Dáil debates
Thursday, 19 June 2025
Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
5:15 am
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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At a time when rents are at record levels the Tánaiste's Government has come up with a new solution: to hike them up even further. Its proposal to effectively remove rent controls from new tenancies signals disaster for renters, especially young people, students and their families and anyone who moves to a new rental home. The reality of the Government's plan was always clear, but now it is not just the Opposition saying it. Despite all the spin and bluster from Government and the Tánaiste over the last few weeks, the Central Bank has said the Government's rent hike Bill will be "painful" for tenants. It said "...the social costs and the pain felt by households is not even...". This will hurt young people and their ability to save to buy their own home. This will hurt students and their families who are paying already extortionate rents and this will hurt ordinary working people who find themselves stuck in an ever-spiralling rental trap. The Tánaiste's Government's plan is a green light for massive rent increases every year. His Government spent a full week attempting to disguise the fact its plan shafts renters. It just could not be straight with people, so in a blizzard of confusion we had Ministers tripping over themselves to contradict each other. The Tánaiste declared in this House last week that "We will be taking specific measures to support students; do not worry we will, because we have their backs". Then the Minister, Deputy Browne, confirmed the reality there will be no exemptions or special protections for students in the private rental sector or any renters who will be faced with massive rent hikes. The Tánaiste keeps saying this is a balanced plan but nothing could be further from the truth. The Government cannot promise vulture funds that they can increase prices while pretending to renters that rents will not go up. We know who is going to pay and it is renters, so let us be honest that Government housing policy has always been about investors and giving vulture and cuckoo funds free rein to squeeze rents out of hardworking people.
To make matters worse, supply is falling off a cliff. The Government missed its housing targets last year, it is nowhere near close to meeting them this year and now the Central Bank has again revised down its estimates for new completions this year to barely above 30,000, which is far below the target of 40,000. Not only will the Government miss its targets this year, the Central Bank believes it will miss them next year, the year after that and the year after that. All of this is happening in a cost-of-living crisis. Rents are going up at the same time as groceries, insurance and broadband and at a rate far higher than incomes have increased. This is putting a burden which people simply cannot take.
Despite all this confusion there is one absolute certainty, which is that rents will go up and the Government will remove one of the few protections renters have. Rent controls will not apply to new-build homes. They will not apply to existing homes after a renter moves out voluntarily. They will not apply to off-campus student accommodation despite the Tánaiste saying the Government has students' backs. The average tenancy is just over three years long, meaning very soon almost all renters will be hurt by the Government’s decisions this week. They will hurt tens of thousands of people every year. They will lock families into overcrowded accommodation for fear that if they move their rents will skyrocket. There is absolutely no guarantee these changes will increase supply. I believe rents need to be brought down. The Tánaiste and his Government obviously believe rents should go up. Of course the rent pressure zones should have been extended. That should have been done on day one. The Government should scrap all the rest of its absolutely crazy proposals that will increase the price of rent.
When is the Tánaiste’s Government going to stop punishing renters? Does he now accept that rents will go up as a result of the Government’s decision this week? Will he take the opportunity to correct the record of the Dáil and accept students who live off campus will not be protected under the proposals and will be some of the first to be affected?
Mairéad Farrell
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Cullinane for raising this important issue. I want to be very clear for people watching at home the decisions the Government has taken and the legislation the Government is taking through the Houses this week is legislation that will extend the rent pressure zones. As everybody renting across Ireland knows, the rent pressure zones were due to end at Christmas. Had we not taken action they would have ended. They would have disappeared. Not only have we taken a decision to extend the rent pressure zones based on the advice of the Housing Agency and others, we have also taken the decision to expand the rent pressure zones to parts of the country that were not covered and to do that in a speedy fashion. About 11 counties in Ireland will benefit from that. Rent pressure zones staying in place and going nationwide is a good and sensible thing to happen in terms of protecting existing tenants.
