Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Thursday, 6 Feb 2025

Vol. 1062 No. 5

Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions

Deputy David Cullinane

Yesterday, the Taoiseach accepted that 40,000 homes were not delivered last year. The truth is that the two most senior politicians in the Government, namely, the Taoiseach and Tánaiste, were running around the country claiming they would deliver 40,000 homes last year, a claim they knew not to be true. At the same time, data from the ESRI and Central Bank clearly showed that the Government was on course for failure. Even worse, in October, in the lead in to the general election, the CSO published the actual completion data for quarter three, which made it clear than ever that the Government had a snowball's chance in hell of delivering 40,000 homes last year. That report in October was damning and nobody in industry, housing policy or across the Opposition believed anything close to 40,000 homes would be delivered. The Tánaiste and Taoiseach chose to ignore and dismiss us in opposition, the CSO, the Central Bank and the ESRI in a deliberate attempt to mislead the public in advance of a general election. They did all of this because they wanted to create a narrative that their housing policies were working when clearly they were not.

What is their real record? It is runaway housing prices, sky-high rents, missing all of the social and affordable housing targets and a homelessness crisis that should make the Tánaiste and all in government hang their heads in shame. Yet, despite all of that, the Tánaiste decided to consciously, knowingly and deliberately use inaccurate numbers to mislead the public on what is its greatest failure in housing. The problem is that this tactic has been a hallmark of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil in government. Simon Coveney misled on housing delivery. Eoghan Murphy misled on the number of people becoming homeless. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, misled on the number of housing completions. It was more stroke polities of the highest order. It is time to stop misleading the public and accept that the Government's housing plan is clearly not working.

We need a completely new approach to housing. No doubt, as the Government has done in the past, it will dismiss Sinn Féin's detailed plan on housing, and it will do so to its cost and the cost of people who desperately need housing and real change. The Government cannot so easily dismiss its own Housing Commission's report, which called for a radical reset of policy. It seems to me that all of the experts know what needs to be done, but it is the Tánaiste and Government who have their heads in the sand. The sorry fact of the matter is also that their threadbare programme for Government does not even mention the Housing Commission or any of its recommendations. It seems the Government is oblivious to it and that it does not matter. Creating false narratives and misleading the public is more important to the Tánaiste and Government than listening to the housing experts and dealing with the housing crisis.

The Tánaiste is up to his neck in this. The misleading claims of 40,000 new homes last year was hardwired into the Government's election messaging. The Tánaiste knew that was inaccurate and misleading. The facts did not matter. The Tánaiste and Taoiseach, Deputy Martin, set out to mislead the public to win votes. The aim was to make sure that the public heard that the figure of 40,000 new homes as many times as possible, regardless of whether it was true. The spin, sloganeering and failure on housing has a very real impact on people's everyday lives. Both of them misled because neither could face their record of dismal failure. They misled in respect of the housing figures during the election campaign, but also on the occupied territories Bill and even the future of a united Ireland, all promises which now seem to be in the bin.

Will the Tánaiste accept that he misled the public on his housing record? Will he finally commit, as set out by the Housing Commission, Sinn Féin and others in opposition, to a radical reset of housing policy?

The Tánaiste

I do not need to dismiss the Sinn Féin housing policy because the people of Ireland did.

(Interruptions).

An Ceann Comhairle

Do you want to hear the answer? Please, Deputies.

The Tánaiste

Sinn Féin must be one of the only Opposition parties in the European Union to actually see its vote collapse in the general election, down by 5.5%. It lost the election.

(Interruptions).

The Tánaiste

This is a very serious issue, and I repeat that an issue that is serious deserves a serious response. When I was elected leader of my party and then Taoiseach less than a year ago, I made it very clear that we all needed to work together to fix housing for once and for all. At the start of this new Dáil, we should not seek to divide on this matter. We should actually seek to come into these Houses with constructive ideas as to how we can do more together to ensure the aspiration of people wanting to own their own homes is realised for more and more people, that we get people out of the box rooms in their mums' and dads' homes and we give them the ability to own their own home. That is what we have to do.

Just over 7,000 homes were being built after the financial crash. Working together with colleagues in the previous Government, we increased this to more than 30,000 per year. Let us be very clear. The Deputy is correct.

Deputy Thomas Gould

The figure is 29,000. The figure should be correct.

An Ceann Comhairle

Let the Tánaiste answer, please.

