Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Leader to raise with the Minister for Foreign Affairs the issue of the ongoing detention of Ibrahim Halawa and the Government's lack of forceful engagement with the Egyptian Government. The House has had a number of statements from the Minister for Foreign Affairs and those statements have continued to be at variance with previous statements. He has now stated that he is supporting the application for a presidential decree under Law 140 whereas in July 2015 he said the position in relation to the conviction and retrial of Peter Greste, which was the precedent we were using for the application of Law 140, would not apply in the case of Ibrahim Halawa. He said the presidential decree and its terms would not be applied where an individual was in the course of a court process. That was the Minister for Foreign Affairs in July 2015 and that is what he told the House. He said the Government could not interfere or ask for the application of Law 140 and a presidential decree until after the court case but he has now changed his position again. It demonstrates the lack of engagement and concern on the details of this issue.

The Australian Government succeeded in getting Peter Greste released by forcefully looking for a presidential pardon and getting it, but it was only because it asked and made every diplomatic effort possible. Ibrahim Halawa's case has been postponed for the 17th time and he now faces trial again. He addressed the court and the judges for ten minutes yesterday. Even though there are 400 defendants, he was allowed to address the court. Amnesty International has said he is a prisoner of conscience and innocent of all charges, yet an Irish citizen is about to enter his fourth year in prison without trial.

I ask the Leader to raise with the Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, Deputy Simon Coveney, the issue of rent certainty. One fifth of the population is now renting houses. Rents have increased in some areas by 40% to 50% and those people who are renting now have no opportunity to buy because it is virtually impossible to save the money for a deposit while paying rent. We are concerned that the Government is only concerned about Galway and Dublin. It is talking about designating other areas as zones of rent certainty in the future. While we have a debate over the issue of 4%, an immediate issue is what happens in Greystones, Ashbourne and the rest of the commuter belt as soon as one puts rent certainty into Dublin. Those areas will have no rent certainty. In Galway, Waterford, Limerick and other towns and cities, rents have been increasing but there seems to be no proposal in relation to them. In towns and villages around Ireland, there has been a huge increase in rents over the last number of years and to simply put a cap on rental increases is not the solution.

In Kerry, and other areas, there are thousands of vacant houses which are not being refurbished and rented out by their owners because it simply would not pay them to do it. That is not to mention the fact that trying to get the money to do it in the first place would be difficult. There are thousands of houses that would become available if the Government implemented initiatives that would incentivise landlords who have houses but will not rent them out because it would not pay them to do so. We have concerns about the Government's proposals and we look forward to the debate on the issue when it comes before the House.