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that need to be done and delivering housing, especially houses that are built. It is just not in Carrignavar but right across the State that there are houses that have … been built that should be delivered. I raised with the Minister in the housing committee last week the thousands of boarded-up council houses right across the State. I asked him a straight question and, to be fair, he gave me a straight answer. It was the wrong

Chamber, housing is a fundamental human right. I do not think it is a coincidence that there is no mention of housing being a human right in the Government's new housing plan, because what is going on in Donegal, Mayo and other counties, including Limerick, Sligo … Clare, shows why housing is a fundamental human right. We have people, children and families living in housing situations that are completely unsustainable, with holes in walls, children crying and worrying about whether the house will fall down, and families and parents crying at night wondering what they

doing the bidding of those who want ever higher rents and house prices while our young people are locked out of the basic need of a home, which is a fundamental human right. It is not mentioned once … housing plan that housing is a human right. Where is the Housing Commission recommendation for a referendum to put a right to housing in the Constitution? It is at the heart of why we are in this mess

places on creating the environment needed for the building of more homes. One vital part of this is creating the right conditions to attract inward investment in housing development, particularly in building apartments. Delivering Homes, Building Communities details a suite of complementary measures to do just this. They … procurement. We will free-up the private sector to provide homes at much greater scale by providing more zoned and serviced land for housing right across the country. The full implementation of the Planning and Development Act 2024 will be another game-changer for the wider housing system

land beside Liffey Valley Shopping Centre in an industrial area right beside the M50. It would have made perfect logical sense to build housing right opposite a major shopping centre. People could just walk across the road to it and there was space for a school as well … gets a diktat saying it has to identify bits of land left, right and centre, one of which is in the actual Liffey valley. This is St. Edmundsbury, where there is a proposal to put houses along a so-called transport hub that is regularly congested because

speed up such investigations, thereby assisting victims and bringing criminals to justice more quickly. I am also aware that Deputies across the House recognise the right to privacy and the importance of data protection in modern society. These are not hollow aspirations but rather are legal requirements … Commissioner and laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas. Approval for the code is dependent on positive resolutions being passed in these Houses. Human rights and data protection impact assessments will be required as part of the procedure for drafting the code of practice. The Bill also includes

housing emergency. Housing is a human right enshrined in Article 25 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A housing emergency exists in this State. The Government's own Housing Commission asserts that "Only a radical ... reset of housing policy will work". It further asserts that

need. It is ignoring the Housing Commission’s estimation of the housing deficit, the amount of homes that are needed to meet housing demand right now, by a factor of about 20%. That is why the Department of Finance has said that even if the Government meets these … Minister and his predecessor. The Opposition, including ourselves with a fully costed housing plan, over and over again has set out exactly how it can be done. Unless there is greater State intervention and the right kind of private sector supply to meet the needs of buyers

number of houses that need to be built. If policies were right and the climate was right and development was right, a lot of these houses would not be built on the buck of the Government, so to speak. We would be facilitating people to build … build small developments. The Minister has done really good work on developer-led sewerage infrastructure recently. If policy is right, I think a lot of the housing builds itself organically without too much State intervention, so I hope all of that can happen. I concur with what others

experienced exponential growth in 30 years, more than doubling from the 1990s. In truth, we have been failed by successive Governments who rightly want housing delivered, but have utterly failed in their duty to deliver the necessary social infrastructure required in tandem with housing. This week

than a particular square footage. Half of the people in the country were reared in such houses. The Deputy is absolutely right. Some of the houses that are being built at the moment are far too big in terms of their energy consumption. The Minister of State, Deputy

move very rapidly through the House. I know that there will be very strong co-operation forthcoming from the Deputy and right across the House. We will continue to engage with all the Government agencies and Departments involved. Implementation of some of the recommendations is well advanced

their great professionalism and patience. I want to end the year by raising an issue I have raised throughout 2025, which is housing – the civil rights issue of this generation. I want to raise it at an EU level. This week the first EU housing plan was published

welcome these statements on the Government’s updated housing plan, which rightly sets a minimum target of 300,000 homes, including 72,000 social and 90,000 affordable homes. The plan is backed by €9 billion in housing capital for next year alone. It focuses on activating land

disappointment that people on that side of the House would turn around and say that people on this side of the House are far right or far left. I am a father. I have been heckled

underpinning it in legislation, is exactly what we will have to do when we are bringing the legislation through this House. The Deputy is right when he says that it cannot be just a lick of paint or somebody pretending to resolve the dereliction. We all have … someone is sitting on land and hoarding it and it is in a residential zone, they are meant to be building houses on it. Their options are to build houses on the land, sell the land to someone else who will build houses

ratify it and, if necessary, to put it to the people to decide in a referendum. It undermines our sovereignty and, basically, our right to decide our own destiny. It risks entrenching the corporate power of billionaires over Irish democratic decision-making. I believe we must protect … died for Irish sovereignty would think when the Government can bring in this law. It would undermine our sovereignty, threaten housing, public services, workers’ rights and climate commitments, and even, as Deputy Ó Snodaigh has just mentioned, limit Irish language rights. I believe we must protect our people

thank Deputy Farrell for raising this important issue, which was rightly raised in this House today. The British ambassador was present here today, as Deputy Farrell and others have raised this issue. I know the ambassador will convey the depth of feelings and concerns of Members of this

inject, from everybody's perspective, a degree of evidence into all of the things that all of us say in these Houses, which the public rightly expect. Are we doing it at a fast enough pace? That is a very fair question from Deputy Clendennen. An objective answer

Member's Bills put before this House and the Government should accept those and work through them. People's right to reproductive freedom should be respected in this House. The 2024 Act contains no provision for parental leave or benefits for surrogacy families and this must be rectified … should be reviewed to ensure they are trans inclusive, especially the provisions relating to gametes. We often talk here about trans rights and we need to do that in law as well. We must make sure that our law is inclusive and not excluding people

included also. These are clear provisions preserving the parties’ right to regulate for public policy purposes. That means the right of the Irish Government and this House to take measures to achieve legitimate public policy objectives, for example, environmental protections, consumer rights or food safety. I cannot … oversight and provides that every order made by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade under subsection (5) must be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made, and if a resolution annulling the order is passed by either

placed to drive forward a European agenda that supports emerging industries, promotes ethical AI development and guarantees that citizens' rights remain at the heart of this digital transformation. Housing remains one of the most urgent challenges facing Ireland, and while our problem is acute, we must also recognise … that right across Europe, families are struggling with the very same pressures. President von der Leyen referenced this in her state of the Union speech, noting that our collective housing crisis was tearing "at Europe's social fabric". As we take on the EU Presidency, we must ensure

maybe more of a connection on the ground. Now, there is this thing about judicial reviews. There are two facts. Lorcan Sirr, the housing analyst, has made it clear that only 0.22% of planning applications ever go to judicial review. It is double figures in one year … know many of the developments being objected to tend to be high-rise vulture fund developments that are build to rent right beside, say, two-storey housing or, in the case of Blanchardstown, a vulture fund fleecing workers and the community for greed and nothing else

hell of lot more. Unfortunately, it has been protected long enough by Government. It is a law unto itself right now. There is a massive housing crisis now, not alone in the want of housing but also for the people who have the houses. I hate calling them

rules of the House are one thing but Deputy Hearne is rightly highlighting a very important issue. As a constituency TD, I absolutely do consider this. I also consider it as the Tánaiste. Everybody in this House considers what more we can and must do in relation

sold within one year of the date of death, if a new tenant after 1 March 206 has a right to a six year tenancy in the same house after it is sold; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71950/25