Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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We have had a housing crisis for more than a decade and this Government has been in office for three years yet only now a report comes to Cabinet stating what everybody already knew, which is that thousands of homes could be built on public land. For years, we have said that building public homes on public land is the answer to the housing crisis. Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil turned a deaf ear every time. They did not want to know.

The shocking thing about the report arriving at Cabinet today is that it does not present solutions for the current generation desperately seeking to put an affordable roof over their heads. It is about building houses in the future. You would imagine that we did not have a housing crisis now, today. There is no plan, no pace and no real attempt to get the job done. The truth is that, given the incompetence and inertia of this Government, it is our children and grandchildren who will be lucky enough to see these houses built, if they materialise at all.

This report lands on the Taoiseach's desk three days before he lifts a vital protection for renters, three days before he escalates a housing crisis that is already out of control and three days before he and his Government choose to increase homelessness. The clock is ticking for those whose eviction notices kick in from 1 April but the Government's decision intensifies the fear of receiving that dreaded call from the landlord for all renters. Yesterday, I met people in my own neighbourhood whose eviction notices come into force on Saturday. The fear of eviction goes to bed with them every night and they wake with that same dread every single morning. They will be out in a few weeks’ time and they have nowhere to go. The Taoiseach made this decision without putting any adequate plan in place and he still refuses to answer the fundamental question of where these people are to go.

We know that official homelessness figures represent only the tip of the iceberg. The full tragic story of homelessness is found in people moving back into the box rooms of their parents’ home, in people couch surfing in friends' houses and in young people emigrating to get a decent chance of a better life. Families are being broken up and scattered across the homes of the wider family, children are being separated from their mams and dads and brothers and sisters are being separated from each other. That is the story of Ireland’s hidden homeless. It is the traumatising experience to which the Taoiseach will consign thousands more by lifting the eviction ban.

It does not have to be this way, however. We have one last chance to stop thousands from losing their homes. The Sinn Féin Bill before the Dáil tonight will extend the eviction ban. It will buy time for the Taoiseach's Government to use emergency powers to ramp up the delivery of social and affordable homes and, crucially, to expand emergency accommodation. Tá seans amháin fágtha againn chun stop a chur leis na mílte daoine a bheith curtha amach as a dtithe. Impím ar gach Teachta Dála tacaíocht a thabhairt do Bhille Shinn Féin a shíneoidh amach an cosc ar dhíshealbhú agus ar an Rialtas an t-am sin a úsáid chun cur le táirgeacht tithe sóisialta agus tithe ar phraghas réasúnta.

I am asking every TD to back this Bill. Do not vote to evict your own constituents into homelessness.

It should not come to a vote and so I ask the Taoiseach to reverse his decision before it is too late. I ask the Taoiseach to keep this vital protection for renters in place until January of next year.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I would be interested if the Deputy knows how many new tenancies were created in Ireland last year.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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They are not new.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Fifty thousand new tenancies were created last year.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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They are not new.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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They are annual registrations.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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That means 50,000 people found a new place to live.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It is not true.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is possible that in some cases those properties were rented out before but the fact is-----

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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To the same people.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Do not embarrass yourself.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Maybe even in most cases-----

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Annual registration.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----but 50,000 new tenancies created last year means that 50,000 people found a new place to live. It might have been a new property to rent. It might have been that they were renting it for the first time.

That is the answer to the Deputy's question as to where people will go - new tenancies. Fifty thousand individuals and families found a new place to rent last year. That will be the same this year. In some cases it will be social housing tenancies,

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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It will be the same 50,000.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy Ó Broin, please.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----in other cases it will be a private housing tenancy and in other cases it will be a housing assistance payment, HAP, tenancy. Emergency accommodation is not the solution but we will increase the amount of emergency accommodation for a group that may need it that cannot find a place to go.

Deputy McDonald is trying to exploit people's fears and anxieties and, if anything, fuel them. That is what the Deputy is trying to do - exploit fears and anxieties and fuel them. When the Deputy should be trying reassure and help people, that is not what she is doing.

The Deputy is creating the impression that 4,000 notices to quit automatically turns into 4,000 families in emergency accommodation.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Not true.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Deputy Ó Broin is shaking his head because he knows that is not true but people listening to you think that is what he is saying, by the way.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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What the Taoiseach is saying is not true.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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That is what people listening to Deputy Ó Broin think he is saying. We all know that 4,000 notices to quit does not turn into automatically 4,000 families in emergency accommodation-----

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Three thousand nine hundred and ninety-five maybe.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----and that will be evident over the next few months.

