I propose to take Questions Nos. 1 to 16, inclusive, together.

The Cabinet committee on housing last met on Thursday, 14 May. The committee will next meet on Monday, 29 June. The committee works to ensure a cross-government approach to the implementation of our commitments regarding housing policy.

Housing supply has increased significantly over the past number of years and home completions data for quarter 1 shows that 2026 is off to a very good start, with almost 8,000 new homes built, which is the highest number of quarter 1 completions since the series began 15 years ago. Apartment completions in quarter 1 of 2026, at 2,355, are up 33.3% from quarter 1 of 2025. In quarter 1 of 2026, more than half of the completions were scheme dwellings, 30% were apartments and 18% were single dwellings. In 2025, over 36,000 homes were completed, up 20% from 2024, while 2025 saw the highest number of people buying their first home in well over a decade, with first-time buyer mortgage drawdowns of almost 28,000, supported by Government-backed measures such as the first home and help to buy schemes. In addition, we now have the highest social housing build per annum on record.

Clearly, the measures we have implemented, backed by unprecedented State investment, are working but we have an awful lot more to do and are still not at the scale we need to reach to make sure we can provide for people to be able to buy or rent a house at an affordable rate. We have made available the highest ever commitment of Exchequer funding for housing - €28 billion up to 2030 - along with additional funding through State vehicles, including the Land Development Agency, the Housing Finance Agency, Home Building Finance Ireland, the first home scheme and the Irish Strategic Investment Fund.

The Land Development Agency has revised its corporate strategy in line with its expanded mandate - a wider geographical focus, an emphasis on starter homes, a greater mix of tenure to include more social and private housing delivery and infrastructure-led delivery, with an updated business plan expected by quarter 3 which will outline expected annual delivery to 2030.

Along with the agency's role in managing the State-owned lands to help develop new homes and regenerate underutilised sites, it will continue to unlock stalled private planning consented developments through its market engagement and home builder partnership initiative, Project Tosaigh. Through these various delivery channels, the LDA has delivered more than 3,000 homes to date and to scale up housing supply, we need to significantly zone more land and more serviced land. All 31 local authorities across the country have been tasked with ensuring that more than enough land is zoned to meet the needs of our citizens. The process is well under way, with local authorities signalling they will have over 70% of required land zoned complete by the end of June.

Time is up, Taoiseach. It will be read into the record. We have 16 Deputies. On the balance of fairness, I propose 45 seconds each. I will do my best so each Deputy gets a reasonable answer. I call on Deputy Séamus McGrath.

I thank the Taoiseach for his update. I want to raise the issue of the qualifying income limits for social housing. The Minister for housing has indicated a willingness to examine these limits but I am raising it because I believe they urgently need to be increased. An increasing number of working people are finding themselves outside the social housing income limits and outside the social housing support bracket. This is increasing the cohort of people who are effectively receiving no support from the State. Traditionally, social housing was available to working people. We need to get back to that place. I ask the Taoiseach to please take this issue back and increase the limits as soon as possible.

I wish to raise the issue of difficulties of building a one-off rural house, particularly in my constituency of Tipperary North and in north-west Kilkenny. From restrictions around access onto regional roads that do not always need to be there, to sight-line issues, ribbon development and the difficulty of building on one's own land, it should not be a privilege to build a house and live in the area in which you grew up. What is the Government doing to make it easier to build that one-off rural home, particularly for younger people who are trying to get back into their own area, perhaps coming home from abroad, start a family, raise their family there to support the local club, the local school and the local community? What are we, in Government, going to do to ensure we can build those houses in rural Ireland?

