Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 30 Nov 2023

Vol. 1046 No. 6

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí (Atógáil) - Leaders' Questions (Resumed)

Deputy Holly Cairns

I want to start by acknowledging the sad death of Shane MacGowan. His legacy of iconic music is a testament to his genius. On behalf of the Social Democrats, I offer my condolences to his family, his friends and all who loved him.

I am wondering how high is too high. How high will rents have to go before the Government says, "enough", and does something about them?

There is another report out today detailing sky-high rents. This time it is from the RTB. Rents for new tenancies are up an enormous 11.6%. Across the country, that means an average rent of €1,574 per month. Just three years ago, when the Tánaiste entered Government, average rents were €1,226. That is an increase of nearly €350 per month since the Tánaiste took office.

The price of a Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Green Party Government to renters out there is an extra €4,200 per year going to their landlords since the Tánaiste took office. Does the Tánaiste know how difficult it is for students, workers and families to scrape together an extra €4,200 per year? Does the Tánaiste know that families go without - without proper meals, without heating and without warm coats in the winter - to pay their rent? Does the Tánaiste know how hopeless and trapped people feel because they cannot afford to move out of their childhood bedroom? Does the Tánaiste know how difficult it is to save for a house when almost all of your income is going towards soaring rent? If the Tánaiste knows all of this, why will he not do anything about it?

Why does the Tánaiste continue to gaslight the nation and come in here and tell us that this failure is somehow a success? I can guess one of the things the Tánaiste might say. The Tánaiste will say rent increases for existing tenants are lower, but their rents went up by 5.3% and average rents are €1,332. What the Tánaiste should acknowledge is that those figures are only more evidence that the rental market is broken.

The maximum rent increase in rent pressure zones is supposed to be 2%. Fianna Fáil's Minister brought in that rule, but clearly landlords up and down the country are ignoring that upward threshold and charging whatever they like. Why would they not?

The Government has overseen tenancy laws that amount to zero rights for renters. For no reason at all, tenants can be evicted. Meanwhile the regulator, the RTB, is not so much toothless as comatose. It either does not have the power, the resources or the interest to pursue landlords who breach the regulations.

I have listened to members of the Government make earnest promises on housing for years. The Tánaiste says it is the Government's top priority but every year the crisis gets worse, rents become even more unaffordable, the prospect of owning a home gets more out of reach and a record number of people are in homelessness. We are all tired of these broken promises. It is time for action. Will the Tánaiste freeze rents for three years, introduce a ban on no-fault evictions and introduce a rent register so there is some transparency around rents?

The Tánaiste

We all recognise - I said it already - that housing is the most significant social issue we face in this country. I am interested in coming up with solutions. I have heard precious little from the Deputy other than a good descriptive analysis of the current situation, but actually no solutions. Freezing rent is not a solution because it would cause a further exodus from the rental market which would reduce supply and would result in ever increasing rental prices. That is the reality.

Supply has to be the solution here. We have a range of schemes that we have developed to increase housing supply and we have brought in the tax credit to help people to alleviate the pressures of increasing rents. We have strengthened very significantly the powers of the RTB. It is not fair or accurate to say that nothing is being done in terms of regulation in respect of the rental situation.

The Deputy mentioned the rent pressure zones. Seventy-five per cent are now covered by rent pressure zones.

This RTB index does not capture compliance. It is not as simple as the Deputy articulated in terms of breaches of the 2% or not. However, there are sanctions and significant resources have been allocated to the RTB in respect of that issue. An ESRI study of the RPZs with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has said that if it was not for the RPZs and the zoning, the inflation in house rents would be notably higher. Therefore, they are impactful, notwithstanding the very high levels of rent across the country which is a function of supply.

In the last three years alone since this Government came in, about 100,000 new homes will have been delivered. We had Covid-19 which impacted initially, in the first year and a half of Government, in terms of house construction. We have also brought in the tenant in situ scheme, with 2,500 sales now being progressed on that scheme alone. We have brought in cost rental, which has rents 25% below the market level. Quite a substantial number of cost-rental homes have been made available. That is a whole new form of tenure and we will drive that on in the months to come. There has been a very wide-ranging number of schemes to get housing supply up. Ultimately, that is key.

I would argue, by the way, that over the past three years much of the negativity around the rental market and proposals for freezing, etc., has had a negative impact on supply. That is an issue that we need to continue to focus on, namely how we get more houses into the market, in particular, the rental market, so that we can get supply, get the rents or at least their rate of increase down, and develop schemes, as we have, in terms of social housing and cost rental so that we can give options to people for much lower rents than currently is the case.

