Alan Dillon
Ceist:1. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [52251/23]
Ceisteanna - Questions
Cabinet Committees
Paul McAuliffe
Ceist:2. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [53190/23]
Jennifer Murnane O'Connor
Ceist:3. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [53191/23]
Mick Barry
Ceist:4. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [53403/23]
Alan Dillon
Ceist:5. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will meet next. [53465/23]
Mary Lou McDonald
Ceist:6. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [53575/23]
Richard Boyd Barrett
Ceist:7. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [53589/23]
Paul Murphy
Ceist:8. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [53592/23]
Peadar Tóibín
Ceist:9. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [53697/23]
Cian O'Callaghan
Ceist:10. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach when the committee on housing will next meet. [53748/23]
Rose Conway-Walsh
Ceist:11. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [53902/23]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 11, inclusive, together.
The Cabinet committee on housing last met on Monday, 27 November. The next meeting of the committee is scheduled for 18 December. This committee works to ensure a co-ordinated approach to the implementation of Housing for All and programme for Government commitments regarding housing and related matters.
Housing for All is now in its third year of implementation. Earlier this month, the Government published the second annual update alongside the quarter 3 progress report. This sets out our priority actions for the coming year. Despite considerable challenges in the external environment, we are making real progress with new homes and apartments being built all over the country. While new housing construction is slowing down in much of the western world, it is speeding up here. In the past 12 months, over 30,000 new homes have been built. We have exceeded the Housing for All output target for 2022 and now expect to exceed it again for 2023. The pipeline for delivery is very positive, with over 26,000 new homes started in the first ten months of 2023 and planning permission granted for over 20,000 new homes in the first half of this year alone.
We have seen large numbers of first-time buyers buying their first homes. In the 12 months to September, first-time mortgage approvals exceeded 30,000, well over 500 per week. In many cases, these were helped by the first home and help-to-buy schemes, which the Opposition wants to abolish. On State lands, building is under way on sites in Cork and Dublin which, between them, will provide over 850 homes and the Land Development Agency, LDA, now has planning permission for over 2,500 additional homes. This is on top of the 1,000 affordable homes due under Project Tosaigh.
We are also committed to improving the rental market by providing greater security, affordability and viability to tenants and landlords into the future. To date, over 300,000 renters have claimed the rent tax credit, which will be increased to €750 per renter in 2024. We have also introduced changes to the tax treatment of landlords to encourage them to stay in the rental market and not to sell up.
The Government has responded to issues of financial viability in home building. The Croí Cónaithe cities scheme is assisting the building of apartments and the new secure tenancy affordable rental, STAR, scheme will help to build over 4,000 cost-rental homes. We have also taken further action to bring additional vacant and derelict properties back into use, having doubled the target for the vacant property refurbishment grant. The local authority home loan will be extended to people looking to buy and renovate derelict homes. Housing for All is a coherent plan designed to accelerate home building in a sustainable way.
The new Planning and Development Bill, once enacted, will bring greater clarity, consistency and efficiency to how planning decisions are made. Importantly, the system will be more coherent and user-friendly, allowing for greater understanding on the part of both the public and planning practitioners alike. In addition, we will continue to enhance the capacity of the construction sector, launch campaigns to attract more people from Ireland and abroad to work in construction, promote the use of innovation in both public and private delivery and promote greater productivity in the house building sector. We are building more homes and will continue to maintain this strong momentum into 2024 and beyond.
Recent reports suggest that pyrite issues are affecting up to 1,000 homes in Mayo, from Erris to Ballina and from Westport to Castlebar. That figure encompasses both rural and State properties. These homes are showing concerning signs and cracking patterns, suggesting immediate attention is required. This devastating development is forcing families to witness the demolition of their homes and to seek alternative housing solutions amid an ongoing housing crisis. Over the past year, a total of €94 million has been allocated to various local authorities across the country for the purpose of constructing social homes using modern methods of construction, including the rapid-build modular approach. My question pertains to the widespread issue of pyrite affecting homes not only in my constituency, but across the country. Mayo County Council has submitted an expression of interest in delivering hundreds of rapid-build homes using modern methods and technologies. Is it possible to explore the use of rapid-build and modular home delivery as a means to provide short-term accommodation for those who are currently seeking housing due to pyrite-related problems in their own residences? I certainly feel this is a political decision that should be embraced rather than a decision for civil servants to make.
