Ivana Bacik (Independent) | Oireachtas source

On behalf of the Labour Party group, I welcome the news that President Michael D. Higgins has announced that he will seek a second term in office. He has served this country with great distinction as our President. I hope that colleagues of all parties and none will see fit to support his candidacy for a second term.

I welcome also the launch this morning by our Labour Party colleagues, Deputies Jan O'Sullivan, Brendan Howlin and others, of the party's national housing strategy. I ask the Leader to arrange for a debate on housing when we return in September to ensure we have the opportunity to debate these important and original proposals for affordable housing for all. The proposals include the delivery of 80,000 housing units in a five-year period of Government on the basis of an investment of €16 billion through the mechanism of a single national State agency to be called the national housing development bank. The idea is that the bank would be given the powers, land, expertise and money to deliver housing and to replace existing agencies like the Housing Agency and the Housing Finance Agency. Of particular importance is the proposal that housing executives would be created in a selection of local authorities on a regional basis to ensure the consolidation of expertise and resources to enhance the capacity of local government to deliver and develop social and affordable housing. We have a range of other proposals and I ask colleagues to look at the policy document so that we can have an informed debate in September on this vitally important issue.

I welcome the Leader's announcement that we will have the Road Traffic (Amendment) Bill today on Second Stage. It is an important initiative to make our roads safer for all. I appeal to the Leader to arrange a further debate with the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport in September on the need for more initiatives for road safety, in particular the safety of cyclists. Colleagues will be aware that there have been horrific fatalities among cyclists this year on the roads and there is a real problem in the lack of resources and policies on cycle safety. Things like the Luas tracks have made cycling in Dublin city centre much more dangerous. There have been a huge number of accidents where people have got tyres stuck in Luas tracks. There is a way to make Luas tracks safer for cyclists and we need to debate that as well as more general initiatives to ensure cycle safety and that we see a decrease in the number of accidents and fatalities among cyclists. I urge colleagues who are car drivers to be mindful of cyclists on the roads.