Peadar Tóibín
Question:1. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [58944/22]
Ceisteanna - Questions
Cabinet Committees
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:2. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [59157/22]
Ivana Bacik
Question:3. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [60875/22]
Mick Barry
Question:4. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing last met. [60885/22]
Paul McAuliffe
Question:5. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [60893/22]
Jennifer Murnane O'Connor
Question:6. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the housing and infrastructure unit of his Department. [60894/22]
Cian O'Callaghan
Question:7. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [60901/22]
Richard Boyd Barrett
Question:8. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [61331/22]
Paul Murphy
Question:9. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [61334/22]
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:10. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the progress of Housing for All. [61816/22]
Mick Barry
Question:11. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [1182/23]
Peadar Tóibín
Question:12. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [1567/23]
Mick Barry
Question:13. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [3278/23]
Peadar Tóibín
Question:14. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet [3345/23]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 14, inclusive, together.
The housing and infrastructure unit assists me and the Government to meet our housing and infrastructure policy objectives. This includes providing a secretariat to the Cabinet committee on housing, which oversees the delivery of Housing for All, along with wider public investment through Project Ireland 2040, which falls under the Cabinet committee on the economy and investment, which is chaired by the Tánaiste. The unit also provides updates, briefing and speech material on relevant policy issues.
The Cabinet committee on housing met eight times in 2022. The last meeting took place on Monday, 21 November. The next meeting of the Cabinet committee on housing is scheduled for next Monday. This committee works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the implementation of Housing for All across government and the implementation of programme for Government commitments regarding housing and related matters.
Housing for All is the most ambitious housing plan in the history of our State and contains actions to ensure more than 300,000 new homes are built by the end of the decade, along with delivering a fundamental reform of our housing system. The plan is showing real progress. Almost 28,000 new homes were completed in the 12 months to the end of September, the highest rolling 12-month total of any period since comparable data were first published in 2011. We are building more new homes than at any point in more than ten years, and that does not include student accommodation or derelict homes being brought back into use. We expect to see data in the next few weeks that will confirm we exceeded our overall target of 24,600 new homes in 2022. The target for 2023 is 29,000 new homes, and I want us to exceed that as well.
For renters, we are making cost rental a reality. We have legislated to cap rent increases and enhanced security for tenants through deferring no-fault terminations until April. We have also introduced a rent tax credit and we encourage renters to avail of that, given it is now possible to apply for it online. We are also reforming the planning system and promoting the use of innovation, rapid builds and modern methods of construction. Other significant initiatives under Housing for All include the first home scheme, Project Tosaigh and the residential zoned land tax.
We will continue to prioritise the building of new homes, taking further action as it is needed and listening to what those involved in the sector are telling us.
There are nine contributors, so it is up to one minute each.
In the 2022 census, 166,000 homes were recorded as vacant, and these did not include holiday homes or those that were temporarily vacant for other reasons. To have so many vacant homes in a time of crisis is shocking. It is similar to having food available in a time of famine. A vacant homes tax was detailed in the most recent budget and was to be levied at 0.3% of the value of the home, which is tiny compared with the increase in the values of homes at the moment, but Revenue indicated it was going to levy it on only about 4,000 homes, with a benefit to the Exchequer of about €4 million. Surely that is outrageous. How many empty homes will have this tax levied against them and how much will it bring in? How many Croí Cónaithe grants have been drawn down to get vacant homes back into use?
I again raise the redress scheme for homes with Celtic tiger-era building defects that was announced last week. As my party colleague, Deputy Ó Broin, has acknowledged, the announcement is a step in the right direction but we, like the homeowners affected, would like the Taoiseach to clarify some aspects of the scheme as proposed. The legislation will not be completed, we are told, until the end of this year and the scheme will not open for applications until sometime next year. Will he explain this delay and tell us why this matter cannot be expedited? Does the scheme provide for 100% redress for all applicants and will it be applied retrospectively? How far back will it go and will it apply to apartments, duplexes and houses impacted by structural defects? Will the Government make funding available for interim emergency fire safety works for those developments at greatest risk?
