James Browne
Wexford · Fianna Fáil · Ireland
“I cannot accept amendments Nos. 10 and 11. The interpretation of "lawfully resident" and "habitually resident" is construed in accordance with section 20A, which sets out the new residency requirements for social housing applicants.”
“The safety net provision is to be provided by the local authority on a night-to-night basis, and this is to allow local authorities to reassess the circumstances each day to determine whether the safety net should still be provided.”
“I cannot accept amendment No. 21. This amendment proposes the introduction of a social housing passport allowing households to transfer between local authority areas while retaining their original waiting list or transfer list position. The amendment as it stands is well-intentioned.”
“No one factor is intended to be decisive and it is not necessary for a person to score strongly on all five factors outlined in section 20A(7) in order to get a positive decision. However, the local authority decision-maker must be confident that there is strong evidence that it is the applicant's main centre of interest.”
“In relation to Senator McCarthy’s amendment, while it was a very well intentioned and constructed amendment, it has been disallowed. It was not my decision on those matters. I am satisfied the safeguards and safety net are there for those who are not entitled by way of legal or habitual residence.”
“In practical terms, if an Irish citizen has severed ties abroad and has decided to return home, the process of establishing habitual residency could be determined from day one.”
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“I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I welcome the opportunity to outline the provisions of the Remediation of Dwellings Damaged by the Use of Defective Concrete Blocks (Amendment) Bill 2025. I have met many people the defective concrete blocks issue affects, particularly in the north-western region. I am here today because I have listened to their concerns and to the issues raised by local representatives and advocacy groups on these matters. I am therefore proposing this Bill to amend the current scheme by dealing with a number of issues that have arisen to date to ensure everyone is fairly dealt with in terms of support.”
“One thing I note is how often somebody tells there is something is on my desk when my desk is empty. It seems to be a term of art that something has arrived at the Department of housing somewhere. I can assure the Deputy that the Housing Agency received test results from the properties sampled in Fingal. I have received the final report from the Housing Agency. It literally was on my desk this week. On the basis of the recommendations made by the agency, I intend to shortly bring the matter to Government seeking approval for the making of an order designating the relevant parts of Fingal County Council as being part of the defective concrete blocks scheme so it will literally be within days.”
“We have to ensure that we get this right, even if it does take a little bit longer than people might have hoped for. To ensure that we do not have a rushed answer is critical.”
“I thank the Deputies for their concerns. There is a very large number of national planning statements that are now required over the coming years. Providing one under wind energy is a priority for the Department of housing, but as I said, many of the key principles are also within the Department of environment. We are continuing to work with it. It is about finding that balance where we can deliver renewable energy, which is absolutely critical for our environment - we are in a climate emergency - and ensuring that we meet the EU guidelines around the habitats directive, for example, and other directives, while also ensuring that the local communities are protected and respected. That is not an easy balance to deliver and arrive at. It is a difficult one to ensure that we can balance those competing interests.”
“I have little doubt that if it was an easy balance to find it would have been done a considerable time ago. We are working very carefully, as I said, with the Department of the environment, whose policies are around ensuring that we have necessary renewable energy. I will be working with the Deputies as well and with the House to ensure that we can get that balance in place.”
“I thank both Deputies for their input in relation to the matter. In relation to my time in the Department of housing, there has been significant engagement with the Department of the environment in terms of developing the wider issues around the guidelines and in relation to updating them through the national planning statements. These are very technical in nature. They are very complex. There is considerable EU environmental legislation to take into account. Most importantly, there are also local communities to take into account. It is about finding that balance of where we can get to a situation where we can deliver and develop renewable energy while at the same time ensuring that local communities and individuals are respected within their local communities as well. This is not an easy balance to find.”
“A finalised national planning statement will be prepared following detailed analysis and consideration of the submissions received during the consultation phase. My Department is working towards concluding the finalisation of the national planning statement having regard to the intended public consultation and the impact of associated reforms and reviews including the revision of the NPF. The current 2006 wind energy development guidelines remain in force, pending the finalisation of that review.”
“In addition to work on the noise aspects of the national planning statement, the evolving policy and technical context including the new Planning and Development Act 2024 and the revision of the national planning framework reinforces the need to ensure that the finalised guidelines, once issued, are fit for purpose. In line with EU directive requirements, a strategic environmental assessment, SEA, is being carried out on the draft national planning statement as part of the review process. In this regard, my Department intends to undertake a public consultation on updated draft guidelines as part of the SEA process whereby all interested parties will have an opportunity to submit observations on the draft national planning statement.”
