Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

First, I think it is a good report by the ESRI. I want to say that, contrary to the pandemic increasing affordability issues in the sector, the ESRI is actually saying that, in the short term, affordability may have actually improved over recent months because of, to use its own phrase, "extraordinary fiscal measures [introduced by the Government] in the form of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) and the Temporary COVID-19 Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS)". It does acknowledge extraordinary interventions by the Government.

That said, it does, of course, warn that, in the medium term, there could be a significant imbalance in terms of demand and supply, and we take that very seriously indeed. We already know that Covid-19 has negatively impacted on the building programme because of the lockdown itself. House completions fell by 32% according to the report. We are now looking at an expected outturn of 15,000 to 16,000 houses as opposed to the expected 24,500 because of the impact of the lockdown and the constraints that Covid has brought to the construction sector.

That said, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, was very quick off the mark with the July stimulus, with more than €40 million allocated to bring 2,500 social housing units back into play to be allocated to people on the housing list before the end of the year. That money went out to the local authorities. It was a quick action that had not been called for by anybody in this House but the Government took the initiative to get moving on it and get it done.

I agree with the ESRI that we need to build more social and affordable housing and, in particular, that we need to have a strong social housing programme built by local authorities and approved housing bodies. That is something the Government will be targeting and identifying in the Estimates for next year and the budgetary framework in terms of creating the framework that will facilitate a greater supply of affordable housing in the time ahead. The serviced sites initiative has been slow in getting off the ground, but there are concrete proposals under way which will develop results from that particular initiative.

Aontaím gan amhras go bhfuil ceist na tithíochta ar an ábhar is tábhachtaí i gcúrsaí sóisialta na linne seo. Is é sin an fáth go bhfuil sé mar phríomhfheidhm ag an Rialtas níos mó tithe poiblí a chur ar fáil do dhaoine atá ag feitheamh chun dul isteach go dtí na tithe éagsúla. Caithfimid níos mó tithe a chur ar fáil agus beimid chun níos mó infheistíochta a chur ar fáil chun na tithe seo a chruthú. Tá sé sin ríthábhachtach ar fad.

I also point out that the impact on the labour market, as the ESRI has shown, is unprecedented. We will be looking at the construction sector as a mechanism to create additional employment over the medium term in the context of the impact of Covid-19 on employment. Housing construction, both social and affordable, will help to underpin jobs in the construction sector and, indeed, increase the number of available jobs. That is why there was very substantial funding made available in the July stimulus for additional apprenticeships to be provided by giving incentives to employers to hire more apprentices, which is working, and to create a whole range of skill courses to provide for additional skill needs to meet the need to build more social and affordable housing. We agree that there is such a need.

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