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588. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to estimate the total number of housing units in the State at the end of each year from 2011 to date in 2025. [61098/25]

590. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the criteria and regulatory safeguards to be applied under the proposed scheme allowing developers to construct their own wastewater treatment infrastructure for new housing developments; the process by which such privately built systems will be certified, adopted and maintained by Uisce Éireann; and if he will m…

591. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has identified towns or villages in Cork where housing development has been delayed due to lack of wastewater infrastructure; the number of such settlements nationally; and the way in which the new developer-led wastewater proposal will prioritise these areas. [61150/25]

592. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he has engaged with the Environmental Protection Agency and Uisce Éireann to establish a clear licensing and compliance framework for privately constructed wastewater treatment systems proposed under the new developer-led housing infrastructure plan; the measures that will ensure long-term environmental monito…

593. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount of housing maintenance funding provided to each county council from 2020 to date in 2025; the average waiting time for completion of work in each county in each of those years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61199/25]

598. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total funding allocation for social housing acquisitions in 2026. [61213/25]

602. Deputy Seán Crowe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is aware of the large number of people who earn too much to qualify for social housing, but not enough to qualify for cost rental schemes; his plans to introduce more flexibility into the cost rental bands to allow for this; if he agrees that at present, this results in greater reliance on HAP where other op…

612. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the engagement that has taken place between his Department and Uisce Éireann in relation to the progression of the taking in charge of water services of completed housing estates, many of which have been completed for more than 20 years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61413/25]

614. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the actions his Department is taking to assist Uisce Éireann in the taking in charge of housing estates and residential developments from private developers, in particular legacy estates built between 2005 and 2008, which have not been taken in charge and are in a poor state of repair; and if he will make a statem…

618. Deputy Martin Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps being taken to increase commencement and completion rates of housing developments specifically in Roscommon-Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61481/25]

619. Deputy Martin Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures being considered to improve housing affordability in Roscommon-Galway, particularly for first-time buyers and young families; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61482/25]

623. Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if grants are available for the improvement/upgrade of wastewater treatment systems/septic tanks for houses not in the high status objective catchment area under the domestic wastewater treatment systems grant schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61645/25]

627. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether there is a funding stream for local authorities to pay to put shuttering on housing; and whether this can be included in an allocation under the voids return programme. [61740/25]

634. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will establish a fund for unfinished housing estates such as (details supplied) to deal with serious infrastructure and essential services within these estates. [61970/25]

265. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage given the Governments positive decision to request local authorities to zone more land to meet essential housing needs, the policies in place to ensure that counties where the population rises rapidly can be guaranteed that health, educational and recreational resources will be expanded to meet the increased…

130. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the contractual or procurement procedures altered during the construction or fit-out phases of Ireland House Tokyo; the specific changes and their cost implications; and the estimated annual operating cost of Ireland House Tokyo compared to the previous leased embassy facilities (details supplied). [57865/25]

978. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the position regarding the number of previously vacant or derelict properties that have been retrofitted and returned to use for housing since 2022 in the Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council area; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57742/25]

1002. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of social housing units completed in Q1 and Q2 of 2025, by local authority, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57846/25]

1003. Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of affordable housing units completed in Q1 and Q2 of 2025, by local authority, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [57847/25]

1011. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will consider raising the threshold for social housing in Offaly or moving Offaly into band two; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58069/25]

1013. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to publish the draft planning guidelines on short-term letting; and to confirm that he will consult with the Oireachtas Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage, before finalising the guidelines. [58132/25]

1015. Deputy Frankie Feighan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the financial supports available from his Department to parents and guardians of children with autism who need to modify their house to provide their child with an adapted bedroom or sensory room; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58155/25]

1016. Deputy Jennifer Murnane O'Connor asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the figures in respect of the housing sector by local authority for 2016 to 2024 will be published (details supplied), either by the CSO or his Department. [58167/25]

1023. Deputy Séamus McGrath asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the statutory bodies that are responsible for ensuring that property developers comply with building regulations relating to the installation of solar photovoltaic microgeneration systems in new housing developments; the role of local building control authorities in verifying compliance with these regulations…

1028. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will publish the Housing Agency's report on defective concrete blocks in Fingal; if he will outline the findings relevant to an area (detail supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58427/25]

I take this opportunity to voice my frustration and that of thousands of people who live in north Kildare in the context of dealing with the semi-State body that is Uisce Éireann. Across the north of the county, from Leixlip all the way to Johnstownbridge and down to Naas, we regularly come across issues with Uisce Éireann. I want to deal with specific issues. We have issues in Leixlip where we ge…

I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this Topical Issue. It relates to the national child poverty target. Social Justice Ireland tells us that there are 211,150 children at risk of poverty. Crucially, this figure does not take account of the household spend on accommodation. Two adults working on a low income or the minimum wage do not earn enough to live decently, and neither can …

Ba mhaith liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil leis an Teachta Ahern as an rún Chomhaltaí Príobháideacha seo a chur chun cinn. Over 22% of the electricity we currently use is used by data centres. That is up from 5% in 2015, a rise of 531% over that period, the equivalent of almost 400,000 households. This is set to rise to over 30% by 2030 and 55% if projected growth continues. All the while, our grid is…

This motion is mad. It states that Dáil Éireann recognises that the Government will further increase carbon emissions by lifting the Dublin Airport cap, promoting unsustainable housing and economic development and by no longer prioritising public transport and active travel investment over road construction. The message must go out loud and clear from here today that the Labour Party is against to…

I agree Hannah was the star of the show and that whole group and that powerful moment of inclusion was really special. I welcome the Taoiseach's comments. I am happy to hear that he is talking about family composition. Councillor Donna Sheridan also contacted me. She is working at present with a separated single mother with two children who is trying to leave the family home. The mother is only s…

