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1493. Deputy Pat the Cope Gallagher asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to the review of the vacant property refurbishment grant carried out in 2024, if he has considered introducing phased payments of the grant in order to assist applicants with cash flow in managing such projects, particularly with massive increased costs in construction; if he has further consi…

1498. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of social housing applications, by local authority that have used the section 179A exemption since 2023, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41972/25]

1501. Deputy Michael Collins asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the proposed extension to the duration of planning permission applies to one-off rural house planning applications coming towards the end of planning permission, as well as large developments (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41996/25]

1510. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount estate agents are paid in commission or fees for selling homes under affordable housing schemes funded by the State. [42052/25]

1513. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department will continue using public private partnerships as a model of delivering social housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42069/25]

1517. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if consideration will be given to increasing the CAS funding to Wicklow County Council to meet the demand for houses purchased under the scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42083/25]

1522. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the social housing income thresholds will be reviewed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42088/25]

1523. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide a breakdown of housing commencements per month of 2025 in County Wicklow, in tabular form. [42089/25]

1524. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide a breakdown of social housing commencements per month of 2025 in County Wicklow, in tabular form. [42090/25]

1525. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the targets for delivering affordable housing in County Wicklow; if he will provide a breakdown of affordable homes delivered in the county in each of the years 2020 to 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42091/25]

1529. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the assistance available to people who are not on a social housing list when they are given notice to quit their rental property and are unable to find an alternative place to rent; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42156/25]

1536. Deputy John Brady asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will consider adopting an approach to cost-rental and affordable purchase housing similar to other European countries such as Denmark which operates on a not-for-profit basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42209/25]

1547. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of vacant residential properties across the State currently; the efforts that are being taken to address this issue; the estimated impact on housing supply; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42260/25]

1550. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the assessments his Department has carried out on the impact of students studying English language courses on housing pressures in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42335/25]

1551. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to outline his Department’s strategy in relation to the housing needs of students studying on English language courses in the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42336/25]

1559. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the targeted policies being introduced by his Department to support young adults in accessing affordable housing, to enable family formation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42548/25]

1569. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when his revised housing plan will be published. [42748/25]

1574. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the awarding of the Housing First tender in Dublin; and to provide an explanation for the delay in the awarding of this tender. [42753/25]

1589. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department has made any funding available to local authorities to appoint vacancy officers to manage social housing voids; and if so, how much funding for each local authority. [42962/25]

1614. Deputy Louis O'Hara asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide a breakdown of the average duration spent on Galway County Council’s social housing waiting list in each of the years 2020 to 2025, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43353/25]

1625. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide a breakdown by local authority of the annual amount spent on local authority housing maintenance. [43594/25]

1633. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of vacant properties in County Waterford that could be repurposed for social housing; and the barriers that prevent their repurposing. [43709/25]

1636. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the proportion of the national housing stock made up of apartments; how this compares with the OECD average; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43824/25]

1656. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the anticipated delivery timeline for housing on the Oscar Traynor Road site; the unit breakdown, by tenure type and expected completion phases; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43966/25]

1657. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of social housing starts and completions, by delivery stream; and the cost per unit in the Dublin north-west area. [43967/25]

Reducing the length of time with regard to a planning permission might be okay with the large developments but I would be very concerned about the one-off housing. A lot of people might apply for planning but may not have the money to get started, especially with the price of materials at the moment. I refer to one-off housing in rural Ireland. I have often met people, as we all do in our constitu…

That is difficult as well. One has to make an assessment of what is happening. That said, the Department is working on this. Fundamentally, those who have committed the crimes and those responsible for them should pay. That is the religious orders, in particular. A significant degree of work is under way in the Department to identify various scenarios. In previous times, the State went first and g…

I spoke earlier about the major crisis in our public infrastructure that is clearly delaying progress on the construction of housing and, indeed, delaying progress towards meeting our climate targets. In particular, I speak about difficulties with energy and water infrastructure. I want to focus on water infrastructure because just at the end of May, the Government was warned by Uisce Éireann that…

I sat in the housing committee with the Minister of State last year when the planning Bill was pushed through. We warned at the time of the consequences when the Government rushes through complex and serious legislation. Here we are now, 12 months on, trying to fix the errors. Why is there always a rush when dealing with complex legislation? Instead of learning from the mistakes of the past, the G…

I thank the Chair for facilitating me. My apologies. I welcome the opportunity to say a few words on this Bill. As usual, I thank the Oireachtas Library and Research Service, which again has been under pressure to produce a digest for us. The Bill has 17 sections and two Parts. I have both positive and negative things to say about it but I never agree with waiving pre-legislative scrutiny. Doing …

It is concerning how we got to this stage today where we are dealing with these motions in the manner in which we are dealing with them. Frankly, it is unacceptable that we are dealing with such important motions in this haphazard way. The fact one of the motions had to be withdrawn by the Minister at the last minute just goes to show how shoddily this issue is being dealt with. Why was this propo…

I thank the Deputies for giving me the opportunity to discuss the Government’s position on Second Stage of this Private Members’ Bill, the Ministers and Secretaries (Attorney General) Bill 2023. At the outset, I remind Deputies, as Deputy Bacik has done, that the Attorney General is a constitutional officer appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Taoiseach under Article 30 of the C…

