Eoin Ó Broin
Ceist:139. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the regeneration of Oliver Bond House following his meeting with the regeneration forum. [37767/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraRegeneration Projects
Ceisteanna (139)
Freagraí ó Béal (10 píosaí cainte)
I understand the Minister had a very frank and potentially positive meeting with the Oliver Bond regeneration forum, so I am hoping he can update the House on the progress that was made and also listen to some of the concerns some of us continue to have with the approach being taken by the Department, not just with respect to the Oliver Bond complex but also concerning the other inner-city flat complex regeneration projects across Dublin.
I thank the Deputy for raising what is a very important matter, namely, the urban regeneration of Oliver Bond House. I did meet in the last couple of hours with the residents of Oliver Bond House and the Oliver Bond regeneration forum. The meeting was very much an opportunity for a meaningful discussion with the residents, to listen to them and to see where we can go from here in a very productive manner. It emphasises the Government’s commitment to carry out the regeneration and to fund it. The funding, in excess of €20 million, is still there, of course. Obviously, people are frustrated. They want to hear that the funding is still there, but, more importantly, they want to see progress and action to carry out the regeneration work there, because people are living in a completely unacceptable situation. The conditions in Oliver Bond House are, in terms of the residents’ health and the environment, totally unacceptable, as I said, in respect of how people are living there.
It is for those reasons that the regeneration of the estate remains a priority. We have been working with Dublin City Council. The importance of the meeting today was to get an opportunity to listen to the residents. The piece being discussed at the moment concerns blocks L, M and N within the complex, but there are other aspects there that we can start to do in parallel and actually accelerate the overall regeneration project. I reaffirm the €2.5 million that is there for public realm works. I have asked Dublin City Council to clarify how much of that has been drawn down. I think it is very little at this stage. I have asked it to clarify how much of the works have been carried out, because that funding is there. There is also €1.37 million for a community centre.
I thank the Minister. This may be one of those rare occasions where we might have more in common than we have to disagree about. I do think the letter sent by the Minister’s officials to Dublin City Council in April was a mistake. The Department’s position had shifted significantly from the stage 1 approval in 2023 or 2024. The amalgamation of blocks L, M and N from 74 units to 46 units had already been approved in principle two years ago. In fact, the revised scheme from Dublin City Council includes a significant improvement with the addition of a community centre.
Likewise, I refer to the explanation given by the Minister’s officials to us in the housing committee last week that it was possible to build 13 units inside the existing development but that the Bridgefoot Street development could not be considered, in which case it would be possible to get 43 units as part of the overall scheme. That is a mistake.
I thank the Deputy.
I am hoping to hear that there is some flexibility to return to the good elements of the Dublin City Council scheme so we can get the resolution that the residents of the Oliver Bond complex, in particular, desperately need.
There is a pathway to resolving this issue. We do need an appropriate mix. The position is not to say that there can be no amalgamation or even a reasonable amalgamation. The Bridgefoot Street development part is essential for the residents of Oliver Bond House as well, and that is a part that can be quite accelerated. There is an element where too much of this is happening sequentially. I am very struck by the fact that the actual process here started five years ago now. Whatever decision was made and whoever made it, and I do not want to go into the history of why we are here, it should not have taken five years to get to this point.
We also addressed other issues. There are some important ongoing works that I would call far more than maintenance. Water is dripping through roofs and there is mould. That work should not be put on hold either while the regeneration is happening. There is probably a sense that some works that need to be happening are not happening in the interim either to ensure that people can, at least, address some of those issues. These are ongoing maintenance problems, although far more than maintenance.
The hardening attitude of the Department to the issue of amalgamations is a problem. The issue here, in the first instance, should be to ensure that these homes are brought up to modern standards and, exactly as the Minister said, for good estate management, that there is an appropriate mix in each block, as well as across the development. I disagree with the Minister slightly in that I think Dublin City Council had actually put forward not just the proposals for the three blocks in question and Bridgefoot Street, but had also set out to the Department its intentions for the remainder of the complex.
