Search the record

side ranging from broad, major schemes about how projects would be funded down to the technical and detailed in terms of boarded-up houses and how their repair might be properly funded. That includes how small and medium builders can be assisted with low credit finance to bring … back derelict housing in our towns and cities. Very few of these solutions ever get taken on by the Government and even when they are, it is dragged kicking and screaming. It walks away from them as well. The tenant in situ scheme is the classic example

compared with this time last year. The Government should be hanging its head in shame when it comes to its handling of the housing crisis. We can go back to 2011 when the Government, in effect, stopped building social housing, through to the abolition of the town councils … rather than better. We have had some of the steepest rises in the country in Kerry. The average increase for a four-bedroom house is the highest in the State, having risen by more than one fifth compared with this time last year. The average rent

Earlier in the debate, the Minister of State acknowledged that the Government is not doing enough on housing, but the truth is that it has not been doing enough for decades, and from what we see it does not intend to start now. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael … benchmark themselves against their previous failures. They routinely confuse announcements with delivery and think nothing of misleading the Irish people on housing. This week in Lismore, west Waterford, a planning application for a private development of 20 much-needed homes, 16 apartments and four houses, was refused just

support this motion that calls to declare a national housing and infrastructure emergency and introduce time-bound emergency legislation that would enable local authorities and developers to accelerate the delivery of housing on already zoned, infrastructure-ready land. As I said last week, we cannot take the necessary … this crisis until we call it what it is: a national emergency. The failure of the Government and previous Governments to deliver on housing is a failure of public policy. So many young people in my constituency of Donegal face an impossible situation as house prices soar

paying their weekly rent live in homes that provide good comfort levels for their occupants. In accordance with section 58 of the Housing Act 1966, local authorities are legally responsible for the management and maintenance of their housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, implementation … rental standard regulations 2019. Notwithstanding the legal obligation on local authorities to manage and maintain their own stock, the Department of housing provides annual funding support to local authorities for management and maintenance under a number of grant programmes such as the planned maintenance, or voids, programme

láthair. I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for the opportunity to speak on this legislation and I welcome the fact that across the House there is general consensus on the need to expand the RPZs to the entire country, which is the purpose of this Bill … rate falls below the inflation rate, it is not one where the incentive is created or necessary. This was also found in the Housing Agency's review of this matter published a number of weeks ago. The paper by Dr. Tom Gillespie of Trinity College found that

this legislation, we are utterly opposed to what is being proposed by the Government. We have all spoken about the issues in the House. The issue is that rents are through the roof and are constantly going up. The only thing that we see in regard to what … being proposed by the Government is that rents will increase again. House prices have been astronomical. People who previously could have afforded a house based on what would previously have been considered very good jobs cannot afford one at this point. That does not look like

creation while abandoning the very families it claims to serve. It is not Independent Ireland's vision for a better, fairer or freer housing system. The Minister wants us to believe that this Bill is about stability but for whom? It is certainly not for young people trying … broken leg. This Bill discourages the very participation it needs to work. It tells landlords they are not partners in the housing solution; they are the problem. That is not just wrong; it is reckless. It is undermining supply and undermining communities. In my constituency of Cork South

many of the same charges then that the Minister is making now. He was proven wrong. He ran screaming from the Department of housing but renters were left with the consequences of his actions. We will return to the debate over how this operates in real time … 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 is a particular category of private sector investor

number of months ago in January, we have approved an extra €700 million in respect of projects and programmes for social and affordable housing. We passed the national planning framework, which will enable local authorities to zone far more land for house construction. We brought forward proposals … Deputy is now attacking. In the same breath and the same comment, the Deputy talks about a radical reset recommended by the Housing Commission. This was recommended by the Housing Commission - a reform of the RPZs. Which is it? What aspects of the Housing Commission is the Deputy

just wake up in this housing crisis; it has been going on for decades. We have seen plan after plan. Does the Minister remember rebuilding Ireland? That failed. Now we have Housing for All. In the meantime, and while this plan is going on, we have longer housing … lists, people waiting to be housed, more unaffordable housing and record homelessness. Like many people outside the gate tonight, I am sick and tired of listening to the Government blame everybody else; it is always everybody else's fault. The Government is in charge in this State

