I must remark that the Minister, Deputy Humphreys, is looking particularly comfortable in the leader's seat today.
Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
I will refrain from comment on that, a Cheann Comhairle. I welcome everybody back and wish them a happy new year. That is good news to start the year off.
In April 2021, a vulture fund was on course to buy up the majority of homes in Mullen Park, Maynooth. Does the Minister remember that? She should, as it provoked widespread public anger. At the time, the Government said it was unacceptable for investment funds to buy up homes from under the noses of ordinary buyers. It said it would sort it out, but here we are in 2024 and investment funds continue to bulk-buy family homes at the expense of workers and families. In Belcamp Manor in Dublin, it is a case of here we go again. A vulture fund has bought up 85% of the homes in that development, which is 46 of 54 homes. It has put these homes up for rent, charging upwards of €3,000 a month. This is a real kick in the teeth for those who have scrimped, saved and sacrificed for years to buy a home.
This is not a once-off occurrence either and the Government knows it. Up to March of last year, as the Department of Finance has revealed, investment funds had snapped up 630 homes in two years, yet the Taoiseach acts surprised again and tells us the Government will have to take a look at how the bulk purchase of Belcamp Manor happened. He knows this happened because of Government policy. In 2020, the Government voted down a Sinn Féin amendment to the Finance Bill to address this very issue. It was months later, in response to the public outcry over Mullen Park, that the Government introduced some measures. At the time, it was warned that these measures were designed to fail. It was warned that it had set a stamp duty that was too low to stop the vulture funds and that there were tens of thousands of homes already in the planning process and left at risk of being snapped up by investment funds. The Government did not listen and this is exactly what is happening.
Of course, the Government did not touch the sweetheart financial arrangements afforded to these funds by Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, which see them pay no capital gains tax and not a single red cent on their obscene rental incomes. The truth is that Government policy enables and encourages these funds. We are well past the point of the Government looking at how this happened. It already knows how and why. What we need now is action to stop it.
Tá na creach-chistí ag ceannach tithe teaghlaigh gan scáth, gan náire ó oibrithe, teaghlaigh agus ó ghnáthdhaoine a shábháil gach leathphingin chun teach a cheannach. Caithfear stop a chur leis láithreach.
In the midst of a housing crisis people need a Government on their side, not in the corner of wealthy vulture funds. The Government had a choice in 2021, and has a choice now. It can again choose to allow investment funds free rein to snap up family homes or it can finally take real action to clip the wings of these vulture funds and put an end to this unacceptable practice. Sinn Féin will bring a motion before the Dáil tonight to do exactly that. My question is very simple. Will the Government support it?
I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Before answering, I wish everybody a happy and successful 2024.
In 2021, the Government took a number of actions. To discourage significant purchases in housing estates by investment funds, a higher 10% rate of stamp duty was introduced on the purchase of ten or more houses in a 12-month period. Planning guidelines were issued to restrict the bulk-buying of houses and duplexes. A section 28 guideline was issued to all the planning authorities which aimed to prevent multiple homes being sold to a single buyer. Since May 2021, planning applications have been subject to these restrictions. Since the introduction of these measures in 2021, the increased level of stamp duty has applied to 1% of the total new homes built. That is a small percentage of all homes being built.
The planning application for Belcamp Manor predated the new restrictions. The way to deal with this issue is to increase the supply of housing stock. We all agree on that. Last Monday, I was in Dundalk and the number of new housing developments there is unbelievable. Thousands of new houses are being built. That is happening throughout the country. Some 30,000 new homes were built in the past year. The numbers of planning permissions and commencements are way up and mortgage approvals are at a record high, with 500 first-time buyers drawing down their mortgages every single week.
