Is oth liom a rá go bhfuil an Teachta Dála ag insint bréag arís. Níl aon rud cruinn in aon chor sa mhéid a dúirt sí. Is olc an scéal é nach bhfuil sí sásta díospóireacht shubstaintiúil a bheith againn i gcomhthéacs cúrsaí tithíochta. I regret that normal service has been restored on the Opposition benches. The very real progress that actually has been made in the past four years is ignored-----
Sentiment score: 0.07
-----and then what was said is wildly represented. The leader of Sinn Féin said I have "announced". I did not announce anything, but I will park that for a moment. The misrepresentation goes on and on and the bottom line is that it is two weeks since I was elected Taoiseach. I have not spoken to IRES REIT or any others that Deputy McDonald announced I have. I have spoken to officials in my Department and in the Department of housing. I do not know whether the Deputy has been paying attention, but I take it she knows that the Department of housing last year commissioned The Housing Agency. It did a review of the rent pressure zones, RPZs and asked the Housing Agency to conduct a specific review of them. I presume the Deputy knew that or else she is not paying attention and this is all a charade. The reason it did so was that it wants to analyse them. Deputy Ó Broin said in May last year that the rent pressure zones are broken. That is what he said. The Housing Agency is due to report by the end of the first quarter of this year. As we know, the legislation that gave rise to the RPZs is due to expire at the end of 2025. As I said to RTÉ, there are a number of options. They can be extended or reformed in line with The Housing Commission recommendations. I recall Deputy McDonald, Deputy Bacik and others saying the Government had ignored The Housing Commission, that it had treated The Housing Commission shabbily and did not give proper room for debate. I remember asking whether they had read the chapter on rent. The Housing Commission, which went through all aspects of housing, focused on a German system of reference pricing. I am not saying we will go with that but The Housing Commission asked that we examine it in an evidence-based and informed way. That should happen. We should examine things rationally and with substance and not engage in the sloganeering I have heard in the past few days. I heard it yesterday evening as well, that this is about lobbyists, connections. That is the sum total of what Sinn Féin can contribute to what is a very important debate. The State is committing more than it ever has to housing. In 2025, the budget earmarked for housing is €6 billion. General estimates from the Department of Finance and The Housing Commission say that to get to 50,000 or 60,000 units, we need approximately €20 billion. I take it Sinn Féin accepts the State will not be in a position to come up with €20 billion for housing so there has to be a balance between State investment, which is at its highest ever level and will continue, and private sector investment. It is clear that brownfield sites have not taken off. That is very evident. For sustainability reasons and so on, it is an objective of Government and of the spatial plan that we develop brownfield sites. The Government brought in protections for renters and will continue to protect renters. We brought in the rent tax credit to help renters in a very high rent environment. We acknowledge that.
Sentiment score: 0.02
We also brought in other protections. This is not about undermining renters, but it is about increasing supply-----
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-----which we simply have to do.
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I presume Sinn Féin received Threshold's general election manifesto submission. It includes a very interesting recommendation to all political parties in respect of RPZs and long-term rental stability. The Deputy referenced funds and lobbyists. The lobbying register makes for very interesting reading with respect to the high level of activity of the Sinn Féin spokesman, Eoin Ó Broin and the various companies he has met, including Glenveigh properties-----
Sentiment score: 0.38
----- Vulcan consulting, Cairn Homes-----
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-----IBEC, on behalf of Property Industry Ireland, the Irish Institutional Property, Irish Residential Properties REIT, the Construction Industry Federation CIF, Tetra Capital Limited, Hines Real Estate Ireland Limited-----
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-----Beakonshaw Limited, Hibernia Real Estate Group, the Ronan Group Real Estate about the glass bottle site, Cosgrave Property Group and Bartra Capital Property Management.
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The Sinn Féin spokesperson, Eoin Ó Broin, has met all of these organisations-----
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-----and yet the full attempt by Deputy McDonald and her party in the past few days------
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-----has been to try to smear me, and others by association,-----
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-----by saying we are responding to lobbyists. We are not.
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It is hypocrisy of the worst kind-----
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-----and it just sums up-----
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-----the shallowness of Sinn Féin's approach.
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I am interested in real change and getting things done and you are not.
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Is féidir liom é seo a shoiléiriú má tá deacracht ag na Teachtaí Dála.
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I thought you called me.
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Táim sásta-----
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I did not call Deputy McDonald-----
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I did say, más féidir liom-----
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I am somewhat amused that the Deputy is saying we have influenced housing policy since 2016. For the past two weeks, he has been saying that confidence and supply was in no way a precedent in the context of being involved in Government and so on.
Sentiment score: 0.32
We were not in government from 2016 to 2020; we have been in government since 2020. The Deputy used the phrase "lies of omission".
