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1632. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to explain the legal basis for a practice (details supplied); if he will proceed with a recommended remediation option, given that the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 provides that applicants must be notified of the determination and the reasons for it prior to …

1633. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if a practice (details supplied), is consistent with the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022, which provides that a determination and the reasons for that determination are to be notified to the applicant prior to the exercise of any right of appeal; the way in whic…

1635. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will review a practice (details supplied) to ensure that applicants are provided with the full chartered engineer's report and reasoning prior to being required to make any decision affecting their rights under the defective concrete blocks grant scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [236…

1636. Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide details on the legislative process which enabled the addition of the Ulster Canal to the remit of Waterways Ireland in 2007; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23621/26]

1637. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason a person (details supplied) is still awaiting a response to their appeal to the defective concrete block scheme award option 2; the reason the appeals section does not have a publicly available email address or phone number; the reason the person, and my office, have not received a reply to writt…

1638. Deputy Keira Keogh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average turn around times for the Croí Cónaithe scheme in all applicable local authorities in the State for the last three years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23713/26]

1639. Deputy Keira Keogh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount of CPO completions in each local authority in the State for the last three years; and the average time taken to complete these CPOs, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23714/26]

1641. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide a breakdown of all taskforces that fall under his remit; the dates on which they have met since their inception; the membership of each taskforce; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23727/26]

1642. Deputy Tom Brabazon asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in light of recent evidence to the Public Accounts Committee that localised flood warning systems may take a further five to ten years to deliver, whether his Department has assessed the potential for AI-powered flood forecasting approaches, which have been deployed successfully in comparable international cont…

1643. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will examine the introduction of a statutory requirement that all planning applications for grid scale battery energy storage systems (BESS) be automatically subject to a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), regardless of site size, technology type, or threshold classification; if he will consider…

1644. Deputy Louis O'Hara asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his attention has been drawn to the current industrial relations dispute within Tailte Éireann given the Government's failure to implement a pay agreement which was agreed between a trade union (details supplied), Tailte Éireann and Government Departments following the merging of Ordnance Survey Ireland into…

1645. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide details of all periodic critical reviews that have been conducted by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management (NDFEM) since 2009, in accordance with section 8.14 of the code of practice for the governance of State bodies. [23853/26]

1646. Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount of funding which had been allocated to the PPP bundles, by bundle, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23924/26]

1647. Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount of funding which has been allocated to the Dublin City Council Home Building Programme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23925/26]

1652. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing; Local Government and Heritage to provide details of the recent settlement reached between the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and Revenue regarding payment in kind to certain NPWS staff members, including the number of staff members involved, the categories of payment in kind, the years during which the settlement covered and the…

1656. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether the local government taskforce has submitted its report to Government; the number of recommendations this contains; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24071/26]

1657. Deputy Noel McCarthy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage with reference to the implementation of the developer-led wastewater services infrastructure initiative published by his Department on 4 March 2026; if this initiative will cater for areas that have no existing wastewater treatment systems in addition to those that have wastewater treatment systems in place bu…

1659. Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 1686 of 29 July 2025, the amount of funding drawn down by Dublin City Council for Traveller-specific accommodation and services in 2025 and to date in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24112/26]

1660. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to reduce vacancy and dereliction in Gaeltacht areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22988/26]

1661. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he or his Department have engaged with any stakeholder groups from sectors (details supplied) examining issues related to the insurance and mortgageability of homes with building defects; and if he will provide details of such engagements, including meeting dates, attendees, and any documentation or proposal…

1662. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether consideration is being given to introducing a structural risk classification system for residential properties that includes a rating scale to assess structural condition and associated lending or insurance risk; if so, the current status of these proposals; his Department's role in their development; a…

1663. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage regarding the tenant-in-situ scheme, if he proposes to increase the level of funding allocated to Dún-Laoghaire Rathdown County Council to support this scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24162/26]

