Eoin Ó Broin

But he is not saying anything.

No, by agreement.

You do not answer the question.

An answer would be nice for a change.

That is not the issue.

Very generous.

We want answers.

Of course we do.

He is running out of time all right.

What was the deal?

Hold you to your word is what he is trying to get you to do.

We would love to hear an answer.

1. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will introduce an amendment to the Planning and Development Act 2024 empowering planning authorities to apply administrative fines to short-term letting platforms such as a company (details supplied) and others where they advertise short-term lets in rent pressure zones that are not in compliance with planni…

As the Minister knows, the overwhelming majority of short-term lettings within the State are operating illegally and in clear breach of planning law. In 2022, the House dealt with legislation to strengthen the enforcement of the short-term letting regulations, specifically within rent pressure zones. Is this a proposition the Minister and his departmental officials are currently considering in par…

It has been a decade since the issue of unregulated short-term lets in high rental demand areas was raised on the floor of the Dáil. Significant work was done on a cross-party basis in the Oireachtas housing committee in 2018. An all-party report was agreed and we worked with the Minister's predecessor, the former Deputy Eoghan Murphy, on the 2019 regulations. The problem with the regulations is t…

Unfortunately, many of us warned of the challenges of enforcement when the former Minister, Eoghan Murphy, was introducing the 2019 regulations. There is a solution to this as regards the platforms, that being, to amend the Planning and Development Act to allow planning authorities to apply administrative spot fines to platforms like Airbnb for every day they advertise properties that are not in c…

3. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to comment on the ongoing delay in his Department's approvals for social and affordable housing projects funded via SHIP, CAS, CALF, CREL and AHF; to confirm the total number of projects submitted to his Department under each funding stream since September 2024 to date in 2025; the number that have been approved, …

A significant number of social and affordable housing applications were delayed in the Minister's Department at the latter end of last year, pending approval. We do not have the final figure but it could be anywhere in the region of 5,000 units. At Cabinet, the Minister got approval to progress 3,000 of those. However, my understanding is that the vast majority of those have yet to be formally app…

The Minister's predecessor had a terrible habit of refusing to answer very reasonable questions from the Opposition during Priority Questions. I had hoped that the Minister would not repeat that pattern. Unfortunately, he has done so just now. He has failed to address the question. There was not a perfectly normal situation at the end of last year. We know that because the local authorities, appro…

The additional €450 million of capital approved by Cabinet still means the total capital expenditure for social and affordable homes this year is less than the total outturn last year. It is an improved situation but it is not a better situation. To be clear, is the Minister telling me that a majority of those 3,000 units have completed all of the processes with the Department and the relevant loc…

5. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to confirm the total delivery of affordable purchase and cost-rental homes in 2024 by local authorities, approved housing bodies and the Land Development Agency; and his views on the low output under these schemes and growing number of people unable to access these properties due to the unaffordable rents and hous…

Can the Minister tell us, if he has the figures, the final outturn for the affordable housing schemes delivered by local authorities, approved housing bodies and the Land Development Agency in 2024? Does he share my concern about the low output of these schemes to date and the increasing unaffordability of both the cost rentals and the affordable purchase units across the State?

Unfortunately, the facts, as provided on the Department's website, flatly contradict the Minister's assessment of the success of these schemes. The target for affordable purchase and affordable cost rental in 2022 was 2,100 units. The Government missed that by 52%. For 2023, the target was 3,500. The Government missed that by 61%. For this year, the target for affordable homes to be delivered by l…

Obviously, we will debate that matter when those figures are finally published but given that the Minister is operating from such a low base, to have the best year to date is hardly something to celebrate. Let us look at the affordability in two cost-rental projects, both on public land. In O'Devaney Gardens, the cost of the so-called "affordable" rentals there will be just under €1,500 a month f…

This project has been the subject of considerable debate in this Chamber and of strong cross-party support since it was announced in 2018. There will be further delays. Those delays will be as a result of the imposition of the four-stage approval process by the Department. The four stages include unnecessary design approval, cost appraisal and lengthy procurement. We argued with Darragh O'Brien pr…