Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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We have had more than a decade of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael presiding over a housing emergency and now the Government proposes to force ripped-off renters to carry the can for its failures. The Government's plan for the private rental sector is really Fianna Fáil's rent hike Bill. It can spoof all it wants; the only certainty from this move is rent will increase for every renter. It is only a question of when.

The average length of a tenancy is three and half years and many are much shorter, so the impact of this plan will be felt very quickly. All renters will be subject to large hikes over time. Those moving into new build properties will be hit with massive market rent from day one, while those who move frequently for work or education and regularly enter new tenancies will be absolutely hammered. We are talking about construction workers, healthcare workers in training and students who already struggle to find affordable accommodation being fleeced over and over.

Fianna Fáil's rent hike Bill is a bonanza for the big property funds, the vultures and corporate landlords. It is a blueprint to boost the profit of the big boys and screw over renters. That is the Government's plan. It is doing this during a persistent cost-of-living crisis where people are being hit with price hikes right across the board. In the past four years, the cost of the weekly shop has sky-rocketed by €3,000 per year for many families and renters are forking out an additional €7,000 a year on average in rent.

Where does the Taoiseach think people get the money? Everything within the Government's back-of-an-envelope plan is a jumble of contradictions. It is the product of a panicked Government at sixes and sevens, desperately seeking to defend a plan which more resembles a last throw of the dice gamble than an actual solution. It has been blunder after blunder.

The Government had to change the press statement announcing the plan because it made such a mess of things. The Taoiseach said one thing, the Minister said another things and the left hand did not know what the right hand was doing. Nowhere in the announcement on Tuesday, or in the days that followed, was there any mention of Government immediately bringing forward legislation to extend rent pressure zones, RPZs, to the entire State. The Government was content to wait until March and expose renters to big hikes. By Thursday, lo and behold, the Government had changed its story and it was adamant that it was always its intention to bring forward that legislation. Taoiseach, pull the other one. The Government is only being done now because it was called out on it.

Such is the mess now that we have Government TDs briefing against the housing Minister for, in their words, producing a plan that he cannot explain and that they cannot understand. I am happy to explain it to them. This is Fianna Fáil's plan to hike up rents; that is it. That is the bottom line. Cintíonn Bille Fhianna Fáil chun cíos a ardú go rachaidh an cíos in airde do gach cíosaí. Níl orainn ach fanacht. Ní feidir leanúint le seo.

The only way to undo the damage is to go back to the drawing board. By all means, extend RPZs to the rest of the State and to areas that should have never been left out in the first place. However, the Government has to drop the rest of the Fianna Fáil rent hike Bill. It is a crazy plan and renters simply cannot take any more.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I reject completely the Deputy's assertions. She is guilty of severely exaggerated commentary on the reform of the RPZs announced last week. The bottom line is that as a result of those reforms, renters will have stronger protections than ever before. All renters will be covered by RPZs. It will be interesting that the first item on the agenda of our RPZ reforms will be something that Sinn Féin will have no choice but to support. Despite all the bluster and hype, Sinn Féin TDs will go into the voting lobbies to support the very first measure of the reform package we announced last week.

It is interesting that Dr. Michael Byrne, who is a lecturer in political economy at the school of social policy, social work and social justice in UCD and who works with Threshold, has said the security of tenure measures announced last week are really significant. He said that, arguably, they are among the most robust protection for tenants in Europe. I am not saying that and no one on the Government side is saying it; it is someone has been involved in the area for quite some time. That is the case, because we have an effective end to no-fault evictions, where the landlord has four or more tenancies. New tenancies will now be guaranteed for six years. Tenancies with smaller landlords generally have a minimum duration of six years. With limited circumstances - more limited than before - smaller tenancies can end. I look forward to Sinn Féin either opposing those measures or surely having to vote for the additional protections we are going to bring forward. What will happen is that the contrast between the Sinn Féin hype and hyperbole, and what will happen when we put these legislative pieces through the House, will be a yawning gap. Surely Sinn Féin will have to vote for these additional protections.

The more fundamental point is that Sinn Féin has proposed a rent freeze for three years, which would damage supply. Overall, Sinn Féin's policy objective is to reduce the rental market. The party has an ideological hostility to the rental market and to the private market, more generally, in terms of construction. A freeze on rent increases would mean that no one could claim for maintenance costs or even the cost of inflation. Who is going to invest in new units with Sinn Féin's policy, because its solutions are simply wrong? Its whole proposition is incoherent.

