Results 201-220 of 1,034,862 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Eamon Scanlon OR speaker:Fiona O'Loughlin OR speaker:Brendan Smith)

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Joan Collins: Yes, I do.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: Okay, perhaps she can wait to ask a question and let me answer Deputy Boyd Barrett. On affordable housing, when this Government came into office no affordable homes were offered at all. The Deputy knows that. Last year, 1,757 housing solutions were delivered on affordable housing. This year the figure will be more than 6,000. I am not claiming success or that we have dealt with every...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Joan Collins: That is why we have the problem.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: That is why we need a planning system that supports the delivery of the homes and infrastructure we need. That is why I expect Deputies on both sides of the House to support the Planning and Development Bill when it comes back to the House for its final Stages, so we can ensure we have an efficient planning system under which someone from Ballina cannot object to a social housing development...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: I have been campaigning on the Shanganagh site, which the Minister will open tomorrow, for 18 years. It has taken us 18 years to develop a public site to deliver 600 social and affordable houses. At that rate, we are facing a grim and long housing crisis. By the way, we still do not know what the price of the affordable housing there will be. There will be 200 social houses. There are...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Seán Ó Fearghaíl: Thank you Deputy. Time is up now.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Richard Boyd Barrett: Will the Minister please do something about the thresholds? People have spent 15, 16 and 17 years on the list and then that time is gone.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed) (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I was the first Minister since 2011 to increase the social housing income limits. We increased them all across the country and they remain under review. We need to increase our own stock of social housing. In the four years of this Government, we have been able to do that and to scale up the capacity to deliver. Certainly, there is much more to do. I only used Shanganagh as an example;...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: It is nothing of the sort, and the Deputy knows that. I do not know whether the issue of pensions is a matter he discussed when he went to London to meet potential investors in this country recently. This is about acting on an independent report that has come forward. In a very phased way from 2026, the standard funding threshold will be increased. While we are doing that, the Government...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Crumbs. The tax break is €320,000.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: It is not crumbs.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Seán Ó Fearghaíl: Please, Deputy.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: About 50% of people in this country have made pension provisions themselves. That is it. About 50% do not have any pension provision. That is our absolute focus. That is why we need to keep things such as the ability to claim tax relief at the marginal rate, not like the Sinn Féin proposal that any average worker out there who is earning will pay more in tax.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Pearse Doherty: Nonsense.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I will send Deputy Doherty the documentation from Sinn Féin that proposes to reduce the pension tax relief to the standard rate. That would be a real cost to workers and people.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Pearse Doherty: The Minister cannot defend the policy; the indefensible.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Ivana Bacik: Mine is a simple question today. How can the Minister say his Housing for All policy is working when over 4,000 children are homeless? Everyone deserves the dignity of a roof over their head, and the basic responsibility of the State to provide shelter and homes is even more pressing when it comes to children and young people. On the formation of the First Dáil, the first document...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: I thank Deputy Bacik for her questions and comments. Those in emergency accommodation and homelessness remain the number one challenge for this Government. In a number of counties across the country, we are seeing continued decreases in the numbers accessing emergency accommodation and increasing exits from such accommodation. In quarter 2, 630 households were able to exit emergency...

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Joan Collins: Shame.

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions (19 Sep 2024)

Darragh O'Brien: We will hit our social housing target this year. We have delivered over 6,000 affordable housing solutions this year. When we came into government, there were no affordable housing solutions. There was no cost-rental housing or secure tenancies for working people. Nearly 2,000 tenancies have been put in place through cost rental that we legislated for and funded. We will see a continued...