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481. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Education and Youth whether local authorities have received formal written guidance, circulars or operational instructions regarding prioritisation of housing supports for survivors of residential institutional abuse; and if she will provide copies of such guidance. [36716/26]

585. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total number of craft apprentices registered in each local authority, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37360/26]

586. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No.698 of 28 April 2026, if his Department plans to make the Local Authority Regional Homelessness Financial Reports, published on his Department's website, available in future in machine-readable formats (details supplied), in line with open data standards; and if he will make …

587. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount expended in respect of the legal costs incurred by An Coimiúsín Pleanála in 2025 and in 2024; the individual amount paid out to solicitors and barristers representing ACP; and the amounts paid to solicitors and barristers representing third parties in 2025 and 2024, in tabular form. [36627/26]

588. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount paid out by ACP in legal costs to named solicitors and barristers concerning High Court judicial review cases the ACP has conceded in 2025 and the 2024; the name of the plaintiffs in each case; and the date ACP conceded the cases, in tabular form. [36628/26]

589. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether national building regulations or technical guidance documents prescribe minimum toilet provision ratios for men and women in public buildings including theatres, restaurants and entertainment venues; and if he will provide details of the applicable standards and enforcement mechanisms. [36663/26]

590. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when Galway City Council will be given its homeless allocation for 2026; if he will address the increased demand for homeless services in Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36681/26]

591. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he has considered increasing HAP payments in Galway; if he has considered increasing the homeless HAP flexibility from 35% to 50% in Galway (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36682/26]

593. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the rationale for excluding commercial heritage buildings such as pubs, B and Bs, restaurants, hotels and tourism properties from eligibility under thatching grant schemes; when this policy was last reviewed; if he will consider expanding eligibility in light of the urgent need to sustain demand for the craft; a…

594. Deputy Ivana Bacik asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on the industrial relations dispute within Tailte Éireann concerning the non-implementation of a pay agreement which was agreed between an organisation (details supplied), Tailte Éireann and Government Departments following the merging of Ordnance Survey Ireland into Tailte Éireann; the actions he is un…

595. Deputy Séamus McGrath asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to clarify the treatment of AVC pension contributions in the calculation of rent under the differential rent scheme (details supplied). [36752/26]

596. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether State agencies must pay the derelict sites levy. [37093/26]

597. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the legislation for the Celtic tiger era building defects redress scheme will be published. [37101/26]

600. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of bed spaces that will remain in a location (details supplied) based on his Departments proposals for the regeneration of these blocks as set out by his Department in a letter to Dublin City Council on 27 April 2026. [37104/26]

601. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update and timeline for each stage of the regeneration projects in Dublin South-Central, in tabular form. [37121/26]

602. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 1691 and 1695 of 14 April 2026, the number of new staff sanctioned for hire in Kildare County Council, Kerry County Council, Fingal County Council and Meath County Council in 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025 and of new hires realised in those years. [37139/26]

603. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has any usage policy on or if it sanctions for official purposes the use of messaging apps (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37205/26]

605. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there is provision to amend the criteria for the shop grant scheme to allow limited companies (LTD companies) to qualify for the over the shop grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37262/26]

606. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether the RAPTOR (Recording and Addressing Persecution and Threats to Our Raptors) protocol and associated system for recording and investigating raptor (bird of prey) persecution and mortality incidents remains operational within the National Parks and Wildlife Service; if so, the reason annual RAPTOR reports…

608. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the plans to reintroduce the financial contribution scheme for local authorities. [37366/26]

609. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the provision to amend the criteria for the shop grant scheme to allow limited companies to qualify for the over the shop grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37367/26]

610. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average turnaround time for mapping applications; if Tailte Éireann will consider agreeing to a specified time to drive transparency and efficiency in the property transfer process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37381/26]

612. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of additional staff employed or that will be employed by his Department directly or under contract for the purposes of Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2026 [37456/26]

614. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will consider increasing the grants for vacant properties; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37464/26]

615. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if a national planning statement is being prepared in relation to short-term letting; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37465/26]

Nobody has a monopoly on passion or care for animals, including horses and dogs, or any other elements of animal welfare. As Minister with responsibility for animal welfare, I am determined to drive an agenda of change in a whole host of areas. I was part of the negotiations on the programme for Government when we transferred the control of dogs back to my Department, which is the right place for …

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to introduce, on behalf of the Tánaiste, Second Stage of the National Treasury Management Agency (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026. The legislation marks an important step in bringing the National Asset Management Agency, NAMA, and the special liquidation of the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation, IBRC, to a close. It provides for …

Yes, it is absolutely related to the Bill. I raised it at pre-legislative scrutiny. I am putting in an amendment on Committee Stage of the Bill. The NTMA is managing ISIF funds. It has some of our public money in companies that are operating illegally in the occupied territories in the West Bank. I am referring here in the Dáil to some of the repercussions of that. A 14-year-old boy was killed at …

I thank my colleague for sharing time with me. This is a very important Bill and I welcome the opportunity to speak on it. As Deputy Brennan said, nothing in this time was perfect but the State had to very quickly step in and decide how we could manage assets at a time of global financial crisis. Since then, NAMA has been lauded internationally as one of the best structures put in place during the…

