Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Second Stage
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-09
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James Browne (FF), Wexford

On Senator Higgins's point, children are exempted from lawful residency requirements. We are not just worried about social housing numbers. We will increase the social housing limits, which will increase the number of people under social housing limits. Any suggestion that we are doing this to somehow reduce the number of people on the social housing lists will be proven incorrect when we increase the social housing limits, which in turn will increase the number of people on the social housing lists. I am always concerned about anybody having to wait for a home, but what that number is in the context of some reputational issue is not something that bothers me at all. I want people to get access to the housing they need. It is also not any offer. It refers to refusal of a reasonable offer. The words "any", "not any" or "allowed" are not in the legislation in that matter.
I turn to Senator Stephenson. There is no change for survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, people who are victims of human trafficking or the Traveller community in this legislation. I am also satisfied that there are no additional barriers for any of those vulnerable groups who will continue to be supported. Last week I brought in new rules allowing survivors of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence to bring time served on a local authority list into another local authority as they leave. That is something that should have been brought in before, but I was glad to get this in. Domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is an important part of the housing plan I brought in. I am subject to correction, but I thank it is the first time it has ever been part of a housing plan. These rules are mainly the codification of existing rules. There are requirements for legal and habitual residence, which again are relatively straightforward. It is just to demonstrate that it is somebody's intention to make this their home. There are also safety nets in place to ensure that nobody has to sleep rough.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-07-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:55:11+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-09