James Browne

I thank the Deputy for his question. We have provided significant money for second-hand acquisitions for this year. The second-hand acquisition programme was always introduced as a temporary, short-term measure to deal with the ending of the eviction ban. Sinn Féin's own housing policy proposes a very sharp reduction in tenant in situ acquisitions to 800, far below what we have to address this sit…

Then there is, as Sinn Féin proposes, the full-year reset the Deputy seems to be looking for for this year. The reality is that one engages in acquisitions, there is a significant overhang from last year, that will be worked out through this year, additional funding will be provided for next year and we will keep the matter under review.

I have not misrepresented Sinn Féin's policy. Its policy is very clear. The policy I read referred to 1,800 houses reduced by 200 each year, down to 800, so Sinn Féin's policy is to significantly slash second-hand acquisitions. It is in black and white in its own policy.

With respect, Deputy, I did not interrupt you. This is in Sinn Féin's own policy. We have looked at the scheme-----

You want to slash tenant in situ acquisitions down to 800. That is Sinn Féin's policy. You are now saying it is down to 1,000.

Either way, it is a significant reduction.

Deputy, do not try to-----

Stop shouting, Deputy.

Deputy, stop shouting.

You will not shout people down.

Do not try to shout me down, all right, Deputy?

Show a little respect.

I know you do not like my answer, but shouting me down will not stop me giving it, okay, Deputy? The reality is that Sinn Féin's housing policy proposes to significantly reduce second-hand acquisitions. I suggest Deputy Gould read it. As to what we have done, in some local authorities, unfortunately, significant amounts of money have been used for refurbishment, €5 million in the case of one loca…

The Deputy is comparing outturn from previous years to the funding we provided in May this year. The year is not over.

Stop comparing the result at the end of one match to the score halfway through another.

I am not blaming the councils.

I thank Deputy McGrath for raising the important issue around expectations for the delivery of affordable housing this year. I know it is a matter that is important to the Deputy. The Government is fully committed to delivering affordable housing at scale and continuing to accelerate housing supply across all tenures. In 2024, more than 7,000 affordable housing options were delivered nationwide b…

I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of affordable housing. I also thank him for his regular engagement with me on the issue of how we can develop further affordable housing. In terms of the pipeline of delivery in Cork city, since the launch of Housing for All until the end of quarter 4 in 2024, 747 affordable housing solutions have been delivered via a range of delivery partners. T…

I thank Deputy McGrath for his question and I fully agree with him that in addressing our housing needs in this country, we need to deliver private houses for those who can afford them and affordable houses for those who need help to bridge the gap to own their own homes. We also need to provide social houses. We must ensure that options are there for each person in this country so that their hous…

I thank Deputy Connolly for raising the important issue of the funding provided to housing authorities for the provision of emergency accommodation in 2024 and 2025. Supporting individuals and families at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness is a priority for Government and me. Critical to this is increasing the supply of housing. The Government is committed to increasing supply with a record le…

I thank Deputy Connolly for raising this very important issue. He has raised this matter with me on numerous occasions and he campaigned on it. The issue of child homelessness in particular is very dear to the Deputy's heart and it is also extremely important to me that we address this issue. The prevention of people going into homelessness is absolutely critical and that is what we are working on…

I again thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of homelessness and especially child homelessness. I will continue to engage with him. I will meet the two Galway local authorities in the coming weeks. I will head to Galway to meet both the city and county councils. Homelessness is a national issue but it has regional variations in terms of both causation and how we address the particular …

I thank the Deputy. The programme for Government commits to the introduction of a new voids programme and work is under way in my Department to develop and roll out that programme. As Minister, my focus is on building on the strong progress made over recent years in tackling local authority vacancy levels, which was supported and enabled by significant Exchequer funding for my Department over the …

I thank the Deputy again for raising the question. I assure him the Government commitment is there to ensure we have a planned maintenance programme for our local authority stock. The largest-ever voids programme was funded by the previous Government in 2020 and the Department provided uncapped funding for those dwellings vacant for more than 12 months in 2020. Subsequently it was acknowledged tha…

Again, getting these voids back into play as quickly as possible is essential. Record funding is provided for the local authorities. There is inconsistency across them; there is no question about that. Some local authorities take the view of ongoing maintenance that when the property is vacated it is got back into a state where it can be re-let as quickly as possible. Other local authorities seem …