I join others in expressing condolences on the death of Brother Kevin Crowley of the Capuchin Day Centre. I had the pleasure of meeting Brother Kevin, witnessing the immense work that he and his colleagues were doing and experiencing his great sense of humour. He will be sadly missed. When the idea of a housing tsar was announced some months ago, the question on everyone's lips was the same: what…

I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle, Deputy John McGuinness, for allowing me some of his time. I wish to speak on this issue because Cork East is receiving the largest single investment in an active rail project anywhere in the country now, with a €1.6 billion investment into the Cork area metropolitan transport strategy. I note Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan from Cork North-Central is in the Chair. Both…

I welcome this opportunity to set out the Government position on the situation in the Middle East. The region is experiencing a period of significant jeopardy and instability with multiple crises playing out, many of which are interrelated and all of which threaten further escalation, further destruction and further devastating loss of civilian lives. I will turn first to the appalling and deteri…

I welcome the opportunity to speak on the review of the Education for Persons with Special Educational Needs Act. I thank my colleague, the Minister, Deputy McEntee, for her opening statement. I wish to thank those who conducted the review and Members of the House for the opportunity to discuss the review. The review represents the most comprehensive national reflection to date on how we can supp…

I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 1: To insert the following after "restoration and conservation of the National Monument at 14-17 Moore Street": "; and commits to: — respecting the heritage and legacy of the leaders of 1916; — ending the destruction of key National Monuments such as the O'Rahilly Home and Moore Street; — implementing the Moore Street Preservation Trust plan for Moore …

The plan was supposed to be published in July. I understand from what the Minister said and what we have seen in the media that it will be delayed until September. We know the Government has a target to deliver 303,000 homes by 2030 and that the target will be missed again this year by around 10,000. Will the Minister give the House an outline of what measures to scale up delivery are being consid…

It is the clear focus of this Government to increase the supply of new build social and affordable homes. As such, the decision not to proceed with the contract award for bundle 3 was not taken lightly and was made after much careful consideration of the costs involved and is ultimately the correct decision. I cannot comment on or discuss the tendered costs for PPP bundle 3 as these numbers are p…

I thank the Deputy. As he is fully aware, the cost-rental scheme did not exist in 2020 and that is why no units were delivered. On cost rental, some people cannot afford those rents and that is why we are providing a number of different solutions for people in order for them to access the homes they need at an affordable price. That may be purchase or rent and may involve cost rental, affordable p…

The Minister referred to people on moderate incomes and viability. There are people who cannot get on the social housing list because they earn too much, but they are not earning enough to qualify for cost rental because the rent is more than one third of their income. Individuals, couples and families are trapped in the middle. They are earning too much for social housing and not enough for cost-…

In response to an earlier question, the Minister made a comment about bringing forward solutions. We can come in here and fight every week - we could fight for the next five years - but we have taken the decision to come in and try to work with the Government and bring forward solutions. Three weeks ago, I brought forward a solution. While it will not fix the housing crisis, it would bring in thou…

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, as he has done previously. As I do, the Deputy recognises the importance of translating what we have approved in this House in the national planning framework into getting it implemented by local authorities in their development plans as early as possible. That is why the Minister, Deputy Browne, has written to local authorities telling them to prepare a…

I thank Deputy Sheehan for asking when funding will be made available for a project. This is the shortfall of €5 million to cover infrastructure for the Mungret LDA development of 250 units in Limerick. The Deputy's question relates to the development of the lands at the former Mungret College, which is a key strategic priority for Limerick City and County Council. The site will see the delivery o…

Funding for the housing activation office will come under the national development plan, which is currently being agreed. Limerick City and County Council has received local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF, funding for the delivery of the first two phases of a new distributor road at Mungret. LIHAF funding approval of €22.1 million was given, of which €6.6 million was funded by the D…

I am someone who is about to embark on a journey with my family to build our first home. If there was a genuine modular offering for us as a family, we would look at it but, unfortunately, it is just not there for us as one-off house builders. I am lucky to be in that position. Still, there are significant barriers there. I was at a lunch today with the Estonian ambassador and she spoke to me abo…

I thank the Minister of State for being here to take this Topical Issue matter. I will use an individual case, but I will not say the woman's full name. I am raising the case on behalf of a person to highlight the issue I have, which is about the limitations of the supplementary welfare allowance and the manner in which it is applied. It often seems that a decision is made by the Department of Soc…

I wish the assure the Deputy that it is. I also assure him that I am aware of the mountain that needs to be climbed to where we need to get to. We will give consideration very much to how we take forward the views of the Ombudsman for Children, whether that is through bespoke strategies or reflected in specific actions in the new housing plan. He is not wrong regarding the need for a renewed focus…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." This Bill comes at a timely moment, as I am sure the Minister of State will agree, when her Department has launched a review of the public procurement system. I hope this review will be constructive, that it is not just a box-ticking exercise and that we look at the nuts and bolts of this issue. How the Government deals with this Bill and the rev…

I thank the Minister of State for being here this morning. I represent Dublin Fingal East in north County Dublin, which has a very young and fast-growing population. There is a lack of primary school places in the village of Portmarnock, which is an issue I have been raising for a number of months. I have tabled parliamentary questions to the Minister. Unfortunately the responses have been most un…