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need a housing plan that is going to work. Rents are up sky high and will get higher in March. House prices are up sky high. Evictions are up sky high. There were 15,000 notices to quit and eviction notices in the first nine months … infrastructure in Laois, it will not happen. The northern orbital route in Portlaoise needs to be built to free up land for housing. The bypass in Mountmellick needs to be built. The southern orbital route in Graiguecullen, County Carlow needs to be built. These projects need

delete lines 36 and 37, and in page 98, to delete lines 1 to 19 and substitute the following: “ “Supply and construction of housing as part of a social policy. 9B. (1) In this paragraph— ‘apartment block’ means a multi-storey building that comprises, or will comprise … subparagraph (2) applies.”, (ii) in Part 3, by the substitution of the following paragraph for paragraph 14 (amended by subsection (1)(b)(ii)): “Housing. 14. The supply of immovable goods used or to be used for residential purposes, other than immovable goods to which paragraph

After months of delay, it is finally here. Almost a year into this Government, it is only now publishing its housing plan. Given the amount of time this has taken, we can be forgiven for expecting something bold and new, a plan, as the Tánaiste once said himself … once and for all tackle the housing crisis. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Anyone who will take the time to read the plan will know the emperor has no clothes. In fact, this is not a new housing plan at all. It is nothing more than

welcome the announcement by the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Deputy Browne, regarding the new initiative that will allow private sector involvement in developing wastewater systems for smaller housing developments of up to 40 homes. This initiative is a crucial step towards addressing the infrastructure deficit … rural areas, particularly in County Kerry, where housing development has been long restricted by a lack of adequate wastewater facilities. By enabling developers to collaborate with Uisce Éireann on low-volume wastewater systems, the Government is providing a much-needed solution that will accelerate housing delivery in areas

Minister and Minister of State are both very welcome. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the Housing Finance Agency (Amendment) Bill, which proposes to increase the statutory borrowing limit of the HFA from €12 billion to €13.5 billion. It is a necessary step to ensure that … established to do - to finance the delivery of social and affordable homes across our country. It plays a crucial role in our housing system. It is low-cost, long-term finance to our local authorities, AHBs and HEIs, supporting the delivery of thousands of homes each year under

will answer the question on the housing referendum now. The Housing Commission was established in December 2021 to consider housing policy post 2030 and make proposals building on Housing for All. It was also tasked with advising the Government on the critical factors to be considered regarding … referendum on housing and, if appropriate, to recommend wording for a constitutional change. The commission submitted its report to the Government, including recommendations pertaining to a referendum on housing, in May of last year. There were differing views within the commission on the right to housing

thank the Deputy for her question and the clarification. The Government has scaled up affordable housing delivery rapidly across all tenures since 2022 and continues to accelerate housing supply. Cost rental is a key element of the Government's strategy to improve affordability in the rental sector … provide secure, long-term homes for moderate income households above the income limits for social housing, who may have difficulty affording rental accommodation in the private market. Overall, 14,500 affordable housing solutions have been delivered since the launch of Housing for All and over 1,900 affordable

with the stick, it seems. There is no end to the stick in terms of the carbon tax. The situation with regard to housing is the most egregious in relation to this budget. The Government has reduced VAT on apartments from 13.5% to 9%. The argument is that … argument very well that there is a viability gap when it comes to apartments. There is a viability gap when it comes to housing right across Ireland. That is why we have a situation which has emerged where we have a housing crisis, where there is a peak

site and modern methods of construction. We are driving that because that will also be key in accelerating the construction of housing. On the rezoning issue, there are legislative options available to the Minister to mandate - he has already instructed, but to go ahead and get it done … Minister and me and CEOs of county councils to drive that agenda. Deputy Bacik raised the issue of homelessness and the new housing plan. The new housing plan will be published within the next number of weeks. It made sense that we would get the national development plan

welcome the opportunity to address the House on an issue that is of significant importance and has widespread impact throughout our society. It is the issue of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. The purpose of keeping this issue in the public domain and discussing it within … Houses of the Oireachtas is to ensure that we can identify the appropriate measures to combat it. This is an activity and criminal behaviour within our society that we must make further effort to confront and eradicate. It remains one of the most serious challenges facing our society