The Tánaiste

The completion figures for last year are disappointing; that is true. When we look at the past three years together, however, we have significantly exceeded the housing targets that were set. We significantly exceeded them in 2022 and 2023. We now have good momentum, with in excess of 60,000 commencement notices over the past year. This will, of course, as night follows day, translate into increased completion figures in the time ahead.

It appears there was some displacement in the market as a result of development levy waivers and water connections, where commencements increased at a higher rate than completions have so far. Under the scheme we put in place and the measures we took to reduce the cost of building a home, a significant pipeline of homes have been commenced and must be built under the scheme by the end of 2026. That is good news for young people and their parents watching these proceedings today.

Of course, we have published a new programme for Government. It commits to publishing a new fully funded, radical and realistic housing plan to get more homes built. We are going to ramp up construction capacity to reach 300,000 homes by 2030, and we are placing a special emphasis on supporting homeownership. Not all of the recent housing figures are bad. Banking and Payments Federation Ireland confirmed last week that first-time buyer activity is now at a 16-year high, with more than 500 individuals or couples buying their first home last year. These are real people, in the Deputy's constituency and mine. The outgoing Government met and exceeded plenty of other targets in housing and many other areas, including employment and job creation.

I assure people listening at home that we are going to continue to adopt policies that ramp up home building. I understand that a lot of people are not happy with progress in this area. We have a lot more work to do. The Housing Commission has said that, and it is right on that point. Rather than point scoring or throwing rhetoric around the Dáil, we need to continue to work collectively for better solutions for housing. The Deputy can play a constructive role in that work or he can come in and throw brickbats. That is up to him.

The Minister wrote to me last summer in good faith outlining what a number of projections available to him, including from Deutsche Bank, said would happen. Of course, that did not materialise. The new Government is more determined than ever to deliver for the people of Ireland. Sinn Féin's alternative policies did not convince the people at all.

Deputy David Cullinane

With respect, what actually collapsed is the figure the Tánaiste gave to the public of 40,000, which was instead 29,000. In fact, what has collapsed is the credibility of the Tánaiste and Taoiseach when it comes to housing matters. Their record speaks for itself. Every single month, we see house prices, rents and homelessness rising on their watch. Worse than that and to top it all off, they misled the public deliberately and consciously in the run-up to a general election, when even Government-funded organisations were telling them they were wrong. It was stroke politics by the Tánaiste and Taoiseach.

They are not interested in real solutions.

The Tánaiste says he is and claims that I am playing politics. I am holding him to account for, in my view, misleading the public. I put it to him earlier that the Housing Commission, the Government's own Housing Commission that is independent of all of us, clearly set out the failures and what needs to be done. He ignored it as he has ignored Sinn Féin's plans. I ask him again to at least concede he misled the public. Will he agree to a radical reset on housing policy?

Deputy Matt Carthy

Hear, hear.

The Tánaiste

I have already made very clear to the Deputy about the programme for Government, negotiated by parties who won a clear majority in the last election and working with Independents, and what we have agreed to do in the programme for Government. That is what our focus is on; moving forward with the delivery of homes with real solutions for people.

If the Deputy is seriously suggesting housing statistics cost his party the election, that is a bit ridiculous. People looked at their policies; that is what cost them the election. You would not really own your own home under the proposed Sinn Féin leasehold plan. Does the Deputy remember that? His leader could not answer a simple question - will the banks lend to buy a home? People right across the country-----

Deputy Thomas Gould

We told the truth. We told the truth; that was the difference. The Tánaiste misled the public.

The Tánaiste

Ceann Comhairle, I have to be allowed to speak in this House. We are not getting back to last-----

An Ceann Comhairle

You are not helping, Tánaiste.

Deputy David Cullinane

He would not answer any of the questions he was asked, of course. He ignored the questions.

The Tánaiste

She could not clarify that you could even access a loan or a mortgage under Sinn Féin's plan. The banks have still not confirmed that. His party would have pulled away the first-time buyer scheme-----

Deputy David Cullinane

We are not in government, he is.

The Tánaiste

-----it would have scrapped the help-to-buy scheme and it would have ended the first home bridge the gap scheme.

Deputy Louise O'Reilly

The Tánaiste has been asked to account for his own words.

The Tánaiste

The Deputies do not like it. They seem to think their job is just to critique.

Deputy David Cullinane

He does not want to be held to account.

The Tánaiste

Their job is also to put forward alternatives-----

Deputy David Cullinane

He dodged and dodged and dodged.

The Tánaiste

They put forward alternatives that were emphatically rejected by the people who interpreted them-----

Deputy David Cullinane

He has refused to answer any of the questions and he is dodging responsibility.

