether they will be able to put food on the table and pay their bills in the months ahead.

As with many companies in the sector, Meta does not recognise its workers' trade union, which is the Financial Services Union. This means the terms of the redundancies will be agreed by way of consultation, with little, if any, real bargaining power for the workers, as opposed to being negotiated with unions through collective bargaining processes.

Yesterday, in reply to my questions on this matter in anticipation of the job losses, the Taoiseach pointed out that 2.6 million people are at work in Ireland, which is very welcome of course, and that people are employed in increasing numbers in the tech sector, notwithstanding the spate of cuts. It is the quality and security of the jobs that is at issue and that is cause for concern for so many people and for the Labour Party. We know we are in a period of very welcome economic growth in Ireland, but that growth will not last forever. There is real concern about the sustainability of employment, not only in big tech but also in various other sectors. We see very concerning news that Germany, the EU's largest economy, is now in a technical recession. We know we cannot take for granted that uninterrupted growth will continue. We know that it will not.

What needs to happen during a period of relative stability here is to see the necessary investment in public services and infrastructure such as housing, childcare and facilities for children with special needs and autistic children, as we heard promised yesterday by the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, during the debate on the Private Members' motion tabled by the Labour Party. We also need a concerted programme of measures to improve and strengthen workers' rights and to ensure that companies have obligations and not just options. We need to see the Government put in place mechanisms to ensure rebalancing and measures to increase wages. We need to see the Government take up the call made by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ICTU, today to increase to the minimum wage. Will the Government heed the calls of ICTU to raise the minimum wage? Will it introduce a right to organise and compel employers to recognise trade unions and workers' representatives?

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Bacik for raising this issue. She made a very fair point in respect of the significance of Meta's announcement. It is a significant number of job losses. Our thoughts have to go to the employees who will lose their jobs as a result of this announcement and their families. Notwithstanding that the economy is strong, people are committed to the particular jobs they are in at a given time. A sudden announcement such as this can undermine the planning of individuals and families in terms of job security and their lives in general. Our first obligation is to the employees to do everything we possibly can to ensure that they can secure alternative employment and to provide alternative programmes of education and training if people want to upskill with a view to gaining further employment. This is our initial focus.

On the broader level, the ICT sector in Ireland employs approximately 170,000 people. Up to this announcement, Meta was employing approximately 2,500 people directly and in the region of 5,000 contractors. It is a significant employer. We have welcomed its investment in Ireland, which has been significant in terms of the wider economy. More broadly, the number of people employed in the ICT sector increased by approximately 40,000 over the past three years. There was that sudden exponential growth in employment over a three-year period. Perhaps there was a misreading of the situation by technology companies in terms of what would happen after Covid as a result of the use of technology during the pandemic.

In terms of Deputy Bacik's comments on where we are at present, she is correct to say we cannot expect uninterrupted economic growth forever. That is why the Minister for Finance has brought forward proposals to the Government, and there will be further consideration to make sure we provide enough resources for capital and strategic purposes when the cyclical nature of economics kicks in. There are a number of areas where we have made very good progress in the past three years. The three parties in government have committed to reducing taxation and reducing the list of public services and increasing expenditure for services. In areas such as childcare, we have made appreciable gains. We now have opportunities to do something significant in education, health and disabilities.

Deputy Bacik referred to issues relating to pay. We have worked with ICTU and we will do so again. I am conscious of people working in the disability sector. Those working for section 39 organisations have fallen somewhat behind because of national pay agreements. We have to be fair and progressive in our budgeting. There are areas where perhaps we have opportunities to do things. The Low Pay Commission will deal with the minimum wage issue. Governments do not intervene in that process.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I thank the Tánaiste for acknowledging his concern for the employees affected. We all share that concern. We are all thinking of the workers and their families who are awaiting the news as to who will be affected by the announcement from Meta. The question for the Government is what to do next in the context of a massive budget surplus. Certainly kite flying from Ministers in the Tánaiste's partner party in government has not been helpful to people now looking for certainty as to what sort of protections will be in place and what measures will be adopted by the Government in the forthcoming budget.

