I appreciate the Deputy’s question on water supply, wastewater systems and Uisce Éireann. Both our water and wastewater systems require substantial and sustained investment over a number of investment cycles to bring them up to the standard and quality required of a modern service to provide people with the necessary supports, ensure growth and build resilience in the face of climate change.
My Department is deliver…
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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| February 2025 | 13 |
| March 2025 | 36 |
| April 2025 | 15 |
| May 2025 | 46 |
| June 2025 | 41 |
| July 2025 | 60 |
| August 2025 | 0 |
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| May 2026 | 70 |
| June 2026 | 27 |
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| 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
Deputy Stanley makes an important point. We are asking local authorities to rezone a significant amount of land to deliver additional housing. I encourage local authorities to complete this process. I am not happy with the time that many local authorities are taking in what is a housing crisis. I do not believe many local authorities have been treating it as such with the delays in delivering additional zoned land, w…
In terms of developer-led infrastructure, in any new process it will always be about who is going to be the first mover. When the first couple are delivered, others will see the pathway and move an awful lot more quickly. What we have said to Uisce Éireann, and it is doing this, is to work with local authorities and developers to try to get those first movers across the line as quickly as possible. This will then giv…
I propose to take Questions Nos. 83, 106 and 169 together.
I thank Deputy Neville for raising an important question on housing projects currently under construction in Kildare North and those expected to commence before the end of 2026. My Department publishes data on residential commencement notices in each local authority every month. Commencement data shows commencement notices were lodged in respect of 2,099 new…
I agree with the Deputy. I thank him and all his Government colleagues for ensuring that County Kildare got a substantial amount of funding under the housing infrastructure investment fund that will, critically from the perspective of my Department and that of the Government, unlock housing. It will also, no doubt, help to unlock key community services as well. As the Deputy will be aware six projects in Kildare were…
Again, I thank Deputy Neville for raising important issues in County Kildare, particularly north Kildare, with which he is most familiar. The key infrastructure projects announced under the housing infrastructure fund are critical. It is also about working with ESB Networks and Uisce Éireann to ensure all the required additional capacity is put in place so the community facilities raised by the Deputy, be they crèche…
I thank Deputy Sheehan for raising what is an important issue, namely, measures to reduce cost-rental rents. The cost-rental model was first introduced under the plan Housing for All and it has been continued and significantly expanded under the new plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities. It is designed to provide secure, long-term homes for households on moderate incomes at rents that are significantly below p…
I thank the Deputy again for his question on cost rental. As I have already pointed out, approximately €2.25 billion in departmental funding has been approved for cost-rental projects since 2021. In addition, significant loan financing is being made available through the State's Housing Finance Agency. Also, the reduction of VAT on new apartments to 9% under budget 2026 is playing an important role in reducing costs.…
Again, I thank the Deputy for his question. If you have a pure cost model, you will have very significant variations in what the cost-rental rent will actually be. We have taken the approach of trying to ensure consistency below market rent values. A 30% discount below market rent value is a significant deduction, albeit in circumstances where rent is high, which I acknowledge. However, if we decouple and go purely w…
I thank the Deputy for his question about addressing rent increases in Kerry. As he will know, the key to solving the housing crisis, which includes homelessness and high rents, is through increased supply. That is why the Government is providing record funding towards the supply of homes. It is also why we are taking emergency measures to address the delivery of homes.
We are also taking other measures. As the Depu…
I thank the Deputy. We are making significant funding available to increase the numbers of social and affordable housing. I encourage the Kerry local authority to maximise the use of the available funding to deliver social homes and affordable purchase homes across County Kerry. The Department will not be found wanting in supporting an increase in the supply of homes. The key to challenging high rents is, as I say, s…
We want Kerry County Council to provide more affordable purchase homes. The Department and Government would support it. Those homes are essential. I want everybody, across the spectrum, to be able to get the homes they need in their own local community, whether through private purchase, affordable homes or social housing. It is essential that everybody can access a home. Affordable purchase is essential for people wh…
I thank Deputy McGuinness for raising the very important issue of strengthening local democracy and also seeking the reconstitution of boroughs or corporations similar to the structures that existed previously. The Local Government Reform Act 2014 dissolved 80 town councils, which represented about 14% of the population, including Kilkenny Borough Council. A lot of these were their own separate legal entities and thi…
We have given this considerable consideration on the local democracy task force. The Deputy is right that my town lost its council and it diminished the representation at the time. The local government task force was established to build on the considerable body of work previously undertaken by the AILG - which represents councillors - the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities and Seanad Éireann. The local democ…
I agree that direct access to local democracy is absolutely essential and that is what the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, and I will be ensuring through the local democracy task force and our input. That connection will be reconnected through empowering our local councillors to hold the local officials to account. It will also mean that where representations are being made by local people, they can effect those c…
I move:
That Dáil Éireann approves the following Order in draft:
Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (Designation of Meath County Council) (Parts of Administrative Area) Order 2026,
a copy of which has been laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 2nd April, 2026.
I move:
That Dáil Éireann approves the following Order in draft:
Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (Designation of Carlow County Council) Order 2026,
a copy of which has been laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 15th May, 2026.
I move:
That Dáil Éireann, noting that on 21st April, 2026, the Government nominated Mr. Lee Komito and Mr. Ross Frenett for appointment by the President to be Ordinary members of An Coimisiún Toghcháin, recommends that, pursuant to section 9(9) of the Electoral Reform Act 2022, Mr. Lee Komito and Mr. Ross Frenett be appointed by the President to be Ordinary members of An Coimiún Toghcháin.
I thank the Sinn Féin Deputies for initiating the motion and I thank colleagues for their contributions to this very important debate. I acknowledge that I could not be here earlier but I was meeting Oliver Bond House residents at the Custom House, which had been arranged before this Private Members' debate. Of course I will get the transcript and read back over everything to have full knowledge of everything that ha…
I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important matter, namely, the urban regeneration of Oliver Bond House. I did meet in the last couple of hours with the residents of Oliver Bond House and the Oliver Bond regeneration forum. The meeting was very much an opportunity for a meaningful discussion with the residents, to listen to them and to see where we can go from here in a very productive manner. It emphasis…
There is a pathway to resolving this issue. We do need an appropriate mix. The position is not to say that there can be no amalgamation or even a reasonable amalgamation. The Bridgefoot Street development part is essential for the residents of Oliver Bond House as well, and that is a part that can be quite accelerated. There is an element where too much of this is happening sequentially. I am very struck by the fact …
Absolutely. These people are living in appalling conditions. We can accelerate the entire process here. It is about having the right mix and people being able to stay in their own local communities. The Bridgefoot Street development is an essential part of that, and, as the Deputy rightly said, there are another ten blocks for regeneration. Three blocks are part of a demolition proposal, with replacement as well. It …
I propose to take Questions Nos. 140 and 142 together.
Supporting individuals and families experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness is an absolute priority for me, my Department and the Government. The Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026, which came into effect on 1 March 2026, provides the strongest tenancy protections in the history of the State. The new Act introduced a new natio…
In the context of the actual questions put forward by Deputy Sheehan, I would say that we are putting in a number of measures to target homelessness, not just preventing people from becoming homeless, and particular measures where we are aware that people might be going into homelessness. There are also measures relating to exits and how we get people out of homelessness as quickly as possible. The implementation of …
The Deputy cannot say that.