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Section 10 of the Act of 1988 is amended— (a) in subsection (1), by the substitution of “A housing authority may, subject to section 10A and to such regulations” for “A housing authority may, subject to such regulations”, (b) in subsection (8)— (i) in paragraph … homeless or to determine, under section 10A(1), if a person is eligible to access arrangements, assistance or accommodation provided by a housing authority under subsection (1)” for “to determine if a person is homeless”, and (d) by the insertion of the following subsections after subsection

move amendment No. 17: In page 13, to delete lines 12 to 16 and substitute the following: “(6) A social housing appeal shall be made to an independent appeals office located within the Housing Agency within 28 days of the notification by the housing authority to the household … concerned of the making of a determination in respect of the application or reassessment for social housing support concerned under section

insert the following: “Report on impact of amendments related to alteration of existing planning permissions 4.The Minister shall lay a report before both Houses of the Oireachtas every 6 months from the commencement of this Act detailing the impact of the amendments to Part 4 of the Principal … local authority area and the resulting commencement of developments that have secured the alterations.”. The Minister of State has been in this House for long enough to know it is highly irregular for an amending deadline for Committee Stage to be held before the Second Stage debate

which drive tens of thousands more homes and completions across the board and matching the record level of support in terms of social housing delivery with affordability support which bridge the gap for young people. That is what is working. That is what will ensure we have increased … with the reforms we are introducing around increased zoning and the measures being taken by the Minister, Deputy Browne, on the housing infrastructure investment fund. It will provide enabling infrastructure locally to deliver more homes in the villages and towns across the country that have had constraints around

ordinating and directing a very significant level of investment in water quality, water services and the water supply we need for housing, is a good thing. I genuinely believe that and I stand over that decision. However, the Deputy raised two other issues. One is the boil water … that it comes back to him directly. The second issue is the accountability of Irish Water. I am only one Member of this House - it is for the House to consider this - but it is my very clear view that Uisce Éireann should be accountable to Dáil Eireann

Meath. For too long, our planning system has treated community infrastructure as an afterthought. I am not convinced this legislation will improve things. Houses have been built in huge numbers but the parks, playgrounds, pitches and other community facilities that make places liveable have too often been delayed … much depends on informal arrangements between developers and local authorities, with little accountability when commitments are not honoured. Developers receive permission to build, houses are occupied and all too often the promised community infrastructure never materialises. That is not good planning. It is a system that places private

Clendennen. I welcome and support the Bill, which implements the reforms agreed by the Dáil in 2024 and will accelerate the supply of housing. The housing crisis is the defining challenge facing this country and we all see the impact in our weekly clinics. The Planning and Development … Plan 2025. Homes need water, they need power and transport, and the Bill streamlines the consenting process for the critical projects that make housing possible. It also allows existing apartment permissions to be modified in line with updated apartment design standards. These measures can unlock sites that

this motion, is correct. However, the correct diagnosis followed by the wrong prescription does not cure the patient. The hard truth this House must face is that the policies that brought us into this mess are the wrong ones to sort it out. For 15 years, we have … relief - money in the pocket of every nurse, every electrician and every shop assistant every week of this year. For those in this House who will ask how we will pay for that, I would say look at your own motions, the things that have been brought

issues. However, we have been denied the opportunity to do so on foot of the way this Bill is being rushed through the House. Again, this is the only example in this Dáil of a Bill being rammed through on Committee and Remaining Stages. That is not acceptable … likes of Ryanair. In many situations, Michael O’Leary has said that people knew what they were getting into when they bought houses in Swords, Malahide, Hollywoodrath and Dublin 15. That is an outrageous statement. People buy houses where they can afford to buy them. That

expertise it has built up since its establishment. This was established with foresight. People saw the need for an AI committee within these House. It is quite ludicrous, therefore, that when we bring a Bill or piece of legislation on AI before the House, the committee relevant … need to examine greatly. While the enterprise committee did have pre-legislative scrutiny and will obviously issue a report, it is a halfway house compared with what it should be in terms of scrutiny by a committee that was set up and established specifically to discuss, investigate

