The so-called housing tsar debacle has left more questions than answers, and not just about salary either. The Minister for housing has been very quiet in responding to these questions. We need to hear from him in the Dáil. He must come to us to explain how he proposes his new housing activation office will work. He cannot leave explanations to the Minister of State with responsibility for nature and biodiversity, as he did on the radio last Friday. Over recent weeks, we have heard plenty of noise from Government about unblocking blockages, tackling shortfalls, maverick approaches and boots on the ground, but no detail. Will there be legislative underpinning for this new office? Will it do more than check the Minister's homework? Crucially, how much will it cost? Whatever the salary, what everyone is struggling to understand is what will the housing tsar do that the housing Minister cannot do himself.

The Minister is currently failing on housing. Let us take some examples. On infrastructure, we learned yesterday about the lack of funding for Uisce Éireann at a time when we are hearing so much from developers and house builders about delays due to infrastructure. We heard yesterday that the extra €1 billion for Uisce Éireann in the budget did not actually represent additional funding. It is what my colleague, Deputy Nash, has called a three-card trick before the election, a bit like the promise of 40,000 homes last year.

Lack of infrastructure is slowing delivery. We are hearing it in Mallow, where 469 houses are being delayed due to infrastructure problems. We are hearing it in Dublin, too. We are hearing other issues as well. Take Pearse House, a large flat complex just a few hundred metres from here, which is in the process of being regenerated. In recent weeks, we have heard from the Department of housing that there has been a hold on regeneration plans, partly because that building is listed. Residents are devastated. They are facing appalling conditions, with sewage overflowing, unsafe stairwells and damp houses. It is not just Pearse House, either. Regeneration is badly needed at Oliver Bond flats, Mercer House and in developments throughout the country.

It is ironic that Pearse House is listed because it is one of Herbert Simms’ developments, built in the 1930s. Simms built 17,000 homes across our capital city between 1932 and 1948. This was a programme of building at scale precipitated by a famous report commissioned in response to worsening conditions in the tenements. It concluded that the State had to deliver homes at scale because the private sector was incapable of doing so. The words of that report are reminiscent of the words in the Housing Commission’s report which seeks a radical reset of housing policy and for the State to play an integral role in providing counter-cyclical support to ensure home building can proceed at scale. What we are not hearing from the Government is any recognition of the need for that urgent and rapid reset in housing. People are being left without a home. They do not want a tsar; they want a home. What will the Minister for housing do to reassure us that he is going to deliver homes?

Everyone across this House acknowledges that the State has to play a central role in the future of infrastructure delivery and the provision of housing in our economy. That has been acknowledged in the context of what we are going to do and how we will strategically invest more than €20 billion from the Apple escrow fund and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund to prioritise housing, energy, water and transport infrastructure. They are all critical growth-enabling areas in which we need to invest to protect and progress Ireland’s future.

Deputy Bacik is critical of the housing activation office and what the Minister, Deputy Browne, has sought to do. In the interim, staff are being deployed from the Department of housing into that office, as well as respective experts from utilities being seconded, to try to address some of the blockages that exist at a local level. I am also stepping up an infrastructure division in the Department of public expenditure to respond to the absolute need to accelerate infrastructure delivery across our economy. In parallel with that, we are developing a programme of reform to try to address and narrow a lot of the timelines, which are too long and elongated in delivering housing and infrastructure across our State. It is all about trying to synchronise delivery between water, energy, utility providers and the respective delivery agents that need to deliver more across our economy.

When it comes to the Deputy’s question with respect to Irish Water, as I set out on budget day, a €1 billion equity investment was provided for in budget 2025 following the sale of the bank shares. This was in addition to the voted Exchequer allocation provided as part of the funding mix. The Deputy referenced the correspondence from the chair of Irish Water, who is an excellent chair and also the chair of Dublin Port. He reflected the need for clarity and expressed concerns that were responded to at the time by the Minister for housing. In further correspondence from the chair, he acknowledged the appreciation of the Uisce Éireann executive and board for the commitment of the Department, the Minister at the time and the Government. He indicated the support and responsiveness of the Department had been genuinely helpful and he appreciated the time and attention given to clarifying the funding available for Uisce Éireann for 2025 and the use allocation of the additional €1 billion capital investment. A few days after the correspondence the Deputy referenced, therefore, the Minister clarified the matter. That was acknowledged by the chair of Irish Water at the time. I acknowledge the need, however, particularly in the context of water infrastructure, for additionality to accelerate the delivery of additional wastewater treatment and to provide for additional connections for new homes. That is why we have been clear that water investment will be central to the allocation that will be received in the national development plan in July and why it is a strategic area of priority for the Government. Irish Water has the multi-annual funding to accelerate delivery where there is a significant deficit across the State.

