Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank all Deputies for their contributions on this very important motion. Many different allegations have been made this evening regarding my intention, the intention of my party and indeed the intention of the Government in how we want to meet the housing needs of our country and the lack of progress that we have made. Allegations have been made about my intentions regarding this resolution.

Let us consider what happened with housing under the last Government while acknowledging that for many it was not enough and while acknowledging that many people wanted to see more progress. During the period of the last Government, in the aftermath of a financial crisis, in the aftermath of our country, our economy and our ability to build houses all being brought to their knees, that Government saw the delivery of 86,000 homes over four years. It saw 30,000 families removed from the social housing list and began the process of the Government being able to directly build homes in our country. We saw it increase from a few hundred homes per year in the aftermath of the financial crisis to 5,000 to 6,000 homes per year.

I make this point while again acknowledging that for too many the rent they are paying is too high and that for too many the promise of being able to own their own home is still out of reach. I understand that. I understand what drives the demand on the Government to do more. However, over recent years I have outlined the progress that was made. That is the number of homes that were built and the number of families, our fellow citizens, who were taken off waiting lists for houses. The Government is determined to build upon that progress.

There has been more than €3 billion worth of investment in either directly building homes or enabling them to be built. For 2021 and probably for 2020, the largest single builder of homes within our country, and probably the largest single purchaser of homes within our country, was the State. We did so in an effort to respond to the issues that are motivating the contributions of most Deputies this evening.

Many who are looking in at this debate are asking what this House can offer, what the Opposition can offer to respond to the urgent issues, given the anxiety that I know is there. I think they will probably be deeply confused by what they have heard from the Opposition this evening. Opposition Deputies are against anybody who wants to build homes on any scale. They have been against any bank that wants to lend to us. They are against anybody who wants to invest funding in our country, to have savings from elsewhere channelled into our country to build homes.

The question is: how will they build the homes? Where will they come from? It is a relevant question because I listened to Deputy Doherty's contribution in particular. How can I reconcile what I hear from Deputy Doherty with the fact that in the city he speaks about, whose centre I have the great privilege of representing, every time any land becomes available to be rezoned to allow homes to be built, his party votes against it? Sinn Féin voted against rezoning ten to 12 different light industrial use areas on which public housing could be built on private land.

What Sinn Féin Deputies will say in response to the argument that I make - if they accept my ability to put an argument forward and most of the time they do not - is that the Government should do it. I agree that the Government should build. That is why we have a budget of €3 billion this year. That is why the Government is building 5,000 or 6,000 homes either indirectly through approved housing bodies or directly through local authorities. Any time the Government looks to do more, through the Land Development Agency or through the Affordable Housing Bill that the Government has introduced, Sinn Féin will vote against it. On the one hand, it wants the Government to do more, but on the other hand, when the Government introduces measures aiming to do more, they are rejected by Sinn Féin.

The Opposition is always - correctly - calling for more houses to be built. I understand that need and I want to meet that need. The Opposition is calling for rents to be more affordable, for the price of a home to come down. For those who are involved in building a home, for those who may have to lend for that home to be built, for those who may invest in housing in our country to see that housing being delivered at some point in the future - housing that I want to be affordable - the message from the Opposition here this evening is that it is always against that happening.

I acknowledge that the Government has a leading role to play in the homes that need to be built - more than 330,000 homes in a decade. The Government has a role to play in directly building affordable housing through our local authorities and in supporting our approved housing bodies. That is what the Government is doing. However, there is a role for savings in our own country and savings from other parts of the world to be channelled into the provision of housing in our country.

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We are a small economy with two pillar banks and one smaller bank. I want these homes to be built because I also represent and have the privilege of serving those generations, that is, those citizens who have such deep concerns about what their future is. If we want those homes to be built, they will be built through an active Government and a role for the private sector, both coming together. The job of the Government in the coming years will be to harness both to respond to the need, to meet the urgency and to support our citizens in the quest that many of them have for lower rents and more affordable housing. It is a mission to which I am committed.

On some of the central charges that have been put here this evening regarding why apartments have been excluded from the taxation measures in front of the House, that is because of my view and that of the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage that were they to be included, those apartments would not be built. In responding to the great demand and urgency we know is there, we need supply. We need more apartments to be built in cities all over the country for rental use to respond to the rental needs the Opposition identify regularly, as they should. They also are needed for apartments that are affordable to buy and to live in in our city centres for families, for our citizens and for our workers.

On the charges that have been made about REITs and IREFs, I acknowledge that this is a contested area and that there are concerns in this regard. It also should be acknowledged that because of changes that were made by me in a recent Finance Bill, filings show that the level of taxation that is being paid by IREFs now stands at 18.4% of all of the revenue they have declared for taxable purposes. That is the tax that they pay. As some of the Opposition know, the way that the rest of the taxes are paid for REITs and indeed for IREFs is at the time the income or returns that they make are distributed to those who invest in them. They pay an exit tax, a withholding tax, and after those taxes have been paid and when income is distributed to the investors, it is at that point that the tax is paid, whether that be corporate or income tax, but that is where this occurs.

In conclusion, the reason this measure is being taken is to deal with an issue which I acknowledge has caused much public concern and this motion is a response to that issue. I believe this motion will be sufficient and the measure that is being proposed here this evening, with duty of 10% on more than ten homes, is a strong response to the urgency of this issue. It is just one part of the many different measures which this Government has in place to address the needs, issues, worries and concerns that have been raised here this evening and which I, the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, and the Government are determined to do everything we can to deal with. I thank the Ceann Comhairle.

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