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540. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average cost per unit for social housing, affordable purchase, and cost-rental homes delivered in 2023 and 2024; the projected average unit cost under Delivering Homes, Building Communities for each year to 2030; and the measures in place to control unit-level cost inflation. [64401/25]

544. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average acquisition cost of land used for housing delivery in the past two years; the expected land costs for new sites under Delivering Homes, Building Communities; and the steps being taken to reduce land acquisition pressures, including land-value capture and State-owned site activation. [64405/25]

545. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if a formal value-for-money review has been completed for the Housing for All programme; if so, the findings of the review; and the way in which these findings informed the design of Delivering Homes, Building Communities. [64406/25]

553. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when he will publish the Bill to introduce new housing reforms in the private rental market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62784/25]

556. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Housing; Local Government and Heritage if his attention has been drawn to matters raised in correspondence (details supplied) in relation to housing support schemes; the actions he will take to address the concerns outlined; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62837/25]

558. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether any funding that is made available for retrofitting local authority housing is intended for tenanted social homes; and if not, if it is exclusively for vacant social homes (details supplied). [62918/25]

562. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of social housing units completed and occupied in each local authority area to date in 2025; and the targets for completion by year end. [62967/25]

565. Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Housing; Local Government and Heritage if he will review the affordability thresholds and criteria for single applicants to cost-rental housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [62995/25]

577. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if EU Cohesion Policy Funding has been allocated to any social and affordable housing programmes in his Department. [63230/25]

581. Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his position on if payments under the mother and baby institutions payment scheme come under the category of income that is not assessable and should be disregarded for the purposes of assessing income under the Housing Means Policy in local authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63303/25]

582. Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher asked the Minister for Housing; Local Government and Heritage in view of the success of the vacant/derelict grants scheme in Donegal if he will consider a similar type of grant for above the shop units for housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63309/25]

583. Deputy Tom Brabazon asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if SUSI grants and Erasmus grants are counted as household income for persons on local authority housing lists. [63353/25]

584. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the current number of households on the social housing waiting list in Dublin City Council and in Fingal County Council, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63357/25]

586. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the current average processing time for housing adaptation grant applications for 2025; how those compare with 2023 and 2024, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63359/25]

587. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of approved housing body units completed in Dublin for the past five years, by postal code, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63360/25]

589. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of applications on the social housing waiting list for County Mayo, by town, in tabular form, as of November 2025. [63530/25]

590. Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of housing applicants in County Mayo requesting one bedroom, two bedroom, three bedroom and four bedroom accommodation, in tabular form, as of November 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63531/25]

592. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the median and average time taken between the submission of a strategic housing development application and a final determination by An Bord Pleanála, for each of the past five years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63581/25]

593. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has assessed the cumulative impact of judicial reviews on the delivery of major housing or infrastructure projects; and if reforms are being considered to reduce systemic delay while preserving the right to appeal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63582/25]

595. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the specific measures being taken to streamline the planning and appeals process, in light of the ongoing housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63584/25]

600. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of turn-key acquisitions of homes for social housing, by local authority area, between the years 2020 and to date in 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63654/25]

606. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide details for the significant delays in commencing construction on 18 social housing units at Kilbride Lodge, Bray, County Wicklow; when construction is due to commence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63781/25]

607. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide details of the original estimated cost of constructing 18 social housing units at Kilbride Lodge, Bray, County Wicklow when planning was approved by Wicklow County Council, in 2021; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63782/25]

608. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide details of the current cost of constructing 18 social housing units at Kilbride Lodge, Bray, County Wicklow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63783/25]

609. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures, in place to make Uisce Éireann more accountable to the Houses of the Oireachtas as well as to elected representatives; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [63842/25]

Uisce Éireann's strategic funding plan requirement was €11 billion in 2024, comprised of €6.1 billion investment in infrastructure and €4.9 billion in operating costs. While all spending has to be questioned, I will try to concentrate on what Ireland is getting for this huge budget. Every housing target that Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Féin, the Labour Party and the Social Democrats have set are…

I am glad to have the opportunity to raise the very serious plight of people in Knight’s Mountain, Knocknagashel and Lyracrumpane, which are beside one another. They have very little water. In fact, their wells are now obsolete because the water is undrinkable. When you pour the water out of them, it is like a cup of coffee. It has gone brown and they just cannot drink it anymore. There are up to …

I hear the Minister of State say that Uisce Éireann has not heard anything and knows nothing about this. I did mention to him that it is Kerry County Council that has the responsibility in the first place for group water schemes and to administer those schemes. I am kind of amazed that Kerry County Council has not liaised with Uisce Éireann in this case, but the facts are as I have outlined to the…

I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this motion on the housing crisis. What does a housing crisis look like? Take my clinic in this week alone. On Monday morning, I had a single man who is working. He is living with his family and has nowhere to live. A family that is 12 years on the list has received a notice to quit and will be homeless in months. A family that is five years on the…

Rents in Galway have been far too high for many years and they are only continuing to rise. We see, in Galway city, that the average rent is now over €2,100. In Galway county, it is over €1,500. That is a 70% increase just in the past five years. This is when rent pressure zones were supposed to keep rents at an affordable level but like so many of the previous Government's housing policies, they …

It is good to have the opportunity to speak on housing again so soon. I welcome the motion from my Social Democrats colleagues. Looking at the Government amendment, I would vote against it but I will put on the record that I am participating in a pairing arrangement today and so will not be voting. However, I will speak in support of the motion. It is very important to emphasise a couple of things…

Branding the houses as affordable increases the level of hopelessness among young people. They feel the houses are just more out of reach for them. I believe we should rename the Act the Unaffordable Housing Act because unaffordable housing is genuinely what it is delivering. We need a radical reset of housing policy. The answers to this crisis are not found in the failed policies of the past. We…

