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appreciate the Deputy raising this issue again. Some 7,100 affordable housing solutions were delivered in 2024, exceeding the delivery target of 6,400. Since we came into office in 2020, nearly 13,000 affordable housing options have been delivered by the various delivery partners. Help … helped young people to afford to buy first time new-build houses. Bridge the gap has also helped first-time buyers in terms of affordability. Those are schemes the Deputy's party opposed, which raises the fundamental question of how it would have assisted people when it comes

been made in water services in Ireland and the ongoing efforts of the Government and Uisce Éireann in this area. I assure the House that securing a safe and reliable water supply is a top priority for the Government, as is securing water services to facilitate housing development … Uisce Éireann just over €2.2 billion. In addition to this sustained support for Uisce Eireann, the provision of additional capital investment to support housing development in our towns and villages will be considered in the context of the national development plan, NDP, review which is to be completed

commitment in the programme for Government to invest heavily in our water infrastructure, which is critical and needed to deliver additional new housing units across our capital city and the country. I welcome that the strategic funding has a multi-annual spend of €16.9 billion … underscored the necessity for us to catch up on the underinvestment in our water infrastructure for many decades. I think everyone in this House accepts that this a necessity. Having said so, I will make some general points in relation to Irish Water, beginning with the issue

having quarterly meetings with CEOs and the heads of planning and the Minister and Minister of State with responsibility for housing. It needs to be done at that level, otherwise it will not happen. On a separate aspect of housing delivery, what is the motivation for councils … deliver more housing? I suggested a monitoring procedure as one way. Another way is to incentivise councils, as happens in England. Councils that reach delivery targets could be rewarded with extra funding for infrastructure. This could include parks, sports facilities and other community benefits. This infrastructure should

commend Deputy Healy on bringing this motion seeking to make housing an emergency. I am gobsmacked. Here we are again looking at a sole face over on the backbenches. Not only is housing not an emergency for the Government, it is not even a priority. The Minister … area, the Blanchardstown, Dublin 15 area, that has begged parents to provide spare rooms for teachers. It cannot employ teachers because of the housing crisis. I have had letters from school students in the area as well. We have one in three vacancies in the CDNT area because

colleagues for bringing forward this motion. I have been in the Dáil for nine years and have been listening to speeches from housing Ministers in that time. I listened to the Minister’s speech today and, unfortunately, I do not think he was even interested in delivering … seem to believe in what he was saying. We are in a housing emergency but the Minister and the Government will not actually admit it. I wish to raise two issues in the short time I have, the first of which relates to homeless services

every single metric and by every single part of the housing strategy, this Government has failed. It has failed because of its over-reliance on private developers and investments funds that undermine its ability to deliver genuinely affordable housing at scale. It is clear as can be stated … that we need much more State-led investment. When will the Government admit that the private market has zero interest in solving the housing crisis and providing genuine affordable housing? It is only about profit for it. We simply cannot continue into the future with the huge transfer

need to push in one direction. I want to work with everybody on all sides of this House. There is no monopoly on good ideas. We need constructive ideas and proposals. I firmly believe that every politician who puts his or her name on a ballot paper … elected to this House deserves to have his or her voice heard. Deciding to enter public life is not easy; it means long hours, time away from one's family and a high tolerance for criticism. Politics is probably the most denigrated profession in the country

Figures for house prices came out yesterday. We are now seeing astronomical house prices and the highest rate of increase in inflation for eight years. The median price of a home is now €420,000. What nurse, garda or bus driver can afford these house prices? What … Government doing by way of an emergency reaction to the housing crisis, particularly in the area of affordable housing delivery? It has not met its own affordable housing targets. We have a significant budget surplus available. What is the Government doing as an emergency response to allocate additional

stakeholders to deliver social, affordable and cost rental homes at scale, with a record level of investment being provided for the delivery of housing in 2025 - capital funding of €6.5 billion supplemented by current funding of €1.65 billion. The number of new-build social homes in the pipeline … period 2025 to 2027 is circa 36,000 homes, the highest ever for a three-year period. The strongest national delivery of social housing since 1975 was recorded in 2022 with 10,254 social homes delivered. This was exceeded in 2023 with 11,938 homes. Affordability

thank the Deputy for raising this question. I know housing delivery in particular is something he is very passionate about and that he has always been dedicated to. As part of the programme for Government, the Government committed to launching a new, comprehensive starter home programme across … public, private and approved housing body, AHB, sector. This promotes home ownership and secures long-term rental tenures for young people and fresh start applicants. As stated in the programme for Government, the starter home programme will support and deliver an average of 15,000 starter homes

