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345. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the housing scheme available to single people who are over the threshold for social housing but not earning enough for affordable rental; his plans to assist single people in the housing market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22993/25]

1334. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures he is taking to increase housing supply in Kilkenny, including social housing and affordable housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20718/25]

1335. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the measures he is taking to increase housing supply in Carlow, including social housing and affordable housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20719/25]

260. Deputy Johnny Mythen asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the measures he is taking to increase housing supply in Wexford, including social housing and affordable housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18115/25]

453. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average cost per unit of new-build social housing delivered in 2024, by SHIP construction, SHIP turnkey, CALF construction (including full cost and CALF cost), CALF turnkey (including full cost and CALF cost), CAS construction, CAS turnkey, Local Authority Part V, AHB Part V, acquisition, Affordable Housing …

457. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total capital expenditure in 2024 for the Social Housing Investment Programme, capital advance leasing facility, capital assistance scheme, cost rental equity loan, affordable housing fund, Land Development Agency and approved housing body borrowings. [13669/25]

458. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total capital expenditure in 2024 for the Social Housing Investment Programme, capital advance leasing facility, capital assistance scheme, cost rental equity loan, affordable housing fund, Land Development Agency and approved housing body borrowings. [13674/25]

812. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on a proposal from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on ways to alleviate the debt levels in the approved housing bodies sector and to address concerns within the sector, regarding compliance with regulatory obligations and the financial implications of significant levels of debt, wh…

814. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on its engagement with off-balance sheet borrowing by approved housing bodies (AHBs) for the delivery of social and affordable housing; and to provide an update on his Departments consideration on proposals from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to address the impact of geari…

964. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when he will next update the Basic Unit Costs (BUCs) and the Acquisition Cost Guidelines (ACGs) for social housing; if these same measures are applied to affordable housing delivered via cost rental equity loan, CREL and the affordable housing fund, AHF; and if he will give a commitment to make the revised BUCs …

973. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the social and affordable housing completion figures for 2024 will be published; the number of social housing, cost rental and local authority affordable housing units, respectively, constructed in 2024; to provide a breakdown of each, by local authority; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [126…

987. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for a breakdown of the number of void houses in Leitrim and Sligo local authority housing supply; the number of weeks, months years that these houses have been vacant or void; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12901/25]

125. Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the policy rationale for the Payment and Availability (P&A)-Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) related to the financing of social housing development by approved housing bodies; and the impact this has had for development financing for approved housing bodies since its introduction. [6668/25]

427. Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there are any plans to update or amend the Derelict Sites Act 2020 to allow local authorities to compulsorily acquire derelict houses or buildings that have been unused for a maximum of five years or less; if compensation to the owners of such derelict houses or buildings will be abolished; if the requirement …

450. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he accepts that immigration and inward migration are creating significant challenges in terms of meeting housing demand with supply; if his Department has made any recommendations to Cabinet or any other department regarding the impact of immigration and inward migration on housing supply; if he will conduct a…

207. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is aware that the current council housing application does not give an applicant the option to choose domestic violence in the home criteria on a local government housing application form, nor give an option of fleeing coercive control; if he will commit to amending the council housing application form …

351. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in light of a constituent’s recent communication with Housing Acquisitions, where it was stated that there is no budget available for 2025 to purchase properties, if he will clarify why such constraints are in place despite prior Government commitments to address the housing crisis, specifically, what steps he is…

362. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in respect of each Bill for which his Department had responsibility and that was initiated in 2024, or that was enacted in 2024, to specify in which House of the Oireachtas the Bill was initiated; the number of ministerial or Government amendments submitted at each legislative Stage of the Bill; if the gui…

149. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the role housing authorities have during emergencies that affect their tenants’ safety and well-being such as the one ongoing due to Storm Éowyn; if housing authorities are responsible for ensuring that vulnerable tenants have access to basic necessities during extended power and water outages; if this policy…

594. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the current situation in relation to the purchase of local authority houses by tenants; if he plans to review this situation; if he will consider a tenant purchase scheme for approved housing bodies tenants whose operators were amenable to the provision of such a sale and in circumstances in which income acc…

367. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether properties owned or operated by an approved housing body (AHB), including supported accommodation, rehabilitation centres, and other residential facilities provided by an AHB for housing or care-related purposes, are eligible for assistance under The Apartment and Duplex Defects Remediation Bill 2024; wh…

248. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if current social housing tenants, including HAP and RAS tenants, will be included in the improved protocols for the allocation of social housing to victims and survivors of domestic violence and abuse; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53796/26]

41. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht the engagement he or his Department have had with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage regarding the provisions contained in section 5.2 of the Draft National Housing Statement relating to multi-unit housing developments in Gaeltacht areas; whether concerns have been raised regardi…

395. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he intends to review existing housing policy to ensure that people who become permanently disabled are not left trapped in unsuitable accommodation because of current housing schemes (details supplied) and the lack of flexibility to respond to life-changing circumstances; and if he will make a statement on…

434. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to increase the qualifying threshold for social housing to allow low income workers qualify for housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53597/26]

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important Bill. I echo what the previous speaker, Deputy Nolan, said regarding Tailte Éireann and the email address we were given. Like me, the Minister of State is from a country area and will, therefore, have heard the saying, “Playing handball against a haystack”. That is what trying to deal with Tailte Éireann is like. The registration system is simpl…

It is long overdue for the Government to enact some changes to ensure that the implementation and enforcement of relevant Department circulars is put on a statutory footing. In doing so, the Bill takes some steps that are tentatively welcome but significant concerns remain that the legislation may make it increasingly difficult for those who should be entitled to access social housing to do so by …

I thank all the Members for their contributions during the Second Stage debate. Some concerns were raised and there was some support for the provisions within the Bill. I hope some of that can be addressed on Committee Stage. I was here when Deputy O’Reilly raised the issue of the terrible situation her constituent finds himself in. As she knows, the Minister cannot get involved in individual cas…

Tairgim: “Go gceadófar go dtabharfar isteach Bille dá ngairtear Acht chun an Bunreacht a leasú.” I move: “That leave be granted to introduce a Bill entitled an Act to amend the Constitution.” This is my first Bill to be brought forward in Dáil Éireann. The Forty-first Amendment of the Constitution (Right to Housing) Bill 2026 seeks to put a right to housing into Bunreacht na hÉireann. The housin…

I thank Sinn Féin for tabling this motion. I cannot tell you how many times I have spoken on this issue. I will come to the housing task force, the minutes of which the Minister was instrumental in getting us. When we talk about empty houses tonight, we are doing so against a background of the highest ever number of homeless people: 15,580, 4,475 of whom are children. This Government is taking pri…

Gabhaim buíochas le mo chomhghleacaí an Teachta Healy. I was elected in 2016 and since then, with all my colleagues here, we have begged, implored and appealed to the Government to declare a housing emergency to recognise that we have crisis but it has utterly failed to do that. Once again, it keeps turning language on its head, even in relation to social housing as it called HAP provision social …

Gabhaim buíochas leis na Teachtaí as ucht an rúin seo. Ní chuirfidh an Rialtas in aghaidh an rúin seo. Le comhaontú an Tí, leanfaidh mé ar aghaidh le mo ráiteas i mBéarla. The Government is not opposing this motion given the urgent need for housing and the Government's housing action plan, Delivering Homes, and Building Communities 2025-2030, which includes a range of actions aimed at increasing …

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire agus leis an Rialtas as ucht an Bille seo a chur faoi bhráid na Dála. Aontaím agus aontaíonn Páirtí an Lucht Oibre leis an mBille seo. This is not a complicated Bill. It makes a simple change to ensure that the Housing Finance Agency can continue to fulfil its mandate in the months ahead. This is something that we in Labour are broadly supportive of. We all know the …

This legislation comes in the context of a severe housing crisis across the country not just now but for almost the past decade, people have been trying to find a home with little success, unfortunately. The Housing Finance Agency is about providing money for local authorities and other agencies such as approved housing bodies, etc., to build houses and for higher education authorities. It is a bo…

I thank the Deputies very much. I echo many of the comments made by the Minister, Deputy Browne, and take this opportunity to reassert the Government's commitment and determination to tackling the challenges we all know exist in the housing sector. The Minister and I are very much aware of the difficulties being experienced by some people in accessing secure and affordable accommodation. I say re…

