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152. Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the way in which the new short-term letting regulations will return vacant homes to the rental market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48050/26]

153. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will outline his plans to expand the help-to-buy and the first home schemes for young first time homeowners new into the market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48229/26]

156. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has assessed the impact low car parking provision in high-density residential developments; its effect on community relations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46879/26]

157. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the meaning of “operational security” in the context of refusing to provide geographical information on vacant National Parks and Wildlife Service enforcement posts; whether the term is defined in any Department or NPWS policy document; whether it has been applied consistently to all requests for NPWS staffing in…

160. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide an update on the development of guidelines relating to backyard modular or compact dwellings; when he expects these guidelines to be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47864/26]

161. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his engagements with representative countryside, conservation and rural stakeholder organisations, farming organisations, hunting associations and game management groups, regarding proposed EU restrictions on lead ammunition; if he will outline Ireland's position at recent meetings of the EU REACH Committee regar…

162. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when a scheme will commence to relocate nine families, living in defective concrete block homes away from a location (details supplied); when his Department officials will consult with the homeowners on the design of the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47952/26]

165. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether the State will meet the 2030 target of 36,500 social homes retrofitted. [43417/26]

166. Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if, in light of the revision of I.S. 465, he will direct that all appeals currently before the Defective Concrete Blocks Appeals Boards continue to be determined and issued without delay, given that appellants have already endured lengthy delays in the scheme and continue remain living in deteriorating …

171. Deputy John Clendennen asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the engagement that has taken place between his Department, infrastructure providers such as Uisce Éireann, and local authorities in relation to the long-term planning of water, energy and transport infrastructure required to support future investment and economic growth in County Offaly; and if he will make …

173. Deputy Aisling Dempsey asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will report on measures being taken to tackle vacancy and dereliction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48080/26]

176. Deputy Eamon Scanlon asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will report on affordable home delivery; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48067/26]

177. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is aware of a recent case where residents of an apartment complex have been made homeless following a fire (details supplied); if his Department is considering additional protections for tenants made homeless due to accidental damage to their rented accommodation; and if he will make a statement on the…

179. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps his Department is taking to assist elderly and disabled tenants such as a person (details supplied) to find suitable accommodation following the Government's new rental legislation that caused a spike in eviction notices in Q1 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48298/26]

180. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will examine the merits of bringing the local authority audit system under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General. [48287/26]

181. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will report on the measures he is taking to tackle homelessness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48095/26]

182. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on LIHAF-funded projects in Cherrywood. [48320/26]

185. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he intends reforming local government to give more powers to democratically elected councillors as opposed to council management; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48202/26]

186. Deputy James O'Connor asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the timeline for when solar planning guidelines will be published by his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48228/26]

187. Deputy Catherine Callaghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if guidelines and measures are in place to ensure rezoning for residential priority is given to plots of land that are shovel ready; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48203/26]

188. Deputy Louis O'Hara asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the measures his Department is considering to succeed the cessation of turf cutting compensation schemes as the payment period concludes for many applicants; if a replacement support is being considered; if so, the details of any such support or supports; and if he will make a statement o…

190. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the new planning rules accommodating those seeking to build on their own land will be implemented at local authority level; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48297/26]

191. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the latest measures he and his Department are taking to address the issue of dereliction in sites across Dublin north-west; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48185/26]

192. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage what he considers to be an affordable level of rents for council and HAP tenants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48200/26]

193. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will request a report from the Defective Concrete Block Appeals panel on the number of appeals underway; the number of decisions made by the panel in the past 12-months; the average length of time take for such decisions; if he will request a quarterly report from the panel with such information; and if he w…

It must be heartbreaking for those on the housing waiting lists to daily pass boarded up homes or the many derelict, abandoned or underutilised private homes on their way to bringing their kids to school, day in, day out and year in, year out. It is scandalous in a housing crisis - an emergency - that all homes connected to sewers, water and electricity do not have families in them. The laughter o…

We will continue doing everything in our power to minimise turnaround times, as referenced in the programme for Government, with the proposed introduction of a new voids programme to support local authorities to ensure their homes comply with the relevant standards and to provide good comfort levels for their tenants and implement strategic programmes for planned maintenance informed by stock cond…

We are in a housing crisis. Over 2,700 vacant council properties are boarded up and lying vacant across the State. Of those, more than 800 have been vacant for over a year. It is estimated that Dublin alone accounts for 27% of such vacant properties. Dublin has a growing senior population and along with it an increase in the demand for senior citizen accommodation. There are a number of senior ci…

There is no clear preference for data centres over anything else. That is just not correct. Our priorities are for the delivery of housing and additional water infrastructure, investing in our energy grid and supporting indigenous jobs and investment and FDI. This is a red herring, trying to bring forward the narrative that we are not connecting houses to the grid because we are connecting large e…

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. I welcome the Minister said that. I have met developers in north Dublin and across the country and they told me that the Housing Finance Agency was meeting just once a month. Completed buildings are sitting empty in the middle of a housing crisis, yet there does not seem to be a sense of urgency in the Department. Housing is not the Minister's Department, but as Mini…

I thank the Minister for that answer. I will continue to fight the case for Navan rail. The Minister will appreciate many of the arguments we will make. On housing delivery, I met recently with officials in Meath County Council. They have, including in their most recent county development plan, consistently argued the case that there is a real cap on development in County Meath in residential ter…

I thank the Deputies for their respective contributions. On Deputy O'Rourke point on the need for much more additional headroom for Meath County Council, the new national planning framework provides additional headroom to local authorities to zone more land to drive increased housing supply. The current baseline position is not at all near what we require to deliver the quantum of housing we in th…

