Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

To be honest, I think the priority is delivery. In the past two years, the construction industry was shut down for several months each year because of Covid. That had an impact on delivery. We ended up delivering about 20,000 units each year in 2020 and 2021. We know that we need far more than that. It is estimated that we need to deliver at least 33,000 units each year. I think the forecast for this year is around 24,600 units. Hopefully, that will be achieved and even exceeded. The funding is in place. It is really about delivery. Looking at Housing for All and the targets it sets across cost rental, local authority affordable housing, the First Home affordable purchase and shared equity scheme and the work that the Land Development Agency, LDA, is doing in Project Tosaigh, if we can achieve those targets, we will make a real difference. The funding is there to back that up. From where I am sitting, I do not currently see funding as the constraint. There were underspends in each of the past two years. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage has underspent so far this year on capital. It remains to be seen how the second half of the year pans out. The funding is certainly there to deliver the units. That is the priority. We are seeing progress, as the Deputy well knows, in terms of commencements and new planning permissions being granted. The pipeline appears to be strong. However, I acknowledge that there are headwinds in the sector too. Construction inflation is running at a very high rate. The cost of certain materials went up by 40% and 60% in the last year, which is having a direct impact on delivery. There are also labour shortages in the sector. There are headwinds and challenges in delivering the targets. However, on the social housing side, the direct build forecast for the current year is over 8,000, as against a target of 9,000 direct build units. Despite the challenges, a lot of progress has been made in delivering social housing. We are seeing that all over the country. The performance does vary from local authority to local authority. Approved housing bodies, AHBs, are playing an increasingly important role, but the funding is there. We need all the partners involved to deliver and to build the homes that we need.