Meeting our social housing targets is absolutely crucial. Meeting them through new builds is best practice and that is where we want to expand as quickly as possible. However, we need local authorities to lead on their own-build programmes as well because that builds resilience into the system no matter what the economic situation may be to ensure that there is not a reliance of delivery through Part V and turnkeys, …
TDs / James Browne
James Browne
Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Portrait: © Houses of the Oireachtas (Oireachtas (Open Data) PSI Licence) · source file
0
questions asked
Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them
145,875
words spoken in the chamber
145,131 as a minister, 744 as a TD
431
votes recorded
Each Yes, No or Abstained in a recorded vote
From the Dáil chamber only: committee meetings are not in this archive.
Members of the Government answer parliamentary questions rather than ask them, so this page lists none of theirs.
Month by month
Low months are usually recesses, when the Dáil does not sit. The archive runs to 22 October 2026.
Contributions to debates 670 in all
Dec 2024Oct 2026
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| Month | Contributions |
|---|---|
| December 2024 | 0 |
| January 2025 | 0 |
| February 2025 | 13 |
| March 2025 | 36 |
| April 2025 | 15 |
| May 2025 | 46 |
| June 2025 | 41 |
| July 2025 | 60 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
| September 2025 | 32 |
| October 2025 | 59 |
| November 2025 | 46 |
| December 2025 | 20 |
| January 2026 | 51 |
| February 2026 | 43 |
| March 2026 | 43 |
| April 2026 | 3 |
| May 2026 | 70 |
| June 2026 | 27 |
| July 2026 | 22 |
| August 2026 | 0 |
| September 2026 | 2 |
| October 2026 | 41 |
Debates they spoke in most
Plus 394 contributions in the regular slots, such as Leaders' Questions and Priority Questions. Speech from the chair is not counted.
Party, constituency and offices
- constituency Wexford 29 November 2024 to now
- party Fianna Fáil 29 November 2024 to now
- office Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage 23 January 2025 to now
I again thank Deputy Séamus McGrath for asking this question on behalf of Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere. I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 64 and 99 together.
The new national housing plan contains a range of actions to increase skills and support modern methods of construction, building on the initiatives already in place. MMC is the term used to describe a range of compliant innovative construction alternatives to …
I thank the Deputy for the important question on MMC. A dissemination programme is currently being developed by my Department and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to promote the use of these approaches in the education and construction sectors. These standardised designs build on my Department's existing design manual for quality housing, for example, for social housing…
We will support a number of 3D volumetric pathfinder projects to further explore the potential for these innovative systems. Using MMC, Limerick City and County Council and the mayor’s office will be supported to advance the initial phase of their SMART modular housing project. In addition, Wexford County Council is being supported to commence a project to develop 22 permanent social homes utilising 3D volumetric sys…
The programme for Government sets out a number of priorities for the Government relating to access to early learning and childcare services, including a commitment to review the 2001 Childcare Facilities Guidelines for Planning Authorities to ensure childcare spaces are provided and put to use. Further to the commencement of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of the Planning and Development Act 2024, on 2 October provisions for nat…
I thank the Deputy. I am aware that she has spoken about this on many occasions in the Chamber, including with the Minister, Deputy Foley. She is quite consistent in raising the importance of childcare facilities. I can assure her that the Minister and her Department are actively engaging on this. I will meet the Minister, Deputy Foley, in the next week on this matter to see how we can further the pathway. It is a ma…
I again thank Deputy Currie for raising the important matter of childcare facilities. I agree that it is timely and in accordance with the programme for Government that we update the planning guidelines. As I said, we will work with the Department of children. Ultimately, it is the Department of children that will work out the policy on this area. The national planning statements will form an important part of planni…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 10, 92 and 120 together.
I thank Deputy O'Connor for this important question on planning guidelines for solar farms for local authorities. The section of the programme for Government on securing Ireland's future reaffirms Ireland's ambitious targets of 8 GW of solar capacity connected to the grid by 2030, to assist with meeting the requirement of 80% of electricity demand supplied by…
I certainly hear the Deputy's concerns. Any proposals forthcoming from the Government will be subject to public consultation and consultation with stakeholders, very much including the agricultural community and rural villages. However, in the absence of national planning statements, it falls back to the first principles of planning law, including the relevant Acts, but also the county development plans as set out by…
On the question of smaller extensions, etc., we are working on a very extensive suite of planning exemptions. I very much recognise that people should have more power to deliver and work on their own local property without having to seek planning permission. That is why we are introducing those exemptions. It is very much not a case of passing the parcel. The reality is that county development plans are decided at a …
The Deputy's question was about plans to investigate the rate of home vacancy around the country, and that is the question I will answer. Data on vacant properties is available from a number of sources, such as the Central Statistics Office, data from census 2022 and GeoDirectory. My Department has been engaging with the national statistical institute, the Central Statistics Office, which has recently developed a new…
I accept that these people are in an extraordinarily difficult situation, which I have no doubt is quite traumatic for them. As the Deputy knows, this matter is now going through a legal process.
I cannot comment on individual cases but in any situation, we always have to look at what is happening, take learnings from it and see if there are ways we could strengthen our laws, be it within the Department of housing o…
What has happened with these families in a situation of a liquidation process is that there is a ranking of priority within that and they have found themselves very much on the wrong end of it. What I can undertake, albeit not in this specific case because, as I said, it is going through a current legal process, and with the principles being realised out of this situation, I will speak to the Ministers for Finance an…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 14, 39, 85, 532 and 533 together.
My Department is currently undertaking a focused review of the 2006 wind energy development guidelines which will inform a new national planning statement on wind energy under the new Planning and Development Act 2024. The review is addressing a number of key aspects of the guidelines including noise, setback distance, shadow flicker, community oblig…
I thank both Deputies for their input in relation to the matter. In relation to my time in the Department of housing, there has been significant engagement with the Department of the environment in terms of developing the wider issues around the guidelines and in relation to updating them through the national planning statements. These are very technical in nature. They are very complex. There is considerable EU envi…
I thank the Deputies for their concerns. There is a very large number of national planning statements that are now required over the coming years. Providing one under wind energy is a priority for the Department of housing, but as I said, many of the key principles are also within the Department of environment. We are continuing to work with it. It is about finding that balance where we can deliver renewable energy, …
One thing I note is how often somebody tells there is something is on my desk when my desk is empty. It seems to be a term of art that something has arrived at the Department of housing somewhere. I can assure the Deputy that the Housing Agency received test results from the properties sampled in Fingal. I have received the final report from the Housing Agency. It literally was on my desk this week. On the basis of t…
I reiterate it will be literally within days.
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 extend the franchise a…
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 neither a redress nor a c…
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 Government has approved…
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 an inquiry into spina…
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 mission of the Housing Fi…