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welcome the opportunity to speak today on the work of the Housing Commission and the significant work the Government is doing and will continue to do to implement the commission’s recommendations. Before I do so, I wish to say I am honoured to have been afforded … opportunity to take on the housing brief. I look forward to contributing to an area which has the potential to significantly enhance the lives of people in our society. This afternoon I will update the House on the work ongoing in my Department since the publication

move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "acknowledges that: — Housing for All - a New Housing Plan for Ireland, sets out an ambitious multi-annual programme that seeks to deliver more than 300,000 new homes between 2022 and 2030; — since … Housing for All was published in September 2021, almost 120,000 homes have been added to the National Housing Stock, with delivery of 92,500 new homes in the three years from 2022 to 2024, representing a considerable 49 per cent increase on the quantum delivered

Minister of State said, an incredibly significant piece of work. It is on a par with the National Economic and Social Council, NESC, Housing in Ireland 2005 report. It is a benchmark piece of work which I would like to think all of us will return … welcome today's debate but, of course, a debate is not enough. I hope we get the Government's support when the Oireachtas housing committee is formed to ensure we can further this discussion in a more detailed form by inviting in former members of the commission

move: That Dáil Éireann: recalls that: — under Housing for All - A new Housing Plan for Ireland, the failed housing plan of the last Government, a target of 33,450 new homes were projected for 2024 but only 30,030 homes were built, a decrease of 6.7 per cent … while the construction of new apartments fell by almost a quarter; — the former Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage told the Dáil in October 2024 "I have consistently said we will exceed that target. I still confidently predict … that it will be the high 30,000s

welcome the Minister of State to the House. It is very disappointing, yet again, that we do not have even a Minister of State from the Department of housing. I tabled a housing motion in the Dáil last week with my Labour Party colleagues. The Minister for housing … even have the courtesy to contact me or my colleague, Deputy Bacik, to say he could not come to the House. I understand there was a convention before that when the line Minister was not available, the Minister would contact the sponsor of the motion. I am disappointed

thank everybody for their contributions. I reassert the Government's commitment to tackling the challenges we collectively face in the housing sector. As a 37-year-old, I am acutely aware of the impact these challenges have on my generation and those younger than me. I have taken … will touch on a couple of them. Standardised templates were referenced. They have been in place since 2022 for all social housing projects. Reference was made to the single-stage approval process. We are committed in the programme for Government to reducing red tape and streamlining the approval

focus on and give time to a discussion on the solutions that will solve this crisis for those people. I thank the Housing Commission members for producing the report. It is an important piece of work. I do not agree with all of it and there are issues … private operators or private hospitals to tell us how to run our public health system or develop Sláintecare policy. In developing the new Housing for All iteration, I ask that the Minister focus on housing needs. I ask that he focus not on vested interests, but rather

first thing is that I think everyone is in agreement with Croí Cónaithe. It is a good thing and is getting more houses done. I think the cabin at the back of the house is a good thing. I would like if it was 200 sq. ft bigger … size as the modular homes, but if anything is good let us say that it is good if it all helps in the housing sector. Let us look at the facts, however, in social and affordable housing. Why do we have architects designing houses

move: That Dáil Éireann: notes that: - the Taoiseach, Tánaiste and former Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Darragh O'Brien TD, repeatedly promised to deliver 40,000 homes last year but spectacularly failed, with just 30,330 homes delivered; - housing delivery is not just slowing down … reducing, with a drop in housing delivery of nearly 7 per cent between 2024 and 2023; - members of the Government have briefed the media that without a dramatic reset of housing policy, there is virtually no chance of reaching their own housing targets; - the Taoiseach has stated this

said, over the next couple of minutes I will set out the Government's countermotion and our response to the motion before us. Housing is a cross-sectoral societal challenge that has a real impact on people’s lives. I reassert this Government’s commitment to addressing … housing crisis by implementing Housing for All and the suite of measures outlined in the programme for Government. Housing for All is a multi-annual plan to accelerate and increase the delivery of new homes. Since its publication in September 2021, almost 107,000 homes have been added

