Questions

327. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department maintains any form of benchmarking, comparative performance assessment, league table, or KPI-based ranking of local authorities in respect of their management of vacant/void social housing units, including turnaround times, cost per unit, and annual throughput; and if such information exists, if he will publish it…

328. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of local authority dwellings classified as void, by each local authority in each of the past five years; the number returned to use annually; the average cost of remediation per dwelling; the mean and median turnaround time; the value of Departmental funding drawn down for this purpose; and if he will make a statement on…

329. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has examined the feasibility of aligning private-sector vacant property grants with local authority programmes for returning voids to use; and if not, if such alignment will now be considered. [67517/25]

330. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has carried out any analysis comparing the cost, speed, and long-term maintenance outcomes of returning void social housing units to use versus alternative interventions such as acquisition, leasing, or new build; and if he will publish any such analysis to inform future policy choices. [67518/25]

14. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to implement new draft wind energy guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65419/25]

103. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the exempted development guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65418/25]

520. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if fire-service capabilities have been evaluated in respect of large-scale battery-storage fires; if national guidance exists regarding the extinguishing, containment, and post-incident environmental management of such fires; and if he will provide reports commissioned by the National Directorate for Fire and Emergency Management o…

521. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if environmental impact assessment requirements for solar farms and associated battery-storage facilities include mandatory analysis of contamination risks from fire-water run-off, air emissions, and soil or groundwater pollution; and if he will provide the relevant regulatory documents or inspectorate guidance. [65621/25]

532. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when he plans to implement new draft wind energy guidelines;and if he will make a statement on the matter.; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60285/25]

533. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when he plans to implement new draft wind energy guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [60322/25]

588. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide the Department’s annual expenditure on State Claims Agency costs for the years 2020–2025. [66362/25]

589. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is satisfied that the Fire Service has adequate training, equipment, and response capability for large-scale BESS incidents; and if capability-gap reviews can be published. [66758/25]

581. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number and value of contracts that underwent post-award variations; the net value change as a percentage of original awards, by CPV/category; and the three most common drivers of variation identified, for 2022–2024. [60945/25]

1052. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will review the income assessment criteria for social housing eligibility, with particular reference to the including of the working family payment (WFP) in the calculation of assessable income; to consider introducing an income disregard for the WFP on the basis that it is a social welfare support for low-income working fam…

1053. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to increase the social housing eligibility thresholds nationally, particularly in light of recent increases in the working family payment and the ongoing cost-of-living pressures; if consideration is being given to introducing an annual review mechanism to ensure thresholds keep pace with inflation and wage adjustments; …

608. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there are any technical, legal, operational, or policy constraints preventing his Department, when publishing quarterly reports of payments or purchase orders over €20,000, from including additional columns that link each payment to its underlying procurement process specifically tender/contract title; name and address of the aw…

609. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if all contracting authorities under the aegis of his Department are in full compliance with Circular 05/2023, in particular the mandatory requirement to publish contract award notices for all contracts above €25,000; and if he will provide details of the monitoring or enforcement arrangements in place to ensure this requirement is…

637. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department and each body under its aegis discloses expenditure on external consultancy and adviser fees, by category (details supplied) in their annual report and or financial statements for each accounting year; if they provide direct web links to the most recent publications where these Section 1.5 disclosures are set out …

79. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on plans to provide a clear regulatory framework for the installation of small-scale modular or ‘backyard’ units, to support families seeking accommodation solutions on their own property; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53678/25]

323. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the status of the draft wind energy development guidelines; and when updated guidelines will be brought forward. [49213/25]

633. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide the web links to his Department’s Q1 2025 and Q2 2025 published reports of procurement-related payments or purchase orders over €20,000 (in line with the FOI model publication scheme requirements); to confirm whether these reports have been published in full and are publicly accessible; and to state the planned publicati…

634. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department will publish the procurement related payment reports (details supplied) in machine-readable formats such as CSV or excel on a quarterly basis, in line with open data standards; if not, the legal, technical, or operational constraints that prevent compliance with the requirement under S.I. No. 376/2021 to provide s…

635. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total annual expenditure on public procurement by his Department (excluding agencies), covering goods, services, and works, in each of the past five years, in tabular form; to clarify if his Department maintains any internal system or process that allows it to accurately report its own procurement spend, independent of the publ…

1405. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when a decision will be made on funding allocations for the Multi-Annual Rural Water Programme 2024-2026 under measure A5 – Extensions and new schemes; if a decision has been made on a project (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40869/25]

1419. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide the total number of grant payments issued by the Department in each of the past five years, along with the total value of those grant payments for each year, in tabular form; and to confirm whether these figures include all schemes and discretionary grant programmes administered directly by the Department or through its…