Sentiment score: -0.21
I would point out that the previous Government carried out a review of the rental sector last year. Following on from that, it requested the Housing Agency to conduct a specific review of the operation of the RPZ scheme. It is doing that. The review will be concluded by the end of quarter 1. That is the intended conclusion date. As the Deputy knows, the legislation that gave rise to the RPZs is due to expire by the end of 2025. There are a number of options. We can extend it or we can examine it, which is what the Housing Commission asked us to do. The Deputy was very strong in stating the Government had ignored the Housing Commission. I kind of always suspected there was a shallowness to that attack. The bottom line is that the Housing Commission had been very clear that we should look at the matter in detail and that we should look in detail at the German system of what is called reference rent pricing. That system may not suit us. To be fair to the Housing Commission, it asked that we do it in an evidence-based way, which is what will happen. People in the House condemned Government for not responding to the Housing Commission. Housing is the number one issue in this country. The Deputy has no monopoly on empathy for those who are struggling to get a house. That is why we dramatically increased the number of social homes in the past four years. It was a dramatic increase, compared with what had been happening in previous years. We have increased the allocation from Government to social housing quite significantly. Where we want to get to is 10,000 per annum for the long term - constructed by local authorities - and affordable homes. We have to have a strong pipeline of social housing. That will require ongoing State investment. We want to continue that focus. We have prioritised and put a lot of investment into affordable housing, in terms of cost rental, etc., by means of a variety of schemes. We brought in capital grants in respect of derelict homes or homes that are vacant to allow couples and other people to buy such homes. The State is playing its part. It is investing hugely in the housing market, and that will continue. If everybody accepts the ESRI figures, which suggested that we needed to get to 50,000 for the next number of years per annum, we have a big leap to make. What has struck me about the debate so far-----
Sentiment score: 0.08
-----is that it is all noise and condemnation, with very few solutions being offered.
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I am not clear that there are billions of funds in Europe for housing. Any funds that are available, we would seek. However, housing competence within Europe has been at a low level. This is the first Commission with a housing Commissioner. As we have heard in various reports, the European Parliament is also now engaging for the first time.
Sentiment score: -0.05
There are not billions available to Ireland.
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There are not billions available from the European Union in respect of housing.
Sentiment score: 0.48
The Deputy has asked me to respond to his two suggestions. From my engagement with Europe, I am aware that the biggest issue we will face in the context of the next financial framework is how we will increase the European budget, to which Ireland is a net contributor. There are going to be a whole range of demands on us. In Ireland, traditionally, we have always protected the Common Agricultural Policy, and research and Horizon funding, along with other issues. In the context of zoning for affordable housing, we will examine that idea. Hopefully, we will shortly be bringing forward the national planning framework, which will deal with zoning and give us a capacity to zone more.
Sentiment score: 0.25
Within that context, yes, we can respond to a proposal of that kind.
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Fresh-----
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Pardon. It was the word "hell" I did not pick up.
Sentiment score: 0.16
St. Patrick's Day has for many years been a substantive opportunity and occasion for Ireland, globally and in the United States, to engage with decision-makers, communities and the diaspora. We have a substantial diaspora in the United States. It is extremely important that we continue to work with our diaspora and also on our relationship with the United States. President Trump was democratically elected. He was elected by the people of the United States. One cannot ignore that reality. The economic relationship between Ireland and the United States is extremely significant. It is worth €1 trillion. There are about 220,000 jobs in Ireland that are occupied by people who work for US multinational companies. There are a further 170,000 associated jobs. It is a huge part of our economy. Irish companies have been responsible for the creation of approximately 115,000 jobs in the United States. There are opportunities for Irish companies that export the United States. The Deputy is asking me to ignore all of that. I am always intrigued by the hard left's approach, which ignores our economic model and thinks it is all somehow going to happen anyway. The Deputy probably does not agree with it, if she is honest. She is more interested in the concept of working people as opposed to workers themselves. She wants me to literally jettison any concern for the workers of this country, ignore any risks to their livelihoods and plough ahead with being virtuous and holding a particular view. I have a duty as Taoiseach to protect workers in this country and our economic relationships abroad, not just the United States but also with other countries with which we may not agree in terms of their policies and orientation. On the Middle East, I ask the Deputy to talk to the Palestinian Authority and ask for its view on the Government of Ireland's response to the war on Gaza and the Middle Eastern conflict. We have solidly supported a two-state solution. We have, along with Norway, Spain and Slovenia, recognised the State of Palestine as a part of the Arab peace initiative. More than most, we have doubled down in supporting UNWRA, in terms of the very practical work of getting aid to Palestinians at a time of hell on earth in Gaza.
Sentiment score: 0.22
We need to consolidate the ceasefire. That is the most important issue for people in Gaza right now. Hamas needs to release the hostages. Its role in this has been malign, and that needs to be acknowledged. Israel needs to honour its side of the agreement. Progress has been made on the ceasefire. Aid is getting in. That is where the focus has to be.
Sentiment score: 0.18
There was no error of judgment made, and it was not in the early days of any genocide. I visited Israel prior to 7 October. What is striking is the refusal of the Deputy, or at least Deputy Murphy and the group of which they are members, to condemn what happened on 7 October.
Sentiment score: -0.33
That was before the war started. I remember Deputy Boyd Barrett asking me in the House to help to get Irish citizens out of Gaza, while at the same time condemning me for visiting Israel. The hypocrisy, doublethink and doublespeak are extraordinary.
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The only way we got Irish citizens out of Gaza was because of the diplomatic relationship we maintained and the fact we had ambassadors in Israel and Cairo who worked extremely hard to get Irish citizens out of Gaza. The Deputy would have made a pronouncement that I should not go, but at the same time asked us to get people out.
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I am sick of that kind of absolute doublethink and hypocrisy. The Deputy mentioned that.
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I am not. If I get more time-----
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Deputy Murphy is misleading the House------
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-----and his associates, for a long time.
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Will you condemn Hamas?
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