Rental Sector
Dail Éireann — 2026-07-09
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Louise O'Reilly (SF), Dublin Fingal West

I sometimes wonder if the Minister of State must be embarrassed reading such a script. He said that tenant in situ will never be the sole or even the primary option. I have outlined to him how it was not. When this family got their notice to quit, they sent out hundreds of emails. They replied to hundreds. They registered with estate agents. They tramped the roads. They did everything they possibly could. Their very last resort was to contact a local politician which, as we all know, people do not do easily or lightly, but they do because they have to. So, it was not the only resort.
The council was willing to buy the property but it lacked the funding. It had exactly what the Minister of State outlined in his script. No extensive refurbishments were required - happy days; tick that box. What it did not have was money. However, the Government has money to keep them in emergency accommodation, which as the Minister of State and I both know is grim. It is not where he would want to raise his family, certainly not where I would want to raise mine and definitely not where they want to be.
I fully appreciate that the Minister of State read out the script on behalf of the senior Minister and, in many ways, I do not envy him having to do that. The family have done everything and they still ended up in emergency accommodation. I ask the Minister of State to please bring this message back to the senior Minister. They ended up in emergency accommodation, which will have to be paid for. Grim and all as it is, it is expensive. The reason they ended up there is that there is not sufficient funding for the acquisition programme. That is what they need. People in my constituency wait on the housing list for over 14 years. These people have been on the list for ten years, meaning they are half a decade away from being housed. They have to go to private rented accommodation, and when they cannot do that, they have to go to emergency accommodation which is both grim and expensive.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-09/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-14T01:01:07+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-07-09