The Deputy quoted the Central Bank report, but of course he just quoted parts of it. The Central Bank also said our rent pressure zone reforms will have a positive effect on supply. Its representatives acknowledge housing projections are subject to uncertainty, but they said this morning it is not impossible to reach the targets, though there are a number of steps that need to be taken. Many of the steps they have outlined are areas where we have seen Government place a priority focus on in recent weeks. These include the establishment of an Coimisiún Pleanála, the decision to extend planning permissions that could have expired, the decision to make more developments exempted - because in some local authorities about 50% of a planner's time can be taken up on small things like attic conversions or modular developments in the back garden - and the new national planning framework we have brought through this House to ensure there is enough land zoned to get to the 300,000 plus homes we need to deliver by the end of 2030. Next month we will see a very significant programme of investment from Government in the key enabling infrastructure to deliver homes, particularly to do with water, wastewater and energy as well. So we are taking steps.
I know exactly what I said about students last week. I said: "We will be taking specific measures to support students; do not worry ... because we have their backs", and we do and we will.
Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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We do not believe you.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Cullinane does not need to lecture me about students. When I was Minister for further and higher education we reduced student fees every year and we extended the renter's tax credit to students while Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland continues to expect students to pay way more to access college. Do not worry, and more importantly students should not worry, because in the forthcoming budget we will take more measures to protect students, so please do not try to create this generational anxiety about what we are going to do to support our students at a time when we have more people than ever before in our history accessing third level education. We will continue to support students. I tell the students or the renters or the people Sinn Féin tries to mislead that it is that party's policy to abolish rent pressure zones.
Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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We will freeze rents-----
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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In the Sinn Féin housing plan------
Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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-----and reduce rents.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Just give David his chance this week Matt. You might get a go next week. In the Sinn Féin housing plan the party is in favour of reference rents, which the ESRI said would be unworkable and complex and the Housing Agency said would be unworkable, complex and lead to more disputes. Sinn Féin knows what a reference rent would have meant.
Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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The Government voted against freezing rents last night.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It would have meant increasing the rent for existing tenants. I do not expect consistency from Sinn Féin on policy development, but a little bit of recognition it contested a general election on the basis of abolishing rent pressure zones and replacing them with reference rents, something the Housing Agency the ESRI and I reckon a hell of a lot of renters do not think are a good idea either.
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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Again the Tánaiste's response is all spin, bluster and blaming everybody else-----
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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-----but his Government for the fact it is bringing in policies that will drive up the cost of rent for many people. Students will not buy his line of argument. They will see through his spin. Many students are going to see their rent and the cost of their accommodation increase. They know it. They know the Government does not have their backs. The Tánaiste talks about a balance, but the balance here is tipped in favour of the vulture funds, cuckoo funds and the investors.
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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It is more money for them and more profit for them, which is always the case under Fine Gael, which represents a cosseted, privileged class, from my perspective.
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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Ordinary people who have to pay increased costs on groceries, insurance and now rent are the ones who are paying the price. The Tánaiste should stand up once and for all. He should not be blaming Sinn Féin for something we did not do and take responsibility for his actions. The Central Bank made it clear today this will hurt those same people. Take responsibility for it, stop it, scrap it, do not put institutional investors first and do not again screw those renters who are already paying high rents with even higher rents.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Do not talk to me about the privileged classes when the largest property owner and investor in this House is the Sinn Féin Party. Let us remember Deputy Cullinane's party is the biggest property owner in the Dáil. His party's director of finance Des Mackin boasted to The Irish Times-----
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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More spin, more bluster.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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-----a few years ago that Sinn Féin had "40 or 50 [properties], easily"-----
Máire Devine (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Answer the question.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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-----across the island. He said the party had "...tried to tidy it up some years ago, but it was too difficult".
Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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This is about the Minister's record.
John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Order, please.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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They do not like the truth.