There needs to be a clear understanding that the priority has to be to bring these homes up to standard. Where it is possible to get additional units on site or near the site, we absolutely should do that, but it should not be a condition. I would hate to see that we will have the same problems every time a new proposal goes in for each of the subsequent phases or other developments. The sooner that issue is clarified, the better.
I thank the Deputy.
Again, I am not hearing anything from the Minister that I disagree with. The quicker all of us can move on right across the inner-city flat complexes, the better.
Absolutely. These people are living in appalling conditions. We can accelerate the entire process here. It is about having the right mix and people being able to stay in their own local communities. The Bridgefoot Street development is an essential part of that, and, as the Deputy rightly said, there are another ten blocks for regeneration. Three blocks are part of a demolition proposal, with replacement as well. It is about how all of that happens. Every time there has been a proposal in this regard, it has simply taken too long. We have agreed to stay engaged with the Oliver Bond regeneration forum, accelerate this process and engage with Dublin City Council too. The forum is ably chaired by Frank Clarke. It is the residents’ voices, though, that are so important here, and they deserve to have decent, habitable homes that they can live in with dignity. I am determined to see that happen and I am keeping a very close ongoing involvement with this from here.
Housing Provision
Ceisteanna (140, 142)
Conor Sheehan
Ceist:140. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage the action he proposes to take to address the monthly rise in homelessness and the record number of evictions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37893/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra
Rory Hearne
Ceist:142. Deputy Rory Hearne asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to detail the interventions, schemes, programmes and policies employed by his Department to avoid people being made homeless by eviction, prevent them from entering into homeless accommodation and reduce the number of people evicted into homelessness; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37934/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (26 píosaí cainte)
I want to ask the Minister what actions he proposes to take in light of the monthly rise in homelessness and the record number of evictions that we have seen detailed in the release of the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, data last week, and if he will make a statement on the matter.
I propose to take Questions Nos. 140 and 142 together.
Supporting individuals and families experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness is an absolute priority for me, my Department and the Government. The Residential Tenancies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2026, which came into effect on 1 March 2026, provides the strongest tenancy protections in the history of the State. The new Act introduced a new national rent control for all tenancies which limits rent increases to inflation as measured by the consumer price index, CPI, up to a maximum of 2%. For new-build apartments and student-specific accommodation, however, rent increases are capped at the level of inflation only. These changes were introduced to promote greater investment in the rental market and to increase the supply of rental properties. while strengthening the protection of tenants. The Act also provides significant improvements in security of tenure for renters. The latest data published by the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, on 14 May shows that the number of registered landlords and tenancies have increased on a quarterly and a yearly basis.
Increased supply is key to addressing homelessness, meeting need and addressing the challenges in the housing market. Therefore, we are building more than ever in recent times. A record level of investment is being provided for the delivery of housing in 2026, with €5.2 billion in Exchequer capital funding complemented by investment through the Land Development Agency, LDA, and lending from the Housing Finance Agency, HFA, bringing the total capital funding for housing in 2026 to over €9 billion. Delivering Homes, Building Communities aims to deliver 300,000 new homes in the period to 2030, including 72,000 social homes and 90,000 starter home supports. The Government is targeting the delivery of more than 300,000 new homes over the next six years, an average of 50,000 per annum, with annual targets increasing incrementally to exceed 60,000 by the end of 2030 or 2031. This means 12,000 new social homes will be delivered on average each year to the end of 2030.
Delivering Homes, Building Communities recognises that homelessness is the single most pressing social issue that we face and introduces a number of key measures to address homelessness.
Ensuring the implementation of these measures will be a priority for me this year. Meeting the Government commitment to eradicate homelessness requires a whole-of-government response. The national homeless action committee, NHAC, which I chair, supports the co-ordination of the response by Government, local authorities and their service delivery partners. The most recent meeting of NHAC took place on Wednesday 4 March 2026. I will continue to work with the committee to ensure that a renewed emphasis is brought to collaborating across government to implement actions in the new housing plan.
