Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Inné, d'fhoilsigh an Rialtas tuarascáil an Choimisiúin Tithíochta, tuarascáil nach raibh sé sásta a fhoilsiú ach amháin go bhfuair RTÉ a chuid lámha air. Déanann sé cáineadh millteanach ar an Rialtas agus ar an méid atá déanta nó nach bhfuil déanta aige ó thaobh cúrsaí tithíochta agus an dóigh atá cúrsaí tithíochta á láimhseáil. Tá deis anois de dhíth faoi choinne an Dáil seo an tuarascáil seo a phlé go mion.

Last week, I asked the Tánaiste to tell me where the 50,000 affordable homes were that he promised to build at prices less than €250,000. He might remember that promise because he gave it himself. Like his party leader, he told the electorate in 2020 that if he was in government, he would deliver 50,000 homes that were genuinely affordable at prices between €160,000 and €250,000. Of course, the Tánaiste last week refused to answer that question. Of course he did because we cannot see any of those houses. None of them are there. Not one of those houses has been delivered by the Government. Instead, what he tried to do was to deflect from the Government's clear failure on housing delivery.

The Government might be able to dismiss the criticism of the Opposition, which it has been trying to do for quite some time, but it certainly cannot dismiss the damning criticism that has come from the Government's own Housing Commission. The commission's final report is a damning indictment of the Government's failure in respect of housing and particularly affordable housing. This is just some of what the report says. It mentions systemic failure, ineffective decision-making, reactive policymaking, all of which is undermining affordability. Just in case the Minister did not realise, that is him the report is talking about. I will put it in plain English. The Housing Commission concluded that the Minister, his decisions, his policy and the Government made rents go up and made houses more expensive. Sin é. Full stop. That is what it has concluded.

The report states that Ireland has the opportunity to change policy. I could not agree more. However, after 12 years of Fine Gael in government, supported in the main by Fianna Fáil through the majority of those years, change will not come from these parties that created the crisis. The only change that will come in housing is with a change in government. Of course, this report would never have seen the light of day if it had not been for the fact it was leaked to RTÉ. How do we know this? The Minister received the first report from the Housing Commission on the right to housing last August. For ten months, he sat on that report. Why? It is because the Government is deeply divided on the issue. Giving the stinging criticism of its failing housing plan in the commission's final report, I have no doubt the Minister would have done exactly the same thing to that report too. Thankfully, he has been forced to publish both reports in full.

However, the Minister's desperate attempt to spin the findings as an endorsement of his housing plan is not only dishonest but is also an insult to the hard work of that commission. It is not credible, as the Minister has tried to do, to claim the majority of the commission's recommendations are being progressed by the Government. Is he trying to suggest the commission did not know what it was talking about? Worse still, he is trying to bury both reports by referring them to the Housing Agency and an interdepartmental working group. He is running scared of an open debate on this issue and on the commission's findings. Is it any wonder, given what it has had to say regarding the Minister's record in housing.

Given the significance of the Housing Commission's findings, will the Government now schedule time next week to have an urgent and frank debate on the stinging criticism in that report? Does it accept the commission's findings on its ineffective decision-making and reactive policies that, in its words, are making the issues of affordability worse? While the Minister is on his feet, perhaps he will answer me, something his party leader could not do last week, on where the 50,000 affordable houses are that he personally gave a guarantee would be delivered if he got into government? He said 50,000 houses would be delivered at costs between €160,000 and €250,000. A week on and we cannot find any of them.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Gabhaim buíochas leis an Teachta as ucht a chuid ceiste. Is ceist thábhachtach í freisin. First, I thank the Housing Commission for the work it has done. I remind Deputies in the House that we established the commission. It was a programme for Government commitment. The commission has done a good job. I welcome independent analysis, and that is in stark contrast to the Deputy himself and his own party.