He went on to say, "In Belfast alone we’d have seven ... Nationally, I’d say it exceeds 40 or 50 ..." The biggest property owners and investors in Dáil Éireann are those in Sinn Féin. Do not give me "We are on the side of the working people". It is a load of bull that people see right through. You are the wealthiest party in this House-----
5:25 am
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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People are not buying any of that bluster.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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-----and there are no two ways about it. At least have the decency to stand by your policy.
Máire Devine (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Answer the question.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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You are in favour of reference rent. We are in favour of rent pressure zones. It is a balanced package. We are taking measures-----
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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The high energy has fizzled out. Gone.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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-----to expand rent pressure zones. We are taking measures to make them permanent. We are also making sure we can deliver more supply, because do you know what renters need? Places to rent.
David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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We know that, and you are not doing it. It is just spin, spin, spin.
Conor McGuinness (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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You are only learning that after 12 years.
John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Before moving to the Social Democrats, I acknowledge the group from New Zealand in our Distinguished Visitors Gallery. They were welcomed formally yesterday. They were so impressed that they came back again today. They might mark a sheet for us about how people performed yesterday versus today.
Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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GP services around the country are at breaking point. They are oversubscribed and understaffed. It can often take two or three weeks before people get to see their doctors. I spoke to a 90-year-old woman recently. She has to wait three weeks when she needs an appointment. She has a history of dizziness and falls. Oftentimes, she ends up in accident and emergency, which sends her back to her GP. We see the problems there. I also dealt with a child in the constituency the Tánaiste and I represent who needed chemotherapy but the GP list in her new home area was two years long. As a result, she could not get to a GP to get a referral for chemotherapy. This is a ticking time bomb, and it is about to go off. GP services are the foundation of our health service. If they crumble, everything else will collapse. The Government is sleepwalking us into a disaster because it is not treating this with the level of urgency it demands.
A new report this week states that we will need at least 940 GPs over the coming 15 years in order to meet the demand that exists. Where is the Government's plan to deliver these GPs? I acknowledge that some new training posts have been created, but that is just scratching the surface of what is needed. We need instead a sense of urgency. However, there has been nothing but foot dragging. The most recent example of this is the strategic review of general practice. This review started in 2023 and was supposed to be completed that year. More than two years later, there is still no sign of it. How long more will have to wait for action? We do not need more reviews. We know what the issues are. It is blindingly obvious that we need more GPs. We know what the barriers are for GPs. Why is the Government not taking action to address the shortfall?
A critical reform that must be rolled out is the introduction of salaried GPs. This is where GPs would be directly employed by the HSE. When GPs go into medicine, they do so because they have a passion for making people better. They did not necessarily go into medicine to be businesspeople, accountants or employers. What they want is a better work-life balance. Having a salaried position provided by the HSE is the answer to that.
I must also address the issue of the GP "deserts" across the country, particularly in rural areas. These are places, where we are unable to get people to set up their own practices. The concept of salaried GPs is something that most of those in opposition agree with. The introduction of such GPs is also the subject of a commitment in the programme for Government. In light of that, what exactly is holding this up? Successive Governments have talked about the reform of GP services for decades, but the GP contract has largely remained the same for 40 years. At what point will the Government stop talking about it and start doing it? When will it start taking the GP crisis seriously and when will we see the introduction of salaried GPs?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Whitmore for raising this issue. She is right.. It is a real challenge in lots of communities, including the ones we are proud to represent in Dáil Éireann. I am grateful for the capacity review report she referenced in terms of the ESRI and the detailed work it has done, which will assist in workforce planning and which shows the growth in GP capacity that will be necessary in light of the growing and ageing population we will have in Ireland.
In fairness, the Deputy acknowledged some measures that have been taken. I contend that numerous measures have been taken to increase the number of GPs practising in the State. The annual intake to the GP training scheme increased by approximately 80% between 2019 and 2024. Some 350 new entrant training places were made available from 2024, and 346 new entrants commenced training last year. It is encouraging that almost all of the new entrant training, even though the number increased significantly, have been taken up. The intake for 2024 can be measured against the fact that 286 people went into training in 2023. GPs are also being recruited from abroad. That commenced in 2023 under a joint HSE and ICGP international medical graduate rural GP programme. There are currently 118 of those GPs in practice, and a further 18 have completed the two-year course. Funding has been provided to bring the number on the scheme up from 118 to 250.
