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second hand home is €600,000. I have a very simple question for the Minister of State. Who is buying these houses? Who is earning the money to pay 600 grand for a second-hand house in Dublin? People want to live near their family, which … anything close to a normal wage? Does he understand how much a person would have to earn to buy one of those houses, the average cost of which is €600,000? Would he ever reflect on that and maybe think about the young couple paying some

utilities, instruments and simplifications, everyone could do their jobs without putting layers upon layers. All we are doing, if we get a housing tsar or whatever, is getting another person to blame. We will say they should have done their … need to do is simplify things. I have simplified the croí cónaithe scheme. I have simplified it in all of the aspects of housing because we spoke to the people who are building the houses, the people on the ground. They are the ones who see the problems

received a notice to quit her rented home as the landlord wants to sell. We are frantically trying to get Jennifer a house she can call her own as she is not suited to sheltered accommodation at 88 years of age. Tomorrow, Independent Ireland will put forward … motion in the House calling for legislative action on infrastructure reform to accelerate housing delivery. We propose up to 23 measures in our motion to address the housing crisis, including everything from declaring a housing emergency to rewarding high-performing councils, in an attempt to ensure delivery

treating this as an emergency. It is a housing emergency and that is why we are taking big decisions each and every week to try to increase housing supply. We have increased housing supply from the floor to around 30,000 homes each year. We need to increase … that significantly to deliver 300,000 more homes by the end of 2030. We have been following the evidence base of the Housing Agency in decisions we have made in recent weeks. We have published the report of the Housing Agency, which is the body that is meant

Irish State to be in violation of human rights and failing to take sufficient and timely measures to ensure the right to housing of an adequate standard for families living in local authorities housing. Seven years ago, the committee found against Ireland on the basis of the presence … here. Why are local authorities unable to respond in the way they should be able to? We need to go back to in-house maintenance. Local authorities need the funding and resources to systematically and quickly respond to these issues. Children are growing up in social housing

mother, who has done everything right, to live her life. She does not qualify to get on the social housing list and is not entitled to HAP because she earns too much money. She works hard and got an education. Despite her doing everything right, the Minister … section of the community is pitted against the other as a result of this. Some people feel that others are entitled to social housing and HAP and are receiving college education while they are working all the hours God sends. The failure in this regard lies

cost of building a new house is somewhere around €400,000 for a young couple or whomever. One third of the actual building cost comprises VAT, other taxes and levies. Will the Government consider doing anything about that? Would it be possible to increase the first-time buyers … grant if people were incentivised to build smaller houses, like we used to do in the 1970s and 1980s. I refer to any house under 1,350 sq. ft in area built at that time. I am not saying that we should base the bar around there

authority area we could pick around the country. They are disproportionately penalised. Now we have a situation where, notwithstanding the significant increase in house prices of 25% over recent years, notwithstanding the fact the Government is doing its damnedest to prevent those increases in costs, and notwithstanding … specifically penalise those householders who may not have traded property, are not flipping property and are not wealthy people but who have a house that is of a particular value. They will now have a greater property tax burden. For one stream this is fine if they

paragraph I will read from the conclusion of that report is quite bleak. It reads: When the monitoring delegation visited the Custom House in Dublin, where the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage resides, it was informed that "local government had been administered and supported from this … house for 200 years". The house was used by the British as the location where local government in Ireland was controlled, but after independence also by the Irish central authorities. This was a telling way of expressing how central government views local government - something that is administered

constituency of Tipperary, from Tipperary town down to Cahir, Clonmel, Cashel and Carrick-on-Suir as well as the villages and rural houses. These people continue to be squeezed by this unjust and unnecessary local property tax. The Bill proposes to increase charges on the vast majority … heads. It is blind to the realities in places like Tipperary town, Cahir, Cashel, Carrick-on-Suir and all the other towns where housing values have increased continuously and very few services are being provided in return. In fact, no services are being provided. We saw this last

funding. On one hand, we are saying that local authorities need more money and that more money needs to be spent on housing, but then the same speakers who make that charge argue the local property tax should be abolished. I put it to the House that … Opposition often states that there need to be more public services paid for out of those taxes. I put it to the House that there is a real case of wanting more of something – and we all want more houses and services to be coming

commend the motion. This is the type of radical reset we need in terms of housing. I do not need to repeat the words said by my colleagues. This Government is failing badly in terms of housing. I was at the Raise the Roof protest earlier … said an Irish man now sleeps in those same alleyways at a time when there are over 100,000 derelict and empty houses across the State and the Government is backslapping itself about how well we are doing. Some €8 billion this year has been put into

during the Minister of State's ten-minute speech heard was waffle and spin. They live the reality of this Government's failed housing policies. Their families, friends and co-workers live this reality. They know as well as we in opposition do that the Government at this … stage might as well be a meme for fiddling while Rome burns when it comes to housing, because that is what it is doing. Instead of putting on its big boy socks and admitting its policies are wrong, it comes along with hare-brained notions to strip away