When NAMA came into being, the State was in a really dark place. The economy had collapsed, there were no jobs and people were really struggling. We had ghost estates and sites that were half developed. Fianna Fáil destroyed the economy. I remember it as clear as day. I remember friends of mine losing their jobs. To add insult to injury, when Fine Gael came into government in 2011, all it gave a d…

I thank the Minister for introducing this legislation. I welcome the opportunity to speak on what will be called the Insurance (Disregard of Certain Medical History and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026, which many people across Ireland know simply as the "right to be forgotten" legislation. Tonight is a very important night for cancer survivors and their families. This legislation is about fair…

Work is under way between the Department of energy and climate and the Department of housing in terms of a planning statement, which has replaced the format for guidelines. Remember this same Department had to work on the planning on exempted developments, which was quite a significant piece of work, on the rural housing guidelines, which are imminent, and on short-term lets. There is a lot of wor…

There is a review under way and work is being done by EirGrid, the Department and the ESB to work that out and understand the challenges. It is being actively pursued. As I said earlier, up to €13 billion will now be invested in the grid itself. We have given the equity to EirGrid for grid upgrades. We met with EirGrid and ESB Networks yesterday at a Cabinet subcommittee meeting, with a view to th…

I am glad to have the opportunity to speak on the issue of biodiversity and to mark National Biodiversity Week today. This week should be not just a celebration of one of this country’s prized assets, including our natural environment, landscapes, coasts, wildlife and waterways, but also a call to action because while we market ourselves on the aesthetically rich, green environment that we have be…

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to statements on National Biodiversity Week. Across the country this week, hundreds of free events are bringing people into contact with nature on their doorstep. These events include guided walks, photography competitions, scavenger hunts and farm visits. It is a chance to learn, enjoy and be reminded that nature is not a backdrop to our lives but the found…

I thank Deputy Ó Broin for putting forward this motion and for all the work he does in this area. It at least gives people hope to know somebody listens, cares, is paying attention and has a solution. Time and again, we see Government policy making the housing crisis it has created even worse. We warned it that its legislation would result in a surge in evictions. We warned it would contribute to …

The prolonged Government-sponsored housing crisis is affecting every community in this State, none more so than County Mayo, where there are 2,664 people on the council waiting list, 924 people on the HAP waiting list and 744 people on the RAS list. As a result of the Government’s housing policies, working people, pensioners and vulnerable tenants are being forced out of their homes with nowhere f…

Here we go again. The Government comes in here and pats itself on the back for everything it is doing on housing while families face evictions and rent hikes and we have record homelessness. When Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Independents introduced the rent hike Bill last summer, we warned that all it would do was push more families into homelessness and - surprise, surprise - that is precisely …

Many people are at risk of homelessness. People expect their Government to have their back. That is why they are so frustrated, especially renters, when it seems that every intervention from Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael actually makes their situation worse. In my constituency of Cavan-Monaghan, both counties were among the six in the State which saw double-digit rent inflation last year. We saw rent…

The fact that 7,000 households across the country have been given an eviction notice in the first three months of this year is terrifying, and we do not know where they are going to go. Behind every eviction is a person or a family who is seriously at risk of homelessness because there are simply not enough houses out there for them. There is already a severe shortage and the more pressure that i…

I thank Deputy Ó Broin for his work on this Private Members' business. The figures published by the RTB last week are beyond staggering. They are grim and show the highest level of eviction notices since the Famine. I do not know if the Minister fully realises the gravity of the housing crisis. A 51% rise in eviction notices means thousands of people across Ireland find themselves in the horrible …

139. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the regeneration of Oliver Bond House following his meeting with the regeneration forum. [37767/26]

141. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the voids programme review committed to in the Government's housing plan. [37768/26]

The Minister mentioned the NOAC report. I will refer to some of the figures in that report. In 2024, there were 4,251 empty council houses, which was an increase from the previous year. One in four of those homes was empty longer than a year. I know of houses in my constituency that have been empty and boarded up for years. The problem is a lot of local authorities do not have the excess funding t…

I thank Deputy Heneghan for what is clearly an important question on an issue he has raised on a number of occasions, namely, protections for renters. The Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026 came into effect on 1 March 2026, introducing a new national rent control for all tenancies, which limits rent increases to inflation as measured by the consumer price index, CPI, up to a…

I thank the Deputy. Unlike connections in the delivery of new housing, reconnections are not a measure of tackling vacancy and dereliction, as many vacant properties never lost their connections. The vacant property refurbishment grant, funded under the croí cónaithe towns fund, has been a key measure in addressing vacancy and dereliction. At the end of the first quarter of 2026, more than 17,400…

152. Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he has any plans to scrap development levies for one-off housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37318/26]

I thank Deputy O'Meara for this important question about levies on one-off housing. I thank the Deputy for his ongoing engagement with me and the Department in terms of how we can deliver more homes in County Tipperary and at an affordable price. Development contributions allow local authorities to recoup some of the public costs of servicing land for private development. They provide a mechanism …

I again thank the Deputy for raising the important question about development fees on rural one-off homes and the cost they put on those families who are building those homes and who often do not get the same benefits as one might in a town, for example, or within the confines of a village. Nonetheless, the contribution that is charged to those families who are building those homes is set by the l…

164. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an updated timeline for the delivery of the retrofit scheme to all social housing units in County Louth and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37523/26]