I remind him that on 31 October, I wrote to him and to his housing spokesperson, Deputy Ó Broin, asking him to publish his independent analysis of his party's measures that would take the legs from under first-time buyers. I refer to the abolition of the help to buy grant, with which 45,000 households were assisted to buy their own homes, and of the first home scheme that he railed against as well. That scheme has had nearly 10,000 registrations and 5,000 approvals. His party also said it would abolish the Land Development Agency, which is delivering homes, and the vacancy grant. On 31 October, I wrote to Deputy Doherty, as the spokesperson on finance for his party, along with Deputy Ó Broin, and said he might at a minimum submit a comprehensive sectoral analysis of the impact of his proposed withdrawal of such supports and abolition of the LDA on housing supply as well as home buying. I asked the Deputies that directly. There was no answer. I did not receive a response. I even checked my email again. I checked the junk folder where I would expect his policies to be. Then I wrote back again to Deputy Ó Broin on 8 January and I detailed all the supports that are working for first-time buyers to deliver the affordable homes the Deputy says he wants. While writing, I asked Deputy Ó Broin to publish the analysis and perhaps even to go further and publish the Sinn Féin housing plan. This is the Sinn Féin housing plan that the party spokesperson said he would publish more than 12 months ago.

I absolutely welcome independent analysis. It is a fact to say that over 70% of the recommendations made by the Housing Commission have either been done by Government or it is doing. I will give a number of examples. Deputies may have heard the chair of the Housing Commission today. In his response, will the Deputy tell me if he will publish the Sinn Féin housing plan and the analysis of the impact it would have on first-time buyers by removing the very supports that are helping people buy their homes? While he is scrambling around among his colleagues, I ask Deputy Doherty if he agrees with the chair of the Housing Commission. I address this to Deputy Doherty specifically. This is important question for him to answer. I ask him to answer it directly.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Answer your questions.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Here you go again.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Settle down.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The chair of the Housing Commission-----

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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This is not a laughing matter. Housing is important. We take it seriously.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Can we have a little decorum, please?

Pat Buckley (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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Answer the question.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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They are a very disorderly bunch. The chair of the Housing Commission this morning, John O'Connor, who is someone I assume the Deputy respects, said very clearly regarding affordable housing, because the Deputy has selectively quoted from the report, that we should stick with it. He was referring to the Affordable Housing Act and the measures this Government have brought forward that I have already mentioned. Furthermore, he said the most important thing now is consistency. We know that the Sinn Féin, the main Opposition party, will do exactly the opposite because it will scrap all the measures that are there. I have published our housing plan. We are implementing it. The independent analysis of the forward looking on housing over the next ten years is published for all to see. It is there. Where is Sinn Féin's housing plan? Where is the party's independent analysis-----

Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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Where are the missing houses?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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-----and where are its supports for first-time buyers and affordable housing? They are not there. They are not anywhere.

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Build some houses.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Nílim críochnaithe fós. Does Deputy Doherty agree with the chair of the Housing Commission when he says we should stick with the measures the Government are bringing in regarding affordable housing and that the most important thing now is consistency? Does he agree or not?

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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For four minutes, the Minister could not even get a couple of words to defend his own record.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I understand the trouble you are in, Darragh. You know what I do agree with? I agree with the Housing Commission when it said there is a need for a radical reset in Government policy. I agree with the commission when it reports on reactive policymaking by the Government undermining affordability. I agree with it when it refers to ineffective decision-making. I agree with the commission-----

Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Where are the houses?

Seán Fleming (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)
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What is your plan?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Níl plean ar bith.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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You can heckle all you want. I agree with the commission when it says there is insufficient progress-----

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Insufficient plans.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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-----because I know the lived experience of people right across this State. I asked you a simple question. Do you agree with those proposals? This is Leaders' Questions. Do you agree with those proposals? I asked you a simple question, which is the same question I asked your leader. Where the hell are the 50,000 homes, Darragh, that you promised would be delivered if you were in government? You are the Minister for housing. You promised 50,000 homes would be delivered at prices between €160,000 and €250,000. A week on, we cannot find any of them, not one of them, Darragh - the 50,000 homes you promised to deliver.

I asked you a simple question. Will you schedule a debate to deal with criticism by the Housing Commission of your record? We need a radical reset. The only way we will get a radical reset is when we put Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael out of government. That is when we will turn the tide on the housing crisis.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Now we are on first-name terms, Pearse, I will come back to you on that. I will debate you up and down, left, right and centre on housing.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Really?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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We have a plan-----

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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You do not turn up when Eoin Ó Broin is looking for debates on RTÉ.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Hold on. Would you stop?

