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321. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to outline the full eligibility criteria for each measure under the Multi-Annual Rural Water Programme (MARWP) 2024–2026, with particular reference to the minimum number of houses required for new community water connections; and whether any exceptions apply in cases of public health risk. [68627/25]

325. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will introduce an exceptional case mechanism within the MARWP to allow funding for communities with fewer than 25 houses where there is a significant health and safety risk and proximity to an existing Uisce Éireann network. [68631/25]

327. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the alternative supports or emergency measures that are available for rural households that cannot access MARWP funding due to the 25-house minimum requirement. [68633/25]

335. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the actions taken to ensure alignment of zoning, serviced land, water capacity and planning permissions with the 12,000-unit annual social housing target; and if he will provide any internal reports or delivery forecasts assessing this alignment. [68746/25]

336. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the current national level of local authority housing units classified as non-lettable for more than 12 months; and the proportion of these units requiring structural versus minor refurbishment works. [68749/25]

338. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department maintains real-time tracking of housing delivery bottlenecks across local authorities; and if he will publish the three most common causes of delay identified in 2023, 2024, and 2025. [68751/25]

342. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of infrastructure barriers identified by the Housing Activation Office in each local authority to date; the category of barrier identified in each case; and the corrective actions recommended. [68823/25]

343. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of social housing projects approved above basic unit cost levels in 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025; the reasons for the variance in each case; and the way his Department intends to begin systematically recording and publishing this information. [68824/25]

346. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps his Department has taken since 2022 to secure more granular productivity data to support national housing targets. [68830/25]

347. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has assessed the budgetary and value-for-money implications of the absence of residential specific productivity data within the national construction sector, and if he will outline any measures taken to ensure capital allocations for housing delivery are supported by reliable productivity metric…

350. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to detail the primary operational, staffing, procurement, and supply-chain constraints reported by local authorities in returning void social housing units to use; and the measures, financial, regulatory, or administrative, his Department is considering to reduce turnaround times and increase throughput. [68963…

80. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Taoiseach if it would be possible for the CSO, drawing on SILC data, to create a new measurement of ‘consistent poverty (after housing costs)’, which would combine households at risk of poverty after housing costs and households in material deprivation, in the same fashion as the existing measurement ‘consistent poverty. [62184/25]

155. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps being taken to monitor and enforce compliance within the housing assistance payment scheme. [68337/25]

156. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there is a requirement or quota for wheelchair-accessible one/two-bedroom units in new housing developments. [68338/25]

158. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will ensure that one of the last remaining ‘ghost estates’ (details supplied) is taken in charge for affordable housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [68380/25]

185. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation his plans to ensure the urgent delivery of a dedicated 'changing place' toilet facility within the Leinster House campus to ensure that any disabled guests or visitors to Leinster House have access to accessible, clean and appropriate toilets; and if he will make a statem…

307. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he can provide information on the current oversight guidelines for estate agents in allocating bids on housing; if there are any regulations in existence for transparency on how properties are sold via estate agents; if there are any forthcoming regulations on improving transparency on how properties are…

309. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the position regarding the transfer of land from Horse Racing Ireland to the Land Development Agency at Leopardstown Racecourse which is zoned for public housing. [67314/25]

317. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to conduct a full review of the mortgage to rent eligibility criteria and engage with money advice and budgeting service and approved housing bodies to assess demand and impact. [67423/25]

319. Deputy Ann Graves asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the housing supports in place for male victims of domestic violence who owned the family home, continue to pay the mortgage due to the fact children remain in the family home, and had to flee the home due to violence and whose wife was never on the mortgage. [67436/25]

321. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans for affordable housing at a location (details supplied); the criteria potential buyers will need to meet to be eligible to purchase; the way in which the process will work; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [67440/25]

327. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department maintains any form of benchmarking, comparative performance assessment, league table, or KPI-based ranking of local authorities in respect of their management of vacant/void social housing units, including turnaround times, cost per unit, and annual throughput; and if such information exists, i…

330. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has carried out any analysis comparing the cost, speed, and long-term maintenance outcomes of returning void social housing units to use versus alternative interventions such as acquisition, leasing, or new build; and if he will publish any such analysis to inform future policy choices. [67518/…

331. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the National Planning Statement for planning for rural housing will be published (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [67543/25]

345. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason Mayo County Council has delivered only 3% of its 2025 social housing target to date; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [67927/25]

I very much welcome the establishment of the housing activation office. This idea came from the work of the Housing Commission. The Minister took it on board and brought forward his own proposals in relation to it, and that is very welcome. As he says, working under the one roof and having the various forms of expertise from the local authority sector, the utilities sector, the Department official…

Affordability is the biggest issue in County Meath. The county has met its housing targets. Those targets are too low. They are being increased, but there is a track record of delivering housing without affordable housing. The schemes the Minister of State is talking about do not deliver affordable housing either. We have huge numbers of adult children living at home with their parents - I would s…

I thank the Minister. One of the problems we have at the minute is that the Government’s social and affordable housing targets are too low. Not only are they too low, but they are simply not being met. The Government has failed in its pre-election promise of 40,000 new homes to be delivered this year, but I want to concentrate on the affordable purchase schemes. Last year, the Government only deli…

As the Deputy is well aware, the Government has long acknowledged that there is an affordability problem in this country. There are two issues - a viability issue and an affordability issue - and both of these are driving supply difficulties. That is why we have taken measures on viability and affordability. Many of the affordability measures have been opposed by Sinn Féin's good self. The legisl…

This time last year, in advance of the general election, the Government injected a sugar rush of once-off measures into the Irish economy, including a double payment for long-term social welfare individuals; €300 for fuel allowance on 4 November; €400 for working family payment on 4 November; €400 for disability invalidity pension and blind pension on 4 November; two double payments for child paym…

I want to talk about the defective blocks grant scheme that is being made available to home owners in the west of Ireland. The Taoiseach, Micheál Martin, stated that the scheme would be the biggest redress scheme in the history of the State. He said it would be over €3 billion. He told home owners in the west of Ireland that they would get €500,000 each, the biggest redress scheme in the history o…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: condemns the attacks by Israel on civilians and human rights activists including Irish citizens participating in the Global Sumud Flotilla, seeking to deliver aid to the beleaguered and starving population of Gaza; demands that: — no action is taken by Israel that endangers the welfare or safety of peaceful Irish citizens and other human rights activists aboard the G…

The Government has done the same with electricity and gas. It lets private sector companies come in and do whatever they want in this country. Not only that, but Europe has allowed the same thing. We have the highest prices for food, insurance, electricity and everything else. Fine Gael has been in government for 14 years and Fianna Fáil has been in government for ten. It was they who allowed this…

Despite the enormous profits being made by insurance companies in this country, premiums continue to rocket upwards. Given that insurance is not alone essential but, in instances like motor insurance, it is required by law, the Government should have stricter control of any proposed increases in premiums. We know that increased construction costs have a large effect on domestic house insurance but…

The problem is that the level of children in consistent poverty is currently 8.5%, that figure having doubled since 2024. However, the consistent poverty measure, in and of itself, does not account for housing costs. The Minister and I both know that for reasons of Government policy, housing costs are out of control. People who are at risk of poverty or living in consistent poverty are not having …

On a point of order, the Government did not allow a motion to be passed to be further discussed. That is not what happens. The Minister knows that. That might happen with a Bill but the motion was passed. The position of the House, with the Minister’s agreement, is these awful reactionary policies that were proposed. The Simon Community is in the Dáil today to highlight the devastation the Govern…

I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this vital motion. It is unfortunate that the Government is opposing it. There are 5,014 children homeless in this country. When that number is thrown out, we often do not consider that each of those children is a child whose life is being damaged. It is equivalent to 220 primary school classes of children being homeless. Homelessness has doubled under…