The housing crisis, as we know, continues to worsen and Mike Allen warned on “News at One” of the growing shortage of accommodation. Last week, Threshold warned that the majority of tenants it had helped towards the end of 2022 were at risk of homelessness due to the landlord selling their property. When the eviction ban was being introduced, I repeatedly raised with the Government the urgent need to ramp up the tenant in situ scheme to secure people's homes and prevent homelessness. As there is likely to be a flood of evictions after the ban ends in April, now is the time when the Government should act. We ask that the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage publish monthly figures, for the duration of the eviction ban, from local authorities on how many tenant in situ schemes they have been able to complete or how many are being processed. We have asked this previously and the Minister has failed to provide this information. There is a massive underspend in the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage of almost €1 billion and we know the target of 8,000 social homes in 2022 will not be met.
Will the Taoiseach publish monthly figures on the tenant in situ scheme? Has he yet been briefed on how many social homes were built last year, and will the targets be met?
I want to see a constitutional referendum on the right to housing, not because it will resolve the housing crisis, which it will not do, and not because it is a substitute for our housing campaigns or housing protest, which it is not. I want to see it because it would improve, at least somewhat, the rights of those who need housing and add, at least somewhat, to pressure on the State to deliver it. We are hearing reports that the Housing Commission is due to report relatively soon with a recommendation on this matter. Will the Taoiseach give this House an update on the estimated time of arrival, so to speak, for that recommendation? Will he also outline his thinking, as Taoiseach, on whether a referendum might be a good choice to make in our current situation?
It was good to hear the Taoiseach outline the details of one of the strongest public housing programmes in decades and I look forward to getting those final details for last year. One of the other commitments in Housing for All is to having a better fit of existing stock for those people who need it, including through reviewing the housing aid for older people grant, which many councillors work with their constituents to deliver as part of the local authority system, allowing them to make changes to bathrooms and accessibility mechanisms in their homes. Unfortunately, because of the rise in construction costs, it is getting more difficult to get the same value from those grants. Incomes have increased and I hope that in the same way that we have increased income thresholds for social housing, we might be able to do the same for housing aids. The Department has carried out a review and I hope a statutory instrument will be available soon. I have been putting pressure on the Minister in that regard. Will the Taoiseach confirm that there will be an increase in those grants?
In the middle of a housing crisis, I am seeing refusals of planning permission for once-off housing developments because the services are not there. I am talking specifically about water. There is a direct knock-on impact because Carlow’s water treatment plants need to be upgraded, whether in Tinryland, Ardattin, Ballinabranagh and Bagenalstown. These plants are working at 100% capacity, and although funding has been promised again and again, we still have not got it. What is the update from Irish Water?
I also have an issue with funding for vacant buildings. Between 2018 and 2022, planning exemptions allowed some developers to take on vacant buildings in Carlow and put them forward for beneficial housing schemes. There is a great example in Tullow, where a former hotel, which has been derelict for more than 20 years, has applied for the repair and leasing scheme, RLS, to develop 100 units in the town centre. The local authority, however, is issuing compulsory purchase orders, caught up in red tape, to develop this high-profile unit in an historic part of the town centre.
It has taken two years with all the red tape and I ask the Taoiseach to look at it.
Can the Taoiseach explain why almost €1 billion allocated to the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in 2022 was not spent? What does he have to say to the thousands of people who are paying unaffordable and exorbitant rents, the hundreds and thousands of people who are in their 20s and 30s and still living in their childhood bedrooms, those who cannot afford to buy a home and the 11,500 people who are homeless and living in emergency accommodation about the Government's failure to spend this €1 billion? How can he justify it?
The figure of 11,500 people who are currently homeless is going to continue to swell unless the Government takes urgent emergency measures to stop the flow into homelessness. The major reason the vast majority of those people are homeless is because they have been evicted; the vast majority of whom have done absolutely nothing wrong. Next Friday week, I will be going into court with a family, that is, people who have worked, paid their taxes all their lives and have not done a single thing wrong. Even during a supposed ban on evictions, they are facing an enforcement order to throw them out of their home where they have lived all their lives. As they are over the threshold for social housing support they are not even entitled to housing assistance payment, HAP. What will the Government do to stop the flow of families and individuals into homelessness? I propose it has to impose a complete eviction ban and buy up the homes, regardless of where they are in terms of income, of those people who are threatened with homelessness.
