Conor Sheehan
Limerick City · Labour Party · Ireland
“If a student does not have access to one of these devices or access to one at home, there is often no alternative and that could leave them excluded. Many families are forced to pay hundreds and thousands, particularly with the rising cost of microchips, for these devices.”
“I thank the Minister for her considered response. We need to get rid of voluntary contributions and move to generic school uniforms. This is something that has been done in the UK.”
“This digital divide is resulting in a severe and growing level of inequality where so many communities, students and families are unable to purchase the devices they desperately need for their children's education.”
“I raise the issue of the community access support team, CAST, in Limerick, which has prevented 133 detentions under section 12 of the Mental Health Act and reduced the number emergency department presentations. It has responded to over 1,000 incidents.”
“Do not worry. We need to have a debate this week before the House rises about the imminent report on Aughinish Alumina. There are up to 2,000 direct and indirect jobs at stake in Limerick. We cannot have a situation where the State is inadvertently complicit in the export of alumina to Russia. Where there is a will, there is a way.”
“It is absolutely reprehensible that planning permission has been granted for apartments on the site of the former mother and baby home at Bessborough. We have 19 mothers and 859 infants associated with Bessborough still missing. Now 140 apartments are going to be built on a mass grave. We need statements on this next week.”
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“While the measures that the Government announced last week relating to security of tenure are welcome, they were undermined completely by allowing landlords to reset rents to market rate. The Housing Commission was clear that social and affordable housing should form 20% of our housing stock. It currently forms less than 10% of all housing stock. If the Tánaiste has huge respect for the Ombudsman for Children, as he said he has, I hope he will heed what he said and come forward with a bespoke plan to deal with child homelessness, but also include our homeless families Bill that is sitting in the ether for eight years in the housing (miscellaneous provisions) Bill 2025. Words are not enough. The Government has the authority to act, pass legislation and as the Tánaiste said last year when he became Taoiseach to "move mountains".”
“The programme for Government has no mention of homelessness prevention. There are huge variations in how individual councils treat homeless children. Labour proposed the Housing (Homeless Families) Bill eight years ago. This was supported by Focus Ireland and has passed pre-legislative scrutiny. The previous Minister considered including it in the Housing (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024 last year, but failed to act. The Ombudsman for Children called for the same measure in its 2019 report No Place Like Home. Will the Government now act? How many children must suffer the trauma of homelessness before we see real emergency measures? Will the Government heed the words of the Ombudsman for Children with bold and brave action and a dedicated strategy? For nearly 5,000 children, it is already too late.”
“There is a level of inertia in the delivery of public housing that is impossible to understand. Councillors and local authorities across the country will tell us of the dead hand of the Custom House restricting their ability to get on with it. The private sector will not solve this crisis; only the State can. We know that the tenant in situ scheme has been gutted. We know the Minister has stalled 500 homes by pausing public-private partnerships, PPPs. We know that the Government has hiked rents in the private rental sector. There is an €8 billion surplus, but we cannot keep families in their homes. These are things within the Government's control. I wrote to the Minister for housing with policy measures to address homelessness in March, but I still have not received a response.”
“If the Government wants confirmation of the total failure of its housing policies, that statistic sums it up. The Tánaiste admitted yesterday homelessness is too high in Ireland and we have to work every day to do better and more. The ombudsman called for bold brave measures to address the crisis. There is a need for a specific child and family homelessness strategy built on three pillars: prevention; supports in homelessness, and delivery of social and affordable housing. On all measures, the Government is failing. There is no point telling a homeless child we are building more social homes than at any point since the 1970s. This Government and the previous one had “one of the highest levels of public expenditure for housing, yet one of the poorest outcomes”. These are the words of the Housing Commission and not mine.”
