I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 14, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on housing last met on Monday, 31 March and is due to meet again this Thursday, 1 May. The committee works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the implementation of housing policy. Housing supply has increased significantly over the past number of years. We now have the highest social housing build per annum in half a century, while the latest figures published by the CSO show that almost 6,000 new homes were completed in the first quarter of this year, a rise on the same three months of 2024. While these figures are welcome, the Government is committed of course to scaling up delivery further. The programme for Government sets out our ambition to accelerate housing supply, building on progress to date and recognising housing as a major social and economic challenge. Since we have come to office, we have demonstrated our commitment to this ambition. Just this morning, Government approved the establishment of a dedicated housing activation office in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to identify and seek to address barriers to the delivery of public infrastructure projects required to enable housing development. This office will engage and align stakeholders, including local authorities, infrastructure providers, industry and others to tackle barriers in a co-ordinated way. It will also have a key operational function seeking to unblock issues on the ground. The office will focus on infrastructure needed at a local level to support housing delivery on multiple sites. In addition, we now have a dedicated division in the Department of public expenditure focused on the delivery of very large scale infrastructure projects, many of which will enable the delivery of housing at the scale we need in the areas where it is needed most. To build houses at scale, we need to provide other services at scale such as energy, water and transport. These areas are front and centre in our priorities as we review the national development plan. The housing activation office will co-ordinate its work with the new infrastructure division to ensure effective co-ordination. We have consistently said we need to reform our planning process. A very important milestone will be the imminent establishment of An Coimisiún Pleanála to replace An Bord Pleanála. This new body will result in a changed and more resourced organisational structure and will have mandatory statutory deadlines, accelerating crucial planning decisions and reducing delays in court. In support of this reform, we will all need to recognise the importance of a more effective planning and legal process that balances the rights of the individual with the broader societal need for improved services. Since coming to office, we have allocated an additional €450 million to build a further 3,000 social, affordable and cost-rental homes. This is on top of the €6 billion already allocated in budget 2025. We have also approved the allocation of €325 million in capital funding for the second-hand acquisition programme. This increased funding, which will support tenant in situ acquisitions, will help to prevent people falling into homelessness due to the sale of their rental homes. Earlier this month, the Government agreed the first revision to the national planning framework. This sets the strategy for our development in the years to come and, importantly, will enable local authorities to zone sufficient land for residential development to support the step up in delivery. The Government has also approved the drafting of legislation to regulate the short-term letting market. This will provide for more long-term availability of homes in areas of greatest need while balancing the legitimate requirements of the tourism sector. We are in the process of developing the plan for home delivery for the next five years and beyond. We will pursue every action possible and be creative in our thinking as we move to step up delivery of housing. It is clear that we have challenges, in particular, with the viability of apartment development and the high cost of construction. We will need to be ambitious in our approach, keeping all options on the table in order to address these challenges. I am confident that we can build on our success to date and achieve further momentum across all areas of housing delivery over the lifetime of this Government.
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Get out of it.
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You cannot talk about personalities in here.
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This Government and the previous Government built more social houses than had been built since the 1970s in the past four years.
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That is a fact. Up to 48,000 social housing units were built. Nothing compares with that in the previous 15 or 20 years.
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The Deputy just keeps on shouting.
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The Deputy keeps coming forward with facile and superficial analysis of the housing crisis.
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He sets himself up as a housing expert. He is nothing of the sort.
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That is why I would appreciate if he allowed other people to give their perspective. The only reason I raised my eyes was because I thought it was wrong of the Deputy to personalise the issue, demonise an individual who cannot defend himself in this House and make the assertions he has made about someone who has not been nominated to any position by Government. No decision has been taken, but the Deputy chose to take a cheap shot at an individual, blaming that person for all of the evictions that have happened in the past ten or 15 years. That was wrong. That is all I am saying. I do not think that is good enough either. We are all entitled to have different perspectives on the housing problem but let us not demonise individuals for the sake of a cheap political score.
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We have built close to-----
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The Deputy is an elected representative and he has set himself up-----
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I did not say the Deputy was-----
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The Deputy is not a construction housing expert. He never has been. He is-----
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The Deputy lectures in social policy, and I believe he is a good lecturer in social policy.
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That does not make the Deputy a housing expert.
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It was good for the electoral pathway.