“I propose to take Questions Nos. 14, 39, 85, 532 and 533 together. My Department is currently undertaking a focused review of the 2006 wind energy development guidelines which will inform a new national planning statement on wind energy under the new Planning and Development Act 2024. The review is addressing a number of key aspects of the guidelines including noise, setback distance, shadow flicker, community obligation, community dividend and grid connections. The key policy area here is with the Department of the Climate, Environment and Energy, which has primary responsibility for environmental noise matters and has been working to advance guidance on the noise aspect of the national planning statement, which is highly technical in nature. This work is now well under way.”
“What has happened with these families in a situation of a liquidation process is that there is a ranking of priority within that and they have found themselves very much on the wrong end of it. What I can undertake, albeit not in this specific case because, as I said, it is going through a current legal process, and with the principles being realised out of this situation, I will speak to the Ministers for Finance and enterprise to see how we can look at the particular situation that has arisen here. The Deputy is right; this situation could happen again in the future, so I will undertake to do that.”
“As I said, I have to be careful about not commenting too much on a particular situation going through a legal process, but we do have to look at those situations and ensure we take learnings from them.”
“I accept that these people are in an extraordinarily difficult situation, which I have no doubt is quite traumatic for them. As the Deputy knows, this matter is now going through a legal process. I cannot comment on individual cases but in any situation, we always have to look at what is happening, take learnings from it and see if there are ways we could strengthen our laws, be it within the Department of housing or a different Department, as the case may be, and see how we can reassure ordinary people who are not expecting to find themselves dealing with liquidation and these types of scenarios, and they are quite complicated legal scenarios. I am very much aware of what those families are going through and I cannot begin to imagine the stress they are all going through.”
“As part of this programme, almost all local authorities now have a database of vacant and derelict properties identified within settlements in their administrative area that can be used to engage with property owners. The Government's commitment to addressing vacancy and dereliction, and actions in the new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities, will continue to play a vital role in bringing these properties into use as new homes across the country.”
“Local authority and local electoral level breakdowns are also included. Similarly, the latest GeoDirectory Residential Buildings Report, for quarter 2 of 2025, recorded that the average vacancy rate across Ireland had dropped to 3.7%, which is the lowest rate recorded since 2013. The Government has introduced a range of initiatives and funding mechanisms in recent years and these measures are proving successful in reducing the levels of vacancy and dereliction nationwide. One such measure, the compulsory purchase orders, CPO, activation programme launched in April 2023, requires a proactive and systematic approach by local authorities to identifying vacant and derelict properties and engaging with owners to bring those properties back into use. This includes the active use of compulsory purchase powers by local authorities.”
“The Deputy's question was about plans to investigate the rate of home vacancy around the country, and that is the question I will answer. Data on vacant properties is available from a number of sources, such as the Central Statistics Office, data from census 2022 and GeoDirectory. My Department has been engaging with the national statistical institute, the Central Statistics Office, which has recently developed a new statistical release on residential vacancy. The release, published in September, provides information on the extent of residential vacancy in 2022 and 2023, using ESB data on residential electricity consumption, with future regular publications planned. In the release, the CSO notes a national vacancy rate of 3.3% at the end of 2023, down from 3.6% at the end of 2022.”
“Any national planning statement, when it is announced, cannot and will not take a one-size-fits-all approach. What is good for Cork East would be very different from what is good for north Wicklow and different again from what works for Donegal. No matter what the planning statement says, there will always be a significant amount of power left to the local authority to decide what to do with the land. There is no reason for any local authority to be waiting for a national planning statement. The law, as it is, says it is up to local authorities to decide what to do with their land in their own county areas under their own county development plans. That is their local power.”
“On the question of smaller extensions, etc., we are working on a very extensive suite of planning exemptions. I very much recognise that people should have more power to deliver and work on their own local property without having to seek planning permission. That is why we are introducing those exemptions. It is very much not a case of passing the parcel. The reality is that county development plans are decided at a local level. We must be very careful how we proceed in terms of any national planning statement. It cannot be one size fits all. Local authorities and local councillors know what is best for their local areas. I very much believe in local government, which is why I set up the local government task force to give more power back to local councillors.”
“I certainly hear the Deputy's concerns. Any proposals forthcoming from the Government will be subject to public consultation and consultation with stakeholders, very much including the agricultural community and rural villages. However, in the absence of national planning statements, it falls back to the first principles of planning law, including the relevant Acts, but also the county development plans as set out by the 31 local authorities. At a local level, the city or county development plan sets out where solar energy development is accessible. The making of the city or county development plan is a reserved function of the local authority members. In terms of the setting out of the county development plan by Cork County Council, it is in the council's remit to assess, decide and set out where solar energy can go.”