The Tánaiste

They failed to deliver, they lost the election and we are getting on with the job.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

Faraor géar, tá orm díriú isteach ar chathair na Gaillimhe arís agus an easpa infreastruchtúir atá ag cur bac láidir ar thuilleadh forbartha. De bharr na stoirme, tá spotsolas ar an easpa infreastruchtúir. Tá sé seo ardaithe go mion minic ach faraor, tá orm é a ardú arís. I raise the lack of infrastructure in Galway that is a serious block to development. The city is one of five cities identified in the national plan to grow. It is one of the five cities destined to grow, to a population of 120,000 by 2040. That is not possible.

The results of the storm in Galway city and county, particularly in the county, show it was one of the worst hit. As I stand here today, 2,750 homes, businesses and farms are still without power in Galway. The Tánaiste has described it as an unprecedented storm - it was - but we were well warned about it and that was something I raised this morning. I will use my time now to look at how that has put the focus on the difficulties we have in Galway for further development.

At a presentation last week at which the Ministers were in attendance, 11 projects were highlighted but top of the list, not in the way it was laid out but verbally, was Galway city flood defences and the urgent need for them to be progressed. The plan for this started years ago at €9 million and it increased to €50 million. The Tánaiste's ministerial colleague beside him, Deputy Naughton, is very familiar with it. We were told in no uncertain terms that unless that project goes ahead there cannot be development in Galway.

On top of that, we have an inadequate wastewater treatment structure. The collection network has been described as inadequate. A recent engineer's report, commissioned by Uisce Éireann, said one of the siphons under the Corrib Estuary was in imminent danger of collapse. We have an inadequate collection network; we have failure to build a wastewater treatment plant on the east side of the city; we have no wastewater treatment plant in Carraroe; and then, in Clifden, we have a treatment plant that is not up to the capacity in the summertime.

The Taoiseach is aware of this and I am aware of it but unfortunately there has been no progress. The city and county councils in Galway tell us they are two of the worst funded local authorities in the country. These are major projects. We have a national development plan and a framework telling us that Galway is going to grow. What I am highlighting today is that there are sustainable solutions to this. It breaks my heart to watch what is happening in Galway in terms of traffic congestion and bad planning.

The Tánaiste

I thank Deputy Connolly for raising the issue of infrastructure and I want to get straight to that. I acknowledge the huge impact the storm has had on people right across the country and most particularly, people in the west and the north west. I am very conscious of the fact we can read out figures showing how many people have been reconnected to power and very good progress has been made, but that is obviously cold comfort to the 12,000 premises that remain without power today. As the Deputy rightly says, 2,750 of them are in her own city and county of Galway.

I want to obviously thank the over 3,000 ESB workers who are working on the front line in very difficult conditions repairing power and I want to thank our European and British colleagues who joined in that assistance. The phrase "lessons learned" is a bit of a hackneyed phrase in politics but never has it been more true in terms of the preparedness that we need to carry out now for adverse weather events. It is absolutely clear that we see a very significant change in the climate and we see a very significant increase in severe weather events. That resilience and preparedness that we need to build up nationally and locally is so important.

The Deputy's question today specifically follows on from that because adverse weather events highlight the vulnerabilities we can experience in certain parts of the country and, indeed, in all parts of the country in infrastructure as well. I am pleased that meeting with the city council took place; I know my colleague the Minister of State, Deputy Naughton, was there as was said and I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Canney, was there too. We stand ready as a Government at the start of this new mandate to work with Galway City Council and Galway County Council on those infrastructure projects and the list they provided to Deputy Connolly.

I understand when it comes to things like the flood defence scheme, Corrib go Cósta, the funding is in place. The frustration that often drives people crazy in this country is the length of time it takes from an announcement of a scheme or a planned scheme to the delivery on the ground. That is why, as we negotiated our new programme for Government, we have placed a very strong emphasis on infrastructural delivery. We will see a very significant uplift, Deputy, in capital spending. That is objectively true and I think it will reach €95 billion by the end of this Government's term. What will be key for our citizens is whether they get value for money and whether the projects are delivered in an efficient and timely manner. I know that will apply to Galway as well.

That is why we have plans to expand the role of the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform, with a particular focus on infrastructure delivery and a new division will be established within that Department to drive that forward as well. I am very happy to work constructively with the Deputy and other Galway TDs on those infrastructural projects, be it the wastewater treatment plants or the flood defence scheme. I also point out, and the Deputy would expect me to, that Galway has obviously seen a significant amount of investment over the last number of years in the train station, URDF funding, the new facility at the hospital, the plans for further developments and our commitment to try to get this ring road project moving too. I accept there is a lot more we need to do.