The policies of the Government are working. As regards Sinn Féin policies, it wants to abolish the help-to-buy scheme which helped more than 28,000 first-time buyers to get their keys last year. The latest is that it wants to bring house prices in Dublin down to €300,000. I am the Minister for Rural and Community Development. How much does Sinn Féin believe house prices outside of Dublin should be? What price does it put on a house in Monaghan, Cavan, Donegal, Longford or Leitrim? What is its policy? Is it that everybody should be in negative equity?
I was talking to a farmer the other day whose son is building a house on his own land. He said he cannot build the house for €300,000. It will not and cannot happen, even though he is getting the site for nothing. If it cannot be done in Monaghan, it cannot be done in Dublin. A report issued by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland, SCSI, last year stated that the average cost of rebuilding a four-bedroom home was €384,000. That figure excludes the site cost and refers to the cost of rebuilding.
A report from Goodbody's last night stated the number of new house starts in the final three months of 2023 was 51% higher than in the same period in 2022 and that 33,000 houses were started in 2023. We have the highest level of housebuilding since the crash. More new developments are springing up all over the country and more houses are coming on stream all the time. We know we have more to do but the policy is working.
The issue the Deputy raised represents a very small proportion of houses.
In fact, it is 1% so they are not snapping up homes for families.
We know, and the Minister has reiterated the fact, that Fine Gael and the Government benches do not want housing to be affordable. There is no great surprise in that. Certainly, our farming friend in Monaghan and people beyond that know full well that if they ever had an expectation of homes being affordable on the Government's watch, that expectation is truly dashed at this stage. There is no breaking news on that.
I raised a very specific issue, namely, that despite promises to the contrary, vulture funds continue to snap up family homes. In Belcamp Manor, on the north side of this city, this meant 85% of a particular development being snapped up and bought from under the noses of people who have saved really hard and desperately want to put a roof over their heads. I am simply asking the Government, having failed thus far, to sort this out. We heard last time that it agreed with us that this is an unacceptable practice, so we want it to stop.
The time is up, Deputy.
In a bid to be helpful to the Government, Sinn Féin will this evening bring forward a motion with a solution to that problem, one that will stop the vultures. Is the Government prepared to back that solution to stop vulture funds snapping up these homes and-----
Time is up.
-----to allow hard-pressed people, families and especially young people, a chance to actually buy their own homes?
Hear, hear.
We are allowing young people the opportunity to buy their own homes.
In Australia.
Approximately 500 new mortgages are drawn down each week, so the opportunity is there. We are creating more houses. More and more are coming on stream all the time and we can see that. The only way we would achieve house prices of €300,000, as the Deputy's party is suggesting, is to have a recession. That is the only way house prices will come down. I am being realistic about all of this and I telling people the facts. You cannot build a house for €300,000.
Yes, you can.
That is the fact of the matter-----
What about the vulture funds?
-----and there is no changing that. I ask the Deputy one question. Would she build her house for €300,000? I could not. It is not possible to do it.
Is it a mansion?
The best way to increase supply is to continue with what we are doing in Housing for All-----
The Minister is very cranky today.
-----and get more houses on stream.
Housing for all the vultures.
It is happening and will happen. The proof of the pudding will always be in the eating.
I wish all in the House a happy new year. The Minister and her Government are presiding over an abject failure on housing. This failure is devastating, particularly for those 13,514 people, including 4,000 children, who are in homelessness. That is a record figure and a shameful record. The housing crisis is also impacting on the hundreds of thousands of young adults living out of childhood bedrooms and the many thousands who are emigrating to Australia and other countries every year to find homes of their own. It is affecting thousands of people, including those I meet in my constituency every week, who are stuck in a rental poverty trap and cannot see themselves ever owning a home of their own.
The Government's housing failure is also affecting other policies and other services the State should and could be providing. We have a chronic shortage of teachers in our schools. We all know this. We have a chronic shortage of carers and educators in our childcare settings and there is a real difficulty recruiting medical staff for our hospitals. The reason in large part is that so many people cannot afford to live anywhere near their workplace or within a reasonable distance of it.