Prevention of homelessness in the first instance is an absolute priority. There are many prevention initiatives already underway in my own Department and across government. This includes the provision of social and affordable housing, HAP and homeless HAP, and our strong tenancy protection legislation. In order to ensure a fully aligned all-of-government approach under the plan, the programme for Government includes a commitment to a holistic, cross-departmental approach to homelessness prevention. Work has commenced on developing a national homelessness prevention framework to ensure all possible measures are being taken across government to prevent homelessness. It is intended that this framework will be in place later this year.
Addressing family homelessness is another key priority for me, my Department and the Government. Under the new housing plan, we will develop a dedicated child and family homelessness action plan. This will bring together key stakeholders to drive the continued focus on preventing children and families entering emergency accommodation, providing enhanced supports for children experiencing homelessness, as well as measures to accelerate exits and reduce the time spent by children and their families in homeless emergency accommodation.
The RTB data shows that 7,062 eviction notices were issued in the first three months of this year. While there is an increased number of landlords, some of that is down to the regularisation of tenancies. Will the Minister's homeless prevention framework, which he said is coming, have clear targets and timelines, year on year and quarter on quarter? If it does not, then it will effectively become redundant very quickly . What legislative measures similiar to, for example, the homeless families Bill or the Simon Community's homelessness prevention Bill will the Minister introduce to in order to bring the homeless figures down?
I said earlier that this Government is the cruellest since the foundation of the State. The Minister waffles on about homelessness prevention but he will not do the one thing that could actually prevent people being made homeless, which is to put in place a ban on evictions. He has become and will be known as the Minister for evictions. We have record evictions and record homelessness, and the Minister will not do the thing that he can do to prevent families and children being made homeless, which is to put in place a ban on evictions. Every month the figures come out, the Minister is in hiding and never has to answer. In here is the one time that he does have to answer, and it is a disgrace.
In the context of the actual questions put forward by Deputy Sheehan, I would say that we are putting in a number of measures to target homelessness, not just preventing people from becoming homeless, and particular measures where we are aware that people might be going into homelessness. There are also measures relating to exits and how we get people out of homelessness as quickly as possible. The implementation of those prevention measures by every local authority across the country is absolutely crucial. We also have a series of specialised interventions. We have the national homeless action committee, which meets on a regular basis and in the context of which I engage with all of the NGOs. The latter are engaging with all of our action plans to address homelessness, including the child and family homelessness action plan and the youth action plan.
Homelessness is complex. The more than 17,000 people who are homeless are not all in the same situation and do not require the same solutions. Obviously, each of them needs a roof over their heads, but many also need different supports put in place. Many need different types of accommodation, so we are putting a multitude of different measures in place.
When Deputy Hearne talks about the Famine, he does a real disservice to all of those people who died during the Famine. That was a shocking period in our history. To come in here and start throwing that word around in respect of the housing crisis we are in is wrong. There is no comparison with what happened back then. It shows the low level of hyperbole the Deputy is prepared to go to just to get his little social media clip, as I have said before, but this is about policies. While I do not agree with their policies, at least the other two Deputies from the Labour Party and Sinn Féin are putting forward policies. Deputy Hearne just comes in here with his usual personalised rant. It achieves absolutely nothing, and it certainly does not help the people who need help.
The Minister spoke about prevention measures but the fact of the matter is that the most effective prevention measure that we had in recent times was the one that he severely restricted, namely the tenant in situ scheme or the ability of local authorities to acquire homes through second-hand acquisitions. The number acquired halved between 2024 and 2025. Will the Minister prioritise homeless prevention by allowing local authorities to use second-hand acquisitions for homeless prevention where it is not practically possible to offer an allocation? Local authorities are really severely restricted at the moment. Will the Minister support my Bill to ban no-fault evictions? I ask everybody in this House to support that legislation.