carry around tablets and computers to do their job. That is not what they should be doing. They should be in the house looking after the patient. Unfortunately, it has gone to another level which they might not be capable of reaching but they certainly were the world … homes. Last week in the Dáil, we in Independent Ireland brought forward a motion with 23 points on how to fix the housing crisis. While making my contribution on it, I showed those in the Chamber a picture of Jennifer Marley who is 88 years

wish to discuss housing maintenance, in particular the impact of mould and damp on tenants of social housing in my constituency and throughout the country. It is an area I have worked in for almost two decades in an academic capacity doing research on the impact of mould … damp on residents and tenants and working with communities. Mould and damp are endemic across social housing in this city and the country. There is a systemic failure to provide people, particularly families, children and vulnerable people, with housing of a decent standard. A basic human right

have the narrative around tenants versus landlords. We have to focus on both groups and that is the reality. This is about increasing housing supply and we have to deal with the needs of tenants and landlords. The Minister has struck this balance and counteracted the narrative … substantive. I compliment the Minister and his team on it. The overall changes proposed are about trying to activate supply and increase our housing output numbers. This is ultimately the solution to high rents and high house prices. We have to meet supply and demand. Unfortunately

nursing homes in question and committed to providing me with an update on progress this week. I assure the Members of the House that I, the Minister for Health and the Department of Health continue to closely monitor developments regarding both nursing homes. The welfare of residents … professional care options, including homecare, community-based care, independent living options and long-term residential care facilities. As all Members of this House will be aware, the Irish population is growing across all regions and age groups, with the most significant growth seen in the older age groups

Housing is the single greatest issue facing my generation. I start with an issue I have raised in this Chamber a number of times, and will continue to raise, which is modern methods of construction, modular homes, log cabins or whatever we want to call them. I recognise … Tipperary and north-west Kilkenny where I see those modular homes and log cabins. They are working for people who cannot afford a house otherwise, and for a lot of young families. We need to see planning for those, but furthermore we need to allow planning retrospectively

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

able to attend as I was in Dublin. It is an achievement that needs to be acknowledged formally in the House. He is a fantastic ambassador and like me, has strong Kilkenny connections, being originally from Goresbridge. I acknowledge Willie Mullins, Patrick Mullins and the whole team … they have done. It is magnificent. The programme for Government commits to investing additional capital in Uisce Éireann to support reaching our new housing targets. In addition, it states that the Government will prioritise water and wastewater infrastructure to deliver the capacity to facilitate housing development

school day. While the Dáil rose last week, we all learned something new. We all thought we knew why we had a housing crisis in this country - the number one issue facing this country, as the Taoiseach just said. We thought we had a housing crisis because … dereliction and its ill-conceived planning Act, apparently drafted for and by developers. We all thought these were causal factors of the housing crisis, but after watching the Taoiseach's bilateral press conference with US President Trump last week, we all were surprised to learn that, in fact

which states that the purchase price and associated fees, such as valuation, legal, etc., will only be recouped to local authorities and approved housing bodies, AHBs, and must be within acquisition cost guidelines. This means that no refurbishment costs can be claimed on the scheme and that only … legal and valuation fees can. This excludes large swathes of people in the private rental market who live in poor quality housing due to no fault of their own. AHBs and homelessness organisations have written to the Minister on this and said clearly that access to funding

join the Minister in thanking the Housing Commission for its work. I commend each member of the commission on their efforts by any objective measure. The commission's report is an impressive piece of work and is having the intended impact on informing the policy debate and providing … innovative ideas and solutions to the challenges we collectively face in the housing space. The Minister, Deputy Browne, has set out the thrust of the report and the key areas of focus of the Government's work that are being informed by the report. I intend to speak

Housing delivery is the number one priority for this Government." That is the opening line of the statement issued by the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste following the first meeting of the Cabinet committee on housing. From this meeting, they had promised a slate of new and dynamic ideas … they said, to tackle the housing crisis, but that has not materialised. In fact, they have brought nothing new at all. The truth is that the Government's housing plan is in freefall after its figure of 40,000 new homes for 2024 was discovered

Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the way national affordable housing targets are translated into binding local authority delivery expectations; whether he accepts that national figures without local allocations make accountability impossible; if he will commit to publishing county-by-county affordable … housing targets on an annual basis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8402/26

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total expenditure by his Department on social housing acquisitions in 2025; and to provide a breakdown of the number of homes purchased with this funding, by type including tenant-in-situ, vacant homes acquisition … housing first, age-friendly right sizing, and so on. [7144/26

Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether he accepts that a growing cohort of working households in private rental accommodation are effectively excluded from both social housing, affordable housing supports and cost rental; the targeted policy responses that exist for this group

Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the assessment which has been carried out on the impact of leaving newly built social housing units vacant on local communities housing demand and homelessness in Dublin; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether the income accrued by social housing tenants renting a room in their property and availing of the rent a room tax relief is also disregarded for the purposes of calculating the social housing tenants

Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage as part of the solution to the housing crisis and in addition to allowing planning exemptions for modular homes in back gardens, to allow modular homes be given favourable consideration in the context of obtaining planning … permission as a replacement for one off housing (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7205/26

Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he intends to move Offaly from grade 3 of the housing income eligibility and instead place them in grade 2; if he intends to reassess the income thresholds for social housing in Offaly

Deputy Martin Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the average all-in cost per social housing unit delivered in 2025 under Housing for All, disaggregated by build, acquisition, and leasing. [5669/26

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department has examined cases in which households affected by disability exceed income thresholds for social and affordable housing supports, yet are unable to realistically access the private housing market due to reliance

Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether cross-departmental work is underway to address situations in which households affected by long-term disability fall between income supports, housing supports, and access to market housing; if not, whether such an approach will

Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he has considered the difficulty for single full-time workers in securing housing (details supplied); if a review will be carried out on the social housing eligibility bands; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to confirm if the funding for the recently announced infrastructure fund to be administered by the housing delivery office, will be funded under REV programme subhead A21; to confirm that this replaced the local infrastructure … housing activation fund; and the way in which the administration of this fund will differ from its LIHAF predecessor. [6520/26

Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his attention had been drawn to his Department’s involvement in the production of the housing-related video published by an organisation (details supplied) prior to speaking to the Oireachtas housing committee on the matter

Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to allow for modular housing and low-cost sites, to address the urgent housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4551/26

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total number of social housing acquisitions in 2024 and 2025, by acquisition type, including tenant-in-situ, vacant homeless acquisition, housing first, older persons, and so on. [4944/26

Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to allow for more one-off houses to be built to tackle the housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4552/26

Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the Housing Activation Office became operational; its current staffing and remit; the key targets and priority actions set for Q1 2026; the role it is playing in supporting large scale housing delivery

Deputy Michael Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to his reply on the operation of the first home scheme; his views on whether the current county-by-county price ceilings are creating significant distortions in housing delivery, particularly where counties such as Tipperary … Dublin and Cork and a second ceiling for all other counties; the way in which such an approach could better support equitable private housing delivery and affordability across the State; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1455/26

Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is aware of social housing tenants in Galway city and county experiencing housing maintenance issues; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4966/26

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will review the social housing income thresholds to ensure those in need of social housing support are not unfairly excluded. [4940/26

Deputy John Lahart asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to clarify whether he accepts that current income eligibility and salary-bracket limits may be excluding many middle-income workers in Dublin from accessing cost-rental homes, despite their inability to afford market rents; the measures … rental caps and income thresholds in high-cost urban areas, including Dublin, to support the long-term delivery and financial sustainability of approved housing body-provided housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5068/26

Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to detail what he is doing to expand financing for housing given the change to state aid rules under the new EU Affordable Housing Plan; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5065/26

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures his Department is taking to ensure a greater number of social housing units are purpose built to meet the needs of tenants with special needs or intellectual disabilities; the specific plans or initiatives … aimed at improving accessibility and accommodation options for this group of tenants within the social housing sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4493/26

Deputy William Aird asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures being taken to support households who are above the income threshold for social housing but remain unable to afford secure housing in the private market; if he will confirm whether a review of income

Deputy William Aird asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the rationale for the application of social housing income thresholds which result in applicants being removed from local authority housing waiting lists when they exceed the threshold by a marginal amount; whether he will review these