Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

In response to Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett and the Daft.iereport on rent increases, it is clear that there are acute rent pressures in the rental market; we all know that. Those pressures are driven by a number of factors - rising demand, lack of supply and the high costs indebted landlords face in servicing their loans. Those stresses are again confirmed in the latest data from the Daft.ierental report but as I have said publicly, that is not a surprise. We know this is happening and it is what we are trying to address. That is the reason we are putting plans in place.

The report shows that rent asking prices rose nationwide by an average of 13.5% in 2016. In Dublin, annual rental inflation is at an average of 15% and strong rent inflation is also seen in Dublin’s commuter counties. These increases are placing huge pressures on tenants, particularly those who are seeking new accommodation. We want to tackle that problem and as I said at an event this morning, and at a housing conference yesterday, we want to change the housing numbers for two reasons, namely, for social housing to give people that choice but also economically this will hold us back. We cannot provide accommodation for people, companies cannot grow, we cannot expand and we cannot continue to create new jobs.

We want to do this, and we fully intend to do it, but it is wrong to say that we promised to do it within 100 days. That is not what we said. We promised to put in place an action plan that would tackle this problem over a couple of years. It is not possible to magically come up with a solution overnight. Deputy Boyd Barrett gives the impression that if we click our fingers, the problem will be solved. It does not work that way. There was no plan in place that was backed with money. A plan has been put in place now. It was put together over the summer in fewer than 100 days, as per the commitment, and published in July. It will be rolled out bit by bit from August-September onwards.

It should be borne in mind that this report refers to the period prior to the Government's new strategy for the rental sector, which was published in December as part of the overall housing plan, and prior to the rent pressure zones announced at the same time.

There is no doubt the problems in the rental sector are part of a bigger issue. We are in the midst of a housing crisis and the problems caused by high rents reflect, and are reflected in, the other issues facing the housing market. There are not enough homes for first-time buyers, while there is an increased demand for social housing, with unacceptable levels of homelessness. The issue is the lack of supply. All of the actions outlined in Rebuilding Ireland are aimed at increasing the supply of housing. Likewise, in the rental strategy which was published in December we are trying to get the balance right between rent control in certain areas to ensure only minor increases and encouraging increased investment in the rental market. We have to do both. We are trying to win new investment in the rental sector to have more houses provided because we cannot fix this problem overnight and build all of the houses needed.

It is wrong to say nothing is happening in the housing plans. Last year approximately 15,000 new houses came onstream. The plan in 2017 is for approximately 18,000 to come onstream, but we now expect to see up to 19,000, as there is no doubt that we will beat the number of 18,000. We want to reach 25,000 a year. I made it very clear to the construction sector at meetings held today that if we could get to 28,000 or 29,000 new housing units a year for several years to help us to catch up with demand, that is what we would do. The aim at the end of the five-year plan is to have new 25,000 houses per year thereafter, but in the middle of the plan we will probably go a little higher because we will need to do so if we are to catch up. The Deputy is absolutely right in that regard.

Coupled with this, we have efforts and had new plans announced to try to bring vacant stock back into use as social housing. More than 5,000 voids have been brought back into use in the past two years, with 2,000 being provided last year alone because we had provided the money to do so. We are putting in place the repair and lease back initiative which involves cash upfront to private owners to bring their houses back into usage as social housing. There are other plans such as the buy and renew initiative for local authorities. We are supplying money in new areas to make this happen. The capital budget for housing in 2017 has been increased by 50%. We are reacting to this and a total of €5.5 billion of taxpayer's money is being committed to fixing the problem, but we cannot spend all of it in one day. The Deputy should not kid himself. It takes time to put a system back in place. The system of social housing provision was closed down well before Fine Gael entered government, as the Deputy knows. We agree with him and are trying to build it back up again.

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