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this Government does not view it that way and has yet to legislate in policy or in law to make housing a human right, housing is a human right, one of the most basic rights that people have. Everyone in this country has a right to a safe … Minister talks about barriers and blockages to housing. I have made the point publicly, and I will say it again: right now, the Minister for housing and this Government are one of the blockages, if not the major blockage and barrier to housing

systemic failure to provide people, particularly families, children and vulnerable people, with housing of a decent standard. A basic human right to housing includes at its core the right to adequate housing, which means housing does not have defects that impact health. The World Health Organization outlines clearly

tenants continue to live in unsafe homes impacted by defective concrete block and Celtic Tiger era building defects; further notes that: — housing is a human right; — the cost-of-living crisis is putting ever greater pressure on workers and families while access to key public services including healthcare … including Tenant In Situ and Housing First. As we speak, there are several thousand people outside, comprising trade unionists, workers for homeless charities, housing rights activists, students, political parties, renters, aspiring home buyers and people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. I left them moments ago. They

will probably rise. That is not counting the State investment on the current side with HAP and so on. The State investment in housing right now is well over €7 billion. We have the fourth largest construction activity in a European Union of 27 member states. There … have had a growing economy in the last decade and very significant population growth. We have an issue in meeting the housing demand. That is a crisis for the younger generation. We acknowledge that. I am very focused and the Government is very determined and very focused

found the Irish State to be in violation of human rights and failing to take sufficient and timely measures to ensure the right to housing of an adequate standard for families living in local authorities housing. Seven years ago, the committee found against Ireland on the basis … their education, mental health and life chances. It is a breach of their human rights. We are breaching the rights of children who are growing up in social housing because of the State's failure to act. This is the State's responsibility; that

them. This needs to be reviewed. The whole planning process regarding accommodation needs to be relaxed. When it comes to right-sizing in local authority housing, there are too many people waiting for a right-size to get a house that is smaller than the one they … there is no management and there are people in flats or apartments or groups of houses who are experiencing the sale of drugs on a daily basis, the abuse of their rights as a tenant or antisocial behaviour. It is shocking that tenants are forced to continue

policy that has driven house prices to sky-high or record highs. The Government has not been able to get the supply right in housing. It has driven house prices up. The market is now running unchecked, charging whatever it wants. There are people living in the family … Government and Opposition sides of the House. In County Cork, the local property tax is going to increase this year. People are paying this unfair tax but they cannot even get the local authorities to carry out work. This happens right across the State, not just in Cork

this House opposes partition, or at least they pay lip service to that position. Partition was a disaster for our country and the sooner it is ended, the better. That is the viewpoint from which we should approach this debate on presidential voting rights. Irish citizens … denied the right to vote for the President simply because they live in the North. This seriously undermines their fundamental rights - rights this House is supposed to protect and uphold. It arises from the forced partition of our country and the imposition of a border by the British

issue is about a finite health budget. In every country in the world, as those on that side of the House will rightly say, the amount of money we are spending on medicines is increasing. It is eye-watering and the demands are increasing because of innovation, much … hope they will understand that we cannot live with the 12-month delay. That said, I know how the numbers work in this House but whatever the outcome of the vote on Wednesday, I encourage us to get cracking on this legislation. I welcome all of the contributions

during recess. This is unfair and unacceptable for workers who serve the public interest. We cannot keep discussing workers' rights when we have not sorted out our own house. This must be addressed … essential to how the Oireachtas functions. We have no right to criticise other groups outside the Oireachtas when this House struggles to get it right

drive rents down, not up. This proposal puts landlords and their profit margins above renters and their basic right to a roof over their heads. Housing developers are making tens of millions in profit yet the Government continues to hand out tax credits and cuts and now paves … some of the more than €8 billion in the Government's 2024 surplus to build social and affordable housing, and viewing housing as a human right and renters as people rather than as commodities to be exploited

strategic focus of the overall national development plan. It is about getting the basic infrastructure needs of the economy right to really deliver housing supply

treated - by some. I do not want to tar everybody with the same brush. When we hear what is said in this House sometimes, and rightly so, in defence of innocent, elderly people who are being abused, it can seem as if staff in every nursing home … stand for, but it has not stopped. We all know the crisis that is out there at the moment. I raised Perrott House in Skibbereen in the House with the Tánaiste last week. Families, who had people inside in Perrott House in Skibbereen, were told six or seven

