Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

It is a fair question. It is timely in the sense that tomorrow evening the House will take Second Stage of the Planning and Development (Amendment) (Repeal of Part V Leasing) Bill 2021 brought forward by Deputy Cian O'Callaghan. I have indicated that the Government will support that Bill moving to Committee Stage. To be frank, Part V leasing has been up to now a very small part of overall provision, with 16 such leases in 2020. That said, it is not a mechanism that should be expanded much further than that. I know that more have been approved this year. There can be particular reasons for that to happen but it should be, in my view, a last resort. I have given a commitment to review it and it is being reviewed in the NDP review.

I will be publishing the Government's housing for all plan in July. The focus must be on new build. The predominance of what will be delivered will be new build. Part V leasing in particular is an issue for me, to be frank. Leasing does have a role in other areas. We need to look at how we interact with approved housing bodies as well. The predominance of what we will do will be to focus on new build and, in the context of Part V delivery, to purchase them.

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