We have increased investment in general practice to try to address some of the cost issues that many GPs talk to us about. The budget for general practice went to €211 million under the 2019 GP agreement, with a further €130 million under the 2023 piece. There are approximately ten commitments in the programme for Government that relate to supporting general practice, including structured chronic disease management programme expansion and the full national coverage for GP on call. One of the positive developments we have seen in our constituency is the roll-out of the out-of-hours GP service in Loughlinstown. That service that did not exist five or six years ago. There is also the provision of additional supports for GP practices in rural areas and areas of increased need because the lack of access is not equal across the country.
I do not have a specific note on salaried GPs. All I can say is that the Deputy is right. Salaried GPs are a good idea. I visited one salaried GP practice in Deputy Gannon's constituency. The name escapes me right now, but he knows the doctor. It is a good model, but we need to see this become more the norm. There is funding provided to the HSE for the roll-out of salaried GPs. As Deputy Whitmore stated, there are many doctors who want to deliver medicine but who do not want the challenge of running a small or medium-sized business, as these practices often are. We can learn a lot from that model. I will ask the Minister for Health specifically to outline to the Deputy her plans to roll this out. However, it is something that the Government and I are very much in favour of. It provides another option to further increase capacity.
Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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The name of the programme in question was GP Care for All. Unfortunately, last year they had to come to the Dáil to campaign to be kept open. Clearly, that small proportion of GP services that follow the model we want, and that was agreed under Sláintecare, have to fight to stay open because the Government has not been supporting them sufficiently.
I will give the Tánaiste some statistics in response to those he provided. Six in ten GPs across the country cannot take on any new patients. They have closed their books. The measures the Government has brought in only scratch the surface and have not resulted in the changes we need to see in the number of GPs. Of those who took up the 350 new entrant positions the Tánaiste talked about, 30% will go to Canada, Australia, the UK and New Zealand. They will emigrate and bring their skills with them. We will train them here and they will move overseas. Those are the facts. Our GPs are crying out for support. Our patients are crying out for medical assistance. Will the Tánaiste please take his head out of the sand and deal with this crisis before it becomes insurmountable?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I assure the Deputy that my head is firmly up in the air. There is a lot of work going on in this area. However, as the she and I know from talking to GPs, not just in our county but also across the country, it is not just about the number of GPs. It is also about the supports they want to allow them to hire more nurses, the triaging of patients and out-of-hours services. The Deputy referred to GPs leaving the country. The figures I put on the record show that GPs are coming to Ireland. Some 118 GPs have chosen to come to Ireland and it their home. They are very welcome, and we are thankful for them being here. They are already in practice and treating patients. A further 18 are in the process of completing the course. There are plans to get the number up to 250.
Let me be clear that I am aware of - and am not in any way disputing - the huge challenges that exist in terms of capacity. People are waiting too long too see a GP. There is a need to ramp up capacity in general practice further, not just the number of doctors but also the number of support staff. The Deputy's point about salaried GPs is a serious and constructive one. I take the point that we were dealing with a new model. We found a way forward in respect of that. I would like to see an acceleration of the roll-out of salaried GPs. I will ask the Minister for Health to liaise directly with the Deputy on that.
Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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In the past two weeks we have seen the very concept of vaccination being undermined by the incumbent Secretary for Health and Human Services in the United States.
It is at times like this that the science-led approach to vaccination we have in Ireland is so important.
The HPV vaccine was first made available to teenage girls in 2010 and subsequently provided to teenage boys from 2019. The Tánaiste might have been health Minister at the time. In 2022, the HSE ran a campaign to provide the vaccine to young women and men who had missed the vaccination when they were in school. The campaign was named after Laura Brennan, a young woman who campaigned to raise awareness of the HPV vaccine and who died from cervical cancer. The scheme was regarded as a success and it was expanded in 2023.