Last night in Kilkenny we had a very special evening when Eamon Langton was conferred with the honour of becoming a freeman of Kilkenny city. Mr Langton has been a champion of Kilkenny city for decades and has been a brilliant ambassador for all things that are great in Kilkenny, be that the Kilkenny hurling team and his support, tourism and employment. He has been absolutely fantastic. He joins a very exclusive club that includes Éamon de Valera, Constance Markievicz, Brian Cody and Eddie Keher. Eamon Langton is a freeman of the city and it is much deserved. I pay tribute to and thank the mayor, Councillor John Coonan, for his foresight in nominating Eamon Langton. It was a very special evening. I congratulate Eamon and all his family. Can the Taoiseach give us an update on the rural housing and planning guidelines and when they will be published?

I asked the Taoiseach about what I consider to be the absolutely disgraceful decision of DLR Properties, which is a corporate subsidiary of Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, to put up for sale land zoned for more than 1,000 houses. We could have more than 1,000 social and affordable homes but instead a board, which is not accountable to the elected representatives on Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council or to the public but is populated by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael councillors, has decided to sell off public land. I asked the Taoiseach about it last week. I would like to know because this is disgraceful. I thought all publicly-owned land that could be available for social and affordable housing was supposed to be made available, for example, to the LDA. The idea that it is being sold off to private developers who are then going to build housing that nobody can afford is a scandal.

The recent RTÉ "Prime Time" programme on dereliction should shame the Government into action on this issue. It showed that driving the blight of dereliction is an abject failure of enforcement as well as a failure to even record the number of properties that are being left to rot in our towns, villages and cities. The problem is painfully visible in east Cork. Castlemartyr is a beautiful, historic village with enormous potential but large parts of its main street have been scarred by long-standing, egregious dereliction. It is well-known locally that much of that dereliction in Castlemartyr is linked to one family. This is not just about appearances. It damages community pride, housing supply, tourism appeal and heritage, and creates a wider impression of neglect and decay. How has this been allowed to happen for so long? There is no excuse for it. Will the Taoiseach commit to a proper national register, stronger enforcement and full collection of levies?

South Dublin County Council management is planning massive rent hikes for 20,000 families from July of this year. That includes council tenants, HAP tenants, homeless HAP tenants and approved housing body tenants. The council is increasing the base rate by 25% but also making a series of other changes such as incorporating into the assessment the working family payment, which means some families are going to see their rents increased in July by 53%. Not only is this massively unjust and unaffordable for many, it flies in the face of what elected councillors agreed in a motion unanimously passed in February that stated there should be no change until there has been consultation with tenants and tenants unions, such as Community Action Tenants Union, CATU. That consultation has not taken place. At the very least, will the Taoiseach agree that this should be suspended until there has been a consultation and until elected councillors get to vote on it?

Limerick faces a severe housing deficit. It is 6,000 homes behind delivery targets. The Taoiseach recently spoke at the Limerick Chamber business luncheon but planning permissions and housing commencements are down 40% in Limerick in the past year and both the Chamber and An Taisce-----

Did the Deputy say An Taisce?

-----have raised reasonable issues in relation to the disconnect that is there between national policy enabling or hindering local development. Density zoning of 50 per hectare in Castletroy, Mungret, Raheen and other suburban areas is affecting viability in those areas and it is going to be very hard to get 100-plus dwellings per hectare in the city centre. What sort of targeted interventions are the Government considering to ensure that Limerick reaches its housing targets?

In Ireland, 90% of protected habitats are in an unfavourable conservation condition. Ireland ranks one of the lowest in the world when it comes to nature intactness and we also spend, as a percentage of our GDP, one of the lowest amounts among countries in Europe. The Government has an Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund but the independent body that was set up to look at nature restoration has estimated it is going to cost €450 million to €700 million a year to roll out nature restoration plans in Ireland. However, there is no money currently ring-fenced for that under the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund. This is something I raised so many times with the previous Government and with the previous Minister. Funds needed to be ring-fenced for nature protection and restoration under the fund. It was not done by the previous Government. I am asking the Taoiseach to ring-fence money for nature protection.