“Tomorrow will mark another dark day when the latest homeless figures are published. The figure will be over 15,000. This is the population of a town the size of Tullamore. There were 4,775 children homeless in the most recent figures, each an individual tragedy. "The impact of homelessness and unstable living conditions on children is catastrophic" were the words of the Ombudsman for Children on Tuesday at the housing committee. Let us go back just five years to May 2020 and there were 2,787 children homeless. In five years, there has been a 60% increase in child homelessness. The long-lasting effects of such trauma and displacement put these children at increased risk of poverty, social exclusion and adult homelessness long after they have moved out of homeless services.”
“There is only one bronchoscopy room and no recovery room for patients post-bronchoscopy, which means it is extremely inefficient. If a recovery room existed four bronchoscopies could be performed in one hour, rather than one as it is now.”
“I wish to ask about cancer services with specific reference to the NDP review that will be published in July and to make the case for a dedicated funding stream within that for cancer services. I wish to also ask about UHL and especially the cancer care outcomes. UHL has the worst outcomes in the January 2025 NCRI report. This is extremely concerning. There is no PET scanner, which means lung cancer patients are suffering delays of four to six weeks and have to travel for these scans. There is a plan to deliver one within the next five years, but that needs to happen a lot quicker. Currently patients have to travel to the Beacon and to Cork, where there is a four week wait. There is also no cardiothoracic surgeon on site. Patients are sent to St. James's Hospital.”
“I raised a Topical Issue here last night and listened to Deputy Gallagher talk about the A5 road being decided by the courts in the North. The fact of the matter is planning has become far too judicious in recent years and I hope the new Planning and Development Act will deal with this.”
“I seriously urge Government to commit to fully funding Uisce Éireann's strategic funding plan and to allocate multi-annual ring-fenced funding of €2 billion for water and wastewater capacity to enable housing and growth. That is €1.7 billion plus €300 million. If we are serious about delivering housing and building up the country's capacity in terms of infrastructure, it is essential we take these measures. I agree with much of what is proposed in the motion. There is far too much objection going on. There is far too much in terms of planning that is being decided by the courts. I sincerely hope that when Government commences fully the Planning and Development Act 2024, it will actually deal with this. This is the biggest crisis we face and it permeates everything we do in this country.”
“From my and the Labour Party's point of view, Government must ensure Uisce Éireann and ESB Networks are sufficiently resourced to support delivery of the housing we need. I and my colleague, Deputy Nash, had a briefing with Uisce Éireann recently. It was sobering. Ringsend will be at capacity within two years. Greater Dublin drainage has been mired in planning difficulty since 2018. It highlights how as a country we have gone wrong in planning. We are not able to throughput big infrastructure projects in a timely manner without things being mired in judicial review and taking years upon years. Uisce Éireann has been clear with us about its ask to deal with the State's creaking water infrastructure up to 2029.”
“There is potential to unlock between 2,800 and 4,000 homes. This is a complete emergency; it is not a crisis any more. However, there is no sense of urgency within the Minister of State's Department about dealing with it as an emergency. That is why we need a unit within the Department of the Taoiseach to grab this by the horns. These issues do not involve attracting private sector investment, as we have debated back and forth in this House in recent weeks. This is pure dysfunction within the Department of housing. It is not able to throughput things and make decisions in a timely manner. This has been going on for years and is getting worse. Things are going into the Department and being stuck there for an inordinate time. Infrastructure and the need to fund it properly are at the crux of this motion.”
“This land received planning permission in 2024 and this partnership was announced 14 months ago. The council's ask was also sent to the Taoiseach's office and the Department of public expenditure as part of the national development plan review and it still has not heard anything. This land is on the grounds of the former Mungret College, is owned by Limerick City and County Council and is part of the wider Mungret framework area. The framework aims to unlock substantial lands in public and private ownership and allow construction of residential development supported by community and employment use. The LDA has also acquired a significant land bank throughout the city, particularly on Carey's Road. I know an ask has been submitted to the Department for €200 million in funding for infrastructure as this is a complicated brownfield site.”
