Housing Schemes
Dail Éireann — 2026-03-26
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Sinéad Gibney (SD), Dublin Rathdown

I thank the Minister of State for those details. I appreciate that funding is important but I assure him that the €31 million is not reaching some of the families that I am speaking to. I want to emphasise, as I did in my initial contribution, that this is not just about funding. The way in which some of these families are being treated is also an issue. There are complex ways in which people arrive into situations of deprivation and poverty. They do not want to be in arrears and for them to then be penalised for being in arrears and not be able to access other accommodation that is more suitable, which will then help to lift them out of all of the other elements of poverty, is problematic.
I am careful about what I raise in the Chamber as Topical Issues because I appreciate that a lot of this responsibility falls to the local authorities. However, in my previous role in the rights and equality space, I did some work with a group that was involved in a case that went to Europe. I want to reference that case because the obligation lies on the Government and does not just sit with the local authorities. The European Committee of Social Rights in 2017 found that Ireland violated Article 16 of the European Social Charter due to substandard social housing. The issues that I am seeing in St. Nathy's and other places in my constituency are exactly the same as the issues faced by the 20 different social housing estates that were involved in that case. They were dealing with damp and mould and with local authorities who simply failed to fix it. The knock-on impacts and the generational poverty that we are baking in those communities and those families is hugely problematic. This is something that the Government must take into account. It is not just about the local authorities. While I appreciate that it is their responsibility, ultimately, to carry these things through, they need to be given the support, with both a carrot and stick element, by the Department to actually deliver for these families.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-03-26/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:47+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-03-26