Brendan Smith
Question:100. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage when the income eligibility limits for social housing in Cavan and Monaghan will be increased. [69157/26]
View answerThursday, 1 October 2026
Questions (100)
Oral answers (9 contributions)
I welcome the Minister's comments in response to Deputy Gillian Toole's very important question on ensuring we have adequate provision for persons with additional needs and disabilities. We had a detailed discussion on this at our parliamentary party meeting on Tuesday night. The Minister of State, Deputy O'Donnell, was with me in Cavan on Monday when this particular issue was discussed and he heard at first hand the determination of HSE officials at local level and Cavan County Council to make progress in the matter.
With regard to the income eligibility limits, it is time they were revised upwards. They are extremely low in Cavan and Monaghan. We need a radical amendment to ensure that people who cannot buy their own home can qualify for social housing.
This is a matter the Minister and I have discussed on a number of occasions. When does he hope to bring forward the promised increase in thresholds? As part of that, will he also consider abolishing band 3, which leaves a number of counties, particularly rural and western seaboard counties, in an exceptionally disadvantaged position, even with an increase? Can he also give the House an update on his Department's consideration of index-linking social housing eligibility thresholds to some sensible index in the future to ensure that, as he has said, it will not be left to a Minister of the day to make an arbitrary decision on what the limits should be and that, instead, decisions will be based on some rational and credible publicly available criteria?
I thank the Deputies for their questions in relation to social housing limits. Deputy Brendan Smith raised the issue of social housing limits in Cavan and Monaghan and asked when those limits will be increased. As the Deputies will know, applications for social housing supports are assessed by the relevant local authorities in accordance with the eligibility and need criteria set down in section 20 of the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 and the associated social housing assessment regulations of 2011. The 2011 regulations prescribed maximum net income limits for each local authority in different bands according to the area concerned, with income being defined and assessed according to a standard household means policy. The policy provides for a range of income disregards. Local authorities also have discretion to disregard income that is once-off, temporary or short-term in nature, and which is outside the regular pattern of a person's annual income. The income bands are expressed in terms of a maximum net income threshold for a single-person household, with an allowance of 5% for each additional adult household member, subject to a maximum allowance under this category of 10% and, separately, a 2.5% allowance for each child.
The baseline social housing income thresholds are €40,000, €35,000 and €30,000 for bands 1, 2 and 3, respectively. Cavan and Monaghan are in band 3, with €30,000. These thresholds are net income, for example, gross household income less income tax, PRSI, universal social charge and additional superannuation contribution. Income is defined and assessed according to a standard household means policy. The policy provides for a range of income disregards and local authorities also have discretion to disregard income that is once-off, temporary or short-term in nature and which is outside the regular pattern of a person's annual income.
My Department has been examining the existing income limits in the context of current market and household income conditions, including the suitability or otherwise of the current framework, having regard to the significantly changed landscape since the standardised income limits were introduced. This includes examining the findings of research commissioned by my Department, and this work is ongoing. I expect the analysis will be concluded shortly to facilitate a final determination on the next steps. I am also keen to put in place a more structured and frequent process for the review of these limits going forward.
I thank the Minister for his reply. He will have heard me raise this particular issue on many occasions, both in written correspondence to him in parliamentary questions and within our parliamentary party. I welcome the very substantial funding provided to Cavan and Monaghan county councils since January 2025 to continue a very impressive and comprehensive house-building programme throughout both counties. Houses are being delivered, and that is very welcome.
The Minister visited County Cavan a few months ago at my request. He met with senior councillors and council officials from the housing division. One common theme in all of those contributions was the urgent need to improve the income eligibility limits. As the Minister knows, we all meet constituents at weekends. Every weekend, I have people with me who are working hard in low-paid jobs and whose income is still above the limit for social housing. These people have no chance of getting a mortgage or home loan. We cannot condemn them to renting for life. I know the Minister wants to make progress on this matter. We need that to be achieved as soon as possible. Since the 1930s, when Seán T. Ó Ceallaigh began the major house-building programme, there has been a very successful social housing programme in this country.
We want to continue it, with a mix of people in housing estates.
For every week or month that passes before a decision is made on this matter, a significant number of people will lose their position on local authority housing waiting lists. I have constituents who became homeless from their HAP tenancy, went into emergency accommodation and are marginally above the thresholds of my own local authority. Because income is now reassessed for eligibility as part of the annual review, they were removed for the social housing waiting list. They lost nine years on the list. They have no possible exit from emergency accommodation because they cannot afford private rental, if they could find it, and do not have family to stay with. As the Minister's party colleague has rightly said, there are also thousands of people who have no hope of renting or buying privately. In many counties, particularly the ten counties that are in band 3, there is no cost rental. They would not be able to afford that, and they are excluded from the list. I am asking the Minister to inject some urgency into this. The increase needs to be significant. I would make the very strong case that those ten counties in band 3 should all be in band 2 at a minimum. I urge the Minister to proceed with his suggestion of index-linking the increases, so that annually they keep track of the economy, wages and the cost of housing in the private market.
I thank the Deputies for their questions on the social housing limits. There is very much a recognition that those limits need to increase. We are working on that proposal. In my view, they absolutely do have to increase. They should be reviewed on a more frequent basis rather than when certain pressures have built or a certain amount of time has passed. I am conscious that social protection payments have increased since the last limit was set. Incomes have increased as well. I do not want to have people waiting to get homes on housing lists. If increasing the limits means the numbers go higher, that in itself is not a concern for me. My concern is getting those people housed.
Absolutely.
I very strongly welcome the Minister's concluding remarks. As he has heard from me on numerous occasions, and as I have heard from our councillors in Cavan and from all the officials at all ranks in the housing division in Cavan County Council, it is a big issue that we deal with on a daily basis. Good, genuine, hard-working people are coming to us who are above the income limit. They are not in well-paid jobs. They are working hard, rearing families. We have to ensure that they are given the opportunity to get their own home. We cannot emphasise strongly enough how successful social housing policy has been for decades in this country. We want to continue that. We need a good mix of people in every community and every estate, whether private or public. I sincerely hope the Minister will be able to put additional momentum into this to ensure that the limits are adequately increased at the earliest possible date. I thank him for his work in this area.
I thank the Deputies again for raising this matter. I assure them it is being given very serious consideration. There will be announcements on this in the near future.