Before I call the next speaker, I welcome members of the Garda Síochána Retired Members' Association from Kildare South. They are most welcome to Seanad Éireann. I thank them for all their work in keeping us safe down through the years and I hope they enjoy their time in Leinster House.

Information released under a freedom of information request shows that Dublin City Council ran up a bill of €11,400 at a hotel on the French Riviera for its officials. On a separate trip to California, the accommodation cost was just under €11,000, with the Lord Mayor's flight costing almost €6,000 and that of Dublin City Council's chief executive costing over €4,000. That is indefensible. It is scandalous that top Dublin City Council figures are flying business class and staying in luxury hotels while at the same time Dublin City Council is imposing a rent increase on council tenants. That will have a huge impact on tenants across the city who are already struggling with the cost of living and have this massive rent increase coming down the road. It is a complete insult to working people that public money is being used in this way, particularly at a time when people are at the pin of their collar with the cost-of-living crisis. People will just not be able to afford to pay the increased rent. It will have a devastating impact on individuals and families.

Likewise, it has recently been announced that Dublin City Council plans to spend €10 million on renovations of its Wood Quay offices, the same offices it plans to demolish in a few years when it completes its new offices in Camden Yard at a cost of nearly €600 million. Dublin City Council seemingly has an endless supply of money for its own offices but when it comes to housing maintenance and community services, the purse seems to run out. The money is there; it is how it is spent. Government and Dublin City Council are choosing to spend it on extravagance and wasteful developments and are leaving tenants and residents in public housing to struggle with shockingly poor, substandard conditions to live in. Council tenants are being squeezed dry with rent increases on the basis that this revenue, raised from those who are struggling the most, is needed to fund the basic services, yet an unprecedented level of funding is available for its Civic Offices. To me, that points to a deeper issue around the prioritisation of funding by Dublin City Council. I urge the Minister, Deputy Browne, to come before the Seanad to debate the Department's approach to funding allocations at a local authority level.