The abject failure in housing is also affecting other things. It is affecting our response to the humanitarian challenge we are facing because of the brutal war in Ukraine and the many wars and conflicts around the world which are forcing so many people to flee to our shores seeking refuge. We have always been a land of welcomes, from which so many of our own so-called unvetted males and females had to flee to find a better life in England, Australia, America and elsewhere. We know the Irish diaspora now exceeds our own population on this island by a factor of ten. Now that those seeking refuge from war or persecution are coming to our shores, we must offer a real welcome to them, just as we offer a welcome to those who come here to work and share their experience and expertise, the people who drive our buses, work in our hospitals and make our society better.
The reality is that across Ireland in the past two years, since that invasion of Ukraine began, our communities have offered a welcome to the many thousands of people who have fled here. Only in a small number of cases have we seen protests or opposition to new arrivals. I want to condemn outright the small number of very serious criminal actions we have seen committed, even in recent weeks in terms of arson, but also violence, intimidation, assault and threats. It is disappointing to see even Government party elected officials undermining the welcome effort. I am thinking of Mayo County Council's vote last night, for example.
The reality is that there is no refugee crisis. It is wrong to categorise it in that way. We do have a housing crisis and that is adding to the challenge of finding accommodation for our new arrivals. The Minister said it herself in response to the earlier question. The answer is that we do need to build more homes. The Minister said that. We need to increase the supply of our housing stock. We are hearing it from families living in hotel rooms, renters facing eviction and parents desperate to see their young people stay here and not move to Melbourne or Perth.
Why will the Government not take on the necessary ambition and urgency to deliver the homes the Minister acknowledges are so badly needed? Why will it not adopt the credible targets for delivery for housing we just heard the construction industry stakeholders calling for in the past week? We heard the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, calling for it. Why will the Government not adopt credible targets for the delivery of housing?
I thank the Deputy. The Housing for All target for this year is to build 33,450 new homes. I do accept there is a gap between the existing target and what is needed. In the past, we did not have the capacity to deliver, but that capacity is increasing all the time. We need to have an informed process in setting new targets. The Department of housing is working with the ESRI on research that will inform the national and geographical needs based on our population growth. We need to build more houses, but we need to build them in the right places.
The Taoiseach wants our targets to be ambitious and that is a good thing. The final figures for last year will probably show that approximately 33,000 new homes were built. That is the highest since the crash. Construction began on more than 3,400 homes last month alone, which is a 90% increase year on year. We are making substantial progress but, of course, we need to do more.
The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is working day and night, I have to say, when it comes to increasing housing supply and when he gets the research data, he will set out revised targets.
We are now seeing major housing developments all across the country. Planning permissions, commencements, mortgage approvements and all those indicators are all going in the right direction. A huge amount of work is being done to tackle vacant and derelict properties. We have the vacant home grant of up to €70,000. We know how extremely popular that is. I see this myself. Houses that have been derelict for years and years are now being transformed into new homes for young people and breathing new life into our towns and villages and into our rural areas as well. That grant is proving to be very popular. More and more people are looking at renovating existing homes, especially in the towns that have the services. It certainly makes sense to do that.
When we entered government in 2011, the problem was ghost estates and huge negative equity. As we all know, the sector was decimated. It has been built back up and there have been many challenges in the interim. We had the challenge of Brexit, Covid-19, the war in Ukraine and inflation. Last year alone, we saw the highest number of new builds since that crash.
Government policies are working. We need to do more, which I accept, and we will do more. As I said, our new targets will need to be based on data and population growth leading to more houses in the right places. The ESRI research is actually due out next month. The Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, will announce updated targets shortly after he receives that report. I have no doubt they will be ambitious.
No amount of spin can hide the reality, which is that we are just not building enough houses. The Minister's answer acknowledges that.
Construction industry stakeholders themselves point out that without credible targets, we simply will never meet the delivery we need to do for our growing population. We have heard it from across industry, with the Construction Industry Federation confirming over the weekend that there is capacity and a need for up to 60,000 new builds per year.
