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take this opportunity to congratulate the Ministers of State, Deputies Dillon and Cummins. Deputy Cummins served on the housing committee, which sets him up well for the question I am about to put before him. The site on Oscar Traynor Road is incredibly important in the overall Housing … programme and the overall programme of State construction of public housing on public land. There are more than 800 houses, comprising cost-rental, affordable purchase and social housing. It was hoped we could get rapid delivery. As we move into the second term of Housing For All, delivery

simple reason we have a housing disaster in this country is that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have danced to the tune of greedy, profit-driven speculators, vulture funds and corporate landlords. The response to the resulting crisis, which has left us with 100,000 families waiting … more than a decade on housing lists, unaffordable rents and unaffordable house prices, is for the Taoiseach to say we need to pivot more towards the very private investors, driven by a greed for profit, that caused the crisis in the first instance. You could not make

grandiose claims at the beginning of the game of politics. I am old enough to remember that last time he told us housing was the priority and that he would sort out housing, and that he had heard the electorate and recognised how bad things were. That … said and pledged. Where are we now? Many are struggling to put an affordable, secure roof over their heads. There are sky-high house prices and extortionate rents, and those in need of council housing are spending years and years on waiting lists. The Taoiseach presides over

rent-a-room relief will, in fact, cost students the same in rent increases. A help-to-buy top-up will only drive house prices higher for developers. As electricity prices soar, hundreds of thousands of customers are in arrears. The Government could spend €100 million a month … mother who will still not qualify for the carer's allowance because of arbitrary income thresholds. Time and again, I have reminded the House that the Ireland of 2026 is a rich country, but it is a country that is poor in many ways. We are a country

Help to buy is a demand-side subsidy. What we are seeing is the Government chasing rising housing prices. The facts are very clear, because undoubtedly people need support in relation to housing. The vast majority of young people I know the length and breadth of this country … Government is doing is putting in place a subsidy and maintaining a subsidy that clearly does not work and that is driving up house prices. The facts are clear: last year, on average, house prices increased by €25,000. The year before they increased by €25,000. That

first instance, Deputy Séamus McGrath raised the issue of qualifying income thresholds for social housing. To make the point more generally, we built 9,000 social houses last year and we will go higher this year. Deputy Boyd Barrett suggests that we want to get rid of social … housing but we are building record levels of it. We are building more per annum now than we have done since the State was founded. Let us at least accept that. You can give out about the methodology if you want all-State construction, but we are getting

thank the Deputy for bringing up this important issue. I do not know if Deputy Boland is here. The Government's new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, aims to deliver 300,000 new homes by the end of 2030, including 72,000 social homes … affordable housing supports by the end of 2030. To achieve this, the largest ever housing budget in the history of the State has been secured in 2026, with in excess of €9 billion in capital funding through the Exchequer, the Land Development Agency and the Housing Finance Agency

also known as tenancy in situ, is not a stand-alone programme or scheme. It is a priority category under the Department of housing's social housing second-hand acquisitions programme, which helps to prevent social housing supported households in the private rental sector from becoming homeless. Such … acquisitions are an option for local authorities to support households in the most precarious housing situations. They will continue to be available to local authorities for use as a last resort when all other options have been exhausted. However, they will never be the sole or even

Browne, who unfortunately is not here today. Affordability and the chance to own a home is at the heart of the Government’s housing policy, as embodied in the new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities. The Government is continuing to invest an unprecedented level of funding … support housing delivery, which will underpin the new starter homes programme, delivering an average of 15,000 starter home supports annually to 2030. In terms of starter home delivery, over 22,000 starter home supports have been delivered since the launch of the previous housing plan, Housing

Taoiseach mentioned that there is a focus in the strategy on housing and on the delivery of affordable housing. In my area, the average house price is now €680,000. The limit for the first home scheme for affordable housing is €500,000. In other words … build, it cannot be more than €500,000. The Government's affordable housing schemes simply do not apply in Dún Laoghaire. Ordinary workers in Dún Laoghaire do not earn more because they earn in Dún Laoghaire. If you are a nurse, a teacher, a bank worker

with family roots in Loch an Iúir. I know the realities facing other Donegal islands like Tory and Inishbofin. They are living communities. Housing is not just about houses; it is about units and putting down roots. The value of a house needs to be considered in terms … what it brings to a community. It is about whether schools survive, services remain or Irish remains a language for daily life. Housing challenges in the Gaeltacht islands are often very much misunderstood. It is not just about speculation or luxury developments; it is about viability. In many

decade, 55,000 adults have been forced into homelessness. Let that sink in for a second. According to data from the Department of housing, from January 2016 to June 2025, 55,000 adults have been forced into emergency accommodation, funded by the Minister of State's Department. That … Fáil and Fine Gael have been in Government. That is a truly scandalous figure. On Friday, we will get the latest Department of housing homelessness report. The last report we got told us that at that point in time, 17,000 adults, including 5,000 children, were

