I thank Deputies for raising these important matters and I welcome the opportunity to discuss the pressures households are facing as a result of high energy costs. As has been clearly articulated by the International Energy Agency, this is a global problem which is causing significant price increases and disruption across the world. The Government is taking action to help households and businesses with the cost of fuel and energy, and it has been proactive in introducing support measures on fossil fuel costs and su…

I welcome our distinguished guests to the Gallery: my father, Christy, who is a former Deputy and served here from 2007 to 2011, and my uncle, Martin, who would have done a good job serving here as well if he had ever got the chance. He might yet. I thank the Cathaoirleach for the warm welcome for my family members. I welcome the opportunity to address the House on the defective concrete blocks social homes scheme 2026, an important initiative that will ensure social homes affected by defective concrete blocks can …

I join Senator Blaney because I know how vocal he has been on this. I have been honoured to accompany him to a lot of parliamentary party meetings where he has raised this so actively. Similar to the Senator, I extend a welcome to Deputy Ward, who has lived this and experienced it. This has been his life, essentially, for a good number of years. We can see that when he contributes to the Dáil debates. I have also noticed that when this issue comes up in the Dáil, he stays from start to finish and, even a step furth…

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. He mentioned the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, whose remit is obviously very relevant to renewable energy. However, the national planning statements will be done by the Department of housing under the Minister, Deputy James Browne. Another point to make is that I cannot give an exact timeline for when the national planning statement on solar will be finalised. In that context, there are approximately 28 national planning statements that we are preparing at the moment.…

I would like to correct the record. I said there were 28 planning statements in the pipeline. Although there is a large number of planning statements, I was incorrectly reading a reference to "section 28". I correct the record on that point. I totally understand the concern of the public out there. I totally understand the concern of people who are potentially living near proposed solar farms. That is an issue. There is a planning process in place at the moment that takes a lot of these concerns into account, inclu…

As the Minister of State, Deputy Collins, said earlier, I reiterate that the Government is moving a countermotion in respect of the Deputies' Private Members' motion. I fully appreciate the Deputies' concerns raised here this morning. As a Government, we do not control the wholesale price of oil but we have acted in a significant way to assist households and businesses with the real impacts of this energy crisis. As I have stated already, the Deputy's Private Members' motion does not fully reflect the considerable …

The Deputy has a microphone.

The Deputy is taking a swipe at the civil servants.

Deputy Fitzmaurice is proof that you can make valid points without bursting our ear drums, screaming across the room and putting our hearing at risk?

I thank the Senators who have spoken and Senator Alice-Mary Higgins for proposing the amendment. I hope I can provide some of the clarity Senators are seeking in my response. Amendment No. 1 seeks to amend section 3 of the Bill, which provides for the repeal of the vacant site levy provisions in the Urban Regeneration and Housing Act 2015, as they have been superseded by the residential zoned land tax. Section 3 allows the Act of 2015 to continue to apply to ongoing appeals in relation to the market value attached …

We all have the same intention and the same end goal here, which is to tackle dereliction and bring units back into use, especially as housing in which people can live. We all share that key goal. I will try to give clarity on the Senator's exact questions. Section 3 of the Bill will work in combination with the Interpretation Act 2025, which already provides for what we are talking about here, which is the collection of the levy. It is important to clarify that nothing in the Bill changes the liability for the vac…

I thank Senator Collins for tabling amendment No. 2. The effort taken to table it justifies an explanation as to why, unfortunately, I cannot accept it. The amendment seeks to provide, by inserting a new section in the Bill, that the Minister shall lay before the Oireachtas within 12 months a report "detailing the impact of the amendments to Part 4 of the Principal Act related to Judicial Reviews and detailing whether the procedural changes have resulted in a speeding up of planning related Judicial Reviews or incr…

I thank Senator Higgins. I understand that with a lot of legislation there will be a requirement for monitoring or to report within 12 months, as has been suggested, but that is where the Minister in question has a statutory function. It is very straightforward in this case: the Minister has no statutory function in relation to reporting or monitoring when it comes to judicial reviews. It would very much be a matter for the Courts Service in this area and that is why we cannot accept this amendment.

While I cannot accept the amendment, that would be the approach that would be taken in this regard. Amendment No. 3 seeks to provide that the "Minister shall lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas every 6 months from the commencement of this Act detailing the impact of the amendments to Part 4 of the Principal Act related to alterations of existing planning permissions and detailing the location, nature and volume of such alterations by project and local authority area and the resulting commencement of d…

A Chathaoirligh, is it okay for me to speak to the amendments although they have been ruled out of order?

Amendment No. 4 seeks to insert a new section into the Act of 2024 to provide for the preparation of long-term strategic master plans. It seeks to provide that each planning authority shall prepare a strategic master plan setting out a long-term vision for the physical, social, economic and environmental development of its functional area over a period of 30 years. The Senator has suggested that such plans would identify strategic development priorities, including settlement hierarchy, infrastructure corridors, cli…

I thank the Senator. I note section 15 is just a technical amendment. I take it there is no issue with the amendment itself?

The Senator is using this opportunity to make a few points about the Office of the Planning Regulator. The new housing plan and the accelerating infrastructure plan both include actions to review the functions of the OPR, so from that point of view, the Deputy's comments are timely. This is ongoing at the moment and will be finalised very shortly. The Senator's comments will be taken on board.

I move: To delete all words after "That" and substitute the following: "Dáil Éireann resolves that the Social Housing Passport Bill 2026 be deemed to be read a second time this day twelve months, to allow for further consideration of the proposals in the Bill.". Before I go into the detail of the amendment and the rationale of the crafted speech, explaining why we are moving the amendment, speaking frankly, of course there is a lot of sense in the Deputy's proposal. In his opening statement, he outlined probably on…

I thank all the Members who contributed. I reiterate - and it is not disingenuous to say - that I genuinely hear what they are saying. The proposal makes sense. I hope as well, however, that they will understand that, yes, we were able to do a focused protocol on people fleeing gender-based violence and domestic abuse. I might come back to some of the issues Deputy O'Reilly raised specifically. The broad national approach to this does require further consideration. I do not necessarily think it can be done on Commi…