Recent commentary talks about a housing crisis in this country. The term "crisis" does not describe what so many families and individuals are experiencing because what we have is a housing emergency. No other word can describe it. It is not a crisis when over … emergency. However, this emergency is not limited to that totally unacceptable figure. It also includes working families who cannot get onto the housing list or have been taken off housing lists and cannot access the housing assistance payment, HAP, because local authorities are assessing income from last year

very much welcome this debate, which is long overdue. I also welcome the Deputy Browne to his new role as Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I wish him well. We should have had this debate months ago, before the election. The Housing Commission's report … clear as it is stark in relation to the Government's failure on housing. It is abundantly clear that we do need a period of accelerated delivery to eliminate the deficit of up to 256,000 home and that a specialist entity is needed to drive, direct

welcome the Minister of State to the House and echo the comments of my colleague, Deputy Kelly, about Tony Maher. This programme for Government contains more reviews than the RTÉ Guide and offers little in the way of hope for renters, people on the housing list or people … hotels, especially in my city, Limerick. It offers more of the same and does not contain anything remotely resembling the radical reset in housing policy called for in the Government's own Housing Commission report. It is difficult to objectively critique the Government's housing policy because

welcome the opportunity to examine the report prepared by the Housing Commission. I also welcome Deputy Browne's appointment as Minister for housing. I have no doubt he will carry on the transformative agenda started by his predecessor, Deputy O'Brien. The Housing Commission report is based over … significant piece of work and I thank the members of the commission for their efforts. As noted by colleagues from across the House, the report is very much a benchmark that provides a series of policy options for improving the State housing plan, Housing for All. Many

move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: acknowledges that: - Housing for All - A new Housing Plan for Ireland, sets out an ambitious multi-annual programme that seeks to deliver more than 300,000 new homes between 2022 and 2030; - while … maintain an upward trajectory in supply and in line with or ahead of the overall target over the longer term; - since Housing for All - A new Housing Plan for Ireland was published in September, 2021, almost 99,500 new homes have been built, with delivery

hugely important area and they are going to need all of the breaks and support that they can get in this House and in councils. When I think of local authority housing, I think of the question I am often asked, which is: why, in the 1950s, were … able to build so many well-structured houses for people who were able to avail of them from the housing list? There was a tenant purchase scheme to allow them to move on in their lives, buy the property and rear a family in it. I was reared

This debate is welcome. As a former member of the housing committee, we have debated the issues in the Housing Commission report and have had lengthy debates on proposals to amend the Constitution. It was clear to me at the committee that, while an amendment to the Constitution … would strengthen the State’s ability to regulate and provide more public housing, the idea that it would be simple to pass a housing amendment, particularly given the experience of the referendums last year, is something we would have to give great consideration

Minister of State for being here and I wish them luck in their portfolios. I appreciate the opportunity to focus on the Housing Commission report and on housing today. I agree with the view of the commission that we cannot take a one-size-fits-all approach … housing delivery, and that we need a critical mass of social, affordable and cost-rental housing. I will put forward my view about how we go about that. If we want communities to stop pushing back on planning applications for apartments, we have to make them available

colleagues, I thank the Labour Party for this debate. I have spent the past couple of years listening to the debates in this House on housing. As a younger person, I find it really hard to stomach the Government's rhetoric on housing. Rarely does it acknowledge … situation is, with unaffordable rents, soaring house prices and record homelessness. There is a real catastrophe for people in their daily lives because of the Government's housing policies. Instead, time and again, the Government tells us that it is turning a corner. It has turned so many

future. I cannot think of any better job to prepare you for being a grandparent than being an usher in Leinster House and herding the bag of cats that is often the TDs in this place. We wish him all the very best. The definition of insanity … doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. When it comes to housing, the seven threadbare pages of the programme for Government are the very definition of insanity. The Government uses the words "ambition" and "detailed". There is no ambition in these seven