The programme for Government, published in January, pledges to extend the Laura Brennan HPV catch-up vaccination programme to anyone under 25 years who missed the original vaccine. I have been trying to find out when this new programme is going to be rolled out but nobody will tell me. I have been on to the Department of Health with parliamentary questions and I have had replies from the HSE. Each time, I am being told about other stuff: I am being told how important the HPV vaccine is, which I know. I am being told about a new scheme targeting young Traveller and Roma people, which is great, but there does come a stage when one feels that somebody is deliberately not answering the question because they know that the answer is not going to be popular.
The Irish Cancer Society has also raised the status of the catch-up scheme with officials. It was suggested to it that a broad catch-up campaign could undermine the initial take-up of the vaccine by schoolchildren, and that there are some international studies to back up this point.
In order to try to clarify the matter, I raised the future of the Laura Brennan HPV campaign with the Taoiseach on 21 May. He said it was a fair question and he would ask the Department of Health to come back to me. I have not heard anything since.
Could the Tánaiste answer three questions for me today? Is the Laura Brennan HPV catch-up programme going ahead, as was committed to only six months ago in the programme for Government? If it is going ahead, when will it go ahead? If it is not going ahead, could we get a clear statement from the Minister for Health about the rationale for it not going ahead, and why we are abandoning a programme that everyone felt was working effectively to protect young people in Ireland from the scourge of HPV-related cancers?
5:35 am
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It seems the Taoiseach stole my line, because I was going to say I would find out. I thank Deputy O'Gorman for raising a very important issue. I will answer the questions directly, but I join with him in talking about the importance of a science-led, evidence-based approach to vaccination.
I am very proud that largely, but not exclusively, in this House we have taken an approach across party lines, where we follow the evidence and listen to the doctors. As a result of that, we have seen lives saved and cancers prevented. I knew Laura Brennan personally. I wrote to her parents as recently as last week. She was an incredible young woman, who has saved countless lives by dedicating her final years to working to promote the vaccine. Her family are very proudly continuing that work.
As Deputy O'Gorman says, we did also expand the vaccine to boys. By the way, this did not happen by accident. There was an organised and concerted campaign to run down the vaccine and to suppress vaccination rates. There was misinformation and disinformation and downright mistruths and online campaigns. Thanks to Laura Brennan spearheading the campaign, we collectively managed to see the uptake rates increase again, working with clinicians and the HSE.
We have given a commitment to extend the catch-up programme. In direct answer to the Deputy's question on whether it is going ahead: we put it in the programme for Government, and it is going ahead. If there is anybody in some part of the Civil Service who thinks they know better, I assure them that we intend to deliver on the programme for Government commitment. I passionately believe in this, as I know Deputy O'Gorman does too.
I did not know this question was coming up, so I do not have a direct answer for the Deputy on when it will happen, but I undertake to speak to the Minister for Health today on the matter and I will come directly back to him on the issue.
I am always open to hearing if there is a particular reason or obstacle that I am not aware of, but this is a very important catch-up campaign. There is a reason it is in the programme for Government. I expect it is something on which there is cross-party support. I will revert to the Deputy directly on it.
Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Tánaiste. As he says, Ireland has a good take-up of the HPV vaccine, but at a time when vaccine scepticism is being mainstreamed, our take-up rates have been falling. A rough estimation is that approximately 16,000 eligible Irish kids are not taking up the vaccine each year. That is why the catch-up scheme is so important.
