Kevin Humphreys (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am delighted to hear people mentioning the housing crisis and the delay in the delivery of further social and affordable housing. I campaigned for three years on the issue of short-term lets. I was disappointed that the implementation date for the new regulations was to be 1 June but I am now hearing rumours that it will be further delayed. I ask the Leader to urgently seek confirmation that the new regulations on short-term lets will go ahead on 1 June.

The figures for fire defects in apartments and homes the length and breadth of this country are starting to come in. Approximately 130,000 homes are affected by fire defects from the build period 2000-2008 due to self-certification and non-regulation. The Fine Gael-led Government was not in power in that period but nobody in either House should walk away from these 130,000 families. Something needs to be put in place to assist them in dealing with it because if they have to vacate their homes, we will add huge numbers of people to housing lists.

I propose an amendment to Standing Orders because of my concern relating to BusConnects, the metro and the proposed infrastructure spend of Irish Rail. On Friday morning there was a dawn raid in my own local area, in which eight residents received hand-delivered letters telling them their homes may be demolished for a metro station. Infrastructure is important but this was known for a year and a half. However, because there are eight local council tenants, nobody had told them. That is very disappointing and I want to discuss BusConnects, the metro and funding for Irish Rail at length so I propose an amendment to Standing Orders-----