Emer Higgins (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

When the Minister talks about the State as being the major player in social and affordable housing, given the capital investment that we have already put on the table, there is a real opportunity for the State to provide comfort to developers building out existing planning permissions. There is a huge number of undeveloped planning permissions nationally and half of them are in Dublin. The reason for that is partly because developers feel they do not have certainty that people will purchase at the end of the process.

As a Government, we need to do more to inject confidence back into that sector. We need people to build and to do so at scale. Most important, the Government needs to make sure those homes are going to cater for a mix of people, including first-time buyers, people on council waiting lists for social housing, and people who will need to avail of an affordable housing scheme. That has to be our priority. The Minister might like to comment on what the plans for next year could be in that regard. It is great to see the pipeline for this year and such a strong pipeline for the end of quarter 4, but the impetus has to continue. We need to make sure, as the Minister said, that we are not just hitting but exceeding our targets. I am particularly talking about the affordable housing targets, which is an issue that comes up at my constituency office again and again.