As I have been hearing from the Taoiseach for months that the Housing for All targets are too low and that they will be revised and updated, I am asking precisely when will we see the new revised targets and whether they will meet that clear level of need of need. This time last year, we in Labour called for 50,000 new builds per year. We also pointed out that we will need to see 50,000 deep retrofit and refurbishments a year to address that vacancy and dereliction crisis that the Minister mentions. Those figures have been borne out by reports from the ESRI, by calls from Sherry Fitzgerald and Dr. Ronan Lyons. How many times does the Government need to be told its targets are not credible currently and will never meet the existing level of need until we adopt credible targets and see a housing plan from the Government that is sufficiently ambitious and urgent to deliver the homes our people so badly need?
I thank the Deputy. We are exceeding our targets every year. Every year we are building more houses and we will continue to do that.
The Deputy acknowledges that capacity was a problem. That has been built up. Much work has gone into upskilling and retraining young people into the construction sector and it is working.
I stated clearly that the Minister, Deputy Darragh O'Brien, is expecting the ESRI research. The Department is expecting that report next month and updated targets will be brought to Government at that stage. No doubt they will be ambitious, because we have exceeded. However, there is no point in setting a target last year that is unrealistic. We set targets and have exceeded them. It is our intention to be ambitious because we all know we need more houses. That is what this Government is committed to doing, namely, providing more houses in order that people can have their own home that they want to buy and live in.
I call Deputy Boyd Barrett.
It will be Deputy Smith.
I am the leader for the new year, okay?
Congratulations.
I want to put it up to the Minister and to the entire Government that the problems we have seen over the past few days in Roscrea and beyond are not the fault of asylum seekers; they are the Government's fault. I am pointing the figure at the Government because I really mean this. I am so angry, as is everybody, about the scenes of women and their children being frightened and bullied, and harangued and harassed, as well as the scenes of violence that ensued from that and them having to witness it.
It is happening, not because they are a problem but because the Government is a problem and previous Governments were a problem precisely because the Government's housing policy and its lack of delivery on public services has led to the anger of ordinary people whipped up by the lies and viciousness of the far right; the Nazi supporters who want to blame refugees and people of colour. They have directed that against asylum seekers instead of directing it against the Government and its policies.
The reason I am doing this in such a vociferous way is that we have echoes of those Nazi supporters' lies in this Chamber. Those echoes, which come from Rural Independent Members and others across this House, which blame refugees for the problems that we have, actually make a difference to how people think. When people find that this is going on, and is echoed by Deputies and others in this House, and now councillors - from Mayo right down to Kerry, they are talking about not dealing with or talking to the Government about refugees - and they are in the Government parties, the Government should rein them in and not allow this happen. The Government should rein in its councillors and not allow them to pass motions that refuse to deal with the Department on the question of refugees. The sooner they get out of government, the better because, until and unless they do, we will have the complication of people blaming refugees instead of blaming the Government.
However, I want to put it up to other Deputies, such as Deputy Lowry, who boasts regularly about what he has achieved for north Tipperary. Why does the Deputy continually vote confidence in the Government and vote against a ban on evictions? By doing that, the Deputy is supporting those who are implementing the policies where migrants and asylum seekers are being scapegoated. It might sound like a bit of leap, but every time one refuses to deal with the housing crisis with a lack of public services, it adds fuel to the fire.
I do not care how many nice liberal Fine Gaelers get on "The Tonight Show" and sound tough and hard on it; the reality is that it is the Government's policies that are implementing the scapegoating of migrants. Deputies should not talk about us suffering from an invasion. The invasion we are suffering from is when Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael opened up this country to vulture and real estate investment funds, which are buying up housing estates still, 85% of them, and are depriving ordinary teachers, nurses, doctors and people who provide services of the ability to put down roots in this country. All of that feeds into this migrant crisis and until we get rid of those policies, that is, of Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and its mudguards in the Greens, we are not going to make the difference.