The incremental purchase scheme for newly-built houses allows people who qualify for social housing to buy designated newly-built houses from a local authority or AHB at a discount price. The issue is there does not seem to be one or two that one can buy singly. My understanding from the local authority is it has to be a group scheme. This is a really good scheme. I am wondering can we look at this that they can be purchased one-off, two together or three together because there is such a good discount on it. We need to look at it.
The other issue I want to ask the Taoiseach about is homelessness. I see it in Carlow recently, where we need a lot more accommodation and we need more limited accommodation. The biggest issue is that if one becomes homeless and one goes down for one's social welfare, one cannot collect it because one has no address. Parents are now coming back to me saying that they cannot take their children back into their house as they will lose their benefits. I know there are challenges. I know a lot of really good work has been done but I believe that is an area that we need to address urgently.
The committee met on the 27th, the Taoiseach told us. That would have been three days after the publication of the homeless figures which made for very grim reading. Another record was set, with 13,179 people homeless, and almost 4,000 of those children. Can the Taoiseach tell us what consideration of homelessness and those figures was given at the meeting on 27 November and what consideration will be given on 18 December when they convene again?
I am conscious that we are coming into Christmas season and children are writing their letters to Santa Claus. It is a real shame that almost 4,000 children will write those letters from homeless accommodation and for many of those children, it will not be their first time living in homelessness. What is the plan, as record upon depressing record is made and broken, to accommodate our homeless people, in particular, homeless families with children?
We are one of the richest countries in the world. We are now heading into Christmas with over 13,000 people homeless and 4,000 of those are children. Many of them have been homeless for several years. It is a stain on our society and, frankly, on Government that in such a wealthy society that should be the case. I have a simple question. What hope can the Taoiseach offer those families and children who are homeless as to when they will get a home of their own? Can the Taoiseach give us any indication of when he thinks the figures that have been rising every month will fall?
Can I particularly point the Taoiseach to the fact that the number of families in homelessness and trapped in homelessness is rising? Because of the push by us, which the Government has adopted to some degree, to purchase mostly one- and two-bedroom apartments and homes, there is a serious deficit of family accommodation to provide for families that are homeless, and their numbers are rising. What has the Taoiseach got to say about that?
Under the Taoiseach's watch, the housing crisis has got worse and worse. We now have over 13,000 people living in emergency accommodation. There was an incredible story at the weekend in The Irish Times detailing how almost 10% of those are living on one street, Gardiner Street, in unsuitable inappropriate accommodation.
One good thing that happened under pressure from us was the tenant in situ scheme which says that where tenants are faced with eviction on grounds of sale, the local authority should step in and buy the properties leaving the tenant in situ. It is a good idea in theory. It is good when it happens in practice but things are extremely slow on the ground. I have been dealing with one family who were given a date for eviction of 1 January next year at the start of May. I was in touch with the local authority. The landlord was in touch with the local authority. The local authority said that it was interested and they were discussing, and that is it. The landlord has not heard anything more. The tenant has not heard anything more. They are now there weeks from the family being made homeless. It is simply not good enough. I cannot get answers from South Dublin County Council in relation to this. Surely the Government needs to give assurance to someone like that that they will not be made homeless rather than leaving them waiting.
There are 4,000 children currently homeless. That is the equivalent of 171 classrooms of children who are homeless within this State and quite a shocking figure. That homelessness is leading to hundreds of deaths currently. It is estimated that in the past five years 1,400 people in the State have died in homelessness, which is horrendous. It is leading to a rise of major difficulties around mental health issues and addiction issues. Nutrition for children, education for children and socialisation of children are all suffering as a result.
Last year, the Government missed its targets in terms of social housing by 2,500 units. What will be the Government's output of social housing for 2023? Will the Government meet the targets, that, to be honest, are already too low, this year?
