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

We have taken the level of delivery of new homes from approximately 12,000 to well over 20,000 this year. That happened in the space of three years. We need to get to a figure of more than 30,000 per year, given the current and predicted population growth in this country. To do that, we need to build a lot of social houses, which we are doing. We will add more than 10,000 to the social housing stock this year.

I suspect it will be about 12,000 next year and that needs to continue. We also need to ensure we have a building sector delivering affordable private homes for people to buy across the country. That means working with builders, understanding the market and trying to ensure we make the appropriate policy decisions to make that happen. If people are sitting on and hoarding land, we are now fining them with the vacant site levy, which increases annually.

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