The Deputy has just given the far right a pass. It is a disgrace.
I am all in favour of robust debate but it is not fair, by any stretch of the imagination, to equate any Member of this House, in any way, with Nazism.
Thank you.
Not by any stretch of the imagination. The Deputy diminishes the appalling nature of what Nazism is to do so.
I will have that debate with the Ceann Comhairle again but I stand over my right to say that they echo the sympathies of Nazis.
The Deputy can say what she likes.
I can.
I am simply pointing out the facts.
They are not facts.
They are not the facts.
Deputy Mattie McGrath over there-----
The Deputy is going down a dangerous road. The rise of far right ideology and anti-immigration sentiment in Ireland is worrying. It is something we have seen in other countries for many years but it had not been an issue here. Unfortunately, that has changed but when you look ahead to 2024 the world is becoming a scary place. When we look at what is going on in Gaza, at Putin's war in Ukraine and the election in America, which looks like it will be divisive, we should not be fanning the flames on all of this propaganda, misinformation and outright lies being spread on social media. I accept that the Government needs to communicate better but the Deputy knows as well as I do that cutting through the lies on social media is not easy. There is an onus on every one of us in this House to show leadership. There is a lot of misinformation out there about immigration and as a Government we need to communicate better, as I said earlier. It is incumbent on every one of us to do that.
Migration has been good for Ireland and I will give some information to the House in that regard. The social insurance contributions from foreign nationals, that is, the PRSI contributions, amount to €3 billion per annum. Over the past ten years, it has amounted to €17 billion. That is coming from the workers in our health service, hospitality sector, food processing plants and other key sectors. That is helping us to pay for the pensioners in this country and for unemployment benefits. It is a wonder how some people can be at protests in the middle of the day when everyone else is working. We have had to announce more work permits recently because we cannot get staff in certain sectors.
The Government is dealing with an emergency situation. Over 107,000 Ukrainians have come here and there is a growth in the number of people applying for international protection. The Ukrainian war is going on much longer than anticipated, unfortunately, and people are staying longer. We are transferring from an emergency situation to a plan that allows us to accommodate the people coming here and to comply with our international obligations. We have a rules-based system and some 800 people were deported last year. We have doubled the number of staff in the Department of Justice in order that we can get decisions on international protection applications more quickly.
The challenges we are responding to are happening across Europe. It is something the Government is committed to dealing with. We have dealt with other challenges and people on the Opposition benches said at the time that we were doing the wrong thing. However, it turned out we were doing the right thing. There are challenges and we are dealing with them. I know the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, is working extremely hard in his Department.
To repeat, I am actually standing here to say the far right are liars and Nazi sympathisers. They spread bile and lies, first of all about single men, and then it extends to all refugees, including the terrified women and children we saw in the videos the other day. It is the far right that are spreading the riots. They are Nazi sympathisers and they see racism as a tool to deflect against what is going on in society. Unfortunately, however, it is deflecting against the Government and the problems it has created. The far right say Ireland is full but I will tell you what Ireland is full of: empty homes. There are 165,000 of them and the Government has never dealt with that. The homes have been lying empty for a long time under successive Governments of Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil, sometimes backed up by other parties that go into coalition with them. It is their policies that are creating the problem. If not, what the Government is saying to me is that ordinary people up and down the country who get sucked into this stuff are all baddies. I am not saying that; I am saying they are getting sucked in, instead of deflecting to the Government. The likes of Michael Lowry and Mattie McGrath, if they really cared about the people in north Tipperary, would be organising protests against the policies of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. They would not be voting against motions of no confidence; they would be voting to keep the eviction ban. They would, therefore, be providing services that would keep our nurses, doctors, vets, dentists and all the young people we educate in the country and deal with the lack of services in Roscrea and elsewhere.