The only way we can deal with the housing crisis is to dramatically increase supply. We have increased it from 2020 onwards to about 30,000 thousand units per year. Up to then, we had 20,000 per year. We want to get to 50,000 per year. We need public investment, which we are doing, as the State is the largest investor in the housing market at the moment, and we need substantial private sector investment. Sinn Féin has to acknowledge that. I know members of Sinn Féin have been out protesting and saying this is an emergency and so on. I agree; it is a crisis that we need to deal with as a society.

Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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At least the Taoiseach admits it.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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It begs the question, though, as to how Deputy McDonald could, to date, oppose up to 1,700 housing units in her own area, in Clonliffe College, and likewise in Cabra. If the Deputy is saying it is an emergency across the country, how come it is not an emergency in her constituency or in the areas where her party objects?

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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She simply cannot have it both ways. This duplicitous approach to housing has to end. What we need from Deputy McDonald are concrete solutions on how we increase supply so that we can get a situation where we can build 50,000 units a year.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It might interest the Taoiseach to know that, far from having an ideological objection to rental accommodation, I was raised in rental accommodation. Imagine that.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy's party's policies-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I have no ideological objection. As a matter of fact, I am determined that renters, whether long-term renters, as is the case with my family, or shorter term renters, which is the more normal experience, are not fleeced and gouged in the way that is currently happening. I do not know how blunt or clear we have to be with the Taoiseach, but renters now pay thousands of euro more than just a few short years ago, and all the additional costs due to the cost-of-living crisis.

The Taoiseach can stand up and bluster and cast aspersions at me all he likes, but he is in government, he is the Taoiseach and it is his housing Minister who is proposing a Bill that will have one definite effect, namely, higher rents for renters.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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The time is up. I thank the Deputy.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I appeal to the Taoiseach-----

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank Deputy McDonald and call on the Taoiseach to respond.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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-----not to do that. Renters have had enough.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach must have some decency and some consideration for people who are struggling.

Timmy Dooley (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy McDonald has none.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy. The time is up. She should allow the Taoiseach to respond.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am not talking about Deputy McDonald personally; I am talking about the Sinn Féin Party.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Blah, blah, blah.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Sinn Féin Party's policy objective over time is to reduce the size of the private rental sector.

Dessie Ellis (Dublin North-West, Sinn Fein)
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That is not true.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is not true.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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If Deputy McDonald looks at her policies in recent years, they have been designed to suppress supply in the private rental market. We have built more social houses in the past four years than have been built since 1975.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Some 36,500 new social houses were built.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Who is in government?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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In 2023, 12,000 social houses were delivered and 10,500 were delivered last year.

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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You are benchmarking against your own failures.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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These are record numbers of social housing delivery.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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There are record rents.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy McDonald says her party can go to 30,000 overnight. She has not outlined how she would get to 30,000 overnight.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It will increase rent.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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The measures and reforms proposed last week will cap rent for all existing tenants to 2%. Deputy McDonald knows that.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It will increase rent. The Taoiseach knows that.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Taoiseach and call Deputy Bacik.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Rent increases for any new tenancies, post-2026, will be linked to the CPI.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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I thank the Taoiseach. The time is up. I call Deputy Bacik of the Labour Party.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach does not care about renters. We have got his answer.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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After the general election, all the briefing from the Government was that it was ready to take what it called "difficult decisions" to fix this housing disaster. In recent weeks, it has certainly been difficult to watch his Government's chaotic decision-making - its U-turns, drip-feeds and hasty rewrites of flawed press releases. Undoubtedly, the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Browne, have made decisions as difficult for renters as they could possibly have managed. Last week, and again just now on Leaders' Questions, he gleefully said the Government took the Opposition by surprise with the pronouncements on RPZs.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I did not say that.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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He made it sound like it was a "gotcha" moment for him.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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It was last week that I said that.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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It is hardly gotcha. Of course, we welcome decisions that are taken by the Government that we believe will fix the housing crisis. We support the extension of RPZs across the country, but not a hollowed out version of RPZs that offer no real protections for renters. This was not a gotcha moment for landlords because last week he gave them a generous nine months' notice of his mooted plans. The net effect of that was obvious. Some signalled their intention to hike rents quickly before their investment property came within an RPZ next March. Others, opportunistically, started making plans to issue tenants with a notice to quit - racing the clock before the new rules came in. Concerns were immediately raised about this last week by my colleague, Deputy Sheehan. Labour Party representatives heard from frightened renters around the country. It is clear the Taoiseach and his backbenchers heard it too because, suddenly, there was to be emergency legislation this week to give effect to the difficult decisions on RPZs without delay. We know the Bill will be rushed through tomorrow but there is still very little clarity for renters.