Is it possible to have a serious debate, which the people deserve, on housing without the name calling and attempts to politically undermine and distort what is being said? I do not think it is possible to have such a debate with the Opposition, given the Deputy's contribution just now and her misrepresentation of what I said publicly. I will say again that the last Government moved from a situat…

Yesterday, the housing subcommittee of the Cabinet met. We made some concrete decisions in respect of housing. There will be an additional €450 million of funding to build a further 3,000 affordable and social homes, and cost rental accommodation. We made the decision to establish a strategic housing activation office, as recommended by the Housing Commission, of which the Deputy is fond. That was…

As I said earlier, yesterday the Government took a number of key decisions on the national planning framework, which is key - I hope the Deputy agrees – and will lead to more zoning of land which is important given the numbers of houses that we have to build in the coming years. We approved an additional €450 million for 3,400 social, cost rental and affordable homes. In excess of €6 billion has b…

They might be doing it in the best interests of housing but you cannot say one thing and then have it both ways, as Deputy Ó Broin has been doing serially. I will look at that and I will discuss with the Deputy mechanisms around utilising that €160 billion he spoke about and how we release more private sector capital into housing. That is what I have been saying since this Government was formed. …

I compliment Deputy Brabazon and congratulate him on his election and his maiden contribution to the Dáil. I wish him well in the years ahead and assure him that any support or help we can give him in his endeavours to represent the people of Dublin Bay North will be forthcoming. In January 2020, revised Central Bank lending regulations were put into effect on credit union house and business lend…

I thank the Deputy for the constructive suggestion. It is what many people right across the country are asking, namely: can we pull everybody together and get all the levers that are necessary to address what is still a housing emergency in Ireland? The new Cabinet committee on housing will meet for the first time under this Government next week, I think, on Monday. We are also committed to publis…

As this is my first contribution in the House, I ask for its indulgence for a moment as I thank my wife, my family, my friends, my supporters and the Fine Gael members who have assisted me in recent years and, in particular, during November's election campaign. Most importantly, I wish to place on record my thanks to the people of Waterford, who have placed their trust in me, and to the Tánaiste f…

How is it in 21st-century Ireland, when we are into our ninth year of eye-watering budget surpluses with, of course, the exception of the pandemic, that securing an affordable and sustainable home for so many people is largely down to luck? It is down to luck in terms of the family one is born into and whether the bank of Mam and Dad will be able to help with a deposit. More than one third of peop…

The Housing Agency has been conducting a review of RPZs since last year. It will finish its review at the end of quarter 1. The Housing Commission asked that we would do a detailed, evidence-based examination of this German reference pricing system. That should happen because that is what the commission recommended. We do not have to go with it but at the very least we should examine it and unders…

The programme for Government continues the failed policies of its predecessor. It lacks ambition and is deliberately vague with no costings or timelines. It means the continuation of the housing and homelessness crisis, the cost-of-living crisis, hospital overcrowding, long health waiting lists, a broken disability service and the continuation of the health recruitment embargo, the so-called pay a…

On the programme for Government, I listened with interest to the Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, saying the reason we would not go into Government with Independent Ireland was our climate plan. I am amazed that he went into Government with Independents who had no policies put in place. That is astonishing. It looks like they wrote them on the back of an A4 page a couple of days before the format…

Seo hé mo chéad díospóireacht mar Aire agus ar dtús ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Taoiseach agus a rá gur onóir an-mhór í a bheith mar Aire dlí agus cirt. Is post an-tábhachtach é a bhfuil freagrachtaí tromchúiseacha air. Déanfaidh mé mo dhícheall a chinntiú go bhfuil an pobal sábháilte agus go dtugtar tacaíocht don Gharda Síochána. This is the first time I have had an opportunit…

I thank the ESB, councils, communities and individuals for the work they have done and the support they have shown to each other. Again, as we saw during Covid, ordinary people and communities in this country showed the way forward while the Government followed behind, very delayed and inadequately. The Government failed to take a serious emergency response to this storm, just like it failed to ta…

With respect, what actually collapsed is the figure the Tánaiste gave to the public of 40,000, which was instead 29,000. In fact, what has collapsed is the credibility of the Tánaiste and Taoiseach when it comes to housing matters. Their record speaks for itself. Every single month, we see house prices, rents and homelessness rising on their watch. Worse than that and to top it all off, they misle…

As I have said already, housing is the number one issue. It was not, in any shape or form, a deliberate attempt to mislead people. I have quoted those who early in the year and mid-year were predicting close to 40,000, such as EY-Euroconstruct, Deutsche Bank and Cairn Homes. Others, by the way, in other years the Deputy identified, underestimated the number of houses that were subsequently built.…

If the Chair will indulge me for a moment, as this is the first time I have spoken in this historic Chamber as an elected Member of Dáil Éireann, I would like to thank the people of Kildare South for putting their faith in me. I assure them that I will work tirelessly for them, their families and all the great communities that we have in that most important county in the State. I thank my wife, Mi…

At this first opportunity since my elevation to the Cabinet, I thank everyone in the House for their good wishes. I look forward to working with everybody on all sides of both Houses of the Oireachtas to deliver for our crucial agriculture, marine, food and drink sector, which is so important to our overall economy. The agriculture sector has been significantly impacted by Storm Éowyn due to prol…

We are talking about the storm but in Limerick we had two storms. First we had the storm that led to snowfall. Met Éireann did not put out a red weather warning for Munster for that storm. We had up to three feet of snow in an area stretching from Kerry all the way back down to Limerick, as well as in other parts of Munster. There was no red warning for that storm. The following week, Met Éireann …