Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I echo the words of Senator Conway-Walsh in thanking the entire Seanad staff. We, especially the newbies who probably wrecked the heads of the staff, really appreciate their support. I hope we will come back energised and a bit more knowledgeable after the summer.

I wish to raise two issues, the first of which concerns the action plan for housing. We welcome the report. It is an improvement over the previous offers but it could clearly go a bit further. The cross-party committee had a target of building 10,000 social houses per year. Based on early indications, the current plan estimates approximately 6,000 units will be built per annum, which is 40% below what we set as a benchmark.

Yesterday I attended the launch of the Dolphin House regeneration project in Dublin South-Central. This is absolutely welcome, as is the €25 million for phase 1.The community there has fought for over a decade and had to take it to Europe to get this on track. It needs to be delivered throughout Dublin where there is a lot of social housing in poor and even dreadful condition.

I attended a briefing yesterday on Irish credit unions. They have said they have €4 billion that can be directed to social housing. I understand, however, that Central Bank rules prevent the credit unions from investing in property related schemes. I call on the Minister to lobby and do all in his power to relax the rules and amend the legislation to allow the release through voluntary funds of €4 billion which would go a long way towards providing 20,000 to 25,000 housing units which would be welcome throughout the country for the people who are in need. We need a commitment to establishing a dedicated court to deal with housing repossessions and an urgent amendment to the code of conduct on mortgage arrears for those struggling and threatened with repossession.

There is a dire shortage of rehabilitation services in the Irish health care system. There are 25,000 people in Ireland every year who need rehabilitation for neurological conditions, stroke and acquired brain injury. There has been a decade of promise-making. I will bring this matter back to the House in September but too much time is being wasted and too many lives have been affected. We need those rehabilitation services under the auspices of "We Need Our Heads Examined".