Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We will keep the House informed on the Brexit issues. Next week will be really important, not just because we will be dealing with the budget, which is, understandably, being put together on the basis of a pessimistic outlook due to the fact that we need to be cautious but also because I hope to see progress in terms of the British proposal developing into something that is fit for purpose. We will keep the House up to date on developments.

In many ways, I share Deputy Broughan's frustration with regard to housing. It is not acceptable to me or to this Government that more than 10,000 people who are homeless and living in emergency accommodation. We again increased, by 25%, funding for homelessness in last year's budget. The amount involved now stands at €146 million a year, which is predominantly spent through local authorities to make sure that we can provide people with the emergency supports that they need. However, that is not the solution in the context of housing. The solution in that regard is to increase supply right across the country, particularly in places where the greatest pressure exists. That is why we, when I served as Minister for Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government, looked at how we could get adrenaline into the house-building system. It was a system that was fundamentally broken across multiple areas. We looked at planning, infrastructure, finance, capacity and location. I looked at how long it was taking, on average, to get planning permission to build an estate comprising more than 100 houses. From memory, the figure was about 75 weeks. We put in place a new system, which I would argue is just as robust in terms of testing the quality of planning applications and making the right decisions. The planners in An Bord Pleanála make the decisions. They consult with local authorities as part of the process. They have refused quite a few planning applications through that system because they demand high standards, but they do make decisions more quickly. We have seen a dramatic increase in the number of planning permissions that have been sought and in the number of permissions granted. We have also seen a dramatic increase in terms of commencement notices. Up to June, there were 24,226 commencement notices for new houses being built. That is a 30% increase on the situation 12 months previously.

Let us please start dealing with the facts. We introduced a change to the planning system in recognition of the fact that we had a housing crisis and we had to start getting homes built. One cannot get homes built unless one gets planning permission to allow that to happen. Changing the planning system does not solve everything. I accept that the 16,000 planning permissions that have been given through the new fast-track system have resulted in 6,000 homes being constructed so far but two thirds of those decisions were made in the past six months. The first decision through the new system only happened in January 2018.

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