Rebecca Moynihan (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I want to address the issue of two tents occupied by homeless people being set on fire yesterday in Dublin city centre. I imagine everybody across the House will condemn this type of criminal behaviour. I hope the Garda will do all in its power to bring those perpetrators to justice. To have something like that happen just before Christmas in the most vulnerable of situations must be absolutely devastating.

I raised the issue of co-living in the House previously. I came into this House to welcome the co-living ban by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien. I believe, however, clarification is needed around it before Christmas. There have been two more applications since that ban was announced, one to convert the Phibsborough Shopping Centre into a co-living development and another in my own area where 240 co-living spaces are planned in Player Wills.

Developers are currently in the midst of lodging applications to get them passed straight through. We need immediate clarification from the Minister about when his updated guidelines will apply and if things in pre-application consultation will get through the ban. I understand that legislation and guidelines cannot be applied retrospectively but we can hurry up deleting those particular sections from the ministerial guidelines and make sure we do not see a slew of pre-Christmas applications for co-living.

I will raise another issue on the Order of Business. Yesterday, I attended a vigil outside the Coombe Women & Infants University Hospital for the many thousands of women and pregnant people who are going through pregnancy under Covid-19 restrictions and cannot bring their partner with them. The Government has been fair regarding the 20-week anomaly scan, ensuring partners are a central support and allowing them to be present. There are, however, a whole host of other reasons women and pregnant people need the support of a partner when attending maternity services.

The Covid-19 situation is different from what it was in March. We know there are different approaches to it. We know, for example, that it is airborne. We know that masks and social distancing work. We have been in this situation for almost a year now. There must be a way over the long term of ensuring pregnant people have the support of their partners. We have 19 different maternity hospitals across the country and there needs to be a uniform approach. I do not think there is urgency and recognition on behalf of the Government or the masters of the hospitals in ensuring partners or birthing partners can safely attend the birth of their babies. This is causing undue hardship and mental health difficulties to an awful lot of people over the long term.