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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Every one of 808 lines we hold for Conor Sheehan, in date order, each linked to its source. Free to read, in full, without an account. Page 3 of 17.
“I welcome the visitors to the Gallery. First of all, it is a real privilege to be a gay man because you are navigating a world that was not built for you. I think most LGBT people have a heightened sense of empathy because you know, for example, that many people around the world do not have the human rights which many of us - including myself, as somebody who is privileged enough to live in Ireland - take for granted. There are so many countries around the world where it is illegal to be gay. It was illegal to be gay here until 1993. There are so many men - and they are men - who are still living with convictions for same-sex activity. You are also free from the traditions, expectations and pressures that many of my straight friends have in relation to what I call the heterosexual normality of life.”
“We need the Government to address this by commissioning an independent international review of the scientific basis of IS 465:2026 because we need a greater understanding of how and why this entered the market in the first place. In my city, Limerick, we reckon 2,500 properties may be affected by concrete defects and deterioration. We need a different approach to this, and that is why I am really disappointed by the Government amendment.”
“Forcing them to do so is absolutely bananas because once a decision has been made to rebuild, one cannot turn back the clock on it. That is why this is really important. Through detailed scientific research, it is now known that the problems with defective concrete can be traced to an internal sulphite attack. It is clearly apparent that, with the distribution of this defective and highly damaging concrete material, numerous EU and Irish concrete regulations were violated. It is of critical importance that these regulations be enforced to prevent the status quo from continuing. As other speakers said, we do not just have defective concrete in homes. There is defective concrete in secondary schools in Limerick.”
“The poor families who have been affected should not be expected or forced to bear the responsibility and cost required to remedy the problem when they have gone out of their way to secure a home for their family and made that purchase in good faith, with an expectation that the home they live in will not fall down on top of them. Homeowners should be able to feel safe in their homes. They should have confidence in the structure of the dwelling they live in. These are relatively basic things. Invariably, when homeowners like these poor people are forced into some sort of rebuild, they have one shot to make it work. They must not be forced to put blood, sweat and tears, and an insane amount of money, into rebuilding their homes only for them to be rebuilt essentially on quicksand.”
“This crisis was caused by a catastrophic failure of government regulation and a total lack of oversight in the quarrying sector, particularly from the Fianna Fáil Government of 1997 onwards. The State completely failed to protect the affected people. It is now time for the Government to stop the ducking and half measures and actually deliver the 100% redress the families fundamentally deserve so that they can have peace of mind. I welcome every opportunity to speak on this issue. I commend Deputy Ward on his motion because what he is seeking to do is ensure the State assumes accountability for the risk of defective foundations in concrete homes. It is imperative that this burden does not fall on homeowners who cannot afford to pay the difference. We have a duty as legislators to listen to and reflect the views of the people we represent.”
“You cannot tell a family to build a home on a questionable foundation and just leave them to hold the legal and financial bag if the foundation fails a decade or more from now. We need an independent review of IS 465:2026, specifically considering how sulphites and pyrrhotite destroy foundations over time. We need to amend the defective concrete block scheme so no individual is ever forced to retain a foundation where engineering uncertainty exists. Homeowners must have an explicit, fully funded right to opt for a complete foundation replacement if there is reasonable doubt. We need to ensure that all residual structural risk remains with the State. If the State standard fails, then the State is going to have to pay because the homeowners cannot.”
“It has responded, as it always does to victims of injustice, by forcing blameless citizens to prove that they are not lying, by bureaucratically downgrading their applications at the click of a mouse, and by passing the long-term risk back onto them. The State is effectively telling homeowners to rebuild their lives on top of foundations that we know contain pyrite and other sulphide materials, and it is absolute madness. You are talking about being penny wise but you are really being pound foolish. The standard that the Government is relying on is operating under conditions of material scientific uncertainty. There is no long-term evidence that these foundations will hold up over the next 30, 40 or 50 years.”
