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689. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason an approved housing body cannot continue to provide property management services at (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9179/26]

699. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of staff directly responsible for cybersecurity, as distinct from IT, within his Department; if a threat analyst, vulnerability manager and a cyber infrastructure engineer are employed; if not in-house, if this work is outsourced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9434/26]

705. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether national housing delivery targets assume electricity infrastructure upgrades that have not yet received planning permission or secured funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9709/26]

708. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether projected housing completions to 2030 assume electricity grid upgrades that have not yet received planning approval or secured funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9743/26]

709. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether regional housing targets have been adjusted to reflect regional electricity grid constraints; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9744/26]

715. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to review issues raised with this Deputy (details supplied) in relation to housing and provide; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9850/26]

718. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to address the housing crisis by changing national planning guidelines that prevent applicants who wish to build a family home in rural areas (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9995/26]

723. Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to confirm the origin of guidance issued by the Housing Agency stating that homeowners cannot avail of a full technical review following the revision of the I.S. 465 following an appeal and adjudication by the Appeals Panel; whether this guidance was issued at the direction of, or with the approval of, his Depar…

733. Deputy Gillian Toole asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason an approved housing body, in receipt of State funding, will not install a security entrance gate at a location (details supplied) to protect older and vulnerable residents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10506/26]

1028. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Health what formal engagement has taken place between his Department, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, and the Land Development Agency regarding the potential transfer or reuse of vacant HSE-owned residential properties for housing purposes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9369/26]

267. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update as of January 2026 on the Programme for Government commitment to enhance compulsory purchase order powers to increase housing supply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8832/26]

270. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage as of January 2026, the number of positions that remain vacant in the housing section of Cork City Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8835/26]

271. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage as of January 2026, the number of positions that remain vacant in the housing section of Cork County Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8836/26]

272. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of houses that have been purchased through the tenant (incremental) purchase scheme in 2025 through Cork City Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8837/26]

273. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of houses which have been purchased through the tenant (incremental) purchase scheme in 2025 through Cork County Council; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8838/26]

274. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department receives regular reports, briefings, or statistical updates from the Residential Tenancies Board in respect of notices of termination or eviction notices issued by private landlords; if so, the frequency of such reports; the format in which they are provided; whether they include quarterly …

275. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department plans to compile, hold, or publish a centralised official dataset on notices of termination or eviction notices issued in the private rental sector, drawing on data held by the Residential Tenancies Board; if not, the reasons such data is not centrally maintained by his Department despite i…

276. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether he considers the number of notices of termination or eviction notices issued in the private rental sector to be a core housing performance and policy indicator; if so, the way in which this indicator is monitored and assessed by his Department; if not, the reasons for his position; and his views on the ro…

277. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for details of any guidelines or legislation governing the appraisal of a person’s need in assigning medical priority for the allocation of social housing. [8875/26]

286. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether any rental accommodation scheme tenant whose tenancy ends through no fault of their own is guaranteed an offer of alternative accommodation or housing support sufficient to prevent homelessness; to set out the specific statutory, policy, or administrative basis for such a guarantee, if it exists; to clari…

371. Deputy Darren O'Rourke asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance the estimated cost if the stamp duty on first-time house buyers on houses valued at less than €370,000 was scrapped based on 2025 figures. [7383/26]

447. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment whether his Department or Enterprise Ireland has established metrics to assess whether the Built to Innovate initiative has delivered demonstrable productivity gains at sector level within the residential construction industry, including impacts on housing output, build times, or unit delivery costs beyond firm-level…

641. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 1133 of 4 November 2025, if he has been given the completed report and recommendations from the housing agency which commenced drafting in May 2025 , relative to the concrete block test results from properties sampled in County Carlow, in 2024; if the individual reports a…

643. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total capital assistance scheme (CAS) funding allocated in each of the years 2021 to 2025; the average CAS funding approved per unit nationally and in Dublin in each of those years; and whether he is satisfied that current CAS funding levels adequately reflect the significantly higher construction, land…

644. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of CAS-funded projects in Dublin that have been delayed, redesigned, or deemed unviable in each of the past five years due to construction cost inflation; the average cost overruns identified in such cases; the measures in place to address viability gaps for approved housing bodies delivering CAS…

I also welcome that we are having statements today on policing and safety in our communities. As Minister for Justice, I assure the Leas-Cheann Comhairle and Members of the House that my priority is to ensure the people can live in communities which they regard as enjoyable and safe. That is not just my priority. I know it is also the priority of my colleagues in the Department of Justice and the …

The Government needs to be honest about the number of housing units being built each year. It was very clear during the general election campaign that both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael clearly told untruths about the number of housing units that would be build in 2024 by many thousands. It is clear the information was at hand and directly contradicted the figure of 40,000. Section two talks about th…

I propose to share time with my colleague Deputy Devlin. I will take six minutes and he will take four. I welcome H.E. Larysa Gerasko. She has shown incredible friendship to many Members of these Houses and to the people of Ireland. I also welcome the visitors from Ukrainian communities all over Ireland who are in the Public Gallery. We need to acknowledge the contribution that so many Ukrainians …

I wish the Minister well in her new role. I look forward to working closely with her. I raise the urgent need for the upgrade of the wastewater treatment plant in Mitchelstown in my constituency of Cork East. An upgrade of the existing plant has been acknowledged by Uisce Éireann and is badly needed to ensure extra capacity is created to further housing development in the town. The current housing…

When will the penny finally drop? When will the Government get that its approach to the housing crisis not only means it is incapable of solving it, but is making it worse for tens of thousands of people across this country? The numbers tell a grim story. A total of 15,000 people are living in homeless accommodation and 4,500 children are living in single rooms in bed-and-breakfast accommodation.…

I will contrast that with Sinn Féin's position. I acknowledge all the challenges and the pricing and so on, but the bottom line is that our schemes have helped an enormous number of first-time buyers. The help-to-buy scheme has seen about 51,000 approvals. Sinn Féin opposed it and proposed to abolish it. As regards the first home scheme, likewise, over 3,000 homes have been bought by young couples…

-----to find any statement where I said I would end RPZs and replace them with nothing. That is what she just said. I challenge her to find that statement for me and present it because it is a deliberate distortion of what I said. The Housing Agency began a review of RPZs last year - not me, the Housing Agency. The expiry date is the end of this year. The Housing Commission says the same thing but…

I thank the Deputies for bringing forward this motion. I also take a few moments of my time to thank my colleague an Teachta Ó Broin for the honest, straightforward solutions and focused proposals he has consistently put forward. Before I came in here, I called Marian, who is my constituency manager. I got her to run through just the cases that have come in during the last couple of days. One conc…

I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the exercise by the State of the option or discretion under Protocol No. 21 on the position of the United Kingdom and Ireland in respect of the area of freedom, security and justice annexed to the Treaty on European Union and to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, to take part in the adoption and application of the following proposed measure: C…

I welcome Ryan McKeown and his partner here. I have no doubt they will sit here one day. They are welcome to Leinster House. I turned on the TV recently in my house and purely by chance saw a rerun of "Oprah". I immediately saw what happened in the programme for Government. Instead of it being "You get a car, you get a car", it was "You get a ministry, you get a ministry, you get a ministry and y…

The Minister is at it again. The Government has just been caught out using dodgy housing data and talking about 40,000 homes completed last year and just now, the Minister told us work commenced on 60,000 homes in 2024, using the same dodgy data based on commencement notices filed and housing sites then lying idle, which has been happening all around the country. Do not take my word for that; Prop…

As this is my first time speaking here since the general election, I take the opportunity to express my sincere gratitude to the good people of Cork East and to my canvassers, family, supporters, neighbours and friends on being re-elected to the House. I walked in here at the age 22, and I am back at the age of 27. I have to admit that it is a privilege to be here. It is always special to be in th…

Pre-election claims to the effect that the Government would deliver 40,000 homes last year now hang like an albatross around the neck of its credibility. The housing crisis permeates virtually every corner of Irish society. Schools are unable to hire teachers, gardaí are unable to secure accommodation in the communities in which they serve and students have been abandoned, while renters and aspiri…

