Catherine Ardagh (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

On the basis that we will not be here again, I thank and commend the Cathaoirleach's team and Bridget Doody's and Martin Groves's team for all the help they have given us this year.

I would also like to move that No. 7 on the Order Paper, the Mental Health (Amendment) Bill 2017, be taken today. I was delighted to see that the Bill, which seeks to amend and extend the 2011 Mental Health Act and give patients more say in their treatment, passed all Stages in the Dáil last week, and I look forward to its swift passage through this House as well.

I was horrified to learn over the weekend of an attack on a young Spanish student. It is frightening that such a prolonged attack, part of it in broad daylight, could happen in our city. It is understood the alleged attacker was on bail for another crime at the time of the attack. I ask that gardaí be vigilant about any further such attacks in the city. The thoughts of the Fianna Fáil group are with the victim and her family, and I hope the matter is resolved and the facts come to light.

The second matter I wish to raise concerns housing. I have raised the issue of housing every week we have been here. I refer to the most recent Dublin City Council report on the matter. A Sinn Féin councillor, Daithí Doolan, is the chair of the council's housing committee. He commented that it would take 180 years to clear Dublin City Council's current housing list. What I am calling for, and have been for a long time, is a citywide State social housing building programme like the one Fianna Fáil set up in the 1950s and 1960s. It is an awful reflection on the Government that such a situation has been maintained. As I have said, the Government needs to act expeditiously to ensure the housing crisis, which is the worst crisis affecting the city, is resolved and something is done about it without delay.