“That is a fact and the core of the issue here. The legislation is too narrow. I cannot believe that people are still talking about mica, when the fact of the matter is that this is not just something that affects defective concrete blocks in houses but affects poured concrete and other building material. The core issue, as always in this country with anything during the Celtic tiger period, is the lack of any accountability because we know that, as well as the quarry owners, the political system was up to its neck in this. We have had a total regulatory failure. We have quarries which have and are manufacturing defective concrete and getting away with it. How has the State responded?”
“It is not just an issue in Donegal and the north west. We have this in Limerick city. I have had people in my constituency office in tears because they are living in semi-detached homes in Limerick city. As Professor Dunlop pointed out yesterday, defective concrete takes a lot longer to actually show up in areas like Limerick. A woman who came to see me, who is involved in the defective concrete campaign in Limerick, only had the defective concrete show up when she got an SEAI grant and got the walls pumped. When she got the walls pumped, that effectively showed all the cracks. The core issue remains, that the people who are suffering this humanitarian disaster are being treated as second-class citizens in comparison to the people who were equally devastated by pyrite in Fingal and on the eastern seaboard of the country.”
“I met somebody else who was concerned about their safety and their children's because the walls were crumbling so badly on their house that they are afraid that the roof would come down and crush them. The Government's amendment to the motion is tone-deaf. The amendment states that the scheme relies on IS 465:2018, which does not require testing of foundations. What is the point of pouring a brand new house onto a cracked foundation? It does not make any sense. The motion notes that 500 homes were remediated. Five hundred homes is a fraction. It is minuscule compared with the true level of need. We had a very informative presentation in the audiovisual room by Professor Paul Dunlop, who is an expert in this area. He quantified that at least 12,000 homes could be affected in Donegal at home. We have this in Limerick too.”
“I welcome the visitors to the Gallery. As others have said, I pay tribute to Deputy Ward on the work he has done. Last October, my colleague, Senator Nessa Cosgrove, and I went to Donegal to visit some of the people who are affected by this humanitarian disaster. I thought I knew about defective concrete and that I could quantify in my head the actual scale of the humanitarian disaster but I cannot. I cannot help thinking, every time I think of defective concrete, of putting my hand on someone's house and feeling the wall come away like dust. I cannot help but think of the smell of the black mould in the kitchens we went to visit, the fact that the lights and electricity keep tripping because water is ingressing through everything, and that chimneys fall off people's houses and that is considered to be not that big a deal.”
“The Tánaiste said local authorities cannot be trusted or depended on. That is an outrageous statement. It is the centralisation of power in the Custom House that has weakened the ability of councils to build new homes, prioritise children in homelessness and tackle dereliction. The measures the Tánaiste spoke of regarding security of tenure are completely undermined by the market rent reset mechanism baked into the legislation which allows landlords to reset rent to the market rate in between tenancies, exposing renters, the most vulnerable people in housing, to record double-digit rent increases. The Tánaiste's own backbenchers are talking about the need for a ban on evictions. What emergency measures will he take before the summer recess? Why will he not recognise that only a ban on evictions will actually reduce homelessness?”
“You can introduce a ban on no-fault evictions, stem the tide of rising homelessness and protect the best interests of the child. I ask the Tánaiste for a straight answer - if it will not ban evictions, what will the Government do before the summer recess to reduce homelessness?”
“We know preventing homelessness is the best use of resources. It keeps people in their existing home and is much more cost effective. The Chair of the committee, Deputy Carrigy, was correct on "Morning Ireland" when he said no child should have to spend any period of time in homelessness. This committee, which has a Government majority, has called for a child homelessness strategy, an emergency package of measures to reduce homelessness and, critically, is open to an emergency ban on no-fault evictions for a defined period of time. We have the highest level of evictions since the Famine and the Government has the power to do something about it. Will it stand up for the thousands of children without a home? There is a Government housing Bill going through the Dáil right now. Committee Stage resumes today at 12.30 p.m.”
“This week, the Tánaiste had a go at local authorities but the problem they have is the lack of powers to act whether on dereliction or homelessness. The Labour Party has long campaigned with Focus Ireland to require local authorities to take the best interests of the child into account when working with families who present as homeless. The Government has failed to act on this for nearly a decade. There are many things we can do to address evictions and homelessness. We all know we need more supply but the Government has been saying that for a decade and the problem keeps getting worse. The housing committee today published an important report on homelessness. It includes 14 recommendations, all suggestions those of us in opposition have previously called for in some form or another.”
