2026-07-07

I move: That it be an instruction to the Committee on the Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026, that pursuant to Standing Order 194, the Committee has power to make amendments to the Bill which are outside the scope of the existing provisions of the Bill to provide that Section 10 of the Housing Act 1988 be amended for the purposes of: (i) introducing legal and habitual residency eligibility criteria for access to homeless accommodation provided by housing authorities under said Section 10 of the Housing Act 1988; (ii) obliging housing authorities to have regard to the best interests of children when making decisions on the allocation of available homeless accommodation to a family with one or more children; and (iii) expanding the powers of housing authorities to withdraw the provision of homeless accommodation in certain circumstances; and to change the title of the Bill and make other technical and consequential amendments required to take account of the changes above.