1666. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of properties purchased under the tenant-in-situ scheme at a national level since this scheme was launched, broken down by local authority, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24165/26]

1667. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the obligations on Uisce Éireann to notify the public and relevant authorities where a discharge incident has occurred or is suspected; and whether there are statutory or policy requirements governing such communication. [24205/26]

1669. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on conservation and restoration efforts of the Iveagh Market, Kilmainham Mills and the Rupert Guinness Theatre; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24285/26]

Some 85% of women affected by pregnancy loss before 23 weeks experience difficulty in returning to work. The need for appropriate workplace supports has been well established and a previous Government commissioned the PLACES report, published in 2004, which set out the social, health and employment impacts of early pregnancy loss. The new women and girls strategy committed to advancing reproductiv…

I thank the Minister of State for being here for this very important debate. As others have said, we could touch on any number of topics from Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine and the ongoing horrors we are seeing in the Middle East to what has been happening in Sudan. I think what is important in this House is that Ireland reasserts our values, the things that have always been important to us …

I greatly welcome the opportunity to briefly respond on aspects of this debate. It is a vitally important debate at, to be quite frank, an extremely delicate time in international politics, one that many people, in particular our Taoiseach have said, requires cool heads and very clear thought. It is also an opportunity to reassert absolutely and unconditionally Ireland’s commitment to the global r…

I regret the term “traitors” being used in relation to MEPs who take their own democratic decision and who have taken into account their constituents and broad interests. There are two sides to this story. The Government did oppose Mercosur at the Council of the European Union, but it is also the case that the Government has acknowledged that certain sectors would benefit from it. MEPs are entitle…

It is a public company and, therefore, it has a public responsibility to answer public representatives and it does not do that. The Minister cannot also abdicate his responsibilities around that. That is the first point I want to make, and I hope the Minister hears that point very clearly. We will no longer accept this notion that the Minister - water and local government are covered in his brief …

I welcome these statements. I have said it on the floor of the Dáil before that the water in my hometown of Mallow is destroying every single washing machine, kettle and shower head in every single house in Mallow because it is hard water. What I always get back from the Government is that it is not bad for you. That is fine but it is bad for the pocket and that is a fact. I am no expert on this,…

I welcome the chance to speak to the Minister on this issue. I want to raise a number of local issues in my area of south Kildare. In recent years there has been very welcome development in the Allenwood and Kilmeague area, after long representations by many public representatives. We are having continuous problems during this work with outages and a lot of businesses and homes are suffering. Will…

I will make a point about services in this country and the general bureaucracy that holds up every single development that is undertaken. I should not say "every single development" but it is an issue for some major developments. We do not seem to be capable of empowering local authorities or Government agencies to deliver efficiently and well. If that was done, we would not have the same number o…

If I were from Kerry and, between the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, and Deputy Cahill, I had not had my village or townland mentioned, I wonder how I would feel. I understand and agree with many of the issues they have raised. The issue I want to raise is along the same lines, as it relates primarily to wastewater treatment. In Dublin we have a Victorian wastewater system. It is not fit fo…

Data from the EPA makes for frightening reading in terms of the quality of our water and the need for proper wastewater and water treatment plants. Avoca, in my local area, is one of 15 locations in Ireland where raw sewage is still being discharged every day, as identified by the EPA. Avoca must be prioritised as a village for upgrading. We were also promised progress with the long-awaited new st…

It feels a bit like Groundhog Day here today. In February of last year, in one of my first contributions to this House, I spoke about water outages in Kildare North. Indeed, I had a Topical Issue on the very same issue in June of last year. I hate to admit the greater Dublin area, in relation to Kildare, is growing. Maynooth, Leixlip, Celbridge, Kilcock and Clane are under severe pressure when it …

Everybody here knows that water is the most precious of our natural resources, and how the State manages it plays a crucial role in delivering on any number of policy plans for the future. Whether it be housing, education, or immigration, no policy can be fully formed without considering the water infrastructure that is available to support it. The Government has shown consistently that it is will…

