Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being here today and taking the time with us. I echo the thanks expressed by my fellow Senators today for all of the front-line workers, particularly in this area.

Last Friday, Mr. Brendan Kenny made a presentation to the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. He showed that figures for homelessness are, hearteningly, going in the right direction. He attributed that to the strategy for prevention homelessness set in motion by the previous Government and the Minister's predecessor in office, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. It was also due to the interventions taken during Covid and to the incredible enhancements and initiatives taken by the present Minister. For families in temporary emergency accommodation, the December figure was at its lowest since December 2015. For families in hotels, the figure has been at its lowest since September 2014. The number of people exiting emergency accommodation is going in the right direction and we have seen a steady rise in this regard. However, there are still very definite worries when it comes to people who are single and their progress in coming out of emergency accommodation. I am and always have been firmly of the belief that we should aspire to having zero people in emergency accommodation because behind all of these figures is a real family or individual person experiencing intolerable circumstances.

There is a girl with whom I am familiar and who I support on regular occasions who lives in a lovely property for a single person at the moment. That property in the normal environment would only be available to the tourism sector and is out of circulation for that because of Covid. She is delighted and thrilled with the permanence having come from emergency accommodation but is naturally concerned about what will happen when Covid is over. Last August, Daft.ie published figures for the number of properties. While sales were down, rental properties were at an extraordinary high with 41% more across the nation and 92% more rental properties in Dublin alone. That situation is attributable to the fact that Airbnb was not a viable opportunity for earning money for property holders, particularly in Dublin, and so that supply was released into the rental market. While we saw the implementation of planning restrictions in respect of Airbnb under the Minister's predecessor, we need to put in place a robust incentive to keep these properties within the rental market and thereby enhance supply or else create a disincentive for putting them back into Airbnb. I ask the Minister to consider strengthening the planning permission and creating tax disincentives of some sort.

I wish to raise with the Minister the issue of the enforcement of the current Covid restrictions on the construction industry. I fully support all of the restrictions because, naturally, public health comes ahead of everything else. However, in my home constituency of Dublin South-Central, there is a crèche for 140 children that caters for children aged zero to five years that was due to be finished and ready to open in April. The crèche would enable people to return to the workplace but the project cannot be finished now so the place will not open on time. I am dealing with a family who have a child with special needs. They need to convert an office in the attic of their home. The conversion was about ten days from completion when building had to be stopped. However, while out on my morning walk, I see other properties that are being done up. It seems that there is either a little discretion in the application and enforcement of the rules or a loose understanding of the rules. I believe the Minister is preparing to introduce another set of statutory instruments on this, so I ask that he review this matter. Perhaps a tightening up of the rules or some restraint on the discretion being shown by the Garda or whomever else is interpreting them may be in order.

The last area I will raise is residential construction. We are hearing reports that we are only at 10% of where we should be in construction. That is naturally setting back the hopes and urgency of providing homes and the aspiration for security of tenure. That will ultimately be secured a greater level of supply. I urge the Minister to consider that work is continuing on the National Children's Hospital site because antigen testing is in place. Perhaps it is in order to look at mandatory antigen testing across the construction industry to ensure residential construction is prioritised and opened up as soon as possible.