Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The reason we are putting in place initiatives, incentives and legal changes is to change that. I accept that the vast majority of houses currently being built and sold in Dublin, where there is a margin for developers, are high-value properties. We need to change that. That is the reason we are driving strategic development zones, SDZs, and the reason we need pathfinder projects. We need projects like O'Devaney Gardens to deliver affordable housing units at affordable rental prices and so on. In the greater Dublin area, 3,823 units were completed in the first eight months of this year. That is a 35% increase on last year. There is movement in the right direction. The work is not yet complete, not by a long shot. We need to see up to 300% increases in terms of starts and completions and we need to see a broad spectrum being delivered in terms of different cost levels and different sizes. We also need specialist units for our elderly population and so on. The trend, although far from perfect, is moving in the right direction and we need to build on it. We need to address issues such as first-time buyers not being able to access houses at a price they can afford in the areas where they want to live. For this reason, consideration is being given to providing an initiative in the budget around first-time buyers in particular. It is important to recognise that things are starting to move. We need to accelerate that and we need to manage it to ensure it is a sustainable growth story.

On repairs to local authority housing, local authorities have different approaches to repairs. There is a budget for maintenance and repair of existing social housing stock. Some local authorities are under more financial pressure than others. I accept that and agree that it results in inconsistency within different local authority areas.

On the housing assistance payment, HAP, the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Varadkar, and I made the decision to increase HAP payments and rent supplement payments. We did not make that decision on the basis of a calculation done on the back of a cigarette box. This was done on the basis of the figures provided by the Private Residential Tenancies Board, PRTB, in regard to the bottom third of the rental market in terms of cost, with a readjustment of HAP and rent supplement payments to meet the increases in that percentile.