There is very little clarity for any of us. We have learned that there is to be no special protections for students or short-term renters. This has been incredibly difficult for renters. It remains difficult. People are living in fear of evictions, of rent hikes and of an uncertain future. It is the Government's chaotic drip feed of housing policy changes which is causing this uncertainty and confusion. That is why at 6 p.m. people from across the country will be gathering outside Leinster House for our national Raise the Roof housing demonstration.

A Deputy:

Yes, that is what it is for.

A Deputy:

It is all about protests.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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People will gather to send a strong message to the Government. It is time for a radical reset of housing policy. No more incoherent policy changes. We need to see the radical reset the Housing Commission has called for because only the State has the deep pockets necessary to underwrite the construction of homes at the scale that is needed. The Government must scale up its effort and ambition, not waste time and money on "Bertienomics" era tax breaks for developers or ineffectual apartment design changes.

One promising policy that we welcome is an overhaul of the Land Development Agency, LDA. We have been calling for this for years in Labour. We want to see the LDA become effective. Rather than trying to catch the Opposition off guard or trying to govern by gotcha, why will the Government not take on board other urgent and ambitious proposals for reform and fix the housing crisis? Why will it not adopt our policy on protections for renters?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I will first say to the Deputy that since the Government came in a number of months ago in January, we have approved an extra €700 million in respect of projects and programmes for social and affordable housing. We passed the national planning framework, which will enable local authorities to zone far more land for house construction. We brought forward proposals on legislation to extend and renew planning permissions in order to give continuity and ensure that those planning permissions can be realised. We brought in the RPZ reforms that were announced last week, which the Deputy is now attacking. In the same breath and the same comment, the Deputy talks about a radical reset recommended by the Housing Commission. This was recommended by the Housing Commission - a reform of the RPZs. Which is it? What aspects of the Housing Commission is the Deputy saying we should and should not implement? The Housing Agency was asked to do a review of RPZs following on from the Housing Commission. It did its review. We have adopted one of the proposed areas - as in reforming the RPZs, not getting rid of them as the Deputy said I would. We are not doing anything like that; we are strengthening protections for renters.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Driving up rents.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Very significantly protecting protections for renters which Deputy Bacik is clearly ignoring in her commentary. While at the same time, in terms of new investment and new units, which we do need, there has to be a clear policy certainty and stability in the market so that people can invest. After 2026, linking new units to the consumer price index, CPI, and a right to reset after six years is the crucial piece that will allow inward investment in to get supply up. If we do not get supply up, then the rate at which prices will moderate will be slower. It is as simple as that. The Deputy will not bite the bullet. She will not make the difficult position. She is in opposition. I accept that.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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We cannot. We are not in the Government.

Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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It is your job.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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She will not support anything that in any way she perceives to be injurious to her electoral base or might cost her a few votes. That is the prism through which she is looking at our housing crisis. I recall that she is the person that said she will build 100,000 per year-----

Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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Where is the 40,000?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----through some new-fangled national State building agency, the details of which are few and far between. The Deputy has not produced solutions. We have built more than 30,000 per annum over the past number of years.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Captured by civil servants-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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In the first quarter of this year, housing completions were close to 6,000. The actual number was 5,938. That is the highest since the record in 2011, bar the spike after Covid-19. There is a lot of delivery happening. The land market activity on residential zoned areas is up. There is a great deal of activity there. We have to keep going and get the job done.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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Anybody watching will be wondering when the Government is going to take political responsibility for the housing crisis. He is the Taoiseach and is in government. His party and Fine Gael have effectively governed together for the best part of a decade and yet, he is resorting to throwing critiques at the Opposition for not building homes.

