Eoghan Murphy (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for the follow-on question. It is not a question of funding. Rebuilding Ireland was a ring-fenced budget, the first time that has happened over a number of years, because of the commitment we were making to getting social housing built again. I refer to more than €6 billion to be able to do that. The situation we have in homelessness is complex. It is not just about a lack of adequate housing, although that is a very big part of it. Some 10,400 people in emergency accommodation is an unacceptably high figure. That is why we have to continue to drive the delivery of new social housing homes.

It is worth recognising also that, last year, more than 27,000 households were supported through different Government supports. We will do that again this year on top of that. Each year, under Rebuilding Ireland, we are helping tens of thousands of people who might be in housing insecurity, in emergency accommodation, or who are on the housing lists waiting for that social housing home to get into those homes. A huge amount of work is being done but much more work needs to be done. From day one, Rebuilding Ireland was always a five-year programme to get back to a sustainable level of housing output. Now, in the national development plan, which will take over from Rebuilding Ireland after 2021, we drive those targets up even further.

It is worth pointing out one factor. Last year, for every four houses that were built, one of those houses was built for social housing. It will be between that and one in three this year. That is very important because it shows the commitment this Government is making with taxpayers' money to building social housing homes directly.

See this speech in context