Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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1. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [46216/25]

John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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2. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [46878/25]

Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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3. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [46845/25]

Tom Brabazon (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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4. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [46850/25]

Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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5. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [46854/25]

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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6. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [48430/25]

James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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7. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [48477/25]

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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8. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [48847/25]

Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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9. To ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on housing will next meet. [48902/25]

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 9, inclusive, together.

The Cabinet committee on housing last met on Wednesday, 3 September, and will meet again in the coming weeks. The committee works to ensure a cross-government approach to the implementation of our commitments regarding housing policy. Housing supply has increased significantly over the past number of years, with almost 148,500 new homes delivered since the start of 2020. More people are buying their first home than in any period in well over a decade, with 2024 seeing first-time buyer mortgage drawdowns of over 26,000, supported by Government-backed measures such as the first home and help to buy schemes. However, we know that we must do more and that the scale of delivery of housing needs to be significantly increased in the coming years.

This is why we have prioritised a range of far-reaching measures and the deployment of significant funding since coming into government. This includes the allocation of €1.4 billion in additional capital funding for housing in 2025, bringing the total capital funding for housing programmes this year to €7.5 billion to support the provision of new social and affordable homes, bringing vacant homes back into residential use, second-hand acquisitions to prevent vulnerable households falling into homelessness and continuing to support homeowners under the defective concrete blocks grant scheme.

We have revised the national planning framework to enable local authorities to zone a significantly higher quantum of land.

We are implementing the Planning and Development Act at speed to reduce delays and bring greater consistency, clarity and stability to the planning system. We have agreed reforms to rent pressure zones which will strengthen the rights of tenants while helping to stimulate much-needed investment and development over the longer term. We have initiated the process to regulate the short-term lets market to balance the needs of tourism with the aim of increasing long-term rental supply. We have taken action to drive down the cost of construction through new guidelines on apartment standards. We continue to support key delivery partners such as the local authorities and the Land Development Agency, which have a significant and central role to play in the scaling-up of our housing supply. We have also taken action to get things moving quickly, including the extension to planning permissions which are about to expire and the introduction of a single-stage approval process for social housing projects, up to a value of €200 million.

Housing delivery, along with infrastructure and utility investment to enable delivery at scale, is at the centre of the recently agreed national development plan, which sets out a total investment of €275.4 billion, including €28 billion for housing programmes. As the largest ever capital investment plan in the history of the State, it will create the building blocks we need to deliver thousands of new homes through upgrading our water and energy infrastructure, delivery of roads and providing better public transport. We understand that the housing challenge impacts at many levels of our society, but clearly the impact is most acute and difficult for those who are homeless. Last week, the Minister, Deputy Browne, announced the prioritisation of €50 million for housing acquisitions to support larger families with children and housing first clients to exit long-term homeless emergency accommodation into safe, secure and permanent homes.

Building on these measures already taken, we are now in the process of finalising a new national housing plan for the next five years and beyond. Key issues we are working through as we finalise the plan include the promotion of innovation in the construction sector, the need for private finance at scale to complement unprecedented levels of State funding and ensuring the viability of apartment delivery. We are working with our colleagues across Government to find the right mix of measures to address these challenges. The new plan will be published in the coming weeks and I am confident that we can build on our success to date and achieve further momentum across all different areas of housing delivery over the lifetime of this Government.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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I think the Taoiseach's assertion of such confidence is gravely misplaced, but how and ever. I wish to raise the issue of the Clashduv Road flats in Togher, in the Taoiseach's own constituency. I visited them in May with an Teachta Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire and Councillor Joe Lynch. As the Taoiseach knows, there are similar flats across the southside of Cork city, at Togher Road, Cherry Tree Road, Sycamore Place, Maple Place and Hazel Road. I am sure the Taoiseach is familiar with them. They date from the 1970s and are in a considerable state of disrepair. They are way beyond their lifespans. The balconies of the flats are in poor condition. There are issues with loose masonry. Iron bars surrounding balconies have rusted, and they are jagged and dangerous for children because of the condition they are in. There are really serious issues around damp, cold and mould in the flats, and there are a lot of respiratory issues among residents. Some of the blocks have subsidence and uneven floors. In many of the complexes, there are issues with rodents.

