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

The Deputy made a number of valid points about how the challenge of housing is different in Dublin from the rest of the country. He referred to the failure of policies on social housing and affordability, yet 10,000 more people have been able to buy a home thanks to the help-to-buy scheme, more than 500 people have bought a home thanks to the Rebuilding Ireland home loan, while more will get to buy a home through that scheme. Last year, the bill for social housing was €1.4 billion, which is significant. I do not know if we have ever produced social housing at that rate versus the size of the economy. We have also seen that house building has started to put downward pressure on price increases, while RPZs have put downward pressure on rent increases. That is happening to house prices in some areas of Dublin, where people suspect that house prices are falling, particularly in some of the wealthier areas. I acknowledge that the Deputy's constituency suffers from that and housing in Dún Laoghaire can be out of reach because it is so expensive.

HAP allows us to do something that we could not do through social housing builds traditionally, namely, create a genuine social mix in buildings, apartment blocks or estates, where social housing was not provided at scale at all, and it is beneficial in that regard. While it is true that HAP is more challenging in Dún Laoghaire than in other constituencies, it uses the uplift more than other constituencies, although the uplift is a resource and it is good that is used. We have also provided additional placefinder support in Dún Laoghaire to help in that regard. As the Deputy acknowledged, Rebuilding Ireland is making an important improvement, although he does not believe that it is making enough of an improvement in Dublin. Dublin has different pressures from other parts of the country but part of the reason we are making the changes that we have made to apartment building was to ensure that more apartments would be built in Dublin, leading to more places and a greater supply of affordable rental properties. We are examining cost rental in Dublin because of the rental challenges we face in Dublin. The changes that will occur due to the Residential Tenancies (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill 2018 will have a very positive impact for people renting in Dublin.

One in two houses bought in Dublin last year cost less than €350,000, although that is still very expensive and different from the rest of the country, where it would have been less than €250,000 outside of Dublin and the greater Dublin area. There is a different price pressure, therefore, but that is why Dublin was successful in the first round of funding of €43 million for the serviced sites fund. While Dublin is not being prioritised, the funding is somewhat self-selective and self-prioritising because of those pressures, which is also why a large amount of LIHAF funding is going to Dublin.

I recognise the Deputy's frustrations regarding Shanganagh, but consider Cherrywood, which will be the largest town in Ireland when completed.