The Taoiseach has acknowledged the fact that we need service sites to deliver housing. In many parts of the country, our water network is absolutely creaking. This weekend, for practically the whole weekend, Duleek and Stamullen in County Meath were without water due to unscheduled outages and failed repairs. These outages are all too regular. There is a plan for investment in the network. I am asking the Taoiseach to ensure that is prioritised and rolled out as quickly as is possible and in the meantime, that Uisce Éireann is held to account for responsiveness to outages and to communities.

The Taoiseach have roughly 11 minutes to respond.

I thank all the Deputies who raised numerous issues. Deputy McGrath raised qualifying limits and thresholds for social housing. I agree with what he said and a lot of working people, because of their income being just a bit above the income threshold, are not in a position to buy or get a mortgage or get a social house. I have spoken to the Minister for housing on this. He is actively considering increasing the income thresholds. I will pursue the issue again with the Minister. It is something that should be done and we need to do it.

Deputy McAuliffe has been very active on the ground.

He is so active that he is gone out now doing something else and meeting somebody else. He referenced the fact that there are 600 units. I was going to suggest to him that he should engage with the LDA and so will I in respect of that matter.

That is where he is gone.

Okay. It is good to see. He outlined that close to 1,000 houses have been built and now there is a further proposal for 600 houses. There is a lot happening on the housing front. We just need more and more of it and to keep the momentum going.

Deputy O'Meara asked about one-off rural housing. I accept the basic principle that on your own land or in your own community we need people to have the capacity to regenerate that community, to grow up in it, to support the clubs, to maintain a population critical mass and to keep heritage and a community vibrant. The Minister, Deputy Browne, and the Minister of State, Deputy Cummins, are close to new rural housing guidelines. We have discussed this. We are looking at the Gaeltacht as well. Hopefully, within the next number of weeks, we will have clarity on that and those guidelines will be brought to Cabinet.

In response to Deputy Cleere, I pay tribute to Eamon Langton as well. It is a wonderful tribute and he has joined an elite group of people. Fair play to the mayor, Councillor Coonan for his initiative in this regard. I have enjoyed their hospitality from time to time as well in the past while in Kilkenny. I note that Brian Cody was among the recipients as well. He is a good man to give a pep talk to any group of people, be they hurling or political. I do not know the man's politics at all but he is a man who speaks a lot of sense. On the rural housing guidelines, similar to Deputy O'Meara, Deputy Cleere has been championing that and arguing for it. I hope we will have the guidelines in the next fortnight or so.

In response to Deputy Boyd Barrett, I do not think I have the full story from him. I probably have the story from his perspective but I would be interested to know if it will definitely go for housing. A thousand houses will be built there.

Why are we selling it?

I do not know. I do not know the background to this. I do not run every council or every subsidiary of every council, nor should I.

A thousand homes.

We delegate authority to local councils that are elected by the people in the given locality to get things done, but the Oireachtas pays lip service to that idea and notion.

The elected councillors did not decide this.

Deputy, please. Be fair to other Members.

They decide the subsidiary, I imagine.

A decade.

Maybe things will get done there because, in regard to the councils on the other side, Dublin City Council had land for a long time - O'Devaney Gardens and you name it. Nothing happed there for a decade. We need people to get things moving and maybe the other side of this story, which I have not heard, is that people are anxious to get things moving here and that we could have 1,000 houses much faster than would otherwise have been the case. I do not know. I have not the specifics of it but I will follow it up.

On Deputy Quaide's question, to be fair, two of the big significant interventions in terms of dereliction have been the grants we have brought in to enable people to refurbish and bring back to life vacant houses and dilapidated or derelict houses. Up to 7,000 people have applied for those grants and they have been effective. On the Derelict Sites Act 1990, again, the local authorities have responsibility on dereliction. It is, fundamentally, a function of local authorities. I accept it has not happened with the uniformity or consistency across the country that it should have. Some councils are better than others, so the Government, in this year's budget, decided to hand responsibility to Revenue for a tax on derelict sites that would be administered by it, which will deliver a better outcome in bringing derelict buildings back into use much faster. There is a lot of mapping going on and so on, and work being done to make sure that proposal is implemented efficiently, effectively and comprehensively but it is the right direction of travel given that the Derelict Sites Act, as administered by councils over the past decade or so, has not been as effective as it should have been.