The Deputy cannot blame the Government for people carrying out violent actions. She should not conflate the two issues of housing and immigration. Ukrainians and international protection applicants are being moved mainly into hotels and large-scale types of accommodation. They are not taking homes from Irish people. If that is the line the Deputy is trying to peddle, she is going down a very dangerous road.
We have taken a number of actions and will continue to work with communities and to improve our communication. The Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, is coming forward with a plan to provide more State accommodation for people who come into this country. That should be with us in the coming weeks. There are many things happening and we will continue to work on it. It is challenging. What is happening is happening right across Europe and we are not on our own here, but we want to deal with it in a way that is rules-based, shows respect and meets our international obligations to the people who come to our shores, many of whom come from very difficult circumstances.
Before I address the issue of Roscrea, I wish to put on the record of this House that I am not a racist. I am not anti-immigrant and I have no record of provocative language, either in or outside this House. Unlike Deputy Smith, who happened to mention me on three occasions in her speech, I stand for something. In her position, she is against everything and for nothing. I have been in this House for 37 years because I have managed to support Governments that have delivered for my constituency.
Lined their pockets.
That is my responsibility and obligation and I have done that.
Let me now address the issue of Roscrea. On four occasions in the past year, I have raised the subject of immigration policy and the lack of strategy. Each time I spoke in this Chamber, I illustrated Roscrea as a classic example of a system that is not working – a town that was overburdened, overwhelmed and in urgent need of vital services to be improved and supplemented. The Government did not listen. It ignored the legitimate and genuine concerns of the people of Roscrea. The people of Roscrea are compassionate by nature. After assurances and enhanced support networks, they accepted without protest a direct provision centre with hundreds of asylum seekers, as well as a centre to house 400 Ukrainian refugees. The reality is that this influx accounts for up to 20% of the population of Roscrea now. Therefore, by any sensible, reasonable, logical or sustainable criteria, you would have to conclude that Roscrea had already exceeded its capacity. This Government has failed Roscrea on immigration. It neglected to support the town in its time of greatest need.
During all of last year, the Government dismissed my real and genuine concerns and I can say today without fear that this Government has let down the people of Roscrea. The current unacceptable situation would have been avoidable, had the Government listened, responded and acted to address policing, educational, medical, social and recreational needs. There has been a flurry of activity in the past 48 hours; face-saving proposals after the damage has been done.
The Government is on the run on immigration policy and is making it up as it goes along. How many times have we heard from Ministers in this House that there should be consultation and communication? In the case of Roscrea, there was no consultation and with the current system, we are not getting consultation or openness and transparency. What we are getting are deals done and contracts signed that are shrouded in secrecy until the last minute. This alienates the local community and leads to suspicion and distrust.
Can I remind Members of this House that Roscrea is a traditional rural town? It is a friendly and welcoming town. Its people have shown great generosity and kindness. It is a town with an excellent community spirit that has coped with a lot of setbacks and adversity. It is a town that is fighting back through its community and voluntary leaders and organisations. I work closely with these groups. Many positive things are happening in Roscrea. Projects have been sanctioned that will bring enterprise and jobs and stimulate the local economy.
Under the town and village renewal scheme, the Minister has sanctioned and funded crucial revitalisation projects. It is rather ironic that while her Department is assisting with the renewal of the town, another Department has taken the extraordinary decision to take the only hotel in the town out of commission. How can it be acceptable for a Department to be complicit in such action?
I thank Deputy Lowry. I listened to Michael Murray from North Tipperary Development Company on the radio this morning. My Department supports its work. When you hear about the work North Tipperary Development Company is doing, you find out that it is helping Ukrainians and international protection applicants with training and employment supports. It set up a Roscrea welcome group and is working with local residents to host coffee mornings and play days. I believe Mr. Murray said that a special Ukrainian commemoration day is coming up. These community-led supports can make such a difference in terms of allaying fears and concerns. Last night on television, we all saw women in Roscrea bringing toys for the children who arrived there and I have to say fair play to them.
