Ag bogadh ar aghaidh go dtí Páirtí an Lucht Oibre, glaoim ar an Teachta Ahern.

"Certainty, clarity and stability for the rental sector" were the words of the Minister for housing when he introduced his disastrous rental reform Bill in February. He did mention the word "eviction" once. As predicted, this new law has caused carnage in the private rental sector - not stability, just chaos. There were over 7,000 notices of termination in the first three months of the year. That was a 51% increase on the year before. It is the highest level of evictions ever recorded. There are record and ever-gro…

The Tánaiste said local authorities cannot be trusted or depended on. That is an outrageous statement. It is the centralisation of power in the Custom House that has weakened the ability of councils to build new homes, prioritise children in homelessness and tackle dereliction. The measures the Tánaiste spoke of regarding security of tenure are completely undermined by the market rent reset mechanism baked into the legislation which allows landlords to reset rent to the market rate in between tenancies, exposing re…

I congratulate the Minister of State on her appointment, and that is probably where the good news ends. I am very disappointed with the Government's amendment. In fact, I found parts of it quite laughable. "Sustainable data centre development" almost sounds like someone coming along 30 or 40 years ago and saying that we need to move sustainable smoking, and that if a person smokes a packet of Marlboro Lights, it is not as bad. It is not just about electricity, water and carbon emissions. We have seen that data cent…

Hear, hear.

Hear, hear.

I raise the ongoing issue of the future long-term funding for the network of live-monitored CCTV cameras in Limerick. I understand this was raised at the mayoral forum recently. In light of the total Garda budget of €2.74 billion, the funding shortfall here is €880,000. I know that the Department of justice cannot fund this directly. Would the Taoiseach support the Garda to fund the local authority to ensure that this service continues in the context of the overall Garda budget and the NDP investment? If this servi…

It is.

I thank the Minister for her statement. I want to be constructive in the time I have. I welcome the fact that we, belatedly, have an occupied territories Bill. I rise here with my colleagues in the Labour Party to be critical of the Government for failing to include services because I personally feel, and we in the Opposition can feel, almost by extension, the orange fingerprints of Donald Trump all over the exclusion of services from the Bill. There has been so much economic scaremongering and attempted bullying c…

Limerick faces a severe housing deficit. It is 6,000 homes behind delivery targets. The Taoiseach recently spoke at the Limerick Chamber business luncheon but planning permissions and housing commencements are down 40% in Limerick in the past year and both the Chamber and An Taisce-----

-----have raised reasonable issues in relation to the disconnect that is there between national policy enabling or hindering local development. Density zoning of 50 per hectare in Castletroy, Mungret, Raheen and other suburban areas is affecting viability in those areas and it is going to be very hard to get 100-plus dwellings per hectare in the city centre. What sort of targeted interventions are the Government considering to ensure that Limerick reaches its housing targets?

That is where he is gone.

That is my point.

Hear, hear.

I thank Deputy Joanna Byrne for introducing this motion. She has shown real bravery and leadership on this issue. We have a proud history of standing up against injustice, whether it was the stance we took on apartheid in South Africa or the recognition of Palestinian statehood. In June 1999, the then Fianna Fáil Government showed leadership in relation to this in refusing to grant entry visas to the Yugoslav national football team, which blocked the scheduled Euro 2000 match in Dublin. Moving the fixture is a comp…

I will take Deputy Murphy's supplementary question and then Deputy Tóibín.

No, I do not think so. The Deputies will have a minute each and then the Minister will get two.

It is not a back and forth.

We are moving on to Question No. 131 in the name of Deputy Murphy, who is taking it for Deputy Boyd Barrett.

Deputy Daly wishes to come in on a supplementary.