Victims of apartment and duplex defects were very happy last week to hear the Government announce that there will be a redress scheme and it will be retrospective but they also know from the experience of the mica homeowners who had 100% schemes supposedly announced for them over a year ago and are still waiting, in reality the small print means it is significantly less than 100%. They understand the devil will be in the detail and at the moment we have very little detail from the Government. When will the detail of this scheme be announced? When will emergency funding be announced because clearly this is a safety issue for a number of homeowners. We need immediate action. They cannot wait for a year or longer. Will the Government meet the insurance industry to ensure people are able to get their blocks insured while they are waiting for this scheme to start? Will non-fire but latent defects such as defective balconies be included, and will houses built at the same time in the same developments by the same developers affected by the same issues, such as balconies, also be included? Finally, will the Minister meet representatives of the Not Our Fault campaign to understand how this is going to work?
It is a long time since I have done this and I had forgotten what it was like. I have done my best to write down as many questions as I can. I definitely cannot write as quickly as people can talk but will do my best to answer the questions. In relation to Deputy Tóibín's question on the 166,000 vacant homes, I am not sure it is published yet but it is worth taking a look at the Department's report, which is the derelict homes action plan. It might be published or may not be. It gives a very interesting breakdown as to why those 166,000 homes are vacant and in a huge number of cases, it is for a reason, in that they are to let or for sale; they are being renovated; the person who lives there is in hospital or in a nursing home; they are recently deceased and the home is in probate. Actually, the real number of homes that are habitable and could be available for use is much lower than that.
How much?
I cannot remember the exact figure but a fraction of that-----
It is an important figure.
-----and it shows as well that vacancy rates in Ireland are falling compared with the last time the survey was done and are in line with European norms. There is huge variability from different parts of the country to others, as the Deputy can imagine. Bear in mind the vacant property tax will only apply to habitable homes. It will not apply to those that are not habitable; they are derelict and are covered under different legislation. Whatever the correct number is, there are certainly tens of thousands of derelict properties that could be brought back into use and turned into homes for people, and they should be. We have a lot of very good schemes at the moment such as buy and renew; repair and lease and Croí Cónaithe but at the moment it looks like those schemes are going to bring hundreds of homes back into use every year and it should be thousands. We have to do everything we can to drive that forward and make sure it happens.
A couple of Members asked about the building defects scheme for apartments and duplexes. I cannot remember the exact dates it applies to, I think it is pre-2013, but that was part of the announcement on the day. We will get the legislation done this year. There will be retrospection. It will be up and running in 2024 at 100% but there will be checks and balances. People will not just be able to claim any amount. There will have to be checks and balances, of course, and there will be funding for interim fire safety. I should, as I have done before, declare personal interest in this in that my apartment, which is the only property I own, is in a building that has building defects and therefore I am a potential beneficiary of this scheme once it is up and running.
On the tenant in situ scheme which Deputy Bacik asked about, I very much agree that local authorities should purchase homes from landlords who are selling up where the tenant is a social housing tenant. That is done. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is very much behind that. We are encouraging local authorities to do exactly that. I am not sure if we will be able to do monthly figures but perhaps we can do quarterly figures or something along those lines.
On the issue of income thresholds for housing aids that Deputy McAuliffe raised, he makes some very valid points in that regard. As we all know, the cost of getting work done to one's house has gone up a lot and people's incomes have gone up as well. It makes sense to review both the income limits and the amounts people can get. I do not know what the outcome of that review is yet but I imagine the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will make an announcement or bring a proposal to Government as soon as he can.
