Mairéad Farrell (Galway West, Sinn Fein)
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54. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if his attention has been drawn to the increasing number of older persons who are falling into homelessness, particularly in Galway; the way in which he will support older persons in accessing secure and affordable housing given that the number of persons reaching pension age in precarious housing situations will only continue to rise with the unaffordability of home ownership; if measures will be given in Budget 2026 to address this aspect of the housing crisis; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53458/25]

Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael)
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Critical to preventing homelessness and to supporting households to exit homelessness is our continued investment in the social housing programme.

Budget 2026 continues the record level of investment in social housing, with €2.9 billion in capital 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.

Budget 2026 provides an allocation of €513.5m to provide homeless emergency accommodation and supports. Capital funding of €50m has been allocated to support the provision and maintenance of quality emergency and transitional accommodation.

The Government’s new Housing Plan will be published shortly. The Plan will contain a suite of robust and targeted actions that will increase the provision of housing through accelerating supply and increasing the affordability of homes for our citizens. The Plan will also include a range of measures to address homelessness.

In addition, the Programme for Government includes a number of commitments related to increasing the supply of housing for older people. These commitments build upon the policy objectives in Housing for All, which commit to increasing housing available to older people to facilitate ageing in place with dignity and independence. Work on these commitments is ongoing within a Policy Group established to consider the implementation of these commitments through specific measures in the new Housing Plan that is currently being prepared by my Department.