Housing and Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2026: Committee and Remaining Stages
Seanad Éireann — 2026-07-14
============================================================

James Browne (FF), Wexford

I cannot accept amendment No. 14. As outlined on Committee Stage in the Dáil, my Department has engaged in extensive and continuous consultation with legal advisers throughout the development of the residency requirements, from initial drafting to finalisation. This has involved detailed consideration of all relevant constitutional, European Union and international legal principles. Legal advice received during drafting outlined that the State is entitled to lawfully restrict access to social housing supports during the first few months of residence on the part of EU and EEA nationals and their families.
Permitted and qualifying family members of an EU national exercising free movement under SI 548/2015 are provided for under section 8. For example, this means that under the Bill an EU national who is a worker is permitted, and qualified family members can meet the residency requirements under section 8. On this basis, the Department is satisfied that section 20E in its entirety is robust and fully compatible with the Constitution, as well as being compliant with applicable European and international law.

---

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/2026-07-14/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:15+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-14