Homelessness: Statements Seanad Éireann — 2026-04-15 ============================================================ Anne Rabbitte (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach I thank the Minister of State for his opening statement. He is correct in what he has said there on increased supply in addressing homelessness. They Government is focused on making sure everyone has access to good quality, affordable and secure homes that suit their needs. Over €9 million in capital funding will be made available this year alone. The housing plan recognises that homelessness is the single most pressured social issue we face, and the Government has introduced several key measures to address homelessness, ensuring the implementation of these measures is a priority in 2026. Prevention of homelessness in the first instance is essential. The Department and the Government have many prevention initiatives under way. It is welcome that the Minister met with all the local authority chief executives last October and laid bare to them that our number one priority is housing delivery and breaking down the roadblocks. First and foremost, however, it is about ensuring people who need to stay in their homes can stay in those homes, are supported in their homes and that the local authority is there to support them and the Department is there to support the local authority. While that is reassuring, he is also a Minister of action and funding. This includes the provision of social and affordable housing, HAP and homelessness HAP, and a strong tenancy protection legislation. To ensure a fully aligned all-of-government approach under the plan, we are committed to developing a national homelessness prevention framework, within which homelessness can be prevented in a structured and planned way with tailored prevention measures for each potential risk cohort. It is also important to acknowledge that there are many elements to homelessness. There is the youth homelessness strategy, which has been in place for the past three years and has introduced a range of new measures, including housing supports for youth in shared accommodation schemes. Budget 2026 provided a total of €563 million to address homelessness, and this includes €513 million in current funding to ensure local authorities can provide sufficient emergency accommodation as well as essential related Housing First provisions for homelessness prevention support. In all of the measures provided, it is very important that the staff on the front line of our local authority have a clear understanding of how situations can evolve and change, particularly in their own housing stock where people will present. I am on the Traveller committee, so I have first hand experience of hearing this from the Traveller community. Travellers present and sometimes, they do not feel their voices are heard from a domestic point of view. I ask that staff on the front line of our local authorities be very open and understanding of the need and that when situations evolve, women at risk need to be prioritised. We do it very well and we did it very well during Covid, but sometimes there are isolated cases where they do not feel their voices are being heard. We need to reflect on that. Where there is vulnerability and where children at risk, we need to think of that. In the same way, we need to look at youth homelessness. It is an area we are addressing but I believe we have more capacity on it. I welcome the announcement from the Minister for higher and further education, Deputy Lawless, on what is happening around student accommodation. Much of the time when I hear about youth homelessness in Galway, I hear it at the start of the college year when young people cannot find accommodation. Any levers that can be worked within the Department should be worked to find the opportunities to bring accommodation on stream, particularly for students going back to college. This is a real worry for parents when they let them go for the first time. The Department is working with the Minister, Deputy Lawless, on this and that is very welcome, particularly for kids who have to travel a long distance and do not have the luxury of the bus or car home. Not sleeping rough and pretending everything is okay just to be at college is not enough. I also worry about those who are in irregular tenancies that have never been regularised, but the laws the Government has brought in in the past six months have given landlords the security for tenure, knowing where they stand, with the same for the tenant. From what the Minister of State has said there, from the notes he has provided and from the investment of €9 million, I know a lot of funding is going into it. He is right that 17,000 people on a homelessness list is nothing we are proud of but Government is working to ensure we can reduce it at all times. --- 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/2026-04-15/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:48+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-04-15