Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Higgins. I did not mean to sidestep her question. To answer it, the affordable purchase regulations will be published in the coming weeks, in March. Some work is being done on it. The cost-rental regulations have been published already. We need to tell people the parameters within which they need to operate. As I said to Deputy Flaherty, the first home shared equity scheme will be initiated at the end of the second quarter and operational at the start of the third quarter.

The €4 billion means that people who have been waiting for years on the social housing list will see a ramping up of new-build delivery through our partners in approved housing bodies and local authorities, to provide over 9,000 new builds per year and to get it up to 10,000. We will also allow for elements of acquisition and a small element of leasing, because real families have been waiting for these homes. That will provide capacity of 90,000 social homes for us to start making progress on the lists.

People who are working, saving, renting and so on now have a couple of options. Cost rental did not exist 12 months ago. We focused on passing the Affordable Housing Act. Tenants are in place, with more receiving tenancies in Leixlip and there will be tenants on Enniskerry Road, which is the first local authority scheme. There is a group of nine different schemes, which I have not published yet, which will be delivered this year too. There are hundreds of new, safe and secure tenancies for real people at 40% to 50% below market rates. Policy and plans are important but there is nothing more important than delivery in order that people can see this is actually changing. On the affordable housing side, we will have directly-built, local authority-led affordable homes, with people buying them this year. The first is in Boherboy, Cork, followed shortly by Dun Emer, Lusk, and there will be more. We need to build capacity in the local authority sector to do that. It will not be able to deliver hundreds or thousands this year. We will supplement that through the LDA, which we are funding, and through the first home shared equity scheme. An individual or young couple will now be able to bridge that gap of unaffordability. The State is rightly saying that it backs homeownership and will help people to own homes. We want that for younger people. We have to keep working to ensure that happens. We may have to adjust as we progress. We have a real plan, with real money, and we will see real delivery this year. We will build on that as we go into 2023.