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Stop interrupting, please.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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If you had a plan that one could debate and analyse, you might ask your housing spokesperson why he said publicly, more than 14 months ago, that he would publish the Sinn Féin housing plan but he has not done so yet.

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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He has not done so yet. What would Sinn Féin replace the supports we brought in for first-time buyers with? We are seeing the highest number of first-----

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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I am happy to swap seats with you if you will not answer the questions from here. This is Leaders' Questions. If the Government wants to take over the Opposition, we will happily go over there and the Government can ask us the questions. Please answer the questions. It is Leaders' Questions.

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

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Come on. You are in government.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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You are just trying to shout me down because you do not like what I am saying. You are not the leader of your own party yet.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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You are in government.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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This is important, Pearse.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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It is. Answer the question.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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What you are trying to do, Pearse, is-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Ask for a debate on the commission's report next week. Yes or no?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Eoin, stop now.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Will you schedule time for the debate next week? Yes or no?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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A Cheann Comhairle, can I answer the question? We have-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It is a reasonable question.

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

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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That is a matter for the Business-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I am just asking.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Can I answer the question?

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Please do answer the question. Absolutely. For a change.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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This is pathetic.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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It is about houses.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Your behaviour is abhorrent. We support-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Rising homelessness is abhorrent, Minister.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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We support first-time buyers. We have delivered affordable housing, cost rental and more new social homes than has been done for 50 years, even though your party of serial objectors continues to object across the country.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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A radical reset.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I want to ask you a question. Twelve of your Deputies - Deputy Kerrane-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you, Minister. Your time is up.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Where are the 50,000 homes? I will answer the question if you tell me where any of the 50,000 homes are. Tell me where the first 100 of them are and I will answer any of your questions.

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

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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He is eating into my time.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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No, your time is gone. You will not answer the question.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Unfortunately, it is.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Your time is long gone.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I will debate the Deputy anytime, anywhere. It is a matter for the Business Committee.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Minister, will you resume your seat, please?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I would welcome that debate again because I debate with this man all the time. He still has nothing to say and no housing plan. All he does is oppose everything.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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You are scared of a TV, radio or Dáil debate.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Will you resume your seat, please, Minister?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I will, of course.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Would Members please-----

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Ask your Deputies why they keep asking me to expand the plans I brought in. Many of them are here.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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My earphones are not working.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North West, Sinn Fein)
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There are loads of your own-----

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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I call Deputy Bacik, without interruption.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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What happened to the 50,000?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Good man, Pearse; well done.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Where are they?

Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein)
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Well done; great answer.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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We are in the middle of a housing disaster. It is the greatest crisis facing the country and the greatest civil liberties issue of this generation. It is really unedifying and unhelpful to listen to a shouting match between two men in this Chamber, shouting and trying to score points off each other. That is not helpful for the more than 13,000 people in homelessness and the 4,000 children among that number who are in emergency accommodation. It is not helpful for the thousands of young adults living on in their childhood bedrooms, unable to move out or secure affordable homes to rent or buy, to hear this level of barracking in the Chamber. I thought we were better than that in this House. It is really not helpful. Debates should be chaired in a way that enables a respectful exchange of views. Let us disagree agreeably.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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If you want to give me a lesson on chairing, you might come and talk to me privately. I would be more than happy to do that.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I am always happy to do so. We need to learn, in this House, how to disagree agreeably and how to make substantive points in debate in a respectful, courteous and civil manner.

The report of the Housing Commission has dominated headlines and debate - rightly so - since it was leaked earlier this week. It was welcome to hear the Taoiseach say he does not appear to challenge its findings, which are a searing critique of the Government's policy on housing and damning of the Housing for All plan, which the Minister stood over again this week. As he put it on Tuesday night, he said, any plan worth its salt has review mechanisms built in and that is what the commission's report was. It is not enough just to have a review mechanism. It is also important the Government accepts when the review is scathing and undertakes to act upon the recommendations and findings in the review. The commission report makes it clear that Housing for All is not working. The commission has called for a radical strategic reset and emergency action to address the massive shortfall of homes - more than a quarter of a million homes, which are badly needed for communities, families and individuals.

