The Deputy is engaging in polemic and political propaganda. The bottom line is that the legislation will not have any impact on the 240,000 people who are currently renting. The bottom line is that for the 240,000 people currently renting, this legislation will not have any impact. It is only for new tenancies that start on 1 March. The core element of this is national rent regulation. What we are talking about is national rent control across the whole country. This will strengthen protections for renters through the introduction of tenancies of minimum duration. It will mean an effective end to no-fault evictions, the establishment of a rent-price register and arrangements to reset rent market rate only every six years. Why is the Deputy against this?
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Why is she against that level of protection for renters?
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Storm Chandra has had very severe impacts. High winds and heavy rain are being experienced across the country, with very significant impacts in the areas the Deputy has outlined. That is fully understood. It is why the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage's national directorate of fire and emergency management met with all of the local authorities and the other key response agencies in advance of Storm Chandra to ensure preparation ahead of the storm. Dublin, Wicklow, Wexford and Cork were significantly impacted, but it is fair to say that flooding impacts are across the country. Bunclody and Enniscorthy in particular have experienced severe flooding to homes and businesses. Local authority teams are on the ground assisting. The Department of Social Protection will assist on the ground with households affected by flooding and provide immediate needs payments and other supports, where required. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment will activate the business and community flooding support scheme.
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I thank the Deputy for raising the issue, which, as he knows, was raised earlier.
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I fully accept what Deputy Gannon said in relation to the courage, actions and compassion of Siobhán Lynch in terms of looking at the wider situation and making sure this will never happen again, and how devastating the loss of Grace has been for her mother, father and entire family. It is utterly devastating. The legislation passed in 2023 allows for the banning of such vehicles on public roads. That is something that will be done.
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It is an absolutely ridiculous suggestion. We have a very honourable and proud peacekeeping reputation in this country. All Government parties are absolutely committed to that peacekeeping tradition. It is because of that tradition that we need to change the law. We cannot have Russia dictating when we enter a peacekeeping mission or not. That is the actual truth of it. The Deputy wants Russia, the US, China and the other P5 members to have a veto on when Ireland participates in peacekeeping.
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The Security Council has been paralysed for over two decades now. The situation has changed utterly. Where a country invades a European country, just as Russia has invaded Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of young people, the devastation of civilian infrastructure, the destruction of energy infrastructure, and the freezing of the people, the Deputy is saying it should have a veto on where our peacekeepers should go. Cop on.
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The Deputy's assertion about my statement in China is incorrect. He should look at the transcript of it. I said on that occasion that progress had been made on the insertion of safeguards into the Mercosur agreement. Safeguards were introduced by comparison with where things were over a year ago. Significant safeguards were introduced. That is all I said, and that needed to be acknowledged. I also said we had deep concerns in respect of Mercosur beef standards and referred to looking for further measures. The agriculture meeting was due to be held that day in relation to sanitary and phytosanitary matters and a potential regulation of the Commission in respect of pesticides, standards and so forth. As the Deputy will note if he checks, I finally said the Fine Gael leader and I would meet the leaders of the Independent component of the Government that evening to formalise the Government's position, so there was no change between my statement that morning and our decision later.
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I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. Clogher House is a day activation unit premises based in Rathcorrick, County Cavan. The HSE advises that there is a comprehensive submission for capital funding for new day services and for premises to replace Clogher House, in line with the national HSE new directions policy for adult day services approved in 2024. HSE disability services and HSE Dublin and North East capital and estates concluded a tender process for a leasehold site in Cavan, which was approved in July of last year. Letters have now been issued to the successful and unsuccessful tenderers and once all outstanding issues are addressed, the HSE will look at engaging with the preferred provider on milestones and the programme of delivery. I will engage with the Minister, Deputy Foley, directly on the expansion and redevelopment of Drumlin House day services in Cootehill. I understand that an allocation of €7.5 million was provided towards the expansion of Drumlin House in 2024. I will further engage with the Minister in respect of that.
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I thank Deputy Ellis and I fully appreciate his anger and that of the community he represents. Other Deputies have communicated that to me as well. First, the existing legislation is strong and needs to be implemented. If there is a need for further legislation, we will gladly work with the Deputy in that respect.
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We will pursue that. We will work with the Deputy and others in the House-----
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-----if there is a necessity to strengthen the legislation. The new Garda Commissioner spoke to the Minister for justice this morning. The Minister rang him and met him to discuss this. The issue of enforcement will be intensified in respect of scramblers.
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There is a pursuit policy there and obviously there are balances in regard to protection of lives and so on. I fully understand where the Deputy is coming from and the anger he has articulated on this.
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I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important issue in respect of CIÉ pensions. He is correct; an agreement was arrived at. I have spoken to both Ministers. My understanding is that nothing is holding it up and the Minister for public expenditure is clear that he wants this delivered. I will get full clarity and precision for the Deputy in relation to that but I am pursuing it as well.
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I thank the Deputy. It is a very sizeable and important town. Thankfully, we are getting numbers through Templemore with good flow and recruitment. I will talk to the Minister for justice in respect of the presentation the Deputy has made today to see what we can do to get that to a 24-7 service.
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We have to spend responsibly but I get the Deputy's point.
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I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. At one level it is complex but, at another level, it is straightforward, if that makes sense. There are issues there. We will talk to the Minister and the HSE to see if this issue can be satisfactorily resolved, averting any necessity for further industrial action. We appreciate the work that is being done there.
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Over 240,000 people who are currently renting will not have their tenancies impacted by these measures.
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That is an important point. I welcome the fact that the Deputy is at least the first person on the left to welcome the rent price register. Listening to everybody else, you would imagine Armageddon was about to befall us and there was nothing at all to be recommended. This Bill fundamentally strengthens rent protection and protects renters much more effectively than anything that has gone before this legislation. The catalyst for this was the recommendation by the Housing Commission for the reform of the rent pressure zones because they were a temporary, ad hoc solution. They were never going to sustain. We needed clarity for investment into the future. We need investment, so the reset is important. We need investment down the line. We cannot provide the €20 billion per annum. We are doing about €9 billion per annum on housing. The Department of Finance says we need €20 billion between public and private to get 50,000 to 60,000 houses per year. That is the challenge. We need to get the right balance between protection of tenants and facilitating further investment in the market.
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We want buildings brought back into use as quickly as possible. We have the living city initiative and so on. With the greatest respect, we have given clear policy directions to public agencies but, as Taoiseach of the country, I cannot start arbitrating on every single building in every single area across the country. I am sure the Deputy will appreciate that. It should get moving on it and get it sorted.
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No, of course not. They should get it resolved.
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Refusal of what?
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I cannot be interfering in every single local authority in the country in respect of every procedural vote they have. We need to have some degree of balance in the House. I am not in the business of running Donegal County Council.
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I do not mean that in a facetious way but it is a fact. I am not aware of the precise nature of what transpired but the entirety of the council is made up of councillors democratically elected by the people of Donegal. Councillors take decisions on a regular basis, either weekly or whenever they meet. We have to have some balance on the separation of responsibilities - I will not say powers.
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