While there is no doubt we need new homes, as the Minister is aware, I have long advocated the release of vacant homes to assist those in urgent need of housing. I have argued that we have streets in our towns and villages that have not had a football kicked on them for a generation. Many of these have vacant family homes close to schools and services with high-speed broadband outside the door. My proposal for the introduction of the vacant home refurbishment grant, which the Minister steered through the Government, is now beginning to yield tangible benefits. I thank him for taking up this initiative. Furthermore, I have highlighted the unjust triple taxation imposed on older people in long-term nursing home care who choose to rent out their homes. I am pleased to acknowledge the Government's actions this week to dismantle these barriers. This change has the potential to introduce an additional 3,115 rental properties on the market. There were initial concerns that this policy might inadvertently pressure older people into long-term nursing home care. However, in a response to me last March, the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, assured Dáil Éireann there were no concerns regarding the thoroughness of the existing independent medical assessments for care needs conducted by the HSE prior to nursing home admission. This crucial point has been overlooked in much of the public debate on this matter.

I also commend the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, on her prompt action in extending the rent-a-room relief to social welfare recipients interested in renting out a spare room in their homes. It was a suggestion I made in light of the potential benefits. This initiative is not only about providing essential housing but also offers companionship and enhances security and provides peace of mind, which can be invaluable to older people. Thanks to this scheme, older people may now earn €269.23 weekly or €14,000 annually by renting out a room without affecting their non-State contributory pension or the benefits of a spouse or adult dependant of a contributory pensioner. However, to fully capitalise on this opportunity and create additional accommodation, we must address the existing medical card barrier currently hindering many older people from participating in this scheme. At present, pensioners aged under 70 or any social welfare recipient who receive an additional income face the prospect of losing their medical card. This has now become a barrier to releasing vacant rooms to meet our current housing needs and this is a point I highlighted last March. The medical card income limits have not increased since 2005. This is denying people on low incomes access to affordable healthcare, barring them from employment opportunities and blocking the release of vacant rooms. Will the Minister intervene?

I thank Deputy Naughten for raising these issues related to vacancy and the other measures we brought forward to enable us to release further housing stock and accommodation capacity. I especially thank the Deputy for his engagement on that because he was very helpful and constructive as regards the establishment of the vacancy grant, which we have done. I am pleased to say that over 5,300 applications have been received and there have been nearly 2,500 approvals, so the scheme is working very well. I have received approval to extend that further into next year and to double the targets we have set.

Work has also been done on the rent-a-room scheme and the income disregard, with a particular focus on students. This will be very worthwhile and will have benefits for both students and householders, as the Deputy correctly said. The over-70s income limit for medical cards was changed in 2021, as the Deputy knows. Further to our engagement in March, when we agreed a countermotion providing that the Government would extend the rent-a-room scheme disregard for social welfare recipients and extend the disregard into medical card criteria, we got Government approval for those measures. The objective of the Government is to provide for a disregard of up to €14,000 income for persons granted a rent-a-room relief by the Revenue Commissioners and that such income will not be assessed for medical card assessment purposes. At present, income derived from the rent-a-room scheme would be assessed under the medical card assessment, but in such cases this income would obviously be a contributing factor.

Officials from the Department of Health subsequently progressed work to identify and develop the legislative requirements needed to give effect to this objective. We agreed that this needs to be done and the income disregard for rent-a-room relief for people on medical cards needs to come into effect. The Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2023 has been drafted. It provides for the exemption of rent-a-room income from medical card assessment. The general scheme of the Bill was approved by the Government and published on 6 October, following which work was undertaken by officials in the Department of Health and the Attorney General's office. Drafting of the Bill is at its final stages and I am informed by the Department of Health it is expected to be completed very shortly. Subject to Government approval for the publication of the Bill, which I am sure we will get, it is intended to progress the legislation through the Houses of the Oireachtas in early 2024.

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. These measures will help people who would lose their medical card by renting a room through the scheme. That is a big consideration and people will not do it, frankly. We have agreed the matter in principle. We now need to get the legislation completed and into the House.