David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Housing access and affordability is a key topic and it is good that it has been debated and discussed here in the House this evening. It is a topic that every elected representative is confronted with almost every day of the week. The situations people are in as an overhang of the economic downturn can be very difficult. We all see it. The most challenged are those on the lowest incomes and in need of social housing. As such, the Government was right to put a major emphasis on this area first. More broadly, measures to get housing construction moving again under Rebuilding Ireland are starting to work. As housing supply increases, the entire Oireachtas can agree that ensuring access and affordability is an absolute priority for housing into the future.

Cost-rental is a model that is relatively new to Ireland but which I understand works very well in other European countries. The best way to introduce anything new is to learn from best practice and to produce really good pathfinder projects. The best place to do this is on a ready-to-go local authority housing site, not on a fully utilised key military base. However, from the debate tonight it appears that, overall, there is lot of agreement about the need for a cost-rental sector in Ireland's cities. The Minister is progressing two initial cost-rental projects and is working on another major cost-rental project drawing on expert support from the European Investment Bank. This is precisely the right way to go about it in my view.

I turn to the Government's record. Every study shows that the poorest in society suffer the most in a deep recession. This Government is absolutely delivering for the most marginalised in society. We are increasing social housing stock by a third, or 50,000 new homes, by 2021. With the housing assistance payment, the rental accommodation scheme and other targeted programmes, we have a fully funded €6 billion euro plan to accommodate the entire social housing list. With the needs of over 25,000 met in 2017, we have made great inroads and we are delivering on social housing. Through targeted interventions under Rebuilding Ireland in infrastructure, planning, financing, etc., the Government has also resuscitated the residential construction sector. I am heartened and optimistic when I see that, at 18,000, commencements are up by over a third. Again, we have all seen how the sector and the people that worked in it were devastated by the collapse. Rebuilding that sector is an absolute priority and we are making real, tangible, measurable progress here.

The focus now has to be on making sure new housing is accessible and affordable. The actions the Government will progress this through include the help-to-buy scheme, the affordable rental or cost-rental model, the Rebuilding Ireland home loan and an affordable purchase scheme. Taken together, these initiatives provide real help with securing a deposit for first-time buyers; affordable and predictable rental options for the many people who want or need to rent for a short time or longer depending on their circumstances; access to new and second homes through the very attractive new local authority loan; and affordable homes on mixed tenure local authority sites to make homeownership a realistic option for a generation of people for the first time.

These are real actions that this Government is taking now and which will deliver. Already, the help-to-buy scheme has been very successful in helping 5,000 first-time buyers. Dublin City Council is at a very advanced stage of procurement for O'Devaney Gardens, including 20% affordable purchase. The cost-rental model the Minister is working on with the Dublin local authorities and the EIB is important and interesting. The bank provides access to finance but almost more important is the access to a repository of learning on what works in affordable housing and cost-rental projects. I am really looking forward to seeing this project progressed and I support the Minister fully in what he is doing here. I want to see similar projects pursued in cities like Cork.

Another key issue I want to touch on briefly is land, in particular State land. We need to see optimum delivery from the State landbank, particularly the 700 local authority sites. Local authorities are working very hard on this and there are exciting projects coming forward on major sites in our cities like O'Devaney Gardens. The new national regeneration and development agency announced under Project 2040 will also be a great help in getting the most out of our State land. This is a major priority for the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy. Some sites may need infrastructural investment and, as such, I welcome the €25 million in funding the Government has set aside to provide infrastructure for local authority sites which need it to deliver affordable housing.

While we may not agree on all the finer details, there is broad consensus regarding the need to ensure that, as housing supply continues to increase and accelerate, it is accessible and affordable, particularly in our cities. Cost rental will play a major role in this but it will take time and we must get it right. That does not mean asking the Defence Forces to leave a key base. It is much better to bring forward realistic projects that have a strong chance of success in the short to medium term from ready to go sites in Dublin and other cities. That is exactly what the Minister, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, is doing, working with industry experts, including the EIB. The Government is making very strong progress on housing and plans to do even more to ensure that as supply increases, we deliver access and affordability.

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