Minister of State ever stepped back and reviewed the performance of Fianna Fáil in running the Department of housing over the past few years? I refer to a performance review, so to speak, because from the outside looking in, the performance of Fianna Fáil in the Department … housing is looking disastrous and in need of a complete overhaul. Across Kilkenny, we have dozens of council-owned homes left boarded up simply because the Minister of State's Department only allows an insulting €11,000 to do each home up. As a result, we see many

hanam dílis. We think of her at this time. I thank Deputy Doherty for raising the important issues of rent, renters and housing supply. The Government took a number of decisions this week to extend rental supports and protections. Let us not forget that, prior to that decision … rate. It is important to recognise that the Government proposals did not fall from the sky. They are grounded in the Housing Agency's review of this matter. For those looking in at home, the Housing Agency is the body charged with coming up with ideas and proposals

membership of CERN since my time as Opposition spokesperson. I often called for this to happen from the other side of the House and I am particularly pleased to now be in a position to make it happen, as the relevant Minister on this side of the House … services to have this in place and complete by the end of this year. That will be enabled should this vote receive cross-House support. While fundamental research is the focus of activity at CERN, the benefits of membership are far-reaching across research, innovation, enterprise and education

raise the process of approving housing whereby we have to go through voluntary housing agencies, then through the Department of housing and finally through the Department of public expenditure. I am dealing with one project with 217 apartments for which the process started in September last year … gone through Clúid, the housing agency, through the Department of housing and is now in the Department of public expenditure. I fully understand Departments have to make sure taxpayers are getting value for money, but can we put a process in place that can expedite approvals for projects

fundamental difference between the Government's attitude towards housing and the Opposition's attitude is that the Government thinks - the Taoiseach said it again today - that the answer to all the problems is just to provide more units. He believes that providing houses that have rents … everything. It is a market-based policy which has been failing for years and it will continue to fail in the future. A housing officer on Kerry County Council recently told me it is like a jungle out there. We are now dealing with more older people

Housing remains one of the defining issues of our generation. If we are serious about solving it, we must deal in facts, not sound bites as some in the Opposition have done and are focused on. Let us start with where we are now. Housing supply has increased … especially in urban areas and for renters. Striking a balance between supply and protection is at the core of the Government's new housing plan. Today the Minister, Deputy Browne, has brought forward a suite of reforms that directly address the concerns of renters while supporting new supply

Minister of State knows, as does the Minister, housing is the most pressing challenge facing the State today and will define the Government's success. While the previous Government met its targets under the Housing for All policy, rising demand means we are now acting swiftly to further … critical. Striking the right balance between security of tenure, rent controls and supply is critical. The rent pressure zone reforms align with the Housing Commission's recommendations. The Opposition has offered no credible and coherent solutions. Opposition Deputies are excellent at enunciating the problems but they

empty throughout 2025. Almost one third have been boarded up for over a year. Dozens of families and people in dire need of housing have been blocked from a home of their own this year. While the Government will try to pass the blame on to the local … council, the fault and blame lies solely at the feet of the Government and Minister for housing. The black and white reality is Kilkenny County Council does not have the funds to turn these homes around. For each vacant council home, central government gives the council a mere