It is very difficult to take seriously the Government's commitments on infrastructure or on housing delivery. On infrastructure, what is clear from the correspondence and the revelations about Uisce Éireann is that it simply has not been provided with the necessary additional resourcing to enable it to step up to provide the vital connections that are necessary to ensure building at scale. On the delivery of homes, there is that 40,000 figure we now know is 10,000 off and across the country we are seeing communities who are left bereft, awaiting housing developments that are long promised. In Poolbeg, at the Irish Glass Bottle site, we were promised thousands of new homes. I met last week with the local housing action group there, which is despairing of hearing a firm agreement on the numbers of social and affordable homes to be provided on that crucial site. We are simply not seeing the delivery of homes or infrastructure and we still have not heard from the Minister as to what exactly the housing activation office is going to bring that will be additional and that will provide for the necessary capacity to build at the scale that Herbert Simms built at all those decades ago.

The housing activation office will be there to better coordinate delivery in terms of the provision and supply of homes at a local level. The Minister will set out further details around that-----

When?

He is working through the details. He is stepping up the office itself and will provide leadership when it comes to the actual person who may be appointed in time around that particular office. It is to co-ordinate delivery in the provision of an increased supply of homes across our economy. We acknowledge that there is an infrastructure deficit and that there is a need for additionality across water, energy, transport and housing. That is why we are taking a strategic approach, having an early review of the national development plan and prioritising key areas in those four sectors I have referenced, all with the central focus of increasing the supply of homes across our economy. We have historic increases in the provision of direct support for social and affordable housing. A significant proportion of the homes delivered last year were through the direct contribution of the State. The Deputy will see, through the national development plan, a serious uplift in the context of those four areas that will support infrastructure delivery to increase the supply of homes.

Would the Minister agree that his Government's record on housing over the first 100 days has been an unmitigated disaster? A total of 15,376 people are in emergency accommodation, housing completions are down by 6.7% and social and affordable targets are down by 18%. These are figures that the Government knew about before the election but has not yet explained why it stayed quiet about them. To top it all off, search parties have to be sent out for the housing Minister because nobody has a clue who he is. Before he even took up his post he announced that he needed a housing tsar. What this is bringing back is the golden circle hangover and headaches of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael from past eras. Brendan McDonagh, the favoured candidate, was to be hired on a salary of €430,000. He is to go back to his other State job on the same salary unless the Government takes action.

It was revealed in The Ditch that Mr. McDonagh had bought a house in Cabra under the name of Brendan McDonagh in September 2014 but had used two aliases on the same property. If someone has a love of the Irish language, he or she normally uses aliases and names in other forums and not just in relation to property. PB McDonncha registered the property and Pádraig McDonncha sought five planning permissions on the property. I am just wondering what due diligence the Government did about the candidate. Why would somebody use two different aliases? Does the Minister know? How would a house in Cabra command a rental of €10,226 per week? It is not the Riviera. There are so many questions that need to be investigated. Is the Minister aware of any other properties Brendan McDonagh may have registered in another name? Is this a case of somebody in the property sector who is gaming the system because he is in the know? Will the Government investigate this now that Mr. McDonagh is moving back to another State job?

Why do we need a so-called housing tsar on a salary that is ten times the average wage of a teacher or nurse who cannot afford a house? It is crystal clear what needs to be done. There are State lands and there is money in the State coffers. In the Minister's constituency, Fingal County Council has a huge land bank at Scribblestown, Elmgreen, Dunsink of 247 acres.

It has asked the Government for €200 million. All the Minister for public expenditure needs to do is write a cheque. He does not need a housing tsar to do that for him. According to a council meeting last October, at which councillors from the Minister's party were present, that site could provide 7,000 houses. It is a strategic land bank for the county of Dublin and for the Minister's constituency of Dublin West, where so many are suffering. Will he fund that land bank? Do we need a tsar for that?

