Results 761-780 of 1,040,215 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Maurice Quinlivan OR speaker:Rose Conway-Walsh OR speaker:Duncan Smith OR speaker:Richard Boyd Barrett)
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I thank the Ministers and their teams for their contributions. I want to follow on from some of the questions I asked yesterday evening about the housing element of all of this. The statement says that €4.2 billion is to be allocated to the Department of housing, €2.5 billion of which is specifically for the housing capital allocation. Last year - I am just reading the...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Okay. That is pretty worrying but I suppose it is a frank admission. This is why, it seems to me, that we are not discussing the Housing Commission report because the Government has no intention of acting on it in budget 2025. Essentially, that is what the Minister is really telling us.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Okay but-----
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Richard Boyd Barrett: I accept that you cannot necessarily do everything overnight but also, it is clearly set out by the commission that there needs to be a dramatic increase, and it starts that increase from the coming year - 61,000, if you include student accommodation, is what it is setting out. If you add in student accommodation, it has it at 61,000, and that is up from 33,000. That is almost, in units per...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Richard Boyd Barrett: When do we start?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Yes, although I could mention water infrastructure and so on. Direct capital allocation is slightly reduced and the Minister has not refuted that point. It seems, on foot of what the Minister is saying, that the only increase the Department of housing is getting relates to the housing assistance payment, HAP. That is probably what it is. The Minister is factoring in that there will be...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Am I out of time?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Richard Boyd Barrett: Hardly, but-----
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Richard Boyd Barrett: The Minister is saying that capital investment has increased over the past while. That is true; it has. However, based on the allocation for housing capital specifically, what the Minister has read out is less than what was provided last year. Is the Minister disputing that fact? I take his point that money is going elsewhere in the Department of housing. There will be some increases...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: I wish the Minister for Finance, Deputy Chambers, well in his new role. The Housing Commission has stated that we are 250,000 homes short at the moment. On the basis of the allocations and performance so far, what year do the Ministers expect us to be in a situation where there is no shortage of housing?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: Will that be before the budget?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: I cannot see how we are going to address the shortage of 250,000 homes. I will move on to my other questions, if that is okay. My first question relates to public sector pay. The current agreement will run until halfway through 2026. We can see there are quite consistent allocations for budgetary decisions that will be allocated out to 2030. Can we take it that a future pay agreement...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: It is not baked in. Okay.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: I understand.
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: I understand. I was wondering if a figure was baked in or is to come out of the to-be-allocated funding. I wish to talk about the health budget and what was done yesterday, which I welcomed. Will the Minister admit at this stage that everybody, including members of this committee, the representatives of the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, IFAC, and the CEO of the Department of Health, was...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: The difference is that the health sector was deliberately underfunded. I will tell the Minister why I am asking. Since then, we have had a moratorium on the hiring of staff. I cannot understand why there would be a deliberate underfunding because we know that, when there is a moratorium on staff, not only does it add to the pain and distress of patients and staff in the system, it also...
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: That would mean the CEO-----
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: Why is there a moratorium in place?
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: The Minister is saying-----
- Committee on Budgetary Oversight: Summer Economic Statement: Discussion (10 Jul 2024)
Rose Conway-Walsh: Why are there so many people waiting on panels? Even in my own county, Mayo University Hospital, Belmullet hospital, and Ballina hospital are all waiting to fill positions but have been told they cannot do so because there is a moratorium in place. The same is true of a whole lot of other areas in primary care.