“"Certainty, clarity and stability for the rental sector" were the words of the Minister for housing when he introduced his disastrous rental reform Bill in February. He did mention the word "eviction" once. As predicted, this new law has caused carnage in the private rental sector - not stability, just chaos. There were over 7,000 notices of termination in the first three months of the year. That was a 51% increase on the year before. It is the highest level of evictions ever recorded. There are record and ever-growing levels of homelessness, with 5,604 children now officially homeless. It is a terrible record and the new normal. It never gets the media coverage or outrage it should. Whether they are from Ireland or not is irrelevant; it is a child without a home.”
“This is €880,000 and it is vital for the safety and security of the people in the region both during the Ryder Cup and beyond.”
“I raise the ongoing issue of the future long-term funding for the network of live-monitored CCTV cameras in Limerick. I understand this was raised at the mayoral forum recently. In light of the total Garda budget of €2.74 billion, the funding shortfall here is €880,000. I know that the Department of justice cannot fund this directly. Would the Taoiseach support the Garda to fund the local authority to ensure that this service continues in the context of the overall Garda budget and the NDP investment? If this service is not funded, the live monitoring will have to cease and it will be akin to losing 30 gardaí on the beat. The Government is investing €58 million directly for the Ryder Cup and €115 million in infrastructure.”
“In the time I have left, I want to talk about housing because climate can and must be a critical consideration of the Government's response to the housing crisis. The Government set a target that 500,000 homes would be retrofitted to a BER of B2 by 2030, and that 400,000 heat pumps would be installed. According to the SEAI, we had only 80,000 retrofits between 2018 and 2025 and only 18,765 heat pump installations. These numbers are way off target. I do not understand what the Government is doing in respect of this new electric car grant because the biggest issue that my constituents raise with me about the transition to electric vehicles is the lack of an adequate charging infrastructure. Electric cars are actually getting cheaper and outselling diesel and petrol cars at the moment, which means that the market is working.”
“We need to introduce a levy upon data centres to help offset the costs and to drive down the extraordinarily high bills that the people we all represent are struggling with. The concern that I have is that we are in the middle of an industrial revolution when it comes to artificial intelligence, and this Government is fumbling around in the dark. There was a report by the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI, a couple of months ago that found that one in 14 jobs could be affected by AI. We could be looking at widespread labour displacement, yet I am hearing nothing from the Government that inspires me with confidence that it knows how to navigate its way through this. Any data centre growth must be aligned with offshore renewables.”
“I congratulate the Minister of State on her appointment, and that is probably where the good news ends. I am very disappointed with the Government's amendment. In fact, I found parts of it quite laughable. "Sustainable data centre development" almost sounds like someone coming along 30 or 40 years ago and saying that we need to move sustainable smoking, and that if a person smokes a packet of Marlboro Lights, it is not as bad. It is not just about electricity, water and carbon emissions. We have seen that data centres place considerable strain on local infrastructure. We are literally halfway through the year. Notwithstanding the fact that the climate Minister is not here, where is the climate action plan?”
“While we are one of the first countries to pass this legislation, I urge the Government not to introduce a watered-down Bill because every EU member state that follows will use our weak legislation not as a bar, but as a floor to do the bare minimum. When we look at the systematic torture that Israel is inflicting upon Palestinians, including the use of sexual violence, the persecution and torture of political prisoners and the indiscriminate shooting of innocent children, it shows us clearly why now is the time for us, as a country, to be brave and take a stance. I acknowledge that this Bill goes some way towards taking that stance but as the ICJ and international law does not distinguish between goods and services, we need to go further.”