recent times on the health service and mental health service, and there are significant challenges in all those areas. However, resolving the housing issue will be particularly challenging but it will also have a knock-on effect in improving health outcomes. It is not unjust or unfair … Galway City Council waiting list for a two-bedroom home, their wait will be in excess of a decade. If they get a house within a decade, they will be doing well. For those who may be waiting for a four-bedroom, the council does not have four

society. That view is espoused by Government Members out of one side of their mouth while, out of the other, we hear a housing policy that means the average age at which a person first buys a house has now risen to 39 years of age. Every year … that. I would be interested to know if that is the view of Government or if it is just an individual view. The Housing Commission report called for a radical reset of housing policy. The commission did not do this because it wanted to make life harder

snowball's chance in hell of delivering 40,000 homes last year. That report in October was damning and nobody in industry, housing policy or across the Opposition believed anything close to 40,000 homes would be delivered. The Tánaiste and Taoiseach chose to ignore and dismiss … mislead the public in advance of a general election. They did all of this because they wanted to create a narrative that their housing policies were working when clearly they were not. What is their real record? It is runaway housing prices, sky-high rents, missing

Labour Party for tabling this motion. The empty Government benches are indicative of the Government's lack of seriousness in dealing with the housing issue and its lack of willingness to listen to new ideas. This Friday is St. Valentine's Day, and we all know who will … Taoiseach's recent statements while poor renters and generations stuck at home have been ghosted and gaslit by the Government's failures in housing and its plans to let rents rise again. Renters are panicking about how they will pay for further rent increases. Has the Government looked

first Private Members' motion of the Thirty-fourth Dáil. This motion calls for and sets out our vision for the radical reset in housing policy as called for in the Government’s own housing commission report, which it has, by and large and conveniently for itself, ignored. Ireland … just in the midst of a housing crisis but a housing crisis that is getting worse and worse, and that the Government seems intent on worsening through successive ill-thought-out interventions that we know will only serve to line the pockets of property developers and institutional investors

Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the policy rationale for the Payment and Availability (P&A)-Capital Advance Leasing Facility (CALF) related to the financing of social housing development by approved housing bodies; and the impact this has had for development … financing for approved housing bodies since its introduction. [6668/25

Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there are any plans to update or amend the Derelict Sites Act 2020 to allow local authorities to compulsorily acquire derelict houses or buildings that have been unused for a maximum of five years … less; if compensation to the owners of such derelict houses or buildings will be abolished; if the requirement to have planning permission for any simple and standard adjustments by local authorities to such derelict houses or buildings will be abolished; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he accepts that immigration and inward migration are creating significant challenges in terms of meeting housing demand with supply; if his Department has made any recommendations to Cabinet or any other department regarding the impact … immigration and inward migration on housing supply; if he will conduct an analysis on the impact of anticipated levels of immigration and inward migration on future housing demand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6027/25

Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is aware that the current council housing application does not give an applicant the option to choose domestic violence in the home criteria on a local government housing application form, nor give an option … fleeing coercive control; if he will commit to amending the council housing application form to include this as qualifying criterion (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5375/25

Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in light of a constituent’s recent communication with Housing Acquisitions, where it was stated that there is no budget available for 2025 to purchase properties, if he will clarify why such constraints are in place … despite prior Government commitments to address the housing crisis, specifically, what steps he is taking to ensure that landlords, who wish to sell properties without displacing tenants, can offer their properties to local authorities or housing agencies in a way that protects vulnerable tenants. [4017/25

Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in respect of each Bill for which his Department had responsibility and that was initiated in 2024, or that was enacted in 2024, to specify in which House of the Oireachtas the Bill was initiated … ministerial or Government amendments submitted at each legislative Stage of the Bill; if the guillotine was used on the Bill in either House of the Oireachtas and the time allowed for each Stage; if ministerial or Government amendments to other legislation were only included in the Bill

Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the role housing authorities have during emergencies that affect their tenants’ safety and well-being such as the one ongoing due to Storm Éowyn; if housing authorities are responsible for ensuring that vulnerable tenants have access … basic necessities during extended power and water outages; if this policy will be reviewed in light of the experience of social housing tenants during Storm Éowyn; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3904/25

Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the current situation in relation to the purchase of local authority houses by tenants; if he plans to review this situation; if he will consider a tenant purchase scheme for approved housing bodies tenants whose … operators were amenable to the provision of such a sale and in circumstances in which income accruing would be ringfenced for further housing provision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2650/25

Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will take into consideration the circumstances of applicants when assessing applications for housing adaptations for people with a disability, housing aid for older people and the mobility aids grant (details supplied

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if assistance is available to families who go above the income threshold for social housing supports due to the automatic payment of working family payment arising from a reduction in income that year, and therefore … lose their cumulative waiting time on the housing list. [7451/25

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the 3,000 social and affordable homes to be funded through the €450 million capital allocation approved by Cabinet on 18 February 2025 are to deliver homes within the existing Housing For All targets … Housing For All plan. [7702/25

Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the amount allocated to each housing body in each of the past ten years, in tabular form; the number of houses delivered by each body in each of those years; and what the targets were

Deputy Keira Keogh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the exact number of persons on the social housing list in the electoral area in Mayo; the way the waiting list is devised, specifically the way an applicant is assigned their position on the social housing

Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of housing completions in Dublin west from 2019 to 2024, inclusive; and the number of houses versus apartments built in those years. [6941/25

Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the breakdown of the number of apartments in Dublin west built since 2018, by categories build to rent, approved housing bodies, social housing, cost rental and any other available data. [6942/25

Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the 59 apartments at Clonsilla Lodge will be for private purchase, built to rent, cost rental, social housing, approved housing bodies or affordable purchase. [6944/25

Deputy Keira Keogh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the status of the position on the provision of affordable housing in each electoral area in Mayo; the number of affordable houses proposed for each electoral area; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will detail the name of the housing provider, the number, location and size of Affordable Cost Rental units delivered since the passing of the Affordable Housing Act 2021, in tabular form

Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will ask his officials to investigate making arrangements to set aside a portion of new cost rental developments to ensure that persons earning above the threshold for social housing assistance can access the schemes … some have being missing out due to their income (above the threshold for social housing) being insufficient for the cost rental schemes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5827/25

Deputy Pat Buckley asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage what funding was made available to Cork County Council in 2024 in terms of returning vacant housing units to council housing stock and making them available for allocation; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he has examined international housing policies, such as 0% mortgage schemes, shared equity initiatives, or expanded State-backed mortgage lending, to support individuals who can afford mortgage repayments but struggle with deposit and lending criteria … Irish housing market; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5440/25

Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the successor housing plan to Housing for All will be published as outlined in the Programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4989/25

Bill for which his Department had responsibility and that was initiated in 2024, or that was enacted in 2024, to specify in which House of the Oireachtas the Bill was initiated; the number of ministerial or Government amendments submitted at each legislative Stage of the Bill … guillotine was used on the Bill in either House of the Oireachtas and the time allowed for each Stage; if ministerial or Government amendments to other legislation were only included in the Bill via amendment, after the Bill had been initiated, bypassing earlier Stages; the number of pages

Bill for which his Department had responsibility and that was initiated in 2024, or that was enacted in 2024, to specify in which House of the Oireachtas the Bill was initiated; the number of ministerial or Government amendments submitted at each legislative Stage of the Bill … guillotine was used on the Bill in either House of the Oireachtas and the time allowed for each Stage; if ministerial or Government amendments to other legislation were only included in the Bill via amendment, after the Bill had been initiated, bypassing earlier Stages; the number of pages

Bill for which his Department had responsibility and that was initiated in 2024, or that was enacted in 2024, to specify in which House of the Oireachtas the Bill was initiated; the number of ministerial or Government amendments submitted at each legislative Stage of the Bill … guillotine was used on the Bill in either House of the Oireachtas and the time allowed for each Stage; if ministerial or Government amendments to other legislation were only included in the Bill via amendment, after the Bill had been initiated, bypassing earlier Stages; the number of pages