agree that void houses are an issue, not just from an antisocial behaviour point of view. They are low-hanging fruit in terms of getting houses back into the social housing stock, where they are desperately needed. Some local authorities are better than others but, to be fair … progress has been made. More than 25,000 voids have been returned to the housing stock in recent years, which means the schemes we have introduced are working. I do not have specific figures in respect of Limerick local authority. Certain local authorities are excellent in terms

important question on the role of accessibility officers in Dublin City Council and the oversight mechanisms that are in place to ensure future housing developments meet universal design standards. These are issues in respect of which he has long campaigned, even before he came to the Dáil. Under … owners and designers to have regard to the design philosophy of universal design and to consider making additional provisions where practicable and appropriate. Housing for All provides the overall framework within which the National Housing Strategy for Disabled People 2022-2027 operates. Under it, we are committed

dhéanamh chomh tapa agus is féidir linn. Is é sin bun agus barr pholasaithe an Rialtais. In the first instance, housing is the number one issue in this country. I made the following comment in the Oval Office in the White House. I said: "The number one issue … Ireland is housing". We have got to build more houses and we have got to build them faster to give the young people of Ireland an opportunity to buy a house or to afford to rent a house. It is a pity the Deputy did not quote that

remediation which the Government is asking the person to take. People are being asked to take down just the outer leaf of their houses when the whole house probably has to be demolished and rebuilt again. We have an issue that does not just affect people … living in defective block homes but the entire housing market across most of Donegal. In my county, or example, in a very profound way, people cannot buy or sell a house without ensuring that they do not have defective concrete blocks. Lots of houses, however, are being misdiagnosed

going to take from the Minister's woes. There has been a lot of debate with regard to housing and the need for it within our country. Obviously, as some contributors have already indicated, housing supply and wastewater infrastructure go hand in hand. It has to be said … that the lack of investment in wastewater treatment infrastructure is one of the greatest roadblocks in many ways in the supply of housing, particularly across the rural parts of the country. I will be parochial because I represent Galway East and County Galway when it comes

removing that promise and commitment to renters. This is an emergency, a social disaster, yet this Government continues to fail to treat the housing crisis like the emergency it is. The wrecking ball it is bringing to tenant in situ is one more example. Some 30,000 households … evictions, which the Minister and his Government consistently refuse to implement while they claim to care about the devastation being caused by the housing crisis. The Taoiseach said again today that he is as concerned as anybody in this House about the housing crisis. I beg to differ

againn chun díriú isteach uirthi mar tá sí chomh tábhachtach sin gur gá dúinn a rá go bhfuil éigeandáil ann. There is a housing crisis. There has been a housing crisis. There is an emergency, and that emergency did not begin today or yesterday. We on this side … House have been calling on the Government to declare a national emergency. A national emergency is usually declared when the economy is under threat, when family life is under threat or when the fabric of society is under threat. Anybody who has looked at the housing crisis

aware in the context of rural communities, is that one our current challenges, if we are to move away from one-off rural housing, which there are solid planning reasons for doing save where it is a family living on the land, we should incentivise people to live … County Wicklow, have been waiting for 20-plus years. It would take pressure off some of the communities that are under pressure for housing if housing could be built in those communities but because there is not adequate water and wastewater infrastructure, it is not possible

partisan and fair way. I have always known him to be a gentleman of that character throughout his tenure in the House and also in his private life. I welcome the many people in the Gallery who have experienced domestic violence. They have emailed us, as elected Members … experiences and enlightened us. I wish to speak about the aspect of domestic violence that remains totally unrecognised in the context of the housing problem. Women stay in refuges. We already heard that there are no refuge centres in nine counties. In the entire north Cork region from

bottom line is that the State has intervened very strongly and assertively in the housing market. The State is the main player, I would argue, in the housing market right now in terms of the level of State investment. That is increasing and has increased over the last … number of years. As I said yesterday, we are at record levels of social housing new builds compared with the last three decades. The Deputy can go back and compare and contrast. We need to get that figure of 8,000-plus to about 10,000 new builds