We had a motion here last week in relation to Irish Water. Anyone who looked seriously at the motion would see it was simply put: accountability and timelines. The Minister of State's side refused to agree to that motion. It was very simple. They could have made an adjustment, they could have done something about it but they did not want to because the Government does not want accountability. It i…

The bottom line is that the Government should never have taken this off the local authorities. Uisce Éireann should never have been set up. We would have accountability then because, first, the councils could keep a good eye on what needs to be done with infrastructure and within the areas. The Deputies of this House could also keep in line with that and let the Government know where the money was…

I start by agreeing with Deputy O'Sullivan about developer-led infrastructure. That is a good, positive development by the Minister, Deputy Browne, which is to be welcomed. More of that, please. There are two important projects on the northside of Dublin coming down the line, which are really important for infrastructure and the development of the wider region. The first is the Shannon to Dublin …

I will follow up on many of the themes raised by many of my colleagues on this side of the House. I welcome the level of investment to go into Uisce Éireann over the next few years. From meeting the Uisce Éireann team at the infrastructure committee, I know the company is very positive about having the funds in place, not only to do the work it wants to do to repair water lines but also to help as…

Bhí mé ag éisteacht le gach duine sa Teach seo. Táim i gcónaí ag tabhairt amach le daoine atá sa Civil Service. Sometimes it is warranted. I heard Deputy Ó Murchú mention that sometimes you do get that rare gem. I thank Keith Conmy from Uisce Éireann for all that the work he helped me with for the residents of Mask Avenue. We give out enough about civil servants. It is only fair to we clap for the…

------and those seeking housing. There are reasons particular cases like this happen. They are disgraceful but they happen. We will work hard to resolve this in the best interests of the taxpayer and those seeking housing.

The Department of the Taoiseach's 2024 annual report states that 7,126 affordable homes were built, but none of those affordable homes was built in my constituency of north Tipperary and north-west Kilkenny. I will give some examples of areas where we need housing. Towns like Nenagh, Thurles, Roscrea, Borrisokane, Ballina and Newport, Templemore, Borrisoleigh, Urlingford, Freshford, Toomyvara, Clo…

A huge amount of resources went from the Department of the Taoiseach last year into trying to strategise and manage the visit to the White House for St. Patrick's Day. I am wondering what the hell level will be needed this year for the Taoiseach to manage such a visit if it goes ahead because we have a demagogue, dangerously unleashed at this point. I was never a fan of the shamrock at the White H…

I will say this to the Deputy on where our focus always is. The economic relationship is critical. I would not undermine that. It is not about the profit of companies but that critical economic relationship is about employment for a lot of people in this country. It works both ways, by the way. Irish companies have access to the market there and do well in the United States, and want to continue t…

I apologise. We all understand if there is an informal arrangement in place for looking after a relative or a neighbour, where it is only one person, but it is a business if a person is looking after three or fewer clients. I do not want us to be in a place in a number of years time where we are talking about the disaster of not regulating these entities. We are talking about people's lives. We ar…

The Bill is a step forward but it is a really small step forward. What we needed was a giant leap to really take this by the scruff of the neck. Five years ago, loads of promises were made and we were expecting to make further progress in relation to regulation and the provision of care. What we are seeing now is more privatisation when we need more community-based services. We need more resources…

I will. I could fill that today. I am dealing with one family. The back garden of their house backs onto the wall of the hospital and they cannot get into it. The man's family are looking out the door when they are caring for their father and there is a dementia unit right there, 200 or 300 yd from his house. Another lady has to stay miles away because there is a shortage of dementia units and bed…

I welcome the Government bringing forward legislation to regulate the private home care sector. What is disappointing is that after five years, all the Government has to show for itself is this Bill regulating the sector. What was promised what a statutory home care scheme, which would be a better and improved version of the nursing home support scheme. Sinn Féin believes that people deserve to l…