I absolutely stand over the comparison with the Famine. What the Minister is doing is refusing to acknowledge the trauma that is caused to every household that is evicted. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have stood over, year after year, evictions and homelessness rising. Deputy Browne is just another Minister who is standing over record homelessness and evictions. He said that I have no solutions. I set out my solution very clearly for him, namely a ban on no-fault evictions applying to existing tenants. The Minister is getting up in here and lying.
The Deputy cannot say that.
He cannot say that.
The Minister is spinning mistruths that he has put in place the biggest protections for tenants-----
The Deputy should withdraw that remark.
-----when he has not protected existing tenants. He should correct the record.
I want that remark withdrawn.
Deputy Hearne-----
The Minister has not give any protection to existing tenants.
Deputy-----
They are all still as exposed to being evicted onto the streets in the same way they were before the Minister's new measures.
Has the Deputy finished?
Yes.
I am going to ask him to withdraw that comment.
I will withdraw that it was a lie; it was a mistruth.
I hope people at home can see exactly the kind of behaviour we get from the Deputy.
I hope people at home can see the Minister's behaviour, which is being visited on them in the streets.
This House must be about finding solutions to address the housing crisis. We have put our policies forward to address that crisis and we stand behind them. That is why we saw a 20% increase in housing delivery last year and the highest number of social houses built in the history of the State. We are going to build more houses, including an increase in affordable provision.
An eviction ban does not and will not work. It has already been tried in the State and all it does is kill supply. I want to help not just the people already renting but also those living at home who need somewhere to rent. I bring in policies to do that, while the Deputy has the luxury of putting forward an eviction ban, which is fine. However, the consistently personalised nature of his contributions in this House does a disservice to every public representative in the country.
The Minister never acknowledges the human impact.
I cannot imagine what people at home who are interested in policy think when they hear the kind of personalising of politics in which the Deputy engages. It epitomises how little he actually has to say about policy in this area.
Deputy Sheehan spoke about no-fault evictions. Of course, what he proposes would protect people in the short term but, as I said, it would kill supply. I need to see greater supply in order that people have places to rent. Our population has increased by more than 800,000 since 2014. Off the top of my head, that requires approximately 250,000 homes. As well as delivering the homes for those people, we must deal with the undersupply that was there before that, which requires delivering even more homes. It has to be about driving that supply. I think we will see fewer notices to quit as we move forward with that.
Vacant Properties
Ceisteanna (141)
Thomas Gould
Ceist:141. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the voids programme review committed to in the Government's housing plan. [37768/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (14 píosaí cainte)
On page 76 of the Government's housing plan, there is a commitment to develop a new voids funding programme that would "incentivise lower vacancy rates and faster turnaround times for vacant local authority stock". The plan was launched 187 days ago on 13 November 2025. In that time, only one action has been taken on the voids scheme.
I thank the Deputy for his question. The management and maintenance of local authority social homes, including pre-letting repairs and the retenanting of homes, is entirely a matter for each individual local authority, as set out in section 58 of the Housing Act 1966. Local authorities must also ensure tenanted homes comply with the provisions of the rental standards regulations. To that end, local authority elected members and officials must make adequate budgetary provision for housing repairs and cyclical maintenance utilising the significant housing rental income available to them as part of the annual budgetary process.
That said, my Department is providing €260 million as a contribution towards the remediation and maintenance of local authority homes in 2026. This includes €40 million under the planned maintenance and voids programme, which is an increase of some 30% on the 2025 allocation. A total of €24 million of that sum is available for essential works to ensure vacant homes meet minimum standards, with the remaining €16 million available to support planned maintenance work programmes that are informed by stock condition surveys and delivered on a structured cycle of inspection, maintenance and repair.