Social Democrats are introducing this motion on addressing the housing disaster at a time when the Government is clearly at an ideological loss. Its policies of incentives for developers and investments for vulture funds, and their inflationary demand-side measures, have failed to move the dial … housing disaster. More people are homeless today than ever before and the Government is falling significantly short of its own housing targets, delivering fewer homes in 2024 than in the previous year. The private sector is not able to meet the targets set out in the Government

have their children, their children's partners or wives or their grandchildren living with them. We now have ten living in my own house. I am in the construction business so you would imagine that I could help with the cost of building but, when they … save for a mortgage, it is shoved another step away from them. They are saving hard but, when they try to build a house or get planning permission for one, it is pushed away from them as a result of cost inflation. Every week, I get a letter

level of respect that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and the Regional Independent Group have for people on the housing waiting lists throughout the country is stark to those of us on this side of the House when the benches opposite remain empty and we have one Minister sitting … recent local election campaign. There are three kids living with their parents, each with a child of their own in a three-bedroom house. There are eight people in a three-bedroom house. The woman stood at the doorstep crying to me. What would the Minister of State

Lowry and his group of Independents. Since then, he and Simon Harris, the Tánaiste, have been found out for misleading the public on housing delivery figures during the election campaign. Now, he announces he will remove rent pressure zones in order to encourage private investment in housing … media that the Taoiseach has warned his party members to brace themselves for what he calls unpopular decisions that will be taken on housing. What are those decisions? The Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael record is one of sky-high house prices, rip-off rent and truly shameful

Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to review the operation of local authority affordable housing purchase schemes, specifically the use of lottery-based allocation systems, in view of the fact that these systems are excluding applicants who have been on waiting lists

Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason section 31 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 has never been commenced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48198/26

Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the progress being made on affordable housing in 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [48046/26

Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the supports in place or that can be put in place to facilitate those with a disability in elected office, either at Leinster House or in local authorities; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the review of the social housing income thresholds. [48551/26

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the housing agency review of the HAP limits. [48552/26

Deputy Charles Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is aware that a number of homeowners whose applications were upgraded to full demolition and rebuild following successful defective concrete block scheme appeals have been advised by the Housing Agency that their grant amounts

Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the defective concrete block scheme for social housing will commence. [48592/26

Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he acknowledges that the revision of I.S. 465 strengthens the position of homeowners whose applications were downgraded by the Housing Agency and who have consistently argued that such downgrade decisions were legally and scientifically

Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will confirm that the defective concrete blocks appeals boards will continue to hear and determine outstanding downgrade appeals without interruption or delay, given that all downgrade appeals determined to date have resulted … Housing Agency's decisions being annulled; that those appeals were lodged and adjudicated on the basis of the existing I.S. 465 standard at the time; and that the revision of I.S. 465 on 2 June 2026 can only strengthen the position of appellants whose cases were prepared

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she has considered the role of housing insecurity on child welfare; the additional supports she is proposing to improve child welfare in precarious housing situations; and if she will make a statement on the matter

Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the details of approved housing bodies operating in the State, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46825/26

Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to review and increase the income thresholds for social housing to better reflect the current cost-of-living, to ensure the thresholds are future proofed; when the last such review took place; and if he will

Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his Department’s plans to counter coastal erosion, dealing with the potential of coastal erosion on housing and infrastructure; and the contingency plans being put in place to relocate people from unsafe coastal areas

Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to include the replacement of double glazed windows under the housing aid for older people's grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [46966/26

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether a regulatory impact assessment was carried out on the Housing and Residential Tenancies Amendment (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026; if so, to provide a copy of the assessment; and if not, the reason, such

Deputy Keira Keogh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the plans to extend the cost rental scheme to County Mayo in view of the amount of persons that do not qualify for social housing but find themselves homeless and unable to afford market rent

Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to provide additional funding to the housing aid grants for local authorities who have now closed these grants, quoting lack of funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47125/26

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total cost to the Exchequer from the staffing of local authority housing departments in 2025; and the number of staff that funding covers. [47292/26

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the total number of new long term social housing leases entered into by local authorities in 2025; and the total annual cost of these leases in a full year. [47293/26

Deputy Brian Brennan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is aware of the number of Housing Adaptation Grants annually approved but not drawn down by the application as they are unable to fund part or all of works needed up front; the assistance

Deputy Brian Brennan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is aware of the number of Housing Aid for Older Persons Grants annually approved but not drawn down by the application as they are unable to fund part or all of works needed

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the timeframe for funding and delivery of the 82 Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund projects approved recently given that the total cost of the projects approved is €862 million while the allocation for HIIF under A.21

Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the options available when a person cannot afford the necessary GP fees to fulfil criteria for a form of housing assistance when the person does not qualify for a medical card or GP-visit card

Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the upcoming National Planning Statement on short term lets will be published; if he intends to provide planning exemptions for historic properties that cannot contribute to long-term housing supply; and if he will make