“Proposals for individual solar energy developments are subject to the statutory requirements of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended, and the Planning and Development Act 2024, as amended, in the same manner as other proposed developments, with planning applications made to the relevant local planning authority or An Coimisiún Pleanála on appeal.”
“The scoping process remains at an early stage, but I am satisfied that the existing and evolving planning system, supported by Government policy more generally, provides a sufficiently robust policy and legislative framework to facilitate the roll-out of solar energy development in a sustainable manner and to assist with meeting our renewable electricity requirements while balancing the perspectives of local communities and their needs and allowing for public and stakeholder engagement. In the interim, there are currently no specific planning guidelines in place in respect of solar energy development.”
“My Department has begun an initial scoping process to identify the component factors relevant to the preparation of the national planning statement for solar energy development, including any appropriate environmental assessment and public consultation requirements and other relevant European obligations such as the renewable energy directive, RED III, which will determine the timeframe for publication of said guidelines.”
“I propose to take Questions Nos. 10, 92 and 120 together. I thank Deputy O'Connor for this important question on planning guidelines for solar farms for local authorities. The section of the programme for Government on securing Ireland's future reaffirms Ireland's ambitious targets of 8 GW of solar capacity connected to the grid by 2030, to assist with meeting the requirement of 80% of electricity demand supplied by renewables. Solar energy is a growing source of electricity, with approximately 2.1 GW of solar power capacity currently installed in Ireland. However, further solar capacity is required for Ireland to meet its domestic and international targets. For this reason, my Department is preparing a new national planning statement on solar energy under the new Planning and Development Act 2024.”
“There is no question that there have been too many instances where developers have technically put a facility in place, but have made it far too difficult or cumbersome for it to be used for its intended purpose. It is something of which I am very much aware.”
“I again thank Deputy Currie for raising the important matter of childcare facilities. I agree that it is timely and in accordance with the programme for Government that we update the planning guidelines. As I said, we will work with the Department of children. Ultimately, it is the Department of children that will work out the policy on this area. The national planning statements will form an important part of planning for almost every Department across government. As I said, we stand willing and ready to give technical advice on what is necessary for those statements. Those relating to childcare facilities need to be updated. Having empty facilities is totally unacceptable.”
“I thank the Deputy. I am aware that she has spoken about this on many occasions in the Chamber, including with the Minister, Deputy Foley. She is quite consistent in raising the importance of childcare facilities. I can assure her that the Minister and her Department are actively engaging on this. I will meet the Minister, Deputy Foley, in the next week on this matter to see how we can further the pathway. It is a matter for the Department of children to work out the policy. It holds the pen in that respect. The Department of housing is involved in terms of facilitating the national planning statement and ensuring we can deliver these facilities. As the Deputy said, it is important to have State-led facilities.”
“Work to date has included engagement with the planning and land use committee of the County and City Management Association, which supports the interdepartmental working group. The primary focus of this work is to gain a practical overview of the application of the existing guidelines with a view to initiating the drafting of a national planning statement which will complement other work being undertaken by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality to support the provision of childcare facilities.”
“The current guidelines will, however, remain in force until revoked or replaced by a corresponding national planning statement. My Department is working with the Departments of Children, Disability and Equality, and Education and Youth and has established a working group, chaired by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality, to create a clear mechanism for sharing information on and discussing current and future policy related to the planning of early learning and childcare services, including examining the role of the existing childcare guidelines for planning authorities. To date, eight meetings of the working group have taken place over the course of 2024 and 2025, with the most recent meeting held in September 2025.”
“The programme for Government sets out a number of priorities for the Government relating to access to early learning and childcare services, including a commitment to review the 2001 Childcare Facilities Guidelines for Planning Authorities to ensure childcare spaces are provided and put to use. Further to the commencement of Chapter 3 of Part 3 of the Planning and Development Act 2024, on 2 October provisions for national planning statements were introduced to replace the provisions for ministerial guidelines issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. All existing section 28 guidelines will, over time, be revoked and replaced with new national planning statements, including childcare guidelines.”
“We will support a number of 3D volumetric pathfinder projects to further explore the potential for these innovative systems. Using MMC, Limerick City and County Council and the mayor’s office will be supported to advance the initial phase of their SMART modular housing project. In addition, Wexford County Council is being supported to commence a project to develop 22 permanent social homes utilising 3D volumetric systems. We will continue to maximise the use of 2D right across our systems due to its importance.”