We can come back to that in a moment. Other actions needed include: resourcing An Bord Pleanála properly; enacting and commencing the various provisions of the Planning and Development Acts in order that we can speed up the delivery of planning, because planning decisions are holding back the delivery of homes and infrastructure; increasing the zoned land for housing, and that is what the national…

We are not standing over any false narrative. We are reiterating long-standing foreign policy and, I think, the long-standing policy of the people of Ireland that there needs to be a two-state solution in the Middle East, that the State of Israel has every right to exist in peace and security and that the people of Palestine have every right to a sovereign state that exists in peace and security. …

I want to congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment and to wish him well in his role. I have had dealings with him in the past when I served as Chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, and Taoiseach. He presented his Estimates and every time he came in I reminded him of Carlow, Kilkenny and the schemes that were waiting to be planned and completed…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue and for consistently keeping it on the agenda in his time in the House. It is important that is done. Earlier this month, as he noted, we marked the 51st anniversary of the Dublin and Monaghan bombings of 17 May 1974. Those brutal attacks claimed the lives of 34 people, including an unborn baby, injured hundreds more and shocked the country to its core. Mo…

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I am dealing with two families, a brother and sister, one of whom lives in Arklow while the other lives just down the road in Coolgreany. There is a difference of €650 in the payment they receive. Since opening my constituency offices in Gorey and Arklow, the most prominent issue for people coming in the door has been housing. Day in, day out, I meet pe…

I thank everybody for contributing today. All of their contributions have been genuinely heartfelt and reflect the established opinion in Ireland for quite some time, which is the opinion of the Irish Government, too. It is a year ago to the day that the Government took a very important decision to recognise the State of Palestine. The decision was taken in the spirit of peace, in the spirit of k…

Israel is perpetrating a genocide; a genocide upon the people of Gaza. This motion recognises that. As we watch in horror the new atrocities being committed upon Palestinian civilians each day, there are more children and babies killed and injured and starving before our eyes and families being wiped out like the family of Dr. Alaa al-Najjar. We must do more and we can and must show leadership. O…

Of course, the answer is supply. We all acknowledge that but the issue is that the Government is not doing anything to bring forward supply or to increase the delivery of homes. I watched the Minister for housing give an interview last night. I heard no new ideas to address the situation facing the family I have described, a family who are in the same situation as far too many others. They are fac…

Couples in the first home scheme and other schemes are being priced out of the market in south Dublin and elsewhere. People who are working hard do not qualify for social housing but cannot qualify to make commercial bids and join the overnight queues for a small number of available properties. I understand the current pricing in south Dublin is €475,000 for houses and €500,000 for apartments. How…

I thank the Deputy for raising the specifics of the application of the first home scheme in a given area where prices are increasing. I acknowledge the point he makes. I will talk to the Minister for housing in respect of the thresholds issue. The first home scheme has been very effective and impactful so far for many people, notwithstanding that many in the House would abolish it, as has the help…

I understand that over 100 small and large estates have been taken in charge by Leitrim County Council over the past eight years, some of which were in an unfinished state. I compliment the planning department of the local authority on working with developers in some cases and, in many others, on its own, albeit with the support of the Department of housing. I understand that only five estates hav…

I also welcome this legislation. I hope it would be of interest to Deputy Gould in the context of the lecture he was giving people here. I wish to declare that I am a part of a company that employs up to 25 people. I am sure the Ceann Comhairle is well aware of this aspect, particularly as she was self-employed for years. Many small businesspeople are ag déanamh a ndícheall i gcónaí. They are doi…

I move amendment No. 1: In page 5, line 10, after “Education” to insert “and Youth”. I will speak broadly as I know this is the first time the Bill has been back in the House with this Government and this is the first time I am taking it as Minister. I am pleased to be before the House to progress Report Stage of the Supports for Survivors of Residential Institutional Abuse Bill 2024. The Govern…

I also want to welcome the family of Shane O'Farrell to the Distinguished Visitors' Gallery, his loving parents, Lucia and Jim, and his sisters, Gemma, Aimee, Pia and Hannah. When Shane O'Farrell left his home in Carrickmacross on the evening of 2 August 2011 to go on a cycle in preparation for a charity triathlon, he had his whole life ahead of him. At 23 years of age, Shane had secured a law de…

It is really hard to know where to start when it comes to CHI. The report that was published is shocking, disturbing and deeply upsetting for families across the country. It confirms what we have known and what we have said in the House for some time, that unnecessary surgeries took place on children. We know what happened and now we need to know why that happened. I have a list of questions as l…

I thank the Deputies for their questions and contributions. I will answer as many questions as I can and I can provide a further briefing for Deputies on a technical basis. I am very happy to come to the committee where we can do more back and forth. It is important Deputies have the opportunity to contribute in the House and, as I always try to do, I will answer as many questions as I possibly ca…

I wish to advise the House of the following matters in respect of which notice has been given under Standing Order 39 and the name of the Member in each case: Deputy Shane Moynihan - To discuss the growing demand for a secondary school in Newcastle. Deputy Albert Dolan - To discuss the report from Crohn's and Colitis Ireland highlighting the hidden costs of Crohn's and Colitis. Deputy Paul Donn…

I am not straying into the housing area. I am putting the issue into the context of a city where we have a massive housing crisis. I do not exaggerate. People have been on a waiting list for 20 years. We jump for joy when someone gets a house after 15 years. That is the context. In addition, we have two universities. A disaster of a decision was taken years ago before the arrival of the ATU. The C…