We have spoken before about the need to build more homes. We want to see the Minister, in answer to that review, publish the revised building targets without further delay. Until those new, higher targets are out, and the Minister accepts they need to be increased, there can be no ramping up by industry to prepare for them. If you speak to anyone in the construction sector or anyone who wants to deliver homes for people in our communities, they tell us they want to pivot from building offices to building homes and they want supports for that. They want supports to enable them to build the houses and apartments people so badly need. So long as building targets remain inadequate and low, they are left playing a waiting game. I appeal to the Minister again to act on the Housing Commission's' report and to publish the revised targets now.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you, Deputy. Your time is up.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Bacik. Just to say-----

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Some get a minute-----

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

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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-----some get a second.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Sorry?

Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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I said some get an extra minute and some get an extra second.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Well, the Deputy called for more powerful, forceful chairing, so I am ensuring she has what she looked for.

Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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I do not think she called for more powerful or forceful chairing.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Can we hear from the Minister now, please?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for her constructive question. To repeat, I thank the commission for the work it has done. The report was in preparation for three years to take a long-term view of housing. It looked back at ten years of significant undersupply and at affordable and social housing. Many of its recommendations have already been implemented. An example is the 20% provision of social and affordable housing, which I changed. I reversed the decision of a previous Labour Party Minister to go from 20% to 10%. We have gone back to 20%.

Having said that, to answer the Deputy's question directly regarding revised targets, I have always said we would publish revised targets once we had the work of the Housing Commission, which we have now, and assessed it properly and the work of the ESRI. It will be this autumn. Any target we have set heretofore was a floor, not a ceiling. In the first two years of Housing for All, we exceeded our targets substantially. Since this Government came into office, we have delivered, up to quarter 1 this year, 110,000 new homes. That does not take into account the vacant homes brought back into use. There is social housing at a rate not seen for 50 years. There are affordable homes for the first time in a generation and cost rental, which the Deputy and her Labour Party colleagues support, which I welcome, is now ramping up at scale. It is a new form of housing tenure.

Of course we need to do more and I have always been ambitious beyond our targets. I think the Deputy would agree that for any government, be it this Government or any future government, any target set must be based on critical analysis. We have the Housing Commission report now, which I have published in full. Many of those matters, like the shared equity scheme and supports for first-time buyers, which I tried to address when speaking to the previous Deputy, have been called for by the commission, particularly around the Affordable Housing Act, on which the commission said it wants me to stick with it and we need consistency. There are other elements which I will of course examine in detail. I have had the report for just 14 days. I received it on 8 May. The report deserves more than 14 days of consideration after the commission spent nearly three years doing the work.

I have always said, prior to this report, that we could come forward with revised housing targets for the remainder of this decade in the autumn of this year. I intend to do that. In the meantime, we are ramping up delivery this year. Last month alone, 18,000 new homes were commenced in one month alone, breaking all records. We have a significant target this year of more than 34,500. I intend for us to exceed that substantially this year.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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I do not hear any sign of the necessary ambition or urgency from the Minister when he effectively says to people to wait and see, that we will publish those revised targets but just not yet, even though everyone, including the Housing Commission, says the targets are simply too low. Let us take vacancy and dereliction as an example. So much more needs to be done to tackle the scourge of vacancy and dereliction. Yet, instead of ambition and urgency, the Croí Cónaithe scheme is inadequate. It is only available to those with the means to cover costs upfront and is not working efficiently. The Government is attempting to tax those who sit on vacant homes but relies on self-reporting; that is not working. The Government is leaving a compulsory purchase system that is simply so inadequate and so slow that it is not working. The deadline for new amendments to the planning Bill is next week. We put in amendments on Committee Stage to introduce new use it or lose it rules for developers who speculate on inactive planning permissions. A substantive thing the Government could do to speed up delivery is to act on our amendment, adopt it and take it on board to bring a similar amendment forward to tackle vacancy and dereliction.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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The targets themselves do not build homes and the Deputy knows that. We are continuing to deliver homes at a scale we have not seen in more than 15 years. Not everybody is feeling that yet. It is a significant challenge. I meet people across this country, in my own constituency and everywhere else, who are getting the keys to their forever homes at a rate we have not seen for 15 years. We will continue to ramp that up and I am ambitious and determined that we do that. The targets will be set and revised in the autumn. That does not stop us doing the work we are doing now. The Deputy should look at the commencement and completion figures. There were 53,000 new homes commenced over the past 12 months. That is really significant. On vacancy, there are more than 8,000 applications for the vacancy grant and more than 5,000 approvals. I was in County Carlow this week, where 98 homes are being provided by bringing vacant stock back into use through the local authority.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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It is a drop in the ocean.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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We need to do more. I will answer the question about the Planning and Development Bill. It is really important legislation. It needs to pass by this summer. I am open to amendments, and we debated this on Committee Stage. I will be looking at further amendments on Report Stage.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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In recent years there has been a significant rise in cocaine consumption, with current reports from gardaí and drugs councillors stating that drugs are available in every rural village and town in Ireland. The cliché of cocaine as the drug of choice for the wealthy, young elite is long out of date. It has evolved in recent years and is now being used regularly by all classes across society. The epidemic has soared to new heights and is now being felt in every community, sports club, school and parish in rural Ireland, including every parish in my constituency. Last year one GAA star and recovering cocaine addict said that drugs are so readily available now in rural Ireland that it is "literally like getting a bag of sweets". Another said it can be ordered and obtained as quickly as a pizza delivered to your door. Families are being torn apart. Parents are losing their children. Children are losing their parents.