The reality is that workers' rights were not important enough for the Government to get a stand-alone section in the programme for Government. Now we are seeing workers being left without the right to have recognition for their trade union representatives in the context of collective redundancies. I call on the Tánaiste to commit the Government to enshrining a right to organise and to collective bargaining, along with heeding the calls from ICTU by paying apprentices and minimum wage workers a living wage. These are important calls on which we are seeking a collective response from all parties in government in light of the redundancy announcement yesterday.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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It is fair to say there has been significant enhancement of workers’ rights over the last two and a half years since this Government came into office in terms of the Sick Leave Act 2022, the payment of wages and the Redundancy Payments (Amendment) Act 2022. Crucially, and I would have attended the Labour Employer Economic Forum, LEEF, programme last year, the report of the high-level review group on collective bargaining established under the auspices of the Government’s Labour Employer Economic Forum was published in October of last year and the recommendations are now being considered by the Department. That was considered a breakthrough report by all involved in those discussions.

In respect of the budget, the summer economic statement will be published as normal before the summer recess and that will give the broad envelope in terms of the taxation package. We have been reducing taxation for the last three years. I know the Opposition would like to increase taxes, not reduce them, and that is their stated position. We believe there should be a reduction in taxation but the precise manner in which you do that and who you target it at is something for the Government collectively to engage in. The Ministers, Deputy McGrath and Deputy Donohoe, will be meeting with the Government in respect of that summer economic statement and the overall envelope in terms of expenditure. Last year, it was €1 billion to €1.1 billion in tax and close to €6 billion in expenditure on new measures and existing levels of service, apart altogether from the €4 billion once-off. Once those envelopes are decided by the two Ministers, we can then get down to the real work of working out how we allocate that.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Today marks the fifth anniversary of the repeal victory, a categoric and historic victory of a campaign that was run and led in particular by young women but by men and women throughout this country, the length and breadth, and east to west. That campaign really forced the politicians to sit up, wake up and smell the coffee. What people said at that time was, mostly: give women a choice and do not force them to travel aboard.

Five years on, we have the review from Ms Marie O’Shea. Marie O’Shea's review is categoric and clear in the recommendations that it makes. Tonight, we will bring a Bill before the Dáil to reform Ireland's abortion laws and, coincidentally, our Bill is mostly in line with the recommendations of Marie O’Shea. They include the following points: women whose health has been harmed by continuing with a pregnancy are being forced to travel abroad; two out of every five women who need abortion care because of foetal anomaly are being forced to travel abroad; teenagers who are less likely to access abortion within the rigid 12-week limit because they are less likely to realise they are pregnant due to erratic period times, and so on, are being forced to travel abroad; migrants are being left behind, particularly those who are undocumented asylum seekers, who face major barriers, including language barriers and difficulties; and women living with domestic abuse and disabled persons are being left behind.

We know from Marie O’Shea's report that around 200 women and girls every year since repeal have been forced to travel. Our response to that Bill is for the Government to try to put an amendment in the Bill to say “Park it for 12 months and we will look at it in 12 months time." During that 12 months, it is likely that at least another 200 women and girls will be forced to travel abroad. What baffles me is that it is the Government that commissioned the review. It was quite sensibly put into the legislation that a review must happen. The Minister, Deputy Simon Harris, at the time argued that we need to see in real time how this legislation actually plays out, is it fit for purpose and does it do what repeal has asked this country to do. It does not, and that is clear from the review, yet the Government is willing to park it for another 12 months. It is quite clear and very transparent that this is veiled cover for the people on the other side of the House not to touch this issue until we are facing into another election, and that this Dáil does not have the courage to face up to the results of its own commissioned review. It does not make sense why the Government would commission a review and then not look at it, take it seriously and deal with the recommendations within it. Our Bill attempts to do that but the Government is attempting to kick for touch and give cover to those in the Cabinet and those in the parties across the House who do not want to touch this issue, who never wanted to touch it, but were dragged kicking and screaming by a mass movement from below.