Finally, we got there but it takes this long just to get a debate on what is an absolute disaster. The Minister for housing, Deputy Browne, said when he came into office that child and family homelessness was his priority. The Government has repeatedly said this … every month in terms of the hardship and suffering being imposed on families, children and individuals in homelessness, facing homelessness or in crisis housing situations. It seems to me that the Government is normalising this. There can be no other explanation for allowing the homeless figures to climb

what we in Sinn Féin have been calling out for years: that the Minister has been throwing petrol on the fire with his housing policies. The housing policies do not work for ordinary working people trying to buy a home. They do not work for pensioners facing eviction … imagine getting to that age in life and not knowing where we will go next. We need more local housing for older people. People decide who is at the top of the list in communities. We are being told people are not on the list. It does

thing I find most tiresome about debates on housing and the solutions is that every side presents its proposal as the silver bullet that is somehow going to solve the problem. There is no silver bullet. I do not pretend to know what the answer … from. In 2024, 13,000-odd residential properties were purchased by non-individuals, to put it that way, of which 7,000 were houses and 5,000 were apartments, broadly speaking. It totalled approximately €5 billion in expenditure. No one in this House could endorse a situation where

sort of sense of what will happen, the Minister just comes back with "supply, supply, supply". Supply is the answer to the housing crisis, but it is not the only answer. Housing systems across the world also have things such as rent controls, protection from evictions and measures … Government is incentivising is one that is really expensive and unaffordable to the overwhelming majority of people. It is the supply of housing that I have problems with and, to be very straight, the institutional investors who are here. These funds and this model of housing are hugely

homelessness. This is something we all know. It is something that this Bill is trying to address. We often hear references to the Housing Agency and its recommendations. What the Housing Agency has asked the Government to do is to ensure more protection for renters, which is what … Rental Sector Review, published in 2024, highlighted the need to improve certain aspects of rent regulation. Following the completion of the review, the Housing Agency was requested to undertake a review of RPZs and the Review of Rent Pressure Zones and Consideration of Potential Policy Options for Rent

Affordability and the chance to own a home is at the heart of the Government’s housing policy, as embodied within the new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities. The new plan reinforces and expands the range of existing measures being implemented by the Government to tackle … homes to purchase and rent. As outlined in Delivering Homes, Building Communities, all local authorities will be required to prepare a new housing delivery action plan, which will identify affordable housing needs within their areas and set out how this will be met. These new housing delivery action

propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 15, inclusive, together. The Cabinet committee on housing last met yesterday, Monday, 15 December. The committee works to ensure a cross-Government approach to the implementation of our commitments regarding housing policy. This week’s meeting was specifically focused … homelessness challenge, in particular the national housing plan commitments in this regard, including the development of a homeless prevention framework and a child and family homelessness action plan. We are making good progress on the delivery of homes to those most in need across the country, with

need to see how these strategies will be implemented on a minute level. One of these I refer to specifically is the affordable housing programme. In my time in the local authority, going back some years, there was a very clear and obvious way that the affordable housing … programme worked. There was a clear and obvious way that people could access the affordable housing programme. People went on an affordable housing list. As the local authority developed a suite of affordable houses in conjunction with social houses, they were sold to those people on the list

nearly 15 years. That is 15 years of promises, plans and press conferences with Ministers donning hard hats, 15 years spent turning the housing crisis into a housing disaster. Under the Tánaiste's watch, house prices have almost doubled, skyrocketing rents have more than doubled and the number … people who are homeless has increased by more than 400%. This morning Fine Gael's fourth housing plan was launched. This time, we are told, it will be different. How can it be? The plan contains the same recipe for failure. There is no sign of the radical

know the Minister and his officials are considering. This relates to the strategic review of the AHB sector and, ultimately, the new housing plan. The Minister will not be surprised to hear me say we are not spending enough on the direct delivery of social or affordable homes … volume of social or affordable homes required to meet current needs. I refer to the objectively expressed need of those on local housing waiting lists, those in insecure and expensive HAP and RAS tenancies and those in need of affordable homes. Based on the Housing Commission

This Government and consecutive governments have failed the people of Ireland abysmally when it comes to housing. Every report and statistic underlines the abject failure in tackling the housing emergency. The most damning indictment of failed housing policies is the homeless figures. The most recent figures published make … have nowhere to call home. Every one of these people, every family and every child should have a home. People are languishing on housing lists for years. Families are living in overcrowded and cramped conditions. In some situations, three generations are living in the one home while thousands

Minister said, it will allow sufficient headroom to continue lending to mid-2026, after which there could be a new national housing plan and a new national development plan. We know that the €13.5 billion threshold is a holding position. Like the speakers from all the other groupings … will support it - it is extra money - while emphasising that we still need to look at the fundamentals of the housing situation. As this is such a small Bill, this debate gives us a bit more scope to do that. I have six minutes, but if I confine