Deputy Holly Cairns

Listening to the Tánaiste, one would swear that this is some kind of big conspiracy to make Fianna Fáil and the Government look bad when they are doing everything that they can, but if it is, I am afraid that the RTB, the ESRI and loads more are in it with me. The Tánaiste may not want to admit it but the facts are the facts. The facts are that rents in this country under the Tánaiste's watch are a runaway train. The Tánaiste keeps coming in here and telling us that everything is under control but every year it gets worse.

At what point will the Government actually admit that its approach is not working? People out there cannot afford any more of these mistakes. Since the Tánaiste's Government came into office in 2020, it has cost renters an additional €4,200 a year. How much more will people have to pay for this failure and denial?

The Tánaiste says that housing is the biggest social issue we face. I agree with him but why does he not act like it is and do something about it? He is constantly asking for solutions. I know that there are bigger solutions around supply, and all of those things are absolutely necessary and I am not disregarding them, but given the consistently rising figures in homelessness, will he introduce a rent freeze, bring back the ban on no-fault evictions and introduce a rent register so that renters at least know if they are being ripped off?

The Tánaiste

First of all, there is a dearth of proposals and solutions coming from her and her party on housing. I do not see any detailed proposals over and above what is in Housing for All, the Government's comprehensive housing plan in terms of increasing supply. The Deputy has made a passing reference in her question where she accepts that there is a higher and greater need for housing supply. Housing supply is the key.

Deputy Holly Cairns

I know that.

The Tánaiste

Some of the policies which she has put forward such as banning and freezing would actually reduce supply, and would have a very negative impact on the rental market. That would mean higher prices again. I have to challenge that simplistic notion that we can simply ban everything for three years and that everything will then be the same, or will get better. If one bans anything for three years, people will get out of the market and do other things. We have seen that and have tried to clamp down on some of that with regard to Airbnb, and so forth, and to provide for planning permissions so as to try to keep a higher number of houses in the rental market, so that we can keep downward pressure on prices.

The way, I respectfully suggest, that Deputy Cairns is proposing that policy should be directed would actually reduce supply and increase prices even more.

Deputy Holly Cairns

Where is the Tánaiste's evidence for that?

Deputy Denis Naughten

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, is a major health issue in Ireland claiming the lives of four people daily. It is a lung condition affecting one in 13 adults which hinders the movement of air in and out of their lungs and makes breathing difficult. Despite its manageability, only 20% of those with COPD are diagnosed. Often, this is too late, as diagnoses frequently occur during medical emergencies. This contributes to Ireland having the highest hospital admission rates for COPD in the developed world with nearly two admissions every hour, which is double the OECD average.

While the situation places a financial strain on our health service, costing approximately €120 million annually in hospital admissions, it also puts greater pressure on hospital beds during the winter when acute COPD-related illnesses are more frequent, as these patients tend to stay in hospital significantly longer than the average patient.

Reducing hospital admissions for COPD would significantly ease overcrowding in our emergency departments this winter. It is frustrating that COPD management is feasible yet healthcare delivery falls short.

Under Sláintecare, 24 integrated care consultants were promised to manage COPD care but only eight are in place. General practitioners have primary responsibility for COPD care and were promised to be supported by 30 specialist ambulatory hubs. However, only a fraction of these hubs, and the planned clinical nurse specialists in pulmonary rehabilitation, are operational. I must reiterate that the lack of support services leads to overwhelming pressures on our emergency departments, especially during the winter with COPD patients occupying beds which could be avoided with better community healthcare.

Moreover, socio-economic status significantly contributes to COPD outcomes in Ireland. The risk of dying from COPD is as high due to poverty as it is to smoking-related causes. Furthermore, there is a staggering 366% disparity in COPD mortality rates between that of a barrister and that of a bricklayer. Factors such as poor housing, low income, limited access to healthcare, types of employment and environmental conditions disproportionately affect those with COPD from lower socio-economic backgrounds.

We must prioritise community-based COPD care within our health service in the interests of all of our patients.

The Tánaiste

I thank the Deputy for raising this very important issue. Historically, Ireland has a very high prevalence of COPD. There can be different factors involved, even climate. The Deputy outlined towards the end of his contribution the public health framework which governs much of this. Smoking was a big factor but also tended to be a socio-economic issue with regard to its prevalence and scale. As a country, we have taken various measures on smoking which have helped but there are issues around work safety in terms of dust and inhalation. We have improved a much of that compared to where we were ten or 20 years ago so that prevention piece is extremely important. The Deputy is correct to refer to housing also and the quality of it. Those are all areas which will help to prevent COPD.