The Tyrrelstown amendment was introduced to protect renters from eviction in cases where entire apartment blocks of renters were being evicted and when the apartments were being sold. The amendment was introduced to ensure that where ten or more rental homes were being sold together, renters would not be evicted and would be able to stay in their homes while the homes were sold. However, the amendment has proven ineffective as it has a number of get-out clauses that are exploited by landlords. We have seen in the case of Tathony House, for example, that even though the RTB found in favour of the renters and against the landlord, the landlord is now attempting to go ahead with a fresh eviction having used the get-out clauses to pressurise most of the tenants into leaving. It is clear that we need to strengthen the Tyrrelstown amendment and remove the get-out clauses that are exploited by some landlords. My Tenancy Protection Bill would do exactly this and it is being discussed in the Dáil tomorrow on Second Stage. Will the Government support it?
The Taoiseach continues to quote figures and defend Fine Gael's record on housing, but Fine Gael's record on housing in Mayo is clear. We went from one person homeless in 2014 to 87 people homeless today and that does not nearly tell the picture of all those who do not have a home or who are in completely unsuitable accommodation. That is the record in Mayo.
People are waiting months in Mayo to even access emergency accommodation. We asked the Taoiseach the question, in April last, where do people go. Today, again, I want to ask the Taoiseach where do the families of children with disabilities go when they have nowhere to live and where do women and men living in abuse go when they also have nowhere to live, not even emergency accommodation. Could the Taoiseach please answer me that?
We are well aware, in relation to housing, that delivery is what we need to see and we need to make sure that we ramp-up the modern methods of construction. I also want to deal with schemes such as Housing First, which is an attempt to deal with those who are vulnerable and may be in a chaotic scenario. The problem with Housing First is at times greater supports are required and it suits individuals. We need to look at that being reviewed and upgraded. We also need to have something that is more applicable to families and we need to look at the means of providing for some of the issues that can be created by those with added difficulties as regards estate management. We need a holistic approach and all those supports that are required. Some will involve the Garda but in some cases, we need mental health services, the HSE and others. Unfortunately, that is a part that is missing and sometimes it impacts greatly on many communities out there.
I thank the Deputies for their questions. Deputy Dillon raised the issue of pyrite in County Mayo and whether modern methods of construction and rapid-build housing might form part of the solution. We can and will examine proposals made by Mayo County Council in that regard. Our experience with rapid-build solutions, however, is that they are never as rapid as people may believe they are. They are not much cheaper and while they may be more rapid than regular construction, they are not as rapid as people hope they might be. Often, that is not about the building itself but the site because you cannot just drop a house or apartment building onto a site. It has to be properly serviced and all of those things. That is often the main cause for the delay, rather than the structure itself. We will consider any proposals that are made.
Deputy Murnane O’Connor raised the Government's policy on purchasing social housing. I will have to raise that with the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, and ask him to come back with a reply.
On the issue of not being able to collect social welfare if there is no address, I thought we had a solution for this, namely, that it can be collected if an address can be provided. That might not be the person's address but an address to which the Department can at least write. I thought that was the solution but I will double-check that with the Minister, Deputy Humphreys.
Deputies Boyd Barrett, Paul Murphy, McDonald and Conway-Walsh raised the issues of homelessness. As things stand, 13,000 people are in State-provided emergency accommodation. That could be a hostel, hotel or bed and breakfast accommodation and in some cases it is an own-door apartment. The numbers on the street are thankfully much lower, at in or around 100 or 200, and they are often people who, for different reasons, decide not to accept the shelter that might be available to them. Nonetheless, it is far too many and that is particularly the case with families and children. Our objective as a Government is to reduce the overall number of people in emergency accommodation considerably and that, where people experience homelessness, it should be rare and short-lived and should not be repeated. It is terrible to see some people going in and out of homelessness. That is distressing for them and all of us.
What is our plan? It is prevention, more social housing and more places for people to rent in the private sector. Prevention involves measures such as extending notice-to-quit periods so people have more time to find alternative accommodation. It also involves the tenant in situ scheme, where we buy houses and apartments off landlords who are thinking of selling up so that the social housing tenant in the property, who may be in a housing assistance payment, HAP, tenancy, can be regularised and become a normal social housing tenant. It also involves increasing the amount of social housing we are building. In this decade we will break all records since the foundation of the State for the amount of social housing being built. It also involves more HAP tenancies.