“The delivery of at least 1,500 new homes across a total of 36 sites and 13 local authorities has been prioritised and enabled through the use of a streamlined design and build procurement approach that facilitates MMC. Approximately 1,250 homes are being constructed using this procurement approach. The Government is committed to supporting all forms of MMC to encourage greater innovation in construction. The 2D approaches using panelised systems are quite widespread, with 3D volumetric approaches still in a more embryonic phase.”
“I thank the Deputy for the important question on MMC. A dissemination programme is currently being developed by my Department and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science to promote the use of these approaches in the education and construction sectors. These standardised designs build on my Department's existing design manual for quality housing, for example, for social housing and the LDA's Apartment Typology Booklet, which also include designs to promote the use of MMC for social housing and apartments. In addition, my Department's accelerated delivery programme supports the development of new social homes using MMC.”
“My Department has also recently published the standardised design approaches study. These standardised design approaches will raise awareness about the benefits and opportunities and promote adoption, of standardised housing design to facilitate MMC.”
“Key actions which are included in delivering homes, building communities to increase adoption of MMC are: the use of MMC in at least 25% of all new social and affordable homes built during the lifetime of the plan; support for the use of three-dimensional modular units through pathfinder projects in Limerick and Wexford; optimising the NSAI agrément certification process; promotion of ISIF funding opportunities for manufacturers to support new and existing factories; the delivery of at least 1,500 MMC dwellings through the local authority accelerated delivery programme; renewing the action plan to promote careers in construction and launching a new five-year action plan for apprenticeships; and doubling the overall investment of Enterprise Ireland’s build to innovate programme to drive adoption of efficient construction practices and the use of MMC.”
“My Department is working closely with the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science and other relevant stakeholders in progressing work to increase delivery capacity in the residential construction sector through promoting the adoption of modern methods of construction.”
“I again thank Deputy Séamus McGrath for asking this question on behalf of Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere. I propose to take Questions Nos. 7, 64 and 99 together. The new national housing plan contains a range of actions to increase skills and support modern methods of construction, building on the initiatives already in place. MMC is the term used to describe a range of compliant innovative construction alternatives to traditional construction methods. MMC has the potential to boost productivity, increase efficiency and improve sustainability in the construction sector. It has brought tangible benefits to housing delivery. Reductions in delivery timeframes of up to 40%, greater cost certainty and reduced changes during construction have offered both cost and time savings.”
“Some local authorities are not achieving under either of those. Crucially, we need all our local authorities moving towards own builds.”
“Meeting our social housing targets is absolutely crucial. Meeting them through new builds is best practice and that is where we want to expand as quickly as possible. However, we need local authorities to lead on their own-build programmes as well because that builds resilience into the system no matter what the economic situation may be to ensure that there is not a reliance of delivery through Part V and turnkeys, output under which can be negatively impacted by market conditions or particular conditions in local authorities. We have seen some local authorities really expand on own builds and I give credit to those local authorities. Some local authorities have exceeded past social housing targets but perhaps were overly reliant on a non-own-build properties. We need to see them develop their capacity.”
“The absolute priority for me, the Department and the Government is to maximise new builds. That is where we want to be at and, after that, forward-funded schemes to deliver homes where perhaps there is planning permission but which may not otherwise be built. We need to move away from pure turnkey as much and as quickly as possible. A key part of this delivery is the local authority new-build teams. We will ensure they are adequately resourced, fully funded and ring-fenced from other local authority work and dedicated to social and affordable new-build housing projects, which will be absolutely critical in this regard. Accordingly, my Department will support local authorities to establish these new-build teams which will be fully funded by the Department through reimbursement to local authorities on a performance pay basis.”
“I will establish a revamped contractor-led renewal programme which will afford opportunities for local tradespersons and contractors to work with local authorities and approved housing bodies to tackle vacancy and dereliction and increase social housing supply. Delivering homes, building communities will further support additional social housing delivery by mandating the use of standard house layouts and specifications as part of the new approval process and facilitate the use of modern methods of construction, MMC, through a standardised design approach. To further promote the delivery of social housing, I will embed the use of a design-and-build-contract approach in all local authorities and the AHB sector in order to expedite the delivery of social homes.”
“In addition, ring-fenced new-build housing delivery teams in each local authority dedicated to own-build new social and affordable housing delivery will be fully funded by my Department through reimbursement to local authorities on a performance-pay basis. The new single-approval process for all new-build social housing projects up to a value of €200 million will support local authorities to streamline processes and encourage delivery of larger new-build social housing developments. The land acquisition fund will be reformed, streamlined and expanded to ensure it is fit for purpose and can support the level of ambition in the plan. To this end, the fund will also be increased from the current €239 million to at least €500 million.”
