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absolute priority for me to ensure we have action on this. I will certainly be open to working with everyone across the House to ensure children have access to the services they require. In my last Ministry of State, where I had responsibility for special education, I travelled … also about looking at where an assessment of need is required. It is often not required by some of our Departments. In housing, for example, it is asked for but it is actually not required. One is entitled to get services and housing supports such as domiciliary care

Government? Is it to put a pause, at least, on data centres? Is the Government’s response to state, at least, that housing takes priority? The CRU is saying to the Minister very clearly that we are adding electricity capacity and that, because of the first-come, first … says it wants more in terms of AI and so on. However, they are saying to the Government that unless it indicates that housing takes priority, those data centres will gobble up the electricity and will be an obstacle to delivering the housing we need to address

thank Deputy McGrath for his question and I fully agree with him that in addressing our housing needs in this country, we need to deliver private houses for those who can afford them and affordable houses for those who need help to bridge the gap to own their … homes. We also need to provide social houses. We must ensure that options are there for each person in this country so that their housing needs are met and they have the homes they need, whether social, affordable, or private. We must work to ensure that people

course, the solution to all of this is to drive the provision of housing right through the different sectors - social, affordable and private. I welcome the new planning framework which will hopefully drive and allow local authorities to redraw their county development plans and deliver that housing … week. One was in Lidan in Roscommon that produces schools for the Department of education. It will also be able to produce housing. I also visited GreenFrame, a steel-framed modular housing factory between Ballinasloe and Ballyforan which is in south Roscommon and is in a rural area

politically convenient but because it is strategically necessary for people in Dublin mid-west. Communities such as Lucan are expected to shoulder significant housing expansion but we cannot keep on asking people to wait for transport infrastructure that is always promised but never prioritised or delivered. Last week … national planning framework was discussed and adopted by the House. At its core is an objective to prioritise transport-orientated development and strengthen commitments to align transport investment with housing and population growth in metropolitan areas. It follows then that in considering transport options for a growing suburb

stories Deputy Coppinger spoke about and they are true. I have to commend Deputy Coppinger on the comments she made in the House today. I think they were fair and accurate, in particular when she spoke about how workers in Debenhams were let down by their trade union … commend her on bringing that up in the House. I see the importance not only of money in the work trade unions do. It is also about the continuous bullying that goes on in a workplace. If you do not have the trade unions behind

have already seen the impact of the lack of investment in key and basic infrastructure on the delivery, or lack thereof, of housing. Let us take Galway city east as an example. It is the place I live in and the place where we want … investment in the wastewater treatment plant. There has been a delay in that. We need to see that investment happen in order for housing to be delivered on the east side of the city. If we do not have delivery of housing on the east side

lack of a proper road in Cobh has stifled plans for more than 1,300 council houses in the area. This is one of the reasons An Bord Pleanála gave for refusing an application by a company to move into the former IFI plant in Marino Point … four times annually. I refer to Youghal railway and getting connectivity in east Cork. It would open up a massive corridor for development, housing and so on. I call on all the relevant Ministers, including those for transport and housing, to get all the Departments working together

spend is actually 25% lower than the average for comparable European countries. We need a serious multi-year plan to properly address the housing crisis. We have a situation in this country where a national utility company, Uisce Éireann, has to compete for funding on a multi-annual … ready on a development of 250 badly needed homes. The main source of infrastructure funding for this site has been the local infrastructure housing activation fund, LIHAF. As a result of a funding shortfall of €5 million, the project has, in effect, been suspended. A request to unlock

learned this week that the Government has again misled the public. The funding announced for Irish Water to support increased housing supply was not actually additional funding, but just a different way of funding the current programme. We have heard that directly from the chairman of Irish Water … There are many towns and villages across County Galway, such as Corofin, Ardrahan, Monivea, Abbeyknockmoy and many more, where we cannot have new housing delivery because we do not have adequate wastewater infrastructure. We have constraints on capacity in towns like Tuam. Craughwell is getting an upgrade

other is doing, and there has been contradiction after contradiction. When the Government’s plan was to appoint Mr. McDonagh as its new housing tsar, the Taoiseach told the Dáil repeatedly that he would retain his €430,000 salary in the role. The Taoiseach was adamant that this … rotten. Of course, there has not been a peep from the Government on the fact that Mr. McDonagh, its once-preferred candidate for housing tsar, is renting out a house in Dublin for €10,000 a week in the middle of a housing crisis. The Government is desperately