“The development has been basically in limbo since March because of a €5 million shortfall in the delivery of infrastructure on the site. In the overall context, €5 million is a tiny sum of money and it is holding up the delivery of 250 homes. When I raised this with the Minister by way of parliamentary question, I was told Limerick City and County Council has advised the Minister that a funding requirement has arisen in relation to enabling infrastructure at Mungret - that infrastructure being a link road and a plaza - and that Limerick City and County Council was considering the matter with a view to bringing forward a funding proposal in due course. I spoke to Limerick City and County Council and was told it submitted a business case to the Department two months ago and is still awaiting a decision - that is for €5 million.”
“This would take the form of a time-limited decision-making entity within the Department of the Taoiseach underpinned by legislation to unlock the blockages in infrastructure, zoned land and planning. However, the Government's proposal of a strategic housing activation office with no statutory power will amount to little more than another quango. Very often, the issue with the delivery of housing lies in the availability of adequate infrastructure with sufficient capacity in areas where land is zoned. I will give an example in my city of Limerick. We recently had a development of 250 homes in the suburb of Mungret. This is a partnership between the Land Development Agency and Limerick City and County Council.”
“Bundles 4, 5, 6 and 7 represent the guts of 3,000 homes. We need clarity on these further bundles. In my city of Limerick, we have a PPP under way under bundle 7 in Toppins Field, which is a mix of social and affordable housing. Will this project continue? Will this continue as a PPP? What is going to happen to the PPP model going forward? I know my own local authority has said it finds the NDFA excellent to deal with as a delivery partner. On the substance of the motion, I welcome the majority of the contents. It is a common-sense motion. It is grounded in fact and many of its points merit serious consideration. The motion calls for a dedicated housing delivery acceleration task force. I believe the template for this already exists in the housing delivery oversight executive proposed by the Housing Commission.”
“Instead of pursuing another funding mechanism at the time for these housing projects, it drove on until the eleventh hour until a contractor was essentially appointed and then pulled it. We now have a situation where there is funding for 500 badly needed homes. That is 500 so far because we have no certainty or clarity on the further bundles. We need certainty and clarity on this. When and how will these homes be delivered? I do not understand, because bundle 3 went through gateway approval in November. Why was the value for money approved on this in November and then subsequently pulled in May? How did it go through the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform's approval process and then stop? It does not make any sense. I am concerned that the State will open itself up to litigation on this.”
“I thank the Independent Technical Group and Deputy Fitzmaurice for bringing forward this motion. We are six months into this new Government. There is no sight of the new housing plan until September. There are no new housing targets for local authorities. We expect that on Friday we will have record homelessness. There are no rural planning guidelines. They were apparently with the Attorney General since last summer and the average price of a second-hand home is now €600,000. I want to raise the PPP withdrawal because it is really concerning. At the time, Government was told by many people on this side of the House that this was a flawed model and poor value for money.”
“The fact of the matter is this situation is akin to the way it was in the early 2000s and we need a similar level of urgency as there was between 2008 and 2010 when we stamped this out. We are going backwards and I am literally terrified that somebody is going to be murdered in Limerick again soon.”
“I thank the Minister of State for her reply. First, regarding the LCSP, I sat on the joint policing committee. The joint policing committee has not sat since I was a member of it, which was in May 2024. It is simply not acceptable. What I am looking for is a commitment that the Minister of State will take up the substance of the issues I raised with the Commissioner. We need at least ten additional gardaí. It is not me saying that; it is the chief superintendent. When the Minister of State talks about not being able to police our way out of this, I agree with her. That is why we need to see a commitment that the money in the social intervention fund through regeneration will be maintained for the next number of years.”
“The Commissioner's restrictions on overtime are a complete disgrace. He does not have a clue what is going on in Limerick. This is not something minor that involves antisocial behaviour. We need at least ten additional gardaí in the next passing out from Templemore. I ask the Minister to intervene directly before someone is killed. I also raise the need for funding approval for the CCTV system in Moyross. This is vital. An ask and a business case has gone to the Department of justice and I plead with the Minister to push for the approval of this as a matter of urgency. An application for a CCTV scheme for the community of Garryowen has been with the Commissioner for over two months and a sign-off is urgently needed on that.”
