Aubrey McCarthy (Independent)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here with us today. I know he is representing the Minister for housing, Deputy James Browne, on this Commencement matter. As I have said previously, I really want the Minister, Deputy Browne, to succeed in his role as Minister for housing. It would certainly lift the spirit of Ireland. The housing crisis is a debacle. If we can make a difference, it will change many people's lives.

This is not the first time I have spoken about homeless and emergency accommodation figures in this House. When I was first elected to this House, I put on a whiteboard in my office the homeless numbers on that date. The number of people in emergency accommodation at that time was 15,286, and the number of children was just over 3,000. I was excited to see the new Minister for housing and I was hoping that we would all be part of the solution to improve the numbers in an area with which I am very familiar through my voluntary role as chair of Tiglin. Today, I want to review progress. I am sad to say that the situation has deteriorated even further since then. The latest figures from the Department are stark. There are 16,353 individuals in emergency accommodation. We now have 5,145 children in homeless accommodation. That is an increase of over 700 in total in the past year. For the first time, the number of children in such accommodation has exceeded 5,000. Those are not just statistics; they are kids who are going to be brought up in emergency accommodation, which is going to have a huge impact going forward.

When we look at the numbers, we see that the number of emergency accommodation applicants has risen by 13% in the past year. Included in that are 2,400 families and 252 people over the age of 65. It reflects a system that is not working. It seems we have a housing plan that is failing to meet the urgency we are presented with. As we approach the start of winter, it is getting colder. Like isolation and vulnerability, cold weather impacts people who are homeless far more than the ordinary person. Focus Ireland and the Simon Community have said in recent reports that housing alone is not enough, and that support is also needed. An example is one guy who came to us with his son at the Lighthouse, the homeless café on Pearse Street. He had a dual diagnosis of mental health and addiction issues, but he was homeless. He had tried different services for many years. We got him into rehab. He got his life back on track but he also had supported housing. He started to work through our community employment scheme. Today, that guy owns a house in Wicklow. He is a productive member of society as a manager in a company. I have noticed that with the proper supports, change can actually occur for the individual, for the world and certainly for Ireland.

I believe we need to be more ambitious in our approach. The Minister of State knows that. We need to provide housing solutions, and we need to provide the supports that go with those solutions. In the Lighthouse homeless café on Pearse Street, we feed about 500 people a day. If the Minister were to give me 500 houses today, it would not solve the problems of the people who go there. A lot of them need extra supports. That is where we need to focus. As has been mentioned before, the establishment of a housing task force would ensure housing accountability, and it would also ensure co-ordinated action. My question is this: how are we going to deal with the numbers on my whiteboard in a way that ensures we are not back here in six months looking at a worse situation?

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Senator McCarthy for raising this Commencement matter on the plans of the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to address the homelessness and housing crisis. The Minister and this Government are absolutely determined to meet the needs of people who need us to respond at pace to the housing challenges we face.The programme for Government commits to delivering 300,000 new homes by 2030. To drive this delivery, the Government has committed to a new national housing plan to follow Housing for All, which will be underpinned by the required funding in the national development plan. This new national housing plan will be published early next month. This plan will focus on building social and affordable housing, delivering infrastructure and activating land, securing finance and addressing viability challenges, boosting the capacity of the construction sector, promoting affordability, and continuing to reduce vacancy by bringing much-needed stock back into use as we seek to secure a long-term pipeline of delivery and funding to 2030 and beyond.

In July, the Government published the revised national development plan, the largest ever capital injection in our economy in the history of the State. Of the €102 billion to be invested over the next five years, over €40 billion will be provided for housing and related water services in the period to 2030. The Government is already investing record levels in the delivery of housing this year, with overall capital funding of almost €7.5 billion available.

Addressing homelessness, and in particular homeless families and children, is a key priority for the Minister and for this Government. Ireland signed the Lisbon Declaration in June 2021, which committed all signatories to work towards ending homelessness by 2030. The Minister will continue to work with the National Homeless Action Committee to ensure an all-of-government approach to drive the ambition of the Lisbon Declaration.

Critical to supporting households to exit homelessness is our continued investment in the social housing programme. Budget 2026 has continued the record level of investment in social housing, with €2.9 billion in capital funding allocated to support the delivery of social homes by local authorities. This continued investment in the social housing programme will increase the supply of stock available to allocate to households on the social housing waiting list, including households in emergency accommodation.

A key focus for the Minister is to reduce the time that families are spending in emergency accommodation. In September, the Minister wrote to 21 local authorities that have families in emergency accommodation for more than 12 months and asked them to use all available housing schemes to exit these families from emergency accommodation. He has ring-fenced an additional €50 million, under the national development plan process, to exit the households longest in homeless accommodation with a focus in the first instance on larger families with children and housing first clients. Ensuring that families and children experiencing homelessness are provided with accommodation and supports is critical.

Budget 2026 provides an allocation of €513.5 million to provide homeless emergency accommodation and supports. Capital funding of €50 million has been allocated to support the provision and maintenance of quality emergency and transitional accommodation. The new housing plan will ensure all possible measures are being taken across government to prevent homelessness.

Aubrey McCarthy (Independent)
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I appreciate the reply. One line stands out and I am excited about it where he said, “Addressing homelessness, and in particular homeless families and children, is a key priority for the Minister”.

I am slightly concerned in dealing with the people through my voluntary work. I would welcome the Minister to come to Pearse Street, which is fairly close by, to meet some of the people I have spoken about and to realise they are not just statistics. We can do more and can do better to resolve the problem. At the moment home ownership seems like an impossible dream for many and it seems that we are missing out on a generation of homeowner. This evening, 5,145 children are doing their homework in emergency accommodation, with no play area and of course without being able to have their friends over etc. Even the results of that will be seen in the future. If we are serious about solving the housing crisis, we have to prepare to be stronger and use urgent measures.

I want the Minister, Deputy James Browne, to be the most successful housing Minister. I want this to work. I do not want to criticise just for the sake of gaining political capital. I want to be there so that if there is anything we can do, even as a Seanad, to improve the housing situation, we are totally behind the Minister.

Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Senator for giving me the opportunity to respond on behalf of the Minister for housing. I want to reassert the strong commitment of the Minister and this Government to addressing the housing challenges we face, which are touching every level of our society, as the Senator has outlined. While there is still much more to do, considerable progress has been made to date under Housing for All. Between July 2020 and the end of quarter 2 in 2025, over 50,600 social homes were added to our social housing stock. There is a strong pipeline of social housing. The latest construction status report showed 26,684 social homes at all stages of design and build at the end of June 2025.

Since the launch of Housing for All at the end of quarter 2 of 2025, nearly 16,900 affordable housing units have been delivered by approved housing bodies, local authorities and the Land Development Agency through the home first scheme, cost rental, the tenant in situ scheme and the vacant property refurbishment grant. Therefore, a solid foundation has been laid for future housing delivery which will be driven by the new national housing plan and underpinned by record levels of State investment under the national development plan. The new housing plan will include a range of measures to address homelessness, including the development of a homelessness prevention framework to ensure all possible measures are being taken across government to prevent homelessness. I again thank the Senator for raising this really important issue.