Mr. David Kelly:

I thank the Chairman and committee members the opportunity to discuss with them today the general scheme of the housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill 2024. The Bill deals with a number of policy areas in the Department. I am accompanied today by a number of colleagues. Ms Dorothy Kellegher of the social housing policy unit is dealing with Part 2 of the general scheme, Mr. Vincent Colgan and Mr. Liam Murray from AHB policy and regulation are dealing with Part 3 and Ms Sarah Neary and Mr. John Wickham from building standards are dealing with Part 4.

Before outlining the main provisions of the Bill, I wish to provide some background and context to the proposed Bill. On 30 January 2024, the Government approved to the priority legal drafting of the general scheme of the housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill 2024. The general scheme consists of three main parts: proposed amendments to the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009; proposed amendments to the Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019; and proposed amendments to the Building Control Acts 1990 to 2020. I will now briefly outline the approach to each of these parts.

Long-standing policy in respect of social housing is to provide housing to those with a long-term need. The fact that the supports themselves are provided indefinitely goes towards the need being long-term in nature. As housing legislation does not provide for the withdrawal of social housing support once granted other than for tenancy breaches, anti-social behaviour, etc., it is, in effect, a long–term benefit.

The proposed new statutory provisions will provide a statutory basis for the requirement that an applicant must be lawfully resident in the State and have a right to reside that is not temporary or short-term in nature. The legislation will clearly set out the residence requirements for Irish, UK, EU-EEA and non-EU-EEA applicants. It will also add a new requirement that applicants are habitually resident in the State, consistent with the provisions already in place for certain welfare supports in social protection legislation.

The habitual residence criteria are considered a necessary new addition to the eligibility criteria to ensure long-term social housing support recipients are resident in the State and have a long-term interest in remaining. Such an approach is consistent with social protection provisions laid out in primary legislation in the Social Welfare Act 2005, as amended. Decisions with regard to eligibility for social housing support are taken by local authority housing officers and the legal and habitual residence criteria will be part of that assessment.

The Government has agreed that further amendments to the general scheme that the Minister deems appropriate may be required on the advice of the Attorney General. The Department will be working closely with the advisory counsel and Office of the Parliamentary Counsel during the drafting. The considerations of this committee will also inform the drafting process and the relevant issues will be brought to the Attorney General's office for advice as part of that process.

Technical amendments to the Housing (Regulation of Approved Housing Bodies) Act 2019 are necessary as concerns were raised around the eligibility requirement in the legislation that required approved housing bodies, AHBs, to amend their constitutions to reflect that they solely spend their property on the provision of housing. This provision prevented the majority of AHBs, which provide services other than housing, from meeting the eligibility criteria. The amendments also update the definition of the “alleviation of housing need” to remove the extant definition of cost-rental properties and include a definition that reflects the definition in the Affordable Housing Act 2021. The amendments also provide that the Approved Housing Bodies Regulatory Authority can notify and take representations from the Housing Agency regarding cost-rental properties as the administrators of the scheme. An exception is made to ensure the Iveagh Trust can remain on the register as due to its unique statutory status, it does not have a constitution that can be amended to meet the eligibility criteria.

Part 4 of the general scheme includes amendments to the Building Control Acts 1990 to 2020. The amendments provide explicit powers for the Minister to prevent a building being used until such a time as the particulars of the relevant certificate of compliance on completion have been entered on the register maintained by the building control authority.

The amendments also provide a legal remedy for the uncommon situation whereby works have commenced or been completed on a building without submitting, by either act or omission, an appropriate valid notice to the building control authorities.

Finally, a number of other amendments to the Building Control Acts are proposed at this time to strengthen and support the building control system.

I hope this statement and the briefing note provided to members in advance of today’s session have been of help to the committee. We are happy to take any questions members may have.