In addition to that one needs a proper community-based model of care and an acute system of care. In 2019, the HSE developed a COPD model of care which redefined how health services are to be provided to people with the disease. In November 2021, the first national clinical guidelines for the management of COPD were launched. That idea was to have the right care delivered to people with COPD at the right time and in the right place. The chronic disease management programme commenced in 2020 and has been rolled out to all adult general medical services, GMS, patients over a four-year period. That chronic disease management programme is an entirely new healthcare service in Ireland and has brought the care for chronic disease further into the community. Its aim is to reduce hospital attendance by patients with one or more of these specified conditions. COPD is a specified chronic disease which falls to be managed under that particular programme.

Through the chronic diseases management contract, as Deputy Naughten has said, GPs are funded to provide structured reviews and interventions in time with the model of care. Each patient receives two scheduled reviews with a GP in a 12-month period, each preceded by a practice nurse visit. Those reviews are to include patient education, preventive care, medication review, physical examinations, individual care planning and scheduled investigations.

In addition to the GP chronic disease management programme, the enhanced community care programme, as the Deputy knows, is a suite of strategic reform initiatives. Under that programme some 3,500 people are being recruited, with 2,800 already recruited. Some 96 community healthcare networks are now operational under the enhanced community care programme, 24 of the 30 community specialist teams, CSTs, for older persons are operational, and 24 of the 30 CSTs for chronic disease management are operational. Progress has been made but I do not doubt that more needs to happen because COPD is a particularly nasty disease which can significantly hamper a person's quality of life. We will continue to work on it.

Deputy Denis Naughten

I want to focus on one contributory factor for COPD which is poor housing. Research commissioned by the Department of the Environment, Climate and Communications and produced by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine has shown that retrofitting of homes of those with COPD or asthma reduces their use of GP, emergency department and hospital services. This is a win for our climate and for our health services. Yet if someone in receipt of the fuel allowance applies for the home energy retrofit grant under the warmer homes scheme today, they will not see the benefits of that until the winter of 2026 to 2027, two winters away.

What is even more concerning is that those living in some of our coldest homes, those built of stone, are completely excluded from the scheme and receive no support whatsoever. This is just not good enough and needs to be urgently reviewed.

The Tánaiste

I admire the Deputy's ingenuity and creativity in turning a chronic disease management programme into the deficiencies of the grant-based system for retrofitting. That is to be applauded.

Deputy Denis Naughten

I was never shy of that, Tánaiste.

The Tánaiste

I acknowledge what the Deputy is saying. He is alluding to the fact that there are so many applications and the capacity of the scheme to provide responses more quickly. There is no doubt, comparing it to before this Government came into power, about the contrast in the volume of retrofitting now going on. An entire new industry is being created as a result of guaranteed funding over the next decade, through the national development plan. It gives the industry confidence in the retrofitting area. We want those in more disadvantaged income groups to get the benefits of retrofitting as quickly as possible.

The Deputy identified a key point which many people who are denying climate change, or who are less than enthusiastic about it, do not address. There is an inexplicable link between climate change and public health. If one takes fossil fuels out of cars and buses, one will have a much healthier atmosphere in cities and towns for people breathing the air. Likewise, there are significant public health benefits for people from retrofitting.

Deputy Carol Nolan

In June of this year, a scoping report on the sexual exploitation of children in State care by UCD academics - Dr. Mary Canning, Dr. Marie Keenan and Ms Ruth Breslin - was published. The report outlined in horrifying detail the predatory behaviour that these young people, mainly young girls, are being subjected to. We are told they are being manipulated, coerced or deceived into sexual activity in return for something they want or need, to the advantage of the perpetrator. We read how some of the most vulnerable children in this State, in State care, are going missing or running away from home or a care placement despite the fact that some have an intellectual disability, have suffered prior sexual abuse or neglect, or have engaged in alcohol or drug misuse.

Unfortunately, this frankly terrifying and explosive report was lost in the media noise generated by the RTÉ payments controversy. It has received nothing like the kind of media and political attention that it deserves, because it is very concerning.

I have tabled a number of parliamentary questions on this matter. The most recent reply left me almost speechless. I have been informed that almost five months on from the publication of this explosive report, the Department of children has made no contact with the Department of Justice to discuss these matters, nor has anyone from the Department of Justice reached out to the Department of children. How can this be? We know that the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Act 2017 clearly states that a child below the age of sexual consent, which is 17, cannot consent to sexual activity. This clearly demonstrates that there is a legal and justice-related dimension to this issue, yet, in five months, there has been no engagement with or from the Department of Justice on the scoping report and its recommendations.

