I asked a question but the Minister is talking about local government. He is the Minister representing the Government here today. He is the person who should give the answer. He should not blame local government. He wants to blame local government and Irish Water.

I welcome this Bill being brought forward. It is actually quite common sense. It could have gone further but I respect that the Deputy is trying to make a really big first step, which is important. We are now being recognised as the European capital for breeding dogs and pups. There are a lot of things we want to be top of the list for in Europe but that is certainly not one we want to be seen as, especially when we are a people renowned for our history with dogs. I was listening to other people talk. The joke in o…

Once again, we have Fianna Gael and their pals Fianna Fáil pointing to problems without doing anything to actually resolve them. You would swear this happened yesterday and that it has not been around for years, but it has. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments since 2011 and beyond have failed to act. Now, there is talk about doing pilot schemes. The Tánaiste said he is considering a ban on social media for under-16s and the Minister said he is not in favour of a ban. Debating sounds good in the media while big te…

Why must families in the State fight for everything? Why can children with additional needs and special needs not get what they need? Why can they not get what they are entitled to? They are children of this State. This is a fundamental human right - a right to education, a right to healthcare, and a right to be treated with respect and dignity. I have been coming in here for the last six years, listening to the Government telling me what it is doing. Why was this plan that it announced today not announced six, nin…

Will the Tánaiste update the House on whether he has met the Revenue Commissioners to discuss the new derelict sites tax? Will he consider starting the collection of the derelict sites tax on 1 January 2026 or early 2026, and not 2027?

The Revenue Commissioners taking over the collection of the derelict sites levy is one thing we can support. It is something Sinn Féin has been advocating for years. My worry now is this: for how long more will land hoarders and speculators who are sitting on sites be able to get away with it? Cork City Council is one of the best local authorities at implementing the levy but it is still only collecting one third of it. Cork City Council has €5 million outstanding. There are millions of euro outstanding while specu…

The Tánaiste and the Minister, Deputy Browne, have said that this tax will get more derelict sites turned into housing delivery, which I support. If housing delivery is not happening, the tax must hurt those who are abusing their communities. When I walk around a brilliant European city like Dublin, I look at the dereliction. It is the same in my own city of Cork. It drags the whole city and community down. I want to ask the Tánaiste a couple of things. Will the derelict sites levy that is collected in a local auth…

You are giving it to the speculators. Three quarters of a billion.

Three quarters of a billion.

The Minister does not understand the damage that he does and that Governments have done when they announce a new housing plan. It takes a year to deliver but what a Minister does when he announces a new housing plan is create hope. People are so desperate for housing they would do anything. They look at their Government as they wait for its plan. It has caused devastation to ordinary people because this plan is only a rehash of what we have seen before. There is nothing in here that will solve the housing crisis. T…

Hear, hear.

About 15 years ago, when I was a county councillor on Cork County Council, I put forward a similar motion looking for a proportion of all major Government contracts to be given to either local workers or to ensure that apprentices were being hired. At the time, I was told we could not do that because of EU procurement law. I went and researched it, and it turns out that Germany, Italy and other European countries have those quotas in place. This meant Ireland was implementing European law to the absolute maximum, w…

At last week's housing committee I asked the Minister whether this Bill would lead to more homes being delivered, and he could not give me a straight answer on that or on why he was bringing these regulations forward. Is this more developer-led lobbyist-influenced policy or is it simply that there are problems that should not be there and now the Minister is trying to fix them? To give the Minister a feel of things, there was an article in The Irish Times the other day by Sarah Burns about ten houses in Carrignavar…

The law will change in March.

The rents are going up though.

It will be gone in March.

Fine Gael. Thanks for admitting it, fair play to you.

It will be gone in March. Does the Tánaiste not understand the legislation?

I spoke to a woman in my clinic on Monday who told me she is worried and anxious. She said she is nearly getting panic attacks because she does not know how she, her husband and her three kids are going to get through Christmas and what they are going to do in January when Christmas is over. They are doing everything now. She said they are watching the children in case they touch the heaters in the house yet here we have tax breaks for people who do not need them, that is, for people who are on gold-plated pensions…

I do not think the Tánaiste answered the question. I asked him where was the tax break for ordinary workers in this budget. There was none. There was naught for ordinary workers. How can the Tánaiste then justify giving a tax break to people who have gold-plated pensions anyway? As Deputy Doherty has outlined, this is a tax break of €325,000. I do not know who is watching here tonight but ordinary families are talking about the cost-of-living crisis, filling cars with petrol or diesel, the increase in the cost of h…