James Browne

Not for existing tenancies.

Not for existing tenancies.

I very much welcome the opportunity to come before the House this evening to speak on housing matters. I take this opportunity to thank all of the Members who contributed this evening to the important, worthwhile and very interesting debate. First, I echo the contributions of the Ministers of State, Deputies O'Sullivan and Cummins, earlier and reassert the Government's commitment and determinatio…

I thank all Members for their contributions. I echo the comments made by the Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, and reassert this Government's commitment to tackling the challenges in the housing sector. I will highlight the steps being taken by the Government to minimise vacancy and to ensure strategic and informed programmes of planned maintenance work for local authority housing are implement…

-----submitted by a local authority does not exclude €11,000. In addition, and where turnaround times are not impacted, local authorities can also complete the suite of works applicable to the energy efficiency retrofit programme on a vacant dwelling with additional funding up to a maximum of €48,850. There is evidence to suggest, however, that while re-letting costs are higher, the turnaround ti…

It did not have the money to put in stairs.

It did not have the money to put in stairs. Is the Deputy having a laugh? This is the problem. The local authority should be putting in those stairs.

The Deputy should think about what he is saying. These voids should not be there. The local authorities have the ability and wherewithal to resolve the issue.

The Government has in the past given them the money to do so. The funding available from my Department under the planned maintenance voids programme is available to support minimal turnaround times, with all local authorities moving to a position of aligning works with the criteria of the relevant regulations and meeting their legal obligations as a landlord. This will limit the impact of funding …

The Deputy comes in and blames the Government for allowing that to happen.

It is madness and should not be happening. Of course, in line with local authorities' best practice and with regard to rental standards, whether a house is old or has a long-standing tenant in situ, it should be inspected and improvement works carried out at regular intervals to prevent excessive maintenance costs and delay when the property becomes vacant. To that end, my Department and colleagu…

The move to the planned maintenance approach for stock management and maintenance is crucial in this regard to ensure that local authorities can maximise the funding available from relevant stock improvement programmes by only completing the measures applicable with the housing standards for rented housing regulations when a property becomes vacant. Providing cyclical maintenance over the life cyc…

-----provided a maximum average is maintained across the local authority's programme.

Given the legal responsibility on local authorities with regard to management and maintenance, they play an important role to ensure adequate budgetary provision for the purpose of housing repairs and cyclical maintenance from their rental income. The funding my Department provides is supplementary rather than available to fully replace local authorities' own self-funding. Returning to the exampl…

That is not a Government responsibility but a local authority responsibility.

We will continue doing everything in our power to minimise turnaround times, as referenced in the programme for Government, with the proposed introduction of a new voids programme to support local authorities to ensure their homes comply with the relevant standards and to provide good comfort levels for their tenants and implement strategic programmes for planned maintenance informed by stock cond…

Vótáil.

As we conclude this important discussion, I express my sincere thanks for the opportunity to mark National Biodiversity Week in the Dáil and to reaffirm my Department's enduring commitment to the protection and the restoration of Ireland's natural heritage. I acknowledge and thank all Members who contributed, both today and at last week's debate in the Seanad. The quality of debate and the variety…

I thank the Deputy for his question on departmental approvals for social and affordable housing. The Government is committed to working with all stakeholders to deliver social, affordable and cost-rental homes at scale and to continue accelerating housing supply across all tenures. This is demonstrated by the record level of investment for the delivery of housing in 2025, with overall capital fund…

I am happy to engage with the Deputy if he wants to give me the information on any specific case he suggests has been delayed. There may be some confusion among some bodies who put in queries or applications, or whatever the case may be, in that they believe that because they have not got approval it somehow means a delay. The funding we have is being approved. We have been providing funding for t…

Again, I thank the Deputy. I assure him I am over the detail in my Department. I think that some of the organisations presume that because they have an application in, they are entitled to funding or are automatically going to get funding. We are already providing record capital funding for this year, of almost €6.8 billion. There will be more spent. We encourage applications but the fact that an …

I thank Deputy Murphy for raising this important question on whether housing delivery is at risk because of challenges regarding the electricity grid. I am committed to building more homes in Ireland and to ensuring the housing needs of our society and economy are met. The Government’s revised housing targets, aiming for over 300,000 new homes by 2030, set a pathway to deliver on this objective. …

We are all aware that the high population growth and strong economic growth led to increased demand in terms of housing and also for our economy. Particularly with regard to delivering housing and the supporting infrastructure, there has been a growth in energy demand and the energy intensity required for modern manufacturing and large-scale servers. Delivering electricity infrastructure is absolu…

I again thank the Deputy for his question. Housing is the number one priority for this Government, and that runs across all the different Departments. We have our Cabinet subcommittees where we work with the various Departments. In response to the increased demand as a result of a significant increase in population and economic demand being put on our grid, we have a plan in place, that plan is be…

I thank Deputy Ó Broin for raising this important question about the tenant in situ scheme and housing first. Tenant in situ acquisitions have been an important measure in the prevention of homelessness since their introduction in 2023. The Government has therefore agreed to continue such acquisitions in 2025 and has increased the funding available for second-hand social acquisitions from the €60…