News

Nobody who pays their rent on time should live in constant fear of homelessness Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan will today introduce his Tenancy Protection Bill 2023, which aims to put a stop to mass evictions. Deputy O’Callaghan, who is the party’s Housing spokesperson, said: “My Tenancy Protection Bill 2023 is about protecting people from […]

Under-resourcing of planning appeals board is hampering the delivery of new homes Ireland’s planning system must be properly resourced to speed up the delivery of badly needed homes, according to Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan. Deputy O’Callaghan, who is the party’s Housing spokesperson, said: “In the midst of our worst-ever housing crisis, it is difficult […]

Record house prices, and a chronically poor supply of homes, are the perfect breeding conditions for gazumping to thrive New legislation is required to outlaw the practice of gazumping, according to Social Democrats Housing Spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan. “Today, there are media reports of a vendor backing out of agreements with seven home buyers, who were […]

We cannot have a situation in which children are growing up in hotels and tourists are holidaying in homes The Government must begin a crackdown on the short-term letting sector now – it can’t wait for another year for a new registration system to be agreed by the EU, according to Social Democrats Housing Spokesperson […]

If the Government fails to act, we will see devastating outcomes for people facing eviction The latest figures from the Residential Tenancies Board paint a deeply worrying picture of what’s to come now that the Government has lifted the ban on evictions, according to Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan. “The report showed that 4,741 […]

This week, Holly Cairns was officially announced as Leader of the Social Democrats in front of a room packed with family, friends and members of the Party in The Tara Building, in Dublin city centre. In her opening address to members as Leader, she said: How on earth did I get here? That’s a question […]

Emergency response by Government needed to tackle crisis The latest homelessness figures underline the need for an extension of the eviction ban, along with other measures to protect tenants, according to Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan. Deputy O’Callaghan, who is the party’s Housing spokesperson, said: “There are now 11,754 people living in homeless emergency accommodation […]

Government may have grossly overstated home completion numbers for 2022 Figures published today suggest that the Government may be significantly overstating the number of homes completed in 2022, according to Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan. “There is a huge discrepancy between the 23,751 figure reported by Construction Information Services (CIS) and the almost 30,000 […]

Average asking rents are now out of reach of most workers, particularly in our cities Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan has repeated his call for increased delivery of cost rental and affordable purchase homes following publication of the latest Daft.ie report. “The most up to date figures on the cost of renting a home […]

Vacancy rate of 4.3% represents tens of thousands of homes lying empty while 11,632 people are living in emergency homeless accommodation  The Vacant Dwelling Indicators released today by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) highlight the urgent need for a strong and effective Vacant Homes Tax, according to Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan. “The fact […]

Lifting the ban at the end of March will create a tsunami of evictions, with homelessness services already completely overstretched  The latest homelessness figures highlight the need for an extension of the ban on evictions and a ramping up of tenant in situ purchases, according to Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan. Deputy O’Callaghan, who is […]

The Government must now explain why the State cannot – or will not – build enough social homes The Taoiseach has finally admitted that the Government’s own target for the delivery of social homes in 2022 was missed, according to Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan. Deputy O’Callaghan, who is the party’s Housing spokesperson, said: “When […]

Some renters losing out on rebate because landlords are not registered with Residential Tenancies Board The Government needs to do more to raise awareness of the €500 annual rent credit introduced in Budget 2023, according to Social Democrats Housing spokesperson Cian O’Callaghan. “It has been reported that only a fraction of those who are eligible […]

Department of Public Expenditure and Reform document shows hundreds of millions of euros left unspent as housing crisis deepens  The Minister for Housing must explain why he failed to spend nearly €1 billion of the capital allocation for housing in 2022, according to Social Democrats TD Cian O’Callaghan. Deputy O’Callaghan, who is the party’s spokesperson […]