In opposing the Sinn Féin Bill, we are putting down a reasoned amendment setting our plan, what we have done already in the past six months and what we will do in the months ahead. It is the same wording as the motion that the Dáil voted on last week and that is the reasoned amendment we are putting down to refuse a Second Reading for the Bill.

I have read Deputy Ó Broin's Bill. I have it here. I have read it, from cover to cover. It is a short Bill. We are opposing it for the following three reasons: it will make it illegal for people to move back into their own house or apartment unless they themselves are at risk of homelessness; it will make it illegal for somebody to move his or her son or daughter into an apartment when he or she goes to college in September-October even if he or she bought the apartment or house for that purpose; and it will also make it illegal for someone to sell a house that he or she owns even if he or she is in financial distress and has to do so for his or her own particular reasons.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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That is inaccurate.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It might be a response to the crisis but it is not a solution to it.

Let me give the Deputy some practical examples of the kind of people who may be affected by Sinn Féin's Bill. A garda, for example, assigned to work in a different part of the country, maybe a young doctor in training, or maybe a teacher who went to Dubai for a few years and came home, would not be able to move back into their own home or apartment unless they themselves were at risk of homelessness. If they had the option of moving back into their parents' house, that is what Sinn Féin would have them do. That is what Sinn Féin's Bill would do.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Scaremongering.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Second, Sinn Féin's Bill would make it illegal for people to move back into an apartment or a house that their parents bought for them when they go to college. A lot of people - I met somebody in Waterford only a few months ago - bought an apartment in Cork with the express reason of buying it so that their son or daughter could move in there when he or she went to college. Sinn Féin would make that impossible. They would have to commute from Waterford or try and find alternative accommodation. Third, there are people who may need to sell the house that they have - it may even be their only house or apartment - for a good reason. They might be pregnant, for example, expecting a child, trying to raise a deposit to buy their own home. They might have bills. They might face an illness, for example, and they need to be able to pay those bills. Deputy Ó Broin's Bill prevents all of those people doing those things and that is why we think it is not a solution to the problem.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Our Bill buys the Government time to do what it needs to do. I said in my initially commentary the demonstrable unanswerable evidence of the Government's absolute failure to provide housing and failure to protect renters is everywhere to be seen and felt.

At no time did I say that 4,000 people would find themselves in emergency accommodation, much less 4,000 households, for the simple reason that there is not enough emergency accommodation to facilitate them.

I went to some length to spell out to the Taoiseach what homelessness looked like: people sofa surfing; being crammed into overcrowded accommodation; being back in their parents' house, if they are lucky; many back with their grandparents; families being separated; misery; despair; and anger. This is the story, but the Taoiseach is not hearing it. Despite all of his bluster, he has comprehensively failed to answer the one question that matters to people who will be looking this reality in the eye in a matter of days - where do they go?

The Taoiseach said tritely that tenancies were abundant, but that is not the case.

Deputies:

Hear, hear.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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He never said that.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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Saying that was an insult to people who the Government will cast into homeless, be they caught in the official figures or not.

Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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He never said that.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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He did, actually.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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First of all, I know what homelessness looks like. Everyone in this House does. The Deputy should stop trying to pretend that she knows more than us or that she is somehow more compassionate than us.

Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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The Government is the body causing it.

A Deputy:

The Taoiseach does not have a clue.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I have answered the Deputy's question several times.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It would not be difficult to be more compassionate than the Taoiseach.

Seán Ó Fearghaíl (Kildare South, Ceann Comhairle)
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Deputy, please.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The fact that she has to misrepresent my answer-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is a low bar.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----and interrupt me while I am speaking shows that she does not want an answer to her question. That is why she had to misrepresent the answer and that is why she has to interrupt me while I am trying to speak. She has an answer, but she will not hear it. She misrepresents it. She twists it. Quite frankly, a lot of people listening to her spokespeople, because of the way Sinn Féin has twisted this issue, believe that 4,000 notices of termination will result in 4,000 families going into emergency accommodation or becoming homeless.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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No. It will be 4,000 homeless families.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am glad she accepts that she has never claimed that and that that is not going to be the case. That is a good thing.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is 4,000 homeless families.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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One of the many reasons we will be voting against Sinn Féin's Bill tonight, in the form of a reasoned amendment, is precisely because Sinn Féin would be doing to a lot of people what it is against. It would be saying to them that they cannot move back into their own houses or move their own families into houses they own if they had the option of the box room or moving back in with their parents. Sinn Féin might help some people with this Bill, but it would hurt plenty of others. That is why we will not be supporting it.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Government is a disgrace.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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We are building public homes on public land. We built more public housing last year than in any year since 1975 - that is any year in the Deputy's lifetime or in mine - and I can guarantee we will build more this year. The LDA is building housing. Some 600 homes are under construction at the moment in Shanganagh. I will be travelling to Wicklow on Thursday morning to open a new housing development. The Deputy is welcome to come with me and I will show her the 600 houses under construction not too far from here in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. Those homes will be occupied by people next year. The LDA is building housing. We can go to a site even closer than that, namely the Donore project at St. Teresa's Gardens where the LDA will be developing 500 homes. Some 265 homes are to be built at St. Kevin's Hospital, Cork. Planning approval was received only last week for 817 homes in Balbriggan and for a further 200 in Naas. I have not checked yet whether any of the Deputy's colleagues opposed those housing developments. I am not sure.