We are in opposition. The Labour Party, as the Taoiseach well knows, produced a costed, detailed plan on housing and on the transformation of the Land Development Agency into a State construction company because only the State has the deep pockets that can underwrite the risk of construction. That is what I am hearing from builders and developers. The Taoiseach knows that to be the case. He knows he does not have a leg to stand on when it comes to defending his housing policy. Last year, the Government thought it would deliver 40,000 new builds. It came far short of that. Renters, those who aspire to home ownership, those who are couch surfing and living in their childhood bedrooms, not to mention the 15,000 people in homelessness, know the Government does not have a leg to stand on when it comes to housing policy.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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The Government has to take responsibility and deliver the homes people need.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I have no difficulty in taking responsibility. We are taking decisions.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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To drive up rents.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy is criticising decisions. She said, "We are in opposition". The Labour Party could have been in government-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----but it did not have the courage.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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You did not give us a chance. You had done the deal with Michael Lowry.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Deputies either want the answer-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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You and many in your party did not have the courage. Why? It was because-----

A Deputy:

You had done the dodgy deal.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Look, it hurts. I have the floor.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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You have 30 seconds, Taoiseach.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I accept what I just said hurts the party. I note Deputy Kelly is not here. To be fair to him, he wanted to go into government, but the others did not-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----and the reason they did not want to go into government was that they are afraid of the people alongside them.

Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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Answer the question, Taoiseach

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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You were afraid to jump in case they would not jump and vice versa.

Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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Answer the question, Taoiseach

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I have no difficulty in taking responsibility, but maybe it is time Deputy Bacik took some responsibility and fleshed out her details.

A Deputy:

We will have to clean up your mess.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Deputy Whitmore of the Social Democrats.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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You made some mess yourselves.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The big man who will not answer a question.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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You would be dying for Opposition.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Thank you, Deputy. Please allow the Social Democrats to take their Leaders' Questions slot.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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But they have all joined forces now.

James Lawless (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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The joint Opposition.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Please-----

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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When it comes to housing, can the Government get anything right? It has been planning these rental reforms for months and yet it made an absolute hames of them last week. Even the Taoiseach's Cabinet colleagues could not make sense of them. They were quoted in the media talking about not understanding the rules. For the avoidance of any doubt, there was one simple thing these reforms were to do, and that was to drive rents higher.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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Hear, hear.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Hear, hear.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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That is because driving record rents even higher, according to the Government, is somehow going to bring rents down. Make that make sense. No wonder the Taoiseach's Cabinet colleagues are utterly bewildered.

The Taoiseach has claimed repeatedly that housing is the Government's biggest priority. Yet, when it comes to policy announcements, they are chaotic and sloppy. Even today, the Minister conceded that students and those on short-term rental contracts will not be protected from the rental reset, which is an absolute disgrace and it goes against what was said last week.

The Taoiseach also said the Government wants to extend the rent pressure zones across the country, but it did not even have the legislation ready last week to do so and he did not have the answers last week when he was asked in the Dáil about it. The truth is that the policy is a shambles and the Government is making it up as it goes along. It has no coherent plan and just one guiding principle, that is, to design a housing policy that extracts the maximum profit for investors.

The Land Development Agency was set up in 2018. Now, seven years later, the Government is finally talking about giving it greater compulsory purchase powers. The Social Democrats demanded this from the outset but successive governments preferred to have a toothless tiger, a Land Development Agency that was prevented from acquiring the land it needed. Once again, the Government had to be dragged kicking and screaming into doing the right thing. It is completely unclear now whether these powers will be accompanied by a new budget. Perhaps the Taoiseach could clarify that in his response.

I am acutely aware that every time we discuss housing in this Chamber it feels hopeless and that is because we are usually discussing failed policies of the Government. It does not have to be like this. The problems we are facing now are because of the wrong political choices being made, but the Government can make the correct political choices. However, that will mean it will have to admit that what it was doing was not working and agree to a complete reset of policy where the Government prioritises people who want to own their homes and not investors. It is clear that not once was that mentioned. Of all those rental homes the Government is proposing will be developed, none will be able to be purchased to be someone's home.

I urge the Taoiseach to listen to the Opposition. We have concrete solutions.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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We offered the State savings scheme that would free up €160 billion, potentially, on deposit in Irish bank accounts.

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Thank you, Deputy Whitmore.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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I ask the Taoiseach to please take those suggestions on board.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I reject the use of language like "chaotic" and all that. It is a good sound bite, but that is all it is - a sound bite with no substance behind it. The bottom line is that the reforms announced last week will enhance protections. The Deputy says it will drive up rents. Every existing tenant will have their rent capped at 2%. There will be no increase. Does the Deputy acknowledge that? Not one of them has acknowledged that. No existing tenant will have their rent increased. We want new units built. Very few apartments have been built. We have a problem there and we need to attract private sector investment in to get the supply up. Any new tenancies post March 2026 or any new units built will be capped at the CPI. Tenure has increased dramatically in terms of protections - no-fault evictions essentially for almost all tenants, but particularly for those with four or more. These are significant protections over and above what was there before the reforms announced last week and yet they get the decried and attacked. Basically, it is as if rhetoric will win out in the end from the Opposition's perspective.