“It does not consider the actual level of need in the city. Limerick has nine of the 17 economic blackspots in the city. It is the home of St. Mary's Park, which is a wonderful community but also the most deprived community in the State. The residents of this community do not deserve to live in the shadow of a minority of drug-dealing vultures who peddle crack cocaine, an evil insidious drug. Gardaí had relatively successful operations - Operation Copóg and Operation Feabhsaigh - to tackle this but these have ceased as Garda resources have been diverted to the south side of the city in order to tackle a wave of violence in Ballinacurra Weston. Make no mistake, we have a feud again in Limerick. We have had shootings, pipe bomb attacks and fire bombings. It is a miracle nobody has been killed.”
“Both of us are united in our concern about the volatility of the situation in Limerick as it pertains to serious crime and the absence of an adequate and visible policing presence to tackle this. Limerick is a wonderful place and a city that has come far since the dark days of 20 years ago, yet the lack of an active and visible policing presence has become a defining feature of our city. In a recent reply to a parliamentary question, it was revealed that of the 120 gardaí who attested from Templemore this month, only two were assigned to Limerick. That is 1.6% of the total number. Seventy-four gardaí from the same cohort were assigned to Dublin. Limerick and the mid-west are consistently overlooked when it comes to the assignment of gardaí. The model for assigning gardaí is failing Limerick.”
“I support the amendment. This is something we have called for since my colleague Deputy Bacik introduced her renters' rights Bill in 2021. The provision of a three-year rent freeze is contained within that Bill. We believe that a three-year rent freeze is prudent and necessary in order to create space, particularly in view of how much rents have risen in the past decade.”
“I move amendment No. 2: In page 3, to delete line 22 and substitute the following: “December 2025”, and (c) by the insertion of the following subsection after subsection (6): “(7) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Act, rent payable under the tenancy of a dwelling shall not be increased during the relevant period.”.”.”
“That legislation is frequently flouted, as we know. I reject the idea that we have to strike a balance between investors and renters, purely because the entire housing system as it stands is so imbalanced against renters. The changes the Government proposes will not necessarily address the viability issue. There are still issues with roadblocks to planning and infrastructure. The Labour Party believes this will not address the key issue for us, which is protection and affordability for renters, as it will deliver a certain kind of unaffordable build-to-rent supply specifically in Dublin. This is a simple and practical amendment that will give renters some breathing space for a defined period of two years.”
“I am quite personally aggrieved and insulted that in his contribution the Minister compared me and the Labour Party to the far right. I certainly try to avoid making personal charges against individuals. I certainly do not go around the place whipping up hate. As a proud anti-racist, I genuinely urge the Minister to withdraw the remark. Amendment No. 2 is in my name and its purpose is to provide for no rent increase in rent pressure zones for the relevant period specified in section 2(b) of the proposed Bill. I am doing this because rents are already at record levels. The average rent is more than €2,000 a month and people simply cannot afford to pay any more. We need a rent freeze and we need to give people in tenancies some comfort over the next two years. Rents are already rising more than what is allowed under the RPZ legislation.”
“Rents have skyrocketed over the past decade. The measures in the Bill will, in the round, cause rents to increase again. My priority is renters and making sure that their rent does not go up any more. Under what is proposed by the Government, we will return to a situation whereby people will be evicted from their properties because they cannot pay the rent. There has not been an increase in the rate of HAP in over a decade. I ask the Government to consider what we are proposing and work with us within the remit of the Bill to strengthen it.”
“There is a clear need to beef up the RTB because it can barely cope with the volume of work and disputes it is currently dealing with. What additional measures and staffing resources will be put in place? The Labour Party will not seek to actively obstruct the passage of the Bill. We will work constructively with all colleagues in the House to ensure that we put in place a suite of measures that safeguards renters above and beyond any other policy objective. That is our overriding priority. As stated, I tabled a number of amendments, only one of which is in order. I ask the Government to work with us in the Labour Party, accept our amendment on a two-year rent freeze and perhaps consider bringing forward its amendments on a complete ban on no-fault evictions and the introduction of increasingly punitive measures for rogue landlords.”
