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

-----for those who are not able to own their own house. That is why we need the private market so that people can purchase and own their own homes. I want that 70% home ownership to be a reality for people in the 20s and 30s. As to what are we doing about it, there is the help-to-buy scheme which has already benefitted 10,000 people, mostly people in their 20s and 30s, helping them to get a deposit to buy their own home. It will help many more people in the future. Approximately 1,000 more people have been helped with the Rebuilding Ireland home loan to get a low interest rate home loan to be able to buy their own home.

The other area is supply. In the past 12 months, 22,000 new homes have been added to our housing stock. That is 22,000 new houses or apartments. We are meeting our targets in terms of supply. If there was a way to do it quicker I guarantee the Deputy we would do it. Given from where we have come with a collapse in the financial and construction sectors, we can only ramp up supply so quickly. This year we will see between 22,000 and 25,000 new homes built, with next year probably hitting higher than that again, and we will get to the point where the additional supply is meeting the demand. We are seeing some progress already because of the additional housing supply with house prices levelling off and even falling in this city.

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