Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-16
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I thank Deputy Gogarty for raising this matter. I am grateful to have the Minister of State, Deputy Higgins, beside my for some local knowledge on some of these issues. I was in Clonburris not that long ago. I will get to some of the infrastructural challenges but I must say, being honest, that I was pleased to see the number and quality of homes being built and the partnership model that seems to exist – certainly from my visit - between the Land Development Agency, developers and the local authority. That is an important template for others to learn from.
We all know we are living through a housing emergency. We are all under pressure as the people’s representatives to see more homes built. We have set a very ambitious target of 300,000 homes by the end of 2030. We have to get there. Quite frankly, that means all of our communities and constituencies taking more houses. I am encouraged to see the increase in this regard in Lucan, Clondalkin and more generally across the Deputy’s constituency of Dublin Mid-West.
It is also true that those increases are putting real pressure on infrastructure. The Deputy highlighted the example of parking today, but there are a variety of issues in this regard, including public transport, schools and pitches. That is one of the reasons we set up the housing activation office because we need our local authorities to be able to work with central government. We need them to inform us about the key pieces of infrastructure they need or the things they need to be unblocked in order to deliver these homes, because we need to build communities as well as houses.
I live in a constituency that is not vastly different from that of the Deputy, especially the northern half where there is a significant number of additional houses being built, which we are glad to see. The challenges around ratios, parking spaces and the need for people to have a car are real and present too. On foot of the Deputy raising this issue, I will talk with the Minister, Deputy Browne. Some of these are matters for the local authority. Others are matters that central government can work through.
I am hearing about service charges a lot. This is a real issue for people. I need to check with the Minister for housing on this. We are committed to that transfer taking place and the completion of the Multi-Unit Developments Act. Let me try to get the Deputy an accurate timeline as to when that is likely to happen.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-16/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-16