I would like to speak about Revenue offices, in particular the reception areas in these offices. I dealt with an elderly lady who had a pension from Germany and she needed to get documentation to fill out the form she gets yearly from Germany. When she rang up the Revenue office, she found it would take five weeks to get an appointment so I decided to bring her to the Revenue office in Navan to get the form filled out. When we arrived at the office, the reception area was closed, the doors were shut and there were big signs on the doors basically saying "Ring this number". However, it takes five weeks to get an appointment.

This is very unfair to people who might have pensions in other countries and who get forms to fill out every year. There is often a time limit in such countries so these pensions could be stopped. In addition, if people want to get on the housing waiting list and need forms signed to get HAP or they are homeless, they have to wait at least five weeks before they can get into the tax office to speak to somebody. Thankfully, we got in that day and when we got in, we were looked after. However, we had to wait for somebody else to come out of the office after a meeting.

It is scandalous to think the reception areas in Revenue offices are closed and this is the new policy all over the country. The personal touch is gone from Revenue. While some people might be happy that the front door of the Revenue office is closed, if the organisation is providing a service, this is a disgrace. We should ask the Minister to come to the House and reverse this decision. We want the doors open and we want people to go in and out of Revenue reception areas and get the service they used to get.

I agree with the Senator that the Minister is a disgrace.

I compliment the Leader and his office on the work they have done to facilitate the dementia group in regard to meeting the Minister for Health next week. I want to express my appreciation to him and his staff. They acted honourably at all times.

The Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government was in the Chamber yesterday. What is becoming apparent, particularly in Dublin, is that the Part V aspect of social housing is not being delivered on in the communities where it is meant to be. To give some background, similar to Cork, Dublin comprises a number of villages, such as Clontarf, Marino, Ringsend, Sandymount, Ranelagh, Rathmines and so on. Part V is not going to be delivered anywhere in the south docklands and is going to be pushed out to the suburbs. The local authority has been reported in The Irish Times on three occasions stating there will be no affordable housing in areas like Ranelagh, Rathmines and Sandymount, and if anyone is expecting it, they are not living in reality. We are talking about people on substantial salaries of between €60,000 and €75,000 being told they will no longer be able to live in the community they grew up in. That now seems to be Government policy.

The other problem which is coming, including to Cork, Limerick and Galway, is build-to-rent. I will outline what is happening in the Dublin area. Last year some 2,000 apartments were built for the market - for people to get an opportunity to get a foot in the property market and buy their first home. Of the 2,000 apartments that were built, 1,500 were sold to the build-to-rent market, denying young people the opportunity to purchase their first home. This is now moving out of control yet it is facilitated by a preferential tax break for the funds involved. We need to have a conversation before this gets out of hand. It is another issue, like the Airbnb scandal, that is going to impact on property markets right across the country, facilitated by Fine Gael.