The epidemic in drug use is fuelling the epidemic of abuse and antisocial behaviour in our towns and villages. In County Wexford, and in all its towns, like Enniscorthy, Gorey, New Ross and Wexford, business and retail staff and customers are despairing at the level of open drug use and dealing, shoplifting, fighting and open brawls in broad daylight on the streets of our towns. People are afraid to walk the streets during the day, let alone at nighttime. Yesterday I met a person who told me they readily remember walking down the streets of Wexford with no fear at 3 a.m. after a night out. They now worry about walking down the streets of Wexford at 3 p.m. in the afternoon. Only a few days ago there was a violent dispute in broad daylight on the Wexford quay front. This follows a similar incident last month, which saw two young men attacked on the street. A short number of weeks prior to that a woman was pushed to the ground and robbed of her social welfare money as she came from the post office. People are genuinely afraid and feel strongly that little action is being taken to address the issues.

County Wexford has experienced a 9.5% increase in population since the last census in 2016. We are not seeing anything like an equivalent increase in Garda numbers to police our communities. Rather, there is a lack of resources to An Garda Síochána. A report from the Policing Authority on the issue of public order training and resources is due in June, which I welcome. However, it is time for a response from the Government on rural policing. The coastal watch programme, launched by An Garda Síochána to curb the threat of drugs being landed along the coastline, is welcome, but I have just come from a meeting of the Committee of Public Accounts at which the Department of Defence appeared. We have six naval vessels that have cost the State €500 million. Four of them sit by the quayside.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this serious issue. I first want to address the issue of drugs and antisocial behaviour. I come to that with some degree of knowledge. Up to recently, I chaired for ten years the regional drugs and alcohol taskforce in north County Dublin. I have seen at first hand the damage illegal and illicit drugs, and indeed legal drugs like alcohol, can do to our young people and not so young people as well. We have to ensure there is education on drugs and drug use to inform young people and educate them to make the right decisions. The days of the garda going into schools, showing drug paraphernalia and telling people not to do drugs are gone. Our young people are clever and intelligent and will make decisions based on the information they have. We have seen an increase in drug use and an increase in the prevalence and availability of drugs, and not just cocaine. I think one of the most dangerous drugs out there is synthetic cannabis. People believe that cannabis is simply the cannabis leaf, but that is no longer the case. It is laboratory produced and is approximately 100 times stronger than one would have thought a normal joint would have been in the past. It has really bad and negative effects, particularly on young people up to the age of 25. We need to continue to resource our regional drug and alcohol taskforces and local drug taskforces to provide the family supports required and to provide the education to our young people to enable them to make the right decisions. I have seen how that can work very well on the ground.

