Housing Policy
Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01
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James Browne (FF), Wexford

We are taking a number of very significant measures, including significantly increasing the number of social houses delivered. Last year, new builds were at the highest number delivered in the history of the State. I expect it will be higher again this year. They are crucial to bringing people into social housing and giving them a secure, safe home for the rest of their lives. That is reflected in the significant decrease in the number of people in HAP properties moving from rental properties into permanent State social homes that are owned by local authorities or approved housing bodies.
We also have our new plans coming out, such as the child and family homelessness action plan. There is also the homelessness prevention framework as well. One person in homelessness is one too many. Like everybody, I am deeply concerned about the increase in homelessness. We are making significant strides in providing social homes for people and providing housing solutions but we are dealing with a rapidly increasing population. It is proving challenging to be able to provide sufficient homes, even with the significant increase in housing delivery. Housing delivery will increase again this year. We will get ahead of this but we are in very challenging times. There is no question about that.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-10-01/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-10-05T01:01:00+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-10-01