Written answers
Thursday, 9 October 2025
Department of Housing, Planning, and Local Government
Homeless Persons Supports
Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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212. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the number of people currently registered as homeless in County Kildare; the number of children currently registered as homeless in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54285/25]
James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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My Department’s role in relation to homelessness involves the provision of a national framework of policy, legislation and funding to underpin the role of local authorities in addressing homelessness at local level. Statutory responsibility in relation to the provision of accommodation and related services for homeless persons rests with individual local authorities.
While responsibility for the provision of homeless accommodation and related services rests with individual housing authorities, the administration of homeless services is organised on a regional basis with a lead authority in place for each region. The Mid-East region includes Kildare, Meath and Wicklow Councils for the purposes of homeless administration, with Kildare County Council as lead authority.
My Department currently gathers and publishes data on a monthly basis on the number of homeless persons accommodated in emergency accommodation funded and overseen by local authorities. These reports are based on data provided by local authorities, produced through the Pathway Accommodation & Support System (PASS).
The monthly homelessness report includes details of individuals, families and the dependants of these families who accessed emergency accommodation during the relevant count week of the month in question. The most recently published data is in respect of August 2025. The reports are collated on a regional basis and are available on my Department's website at the following link: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-housing-local-government-and-heritage/collections/homelessness-data/ and are also published to the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform's open data portal .
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 €2.9bn 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. It is important that local authorities ensure that sufficient allocations are being made to families in emergency accommodation and a key focus for me is to reduce the time that families are spending in emergency accommodation.
Ensuring that families and children experiencing homelessness are provided with accommodation and supports is critical. 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.
Naoise Ó Cearúil (Kildare North, Fianna Fail)
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213. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government the measures his Department is taking to address the record number of 16,300 persons currently registered as homeless in the State, including more than 5,100 children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54286/25]
James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Addressing homelessness, and in particular homeless families and children, is a priority for my Department and for the Government.
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 €2.9bn 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. It is important that local authorities ensure that sufficient allocations are being made to families in emergency accommodation and a key focus for me is to reduce the time that families are spending in emergency accommodation.
Ireland signed the Lisbon Declaration in June 2021, which committed all signatories to work towards ending homelessness by 2030. I 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.
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 and reaffirm Programme for Government commitments including the commitment to develop a holistic, cross departmental approach to homelessness prevention and the commitment to ensure special supports for children impacted by homelessness.
In September, I 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. I have ring-fenced an additional €50 million, which I secured as part of the National Development Plan process, to exit households the longest in homeless accommodation with a focus in the first instance on larger families with children and Housing First clients. This funding is in addition to the €325 million already committed to the Social Housing Second-Hand Acquisitions Programme in 2025.
Ensuring that families and children experiencing homelessness are provided with accommodation and supports is critical. 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.
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