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In terms of social housing, there has been a significant step change. Last year, more than 10,000 social houses were delivered. More than 48,000 social houses have been added to the social housing stock since 2020. We need to do more and we need to build more social houses. The tenant in situ scheme was introduced in 2023. All Deputies have correctly raised that. There was no tenant in situ scheme before 2023. Substantial progress was made in respect of it. There were approximately 1,000 such arrangements in 2023. Approximately 1,800 social homes were acquired in 2023. A thousand of those were for properties where tenants received a notice of termination. In 2024, more than 1,000 notices of termination under the tenant in situ scheme were received. Some €325 million is to be applied this year to local authorities. There is a sense in the examination of the application of the tenant in situ scheme across the country that not all funding was being used for those for whom it was designed, that is, people in immediate need or those at risk of homelessness because of the termination of a tenancy. There is some evidence that it has incentivised second-hand acquisitions more broadly than was intended. The scheme, therefore, has been refined with a view to trying to get local authorities to focus specifically on those at immediate risk of homelessness and not as a way out for some landlords to sell their houses expeditiously to local authorities. We have to get the balance right on new builds and acquisitions as well because other Deputies earlier in the day referenced, for example, the fact that in one city in County Limerick, apparently, approved housing bodies were purchasing 60% of their stock as opposed to new builds. The balance has to be gotten right in that respect.
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 to 20, inclusive, together. I travelled to Paris for the AI Action Summit on 10 and 11 February, co-hosted by President Macron and Prime Minister Modi of India. The summit gathered key stakeholders to explore how we can develop artificial intelligence, AI, technologies and uses globally while ensuring that nobody is left behind. It also discussed preserving our freedoms in the AI revolution and ensuring that the technology serves society and the public interest. The event included a working dinner at the Elysée on Monday evening, attended by political, business and civil society leaders, and a closing ceremony at the Grand Palais on Tuesday morning, which was live-streamed. The closing ceremony featured panel discussions and keynote remarks, including from President Macron, Prime Minister Modi, US Vice-President Vance and European Commission President von der Leyen. Panellists included musician-producer Pharrell Williams, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, and Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Secretary General of the International Telecommunications Union. In my engagements, I emphasised the need to embrace the opportunities that AI can offer across all sectors for our start-ups and enterprise base and, ultimately, for our citizens and their quality of life. We must acknowledge the watershed nature of AI as a breakthrough technology. AI can be a game-changer in helping us to deal with many of the economic and societal challenges we face here in Ireland and across the European Union. We need a balanced approach that does not stifle entrepreneurship or over-burden innovative firms with regulation. We must be open to the significant economy-wide productivity gains made possible by fast-growing young firms at the technological frontier. AI can also help transform the delivery of our public services. This includes exciting potential in the health sector, such as diagnostics, and in the management of disease and chronic illnesses. We also need to ensure that the AI revolution does not come at the expense of the most vulnerable in society, that it does not deepen existing digital and gender divides and that it does not risk the erosion of individual freedoms, including freedom of expression. We need to protect our children and young people online, protect the integrity of our democratic values and combat the effects of disinformation. Ireland will continue to be a strong voice in Europe to ensure that we are striking the right balance on innovation-friendly rules for trustworthy AI, consistent with our democratic values.
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I thank all the Deputies for contributing to this debate. It is important. The debate illustrates the importance of the Oireachtas committee on AI that will be established. I look forward to further detailed, sensible and balanced consideration of the issue. We can already witness a divide that is too extreme. There are those who see AI as totally negative, others who see positives in it and others still who see the need for balance and guidance around the use of AI. One thing for sure is that AI is here and will be a significant revolution. Nobody is drunk on anything. This is just the reality of life in the world. It is not just in Ireland but in the world. We have choices. We can put our heads in the sand, present it as some dastardly plot from the industrial or technological giants of the world and say that we want none of it or we can endeavour to harness it for the benefit of industry, society, the economy and the people. That is going to be the challenge, as it has been with all technological developments since the world began. It is inevitable when there are major breakthroughs in technology. If we look back to the printing press or go back to the 1960s and the development of television, there were naysayers and people who were worried and thought the world was going to collapse and so on. The world adapts and people adapt. We need regulatory frameworks governing everything. We need a balance between regulation and innovation, and we must get that balance right here. It will have profound impacts for energy, for example. We must ascertain how to create the energy resources to underpin the AI revolution that is coming. If we are not a part of the revolution that is taking place in technical terms, there will be economic consequences. It will have profound impacts on how we do things in life and in work, in particular. The EU does not get any credit at all from a number of people in this House. It is interesting. Deputy Malcolm Byrne gave an interesting and quick summation of where the world is. The EU has an Act that is endeavouring to deal with human rights and the protection of society and individuals. The Deputy instanced Iran, Israel, China and others. There is a divide across the world at the moment between autocracies and authoritarian governments, on the one hand, and democracies and institutions such as the EU on the other. The EU has been the first to develop a modern Act endeavouring to strike a balance between innovation and regulation. Some say it is too heavily on the side of regulation and less so on the side of innovation. This is the basis on which the committee we are about to establish should engage. The Department of Education, with the support of Oide, the support service for teachers and school leavers, is currently developing guidance on the use of AI in teaching and learning. This guidance will be published and circulated to schools shortly. Currently, information on AI in education for schools can be found on the Oide technology and education website. I was at the young scientist exhibition at the beginning of January and many of the projects submitted by young people were on the subject of AI. Young people are ahead of this place, as far as I can see so far, in terms of where they see, and how they perceive, AI. They are dealing with it. We have to put the student first in all our considerations of this issue. On the redevelopment of the senior cycle and the State Examinations Commission, the AI guidance currently being finalised does not apply to assessment for the purpose of certification by the State Examinations Commission in the junior or leaving certificates. Further work is being undertaken by the State Examinations Commission on general and subject-specific documentation.
