The Deputy is comparing outturn from previous years to the funding we provided in May this year. The year is not over.

Stop comparing the result at the end of one match to the score halfway through another.

I am not blaming the councils.

I thank Deputy McGrath for raising the important issue around expectations for the delivery of affordable housing this year. I know it is a matter that is important to the Deputy. The Government is fully committed to delivering affordable housing at scale and continuing to accelerate housing supply across all tenures. In 2024, more than 7,000 affordable housing options were delivered nationwide by a range of delivery partners, exceeding the target of 6,400 for the year. Overall, nearly 13,000 affordable housing sol…

I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of affordable housing. I also thank him for his regular engagement with me on the issue of how we can develop further affordable housing. In terms of the pipeline of delivery in Cork city, since the launch of Housing for All until the end of quarter 4 in 2024, 747 affordable housing solutions have been delivered via a range of delivery partners. To date approval has been given for ten projects in Cork city under the affordable housing fund, which will deliver 465 a…

I thank Deputy McGrath for his question and I fully agree with him that in addressing our housing needs in this country, we need to deliver private houses for those who can afford them and affordable houses for those who need help to bridge the gap to own their own homes. We also need to provide social houses. We must ensure that options are there for each person in this country so that their housing needs are met and they have the homes they need, whether social, affordable, or private. We must work to ensure that…

I thank Deputy Connolly for raising the important issue of the funding provided to housing authorities for the provision of emergency accommodation in 2024 and 2025. Supporting individuals and families at risk of, or experiencing, homelessness is a priority for Government and me. Critical to this is increasing the supply of housing. The Government is committed to increasing supply with a record level of €6.8 billion in capital funding being made available for the delivery of housing in 2025. The capital provision i…

I thank Deputy Connolly for raising this very important issue. He has raised this matter with me on numerous occasions and he campaigned on it. The issue of child homelessness in particular is very dear to the Deputy's heart and it is also extremely important to me that we address this issue. The prevention of people going into homelessness is absolutely critical and that is what we are working on. Obviously, there is the broader issue of increasing supply. That is the ultimate solution but in the meantime, until w…

I again thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of homelessness, especially child homelessness. I will continue to engage with him. I will meet the two Galway local authorities in the coming weeks. I will head to Galway to meet both the city and county councils. Homelessness is a national issue but it has regional variations in terms of both causation and how we address the particular issues. I am aware of the Deputy's data that shows that area is having particular challenges outside the Dublin region, so …

I thank the Deputy. The programme for Government commits to the introduction of a new voids programme and work is under way in my Department to develop and roll out that programme. As Minister, my focus is on building on the strong progress made over recent years in tackling local authority vacancy levels, which was supported and enabled by significant Exchequer funding for my Department over the past ten years and in particular since 2020. In total, more than €360 million has been recouped to local authorities sin…

I thank the Deputy again for raising the question. I assure him the Government commitment is there to ensure we have a planned maintenance programme for our local authority stock. The largest ever voids programme was funded by the previous Government in 2020 and the Department provided uncapped funding for those dwellings vacant for more than 12 months in 2020. Subsequently, it was acknowledged that legacy vacancy should have been dealt with and a more streamlined programme has been implemented to support the works…

Again, getting these voids back into play as quickly as possible is essential. Record funding is provided for the local authorities. There is inconsistency across them; there is no question about that. Some local authorities take the view of ongoing maintenance that when the property is vacated it is got back into a state where it can be relet as quickly as possible. Other local authorities seem to take a considerable time assessing those properties and some carry out a very large amount of refurbishment work that …

I thank the Deputy for raising the important issue of expectations for the delivery of affordable housing in 2025. I also thank him for his ongoing engagement on this issue, which is one he campaigned very strongly on. The Government is fully committed to delivering affordable housing at scale and continuing to accelerate housing supply across all tenures. In 2024, more than 7,000 affordable housing options were delivered nationwide by a range of delivery partners, exceeding the target of 6,400 for the year. Overal…

I thank the Deputy again for raising this question. It is a matter he has worked very hard on and has campaigned on to ensure we can have those affordable homes, which are an essential part of our housing delivery and to ensure we have private homes people can afford to buy, affordable homes people can access, and social homes across the spectrum so everybody has access to a home they can afford. I hear the Deputy on Galway East. I will be visiting both local authorities in the coming weeks and engaging with them t…

The Deputy is rightly passionate about keeping our young people in this country and providing affordable homes as a key solution to keeping young people here. That is what we want to deliver, and we want to accelerate the number of affordable homes that are being delivered. It is certainly something I regard as extremely important. I am working with each local authority to ensure that those affordable homes are available where they are needed in each and every county. I will continue to work with the Deputy and loo…

I thank Deputy Daly for raising this important question in relation to Roscommon County Council and the funding allocated for the tenant in situ scheme for 2025. I thank the Deputy for his ongoing engagement in relation to this important issue. The Government is providing continuing and substantial financial support to local authorities to acquire second-hand properties for priority categories of social housing need, including tenants in situ who have been in receipt of supports under HAP and RAS and who had receiv…

I thank Deputy Daly again for raising this very important question. In relation to Roscommon County Council's acquisitions in the period 2020 to 2024, the annual acquisitions funding provided for Roscommon for that period was €1.8 million, with €2 million funding provided for them in 2025. During the period in question, my Department provided €8.9 million to Roscommon County Council for the delivery of 57 acquisitions. Funding of circa €590,000 provided to Roscommon to date in 2025 relates to two acquisitions and a…

I thank Deputy Daly and, indeed, I am always happy to go to Roscommon. I have asked our local authorities to use the full range of options for tenants in situ who have received a notice of termination. Acquiring the landlord's property is one option but it is not the sole option. In some cases, local authorities might use the thousands of new social allocations that they make each year to provide a new tenancy for families they are supporting. These and casual vacancies are a valuable option given the record number…

I thank Deputy O'Meara for raising the important question around the expansion of the provision of modular housing. I thank the Deputy for his ongoing work and engagement in this important area of housing delivery. My Department, working closely with the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and other relevant stakeholders, is progressing work to increase delivery capacity in the residential construction sector through promoting the adoption of modern methods of construction, MMC. MMC is a collective term …

I thank the Deputy for his passion and determination regarding the provision of housing solutions in his county and across the country. The Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, has been working hard and has come up with significant proposals on log cabins. There will be a consultation next week, led by the Minister of State, about that matter, particularly as it is being worked on. We will continue to work across the Department to find the necessary solutions which are required in order that people can have the homes…