There is a dire and urgent need for regeneration of these complexes. The Housing Commission reported that these flats needed to be completely overhauled, at the very least. Cork City Council has agreed to knock another block of flats on Noonan's Road, yet the residents I met in Togher remain living in appalling conditions. They are very angry about that and understandably so. This is the Taoiseach's city. People are facing cold, damp, issues with rodents, cracks and hazardous fencing. I believe we need urgent regeneration of these complexes. Will the Taoiseach support this and will he ensure the funding is made available to the local authority to carry out that work?

Ryan O'Meara (Tipperary North, Fianna Fail)
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I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy John Connolly. The issue of wastewater treatment plants in our rural towns and villages is one I have raised with the Taoiseach before. I refer in particular, however, to Ballycommon in Cloughjordan in north County Tipperary, which I know he will be aware of from previous discussions here in this Chamber. With the quite large level of investment coming from the national development plan into Irish Water, I appreciate that cities and large towns will have to take a certain level of priority in terms of the numbers of houses delivered, but I am worried about our smaller towns and rural villages being left behind.

In Ballycommon in north Tipperary, 34 houses could be built right now were it not for a lack of capacity in the system. Two developers there would build a plant if they got permission. In Cloughjordan, my own village where I live, we have not seen a private development since the mid-2000s. The council cannot build and new businesses often cannot connect. The housing estate that has developer-provided infrastructure cannot be taken in charge by the council because there is no capacity in the system. These are two examples of villages like many others right across rural Ireland. Will the Government commit to ensuring Uisce Éireann will provide a scheme of funding for these smaller towns and villages through national development funding and that it will not just be our larger towns and cities that will be looked at?

Séamus McGrath (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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At the outset, if I may, I will mark the passing of Councillor Patrick Gerard Murphy from Cork. I served with Councillor Murphy for 17 years on Cork County Council. He was a great friend and colleague. His untimely passing is dreadfully sad for his family, friends and community. I wanted to add my voice to condolences here, and I thank the Ceann Comhairle.

I thank the Taoiseach for his update on the housing subcommittee and the housing plan. Downsizing options for people are a critical issue and come up quite a lot on the doorsteps. I hope there will be additional policy in the new, updated plan to provide additional downsizing options for people, whether that is a rightsizing scheme such as that run by Cork City Council being rolled out further across the country or suitable retirement-type, single-storey housing being provided for people. Obviously, downsizing needs to be on a voluntary basis and entirely up to the individual, but many people whose incomes have reduced find themselves living in larger properties that were traditionally family homes with additional running and maintenance costs. These people want options but, unfortunately, they are not there at present. I think this has to be a core element of the new housing plan. I ask the Taoiseach to please take that back to the committee and work on it as part of the upcoming plan.

Tom Brabazon (Dublin Bay North, Fianna Fail)
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Last week, the Minister for housing, James Browne, approved significant equity loan funding for the development of 85 new cost-rental homes in Belmayne in Dublin 13 in my constituency. As the Taoiseach knows, many renters find themselves earning too much to qualify for social housing and are not able to afford the market rents. This project and funding, therefore, is very welcome and I would love to see far more of these projects and certainly more affordable housing as well.

On cost rental, is it possible for the Cabinet committee to look at a pathway to ownership in the context of this scheme? I refer to cases where people have proven themselves capable over time of being able to continue and maintain paying those rents.

Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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Housing is the singular issue of this Dáil and this generation. The new planning framework has gone to the local authorities. What has been the response from the local authorities and what initiatives will the Government take to ensure its instructions to increase the rezoning of land will be carried through at a local level? The development of wastewater treatment plans, and developer-led wastewater treatment plants, would serve small towns and villages very well, as Deputy O'Meara pointed out. There is a pent-up demand for development in small towns and villages but the problem is infrastructure. Of course, there is also the aspect of increasing our energy infrastructure. I know the Government is putting huge resources into development of the grid and the production of electricity, as well as looking at the off-site construction solutions that can ramp up supply rapidly in Ireland.

Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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We know the level of homelessness is at record highs. The key to tackling homelessness and the housing crisis is ensuring increased supply, but the number of planning permissions for new housing is falling and house prices and rents are rising. We were originally led to believe the Government's new housing plan would be published over the summer. It was then delayed, and now it is said it will be later this year. When will the Government's plan be published?

Specifically on the Land Development Agency, a report from the Department of Finance has found the agency will only make a small contribution, it seems, to the Government's housing targets. Can the Taoiseach confirm how many homes will be delivered by the LDA this year and next year? Will the Government resource it to ramp up supply, as we in the Labour Party have proposed?

On the student housing strategy, there has again been a delay in publishing it. Yet at this time, as freshers' weeks are in place across the country, we are seeing students struggling to find a secure place to rent at any sort of affordable price.

4 o’clock

When will we see a student accommodation strategy?

James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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In relation to the SPV structure for the Dublin city task force, I want to ask when will that be established. Is legislation necessary, and, if so, when will that legislation come? Obviously, all of that relates to the Dublin city task force and a key part of that is getting over-the-shop living in Dublin city centre. Some of that work is under way on a piloted basis on Middle Abbey Street by the Dublin City Council teams but what we need to see is a wholesale approach of getting people living in the city and a mixed typology of housing in the city centre. There are a lot of good things taking place in Dublin at present, such as getting the fruit market open. There will be a tender out for the library in the Parnell cultural quarter, but we have get more people living in the city centre. I need to see that level of urgency when it comes to getting the SPV structure. Hopefully, the budget will be supportive of the work that the Dublin city task force will be doing.

Ruairí Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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We really have to give consideration to housing adaptation grants and to look at them properly. We know they have been reviewed. Both the thresholds and the amounts paid have been increased but this does not cover the cost of building. I am talking in particular about those who fall into disability, whether down to old age, accidents, or children coming of age and needing a greater level of supports. We have all had these sorts of issues and occasionally got them across the line, but every year we have a case where the local authority runs out of funding. It stops taking applications and we all try to make representations on behalf of those worst cases. We need to get a system that works.

We still need to update the situation in relation to CAS funding as regards disabilities. I have spoken to the Taoiseach previously about St. John of God approved housing body not being able to draw down the money it could previously. While there have been solutions to some of the issues, we need that dealt with.

When are we to see the rural one-off housing review report, which last summer was with the Attorney General, because we know the issues that exist in rural areas in relation to people not being able to get planning permission for necessary housing?

Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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I do not know how the Taoiseach has done it but he has pulled off an amazing feat of illusion. Somehow the Taoiseach has normalised the housing crisis. I want to be clear that it is not normal for people to be still living in the back bedrooms of their parents' homes. It is not normal that rents have skyrocketed and that most young people feel they will not be able to buy their own home. It is not normal to have 16,000 citizens of this country homeless, as we speak, and over 5,000 children, at this moment, staying in emergency accommodation.

It is also not normal to knowingly and willingly push more people into homeless accommodation but that is exactly what the Government has done by scrapping the tenant in situ scheme. I heard what the Taoiseach said to Deputy Ó Broin a few minutes ago. That is exactly what the Government has done. It has tied the hands of local authorities in relation to the tenant in situ scheme. The Government actually got something right in the last term by introducing this scheme. What does the Government do when it gets something right? It pulls the plug. I ask that the Government reinstates fully the tenant in situ scheme and gives local authorities the means and the ability to purchase homes to stop families and children going into homelessness.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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Since the Government lifted the eviction ban in April 2023, more than 20,000 households have got eviction notices because their landlord wants to sell. At the time, the Government promised renters that they would be protected with the tenant in situ scheme. If they were on HAP or RAS and their landlord was willing to sell to the council, the council would buy their home. That has turned out to be a lie.