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dail Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes that: — the Government aims to minimise the level of vacancy in every local authority area, and this is reflected in a decade of Exchequer investment in addressing long term vacancy, while acknowledging that there will always be a level of vacancy in the system, as tenancies end for various rea…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: — decades of underfunding by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments, in our water and electricity infrastructure, have created significant constraints to the increased delivery of public and private housing; — the Commission for Regulation of Utilities has warned that data centres pose a risk to increased housing delivery, due to constraints in the electri…

I congratulate the Leas-Cheann Comhairle on his elevation to his new position, which is long overdue. I wish him good luck with it. I welcome the Other Members' Questions slot. It is not so long ago that I was on the backbenches. I recall how frustrating it was to get speaking time on Private Members' business. If I was lucky, I might have got a minute from a Minister. Some of the best contributi…

The right to housing is a human right, enshrined in Article 25 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The UN rapporteur on the right to housing reiterated that position, saying that although increasingly viewed as a commodity, housing is, most importantly, a human right. The Housing Commission report seeks to vindicate that human right. It says that housing must be a unique, national pri…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 83, 106 and 169 together. I thank Deputy Neville for raising an important question on housing projects currently under construction in Kildare North and those expected to commence before the end of 2026. My Department publishes data on residential commencement notices in each local authority every month. Commencement data shows commencement notices were lodged in …

I move amendment No. 2: In page 5, between lines 29 and 30, to insert the following: "(2) Within three months of the coming into operation of this act the Minister shall produce a report into the affordability of current rents and establish a board to reset rents to affordable levels, where the guideline for establishing affordability will be rents that are, in general, no more than 20 per cent …

The only guarantee in the Bill is that the already unaffordable rip-off rents will be increased to extortionate proportions, and I mean all rents, not just those affecting tenancies, from 1 March. Over a very short period, all rents will increase to extortionate proportions. It is an outright attack on renters. Some 60,000 renters will have their rents increased every year by anything up to €3,000…

A headline from RTÉ earlier this year stated, "Half-year profits and revenues at Glenveagh Properties soar". The company's revenues were up in the first six months of this year by 125% from the previous year, more than doubling from €152 million to €341 million. Gross profit in half a year was €66.8 million. Profits at Cairn Homes were €63 million in the first half of 2025. Yet, the Tánaiste wants…

Following the European Council meeting, there were significant issues discussed, between Ukraine, defence, the Middle East, competitiveness, climate and digital transitions, but particularly housing. Often, when we speak about housing, not only in this House but across the country, we think that it is an isolated problem in Ireland. What we are seeing is that this is a problem facing all of Europe…

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. At the House's discretion, I think the Deputy would like to join me in a note of sympathy on the death of his former colleague in Kerry County Council and former mayor of Tralee, Jim Finucane, who was a good friend of mine and I know of the Deputy as well. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Mi…

I wish the Minister of State a good afternoon. This debate offers us a really good opportunity to recognise the really vital role the AHBs play in housing provision and in making housing a reality for so many people who otherwise simply would not have access to housing at all. In particular, we have to recognise that they consistently support marginalised communities, vulnerable people and people …

I thank Deputy Michael Collins and his group for tabling this motion and giving us all an opportunity to talk about housing and discuss it as much as we can to see if we can help. This is one of many motions, Bills and whatever trying to address housing, but we really need to get down to work and see after the people to ensure that everyone has a home. The answer has to be to build more local auth…

There are a couple of things I want to raise in this very important debate. We know we have a housing crisis and a housing emergency. The first one is the issue of responsibility and accountability. We have a fundamental problem here in that water is clearly on the Department of housing's website as one of its core five competencies, along with planning, housing, heritage and local government. Ir…

It is obvious the Government does not want to solve the housing crisis. It has dropped the pretence. It has no targets, it is curtailing the tenant in situ scheme, it has always resisted rent controls and its homelessness figures continue to rise. It does absolutely nothing about it. It does not want to stop the flow into homelessness. It is planning to remove even the minimal rent controls. It do…

Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an ngrúpa neamhspleách agus an Teachta Healy as ucht an rún seo a chur faoi bhráid na Dála inniu. Molaim agus molann Páirtí an Lucht Oibre an rún seo. Tá a fhios ag chuile dhuine sa Teach seo go bhfuil an chruachás agus an ghéarchéim ag éirí níos measa, agus caithfidh an Rialtas rud éigin difriúil a dhéanamh. I support the general thrust of the…