The instances raised by the Deputy about antisocial behaviour in Wexford are truly shocking. I am sure they are also shocking to her constituents. We have seen increases in that type of behaviour from time to time. That is why it is so important that we continue to support our gardaí, who are there, so they can carry out more visible community policing. I will give the example of Swords in my constituency, where the community policing unit is now back in place. We need to see that across the country because that is where An Garda can be proactive-----

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Sorry?

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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I said the Minister is commentating. He is in government.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy Shortall is not asking the question.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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Does the Deputy want to sit in the Chair? I am trying to answer Deputy Murphy if that is okay. It is a serious issue and a serious point. Deputy Shortall should know that as a former junior Minister at the Department of Health.

I say to Deputy Murphy that it is not just a commentary. We need to do more in that space. That is why we are recruiting more gardaí. We have to ensure we have health professionals on the front line too, in particular on the education side through our schools. What I was trying to say before I was interrupted was in relation to community policing. That has to be the core of what we are doing. We are seeing community policing units being set up again and re-established right the way across the country so we can have proactive as well as reactive policing, where we are supporting our existing communities.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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The reality is that prevention is always better than cure. In August 2023 it was announced that we would remove the drug squads and community policing. That was very serious. It is a pity the Minister did not make the statement he made a minute ago back then. We do not have a reinstated community policing unit in Wexford. However, I can read out millions of euro worth of drug seizures in Rosslare and off our coast. Last October, drugs worth €157 million were seized on the MV Matthew. There needs to be prevention of the drugs getting into the system. Use our Naval Service. We are badly resourcing it, but we still have €500 million worth of ships sitting on a quay wall with no personnel to man them. Why can we not join the dots? We are an island. The drugs have to come onto the island. I did not need a lesson from the Minister in what drugs are being used. It is the effects and the antisocial behaviour of not being able to police it.

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

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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This is really important. There are 80% fewer drug searches done because An Garda Síochána has to fill in 24 points of information.

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

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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The policing is not working. The Policing Authority needs restructuring.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I take this matter extremely seriously. All of us, as TDs and representatives in our areas, see the damage that drugs can do and are doing. The Deputy has referenced specific points about Wexford with regard to policing resources. I have given examples of where those community policing teams are back in place. With regard to resourcing our Naval Service, the Deputy knows the Government is right now embarking on a significant recruitment campaign for our Naval Service. We have greatly improved the terms, conditions and pay for the women and men who have come into our Defence Forces and our Naval Service. That is important. We need more people there.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Have a look at the-----

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

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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On customs, the Deputy has mentioned drug seizures. All across our State agencies they carry out really important work. Will we stop every single drug shipment coming into the country? No country can do that either. Do we need to improve and increase our capacity to protect our coastline? Yes, and that is what we are doing. That is why we are embarking on the most significant recruitment in our Naval Service and in our Defence Forces right now.

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

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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We are haemorrhaging staff from the Defence Forces.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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A lot of change is taking place in the health services, as the Minister knows. Of the most recent changes taking place, the new health regions are a key to the future health of citizens. However, according to the Royal College of Surgeons and the national doctors training and planning board, the model 3 hospitals are critical in delivering the new model of healthcare. Model 3 hospitals, such as Letterkenny University Hospital, have a crisis in general-surgeon consultant workforces. In Letterkenny, 27% of consultants are non-permanent, 31% are aged between 56 and 65 and 7% are over 66. The Minister will agree those shocking statistics are a basis on which to assess hospital staffing. In Letterkenny's case, it is particularly bad when we consider it is more than 250 km to the model 4 hospital within the Saolta group, which leaves huge numbers of people in Donegal dependent on Letterkenny for services.

The model 3 hospitals report, compiled by the HSE, the Royal College of Surgeons and the national doctors training and planning board, lays out a process to counter the change needed, and as Colm Henry, chief clinical officer of the HSE, states in its introduction, it lays out "in stark terms for the first time, the challenges facing Model 3 hospitals in the successful recruitment and retention of consultants." The report states, "The public is entitled to the same high standard of medical care across Ireland, regardless of their location." I definitely agree with that, as I am sure the Minister does as well. With 24% of consultants in model 3 hospitals on non-permanent contracts, that is twice the level in model 4 hospitals. The report recommends a model 3 implementation project is established as soon as possible, with a timeframe of 18 months for completion. This action would optimise the chances of achieving improvements for patients and staff in model 3 hospitals.