I met representatives from the Housing Commission a few weeks ago. It is nearing completion on its work on a proposed wording for an amendment on the right to housing for our Constitution. I do not know what that is yet and have not seen it. I look forward to receiving that report and once we have that and the proposed wording, the next step will be to consult with the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage to see what it thinks of the proposed wording. It is a programme for Government commitment to have a referendum on housing and it is a commitment we intend to honour. It is important we get the wording right because whether you are for or against it, anything put in the Constitution transfers at least a degree of power and decision-making from this place, our elected Parliament, to the courts, whose members are not elected, as we know, but have their role to play. We have to make sure we get the wording right and that there are no unintended consequences. I look forward to seeing that report and it will be very welcome.
On Deputy Murnane O'Connor's question, I fully agree that we need to invest in water and wastewater services. As the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, said earlier, there is over €6 billion now in the budget for Irish Water but it has to prioritise and will generally prioritise infrastructure where it is going to provide water services for a site that can perhaps accommodate hundreds of people, important social infrastructure and important economic infrastructure as well.
On the €1 billion figure mentioned by Deputy Cian O'Callaghan, I am not sure that is correct. I think that by the end of the year, that figure was much lower. I cannot remember what it was but it was considerably lower. A decision was made to reallocate the funding from one part of housing to another part but it was spent on housing. When it comes to dealing with the housing crisis, I can assure the House there is no lack of money available to do what needs to be done. There is certainly no lack of political will and no lack of care or compassion on the part of the Government but there are constraints. There is currently a shortage of labour and we are trying to build and renovate new houses, repair old homes and apartments, and build transport and commercial infrastructure. There is just a shortage of labour at the moment. Materials are more expensive and not always available and there are delays around planning permission and servicing sites. There are real constraints which this Government and any Government would face, unfortunately, when it comes to turning the tide on the housing crises which is our objective.
Finally, Deputy Boyd Barrett asked about the eviction pause and that is in place until the end of April. We will have a better idea between now and then as to whether it has been effective in terms of reducing the number of people who are in emergency accommodation and the number of people flowing into homelessness. I am not sure what the Deputy means by a complete eviction ban and if we-----
People are being evicted at the moment.
Yes, but-----
They have done nothing wrong.
-----people are being evicted because they have not paid their rent-----
-----or because they have been engaged in antisocial behaviour-----
----and I think allowing people to-----
There are people being evicted on grounds of sale at the moment, who have done nothing wrong.
Climate Action Plan
Christopher O'Sullivan
Question:15. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the climate action delivery board co-chaired by the Secretary General of his Department. [60184/22]
Christopher O'Sullivan
Question:16. Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan asked the Taoiseach the details of the climate action plan progress report published by his Department on 22 November 2022. [60185/22]
Bríd Smith
Question:17. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Taoiseach the total number of actions in the 2021 climate action plan which have not been enacted to date; the numbers of high-impact actions which have failed to be enacted or that are delayed; the high-impact actions that remain to be enacted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62712/22]
Ivana Bacik
Question:18. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on the environment and climate change will next meet. [2120/23]
Mick Barry
Question:19. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach to provide details of the climate action plan progress report published by his Department. [3280/23]
Paul Murphy
Question:20. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach to report on the work of the climate action delivery board. [3408/23]
Bríd Smith
Question:21. Deputy Bríd Smith asked the Taoiseach to report on the work of the climate action delivery board. [3411/23]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 to 21, inclusive, together.
Climate action is the most pressing long-term global challenge of our time and is a significant priority for this Government. Through our strengthened climate legislation, Our Shared Future and our annually updated climate action plan, we have set ourselves the ambition of halving Ireland's greenhouse gas emissions by the end of the decade and of putting Ireland on course to becoming carbon neutral by 2050.
We are determined that Ireland will play its full part in EU and global efforts to stop climate change and in so doing, harness the opportunities and rewards that will come from moving quickly to a low-carbon society.
We must harness our massive untapped, renewable natural resources, providing greater energy security, stable prices, more jobs, and regional development.
The Cabinet committee on the environment and climate change oversees the implementation of the ambitious programme for the Government's commitments on the environment and climate change. It met four times in 2022 and its next meeting will be scheduled shortly. It is chaired by the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan.