I would like the Tánaiste to address the issue of that amendment which will kick for touch and how disgraceful we believe it is that the Government thinks it is okay for hundreds more women and girls to have to travel over the next year.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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First, I would not agree with the Deputy’s assessment of the Government's position. I would argue that the Irish people did take a fundamental decision on the repeal of the eighth in a referendum, but that followed a significant level of constructive engagement, informed engagement, and a listening exercise within the then Oireachtas Committee on Health – it may have been the Committee on Health and Children at the time. Many people made presentations to that Oireachtas committee, which was considering the then Citizens Assembly's recommendations, and proposals emerged from that Oireachtas committee which were then put to the people. I would argue that that process, which I thought was respectful of people's positions, and was a substantive process and an informed process, led to a very significant majority, ultimately, in the context of a referendum to repeal the eighth amendment.

As part of that, we put legislation before the people saying to the people what we intended to implement if the referendum was passed. We have been true to that in that we commissioned the review and the review has now been published. We are doing exactly the same as we did prior to the referendum and we are referring it to the Oireachtas health committee. We not putting it on the long finger but it does need examination as to the legislative aspects. There are significant operational recommendations in the review which are now being progressed by the Health Service Executive because they relate to operational issues, but the issues with the report itself deserve significant, substantive and informed consideration by the Oireachtas before legislative proposals are contemplated. I think that is fair. I think it is in line with how we handled this issue prior to it going to the referendum.

In my view, the immediate priority must be to expand the availability of termination services in hospitals and then the uneven geographic spread of GPs providing the service. I understand the HSE is saying to us that it will significantly increase the number of hospitals that are obliged under legislation to provide the services and that, to me, would be a more immediate priority, along with ensuring that we have greater, more geographical coverage of the provision of such services within the country itself.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I understand that you do not turn a ship around overnight but, seriously, it took us decades to get to the point where we had a referendum to repeal the eighth. The review was commissioned, it was delayed in being published, and it is categorically clear in its recommendations. For example, the criminalisation of abortion in the law is the only aspect of medicine that is criminalised - the only aspect. That is something that could be dealt with. The three-day wait, which I have read out as forming a barrier to the most marginalised and the most vulnerable women and girls, could be dealt with overnight. The health committee is having two sessions before the recess with Marie O’Shea and other witnesses, and then they will come back to the Oireachtas. Why does the Government need a whole year to consider what is clearly a review that was published at the behest of the Government?

Marie O’Shea and the researchers are much better equipped than any single one of us to deal with these issues. Let us remember that how they constructed their research was by looking at the lived experience of people who tried to access the service and the lived experience of those who tried to deliver it, including doctors who operate under the chill effect of being criminalised with a sentence of up to 14 years. They are things that could be dealt with immediately. The Government is definitely kicking to touch on this. There are sensitivities in the Government, like the Taoiseach saying “I am uncomfortable with this”. It is not about his discomfort or anybody else's discomfort; it is about health and the delivery of proper healthcare in this country for women and girls who need it.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I genuinely believe that the approach we took in the referendum was the correct approach. This is a sensitive issue and people have different views on this issue, and those views go deep with people. The idea that you have an Oireachtas committee to look at this in a detailed way should not be a surprise or should not be attacked, and you are attacking that. Through the Chair, I am not looking for confrontation-----

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I am not attacking it. My colleague is on the committee.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Please, Deputy. The Tánaiste, without interruption.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Through the Chair, I am not looking for confrontation. I am not attacking anybody's motivations or bona fides in respect of this.

