A government document reveals the full citizenship breakdown of households eligible for social housing support in every local authority in Ireland, showing that a large percentage of those households are foreign nationals.
The figures, which were contained in the Housing Agency’s “Summary of Social Housing Assessments 2025 Key findings” report, were unearthed by Gript this week after similar local data had been dripfed over the past month.
Out of the 61,719 households assessed as qualified for social housing support as of 3rd of November 2025, a total of 17,728 were foreign nationals, representing 28.72% of the overall list.
This marks an increase from 2024, when 27.95% of the 59,941 eligible households were foreign nationals. The 2025 data shows that the foreign nationals consisted of 8,820 EEA citizens, 8,142 non-EEA citizens, and 766 UK citizens.
Within the non-EEA category, 4,737 households had permission to remain in the state, while 3,193 were classified as refugees, representing a 64.1% increase in refugee households compared to the previous year. 212 had subsidiary protection.
The complete 2025 county by county breakdown of the social housing list detailing the citizenship of the main applicant by Local Authority:
Carlow County Council: 662 applications, 145 foreign nationals (21.90%)
Cavan County Council: 567 applications, 151 foreign nationals (26.63%)
Clare County Council: 1,392 applications, 310 foreign nationals (22.27%)
Cork City Council: 2,518 applications, 775 foreign nationals (30.78%)
Cork County Council: 2,200 applications, 609 foreign nationals (27.68%)
Donegal County Council: 1,299 applications, 234 foreign nationals (18.01%)
Dublin City Council: 13,002 applications, 4,656 foreign nationals (35.81%)
Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council: 2,420 applications, 487 foreign nationals (20.12%)
Fingal County Council: 6,631 applications, 2,016 foreign nationals (30.40%)
Galway City Council: 2,101 applications, 728 foreign nationals (34.65%)
Galway County Council: 1,362 applications, 221 foreign nationals (16.23%)
Kerry County Council: 2,482 applications, 732 foreign nationals (29.49%)
Kildare County Council: 3,974 applications, 1,194 foreign nationals (30.05%)
Kilkenny County Council: 549 applications, 104 foreign nationals (18.94%)
Laois County Council: 638 applications, 184 foreign nationals (28.84%)
Leitrim County Council: 284 applications, 95 foreign nationals (33.45%)
Limerick City and County Council: 2,419 applications, 511 foreign nationals (21.12%)
Longford County Council: 299 applications, 105 foreign nationals (35.12%)
Louth County Council: 1,623 applications, 509 foreign nationals (31.36%)
Mayo County Council: 1,046 applications, 270 foreign nationals (25.81%)
Meath County Council: 1,393 applications, 388 foreign nationals (27.85%)
Monaghan County Council: 381 applications, 135 foreign nationals (35.43%)
Offaly County Council: 563 applications, 97 foreign nationals (17.23%)
Roscommon County Council: 297 applications, 81 foreign nationals (27.27%)
Sligo County Council: 620 applications, 176 foreign nationals (28.39%)
South Dublin County Council: 3,631 applications, 1,132 foreign nationals (31.18%)
Tipperary County Council: 1,414 applications, 256 foreign nationals (18.10%)
Waterford City and County Council: 1,458 applications, 385 foreign nationals (26.41%)
Westmeath County Council: 1,170 applications, 348 foreign nationals (29.74%)
Wexford County Council: 1,449 applications, 287 foreign nationals (19.81%)
Wicklow County Council: 1,875 applications, 407 foreign nationals (21.71%)
Total: 61,719 applications, 17,728 foreign nationals (28.72%)
The nationwide figures follow a recent international television interview where the issue of social housing eligibility was discussed by the Taoiseach.
Speaking to Fox News in New York recently, Taoiseach Micheál Martin falsely claimed that only citizens were eligible for state accommodation.
“I mean, you have to be a citizen, you know, in terms of getting social housing,” Martin said.
This is untrue. Under current law, individuals are eligible for social housing support provided they have established a long-term and lawful right of residence in Ireland.
Allocations are based strictly on an assessment of need, meaning that a person’s citizenship status does not factor into the prioritisation process.
Further guidance provided by the Housing Agency on how to apply for the scheme has been available translated into 24 different languages since at least March 2022 to assist non-English speakers.
State published social housing application guide in 24 languages