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agree that Ireland urgently needs better infrastructure to meet its housing needs. The Minister has sat here listening to all of the Deputies say this with regard to water planning and grid capacity. The solution does not lie in trading blame. It lies in us all rolling … easily fixable right in front of us. There are small legislative changes that would have the biggest ripple effects in finally solving the housing crisis that my generation and every generation of buyers is facing. The motion from Sinn Féin identifies real constraints but it does not really

Today, we put forward a detailed motion on housing and critical infrastructure. Examples were given and statements from bodies involved in the delivery of homes, such as Uisce Éireann, the Irish Home Builders Association and the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, were given, but the Government's amendment … successive Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael governments to invest in critical infrastructure, in particular in water, leading to delays in the delivery of housing. In 2017, a burst water main in Drogheda, the largest town in the country, caused significant water outages for eight days throughout south Louth

also in terms of the way business was done throughout the country. It also impacted the way business was done in this House. I do not look back on that time with any great enjoyment. It was a difficult time for the Irish people. It was also … difficult time for Members of the Oireachtas. It will be recalled, however, that during that pandemic significant legislation was introduced by this House to respond to the real challenges faced. One group that faced enormous challenges were those in the hospitality sector. Owners saw their businesses closed overnight

Everyone across this House acknowledges that the State has to play a central role in the future of infrastructure delivery and the provision of housing in our economy. That has been acknowledged in the context of what we are going to do and how we will strategically invest … more than €20 billion from the Apple escrow fund and the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund to prioritise housing, energy, water and transport infrastructure. They are all critical growth-enabling areas in which we need to invest to protect and progress Ireland’s future. Deputy Bacik is critical

leis. A sum of €430,000 is the off-the-wall salary that the Tánaiste's Government is planning to pay the new housing tsar to come in and basically jobshare with the housing Minister, Deputy James Browne. A few words have been written and used to describe … prepared to pay someone nearly half a million euro to take up what are the main responsibilities of the Minister for housing. The Minister himself said that this housing tsar will come up with "rapid responses from all angles and unblocking delivery via a targeted team of experts

clearly not rooted in reality. The suggestion, for example, to implement a proper, planned local authority-led approach to identifying, meeting and managing housing needs arising in the countryside areas is laughable. Anyone with experience of local politics knows this is just not possible, given how little power … county councils actually have. Shockingly, councillors currently have no power to identify, meet and manage housing needs. My party colleagues, the councillors of the 100% Redress party, had to walk out of a special plenary meeting on housing in Donegal County Council on Monday in protest

congratulate the Minister of State on his appointment. The revision of the national development plan is supposedly to accelerate the delivery of housing in particular. There are a couple of things needed to accelerate that. The first is the need to replicate existing plans so the same plan … social and affordable housing and other houses can be used in Waterford, Laois or Donegal. The private sector is doing this. If we look at what it is building, it is replicating the plans all over the country. However, what is happening with local government and Government-sponsored

Research commissioned by Limerick Chamber of Commerce revealed that of the houses purchased in the State over the past two years, 40% were purchased either by approved housing bodies or other entities supported by the State. Contrary to what we hear from some on the other side … House, that represents substantial public investment in the private housing sector, which is to be welcomed. However, the comparable figure in Limerick city is 60%. In other words, State entities and approved housing bodies purchased over 60% of houses that were for sale in Limerick city over

that is too high. It creates unfair pressure for those, namely young couples or young people generally, who might be endeavouring to buy houses for the first time. I will certainly talk to the Minister for housing and Limerick City and County Council on that issue. The balance … right. We want approved housing bodies and councils to be building houses in the first instance. The more social houses we build, the more pressure will be taken off the private sector. We do not want councils or approved housing bodies competing with people who want

Cabinet sign off on the €430,000 salary associated with the strategic housing activation office today? People in County Mayo and across the country who cannot access housing or who are paying exorbitant rates want to know that. This is almost €500,000 in salary for a role … that should not be necessary if the Government stuck to its housing projections and implemented the recommendations of the Housing Commission report. Earlier this month, I wrote to Mayo County Council to seek information about a number of social housing acquisitions in 2024. In Mayo, there has been

terms of social housing, there has been a significant step change. Last year, more than 10,000 social houses were delivered. More than 48,000 social houses have been added to the social housing stock since 2020. We need to do more and we need to build more … social houses. The tenant in situ scheme was introduced in 2023. All Deputies have correctly raised that. There was no tenant in situ scheme before 2023. Substantial progress was made in respect of it. There were approximately 1,000 such arrangements in 2023. Approximately 1,800 social homes