“I thank Deputy Séamus McGrath for taking this question on the increase in social housing availability on behalf of Deputy Willie O'Dea. Since the beginning of 2022, Government has supported the delivery of 35,163 new social homes across thousands of individual projects funded through build, acquisition and leasing programmes. Building on progress made to date, delivering homes, building communities includes a wide range of measures to accelerate new-build social housing delivery to an average of 12,000 new-build social homes a year between 2025 and 2030. To incentivise local authorities to deliver more own-build projects, a new performance fund will be established. Where a local authority exceeds its own-build target, it will receive additional discretionary funding for the delivery of community and placemaking initiatives and projects.”
“Again, I thank Deputy Séamus McGrath for raising the concerns around affordability, in particular around Cork city and Cork county. As I said, these schemes will continue to be kept under review to ensure that there are those affordability mechanisms in place and that people in Cork can afford to access the starter homes programme on an equal and equitable level with the rest of the country.”
“Scheme criteria and support levels for affordable purchase schemes are kept under regular review, taking account of developments in the housing market. It is a complex and dynamic situation to ensure that we can provide the necessary affordable supports for people to be able to purchase their homes without affecting the market and driving up the cost of delivery and affordability on people. I hear the Deputy's concerns and will continue to engage with him to keep these affordability measures under review.”
“These supports will be retained, streamlined and expanded under the umbrella of a new starter homes programme to further tackle the issues of supply and affordability and ensure that first-time buyers and renters all over the country in need of assistance are supported by the Government.”
“In addition to a keen focus on tackling vacancy and dereliction, the plan provides for an expanded remit for the Land Development Agency, working to extend the first home and help to buy schemes to 2030, an increase in affordable cost-rental tenancies, an expanded local authority delivered starter homes for purchase programme that will see an increase in affordable homes for purchase nationwide and a new support for those creating living over the shop homes. The Government has introduced several schemes to help first-time home seekers to buy or rent homes. Since 2021, close to 16,900 affordable housing supports have been provided via these measures nationwide.”
“The Government is investing an unprecedented level of funding to support housing supply, which will underpin, inter alia , the new starter homes programme, delivering an average of 15,000 affordable housing supports annually to 2030. We are making homes accessible and affordable, increasing social and affordable housing output and improving rental security. The plan supports homeownership while revitalising villages, towns and cities.”
“I thank Deputy McGrath for raising this important question about the key measures I and the Government will be taking to support first-time buyers under Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030. I thank the Deputy for his regular engagement on this important issue for his constituents. The Government’s new housing plan, Delivering Homes, Building Communities 2025-2030 sets out a broad range of measures which will activate and accelerate new homes delivery and provide affordable housing supports. The new plan, which has a strong focus on deliverability, removes structural barriers to homebuilding, unlocking land, reforming planning, delivering infrastructure and creating conditions for investment.”
“When the Deputy was quoting the statistics from the RTB he left out the fact that in the situation that prevailed in the country at the time around rent pressure zones, it was temporary and partial around the country. We have now created a national rent pressure zone with a view to a national rental control situation. Also, the reason I am bringing in these changes is to bring in, for the first time in this State, security of tenure for tenants. That does not exist in this State. Theoretically, there are tenancies with no end of duration but it is too easy to end those tenancies. We are severely restricting how tenancies can be ended by landlords. That is to ensure there is that security of tenure. I believe that you will see far less frequent notices to quit as a result of this security of tenure being brought in for tenants.”
“These changes are being introduced in order to attract increased investment in the rental market and thereby increase the supply of properties available for renters. My Department has consulted extensively with the Office of the Attorney General in relation to the proposed legislation. On 14 October 2025, the Government approved the general scheme of the residential tenancies (amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2025. This legislation is now subject to priority legal drafting and pre-legislative scrutiny is currently under way.”
“On 10 June 2025, the Government approved policy measures including modifications to rent controls to come into effect on 1 March 2026 in order to boost investment in the supply of homes available for rent and keep existing landlords in the market. The modifications to rent controls have been informed by the findings of the Housing Agency review. The policy measures announced by the Government also include significant improvements in security of tenure for renters. The Government has provided additional resources to the Residential Tenancies Board to support the efficient regulation of the rental market. Multiple expert reports, including those from the Housing Agency, the Department of Finance, the ESRI, the OECD and the IMF agree that the current RPZ system is a major obstacle to increasing rental supply.”