It is an absolute scandal that we have tens of thousands of vacant properties in this country while people face homelessness and the effects of the housing crisis. I ask the Taoiseach to look into something I became aware of this week. I have written to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council about it. I received a tip-off from a very credible source that there are 22 apartments in an apartment comp…

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: P…

I would dispute what the Deputy has said and her analysis and presentation of it. Dealing with vacancy and dereliction is multi-stranded and must involve a multi-stranded approach. As far back as 2022, the Government introduced what I would consider to have been a game-changing initiative in terms of the vacant property refurbishment grant, which provides up to €50,000 for vacant properties and up…

The Deputy was a long time a councillor. He knows the intricacies of this more than anybody does in terms of the application and enforcement of derelict site levies. There has been very significant progress in Cork in terms of housing. There needs to be more and we need to do more but in terms of the housing schemes that have started, been developed and are continuing, particularly along the dockl…

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes: — that the Irish people are deeply concerned about the conflict in the Middle East and Gulf region, particularly the situation in Palestine, and that the Government is committed to working with key partners to end the conflict; — that Israeli actions in Palestine consistently contravene inter…

I have been seeking this debate for about three months at the Business Committee so I am glad the Minister is here before us. I will concentrate very much on the serious issue of short-term lets. I have very little time so I will ask a number of questions the Minister might be able to answer in his summing up. There has been major confusion, as we have seen. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are all over …

I want to raise three topics under tourism. The first is short-term lets. Short-term lets provide the only form of tourist accommodation in many parts of rural Ireland. They bring tourists from all over the world to places that would never otherwise receive tourists. I know because I live in a village in rural west Wicklow and have witnessed what these short-term lets bring. These industries were …

At the outset, I commend the work of Senator Frances Black on this Bill. She has led from the front on it for many years. I acknowledge in this House the Ministers of State, Deputies Dooley and Collins, who worked with Senator Black to introduce this legislation to the House, albeit in a different form than the Minister has presented today. On 19 July 2024, the International Court of Justice deli…

I move: That Standing Order 194 is modified in accordance with Standing Order 241(2) to provide that it be an instruction to the Committee to which the Criminal Law, Civil Law and Defence (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026 may be recommitted in respect of certain amendments that it has the power to make amendments to the Bill which are outside the scope of the existing subject matter of the Bil…

I acknowledge the work done in this area across the Chamber, in particular by my colleague, Deputy Rice. The provisions related to disregarding historical convictions are not only welcome, they are overdue. It is sometimes easy to talk about progress as though it is inevitable and Ireland simply arrived at a more equal place by accident. The reality is those rights were hard fought for. They were …

The one thing I would say is that we were all here at a previous Stage and, notwithstanding changes that have been made, very significant elements of this Bill were already before us, as complex as they were then and as they are now. I look forward to speaking on some of the 72 amendments that have been tabled. Let us not fool ourselves: the reason there is pressure to get this Bill through is not…

I wish to speak today against the backdrop of the budget last year and the economic situation Ireland finds itself in. There is no doubt we find ourselves in a strange economic place. We are in a place where we have budget surpluses. We are not in an era of budget deficits, which was something we all grew up with in this State. It was a situation that came against us with the crash. This is also a…

This is the game of pass the parcel that led to The Complex being closed down. If one goes to the Department, it says that it would love to leave The Complex open but it cannot buy properties, which is something I did not know, so what the Minister just said is complete nonsense. The Department is not allowed to buy properties. Dublin City Council said basically it did not have the money for it. T…

There is a brutal truth at the heart of our disability system. Families have been forced to say it out loud because the Government is not listening. The reality is the State is waiting for parents to die. Parents in their 70s, 80 and 90s must continue to act as full-time carers for sons or daughters with intellectual disabilities. Regardless of their age, health and ability to care for another adu…

The other thing is that the birth rate is falling yet our population is going up with a population increase of over 500,000 in recent years. This is putting pressure on house availability. With many vacant houses, there is no real incentive available to owners to rent them out but there is an incentive there that is working for the Ukrainian people, namely, a tax-free payment of €600 to the landlo…

I will absolutely relay the Deputy's suggestions to the Minister. I will now read the remainder of the reply from the Department. Local authorities may also draw on their respective internal capital receipts, and the Department of housing's planned maintenance and voids programme, energy efficiency retrofit programme, and disabled persons grants scheme, to support non-essential works that can be …

I want to talk to the Minister of State about the Before We Die campaign, a grassroots, family-led campaign across the country. It deals with an issue that we in this country have neglected for too long, that being, not finding appropriate residential places for people with intellectual disabilities. Unfortunately, it took a number of parents in Cork to raise this matter, albeit the main instigato…

I move: “That the Bill be now read a Second Time.” I am delighted to bring this Bill to Second Stage. It is pretty straightforward legislation, which would amend the Public Health (Alcohol) Act to ensure that the restrictions on alcohol advertising were fully enforced to the letter and spirit of the law, as intended. Members will remember that, back in 2018, the Oireachtas passed the Public Healt…

I thank Independent Ireland for tabling this motion. As my colleague said, we would not agree with all the proposals set out, but this is an important debate that needs to happen. When we look at what is going on right now across the country, we can see that people are really struggling. They are not just struggling financially; they are struggling to get around on public transport and they are st…

I want to raise the matter of how the State is communicating life-changing decisions to people in the defective concrete blocks scheme. A constituent of mine applied in 2022. Her home was assessed by an IS 465 engineer on the Housing Agency's list. The conclusion was clear: scientific and engineering principles dictated that full demolition and rebuilding was the only safe option to restore this u…