To pick up on Deputy Conway-Walsh's point, we are providing more domestic violence refuges and they are being built around the country, as are more safe houses. The latter are an alternative to a refuge, sometimes a better one, depending on the individual circumstances. We all know this is a complex situation, perhaps more so than the Opposition would like people to believe. As all of us know from working with people who are experiencing homelessness, every individual and family has a story and a lived experience and those can be different. For example, there are some people in emergency accommodation who might not be entitled to social housing because they already own a share in a house. It could be a case of family breakdown. The family may have broken up and there is a house but one person lives in the house and the other person cannot live in it. That can make the issue complicated to resolve. The profile of people in emergency accommodation has changed. Approximately 44% of people in emergency accommodation are not Irish citizens. That figure was less than 20% not that long ago. While some of those people are entitled to social housing, some are not and will never get social housing. They could be in emergency accommodation for an indeterminate period. That would not have been the case if we were talking about this in 2010, 2012 or 2014, or certainly not to the same extent.
Deputy Tóibín asked about our housing targets for 2023. Overall, we expect to exceed the targets. We will build more than 29,000 new homes in Ireland this year. It is too early to say whether we will meet every sub-target - the targets for social housing, affordable housing, private housing, etc. - but I can say that we will exceed the overall target.
We discussed Deputy Cian O'Callaghan's Bill, the tenancy protection Bill, at Cabinet on Tuesday. We will not oppose it. There are some issues that need to be teased out and the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, will set those out in the debate. Hopefully, we can then tease them out on Committee Stage.
Departmental Offices
Mick Barry
Ceist:12. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach to report on the work of the parliamentary liaison unit in his Department. [52325/23]
Richard Boyd Barrett
Ceist:13. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach to report on the work of the parliamentary liaison unit in his Department. [53907/23]
Paul Murphy
Ceist:14. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach to report on the work of the parliamentary liaison unit in his Department. [53910/23]
Tógfaidh mé Ceisteanna Uimh. 12 go 14, go huile, le chéile.
The parliamentary liaison unit in the Department of the Taoiseach assists the Government in its relationship with the Oireachtas. It works with the Office of the Government Chief Whip on issues that arise at the Business Committee and the Committee on Standing Orders and Dáil Reform, including Dáil reform proposals and amendments to Standing Orders. The unit helps the Office of the Government Chief Whip in the implementation of the Government’s legislation programme. It also assists the office of the leader of the Green Party in work relating to Cabinet, Cabinet committees and oversight of the programme for Government. The parliamentary liaison unit provides detailed information on upcoming matters in the Dáil and Seanad, highlights any new Oireachtas reform issues and provides assistance in establishing the new processes arising from Dáil reform. The unit is staffed as follows: one principal officer; one administrative officer; one higher executive officer; and there is one vacancy for the position of clerical officer. There are four positions in total, with one vacancy.
Yesterday, the Taoiseach took umbrage when I said I thought he was washing his hands on the issue of the genocide in Gaza. To be clear, the Government has made strong criticisms of the Israeli Government and it voted the right way at the United Nations but Israel has ignored that United Nations vote so more must now be done. However, the Government is not doing more. Action must be taken but the Government is not taking it.
The Taoiseach said yesterday that even the US could not do anything but that is not true. If the United States threatened to cut off all funding for Israel, that war could end quickly. The Taoiseach said there is nothing the Irish Government could do that would change Israel's mind overnight. That is obviously true but if you expel the ambassador tonight, every government in the EU would come under pressure tomorrow from the protest movements and public opinion in their countries to follow the Irish example. A raft of expulsions would constitute real pressure on Israel. It is a genocide. I repeat that the Government is not doing enough and must do more.
Following on from that point, the Israeli massacre in Gaza continues. Hundreds of people are being killed every day. More than 20,000 have been killed, 70% of whom were women and children. The Taoiseach has indicated that there is nothing really that he can do about it except criticise it. I suggest that what he could do is read, if he has not done so, the reports produced before 7 October by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the UN special rapporteur on the Middle East and the UN Human Rights Council. I could go on. These reports name Israel as a regime guilty of systematic apartheid and crimes against humanity and calls for sanctions.
