Sinn Féin has confirmed its support for providing social housing to non-citizens, with a party TD stating she “cannot see how” the State could prevent foreign nationals from receiving homes.
Speaking to Gript on the Leinster House plinth today, Sinn Féin TD Rose Conway-Walsh said the country is “absolutely dependent” on foreign workers to keep essential services running.
The Mayo TD made the remarks while flanked by several of her party colleagues, arguing that the government must urgently deliver more housing for everyone eligible.
Conway-Walsh said that the government had actively chosen to halt the construction of state accommodation.
“Everybody needs a home and everybody who’s eligible for a home needs to be considered for a home that they can afford,” Conway-Walsh said.
“Every day I am dealing with people in dire housing need. We have many things that have to be fixed in housing. Obviously we have to build more social and affordable housing. It was a policy of this government to stop building social and affordable housing.”
The politician argued that existing income limits are pushing households into destitution, noting that families earning over €32,500 are excluded from support while dealing with major shortfalls in the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP).
“People are being driven into poverty,” she said.
“People are being driven into homelessness. We have record homelessness here. I think the Taoiseach would be better served in examining why his policies have driven us to a situation where there’s over 17,000 people who are homeless at this time.”
Asked by Gript whether she would support a policy reserving the social housing list exclusively for Irish citizens, Conway-Walsh rejected the proposition, citing what she described as the country’s reliance on foreign staff across the healthcare and hospitality sectors.
“No,” Conway-Walsh replied.
“What about our workers in our hospitals? What about our workers in hotels? What are we going to say, that we’re not going to house people who are eligible for housing, who we are absolutely dependent on to keep our hospitals going and to keep other workplaces going? So I cannot see how he would possibly do that.”
The exchange follows a recent appearance on Fox News in New York lin September by Taoiseach Micheál Martin, where the Fianna Fáil leader falsely claimed that only citizens were eligible for state accommodation.
Under Irish law, individuals need only establish a long-term, lawful right of residence to qualify for local authority housing, which is allocated strictly on the basis of assessed need rather than citizenship.
The issue of migrant social housing allocation has drawn increased scrutiny in recent months, including since Gript revealed on the 2nd of October that the State’s Housing Agency provides application guides in 24 different languages.
State published social housing application guide in 24 languages
Data from the agency showed that in 2025, 28.7% of households eligible for social housing support nationwide were foreign nationals.
The figures are even higher in the capital, with statistics released last month to an Independent councillor showing that 42% of Dublin’s social housing waiting list consists of non-Irish households.
Cllr. Gavin Pepper received data from officials revealing that 6,299 out of 15,005 families seeking accommodation in the city were non-Irish.