A revised funding approach, notified to local authorities earlier this year, will be introduced from 2027. It will effectively link funding available through the programme to more efficient stock management by local authorities. With unacceptable levels of homelessness and a growing demand for social housing, it is imperative we increase availability within the existing stock while new-build social housing reaches the levels required in the coming years. That can be achieved by local authorities. The most recent National Oversight and Audit Commission, NOAC, report on stock vacancy levels and turnaround times shows the current national average vacancy rate is 2.75%, with an average turnaround time of 35.56 weeks.
The Minister talked to colleagues earlier about policy. I launched a policy to return vacant, boarded-up homes to use in housing families. This is the low-hanging fruit and I still cannot understand why the Minister, his Department and the other Ministers in the Government do not tackle it. The voids programme for 2026 will allow for the return of 2,200 homes, with local authorities receiving only €11,000 per unit when there are more than 4,500 houses boarded up and vacant. Why is the Minister not being more ambitious? This is a fundamental disagreement. He will not fund local authorities to return those homes to use. This could be a success story. We could house 4,500 families if he were willing to put up the money.
Two local authorities have vacancy levels of less than 1%, with five having vacancy rates of less than 2%. There is no reason that every local authority cannot reach those targets. The data also shows that four local authorities have turnaround times of less than 18 weeks, compared with the average of 36 weeks. The average vacancy rate is nearly 3% but some local authorities are well above it. I want to see those voids brought back into use. They are empty local authority homes that were paid for by the State. There should be people living in them. Some local authorities are taking various approaches to them rather than getting them turned around as quickly as possible. We are now incentivising councils to complete those turnarounds.
The Minister mentioned the NOAC report. I will refer to some of the figures in that report. In 2024, there were 4,251 empty council houses, which was an increase from the previous year. One in four of those homes was empty longer than a year. I know of houses in my constituency that have been empty and boarded up for years. The problem is a lot of local authorities do not have the excess funding to bring the long-term, older, more complicated and more expensive homes back into use. If the Minister is only giving €11,000 per unit and the average cost, according to NOAC, is €31,000, from where will the local authorities get the funding shortfall? Many councils are struggling and do not have the money. Will the Minister commit to funding local authorities to do that work? Will he stop blaming them for not doing so when he has the ability to make the funds available to enable it? This is an easy win. I cannot understand why he will not do it.
It is not a question of ability; it is a question of duty. Under section 58 of the Housing Act 1966, it is the duty of the local authorities to keep those properties maintained.
They do not have the money to do it.
The previous Government gave significant money. There should not be any home in long-term disuse. Significant money was given by the previous Government for every home that was empty long term to be brought up to standard. How is it then, only a few years later, that there are more properties no longer up to standard and, in fact, in very poor condition? That should not be the case.
Some of them are up to 100 years old.
The figure of €11,000 is only an average. Each home should not take €11,000 to fix. The duty is on local authorities to maintain their stock. The Government is stepping in to help and support them but it should not really have to do so. The local authorities should be able to look after their own stock, as is their duty. The key point is that a lot of local authorities, if not almost every one of them, are not putting 100% of their rental income into maintaining their properties.
They cannot do so.
People in social housing homes are paying rent. They have a right to have that money put back into maintaining the properties, but the local authorities are not doing that, which they should be.
They cannot do it because the Government cut their funding.
Those renters need to know their money is going where it should be going.
Question No. 142 answered with Question No. 140.
Defective Building Materials
Ceisteanna (143)
Eoin Ó Broin
Ceist:143. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage to provide an update on the Celtic tiger-era building defects redress scheme and the interim fire safety remediation scheme. [37769/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraFreagraí ó Béal (7 píosaí cainte)
The Minister previously informed us that it was his intention to have the legislation to underpin the Celtic tiger-era defects redress scheme not just introduced but passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas by the summer, with the objective that homeowners and owners' management companies could apply for inclusion in the scheme before the end of the year. Obviously, that legislation has not been published. Can he give an update on when it will be published and when he expects to have it passed by the Oireachtas and open to applicants?