Deputy Catherine Connolly

This is a city that is struggling. It is a thriving and beautiful city. Is cathair dhátheangach í agus tá a lán fostaíochta inti. Tá baic ann, áfach, ó thaobh infreastruchtúir agus ní inniu ná inné ó bhí na fadhbanna sin againn. We have struggled for quite some time. I am reassured, maybe foolishly and innocently, that the Tánaiste tells me there will be an emphasis on capital infrastructure because I have heard that, but what I am trying to highlight here today is that the city council is openly telling us that if the flood defences do not go ahead in a timely manner and are not funded, other development is off the table.

I have a particular view that Galway should be chosen as a pilot city for sustainable development and an integrated public transport rolled out with a light rail system put in. The feasibility study confirmed it is possible. Build public housing on public land and so on. I have my own personal opinions, which I am not shy in sharing, but the serious lack of infrastructure I highlight here today is a major obstacle.

The Tánaiste

I hear the Deputy and I hear her advocacy for her county and her region, and for good reason. We will review the national development plan and our capital plans. We intend to publish that as a Government in the summer period. This will be an opportunity to map out what the increased level of capital funding will mean for the lifetime of this Government and provide that pipeline of capital funding. It will absolutely allow us to not just deliver on the capital commitments that have already been made for many projects across our country, including in Galway, but it will also allow us to add new ones.

I want to re-emphasise a point that I genuinely feel very strongly about and it is an honest point to make. It cannot just be about the level of funding, although that is important and we will increase it - take that bit as read - we will also have to look at how we can make sure approval processes are efficient. The word "simplification" needs to be put up in lights here.

We need to be able to work in partnership with local authorities and State agencies. I do not level this at Galway county or city council but we do not need buck-passing or saying that something is for another agency. We need to come together and deliver these projects. I do not believe funding will be the challenge.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

First, I wish the Tánaiste well in his new position. Two weeks ago tonight, the people of the west, the north west and the midlands faced one of the toughest nights of their lives with the after-effects of this storm. They are still being felt and will be felt into the future. On Saturday morning, the clean-up operation began, where local communities and contractors got together to clear roads. I compliment them and the farming community. I also compliment the ESB crews who are out day and night. The guys on the ground in the ESB are doing tremendous work. There are some things higher up the ESB might learn. I hope today, in Cloonalough in Ballinlough, a form that is to be signed to get a contractor working to cut trees will be done fairly rapidly.

We need to learn lessons from this about where things went wrong. Nobody can prevent a storm but what we need to do is put appropriate measures of mitigation in place to make people's lives a bit easier in a time like this. Unfortunately, for people with underlying health conditions, those needing hoists, people with disabilities, newborn babies, young children or people needing PEG-feeding machines or the different sleep apnoea machines, all the different types of things people need would not work. There was absolutely no communication whatsoever because phone lines were down and it was as if we did not exist for those few days. I welcome Deputy Calleary's humanitarian fund but I ask him to look at one thing. He was always at the end of a phone when wanted it, but what needs to be done is to find out what is going on. The €50 or €100 will be paid but the rest is not being done. People could not cook all week, and the cost of generators and all of that has been huge.

The Tánaiste knows I spoke within the Government talks about trees. I am a contractor myself and 95% of everything I have seen has been a problem with trees. Will the Government bring in a regulation and fund it to look after situations where trees in forestry are within 30 m or 35 m of roads or a power or communications line? Second, regarding the farming community, farmers tonight or in the past two weeks have sheds with no roofs and the cows are calving. Will a fund be brought out for that? It is ferociously important that is done. Windblown timber is also a huge problem. I do not want task forces or talking shops. The Government is talking about a task force at the moment. It is pounds, shillings and pence that people need at the moment. Will the Government enforce the issue with Irish Water? We are a local group water scheme. We had enough cop on to get generators. Irish Water is a big operation. There is no reason people should not have water in a time like this. We should have been ready for it.

An Ceann Comhairle

I thank the Deputy. The Tánaiste to respond.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

Will the Government give councils and local communities funding to make sure they can do a huge clean-up after this? There is a lot of debris.