“Under the Bill, short-term lets will all come under the 2019 Eoghan Murphy legislation requiring owners to apply to their local county councils for planning permission. Given the delays in planning and the shortage of suitably qualified planners, I am eager to find out how the Government intends to deal with this and what additional resources local authorities and their planning departments will get. Local authorities are already understaffed, under-resourced and overworked. I am concerned there could be a level of chaos in regard to this. Many students are very concerned because landlords are not registered with the RTB. There is a power imbalance between renters and landlords in this country. We have some of the weakest tenant rights in Europe.”
“We are heavily dependent on the private rental market in Limerick in order to house students. Students leave their accommodation every May and June and then scramble to find accommodation in late summer. Up to 100 students in Limerick are living in hotels during the week because they cannot get accommodation. The fact that there is nothing in the Bill to safeguard or protect students living outside of purpose-built student accommodation means that rents for those students will rocket and will increase every single year after they leave their accommodation. I also want to talk about short-term lets. Some of the Minister's colleagues, including the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Healy-Rae, have raised concerns about the regulation of short-term lets.”
“The Government consistently does the same thing as the previous Government and the one before that but expects different results. The fact is that this is only going to negatively impact renters. There is no certainty that it will deliver the level of institutional investment the Government believes it will. The fact that the Bill is being debated a week after it was announced means that some landlords have already increased the rates. If the Government wants more evidence of that, it need only look on websites such as daft.ie and askaboutmoney.ie. I have been inundated with emails from students who are concerned about what is proposed and how it will apply to them. Galway and my city, Limerick, have very little in the way of purpose-built student accommodation.”
“6 and 7, have been ruled out of order. We believe they fall within the scope of the Bill. There is a provision in amendment No. 7 that a fine of €100,000 would apply in respect of landlords who break the law. This is designed to provide a real and genuine safety net for tenants. I am disappointed to have had these ruled out of order. I note there is nothing to stop the Government bringing forward its amendments. I ask the Government to seriously consider the measure that proposes a fine for landlords who do not comply. We have also tabled an amendment to provide for a two-year rent freeze in light of the level by which rents have increased in the past decade and the fact that they will continue to increase under this regime. I ask the Government to work with us to accept the amendment and give hard-pressed renters a break.”
“The Government is claiming it is banning no-fault evictions and it is but only in certain very limited situations. Large and institutional landlords usually offer leases of up to one year. Any ban on no-fault evictions will effectively not apply to them. This new system for smaller landlords will actively disincentivise them from providing long-term secure accommodation. We are talking about a policy measure designed to benefit those who are charging €3,000 a month in rent in order to deliver more build-to-rent supply in Dublin. It certainly will not deliver anything in Limerick and probably very little in Cork. We have tabled amendments to tweak this Bill to ensure that, in terms of its scope, it will provide the strongest possible supports for renters. I am very disappointed that two of these, amendments Nos.”
“It is important to note that since RPZs were introduced, rents have gone up by 63.2%. That is hardly a ringing endorsement of RPZs as a policy measure. It shows how weak they are. Labour has long called for the entire country to be made into an RPZ. This is something that Jan O’Sullivan first proposed as far back as 2016. The measures that were announced will only serve to increase rents and will negatively impact on particular renters who have short-term fixed tenancies such as students, junior doctors or short-term and migrant workers because when they leave their tenancy, which they do regularly because they have to, their rent will reset back to market rate. There is a fundamental dishonesty about the way this has been communicated to the public.”
“There is one thing about investors that I know from my party's time in government. When my colleague Deputy Kelly was Minister for the environment, he brought in changes in relation to apartment sizes. At the time, he was told – we were all told – that this would be a panacea. However, the thing about these investors is they will always want more. If it is not apartment sizes, it is rent caps. They will come along in time and look for the Government to remove the very limited restrictions it has imposed on them. Although RPZs are a blunt instrument, they are the only protection vulnerable renters have. It is really regrettable that in the context of the suite of changes being introduced, they will be made even more feeble. Rents in my city of Limerick have gone up by 20% in the past year.”
