An tOrd Gnó - Order of Business
Seanad Éireann — 2026-05-19
============================================================

Robbie Gallagher (FF), Labour Panel

I call for an increase in the income threshold limits to qualify for social housing. Many young people who contact me are getting no assistance whatsoever in this area. They are not earning enough money to be able to purchase a home of their own and in many cases are struggling to pay the rent. They are also just over the limit of the social housing guidelines.
To give the House an idea, in the part of the world I hail from, in Monaghan and Cavan, and in many other counties, the income threshold for a two-income household with two children is €33,000. These people are locked out of purchasing a home and in many cases they are struggling to pay the rent. According to the system, they are earning too much money to qualify for any social housing assistance. They are at the end of the road because there is simply no help for them.
The last time the thresholds were increased was back in January 2023. As we all know, the price of housing and of rent has increased significantly since then. I understand that the Minister, Deputy Browne, has a review ongoing in this area. The results of that are due shortly but it needs to happen as a matter of urgency. Many of these people are working on the minimum wage, which is currently at €28,600. They are struggling. They want to work but currently the system is not helping them out. We need to help those people who are working at slightly above the minimum wage, who qualify for nothing. Clearly, we cannot allow that to continue.
I ask the Acting Leader to arrange for the Minister to come to the House to debate this as a matter of urgency. We have to look after this cohort of people who are entitled to nothing. They are not entitled to social housing because they are classified as earning too much, but they are struggling to pay the rent and save for a mortgage as well. It is vital that we look after the people who are working in this country.

---

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/2026-05-19/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:57+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-05-19