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 21 to 28, inclusive, together. A Policing Service for our Future is the Government's plan to implement the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland. The implementation of the plan was overseen by a dedicated programme office in the Department of the Taoiseach and an implementation group on policing reform, chaired by an independent person. This work concluded in 2024 thanks to the achievement of many of the major recommendations outlined in the report of the Commission on the Future of Policing. These achievements were detailed in the publication of the final report of the implementation group. The final report, which can be found on gov.ie, outlines the significant progress, including the roll-out of the operating model for An Garda Síochána, which enables a more visible, responsive and localised policing service to communities nationwide; the conclusion of the three pilot local community safety partnerships in Dublin’s north inner city, Waterford city and Longford, which has informed the national roll-out of these arrangements; the distribution of nearly 15,000 digital communication devices enabling front-line gardaí to perform their duties without returning to stations; the implementation of new human rights structures, strategies and training across the organisation; and the introduction of a three-year Garda health and well-being strategy, which recognises the stresses a garda can face and provides assistance to deal with them. A significant focus of the implementation plan was concerned with strengthening the internal capabilities of An Garda Síochána so that the organisation possesses the capacity to drive future reform. The new Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 establishes a Garda board to help this process and is complemented by external agencies, such as the Policing and Community Safety Authority and Fiosrú, the reconstituted police ombudsman. Since the Policing, Security and Community Safety Act 2024 was signed by the President on 7 February 2024, intensive work was undertaken in the Department of Justice with the legislation now commenced from 2 April 2025. This new coherent governance and oversight framework will ensure effective accountability on the part of individuals and An Garda Síochána as a whole and ultimately drive more effective policing. The Department of Justice will continue to drive this work, with political oversight of justice and security issues more generally continuing through the Cabinet committee on justice, migration and social affairs.
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I appreciate that. On the operational issues, those are matters for the Garda Commissioner. I am not in a position to intervene in the operational organisation of An Garda Síochána. The issues have been there for some time. The Minister is in a very difficult position if the Garda Commissioner has not been invited to the conference as well. His predecessor took the same position and I accept that position, by the way. I think the Garda Commissioner should be invited to the conference - that is my view. I think boycotting the Commissioner and not inviting him was a mistake. There should always be engagement. In that sort of circumstance, the Minister would have no difficulty, or that is my understanding, although I have not spoken to the Minister in relation to this. There is an issue and let us not pretend there is not. There is no one boycotting this, although Opposition Deputies have asserted it is a boycott. It is not that. I think people know what is happening here. There is a better way of doing things, I would respectfully suggest. In respect of the commentary from Deputy Brabazon, I agree 100% that we need to reduce paperwork and create greater flexibility. We are endeavouring to do that with the rollout of technology and facial recognition, which is very important, and also in terms of greater facilities and resources. Deputy Ó Murchú referenced the divisional structure. It is an operational decision by the Commissioner. I hear the Deputy’s views in that regard and in terms of the need for the community safety partnerships to be rolled out. Deputies Coppinger and Murphy again used the phrase “liars”. The Minister never used that phrase about anybody and it is wrong to suggest that the Minister called people “a liar”. He did not.
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I would argue that the gardaí have strenuously denied the allegations that were asserted in this House and issued statements to that effect. The Minister took the allegations very seriously. Of course, it is open for complaints to be made to Fiosrú, which is an independent party that can hear any allegations in respect of An Garda Síochána or members of An Garda Síochána. There are women in An Garda Síochána, Deputy Coppinger.
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Women in An Garda Síochána have every right to be believed as well. I am not making any comment on individuals here but I would just make that point. There was a strong refutation of the allegations that were made in this House in respect of members of An Garda Síochána, who have no right to defend themselves in this House or do not have that facility.
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The Deputy asserted that they committed offences, which they would strenuously deny and the context would be strenuously denied. I have to say that. Fiosrú is there to follow that.
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