Here is where this links to the parliamentary liaison unit. Hewlett Packard is a company that is deeply implicated in providing the Israeli military and police with the technology to maintain the illegal settlements and the databases they use for the system of racial segregation, which is the apartheid system. It is also deeply implicated in the 16-year long siege of Gaza. I suggest that the Taoiseach reads those reports, which call for sanctions on Israel, and that we cease our contract with Hewlett Packard for as long as it is implicated in crimes against humanity and apartheid in Israel.
What is happening in Gaza has been described as "a macabre game of Battleship". There are these tiny squares of territory where Israel says it will bomb a square, the inhabitants have to leave and if they do not leave, they will be killed and it will not be Israel's fault. Palestinians are forced to move from one tiny square to another again and again, in what is clearly an attempt at a new Nakba, or new catastrophe, to drive the Palestinians out of Gaza.
More than 16,000 Palestinians have now been murdered, including more than 7,000 children. I saw a quote from a man who had moved from Gaza City with his family to somewhere else and then to Khan Younis. He moved three times. He asked, "Why did they eject us from our homes in Gaza if they planned to kill us here?" Therefore it is not enough to have words of criticism. We need to have action. I want to follow up on the point that Richard Boyd Barrett was making about HP. HP has a huge number of computers in the Oireachtas. It is entirely complicit in Israel's apartheid regime. Does the Taoiseach not think it is appropriate that we stop using Hewlett-Packard in this place? Does he think it is appropriate that we would fly the Palestinian flag? We have been flying the Ukrainian flag for almost two years now. We should fly the Palestinian flag over this House.
We are all witnessing the absolute savagery and depravity of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, on civilians, women, children and men. Bear in mind that the majority of Gazans are a refugee population. They have been left in the most dire and desperate circumstances as the world watches on. Do not miss the fact that, in the West Bank also, settler violence has spiked. Israel acts with utter impunity. I have heard the Taoiseach set out many times the things that he cannot do and his concerns about going on a solo run and making Ireland an outlier. The truth is that there are things he could do that he chooses not to do. One such initiative would be a referral to the International Criminal Court. Others have taken this action. Ireland should follow suit. Simple words of condemnation are valuable and important and we should not miss that, but the Taoiseach is in a position to lead. I believe it is the desire and wish of Irish people that the Irish Government lead on this matter and not simply stand idly by and watch.
To follow up on what all the speakers have said, we have all seen the mass slaughter of the Palestinians by a particular Israeli regime that has never been held to account in any way, shape or form. I accept the difficulties there are at European level. The Taoiseach has spoken about that before. We are down to what sanctions and what we can do to hold Israel to account, even if it is in a small way, while accepting that this is not going to stop that particular regime. We have to take a first step because nobody else is. The Taoiseach spoke about a number of other European countries that are similar to us in their view. What can we do alongside them? What timeframe are we looking at to do something substantial that calls out what the Israelis are doing?
I thank Deputies. Deputy Barry said that Israel has consistently ignored UN resolutions. It has been doing that for many decades.
Since 1948.
He is correct in that regard. I did not say that the US could do nothing. I am pretty sure that is not what I said. I note that Israel is not economically dependent on the US in the way it was in the past, and certainly not in the way it was before the 1980s. It is a considerable military power in its own right but of course receives significant US help in that regard. I said yesterday that experts in the politics and history of the region have expressed the view that the only thing that will cause the Israeli Government to end this war and change its policy is a change in public opinion in Israel. We have seen that in previous wars. The terrible war in Vietnam, for example, only ended when public opinion in the US turned against it. We need to be cognisant of that in how we approach this. Saying things and making extreme statements that play into the hands of extremists in Israel does not help the cause of the Palestinian people at all. I ask Deputies to think about and reflect on that. It plays totally into their hands and is exactly what they want to see people doing, so they can misrepresent our position, which they have on more than one occasion.