this as our role. It is a council's role to ensure housing stock is up to the highest standard and is delivered as a public good and a human right in the same way we see that education and health must be held to certain standards … problem, which is that local authorities have not been given the resources or responsibility to treat and deliver public housing as a public good and human right. That is a fundamental missing aspect of our housing policies. In my own areas of Ballymun and Finglas, there is boarded

because there was a housing emergency in Galway directly related to the Government's policy because it failed to build houses. Deputy Hearne is perfectly right. I put it differently although I agree with him. There is an absolute prejudice inbuilt into this Government and every government … decent man whose heart is in the right place, but unfortunately government after government has made the situation worse. It is a neoliberal ideology that is completely out of control and is treating housing as something to be bought and sold with a huge profit as opposed

People wanted to reduce the impact of the Planning Act that we took three years to get through this House. People were adamant that rights came before anything else in some quarters, in other words, the eternal question of the common good versus personal, individual rights. Given

being brought back into use is a disgrace and it tells a wider story about the Government's other failure in housing delivery. In communities right across the State we see the consequences of this every day in vacant homes gathering dust while families sit on waiting lists

this Government to treat housing like the emergency that it is. Housing is not a commodity; it is a human right. The Government's failures on housing have become normalised, which is shocking. Nobody expects anything from this do-nothing Government which constantly fails our communities. There

this misunderstands is that if it is not the right kind of supply in the right place at the right price, it does not meet people's housing needs. It is not that anybody on this side of the House is against private sector investment but there … enough is enough, renters cannot afford further rent increases and we have to stop it right now? That is what the amendments are about and I commend them to the House

time available, I assure the House that the time of the Deputies who follow will not be cut. They have the right to speak in this House regardless of what happens

support Deputy Mac Lochlainn's request. There is also an issue of workers' rights within our very House in terms of the broadcast unit workers who are being paid well below the average pay for skilled work in that industry and who, in the summer recess

policy and seek Government permission to draft the safeguarding Bill. We will then work intensively and constructively with Members across the House to get the right piece of legislation passed in a timely manner. This is really important. I have been reflecting on this. I fully accept that

their own homes. We want a market that works. The Government is bringing fairness, balance and stability to our housing market. The new framework strikes the right balance for existing tenants, and helps to protect them from sharp and unpredictable rent hikes and provides certainty in order … citizens. We want to increase supply, and we have to incentivise people to come back into the rental market. This is something the Housing Agency recommended, in terms of modifying existing rent pressure zones. When we have debates in the Dáil, there is a serious contradiction

wealth to reduce the burden on ordinary workers and families in delivering high-quality infrastructure and public services that are so badly needed right across our State. Despite the family home being turned into a financial asset by successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael Governments, the family home … right - and transformed it into an asset and made it out with winners and losers. Its failed housing policy has pushed up prices higher and higher right across the State. That has not been to the benefit of ordinary workers who just want a home to live

welcome this opportunity, particularly as it is the first time I have taken part in a housing debate in the new Dáil with the Minister present. It is important that we get our points across to him. I was also outside at the protest. I am looking forward … filled. One thing I will never forgive the Government for is the oxygen it is giving to the far right by refusing to tackle the housing crisis. In the diverse communities I represent, many people are living in fear because of the hate and division being stoked

intention to advance the recommendation of the Report of the Housing Commission with respect to the holding of a referendum on the right to housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32815/25

Monaghan bombings, the shooting of innocent civilians by the British state, internment without trial, widespread discrimination in housing and employment, long-standing official opposition to Irish-language rights in the North, the civil rights movements in the North and in the Gaeltacht in the post-World

Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide an update on plans to introduce a right-sizing policy, if this will include local authority tenants. [29070/25

Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for a status update on the General Scheme of the Residential Tenancies (Right to Purchase) Bill; to explain the delays in this legislation considering that pre-legislative scrutiny was completed in 2023; and if he will

Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the status of the marine protected area legislation; if this legislation will be a Bill in its own right and not amending legislation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30088/25

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