Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the appointment of Ms Nóirín O'Sullivan as Garda Commissioner, following her recommendation by the Public Appointments Service as the only suitable candidate. It is important to note that there was an open and transparent recruitment and appointment process. As well as welcoming her appointment it is also important that we would all support her in the ongoing important work of reforming the Garda Síochána. We are all very conscious, after this year in particular, of the need for reform. I know that the new Commissioner has given a commitment to ongoing reform. In that context, I would like to ask the Leader for a debate on policing reform, specifically in light of the recent Garda Inspectorate report which threw up particular questions around the recording of crime statistics, which I have raised in the House previously. Perhaps we might have that debate in the new year.
I very much welcome yesterday's announcement by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Alan Kelly, of the social housing strategy. Whatever grudging comments may be made about it by the Opposition, it is hugely important. Indeed, it is a legacy issue which this Government is dealing with. The reality is that during the boom years, there was almost no investment in social housing. The real scandal is that when the money was there to build social housing units and when waiting lists were actually climbing before 2011, there was almost no social housing being built. That is the real scandal which is often neglected in the discussions about the need for housing and the homelessness figures. The strategy announced by the Minister yesterday is a very real and ambitious programme to ensure that we deliver on social housing for those who need it. What he has proposed is 35,000 new social housing units to be delivered over six years, by 2020. He is putting forward €3.8 billion, most of which is direct Government funding, to meet the costs of building, acquiring and leasing those 35,000 units. While it is very ambitious, it is achievable.
I would urge all Members to read the strategy which sets out very clear pathways or methods of working to ensure delivery of the plan. It is ambitious, admittedly, but it is dealing with a legacy of neglect of this area and the failure, over successive years, of previous Governments to deliver social housing for those who needed it. That, as I have said, is the real scandal of our housing and homelessness situation. I ask the Leader to organise a debate on this issue in due course. It would be advisable to allow some time to see the strategy begin to be operational. Perhaps in a couple of months we could review the strategy and discuss its implementation. It is entirely good news which must be welcomed, in fairness, by Members on all sides of the House.
I wish to welcome another good news item in the context of legal change, namely, the proposed changes to our adoption law. Proposals have been brought forward for changes to our adoption laws to enable, in particular, children who are in long-term foster care to be adopted. Up until now, as colleagues will be aware, only a tiny number of such children have been eligible for adoption because of the highly restrictive nature of our adoption laws. Once we see the children's rights referendum decision being delivered, which I understand is imminent, the way will be cleared for legislation to enable the adoption of an estimated 2,000 of the 6,000 children currently in care. That will give those children legal security. It will also give legal security to their foster parents, who may have been caring for them, in loco parentis, for many years.