Deputy Paul Murphy raised the issue of South Dublin County Council. Again, I do not have the specifics of that. There has to be sustainability in whatever situation is there but the Deputy is saying rents will go up 53%.

For some.

Not for everybody, I presume.

No. The base rate is up 25%. Everyone is up 25%.

The Deputies are like the terrible twins over there. Please stop.

I will have to examine that and see what the position of the council is in respect of that. In regard to Limerick-----

Should the councillors not get to vote on it?

Deputy Murphy, you know it is not the format.

Council management is on it contrary to the vote of the councillors.

I ask you not to ignore me, Deputy.

I am not running the council.

But the Taoiseach agrees that the councillors should get to vote and it should be suspended until there is a vote of the council.

I ask the Taoiseach not to encourage the Deputy. I ask the Deputy to please not ignore me. There is a format here and it is Taoiseach's Questions.

On another day, the Deputy would be attacking Government if we interfered in local authorities and local government. We need to make up our mind in the Oireachtas. Do we believe in a local authority system or not? Do we believe in delegating-----

We want to give power to councillors, not council management.

Deputy, please. Be fair to other Members.

Do we believe in delegating authority to them or not?

The councillors.

Deputies are paying lip service and playing both ways as it suits.

I will come to the Deputy in regard to Limerick. Who was it?

Deputy Sheehan, yes.

I was going to say, "Get your act together there". We are providing the funding. We have asked the council to zone land. Is the Deputy saying the density is too low?

It is rhetorical.

I cannot; it is a rhetorical question. We are anxious for it and we will work with the local authority to make progress here. We have provided substantial funding. We believe the councils, generally, should be rezoning more land to get more housing. In some places, density can be an issue, where apartment blocks may not be feasible or sustainable. I do not know which is which and in that case, that needs to be reviewed. Our view is a far more flexible approach needs to be adopted.

That is my point.

I thank the Deputy. We are on the one page in respect of that. I will talk to the Minister about that and ask him to talk to the Deputy.

In response to Deputy Whitmore's question, I am working with the Minister of State, Deputy Christopher O'Sullivan. The plan has been recently concluded, chaired by Dr. Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin. It is a fine, comprehensive plan that lays out a roadmap to preserve and enhance our biodiversity and habitats. I have met with the National Parks and Wildlife Service and the Minister of State, and they have a plan on how the funding can be built up but it will not all be spent immediately or in one year. We are making progress. We have to have further discussions within Government to try to earmark over the next five years allocations of money from the nature fund for the implementation of this plan. That is the work I have under way. I know the Minister of State is working strongly with us and the relevant Ministers to bring that over the line.

We have established the Infrastructure, Climate and Nature Fund. Some €2 billion went to the metro initially, and probably more. We also need to do funding for nature. Some of the good European Union projects will come to an end. They have been very effective. I refer to the lapwing and others. We are making a lot of progress as well on some fronts but we need to do it on a sustained basis over the next decade or so. There has to be a sustainable funding framework to enable us to restore biodiversity and really make progress. That will have benefits for farmers as well. It is a way of supplementing income for farmers, particularly on the western seaboard, in the north west and so on. I see a lot of potential here for harmony. Farmers signed up to this as well. The number of non-governmental organisations that endorsed the plan was also remarkable.

Deputy O'Rourke talked about the need for investment. There is a plan there for investment in Duleek and Stamullen, he said, and we will certainly work to activate that plan and to make sure to prioritise the funding there. The investment is planned for there. As the Deputy knows, the Minister, Deputy Jack Chambers, has been working on faster delivery of infrastructure and so forth to make sure things get done much more quickly.

Thank you, Taoiseach. We will have an extra minute and a half on the next question, which is to ask the Taoiseach when the Cabinet committee on disability will meet next. That will give Members a minute each.

Happy days.

I know.