Cormac Devlin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to analyse and discuss the Government's housing policy, particularly in light of the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic has had a terrible impact on our society and economy, with more than 3,120 people dying and many more seriously ill. This has put huge pressure on our front-line healthcare workers. Rightly, the Government has moved to suppress the virus, a strategy that will continue as the vaccines are rolled out.

While necessary, it is expected that the Covid restrictions will have an impact on overall housing supply in 2021. I welcome the fact that the Minister has kept social housing projects open and that regulations on other essential sites will be published later today. It is critical we continue building these badly needed homes and essential projects. Covid indicators are showing an improvement and hopefully it will be possible for the construction sector to restart when the situation is next reviewed.

Unlike many on the Opposition benches who offer no realistic solutions, the Minister has taken concrete steps to help families at risk of homelessness. New rental legislation introduced over the past six months provides greater protection for renters and families. The ban on evictions has been strengthened and extended and record funding has been provided to bring vacant homes back into use. The target is 1,189 in Dublin alone and 3, 620 nationally. I welcome this and ask the Minister to ensure that this work continues into 2022. The results of all of this are clear. Homeless figures have fallen by 18.8% over the past year, meaning that over 2,000 families were supported out of homelessness. While the numbers of homeless people are still far too high, the progress to date should be acknowledged and must continue.

Many Irish people want to own their own home and I welcome the supports given to first-time buyers, particularly through the help-to-buy scheme, which assisted 21,000 people to get on the property ladder. I would welcome other supports that provide affordable homes and also an expansion of the Rebuilding Ireland home loan scheme. In my own constituency of Dún Laoghaire, we are seeing a phenomenal amount of housing construction, especially along the Luas green line corridor. The housing stock in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown is projected to grow at almost four times the national average over the next ten years. The proposed LDA development of almost 600 social and affordable on lands in Shanganagh will provide much needed housing locally. I ask the Minister to continue to liaise with his colleagues, particularly the Ministers for Transport and for Public Expenditure and Reform, to ensure public transport and green infrastructure projects are developed in tandem with new housing developments.

I welcome the publication of the general scheme of the affordable housing Bill. There is great interest in an affordable housing scheme. Unfortunately some on the Opposition benches dismissed the Bill out of hand before they had even seen it but as they have always opposed affordable housing schemes, this is no great surprise. I look forward to examining the Bill in detail as it proceeds through the Oireachtas. I wish to acknowledge the work the Minister, his officials and local authority staff have done over the past year. As we begin to exit from the Covid restrictions in the coming months, I ask that a greater degree of urgency be attached to development.

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