The consistent Sinn Féin tactic is whenever I say something they do not want to hear, they start shouting me down. The Deputy has to have respect. He does not have to like what I have to say but he has to listen to me.
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
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Contributions to debates 670 in all
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| 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
And it continues.
Is the Deputy going to let me speak? I thank the Deputy. It is the highest number of new-build social homes in the history of the State but we came from a very low standing start. As Deputy Sheehan will know, the last time the Labour Party had the Department of housing-----
-----it built 75 new-build social homes in the entire State.
We have taken that from 75 to 9,089.
We left them with too many houses; that was the problem. The Labour Party turned a crisis of too many homes into one of too few in four and a half years. Well done.
I thank the Deputy for raising this question in relation to the unaffordability of cost rentals. As the Deputy is aware, the cost-rental scheme was introduced by this Government under the previous housing plan and is continued and expanded in the new plan. It is designed to address the affordability challenge in the rental sector and to provide secure, long-term homes for moderate-income households. This is why, unde…
The visit to Oscar Traynor Road was a huge day. It was great to see a huge turnout. As the Deputy will be aware, the scheme has a mix of social, affordable and cost-rental units. It is a significant mix. If I recall, there are approximately 850 homes being delivered there in total and they are being delivered ahead of schedule. It is one of many large schemes now being delivered by Dublin City Council. Cost-rental sc…
I very much have answered the question. We are always assessing the various schemes that come under the Department of housing to ensure there is availability for people at various levels of income. These schemes are way oversubscribed. We need even more cost-rental properties. That indicates there are people who fall into that bracket. We need to ensure, as I said, there are social, affordable, cost-rental and other …
I thank the Deputy for his question, which centres on the home-buying process including ghost bids, gazumping and bidding wars. I recently took over responsibility for the Property Services Regulatory Authority from the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration. It regulates property service providers, including estate agents. Estate agents already have to comply with key statutory obligations regulating the h…
The Government has accepted there are issues. That is why it set up the expert group. The programme for Government committed to a broad package of measures to assist home buyers under the home buyers help package, many of which have already been progressed by the implementation group of the task force on conveyancing and probate, arising from the previous actions under Housing for All.
The ESRI report itself focused…
I thank the Deputy. As I said, we have had our task force and we have the implementation group. Many measures have already been implemented and the rest of those measures are being implemented at pace. I am happy with the work the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, is doing in this area. I am reviewing the new report that has come from the ESRI to see if further measures are needed on top of that and I will make those dec…
Affordability very much is at the heart of the Government's housing policy, as embodied within the new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030. The Government is targeting the delivery of 300,000 new homes by 2030, including 72,000 social homes and 90,000 affordable supports. The plan reinforces and expands the range of existing measures being implemented by Government to tackle the issues of s…
We do have a lot to say to people. We have already delivered a record number of homes last year. Since Housing for All came in, we delivered 36,000 homes last year. We have provided tax breaks for renters as well. We know the only way we can address the homeless crisis, the rent crisis and the housing crisis is through increasing the supply. We cannot calcify the current situation forever. I know it is popular for De…
Short-term protectionism is only exacerbating this situation. I want to give people hope. We delivered over 36,000 new homes last year. That is the highest number of homes since Housing for All came in. We delivered an awful lot more homes 20 years ago. In my view, the kind of protectionism we brought in has undermined the supply of those homes. We need to get back to delivering at least 50,000 homes a year. Going ba…
Within the programme for Government 2025, Securing Ireland's Future, a commitment was specifically made to continue to accelerate social housing regeneration schemes in Dublin. This commitment is reiterated in the new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities. Where local authorities propose the complete redevelopment of flat complexes such as O'Devaney Gardens and St. Teresa's Gardens, my Department is ma…
I thank Deputy Ó Broin and I am surprised at his comments. The national regeneration and refurbishment programme is the largest regeneration programme in terms of funds in the history of the State. The remediation of local authority social housing estates and flat complexes in the country's most disadvantaged communities is one of my key priorities. This includes those defined by the most extreme social exclusion, un…
I very much do understand the scale of the problem. The funding is available to address every one of those issues and they need to be addressed because it is totally unacceptable that people are living in these types of conditions, but it has been made about-----
It has been made about density instead of being about regeneration. We fully support and will fund the regeneration. It needs to happen. It could have happened by now. We want it to happen at speed-----
Because the local authority made it about density instead of regeneration.
This needs to happen and it needs to happen quickly.
It needs to happen in terms of ensuring people have the quality homes, updated homes and upgraded homes they deserve to live in, instead of it being made about density, which Deputy Ó Broin has made it about and so has the local authority in the past.
I thank the Deputy for her question in relation to this matter. Supporting individuals and families who are experiencing or are at risk of experiencing homelessness, including victims and survivors of domestic abuse, is very much a priority for me, my Department and the Government. The response to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a cross-departmental multi-agency issue, with the Department of justice co-…
I assure the Deputy that there is no slippage on this. This will be established and implemented this year. Once the protocols are finalised, I will be issuing that direction to the local authorities to ensure that people can travel from one local authority to another when fleeing domestic violence without losing time spent on the first authority's list. In fairness, I have generally found my own local authority quite…
I recognise that the Deputy has raised this on many occasions. She has been very consistent on it. This protocol is coming. It would be welcome if, in anticipation of the protocol, local authorities accepted what they know is now going to come.