Parliamentary questions

386. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on whether Fingal County Council is currently in breach of statutory obligations under section 19 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, having failed to adopt Local Area Plans for multiple relevant urban areas since 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31636/25]

387. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether he has considered issuing a direction under section 31 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 to Fingal County Council for its repeated failure to adopt mandatory local area plans in urban centres with populations over 5,000, as confirmed by the High Court in Byrne v FCC & Ors [2025] IEHC 20…

388. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to clarify the current legal standing of planning permissions granted in North County Dublin in areas where local area plans have been statutorily required but not adopted since 2000, including whether such permissions are legally sound or open to challenge; and if he will make a statement on the matter. …

389. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether county development plans adopted in the absence of required local area plans are legally valid; the advice issued to local authorities and An Bord Pleanála regarding zoning and planning in these circumstances; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31639/25]

390. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether the absence of statutory local area plans in Fingal since 2000 constitutes a breach of Ireland’s obligations under Articles 6 and 7 of the Aarhus Convention and whether he has received legal advice on potential breaches of public participation rights; and if he will make a statement on the matter.…

391. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to confirm the number of local area plans currently in effect across all functional areas of Fingal County Council and what the Department’s plan is for bringing the county into compliance with the Planning and Development Act 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31641/25]

392. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department has carried out or commissioned any audit or review of systemic failures by Fingal County Council to prepare mandatory local area plans since the Planning and Development Act 2000 came into force; and if so, to publish its findings; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31642/2…

393. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether he acknowledges that the Office of the Planning Regulator raised concerns during the preparation of the Fingal County Development Plan 2023–2029 regarding the absence of mandatory local area plans for settlements over 5,000 population; and if so, to clarify the reason no action was taken under sec…

394. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on whether the Office of the Planning Regulator who raised concerns during the preparation of the Fingal County Development Plan 2023–2029 regarding the absence of mandatory local area plans for settlements over 5,000 population, failed to exercise its statutory requirement to ensure the plans a…

395. Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to confirm whether he or his Department has at any time represented in correspondence, Dáil statements, or other public forums that Fingal County Council was in compliance with its obligations under section 19 of the Planning and Development Act 2000 regarding local area plans, and if so, to clarify the f…

160. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the progress being made in reversing the decline in numbers of the hen harrier following the publication of the 2022 National Hen Harrier Breeding Survey (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30920/25]

161. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average cost to retrofit a local authority home, broken down by pre- and post-BER in each of the years 2020 to 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31331/25]

162. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an updated list of all email and phone lines for use of Oireachtas Members within his Department, including all subsidiary bodies, in tabular form. [30777/25]

163. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide the list of capital projects for IT services, by his Department or bodies under its aegis, which had contracts valued in excess of €1million and which failed to reach completion; the value that was written off, for the years 2022, 2023 and 2024, in tabular form; and if he will make a statem…

164. Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide the list of capital projects, by his Department or bodies under its aegis, which had contracts valued in excess of €5 million and which ran over cost in 2023, along with a description of the contract, the initial price and final price provided, in tabular form. [30825/25]

165. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide a list of all sections of the Planning and Development Act 2024 that have been formally enacted; and the date upon which the enactment took place. [30842/25]

166. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when it is intended to commence the relevant sections of the Planning and Development Act 2024 relating to designation of urban development zones; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30871/25]

167. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if, in light of the deepening ecological catastrophe engulfing Lough Neagh, and noting that the 2025 fishing season has already been adversely impacted by the onset of blue-green algae pollution, and by a moratorium on commercial fishing, he is willing to meet with a representative group of Lough Neagh stakehold…

168. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on call 3 for the urban regional development fund, including the number of projects that applied for funding, the number that have received funding, and an update on progress with 1,297 vacant or derelict properties identified by local authorities that were part of the funding applications. [30887/…

169. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will outline the reasons for his plans to downgrade the environmental target standards of 466 stretches of river, lakes and estuaries by classifying them as heavily modified water bodies, HMWB; whether his Department has assessed the long-term impacts of such designations on our environment; and if he will …

170. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the interim funding for multi-unit development defects remediation; the total number of schemes that have applied; the schemes approved; the total number of units involved in each scheme; the moneys approved, allocated and spent to date in 2025; and when works are expected to commence and conc…

171. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to legislate for and implement a comprehensive remediation scheme, including retrospective payments, for defective apartments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30914/25]

172. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for a list of all the meetings he and his officials have had with the ESB since he took office, providing dates and attendees for each meeting. [31081/25]

173. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for a list of all the meetings he and his officials have had with the infrastructure unit of the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation, providing dates and attendees for each meeting. [31082/25]

174. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to outline the borrowing capacity of all local authorities combined for the years 2020 to 2025, in tabular form. [31083/25]