John Halligan (Waterford, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Government is fully committed to increasing the supply of affordable and quality housing and in this regard published the Rebuilding Ireland action plan, which includes financing measures, new construction and rental sector improvements.  These steps will ensure that Irish people are better able to buy and rent suitable homes.  They will also serve to reinforce our national infrastructure in terms of its capacity to accommodate FDI.

Significant progress has already been made on the Rebuilding Ireland plan. The CSO has confirmed that more than 18,000 new homes were made available for use last year, of which 2,500 were vacant homes brought back in to use, 1,000 were unfinished homes and 14,500 were newly built homes occupied for the first time.

There was a 45% increase in new builds year on year and we expect further strong growth this year again. The Government has also taken other actions to increase the supply of housing, such as removing the capital gains tax incentive to retain residential land and increasing the penalties relating to land hoarding.

The Government rightly intends to use the broader State landbank for the development of further housing and community facilities. In 2017, the Government identified 30 publicly-owned sites. The Deputy can view these on the Rebuilding Ireland housing land map. Last week, the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy, attended the housing summit and asked local authorities to consider, in terms of the delivery of housing, State-owned sites in their areas that are strategically important for them. The Minister will be working with those authorities on the active management and utilisation of the wider public landbank to contribute to key housing and planning policies such as securing more compact and sustainable growth. This may include engagement with IDA Ireland and other State bodies.

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