The climate action delivery board, established in 2019, is jointly chaired by the Secretaries General of the Departments of the Taoiseach and the Environment, Climate and Communications. As well as overseeing the implementation of the annually updated climate action plan, it monitors implementation of carbon budgets and the sectoral emissions ceilings. It can also provide recommendations to the Cabinet committee on the environment and climate change on measures required to overcome any barriers or impediments to the implementation of climate policies.
The Department of the Taoiseach has responsibility for publishing quarterly reports on the implementation of measures committed to under the climate action plan. The most recently completed report was published in November, covering actions due for reporting in the third quarter of 2022. An implementation rate of 60% was achieved specifically on those measures that were due in the third quarter. Overall, 77% of the 708 measures that were due under the Climate Action Plan 2021 were achieved by the end of the third quarter.
A further progress report on actions due in the fourth quarter of 2022 is currently being finalised and will be brought to the Government for publication shortly. This system of quarterly reporting helps to maintain accountability and transparency for the implementation of climate actions across all Departments and Government agencies and will continue.
I welcome the Taoiseach back to the hot seat and wish him the best of luck.
On solar energy, the Climate Action Plan 2023 has a new ambition of 8 GW of power from solar photovoltaic, PV, sources, which is up from 5.5 GW. A large portion of that is going to come from the farming community and farm buildings. Farmers are up for this. They want it and are very interested in it, as we can see.
We have done a great amount. The planning exemptions and the targeted agricultural modernisation scheme, TAMS, grant has been introduced up to 60%, which is down to the hard work of the Minister, Deputy McConalogue, who is in front of me in the Chamber. As farmers can also avail of that clean energy tariff when they avail of the TAMS grant, we are doing a great deal for farmers. They are still meeting obstacles out there from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, SEAI, and the ESB in what they can avail of. The maximum kilowatt-hours are 17 kWh and 50 kWh respectively-----
I am afraid the Deputy has reached the maximum time allowed to speak here.
-----but they have been told that they can have a limit of 9 kW. That needs to be addressed and we also need to roll that out to as many farmers as possible.
The Minister for the Environment, Climate and Communications launched another new strategy in the past week. This one related to electric vehicles with a new charging infrastructure strategy that will see €100 million invested over three years. I have raised concerns with the Minister about this issue on a number of occasions because we are just seeing a far too slow delivery on electric vehicle, EV, charging infrastructure. In the case of people who want to change to an electric car but who live in an apartment block, a terraced house or any home with no driveway, as is the case across my own constituency, they ask me and need to know when publicly accessible chargers will be put in place with a sufficient network to serve increased numbers of EVs. Access to chargers is very difficult.
In the Portobello area, there is just one publicly accessible charger for the many people who now wish to move to EVs. There is a similar position in Ranelagh, in Rathmines and I am hearing of this across the constituency. As the implementation plan says the design of the new local authority package will not be in place until later this year, how many chargers does the Taoiseach expect to have installed across Dublin by then?
I ask the Taoiseach to comment on two pieces of climate news we have received since the start of the year.
The first is on the issue of climate criminals. We have now learned that ExxonMobil scientists in the 1970s mapped out with extraordinary exactitude what would happen if we continued using fossil fuels with respect to global temperatures. This information, however, was not released to the public. It was covered up and that company was involved in climate denialism for a long period after that. I seek the Taoiseach’s observations on that matter.
The other matter is the claim that is being made by some scientists now that if we have an El Niño event later this year, the world could a reach 1.5°C increase in temperatures well before this decade is out, with the implications that that might have for governments globally and in this country, particularly in the context of the washout that was COP27.
Ireland’s electricity emissions increased by 4% in the past year. The climate action plan requires electricity emissions to fall by 75% by 2030. Almost the entire carbon budget for electricity up to 2025 has now already been used up. The main reason is that electricity generation increased by 3%. Even though coal and oil generation fell and wind generation rose, emissions still increased because of a 10% increase in electricity produced by natural gas. Everybody knows that the main reason for this is the proliferation of data centres which the Government has encouraged.
Between 2015 and 2021, electricity consumption rose by 16%, and 70% of that was swallowed up by data centres, which used more electricity than all rural homes in this State combined. If the Government keeps enabling multinationals to dump their data centres here, we will be running to go backwards in respect of emissions. Will the Taoiseach commit to an immediate ban on further data centres?
