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

I thank the Cathaoirleach. Gabhaim buíochas leis an gcoiste as an gcuireadh labhairt leis tráthnóna faoinár bplean tithíochta Tithíocht do Chách agus an dul chun cinn atá déanta ar chúrsaí tithíochta ar fud na tíre. I thank the Chair for the invitation to be here this afternoon along with my colleagues the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, and the Minister of State, Deputy Noonan, to discuss the progress on our plan Housing for All and provide an update on its implementation. Significant progress has been made since the plan was published in September 2021.

While challenges remain in accelerating supply, affordability and homelessness prevention, we are unwavering in our determination to address the issues head on. Through Housing for All, we continue to focus on accelerating the supply of all tenures, reforming the planning system, enhancing the capacity of the sector and addressing viability, affordability and vacancy. The plan is working. More than 110,000 new homes have been built since the Government took up office in 2020. In April 2024, 2,828 first-time buyers were approved for mortgages. That means 134 couples or individuals are approved for mortgages for a first home every single working day.

There has been construction on more than 30,000 new homes this year, a significant increase most likely due to the development levy waiver and the Uisce Éireann connection refund scheme, which was introduced last year and extended this year. Unquestionably, this has had a very positive impact on ensuring schemes that were on the cusp of viability are now viable and have been able to start. We have been commencing approximately 360 new homes every single day since the beginning of this year. We want to do more but certainly have to tackle the issue of increased costs. The best way we could do so initially was to introduce this short-term, time-bound measure, which has worked.

All the indicators, including on completions, commencements and planning permissions, show positive momentum and strong delivery. I am sure members are aware of the latest report from EUROCONSTRUCT, an independent construction market forecasting network active across 19 European countries. It shows that Ireland is bucking the trend among all European counterparts by expanding construction output.

We are expected to expand by 3.9% in 2024, which is the highest in the EUROCONSTRUCT area, compared with a European average fall of 2.7%. Our focus is on building on this positive momentum and using every lever available to us to achieve more.

Housing for All is an agile plan with an annual update process which allows us to review progress and respond to challenging conditions. It ensures that attention remains on the key objectives of Housing for All. This evolving plan, together with a record of €5.1 billion in capital investment this year, reaffirms the Government's commitment to building on progress to date. Implementation of Housing for All has seen unprecedented achievements, including nearly 12,000 social homes delivered in 2023, an increase of over 16% on the previous year and the highest output since the mid-1970s. Since the launch of Housing for All in September 2021, to the end of quarter 4 of 2023, more than 5,800 affordable housing solutions have been delivered through the various affordable housing delivery streams.

Cost rental has been delivered in Ireland for the first time, with more than 1,700 cost-rental homes provided by approved housing bodies, local authorities and the Land Development Agency. More than 47,000 help-to-buy claims have been approved since the introduction of the scheme and are helping first-time buyers to purchase a new home. The vacant property grant has also been launched and indeed has been expanded. To date, more than 8,000 applications have been received and more than 5,000 have been approved. The local authority home loan has been expanded to support both the purchase and renovation of homes which are eligible under the existing vacant property refurbishment grants. Project Tosaigh, through the Land Development Agency, LDA, is helping to activate stalled developments to accelerate the delivery of up to 5,000 new homes for rental or purchase by the end of 2026. We introduced the secure tenancy affordable rental scheme, STAR, to bring forward more cost-rental homes. There have been 28 STAR applications to date, with the potential for more than 4,400 homes. Five contracts have been signed under the Croí Cónaithe cities scheme, which is supporting the delivery of 582 apartments for sale to owner-occupiers.

The first home scheme continues to grow from strength to strength. As members will know, this is the bridge the gap scheme. As of the end of last month, on 31 May, 10,174 customers have registered for the first home scheme. There have been 4,602 approvals and about 1,800 drawdowns. From meeting people, I know the importance of this scheme for renters and for those living in the box room with their parents. It helps to bridge the gap between the deposit they have and the purchase price of the home. I am sure that later in the meeting, we will address how we have further topped up that scheme with an additional €40 million of Exchequer funding, which is being matched by the mainstream banks. It has been an excellent success and we want to continue to accelerate it further.

We introduced new statutory protections for tenants and have recently extended the cap of 2% for rent in rent pressure zones to provide certainty and stability for tenants. The Government has also introduced the renter's tax credit and indeed increased it in the last budget. I want to see that further increase in the budget this year for our renters. It is a real measure to put money back in their pockets to help reduce the cost. It is €750 per renter, not per tenancy.

Members in this room will all be aware that the most significant reform of the planning system in over 20 years was conducted and culminated with the Planning and Development Bill 2023, which progressed through the Dáil just last night, concluding Report and Final Stages. I thank the Chair and members of this committee for their engagement, which was constructive in the main, and the work and effort that went into this. I intend for this Bill to move to the Seanad within the next couple of weeks for Second Stage, and then to move forward to Committee and Remaining Stages. It is a crucial part of planning reform. One issue that we have seen over the last number of years is that delays in planning lead to increases in cost and stifling of delivery and supply. While we are seeing supply increase substantially, we need to ensure that we have planning legislation and a planning system that is fit for purpose, modern and efficient, and which provides consistency, clarity and certainty to our planning system. I believe this legislation that will pass the Oireachtas is a once in a generation reform of our planning system and will have a positive effect in future.

This progress illustrates some of the achievements made under Housing for All but we are not stopping there. I am acutely aware that while real progress has been made, not everyone is feeling that yet, and we have more work to do. We continue to look at different elements of our housing system. For example, we are nearing the completion of the review of the private rental sector to ensure that an effective, affordable, safe and secure framework is in place for the sector. We are continuing to promote, adopt and accelerate housing delivery using modern methods of construction. I published the Housing Commission report and have asked the Housing Agency to carry out an analysis with costings, timelines and prioritisation of the report's recommendations to allow for full consideration. Once the work is complete, I will bring the policy recommendations to the Government. The outcome of this work, together with the publication of the revised national planning framework and the updated housing targets, will provide input to the next iteration of the Housing for All action plan, which will continue to build on the strong momentum that is already under way.

The committee is aware that Housing for All is a cross-government initiative with actions from many Government Departments. My colleagues and I will be happy to answer any questions we can.