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

The Government has now been in office for ten or 11 months. Over that time, we have made it very clear that we would have a broad suite of initiatives for housing, the key part being social housing and the building of 50,000 houses over the next five years. The Deputy keeps ignoring that. That is part of the €3.3 billion. The €3.3 billion has nothing to do with it ISIF. HAP has been there since 2012 or 2013 to facilitate people on the social housing list to get housing. I would prefer, and we are moving towards, direct construction of social housing and affordable homes and to get more affordable homes for people at prices they can afford and also new initiatives on the cost-rental schemes and bringing back every available opportunity we have, such as voids, for example, through an initiative the Minister took in July 2020. We provided the funding and brought 2,500 units back into social housing last year and we will be committing to another 3,000 this year. We are sparing no effort to get houses up so that people can get opportunities. We are simply not building enough at the moment in this country. The Deputy's proposals would actually reduce supply not increase supply.

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