It is the fourth, I think.

She must have had loans.

What does Senator Daly suggest should be done?

There were 12 contributions in total. I have no doubt that many of these matters will be discussed with the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance on Committee and Report Stages. I will go through the points that were made in the time available. How much time do I have?

I will go through a number of the points that were raised. I welcome the fact that Senator Joe O'Reilly made reference to auto-enrolment and the benefits relating to it and to his former colleague Heather Humphreys, who brought it forward. He mentioned that we are running a budget surplus and that everything done in the budget is to ensure that we can deal with the hard times internationally. Senator McDowell is not here. I will leave responding to his points until the end in case he happens to come back. I will de…

I would like to go into a bit more detail on that specific point. Those were the two points Senator Casey raised. They were also raised by Senator Rabbitte. Senator Paul Daly spoke about the flat rate relating to farmers. I have a note from the officials. The Senator probably already knows this information but I will give it to him anyway. The rate is reviewed every year in the run-up to the budget in accordance with the criteria set down in the EU VAT directive. This is based on the macroeconomic data relating to …

That is the figure I have. Perhaps we can do a bit of follow-up on that. Senator Conor Murphy raised a couple of points. He obviously disagrees with what we are doing. I will put forward a couple of counterarguments and outline the logic of what we are doing. Planning permission has been granted for 40,000 apartments in Dublin, but those projects have not commenced. We are reducing the VAT rate for apartments to 9%. That applies to the sale of apartments and, from 26 November, to the inputs to build apartments. It …

Senator Cosgrove raised the 9% VAT rate. This was a commitment in the programme for Government. It is important that we can look at what is in the programme and try to deal with it. Senator McDowell is not here, but he spoke about the same issue. A lot of small restaurants, small coffee shops and hairdressers are struggling. This is a measure. One issue that is often missed is that VAT comes off the top for restaurants and hairdressers. Hairdressers do not give someone a haircut and charge €20 plus VAT. They have t…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak on the Second Stage of the Health Insurance (Amendment) Bill 2025, which I am taking on behalf of the Minister for Health, Deputy Jennifer Carroll MacNeill. This is an annual, technical Bill with eight sections, focused on the specific area of health insurance. It also seeks to make a change to the term of appointment of the chairperson of the Health Insurance Authority. Today, 46% of the population, 2.54 million peopl…

How many blocks did you lay?

It is high at the moment.

I can only imagine what the Deputy's heart rate was like when he was laying the blocks.

The Report of the Approved Housing Body Strategic Forum presents an ambitious and transformative vision for the AHB sector and sets out a detailed roadmap of policy development reforms to enable the realisation of that vision over the years ahead. The forum, which was established in December 2023, undertook a comprehensive review of the AHB sector and concluded its structured engagements and analysis at the end of 2024. These included a series of national workshops involving over 150 participants, broad stakeholder…

The Minister was in before the committee, but, more specifically, as the report has now been published, the Minister has established a special working sectoral group in this area. There were eight interlinked policy developments. The Deputy has referred to some of them. We want to get the AHBs to go more towards direct delivery to examine the reformed income model for the AHB social housing revolving fund, establishing an AHB sector restructuring sustainable fund and then capital funding to support more sustainabil…

More specifically on the issue the Deputy has raised about turnkey developments, there is a process being initiated at the moment towards a call for proposals. Through the Department but particularly the local authorities, the State will define the location, the typology and tenure of housing needed as well as specifications and value parameters for any of the scheme proposals. The AHB proposals are aligned with our local authority housing delivery actions. This is about the AHBs getting more into direct build in t…

The Deputy is keeping us busy tonight.

The HAP scheme continues to play a vital role in housing eligible families and individuals. At the end of quarter 2, 2025, over 128,500 HAP tenancies had been set up since the scheme commenced, of which 51,736 households were actively in receipt of HAP support. Under HAP,a tenant sources their own accommodation in the private rental market. This accommodation should be within the prescribed maximum HAP rent limits, which are based on household size and the rental market within the area concerned. Where a tenant’s c…

It is good to see the Deputy back to his passionate best. The Department and the Minister are very aware of the pressures on existing tenancies and it is existing tenancies the Deputy is talking about. The particular issues around that are currently under active consideration by the Department and it is something we are actively looking at in terms of existing tenancies and affordability. I note the point. I do not know the particular circumstances regarding Sylvia. If the Deputy wants us to follow up with the loca…

If the Deputy wishes to send us on the details regarding, Sylvia, the lady he referenced he can. As I said earlier, the Minister and the Department are fully aware of the pressures people are under, particularly in terms of the Deputy's question around HAP. A review is under way in that particular regard. We note the point the Deputy is raising in terms of cost rental as well and it is something we will consider.

The management and maintenance of local authority social homes, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, implementing a planned maintenance programme and carrying out responsive repairs are matters for each individual local authority under section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Local authorities are also statutorily required to ensure all their tenanted homes comply with the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. Notwithstanding these obligations, my Department provides annual funding under…