Housing Policy
Dail Éireann — 2026-10-01
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Eoin Ó Broin (SF), Dublin Mid-West

There is nothing in what the Minister has said that suggests he will get ahead of it. In fact, what he is telling us and all of those people out there at risk of homelessness is that the numbers will rise. HAP numbers have reduced but council waiting lists have increased. The Government delivered more new-build social homes last year than the 1970s but since then, the population of the country has doubled and we have far greater social housing need. The Minister talked about protection for renters but he has trashed the key protection for renters in terms of rents, which will see rents rise and the risk of homelessness rise in response. This is not a comprehensive response to a homelessness crisis that the Minister and his colleagues in Government have created. We do not have the homeless prevention protocol as yet because it has not been published. We do not have the child and family homelessness plan as it has yet to be published. The youth homelessness strategy has expired and we do not know what the future of it is. Unless the Minister is willing to bring something new to the table, we will be here in November, December, January and February with rising numbers. I again ask the Minister if he can confirm there will be no new policy initiatives from this Government to address the ever escalating level of homelessness. In the absence of any new policy initiative, when will he accept this crisis will only get worse?

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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