This Government has been saying - as did the previous one and the previous two before that - that housing is its number one priority. If so, I cannot understand why it did not take up Independent Ireland's strong advice and policy that this should be declared a housing … emergency. This is an emergency. A recent poll in the Irish Independent found 65% or 67% of people said housing is the biggest issue to be dealt with in this country, but it has not been dealt with. The declaration of a housing emergency would have dealt with

cost thousands to repair them. Prior to being a TD, when I was on the council, my dad lived in a council house. When he died, three separate times over a nine-month period I raised the issue of the house. It was turnkey. A change … that whoever came in could just plant his telly there and would have free-to-air Sky. The house was pristine but the council spent €28,000 on it. It ripped the whole lot apart and it took nearly two years to bring that house back into service

ensure that local authorities can maximise the funding available from relevant stock improvement programmes by only completing the measures applicable with the housing standards for rented housing regulations when a property becomes vacant. Providing cyclical maintenance over the life cycle of a tenancy will ensure houses … efforts and progress the Government has made and is making. It makes the point that we need to create a dedicated Department of housing with annual multi-euro maintenance funding, starting in budget 2026, but this is already in place and is further supported by the housing delivery

rather than developer led, and that is critically important. There is no question that the number one priority for this Government is housing and continuing to increase of housing delivery. We also have to invest in our grid. It is housing, the grid and water. Three critical things … need to do over the next five years is improve our infrastructure in order to support housing delivery and FDI development. We also need to ensure that we continue to be at the cutting edge of new technologies. There is a view among some people that all data

Deputy Brian Stanley asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if a review will be carried out in six months’ time to measure the impact of the new rent rules, in order to have accurate information on the effect on housing both in County Laois

Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the position regarding the tenant-in-situ scheme for Dún Laoghaire Rathdown County Council; if he can commit to multiannual funding of this scheme; if allowances for the increased cost of housing in Dublin

Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will update the rural housing guidelines to remove some of the unnecessary barriers to building in rural Ireland; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17671/26

Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of houses and duplexes within the South Dublin County Council area that received planning permission with conditions restricting the bulk buying or multiple sales to a single purchaser and ring-fencing them for owner

Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the funding being allocated to South Dublin County Council for the Second-Hand Social Housing Acquisitions Programme 2026; how this compares to 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17870/26

Deputy Eamon Scanlon asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to review social housing income thresholds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17575/26

Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on his Department’s review of the National Social Housing PPP Programme, specifically bundles 4–7, which was initiated following the cancellation of PPP bundle 3, and was forecast to be complete

Deputy Shay Brennan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for a report on the work of the LDA to develop State-owned lands and strategically assemble land from both public and private sources to create a more stable and affordable housing market

Deputy Aisling Dempsey asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the Social Housing Support Household Means Policy 2021 is being revised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17482/26

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether he intends to raise the income limits for social housing eligibility. [17821/26

Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to urgently amend the National Planning Framework and the Sustainable Rural Housing Guidelines as county development plans are aligned with these national policies which prohibits many applicants building a family home on their own land

Deputy Séamus McGrath asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the projected housing output of the LDA for the remainder of 2026 and 2027, by property types, social units, cost rental units and so on. [17478/26

Deputy John Connolly asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of applications for funding received under call 1 of the Housing Infrastructure Investment Fund; the number of local authorities that have made applications; the total cost of accumulated applications; and if he will make

Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his response to the most recent monthly housing commencement figures; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17489/26

Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to encourage local authorities to allow older persons to downsize and sell their home to the council through the financial contribution scheme and then be housed by the local authority; and if he will

Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the status of the review on income eligibility limits for social housing, specifically in Cavan and Monaghan; if he will have these income limits increased without further delay; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Ryan O'Meara asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will reintroduce the development levies waiver for one-off rural houses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17672/26

Deputy Tony McCormack asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of housing units nationally with full planning permission that have not yet commenced construction; the measures being taken to activate these permissions and accelerate delivery; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the current level of delivery of purpose built and adapted housing for persons with disabilities, including new builds and adaptation grants, within local authority areas serving north Dublin; whether additional ring fenced targets or funding streams

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the details of any analysis undertaken by his Department on the ‘viability’ of housing developments; and whether this includes raising rents in new tenancies. [17819/26

Deputy Mairéad Farrell asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his attention has been drawn to the complete lack of housing commencement notices lodged in Galway city so far this year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17799/26

Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the breakdown of social housing units retrofitted to date under the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme, broken down by local authority area and dwelling type; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17642/26

Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage whether he has received a report on stock audits carried out to date; what this report has shown; and whether he is aware of the levels of mould and damp in social housing stock. [16729/26

Deputy Eamon Scanlon asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of new build social homes currently in the pipeline in Sligo, Leitrim and South Donegal; the key measures being taken to expand social housing provision during 2026 in Sligo, Leitrim and south Donegal

Deputy Peter Roche asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department is aware of ongoing constraints on housing delivery arising from wastewater treatment and network capacity in rural Galway; whether his Department has considered mechanisms whereby developer-led or developer-funded delivery of strategic