Martin. Our child poverty scandal would look a lot different if we did not have such a problem with family homelessness and insecure housing. For a Government that says housing is its number one priority, it has a funny way of showing it. We managed to hear from … them mentioned homelessness. What an outrage. Since Fianna Fáil brazened its way through the general election telling porkies on housing targets, this has been the Government's record. We have had garden sheds in lieu of homes; slashed apartments standards; rushed changes to rent pressure zones, RPZs

Deputy William Aird asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether he is aware of cases where individuals have been deemed ineligible for social housing supports despite being unable to access the Housing Assistance Payment, due to a lack of suitable rental accommodation; the measures

Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when his Department plans to draw down on the EU funding for housing made available through the EU affordable housing plan; his plans for the funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter

Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will declassify the vacant property grant issued for rental properties as an affordable housing measure so that it is not counted in statistics published affordable housing delivery; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is aware of the delay in permitting people to move into homes in Domville Crescent, Cherrywood, that they were allocated over 14 months ago; the legal issues between the AHB Oaklee … developer that appear to be stalling access to homes for the families who urgently need to be housed; if he will agree that this is not acceptable given the housing crisis and take steps to resolve the issues as a matter of priority in order that people

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total expenditure on social and affordable housing by local authorities, approved housing bodies and the Land Development Agency in 2024 and 2025; and the breakdown, by funding stream and by delivery agent (details supplied

Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if a person who has a right of residency in a house of their child, are not entitled to a housing adaptation grant because there is no tenancy agreement; and if he will make a statement

ensure that children and young adults leaving care, particularly those with complex needs such as foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, are prioritised for housing and support services; if she will address the situation where local authorities do not prioritise care leavers for housing, leaving vulnerable individuals homeless … measures that will be introduced to guarantee that care leavers with lifelong support needs are provided with sustainable housing and wraparound supports. [75046/25

Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department requires local authorities to submit detailed cost breakdowns for affordable purchase housing schemes funded under national affordable housing programmes; if so, the nature of those cost breakdowns

Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department has prepared any projections or forecasts relating to future construction and delivery costs, per social and affordable housing unit under Housing for All or any successor programme; and if so, to outline

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether people participating in HAP or the RAS are eligible to apply for cost-rental housing; the number of people participating in these programmes that have availed of cost-rental housing to date

Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the timeframe for establishing and implementing the protocol in the new housing plan to allow individuals who are fleeing DSGBV to transfer time spent on a social housing waiting list to another local authority

Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of social housing units built in 2024 and 2025, by each Dublin city and county local authority through direct contracting with builders, with figures provided on a per local authority basis, and distinguishing houses

Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage of the social housing units built in 2024 and 2025 by Dublin city and county local authorities, the number that were delivered under part V arrangements, with figures provided separately for houses and apartments, for each

Deputy Edward Timmins asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage in the fair deal where a house must be 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 … same house after it is sold; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [71950/25

Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the steps his Department has taken since 2022 to establish a residential-specific productivity baseline for use in housing policy formation, including any internal memoranda, assessment frameworks or technical guidance issued to inform national housing

Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the dates on which the Housing Activation Office submitted reports to him since 1 January 2023 identifying infrastructure barriers to housing delivery; the number of barriers escalated; and the number that remain unresolved following those

ensure that there are enough construction workers with the necessary skills to balance the competing priorities of building the Metrolink without placing housing targets at risk, which will require the construction of houses as well the building out the electricity grid and wastewater infrastructure … with the Ministers of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage or Transport to discuss this; if he has met with the Taoiseach to discuss this; the plans and/or targets that have been agreed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [67796/25

Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when each local authority will be required to publish its Housing Delivery Action Plan; the target for the delivery of cost rental and affordable purchase homes by local authorities, approved housing bodies and the Land Development

Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of one off rural housing applications received by each local authority over the past three years; the number of one off rural housing applications refused by each local authority over those three years

Migration the steps his Department will take to ensure that any IPAS or direct provision accommodation subject to resident charges meets the minimum housing standards set out in the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations. [69930/25

Deputy Keira Keogh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to review the social housing thresholds in County Mayo, in view of the fact that some individuals are unable to access the housing list despite only being over the threshold by a small amount

Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans for affordable housing schemes in County Galway; the location for same and the criteria to apply for said housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [67439/25

Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to allow the use of private waste water treatment systems for developments in locations where there is inadequate or no public infrastructure provided by Irish Water; if large scale housing projects and such developments … assist in meeting the rigorous standards that may be required by Irish Water; if he will ensure that funding is made available for housing developments in particular to assist with such costs and to prevent an uneven divide between sites serviced by public infrastructure and those developed with

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the targets for the delivery of cost rental and affordable purchase homes by local authorities, approved housing bodies and the Land Development Agency under the Government's new housing plan from 2025 to 2030. [66119/25

Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide greater detail on how domestic violence is addressed within the Action Plan on Housing Supply and Targeting Homelessness, 2025-2030, including if refuge provision or transitional housing will be provided for domestic violence