And in an honest manner.

The Minister's party lied during the general election campaign.

Sorry, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle, but the Minister's party lied during the general election campaign and was-----

He is defending the indefensible: rising rents and Government dishonesty. Well done, Minister.

No. I am criticising the Minister’s policy failures.

Yes, I do. The Minister should debate me on radio at any time and I will explain it to him again.

We have set it out year after year.

He should publish the evidence that it will drive down rents. He has none.

I have no respect for a Minister who is presiding over record homelessness, record rents and a record housing crisis.

He supported the legislation on this scheme.

Hear, hear.

I commend my colleague Deputy Gould on bringing forward this very simple but sensible legislation. Leaving homes derelict in the middle of the deepest housing crisis in the modern history of the State is akin to hoarding food during a famine. This is a comment that I and many other Members of this House have made repeatedly. I note with some interest the language the Minister has started to use with respect to dereliction. He has used it again here by using terms like "antisocial behaviour" and "war on dereliction"…

I listened very carefully to the Minister's contribution, and I have to say it was somewhat disappointing. There is no doubt that many aspects of our drinking water and wastewater systems work, and work well. I want to put on record that there have been improvements in recent years in parts of the country in the operation of the utility. However, as the Minister has heard from the Deputies proposing the motion, and as he will hear from my colleagues, there are many parts of this country where our water and wastewat…

One of the great mistakes of the Government during the Celtic tiger era was the failure to ensure that when new homes were being delivered, adequate infrastructure services and public amenities were provided. This was an issue that affected every county in the State. While today there is no doubt that not enough homes are being delivered and particularly not enough social and affordable homes, unfortunately in many constituencies including my own when new homes are being built the Government is repeating the mistak…

Virtually nothing that the Minister of State said has not already been communicated to me and other Deputies in the constituency by way of parliamentary questions. It does not address the central question. Right now, people who live in Adamstown, Lucan and Clondalkin desperately need the high-frequency DART service into and out of the city centre to be delivered, as was originally promised, by 2030. Nobody understands why, when the NDP expenditure plan was published in November, no funding was allocated for DART+ S…

Sinn Féin will be supporting both sets of exempted development regulations. They are modest and reasonable and, in our view, they are sensible. We have no issue with them proceeding. However, I will put on the record of the Dáil my deep dissatisfaction at the manner in which the Minister has processed these regulations. As Members will know, this is the second time these regulations have been brought before the committee and the House in the space of a few short weeks. They were originally presented as a single reg…

I move: That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to make emergency provision to defer the termination dates of certain tenancies that fall, or would fall, during the period beginning on the day after the date of the passing of this Act and ending on 1 July 2026 in order to mitigate the risk that persons whose tenancies would otherwise be terminated during that period would be unable to obtain alternative accommodation; to make such provision on a phased basis to enable tenancies affected to be term…

I move: "That the Bill be taken in Private Members' time."

I thank the Minister for his opening remarks. This is an entirely unacceptable way to introduce significant legislative changes to the Building Control Acts. Building control may not be a matter of huge media or public interest but it is absolutely essential to the well-being of people in their homes. We know that because we are currently dealing with the general scheme of the legislation to introduce a redress scheme for the thousands, if not tens of thousands, of homeowners and tenants impacted by building defect…

I will respond to the Minister. It is clear that the Minister does not actually understand the significance of the amendment that has been tabled by Deputy Ward. The problem is that deleterious materials in concrete are not confined solely to concrete blocks. They are in poured concrete and other materials. One of the fundamental weaknesses of the original regulations and the former Minister, Darragh O'Brien's 2022 scheme is that they confine the issue of deleterious materials to block only. I know the Minister is …