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

On behalf of the Government and everyone on this side of the House, I acknowledge the extent to which we share the concerns of everyone in the country and the Opposition about the impact the housing shortage and homelessness crisis are having on people across Ireland. It is something about which we all know from our constituency clinics, the increased workload and the increased numbers of housing queries coming through. We know about it from the experiences of people we meet, including, in many cases, family members and friends. In many cases, young couples who are struggling to buy their first home are paying more in rent than they would if they were able to buy and meeting mortgage repayments. However, they are unable to find the right property or even any property to choose. People are waiting for years on housing lists and have been forced into emergency accommodation.

The solution to this can only be increased supply. I should not say "only", but a large part of the solution must be increased supply, which we are now seeing. Figures from the CSO, which I believe everyone trusts - they should anyway - show that 4,500 new homes were built in the previous quarter alone, in the space of three months. Behind this number are real stories and real people: 4,500 families moving into newly built houses or apartments and in many cases freeing up 4,000 or 5,000 other properties for other people to buy or to rent. We anticipate that about 20,000 new homes will be built this year, certainly 20,000 if one includes vacant properties being brought back into use and student accommodation. That will be up from 14,500 last year, up from 9,000 the year before and up from about 5,000 the year before that. Therefore, I do not think anyone can doubt that we are on the right trajectory when it comes to providing more housing.

It is definite and a fact that supply is increasing, but it is not enough, and we acknowledge that. Our population last year increased by 65,000, and while this does not mean we need 65,000 new homes every year, it probably means we need about 30,000 or 35,000. We are not there yet but we are doing everything we possibly can to ramp up supply. If there are additional measures that will allow us to increase supply, we are happy to consider them, but tinkering around the edges with other things does not produce supply. While we will certainly consider the proposals Sinn Féin puts forward, I can see that they would cost. Certainly, any meaningful tax relief for renters would be expensive and we would be interested to see how Sinn Féin proposes to fund it. However, none of these things will increase supply. Ultimately, there will be more people competing for the same number of units, and as our population rises we will need more supply.

As for protests, all I can say is that in a democracy everyone has the right to protest, and protest is a very important part of a healthy democracy. It is very much my view, however, that when protests occur, they should be peaceful, in accordance with the law and respectful of gardaí, people who put their safety at risk to keep us and our communities safe.

Local authorities have the power to purchase vacant properties compulsorily. Many local authorities use their power to do so. If a local authority is not purchasing a particular vacant property compulsorily, it is probably not doing so for a reason.

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