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

Every time the Deputy takes to his feet in the House, he seems to be calling for a new protest over something. I understand the frustrations and anger over the housing crisis. They are very genuine. I served in the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government and know this only too well. There are far too many people who are homeless. There are far too many families and children, in particular, affected by homelessness and whom I am sure are being scarred by it. The Government's response to that is to try to prioritise the issue from funding, policy and practical delivery perspectives. That is happening. We have changed the planning process and increased the numbers of protections for tenants. We have included what is effectively a rent cap or ceiling. We are building more social houses now than at any other time this century. This year, there will be more than 10,000 additional social houses on our social housing list. We are working with local authorities, particularly in our cities, where the pressure is most acute, to try to drive projects. In Cork city alone, the council is involved in 78 projects. The city chief executive confirmed to the Taoiseach and me last week that, in 2014, when there was no money being spent on social housing because there was not much money available, Cork City Council had one social house under construction. It currently has 1,000 under construction. That is what the Government is trying to do for vulnerable people who need the support of the State in order to get into social housing. We are seeing the progression of affordable housing units also. Again, we are focusing particularly on our cities, where the pressures are most acute. We will continue to take action to ensure housing is prioritised because it is a major issue for so many.

Next year, the housing budget will be over €2.6 billion. This represents a dramatic increase over the budget for recent years in terms of what the Government could afford. Therefore, we are not targeting anybody; rather, we are trying to help people who are in difficult circumstances. Many are in temporary accommodation that is not suitable in the long term. The objective is to get people into homes so they can have stable lives in them with the support of the State. We are making progress on that but there is still a lot of work to do.

See this speech in context