Public transport is one of the biggest solution opportunities in regard to climate change. In my own county of Meath, the majority of workers today left the county to go to work. That happens in no other local authority area. Most of those workers are forced to use cars. We have had the Government announcement on the Navan to Dublin rail line, which is a welcome announcement, but today we learned that no money at all has been put aside for that project as of yet. The status of that particular project is that it is still a decision of a future government as to whether to back it financially. Is it feasible to live in a society where so many people cannot get to work in a fast and climate-friendly manner and will the Government put ring-fenced money behind this project now to ensure it will proceed?
A report was done by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine approximately two years ago which suggested, astonishingly, that Ireland’s forest estate was a net carbon emitter. That was a shocking fact. Why might that be? It was because people who were interested in profit, rather than addressing climate change, biodiversity or, for that matter, supporting rural communities or farmers to engage in sustainable forestry, just grew plantations of Sitka spruce trees and cut them down too young for the market, that is, for profit. We then get a blight on the landscape and forests which do not contribute to climate action but are an actual obstruction to the sort of sustainable diverse forestry we need for climate action and biodiversity.
I thank Deputies again for their contributions on this issue. Deputy Christopher O’Sullivan, who is a great advocate for climate action and renewable energy, pointed out that our ambition now is produce 8 GW of solar capacity. That is a very ambitious target but one we believe can be achieved. I very much agree with him that we must remove any obstacles that we can. Planning laws have been relaxed and TAMS and other grants are available, as the Deputy has said. I also know that people are running into practical obstacles and we need to remove any of those that we can. I also agree that farmers can lead the way on this, whether this is by solar panels on roofs or on fields which can still, of course, be grazed, and we will be encouraging farmers to do exactly that.
When it comes to electric vehicles, as mentioned by Deputy Bacik, we have seen an increase in the purchase and uptake of these vehicles in the past year, where, I believe, in the region of 20% of all new cars purchased were battery electric vehicles or plug-in hybrids. That is in line with where we thought we would be around now and is a little encouraging. We have set aside €100 million over the next three years to provide more charging points because that infrastructure is necessary if we are to encourage more people to go electric.
I do not know the exact figures for Dublin but I will ask the Minister, Deputy Eamon Ryan, to pass them on to the Deputy.
I do not want to comment on the Exxon story. I saw the reports on the news and do not know their veracity or what Exxon's reply or defence has been, if there have been any.
Deputy Paul Murphy is correct to say that emissions from electricity did go up. There are a number of reasons for that. We had to use coal again, something we had ceased doing. We also have increased demand for electricity. Data centres are part of that, but they are only one part.
The majority.
They account for about 10% to 14% of all electricity we use and less than 2% of greenhouse gas emissions. We have no plans for a ban, but we will reduce new connections and prioritise data centres linked to employment and important social functions, which they are. That is a fact and reality of modern life.
On the Navan rail line, I very much welcome the decision of Government to proceed with that project. It will be beneficial to County Meath and my constituency, where it plugs in at Hansfield. There will, of course, have to be funding to get it through planning and a railway order. There are already a number of projects in An Bord Pleanála, as Deputies will know, including metro, DART and BusConnects, and many are awaiting approval by An Bord Pleanála. The next step is to do planning and design with a view to reopening the rail line to Navan, connecting at Kilmessan and other stops along the way.
On the question of whether a forest estate is a net carbon emitter, one of the reasons may be where the trees were planted because trees planted in the past in Ireland were often planted in highland and peaty soils. It is not just about the trees; it is also about where they are planted. We should acknowledge that we need trees for lots of different reasons. We want more native and broadleaf trees, and for trees to act as a carbon sink. We want trees to provide biodiversity and help improve the leisure facilities we have so that people can walk and enjoy them. We also need trees for timber. There is a housing crisis under way. We should not solve the housing crisis entirely with steel and concrete, because that will drive our emissions up. We need to have more cross laminated timber, CLT, products used in housing. The most suitable trees for that are conifers. We need to have a rounded approach to this. The housing crisis is as important as the climate crisis.
