Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee Stage (Resumed) Seanad Éireann — 2026-02-19 ============================================================ James Browne (FF), Wexford The Government is putting record funding into housing. There is in excess of €9 billion for housing and water this year alone. One third of the funding for the national development plan is going into the delivery of housing and water. We know that we need at least €20 billion a year to deliver the homes we need. The Government cannot supply all that funding. We also have to build the schools, hospitals and roads we need to deliver right across the country. We need investment to deliver these homes. That is the reality of it. There is no other way to deliver the homes we need. Since 2014, the population of this country has increased by over 800,000 people. This has enriched our country and increased diversity. A significant number of those people were Irish people returning home, but there were people coming from other countries as well, to work in our healthcare, technology and pharmaceutical sectors, as well on our farms and in other areas. As I said, this has enriched our country and increased the diversification of our country, which is very positive. An estimated increase in the population of 810,000, though, requires about 250,000 homes. That population increase reflects the economic success this country has had, and that cannot be taken for granted. In Europe where there is a housing crisis in almost every country, we are almost unique in that we have the funds to try to address supply and affordability. Most countries are not in that situation. Look at the UK and London, for example, and how few homes are being built there, despite the major housing crisis. We cannot take the economy for granted and we cannot underestimate the challenge this country is facing, out of a lot of positives, but we need to deliver supply. As regards the first amendment relating to a workforce plan for the Residential Tenancies Board, I have great faith in the CEO there, Rosemary Steen. We have seen a big step up in challenging landlords who have not abided by the rules and who in some cases have acted disgracefully towards their tenants. I have great faith in Ms Steen, her team and the board. We are backing it with a 70% increase in funding and further funding will be made available. It is also doing some significant work around digitalisation to make everything more effective and efficient and we will see more data being put online. I do not believe a workforce plan is needed there. We have an effective and functioning Residential Tenancies Board that perhaps was not funded in the way it should have been in the past. It needs a step up with funding and that is why we have been providing it. As regards the conducting of reviews amendment, which is in a couple of the proposals here, Dáil Standing Order 204 provides that: Twelve months following the enactment of a Bill, save in the case of the Finance Bill and Appropriation Bill, the member of the Government or Minister of State who is officially responsible for implementation of the Act shall provide a report which shall review the functioning of the Act and which shall be laid in the Parliamentary Library. There are rules there that will have to be done. The Housing Agency continues to review the market and everything happening there as well. I do not think there is any area more closely analysed than housing, right across the board. While I understand the intent behind them from the Senators and the proposals for those reviews, I do not believe they are necessary. In respect of forecasts, I take it back to the population point I made earlier. Who was predicting in 2014 that the population would increase by 810,000? Nobody, absolutely nobody. Markets are dynamic, populations are dynamic and societies are dynamic in terms of what people need. We also see that families are smaller and so we need a lot more homes for the same amount of population we might have needed 20, 30 and 40 years ago. We always have to keep everything under assessment and review for what is needed and where. The increases in apartments are mostly driven in the cities. They are needed but the suggestion that somehow that is our only solution and the invective about vultures and landlords, I get it and the kind of misdirection put out there. The reality is, in 2024, our local authorities directly built more social homes than in any year since the mid-1970s, and I have no doubt 2025 is going to be even higher. We are delivering social homes, affordable homes and affordable measures. Affordability was raised by Senator Andrews. We are acutely aware of affordability, and that is why we brought in some significant measures to help people get their homes and be able to afford them, such as the first homes and help to buy schemes. Both schemes were opposed by Sinn Féin and I am almost curious whether Sinn Féin TDs and Senators tell people at their clinics that they do not really want those people to have the support that is out there. However, they are crucial supports for people to be able to buy their homes. I always get frustrated when I hear some members of the Opposition, not all by any means, again with invective and it is mostly Sinn Féin members who do this----- --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. 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