Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not in a position to comment on individual cases without knowing the facts and being able to have them verified. Even if I was able to do that, I would not be able to breach individual confidentiality. If there are individual cases that the Deputy wants to raise, the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, would be happy to look into them. Up until now, we have been able to provide emergency accommodation for any family that needs it. That has been done. Thankfully, we do not have any families on our streets. I know that is nothing to be particularly proud of but we have avoided that through the use of emergency accommodation. In addition, there are now fewer people in hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation than previously was the case as a result of the development of family hubs in Dublin and elsewhere.

There were a number of new announcements relating to housing yesterday. It was announced, for example, that the vacant site levy will increase to 7%. That is an important measure designed to free up land for development and prevent the hoarding of land. There was also a new announcement on capital gains tax, ending the seven-year rule, thus allowing more land to come into development. There was a new announcement regarding a new housing finance agency that will provide €750 million, a lot of new money, for development finance to builders in order that they might build affordable housing throughout the country. A barrier to building housing is the inability of developers, particularly small builders, to obtain finance. Three new announcements were made yesterday, backed by money, so Deputy Boyd Barrett's argument is, evidently, incorrect.

In the context of the provision of funding in respect of announcements which have already been made, that is the case because funding was provided yesterday in respect of announcements made previously. This money will allow us to increase significantly the number of council houses and apartments being built. In 2015, only about 500 public houses or council houses - whichever term one prefers to use - were built. That number will rise to 2,000 this year. These are houses built directly by councils and approved housing bodies. Next year, because of the additional funding provided - a 50% increase in the capital budget - 3,800 houses will be built. In addition, 1,200 social houses will be brought on stream by renovating voids and through Part V. Some 900 will be acquired and approximately 2,000 will be provided through long-term leasing. This means that 7,900 homes will be added to social housing stock next year, all things going to plan. In addition, and I am pretty sure that this was a new announcement, funding for homelessness bodies and agencies is going up by 18%, from approximately €98 million to €120 million next year, which is a significant increase.

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