Cabinet Committees
Mary Lou McDonald
Question:22. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Covid-19 will next meet. [60869/22]
Mick Barry
Question:23. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [1184/23]
Peadar Tóibín
Question:24. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [1568/23]
Ruairí Ó Murchú
Question:25. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach if he will outline the work that has been carried out to establish an inquiry into the State’s handling of the Covid-19 which he announced in January 2023; the timeline for this inquiry; and the scope and nature of the inquiry. [1880/23]
Ruairí Ó Murchú
Question:26. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on Covid-19 will next meet. [1881/23]
Alan Dillon
Question:27. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [2028/23]
Ivana Bacik
Question:28. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet. [2119/23]
Peadar Tóibín
Question:29. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on health will next meet [3346/23]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 22 to 29, inclusive, together.
The Cabinet committee on health is due to meet on 13 February. In addition to the meetings of the full Cabinet and of Cabinet committees, I meet Ministers on an individual basis to focus on different issues.
I met with the Minister for Health and HSE leadership team just before Christmas to discuss the pressures being experienced across our hospitals, particularly in emergency departments around the country. This pressure resulted from an exceptionally high level of three respiratory viruses in circulation in the community, namely influenza, Covid-19 and respiratory syncytial virus, RSV. The current challenges facing the health service have also been discussed at meetings of the full Cabinet each week, including a memo today brought by the Minister on emergency department overcrowding.
While trolley numbers have fallen significantly since the start of the month, the number of patients on trolleys is still unacceptable and much higher than we would like. Every effort is being made to bring about further reductions over the coming weeks.
Budget 2023 provides the highest allocation of funding for health and social care in the history of the State. It is designed to facilitate better access to affordable, high-quality healthcare and further advance our ambition to achieve universal health care for all, as set out in the Sláintecare plan. We are committed to continuing to expand the core capacity of our acute hospitals, with more health professionals and more acute hospital beds. We have almost 1,000 more acute hospital beds than we had just three years ago and 6,500 more doctors and nurses.
We are also reforming how and where we provide services. The enhanced community care programme continues to develop healthcare at a more local level. Work is progressing on the establishment of six new regional health areas and elective care centres in Dublin, Cork and Galway, as well as surgical hubs in the interim.
On the Cabinet committee on Covid-19, the national response to the Covid-19 pandemic has evolved from an emergency approach to one which is appropriately mainstreamed and targeted at mitigating the severe impacts of Covid-19 on the population. Consequently, responsibility for Covid-19 now falls within the remit of the Cabinet committee on health.
On the State's handling of Covid-19, a comprehensive evaluation of how the country managed Covid-19 will provide an opportunity to learn lessons from our experiences in dealing with the pandemic, something that is being done in other countries. It will help to ensure that we are in a better and stronger position if and when another pandemic or another similar type of health emergency befalls us. It is intended to establish this in 2023.
The independent review from the Mental Health Commission makes it clear that the failures identified in Kerry child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS, last year are, sadly, reflected across the community health organisation network. I heard the Taoiseach say earlier that there is a plan to appoint a clinical lead in this area. I have to put to him that much more than that needs to be done, and done urgently. As with disability services, the ageing out of children and young people once they hit 18 years of age is an issue. There is also the fact that children and young people have been lost in the system, inconsistency in the rates of referral across regional services and a lack of any integrated system. I want to put it to him, in the limited time I have, that funding has to be increased in this area and ring-fenced. We also need new regulations under the Mental Health Act, focused on regulating CAMHS, to include national standards for monitoring the use of antipsychotic medication for children and young people.
The Tánaiste that told the Dáil that the situation in our child and adolescent mental health services was unacceptable. A couple of weeks ago the Taoiseach pronounced that the situation in our emergency departments was unacceptable. I put it to him that it is time for him and his Government to own their mistakes and disasters. They are not bystanders casually viewing these crises from another planet or from afar. Can the Taoiseach outline the steps he intends to take to stop further harm being done to vulnerable young people in those services, tackle the unacceptable waiting lists for those services and cut across a potential worsening of the situation as psychiatrists retire and the flow of new graduates is insufficient to maintain even current levels of service?