Before the Minister responds, I reiterate that I understand there are issues, but it is a long-standing ruling of the Chair that Members should not comment on, criticise or make charges against a person outside of the House or an official, either by name or in such a way as to make him identifiable, as he is defenceless against accusations made under privilege in the House. I am letting the Deputy know that. We now move to the Minister, Deputy Chambers.

Based on what you say, a Cheann Comhairle, I am not going to respond to the specific query Deputy Coppinger raises relating to the article in The Ditch. It is a matter for the individual to respond. I do not have the factual position on that case and I do not think it would be appropriate to make any assertions or allegations connected to it. We must respect the ruling of the House. The named individual the Deputy references is not here to defend himself.

The new housing activation office the Deputy continues to criticise is being established by the Minister, Deputy Browne, to ensure we bring that radical step to the delivery of homes across our economy. Deputy Coppinger references the example of Fingal County Council, which can be a central local authority for the increased provision of social and affordable homes, but to deliver at scale, we need to ensure co-ordination across the respective utilities - in water, the ESB, and the local authorities themselves - to have the enabling infrastructure to deliver homes at scale. What the Minister, Deputy Browne, is seeking to do is to have a structure within the Department of housing, which brings co-ordination to strategic sites that can deliver homes at scale. That is what he is doing in the context of the strategic housing activation office that he is establishing.

In response to Deputy Coppinger's question on funding, we have seen record levels of funding by this Government, with more than €6 billion of capital investment planned for 2025. We know we have to do more, not only specifically for voted allocation for housing itself, but also to the respective utilities that have been raised here today. That is why enabling the infrastructural agencies such as Irish Water, and the respective needs in terms of the grid infrastructure, will be central to increasing the supply of homes. For that reason, in the review of the national development plan, we have identified the strategic priorities that will receive much greater additionality as part of the multi-annual programme we will agree. Housing, energy, water and transport are all central to that. We will not have a national development plan like we have had in previous iterations where there was a general disbursal across government. This is about prioritising clear areas to focus on the supply of homes, so that we support local authorities with strategic land banks, such as Fingal County Council that Deputy Coppinger referenced, to enable the delivery of additional homes. There are probably ten or 11 other local authorities that have the ability to deliver homes at scale. That is why the strategic housing activation office will play a clear role, working with the respective utility companies to try to accelerate the delivery of more homes, including social and affordable homes, complemented by additionality that we will bring in the context of the NDP review. That is what this Government is seeking to do. It is what the Minister, Deputy Browne, is seeking to do through the establishment of the strategic housing activation office. It is all to deliver more homes and more social and affordable homes for families across the country.

With regard to the issues raised about the favoured candidate for the post, the question was whether the Government will investigate these issues, even if the Minister does not want to answer them right now.

We do not need a housing tsar to contact Fingal County Council, have a meeting, discuss its needs and then organise the payment for whatever needs to be done. We do not need a housing tsar. It is not as if this has not been done before. Previous Fianna Fáil governments did this in harder times in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. It is not rocket science. What is the role of the housing Minister if somebody has to be hired in and to be called a tsar?

The land bank in Dublin West is a strategic land bank for the whole county. There should have been meetings between the housing Minister and Fingal County Council about it, and getting work on it started straight away.

I thank the Deputy.

Have those meetings taken place? If they have not, will the Minister organise that they will take place?

Of course the Minister for housing will be taking responsibility for the wider delivery of social and affordable homes across the economy. If there is an engagement or a meeting, it is important to have a structure in the Department of housing to ensure there is follow through, to ensure there are no delays and to ensure the respective utilities are actually following through on the plans the Government would seek to fund. In identifying strategic land banks, like the one the Deputy referenced in Fingal County Council and those in other local authorities, we need to try to force co-ordination by the respective utility companies and local authorities to increase the provision of social and affordable homes. If the Deputy engages with anyone who is developing housing or is trying to increase the provision and supply of housing across our economy, whether it is an approved housing body or indeed in the private sector, they will all tell her that there are co-ordination issues-----

Has the Minister met the councils?

-----which need to be managed very carefully and actively. Having a structure in government to do that and to force that will help to yield greater housing supply which people should welcome. It would be much better for the Deputy to provide constructive input into actually supporting that office with the Minister for housing. It would make a big difference.