Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Clearly, every Member of this House is very conscious of the huge impact the lack of supply of housing has on individual families, as Deputy Curran has explained. That is why this is a priority focus for the Government and for the Hose. It is why a comprehensive plan has been put forward. Clearly the lack of supply of homes is central to wider problems in the housing sector as the Deputy described it. Lack of supply is driving up prices and increasing rents, and in turn influences homelessness. As the Deputy knows, every action is being taken to ensure that families are not in the situation he has described. None of us here wants to see one extra family having to be accommodated in a hotel. Moving into a hotel is not part of the solution to homelessness and we do not want it to be part of the solution. That is why the announcements have been made and the action has been taken.

The Deputy played a role in chairing the committee that did the preliminary work in examining this. We recognise those very significant challenges. Today the Minister has made a further announcement on the important point we have to deal with - the fast-track delivery arrangements for the 30,000 new homes in Dublin, Cork and other urban locations around the country. Every action under pillar 3 is designed to kick-start badly needed additional supply. A key element, as the Deputy knows, is the identification of the major urban housing development sites with the potential to deliver up to 30,000 additional homes in locations on existing lands, some of them close to our constituency, where there is key demand so that we can ensure that people have housing.

The Minister has spoken about the number of families who have already moved out of homelessness - it is over 1,000 this year. I believe I gave those figures this day last week here. Clearly fast-track housing is under construction. Over 300 units are at various stages of construction by local authorities and those will be made available to families as soon as possible. The budget to support those organisations working with homelessness has been increased in order to help them ensure every unit they have is available to families. Local authorities throughout the country are ensuring that vacant properties are returned to use in a much more accelerated way than previously. We all know that was a problem, but it is now being done in many areas. The Government has made every effort on the various initiatives the Deputy outlined. It is the unrelenting focus of the Minister, Deputy Coveney, to ensure that every unit that can become available will come available as quickly as possible. Every support is being given to local authorities to ensure that happens.

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