“We have also seen how it has not resulted in economic Armageddon. I would argue that if Spain can take a principled, legally sound stand without bringing economic ruin to its industries, then so can Ireland. If we ban the import of goods but allow the exchange of lucrative services, we are making a mockery of our own values and we are giving a green light to economic activity that entrenches this illegal occupation. An occupied territories Bill without services is a Bill without much impact. I very conscious that we are taking on the EU Presidency. As I said last night in the Chamber, we had Kaja Kallas only 200 metres from us last night. As we take up the EU Presidency, it is an opportunity for us to lead by example, which I believe we have done, but we need to go further than we are going with this Bill.”
“I thank the Minister for her statement. I want to be constructive in the time I have. I welcome the fact that we, belatedly, have an occupied territories Bill. I rise here with my colleagues in the Labour Party to be critical of the Government for failing to include services because I personally feel, and we in the Opposition can feel, almost by extension, the orange fingerprints of Donald Trump all over the exclusion of services from the Bill. There has been so much economic scaremongering and attempted bullying coming from the US in relation to this matter. It is important to remember that many of the letters that were written came from a small but vocal minority of people from the US Congress. There is a precedent for the inclusion of services. We have seen how it can be done in Spain.”
“I am conscious that Kaja Kallas is about 250 m from this Chamber today. We know the EU took a firm stance in relation to what was going on with Russia but, as usual with international bodies in this world, when is a war crime not a war crime? It is when Israel is doing it.”
“I am asking the Government to show some leadership because when I think of this genocide, I am particularly haunted by an interview with the British surgeon Nick Maynard, who was talking about Palestinian boys being shot by IDF soldiers. Each day, the soldiers would shoot a different limb, almost like target practice. One day, they were shooting them in the testicles; another day, they were shooting them in the arm; and another day, it was the legs. These are very young boys. Many of us have sons, nieces, nephews, cousins or godchildren. These are the people who should be able to go out and play football freely and not have to worry about being shot at aid posts. We cannot stand by and watch the utter destruction of Palestinian life and the obliteration of Palestine. When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, UEFA and FIFA did not hesitate.”
“I thank Deputy Joanna Byrne for introducing this motion. She has shown real bravery and leadership on this issue. We have a proud history of standing up against injustice, whether it was the stance we took on apartheid in South Africa or the recognition of Palestinian statehood. In June 1999, the then Fianna Fáil Government showed leadership in relation to this in refusing to grant entry visas to the Yugoslav national football team, which blocked the scheduled Euro 2000 match in Dublin. Moving the fixture is a complete cop-out. The State can and must step in. There is a precedent. This is forcing our young players into an impossible position where individual athletes must choose between their international careers and their conscience.”
“-----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?”
“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-----”
“"One-way ticket I'd give her back to the shithole she came from". That is about the only thing I could repeat in this House among an awful lot of online abuse that was posted under the social media of our candidate in the Galway West by-election, Helen Ogbu. I am asking the Government to take action against online hate. The Tánaiste is no stranger to social media, both the positives and negatives, and I acknowledge that. Coimisiún na Meán needs the power to independently order the immediate takedown of individual posts. There is so much abuse under all of Councillor Ogbu's social media, to the point that we had a staff member who spent 40% of her time taking it down. We need to take action on this. It is undermining our democracy. It will stop good people from running for election in this country.”
“Tá mé buíoch den Aire as an méid a bhí le rá aige mar gheall ar an scéim phíolótach agus mar gheall ar an méid a bhí curtha i láthair ag an Teachta Kyne. Caithfidh muid bogadh ar aghaidh leis sin. Ag an am céanna, áfach, bíonn an t-údarás ag obair maidir le cúrsaí tithíochta sa Ghaeltacht pé scéal. Ní aontaím leis an Aire nach bhfuil na scileanna ag an údarás. Tá roinnt scileanna aige agus tá daoine fostaithe ann. Caithfidh muid glacadh leis an leasú seo chun an chumhacht a thabhairt d’Údarás na Gaeltachta ionas go mbeidh ról lárnach aige maidir le cúrsaí tithíochta sa Ghaeltacht.”