I read the LDA report. It is a useful report to read and it is an honest report. It shows that in addition to what is already being done - and it is in addition - approximately 66,000 more homes could be built on public land, but it is honest about the constraints. We should be honest with people about the constraints. Approximately 10,000 of those could be built in the next five to ten years. The remainder will take longer. That is the reality of house building in Ireland. For example, 600 people are already living in Cathal Brugha Barracks. It is an Army base. If we were to develop it for housing, which we may well do, those people and that base would have to be moved. Some of the sites are hospital sites. With the best will in the world, we all understand it takes time to build a new hospital and then to commission it. In some cases, there is no power connection, no water connection, the land is not zoned or there is no road connection. It is easy to say that the State should build 66,000 houses on public land and do so this or next year. This report studies that in detail. It considers 83 sites, site by site, showing what can be done and in what timeframe. Therefore, it is honest and realistic.

The LDA is our State land developer. It is our State house building company. The Deputy's party voted against the Land Development Agency Act 2021. I would like to know whether the Social Democrats is still against it and whether it would abolish the LDA if it got into Government. I believe that in time it will be as significant as the ESB or the Industrial Development Agency, IDA,-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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It has no teeth.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----in transforming our country. It will be a game changer in that regard. It has got off to a slow start. Quite frankly, that is disappointing. We thought more would have been done by now, but it is now getting things done. We will be revising the target for the number of homes the LDA can build in the next 20 years upwards. The LDA had a slow start. It is now getting going. I happy to show the Deputy on Thursday so she can see it with her own eyes. We will be revising the targets upwards.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I have never argued that the housing crisis is the fault of the Opposition. Again, the Deputy is trying to put words in my mouth. That is not honest politics.

I have always argued that the cause of the housing crisis is multi-factorial. I will not get into that conversation today.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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It is simply not the case that I blamed the Opposition for the housing crisis and it is dishonest politics from the Social Democrats to try to put that across.

Eoin Ó Broin (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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50,000 new tenants is dishonest.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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In the 11 years during which Fine Gael has been in office, we have built over 100,000 houses, by the way, and we are going to build a lot more over the coming years. I am happy to answer the Deputy's questions, to engage with her in robust debate and hear her criticisms but it is a little bit precious for her to say nobody can say anything back to her and how dare we question her claims and point out the progress being made and how dare we bring some balance to this debate. It is a bit precious-----

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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She did not actually say that.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----to say that she should not be subject to any criticism and there should be no scrutiny or that it is okay for her to shout us down when we dare to talk back to her.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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There are many reasons People Before Profit will be supporting the no-confidence motion in the Government tomorrow. The most important and powerful of those at the moment is the Government's absolutely heartless and cruel decision to allow the eviction of thousands of families, individuals and, worst of all, children, into homelessness with its decision to lift the eviction ban. In the vast majority of those cases, those people have nowhere to go. Emergency accommodation is not available to them and certainly not, in most cases, anywhere near where they live or their children go to school. They have no social and affordable housing available to them because they are usually too far down the list. Affordable private rented accommodation is not available to them because rents are at absolutely extortionate levels. Housing assistance payment, HAP, support does not go anywhere near meeting rent levels and the so-called mitigation measures the Government has been trying to trumpet as an excuse for lifting the eviction ban are either not in place at all or are completely not functioning in any serious, effective way, such as the purchase in situscheme or the mooted cost-rental purchase scheme.