I believe that, as one of the busiest hospitals and the one that is the farthest from a model 4 hospital, Letterkenny University Hospital should be one of the pilot sites for the implementation of this project. It seems the Department of Health does not share this view about the implementation group or the pilot sites. It seems to favour a more scattergun approach that might not provide clear directions on where to progress the development of model 3 hospitals.

Will the Government make sure an implementation group is formed and that Letterkenny University Hospital will be one of the hospitals to model the roll-out of the study to improve retention and ensure everyone has access to vital health services?

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this important point relating to Letterkenny general hospital. He asked about an implementation group to make sure the resourcing that is required there will be put in place, and I will certainly raise that matter directly with the Minister for Health and relay that to him. It is important we look at the overall context of where we are with health delivery and with regard to resourcing our health service. The Deputy will know that this year, we have a health budget of just short of €23 billion, an increase of €7.7 billion from 2019, and that has seen a very significant impact on the achievements Ireland has made in health outcomes across the country. Life expectancy is above 82 and our mortality rate fell by 10% in just over one decade, and all across the health service we are looking at additional resources that are needed and are being put in place. A total of 28,480 more staff are working in our health service than there were at the beginning of 2020. There are 9,600 additional nurses, 4,200 health and social care professionals and more than 3,000 new doctors, and about 45% of consultant contracts now are the new public health contracts where consultants have signed up to them.

The Deputy has raised in some detail some of the challenges in Letterkenny general hospital and other model 3 hospitals. We want to make sure our health system is resourced across the Twenty-six Counties of the Republic. Funding this year has been made available for an additional 3,000 staff and the HSE has been instructed to start hiring those staff. The Deputy has briefly outlined some of the deficiencies with regard to staffing in Letterkenny, and I am quite happy to bring those matters directly to the Minister for Health. We are recruiting an additional 3,000 staff this year and we have done many other things to help patients, such as removing inpatient hospital charges and carrying out the biggest expansion of access to GP care, which is really important in order that people can get health services at the initial point through their GPs. Up to 60% of our population are now eligible for GP cards or medical cards. We have also reduced the threshold of the drug payment scheme. With regard to health, we are investing more than ever and we are getting better health outcomes. There is certainly more to be done in that space, but we have got approval for 3,000 additional staff this year and we have instructed the HSE to do that. On the specific matters the Deputy has raised with regard to Letterkenny general hospital, I am quite happy to raise them directly with the Minister, Deputy Donnelly.

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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I thank the Minister for his response. Letterkenny general hospital is one of the hospitals that face these issues but this report, which was compiled by the HSE, the Royal College of Surgeons and the training bodies within them, states that for level 3 hospitals, this has to be done. The statistics I outlined apply to all level 3 hospitals, relating to non-permanency, the age profile of consultants and so on. If we are to deliver a proper health service, we have to address this. The report specifically calls for a targeted response to be put in place for the small number of hospitals where the measures can be tried out to see how they work, but the Department has not recognised that. In response to a parliamentary question I submitted, the Minister for Health stated the Department is basically going to take a scattergun approach, such that we are not going to learn anything from it or see any real changes, and that is the problem because we need to see changes in our health services. Everything the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, outlined about throwing money at the issue and so on is not going to work. We have to accept the population is growing and that the health services have to develop and improve, and to do that, the Government has to take on the board the report that is there.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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I will raise the matter directly with the Minister for Health. It is not a question of just throwing money at it but is about getting improved health outcomes for our people, and I have given the Deputy just some examples of that where life expectancy and other rates have improved over the course of a few years.

In respect of Letterkenny, since January 2020, there has been an increase in staffing of about 25%. In 2020, the hospital had a budget of €157 million and its budget has now grown by €39 million, an increase of 25% in just over four years. Twenty-two new beds have also been opened in the hospital and capital investment is in place too.

I do take the Deputy's point with regard to the implementation group. I commit to him that I will raise those matters directly with the Minister for Health and ensure he responds to the Deputy directly on the matters he has raised.