Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed)
Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-19
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Joe Flaherty (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach

It is almost as if the Opposition come through an evangelical door on the far side of the Chamber because what they do outside and what they say inside the Chamber are completely different.
In response to Senator Higgins, we now have the most regulated construction market, arguably, in the world. Since 2019, the standards of construction in Ireland have been beyond reproach. Certainly, there were mistakes made in the past in terms of apartment defects but solid steps and legislation put in place by the Government have ensured that is now the case. No government in Europe has taken such a sustained and unrelenting approach to trying to address the housing challenge as the current Government. There has been a suite of measures.
Several Senators mentioned vacancy. We have brought more than 3,000 homes back into the stock, as a result of the advent of the croí cónaithe housing scheme. That has been further adapted to include over-the-shop units. This will be particularly attractive in Dublin, where a large problem remains.
There is a certain irony in the Sinn Féin Senator speaking glowingly of the bottle bank site.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-02-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-19