The completion figures for last year are disappointing; that is true. When we look at the past three years together, however, we have significantly exceeded the housing targets that were set. We significantly exceeded them in 2022 and 2023. We now have good momentum, with in excess of 60,000 commencement notices over the past year. This will, of course, as night follows day, translate into increas…

I am delighted to have this opportunity to speak on the new programme for Government. Having read the document from start to finish, it is my firm view that it fails to provide for transformative change. Over the 162 pages, most of the commitments are vague, notional or regurgitated. There are very few new ideas and it is completely devoid of the promised new energy. Instead, what we get is more o…

I am grateful for the opportunity to speak on the programme for Government. I am a new, young TD and I am eager to get to work and deliver for my constituency and this great country, but I am very disappointed with the length of time it has taken to produce this programme for Government and form a Government. The Dáil has sat only five of the past 70 days since my election on 29 November. The cult…

I am more than happy to speak for ten minutes; I have a lot to say. Forty thousand is the number of new homes the Taoiseach and Simon Harris said they would build last year. It is a number that was repeated again and again throughout 2024, going into overdrive in the lead-up to last November’s general election. Let me recall for the Taoiseach some of his bluster. On social media in October, he sa…

Fine Gael will be supporting the nomination of Deputy Micheál Martin as Taoiseach. I will begin with some words of sincere congratulations to Deputy Martin as he returns to the office of Taoiseach. I know it is really special day for you Micheál, and for Mary, Micheál Aodh, Aoibhe and Cillian, for your siblings, your wider family and for your team, and all the people behind you who worked so hard …

At the outset, on behalf of the Social Democrats, I congratulate the Taoiseach on his election. Today is a special day for you and your family, for your wife, Mary, and your friends. I also take this opportunity to acknowledge the crucial role that families and partners play in supporting all of us in public life, very much behind the scenes. This is rarely acknowledged and it is appropriate to do…

A Chléirigh agus a chairde, ar an gcéad dul síos, is mór an onóir é dom gur éirigh liom ainmniúchán do phost an Cheann Comhairle a fháil. Gabhaim buíochas dóibh siúd a thug an t-ainmniúchán dom. Gabhaim míle buíochas freisin do gach feisire a bhí sásta labhairt nuair a bhí mo chanbhasáil ar siúl. Molaim an sárobair a rinne na Teachtaí Seán Ó Fearghaíl agus Catherine Connolly. Gabhaim buíochas leo.…

I just saw "3" up there on the wall. Is seans iontach é an chéad teacht le chéile de Dháil nua chun machnamh a dhéanamh ar láidreacht leanúnach an daonlathais in Éirinn. Is ócáid í chun buíochas a ghabháil arís leo siúd a raibh baol agus íobairt ag baint leis an éacht a rinne siad chun Dáil Éireann a chur ar bun agus a chruthú. Ar son Pháirtí Fhianna Fáil, is mian liom aitheantas a thabhairt inn…

I sincerely welcome the fact we are having this debate. Colleagues will recall that the matter to which it relates arose during questions to me in my role as Minister for Finance a number of months ago. A view was expressed to the effect that it would be worth having a debate on the matter. I am very pleased that we have been able to facilitate that debate in Government time today. I apologise tha…

The Government agrees that the delivery of housing and the delivery of infrastructure have to go hand in hand and creating sustainable communities requires investment, not only in homes, but as the Deputy said, in the transport, energy, water and community infrastructure that supports them. As he also noted, significant investment is already under way in Swords, whether it is the R132 connectivity…

I echo what the Minister said about the support across the House for the domestic violence register. That is really important because the model that we have landed on has been able to attract support. It is important to say that many people had very significant concerns about the idea of a domestic violence register. In some cases, they were very well-meaning people, including those representing p…

I thank all Deputies for their contributions. I acknowledge the fact that, unusually, every person who has spoken in this debate is in support of the legislation. That is a very positive sign in respect of what we, as a House, are seeking to do in terms of changing the law. On many occasions, understandably and correctly, the legislative process is adversarial and people disagree with legislative …