The Tánaiste

I thank Deputy Fitzmaurice for the constructive way he is engaging on this issue. I am very conscious that this is still a very real issue in his own constituency. While we talk about the next steps, and he rightly talks about the lessons learned, I am conscious we are still seeing in many parts of the west and north west a significant number of people - around 12,000 premises - without electricity. It is down from 13,000 this morning and 22,000 yesterday. This is going on a very long time for people and I genuinely appreciate that. I thank the Deputy for his comments about the work of the Minister, Deputy Calleary. We are grateful to him for the work he has been doing and being out on the ground engaging with communities. So far in that humanitarian assistance scheme more than 4,000 claims and, I think, in excess of €800,000 have been paid out to date. We have been prioritising and putting a particular focus on those who have been without power or indeed those who are most vulnerable. Households who lost power and submitted claims for costs will have those claims dealt with as soon as possible. I provide the Deputy's constituents with that assurance.

I take the point the Deputy makes in the way he subtly but rightly differentiated between the ESB and the ESB crews. I thank the ESB crews, the more than 3,000 men and women out doing incredible work. There are absolutely lessons to be learnt for the ESB and for Uisce Éireann, Departments, agencies and local authorities. There is just no doubt about that. Even in a country as small geographically as Ireland, the response varied very significantly depending on which county people happened to live in. We need to look at that and look at how there can be a much more standard and consistent approach. We need to look at how we can support the communities to be more resilient. I take the Deputy's point. I was in Monaghan recently engaging with the Civil Defence and others. The phone network had gone down there as well. They were dusting off old phones in the Civil Defence. Old technology, if you like, was the only technology left working. What do you do when the technology goes down? If we can manage to do this in many parts of the world, surely we can manage to do it in this country as well.

I think the Deputy is right on trees. We are going to have to make big calls in this situation. He has spoken to me about this before. The idea that we are spending millions, and in this storm a hell of a lot more than that, restoring power lines that have been knocked down by trees and then putting the lines back up among the trees again does not make any sense. It is a danger and Government is considering all options in this regard. The ESB already has significant powers and we need to consider if there is a need for any further clarity on this. My colleague, the Minister for agriculture, and the Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, had a specific meeting yesterday on that issue of windblown wood. I am conscious the TAMS scheme is available for farmers too but we need to see if there are gaps there that need to be plugged. We remain engaged. I am ruling nothing out, nor is the Government. We are keeping an open mind and engaging constructively. There will be task forces and reports to review, but that is separate to and distinct from helping people in the here and now with the emergency they are feeling in their homes, their businesses and on their farms.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

I welcome the Tánaiste's comments on trees but this needs to put into a regulation and funded. No more of this talk can go on. We can never endure again what we are after enduring. Will the Minister for trade and enterprise look at small businesses that have been closed over the past week? Some of them are going into two weeks now. A lot of places do not have power yet. Will the Minister for rural affairs to look at community hubs and a generator that a doctor can set up? We need to look at that. We need to learn. On the farmers, I appreciate there is a generator grant under TAMS, but there is not for old sheds the roof has gone off and no insurance. We need movement on that rapidly. Generators are a thing in rural areas that we need to look at, encourage and try to bring some in. A lot of money has been spent on NBI by the taxpayers of this country. Broadband is a fabulous thing but the problem is it is decimated at the moment. I have no great faith in Eir, because it will hardly fix a phone for you not to mind putting up the poles we need to put up, but it will need to be brought to task to make sure it replaces the infrastructure because-----

An Ceann Comhairle

I thank the Deputy. The Tánaiste to respond.

Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice

-----the NBI broadband is running out.

The Tánaiste

The Deputy is speaking a lot of common sense on this. The Government is going to engage with the local authorities regarding generators for communities. One of the most obvious things we should be doing is making sure there are more generators available in communities for when things like this happen. The Deputy is right that nobody can storm but we have to be better prepared in terms of resilience and infrastructure at that local level. Of course we look at national response, but it is important in any review that we look at the on-the-ground response. The Deputy mentioned the word "community". One of the good things we have seen from this very difficult time is community coming together. I am delighted we have been investing in things like sports capital grants because thank God we now have more GAA clubs and football clubs with showers and changing room facilities that they have put to use for communities at this very difficult time. The Minister for communications, Deputy O'Donovan, who is here beside me, is bringing in all the telecommunication companies next week to specifically engage on a number of those issues. My understanding is the vast majority of NBI customers now have their connection back but we will engage with those companies.

An Ceann Comhairle

I thank the Tánaiste.

The Tánaiste

I will come back to the Deputy on each of the specific matters, including on the agriculture point he made.