The Bill is a step forward but it is a really small step forward. What we needed was a giant leap to really take this by the scruff of the neck. Five years ago, loads of promises were made and we were expecting to make further progress in relation to regulation and the provision of care. What we are seeing now is more privatisation when we need more community-based services. We need more resources and people. The reality is that without addressing affordability, the Bill means nothing. I am really concerned. I am c…

I will. I could fill that today. I am dealing with one family. The back garden of their house backs onto the wall of the hospital and they cannot get into it. The man's family are looking out the door when they are caring for their father and there is a dementia unit right there, 200 or 300 yd from his house. Another lady has to stay miles away because there is a shortage of dementia units and beds where people can go. The staff tell her daughter that when she comes to visit, the improvement in her mam is visible a…

I commend Deputy Ward and Joseph O'Callaghan in his office on bringing forward this legislation. It is well thought-out and well developed. The Bill Deputy Ward is bringing forward is comprehensive. It does not work against the Government. The Deputy is reaching across the floor, saying that this needs to be implemented and asking the Government to work with us. The Minister has decided to postpone it for nine months. As Deputy O'Reilly said, with how long it takes legislation to get through, it might as well have …

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." This Bill aims to finally end the non-collection of derelict sites levies and to force transparency on the reasons why the levies are not being collected. Since the introduction of the derelict sites levy 35 years ago in 1990, we have heard excuse after excuse as to why the levy is not being collected. In 2023, less than 10% of the levies that were owed were actually collected. This does not go into the number of sites that were not on the derelict sites register o…

That is right.

I thank my staff, especially my PA, who have done a tremendous amount of work on this legislation. I also thank the Office of Parliamentary Legal Advisers, OPLA, which has assisted me in bringing in this legislation. The Minister might criticise it but it is right and has gone through the whole process. As a back bench TD, I am limited in the legislation I can bring forward. I would love to go much further. I would love to work with the Minister on it but he comes in here and criticises the proposals I have made. H…

Will the Minister give a commitment to intervene to prevent the closure in mid-January of a homeless prevention service in Cork, and to ensure the service does not cease to provide vital community support to homeless young people through social care work?

I thank the Minister for the update but the information I have is that Liberty Street House will be out of staff by mid-January and is currently not recruiting. I understand it has not replaced the staff who have left, been redeployed or have retired. I want the Minister to be right, and I hope she is right, in what she has just said here. Liberty Street House has been operating very successfully for the last two decades in providing really vital services for young people who are at risk of homelessness. It is said…

I have two worries on foot of the Minister's comments. She is saying that the services are being integrated. Is Liberty Street House being closed down? Liberty Street House provides a service to young people who are at risk of homelessness and who enter homelessness. I am looking for a commitment now that this will not be closed down. The information I have is from people who are in the know. They have told me that no additional staff have been taken on to replace those who have left through retirements and redeplo…

Go raibh maith agat.

How many Members are looking to speak? We could divide it.

I support this amendment. Deputy Ward has tabled an important amendment. I ask the Minister to take it on board. If he does not take it on board now, I ask him to incorporate it when he is looking at this legislation and other legislation. What we have now is that the money made on the back of some of the communities that are most affected by drug dealing and criminality is not going back into those communities. That is just not right. We and the Minister know from the Pobal index where these communities are, where…

As my colleague said, we are supporting both these motions. At committee, the Minister said these exempted developments have been hugely successful. While I believe commercial units being returned as homes is a good thing, it has not reached the potential it could. We look at villages and areas that I represent like Blackpool in Cork city, one of the oldest, most historic villages and parts of Cork city. Then we have Shandon with the renowned Shandon steeple, the church and the bells. We see these communities with …

The one word to describe the action that the Minister and the Government have taken is "cruel". It is cruelty towards some of the most vulnerable people in this State. It is mean. Will the Minister not make a decision? Will she not stand up to whoever behind the scenes is forcing her to make this call? She should decide not to let down pensioners, the disabled or the most vulnerable. How can she justify it? She has the power. People are watching and listening to the debate. They are looking to the Minister for hope…

That was not a shout. The Minister will hear me in a minute. I will be shouting.

A total of 93 families in Cork will spend their Christmas in homeless accommodation. Five of them will have been in homeless accommodation for over three years. This year, the Government will spend €21 million housing these families while there are hundreds of boarded-up council houses in Cork that could be turned around. These are places where children could have a proper Christmas and hang stockings on the chimney, knowing that Santa will come down it. However, the Minister's Government will not reopen the voids …

The scheme is closed.

The Government is spending €21 million on homeless accommodation.

You are the Minister. I am not talking about local authorities. You are in government.

One second, I asked a question.