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

First, I have to say that the Government is ten months in office. During those ten months, we have been dealing with an unprecedented global pandemic which has had a huge impact on the people and, indeed, on sectors of our economy. It has also had an impact on the construction industry. Notwithstanding that, the Government has committed to, and provided the funding for, the largest multi-annual social housing programme in the history of the State. That is the core of the Government's policy programme. A total of €3.3 billion is allocated this year to new house construction. We want to build 9,500 new social homes. The State and Government are also getting involved in building, and supporting the building of, affordable homes through a variety of schemes. The Government has initiated the first national cost-rental scheme, which will provide houses at rents 25% below the market price.

I have said, and I have made it clear to my Government colleagues - along with the leaders of the other parties in government - that we are committed to ensuring that housing is our number one, collective responsibility as we emerge from Covid-19 in order to give young people an opportunity for home ownership. That is something I am passionately committed to and that we provide enough social housing for those who need it. In addition to the allocation and funding we are putting in for housing, we are making sure that unprecedented amounts of funding are going to infrastructure to make sure the houses can happen, in terms of the allocation of money to Irish Water to make sure we can get water services in place for these housing developments, and also wider infrastructural developments such as the docklands in Cork or the development in Galway and Limerick that will facilitate more residential units being built and more housing being built.

That is the story of this Government's programme for housing and no amount of distortion will change those facts. We remain committed to that but we have to do more. Development finance for builders is problematic in this country. It has been problematic for quite a number of years in terms of the cost of funding for builders to get going and build housing estates. We need builders to build large housing estates and also to build smaller housing estates and smaller housing units. The fundamental issue at stake in housing is supply, supply, supply. That is it. That is why there is an onus and responsibility on all politicians of all parties to do everything we possibly can to support the supply of housing. That is why Deputy McDonald's party also has questions to answer in terms of the serial objections to quite substantial housing programmes and projects that have been voted down on too many occasions, whether it be in Tallaght, where her party voted down 500 houses that could have been built, or in Clondalkin, where 800 to 900 houses, again, were opposed. That cannot go on. Maybe it is in the Deputy's interest to frustrate the attempts to get housing built or to impede progress. The biggest actor in housing right now, the biggest player, is this Government, through a whole range of vehicles and schemes.

In respect of the investment funds that came into the country more than eight or nine years ago, we are very clear that we are opposed to investment funds taking over or buying estates that have already been built. The original purpose and objective of them was to add to supply, not to take over existing supply and compete with first-time buyers or, indeed, approved housing bodies or councils for that matter. Our priority remains the first-time buyer. We want home ownership to increase.

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