Housing Provision
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-05
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Louise O'Reilly (SF), Dublin Fingal West

That is not exactly what the Tánaiste said. He said, "the Minister for housing has said he will issue a direction to all local authorities to make sure that issue is rectified." It should have taken the Minister two seconds rather than two minutes to answer. Either it is going to issue or it is not. What the Minister is saying is that a protocol is being developed. That is very welcome, but the Minister might provide some clarity in his follow-up. It seemed there was a little bit of slippage there as regards the normal rules on allocation applying. I know exactly how houses are allocated, as does the Minister.
I have used the example of a woman in my own constituency and I am going to use it again. I do not know how many names I have now used for her. Jesus, I will nearly use the woman's correct name; I have raised the issue that many times. Let us call her Margaret for the moment. Margaret has been on the Dublin City Council housing list for almost 13 and half years. She is about to be housed in the area where her former partner, who is out of prison after nearly killing her, is living. She cannot go back there. The Garda has told her not to. While she waits for the protocol to be developed and possibly issued at some point, what should she do?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-05/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:44+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-05