consequences of Government failures on housing are well rehearsed. We have record rents, record homelessness and house prices going up every month, pushing more and more families and workers to the point where homeownership is but a pipe dream. The clear reasons for this are the policies enacted … awaiting an upgrade and no development can happen until the upgrade is complete. One would imagine that a Government that claims that housing is the social issue of this generation would be moving heaven and earth to sort this out. Not so, I am afraid. To give

person. I will give the Minister of State a very good example of what happened in my constituency, which I raised in the House not so long ago. For five days, the people of Ballyvolane in Cork city were left without water. They were given code number after … pumping station. "Tough on ye, lads" we were told. I do not know how we are going to solve the housing problem if we cannot build a house. I have been living in Mallow for the past 20 years. My colleagues in the Labour Party spoke earlier about

accept fully what Deputy McGreehan is saying. The existing sustainable rural housing guidelines date back to 2005. The national planning framework fully supports the sustainable development of rural areas. The updated rural housing guidelines are being prepared by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage … make them more amenable to getting more planning permissions through for people. I do want to say that approximately 6,000 one-off houses on average get planning permission every year. We all know of cases involving people on their own land. One-off houses comprise

make the situation worse. On Monday, the Minister made a number of very important announcements. He announced the capital allocations for social housing acquisitions, including the tenant in situ scheme. That represents an actual cut on the money that was spent by local authorities on acquisitions, including … year and more people will become homeless. I am also very concerned about the Minister's capital funding announcements in respect of social housing. I welcome every extra cent provided by the Government for social and affordable housing. I welcome every additional social or affordable home funded

context of how the triple lock came into being, why it exists and what is the footing for it. When the House debated UN membership initially, the concern - probably quite some time before any of us present was born - was that UN membership and its obligations would … obligation of UN membership and how it would operate. I am just stating fact which has been on the record of this House for some time. The Government is seeking to make an alteration to that so we can be more flexible in the deployment of our peacekeepers

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 … impacting it or it is not. The fundamental unfairness with the scheme, however, is the lack of means testing. There is no other housing assistance payment where the beneficiary does not have to satisfy a means test. A Ukrainian person housed under the ARP could be employed

town. She is in big trouble - a crisis situation - trying to raise her kids in that scenario. She is on the housing waiting list as she does not have the funds to get a house on the housing market. She does not receive this payment. I am also … lives in emergency accommodation with ten other men. He cannot bring his children into his household at the moment. He is on the housing waiting list but it could be ten years before he gets a house, because he is a single man. He does not receive

thank the Deputy for his question. Under Housing for All, the Government set out plans to deliver 54,000 affordable homes, including 36,000 affordable purchase and 18,000 cost-rental homes, by 2030. The target for 2024 across all of the various delivery streams … comprehensive implementation strategy is in place to support the various affordable housing schemes now being delivered by a range of delivery partners. My Department publishes programme-level statistics on affordable and social housing delivery activity by local authorities and delivery partners in each local authority area. Data

commitment are welcome. Issues relating to additional staff for local authorities are very important. There is a fundamental issue in respect of affordable housing that very often when proposals come to local authorities, the default position seems to be to fall back on social housing delivery rather than … affordable housing. That mindset needs to change. We have to build the systems so that affordable housing becomes a reality. The cost to the State of affordable housing is a lot less. It is providing a mechanism for the cohort I described to gain home ownership. We need

Deputy for the question. I know voids and refurbishment are issues he has raised previously. The management and maintenance of local authority housing stock, including pre-letting repairs to vacant properties, is a matter for each individual local authority under section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Local … authorities also have a legal obligation to ensure all their tenanted properties are compliant with the provisions of the Housing (Standards for Rented Houses) Regulations 2019. Notwithstanding this, my Department provides annual funding support to local authorities in preparing vacant units for re-let under the voids programme

homes would be delivered in 2024. This was a ploy to fool people into believing that the Government had made real progress on housing. Of course, we all knew it was bull. We now know that, in fact, 30,330 homes were delivered in 2024. That is less … election brag - a failure, by the way, that is set to continue, as the Central Bank says the Government will miss its housing targets for the next three years. The Taoiseach and his colleagues cynically misled the public on the key issue of housing during the general election

hear time and again from the Government that housing is the most important social, political and strategic issue. We heard it thrown back at us again today about a monopoly on compassion, which is one of those talking points we hear all the time. That is not contested … appreciate that there are people on every side of this House that have compassion but the sobering, depressing, frustrating reality is that the housing crisis is getting worse. What is worse than even that is the Government is locked into and committed to policies that will continue