Just over 2,500 households benefited from the scheme before the Government gutted it less than two years after it started. The results are seen in the homelessness figures - a massive rise from 12,000 in March 2023 to over 16,000 today, including over 5,000 children. According to the latest figures, in quarter 2 of 2024, 349 families were prevented from entering homelessness as a result of the tenant in situ scheme and in quarter 2 of 2025, that was down to 122. Will the Taoiseach take emergency action, reinstate the eviction ban, and reimplement the tenant in situ scheme and properly fund it?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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There are a lot of questions there. At the outset, I will say that Cork City Council has a good record generally in terms of regeneration. Particularly in one half of that Togher area, there was very successful early regeneration but, in fairness, it did not cover the Cherry Tree Road side or the Clashduv Road Flats. I would, of course, support the regeneration of those flats and, indeed, Noonan's Road, which has been awaiting regeneration for quite some time. Councillors have been particularly involved in that. We will continue to support regeneration.

In response to Deputy O'Meara's point, we have had discussions with Irish Water. I referenced the Cloughjordan case as illustrative of the need to facilitate developer-led wastewater treatment plants in small rural villages and towns because Irish Water has readily acknowledged that it will not be able to get those towns and villages notwithstanding the enormous allocations that we have given to Irish Water. There has to be pragmatism and realism, but it would oversee the construction and installation of those wastewater treatment plants and then would have a monitoring scenario with local authorities in respect of their efficacy and so on. That is something we are pushing strongly. We will get to a situation where that happens and that would release some housing, in particular, across rural Ireland.

Deputy McGrath is correct. Cork City Council was probably one of the first councils to develop a very innovative approach to downsizing and it won a national award for the scheme on the Skehard Road. This was where people moved out of existing three-bedroom or four-bedroom properties that they owned and downsized by agreement. As a result, they had some extra personal funding. In any event, it worked well. That should continue all over the country as an option because we have not used existing housing stock optimally. We have to continue to look at ways of incentivising the utilisation of existing housing stock. Airbnb has absorbed an awful lot of existing housing stock in cities as well to the detriment of the rental market and the residential and housing market.

In response to Deputy Brabazon in terms of the cost-rental pathway to ownership, it is early days yet in terms of building up cost rental as one particular strand within a menu of options for people endeavouring to get housing, either at affordable rent or at affordable purchase cost. That is something we will continue to keep under review.

Deputy Daly raised a number of issues. The wastewater treatment plants issue was similar to that raised by Deputy O'Meara. On the planning framework, it is the case that we need greater speed from the local authorities in respect of following through on the planning framework and they need to rezone more land because the ESRI is saying the Government has adopted a 50,000 per annum assessment of need. That is a needs-based target and we have to work out how we get there. The ESRI is saying we need 50,000 a year. Some are saying we need 60,000. That cannot be done without rezoning and yet it is clear to us that certain CEOs are humming and hawing about rezoning. I have been talking to councillors and proposals have not come to the table. I understand Dublin City Council is saying that it will not rezone and that it has enough land. I believe Fingal is in a similar situation.

There is a housing crisis out there. In response to Deputy Ward, I have not normalised anything. I am very clear about this. The cost of housing is excessive for young couples. That is why we need to rezone land and get more houses built and that has to happen over a ten-year period to get on top of the situation. We have moved from approximately 20,000 in 2019 or 2020 to 32,000, 33,000 or maybe 34,000 a year. That was a big shift from 2020 but we have to go much further than that. That needs both public sector and private sector investment.

Mark Ward (Dublin Mid West, Sinn Fein)
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Dropping the 40,000-----

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Deputy Daly is also correct in terms of the development of the grid and off-site and modern methods of construction. We are driving that because that will also be key in accelerating the construction of housing.