“Roimh dom teacht isteach anseo anocht, bhí mé ag dul trí shuirbhé tithíochta Údarás na Gaeltachta. Léiríonn an suirbhé sin go bhfuil géarchéim thar a bheith dian ann do chainteoirí Gaeilge agus do dhaoine óga ar mian leo fanacht sa Ghaeltacht, go háirithe daoine óga. Nuair a bhí mé ag dul tríd an suirbhé, chonaic mé go bhfuil 56% dóibh siúd atá faoi láthair ag lorg tithíocht sa Ghaeltacht faoi 44 bliain d’aois. Tá sé cosúil le seanfhocal anois ach mar a deirtear, Gaeltacht gan tithíocht is ea Gaeltacht gan todhchaí. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil an tAire chun an rud céanna a rá - nach bhfuil seisean amháin freagrach as cúrsaí tithíochta; is é an tAire tithíochta atá freagrach as - ach ba chóir go mbeadh Aire na Gaeltachta freagrach maidir le cúrsaí tithíochta sa Ghaeltacht. Ba chóir go mbeadh Údarás na Gaeltachta freagrach astu chomh maith.”
“Ar dtús báire, ba mhaith liom comhghairdeas a dhéanamh leis an Teachta Kyne as ucht bheith tofa arís ina Teachta Dála. Ba mhaith liom chomh maith mo chuid tacaíochta a thabhairt don leasú seo. Aontaím leis an méid a bhí le rá ag na Teachtaí Conor McGuinness, Hearne agus Kyne. Tá an saineolas agus an eolas ag an t-údarás chun é seo a dhéanamh go héifeachtach. Caithfidh an Rialtas ról reachtúil lárnach a thabhairt don údarás maidir le tógáil tithe sa Ghaeltacht. Caithfidh an t-údarás a bheith in ann maoin a cheannach ar mhaithe le tithíocht. D’fhéadfadh sé talamh a cheannach ar mhaithe le tithíocht a sholáthar. Tá sé riachtanach go mbeidh cead agus cumhacht ag Údarás na Gaeltachta maoin nó talamh a cheannach chun pobail Ghaeltachta a chothú agus forbairt eacnamaíoch agus shóisialta a dhéanamh sna ceantair sin.”
“Tá mé an-sásta tacaíocht a thabhairt don leasú seo mar gheall ar an méid a bhí le rá ag an Aire faoin údarás mar bhord Stát agus mar gheall ar an gcomórtas PAS. Bhí a fhios agam cheana féin go raibh daoine ann a bhí agus atá mar Bhaill den Dáil agus go raibh orthu éirí as bord Stát roimh dóibh a bheith tofa mar Theachta Dála nó mar Sheanadóir. Aontaím go mór leis an leasú seo mar gheall ar na rudaí céanna a bhí á rá ag mo chomhghleacaí, an Teachta McGuinness.”
“Chuala mé an méid a bhí le rá ag an Aire. Tá a lán cumhacht fós ag an Aire. Impím air glacadh leis na leasuithe seo. Bheadh sé níos daonlathaí. Tá iarrtha sna leasuithe na toghcháin seo a athrú ionas go mbeidh siad níos láidre.”
“Gabhaim buíochas le mo chomhghleacaithe as na leasuithe sin a chur síos. Aontaím leis an méid a bhí á rá ag an Teachta McGuinness. I dtuairim Pháirtí an Lucht Oibre agus i mo thuairim féin, tá gá le bord níos mó agus caithfidh an bord iomlán a bheith tofa. Tacaím le leasuithe Uimh. 3, 5 agus 22.”
“We need to pass legislation to allow Bus Éireann and other operators to use the CCTV on their buses to penalise private motorists illegally driving in bus lanes and introduce traffic cameras on every single bus lane to make sure that, if you are caught driving on a bus lane, you automatically get penalty points and a fine.”
“It is a 30-minute walk to the local primary school. We have had hundreds of houses built out there in the past couple of years, which I welcome, but there is no bloody bus. Delaying this further means that this will come in after the transport strategy and after the regional spatial and economic strategy, RSES, review and it will not be able to leverage these. Limerick Chamber has written to the Minister on this and I echo what it has said. We need to get a hell of a lot more people in Limerick out of their cars and onto public transport, and the way we do that is by implementing the entirety of BusConnects in a timely manner and making sure the funding is there for the physical interventions because the bus needs priority over private cars.”