course the Minister for housing will be taking responsibility for the wider delivery of social and affordable homes across the economy. If there is an engagement or a meeting, it is important to have a structure in the Department of housing to ensure there is follow through … utility companies and local authorities to increase the provision of social and affordable homes. If the Deputy engages with anyone who is developing housing or is trying to increase the provision and supply of housing across our economy, whether it is an approved housing body or indeed

would like to agree with and be associated with Deputy Mac Lochlainn's remarks. The Minister for housing needs to come in to the Dáil this week to answer questions relating to both the current and future funding of Uisce Éireann, the role of the so-called "housing … tsar" and the strategic housing activation office. The principle of a strategic body to unblock the issues around housing development is an idea that definitely has merit and deserves consideration provided it is underpinned by legislation, as was set out by the Housing Commission

Cork City Council last night at a special meeting called by Sinn Féin. It got unanimous support to write to the Minister for housing to give the money for the 33 families who were sale agreed but are now facing homelessness. Deputy Martin is a Cork Taoiseach … know a lady in Gurranabraher, Annette Hawkins, who has to be out of the house next week. She has been living in the house for 21 years and she is going to be at risk of homelessness next week. Jason Cashman, who the office of the Taoiseach

know it is aspirational without the investment. I give the example of water infrastructure. We need massive investment in water infrastructure to facilitate housing. The plan references offshore energy potential. We need massive investment in our ports. To work towards it or to progress towards … enough. We need tangible achievable objectives. The housing targets have not been met before so I am still a bit sceptical about what is in this plan but I am more sceptical about the delivery of infrastructure alongside housing. In my constituency, I have seen two strategic development

could not disagree more with the Deputy on her critique of Government housing policy. The bottom line is that if we look over the past four years, there has been a very significant step change in the level and scale of housing delivery in this country. On social … housing alone, more than 48,000 houses have been added to the social housing stock

Taoiseach knows well that increasing the funding sources for housing will increase the construction of housing. In fact, he has often said that the reason the Government relies on investment funds is because of a lack of alteratives. The situation is that there are now 15,418 people … living in emergency homeless accommodation. There are 4,675 children growing up without a home. Rents have never been higher, house prices have never been higher and homelessness is at record levels. This is causing incredible stress, hardship and anxiety for families across Ireland. The answer from

what is so impressive about Brendan McDonagh's CV that he is worth almost €500,000 a year to be the so-called housing tsar. They will be outraged when they find out that his qualification is not experience in addressing the housing crisis but instead in causing … loans on land and property originally valued at €88 billion. That gave the State control of almost all development land suitable for housing. Over the next 16 years, Brendan McDonagh flogged it all off for less than half the price. Some 90% of it went to US vulture

Deputy O'Donnell, for taking this debate. It is particularly important in the context of the biggest challenge facing this country, which is housing. Whether it is the challenge of the cost of connection fees for individuals, which Deputy Lawlor has raised, or indeed for developers trying … Éireann is not willing to negotiate even phased payments. It is my view that every State agency should be contributing towards tackling the housing crisis. They should not be putting roadblocks in place and it should be their top priority to ask themselves every morning "What

Government and Irish Water act on these failures of communication. In particular, I ask that backup generators be put in place at pump houses to prevent a repeat of the outages. I want to raise the failure to invest in upgrading wastewater infrastructure in towns and villages across … Government has no plans to invest to address the lack of wastewater infrastructure in these areas. This failure to deliver infrastructure is stalling housing development in the towns and villages. The Government is missing its housing targets and we are nowhere near the 40,000 units promised last

colleague Deputy Brabazon said. A number of backbench TDs were actually chatting about this recently. In the old days, there were six houses connected to a sewerage pipe and in the modern context, there might be up to ten. As the Deputy said, very often … last house on that connection where a blockage occurs. In the old days South Dublin County Council, for example, which is my own local authority, would come out and facilitate the resident, unblock the pipe, bring the tanker out and everybody was happy. It might do that

guidelines and submitted draft amendments of the guidelines to the Minister for Justice to enable the laying of the draft amendments before the Houses. The draft guidelines submitted to the Minister by the Judicial Council propose an across the board increase of 16.7% in compensation amounts. This figure … last agreed in 2021. Section 7(2B) of the 2019 Act requires the Minister for Justice to lay the revised guidelines before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as is practicable. The Minister will, therefore, shortly be laying the draft amendments before the Oireachtas after which