Government approval was received on 18 September 2024 for the priority drafting of the apartment and duplex defects remediation Bill. The purpose of the legislation is to place the defects remediation scheme on a statutory footing, further to commitments contained in the programme for Government. The Bill will provide supports for the remediation of relevant fire safety, structural safety and water ingress defects in purpose-built apartment buildings, including duplexes, constructed between 1991 and 2013.
It is envisaged that 100% of eligible remediation costs will be funded in the relevant apartments and duplexes.
An interim remediation scheme has been in place since December 2023 to provide an acceptable level of fire safety in buildings, pending the introduction of the statutory scheme and completion of the full remedial works. As of the end of April 2026, 264 applications for the interim remediation scheme had been validated, having met the eligibility criteria. These applications represent 22,607 residential units, with circa 75% in the Dublin region.
As part of the interim scheme process, a number of pathfinder projects were identified to help inform the development of the legislation. I have just recently approved the final pathfinder project and all four projects across Dublin city centre, Portmarnock, west Dublin and Kilcock are now approved for funding from my Department in the amount of €24 million. Remediation works have commenced or will be commencing shortly in each case.
In February 2026, the Government announced some significant amendments to the interim scheme in order to simplify procurement and cut through administrative hurdles, allowing works relating to fire detection and alarm systems to be completed more quickly, while ensuring residents can remain safely in their homes until full building remediation is finished.
I am very conscious that a large number of homeowners in affected apartment developments have, on their own initiative-----
I thank the Minister.
I appreciate the answer, although none of that is new information. The specific question I asked was when this legislation will be published. When does the Minister expect it to complete its passage through the Oireachtas? When does he hope owners’ management companies will be able to apply? With respect to the interim scheme, I appreciate that finally four pathfinder projects have been approved, but that relates to over 200 schemes that desperately need this funding and it has been two years or more since the scheme was originally agreed in principle by the Government. Will the Minister give us some clarity on when the legislation will be published, when it will be passed and when it will be open to applications, and some indication of the extent to which he will be able to accelerate funding approval for more of the 22,000 homes that urgently need interim fire safety funding?
In terms of the timeline, all I can say is we will move this as quickly as possible. I wanted to get those interim schemes in place, and in particular the supports around fire safety. I also brought a memorandum to Government on 21 April 2026 on retrospection. Approval was received on a number of policy recommendations around retrospective grant payments. These recommendations will inform the ongoing drafting of the legislation. I can confirm works have been completed at 50 eligible perimeters of the scheme and these costs will be reimbursed. The general scheme of the Bill completed pre-legislative scrutiny in January. As the Deputy will know, drafting of the Bill has been progressed and I very much hope to be in a position to publish the Bill before the summer recess. Beyond that, I intend to move as quickly as I possibly can.
I thank the Minister for that clarity. One assumes that while the Minister may publish before the summer recess, it is likely the Bill will only come before the Oireachtas in the autumn. It is fair to say, to give some clarity to owners' management companies, that that means it is highly unlikely a scheme will open for applications this year, and it will more likely be next year.
With respect to the memo the Minister spoke about regarding retrospective pathfinders, there was some media commentary that there might have been some consideration of the issue of caps. Can the Minister give us some assurance that no caps will be included in the overall scheme and that where the issue of caps is being discussed with respect to procurement challenges for retrospective payments, he is hoping to find a solution so nobody is out of pocket and they get the full cost remediation, whether retrospectively or into the future?
The aim here is that people will not be out of pocket. There will not be caps. We are trying to do it in such a way that we can move as quickly as possible. There are some challenges around tender limits and how we can address that in a way that allows people to move far more quickly, but there are no overall caps on it.
In terms of any submissions on what the costs will be, the Department will look at that to ensure it meets what needs to be done to help these people. The Deputy is correct; if we publish the Bill before the summer, it will be debated in the autumn. I will aim to have it passed by Christmas. Obviously, that will be a challenge in terms of timelines but we will try to drive it as quickly as possible.