I move: That Dáil Éireann approves the following Order in draft: Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022 (Designation of Fingal and Wexford County Councils) (Parts of Administrative Areas) Order 2026, a copy of which has been laid in draft form before Dáil Éireann on 12th March, 2026. I welcome the opportunity today to outline for Members the motion to designate parts of the administrative areas of Fingal County Council and Wexford County Council under the Remediation of Dw…

I thank all Members for their valuable contributions. I welcome the support for the designation of parts of Fingal and County Wexford. I will work with all sides of the House to ensure this decision is now acted on promptly, if supported. I commend the motion to the House and look forward to further engagement on this issue.

I thank the Leas-Chathaoirleach and Senators. I welcome the opportunity today to outline for the House the motion to designate parts of the administrative areas of Fingal and Wexford County Councils under the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks Act 2022. During my time as Minister, I have had the opportunity to meet many people affected by defective concrete blocks. I have listened to their concerns directly, as well as the issues raised by local representatives and advocacy gro…

I thank the Senators for all their contributions. This is a very serious issue and it greatly affects those families concerned. The scheme is very effective. Almost a €250 million has been drawn down already, and that is very much reflective of how effective it is. I support the motion to designate additional areas in Fingal and Wexford.

I thank the Senators for their very significant contributions on the last day and again today. It is a very difficult topic because it is one that is very close to every single one of us as elected representatives and it impacts on every corner of the country in many ways. I really appreciate the time taken by people to give voice to people impacted by precarious living, homelessness and a lack of secure tenancy. Those voices are fundamental to any discussion on this issue. I want to be very clear, as I believe I a…

I welcome this discussion today and the opportunity to speak in full confidence in the Government and its leadership. There is no doubt the Dáil and every single one of us here, all of us elected representatives, are experiencing in our constituencies the impact of global political uncertainty on real people, families and businesses. Events that seem so far away geographically have a very immediate impact on everyday costs for people, from food to fuel and the very basics. We can all acknowledge this is a deeply ch…

I thank the Deputy for his question in relation to my plans to address the month on month rise in homelessness. Addressing homelessness is a priority for my office, the Department and this Government. Our new housing plan is an integrated housing and homeless plan based on two key pillars: activating the supply of 300,000 more homes; and supporting people to have a home of their own. Increased supply is key to addressing homelessness. The Government is focused on making sure everyone has access to a good quality an…

I have already outlined the several of the measures we are taking. Through our national homeless action committee along with homeless organisations, we are developing new strategies around child and family homelessness, and there are also our programmes around other homeless prevention. What the Deputy does not mention when he mentions the 55,000 figure is how many we have prevented going into homelessness or how many we have exited from homelessness. Since 2014 this country's population has increased by some 800,0…

I have set out numerous new measures we have announced in the past number of months to address homelessness. We know the only way we are ultimately going to address the housing, rental and homelessness crises is through increasing supply and not calcifying these crises in permanency, as is proposed by Sinn Féin with its measures. In the new tenancy legislation, we have some of the strongest, if not the strongest, tenancy protection measures in the European Union. We have security of tenure - people know how long th…

That has now been brought in. The only way a landlord can increase their rent with an existing tenant leaving is if that tenant voluntarily leaves and the Deputy is very much aware of that as well. We have to drive the supply. The Deputy is finding all sorts of accusations in relation to our proposals but he is not putting any forward himself other than calcifying the crisis in permanency.

I thank the Deputy. Under Delivering Homes, Building Communities, the Government is targeting the delivery of 300,000 new homes by 2030, including 72,000 social homes and 90,000 affordable supports. The latest Central Statistics Office, CSO, figures released show that a total of 36,284 new dwellings were completed in 2025, an increase of 20% year on year, the highest annual total since the dataset years began in 2011. Record level of social and affordable housing delivery have been achieved in recent years, with pr…

I do not accept that the new legislation is going to drive up homelessness. We know that notices to quit are the single greatest driver of homelessness. We know that the average tenancy is about 3.6 years. The new six-year tenancies of minimum duration will, I have no doubt, drive that 3.6 years significantly longer and reduce notices to quit, with people coming in and needing housing under new tenancies. In regard to last year, just over 36,000 new homes were built. Some 25% of those were new-build social homes. T…

It was 9,089.

I do not think it can be glossed over that last year, we built the highest number of new-build social homes in the history of the State. What has to be understood is that-----

-----we were coming from a standing start because the Deputy will know-----

Stop trying to shout me down, please.

The consistent Sinn Féin tactic is whenever I say something they do not want to hear, they start shouting me down. The Deputy has to have respect. He does not have to like what I have to say but he has to listen to me.

And it continues.

Is the Deputy going to let me speak? I thank the Deputy. It is the highest number of new-build social homes in the history of the State but we came from a very low standing start. As Deputy Sheehan will know, the last time the Labour Party had the Department of housing-----

-----it built 75 new-build social homes in the entire State.