It is utterly shameful that some Independents - so-called - in this House are horse trading with the Government over local issues that have nothing to do with the homelessness and housing crisis in exchange for potentially supporting the Government to put thousands of families and individuals into homelessness. They should be ashamed of themselves. The Green Party, which in its pre-election statement said it was "against evictions into homelessness", is going to vote and has voted with the Government to put thousands of people into homelessness. Some in the Opposition say the eviction ban should be kept temporarily. We will, of course, support those efforts but People Before Profit's view is that all of the approximate 750,000 people who live in private rented accommodation should have security of tenure. If they do nothing wrong, they should not be evicted, as is the case in most of Europe. Because the Taoiseach is clearly, grimly determined to press ahead with this cruel and heartless measure to allow the eviction of thousands of people, the Cost of Living Coalition is calling for people to gather outside the gates of the Dáil at 1 p.m. this weekend to protest and resist the Government's eviction ban. We will also say to people that anybody who overholds has every right to do so, given they have nowhere else to go. Are those facing eviction, who have nowhere to go, not right at this stage to protest and indeed overhold? Would the Taoiseach meekly go into homelessness if he was faced with an unfair no-fault eviction?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Like the Deputy, in my constituency service, I deal with housing queries all the time. Probably one quarter or one third of the queries that come through my constituency office are now related to housing. Every circumstance is different. We try to give people the best advice, whether that is advice we give them or advice with the help of the Free Legal Advice Centres, FLAC, or advice from Threshold. Certainly, for anyone who has had a notice to quit served on them and has nowhere to go and no other option, I would absolutely advise them to seek the best advice they can get, ideally, not from politicians, but from groups like Threshold, FLAC or others which can outline to them what their best options are and what the consequences are of the different options.

That is what I would say. Every case is different. Every case should be treated individually and sympathetically and people should be given the best advice, in their interests, not in the political interests of any politician or party.

The motion on Wednesday morning is a motion of confidence in the Government. It is being tabled by the three party leaders in coalition. As the Deputy knows, this Government has a majority. With the help of Independents, we have a majority above what is required; a supermajority, if you will. It is up to Independents to decide for themselves whether they wish to vote confidence in the Government or wish to abstain. They should not be browbeaten by the Deputy in that regard.

However, the Deputy should also be honest about the effect about a motion of confidence. If the motion of confidence fails tomorrow morning and if the Opposition is successful, the Dáil will be dissolved tomorrow evening. There will be an election some time in April. The Dáil will not meet again until some time in May and the eviction ban will have long lapsed since then. That is a simple fact. The Deputy should not try to pretend that by voting no confidence in the Government tomorrow morning, he will somehow stop the eviction ban from lapsing. In fact, the Deputy will make it impossible for the ban to lapse.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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If this Government were to be dissolved, it would at last open up the possibility that we could take the sort of radical emergency measures that are necessary to address the housing crisis and finally depart from the failed strategy, pursued by successive Fine Gael governments, of favouring the interests of speculators, developers, vulture funds and corporate landlords, who are profiteering and benefiting from the housing misery that tens of thousands of people are suffering. I not only urge people to vote no confidence in this Government but, more importantly, given there probably are the numbers, to do as we did with the water charges, that is, to get out on the street where people power undoes the terrible things a Government is trying to impose on them, because they have no choice. The Taoiseach did not answer the question. If he were faced with eviction, had nowhere to go, did not have the money to afford extortionate rents, was not high enough up the social housing list or, indeed, was not eligible for social housing and did not have the money to pay the unaffordable house prices, would he meekly accept he had to be evicted into homelessness or would he be justified in overholding and getting out on the streets to protest against a Government that would allow that to happen?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I answered the Deputy's question. I said that every case is individual and people should seek the best advice they can get from organisations such as Threshold, Free Legal Advice Centres and others. In some cases, people overhold, and in some cases the landlord will accept that, may say he or she understands they have not found a place yet and will let them overhold as long as they continue to pay the rent. That happens all the time. It is not something new. It has been happening for as long as I can remember. Some cases go to the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, where both sides are heard and then there is a determination order. Only then can it go to court. The only place in Ireland where an eviction order can actually be handed down, in Ireland, is in court. That is the system. I give the best advice I can to anybody who comes to me for advice.

The Deputy is wrong on one thing. If the motion of confidence tomorrow fails and the Opposition is successful, the Government is not dissolved. The Dáil is dissolved and that means the eviction ban will lapse anyway. The Deputy will have to fight for his seat; we all will. However, if the polls are to be believed, the Deputy will probably be the only one to survive as most of the People Before Profit seats will be taken by Sinn Féin.

Bríd Smith (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Deputy Boyd Barrett does not have to fight for his seat. We do.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will probably be the only one to survive. All Sinn Féin wishes to do-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Will the Taoiseach survive?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Absolutely.

Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach might have to fight as well.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I have increased my vote in every election I have run in.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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The Taoiseach has a crystal ball.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I have always taken the first or second seat, despite what people may say.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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That will not be much consolation to those who are homeless.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will see one of two things: the re-election of this Government or a Government led by Sinn Féin that will end the eviction ban in January anyway.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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We will not.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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What is the point in the Opposition's motion? It is just ego.

Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent)
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I wish to raise the matter of Ukraine. I concur with the Taoiseach's comments of last Friday that Putin will stop where we choose to stop him. That is entirely true. I wish that, in 2014, when he invaded Crimea and half of Donbas, the international community, including Ireland, had been more robust and assertive in stopping him.

The appeasement he got eight years ago has brought us to the position we are in at the moment. I recall on 10 February last year on Leaders' Questions the Taoiseach and I had an exchange where we said there was an 80% likelihood that Russia would invade once the Chinese Olympic Games were over two weeks later, and it did. Crucially, we said that Ireland should use the time wisely to enhance our cyber security and energy security and to increase our ability to deal with a large influx of refugees, which unfortunately happened as well.

Unfortunately, it is time to have another similar conversation. There is now about an 80% likelihood of Ukraine launching a major counteroffensive in the next two to three weeks, likely targeting Crimea. They are entitled to do so under the UN Charter under the self-defence clause. My concern from Ireland's point of view is that a lot of the heavy fighting will most likely happen around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. It is the largest nuclear facility in Europe, it has six reactors and it has already suffered a lot of damage from a conventional point of view. The concern is that there might be a leak, either inadvertent or due to damage. We should use this time wisely between now and the start of the Ukrainian offensive at least to review our radiological monitoring service in this country to make sure it is fit for purpose. I would be grateful if the Taoiseach could update the House on what the plan is if there is a radiological incident, and whether we intend to upgrade our capabilities in the short term. This is not designed to frighten or scare anybody. On the contrary, it is an opportunity to provide reassurance and make sure that our systems are fit for purpose.

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am 100% in agreement with the Deputy on Putin. Appeasement has failed. I understand why sometimes people promote appeasement but just as it failed in the 1930s and 1940s, it has failed here. Russia was allowed to control part of Moldova, then it was allowed to invade Georgia and control part of Georgia, then it was allowed to take Crimea. The West did not act sufficiently, nor did the wider international community. As a result of that, Putin felt he had the green light to invade eastern and southern Ukraine and that is what he has done. He will only stop where we stop him. That is why we need to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes, and we will.

I remember the exchange Deputy Berry and I had about a year ago. All the intelligence was telling us that Putin was going to invade Ukraine. I had hoped the intelligence was wrong. The British and Americans have got their intelligence wrong in the past and I had hoped they were wrong on this occasion but they were not. They were spot on. The invasion began after the Olympic Games in February. Since then we have been updating and renewing our plans to deal with potential threats. We believe that a nuclear or radiological emergency is highly unlikely. I want to reassure the public and the House that we believe it is highly unlikely and even if it does happen, it is unlikely to have serious consequences for us. We have made contingency plans for it. In fact a training exercise was held in September to test the nation's response to a nuclear emergency. It took place in the National Emergency Co-ordination Centre, not too far from here, where we practised the systems and procedures outlined in the national plan for nuclear and radiological emergency exposures, to ensure that the Government and State agencies are prepared to manage the response effectively to a range of potential scenarios. The national plan details Ireland's planning and preparedness for a national response to a major nuclear emergency. It sets out the trigger points for the plan to be invoked. It includes notifications to Irish authorities of nuclear or radiological emergencies abroad. While this event is highly improbable, the Government is aware of the impact that it could have on Irish society, businesses and the economy. It is a statutory requirement that nuclear emergency exercises are organised by the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA. The previous such exercise, prior to the one in September, happened in 2017. Such exercises are part of regular and prudent Government planning for national emergencies and follow on from exercises also held a few months ago to test a hypothetical response to a disruption in our energy supplies.

Cathal Berry (Kildare South, Independent)
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It is an unlikely scenario but it is a low probability and high impact issue if it does actually occur. I thank the Taoiseach for confirming that there is a plan. My concern is that everybody who needs to know the plan is aware of it. Would the Taoiseach agree that we have the necessary resources in terms of equipment and people to ensure that we have a resourced implementation of this?

Over the Easter recess, will the Taoiseach and the appropriate Ministers consider getting a briefing to make sure they are fully updated on the situation?

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy. I believe we have adequate resources, but I am not sure what resources we would need, depending on how severe the event is. We do not believe any event would be likely or, if it did happen, would have a major impact on Ireland. We cannot take that for granted. The Tánaiste and Minister for Defence and I have plans to have a further briefing on this over the Easter period. It is something that is in train. We have not quite gone to the extent of advising the public as to what it should do in this scenario. We need to balance the risk with the threat and response. That is something we need to consider.