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

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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There is no real detailed teasing out of issues or discussion of issues in here on Leaders' Questions - it is get up and have a go. The Deputy mentioned the proposal around the SSIA, a savings and investments scheme. She must acknowledge that it would take some years before the necessary funds would be available. The State itself is investing hugely with about €6.8 billion in capital on housing in 2025 and that will probably rise. That is not counting the State investment on the current side with HAP and so on. The State investment in housing right now is well over €7 billion. We have the fourth largest construction activity in European Union of 27 member states. There is a lot of activity in Ireland but we have had a growing economy in the last decade and very significant population growth. We have an issue in meeting the housing demand. That is a crisis for the younger generation. We acknowledge that. I am very focused and the Government is very determined and very focused. We are taking decisions every week on housing and will continue to take more and more decisions.

The LDA has made an impact. The Government from 2020 to 2025 gave it power and resources, and legislation. We are now giving additional roles to the LDA as it has built up capacity. However, we are not hanging around for CPIs - CPIs can take time. We need to hit the ground running in respect of any additional reforms that we have. We are absolutely determined to get to 50,000 per annum. Rent freezes will not do that.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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Yes, the Government is taking decisions, but it is taking all the wrong decisions. That is the problem and that is what we are saying to it. It needs to completely rethink its policy and needs to start prioritising people who want to be homeowners, people who want to be able to afford the rent rather than the investors. That is the crux of the problem. The Government's policies are being directed by the investors. The Taoiseach spoke about never having a real opportunity to tease things out here. That is because every time he comes into this Chamber all he does is spend his time deflecting, gaslighting or blaming the Opposition when it is his responsibility to put in policies that meet the needs of our people. People are not being fooled because they are the ones who are living through this housing crisis. They are the ones who cannot afford rents. They are the ones who cannot afford their own home. They are the ones who are retired and are worried about whether they might be made homeless. Those people can see exactly what the Government is doing and failing to do. They will not forgive it for that.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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The Government's focus has been on housing supply. The Government has dramatically increased the level of public sector investment. We had record numbers of social houses built in the last four years. One would need to go as far back as 1975 to get an equivalent level of social housing built.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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That is because successive governments did nothing for 20 years.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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We have built up to 36,000 social houses since.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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There are record house prices and record homelessness.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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We have also supported affordability.

Pádraig Rice (Cork South-Central, Social Democrats)
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They are €400,000 in our own constituency.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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For example, the help to buy scheme and the first home scheme are significant supports for first-time buyers.

I know the main Opposition party, to which the other parties have all aligned, wanted to get rid of the first home scheme-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----and wanted to get rid of the help to buy scheme. It wants to get rid of those two schemes for first-time buyers. In addition, we have produced very significant grant support for people who want to renovate and live in a derelict house, for example, or in a vacant house. This is not investor led. This is people-led investment and support that we as a Government have introduced and will continue to support the younger people who are seeking to get a house, either to buy or to rent, at an affordable price.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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We are talking about housing and targets. As Opposition Members have stated, the targets are not being reached. Let us not get into the semantics of whether they will be reached, because what will stop them being reached is infrastructure. We have a situation in Clonshaugh where planned housing is going to be delayed due to a lack of water services. In this context, it was interesting to listen to the ESRI chairman, Mr. Sean O'Driscoll, who is a member of the new infrastructure task force. Credit to the Government for setting this up. However, the fact that Mr. O'Driscoll came out on the record and spoke in a personal capacity shows a certain element of trepidation, at least on his behalf and possibly among other members. He addressed issues such as judicial reviews and planning delays. He said the bar for judicial reviews was far too low. He spoke about the need to extend the Part 8 planning permissions enjoyed by local councils and to tell the EU that Ireland had an infrastructure emergency to overcome regulation and red tape.

