409. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether eligibility for the local authority home loan adequately accounts for demonstrated repayment capacity, particularly in cases where applicants are single-income households due to illness or disability; and if he will outline any plans to revise assessment criteria to ensure that households with sustainable repayment cap…
Parliamentary questions
Questions
TDs ask ministers questions to get answers on the record, most of them in writing. Here is every one asked in the 34th Dáil, by the department it went to and the subject heading it was filed under. How questions work
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410. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he acknowledges that single-income households are routinely offered lower loan amounts and less favourable terms by commercial lenders, notwithstanding repayment capacity; and whether the local authority home loan scheme is intended to address this market failure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11229/26]
411. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether he has examined the interaction between disability-related income supports and eligibility for the local authority home loan, in circumstances where the withdrawal of a disability allowance results in a household being treated as single-income and subsequently excluded from affordable credit schemes; and if he will mak…
412. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he considers it equitable that a modest disability allowance may be counted as income for means-testing purposes in some contexts, yet the absence of that payment results in households being excluded from affordability supports such as the local authority home loan; if he will review this apparent inconsistency; and if he w…
413. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether the risk assessment underpinning the local authority home loan distinguishes between lack of repayment capacity and changed household circumstances arising from long-term illness or disability; and if not, whether he will commit to refining this distinction; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11232/26]
414. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to clarify whether the local authority home loan is intended solely for households unable to access credit at all, or whether it is also designed to support households who can access credit only on unsustainable or significantly less favourable terms; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11233/26]
415. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has conducted, or plans to conduct, a review of groups disproportionately excluded from the local authority home loan, including households affected by disability or long-term illness; and if so, when this review will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11234/26]
416. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether he acknowledges that households who were compelled to sell their home following the onset of a spouse's disability or long-term illness may be excluded from the fresh start principle and other housing supports through no fault of their own; whether a review of this cohort will be undertaken; and if he will make a state…
417. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason the Housing Agency did not proceed with the purchase of a property (details supplied) in County Donegal; if the request for the report to be carried out will be made available; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11274/26]
418. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reasons domiciliary care allowance is treated as household income for the purposes of assessing eligibility and contribution levels under the housing assistance payment scheme; whether he acknowledges that this places an additional financial burden on families caring for children with disabilities; if he will consider excluding …
419. Deputy Johnny Mythen asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of households currently on the social housing waiting list in Kildare south; the number of people who have been removed from the list since 2022; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11300/26]
420. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the homes delivered over the past five years, by local authority; the number of units transferred to local authorities for social and affordable homes under Part V agreements; whether these units were delivered as part of each development or in a separate site; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11339/26]
421. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount expended by his Department and by each agency for which he is responsible on advertising, promotion, advertising companies and external communications companies or consultants in 2025 and the expected costs for 2026, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11355/26]
422. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether he accepts that treating income earned by local authority tenants under the tenant rent-a-room scheme as reckonable for the purposes of calculating differential rent significantly reduced participation in the scheme; whether this impact was assessed prior to the scheme’s introduction; and whether he will now introduce a mand…
423. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department carried out any formal impact assessment, cost-benefit analysis or behavioural modelling prior to the roll-out of the tenant rent-a-room scheme for local authority tenants; and, if not, how the Department satisfied itself that the scheme would deliver additional housing supply in practice. [11395/26]
424. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of additional rooms his Department projected would be made available nationally under the tenant rent-a-room scheme at the time of its launch; the number of rooms actually delivered during the first twelve months of operation; and whether the scale of any shortfall has been examined at departmental level [11396/26]
425. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of reported breaches of wildlife protection legislation in each of the past five years involving illegal hunting, coursing, or the use of dogs to kill or injure protected wildlife; the enforcement actions taken by the National Parks and Wildlife Service or other authorised bodies; and whether the Minister has assessed the…
426. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to the scheduled commencement of revised rent control and rental sector reforms on 1 March 2026, whether all necessary statutory instruments required to give effect to those reforms have been finalised; whether any instruments remain in draft; and whether the Department is satisfied that full operational readiness has been a…
427. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to expedite the introduction of the over-shop grant (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11486/26]
428. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to expedite reform of the National Planning Guidelines for One-Off Housing and give particular attention to areas under significant urban pressure that is, the single biggest contributing factor to local people being refused planning permission; if he will look at back land development, ribbon development and planning permission …
429. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of full-time equivalent staff that work for the National Building Control Office and the National Market Surveillance Office, respectively. [11501/26]
430. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to state, with respect to a proposed change to a local authorities section 48 development contribution scheme review (details supplied), whether the Department has issued any instruction, guidance or circular on the charging of development contributions to cost rental and affordable purchase homes to local authorities; and his view…
431. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his attention has been drawn to cases whereby people have been removed from local authority housing lists due to receiving a promotion at work and thereby going over the income threshold; if this acts as a disincentive to career progression; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11507/26]
432. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will engage with local authorities to ensure that existing income thresholds and the lack of flexibility therein do not act as a disincentive to career progression for housing applicants; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11508/26]
433. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on the fairness of a person losing 13 years in time accrued on a social housing list due to getting a pay increase that pushed them marginally over the income threshold; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11509/26]