We know the risks from the HPV virus and that it can materialise years or even decades after the initial infection – cervical cancer, oropharyngeal cancer, penile cancer, vaginal cancer – life-threatening and life-altering illnesses. I thank the Tánaiste for his response. Could he commit to a clear statement from the Minister for Health in a reasonable period, perhaps in the next three weeks, telling us that the campaign is going ahead, as the Tánaiste suggests, and giving us a timeline for that? However, if it is not going ahead, could she explain the rationale behind the fact that a public health campaign everyone says is delivering and is protecting young children is not going ahead?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I give that commitment. We will come back in three weeks with a definitive plan on that. While I am on my feet, I suggest, as this relatively new Dáil commences, that every Member of this House would publicly commit to supporting the vaccination programme. There is no room for pseudoscience or wannabe doctors who are not doctors. I want to know if every single elected representative in every single political party is committed to supporting the HPV vaccine for young boys and young girls, one that can effectively eradicate a form of cancer in this country. What an incredible thing to say. We have it within our grasp over a number of years the ability to effectively eradicate a cancer, one that disproportionately affects young people, especially young women, but not just women. We have an opportunity here through vaccination and other means to effectively eradicate it. I invite all Members of the House to use the opportunity of Deputy O'Gorman's question to recommit to vaccination and to push back against the misinformation out there. I will commit to coming back within three weeks to the Deputy.
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Today marks another dark day for the Government's housing record. The original target for 2025 of 41,000 new builds has been binned. The Minister, Deputy Browne, has cut the official target by 20%, stating that possibly only 34,000 homes will be built this year. Last year, only 30,000 homes were built, again far short of the Government's target of 40,000. This Government is in reverse in terms of the biggest crisis happening in this country. The promise in the programme for Government is that 300,000 homes would be built. Right now, the Government is going to meet half of that figure, based on the number of houses currently being built.
I have submitted freedom of information, FOI, requests to every single local authority in the country, in order to understand the scale of the crisis. The data I have received through these FOI requests fully contradict the Government's information. We asked local authorities, first, the number of homeless people in the State. Their figure is that 16,472 people are currently homeless. When we asked the Government for the homeless figure, we were told there are 15,580 homeless people. The Government is currently understating the number of homeless people in the State by 892. The Government's ability to count the number of homeless people is out by nearly 1,000.
We also sent an FOI to every local authority in the country to find out how many people are on housing waiting lists. The councils told us that there are 75,000 people currently on housing waiting lists. The official Government figure is 58,824. Here again, the Government is undercounting and understating the number by 16,000. Its ability to count the number of people on housing waiting lists at the moment is out by the population of Tullamore. That is an incredible situation.
We also FOI'd local authorities on the number of local authority homes that are empty. In the jaws of the worst housing crisis in the history of the State, there are 3,779 council-owned homes empty. Having empty homes in the middle of a housing crisis is akin to exporting food in the middle of the Famine. It is wrong. The fact of the matter is that we are paying nearly €600 million to house people in RAS and HAP homes, while so many local authority homes are empty.
I mentioned the Government and competence previously in relation to this, but perhaps I am giving it too much credit. Is it the case that in the middle of a Government freefall in terms of housing, it is misleading the general public on the number of people who are on housing waiting lists and the number who are homeless? Can we trust a word out of the Government's mouth in terms of these figures?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I hate to burst the Deputy's gotcha moment but I suggest he might wish to interrogate his numbers. I am not sure whether we should do a show of hands, but I imagine there is not a Member of Dáil Éireann, other than himself perhaps, who is not aware of the fact that there can be duplications.
There can, of course, be people involved with more than one local authority. There can be people in my constituency who can live between Greystones, Bray and Dún Laoghaire and they might be in touch with the two local authorities there. Going further south, people could be between Wicklow and Wexford. If you go to the west, they could be between west Wicklow and Kildare. If the Deputy wants to hand me over all of that data and information, he can but this is what people do when they seek to be divisive. They try to dispute official figures. These figures are not figures calculated by the Government in a party political sense. These are figures calculated by the State in a robust, impartial manner. They often deliver very difficult news for Government from a political point of view. Could we at least have the decency to respect the impartiality and robustness of those who gather statistics in Ireland? If we start trying to erode belief in statistics, that is part of a bigger agenda.