What I would like to focus on is the need to secure multi-annual funding for utilities and major projects. I am referring to water services, our national grid and some other areas. It was said was that tough, brave and exceptional decisions were needed. We need a commitment. The CEO of Uisce Éireann and the managing director of ESB Networks are on this task force but there is no sign that the required legislative changes are going to be agreed by the 1 July target. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, has reportedly said that nothing is ruled in or out and everything is on the table. Can I get a commitment from the Taoiseach that, for the first time in the history of the State, we will have a proper structure of multi-annual funding? We see local councils with a three-year rolling capital programme. Why can we not set out a five-year rolling capital programme for infrastructural projects such as water and the grid?

I am digressing slightly, but we talk about AI technology. That will use a lot more energy when we have many more data storage companies coming in, and the income potential of that. We cannot have that and also have electricity supply and build houses. We have the potential to be a major energy exporter in terms of converted hydrogen and stored electricity, which also feeds into the housing situation. Will the Taoiseach commit that the Government will agree to set out a multi-annual funding structure, which will also give certainty to the training colleges in order to start recruiting the homegrown staff we need?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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First of all, "Yes" is the answer. We will. Utilities need certainty. Utilities can be a great enabler of both housing and infrastructure. The national development plan will reflect the prioritisation of water in particular, expansion of the grid and public transport along with road infrastructure. The Minister, Jack Chambers, has established an infrastructure division within the Department of public expenditure and a team of sectoral experts has been seconded from key agencies to the division. That division is already focusing on the electricity, water and transport sectors. It is focused initially on the preparation of an evidence-based, systematic assessment of the barriers impeding timely infrastructure development. It is engaging with key stakeholders to identify those critical barriers. It has begun a public consultation, which was launched on 6 June. A stakeholder engagement event is scheduled for 18 June in Athlone. It will also examine what reforms have been successfully introduced in other jurisdictions that may be applicable in Ireland. The Minister, Deputy Chambers, will provide a report to the Government by the end of July on what have been identified as the most significant barriers slowing infrastructural development, and we will work on those.

I will say this, though, in terms of judicial reviews. I believe all planning should as far as humanly possible be decided on in the layers of planning institutions we have established - local authorities and An Bord Pleanála. Ultimately, planning should not be decided in the court but people are applying to the courts the length and breadth of the country. Governments cannot abolish the law. In the Planning Act, it was interesting. We did try to streamline the law and the whole area around judicial review. There was a lot of opposition in the House to it. People wanted to reduce the impact of the Planning Act that we took three years to get through this House. People were adamant that rights came before anything else in some quarters, in other words, the eternal question of the common good versus personal, individual rights. Given the population growth in this country, given the housing need in this country, I think the overall common good should triumph, given the situation we find ourselves in.

We have very good examples, by the way, of very good infrastructure that has been delivered on time and on budget, but we never hear of those projects because they are not newsworthy, really. When they get done on time and in budget, that is the end of it. No one really wants to talk about them. It is the ones that are over budget and behind time. Take the Shannon water scheme. The Government has approved that but there will be opposition. Public representatives have said they are going to oppose it. It is essential for the midlands, it is essential for Dublin, that we get that project through but there will be opposition.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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To follow up on transport infrastructure, Mr. O'Driscoll mentioned, for example, the impact in terms of future jobs at Apple because of the road interlink and public transport links. It is a similar thing with Galway in terms of the ring road. As someone with a green background, I acknowledge the need for the ring road but obviously there is a need to put more investment into public transport alternatives in the first instance. This action plan is coming by 1 July, which means the Cabinet will be deciding, I hope by the recess, what the priorities are going to be for the next couple of years in respect of the task force. If multi-annual funding is not firmly on the table at that stage, we might as well say "Goodbye" to the whole thing and it will be, as Mr. O'Driscoll said, just another talking shop. I hope that, between the Minister, Deputy Chambers, the Taoiseach and the rest of Cabinet, multi-annual funding will be put firmly at the heart of this plan so we can get moving on what is required.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Absolutely, funding and reform. The funding will be made available through the national development plan. The issue will be whether we can get societal buy-in to a lot of the required infrastructure. That is the big issue. The Deputy mentioned the ring road in Galway. His former colleagues in the Green Party were very much against roads. That is just a fact; that is their political view. Even in government, it was problematic in terms of some road projects. Look at the Macroom-Ballyvourney bypass. The impact that has had environmentally and on road safety has been extraordinary in terms of the impact on the communities living in the various towns along there - it has been quite extraordinary - as well as improving connectivity and road safety.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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Will the funding be multi-annual?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I think we have had too simplistic a debate on roads from those on the environmental pillar who see roads as just a total non-starter. We need better debate around these issues because they can also have beneficial environmental impacts.