Irish firms seeking to grow are often located outside of Ireland; and — Ireland has capacity shortages in many key infrastructure areas, from housing to transport to energy; and calls on the Government to: — take a stronger and more direct role in negotiating with the US administration … Ireland; — reduce the reliance of corporation tax in Ireland's enterprise policy by investing in other competitive advantages, such as transport, housing, communications, energy, water and education infrastructure; — reduce input costs to businesses, such as electricity, property, banking, insurance, and other utility costs; — review non-human resource regulation

international affairs and trade; — the development of a renewed trade and investment strategy to be developed in 2025; — continued development of the Ireland House model and the co-location of Irish Embassies and State enterprise agencies to support Irish business globally; and — in addition, the development … negotiated solutions. Every disagreement must end in agreement. This is our focus because there is time to strike a deal. Following the White House announcements, President Ursula von der Leyen has repeatedly been clear that the EU will prepare its response, but she has also stressed that there

This is an important matter to speak on. One of the marvellous things about our jobs as elected Members of this House is that we engage with the community on so many different levels and we see such fantastic young people and organisations giving back to society. They … many community leaders. Some of them have gone on to become members of their local councils and Members of this House too. Many come from community backgrounds, a bit like Deputy Collins I think. He started off with perhaps about 30 organisations and this grew to approximately

Deputy Tom Brabazon asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the mechanisms by which local authorities can address anti-social behaviour in social housing tenancies. [65641/25

Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will report on the work of the Housing Activation Industry Group; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65545/25

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of one bed, two bed, three bed and four bed houses that have been constructed or acquired by Cork City Council and Cork County Council, since 2020 to date in 2025, in tabular

Deputy Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to address the rapid increase in short-term let listings with a provider (details supplied) in the Gaeltacht, given the widely reported housing shortages for local people and for those seeking to settle

Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to ensure greater downsizing options for persons in private housing who wish to downsize their home; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65630/25

Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will consider increasing the housing assistance payment thresholds; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65776/25

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 will

Deputy Pádraig Mac Lochlainn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when he will release the funds to allow Donegal County Council to remediate the huge amount of homes in their housing stock affected by defective concrete blocks. [65160/25

Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to support affordable housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65480/25

Deputy Paul Lawless asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of derelict and vacant properties, to include houses, apartments and flats nationwide, that are across the State; the steps that are being taken to bring these homes back into use; and the estimated timeline

Deputy Aisling Dempsey asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his response to the report of the Approved Housing Body (AHB) Strategic Forum; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65640/25

Deputy Catherine Ardagh asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the key measures to increase affordable housing availability under Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025 - 2030; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65543/25

Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the affordable housing being made available to people living in counties Roscommon and Galway. [65683/25

Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will publish the Housing Agency’s report on defective concrete blocks in Fingal; the findings relevant to the Red Island area of Skerries; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65699/25

Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reason a minimum BER standard for the private rented sector was not included in the new housing plan; when a minimum standard will be introduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter

Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on his Department’s efforts to fulfil the Programme for Government’s commitment to establish a unit in the Housing Agency to regulate owners’ management companies to ensure effective governance

Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures his Department are putting in place to unlock the housing potential of the Saint Waleran's site at Gorey, County Wexford. [65823/25

Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if there has been any increase in the housing adaption grants in Budget 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [66549/25

Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of new cost rental and affordable housing units currently planned, funded and expected to commence construction before the end of 2025 in Longford and Westmeath. [65192/25

Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will direct the Land Development Agency to provide an update in respect of their interest or engagement with the HSE concerning the sale of a property (details supplied); and its potential … housing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65195/25

Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the longest waiting time on the social housing waiting list for one, two, and three bed dwellings for local authorities nationwide, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65281/25

Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the longest waiting time on the social housing waiting list for one, two, and three bed dwellings in the four Dublin local authorities, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter

Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his position regarding the prohibition of pet ownership in apartments owned by approved housing bodies which was raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [65606/25

Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the way his Department treats construction products that hold valid European Technical Assessments or CE marking issued in other EU member states when such products are proposed for use in Irish housing projects

Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of construction products that have been refused acceptance for use in housing schemes in each of the past five years despite holding European Technical Assessment or equivalent EU-recognised certification