Minister to give a direction to the AI office. As I understand the provision, the Minister would have to lay before the Houses any direction that he or she might give and in respect of those directions, none of those can relate to the actual regulatory enforcement function … will interplay. I also ask that as there is a statutory obligation in respect of directions, those directions would be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. I ask now, in contemplation of this secondary Bill the Minister of State is promoting, that she might consider an amendment

that directly affects children and families, educators and practitioners, providers and our wider society and economy. For the information of the House, I have tabled an amendment to this motion. I do so not to dismiss the concerns sincerely raised but to ensure that this House … waiting list data, suggests that capacity is simply not there, despite the clear challenges with these data that I have articulated in this House time and time again. There is no centralised waiting list. Each waiting list is managed at service level and an individual child may well

need an emergency response seems to be ignored by the Government. There is an explicit call to fully reinstate the funding for social housing acquisitions, including for housing first and tenant in situ, and to remove the restrictions, something the Minister has set his face against, which … social homes that is being delivered is not meeting the need. In fact, on the basis of the most recent summary of social housing needs assessments, it will take 55 years to clear current and emerging social housing need. People are waiting ten and sometimes 14 years plus

sight of it. Will it be out this year? Is there a clear timeline? Can the Minister confirm that? On the housing action delivery plans, it is still not clear whether that will specify not just the number of one, two and three beds but also, for example … sizing requirements. More crucially, those plans will not be based on objective need because they will ignore about half of the gross social housing need in the functional areas of the local authorities. There is no talk from the Department about better co-ordinating and ensuring the Minister

dealing with it as an emergency response. Last year, we saw a 20% increase in housing delivery overall and the highest number of social houses built in a single year in the history of the State. We are putting in record funding to address the housing crisis. Many … measures highlighted in the report are already in the process of being implemented. I would remind the Deputy that, in his own housing plan, he proposes winding down the tenant in situ scheme – something he conveniently forgets every time he raises that scheme

eviction ban? Supply will only go down in the meantime, as we have seen that in the past. Who will invest in delivering houses in this country when they know there are eviction bans in place? Nobody. The evidence is there that it is not going to happen … Minister for housing, I have to look at everything in terms of how I maximise supply. When I am looking at delivering housing it is to help those people who are renting but also to ensure that we have the supply for those people who are living

thank the Deputy for this question about income eligibility thresholds for social housing support. Applications for social housing support are assessed by the relevant local authority in accordance with the eligibility and needs criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions … associated Social Housing Assessment Regulations 2011, as amended. The 2011 regulations prescribe maximum net income limits for each local authority in different bands according to the area concerned, with income being defined and assessed according to a standard household means policy. The baseline income thresholds

Deputy Stanley makes an important point. We are asking local authorities to rezone a significant amount of land to deliver additional housing. I encourage local authorities to complete this process. I am not happy with the time that many local authorities are taking in what is a housing … have been treating it as such with the delays in delivering additional zoned land, which is essential to deliver homes and solve the housing crisis in this country so the houses can get built. In relation to villages, we have introduced developer-led infrastructure to allow developers

specific statistics relating to County Kildare afterwards. I thank the Minister for the information. I welcome the announcement last week from the housing activation office and the Minister’s team. I also welcome the infrastructure we have in Kildare. The new bridge in Celbridge is an issue … context of the local area plan, and I have been pushing for the funding to be delivered since being elected to this House. It has now been delivered under the housing activation office. We also have the Maynooth outer orbital route, MOOR, the inner relief road in Naas

thank the Deputy for his contribution. A body of work is under way, as I stated, following on from defined actions under housing for older people section of Delivering Homes, Building Communities. We have committed to a review of the operation of the existing local authority financial contribution … schemes and to have it as a real, evidence-based, substantive body of work. We commissioned the Housing Agency to look at it in great depth. As the Deputy said, some local authorities have been operating such a scheme, some have not and we want to look

looking forward to meeting Valerie O'Sullivan, our city chief executive, and informing her that the Government will make moneys available for housing plans for older people. There is another elephant in the room which I want to make the Government aware of, that is, people who lost … their houses back in the 2008 to 2009 period. They are now in rented accommodation and back on their feet. Some of them have restarted businesses. Some of them are back working but they are renting. A number of these people are rapidly approaching 65 now. I predict

discussed on Committee, Report and Remaining Stages for two hours each next week. I cannot recall seeing such important legislation rammed through this House with such little respect. I have put a set of amendments down on each of these Bills and other members of the Opposition have … economy, to reduce our emissions. What is happening with this legislation, taken in conjunction with the Critical Infrastructure Bill 2026 passed by the Houses, is the Government is creating a situation where our climate targets will undergo death by a thousand exemptions. Let us remember that where

