Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and members for the opportunity to appear again before the committee, this time to give you an update on the review of Rebuilding Ireland under way and on the outcomes from the housing summit held earlier this month at the Custom House. Ms Mary Hurley from my Department, who is sitting to my right, met members last week and I asked her to brief the committee on a range of housing matters but I am keen to engage directly with the committee myself as early as possible into this Dáil term to discuss the many housing challenges we face and to personally update it on matters. We have already had a number of opportunities in the Dáil since we returned and I will be in the Seanad again this afternoon. I thank the committee for the support it has given to me and my officials since I was appointed Minister and for working so well with the Department in putting forward innovative solutions and ideas designed to alleviate the current housing crisis and to drive delivery and supply measures. I also extend thanks to local authority members and personnel for the work they are doing, as well as the voluntary sector for the work it is doing day in and day out. I am joined today by the following colleagues. They are Mr. John McCarthy, Secretary General, whom members know; Ms Mary Hurley; and Mr. David Walsh, assistant secretary with responsibility for planning, land management and the housing market policy division.

I will first take the opportunity to update the committee on the review of Rebuilding Ireland, including some of the progress made recently in tackling homelessness and on the homelessness measures that are being advanced on foot of the housing summit with local authority chief executives. Notwithstanding this wide-ranging platform of action, we all know significant challenges remain. One year on from Rebuilding Ireland’s publication, a focused review has been carried out to assess the impact of the new investments, policies and initiatives being advanced under the action plan and consider where to focus and redouble efforts to address the supply and affordability issues that persist. The aim of the review is to identify additional measures, particularly new or additional supply side measures for social, private and rented accommodation, with an emphasis on affordability and those key workers who are currently under pressure in finding homes to buy or rent. The review will also identify further measures to tackle homelessness and to help individuals and families to remain living in their own homes; a range of ambitious and realistic measures to address vacant housing and provide a disincentive to vacancy in future; ways of reducing construction costs and improving the efficiency and viability of apartment and house building; new measures to support and encourage the rental sector; and ways of delivering sustainable mixed tenure solutions on sites of scale, especially in our cities where the demand-supply imbalance and price inflation is greatest.

Already, a number of initiatives have been announced as part of the review. With regard to social housing and homelessness, these include a change in social house building policy, which will see the housing budget being re-orientated more towards direct build programmes for local authorities and housing bodies. As a result, the current target for 2018 of circa 3,000 newly built homes will increase by almost 30% to circa 3,800.

There will also be additional emergency accommodation and family hubs to meet the short-term needs of homeless households; the establishment of a new homeless inter-agency group chaired by Mr. John Murphy, former Secretary General, to facilitate the delivery of homeless services in a coherent and joined-up way between the relevant Departments and agencies; the development of a homeless prevention strategy for non-nationals without entitlements, i.e. habitual residence conditions, by the Departments of Housing, Justice, and Social Protection; facilitation of homeless families in Dublin wishing to move to locations outside the capital, where possible; and an urgent examination of the issue of refusals of reasonable offers of accommodation by those in emergency accommodation with a view to a consistent approach to such refusals being implemented nationally.

Further measures have been signalled in relation to the rental sector. These include a further extension of rent pressure zones to Drogheda and Greystones; an enhanced regulatory role for the Residential Tenancies Board to more directly drive compliance and best practice, which will be implemented over a two-year change management programme; a reinforced awareness campaign to ensure wider awareness by tenants of their rights, an important measure in terms of homelessness prevention; and additional legislative and other measures to strengthen the protections available to tenants and to address issues in relation to short-term lettings.

Additional measures flowing from the Rebuilding Ireland review will be announced in the coming weeks, including in the context of budget 2018.

I have been asked to keep this statement short and that is what I intend to do. I have outlined just a number of measures that are under way. I know only too well that more is needed and more will be done. I again thank the committee. My officials and I are happy to respond to any questions that members may have.