It is regrettable that Ireland, one of the richest countries in the world, has seen a significant rise in children living in consistent poverty. According to the Children's Rights Alliance, one in 12 children, or more than 100,000, is in this situation. Obviously, inflation has risen. There are various reasons for this, including the Ukraine and related issues, the fact that we live on an island, …

I thank Deputy Ward very much. I will try to be as succinct in my answers as his questions were. His first was whether or not the Government would use the Public Service Management Act. The answer to the question is "No". The Government will not use it because the defective concrete block grant scheme operates under its own primary legislation and in November 2024, following the receipt of prelimi…

The housing disaster is spiralling out of control. This year has seen the lowest commencement figures in a decade. The Central Bank has just revised its forecasts for this year downwards. To paraphrase, it is saying that this Government has no hope of reaching its housing targets. Meanwhile, not-for-profit housing organisations are telling us that they have never seen such chaos and they are blam…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this important issue. We are facing into the dark, cold months of winter in circumstances where families, households and workers are going to be hit with increases in the local property tax, fuel costs for transport, student fees, insurance, rent and food. The list goes on. In the past week, four energy companies announced that they are hiking their prices. En…

The programme for Government sets out a clear policy direction that balances energy, housing, climate and economic development. It recognises that increased and unprecedented investment in our electricity grid and generation capacity is essential to meet future demand, not just for data centres but for housing, electric vehicles, heat pumps and a growing population. The electricity and gas retail …

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this strategy and I hope we will see quick and thorough implementation. I was struck by the word "choice" on page 12. It is one of the values that underpins this strategy, but the Government must create the spaces where people have a choice. It is up to the Minister and the Government to ensure there are choices. For example, today people with disabilities do …

I welcome the Proceeds of Crime and Related Matters Bill, which, as the Minister said, represents a major upgrade of existing legislation. I welcome the fact it will reduce from seven years to two the time between a judicial determination of an asset being the proceeds of crime and a final disposal order being available. I especially welcome the immediate and automatic appointment of a receiver in…

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. I note he is raising it in conjunction with his two colleagues, who, unfortunately, are not here to partake. I recall that my Fianna Fáil colleague, the other TD in the area, Tom Brabazon, raised this issue at a Fianna Fáil party meeting recently when we were discussing the whole area of sustainable communities. In the first instance it should be noted t…

I thank the Minister of State for the response. I acknowledge that Deputy Denise Mitchell has been very supportive, along with the other TDs for this area and all the public representatives from all parties, in supporting the local communities on this. I know the Minister of State has not written his response but there are a few things in it that are factually wrong. Neither Clongriffin nor Belmay…

I appreciate the Minister of State's commitment to this area and I do not doubt his sincerity but, like every single occupant of his office before him, he has been sent out with prepared remarks to defend the indefensible. He and this Government unfailingly refuse to reckon with the enormity of the problem in housing. The Government is tinkering around the edges of failed policies while the situat…

The Government is simply saying we are maintaining and increasing public investment in housing from the State, the largest actor in housing right now, while also creating the conditions to facilitate far greater private sector investment in house building and apartment building in particular, which needs to increase. The fundamental way to deal with housing is to increase supply significantly over…

Today, we are presented with the Health (Amendment) Bill 2025. On the surface, the Bill promises reform, but let us be clear - this is not reform, but bureaucracy dressed up as progress. The Bill does not fix our broken health system. It merely rearranges the furniture in a house that is already on fire. It tinkers with the governance structures while ignoring the real crisis, which is the daily s…

We are making radical decisions to get people out of box rooms, to get viability and to get properties built across this country. We know we have a crisis. I am treating it as an emergency. If we do not take radical measures and do so quickly, we will not get the apartments in Dublin city and across this country. That is why we are bringing forward these measures to address the issue of viability …