I and my staff have met Dr. Canning and Ms Breslin. We had an informative, fruitful and constructive discussion. They acknowledge that the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, took the issue seriously, but there is clearly a desperate and almost unforgivable lack of urgency, which concerns many of us greatly. Urgency must be applied to this issue at an interdepartmental level. I ask the Tánaiste to ensure that attention is refocused on this highly significant report and that it becomes a priority of the Government, particularly the Departments of children and Justice, to progress the recommendations made in the report. Will the Tánaiste commit to doing that today?

The Tánaiste

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. The UCD sexual exploitation research programme, SERP, report raises matters of the most profound concern. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and Tusla are aware of risks to children in care. Tusla is continually working to address these complex and concerning issues, including working with An Garda Síochána as required. There is no doubt that children in the care of the State are the most vulnerable individuals in our society. Tusla and the Department are committed to promoting safe and high-quality practice in all areas of alternative care.

This report raises concerning issues, as the Deputy said, regarding the potential exploitation of children, including those in the care of the State. Some contributors to the research reportedly felt that young girls in residential care were being targeted by predatory and organised groups. That is particularly concerning. The report does not purport to be representative of the experience of all children or professionals working with children. Nonetheless, it sheds an important light on these important matters.

As the Deputy fairly said, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, has engaged with the authors of the report. His officials have engaged with Tusla to ensure that any child protection concerns outlined in the report are being actively followed up, including in respect of any necessary reports to An Garda Síochána. Prior to the publication of the UCD report, the Department of children and Tusla established a working group looking at institutional and organisational abuse. The Department has since requested that this group examine the report, provide a response and make recommendations as required. I have been informed that once this working group provides a response to the SERP report, it is the intention of the Minister to then pursue what further steps may be deemed necessary. On 27 July, the Minister met a delegation from the UCD SERP, including one of the authors of the report, in order to discuss the research in more detail. He outlined to them the next steps he is taking. The authors of the report were urged to report to Tusla any child protection issues that were mentioned in the report, where a child may be at risk.

On 31 July, the Minister wrote to the joint committee on children in order to provide his observations on the report and outline a number of significant initiatives that Tusla and the Department of children have undertaken in recent years to mitigate the risks to children of sexual exploitation while they are in the care of the State. On Wednesday, 20 September, the Minister engaged directly with the joint committee on children on wide-ranging matters relating to Tusla's provision of alternative care services. A range of key actions have been undertaken by the Department in respect of child sexual exploitation. On 10 July, the Department wrote to Tusla and requested from the agency a response to the UCD report to outline the extent to which the issues raised are being addressed and to identify any gaps relating to child sexual exploitation. The Department again requested that the institution abuse group consider the report, provide a response and make recommendations. The Department also requested Tusla to liaise with An Garda Síochána regarding the issues raised and the findings of the report. The Department is leading an interdepartmental group on the national implementation of Barnahus, which is a multi-agency approach to the provision of forensic medical intervention and therapeutic services to children subject to child sexual abuse.

Deputy Carol Nolan

I thank the Tánaiste for his response. I regard this situation, as many others do, as an emergency. It is shocking and it needs more urgency and actions, at speed. I believe the actions need to be sped up significantly. I know one immediate action that could be taken today and committed to is to deal with how these issues are classified by the Department of Justice. I know that was emphasised in my discussions with Dr. Canning and Ms Ruth Breslin. The scoping report clearly shows that the reclassification of data by the Department of Justice in 2017 has led to a significant reduction in offences recognised as trafficking of children for sexual exploitation, although the reasons offered for the reclassification were deemed vague and difficult to substantiate in a meaningful way by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission. The whole area of reclassification needs to be looked at. I want to end by saying that it would be to our eternal shame if we were to allow this scoping report and its findings to once more recede into the media and political shadows. The voices of these children, who desperately need our help, need to be heard above the noise. They are screaming for our help and we must not turn a deaf ear towards them. We must act.

The Tánaiste

I thank the Deputy for raising the issue. I think, if she does not mind me saying, that she has performed a good public service in having the issue brought to the floor of this House during Leaders' Questions. It gives the issue the attention and profile that it, without question, deserves and justifies. In 2021, Tusla implemented a child exploitation procedure in partnership with An Garda Síochána. There is a strong partnership between Tusla and An Garda Síochána. A joint working protocol between Tusla and An Garda Síochána forms a critical part of the response to child abuse, neglect and sexual exploitation.

A principal social worker from Tusla has been seconded to the Garda National Protective Services Bureau for a number of years. Tusla has established an anti-trafficking working group in readiness of the Department of Justice's national action plan for human trafficking, which includes the area of child sexual exploitation. I will follow up with the Minister on the issue of the reclassification of these issues and will revert back to the Deputy.