“The way this entire issue has been approached by the Government has been nothing short of shambolic. A series of measures were leaked to the media and subsequently announced. A press conference was going on while we were in the Dáil on Tuesday of last week. What the Minister said at that press conference was different from what was in his press release, which was different again from what the Taoiseach had to say. Then we had the series of measures that were announced again this week in much haste and that were brought forward at the last minute. What was proposed last week very nearly caused a run on the rental market. This has given rise to huge concern among vulnerable renters in my constituency. It is very clear what the priority is here because investors will not be negatively impacted by these changes but renters will.”
“I raise the issue of policing, in particular in Limerick city. Recently, we have unfortunately had an escalation of violence in the Ballinacurra Weston area and a deterioration of the situation in King's Island following the very successful operations Capóg and Feabhsaigh. The continued refusal of a sanction for overtime, especially in King's Island, means the situation is getting worse. Last week, unfortunately, we had a situation in the city centre where a prominent employer was assaulted, causing him to take refuge in a hotel. He had to be escorted home. Despite concerns being repeatedly raised by everyone from businesses to community leaders, the lack of a visible policing presence has become a defining feature of the city centre.”
“The Housing Commission has recommended that this should amount to 20% of all housing stock. Currently, it amounts to 10% and this is failing young people of my age, in particular. In this motion, we have presented a number of practical solutions. If the Government engaged meaningfully and took on board some of them, they would make a practical difference. I urge the Government to withdraw its amendment to the motion and to engage constructively with all of us. We have put our political differences aside to come together and we ask the Government to join us in taking collective action.”
“She is the mother of three young children, including twin boys, who are only one year old. She has continued to pay the rent and look after the property since her mother died. While she is actively trying to secure alternative accommodation, it has become impossible. The only option given to her by the local authority is to present herself as homeless to get emergency accommodation. She says she is on the housing list but a suitable property is nowhere in sight. From what has transpired during the past week, it is very clear the Government is at sixes and sevens. At this stage we have had four contradictory and confusing announcements. The Government does not know what it is doing and by any objective measure, it is failing to prevent people entering homelessness and failing to build an adequate supply of social and affordable housing.”
“She said she gave up her own secure HAP tenancy in order to return home to care for her late mother, during her terminal illness. She said that like anyone would do, she dropped everything to care for her mam and to become her full-time carer. She was fully transparent with the council throughout this time. It was her understanding that the process to add her to the rent account was under way. However, her mother subsequently died. Despite the woman grieving the loss of her mother, the council refused her right to succeed the tenancy under the two-year rule. She has now been threatened with legal notices, demanding she leave the home and threatening court action if she does not surrender the keys. This is despite the fact that this is the home she grew up in for many years.”
“We are losing thousands of young people every year to London, Sidney, Dubai, Perth and other places all over the world. Some of this is undoubtedly due to the normal rites of passage that come with adulthood, but the problem is that once people go, they are more than likely not going to come back, due to this housing crisis. It is always young people and it is always renters. If it is not young people and renters, it is Travellers and people from migrant backgrounds who are worst affected by this crisis. I want to be really clear that this housing crisis is not being caused by immigrants or immigration. It is a failure of policy and a failure of Government. In the time remaining to me, I want to talk about a woman who emailed my office recently.”
“As a result of this Government's and previous ones' policies, young people are denied the traditional rites of passage that come with adulthood; leaving home, renting, buying a property, even starting a family. I have friends who want to have children but cannot because they are living at home with their parents and they cannot bring more people into an already overcrowded home. The concept of living a normal, independent life has literally become a fairy tale for many people in their 20s and 30s. I feel that whenever I or anyone else calls this out here, we are met with pure and utter condescension. Home ownership is already out of reach for people of my age. Now, with these proposed changes, renting will be out of reach, yet again.”
