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driver of strong economic growth, and there are now a record number of people at work in Ireland, and this population requires housing and supporting infrastructure; and — there has also been a growth in energy demand and in the energy intensity required for modern manufacturing and large-scale … servers, due to the requirements of modern technology; recognises that: — the measures introduced under Housing for All - a New Housing Plan for Ireland, have helped establish a solid platform to 'scale-up' delivery of housing in the short-term, and secure a sustainable level of supply that will

echo the comments made by the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, and reassert the Government's commitment to tackling challenges in the housing sector and with regard to critical infrastructure. We know these challenges are having a very real impact on people's lives. We understand the urgency … further. The motion claims the Government is not doing enough, but it is clear we have securely laid a foundation and built a housing pipeline that will allow us to continue to ramp up delivery over the coming years. The measures introduced under Housing for All have helped

Fáil and Fine Gael Governments, in our water and electricity infrastructure, have created significant constraints to the increased delivery of public and private housing; — the Commission for Regulation of Utilities has warned that data centres pose a risk to increased housing delivery, due to constraints in the electricity … grid; — Uisce Éireann have said that meeting the Government's revised housing targets would require a significant increase in capital funding, above their current programme to increase water and wastewater capacity in urban and rural areas; — the Irish Home Builders Association have repeatedly warned that the electricity grid

mílte tithe agus á gcur i mbaol. For years we have listened to the Tánaiste and the Taoiseach, Deputy Micheál Martin, say that housing is their number one priority yet every single day we get headlines about Government's failures and incompetence which is putting the delivery … thousands of homes at risk. Let us take this week alone. First, we had the Central Bank and the ESRI telling the Oireachtas housing committee that the Government will not meet its housing targets this year or next year and that without a major policy change, it will

There is a housing emergency in this State. Whatever way the Government tries to spin it, that is what we have. Whether someone is a house buyer, renter or waiting on the council to provide a house, he or she will find they face a challenging and often … very long course. Limerick has seen rents increase by an astonishing 75% since 2020 and house purchase prices have increased by 44% since 2019. Many people have been on council housing waiting lists in excess of seven years. Indeed, the average house price now stands

called housing tsar debacle has left more questions than answers, and not just about salary either. The Minister for housing has been very quiet in responding to these questions. We need to hear from him in the Dáil. He must come to us to explain how he proposes … housing activation office will work. He cannot leave explanations to the Minister of State with responsibility for nature and biodiversity, as he did on the radio last Friday. Over recent weeks, we have heard plenty of noise from Government about unblocking blockages, tackling shortfalls, maverick approaches and boots

Government's amendment. This is a vital discussion. Unfortunately, it feels as if every week, we are discussing a new blockage to providing housing. The incredible thing is that each week, this new barrier is responded to by the Government and the Department of Housing, Local Government … lack of investment in infrastructure. I will bring the Minister of State back to 2017. Fine Gael launched a local infrastructure housing activation fund. What was this for? It was for dealing with critical infrastructural blockages such as roads, bridges and amenity spaces. The Government was offering local

issue in housing is supply. Everything the Government is doing is and will be focused on increasing the supply of houses right across the board. This includes an increased number of social houses. In the last four years, a record 48,000 social houses have been provided … since 2008 has that level of new-build social housing been provided. In addition, we brought in the tenant in situ scheme. Only two months ago, the Minister for housing secured an additional €325 million for that scheme to be used in cases such as that the Deputy

thank Deputy McGrath for raising the important issue around expectations for the delivery of affordable housing this year. I know it is a matter that is important to the Deputy. The Government is fully committed to delivering affordable housing at scale and continuing to accelerate housing supply across … tenures. In 2024, more than 7,000 affordable housing options were delivered nationwide by a range of delivery partners, exceeding the target of 6,400 for the year. Overall, nearly 13,000 affordable housing solutions have been delivered since the launch of Housing for All, which is huge

thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of expectations for the delivery of affordable housing in 2025. I also thank him for his ongoing engagement on this issue, which is one he campaigned very strongly on. The Government is fully committed to delivering affordable housing at scale … continuing to accelerate housing supply across all tenures. In 2024, more than 7,000 affordable housing options were delivered nationwide by a range of delivery partners, exceeding the target of 6,400 for the year. Overall nearly 13,000 affordable housing solutions have been delivered since the launch

across the country, there are very serious difficulties with public infrastructure and this is having a knock-on effect on the development of housing. The provision of housing is by far the greatest issue of our time and of our generation as politicians. I am a 25-year … enormous number of people my age. Approximately 70% of us are locked at home, unable to privately rent or to afford a house. That is simply not good enough. I want to raise a specific issue in my constituency of Cork North-Central. In my home town

last October, stated that there are obvious areas where Ireland's infrastructure is much underdeveloped. The key areas to which it referred were housing, health, transport and electricity. It stated that when one compares Ireland's infrastructure with that of other high-income European countries, one discovers that … third in the next few years. The Commission for Regulation of Utilities has warned that data centres pose a risk to increased housing delivery due to constraints on the electricity grid. Last March, the chairman of Irish Water said that the State's water and sewerage systems

glad to have an opportunity to speak about the provision of housing and affordable houses. I do not know how there is so much talk about affordable houses because no house is affordable now with the cost of materials, the cost of labour and the shortage of labour … must speak about the number of vacant houses around the county of Kerry in towns and villages and between villages. Take the road from Kenmare through Kilgarvan and down to Killarney. Within ten miles of Killarney town in Glenflesk there are 55 vacant houses on the side

will call her Janet because I do not want to say her name. In 2010, Janet joined the Dublin City Council housing list. She was eligible for social housing at that stage. I will not get all political about the reason we have a housing crisis. The Minister … north County Dublin and she has absolutely no wish to go back to Dublin city. She does, however, need secure, permanent housing, which she cannot get in the private rented market, and she is renting privately at the moment. Due to the amount of time that has passed

clearly cross-governmental, with a range of Departments contributing in their own areas of responsibility. In response to Deputy McGuinness's question on housing in rural areas, my colleague the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage holds policy responsibility. As part of my Department's role … overseeing the delivery of Our Rural Future, officials in my Department and I regularly engage with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. I will formally meet the Minister, Deputy Browne, next week on a range of issues, including housing agus tithíocht sa Ghaeltacht freisin. This activity

Ukraine under the accommodation recognition payment, ARP, scheme. The Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 provides that the draft order laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas cannot be made law until a resolution approving that order has been passed in each House. As announced in March this … important in addressing accommodation challenges due to the continuing arrival of Ukrainians into the State. Pledged accommodation, whether spare rooms in people's houses through Irish Red Cross pledges or vacant homes through the offer a home scheme, were of significant value to the State in the humanitarian

defeat on Sunday and the sincerity of how he expressed it. The season is young yet. There is a theme all around the House of the need to deploy as many gardaí as possible in rural Ireland as well as the big cities. It would be fair … days. We often use "per capita" as a phrase. Per capita, the sporting prowess of both Louth and Offaly is fantastic. The rural housing guidelines are important in terms of sustainable living and rural communities. I will ask the Minister for housing about where we are on that

thank the Deputy. I am happy to take this matter on behalf of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy James Browne. The Deputy made a valid point, and I thank him for raising this matter. On 25 April 2023, the Government approved additional measures under … Housing for All action plan to incentivise the activation of increased housing supply and to help reduce housing construction costs, including the introduction of temporary time-limited arrangements for the waiving of local authority section 48 development contributions and the refunding of Uisce Éireann water and wastewater connection

thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. We all agree that housing is the most important issue. There is a housing emergency in this country. There is an onus on all of us to come forward with ideas and policies to try to make real and meaningful … people in the country. I hope we are at least united on this. This Government has taken a number of steps on housing since coming to office only months ago, including publishing an implementation plan for the Planning and Development Act 2024, publishing draft legislation about short-term