I do not agree with the approach of expelling the ambassador. I have heard it contended in this House that if we were to do that, other EU countries would come under pressure and would be forced to follow suit. As someone who has actually attended European Council meetings on and off for seven years, I know that would not happen. We would be seen as an outlier and to have acted unilaterally, despite the views of colleagues. That would actually go against us and our influence. Where action has been taken to expel diplomats, for example the expulsion of Russian diplomats after the events in Wiltshire, it was done not on a unilateral but a multilateral basis.
There are three reasons I think it is useful for us to have an Israeli ambassador here in Ireland and an Irish ambassador in Israel. We still have citizens in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories. I want them to be safe and represented. The mutual expulsion of ambassadors would not help them. We also have hundreds of troops in south Lebanon, in Golan, in UNIFIL and in UNDOF, on the borders of Israel. From time to time, we need to talk to Israel about matters relating to their security and sometimes their health and well-being, such as using hospitals in Israel. I would not like to cut off that contact. At some point, hopefully in the not-too-distant future, we would like to make some contribution to a future peace process in the region. Cutting off links with Israel would exclude us from that. Those are the three sensible, practical reasons we do not think it is a good idea to expel the ambassador.
On the actions that we are taking, we are doing things that are substantive. We are increasing our aid to Gaza and Palestinians in the region. That is a real, practical help. We are also using our support and voice at EU and UN level to take particular positions. We have engaged with the International Criminal Court and done the thing that is most practical to help it in its ongoing investigation, which is to provide it with additional finance. It is clear that this matter has already been referred. There is already a case open. The International Criminal Court is not asking people to send in the same case again and again. It is asking for real, practical help, which is finance for its investigation. That is exactly what we have done. It is about resources, not repetition.
I would like to say one final thing which I think is important. I have met the Prime Minister of Palestine, the King of Jordan, the President of Egypt and the Prime Minister of Lebanon. I have done all these things only in the past couple of weeks. They thank Ireland for the position and actions we have taken. They ask us to do certain things and we do them. They do not ask us to do the things that the Deputies are asking us to do, and-----
How many of them are democracies?
-----surely that says something.
National Economic and Social Council
Mary Lou McDonald
Ceist:15. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [52330/23]
Brendan Smith
Ceist:16. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [53189/23]
Mick Barry
Ceist:17. Deputy Mick Barry asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [53404/23]
Ruairí Ó Murchú
Ceist:18. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [53489/23]
Cian O'Callaghan
Ceist:19. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [53749/23]
Marc Ó Cathasaigh
Ceist:20. Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [53842/23]
Richard Boyd Barrett
Ceist:21. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [53908/23]
Paul Murphy
Ceist:22. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the National Economic and Social Council, a statutory agency operating under the aegis of his Department. [53911/23]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 to 22, inclusive, together.
The National Economic and Social Council, NESC, advises me on strategic policy issues relating to sustainable economic, social, and environmental development in Ireland. NESC was established in 1973 and celebrated its 50th anniversary this year. I spoke at a conference last week to mark this occasion, which demonstrated NESC's history and role in providing research, dialogue, and advice to Government. NESC is currently working in four main areas.
One is accounting for nature. The report from the council is focused on examining how Ireland can better account for nature and how natural assets are appropriately valued in policy development and decision-making. It is expected that this report will be published in the first quarter of next year.
The second area is good jobs. This work focusses on job quality and the range of benefits that it can provide for employees, enterprises and wider society. It examines what is meant by good jobs and bad jobs, the range of public and private sector actions and investment, both Irish and EU, which can help build good jobs and what the literature calls a good jobs economy. The work considers international experience, including in Scotland and Wales. The report will provide guidance and building blocks to help underpin the development of sustained and collaborative strategy to promote a good jobs economy in Ireland. It is expected that the report will be published in the second quarter of next year.
The third area is housing. This work is examining options that will help to promote affordable, integrated and sustainable residential development. This includes considering the role of emerging systems thinking within housing research, with a particular focus on the practical aspects of active land management and modern methods of construction.
It is expected that this NESC work will be concluded in quarter two of 2024. Finally, regarding a shared island, NESC is continuing to engage with the shared island initiative. Over the coming months, this will include assisting and providing input into the shared island youth forum.