here is that we cannot have private contractors or developers. If we do not have private developers involved, we will not build the houses, full stop. I would love to be back in the 1940s and 1950s when the county council had manpower and built the houses … those days are gone. We have to get over these ideologies, stop objecting to housing being built and encourage the voluntary sector. I am a member of Caislean Nua Voluntary Housing Association. It is the proudest thing I was ever involved in. We built 17 houses. That

stated, it is a clear focus of the Government to increase the supply of new build social and affordable homes. Increasing the overall housing supply is key to addressing the housing challenge and preventing, and ultimately eliminating, long-term homelessness. This being said, I would like to assert … Government's commitment to the continuation of the second-hand social housing acquisitions programme and, in particular, more focus in targeting tenant in situ acquisitions. It is important to note that tenant in situ acquisitions are part of a wider acquisitions programme for social housing, including acquisitions

Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when a decision will be made by the housing activation office (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37463/26

Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage what the indicative results on the ICT system show from stock maintenance surveys to date, given that his Department indicated at the Oireachtas housing committee recently that it had some oversight of cumulative results. [37490/26

Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide a list of all capital projects including social and affordable housing, water services, heritage and local authority-led projects funded under the remit of his Department which have been completed on time

Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide a list of all capital projects including social and affordable housing, water services, heritage and local authority-led projects funded under the remit of his Department which have not been completed

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide an update on tripartite negotiations between Dublin City Council, his Department and the developers of the Poolbeg SDZ area to progress the delivery of affordable housing; and if he will make

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide a progress update report on the delivery of the affordable provision of housing as part of the Glass Bottle Site Poolbeg SDZ; and if he will make a statement on the matter

Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to give an update on funding provided to local authorities to bring vacant housing stock back into use; the number of vacant local authority properties at year end for 2023, 2024, 2025 and 2026 to date

Deputy William Aird asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the breakdown of the €373 million allocated under the 2026 Second-Hand Social Housing Acquisitions Programme; how this compares in percentage terms with the €290 million drawn down in 2025; and if he will make

Deputy William Aird asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to detail how the €50 million allocated to approved housing bodies for the provision of accommodation for elderly persons, persons with disabilities and care leavers will be distributed; the output targets associated with this allocation

Deputy William Aird asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the way in which the €157 million available at the discretion of local authorities may be utilised, including for tenancy sustainment and tenant-in-situ acquisitions; the oversight mechanisms in place to ensure value-for-money … alignment with national housing priorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37632/26

Deputy William Aird asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the eligibility criteria for tenant-in-situ acquisitions retained from 2025; and the justification for the additional condition disallowing such acquisitions where a household has refused a reasonable offer of local authority or approved housing body

Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of housing estates that have had issues resolved via the Developer Provided Infrastructure (DPI) Steering Group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37681/26

Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the social housing stock condition surveys, with a breakdown by local authority of the number of surveys undertaken; the percentage of the local authorities stock that has been surveyed

Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the funding that is available to Mayo County Council to refurbish and re-let vacant council houses; whether additional emergency funding will be provided to speed up turnaround times; and if he will act to ensure

Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether his Department has examined international models for integrating migration and homelessness forecasting into housing policy planning; and if so, which jurisdictions were examined. [36253/26

Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether any modelling has been carried out estimating the proportion of projected housing demand to 2040 attributable to net migration assumptions within the revised National Planning Framework population projections. [36355/26

Flynn asked the Minister for Health whether any residential properties owned by the Health Service Executive have been offered for social or affordable housing use in conjunction with local authorities or approved housing bodies since 2020; and if she will provide details. [36272/26

Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of new homes built in County Mayo in each of the past ten years; the number built by approved housing bodies; the number that were private homes; the number that were local authority homes

Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of local authority housing allocations for people with disabilities in 2025, broken down by physical, sensory, mental, intellectual, or other classification of disability, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Peter Roche asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide a list of all capital projects including social and affordable housing, water services, heritage and local authority-led projects funded under the remit of his Department which have been completed on time

Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if reform of the Affordable Housing Act 2021 will be considered to provide a cap on cost rental rent prices beyond the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices mechanism; and if he will make a statement

households that may not be able to access traditional rooftop solar installations, including apartment residents, renters and persons living in social and affordable housing; whether consideration is being given to any pilot scheme involving local authorities or approved housing bodies; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Brian Brennan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide a list of all capital projects including social and affordable housing, water services, heritage and local authority-led projects funded under the remit of his Department which have been completed on time

Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide a list of all capital projects including social and affordable housing, water services, heritage and local authority-led projects funded under the remit of his Department which have been completed on time

Deputy Micheál Carrigy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will provide a list of all capital projects including social and affordable housing, water services, heritage and local authority-led projects funded under the remit of his Department which have been completed on time