James Browne

I thank the Deputies for raising these important matters. I welcome the opportunity to update the House on behalf of the Government. The Government is not opposing this motion. However, I would like to make a number of points in respect of each of the proposals raised in the motion, which might warrant further consideration by the House. In relation to voting rights, it should be noted that to ex…

I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "That Dáil Éireann notes that" and substitute the following: "— the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 underpins an enhanced Grant Scheme which provides grant funding to people whose homes have been affected by Defective Concrete Blocks (DCB) and replaced a previous scheme; — the DCB Scheme is neith…

Government funding for this work continues to be provided, with a record €175 million allocated to fund the scheme in 2026. That is more than double the amount allocated to the scheme this year and reflects the strong take-up of the scheme as it begins to take hold, particularly in the north west of the country. In line with the commitment to keep the scheme under review and to improve it, the Gov…

Thank you very much, a Cheann Comhairle.

First, it is essential that this conversation start with the people - Harvey and his parents Stephen and Gillian and the many more incredible advocates acting with courage on behalf of their children and all those who have been impacted. I understand the Tánaiste and the Minister for Health met a number of weeks ago with Harvey's parents and they agreed to work in partnership on the structure of a…

I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the following Regulations in draft: Planning and Development (Exempted Development (Act of 2000)) Regulations 2025, a copy of which has been laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 7th October, 2025.

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." The Bill intends to make an amendment to the Housing Finance Agency Acts 1981 to 2024. Section 1 of the Bill amends section 10 of the Housing Finance Agency Act 1981 to increase the agency's statutory borrowing limit from €12 billion to €13.5 billion. Section 2 of the Bill sets out the Short Title, collective citation and construction. The missi…

The local authority is.

There are houses built.

No.

The Minister's responsibility is-----

Yes, because it is the local authority.

He is asking me.

You want to take away the help-the-to-buy scheme from that family to help them buy a home.

I thank the Deputy. Addressing homelessness and in particular homeless families and children is a priority for me, the Department and the Government. Ireland signed the Lisbon declaration in June 2021 which committed all signatories to work towards ending homelessness by 2030. I will continue to work with the National Homeless Action Committee to ensure an all-of-government approach to drive the a…

With our new housing plan, we are developing the homelessness prevention framework. Significant work has been ongoing in relation to that, working with all the NGOs. I acknowledge the good work by Focus Ireland and the Simon Communities of Ireland. When I became Minister for housing, the first thing I did was visit all of the homeless organisations at their sites to get the necessary information. …

As the Deputy rightly points out, there is significant additional funding for homelessness in yesterday’s budget. As the Deputy knows, budgets are always broad strokes. You are dealing with multiple Departments and within those Departments there are multiple areas. I will, through the Revised Estimates Volume, work out exactly how we will allocate this funding and how we will use it. In particular…

The Land Development Agency is a key part of the Government’s housing strategy in delivering affordable homes for rent and sale in communities right across Ireland. The Department of Finance’s report on the sustainable funding options for the Land Development Agency considered the financing needs of the LDA and the implications of this need on the business model and operational activities of the a…

That is exactly what the Department of Finance did, working with the Department of housing. It looked at how the LDA is financed and how it can be financed into the future and examining the remit of the LDA. We have agreed to expand its role. The LDA will be absolutely critical. It will very soon be the largest housing delivery body in this country. We are fully committed to expanding its role an…

I have been heavily engaged with the LDA. I meet it regularly. It is anxious to have that direct delivery model, which is what it has been moving towards as quickly as possible. The key is that we get properties delivered. As I say, I much prefer the direct delivery model and to get the private market delivering on the private sector side of things. That is where we are heading and where much of m…

I thank the Deputy for his question. I confirm that there are no approval lags for CREL funding. There is an approval process for funding applications to ensure compliance with the scheme conditions and value for money for the Exchequer. This is, as it should be, a requirement under public financial procedures. A necessary process should not be misrepresented as a delay. Since July last year, th…

I reject the premise that there have been delays. For example, 54 CREL projects have been approved since the beginning of July last year and the average number of working days was 48 for this period. The processing times for individual applications can vary for the reasons I have outlined. That said, the trend is that projects are taking less and less time to assess. For example, projects submitte…

We are not in that situation at the moment. As I said, we are processing these ever more quickly. As I said, it took 15 days, on average, in the first six months of this year to process these applications. I encourage applications. There is an issue there, as the Deputy rightly pointed out, in terms of CALF and CREL not being aligned. It is something that the Department with AHBs and local authori…

On 10 June 2025, the Government approved stronger tenancy protections and greater certainty for the rental sector, including the introduction of a national rent control. From 1 March 2026, a national rent control will be introduced for all tenancies, which will limit rent increases for properties other than new build apartments to inflation at CPI up to a maximum of 2% and for new build apartments…

The changes will apply prospectively. That was made clear yesterday. In terms of the savings-----