I ask Members to please be brief. An chéad cheist eile ná Deputy McDonald.
By harnessing support for an all-island approach to economic, social, environmental and well-being challenges, NESC can be an important and practical mechanism to encourage everyone on the island to work together. Through ambitious collaboration, we can be more than the sum of our parts. Climate change and protecting biodiversity are urgent problems and we need to deal with them on an all-island basis. In April last year, NESC published the report Shared Island Shared Opportunity, which set out key recommendations across the areas of sustainable agriculture, circular economy, bioeconomy, renewable energy, networks for nature and marine and costal impacts of climate change. Since those recommendations were published 20 months ago, the Just Transition Commission published one report entitled: Just Transition in Agriculture and Land Use. We are in a climate crisis and reports are no use without action. Where is the promised implementation group mentioned in the agriculture report and what progress has been made in the other crucial climate-related areas NESC has been charged with?
Thankfully, the all-Ireland economy has developed very strongly since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in April 1998. Businesses have developed on a cross-Border basis; trade has strengthened North-South and east-west; and enterprises have developed on an all-Ireland basis as well. It is very important that in planning for further expansion of the all-Ireland economy, we are mindful of the areas both North and South which have not developed to the extent that the east coast has, and particularly the Dublin-Belfast corridor. I am speaking of my own two counties Cavan and Monaghan, and our neighbouring counties of Fermanagh, Tyrone and Armagh. Those particular counties are very strong in farming and agrifood, engineering and construction products and thankfully we have a growing tourism business as well. There is a lot of ill-informed commentary about research and planning for this country in whatever governance parameters is decided in the future. Very valuable work has been undertaken with the shared island unit and the ESRI, by NESC, and with some of our universities and institutes of technology as well. It is very important that planning for the future is done on the basis of qualitative and quantitative research. One particular project I would like to see NESC undertaking is a particular study on the challenges that face-----
Please, Deputy.
-----the central Border region. This is a region that does not have major urban centres or a third level institute so it is particularly important we plan for the areas that are not as developed as the major urban areas.
We will not get everyone in if Deputies go over time.
The budget made no provision for our four new elective hospitals including the new hospital in Cork. People on hospital waiting lists in Cork, and around the country, have waited long enough. Why are they being forced to wait even longer? Dr. Brendan Walsh of the ESRI tells us this morning that the State faces an immediate deficit of 1,000 hospital beds. The national development programme has a target of 260 beds per annum, a target which the ESRI says is too low. The Government will claim 261 beds will come on stream this year but only 162 of these are new additional beds. In reality, the Government has just about hit 60% of its own target. I put it to the Taoiseach that this is nowhere near good enough.
If we are talking about the delivery of both sustainable housing and communities, I refer to my question from earlier. This relates to the fact that in some cases, we have the Housing First supports for chaotic individuals who may be vulnerable, but we need something more family focused. Obviously, very early intervention is key. We need to look at something that is absolutely holistic because we have issues with estate management. Sometimes families and individuals who can be chaotic need to have some element of support around them. Otherwise, it can create a huge number of difficulties, not only for those families but also for those who have to live in these estates and it is all about delivering communities that work for all of us.
I take the opportunity to pay tribute to a long-time member of NESC, Mr. Micheal Ewing, who passed away last week. Michael served for a decade on NESC, representing the environmental pilar. He was instrumental in establishing the environmental pilar which became the fifth pilar of social partnership. He was a kind, considerate and very pragmatic man who had a deep passion for a healthy and thriving environment. He believed in dialogue and in talking to people we disagree with. We need more of that kind of spirit in present day politics.
NESC's most recent report from July 2023, Inequality and Well-Being Frameworks, finds that well-being frameworks hold the potential to address inequalities through, for example, new ways of working such as social dialogue and the incorporation of well-being metrics. We have to plan for a future where we move beyond GDP and make the well-being of our citizens the dominant metric for our economic success. Will the Taoiseach consider the establishment of the commission of future generations, as they have done across the water in Wales, to give the well-being framework teeth and to ensure that well-being today and into the future is both planned and provided for?