welcome the Minister to this debate on housing. He says he wants to deliver more private homes across the country. I agree that we need those houses, but there is another way. He has completely sacrificed renters in order to unlock this, but there is another … make a dramatic impact in reducing the cost of building. Last year, the State took in €3 billion in the middle of a housing crisis. I ask the Minister to give some of this back to unlock the potential that exists. Development levies, Irish Water connections, ESB connections

appreciate the opportunity to speak here this afternoon on such an important topic. As Deputies know, the housing crisis is the single greatest issue facing this generation. I, like many of my colleagues, have spoken to so many people who still feel locked out of the property market … life and a better chance abroad. There are working families in a rental trap, unable to afford a mortgage. There are social housing waiting lists, and older people relying on a pension who are worried about their tenure in years to come. There are a lot of challenges

Housing provision is so dysfunctional across every part of the sector that it is no exaggeration to say it is an emergency. Day after day, I have to inform people who are on the housing list for six, seven, eight or nine years that they have many more … grown worse and worse and I see nothing the Government is doing that will improve it. There are families so long on the housing list that children who were toddlers when they went on the list are now adults. Unable to move out, they are penalised because they

There are a lot of things I could say about housing, but because of the announcement from Government I feel compelled to comment on the new rent proposals. The new restrictions, such as they are, or rather the changes, will mean there are no controls for new builds … increase them further. They are going way beyond what ordinary people can afford. Most tenancies end voluntarily. People move on. They get housed by a local authority, purchase a house, move to new rental accommodation or they have to go to a larger house because of family size

know the Minister, Deputy Browne, is visiting Galway on Friday to meet some of the activist groups who are campaigning for further housing options in the Gaeltacht. I hope the outcome of that meeting will be positive because while we have a housing problem throughout the country … lack of housing in the Gaeltacht puts it in danger. If young people who speak the language cannot reside there, obviously that is going to place its future as a Gaeltacht region i mbaol, in some danger. I have heard a lot in the debate regarding the lack

know how many times I have come in here and spoken about housing. It is almost a single transferable speech although previously I might have said that things were not getting better but now it is very obvious for anyone to see that things are getting … office and are meeting the same types of people on the street, people would previously have been able to rent or buy a house or find some other solution that suited but that does not exist at this point. I will not do what I have done over

Local authorities need to do much more about our vacant council housing stock. We have houses vacant for one, five, ten, 15 or 20 years, or longer. Some of these properties are beyond repair. Others require substantial works. There are vacant rural cottages that were part … many years. Where there is value for money, of course we should be doing up these properties and reallocating them to qualified housing applicants; where it is too costly to repair them, we need to sell them off as soon as possible and put the moneys raised back

mantra of "Government good, Opposition bad" or "Opposition good, Government bad". It does not get us anywhere. There is not anybody in this House, regardless of political background, or anyone in this country who is not horrified and haunted by the scenes Deputy Sherlock rightly mentioned in relation … young children and babies. There is no one in this House who wishes to deliver well-meaning statements. There is a whole array of people, including hundreds upon hundreds of people in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the European Union, embassies across the world

Cabinet and it will go to the Dáil and the Oireachtas select committee. On the other issues that were raised and housing in particular, the market is broken at the moment. The State and the Government are leading on housing. The bulk of investment is coming from … Department of housing. All the estimates show that we need without question to build more houses and to build them faster. We are at record levels of Government expenditure through a variety of schemes, including social housing, affordable housing, croí cónaithe and the Land Development Agency

Every day we come to the House, we are hear about housing, housing, housing. During the week, the EPA released a report on the inspections of septic tanks by local authorities. Areas were targeted where septic tanks were near rivers. The councils completed 1,390 inspections of tanks … found that 82% of the tanks were inadequate. We are talking about meeting housing targets here. What the EPA has not done is look at the treatment systems going straight into rivers, which we have been looking to have upgraded for decades. I have been working in construction

protection currently benefitting from the scheme where those beneficiaries of temporary protection have satisfied a means test similar to those applicable for other housing assistance payments; — new applications who propose to host a beneficiary of temporary protection in their property which is also their own primary residence … payments towards costs incurred or whether they are top-up rental income being paid tax-free to landlords concerned. The motion before the House today can only be described as a missed opportunity because there was a chance to address a number of key problems with the scheme

thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of affordable housing. I also thank him for his regular engagement with me on the issue of how we can develop further affordable housing. In terms of the pipeline of delivery in Cork city, since the launch of Housing … until the end of quarter 4 in 2024, 747 affordable housing solutions have been delivered via a range of delivery partners. To date approval has been given for ten projects in Cork city under the affordable housing fund, which will deliver 465 affordable purchase homes. In addition

supporter of it. It is a game-changer in respect of many derelict properties the length and breadth of the country. The vacant house grant is also quite significant. It facilitates the return of vacant houses as viable homes for people. The latest available vacancy data from GeoDirectory … everything but, in 2021 and 2022, we gave substantial funding to local authorities to deal with voids in their own local authority housing stock. Local authorities take too long to release homes that have been vacated. When homes are vacated because families have left or moved

whims of a number of people in government. We are not very good at this. On 27 April 2016, I predicted in this House that we would have infrastructural issues with water and waste. That was more than nine years ago. We have failed in this regard … initially over those years was bloody well ridiculous and we have been playing catch-up ever since. It is a failure of this House, a failure of politics and a failure of government. There are towns and cities all over this country that are hamstrung because it takes

Deputy Shay Brennan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the work of the Housing Activation Office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37515/26

Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on when his Department will provide the funding to Donegal County Council to proceed with affordable housing projects in the county. [37484/26

Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when he will publish a planning statement setting out relevant planning criteria to be applied in local authority development plans for rural housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37218/26

Deputy Louis O'Hara asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the provision of affordable housing schemes in East County Galway; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36515/26

Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of homes developed, including by approved housing bodies, specifically for disabled people, and separately, people with an intellectual disability, by local authority, in the last five years, in tabular form; and if he will

Deputy Máire Devine asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether he will visit locations (details supplied) to view conditions in these social housing complexes which are the subjects of severely delayed regeneration projects; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37485/26

Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on proposed new rural housing guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37514/26

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of local authority run rightsizing schemes that are in place for owner-occupiers nationally to support the housing needs of older people; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37526/26

Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to detail the infrastructural upgrades deemed necessary to support planned housing delivery in Kildare North; the basis on which these projects have been prioritised relative to other areas; the extent to which current departmental assessments

Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he supports closer alignment with market rent for households with higher income levels who are living in local authority housing; if he has considered the impact this would have on poverty; and if he will

Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will mandate local authorities to include targets for housing for disabled people, including intellectual disability, in their five-year plans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36512/26

Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he is aware that applications for housing adaptation grants have been paused since 1 May 2026, and have not indicated when they will be open again; whether additional funding will be provided this year

Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide a comparison between the number of residential units acquired by institutional investment funds and large-scale landlords and the number of homes directly built or purchased by the State in each of the past … five years; and whether he accepts that current policy is enabling investor-led acquisition to outpace public housing delivery. [37553/26

Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the specific measures he will take to address the growing unaffordability of cost rental rents and unviability of cost rental developments; if his Department will outline the systemic impact of recent construction inflation on cost-covering … rent calculations; the measures being introduced to support approved housing bodies,, local authorities, and the Land Development Agency, in maintaining the statutory 25% rent discount; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37479/26

Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when clarity and formal guidance will be provided to local authorities regarding the planning and regulatory treatment of modular and rapid-build housing applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37155/26

Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he intends introducing a universal rent scheme for social housing; if the aim of such a scheme will be to increase rents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37231/26

Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will outline the use of the design and build contract model for new social housing, particularly in DCC; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37555/26

Deputy Rose Conway-Walsh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department has undertaken an assessment of the number of applicants affected by defective concrete blocks who have been deemed ineligible for social housing supports or HAP due to existing income thresholds or home

Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures in place for local authorities to bring vacant housing stock back into use; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37543/26

Deputy Cathy Bennett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to outline the proposals and associated targets to deliver age-friendly housing in counties Cavan and Monaghan. [37537/26

Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the grant system for the repair and conservation of thatched buildings was last reviewed or updated; whether the scheme applies solely to domestic dwellings or if commercial heritage buildings such as hotels, pubs, guest houses

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the summary of social housing needs assessments for 2025 will be published. [37103/26

Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on his progress toward delivering affordable housing in Dublin West; the measures currently being advanced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37242/26

Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide additional funding to Louth County Council for the three housing adaption grant schemes which have closed for new applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37365/26

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide a list of all social housing estate regeneration projects currently being funded by his Department; when each project commenced; whether the scheme is a demolish and new build, a deep retrofit