“Ours is the first generation that will do worse than our parents. This is a crisis caused primarily by poor political and policy decisions, made at the behest of institutional investors and vulture funds which have essentially screwed young people. For ten years the previous Government and this one have prioritised the needs of big business over ordinary people and this is the result. We only have to look at the group most affected by the latest changes, students. Under these proposed changes, students, as I said, will leave their accommodation as they invariably do every year and they will see their rent rocket every time the tenancy changes. They have no protection under these measures. This begs the question for me as to what the Government has against young people. It feels like ideological warfare against the youth of Ireland.”
“It may result in an increase in build-to-rent accommodation in Dublin and maybe in Cork, but it certainly will not be affordable. Rents in Limerick rose by 20% last year. The measures proposed in this motion are common sense, evidence based and implementable. They are emergency measures in response to a crisis which has led to 15,000 people becoming homeless. This is the equivalent of the population of a town the size of Tullamore. An entire generation of young people are locked out of any hope of owning a home of their own and are trapped in their parents' box bedroom, if they are lucky enough. I am one of that generation and it is my generation that is paying the price for this. This is the same generation that still disproportionately bears the scars of the financial crash.”
“The Government has come in here and effectively thrown renters under the bus by completely undermining housing options for young people, students, junior doctors and for transient and migrant workers. This will not stop with rents rising, because we all know that these people stay in their accommodation for a fixed amount of time and when they move on the rent will be reset and it will rise and rise again. Recently the Minister said that rents in Ireland are way to high. I agree with him. However, here he has introduced measures which will only cause rents to rise higher and higher and effectively bake in upward-only rent increases. These RPZ changes will not guarantee any increase in supply in the private rental market, certainly not in my own city of Limerick.”
“The response of the Government to tonight's cross-party motion is extremely disappointing. The Labour Party has produced volumes of legislation on housing in the last couple of years, including, but not limited to the Housing (Homeless Families) Bill 2017, the renters' rights Bill and a Bill to give effect to the recommendations of the Kenny report to cap the cost of development land. Einstein's definition of madness is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. The fact of the matter is that with the changes to the tenant in situ scheme, the Government has effectively gutted the scheme. The changes being proposed regarding RPZs will not stop rents going up. Under Housing for All, the Government has never met its targets for social and affordable housing.”
“There is scope for increased funding to be allocated to the council. In fairness, when the council has got funding, it has been good at spending and utilising it properly to bring homes back into use.”
“We need urgent action to tackle dereliction and bring vacant homes back into use. I know that as part of the programme for Government, consideration is being given to the introduction of a new voids programme with a view to improving turnaround times for vacant social homes, which can vary wildly, from a couple of weeks in County Laois to the bones of a year in other places like Limerick. We need much more consistency in respect of the turnaround. In this housing emergency, the Government must bring forward this new void scheme immediately. The first thing it should do is look to increase the funding available to councils to do this. I urge the Minister of State to speak to departmental officials regarding the specific ask in the letter that went from Limerick City and County Council on that funding deficit.”
“As councils are required to bring vacant homes up to a standard, this compels local authorities in some cases to carry out significant work in order to re-let the property. We might be able to look at this to bring about a bit more flexibility to allow the local authorities to carry out some of the necessary work with the tenant in situ . In failing to adequately fund local authorities to deal with voids, the Government is yet again failing to meet its own objectives under Housing for All. Objective 20 of Housing for All places a requirement on local authorities to make more efficient use of existing housing stock. If the Government is serious about taking radical action to solve the housing crisis, I urge it to go at this with all the armoury and resources of the State.”
“The problem is that the money is effectively gone and, outside the €11,000 voids funding, the only source is the local authority's own resources. The local authority does not have the financial means to address the shortfall in funding, which means it cannot meet the targets set by the Department. It is important to note that the targets set by the Department do not call for the elimination of all voids, which they should do. These things should not exist. We are in a housing emergency. As others have said, they are literally the low-hanging fruit. Every day, I hear somebody in this House talk about vacant council homes and I feel like it is Groundhog Day because we are collectively saying the same thing week in and week out, year in and year out and nothing changes.”