population significantly increased and it continued in this vein until 2022, which is the latest census we have. There are thousands of houses but parks, playgrounds and public playing pitches did not materialise. The truth is that our communities were failed and continue to be failed. During … dense residential estates but zero public green space. The people of Meath lived up to their side of the agreement. They bought houses, raised families and built communities but local and central government failed to live up to their side. The Minister of State in his response will

possible. As the Minister of State, Deputy O'Sullivan, has said, the Department, in partnership with the local authority sector and the Housing Agency, will update homeowners in the near future in as clear and comprehensive a way as possible regarding what this new standard might mean … provide an update regarding the scheme and the new standard, noting that the Department will issue guidance for local authorities and the Housing Agency on various categories of applicants to the scheme. At this meeting, members were brought up to speed on the review process and what

their roof is okay but their block walls have to come out. What people are being asked to do is prop up the house and take out the walls down to the foundation level, which means the footpaths and floors collapse. It is specialised work. When we work … contractors in this country to do this. There are not enough of them here and those who are here are trying to build houses. There is a cost to doing this and it also means people will be out of their houses longer. The realistic thing

Deputy Séamus McGrath asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the statutory bodies that are responsible for ensuring that property developers comply with building regulations relating to the installation of solar photovoltaic microgeneration systems in new housing developments; the role of local building control authorities

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; if he will outline the findings relevant to an area (detail supplied); and if he will make a statement

Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will confirm whether the properties in an area sampled by the Housing Agency meet the criteria for inclusion in the defective concrete blocks grant scheme; if he will outline the next steps for affected

Deputy Louis O'Hara asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if the income thresholds for social housing will be reviewed, in light of increases in social welfare payments; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58537/25

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 479 of 21 October 2025, the way in which the funding for housing programmes is made to local authorities as programmes and projects advance and relevant claims fall

Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage further to Parliamentary Question No. 479 of 21 October 2025, the details of any data collected in relation to funding for any social or affordable housing programme that is unspent by local authorities, or which

Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when he expects that new rural housing guidelines, which are currently in draft format, will be officially approved and become operational in all planning authorities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58629/25

Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the defective block scheme for houses affected by pyrite will proceed (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58803/25

Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will review the income assessment criteria for social housing eligibility, with particular reference to the including of the working family payment (WFP) in the calculation of assessable income; to consider introducing an income disregard

Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage his plans to increase the social housing eligibility thresholds nationally, particularly in light of recent increases in the working family payment and the ongoing cost-of-living pressures; if consideration is being given to introducing

Deputy Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the affordable housing projects which are due to be delivered over the next 24 months for counties Wicklow and Wexford, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58842/25

Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of housing assistance payment applications/claimants with Somalian nationality from 2021 to date in 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58862/25

Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the status of funding applications by Cork City and Cork County Councils for social and affordable housing developments in the Cork north central constituency; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58973/25

Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when funding will be approved for the regeneration of older housing estates in Cork North Central, including Knocknaheeny, Farranree and Mayfield; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58976/25

Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if he will consider expanding the croí cónaithe scheme to cover small towns like Mallow and Fermoy where housing vacancy remains high. [58979/25

Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department will provide ring-fenced funding for Cork County Council to deliver affordable housing developments on publicly owned land in the Mallow area. [58980/25

Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the measures being taken to ensure fair and timely allocation of affordable homes delivered through approved housing bodies; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [58981/25

Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide updated national targets for social housing completions for 2025; and to detail if they will be met. [58982/25

Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the retrofitting programme for local authority housing in Cork city and county, particularly in older estates in Cork North-Central; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59019/25

Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if funding will be made available to Cork City Council for retrofitting older housing estates in Cork north central as part of the Energy Efficiency Retrofit Programme; and if he will make a statement

Deputy Johnny Guirke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for an update on the number of social and affordable housing units currently under construction in Meath; and if he will outline projected completion dates for each development. [59100/25

Deputy Johnny Guirke asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage for details of any further delays experienced in the planning process for housing developments in Meath; the supports available to local authorities to streamline approvals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [59102/25

Deputy Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage if his Department provides specific funding to local authorities for the purposes of refurbishment of vacant social housing stock; if he will detail the amount which has been made available to Wicklow County Council

Deputy Fionntán Ó Súilleabháin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the number of housing units that have been realised in the past five years from projects that availed of the vacant homes refurbishment grant in County Wicklow and County Wexford, in tabular form

Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the reforms planned to reduce the timelines for planning application decisions for major housing and infrastructure. [59222/25