The Government is committed to the delivery of more than 300,000 homes by the end of 2030 - that is clear in the programme for Government. That is what we need to get to and we are taking big and bold decisions in the here and now to deliver those results over the next number of years. That means delivering measures that, when looked at in isolation, can understandably be critiqued or questioned but when you look at them in the round, all of the measures we are taking are to try to get a bit of momentum back into private investment in our housing market to increase supply.
We saw during the lifetime of the last Government that the number of houses very significantly increased from approximately 20,000 a year to a bit more than 30,000 a year. If we are being honest, they then plateaued. They plateaued at a level that is too low. That is why we are now taking measures to try to increase supply. It is why we have taken the decision on planning permission extension and on making more developments exempt from planning, particularly in gardens, attics and the like. It is why we published, and got through this House, a new national planning framework to provide more zoned land. It is why we are establishing a housing activation office - to break down silos. It is why we will invest significantly more in Uisce Éireann in the weeks ahead for water and wastewater treatment plants as well. We have a lot more work to do.
On the number of social homes, yes, we have more work to do but something else is also true. The Deputy must get invited to the same events I get invited to in my constituency. We are seeing a very significant increase in the number of social homes come on-stream. Last year, roughly the largest number of social homes were allocated since the 1970s. There were never more social homes allocated in my lifetime than there were last year. We need to keep that momentum and seek to do more.
One point I agree with the Deputy on is that council owned homes can lie empty for far too long. I have had a lot of discussions with a lot of people who are saying, "Hang on, if only I could get into that house. I do not need the devil and all done, I just need it to be safe and warm." That is why the Government intends to issue a circular to all local authorities to make it clear that health and safety should be the only grounds for the delay of the giving out of a local authority home, not the bells and whistles they sometimes go on with.
5:45 am
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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When the Tánaiste talks about increases in the building of houses and increases in the building of social homes, he is talking about increases from a floor of the worst housing collapse in the history of the State. He is talking about a figure of literally zero in terms of those increases. On getting these figures wrong and duplications, you cannot be on two social housing waiting lists simultaneously. You cannot.
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Let us talk about the figure-----
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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We will get to the homeless one. The Tánaiste is understating his figures. The official figures are understated by a population of 16,676. That is extraordinary. Either that is incompetence and an inability to count the number of people who are on waiting lists at the moment-----
Helen McEnteePeadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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-----or it is an attempt to hide the fact.
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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The reason I think the Tánaiste is misleading the people is that he has previous on this. Right up to the jaws of the last general election, the Government was determined to give the impression to the people of Ireland that 40,000 homes would be built that year. As soon as that election was finished, the information became very clear and that statement from the Government, a number of senior Ministers and the Taoiseach himself was wrong. It is important the Tánaiste comes clean with people on this. This housing crisis is far too serious for misinformation. People need to know what is happening in this country.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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There was not as much pirouetting and spinning at my daughter's ballet recital compared to what I just saw there. The reality is this is far too serious to engage in conspiracy theories.
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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That is why everybody is laughing over there.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy suggested I went around counting people. The reality is we have robust, politically independent, impartial structures in our State-----
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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They are inaccurate. Here are the FOIs. I am giving them to the Tánaiste.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Sorry, no. The Deputy can wave his sheets of paper but I want to know who in the public service he is calling incompetent?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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It is our public service. It is ours, we live in a Republic. It is our public service and it does a bloody good job and I want to know-----
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Just wait a second now, Mr. Angry. Wait.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I want to know who in our public service or what agency Deputy Tóibín believes is wrong in relation to our housing figures. I made the point about duplication and how you can report homelessness in more than one area. That did not suit the Deputy so he switched his argument for the next stage. The Deputy is right. We are coming from a very low base after a very difficult, deep financial recession in this country. We are working on trying to make progress, day in, day out. We have new ideas and are taking big, bold decisions every day to reach the 300,000 homes. The Deputy is simply over there throwing brickbats and engaging in conspiracy theories. I wish him well.
Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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The council FOIs are not conspiracy theories.