There were 18 hospital protests around the country last Saturday in probably one of the most widespread and largest campaigns throughout the country in terms of what is happening in the health service. Tens of thousands of people marched in different sites, which is wonderful to see.
The Taoiseach mentioned overcrowding in accident and emergency departments. It is not happening because pesky people are getting sick too often. It is important to say that. Accident and emergency overcrowding is happening because of a lack of accident and emergency capacity in the State. Some 6,000 beds have been closed since 2008. There are 30% too few GPs. There are 700 fewer consultants than there should be. Incredibly, the Government has closed eight accident and emergency departments in the past 15 years. People cannot understand why the Government cannot join the dots between the accident and emergency capacity crisis and Government policies to close accident and emergency departments throughout the country.
At the onset of the Covid pandemic in 2020, 23 people died tragically in Dealgan House nursing home in Dundalk. Unlike other nursing homes, it was taken over by the RCSI hospital group. Families have been persistent in trying to get to the truth and much is in the public domain because of this. They met the Minister, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, and have been promised a mechanism to offer them the truth and closure they need. They want a public inquiry into what happened at Dealgan House. The Taoiseach has spoken about the need for an inquiry into the State's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. We need a timeline and to know what work will be done and what the remit will be.
Is there a chance that these families will get a mechanism to provide them with the truth and with closure? Will the State learn lessons in relation to this pandemic?
On the issue of health in the context of the Cabinet committee, I raised earlier the unacceptable failures in the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. We have continued to see unacceptable conditions in our health service over the winter season, with thousands of people marching across the country at the weekend. There were especially big crowds in Limerick and Navan, which the Labour Party was proud to support. Years of under-resourcing have put lives at risk and a full security audit is now required. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, INMO, have called for this after the awful fatal assault on an 89-year-old man in the Mercy University Hospital, Cork. Our thoughts are with his family. Will the Taoiseach commit to the holding of a security audit of our hospitals? There has not been one since 2016. For years healthcare workers have had to endure attacks and assaults and it is deeply worrying that patients are unsafe.
Finally, I want to ask about the availability of a specific antibody drug called Evusheld. I have been contacted by people affected by chronic lymphocytic leukemia about the need for more supports to protect patients. The antibody drug Evusheld was rejected by the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, NCPE, due to cost but is available in other EU countries and has saved the lives of many people whose immune systems have not been working well. We know that those who are immunocompromised are particularly worried about the rise in respiratory illnesses over the past month or so.
The Taoiseach has just over a minute to respond.
The failings in CAMHS were mentioned again and I addressed this earlier in response to Deputy Bacik's question during Leaders Questions. I accept the assertion that action is urgently needed. Deputy McDonald is absolutely right about that. Funding has been increased and will be increased further. Staffing levels have almost doubled in the past ten years and they will be increased more. We are going to appoint a new national clinical lead for youth mental health so that there is better clinical governance and clinical leadership. There will also be an assistant national director for youth mental health so that there is better management. There will be a new consultant contract, which is very attractive by international standards, which will hopefully lead to the recruitment of more psychiatrists. We also need to develop from a psychiatric-led model of youth mental health care but that is an issue for another day. We will give consideration to the Mental Health Commission's recommendation that it be given regulatory oversight of youth mental health services. That is a good idea on the face of it but we need to do due diligence on it.
Deputy Tóibín spoke about emergency department overcrowding which happens for lots of different reasons. It is related to capacity in hospitals; there are not enough beds but we are increasing the number of beds every year. It is also about community care and making sure that people can get out of hospital more quickly and are less likely to end up in hospital in the first place. It is also about patient flow and making sure that when patients are admitted, they get the tests and treatments they need in two or three days, not five or six days. The average length of stay in Ireland could be reduced further. The overcrowding is also happening against a backdrop of a rising population and one that is increasingly ageing. We have the highest life expectancy in all of the European Union now. That is in part a reflection of the quality of much of our health service. Of course, we are also seeing increasing frailty.
The time is up.