Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

He provided helpful reassurance on the issue of registered employment agreements, compulsory redundancies and outsourcing, three of the key issues which most concern many of us in the proposed sale. I welcome the announcement by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government today of a €91 million investment in housing. Senator Hayden will also welcome the announcement, as she has spoken eloquently on the issue on numerous occasions in this House. The fund is hugely welcome. It will make social housing available in greater quantities, which will improve housing for people with disabilities. The investment includes funds for retrofitting homes to improve energy efficiency. It will also ensure that more than 1,000 vacant social housing units will be refurbished for people who are on the social housing waiting list, at a cost of €20 million. Vacant units are known as voids, and this is one of the issues that many of us have raised here repeatedly. I ask the Leader to arrange a debate in early course on the issue of investment in housing. In the meantime, I welcome this important announcement.

Finally, I ask the Leader for a debate on prison and penal reform in light of the 11 reports by the prison visiting committees which were published yesterday by the Minister for Justice and Equality. Some of the reports were positive, certainly with regard to the refurbishment and greatly improved conditions at Mountjoy Prison. The reports also clearly identified many key challenges that remain, including the imprisonment of young people and the issue of drugs within prisons. I ask the Leader for a debate on prison reform, in light of those reports, before the end of the summer.