My Department has invested more than €7.8 million in Roscrea in recent years. I have a list of projects we have supported such as the Lions Club, the Roscrea scouts community hall and Roscrea Tennis Club. We have funded new walkways and greenways. Deputy Lowry, together with Deputy Cahill, has been in contact with me about the REACH project in Roscrea, which will see the development of a new enterprise hub. As the cost of that project has increased due to inflation, I am pleased to inform the Deputy that I have approved the additional funding that was requested to enable that project to proceed. Deputies Lowry and Cahill were in contact with me concerning the project well before Christmas and in the summer. It is a €3 million project that will make a big difference to the town in terms of job creation.
We have been engaging in different parts of the country through the local development companies. I was at an event in my own county on Monday, where the local development company is engaging with the Roma community. A large number of members of the Roma community live in Carrickmacross and great work is happening on the ground in terms of getting them to understand our norms and helping us to understand their cultures. This is something that needs to be done on the ground. We should not fear these people because they are here and have come from very difficult circumstances and many of them want to make a new life here and take up employment.
The Taoiseach has tasked Ministers with developing proposals to support areas that have taken in large numbers of Ukrainians and international protection applicants. I announced €50 million last year for projects under the community recognition fund. Many applications have come in under that. These will be facilities that will enhance the areas that have experienced a significant increase in their population because of the accommodation of new people coming in.
I am engaging with the Minister for public expenditure on funding a further round of that programme to support towns such as Roscrea. I hope to have agreement on that shortly.
Any proposals need to come from the ground up, from the local community in Roscrea, because it is the people on the ground who know what they need. My Department will work with Tipperary County Council on this. There have been some initial discussions as regards the idea of a community hotel. The Sliabh Beagh Hotel in Monaghan has operated on a community-run basis for many years. It works extremely well. Deputy Carthy is very familiar with the good work that goes on there. That has been mentioned. All I can say to Deputy Lowry is that we are happy to work with Tipperary County Council on this as well.
Finally, my Department funded a town centre first plan in Roscrea some time ago. One of the key recommendations in that plan was developed in collaboration with the local community, and that was the redevelopment of one of the vacant hotels in the town.
We are way over time now.
I am sorry.
I welcome every initiative that can be taken to support and assist Roscrea and its people. In my opening address, I complimented the Minister on her commitment to Roscrea and to the organisations within Roscrea, and I am glad to hear today that the REACH project can now go forward. As the Minister is aware, I have been very active with her officials in successfully promoting other projects such as the Gantly Street and Market Square developments and the provision of a new coláiste pobail for Roscrea.
As regards the hotel, it is comical politics to close one hotel and to open another. I have serious reservations about the practicality of the exercise, but in the interest of the town I am prepared to give it every consideration and discuss it locally with the council officials and everybody else involved. We should, however, look also at the possibility of a private purchase of the hotel with the support of the grant aid from the Department in order that we look at the two options: first, a privately purchased option supported by grant and, second, the community option.
Finally, what proposal does the Minister have as regards extra gardaí, extra classrooms, extra teachers, extra doctors and dentists-----
Thank you, Deputy. We are way over time.
-----and recreational facilities?
It is fair to say the system we have designed was for around 3,000 to 4,000 arrivals per year, and that was based largely on accommodation from private providers. Nobody foresaw the general increase in the applications we now have due to a war. We are in an emergency situation. We have plans - I know the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, is working on them - to acquire more State-provided accommodation and to look at where that needs to go in terms of maybe a fairer or a broader distribution across the country. The Taoiseach has asked each Department to come forward with proposals as to what we need to do in areas that have experienced a higher-than-normal number of international applicants or Ukrainian refugees. I fully understand that people are concerned. They might not be able to get a doctor's appointment. I understand the concerns people have. Each Department will come forward with proposals to the Taoiseach in the next week or two so we can deal with this issue.