However, I respect the fact that this is a legislative assembly, with people who will potentially be asked in due course to vote on or have a view on legislation relating to this area and the very least that should happen is that the report should be examined by the Oireachtas. I find it extraordinary that Deputy Smith is saying that those who are working on the legislation should do no examination at all, should do no consideration or discussion of it and just simply sign off on whatever is produced in the report. There is a lot of merit in going through the Oireachtas committee, as we did previously, to develop a constructive, consensual approach to these issues.

Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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I receive calls weekly regarding planning permission rejections, with some people spending between €15,000 and €20,000 in the planning process before any works are done. This is not just hearsay. It was reported at the May meeting of Louth County Council that planning permission was refused for 40% of rural homes in Louth in 2022. This means that 70 out of the 177 planning applications for rural dwellings were rejected in 2022, affecting 70 families.

From 2021, Louth’s planning permission requirements in rural areas are very restrictive when compared with the rest of the country, especially in relation to the local needs requirement. Louth is a small county and we are starting to run out of suitable sites. We need to help rural areas to sustain and grow into the future. While the population and housing need in County Louth will continue to grow by about 20%, statistics in the Louth county development plan indicate that housing in rural areas will only be permitted to grow by around 9.4% from 2021 to 2027. Why is there such a disparity? Rural communities are being, and will continue to be, greatly impacted if this does not change.

Housing in rural Ireland has always been a major difficulty. All politicians know that there are issues with planning. What we find in my area of Louth and east Meath is that young people are being refused planning permission in rural areas because of considerations relating to the scenic landscape and this, that and the other. The variation in the reasons for refusal is shocking in a time of housing crisis. It seems to me that the planning policies that are being put before councils today are very anti-rural in nature. They are pushing people from rural communities into bigger towns and villages, which is very unfair.

The average age for somebody leaving the parental home in Ireland is now 28 years. It used to be 23 or 24 years of age but now people are spending four or five more years at home than they would have done 15 or 20 years ago. We have to turn that around. If young people want to remain in rural areas, they are being forced to extend their parent’s home in order to gain planning permission. Obviously, there are some stipulations that must be met but applicants will generally not be refused point blank because it is an existing house. However, if they want to build on family land in rural areas in Louth, they are being rejected.

We have got to look at housing from every angle. As I said earlier, there are people who are finding it almost impossible to get planning permission in my community. The Rural Independent Group brought forward a motion last week in the Dáil in respect of easing the restrictions on planning with recommendations to look at alternative housing design and models of housing, such as log cabins and modular homes. These offer a way to assist young people into home ownership. However, this approach seems to be discouraged, with excessive restrictions on rural planning permission. I hope that there can be a change in mindset on that. It is absurd that the current over-burdensome restrictions on planning permission in rural areas are still in place when the country is facing a growing homelessness crisis. We need up to 62,000 homes built per year until 2050 to meet demand.

Local authorities have agreed to review their policy as the current restrictive rules mean applicants are being refused. Can the Tánaiste outline the planned measures to alter and ease rural planning guidelines, housing design and housing models so we can unlock the potential of delivering twice as many homes in the same location? I believe that this can be changed by ministerial directive and in doing so, we can alleviate the housing crisis and aid the development of rural Ireland.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I would say at the outset that there is no cap or ban on the granting of planning permission for new homes in rural Ireland.

Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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There is in County Louth

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Planning authorities provide a target for new housing as part of their statutory development plan, including for rural areas outside of their towns and villages. There is one statistic that may not be well known, which is that it has generally been one quarter of delivery nationally for the last 30 years. In terms of overall house construction, one quarter has been new rural homes, including one-off houses. About 4,000 to 5,000 homes built every year are rural homes. That gets lost in all of the narrative around the undoubted challenges in planning for housing, particularly one-off housing.

