Gerry Horkan (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Continuing the good mood, at least initially, I also welcome Senator Lawless's wife, Anne, his two sons and two daughters along with their partners and children. I was lucky enough to be in America last year and I spent a couple of nights in Chicago. They were very welcoming to me. Senator Lawless has been a fantastic addition to this Seanad. He is doing fantastic work not just for the diaspora and the transatlantic relationship, but also on many other issues. We worked quite well last year on, for example, the Intoxicating Liquor (Amendment) Bill 2017 to allow licensed premises to sell alcohol on Good Friday. He has been a great addition to the House.

The Leader should not take any of this personally, but I need to raise a few points. A report by the living wage technical group proposes that the living wage should increase by 40 cent. The challenge relates to the supply of affordable housing to buy or rent. The Mercer annual cost-of-living survey highlighted that Dublin remains the most expensive city in the eurozone, primarily due to its high rents. According to daft.ie, single people in Dublin spend 58.8% of their net take-home pay on rent while those living in towns pay 33% of their income on rent.This is not a criticism of the Government as such, but we all acknowledge that the cost of housing has gone up so much that it is unaffordable for first-time buyers in Dublin, in the commuter belt generally and in other cities and towns. The Government is doing a certain amount in terms of supply, but we cannot underestimate how much supply is needed. It is crucial that we take action without delay in this regard.

I refer briefly to the nomination of Germany's defence minister, Ms Ursula von der Leyen, as President of the European Commission. When the news emerged last night, some of us thought she might be a relative of Senator Leyden. However, there is no "d" in her surname, so there is probably no connection after all. Ms von der Leyen has been a staunch supporter of Britain's remaining in the European Union. Her description of Brexit as a loss for everyone is something with which most of us in this House concur. Brexit is, above anything else, a lose-lose situation. I hope she will be successful in her term as President. We will have statements later today on the EU-Mercosur trade deal, which is very important in the context of Brexit. We are looking at the possibility of up to 99,000 tonnes of additional beef coming into the EU market at a time when Britain is leaving, or potentially leaving, the Union. It is a huge challenge for us and I welcome the debate.

We heard yesterday from the Minister for Health of further overspending in the health service. The additional expenditure of €13 million in April brings the overspend for the first four months of the year to €216 million. While I wish Mr. Paul Reid, former chief executive of Fingal County Council, all the best in his new job as director general of the Health Service Executive, we must have an examination of how these moneys are being spent and why expenditure is going over budget continually. A particularly pressing issue is the situation of the 6,000 people seeking home help hours. If that provision were granted, people would be able to move out of healthcare facilities and return home. It is a no-brainer in terms of the HSE's budget because the more home help hours are provided, the fewer people there are in hospitals clogging up the system. Those people neither need nor want to be hospital, but they cannot go home in the absence of home help provision. Will the Leader invite the Minister to the House to explain how he is managing the budget or, more accurately, not managing the budget as well as we would like him to?