welcome the opportunity to update the House on the response under way following publication of the clinical audit into developmental dysplasia of the hip, DDH, surgery on children in CHI and National Orthopaedic Hospital Cappagh, published last Friday, 23 May. This follows on from our debate … have met and spoken with parents whose children had these surgeries and I know their worry, as do my colleagues in this House. This experience of worry for your child and of being completely in the hands of a clinician, their advice and decisions is one those

thank Deputy O'Meara for raising the important question around the expansion of the provision of modular housing. I thank the Deputy for his ongoing work and engagement in this important area of housing delivery. My Department, working closely with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment … adoption of modern methods of construction, MMC. MMC is a collective term which describes innovative construction alternatives to traditional construction, which includes modular housing. In 2023, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, in collaboration with my Department, published the roadmap for the increased adoption

deliver the minimum of 50,000 homes a year we need. There is no commitment to implement the radical strategic reset of housing policy the Government needs to deliver. That was the recommendation of the Housing Commission. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have once again failed … want critical infrastructure, water and wastewater services need to be funded. There is a village in Cork called Carrignavar. A dozen houses were built there over ten years. They are brand-new and ready to go but there is nowhere for the wastewater to go and Cork County

Would the Minister agree that his Government's record on housing over the first 100 days has been an unmitigated disaster? A total of 15,376 people are in emergency accommodation, housing completions are down by 6.7% and social and affordable targets are down by 18%. These … explained why it stayed quiet about them. To top it all off, search parties have to be sent out for the housing Minister because nobody has a clue who he is. Before he even took up his post he announced that he needed a housing tsar. What this

thank all of those across the House who supported Labour's important motion on Gaza today and I thank the Government for not opposing it. I look forward to working with the Government and the Opposition to bring about an end to the suffering and genocide being perpetrated … shown leadership but we can do more. We want to work constructively and collectively to do so. I will raise the issue of housing with the Taoiseach. This Friday, the latest homelessness figures will be published but the Taoiseach's Government is already presiding over a shameful record

thank Deputy Cahill for raising this important matter. The Programme for Government - Securing Ireland’s Future includes several commitments to deliver practical housing for positive ageing. These commitments build upon the policy objectives in Housing for All that commit to increasing the housing options available to older people … ageing in place with dignity and independence. The commitments in the programme for Government include: mandating local authorities to find suitable sites for housing specifically designed for older adults, ensuring accessible options within local communities; making it easier to convert houses into separate living spaces to allow older

Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide a breakdown of the retrofitting targets in social housing in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025, in tabular form; to provide a breakdown of how many retrofits were completed … social housing in the corresponding timeframe; to provide a breakdown of the retrofitting targets in social housing; to provide a breakdown of how many retrofits were completed to BER B2 standard or higher in social housing; to provide a breakdown of the retrofitting targets in social housing

Deputy Máire Devine asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will consider introducing legislation similar to the United Kingdom’s Awaab’s Law, which sets legal time limits for the remediation of serious health hazards, such as damp and mould in social housing … will respond to the findings of the recent Trinity College Dublin and The Liberties Community Project ‘Respiratory Health Among Residents of Oliver Bond House’ report which identified rates of asthma among the Oliver Bond House population 2.4 times higher than among individuals with addresses in the same vicinity

Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he still plans to assign a housing 'tsar'; if so, the cost associated with this position; to clarify the specific role relating to the speeding up of the housing delivery, considering we already have three … housing Ministers, a Secretary General, a whole team of assistant secretaries general and a multitude of agencies, or whether this is a necessity due to the current Government failure to deliver on its housing programme as promised. [24652/25

Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 258 of 1 May 2025, regarding the affordable housing and social housing scheme at Tober Ciúin, Ardmore, County Waterford, with particular regard to whether the development is to consist solely … social housing units with no affordable housing units as per his response; and if this was incorrect, if he will correct his answer. [24480/25

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the status of the new housing first tender being run by the housing first office; and the impact on current supports to housing first tenants and the creation of new housing first tenancies arising