At the end of last year, NESC produced a report on improving industrial relations. I suggest that NESC was absolutely right to focus on this subject when we consider that Fórsa has demonstrations today outside hospitals because of the really outrageous fact that a recruitment embargo has been imposed across our health service. Fórsa points out that due to this recruitment pause, there will be a serious impact on services. It also states that there will be a massive increase of pressure on staff, which will lead people to leave the health service when we are chronically short of staff, and that there is a massive over-reliance on outsourcing to agency workers and to private external consultants, all of which costs more in the end and causes services to come under pressure. I suggest we listen to the Fórsa workers, engage with them, and lift this crazy recruitment embargo-----
Thank you, Deputy. You are out of time.
----- on a health service when we need more, not less, staff.
I have been contacted by parents of children who attend two different crèches in my constituency, namely, Discoveries Crèche and Montessori School in Firhouse and Chuckleberries Montessori and Crèche in Ballycullen. In both cases, these crèches are either threatening or planning to withdraw from core funding and massively hike their fees. An email from one family stated that their total fee would go up from €1,200 per month to €1,851. Another said their household had two incomes which made up €100,000 between them, and yet they were still struggling to pay for crèche fees on top of everything else. The likelihood in this case is that the mother would not be able to return to work. This is an absolute disaster. It is a product of the failed privatised system that has been created by the State and it does not work for anybody apart from the big crèche operators who are making massive profits. It is does not work for the workers on low pay, for the parents who are faced with a second mortgage, or for many small operators. What will the Government do immediately when faced with the prospect of crèches withdrawing from core funding and hiking up their fees in an unaffordable way? Does the Government accept that what we need is a public, not-for-profit, universal, free childcare service?
We are out of time for this session, but the Taoiseach may want to make a brief response to the questions.
I will be as brief as I can. Deputy McDonald asked about the implantation group. I think it is not established yet but I will double-check and come back to the Deputy. When it comes to climate, we produce a climate action plan every year and quarterly progress reports.
Deputy Smith mentioned the all-island economy, and is often the case in the House, drew my particular attention to the central Border region. He is absolutely right. When we talk about the all-island economy we cannot just talk about the Dublin-Belfast corridor or the North-West Derry to Donegal area, we must take account of the central Border region too, which has huge potential around tourism, agriculture and food production.
The IDA property programme is very successful too in constructing advance factories and advance buildings, in which investors can then invest to create well-paid jobs. We have the technological universities too, and we need to improve infrastructure, including the roads. One thing that can be transformative for the region is the national broadband plan. I saw some statistics at Cabinet during the week. Some 200,000 homes, farms and businesses are now passed, of which 60,000 have taken up the service, which is ahead of expectations. We now know we will have 300,000 passed by the end of next year and all primary schools covered by the end of this year. The islands are being connected at the moment. This is now expected to come in on schedule and probably under budget with a revised date in 2027. I am really glad that those who opposed that project have been proven wrong in their opposition to it.
The four elective hospitals are in planning and design. They will take years to build - that is the truth of it - so the surgical hubs are the interim solution and are funded in the budget. We have added 1,000 beds to our acute hospitals since the Government came into office and we will add more. I join Deputy Ó Cathasaigh in recognising the contribution of Michael Ewing to the NESC. I pay tribute to him and express my condolences to his friends and colleagues.
On the recruitment embargo across our health service that Deputy Boyd Barrett mentioned, that is not the case. It does not apply to GPs, it does not apply to medical consultants, it does not apply to doctors on training schemes and it does not apply to graduate nurses. It is also not permanent. The HSE will be able to increase its total staffing levels by 2,000 next year, and next year is only a few weeks away. However, the free-for-all recruitment we have seen in recent years cannot continue. It has to be the right people in the right place doing the right jobs.
Finally, Deputy Paul Murphy mentioned two crèches in his constituency. I do not know the details of them. If he wants to pass them on to the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, I am sure the Minister will provide him with a detailed reply. While there are crèches opening and closing all the time, the rate of closures is at its lowest in five years and there has been a net increase of 150 childcare facilities so far this year.
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