“This is something that could really affect us in terms of housing, balanced regional development and attracting in foreign direct investment, FDI, because our unreliable bus network in Limerick undermines confidence and the modal shift that we all know we need in order to meet our climate targets. For example, King's Island is one of the most deprived communities in the country. King's Island has no bus service after 6 p.m. It has one of the lowest rates of car ownership in the country. It has no bus service on a Sunday. It has no bus service on a bank holiday Monday. It is waiting on BusConnects for this to be delivered. Condell Road is the only major primary road in Limerick with a bus lane but no bus service. It, too, is waiting on BusConnects. It is a 45-minute walk to the local secondary school.”
“I want to talk about the delays in the roll-out of BusConnects in Limerick, a city the Minister knows well and that he has said a lot of positive things about previously. We were promised this in 2025, and 2025 became 2026, then 2027, and is now 2028. From what the departmental officials have said, we know that the NTA does not have enough funding when it comes to the roll-out of new services and that is why we are seeing a deprioritisation of public transport by the Government, particularly compared with the previous Government, which had the 2:1 ratio in favour of spending on public transport, which I support. If it is rolled out by 2028, then by that time we will have had a nine-year horizon since BusConnects was first mooted as part of the Limerick Shannon Metropolitan Area Transport Strategy.”
“The Government is spending €5 million on building a temporary platform at Adare for the Ryder Cup, yet there is a €35 million missing link between that temporary platform and Limerick Colbert Station. As a result, the Government is spending €5 million on a temporary platform that will only be able to go from Adare to Limerick Junction, bypassing Limerick city, which is a 15-minute drive away. Should the link not be funded - the €35 million Kerry curve - to allow services into Limerick city?”
“My concern here in relation to the licensee system is that in the arrangement they have with the person from whom they are renting the room, most people do not even realise it is a licensee agreement until there is a dispute. Then when there is a dispute and they go to the RTB, they find out that they, in effect, do not have very many rights. There is a real need for clearer regulations that safeguard licensees, who are very much in a grey area. There are very limited grounds on which a licensee can challenge a sudden eviction or rent increase. If the Government is going to go ahead and allow landlords to rent out modular units adjacent to the principle private residence, then that needs to be done in tandem with a review of the licensing system to safeguard renters.”
“I am looking for a quick review of the licensee system in order to make sure that if landlords are allowed to rent these out, tenants at least have some basic sense of protection.”
“I raise this issue particularly in light of a very good report that Threshold did last October looking at the licensee system and the category of people in the licensee system who were, when it came to renters' rights, effectively invisible. The rent-a-room scheme does not come under the RTB Act, so there is no security of tenure there and no real renter's rights. That might be fine when you are talking about a room in someone's house but if you are talking about a modular unit, it is a separate physical entity. What we do not want to do is create a situation where we inadvertently create another shadow rental market. I know when this was first mooted the intention was not to allow landlords to rent these out. Then that was changed.”
“I thank the Cathaoirleach Gníomhach. I wish to ask the Minister if the Government will carry out a review of the licensee system in relation to the plan to allow landlords to rent out modular units adjacent to the principal private residence under the revised proposed exempted development guidelines. The reason I ask is because there are a number of loopholes with the licensee system and the protections that are there for tenants are non-existent.”
“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.”
“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 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.”
“They wanted subsidies, and they got the VAT cut. Meanwhile, it is renters, young people, homeless people and people in precarious situations who are paying for all of this.”
“I thought it was interesting that there was no mention of homelessness in the countermotion. The Government has no new measures in relation to homelessness, which is worsening every month, quarter and year. While the countermotion speaks of 2025 and the largest number of new-build social homes constructed since the foundation of the State, it fails to mention that the Government never met its targets under Housing for All, that the in-built housing deficit continues to grow, and that the Government continues to rely on a baseline that is disconnected form the reality of the housing crisis due to the housing deficit. This Government is completely in hock to institutional investors. The institutional investors wanted the market reset rent mechanism, and they got it. They wanted the apartment design changes, and they got them.”