‘Government will live or die on housing response’

New TDs arrived at Leinster House brimming with excitement and naming the housing crisis, public services and the war in Gaza as the issues they expect to dominate the Dáil term.

One new Fianna Fáil TD said the next government “will live or die” on its response to the housing and homelessness crisis.

An opposition TD said the enactment of the Occupied Territories Bill should be first on the coalition’s agenda and US President Donald Trump would “overshadow” Irish politics.

Before the first Dáil convened on Wednesday morning, TDs posed with their families at Leinster House.

“It’s very exciting to be here with my family and to follow in my father’s footsteps,” Grace Boland, a new TD for Dublin Fingal-West, said.

“Of course, the work starts. I look at my seven-year-old twin girls and I realise we need good people in politics, we need people who have commercial experience who have life experience, who understand the juggle, the struggle, childcare, access to…