Both current and draft planning guidelines allow county development plans to provide for rural housing. The planning system in Ireland continues to deliver a substantial number of planning permission decisions for new homes every year in Ireland, including 42,991 permitted homes in 2021 and 34,177 in 2022. This includes permission for 7,499 one-off homes in 2021 and 6,924 in 2022, the vast majority of which are located in rural areas. There is strong housing provision in rural areas. Last year we built close to 30,000 houses nationally, a 45% increase on 2021. Of these, 5,515 or 18.4% were single, one-off dwellings in rural Ireland. New dwelling completions in rural areas were up by 16.6% in 2022 compared to 4,069 built in 2021. There is a balance needed in the debate.

In Louth, about 789 new dwellings were completed in 2022. However, 143 single houses were built in Louth in 2022. This amounts to 18% of total completions, which is similar to the figure for 2020 of 18.4% and 2021 of 18.7%. That ratio corresponds broadly with what is happening nationally. Rural housing is delivering nearly one fifth of annual housing output in Louth. The Louth county development plan for 2021 to 2027 contains a housing delivery target of around 1,300 new homes per year for the county, which is substantially above the 789 units that were built in 2022. There is also a significant amount of social housing being built in County Louth. Around 1,000 social houses have been delivered since 2020.

The other important scheme-----

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

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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Will I have a chance to come back in with supplementary remarks?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Yes.

Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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I live in County Louth and I know what is going on there. The refusal rate in rural County Louth was 40%. That equates to 70 families that have to live in mobile homes, live with friends or live wherever they can because they cannot get planning permission. The Government is instructing local authorities to build houses on local authority-owned land. However, our local authorities are refusing landowners and families to build on their land. That is a contradiction. There is a housing crisis at the moment. The Government is considering putting people out at sea or anywhere else where it can find homes but one thing this country has is loads of land. Can we not just get up off our backsides and for once and for all look after these people who have no homes? I know families in County Louth that have hundreds of acres of land but they cannot build on that land.

I ask the Tánaiste and the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to come to County Louth to investigate what is going on. Something serious is going on at the moment. The Tánaiste should see the answers applicants are given. They get abrupt answers which suggest that they should not ring the council because they have got their answer, end of story. There is a crisis in this country at the moment. There are lots of things in this country that I do not like, including demonstrations and everything else but people are frustrated that they cannot build on their own land. It makes no sense whatsoever.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you Deputy.

Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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I know of a young girl who is married with two children. Her family has loads of land - 40 or 50 acres. What did the council tell her? It told her to build an extension onto the existing house of 50 sq. m. One cannot put a family into an extension measuring 50 sq. m.

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

Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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The family already has the granny living in the house. I want the Tánaiste and the Minister to come to County Louth and have a look.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Please Deputy.

Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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The refusal rate was 40%, meaning that 70 families were refused planning permission last year. It is not acceptable in a housing crisis. I am listening to gardaí on radio stations talking about this. We have a problem-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy, please. You are way over time.

Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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Let us start looking after the people in the area. I know I will see the Tánaiste on Saturday in Navan but more importantly, I ask him to look after these families with their homes. That is all I am saying. He should come to County Louth with the Minister.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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The match at the weekend is in Navan.

Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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Give us a few penalties and the whole stadium will be happy.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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We go forward with all modesty and so on.

In respect of the issue, I was going to mention the vacant and dereliction grants which give real opportunities but I take the Deputy's point. I understand the sincerity of what the Deputy is saying in terms of people who want to build on their family's land. The overall planning policy over the years has been to try to move to areas that are contiguous to villages and towns for services including sewerage, amenities and so on. That has been the preferred policy direction. However, most county development plans have provision for cases where people can build on the family land if it is a farm, with proper planning frameworks to guide such development. Obviously, I am not aware of the specifics in every county area but if permission has been given to build an extension to an existing house-----

Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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Of 50 sq. m. One would not be able to get two horses in there.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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To me, that would suggest that a bit of pragmatic common sense-----

Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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Please come to County Louth and-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Hold on, Deputy, please.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----facilitate a resolution of this particular issue.

Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Independent)
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There is a housing crisis.

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I cannot get involved in every individual issue but I take the Deputy's point.