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide a detailed update on actions taken by his Department to ensure compliance with the European Convention of Human Rights on foot of their decision in the Collective Complaint FIDH v Ireland Complaint … 110/2014 and its decision in 2017 finding the Irish State failed to take sufficient and timely measures to ensure the right to housing of an adequate standard for many families living in local authority housing across the country and that Ireland was in violation of Article

Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for confirmation as to when the social housing thresholds in County Laois are to rise, as there is still quite a number of people on housing lists who are over the threshold by a small amount … many who are getting on in age worrying that if they do not qualify for social housing, they will become homeless due to extortionate rents they cannot afford once they go on to their State pension. [24651/25

Deputy Pat Buckley asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to issue a full report on the capacity of water and wastewater for all of the towns and villages in a county (details supplied); if the lack of progress in water and wastewater infrastructure projects will … addressed urgently given the current housing crisis; if the possibility will be explored of allowing builders and developers to construct treatment plants as part of a housing development which can be overseen by Uisce Éireann and subsequently taken into their control to allow needed house building and ensure

Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether he will now formally declare a national housing emergency, and commit to convening a cross-party housing emergency taskforce with executive powers to fast-track public housing delivery. [23354/25

Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the housing scheme available to single people who are over the threshold for social housing but not earning enough for affordable rental; his plans to assist single people in the housing market; and if he will

Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is considering amending the turnkey purchase of housing developments for social housing to allow for stage payments to the building developers. [28494/25

Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the further steps that his Department is taking to increase the number of social houses built across the country as outlined in the Housing Commission Report; and if he will make a statement on the matter

Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his views on the 2030 retrofitting targets; to report on the pathway between now and 2030 to reach our 2030 targets; to provide a breakdown of projected or estimated targets for completed retrofits in social housing … provide a breakdown of projected or estimated targets for completed retrofits to a BER B2 standard or higher in social housing in each of the years 2025 to 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28313/25

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for details of any engagements with his colleagues in the Department of Social Protection or the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment regarding the impact of social housing income limits on the behaviours of individuals … housing list or preparing to apply for the list; if, in particular, the limits disincentivise taking up employment or applying for payments to which an individual may otherwise be entitled; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26724/25

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to outline, given that social housing is a key part of the architecture of social protection in Ireland, his views on whether his Department’s approach to social housing income limits is consistent with

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for details of any research, completed or ongoing, concerning the impact of social housing income limits on the behaviours of individuals who are on the housing list or preparing to apply for the list; whether

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is aware that there are income gaps in the available housing schemes operated by his Department and by local authorities whereby a person’s income may be too high for social housing eligibility

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will consider abolishing the income limits for social housing eligibility and fund a universally accessible social housing system through a scheme of differential rents. [26729/25

Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to outline the work, scope and membership of the housing activation industry group within the Strategic Housing Activation Office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27490/25

Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to outline the work, scope and membership of the housing activation delivery group within the Strategic Housing Activation Office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [27491/25

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will clarify the rationale for the removal of a person from the housing waiting list and all the years they have accrued as a result of being temporarily over the income threshold limit … details supplied); his views on whether this is a very harsh penalty for those who remain in housing need and who, upon being assessed as eligible to reapply, have to begin a long process of waiting again, despite having had significant prior years on the waiting list

Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will reconsider the decision to situate the proposed housing activation unit within his Department rather than under the Department of the Taoiseach, in order to ensure stronger cross-Government coordination on critical issues affecting … housing delivery, including justice, transport, utilities, and planning; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25125/25

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the Apartment and Duplex Defects Remediation Bill and the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) (No. 2) Bill; if he intends to publish these Bills before the summer recess; and whether he hopes … have the defects Bill undergo pre-legislative scrutiny before the recess and the Housing Bill introduced for second stage before the recess. [25952/25

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the supplementary estimate for housing will be published and brought to the Select Committee on Housing, Local Government and Heritage. [25953/25

Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is concerned that housing delivery is at risk because of an inability of new houses to be connected to the electricity grid; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24653/25