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

The figures for new home builds come from the Central Statistics Office, CSO, the independent body that collects numbers and does statistics for the State. I do think anyone disputes the accuracy of the CSO. It is the organisation that does the census and produces the employment figures every quarter. It is an independent body trusted to produce statistics. The figures for rent come from the Residential Tenancies Board, RTB, and the Economic and Social Research Institute, ESRI. I appreciate that other figures come from a property website which is a private sector entity.

The official figures come from the ESRI and the RTB. The CSO figures show that in the last quarter some 4,400 new homes were built in Ireland. We are on track to build approximately 18,000 new houses and apartments this year. When vacant homes being brought back into use and student accommodation are added the figure will increase to more than 20,000. It will increase to 25,000 the year after.

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