On the rezoning issue, there are legislative options available to the Minister to mandate - he has already instructed, but to go ahead and get it done - but, ideally, the councillors, with the officials, should do it. There will be engagement between the Minister and me and CEOs of county councils to drive that agenda.

Deputy Bacik raised the issue of homelessness and the new housing plan. The new housing plan will be published within the next number of weeks. It made sense that we would get the national development plan done first in terms of having the capital framework over the next five years for the public sector investment underpinning housing announced.

We have not waited for the plan. We have taken measures that, ordinarily, would have ended up in the plan, such as the rent pressure zone review, the change in the apartment criteria and the national planning framework. There is also the initiative the Minister has taken in respect of homelessness, including the €50 million he announced last week for acquisitions to take families off the homeless list through a more direct approach. I will come back to the Deputy on the student accommodation strategy.

The LDA has a significant pipeline. Although I do not have the exact figures with me, thousands of houses will come onstream in the next number of years. Some significant advance work has been done on particular sites that the LDA has acquired and completed plans and designs for them. As the Deputy knows, it has completed significant projects and there are more to come. There are aspects of that finance report that I do not entirely agree with. The LDA will still have a significant contribution to make, along with local authorities and affordable housing bodies.

In response to Deputy Geoghegan, work is under way on the structure for the implementation of the Dublin city task force, and that is continuing. When we have the details, we will come back to the House in respect of that.

Living over shops in our cities is key and that also applies to the living city initiative. The existing scheme is quite limited and has had limited impact, so it is under review. We have had some discussions on that and apart from any task force, it would apply to a number of cities. There are also towns that could do with commercial conversions of over-the-shop accommodation to residential. The future in many urban centres will have to be more residential. The city living experience is changing.

Deputy Ó Murchú referred to the housing adaptation grants. I have spoken to the Minister and I am well aware that we have had very substantial grants. I would make the point to everybody that there has never been more capital allocated to housing and to this area. It is enormous funding. We are at the limits of growth in public expenditure and it is significant in terms of the overall fiscal framework. The adaptation grants are very important for senior citizens and people with disabilities.

The rural one-off housing guidelines are necessary. The Minister is working to update them because we need to give greater options to people living in rural Ireland, particularly those living on their own land, given the cost of housing. We need to ensure they are in a position to develop housing for themselves. Given the advances that have been made in wastewater treatment facilities, this is something that should be accommodated.

I have dealt with the question from Deputy Ward. We are not normalising anything. We are very clear that we need consistent and sustainable investment in all aspects of housing in the time ahead.

In response to Deputy Murphy, if we maintained the eviction ban, we would suffocate supply and we would have fewer houses. We are not going with the Deputy's agenda in many respects because we think his agenda would be even more damaging and would not ensure an increase in housebuilding, particularly in the private sector.

The tenant in situ scheme has been very significant in the past two years. It needed refinement so that it is not used by councils as an excuse to just acquire instead of build. It has to be focused and targeted at those most in need.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Government has run out of money.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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It was never meant for the landlords to sell. The focus was always on tenants who were in danger of being made homeless. Examples have emerged. For example, in some local authorities, no sooner was a house acquired than enormous funds were immediately put into retrofitting it and so on. That was never the original objective of the scheme. It was to get houses acquired to stop them from being sold and to stop someone from being made homeless. Some councils did not operate the scheme as it should have been operated. I know the Opposition just wants to keep on throwing money at every scheme and not review or examine it.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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It is a good scheme.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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There are issues that the Minister has examined. He found things that, in our view, were not in accordance with the original objectives of the scheme. The scheme has not been shelved or dropped, as has been suggested.

Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Government has run out of money.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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My council has run out of money, the city council has run out of money, Carlow and Kilkenny county councils have run out of money and Fingal County Council has run out of money.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Many cases were raised with regard to city councils and I tested this with one or two. In some cases that were raised in the House, they got sorted.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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The Dublin councils have run out of money.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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Hold on a second. They got sorted because the council could sort it. They are not helpless either.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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The Government has strangled the scheme.